“But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?”
(Galatians 2:14)
Why Compellest Thou The Gentiles

Dear Friends,

The following is an article that appeared on the WND website this past July. Following the article is our reply to one of the men mentioned in the article.

WND

TOP RABBIS: UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS OF MESSIAH COMING

End-times expert: Demonstrates how Christians and Jews are reconciling

Published: July 21, 2016

A conversation between two of the most distinguished rabbis in Israel indicates scholars of the Torah see unmistakable signs of the coming of the Messiah. What’s more, in the Messianic era, Christians will become a source of Torah learning, as believers in Jesus Christ rediscover the source of their beliefs in both Judaism and the Torah.

The conversation took place between Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, both of whom are regarded as leading experts in the Torah.

During the conversation, Rabbi Kanievsky reportedly predicted the imminent coming of the Messiah, before the end of the year after the Shemitah. The Shemitah is a seven-year cycle which seems to correlate with dramatic events in history, as explained by messianic Rabbi Jonathan Cahn in “The Mystery of the Shemitah.”

Rabbi Sternbuch contested the timing, and said before the Messiah will come, the Christians and the Arabs will “come to Israel.” Rabbi Kanievsky added “all the non-fruit bearing trees in Israel will bear fruit,” meaning Christians will be learning Torah. Thus, the breach between Christians and Jews will be healed, as both communities turn to the study of God’s Word.

Christians obviously believe the Messiah has already come in the form of Jesus Christ and what is being discussed is not His “arrival,” but His return. Nonetheless, several Christian leaders who have been prominent in the growing movement to reconnect Christianity with its Judaic roots welcomed the comments by these prominent Torah scholars.

Jonathan Cahn, the leader of the largest Messianic congregation in the world and the bestselling author of several books, “The Harbinger” and “The Mystery of the Shemitah,” welcomed the rabbis’ comments as another sign the original breach between Judaism and Christianity is being healed.

“We are seeing things that no other generation has seen, since the book of Acts,” said Cahn.

• He said these include:

• Churches celebrating Passover

• Believers calling Messiah by his true Hebrew name “Yeshua”

• Israeli flags being flown over Christian gatherings

• Believers from South America to India, Africa, and China celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

• Israeli leaders speaking at Christian events

• Shofars sounding Christian gatherings and church services

• Believers in Jesus lighting Menorahs, partaking in the Sabbath, even worshiping in Hebrew

• Israel coming to the realization that the most faithful supporters they have in the world, and the greatest friends are the followers of Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus.

Cahn argues this isn’t some dramatic reformation of the faith, but rather a return to its original form.

“Most of this would have been unthinkable not long ago,” he told WND. “In fact, for two thousand years of church history, it has largely been absent. The irony is it all began this way. Christianity in its original and most natural form was (and is) totally Jewish. So what we’re seeing is a restoration.”

Cahn agreed with the rabbis this dramatic shift constituted a sign the end times were coming soon.

“There is a mystery that at the end of the age, things return to the form they had at the beginning,” he said. “This includes the reappearance of Israel and Jerusalem – and the now the coming together of the church and Israel, Christians and the Jewish people.

“Every weekend we see people of all nations, all backgrounds, all colors coming together at my own place of worship, the Jerusalem Center, to worship the God of Israel and to grow deeper in the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus. It’s an end-time phenomenon … and it’s exciting!”

Mark Biltz, the discoverer of the “Blood Moons” phenomenon and the author of the upcoming “God’s Day Timer: The Believer’s Guide to Divine Appointments,” said the acceptance by all the nations of the wisdom of the Torah and the divine significance of Hebrew are critical for Christians to understand, especially in the end times.

“The Bible declares that during Messianic times the knowledge of the Torah and the acknowledgment of the God of Israel will completely cover the Earth,” Biltz told WND. “The Torah is often likened to water as both descend from heaven. We read in Habakkuk 2:14, ‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.’ Hebrew is a pure language and the original language at creation. Everything is being restored much like a reversal of the Tower of Babel where all nations will know Hebrew in Messianic times.”

Bill Cloud, who heads Shoreshim Ministries and is the author of “Esau Rising: Ancient Adversaries and the War for America’s Soul,” is excited by what he sees as an embrace of what he’s been teaching for years.

“This is the Talmudic side of what I taught years ago in a message called ‘the fullness of the Gentiles,'” Cloud told WND. “It’s about the grafting in of the wild olive branch and how that provokes the unfruitful tree to bear. Believers in Messiah who are also embracing the Torah as a guideline for how to live is most definitely a sign of his return. It’s part of the restoration of all things that is spoken of in Matthew 17 and Acts 2.”

Cloud says there is a Scriptural precedent for ethnic non-Jews who became part of the Kingdom of Israel.

“It’s connected to the idea that Elijah the Tishbite was not ethnically Israeli but of the toshavim – ‘resident aliens’ – who joined themselves to Israel (1 Kings 17). According to the Messiah it is Elijah – or shall I say those represented by Elijah (the Wildbranch) – who restore all things (Matthew 17).”

Cloud says the consequences of this kind of teaching spreading among Jews could be earth-shattering.

“This is exciting news because it demonstrates how many Christians and many Jews are recognizing that Messiah’s coming is near and how that portends a reconciliation between the two,” he said. “In my view, as Christians awaken to what they have been blind to – an obligation to keep the Torah – it will provoke our Jewish friends to see what they have been blind to – the identity of the Messiah.”

Carl Gallups, a pastor and the author of several books including “Be Thou Prepared,” sees these reports as yet another indication Jewish experts in Torah are moving closer to what he calls “the ultimate truth concerning Messiah.”

“He indeed is coming (again), and He will most certainly deliver His people and pour out His blessings on Israel,” the pastor predicted. “And there will most assuredly be a time of ‘Jacob’s Trouble,’ before Yeshua’s arrival – a cataclysmic event in which the Jewish people will see the hand of God alone as their deliverance from what would appear to the world as Israel’s certain destruction.

“While I do not require the musings of Jewish rabbis, who to this date still reject Yeshua as Messiah, to strengthen my faith in the return of Messiah, I am still thrilled that these two prominent leaders are speaking so boldly, and recognizing the biblically prophetic times in which we are living. I truly believe that the Holy Spirit is in the process of plowing up the previously hard soil of unbelief and preparing the way for the soon-coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ.”

Gallups compared the reports of the rabbis’ discussion to his investigation of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri in his book and documentary, “The Rabbi Who Found Messiah.”

“Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri, modern Israel’s most venerated rabbi, declared in his own handwriting that the name of the long-awaited Messiah is none other than Yeshua,” claimed Gallups. “This fact is attested to in reliably documented sources, but also through the testimony of almost a dozen of Kaduri’s own Yeshiva students, (who sat under Kaduri’s teaching on Messiah) who are now outspoken believers in Yeshua as Messiah and Lord. And now, we have two more prominent living rabbis stirring up the fires of Messianic expectancy among the Jewish population!”

Gallups also said it is important for Christians to study Torah, though he cautioned the ultimate “bearing of fruit of which the Word of God is actually speaking” manifests in faith in Jesus as the Messiah. However, Gallups expressed confidence the end times are coming soon because the world is in “prophetic times.”

The author of “Final Warning” laid out a few specifics.

“Without setting dates, it is still safe to say that the world is very close to witnessing the return of Yeshua, just as He promised,” he told WND. “Israel is back in the land. Jerusalem is in the possession of Israel. The Ezekiel 38 nations, led largely by Islam, are coalescing right before our eyes. Russia and China are in the Middle East colluding, along with Persia (Iran), and their military troops are planted firmly in Syria. The ancient Ottoman Empire, with its center at Turkey, is on the verge of resurrection led by a man threating to execute thousands of his detractors.”

Gallups also spoke of the importance of the Shemitah, as outlined by Jonathan Cahn as a focal point for the fulfillment of prophecy.

Gallups urged believers around the world to be prepared not just physically but spiritually for what he believes is the imminent fulfillment of extraordinary prophecies.

“We see these amazing 2,000-year-old prophecies rapidly converging upon on our unique generation,” he exclaimed. “And in the midst of it all, some of the most prominent leaders of the Jewish faith are declaring the Messiah is coming soon, an end times prophecy fulfillment in itself. It’s time to be ready. The ‘lion of prophecy’ is roaring.”

+++

Dear Friend,

God bless you for the wonderful work you do for our Lord Jesus,

Our reason for writing you concerns an article I read on the WND web site titled “TOP RABBIS: UNMISTAKABLE SIGNS OF MESSIAH COMING” in which you are quoted. In my opinion your comments on the subject matter were the most relevant and correct concerning the topic discussed.

Let me digress a moment here. Upon my return from my first trip to Israel I visited a Messianic Church called House of David Ministries. While the congregation were obviously spirit filled Christians it was impossible not to see that the service was based predominately around Old Testament practices rather than New Testament beliefs.

I went there with the hope of finding an area where I might be of some usefulness but after attending the service I realized this would not be the case.

I would like to address some of the bulleted points mentioned in the article all of which you may already be aware.

The first point I would like to address is:

• Israeli flags being flown over Christian gatherings

The following testimony is part of a much longer transcription I first read in 1981.

(From tape recorded Lectures by John Todd, Ex-Grand Druid Witch, at Bible Baptist Church, Elkton, Md., USA, Fall 1978)

“You see, I was born in a witchcraft family where I inherited everything my parents had. In other words, I inherited their demons, or ones just like the ones they had. So I was never free from the time the doctor spanked me on the bottom in the delivery room until that night of '72. And you may have felt great when you got saved, but I don't think you felt as great as I felt when I got saved! We may argue that point...

The greatest Wizard that ever lived was King Solomon. As great as his writings were in our Bible, they were as great in the Witchcraft bibles: initiation rites, how to conjure demons up, everything, even how to commit human sacrifices are writings that he created.

The Star of David has just recently been called the Star of David. For thousands of years it was called the Hexagram or the Crest of Solomon.

Now when a witch wants to practice witchcraft, she’ll get in a pentagram, that’s the five-pointed star in the circle, their strongest form of protection. Then they will lay this six-pointed star, or hexagram — which means “to hex” or to cast black magic or to put a spell on somebody – they’ll put it in a circle on the floor and this will cause the demons to appear at their instructions. It is the most evil sign of witchcraft. It’s dangerous to have it. The pentagram, the pinnacle with the one point up, means Witchcraft; two points up means demon-worship or Satanism. A two points up, five-pointed star symbolizes the goat head, which is representative of the devil.”

John Todd from what I understand was later killed on the orders of a secret society.

When in London in 1983 I was able to receive a pass to the British Library where I carried out research concerning John Todd's allegations concerning King Solomon.

I was able to confirm Todd's allegations concerning Solomon and the Crest of Solomon. I came across an article from a magazine from I believe 1917, if my memory serves me correct, called the “Occult Gazette” which had an article titled “The Little Key of Solomon”. This article, which I unfortunately no longer have, showed the origins of the six pointed star which is on the Israeli flag.

This article in turn pointed me to a book called “The Key of Solomon”.

This book was in the ancient manuscript section of the library where I had to sit at a specific table where I could be watched since the materials in that section of the library were so valuable.

The book was not long but was basically a book on how to conjure up demons. It was not a lot of hocus pocus but was very basic in its understanding. Almost like a cook book, you do this, add this, etc. etc. and this is the result.

I also later found out the “Key of Solomon” is considered the most important book concerning the occult.

We also know from the book of l Kings chapter eleven that Solomon “For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as [did] David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that [is] before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.”

If you research or are aware of some of the practices of these religions they include vile sexual perversions.

To have the Crest of Solomon flying on Christian churches does not bode well. The ancient symbol that was always associated with Israel was the harp.

I would next like to address the following two bullets from the article.

• Churches celebrating Passover

• Believers in Jesus lighting Menorahs, partaking in the Sabbath, even worshiping in Hebrew

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” That's it. No more keeping Jewish customs, laws or traditions, although many like the Ten Commandments continue to be a great moral compass.

Paul even warned the Galatians in Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”

And again Paul even withstood Peter to the face for wanting to impose Jewish customs on the gentiles who had received Jesus as their messiah. Galatians 2:11-16 expands:

“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Concerning Christians worshiping in Hebrew:

The Septuagint (LXX) History of the Septuagint

Here is a little background on the Septuagint. This is from the Preface and Introduction to the Septuagint itself written by Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton in 1851:

"The Septuagint (from the Latin septuaginta, meaning "seventy," and frequently referred to by the roman numerals LXX) is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The name derives from the tradition that it was made by seventy (or seventy-two) Jewish scholars at Alexandria, Egypt during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.).

"The earliest version of the Old Testament Scriptures which is extinct, or of which we possess any certain knowledge, is the translation executed at Alexandria in the third century before the Christian era.

"The Septuagint version having been current for about three centuries before the time when the books of the New Testament were written, it is not surprising that the Apostles should have used it more often than not in making citations from the Old Testament. They used it as an honestly made version in pretty general use at the time when they wrote. They did not on every occasion give an authoritative translation of each passage de nova [which means anew], but they used what was already familiar to the ears of converted Hellenists, when it was sufficiently accurate to suit the matter in hand. In fact, they used it as did their contemporary Jewish writers, Philo and Josephus.

"The veneration with which the Jews had treated this version [the Septuagint] (as is shown in the case of Philo and Josephus) [because Philo and Josephus quoted the Septuagint], gave place to a very contrary feeling when they [the Jews] found how it could be used against them in argument: hence they decreed the version, and sought to deprive it of all authority. [Previous to this, it was the Word of God as they were concerned. But as soon as the early church started using it against them, they tried to discredit the Septuagint]. As the Gentile Christians were generally unacquainted with Hebrew, they were unable to meet the Jews on the ground which they now took; and as the Gentile Christians…fully embraced…its authority and inspiration.”

The Jews upheld the Septuagint very strongly for the first 300 years as the Word of God, but when the Christians took a hold of it, then the Jews rejected it. Then the Jews started rewriting the Septuagint in the 2nd and 3rd centuries to suit their purposes.

The following is from the introduction of the book called "Grammar of the Septuagint Greek" by Connie Bearer and Stock, written in 1905:

We are familiar with the constant appeal made by the writers of the New Testament to quote scripture, an appeal couched in such words as "it is written" or "as the scripture saith." In the great majority of cases, the scripture thus appealed to is undoubtedly the Septuagint. Seldom, if ever, is it the Hebrew original. We have seen how, even before the Christian era, the Septuagint had acquired for itself the position of an inspired book. Some four centuries after that era, Augustine remarks that the Greek speaking Christians, for the most part, did not even know that there was any other Word of God than the Septuagint.

"So, when other nations became converted to Christianity and wanted the scriptures in their own languages, it was almost always the Septuagint which formed the basis of the translation. This was so in the case of the early Latin version, which was in use before the Vulgate, and it was so also in the case of the translations made in Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Gothic, and other languages. The only exception to the rule is the first Syriac version, which was made direct from the Hebrew. This Syriac version, by the way, when translated into English, lines up harmoniously with the Septuagint when translated into English.

The reason the Septuagint came about is because in Alexandria, Alexander the Great had come through and conquered many of those nations, and Greek became the predominant language. So they took the original Law, and translated it into Greek for those Jews that no longer spoke Hebrew, and also to convert many of the Greeks over to Judaism. They translated the original into the Greek at approximately 285 BC. Basically, you see many of the quotes from the New Testament and they're direct quotes from the Septuagint, you don't find the same terminology in the original Hebrew.

Hebrew text which has come down to us as the present masoretic text.

"...the writers of the New Testament seem often to differ from those of the Old, because they appear uniformly to quote from some copy of the Septuagint version; and most of their quotations agree verbally, and often even literally, with one or other of the copies of that version which subsist to the present day." Clarke's Commentaries, The New Testament, Volume 5A, page 48.

Almost every bible in existence uses the Masoretic Hebrew (and not the Septuagint) for its Old Testament translation.

What is alleged to be Hebrew today, or is spoken as Hebrew, is the Masoretic Hebrew. Nobody really knows what the original Hebrew sounded like, or how it was pronounced.

The following quote is from Wikipedia concerning Isaiah 7:14 and shows the difference between the Masoretic Hebrew text and the Septuagint. This is just one of many differences.

“In the Early Christian Church, the presumption that the Septuagint was translated by Jews before the era of Christ, and that the Septuagint at certain places gives itself more to a christological interpretation than 2nd-century Hebrew texts was taken as evidence that "Jews" had changed the Hebrew text in a way that made them less christological. For example, Irenaeus concerning Isaiah 7:14: The Septuagint clearly writes of a virgin (Greek παρθένος) that shall conceive. While the Hebrew text was, according to Irenaeus, at that time interpreted by Theodotion and Aquila (both proselytes of the Jewish faith) as a young woman that shall conceive. According to Irenaeus, the Ebionites used this to claim that Joseph was the (biological) father of Jesus. From Irenaeus' point of view that was pure heresy, facilitated by (late) anti-Christian alterations of the scripture in Hebrew, as evident by the older, pre-Christian, Septuagint.”

Jesus quoted the Old Testament approximately forty-five times in the Gospels. If you look up Jesus' quotes in the Old Testament you will see that they do not fit exactly the quotes from the Old Testament. But if you look up Jesus' quotes in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament you will see they are almost spot on. There is of course a reason for this.

Between the sixth century AD and the year 1000 there was a subset of Jews known as the Masoretes.

They took it upon themselves to retranslate the Septuagint from the Koine Greek back into Hebrew. In doing so they left out words like 'Christ' amongst other changes as well.

Another point, if you look at the original Hebrew called Paleo Hebrew found with the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found at Qumran along the Salt (Dead) Sea you will see there is virtually no resemblance to modern Hebrew. Palio Hebrew was a pictographic language which some say was derived from ancient Aramaic. The reason Jesus' quotes do not match that well in the King James Version of the Bible and almost every English translation is because they were translated from the Masoretic version of the Old Testament.

While visiting Israel and listening to the people speak “Hebrew” I began to question 'is this really the language of God. It was so, so guttural.

Concerning the last bullet point I would like to address is:

• Believers from South America to India, Africa, and China celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles

Concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, while it is true that most religious Jews do observe this feast day, again it was never intended to be observed by Christians or gentiles until after the Battle of Armageddon during the thousand year reign of Christ as Zechariah 14:16-19 makes clear.

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall be left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem, shall even come up every year to worship the king, the Lord Almighty, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever of all the families of the earth shall not come up to Jerusalem to worship the king, the Lord Almighty, even these shall be added to the others. And if the family of Egypt shall not go up, nor come; then upon them shall be the overthrow with which the Lord shall smite all the nations, whichever of them shall not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations, whosoever shall not come up to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Hope this is a blessing.

Yours in Jesus,

Robert

***

MailOnline

Resurrecting the franchise: Mel Gibson confirms Passion Of The Christ sequel following original film's controversial reception

By MONIQUE FRIEDLANDER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

PUBLISHED: 00:32, 2 September 2016 | UPDATED: 06:36, 2 September 2016

Mel Gibson has confirmed work has begun on a sequel to his 2004 film Passion Of The Christ.

In a statement made this week, the Australian actor revealed that work has already begun on the blockbuster, which will be titled The Resurrection, and that Braveheart screenwriter Randall Wallace has already signed on to the project.

'Of course, that is a huge undertaking, and you know, it's not the Passion 2. It's called The Resurrection,' said Mel during an interview with Pastor Greg Laurie at the SoCal Harvest Crusade in California.

'But in order to read it, experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it's about, it's going to take some doing and Randall Wallace is up to the task.'

'He is also, as well as a brilliant writer, he is a great director. He directed We Were Soldiers and Heaven Is For Real and stuff. So, he is a good writer and director,' added Mel.

Randall Wallace has spoken about his desire to take part in a follow-up film to Passion Of The Christ, telling The Hollywood Reporter: 'I always wanted to tell this story. The Passion is the beginning and there's a lot more story to tell,' he said.

The writer said they were interested due to the huge demand among the religious devotees who helped the original become the highest grossing independent movie of all time.

He said: 'The evangelical community considers The Passion the biggest movie ever out of Hollywood, and they kept telling us that they think a sequel will be even bigger.'

Blockbuster: Passion Of The Christ scooped a whopping $612 million worldwide on a comparatively small budget of $30 million, making it the highest grossing R-rated film ever in the US box office

Passion Of The Christ scooped a whopping $612 million worldwide on a comparatively small budget of $30 million, making it the highest grossing R-rated film ever in the US box office.

While the film was no doubt a financial success, the Mel and his team did weather their fair share of negative critical reviews.

Some critics slammed the film for its use of excessive violence, while others claimed that the film deviated too dramatically from the biblical story upon which it was based.

The film was also slammed by some viewers as portraying antisemitic subject matter.

It is unclear whether the 2004 film's original stars Jim Caviezel and Monica Bellucci, who portrayed Jesus and Mary Magdalene respectively, will return to their roles.

A movie about Christ's resurrection called Risen was released in February, and made $46 million worldwide on a $20 million budget.

***

WND

MESSIANIC PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY AS 3RD TEMPLE PLANNED

Experts speak out on prophetic implications

Published: September 4, 2016

Temple Mount, Jerusalem

For the first time in hundreds of years, there are serious preparations underway to build the Third Temple prophesied in Scripture.

This week, the nascent Sanhedrin, a group attempting to revive the ancient Jewish legal institution, reportedly selected an individual to serve as high priest if the political situation allowed Jews to access the Temple Mount for Yom Kippur.

The high priest would bring the sacrifices which would be offered in such a situation.

Rabbi Baruch Kahane declined the nomination to serve as “Kohen Gadol,” or high priest. Instead, Kahane has reportedly been nominated to serve in a different clerical role.

However, he also told Breaking Israel News preparations must be made so a Temple service can be performed if the political situation permits it.

“It is clear that we need to be prepared, to prepare the priests, to have everything ready,” he was quoted as saying.

Other preparations are also being made. The Temple Institute in Jerusalem, a group dedicated to physically constructing the Third Temple, used crowd funding to raise over $100,000 to create architectural plans for building the Third Temple. The same organization also reconstructed the Altar of the Lord. There are even attempts to breed the special red heifers suitable for ritual use.

Mark Biltz, the author of “God’s Day Timer” and a Christian pastor passionate about connecting believers with the Jewish roots of their religion, was enthusiastic about plans to rebuild the Temple.

“We are definitely living in Messianic times!” he exclaimed to WND. “We have been without a Temple for too long. This is the fulfillment of a prophecy in the book of Hosea.”

He quoted a verse which said in the Last Days the “children of Israel” would return and renew the sacrifices in the Temple.

Biltz said he believes this prophecy will be inaugurated soon. He called on the Israeli government to do what is necessary to make it happen.

“All that is really needed is an altar and the political will of the Israeli government to have a greater fear of heaven than of man,” he argued.

Jonathan Cahn, subject of the smash documentary film “The Harbinger Man,” and author of the new book, “The Book of Mysteries,” says he finds the news “fascinating.”

“We know that according to biblical end-time prophecy, the Temple of Jerusalem must be rebuilt,” the messianic rabbi told WND. “The Temple requires a priesthood. A priesthood requires a high priest. Though the Sanhedrin and priesthood right now lacks official legal authority and the rebuilding of the Temple will require a very dramatic turn of events, the very fact that in 2016, there is talk and movement toward the appointing of a high priest over the future Temple is quite striking.”

Cahn also said it is remarkable that it is only now, through modern technology, can the Jewish people fulfill the laws and rebuild the ancient Temple priesthood according to the law.

“Another piece of the puzzle involves modern DNA technology,” he explained. “Only the blood descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, can serve as priests in the Temple. It is only in the last few years, with the development of DNA analysis, that the descendants of Aaron can be identified. In an amazing development, scientists were able to identify ‘the priestly gene,’ a genetic code carried by the sons of Aaron that goes back about 3,000 years, just about the same time as lived Aaron, the first high priest of Israel.”

Bill Cloud of Shoreshim Ministries, the author of “Esau Rising,” said it is fascinating “religious Jews in Israel are obviously anticipating the coming of Messiah.”

“Their readiness to reinstitute Temple Service is predicated upon their belief that the Messiah will soon be revealed,” he told WND. “Of course I believe He has already been revealed and will return in the not-to-distant future.”

However, Cloud sounded a note of caution about whether a Temple built in Jerusalem would actually qualify as the Third Temple.

“Revelation 11 strongly implies that another temple will be built in Jerusalem, however, I’m not convinced that this is the messianic Temple,” Cloud said. “I’m not convinced that this particular temple alluded to in Revelation 11 qualifies as ‘the Third Temple.’ I think there is a very good chance that this Temple referred to in Revelation 11 is simply man’s attempt to force the issue. As a matter of fact, based on things we read in Revelation 11 and in Daniel chapter 9, this attempt to rebuild might be squashed by the one the Bible calls ‘Antichrist.'”

Carl Gallups, author of “Be Thou Prepared” and the upcoming “When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time,” said Christians should not be distracted by details. Instead, he called on believers to focus on the core truth at the center of the debate. Regardless of who is appointed high priest, the details of construction or even if any of these projects are making progress, Gallups said the fact the discussion is happening at all is hugely important.

“The implications of the continual talk, planning, construction and even conspiracy theories coming out of Israel concerning the possible construction of a Third Temple in Jerusalem are monumental!” he exclaimed. “It is a fact that many orthodox Jews believe this event is necessary for their ‘messianic understanding’ to come to fruition. The very talk of such a thing has huge geopolitical implications as well. Many believe that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism would somehow have to either come together on the project – or go to war over the matter. Others believe that the Antichrist himself will somehow be involved in bringing at least Islam and Judaism and, perhaps, some brand of Christianity to a melding point with the construction of a Temple structure in the ‘Holy Place’ of Jerusalem – and the Temple Mount.

“All of the debates, discussions, plans and headlines are indicative of the profoundly prophetic times in which we are now living. If the ‘Temple Talk’ invokes increasing global discussions and awakening to the biblically prophetic nature of our times, I welcome it!”

Gallups said ultimately, what is to happen is foreordained – and he urged Christians to become rededicated to their faith. As he lays out in “When the Lion Roars,” the Florida pastor argues the end times are coming soon and the proof can be found in the unique events this generation has witnessed.

“In the end of it all – it’s all about the return of Jesus Christ,” he said. “He came the first time, according to the prophecies, and those same prophecies declare He is coming again. Not only that, the prophecies are clear that He would return in the days shortly after Israel returned to the land, Jerusalem was in control of that returned Israel, and the Ezekiel 38 nations began their alignment against Israel. Those days are here, and we are the first historical generation to see it happen – Temple or no Temple.”

***

WND

END-TIMES GEOPOLITICS REVOLVING AROUND TURKEY

Military advances, new partnership with Russia all raising fears

Published: September 5, 2016

Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan and President Obama

Only weeks after an attempted coup threatened his rule, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is on the move both militarily and diplomatically.

Turkish forces are continuing their offensive against American-backed Kurdish forces. And the West is reeling from Turkey’s sudden rapprochement with Russia.

Now experts in prophecy warn the continued rise of Turkey and Erdogan has ominous eschatological implications.

Erdogan’s position is stronger than ever following the failed coup, with his approval ratings reaching new highs. In fact, the Turkish president has benefited so much from the abortive attempt to overthrow him many observers suspect he staged the entire thing as a false flag operation.

Tensions between the United States and Turkey, a NATO ally, continue to increase. The United States is reportedly transferring nuclear weapons out of Turkey in order to safeguard American control. Despite increasingly desperate American pleading, the United States has thus far been unable to stop Turkey’s war against the Syrian Kurds. And though serious tensions remain between Turkey and Russia, the limited partnership between the two powers, whatever economic benefits to both nations exist, weakens American influence in the Middle East.

For experts in prophecy, Russian and Turkish policies have long been of urgent interest. Carl Gallups, author of “Be Thou Prepared,” and the upcoming “When the Lion Roars: Understanding the Implications of Ancient Prophecies for Our Time,” says the healing of the Russo-Turkish rift is desirable on the surface, but some of the relevant interpretations of Scripture are cause for concern.

“Those who know the prophecies of Ezekiel 38 are aware of a very pointed declaration that in the last days, in the days of a miraculously returned Israel, Magog (many have believed to be Russia) would join with Persia (modern day Iran) and string several other nations along with them – for the purpose of attacking Israel,” Gallups explained. “The prophecies say the attack upon Israel will ‘come from the North.’ Turkey lies directly north of Israel. Additionally, a number of prophecy experts believe (based upon a large body of biblical and historical evidence) that Turkey itself could actually be the Magog (perhaps even in alliance with Russia) spoken of in Ezekiel 38.

“We know that lately Russia and Iran have been dramatically strengthening ties. The two nations have been standing together against ISIS in the Syrian civil war. Of course it is also Iran that has continually breathed out direct and very public threats of utterly destroying Israel, especially once Iran develops deliverable nuclear weapons. And, it is no secret that Russia has a history of nuclear involvement with Iran.”

Indeed, the lessening of tensions between Russia and Turkey was especially surprising to many observers because of the longstanding rivalry between Shiite Iran and Sunni Turkey.

Russia is a longstanding Iranian ally. Recently, Russia admitted it deployed strategic bombers and fighter bombers in Iran. With the newfound Russian-Turkish partnership, Putin’s junior partner Iran and its onetime enemy Turkey are also working together to a limited extent.

“A growing number of prophecy experts see the very real possibility that Turkey will be directly involved in this biblical prediction of a cataclysmic and northern assault upon the ‘unsuspecting’ land of a prophetically returned Israel,” argued Gallups. “With that understanding, this latest attempt by Turkey and Russia to firm up an alliance has a particularly ominous eschatological ring to it. Especially given all the other factors of the current Middle East unrest – including China’s presence in Syria, connected by a military alliance with Russia.”

However, Joel Richardson, the author of the New York Times bestseller “The Islamic Antichrist,” says the truth is more banal. He dismissed the idea the Russo-Turkish partnership is the precursor to the Battle of Gog and Magog.

“This is simply a partial reconciliation made out of economic necessity,” he explained “Russia’s economy relies heavily on natural gas and oil exports. Turkey controls the Bosporus, and thus Russia’s access to the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, despite all of Putin’s chest thumping after Turkey shot down a Russian military jet, Russia needs Turkish cooperation.

“Likewise, Turkey relies heavily on the millions of Russian tourists who come to Turkey each year to enjoy the beautiful coasts. After Turkey shot down Russia jet and [the] president refused to apologize, Putin imposes stiff sanctions, and the lack of Russian tourism hit Turkey’s economy hard. Thus, despite all of the warm and fuzzy speeches about reconciliation, Russia and Turkey have simply returned to a shallow friendship of convenience for both of them.”

But while Richardson is relatively sanguine about the partnership between Turkey and Russia, he remains deeply concerned about the growing ambitions of Turkish president Erdogan, whom he has in the past compared to Adolf Hitler.

And the host of “The Coming Battle for Jerusalem” says the West has remained complacent for far too long about what he calls the “rise of a deeply nationalist-Islamist dictatorship in Turkey.”

“This is precisely what I have been warning of for well over twelve years now,” Richardson exclaimed. “This is a nation that until recently been considered an ally of the United States and is a fellow member of NATO. After having suspended the constitution and purging tens of thousands of alleged coup plotters from every nook and cranny of both the government and the general public, Turkey has experienced a revolution. Whether we are comparing this to the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979 or Hitler’s ‘Night of Long Knives,’ the analogies are merited.”

Richardson has a great deal of experience in covering the Middle Eastern street and chronicled the growing extremism in Turkey in his documentary “End Times Eyewitness.” As he sees Turkey descending into dictatorship, he bemoaned yet another example of the short-sighted nature of American foreign policy.

“The U.S. has a long history of creating its enemies of tomorrow today. We helped create the Taliban to fight against Russia. Then we went to war with them. We helped create Saddam Hussein. Then we went to war with him. For the past twenty years, the U.S. has been getting behind Turkey’s seemingly moderate Islamic movement. The great red dragon that is emerging however is not one that will likely be overcome as easily as Saddam Hussein.

“In the long term, what is emerging in Turkey will continue to be a massive foreign policy conundrum that is going to require any future American administration a profound level of wisdom and skill to navigate. In the short term, the roughly 100,000 Iranian backed militia in Iraq is a far greater concern. With Iran stepping up its presence in the region – another event that I have been predicting for some time – a clash between Turkey and Iran is increasingly becoming a very real possibility.”

Richardson contends events are moving toward the end times, but thinks a conflict between Iran and Turkey is the more likely short term outcome than a grand alliance against Israel.

“Is all of this aligning with the words of the biblical prophets?” he asks. “Absolutely. It’s just not aligning in quite the way that many have wrongly assumed.”

While Gallups views events differently, he also believes Turkey is the most critical geopolitical actor from a geopolitical perspective.

“Many who are serious prophecy watchers have been saying for years, ‘Watch Turkey for a dramatic last days coming together of scriptural declarations,'” he recalled. “Over these years, we have often been discounted – because, after all, Turkey was one of our strongest ‘democratic’ allies in the Middle East. How could it be that Turkey might play into a dramatic assault upon Israel, our other strong democratic Middle Eastern ally?

“But now look! Turkey, under Erdogan, is quickly becoming an Islamic caliphate with dreams of becoming, once again, the hub of Middle Eastern Islamic power – a resurrected Ottoman Empire if you will.”

Ergodon has long appealed to the people of lands that historically were in the Ottoman Empire to legitimize his rule and imperial ambitions.

And Gallups argues the dramatic events gripping the Middle East today should serve as an alarm bell for Christians.

“The Bible clearly declares that the last days would be marked by the return of Israel, and Israel’s possession of Jerusalem. The prophecies also speak of dramatic turmoil in the Middle East, including the horrendous tribulation that would befall Christians in that region in the last days. Those same prophecies speak of Israel being surrounded by nations (all of them just happen to be Islamic today) that will eventually form a coalition and attempt to drive them from the land. We are now watching every bit of that unfolding before us, and we are the first generation to see it happen.

“The secular world scoffs at the Word of God, and particularly its passages concerning the prophetic days just before the return of Christ – yet that same secular world, perhaps unknowingly, reports those prophecy fulfillments in their 24/7 news cycle each week. It’s almost as though God will not be mocked.”

***

THE JERUSALEM POST

Retired general calling Israel ‘world champion of occupation’ sparks outrage

Right wing politicians slammed the general following his remarks at a conference in Herzliya Thursday.

By LAHAV HARKOV 09/01/2016 16:27

IDF soldier at West Bank checkpoint at Gush Etzion Junction.. (photo credit:MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)

Former OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. (res.) Gadi Shamni’s characterization of Israel as “bringing occupation to an art form” angered politicians on the Right on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Shamni talked about his time in charge of Central Command when he was responsible for the West Bank, and describing himself as “the occupation general.”

“We are world champions of occupation, and we’ve brought it to an art form,” Shamni said, “and we have to ask ourselves, is that what we want to be?” /

Shamni said that Israel will never agree to jeopardize its security interests, while the Palestinians will never accept an “endless occupation,” so the only solution is agreed-upon separation between the sides.

Israel should take calculated risks to improve its strategic position, he added.

“Countries in the region are interested in establishing full relations with Israel, but won’t do so as long as the Palestinian issue is not solved. Israel must influence the regional arena through ties with various countries and its relations with the US,” Shamni posited.

In addition, Shamni argued that “the IDF’s dealing with control over a population of 2.5 million civilians distracts the IDF from its main objective, and has trouble preparing for threats it is meant to deal with. The army is losing its values and its strength and becoming a political punching bag.”

Environmental Protection Minister Ze’ev Elkin said he was disappointed to hear Shamni’s statements, and “you cannot be an occupier in your own land; you can only return to it.

“As a resident of Gush Etzion, I see myself as a proud settler and not an occupier of a foreign land, and that is what I expect from IDF officers who protect the lives of the settlers,” Elkin stated.

MK Nissan Slomiansky (Bayit Yehudi) theorized that Shamni is trying to enter the political sphere, and wondered why, if he has such a problem with Israel’s presence in the West Bank, he took the position of OC Central Command.

Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel said “no speech can blur the fact that Judea and Samaria are the cradle of Jewish history, and saying we’re ‘occupying’ our own land is ridiculous and irrelevant.

“As the school year begins, I suggest that Shamni go back to school and learn some Bible or history,” Ariel quipped.

***

BREITBART

Pope Francis: Global Warming a ‘Sin,’ Man Can Atone by Recycling and ‘Car-Pooling’

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty

by THOMAS D. WILLIAMS, PH.D.1 Sep 20163,130

In his message for the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation” Thursday, Pope Francis said that human-induced global warming, as well as a loss of biodiversity are “sins” against God, which must be atoned for by planting trees, avoiding the use of plastic and paper and “separating refuse.”

“Global warming continues, due in part to human activity,” Francis said, adding that “2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still.”

“This is leading to ever more severe droughts, floods, fires and extreme weather events. Climate change is also contributing to the heart-rending refugee crisis. The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” he wrote.

Repeatedly citing the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who has “courageously and prophetically continued to point out our sins against creation,” Francis made his own a new list of such environmental sins, which include pollution, global warming and deforestation.

For human beings to “destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation,” to “degrade the integrity of the earth by causing changes in its climate,” to “contaminate the earth’s waters, its land, its air, and its life–these are sins,” he wrote.

Summing up, the Pope stated that “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God.”

Lamenting “the devastation of the environment,” Francis said that “God gave us a bountiful garden, but we have turned it into a polluted wasteland of debris, desolation and filth.”

Specifically regarding a loss of biodiversity, the Pope suggested that now there are fewer species to give glory to God.

“We must not be indifferent or resigned to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems, often caused by our irresponsible and selfish behavior,” Francis said. “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence, nor convey their message to us. We have no such right.”

The Pope said that the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation was instituted in order to give believers an opportunity to “reaffirm their personal vocation to be stewards of creation.” It also furnishes an occasion to thank God for the gift of creation, to implore his help for its protection and to beg “his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.”

During this Jubilee Year, “let us learn to implore God’s mercy for those sins against creation that we have not hitherto acknowledged and confessed,” Francis said, while proposing that Christians need to undergo an “ecological conversion.”

Now is the time to “acknowledge our sins against creation,” the Pope said. “Inasmuch as we all generate small ecological damage,” we are called to acknowledge “our contribution, smaller or greater, to the disfigurement and destruction of creation.”

“Let us repent of the harm we are doing to our common home,” he added.

If our ecological conversion is real, Francis said, it will lead to concrete ways of thinking and acting that are more respectful of creation.

Among these are “avoiding the use of plastic and paper, reducing water consumption, separating refuse, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport or car-pooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, or any number of other practices.”

In his message, the Pope also applauded “a growing global political consensus” regarding the environment, praising the adoption of “Sustainable Development Goals” as well as last December’s Paris Agreement on climate change, “which set the demanding yet fundamental goal of halting the rise of the global temperature.”

Apparently the pontiff’s prayers have already been heard, since scientists are now forecasting that 2017 will be a cooler year than 2016.

***

CHRISTIAN DAILY

ISIS names Pope Francis its ultimate enemy

Lorraine Caballero 04 September, 2016 9:40 AM

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has named Pope Francis as its number one enemy and has criticized the Catholic Church leader for pursuing "dialogue with moderate Islam."

In its monthly publication Dabiq, ISIS described Pope Francis as a "non-believer" and accused him of defending homosexuals. The terror group previously released a video illustrating the end of the world, which suggests that the group is planning to assassinate the pontiff, The Express reports.

(Reuters/Max Rossi)Pope Francis waves as he leads the Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican, August 14, 2016.

Despite the threats from ISIS, Pope Francis previously refused to heed advice to wear a bulletproof vest because he did not want to lose contact with the people. The threat prompted the Vatican to ramp up security around the city.

In the latest rant from ISIS, the militant group slammed the Pope for "seeking dialogue with moderate Islam" including Arab preacher Ahmed al-Tayeb of the Islamic university Al-Azhar in Cairo, Egypt. The Islamic State accused the imam of apostasy and criticized him for calling Christianity a "faith of love and peace."

Meanwhile, Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphaël Sako told Asia News that the threats against Pope Francis are part of the group's propaganda to pressure the West. He explained that ISIS does not understand the difference between the secular state and Christianity, which is represented by the Vatican.

"They have in mind a plan for a theocratic nation, based on Islam, mixed with basic ignorance," Patriarch Sako said. "They believe that Christians have a theocratic state, which is the Vatican."

The Chaldean Patriarch thinks that Pope Francis is not ISIS' real target as the threats are mainly for their political objectives. However, he said the situation of the imam of al-Azhar is different because he can be considered as a direct target.

In light of the situation, Patriarch Sako urged Muslims to "take a courageous and clear position." He also acknowledged that jihadists like the ISIS have no links with religion and their teachings are merely words taken out of context. The Chaldean leader also encouraged people to unite in defeating ISIS.

***

Confirmed: The Arch Of Triumph Is Going Up In New York City On September 19th

BY MICHAEL ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2016

Do you remember all of the buzz about the arch from the Temple of Baal that was supposed to go up in Times Square back in April? Well, that project was ultimately canceled, but now it has been resurrected in a new form. In April a reproduction of a different arch, the Arch of Triumph, was erected in Trafalgar Square in London, and now another reproduction of that famous arch will be going up in New York City on September 19th. This particular arch is not the same one that once stood directly in front of the Temple of Baal in Syria. Rather, the Arch of Triumph was constructed at a later date by the Romans, and it served to link the main street of the Colonnade with the Temple. So there is still definitely a connection with the Temple of Baal, but it is not as direct as had originally been envisioned.

The organization behind this effort is the Institute for Digital Archaeology. They are extremely excited to be bringing this project to New York next month as you can see from this excerpt which comes from their official website…

There are few cities in the world as much defined by their architecture as New York. The Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge — all symbols of the audacity, strength, technical prowess, diversity and optimism of what Ezra Pound called “the most beautiful city in the world.” It is also a city that has known terrible loss — first and foremost the loss of life, but also the loss of familiar landmarks that helped inform the city’s identity. The Triumphal Arch, a symbol of resilience in the face of loss, will be a fitting tribute to America’s great metropolis. The arch will stand in Manhattan, surrounded by buildings adorned with classical features suggesting the common cultural roots of East and West. We hope that you will visit us this fall to consider the relationship between people and the places they inhabit.

Their website also features a public letter from their executive director which confirms that September 19th is the date when this arch will go up.

So we have it directly from the source that September 19th is the official date when the arch will be unveiled.

I find it very interesting that one of the reasons why New York was picked was to remind visitors of “the indomitable human capacity to rebuild what has been lost.” Of course that is a reference to 9/11, and in his book The Harbinger, Jonathan Cahn has pointed out all of the parallels between America’s bold pronouncements to rebuild in the aftermath of 9/11 and Israel’s defiant statements as recorded in Isaiah 9:10…

“The bricks are fallen down,

but we will build with hewn stones;

the sycamores are cut down,

but we will replace them with cedars.”

When a reproduction of the Arch of Triumph was put up in Trafalgar Square back in April, it was also described by a major British news source as “an act of defiance”…

A monumental recreation of the destroyed Arch of Triumph in Palmyra, Syria, has been unveiled in London’s Trafalgar Square.

The 1,800-year-old arch was destroyed by Islamic State militants last October and the 6-metre (20ft) model, made in Italy from Egyptian marble, is intended as an act of defiance: to show that restoration of the ancient site is possible if the will is there.

Many people have never heard of the Arch of Triumph, but it is actually a UNESCO World Heritage site. The following is some basic information about it from Wikipedia…

The Monumental Arch, also called the Arch of Triumph (Arabic: ‫قوس النصر‬‎‎) or the Arch of Septimius Severus, was a Roman ornamental archway in Palmyra, Syria. It was built in the 3rd century during the reign of emperor Septimius Severus. Its ruins later became one of the main attractions of Palmyra, until it was destroyed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in October 2015. Most of its stonework still survives and there are plans to rebuild it using anastylosis.

I want to stress that this is not the same arch that once stood directly in front of the Temple of Baal in Palmyra. But according to Wikipedia it did connect the Temple of Baal with “the main street of the Colonnade”…

The Monumental Arch was built sometime during the reign of emperor Septimius Severus, which lasted from 193 to 211 AD; it linked the main street of the Colonnade and the Temple of Bel.[1] The arch was meant to integrate the southern and central parts of the Colonnade as its location marks a change of 30° in the orientation of the street.[2]

According to some sources, the structure was built as a triumphal arch to commemorate the Romans’ victories over the Parthians.

Once again, I think that there is something important that I need to point out. The Romans constructed this arch after a victory over Parthia, and in his extraordinary book on the Parthians Stephen M. Collins has shown that the Parthian Empire was largely made up of people that came from the northern tribes of Israel. So the original purpose of this arch was to celebrate victory over Israel.

Is that really something that we want to put up in New York?

And even though this arch did not stand directly in front of the Temple of Baal in Syria, it was part of the overall complex. In a previous article, I pointed out the similarities between the child sacrifice that would be done to honor Baal in ancient times and what is taking place in America today. This is what Jeremiah 10:4-6 says…

4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

5 They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

6 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.

Needless to say, we have killed far more of our own sons and daughters than the Baal worshippers of the ancient world ever did. Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, more than 58 million children have been murdered in this country.

Another parallel between ancient Baal worship and what is going on in America today is the public exhibition of sexual acts. While sacrifices to Baal were being conducted, there would be wild bisexual orgies around the altars, and often large numbers of people would gather to watch. Just yesterday, I wrote about the crazy sexual orgies that are going on at Burning Man right now, and we have become a nation that is absolutely addicted with watching other people have sex. According to one study that is regularly quoted by Charisma News, an astounding 68 percent of all Christian men watch pornography on a regular basis.

So it somehow seems appropriate that this arch is going up in the heart of our most important city. We have so much in common with the ancient pagan world, and so it makes sense that we would want to celebrate their culture.

Unless something dramatically changes at the last minute, this arch is going to be put up in New York City on September 19th.

Unfortunately, most New Yorkers are not going to have any idea what the real story behind this arch really is.

***

CHARISMANEWS

Burning Man: America's Largest Occult Festival Is a Celebration of Weirdness and Hedonism

11:00AM EDT 9/1/2016 MICHAEL SNYDER

The Man is illuminated as approximately 70,000 people from all over the world gather for the 30th annual Burning Man arts and music festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. ( REUTERS/Jim Urquhart)

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70,000 people have descended upon a very bleak stretch of Nevada's Black Rock Desert for what is perhaps the largest celebration of hedonism on the entire planet. Burning Man has been described as a "dystopian hellscape", and that description is not too far from the truth. From August 25 to September 5 (Labor Day Monday), revelers from all over the world will dance, carouse and "express themselves" in a temporary city that has been created entirely by its citizens. This festival is part Mad Max, part Woodstock and part Eyes Wide Shut, and many "Burners" look forward all year long to these eight days of completely unrestrained hedonism.

Thirty years ago, Burning Man began as a small beach gathering in San Francisco. Initially held during the Summer Solstice, it quickly took on a life of its own and was moved to Nevada in 1990. Ever since then, this eight-day party has not stopped growing, and people literally fly in from all over the world to witness one of the most bizarre spectacles in America.

To say that Burning Man is "weird" would not be doing it justice. In this very isolated corner of the Black Rock Desert, you will find nudists (lots of them), palm readers, neopagans, "ecosexuals," witches, sorcerers, shamans, New Age gurus, "goddesses", Satanists, "polyamorists" and just about every type of fetishist you can possibly imagine.

The reason why the festival is called "Burning Man" is because of the gigantic effigy that is burned toward the end of the eight-day celebration. Nobody is physically harmed during the burning of this enormous "wicker man," but it does seem to parallel the human sacrifices that the Druids would do in ancient times. The following comes from Wikipedia:

While other Roman writers of the time, such as Cicero, Suetonius, Lucan, Tacitus and Pliny the Elder, described human sacrifice among the Celts, only Caesar and the geographer Strabo mention the wicker man as one of many ways the Druids of Gaul performed sacrifices. Caesar reports that some of the Gauls built the effigies out of sticks and placed living men inside, then set them on fire to pay tribute to the gods. Caesar writes that though the Druids generally used those found guilty of crimes deserving death, as they pleased the gods more, they sometimes used slaves and innocent men when no delinquents could be found.
And even today, the burning of "wicker men" is very much associated with neopaganism. Here is more from that same Wikipedia article:

Wicker men are set ablaze during some neopagan festivities. A female effigy of wicker or other materials is burnt at the stake for the annual Danish celebration of Sankt Hans aften (Saint John's Eve). Typically, Celtic neopagans, Neo-druids, are those who use such a motif in their festivities because they, unlike other neopagan groups, are either inspired by, or follow a reconstructed form of, Celtic paganism. At other times, neopagans do not burn wicker men, but keep them as idols for protection, often merging them with the Green Man. Neopagan wicker men range from life-sized to huge, humanoid, temporary sculptures that are set ablaze during a celebration, usually toward the end of the event. They are constructed with a wooden frame that is woven with flexible sticks such as willow often used in wicker furniture and fencing. Some wicker men are extremely complex and require days of construction.
Of course the organizers of Burning Man strongly deny that it is an overtly occult festival, but it is undeniable that thousands upon thousands of occultists from all over the planet are drawn to this celebration each year.

However, there are many others that go to Burning Man just for the sex, drugs and techno music.

During these eight days, people openly and freely use illegal drugs, and the authorities don't seem to mind. Public nudity is also constantly on display, but once again law enforcement is nowhere to be found. Actually, if they are there it is usually to participate in the debauchery.

The biggest draw of all, however, is the casual sex that is absolutely rampant at Burning Man. And it isn't just one on one sex that we are talking about. That would be way too boring.

To some of you reading this article, this may sound like paradise.

In fact, some of you might be thinking that you may want to attend Burning Man next year.

But the truth is that there is such an emptiness to this kind of reckless animal behavior. People "let loose" to try to give meaning to their otherwise meaningless lives, but any pleasures that are enjoyed are quite fleeting. In the end, many participants return to their "normal lives" feeling even emptier than before. This is how an editorial in the New York Post put it:

Sure, it looks fun to spend a few days enjoying a gift economy, listening to techno, cooling off in refrigeration trucks and gawking at surreal sculptures or taking in offbeat performance art. But, according to Daniel Yudkin, a social psychology Ph.D. candidate at New York University, as reported by Quartz, the eight days of decadent hedonism provide once-a-year opportunities for attendees to experience bona fide connections with others. All the other non-Burning days of their lives? Not so much.

Rather than reflecting how much fun Burning Man is, the reality of people spending thousands of dollars—on travel, accommodations, tickets and drugs—serves as proof that their non-Burner days are pathetically empty. "I think the fact that people invest so much of their own resources and time and energy to going to Burning Man suggests that there's something missing, that there's something Burning Man fulfills for them that they don't get in day-to-day life," Yudkin says.

Ultimately, the truth is that you are not going to find meaning in life through sex, drugs, public nudity, weird art and loud techno music.

You can try every pleasure under the sun, but it is still not going to fill that hole that you feel deep inside of you.

In America today, there is a greater spiritual void than ever before. People are searching for meaning and purpose in all sorts of places and not finding it.

Unfortunately, I think that this helps to explain the popularity of Burning Man. Multitudes of Americans are deeply dissatisfied with their regular lives, and they are searching for something real.

Sadly, the revelers at Burning Man are not going to find anything real to soothe their aching hearts. Instead, they will only find more pain, more frustration and more emptiness.

Michael Snyder is the founder and publisher of End Of The American Dream.

***

WND

WAS SPACEX ROCKET A VICTIM OF FOUL PLAY?

Claim: 'It is a technology that only black ops can use'

Published: September 4, 2016

An object was seen flying near the SpaceX rocket that exploded on the launch pad in Cape Canaveral. Florida, on Sept. 1, 2016

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida – Is it a bird? Is it a bug? Or maybe even a drone?

The explosion that destroyed billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket on the launch pad last Thursday is suddenly getting fresh attention, as video suggests there may have been foul play involved.

The video posted on YouTube by Steve Svensson appears to display a small, spherical object flying over the rocket as it burst into flames.

“It appears that SpaceX may have been shot by a very fast moving drone, or possibly an explosive in the satellite was triggered?” he wrote in his description.

“We all know people love to hate Elon Musk.”

Watch footage of the SpaceX explosion with the mystery object flying from right to left:

The reusable SpaceX rocket was completely destroyed in the explosion that took place during a pre-launch system check. The blast, which reportedly could be felt for miles, caused no injuries.

The “revolutionary” Amos-6 satellite for Facebook was obliterated in the event, prompting CEO Mark Zuckerburg to express “deep disappointment.”

There are skeptics to the drone theory, asserting it was more likely a bird or an insect flying in front of the camera.

But others say the object was flying too fast – and therefore had to be some sort of machine.

Scott Keller commented on the YouTube video, noting: “One person said it was a bug. Someone else a bird. Hard to accept those two as explanations. Too fast and not close to the camera.”

Rantin Wraithy wrote: “That’s a big f****** bird. And round too. I didn’t think ostriches could fly.”

One analyst of the video told WND the mysterious flying object is reminiscent of something that was caught on camera during the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

“There is a common element from one of the WTC towers and the SpaceX explosion: it is a round, black object traveling at extremely high speed,” said Jim McFarland.

PRESSTV

Israel space agency: Satellite loss major blow

Fri Sep 2, 2016 7:7AM

Israel’s space agency says the destruction of an Israeli “communication satellite” during a US test-launch amounts to a “severe blow” to the regime’s aerospace industry.

On Thursday, a massive explosion destroyed a rocket belonging to the US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX during routine test firing in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The blast resulted in the loss of the Falcon 9 rocket and Amos-6, the Israeli satellite it had been due to carry into space on Saturday.

“As far as the Israeli communications satellite industry is concerned, this is a very severe blow which could place the future of the industry in doubt if it is not dragged out of the mud,” said Isaac Ben-Israel, the chairman of the Israeli space agency.

He told Israeli Channel 10 television that it might take three years to build a replacement.

“This is a blow, and the next satellite, if Space Communications manages to overcome the crisis that it will face, and decides to order another one, could be in another three years or so,” Ben-Israel said.

The regime’s Israel Aerospace Industries which had built the satellite issued a statement, saying the “total loss” of the satellite “will have a significant impact on the company.”

The blast, which SpaceX said had been caused by an “anomaly” during the static fire-test, resulted in no injuries, but shook buildings in the area and sent a fiery plume of smoke into the air.

The California-based SpaceX had already been dealing with backlash from a launch accident in June 2015.

SPUTNIK

Syrian War: 'Nothing to Do With Daesh, It is Energy Battle for Future Pipelines'

© AP Photo/ Manu Brabo, File

German online newspaper Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten has provided its own analysis on the developments in Syria, noting that the severest clashes occur only in places of major pipelines or where new routes are planned to run; hence it says, the conflict is nothing more than a fight for the best positions to start oil and gas supplies to Europe.

The newspaper has attentively examined the Syrian war map and noticed that the military actions are going on only in places where major oil and gas routes are either already running or are planned to go. “Two of the most important oil markets are located in the Syrian cities of Manbij and al-Bab, both cities are located in the Governorate of Aleppo,” the newspaper says. “Through the territories of the two cities runs a major pipeline which transports oil from Iraq to Syria, up to Idlib Governorate,” it says. The same pipeline runs through the territory of the city of Aleppo. Whoever takes Manbij, takes under control of the oil transportation in Syria, it says. The same is true for the Syria’s western cities of Aleppo, Idlib and al-Bab. In the east, the same pipeline runs through the cities of Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. The oil flowing through the pipeline comes from the Iraqi city of Mosul through Sinjar on to Deir ez-Zor. Its second strand runs from the Iraqi city of al-Qaim to Deir ez-Zor, the outlet says.

Out So far in the Syria conflict, Turkey has had no access to the oil pipelines, it says. But by taking Manbij, Ankara will get access to the Syrian pipeline system. “The current battle for Aleppo is viewed as the most decisive in the ongoing conflict: Aleppo is the last major city which the country’s main pipeline runs through,” it says. “Whoever controls Aleppo, controls the ‘keys’ of the pipeline.” The newspaper points out that the most intensive fighting between the warring parties is taking place at the key points of the pipeline, namely Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Aleppo, Idlib, Manbij in Hasakah, al-Bukamal, Ayn Issa and al-Bab. Fierce fighting is also going on in the cities of Homs and Hama. And previously the war was raging in Palmyra, the outlet notes. All the settlements are located alongside the planned pipeline route which is set to run from Qatar to Turkey. The newspaper says that in its turn, Russia is supporting the construction of a gas pipeline that is set to run from Iran through Iraq and Syria, through the city of Homs. Therefore Moscow does not want Homs to fall into the hands of Islamist mercenaries. The Syrian war map also shows that the US particularly concentrates its air strikes on the east of the country while Russian air strikes are mainly focused on its western areas. The outlet therefore concludes that Russia wants to control western Syria in order to prevent the construction of pro-Western pipelines. For the US, in its turn, it is important to prevent the construction of pro-Russian pipelines — such as the Iran-Iraq-Syria pipeline in the east. Besides, there is another proposed pipeline which is supposed to connect Israeli Golan Heights with Turkey through Syrian Damascus. On condition of the toppling of the Syrian government, Israel would have strengthened its positions as a rising gas supplier, however Russia does not want any competitors in this sector, the newspaper says. It further refers to the reports of the Caucasus Strategic Research Centre (KAFKASSAM) in Ankara which suggest that the true purpose behind the attempt to set up the so-called "Kurdish corridor" was to transport Kurdish oil and gas from northern Iraq over northern Syria to the Mediterranean Sea. The reports also suggest that the US had plans to build a new pipeline from the Persian Gulf to northern Iraq and further to Turkey through northern Syria. Thus, it planned to supply Iraqi oil through Turkey and northern Syria further to the West, namely to the European energy market. However the plan to set up the Kurdish corridor failed because Russia stepped into the Syrian conflict. Russia is against this corridor because it wants to keep Europe as the major customer of its energy products. Under no conditions will Russia give up its position on the European market, the newspaper finally states.

(The same is true in Afghanistan. Ed)

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Oleg Gazmanov is a Russian pop singer, composer and poet, specializing in patriotic songs, as well as songs which cover more conventional themes. He was once an elite gymnast and well known for his acrobatics performed during live shows, especially at the beginning of his musical career in the 90's.

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NoMoreFakeNews.com

THE CDC MEDICAL POLICE STATE: THE RIGHT TO DETAIN ANYONE

Agency on the verge of expanding its power to detain and force medical treatment on anyone

Jon Rappoport

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

—Understand the implications of new CDC rules, if you want to know where the medical dictatorship is heading.

Arbitrary apprehension of citizens, detainment, forced medical treatment, vaccination.

Let me paint a scenario:

You live in a polluted city, so you have a low-level cough. On your flight to another state, the cough becomes worse because the air in the plane cabin is foul. Unknown to you, a passenger complains to a flight attendant. The passenger is a typical meddler. When you arrive at your destination, a health-agency employee is waiting at the gate for you. He apprehends you and takes you to a room, to decide whether you have a communicable disease. His first standard question—are you up to date on your vaccinations? And things go downhill from there…

It can get worse: the same story as above, except when the detained passenger is injected with a load of vaccines, he then becomes very ill, or even dies. Using plane passenger lists, health authorities search out and detain everyone who was on the flight, claiming the deceased passenger died as a result of a disease—not the vaccinations—and now all the passengers will be detained and “treated,” because they are “infected.”

The CDC is doubling down.

The agency is on the verge of expanding its power to detain and force medical treatment on anyone.

The new proposed CDC regulations are contained in the Federal Register dated August 15, 2016, under the heading, “Control of Communicable Diseases—Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.”

Reading between the lines, the stark message is: any person in the US suspected of carrying a serious communicable disease, even if his disease is in an “invisible” stage, can be detained, isolated, quarantined, and medically treated (e.g., forcibly vaccinated). Upon conditional release, the person can be monitored, and this can involve wearing electronic tracking devices.

Those are the broad strokes of the new policy, and, obviously, they’re broad enough to cover anyone.

Tortured linguistic gibberish from the CDC guarantees that any American can be assessed with a disease, justifying arrest. Force yourself to wade through the next paragraph, and you’ll get a feel for the lunatic bureaucratic doublespeak, and the loopholes through which the government can drive a truck:

“…to authorize the quarantine, isolation, or conditional release of an individual traveling interstate, CDC must reasonably believe that the individual is infected with a communicable disease in a qualifying stage…As defined by the statute, a ‘qualifying stage’ means that the communicable disease is in ‘a precommunicable stage, if the disease would be likely to cause a public health emergency if transmitted to other individuals’ or ‘a communicable stage’…it is necessary to define the precommunicable stage of a communicable disease to adequately inform the public of when quarantine, isolation, or conditional release may be authorized. HHS/CDC defines precommunicable stage to mean the stage beginning upon an individual’s earliest opportunity for exposure to an infectious agent and ending upon the individual entering or reentering the communicable stage of the disease or, if the individual does not enter the communicable stage, the latest date at which the individual could reasonably be expected to have the potential to enter or reenter the communicable stage…”

Is that clear as mud? The “qualifying stage” of a disease? Translation: “we can arrest you whenever we want to, and we can say you have a disease.”

Here’s more garble from the CDC. Notice the absurd Orwellian definition of “agreement”:

“…HHS/CDC believes that it is important to define for the public what is meant by the term ‘apprehension.’ Apprehension means the temporary taking into custody of an individual or group for purposes of determining whether quarantine, isolation, or conditional release is warranted…When an apprehension occurs, the individual is not free to leave or discontinue his/her discussion with an HHS/CDC public health or quarantine officer….In certain circumstances, the individual may remain apprehended pending confirmation that he or she is not infected or not reasonably believed to be infected with a quarantinable communicable disease…Generally, however, HHS/CDC does not expect that the typical public health apprehension will last longer than 72 hours…HHS/CDC is proposing a definition for ‘agreement’ which refers to an agreement entered into between the CDC and an individual expressing agreement between the parties that the individual will observe public health measures authorized under this part, as the CDC considers reasonably necessary to protect the public’s health, including quarantine, isolation, conditional release, medical examination, hospitalization, vaccination, and treatment.”

Translation: Any person can be arrested, held, and vaccinated, without his consent. That’s what “agreement” means.

And finally: “HHS/CDC has proposed a definition for ‘electronic or internet-based monitoring’ that defines this term as referring to mechanisms or technologies allowing for the temporary public health supervision of an individual under conditional release, including electronic mail, SMS texts, video conference or webcam technologies, integrated voice-response systems, entry of information into a web-based forum, wearable tracking technologies, and other mechanisms or technologies as determined by the Director or supervising health authority.”

Translation: Once released from custody, an individual can be monitored electronically, including by the attachment of tracking devices.

To prepare the public for this version of fascism, the CDC has been promoting a whole series of phony epidemics over decades, using scare tactics. SARS, MERS, bird flu, Swine Flu, West Nile, Ebola, Zika—they’ve all been duds. The CDC has only cared about one thing in this campaign: softening up the public to accept a medical police state.

And as this new document indicates, the CDC is turning the screw several times in that direction.

In 1987, I began warning the public that medical ops are the most dangerous, because they appear to have no political partisan bias. They’re promoted on the basis of “we’re the healers and we only want to protect you.”

Well, what I’ve discussed above is ultimately the kind of protection they’re talking about at the CDC.

And you can bet that a detained adult who hasn’t taken his recommended slew of vaccines would be looked upon as an outlier, a person whose “medical condition” could be leveraged into multiple shots in the arm, before being dumped back out into the street.

If you think I’m exaggerating what the CDC would actually do to you or anyone else, keep two things in mind. One, this is a step-by-step long-term op. A nibble on your freedom today, another nibble tomorrow. And then, a few years from now, you’ll look back and see how far they’ve come.

And two, as an illustration, how many people believed, ten years ago, that the state of California would push through a bill (SB277) mandating the full CDC toxic load of vaccines for every child attending public or private school? How many people believed the state would wipe out the religious and personal-belief exemptions, or relegate the concept of informed consent to the dustbin of history?

The enemies of freedom are writing the future at this moment and erasing the past.

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EXPRESS

HUGE EU BLOW: Switzerland’s biggest political party unveils plans to leave Schengen

SWITZERLAND’S biggest political party has announced plans to try and curb the flow of people into the country by quitting the Schengen Zone.

By REBECCA FLOOD

PUBLISHED: 16:49, Sat, Sep 3, 2016 | UPDATED: 18:19, Sat, Sep 3, 2016

The right-wing People’s Party (SVP) has unveiled new proposals to try and halt the free movement of people around the European Union.

Vice President Christoph Blocher made the shock statement after a parliamentary panel rejected the government’s threat to impose quotas on the number of foreigners entering the country next year.

Instead, they opted for a compromise based around hiring workers with a preference towards local people.

Mr Bolcher said: "If we see that the law to implement (a 2014 referendum to curb immigration) does not massively reduce immigration, the SVP will launch an initiative to end the free movement of people.”

A 2014 referendum in Ticino, a town near the Italian border, voted for the idea of imposing quotas on immigration, in part due to the town having a disproportionately high number of Italian workers.

Since 2014, higher taxes and more stringent checks have been ordered on the workers amid claims they were being hired for cheaper, pricing out local Swiss labour.

The Ticino government is heeding the SVP’s calls for tougher measures, but is backing a counter-measure to try and resolve the issue at federal level.

They are championing a similar solution, whereby temporary limits are placed on immigration by region or job sector.

But the SVP rejected the counter-proposal, saying their own initiative was a “reflection of the clear NO to the free movement of people”.

When Mr Bolcher was asked if they would resort to another referendum if the counter-proposal passed both chambers of parliament, he dismissed the idea.

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BBC

Hanjin ships, cargo and sailors stranded at sea

By Andreas Illmer

BBC News

1 September 2016
From the section 
Business

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES

With South Korea's biggest shipping company filing for bankruptcy protection, the vessels, sailors and cargo of Hanjin Shipping are stuck in limbo, stranded at sea.

Ports, fearing they will not get paid, refuse to let them dock or unload.

That means the ships are forced to wait for Hanjin, its creditors or partners to find a solution.

It's a case of unprecedented scale, with experts expecting the deadlock to last for weeks, if not months.

"[It is] a major disaster for the shipping companies and for the companies that own the goods in those containers," Greg Knowler, maritime and trade analyst with IHS Markit, told the BBC from Hong Kong.

Peak season

Not only are ships not allowed to unload, containers waiting to be picked up are also being held back by the ports as collateral over unpaid bills.

And even if the ports did allow them in, Hanjing would probably not as the vessels could expect to be immediately repossessed by the firm's creditors.

Beyond the ships and containers, there is of course the cargo within those containers - in many cases part of a tight chain of supply and delivery.

By September, the global shipping industry is already into what is its busiest time of the year ahead of the Christmas season.

"Just imagine, there are some 540,000 containers with cargo caught up at sea," explains Lars Jensen, chief executive of Sea Intelligence Consulting in Copenhagen.

That means that a lot of the goods en route to the US are geared at the busy year-end holidays and any disruption will be a major headache for the companies that have entrusted their products into the hauls of the Hanjin freighters.

Who owns what?

Let's break down the somewhat confusing ownership structure at play here.

Hanjin operates partly with its own ships, and partly with vessels it leases from others. So some of the vessels stuck at sea are owned by other companies who now can't get them back and on top of that have to assume they won't get paid for leasing them in the first place.

The containers on board the ships are also not all Hanjin's own. As the company is part of an alliance with five other cargo firms, there will be a mix of containers on each vessel - some belonging to Hanjin, the rest to the other four partners.

And lastly, there are the firms who own the content of the containers, for instance an Asian electronics firm sending its goods to the US market.

Hanjin's bankruptcy is the largest ever to hit the shipping industry so there's no roadmap as to what will happen now, no precedent of comparable scale.

Stuck in ports

Let's take a container brought from, say, the Philippines to Hong Kong, to then be picked up from there and taken to the US.

Berthing and handling of that cargo at the Hong Kong port costs money. If Hanjin can't pay that, the port will hold on to those containers as collateral until someone will be willing to pay.

A possible solution would be that the companies who own the contents of those containers ask other shipping companies to step in and pick up where Hanjin left off. The cost of this would be immense, and would come on top of anything they had already paid to Hanjin beforehand. Part of it might be covered by insurance but it would still be an extremely costly endeavour.

Stuck at sea

The containers stuck on board the ships are the next problem. While at sea, there is no way to get the cargo off board.

Ships that are only leased by Hanjin could see their actual owner take back control and bring them into a harbour. They would still need to be cleared of their cargo but could then be leased to other companies.

Given that the owners of any leased vessels would probably not want to foot the bill themselves they may try to draft in the four partner lines that have containers on the ship or maybe even the companies whose cargo is inside those containers.

The ships owned by Hanjin itself would most likely have to be sold before anyone would bring in the money to get them into a port and cleared. The fact that they would have to be sold as is, i.e. at sea, and with a load of overdue containers on board would probably weigh down the price of the vessels.

Stranded sailors

Each stranded ship has about 15 to 25 crew on board. Unable to call at any port, they will have to depend on the supplies they have with them until a solution can be found. While food should last long enough, they will eventually need fuel.

In a worst-case scenario, should they find themselves unable to pay for fuel being delivered by a shuttle, they would risk running into serious trouble. In that case though, nearby ports would likely be forced to accept them.

Aside from the prospect of being stuck for weeks at sea, the sailors will also face uncertainly over their wages. Most of them are not actually hired by Hanjin but by crewing agencies. Those agencies are unlikely to get paid by Hanjin and therefore won't be able to pay the crews.

"Unless someone steps in very quickly - and there is no sign of that - this will last a very long time," according to Mr Jensen.

Ships, cargo and crew might find themselves stuck for weeks, if not months, without knowing when and where their current voyage will end.

Chuck Baldwin Live

My List Of The Ten Worst U.S. Presidents

Published: Thursday, September 1, 2016

A few days ago, I posted my list of the top ten worst U.S. presidents on my Facebook page.

People who are familiar with my writings should not be surprised at my list, although many people who read my Facebook post did act surprised. Of course, these could have been people who aren’t that familiar with my writings after all.

At any rate, with my Facebook post I made my list without explanation. I will use this column to share a little bit of the reasoning behind my selections. So here goes: my top ten worst presidents in U.S. history: (We have only included number 1. Ed)

1. Abraham Lincoln (Republican)

Without an ounce of doubt in my mind, Abraham Lincoln is America’s absolute worst President. He did not free a single slave; but what he did do was begin the process of enslaving free men. It is no hyperbole to say that Lincoln truly governed as a dictator, not as a President.

Virtually every single problem we are having today (and have had ever since Lincoln’s presidency) with an overbearing, encroaching, authoritarian federal government in Washington, D.C., came as a direct result of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. EVERY SINGLE ONE!

Abraham Lincoln destroyed the Washington/Jeffersonian model of American government and replaced it with an imperial White House. His own statements prove that he cared absolutely nothing for the black race and was indeed himself a racist--unlike many leaders of the Confederacy, such as Robert E. Lee, T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson, et al., who publicly and adamantly spoke in support of ending slavery and NEVER said anything remotely derogatory or racist against the black people.

Beyond that, in his first inaugural address Lincoln actually SUPPORTED an amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which would have been the 13th Amendment) proposed by Ohio Congressman Thomas Corwin that said, "No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." In other words, the amendment would have forever guaranteed the right of people to own slaves.

Lincoln violated every constitutional restraint on the office of the President possible. He used the Union army to invade independent sovereign states, and he invaded the State legislature in Maryland, kidnapping and incarcerating the legislators to prevent them from voting on secession. He used force to bully and intimidate other State legislatures in the North to keep them from supporting southern independence. He authorized Union forces to hunt down and imprison “Copperheads” (individuals in the North who supported southern independence).

While Lincoln drafted black men from the North to serve in the Union army in segregated units, southern blacks were fighting voluntarily side-by-side with the white men--in the same units as the white men. And what most history books fail to mention is that there were reportedly over 300,000 slave owners fighting in Lincoln’s Union army during the Civil War. (Mildred Lewis Rutherford, “Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, and Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States,” 1861-1865, p. 35)

Lincoln’s so-called Emancipation Proclamation was an attempt to give the North moral justification for continuing his unconstitutional and immoral war of aggression against the South (and which the North was miserably losing after two years into the war) by issuing an edict to a nation that had already seceded (the Confederacy) and in which he had NO AUTHORITY, while leaving the institution of slavery completely intact among the states in which he did have authority (the Union). Lincoln was also hoping that his proclamation would incite southern blacks to insurrect against the southern states. However, this goal was never remotely accomplished.

England’s William Wilberforce had already shown how slavery could be peacefully ended. The institution of slavery was already dying in the United States. There was absolutely NO REASON why over 600,000 Americans had to die in Lincoln’s War of Aggression. Abraham Lincoln cared nothing about freeing slaves; what he cared about was enslaving free and independent states to an all-powerful, dictatorial federal government.

There really wasn’t a “bad” President before Lincoln. But with Lincoln as a model and with the constitutional restraints against an imperial presidency left torn in shreds, we haven’t had an abundance of “good” presidents since him. In fact, without Abraham Lincoln the nine “worst” presidents below would probably have never been President.

(I highly encourage readers to read the excellent book “The Real Lincoln” by Thomas DiLorenzo.)

Science alert

WATCH: Your tears are as unique (and beautiful) as snowflakes Maurice Wikkers

DAVID NIELD

3 SEP 2016

Do you know what your tears look like at a microscopic level? Dutch artist Maurice Mikkers does, and he's been looking at hundreds of them. It seems that our tears can be as unique as snowflakes, and have a similar crystallised look under a microscope.

Mikkers was a lab technician before he went to art school, and has yet to find two tears that look alike. He's also investigating how temperature, humidity, and even the cause of the crying can influence a tear's structure.

"[A] dark field microscope will light up the tear on a black background, so you can actually see the beautiful patterns and shapes," Mikkers says in the Quartz video above. "I think tears are so unexplored. We need to figure out why."

There are three main types of tears: basal (or base) tears, that keep our eyes lubricated, reflex tears in response to irritation (like a speck in the eye or onions), and emotional tears (linked to a loss of emotional control, either through happiness or sadness).

Mikkers wants to see how a tear caused by a sad movie could differ in appearance from a tear caused by stubbing your toe. What we do already know is that emotional tears have three extra ingredients: the stress hormones prolactin and adrenocorticotropic hormone, and the painkiller leucine enkephalin.

A happy tear (left) and a sad tear (right). Credit: Maurice Wikkers

Of course, when it comes to emotional tears, we all have different trigger levels - the same speech can leave one person a blubbering wreck and have the next yawning. Our personalities could also play into the way our tears look under a microscope.

Mikkers begins by collecting tears into micropipettes. They are then dropped into tubes before being transferred in 1 to 4 mm drops to a microscopic slide. Crystallisation can take between 5 and 30 minutes, depending on the environment.

So far, there's been little research into how our tears crystallise, but Mikkers is determined to keep investigating, creating some unique works of art along the way.

Biomedical scientist Naomi Chayen from the University of London thinks further analytical techniques are going to be required to understand just what makes all of these tears appear so different.

"Crystals are very dependent on the ingredients," she told Kate Groetzinger at Quartz. "If it is the same person and the same day and the emotional tear dries differently than the one caused by the onion, it would be very, very interesting."

Emotional response and cutting white onions

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Natural News

Canola oil: a chemical carcinogen that doesn't belong anywhere near your food

Sunday, September 04, 2016 by: Amy Goodrich


(NaturalNews) We all have been trained by the government and food industry to believe that processed vegetable oils, such as canola oil, are healthy, and natural saturated fats coming from butter, lard, or coconut oil increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity.

Though canola oil is marketed as a healthy oil, it is anything but healthy. It is a cheap, highly unstable, inflammatory oil that was given a huge push by trusted advisory groups and the government's dietary guidelines.

For years we have been told by scientists, governments, nutritionists, and doctors to stop using saturated fats and use highly processed vegetable oils instead. Nonetheless, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer are still on the rise.

The problem with canola oil

Canola oil comes from highly toxic genetically modified rapeseeds. In the past, rapeseed oil was used in candles, soaps, lipsticks, lubricants, inks, biofuels, and even insecticides. Somehow this industrial oil found its way to our dinner table.

In 1956, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of rapeseed oil for human consumption due to the high levels of erucic acid. By the early seventies, rapeseed growers had found a way to genetically modify the seeds to produce an oil with reduced erucic acid.

The oil was reintroduced on the market under the name "Rape Oil" or "LEAR Oil" (Low Erucic Acid Rape), which was later changed to canola oil for marketing purposes. It was touted a wonder oil, low in unhealthy saturated fats and high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

While this GMO seed may have a lower erucic acid content, hybridization and genetic modification also increased the amount of oleic acid. Oleic acid has been linked to stunted growth, abnormalities in blood platelets, free radical damage, and an increased risk of several types of cancer.

The ugly truth about canola oil

Even today, despite the fact that heart disease and cancer continue to rise at an alarming rate while saturated fat consumption is down, people are still believing the hype and buying overly processed, toxic vegetable oils instead of natural fats such as coconut oil or organic grass-fed butter.

Here are the three top reasons why canola oil doesn't belong anywhere near your mouth.

1. 90 percent of canola oil is genetically modified

While some people will argue that GMO foods will help us to address food shortages in the future, at the same time they are poisoning millions of people. The billion dollar GMO industry claims that their Frankenfoods are safe for human consumption, even though they have never been tested for long-term effects.

A 2011 review published in Environmental Studies Europe reported that mammals fed genetically modified foods for 90 days showed dramatically reduced kidney (43.5 percent) and liver (30.8 percent) functions. This study is only one of the many studies linking GMO food to increased health issues.

2. Canola oil is often used as a hydrogenated oil

Canola is a highly refined, processed oil. It undergoes degumming, bleaching, and deodorizing steps that usually involve high temperatures and toxic chemicals. Also, during the process harmful trans fatty acids are created which contribute to cardiovascular issues.

3. Canola oil is the main ingredient of "non-chemical" pesticides

Most GMO foods contain high levels of pesticide residues which have shown to cause many life-threatening issues. Furthermore, canola oil is an excellent pesticide on its own, hence its use as a key ingredient in many "non-chemical" pesticides.

Don't let the food industry lure you into buying harmful vegetable oils that don't belong on a kitchen table. They often focus their marketing strategies on the general belief that saturated fats cause high cholesterol levels and heart diseases, while their oils contain healthy monounsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acids.

Sources:
WiseMindHealthyBody.com
DrAxe.com
ALIGN=LEFT>EnvEurope.SpringerOpen.com

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions
“Thou hast put gladness into my heart: they have been satisfied with the fruit of their corn and wine

and oil.”
(Psalm 4:7)