June 12: Conflict Creators and Peacemakers

2 Chronicles 29:1–30:27; 1 John 2:7–14; Psalm 104:1–15

Conflict can be good. And in communities, it’s inevitable. The ways in which we respond to it can display and develop character. But what if we are the ones responsible for creating conflict with others?

John addresses the root of chronic conflict in a letter to a church community. He tells them, “The one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes” (1 John 2:9–11).

John was giving the church a way in which they could judge false teachers who created conflict and division. Those who were not walking in the light—who hated their brothers—were known by their contentious nature. Conversely, those who walked in light did not serve as a stumbling block for others. The light they dwelled in was shown in their love for other Christians.

Love for other Christ-followers is not optional—it’s an outpouring of the love that God shows to us. The nature of our interpersonal relationships is a reflection of where we stand with Him. External conflict that has hatred at its root might point to our own internal conflict—one that can be defined by a disagreement between what we confess and how we live (1 John 1:6).

What is causing conflicts in your relationships? If you are the one causing conflict, how can you seek peace—with God and others?

Rebecca Van Noord^[1]

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^[1] Barry, J. D., & Kruyswijk, R. (2012). Connect the Testaments: A One-Year Daily Devotional with Bible Reading Plan. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Wretched 6/12/2018

WR2018-0612

•Austria stands firm against Islamic machinations

•How Mr. Rogers created a generation of egotists

•Suicide is on the rise

•Better questions to ask when counseling

•The Mars Rover found methane, not life

•Home schooling meets cosplay

•Beth Moore is gaining influence in the absence of solid reasoning

•The Southern Baptists are dealing with racism and reparations

Download Now (right click and save)

Source:

https://www.wretched.org/06-12-2018/

‘If Donald Trump Walked on Water, They Would Say He Couldn’t Swim’: Dem Pollster Blasts Media’s NKorea Coverage

How is the media’s negative Trump narrative hurting Democrats? Watch Gary Lane’s interview with Pat Caddell for more.

Now that President Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un is over, how likely is the president to enjoy a surge in popularity?

American public opinion pollster and consultant Pat Caddell tells CBN News that Trump’s success on the world stage should give him a bump in the polls. And that could be significant for Republicans as they face Democrats in the midterm elections in November.

Related

And Caddell blasted major media outlets like CNN and MSNBC for their continuous negative coverage of President Trump.

Appearing on The Global Lane, Caddell said, “If Donald Trump walked on water, their criticism would be he couldn’t swim.”

He said like any president, Trump should receive criticism but also credit when credit is due.

“We are dealing with a rogue, nuclear power. Donald Trump is doing his best to deal with this and I think it should be encouraged,” Caddell explained. “He deserves at least a fair shake. Every president deserves it. They deserve criticism, but they should be acknowledged when they do something good.”

Caddell said all the anti-Trump coverage in the media actually hurts the Democrats.

“Sometimes I worry his political foes both in the media and politically are rooting against America which I think is a mistake,” he continued.

And that could be a mistake for the Democratic Party if it hopes to gain seats in the US Congress during the midterm election this fall.

Caddell said President Trump’s ratings will be key to the outcome of the election and his meeting in Singapore with Kim Jong Un may not hurt him despite how some members of the media spin it.

“I think the American people would like to see this resolved, it would be in the interest of peace, it would be to everyone’s benefit.”

Source: ‘If Donald Trump Walked on Water, They Would Say He Couldn’t Swim’: Dem Pollster Blasts Media’s NKorea Coverage

June 12 Persevering in the Word

“One who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25).

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Doers of the Word are persevering learners.

The phrase “and abides by it” in James 1:25 demands our close attention. “Abide” translates a Greek word that means “to stay beside,” “to remain,” or “to continue.” The idea is that a doer of the Word continually and habitually gazes into God’s perfect law. In other words, he is a persevering learner.

When you have that level of commitment to the Word, you will be an effectual doer—one who is in union with God’s will and seeks to obey it above all else. As you do that, God will bless you. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be successful in the eyes of the world, but your priorities and perspectives will be right, and the Lord will honor what you do.

This verse is a call to carefully examine yourself in light of God’s standards. That’s not a popular thing in our society because many people have an aversion to serious spiritual thought and self-examination. I believe that’s why Christian television, music, and other forms of entertainment are so popular. Escaping reality through entertainment is far more appealing to most people than gazing into the mirror of God’s Word and having their spiritual flaws and blemishes exposed. But if you desire to be like Christ, you must see yourself for what you are and make any needed corrections. To do that, you must continually examine your life in the light of Scripture.

Can you imagine what the church would be like if every Christian did that? Can you imagine the changes in your own life if you did it more consistently? Only the Holy Spirit can enable you to be a doer of the Word. So, yield to His leading through prayer and confession as you continue to study and apply God’s Word.

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Suggestions for Prayer:  Whenever you study Scripture, ask the Spirit to illuminate your mind and heart and to use the Word to transform you more and more into the image of Christ.

For Further Study: Read Colossians 3:16–17, noting what Paul says about responding to the Word.^[1]

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^[1] MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1993). Drawing Near—Daily Readings for a Deeper Faith (p. 176). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Opposing Factions Break Into Intense Dance-Off At SBC Annual Meeting

DALLAS, TX—Tension between various political and theological movements within the Southern Baptist Convention has set the stage for a historic annual meeting in Dallas this year, and those tensions almost immediately flared up on the first day of the convention, with an explosive dance-off breaking out just after SBC president Steve Gaines welcomed conference attendees. […]

The post Opposing Factions Break Into Intense Dance-Off At SBC Annual Meeting appeared first on The Babylon Bee.

Nation’s Liberals Suddenly Opposed To Concept Of Diplomacy

U.S.—Immediately upon hearing the news that President Trump had met with Kim Jong Un in a promising first peace summit Tuesday, the nation’s liberals came out in “strong opposition” to the concept of international diplomacy. Democrats across the nation warned of the dangers of diplomacy, coincidentally just moments after news of the historic summit between […]

The post Nation’s Liberals Suddenly Opposed To Concept Of Diplomacy appeared first on The Babylon Bee.

Pastors, we must determine to give the world what it needs and we must never cater to what it wants. —H.B. Charles Jr.

North Koreans ‘Betrayed’ by Human Rights Omission in Trump-Kim Agreement — Blogs

North Koreans were “betrayed” by the failure of US President Donald Trump to include human rights provisions in his agreement with the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, following their historic meeting in Singapore, according to Human Rights Watch’s Asia Director, Phil Robertson.

via North Koreans ‘Betrayed’ by Human Rights Omission in Trump-Kim Agreement — Blogs

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Straight Talk

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)

Unlike duplicitous Western leaders, notably US and UK ones, Assad says what he means and means what he says – why it’s always refreshing to follow his remarks when interviewed or in public statements.

Interviewed by London Daily reporter Hala Jaber in Damascus, he was asked if Britain was involved in staging the (false flag) April 7 CW attack in Douma.

He minced no words saying: “Definitely, without a doubt. Britain, France, and the US are following and adopting the same policy.”

“That said, to be completely frank and stark, Britain and France are political satellites to the US. The UK publicly supported the White Helmets that are a branch of al-Qaeda, al-Nusra, in different areas of Syria.”

Tories “spent a lot of money, and we consider the White Helmets to be a PR stunt by the UK. So yes, definitely, it was staged by these three countries together, and the UK is involved.”

He’s absolutely right. I made similar comments many times. No evidence indicates CW use by Syrian forces ever throughout years of war. Plenty of evidence proves they’ve been used many times by US/UK/French/Israeli/Saudi supported terrorists.

Asked how UK involvement in airstrikes on Syria isn’t justified under international law (on the phony pretext of responsibility to protect), Assad stressed Theresa May’s regime “lie(d).”

“(W)e didn’t see any chemical attack (in Douma). It didn’t happen. It was a lie, especially after we liberated that area, our information confirmed that that attack did not take place.”

“The British government should first prove with evidence that the attack happened, and then they should prove who is responsible. This did not happen.”

“There was no attack. This is where the lie begins. Again, it wasn’t about the attack. The crux of the issue is that they need to undermine the Syrian government, as they needed to change and topple the Syrian government at the beginning of the events of the war in Syria.”

“They keep failing, they keep telling lies, and they continue to play a war of attrition against our government.”

Assad is right. In March 2011, the Obama regime launched naked aggression on Syria, wanting its government toppled, using ISIS and other terrorists as imperial foot soldiers, aided by US-led terror-bombing since June 2014.

Syria earlier communicated with European intelligence agencies, Assad explained. Recently they were stopped “because they’re not serious.” Syria seeks cooperative relations with Western countries not forthcoming.

Commenting on US/UK regional intervention with their imperial allies compared to Russia’s involvement in Syria, Assad explained Moscow was invited. Its operations are legal under international law.

US-led involvement in the country is flagrantly unlawful, “an invasion…an illegitimate existence,” said Assad.

Illegal intervention in Syria or anywhere else isn’t about Trump, May and their allied leaders, he stressed.

It’s the belligerent agenda of “Western regimes” no matter who leads them. “They don’t accept anyone who has a different point of view, any country, any government, any personality.”

“That’s the case with Syria. (It’s) very independent in its political positions. We work for our national interests. We’re not a puppet state.”

“They don’t accept this reality. So, the whole approach toward Syria in the West is ‘we have to change this government. We have to demonize this president because they don’t suit our policies anymore.’ ”

“This is the situation. Everything else is like flavors. They tell lies. They talk about chemical weapons. They talk about the bad president killing the good people, freedom, peaceful demonstration. All these lies are flavors for the main goal, which is regime change.”

It’s what “colonial policy” is all about, one or more nations wanting to dominate and exploit others forcefully.

Assad stressed the scourge of terrorism is “spreading all over the world because of the chaos that is supported by the West in Syria.”

Washington, NATO, Israel, and their rogue regional allies bear full responsibility for what’s going on, targeting independent governments like Syria, earlier attacking Iraq and Libya, currently against Yemen, ongoing endlessly against Afghanistan.

Syria along with Russia, Hezbollah and Iranian military advisors are key players in combating regional terrorism, Assad explained – the scourge “support(ed) by the Americans” and their rogue allies.

Countering the anti-Assad Western narrative, he said “(i)t  doesn’t even hold together. I mean the different factors of this narrative, it’s not logical. It’s not realistic.”

“(T)his president is in his position because he has the support of his own people. So how could he have this support while he’s killing these same people?”

“So, the story is not correct. We are fighting the terrorists, and those terrorists are supported by the British government, the French government, the Americans and their puppets whether in Europe or in our region.”

“We are fighting them, and we have public support in Syria to fight those terrorists. That’s why we are advancing. We cannot make these advances just because we have Russian and Iranian support.”

“They cannot substitute the popular support, and the proof of what I’m talking about: Shah of Iran, the Western puppet, he couldn’t withstand the backlash of the Iranian people, and he collapsed. The whole system collapsed in a few weeks, and he had to flee his country.”

Assad is right, official narrative disinformation proliferated by the West, Israel and media scoundrels supporting them reflect the US-led diabolical agenda for regional and global hegemony.

Throughout years of war, “the Americans and their allies haven’t stopped threatening Syria,” Assad stressed.

“They haven’t stopped supporting the terrorists, and they haven’t stopped attacking us directly on numerous occasions. But in spite of this we have been advancing against the terrorists, and we have said that we’re going to liberate every inch of Syria regardless of any statement or any attack.”

“This is our land and this is our duty. It’s not a political opinion. It’s a national duty. We’re going to advance in that direction regardless of the military or political position of our adversaries.”

Syrian sovereign independence demands universal support, US-led aggression in the country a high crime demanding universal condemnation.

Source: https://stephenlendman.org/2018/06/syrian-president-bashar-al-assad-straight-talk/

Another Major US-Staged False Flag CW Attack Coming in Syria?

 

Another Major US-Staged False Flag CW Attack Coming in Syria?

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)

US-led aggression against Syrian targets followed false flag CW attacks on April 4, 2017 in Khan Sheikhoun, then a year later in Douma.

Assad had nothing to do with either incident, staged by US-supported terrorists, al-Qaeda-linked White Helmets involved, fake video and photos used.

Ahead of the Douma incident, Russia’s Defense Ministry warned it was coming.

Russian Gen. Yuri Yevtushenko repeated an initial warning, saying (US-supported) al-Nusra and so-called Free Syrian Army terrorists “are plotting explosions of makeshift chemical charges containing chlorine in a number of areas under their control,” adding:

Terrorists “plan to photograph and video the alleged effects of chemical weapons and show the clips to the public at large to blame government troops for civilians casualties, as well as to provide excuses for their own actions to disrupt ceasefire in Daraa” – along with hoping to slow the Syrian army’s advance in Douma at the time.

US-led terror-bombing followed both false flag incidents, Assad wrongfully blamed for what happened.

On Monday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov warned about US-supported Free Syrian Army terrorists, plotting another “chemical attack against civilians,” explaining:

“According to the information received via three independent channels in Syria, the command of the so-called Free Syrian Army with assistance from the servicemen of US special operations forces is preparing a serious provocation with the use of toxic substance in Deir Ezzor province,” adding:

“The staffed video, after it is disseminated in the Western media, should become new grounds for the US-led coalition to carry out a missile strike against Syrian state objects and to justify militants’ offensive against Syrian government troops on the eastern bank of Euphrates.”

US-led terror-bombing of Douma was more intense than a year earlier in Khah Sheikhoun. Perhaps what’s apparently coming will be more destructive than before.

Washington wants endless war continued, aiming to topple Syria’s legitimate government forcefully, wanting another imperial trophy – no end of conflict in sight, now in its 8th year.

Source: https://stephenlendman.org/2018/06/another-major-us-staged-false-flag-cw-attack-coming-in-syria/

Why Suicide Rates May Rise as Christianity Wanes

The recent suicides of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have renewed a national conversation about suicide and its causes.

Source: Why Suicide Rates May Rise as Christianity Wanes

Libya “Before And After” Photos Go Viral

A Libyan man who took photos of himself posing at various spots across Beghazi in 2000 has revisited the same locations 18 years later to photograph life under the new “NATO liberated” Libya.

The “before and after” pics showing the utter devastation of post-Gaddafi Libya have gone viral, garnering 50,000 retweets after they were posted to an account that features historical images of Libya under Gaddafi’s rule between 1969 and 2011.

It appears people do still care about Libya even if the political elites in Paris, London, and Washington who destroyed the country have moved on. Though we should recall that British foreign secretary Boris Johnson was caught on tape in a private meeting last year saying Libya was ripe for UK investment, but only after Libyans “clear the dead bodies away.”  

We previously detailed in Libya’s Slave Auctions And African Genocide: What Hillary Knew how Libya went from being a stable, modernizing secular state to a hellhole of roving jihadist militias, warring rival governments, and open-air slave auctions of captured migrants.

Yet what the viral photos confirm is that Libya was once a place of sprawling hotels, wide and clean city streets, functioning infrastructure, and lively neighborhoods. But these very places are now bullet-ridden ruins rotting amidst the political backdrop of the ‘Mad Max’ style chaos unleashed immediately after US-NATO’s bombing the country into regime change.

Hillary still says that she has no regrets even after Obama timidly voiced a half-hearted and too-little-too-late Libya mea culpa of sorts in 2016.

Though Hillary’s beloved Libyan Al Qaeda …”rebels” — legitimized and empowered through broad support from the West — are now among the very militias hosting slave auctions and fueling the European refugee crisis, she’s never so much as hinted that regime change in Libya left the country and much of the region in shambles. Instead, she simply chose to conclude her role in the tragic story of Libya with her crazed and gleeful declaration of “we came, we saw, he died.”

Regime change enthusiasts everywhere please take note of what your blind jingoism has wrought.

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A year before the NATO bombing of Libya the UN Development Programme (UNDP) assigned a Human Development Index (HDI) ranking of 53 to Libya (out of 169 countries ranked, Libya ranked highest on the African continent).

Right up until the eve of NATO’s air campaign against the Libyan state, international media outlets understood and acknowledged the country’s high human development rankings, though it later became inconvenient to present the empirical data. A February 2011 BBC report is a case in point.

The 2011 war and aftermath created a failed state with a once economically independent population now turned largely dependent on foreign aid and relief. 

Currently considered to be at “emergency levels” of need, prior to NATO intervention Libya was not even on the Word Food Program’s radar, yet is now considered a dire humanitarian disaster zone.

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Among the few editorials written in major Western publications in the midst NATO’s war on Libya warning of the consequences to come in real time was a 2011 piece for The Telegraph by Brendan O’Neill.

Though apparently now scrubbed from the internet [this no longer exists on The Telegraph site or in its archives: “The narcissism of the iPad imperialists who want to invade Libya,” Brendan O’Neill, The Telegraph (blogs), 25 February 2011], O’Neill’s article is worth revisiting.

The article is preserved and quoted extensively in the book, Slouching Towards Sirte: NATO’s War on Libya and Africa, which contains essential summary context laying out the role that international media played in 2011 and after in lying the public into war.

Below is an extensive excerpt from O’Neill’s “The narcissism of the iPad imperialists who want to invade Libya”… relevant as ever when in comes to the West’s continuing role in Libya, or in places like Syria, Yemen, or Afghanistan.

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In a modern political sphere that has its fair share of narcissists and ignoramuses, no one is quite as narcissistic or as ignorant as the liberal interventionist. From the comfort of his Home Counties home, possibly to the sound of birds tweeting on the windowsill, the liberal interventionist will write furious, spittle-stained articles about the need to invade faraway countries in order to topple their dictators. As casually and thoughtlessly as the rest of us write shopping lists, he will pen a 10-point plan for the bombing of Yugoslavia or Afghanistan or Iraq and not give a second thought to the potentially disastrous consequences.

Now, having learned nothing from the horrors that they cheer-led like excitable teenage girls over the past 15 years, these bohemian bombers, these latte-sipping lieutenants, these iPad imperialists are back. This time they’re demanding the invasion of Libya. In the Guardian Ian Birrell brushes aside the eight-year nightmare of Iraq in one sentence – we shouldn’t be “scarred by the foolishness of the Iraq invasion”, he says – as he calls on the international community to spearhead a “rapid intervention” to save the people of Libya. It’s like an “apocalyptic Hollywood film” and there are even “rumours of systematic male rape”, he says, proving once again that there is no situation so bad that it cannot be made to sound even worse by hacks seeking to emotionally blackmail NATO into dropping a couple of tonnes of bombs.

Over at Slate, a headline sums up the outlook of Libya-concerned liberals: “It’s time to intervene.” Apparently world leaders can send a message to the broader Arab world by getting a grip on the Libyan crisis now. “Before the region descends into protracted civil conflict, the international community has the opportunity, in Libya, to set an important precedent and save thousands of lives in the process.” Meanwhile, a gaggle of human rights groups is calling on the UN and the EU to intervene to “protect Libyan civilians from government killings”. The White Man’s Burden is alive and well, it seems, though it has been thoroughly de-Kiplingised and turned into a super-liberal, PC endeavour.

The ignorance of liberal interventionists is captured in the fact that they seem to have wilfully forgotten the disastrous interventions of the past 15 years, all of which, from Yugoslavia to Afghanistan to Iraq, exacerbated local tensions and led to more, not less, bloodshed. It takes a special kind of arrogance to be able to demand yet another international military venture when the terrible consequences of your last one are still plain to see. And their narcissism is contained in the fact that the real reason they are making these demands for war is to make themselves feel good, to demonstrate that they care with a capital C. They know nothing of the countries that they want to see invaded, and care little about the potential of such invasions to destabilise things further. No, all that matters is that in saying “Forget Iraq, let’s now attack Gaddafi!”, they can publicly demonstrate their own moral indefatigability.

Source: Libya “Before And After” Photos Go Viral

SBC Messengers Angry at VP Pence Invite, But Were Silent About 2015 Hillary Clinton Invitation

Hillary Clinton declined Russell Moore’s invitation to speak at the 2015 affair, but two non-evangelical politicians did not decline. No one complained.

The informal theme of the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting was supposed to be “wokeness,” an awareness of Social Justice and the supposed importance of its various Marxist implications. The SBC-sponsored veneration of Martin Luther King Jr – a man of dubious theological beliefs and abysmal moral character – at the MLK50 event leading up to the annual conference set the stage for more than a month promoting Critical Race Theory and egalitarianism. The #MeToo Movement drove the Convention chatter in the weeks prior to this event, with forces within the Evangelical Deep State ousting Dr. Paige Patterson for what has (thus far) been unsubstantiated or (at best) weak and decades-old allegations of gender insensitivity. Upcoming SBC president, JD Greear, used the opportunity to push for female leadership in churches and within the denomination, and racial incendiaries like Thabiti Anyabwile, Kyle J. Howard, Eric Mason and Dwight Marxissic all shifted their racial gears to overdrive on female empowerment, some even floating the idea of nominating Beth Moore as president of the SBC in the next few years. The leftist-progressive wheel of change missed a cog, however, when it was announced that Vice President Mike Pence would be addressing the Convention on Wednesday. Those invested in the denomination’s hard push left were outraged that the conservative Christian leader would be invited to speak to messengers, but ironically, there is virtually no record of outrage when Russell Moore invited Hillary Clinton and two Roman Catholic politicians to address a much larger SBC event in 2015.

SBC Voices, an echo chamber, peanut gallery and amen choir of Southern Baptist bloggers who are programmed what to think by the Evangelical Intelligentsia – the very same ones who would have strongly resisted the ideological strong left turn only a few short years ago – voiced their anger at the Pence invitation, apparently unaware of their double standards that have been floating around by every shifting wind of doctrine.

Brent Hobbes

Brent Hobbes, who Pulpit & Pen has written about numerous times before, took a break from the Convention’s affairs to quickly pen an article entitled, Mike Pence Should Not Address #SBC2018. Speaking for the growing Social Justice contingent in the quickly liberalizing contingent of the SBC, Hobbes said:

I understand it would be a kind of honor to have the Vice President of the United States address the convention. A kind of honor. But not the kind we should be seeking. The focus of our meeting should be brokenness and repentance. A theology of the cross – as opposed to a theology of glory. Many have called for an extended time of prayer so that we can mourn and lament. I don’t know if that will take place or not. But does a visit from the Vice President fit that spirit? How can it? How does it send any other message than, “Look at us! The power and prestige of Southern Baptists – who have the friendship of those in our nation’s highest office!”

Jonathan Merritt

It may or may not be lost on Hobbes and other complainers that it’s been a tradition for Southern Baptists to invite the POTUS to speak to its gathering, at least whenever the administration is friendly to a Judeo-Christian worldview. President George W. Bush, for example, spoke to the SBC annual convention on June 2, 2011, by invitation of then-president of the convention, James Merritt (who now seems to be much more aligned with the Social Justice contingent of the SBC, and is the father of prominent homosexual journalist, Jonathan Merritt). This had been forgotten in the Obama years, with the president who considered most Southern Baptists to be “bitter clingers” who held on to their Bibles and guns.

Pence was once a Roman Catholic but embraced the Gospel at a Christian music concert. His conversion not only took him away from Priestcraft, which greatly disappointed his family, but also led him away from the Democratic Party (which genuine conversion is bound to do). Pence has been a member of Grace Evangelical Church in Indianapolis, a church affliated with the Evangelical Free Church, which is a relatively orthodox denomination. Pence has been a friend of Christian values, serving as governor of Indiana to help defund Planned Parenthood and defend religious liberty. Without any hesitation, Vice President Pence has done more to protect religious liberty both in Indiana and nationwide than a thousand Russell Moores. One would think that inviting Pence to give a short talk to the Convention messengers would make absolute sense. And yet, it has angered those who thought this year’s convention would only serve as a hat-tip to the progressive left wing of the SBC run by Russell Moore, Danny Akin, and Albert Mohler.

Hobbes wrote:

I can’t see any way for a member of a President’s administration to address the convention without our convention being seen as supportive and politically tied. When Mike Pence enters, he’ll receive a standing ovation from a (likely vast) majority of the messengers. This will alienate those in our own family who by conviction do not or cannot support this administration. Instead of standing together in unity over the gospel, our political differences will be put on display for an extended ovation.

Of course, Hobbes and the SBC’s left wing have a terribly short memory.

Russell Moore, who has repeatedly used his position as SBC spokesman on political issues to attack Donald Trump and the Trump administration (as well as any pastors who support them) – the same Russell Moore who is operating as the braintrust that runs the Social Justice wing of the convention, invited Hillary Clinton to speak at an official Southern Baptist event in August of 2015. At the North American Mission Board (NAMB) “Send Conference,” Moore invited three non-Christians to speak to Southern Baptists, including two Roman Catholics – Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush – who ended up accepting the invitation. Not accepting the invitation was Hillary Clinton. Nonetheless, Hillary Clinton was invited to speak to quantitatively more Southern Baptists than will be present to hear Vice President Mike Pence.

At the time, Moore drew a small amount of criticism for not inviting politicians who were actual Christians to speak, or those associated with Southern Baptist Churches, like Mike Huckabee (a former president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention), Ted Cruz or Rick Perry. Moore did not receive any criticism from Brent Hobbes, Dwight Marxissic, Eric Mason, Thabiti Anyabwile or others for inviting non-believing politicians to address Convention members or even for inviting Hillary Clinton (who claims membership in the United  Methodist Church), who is opposed to virtually anything closely resembling a Judeo-Christian worldview.

The post SBC Messengers Angry at VP Pence Invite, But Were Silent About 2015 Hillary Clinton Invitation appeared first on Pulpit & Pen.

Jesus calls you to hate your family. Here’s why

I can’t count the times he said to me, “I like you, Robinson, but I can certainly do without your religion”—“religion” meaning my commitment to Christ. He held a particular disdain for claims that the Bible is the Word of God.

One day, my friend and fellow newspaper reporter showed up at my desk with a sardonic grin on his face and an open Bible in his hands. This was going to be one of those conversations I enjoyed much less than our debates over the greatest all-time college football player (it’s Herschel Walker).

“I found something that proves the Bible contradicts itself,” he said. “Jesus is supposed to be all about love and peace, right? Well, listen to this.” He slowly read Luke 14:26, verbally underscoring one word:

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

No doubt, it is one of the most staggering phrases to come from Jesus’s lips. I don’t recall my response, but my colleague raised a valid question. What does Jesus mean by “hate” here?

Hate speech?

After all, this is gentle Jesus, meek and mild. The Jesus who summons us to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43–46); the one Isaiah calls the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6); the Jesus who promised the world will know his followers by their love (John 13:35). And yet this Jesus is asking me to hate my wife, my children, and my parents? Elsewhere, Scripture commands me to love my wife (Eph. 5:25), my children (Eph. 6:4), my parents (Exod. 20:12). What could our Savior possibly mean by this incendiary—and seemingly contradictory—ultimatum?

If we take a closer look at the surrounding context, the nutshell meaning of his distressing words is as clear and concise as it is radical and revolutionary. Jesus is telling his followers: “If you would be a Christian, I must have it all.” We may be scandalized by the “hate” speech, but I suspect in stumbling over Jesus’s plain talk, we can miss the real scandal of this text: There will be rivals warring for supremacy over the throne of our hearts, but our love for King Jesus must defeat every one.

Matthew 10:37 may provide the interpretational key to unlock what Jesus means by “hate” here: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Yes, we are to exhibit deep affections for our closest earthly kin, but Jesus is saying we must love even them less than we do him if we would prove to be genuine disciples. Of course, it’s also true that I will love my family and friends well in direct to proportion to the depth of my love for Jesus.

Sell all and buy Christ

Jesus is not demanding that you literally hate your family. He is using hyperbole to illustrate the steep cost of following him. Any prospective follower must be glad to give up everything, to love him unreservedly—to sell all in order to have him as your highest treasure (Matt. 13:44–46). Our affections for Christ must be of such an intensity and quality that, by comparison, all other loves seem like hate.

This is the first of three sobering warnings in Luke 14:26-33 against making a hasty decision to follow Jesus. A genuine disciple must:

Love Jesus even more than your earthly family (v. 26).

Take up your cross and follow him (v. 27).

Be willing to lay down everything—even your life—and go hard after him (v. 33).

As a skilled expositor, the Lord illustrates his point with two pictures: A wise builder won’t construct a tower unless he’s first made certain he has enough materials to complete it. A wise king won’t go to war unless he knows his army possesses enough firepower to have a fighting chance at repelling the enemy.

God gives us a vivid application or illustration—perhaps even more shocking than Jesus’s words—of the potential cost of discipleship in Genesis 22.

Gift or giver?

God gave Abraham and Sarah their first son when they were senior citizens. The long-awaited son was the one through whom God would bring a greater son to rescue his people from sin and death. But God did something that must have stretched Abraham’s faith to a breaking point: He told the patriarch to take the boy to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him as an act of worship.

It’s a test none of us would want to endure. Would Abraham love the gift more than the Giver? Of course, we know how it turned out. Abraham trusted God, who provided a substitute—a ram to sacrifice in Isaac’s place, giving us one of the clearest gospel pictures in the Old Testament.

Abraham’s faith, displayed in his obedience, powerfully illustrates what our Lord is driving at in Luke 14:26: “Yes, your spouse and kids and relatives are good gifts from my hands, but to which will you give your heart: them or me?”

That’s what Jesus is driving at in Luke 14:26. But how, then, should we live in light of it?

What does it apply to us?

It means at least four things for us.

1. In speaking the gospel, tell them to count the cost.

Three times, Jesus uses a conditional “if . . . cannot” formula, concluding in verse 33: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” In other words, “If I do not have all of you, you will have none of me.” When we proclaim the gospel, we must avoid communicating cheap grace. Following Jesus demands our life, our soul, our all—otherwise, Jesus said, “you cannot be my disciple.”

We must explain the cost as Jesus explained it to the rich young ruler. It was love that drove Jesus to unmask the young man’s hypocrisy: he hadn’t kept God’s law because he was guilty of loving his wealth more than his neighbor (Mark 10:21).

2. Following Jesus may not make your life easier.

Much popular preaching promises that believing in Jesus will make your life easier. Perhaps a desire to see as many people as possible converted to Christ drives such preaching, I hope so. And there is profound joy in following Christ; there are pleasures forevermore at his right hand (Ps. 16:10). But if we would hear the message of Luke 14, we must admit there’s a real sense in which your trouble may be just beginning when you follow Jesus.

For one thing, it may not make your family life better. “I came not to bring peace but a sword,” Jesus declared. “For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household” (Matt. 10:34–36). As J. C. Ryle put it, a Christian must be willing to offend his family rather than offend his King. Think of the many who’ve been disowned by parents after spurning Allah, Buddha, or the Watchtower Society in favor of Christ. On his way to Moriah, it’s doubtful Abraham thought, My best life is now.

3. Clinging to Christ loosens our grip on even our most intimate earthly relations.

Losing close family members and friends is heartbreaking; but even so, we can rejoice in Christ. My father died 27 years ago. My mother died in January. I think of dad daily, and the wounds are still fresh from saying goodbye to mom. Even so, I will always have Christ—and he must be enough.

4. They who trust him wholly, find him wholly true.

Can you imagine Abraham’s journey up that mountain? He was no supersaint. The obedience must have been agonizing. Yet he trusted God when it seemed impossible. And God provided a lamb, just as he has for us.

I’m not sure how my former colleague would respond to the answer I’ve given here nearly three decades later. But I know Luke 14:26 is a deliberately unsettling way for my Savior to call me to love him supremely—even if it costs my life. No matter what, it’s worth it.

This article was originally published at TGC.

The post Jesus calls you to hate your family. Here’s why appeared first on Southern Equip.

Andy Stanley, Modern Liberal

J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism, first published in 1923, has shown amazing resiliency in the applicability of its message. When I heard Andy Stanley’s recent comments that we should stop asking, “What does the Bible say about that?” Machen’s words immediately came to mind. According to Stanley, that terrible question should be exchanged for, “What does the New Covenant teach?” or “Even better, what does Jesus teach?” because the two covenants conflict. Watch his comments here, or the full message entitled “Mix ‘N Match” here. In light of Stanley’s teaching, read the quote below from Machen, but every time Machen writes about the modern liberal substitute the name Andy Stanley.
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If the Christian make full use of his Christian privileges, he finds the seat of authority in the whole Bible, which he regards as no mere word of man but as the very Word of God. Very different is the view of modern liberalism. The modern liberal rejects not only the doctrine of plenary inspiration but even such respect for the Bible as would be proper over against any ordinarily trustworthy book. But what is substituted for the Christian view of the Bible? What is the liberal view as to the seat of authority in religion?

The impression is sometimes produced that the modern liberal substitutes for the authority of the Bible the authority of Christ. He cannot accept, he says, what he regards as the perverse moral teaching of the Old Testament or the sophistical arguments of Paul. But he regards himself as being the true Christian because, rejecting the rest of the Bible, he depends upon Jesus alone.
This impression, however, is utterly false. The modern liberal does not really hold to the authority of Jesus. Even if he did so, indeed, he would still be impoverishing greatly his knowledge of God and of the way of salvation.

The words of Jesus, spoken during His earthly ministry, could hardly contain all that we need to know about God and about the way of salvation; for the meaning of Jesus’ redeeming work could hardly be fully set forth before that work was done. It could be set forth indeed by way of prophecy, and as a matter of fact, it was so set forth by Jesus even in the days of His flesh. But the full explanation could naturally be given only after the work was done. And such was actually the divine method. It is doing despite, not only to the Spirit of God but also to Jesus Himself, to regard the teaching of the Holy Spirit, given through the apostles, as at all inferior in authority to the teaching of Jesus.

As a matter of fact, however, the modern liberal does not hold fast even to the authority of Jesus. Certainly, he does not accept the words of Jesus as they are recorded in the Gospels. For among the recorded words of Jesus are to be found just those things which are most abhorrent to the modern liberal Church, and in His recorded words Jesus also points forward to the fuller revelation which was afterwards to be given through His apostles. Evidently, therefore, those words of Jesus which are to be regarded as authoritative by modern liberalism must first be selected from the mass of the recorded words by a critical process. The critical process is certainly very difficult, and the suspicion often arises that the critic is retaining as genuine words of the historical Jesus only those words which conform to his own preconceived ideas. But even after the sifting process has been completed, the liberal scholar is still unable to accept as authoritative all the sayings of Jesus; he must finally admit that even the “historical” Jesus as reconstructed by modern historians said some things that are untrue.

So much is usually admitted. But, it is maintained, although not everything that Jesus said is true, His central “life-purpose” is still to be regarded as regulative for the Church. But what then was the life-purpose of Jesus? According to the shortest, and if modern criticism be accepted, the earliest of the Gospels, the Son of Man “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mk. 10:45). Here the vicarious death is put as the “life-purpose” of Jesus. Such an utterance must, of course, be pushed aside by the modern liberal Church.

The truth is that the life-purpose of Jesus discovered by modern liberalism is not the life-purpose of the real Jesus, but merely represents those elements in the teaching of Jesus—isolated and misinterpreted—which happen to agree with the modern program. It is not Jesus, then, who is the real authority, but the modern principle by which the selection within Jesus’ recorded teaching has been made. Certain isolated ethical principles of the Sermon on the Mount are accepted, not at all because they are teachings of Jesus, but because they agree with modern ideas.

It is not true at all, then, that modern liberalism is based upon the authority of Jesus. It is obliged to reject a vast deal that is absolutely essential in Jesus’ example and teaching—notably His consciousness of being the heavenly Messiah. The real authority, for liberalism, can only be “the Christian consciousness” or “Christian experience.” But how shall the findings of the Christian consciousness be established? Surely not by a majority vote of the organized Church. Such a method would obviously do away with all liberty of conscience. The only authority, then, can be individual experience; truth can only be that which “helps” the individual man. Such an authority is obviously no authority at all; for individual experience is endlessly diverse, and when once truth is regarded only as that which works at any particular time, it ceases to be truth. The result is an abysmal skepticism.

The Christian man, on the other hand, finds in the Bible the very Word of God. Let it not be said that dependence upon a book is a dead or an artificial thing. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was founded upon the authority of the Bible, yet it set the world aflame. Dependence upon a word of man would be slavish, but dependence upon God’s word is life. Dark and gloomy would be the world, if we were left to our own devices, and had no blessed Word of God. The Bible, to the Christian, is not a burdensome law, but the very Magna Charta of Christian liberty.

It is no wonder, then, that liberalism is totally different from Christianity, for the foundation is different. Christianity is founded upon the Bible. It bases upon the Bible both its thinking and its life. Liberalism, on the other hand, is founded upon the shifting emotions of sinful men.

 

[J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1923), 64-66.]

 

The post Andy Stanley, Modern Liberal appeared first on Prince on Preaching.

#PressRelease: Remember North Korea’s Persecuted Christians

Institute on Religion & Democracy Press Release
June 12, 2018
Contact: Chelsen Vicari, Cell: 540-239-2170, E-mail: cvicari@TheIRD.org

Washington, DC—Tuesday’s historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un resulted in promises of nuclear disarmament and security. However, it is uncertain if protecting and advancing human rights was among the leaders’ commitments. There are deep concerns, and reports, that the summit between the presidents of the United States and North Korea would not touch on North Korea’s egregious human rights abuses.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2018 report ranks North Korea as a “Tier One” country. The situation remains especially alarming for Christians living under North Korea’s Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Examples of North Korea’s atrocious persecution of Christians cited by IRD International Religious Liberty Program Director Faith J.H. McDonnell include:

• A former DPRK prison guard testifying before Congress confirmed the regime’s intense hatred for Christians. In one incident he recounted a woman, in prison because she was a Christian, was kicked repeatedly and left for days because a prison guard overheard her praying for a child (Yes, children are in prison camps because the regime imprisons three generations of a family for the transgression of one member.)
• In prison factories, guards poured molten steel on Christians to kill them because believing in God instead of Kim Il-sung was the biggest crime in the eyes of the officials.
• 2004 BBC documentary Access to Evil interviewed several defectors, former prison officials, who revealed that North Korea conducts deadly experiments on prisoners with gas chambers and chemicals. They indicated that those prisoners the regime considered “enemies of the state,” particularly Christians, were selected for the experiments. The former prison camp official watched a Christian family die in the gas chamber, with parents trying to shield their children from the fumes to the very end.

McDonnell commented:

“Try as it might, North Korea’s government has never wiped out Christianity. Some experts say that there are as many as 400,000 secret believers, most of whom became Christians in China or through contact with Chinese or South Korean Christians. They live in constant threat of imprisonment or execution.

“Few American Christians lose sleep over their fellow Christians in North Korea – if they even know they exist.

“Perhaps American Christians don’t know that the same regime that threatened to turn the United States into a pile of ash turns its own wretched citizens who die in political prison camps into piles of ash? It then uses them as fertilizer. In that appalling action, North Korea demonstrates one way in which it wipes out the very existence of Christians, as well as other political prisoners.

“While U.S. Christian organizations like the National Council of Churches and the National Association of Evangelicals have ignored the plight of Christians in North Korea and focused on a pacifistic approach to the summit, those who track North Korea’s human rights abuses approached the summit as an opportunity to help the country’s Christians, and indeed, all of the beleaguered citizens of the DPRK.

“We urge the Trump Administration to follow the example of President Ronald Reagan who rightly linked the advancement of human rights, including religious freedom, with nuclear disarmament.

“Barring divine intervention, only a drastic, verifiable change in the way that Kim Jong-un treats his own people, including the so-called ‘hostiles,’ the Christians, may indicate the possibility of North Korea ending its own hostility towards the free world.”

Source: #PressRelease: Remember North Korea’s Persecuted Christians

Suicide: America’s Epidemic of Despair? — David Fiorazo

Two famous people took their own lives last week, and that same week, 850 others committed suicide in the U.S. alone. Every human being is equally valuable and created by God for a purpose, so how many more deaths will it take for us to admit we have an epidemic of hopelessness? Maybe it’s time we address it in a different way.

In less than twenty years, suicide rates in America have increased more than 30 percent in half the country; it’s on the rise in almost every state. Nearly 45,000 Americans died by suicide in 2016, and unlike the rich and famous, you will never know their names.

TV personality Anthony Bourdain and designer Kate Spade took their own lives, and both were famous and wealthy.

Why are we surprised when things of this world fail to satisfy?

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. – and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it’s one of only three causes of death (Alzheimer’s, drug overdoses) that are increasing. Worldwide, someone dies by suicide every forty seconds.

A recent CDC study suggests more than half of those who commit suicide did not have a mental health condition. Over half. Some had problems involving relationships, finances, health, or substance abuse while others didn’t have any of these. But the end result was the same.

I don’t mean to over simplify a very serious and complicated issue here, but as important as it is to diagnose and treat mental illnesses, it’s perhaps even more important to acknowledge the often ignored spiritual aspect.

We’re just passing through this life, and our true citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:20).

C.S. Lewis once stated:

“If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.”

You’ve heard the saying, ‘there’s a God-shaped hole in all of us’ which means we have a void only our Creator can fill. The Bible says God has set eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11), and we were made to be in a relationship with our Maker, to love others and be loved by Him.

Author and blogger, Matt Walsh wrote a though-provoking article saying discussions about suicide need to go much deeper than mental health.

“I think we live in an empty culture. We have fled from God, from meaning, from purpose, and the suicide epidemic is a direct result. People are wallowing in despair, believing there is no transcendent truth or beauty to be found in life.”

In a culture that has embraced narcissism and moral relativism in which there are no fixed absolutes, we seek our own happiness and meaning and most of us end up living by a morality of shallow self-fulfillment and temporary pleasure.

Some will insist the suicide rate is climbing due to a mental health crisis, but how do they explain only a fraction of people committed suicide decades ago when family and society was more stable, and mental health was not a known issue?

Whether it is depression, hopelessness, loneliness, or one of the many other reasons people attempt suicide, they all have to do with suffering. And one of man’s solutions to physical pain and suffering is euthanasia, also known as “mercy killing” or even “death with dignity.”

Even the American Medical Association (AMA) has described physician-assisted suicide as a serious risk to society and “fundamentally incompatible with a physician’s role as healer.”

Four states have physician-assisted suicide. Oregon has permitted it since 1997. Even more tragic, 68 percent of Americans now support the idea – including 4 in 10 professing evangelicals – saying it it’s okay for doctors to help terminally ill patients end their lives. Unfortunately, opposition to assisted suicide is dying which indicates our civilized society doesn’t trust God and is unwilling to stand for life.

So today, when a person commits suicide themselves, some ignorantly use words such as courageous or inspirational. Is this really the message we want to send those who may be considering ending their lives? Too many have been duped into thinking this life is all there is, and their only future is a grave. They accept death when they could choose life!

People turn to anything but God when they feel despair and emptiness, failing to realize we all live forever. Following God’s judgment of mankind, our spirits live on in either one of two destinations, the slums and torments of Hell being one option.

From the unborn, the disabled, and the elderly to the addict, the jobless, homeless, or hopeless, every human being is worthy of dignity and respect. I’s time we address the problem God’s way.

C.S. Lewis explains:

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

We don’t deserve mercy so it’s hard to believe the Gospel is true. But it is. Jesus died for our sins, and if we repent and believe, we can have everlasting life. The offer is for everyone, and we each must decide whether to accept or reject it. A permanent, eternal holiday with the Lord sounds pretty good to me.

(VIDEO COMING SOON)

Further study:

Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.  John 14:1-6

“For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge;

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come; we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:4-5, 10, 15, 17, 20‬ ‭

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…  Revelation 21:4-6

Source: Suicide: America’s Epidemic of Despair?

Ten scientific problems with global warming alarmism

WINTERY KNIGHT

Satellite measurements of global climate from U of Alabama Huntsville

My friend Bruce posted this article from the the Daily Wire, and I think it’s a good summary of the scientific evidence against global warming alarmism. After we go over this, I’ll take a stab at explaining why so many non-scientists desperately want to believe that global warming is true, and why they try to push everyone else to believe it, too.

First, the list:

1. Temperature records from around the world do not support the assumption that today’s temperatures are unusual.
2. Satellite temperature data does not support the assumption that temperatures are rising rapidly
3. Current temperatures are always compared to the temperatures of the 1980’s, but for many parts of the world the 1980’s was the coldest decade of the last 100+ years
4. The world experienced a significant cooling trend between 1940 and 1980
5. Urban heat island effect skews the…

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JUNE 12 CHRIST MADE THE WORLD

God…hath…spoken unto us by his Son…by whom also he made the worlds.

Hebrews 1:1–2

Think about the world into which our Lord Jesus Christ came—it is actually Christ’s world!

Every section of this earth that we buy and sell and kick around and take by force of arms is a part of Christ’s world. He made it all, and He owns it all.

Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, made the world. He made the very atoms of which Mary was made; the atoms of which His own body was made. He made the straw in the manger upon which He was laid as a newborn baby.

Let me digress here. I hear an occasional devotional exercise on the radio, in which the participants ask: “Mary, mother of God, pray for us!” It is only right that we should express our position based on the Word of God, and the truth is that Mary is dead and she is not the “mother of God.”

Mary was the mother of that tiny babe, for God in His loving and wise plan of redemption used the body of the virgin Mary as the matrix to give the eternal Son a human body. We join in giving her proper honor when we refer to her as Mary, mother of Christ.

Lord, help me and my family make the appropriate choices to be excellent stewards of this world that You created for us to enjoy.^[1]

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^[1] Tozer, A. W. (2015). Mornings with tozer: daily devotional readings. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.

June 12 Truth2Freedom Briefing Report (US•World•Christian)

REUTERS

President Donald Trump said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged at a historic summit on Tuesday to move toward complete denuclearization, while the United States promised its old foe security guarantees.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe praised North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s promise on Tuesday to rid to Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged the international community to offer support on carrying out the agreement on steps toward denuclearization between the United States and North Korea.

Iran warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday against trusting U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he could cancel their denuclearization agreement within hours.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised China’s President Xi Jinping for helping secure an agreement toward North Korea’s denuclearization, and said the deal would be good for Beijing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was questioned by Israeli police on Tuesday for the first time in an investigation into a $2 billion sale of three German Thyssenkrupp submarines to Israel, but is not a suspect, police said.

The Afghan Taliban denounced “American occupying forces” for attacking their Voice of Shariah Radio station in the central province of Ghazni, but the United States denied the charge and said Afghan air force planes had targeted a broadcasting tower.

Norway will ask the United States to more than double the number of U.S. Marines stationed in the country in a move that could raise tensions with its eastern neighbor Russia.

Italy plans to transfer some migrants crammed aboard a charity boat onto other vessels on Tuesday and then sail them all to Spain, despite appeals from humanitarian groups to let the group land immediately.

The oil industry will face the biggest squeeze on its spare production capacity in more than three decades if OPEC and its allies agree next week to hike crude output, leaving the world more at risk of a price spike from any supply disruption.

AP Top Stories

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that Ohio could continue to use an aggressive process for removing people from its voting rolls, saying the procedure did not run afoul of federal voter protections.

The United States placed five Russian companies and three individuals on its sanctions blacklist Monday for allegedly supporting the FSB intelligence agency’s hacking operations, including a firm involved in subsea operations.

Officials on Hawaii’s Big Island are letting some people back into their homes and scaling down emergency operations as lava flows into the ocean on a path that isn’t threatening new areas.

Britain has urged the UAE not to press ahead with an assault on Yemen’s main port following UN warnings that the attack could leave hundreds of thousands dead in a country already on the brink of famine.

Some of Africa’s oldest and biggest baobab trees — a few dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks — have abruptly died, wholly or in part, in the past decade, researchers said Monday.

The United States is due to open a new embassy in Taiwan on Tuesday, but plans to send a junior minister to avoid igniting a diplomatic row with China.

BBC

The US attorney general has ruled that victims of domestic abuse and gang violence should no longer generally qualify for asylum in the US.

Escalating violence in Cameroon has led to armed separatists and security forces attacking and torturing people in the country’s Anglophone regions, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

French President Emmanuel Macron has accused the Italian government of “cynicism and irresponsibility” for refusing to let a stranded rescue ship packed with migrants dock in Italy.

Six German states have been told to pull some 73,000 eggs from sale after residue was detected from an insecticide called fipronil.

The women in a village near Barcelona have voted to go topless in public swimming pools, scrapping a local ban.

WND

Google plans to add words such as “gun-grips” and “scopes and sights” to its list of prohibited AdWords later this month. Other words are “stocks,” “conversion kits,” and “tripods and bipods”. YouTube, which is owned by Google’s parent company, already has been banned all gun demonstration videos.

Customers at a McDonald’s restaurant in Australia have taken to social media to complain about strict bathroom policies that have caused “accidents”. In order to use the bathroom at the fast-food restaurant in Maroochydore, Queensland, customers claim they have to first place their order and use the code on the bottom of the receipt to get access to the toilet – a system in place at multiple McDonald’s restaurants in the UK.

NASA estimates that the total value of asteroids out there could be up to $700 quintillion – equivalent to £75 billion each for us here on Earth.

As many jurisdictions move to implement a $15-an-hour minimum wage, a new study is out showing that higher minimum wages have increased poverty in poor neighborhoods. “The clear evidence here is that the minimum wage doesn’t deliver long-run gains and welfare doesn’t deliver long-run gains,” said David Neumark said, the director of the Economic Self-Sufficiency Policy Research Institute at the university.

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News – 6/12/2018

Major research reveals CRISPR gene-editing could increase cancer risk in cells

“When we looked at this further, we found that cutting the genome with CRISPR-Cas9 induced the activation of a protein known as p53, which acts like a cell’s alarm system, signaling that DNA is damaged, and opens the cellular ‘first aid kit’ that repairs damage to the DNA,” explains Emma Haapaniemi, first author on the Karolinska study. “The triggering of this system makes editing much more difficult.” The problem this research raises is that an absence pf p53 in cells may on one hand result in the CRISPR process being more effective, but it also makes a cell much more likely to become cancerous.

Opportunity fights for life amidst a giant Martian dust storm

NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover has gone into minimal operating mode as it rides out a giant dust storm that is blotting out the Sun. The storm, which is much worse than originally thought, is preventing the solar panels from recharging the veteran probe’s batteries, but mission control have said that NASA engineers received a signal from Opportunity on Sunday morning. One of Mars’ more unusual characteristics is its tendency to generate dust storms of incredible size. When NASA’s Mariner 9 orbiter arrived at Mars in 1971, there was a storm so great that it engulfed the entire planet and left the surface blotted out for two months. This fact is not only of scientific interest, it also has an impact of present and future missions to the Red Planet.

North Korea recommits to ‘complete denuclearization,’ Trump offers ‘security guarantees’ at extraordinary summit

Both leaders expressed optimism throughout roughly five hours of talks, with Trump thanking Kim afterward “for taking the first bold step toward a bright new future for his people.” Kim, for his part, said the leaders had “decided to leave the past behind” and promised: “The world will see a major change.”

Arab Media: For First Time, Iran Admits Connection to 9/11

An Iranian official recently admitted on state television that his government helped the majority Saudi terrorists on their way to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. This Iranian role in helping Sunni al-Qaeda commit the most heinous terrorist attack in US history was long-suspected by the American government but, until now, was never confirmed.

Small Business Euphoric About Trump As Optimism Soars To 34 Year High

The May Small Business Optimism Index increased to the second highest level in the NFIB survey’s 45-year history, rising to 107.8 from 104.8, the highest level in 34 years,…

Bill Clinton: Norms of ‘What You Can Do to Someone Against Their Will’ Have Changed

The former president’s comments are shocking, and particularly tone-deaf in the era of #MeToo. President Bill Clinton’s new interview with PBS NewsHour, which aired last week, featured some shocking, and strikingly tone-deaf, comments from the former president about sexual harassment and assault, including his opinion that “what you can do to someone against their will” has changed. (Video)

Singapore, Astana and St Petersburg All Mean the Same Thing: A New World Order Is Coming

Ahead of the crucial Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao this coming weekend, three other recent events have offered clues on how the new world order is coming about.

Trump Wants Belligerent Palestinian Negotiator Booted

The Palestinian Authority’s long-time chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, has made a career of sticking to his movement’s hard-line demands, and of publicly rejecting all Israeli claims, be they legal, historical or religious. And US President Donald Trump’s had enough of him.

Voters win in Supremes’ election decision

Dissenters based opposition on ’emotional thinking with no basis in facts or logic’. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the constitutionality of an Ohio law that removes people from voters rolls after six years if they do not vote during that time or respond to state efforts to verify their residence in the state.

Agenda 21: The Plan to Depopulate 95% of the World by 2030 is Already Underway

…The United Nations looks for to co-opt, by means of specific federal governments, and eventually, a “one world federal government,” independently held land under auspices of guaranteeing its “sustainability.”

Why Putin and Trump Will Align Against the NWO

…the EU and the G7 are aligning against America in the same fashion that they have already conspired against Russia by kicking them out of the G8 and changing their name to the G7. This organization, which is a tool of the New World Order crowd, has devised and implemented, through their friends at the UN, a devastating Muslim immigration problem designed to destroy France, Italy, Germany and other first-world nations whose leaders will not police their borders under the threat of George Soros. Much of Europe is destroyed  and now the G7 is trying to ensnare both Russia and the United States in the same trap.

In China, ‘Social Credit’ System Forces Citizens Into Submission To The State
When your personal data turns bad, whether real or imagined, China will basically ex-communicate you from the good life, and they have already done this to tens of millions of detractors. This is as effective as Tiananmen Square slaughter, but was implemented slowly so people never had a clue what was happening to them. Now, they are trapped, shunned, penalized and in some cases, destitute.

PM Netanyahu just made the Iranian government and their people an offer they can’t refuse
…Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released a video Sunday in which made an “unprecedented offer” to the Iranian people to help solve Iran’s water crisis by creating a Farsi website with detailed plans on Israeli water conservation technologies and strategies.

Despite the massive rise in crime, sexual assault and murder, German leftist political leaders want totally open borders and legal escape routes for Muslim refugees

Die Linke, a German far-left party called on congress for open borders and legal escape routes for refugees, DW news reports.

In Guatemala, woman searches for 50 relatives buried by volcano Eufemia Garcia watched in horror as Guatemala’s Fuego volcano sent scalding ash and gas surging over her home a week ago, burying her children and grandson among 50 of her extended family. She has been searching for their remains ever since.

Politician Shot Dead After Promising To Fight Violent Crime

A candidate running for a seat in the Mexican Chamber of Deputies was shot dead just minutes after taking part in an electoral debate.

Columbia and Yale scientists just found the spiritual part of our brains

Scientists seek to quantify everything—even the ineffable. And so the human search for meaning recently took a physical turn as Columbia and Yale University researchers isolated the place in our brains that processes spiritual experiences.

Ramadan Rage: Jihadists Have Killed, Injured 1,365 with One Week to Go

Islamic terrorists have killed 605 people and maimed an additional 760 so far during the ongoing holiest month for Muslims, Ramadan, a Breitbart News count shows.

Obama Holding Secret Closed-Door Meetings In Washington To Groom 2020 ‘Trump Killer’ Democrat Candidates
EDITOR’S NOTE: Former 2-time president Barack Obama is holding court, but not publicly. From his compound located deep in the heart of the World Wildlife Fund building in Washington’s elite West End district, Obama has officially started grooming candidates he thinks will be a ‘Trump Killer’ in the 2020 elections. To date, Obama has refused to comment on any of these meetings or even acknowledge they are even taking place. On another front, Barack and Michelle Obama have signed a deal with Netflix to make social justice propaganda ‘documentaries’ through their nascent Higher Ground production company. The Obama shadow government is in place and fully functioning.

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Mid-Day Snapshot

The Foundation “Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?” —Thomas Jefferson (1801)

In Today’s Edition Trump’s real strategy with North Korea is beyond the Leftmedia’s framing. Rainbow Mafia tolerance is on display again for “Pride Month.” American leadership is still needed on the world stage. Bill Maher joins Democrats in hoping for recession to hurt Trump. Dangerous people are teaching your kids. Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

Trump’s Real NoKo Strategy His goal is to bring about a denuclearized North Korea. Everything else is secondary. American Leadership Is Still Necessary in the World But it’s also clear that the world’s elitists reject that leadership under Donald Trump. Rainbow Mafia to Christians: ‘Shut Up’ Two episodes of gross intolerance illustrate the real agenda of “Pride Month.” Bill Maher Hopes for a Recession He believes that democracy is dying under Trump. Nothing could be further from the truth. Video: Dangerous People Are Teaching Your Kids They are indoctrinating young minds throughout the West with their resentment-ridden ideology. Tuesday Short Cuts “We’re at the point where it’s more acceptable to curse the president at an awards show than to insult murderous MS-13 gang members.” —@hale_razor Tuesday Top Headlines Trump-Kim summit, asylum change, credit and guns, Supreme Court, and more.

Today’s Opinion Gary Bauer Trump Makes History in Singapore Hans von Spakovsky Supreme Court Gives States the Green Light to Clean Up Voter Rolls Rich Lowry Trudeau Is Annoying, Not an Adversary Dennis Prager Miss America: The Latest Institution Destroyed by the Left Todd Starnes Christian Teacher Forced Out Over School’s Transgender Policy

Today’s Meme

Today’s Cartoon

ApostasyWatch Daily News

Jim Baumgaertel – The Evangelical Subculture

Dr. David Jeremiah endorses Jesus Calling

Gay Christians ‘being forced out’ by evangelical churches

Library System Hosting ‘Over-the-Top’ Story Hour With Men, Women ‘Strutting Their Stuff’ in Drag

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Headlines – 6/12/2018

Report: Netanyahu, White House Working to Drive Wedge Between Palestinians and Gulf States

Palestinians will never accept a Jewish State, PM Netanyahu

Expert: Palestine fails international law test for statehood at ICC

Iran’s Khamenei wants referendum to solve Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Israel to raze structures built on private Palestinian land in West Bank outpost

Netanyahu welcomes decision to deduct fires damages compensation from PA funds

Israel holds joint air force exercise with Greece

Netanyahu and UAE Reportedly Held Secret Meeting in Cyprus to Discuss Iran Nuclear Deal

A new Middle East in sight? Just maybe – The tide may be turning against Iran in the Middle East

German politicians want Iran-regime center ousted due to antisemitism

Lebanese PM tells Iran off for interfering in internal affairs

UN Fears for 2.5 Million Civilians in Syria’s Rebel-held Idlib as Bloodbath Worsens

Erdogan: Turkey will drain ‘terror swamp’ in Iraq’s Qandil

12 dead, 31 wounded in Kabul suicide attack

Saudi Arabia denounces deadly suicide attack in Kabul

UN scrambles to avert coalition attack on key Yemen port

Heavy Fighting on Yemen’s West Coast Kills Hundreds

The Trump-Kim summit is overshadowing a big moment for Taiwan

Mattis says ‘all’s quiet,’ militarily, in NK

For world, Trump-Kim summit raises cautious hope for peace

Selfies, Cheers Greet Kim in Singapore

Excitement high, expectations lower as Trump and Kim set to meet

‘Don’t expect too much’: Rodman plays down Kim Trump breakthrough

Weeping Dennis Rodman praises Trump’s meeting with friend Kim Jong Un, blasts Obama for ignoring him

Trump tells Kim a “terrific relationship” beckons as summit begins

The Handshake: Trump, Kim Jong Un Meet, Greet

Trump, Kim confident but body language reveals nerves at first meeting

Trump and Kim to ditch diplomats, square off in historic one on one summit

Trump and Kim to meet one-on-one, risking he-said/he-said scenario

Bloomberg: Kim set a deadline for ending summit, prompting earlier exit by Trump

Trump, Kim sign ‘comprehensive’ joint document as historic summit nears end

Trump says summit is ‘very, very good,’ Kim calls it prelude to peace

Trump: North Korea denuclearization process will be starting ‘very quickly’

Kim declares ‘world will see a major change’

‘We’ve formed a special bond,’ Trump says at signing with Kim Jong Un

Trump says he ‘absolutely’ would invite Kim to White House

Steyn: Trump-Kim Summit ‘Completely The Opposite’ to How Previous Western Leaders Operated

How Nikki Haley brought Trump’s maximum pressure campaign down on North Korea at UN Security Council

Trump’s North Korea bargaining chips: What is president prepared to offer?

Trump urges to push North Korea to end slavery at Singapore summit

U.S. won’t bring up North Korea’s human rights issues at Singapore summit

North Korea ‘continues to invest’ in Nazi-style prison camps

Netanyahu: If you stand with Trump on North Korea, oppose a nuclear Iran

Pompeo says Trump can offer North Korea security assurances unlike any in the past

Kim Jong-un ‘takes portable toilet to Singapore summit to stop his stools being spied on’

North Korean state media breaks with tradition in its coverage of Trump-Kim summit

Fox News host apologizes for calling Trump and Kim ‘two dictators’

CNN Analysis: Trump’s new world order

George Soros: Trump Is ‘willing to destroy the world’

U.S. stocks rise ahead of North Korea summit, despite Trump’s G7 fireworks

Clouds over global economy have darkened since G7 summit, says IMF’s Lagarde

Ireland Tells EU It Won’t Accept a Brexit Border, PM Says

Italy never should have joined the euro, and the ECB can’t rescue it from its next crisis

Venezuela’s hyperinflation at new dizzying high

U.S. sanctions Russians over military, intelligence hacking

Email confirms White House chief of staff was previous victim of hacking

Murky U.S. drone-strike policy threatens to backfire as other nations acquire technology

United Airlines flight diverted after bomb threat found on board

Inside Obama’s secret meetings with 2020 contenders

5.4 magnitude earthquake hits near Kushima, Japan

5.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Volcano, Hawaii

5.3 magnitude earthquake hits near Isangel, Vanuatu

5.0 magnitude earthquake hits near Kirakira, Solomon Islands

Sabancaya volcano in Peru erupts to 24,000ft

Reventador volcano in Ecuador erupts to 16,000ft

Fuego volcano in Guatemala erupts to 15,000ft

Two new explosions rock Hawaii’s Kilauea summit, more shelters in progress

Category 3 Hurricane Bud threatens Mexico, Southwest U.S.

Hurricane forecasters watching another wave of storms stirring in the Caribbean

Colorado wildfire doubles in size, thousands evacuated

Colorado Blaze Continues to Grow; Entire San Juan National Forest to Close

Israel to top up Sea of Galilee after years of drought

G6 leaders break with Trump, move forward on climate action

Tom Skilling, Bill Foster and others lament ‘historic blunder’ of U.S. withdrawal from climate accord

Gene-Editing Startups Downplay Potential of Cancer Side Effect

Polio Returns to Venezuela As Economic Crisis Cripples Healthcare System

Beirut Pride Was Forcibly Canceled. Lebanon’s LGBTQ Community Remains Undeterred.

All the inspiring ways that celebrities are celebrating Pride Month 2018

Twitter CEO responds to backlash after eating at Chick-fil-A during Pride Month

Backlash after Bill Clinton notes changing ‘norms’ about ‘what you can do to somebody against their will’

PEACE AND SAFETY? Trump-Kim shake hands, commit to ‘complete denuclearization’		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 06:42 AM PDT	Clasping hands and forecasting future peace, President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un committed Tuesday to “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula during the first meeting in history between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader. Yet as Trump toasted the summit’s results, he faced mounting questions about whether he got too little and gave away too much — including an agreement to halt U.S. military exercises with treaty ally South Korea.  Meeting with staged ceremony on a Singapore island, Trump and Kim came together for a summit that seemed unthinkable months ago when the two nations traded nuclear threats. The gathering of the two unpredictable leaders marked a striking gamble by the American president to grant Kim long-sought recognition on the world stage in hopes of ending the North’s nuclear program. READ MORE
Kilauea crater almost doubles in size as eruption devastates		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 06:32 AM PDT	The crater of Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano has nearly doubled in size within the last month as its eruption shows no sign of slowing. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is monitoring activity as scientists try to work out what will happen next – so what is going on at the Halema’uma’u crater?  The scientific agency said: “Magma in the summit magma chamber has drained over the past month due to the Lower East Rift Zone eruption, causing much of the floor and rim of Halema’uma’u to drop or collapse. “These changes have resulted in a much deeper crater, with rubble covering the floor.” The deepest part of the crater is now 280m, which reaches below the previous crater floor. CONTINUE
Are you parenting with eternity in mind?		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 06:16 AM PDT	(By Jennie Cunnion) I can’t think of a better place to for us to start our conversation about the significant role we play in our children’s lives than with Deuteronomy 6:4–7. If we want to know what God has called us to do, we can find the answer here. This is one of the linchpin scriptures of the whole Bible—a scripture that, according to Jesus, is the summation of all the law and all the prophets. And it holds great guidance for us as parents. In this passage we find Moses instructing the Israelite people on what to do with the Ten Commandments he’s just given them. He says: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (Deuteronomy 6:4–7 NIV) CONTINUE
Mysterious object spotted over Washington St raises questions		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 06:08 AM PDT	A mysterious object was spotted by a local photographer over the skies of Whibey Island early Sunday morning, leading to lots of speculation and questions, but no solid answers.  Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather was looking through the pictures snapped by a weather camera on the Kitsap Peninsula when he spotted a photo with a mysterious object. The picture – snapped at 3:56 a.m. Sunday by a high-quality, 20-second exposure camera – shows a bright orange streak in the early morning sky over Whidbey Island. Johnson told Q13 News he was hesitant to release the photo. Mostly, because it appears to be a missile launched from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. CONTINUE
Turkey President Anticipates ‘War Between Cross and Crescent’ Over Austrian Mosque Closures		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 05:54 AM PDT	Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned of a possible “war” between Christianity and Islam after the right-wing Austrian government announced it would shut down seven foreign-funded mosques and could expel dozens of Turkish Muslim imams in its crackdown on political Islam. Responding to the recent news, Erdogan called the Austrian government’s vow to shut down the mosques and expel 60 imams on grounds that they violated a 2015 guideline banning foreign funding of religious institutions as “anti-Islamic.” According to Germany’s public international broadcasting outlet Deutsche Welle, Erdogan gave a speech Saturday in Istanbul and commented on the announcement made the day before by conservative Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz. READ MORE
Flash floods strike Guadalajara, Mexico leaving some areas under 13 feet of water		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 05:51 AM PDT	A strong storm struck Guadalajara, Jalisco, yesterday producing flash flooding that affected several parts of the city, including the light rail system from which scores of people had to be rescued.  Water up to four meters deep flooded the Dermatológico station on line 1 and trapped about 40 people inside the carriages of a stationary train. Civil Protection personnel, firefighters and local residents all contributed to the rescue efforts. In a video that was live-streamed on Facebook by one stranded passenger, people could be seen waist-deep in water and a distressed baby can be heard crying. In another video, passengers were attempting to swim to safety. Authorities said that none of the affected passengers was injured but one person who showed signs of hypothermia received medical treatment. READ MORE
DEVELOPING: Major Category 4 Hurricane targets Mexico… ..		Posted: 12 Jun 2018 05:40 AM PDT	Major Hurricane Bud continues to strengthen and will threaten western Mexico with flooding rainfall this week.  Bud became the second major hurricane of the season in the East Pacific basin on Monday morning, less than a week since former Hurricane Aletta passed over similar areas. Bud will track toward the north-northwest the next several days, keeping the powerful tropical system off the coast of Mexico. However, it will track close enough to bring heavy rainfall to parts of the country. “Bud is moving within an environment of low wind shear, moist air and warm ocean water,” said AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski. These conditions allowed Bud to reach Category 4 strength on Tuesday morning with sustained winds of 130 mph (209 kp/h). Bud is expected to begin weakening later Tuesday into Tuesday night. READ MORE
Salmonella Outbreak From Melons Expands to Recalls in Eight States		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 05:27 PM PDT	The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Sunday urged residents of eight U.S. states to check for recalled pre-cut melon that is linked to an outbreak of Salmonella.  The FDA and U.S. Centers for Disease Control are investigating an outbreak linked to 60 illnesses and at least 31 hospitalizations in five states. No deaths have been reported and the agencies urged residents in the eight states to throw out any melon that may have been recalled. On Friday, Caito Foods LLC, a unit of SpartanNash Co, recalled fresh-cut watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe and fresh-cut mixed fruit products containing one of those melons produced at a Caito Foods facility in Indianapolis. The recalled products were distributed to Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio and sold in clear, plastic containers at stores including Costco Wholesale Corp, Kroger Co, Payless, Owen’s, Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, Walgreens, Walmart Inc, and Whole Foods, a unit of Amazon.com Inc.  READ MORE
Lava boils away largest lake on Big Island in 90 mins!		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 05:02 PM PDT	Green Lake, the largest freshwater lake on Hawaii’s Big Island, has completely disappeared, another victim of the Kilauea volcano, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.  Lava from Fissure 8 begin pouring into the lake on June 2, turning it into a roiling cauldron. A thick, white plume of water vapor billowed hundreds of feet over the lake. It took only an hour and half for the molten rock to evaporate the entire body of water, which was about 200 feet deep. SFGATE Hawaii correspondent Jeannie Cooper wrote about Green Lake, located near the intersection of highways 132 and 137, in 2012:  “Just outside the gates was the Kapoho Farm Stand, where a woman universally known as Smiley sells papayas, bananas and, for $5, admission to Green Lake, a deep freshwater pool in a crater atop Green Mountain (Pu’u Kapoho). Local legend has it that Jacques Cousteau tried to plumb its depths in a submarine and gave up trying.” READ MORE
The Protective Power of the Blood of Jesus		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 01:40 PM PDT	In this message, you will discover how remaining under the “Blood of Jesus” brings supernatural protection and power!
Magnitude 5.2 earthquake strikes Hawaii as Kilauea continues to reel		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 01:13 PM PDT	Big Island’s Kilauea volcano is showing no sign of a drop in seismic activity, as it was rocked by another earthquake today. Shaking the summit with a preliminary magnitude of 5.4, the experts at USGS have warned residents to expect ash fall.  There have been thousands of earthquakes in the month since Kilauea began erupting, with 505 measured by the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in the past 24 hours alone. Today’s earthquake occurred at 4:45 am local time (3:45 pm BST) and was associated with an explosive eruption at the summit. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has said there is no risk of a tsunami following the earthquake, as it was too small to trigger any activity. READ MORE
Polio Makes Comeback in Venezuela After Decades		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 11:08 AM PDT	Polio has been reported in Venezuela, a crisis-wracked country where the disease had been eradicated decades ago, the Pan-American Health Organization reports.  Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a crippling childhood disease caused by the poliovirus, and preventable through immunization. Doctor Jose Felix Oletta, a former Minister of Health, told AFP that the last case of acute poliomyelitis in Venezuela was reported in 1989. “The virus especially affects people in conditions of malnutrition and unvaccinated,” Oletta said. Oletta slammed health authorities in President Nicolas Maduro’s government for taking more than a month to notify the PAHO that it had identified the virus. International health regulations require it to do so within 24 hours. READ MORE
Why the church needs more mentors		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 11:01 AM PDT	(By Thomas Christianson) I recently noticed something new as I read through the scriptures again.  It came about because I was thinking about the need we have at my church to develop more leaders. The leaders we have are straight incredible. And like most churches, we need more of them. We’re launching more services and more campuses, thanks to some truly incredible growth recently – which we fully understand is a work of God, and which we need to work hard to care for properly. As I was working to develop strategies and programs to find and develop more incredible leaders, I was reading through the early part of the First Testament – From the Pentateuch, to Joshua to Judges, Ruth, then Samuel and Kings. I noticed a trend: that developing leaders made a huge difference in the lasting legacy of a leader. One particular case in point grabbed my attention: Moses to Joshua, and Joshua’s subsequent (though a number of years later) passing. READ MORE
DAYS OF LOT: Drag Queen Children TV Shows Coming to America		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 10:53 AM PDT	At least two new animated television shows about drag queens, one featuring children characters, are set to debut in America, drawing high concern from conservative commentators.  World of Wonder released a trailer in May about “Drag Tots!,” a show about toddler drag queens coming June 28th, featuring transgender model RuPaul.  “In a world on the brink of chaos, where fear is the rule of the land, the voices of a generation have banded together to give our planet what it needs…BABY DRAG QUEENS!” proclaims a preview on YouTube.  On May 31, Netflix announced the animated “Super Drags,” with a teaser preview that is yet to be given a release date stating:”By night, they tighten up their corsets and transform into the baddest SUPER DRAGS in town, ready to combat shade and rescue the world’s glitter from the evil villains. Get ready, because the SUPER DRAGS are going deeper than you think.” READ MORE
7 Biblical Truths to Overcome Fear of the End Times		Posted: 11 Jun 2018 10:47 AM PDT	(By Cody Archer) Do the words “anti-Christ,” “mark of the beast,” “bowls of wrath,” “wars,” “famines,” stir up fearful emotions in you? If so, you are not alone. Wrong beliefs and illiteracy on these subjects can produce anxiety and confusion about the future. When this happens, our tendency is to avoid the subject entirely. From Genesis to Revelation there are 150 chapters where the primary focus is on the events surrounding end times’ prophecy. God purposely gave us an ample amount of information about the last days so that we would be both assured of His ultimate victory (John 16:33) and of His commitment in helping us be overcomers (Rev 12:11). These seven truths will help you stand with inner peace concerning the coming days of difficulty. CONTINUE

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