“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
(Matthew 23:37)
Ye Would Not

***

Click to View PDF online
or Right-click to Download PDF.

The Word Of The Lord

***

WND

JERUSALEM EMBASSY WILL BRING WAR, WARNS GRAND MUFTI

State Department's plan names May 14 as day for facility to open in Israel's capital

Bob Unruh

February 27, 2018

A key Palestinian religious leader is warning that there will be war if the United States follows through on its announced plan to open an embassy in Jerusalem, which Washington now formally recognizes as Israel’s capital.

The threat, according to Palestinian Media Watch, comes from Sheik Muhammad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem.

The official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported Hussein, described as “preacher at the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque,” “warned against the severity of the American administration’s decision on transferring its embassy to occupied Jerusalem.”

“He explained that the transfer of the American embassy to Jerusalem, if it is carried out, will not be an attack on the Palestinians alone, but rather a blatant attack on the Arabs and Muslims throughout the world … .and that it will not serve peace and security in the region, but rather bring upon it disasters of wars, anarchy, and instability,” the report said.

President Trump, last Dec. 6, formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital after three previous administrations had signed waivers every six months delaying enactment of a law passed by Congress.

Last week, the State Department announced the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will open May 14, 2018, the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948.

That day is known to Palestinians as the”Nakba,” Arabic for “the catastrophe.”

At the declaration in 1948, the combined forces of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq joined in an attempt to eradicate the state of Israel.

The report said the mufti “further implicitly encouraged Palestinians and Muslims to use violence and seek martyrdom.”

“[The mufti] added that the residents of Jerusalem and all of the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims will not submit to this blatant attack, and will sacrifice all that is dear to them in order to confront the American stubbornness.”

The PA Foreign Affairs Ministry described the announcement as “direct aggression.” And the Palestinian National Council calls the U.S. plan a “blatant defiance toward the international, Arab, and Islamic will.”

The Islamic leader also explained the decision “testifies to the insolence that those who are biased in favor of the occupation have reached, while they continue to do an injustice to our people and its holy sites and to blatantly harm the Palestinian cause in an attempt to eliminate it.”

The report said the Muslim leader said the “arbitrary” behavior by the U.S. “will have severe consequences.”

(“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” Luke 21:20 “And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a trodden stone to all the nations: every one that tramples on it shall utterly mock at it, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it.” Zachariar 12:3)

***

RT

US ‘destroying grounds for peace’ with Jerusalem embassy move in May – Ankara

February 25, 2018

© Ronen Zvulun / Reuters

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has denounced Washington’s plan to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in May, saying it violates international law and undermines peace efforts in the region.

In a statement released on its website, the ministry accused the United States of disregarding resolutions passed by the United Nations and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which condemned the proposed embassy move.

In a statement released on its website, the ministry accused the United States of disregarding resolutions passed by the United Nations and the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which condemned the proposed embassy move.

"The US government's announcement that it will move its embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May shows that it insists on destroying the grounds for peace by violating international law, United Nations Security Council resolutions on Jerusalem and the established UN parameters,” the statement said.

Ankara went on to state that its ally, Washington, “shows that it has not heard the voices of the international community’s conscience.”

“Despite the extremely worrying nature of this decision taken by the US, Turkey will continue the exert effort to protect the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people along with the overwhelming majority of the international community.”

The US State Department said on Friday it would open an embassy in Jerusalem in May to coincide with Israel’s 70th anniversary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the US announcement as “a great day for the people of Israel.”

On December 6, President Donald Trump said that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and planned on moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested holy city. The decision sparked international outrage as well as bloody demonstrations.

Around a dozen Palestinians were killed and hundreds were wounded by Israeli security forces during demonstrations in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza against the move.

The UN General Assembly voted 128-9 to condemn the US decision, and Turkey hosted an emergency OIC summit, during which the 57 member states denounced Washington’s planned embassy move and acknowledged East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state.

Moscow has urged Washington to observe UN-approved parameters for negotiating a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, noting that unilateral decisions about Jerusalem’s status undermine peace efforts.

“The fact is that the statement [of recognition] goes against all the previous agreements,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in December, adding that it divided global communities into two “very, very unequal parts.”

***

The Washington Times

Middle East military heavyweights Israel, Iran on collision course over Syria

In this photo released by Lennart Preiss/MSC 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, holds a part of a downed drone during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, MSC, in Munich , Germany, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018. (Lennart Preiss/MSC 2018)

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Iran and Israel are on a collision course over Tehran’s expanding footprint in Syria, raising the odds of a direct clash between the region’s two military heavyweights that could quickly draw in other combatants.

With Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, Iran’s most potent military ally, emboldened by their success in upholding Syrian President Bashar Assad, Israel is growing more and more wary of being attacked by missiles not just from southern Lebanon but also from inside Syria.

Israel has been sporadically bombing Hezbollah positions in Syria for the past three years. But the situation reached new heights this month when what Israel said was an Iranian armed stealth drone was intercepted and downed over Israel and an Israeli F-16 fighter jet was in turn shot down by anti-aircraft fire from inside Syria during a retaliatory airstrike.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif traded belligerent taunts at a major security conference in Munich this week, with the hard-line Mr. Netanyahu brandishing a piece of the downed drone and warning that Tehran “should not test Israel’s resolve.”

***

PRESSTV

Israel approves bill paving way for annexation of West Bank

February 26, 2018

Israel has approved a bill to expand the jurisdiction of Israeli courts over Area C of the West Bank, paving the way for the annexation of the region.

The area is currently ruled by the military but an annexation would require Israeli law to be imposed and Palestinians living in the area to identify as Arab Israelis.

The ministerial committee for legislation on Sunday approved the measure introduced by justice minister Ayelet Shaked who is known for her extremist views regarding Palestinians.

Her office claimed in a statement that the bill aimed to minimize the caseload of the high court of justice which rules on property rights, building and construction, and restraining orders.

Under the new provision, such cases will be adjudicated by the district courts.

The legislation is also designed to treat Israeli settlers living in the West Bank like those living within the pre-1967 borders, or the so-called Green Line.

The bill must be rubber-stamped by the Israeli parliament or the Knesset but it has already drawn condemnation for being part of a drive to annex Area C and deprive Palestinians living there of their rights.

Yousef Jabarin, a member of the Joint List which represents Palestinian citizens of Israel at the Knesset, slammed the measure as another initiative by Israel to normalize the occupation and to advance “creeping annexation” over the West Bank.

“The High Court of Justice has never treated the Palestinians in the territories justly,” Jabarin said, noting that the legislation will complicate and prolong legal proceedings, leaving Palestinians with little legal recourse.

Under interim agreements signed in the 1990s with Israel, the West Bank is divided into three zones.

The Area C of the West Bank is the largest division in the occupied territory as it comprises 60 percent of the land, and is under full Israeli military control.

The Israeli military almost never grants Palestinians living in Area C building permits.

Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future independent state, with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital.

The presence and continued expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine, however, has created a major obstacle to the establishment of such a state.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

The UN and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because they are built on territories captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are hence subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.

Nevertheless, the Israeli regime continues to build new settlements and expand existing ones.

US President Donald Trump on December 6 formally recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the so-called capital of Israel and announced plans to move the American embassy to the occupied city.

***

PRESSTV

Israel’s tax, land measures force closure of Palestine’s iconic church

February 25, 2018

Worshippers kneel and pray in front of the closed doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds, February 25, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

In a rare move, church leaders in Palestine have closed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds to express dissent against new Israeli tax measures and a proposed property law which they say is an attack on Christians in the Holy Land.

In a press conference in front of the old church, built where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, Theophilos III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Francesco Patton, the Custos of the Holy Land, and Nourhan Manougian, the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, announced the closure in a joint statement on Sunday.

“As a measure of protest, we decided to take this unprecedented step of closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre,” the church leaders said in the statement, which was read out in front of the large wooden doors of the building. The statement added that the closure, which began at around noon (1000 GMT), would continue until further notice.

Recently, the municipality of Jerusalem al-Quds canceled a tax exemption it had granted to church-owned commercial property in the city, which in part made the christian officials shut the iconic church in protest.

“This reminds us all of laws of a similar nature which were enacted against the Jews during dark periods in Europe,” the church leaders said, adding the measure would harm their work, which includes not only religious but also social services to those in need.

Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III speaks during a news conference with other church leaders in front of the closed doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds, February 25, 2018. (Photo by Reuters)

Furthermore, Israeli lawmakers have proposed a bill that would allow the regime to expropriate land in Jerusalem al-Quds sold by churches to private real estate companies in recent years.

Church officials, however, say such a law would make it more difficult for them to find buyers for church-owned land-sales that contribute to operating costs of their religious institutions.

“This abhorrent bill ... if approved, would make the expropriation of the lands of churches possible,” said the statement.

Outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, puzzled pilgrims and tourists voiced disappointment at finding its doors shut.

Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said the move “should be a reminder of the need to end the Israeli occupation.”

About 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

***

CHURCH MILITANT

WILL POPE FRANCIS RESIGN?

by Bradley Eli, M.Div., Ma.Th. • ChurchMilitant.com • February 27, 2018

An increasing number of Catholics believe the Holy Father should resign, owing to the avalanche of scandals in which he's implicated. The question then becomes who would replace him?

A poll last week of Church Militant viewers showed two in five Catholics believe Pope Francis should resign. This question revolved around the sex abuse cover-up involving the Chilean Bp. Juan Barros in which Pope Francis was publically skeptical.

The appointment of the disgraced former archbishop of Los Angeles as papal envoy for Scranton's 150th-anniversary celebration didn't sit well with Catholics either. Finally, the pope's involvement in procuring a $25 million dollar grant for a scandal-ridden hospital in Rome is now on center stage.

If the Holy Father does resign, certain liberal bishops who helped elect Pope Francis to the papacy have already said they want the current secretary of state Cdl. Pietro Parolin to replace him. Last March, news broke of liberal prelates like U.K. Cdl. Vincent Nichols speaking not only of the pope's hoped-for resignation but also of a desire to have Cdl. Parolin take his place.

In January Cdl. Parolin voiced approval for the opening of Holy Communion to the divorced and civilly remarried. The cardinal described such a change in Church practice as a "paradigm shift, " which exalted primacy of conscience over Catholic moral teaching. His statement was publically corrected by the former prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cdl. Gerhard Müller, who counteredthat such a revolutionary shift "constitutes not a development, but a corruption" of Church teaching.

***

RT

Physical evidence prophet Isaiah existed discovered in Jerusalem

February 23, 2018

An ancient clay seal discovered in Jerusalem may have belonged to the prophet Isaiah and could be the earliest physical evidence of the biblical figure.

"We appear to have discovered a seal impression, which may have belonged to the prophet Isaiah, in a scientific, archaeological excavation," lead archaeologist Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology said in a statement.

The clay seal was discovered in Jerusalem in 2009, during excavations at the Ophel in East Jerusalem. It contains the word, Yesha’yahu, the Hebrew for ‘Isaiah.’

It’s been damaged over time, making it more of a challenge to determine which Isaiah it refers to. The upper part is missing while the lower left part is damaged.

The seal has a second word which isn’t legible as a letter is believed to be missing. If that missing letter was the Hebrew letter aleph, it would read ‘prophet’ in Hebrew, and could be the first evidence of the prophet’s existence, aside from the Bible. However, if the letter isn’t an aleph, the word could be a location or a father’s name.

"The critically important letter that would be needed to confirm that the second word is the title ‘prophet’ is an aleph,” Christopher Rollston, professor of Semitic languages at George Washington University, told National Geographic. “But no aleph is legible on this bulla [clay seal], and so that reading cannot be confirmed at all."

Drawing by Reut Livyatan Ben-Arie/© Eilat Mazar; Photo by Ouria Tadmor/© Eilat Mazar

Rollston also pointed to the fact that the Bible commonly refers to “the prophet” rather than simply “prophet,”casting further doubt on the archaeologists’ theory. "In short, if this were the word 'prophet,' I would have liked to have seen the word 'the,' as in 'Isaiah the prophet,’” he said.

Isaiah advised King Hezekiah, who ruled the area between the eighth and seventh century B.C. The seal was found 10ft (3 meters) from a seal impression belonging to King Hezekiah at an excavation site in the Old City of Jerusalem, at the base of the southern wall of Temple Mount, or Haram al-Sharif. The area is a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims, and is home to the al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The site contained a number of impressions stamped on clay, Mazar explains in Biblical Archaeological Review. The bulla, each measuring about 0.4 inches (1cm) in diameter, had been stamped with a seal bearing the name of its owner.

The excavation site included a number of seals belonging to a family named Bes, a name which isn’t known from the Bible.

This isn’t the first time two seal impressions of people mentioned together in the Bible have been found near one another. During the City of David excavations which took place between 2005–2008, seal impressions of Yehukhal ben Sheleḿiyahu ben Shovi and Gedaliyahu ben Pashḥur, high officials in King Ẓedekiah’s court (Jeremiah 38:1), were found only a few feet apart, Mazar said.

History Magazine

Discovering Gilgamesh, the World’s First Action Hero

A self-taught was responsible for finding the worlds first epic myth hidden among broken clay tablets in the British Museum

The hero Gilgamesh effortlessly overpowers a lion in this eighth-century B.C. statue discovered in Iraq.
DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES

By Francisco del Rio Sanchez

Self-taught scholar George Smith pieced together the Epic of Gilgamesh from broken tablets in the British Museum.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

AKKADIAN AUTODIDACT

At age 14 Smith left formal schooling and became an apprentice in a publishing house that specialized in intricate engravings for banknotes. The work required close attention to visual details and patterns, a skill Smith picked up on the job and which would serve him well later.

His workplace was fortuitously located on Fleet Street—close to the British Museum in the neighborhood of Bloomsbury. In 1860 Smith began spending his lunch breaks there to feed his growing hunger for the study of Mesopotamia. Of particular interest were the discoveries that Austen Henry Layard and other archaeologists had recently made at the site of Nineveh, near Mosul in modern-day Iraq. Smith spent hours at the museum studying the clay tablets and teaching himself to decipher them.

Rebuilt in the 20th century, the Nergal Gate was originally built in Nineveh in the seventh century B.C. Other monuments erected at the height of the city’s power include the Library of Ashurbanipal, where the Gilgamesh tablets were stored.
JANE SWEENEY/GETTY IMAGES

The tablets were in Akkadian, an ancient language written in cuneiform script. Its characters are formed from strokes in the form of wedges, the Latin word for which—cuneo—is the root of the term “cuneiform.” To decipher requires dedication and patience. Over time, the scholars working in the antiquities department realized how well Smith could interpret it.

They informed Sir Henry Rawlinson, the foremost cuneiform scholar of the time, of their talented lunchtime visitor. Rawlinson, who had worked with Layard at Nineveh, met Smith and was impressed by his abilities. Smith proved particularly adept at spotting which fragment fitted where when faced with a table strewn with shattered clay tablets.

In 1861 Rawlinson convinced the museum to hire Smith, initially on a part-time basis, to organize the vast number of tablets in its collection. Numbering in the thousands, many originated from Nineveh’s library, built by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal in the seventh century B.C. Created when the Neo-Assyrian Empire stretched from Egypt to Turkey, the tablets were discovered in the 1850s by Hormuzd Rassam, a protégé of Layard. As experts in Akkadian writing were rare, most of the artifacts were simply left in storage at the museum. Over the next decade, Smith pored over them, perfecting his understanding of ancient languages, and soon became an expert.

The great library of the seventh-century B.C. Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, shown in this 1910 illustration, was unearthed in Nineveh in the 1850s, and thousands of tablets found there were transferred to the British Museum. Among these was the Flood Tablet, deciphered by George Smith in 1872, which alerted him to the existence of the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh.
BRIDGEMAN/ACI

Long days working with the ancient puzzle were relieved by moments of revelation. In his first decade working at the museum, Smith managed to establish dates for events in the history of the Israelites, helping to straighten out parts of the biblical chronology. Smith hoped to travel to the Middle East to seek out more tablets, but the museum wanted him to stay in London and translate the tablets already in their collection.

AN EPIC FLOOD

Smith’s great hope was that his work on the broken tablets might reveal links to biblical accounts. His big breakthrough came after a decade of working at the museum. In November 1872 a fragment from Nineveh caught his attention. To a layperson, this piece (now known as tablet K.3375) does not look much different from all the other cracked tablets. But intriguing words astonished Smith and reminded him of something. Much of the lettering, however, was obscured by a layer of grime. Smith, an anxious man, had to wait for several days, his nerves strung like piano wires, before it could be cleaned.

When the restored tablet was placed before him, he deciphered the characters and confirmed his hunch—that they were part of a story about a great flood, with many of the key elements similar to the Noah story in the biblical Book of Genesis:

The seventh-century B.C. Flood Tablet, shown here, unlocked the Epic of Gilgamesh for Smith.

BRITISH MUSEUM/SCALA, FLORENCE

On looking down the third column, my eye caught the statement that the ship rested on the mountains of Nizir [identified by some scholars as a real mountain in northern Iraq], followed by the account of the sending forth of the dove, and its finding no resting-place and returning. I saw at once that I had here discovered a portion at least of the Chaldean account of the Deluge . . .

Overwhelmed with emotion at what he had just discovered, Smith began to run around the room in a state of ecstasy, shouting and whooping. One account says that when his colleagues turned around to see what was happening, he stripped off his clothes with joy.

Smith’s work revealed that Mesopotamian writings included an account of a great flood similar to the one described in the Book of Genesis. However, the tablets long predated the Bible, placing the flood story further back in history than originally thought.

Smith’s discovery caused a sensation, not just for academics but also for the general public. In return for exclusivity, the London Daily Telegraph newspaper offered to fund an excavation led by George Smith in the Middle East. He would search for the missing pieces that would complete the story begun by his initial translations.

Smith’s archaeological career proceeded rapidly; only days into his excavation at Nineveh he stumbled on missing lines from the account of the flood. Later that year, the discovery of other fragments enabled Smith to start filling in the blanks.

As Smith amassed all these pieces, a poem began to take shape. Now known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, this work was totally new to scholars. Believed to have been composed around 1800 B.C., it is one of the world’s oldest great literary works. It tells the story of the demigod Gilgamesh who, among other adventures, embarks on a quest for immortality, during which he hears the story of a great flood that wiped out humanity. In the 1870s Smith published his translations of the work in several books—most notably in The Chaldean Account of Genesis.

DREAMS CUT SHORT

Smith’s career was short-lived. Despite the desire to travel to ancient sites in the Middle East, Smith was not physically equipped to cope with the climate. In the course of his excavations, he suffered constant illness, most likely caused by the searing heat.

In August 1876, during his third trip to the region, Smith fell ill with dysentery while in Syria. His assistant prepared him a mule-drawn litter to carry him to Aleppo, but the medical help he so desperately needed came too late. The man whose quiet scholarship had convulsed Assyriology and biblical studies, and whose discoveries would inspire the great archaeological digs of the next century, died in the Syrian city at just age 36.

***

albawaba

Abu-Ghazaleh Participates in Drafting a Global ‘Code of Ethics for a Better World’

February 15, 2018

HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh launched a global initiative aiming to bring forth joint values between Islam and Christianity, to be drafted within a 'Code of Ethics'’ directed at social, religious and legislative entities and organizations.

The Code of Ethics, which aims at solving major conflict in today’s world caused by the misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the two religions, will select commonalities and draft them into a code of ethics that will serve to inspire and influence curricula, laws, policies and legislation and guide international agencies as well as media and religious institutions all around the world.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh and the Holy Sea in Rome agreed upon disseminating this code to all entities affiliated with The Vatican as an educational and guidance tool. Moreover, a copy of the code of ethics shall be submitted to HM King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein in order for it to become a guiding tool for curricula, media strategies and religious preaching and sermons in mosques and churches, with copies also submitted to the Orthodox Church, Coptic Church, Al-Azhar Islamic Foundation and to all other religious Islamic and Christian organizations. A further copy will be provided to the United Nations to serve as inspiration in any upcoming action plans designed to bridge gaps between Muslims and Christians in the world.

For this purpose, a committee headed by Dr. Tayseer Ammari was established with the membership of experts in education, media, religions, politics, economics, health and environment, tasked with the development of a questionnaire for circulation to religious organizations around the world with the goal of reaching a conclusion on joint values and ethics for the drafting of the Code of Ethics.

The Code of Ethics’ Committee has been divided into sub-committees working in parallel which include media and legal experts mainly: Dr. Tayseer Qatami, Dr. Amer AL Hafi, Dr. Nart Qakhon, Dr. Thoqan Obeidat, Dr. Rula Al Farra Al Hroub, Dr. Mohammad Abu Hazim, Dr. Hahmoud Al Massad, Dr. Mahmoud Ababneh, Dr. Mousa Al Hosain, Dr. Fathi Al Aghawat, Dr. Ola Abasi, Dr. Abeer Al Rahbani, Dr. Bayan Al Shboul, Dr. Abdel Hadi Al Kabariti, Sultan Al Hattab, Roufan Nahhas, as well as experts in economics, politics and environment including Jeryes Samawi, Khaled Ramadan, Ghazi Mosharbash, Fadi Dawoud, Sami Shreim, Dr. Muna Hendeyeh, Dr. Burhan Tashtoush, Osama Imseih, in addition to religious leaders including: Dr. Hamdi Murad, Father Nabil Haddad, and Father Rifat Bader.It’s expected that the Committee’s work will be completed within six months at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum followed by the subsequent launch of the “Code of Ethics for a Better World” which aims at promoting conflict reduction in the world and diffusing tension amongst followers of religions mainly in the era characterized by the rise of so-called religiously motivated terrorism, which reveals the extent of the misinterpretation of the teachings of Islam and Christianity in reforming communities and building human civilizations that are based on love and solidarity.

***

THE CHRISTIAN POST

Televangelist Benny Hinn Admits Going Too Far With Prosperity Gospel in Wake of Billy Graham's Death

By Leonardo Blai, Christian Post Reporter

February 22, 2018

(PHOTO: WWW.BENNYHINN.ORG)

In the wake of the death of renowned evangelist Billy Graham, controversial faith-healing televangelist Benny Hinn, who has often been criticized for his endorsement of the prosperity gospel, said in a stunning confession Wednesday that sometimes he has taken the erroneous gospel too far.

"We get attacked for preaching prosperity, well it's in the Bible, but I think some have gone to the extreme with it sadly, and it's not God's word what is taught and I think I'm as guilty as others. Sometimes you go a little farther than you really need to go and then God brings you back to normality and reality," Hinn, 65, said as he reflected on Graham's death with a ministry colleague in a Facebook Live broadcast.

He admitted that as he has grown older and come to understand the Bible more, he now realizes that some of the things he learned from preachers when he was growing up aren't biblical and the popular interpretation of the prosperity gospel — the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth and that they can obtain these blessings through positive confessions of faith and the "sowing of seeds" through the faithful payments of tithes and offerings — is one of those things.

"The more you know the Bible the more you become biblically based and more balanced in your opinions and your thoughts because we are influenced. When I was younger I was influenced by the preachers who taught whatever they taught. But as I've lived longer I'm thinking wait a minute, you know this doesn't fit totally with the Bible and it doesn't fit with the reality. So what is prosperity? No lack. I've said this before," Hinn said.

He then elaborated on how he believes "no lack" should be interpreted.

"Did Elijah the prophet have a car? No. Did not even have a bicycle. He had no lack ... Did Jesus drive a car or live in a mansion? No. He had no lack. How about the apostles? None lacked among them," Hinn said. "Today, the idea is abundance and palatial homes and cars and bank accounts. The focus is wrong ... It's so wrong."

He said even though he has been accused of living lavishly and flying private jets in the past ,that is not how he currently lives.

"I mean forgive me. People have accused me of things that aren't even real. One guy wrote a comment 'Oh he's worth 40 million.' Oh how I wish. I would give it all to the Kingdom before God Almighty," he said.

"'Well he flies private jets,'" he continued mimicking criticism. "No, I don't. I have not flown private in dear God years. I fly commercial just like anyone else....

"We all sadly make the mistake of thinking that this is what God wants and God says 'No, that's not what I want.' It's time to live biblically. You know it all comes down to one thing. Do we love Jesus, yes or no? If we love Jesus then it's all about Jesus. If we don't love Jesus then it's about other things," he said.

Hinn was one of six televangelists who were part of a 2007 Senate inquiry that raised questions about the personal use of church-owned airplanes, luxury homes and credit cards by pastors and their families, and expressed concern about the lack of oversight of finances by boards often packed with the televangelists' relatives and friends. No definitive findings of wrongdoing were made. Hinn's World Healing Center Church and Joyce Meyer Ministries were the only two ministries that fully cooperated with the investigation and even implemented financial reforms.

Hinn, who was born into a Christian family in Israel, has repeatedly been accused of being a fraud and criticized for living extravagantly while leading a ministry that rakes in more than $100 million annually.

In a 2009 interview on ABC's "Nightline," Hinn denied being a fraud.

"I think if I was fooling the people, over 35 years of it now, I would have been caught already fooling them," he told the network.

Last April, after criminal investigators from the IRS and inspectors from the U.S. Postal Service executed a closely guarded raid on the offices of Hinn's ministry in Grapevine, Texas, he revealed that they were looking into "certain operations of the church."

While he did not go into much detail about which aspects of his ministry federal officials had reviewed, he said in a statement on Facebook that he was confident the investigation will end favorably.

"As has been widely reported, Benny Hinn Ministries is cooperating fully with the governmental entities that are reviewing certain operations of the Church. The ministry has undergone intense scrutiny over the years, and we remain confident that there will again be a positive and speedy outcome in the days ahead," his ministry said.

During the broadcast Wednesday, one of his colleagues, who has known him for 30 years, said Hinn would give every material thing that he has for the presence of the Lord.

As a pastor, Hinn also said he wants his life to end right with God.

"We all want to finish right," he said of pastors. "We all start right. Sometimes we, you know, stumble here and stumble there, but when you come right down to it, we all want to finish right. I'm 65 years old, I surely don't want to blow it at this point in my life and I thank you for praying for me. I really mean that."

Hinn, who began the conversation by reminding his audience of a prophesy he made in 1989 that the deaths of his mentor, Oral Roberts, and Billy Graham would bring about a great revival, said since both men are now dead, the revival has now been set in motion. Roberts died in 2009.

"What we are gonna see is a revival. Three things are going to happen, there's no doubt in my heart and mind because it's in the Bible. If you look at the Old and New Testament you'll see three things happening always at the same time. Number one, evangelism. What was the first thing that happened in the book of Acts? People saved," he responded. "The second thing, miracles, people healed. But the third thing was what? Prosperity. ... Here we are in this season. We're gonna see amazing things happen in those areas of our lives and get ready for your children to be saved in a big way, your families to be saved in a big way, loved ones respond to the Lord in a big way."

He also pointed out that Christians across the world are being persecuted and that American Christians have been spared "up to now" but he wasn't sure if "we will be spared for a whole lot longer."

"I am really praying. I want persecution to come for my sake 'cause I want to get purer before the Lord ... I think persecution ... like fire purifies," he said. "The early church was persecuted. There is no respecter of persons and persecution is a part of our life. All who live godly will suffer persecution and we've been spared in America but things already are turning against us. No, you know what? For us, that's really a better way to say it. They're against us in the natural but who cares the natural? Think what God will do with it for our lives. What glory it will bring, the power it will bring," Hinn said.

In 2015, Hinn was hospitalized with atrial fibrillation, an issue he said he has been dealing with for more than 20 years.

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia, which refers to a problem with the rate or rhythm of the heartbeat. This can result in the heart beating too fast, too slow or just irregularly altogether. If the problem goes unnoticed, it unfortunately can lead to increased risk of stroke, chest pain or heart failure.

***

USA Today (Edited from a longer article. Ed)

No, it's not just you, everybody is exhausted. And no, it's not getting better

Jim Beckerman

February 26, 2018

This image provided by the North Korean government on Nov. 30, 2017, shows what it calls the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo: AP)

BERGEN COUNTY, N.J. — The chaos of life and its collision with technology and tragedy has more of us feeling drained, frazzled and emotionally overrun.

Put simply: We are exhausted.

What’s to blame? The list is long — and growing, experts say.

Wildfires, terror attacks, rising tensions with North Korea, racist rallies, political investigations in Washington, the non-stop barrage of presidential tweets, more and worse mass shootings from Las Vegas to Florida, a tsunami of sexual harassment accusations, the role of Russians in our elections, climate change, red state-blue state division and not one, not two, but three of the worst hurricanes on record — including one that nearly blew Puerto Rico out of the Caribbean Sea.

Put together, and it’s understandable why exhausted Americans are limping along and running out of gas.

Take a look at your friends and families. How many do you know who are sleepless with worry? Bleary-eyed from watching our favorite (and, too often, partisan) cable news outlets as pundits explain, blame and offer everything but what we want: More sleep and stress-ending solutions.

There’s a consequence to all this chaos, doctors and medical experts say.

It's not just you. Our series explains why we're all so stressed out and what we can do about it.

"I do see an increase in anxiety in my practice," says therapist Sophia Richman of Montclair. "Patients are more anxious. They're having anxiety dreams. There's a sense that there is some threat to them, an amorphous threat, and they wake up in a sweat. There is a sense of danger — that we're living in very dangerous times."

Indeed, 63% of Americans say the future of the nation is a very or somewhat significant source of stress for them, according to the recently released "Stress in America" report by the American Psychological Association.

Outwardly, it could be argued, life hasn't really changed for many of us. And that may be the final, cruel kindness. So far, the economy is booming, and day-to-day living goes on much as usual.

Those not directly affected by the last year's cavalcade of disasters — those not in the path of a hurricane or wildfire, who are not Muslim or Mexican or Syrian, who still have a job — have the surreal luxury of watching social institutions crumble, while not being personally affected.

Say this for an emergency: it often leaves you too busy to worry. And that, in the end, may be the real reason we're all so anxious. We have the leisure to be.

"I don't know whether we are overwhelmed, cowed into silence or just not cognizant of the danger," says Joe Chuman, professional leader of the Teaneck branch of the Ethical Culture Society, a humanist society that goes back to the 19th century. "But I have never been more fearful for our country than right now. My sense is that people may be just so overwhelmed by the reality, almost like a deer in a headlight, that they don't know how to respond to what I consider real danger. These are not normal times."

For some, the danger is immediate, and personal.

There's nothing free-floating about the anxieties of people targeted by travel bans, minority groups in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, or patients with catastrophic illnesses threatened by the loss of health care. Such fears are real, and specific.

"There's a lot of anxiety," says Larry Braverman of Project Literacy of Greater Bergen County, Inc. This adult literacy program, based in Hackensack, N.J., has many foreign-born students on its roster.

"We have a woman from Syria who's studying for her citizenship test; we've given her a tutor to help," Braverman says. "She's frantic because she has family back in Syria that she'd like to see, but she's afraid our country won't let her back in if she leaves."

Take a break

For others of us, not in immediate danger, our legitimate concerns are magnified and distorted by the fun house mirror of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and all the rest, keep us in touch with like-minded worriers, and keep our fears endlessly stoked.

"I think many of our folks are getting information-overloaded, always connected to their smartphones and tablets and laptops," says the Rev. Dr. David Bocock, pastor of the Cresskill Congregational Church.

This year, Bocock has noticed, many of his parishioners are starting to put aside their devices. Perhaps not such a bad thing, he says.

"I think a lot of them are taking a break from it," he says. "Because everybody's on it, and everybody's friends all think the way they do. They're not really getting alternative views. So their fears are getting reinforced, whether they're conservative or liberal. [The fear is] driving them crazy, emotionally and spiritually crazy. So I think a few folks are just taking a sabbatical from their devices. Those who do experience this kind of peace they didn't have before."

So that's one way to deal with a world of anxiety: retreat.

(“And it shall come to pass, if they shall say to thee, Wherefore dost thou groan? that thou shalt say, For the report; because it comes: and every heart shall break, and all hands shall become feeble, and all flesh and every spirit shall faint.” Ezekiel 21:7 “In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were evening! and in the evening thou shalt say, Would it were morning! for the fear of thine heart with which thou shalt fear, and for the sights of thine eyes which thou shalt see.” Deuteronomy 28:67)

***

ANCIENT ORIGINS

Ancient Symbolism of the Magical Phoenix

29 AUGUST, 2014 – 12:47 LIZLEAFLOOR

The symbolism of the Phoenix, like the mystical bird itself, dies and is reborn across cultures and throughout time.

Ancient legend paints a picture of a magical bird, radiant and shimmering, which lives for several hundred years before it dies by bursting into flames. It is then reborn from the ashes, to start a new, long life. So powerful is the symbolism that it is a motif and image that is still used commonly today in popular culture and folklore.

The legendary phoenix is a large, grand bird, much like an eagle or peacock. It is brilliantly coloured in reds, purples, and yellows, as it is associated with the rising sun and fire. Sometimes a nimbus will surround it, illuminating it in the sky. Its eyes are blue and shine like sapphires. It builds its own funeral pyre or nest, and ignites it with a single clap of its wings. After death it rises gloriously from the ashes and flies away.

The phoenix symbolizes renewal and resurrection, and represents many themes, such as “the sun, time, the empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, life in the heavenly Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional man”.

Tina Garnet writes in The Phoenix in Egyptian, Arab, & Greek Mythology of the long-lived bird, “When it feels its end approaching, it builds a nest with the finest aromatic woods, sets it on fire, and is consumed by the flames. From the pile of ashes, a new Phoenix arises, young and powerful. It then embalms the ashes of its predecessor in an egg of myrrh, and flies to the city of the Sun, Heliopolis, where it deposits the egg on the altar of the Sun God.”

There are lesser known versions of the myth in which the phoenix dies and simply decomposes before rebirth.

The Greek named it the Phoenix but it is associated with the Egyptian Bennu, the Native American Thunderbird, the Russian Firebird, the Chinese Fèng Huáng, and the Japanese Hō-ō.

It is believed that the Greeks called the Canaanites the Phoenikes or Phoenicians, which may derive from the Greek word 'Phoenix', meaning crimson or purple. Indeed, the symbology of the Phoenix is also closely tied with the Phoenicians.

Perhaps the earliest instance of the legend, the Egyptians told of the Bennu, a heron bird that is part of their creation myth. The Bennu lived atop ben-ben stones or obelisks and was worshipped alongside Osiris and Ra. Bennu was seen as an avatar of Osiris, a living symbol of the deity. The solar bird appears on ancient amulets as a symbol of rebirth and immortality, and it was associated with the period of flooding of the Nile, bringing new wealth and fertility.

Greek historian Herodotus wrote that priests of ancient Heliopolis described the bird as living for 500 years before building and lighting its own funeral pyre. The offspring of the birds would then fly from the ashes, and carry priests to the temple altar in Heliopolis. In ancient Greece it was said the bird does not eat fruit, but frankincense and aromatic gums. It also collects cinnamon and myrrh for its nest in preparation for its fiery death.

In Asia the phoenix reigns over all the birds, and is the symbol of the Chinese Empress and feminine grace, as well as the sun and the south. The sighting of the phoenix is a good sign that a wise leader has ascended to the throne and a new era has begun. It was representative of Chinese virtues: goodness, duty, propriety, kindness and reliability. Palaces and temples are guarded by ceramic protective beasts, all lead by the phoenix.

The mythical phoenix has been incorporated into many religions, signifying eternal life, destruction, creation and fresh beginnings.

Due to the themes of death and resurrection, it was adopted a symbol in early Christianity, as an analogy of Christ’s death and three days later his resurrection. The image became a popular symbol on early Christian tombstones. It is also symbolic of a cosmic fire some believe created the world and which will consume it.

A reborn Phoenix. A ventral view of the bird between two trees, with wings out stretched and head to one side, possibly collecting twigs for its pyre but also associated with Jesus on the cross. Image source: Wikimedia

In Jewish legend the phoenix is known as the Milcham – a faithful and immortal bird. Going back to Eden, when Eve possessed the apple of knowledge, she tempted the animals of the garden with the forbidden fruit. The Milcham bird refused the offer, and was granted for its faith a town where it would live in peace almost eternally, rebirthing every thousand years, immune to the Angel of Death.

The Phoenix is also an alchemical symbol. It represents the changes during chemical reactions and progression through colors, properties of matter, and has to do with the steps of alchemy in the making of the Great Work, or the Philosopher’s Stone.

Modern additions to the myth in popular culture say the tears of the phoenix have great healing powers, and if the phoenix is near one cannot tell a lie.

Continually morphing and remorphing, the phoenix represents the idea that the end is only the beginning. Much like this powerful myth, the symbol of the phoenix will be reborn over and over again in human legend and imagination.

References

Heaven Sent – American Museum of Natural History
Phoenix - Monstrous
The Phoenix in Egyptian, Arab, & Greek Mythology - OnMarkProductions
Phoenix Symbol - Signology
Phoenix (Mythology) - Wikipedia
Magnum Opus - Wikipedia

By Liz Leafloor

AMMC

Russia's unstoppable nukes: Putin reveals new nuclear missiles that cannot be intercepted and can strike almost anywhere in the world

• Vladimir Putin has revealed that Russia has a new nuclear weapon that is 'immune to interception'

• Russian president said his nuclear-powered cruise missile is able to penetrate any missile defence

• He said his arsenal includes a 'fantastic' nuclear-powered underwater drone and a hypersonic missile

• Giving his state-of-the-nation address the President called Russia's nuclear scientists 'the heroes of our time'

By SARA MALM FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:46, 1 March 2018 | UPDATED: 00:46, 2 March 2018

Article and photos

RT

Hungary FM calls for resignation of UN human rights chief over Orban remarks

February 26, 2018

Budapest has called for the resignation of the UN’s human rights chief for referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as one of the “xenophobes and racists” seeking “ethnic, national or racial purity,” AP said. Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday in Geneva that United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein was “unworthy” of his position. Orban, a staunch opponent of immigration, especially by Muslims, has often said he wants to prevent Hungary from becoming a “mixed society.” Speaking at a meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, Szijjarto said it was wrong for Zeid to compare Hungary “to the worst dictatorships of the last century.” Zeid, a Jordanian prince, has said he won’t seek another four-year term when his current one expires in August.

***

MailOnline

'We are not calling for the slaughter of white people - at least for now': South African parliament votes to SEIZE white-owned land as experts warn of violent repercussions

• White South African farmers to be removed from their land after parliament vote

• The motion for 'expropriation without compensation' passed by a landslide

• It was brought about by Julius Malema who said white farmers are 'criminals'

By BEN HILL FOR MAILONLINE and AFP

PUBLISHED: 05:24, 28 February 2018 | UPDATED: 01:52, 1 March 2018

White South African farmers will be removed from their land after a landslide vote in parliament.

The country's constitution is now likely to be amended to allow for the confiscation of white-owned land without compensation, following a motion brought by radical Marxist opposition leader Julius Malema.

It passed by 241 votes for to 83 against after a vote on Tuesday, and the policy was a key factor in new president Cyril Ramaphosa's platform after he took over from Jacob Zuma in February.

Mr Malema said the time for 'reconciliation is over'. 'Now is the time for justice,' News24 reported.

'We must ensure that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land.'

Mr Malema has a long-standing commitment to land confiscation without compensation. In 2016 he told his supporters he was 'not calling for the slaughter of white people - at least for now'.

A 2017 South African government audit found white people owned 72 per cent of farmland.

Rural affairs minister for the ruling African National Congress party said 'The ANC unequivocally supports the principle of land expropriation without compensation'.

'There is no doubt about it, land shall be expropriated without compensation.'

Freedom Front Plus party leader Pieter Groenewald said the decision to strip white farmers of their land would cause 'unforeseen consequences that is not in the interest of South Africa'.

The deputy chief executive of civil rights group Afriforum said the motion was a violation of agreements made at the end of apartheid.

'This motion is based on a distorted image of the past,' Ernst Roets said.

'The term "expropriation without compensation" is a form of semantic fraud. It is nothing more than racist theft.'

The ANC is increasingly under pressure to speed up land redistribution to help shore up its support among poorer black voters ahead of the election next year.

Parliament ordered its constitutional committee to report back on the issue by August 30.

Botched and often violent redistribution of land in neighbouring Zimbabwe under ex-leader Robert Mugabe left many farms in ruins, and the drop in production triggered an economic crisis that still haunts the country.

White farmers control 73 percent of arable land compared with 85 percent when apartheid ended in 1994, according to a recent study.

'The time for reconciliation is over; now is the time for justice,' EFF leader Julius Malema told parliament.

'It is about our dignity. We do not seek revenge... all that our people ever wanted is their land to which their dignity is rooted and founded.'

***

RT

Seoul defies WTO ruling, vows to keep ban on Japan’s Fukushima seafood

February 24, 2018

© Sukree Sukplang / Reuters

South Korea vows to maintain its restrictions on Japanese seafood imports and appeal the WTO’s ruling against additional radiation tests and bans on fishery products introduced in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

In 2015, Tokyo filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) challenging South Korea’s import bans that were introduced on certain fish caught in Japanese waters over fears of radiation following the meltdown of three reactors at the Fukushima power plant in March 2011. In its official complaint, Japan also challenged additional testing and certification requirements placed by Seoul on Japanese fish caught from eight prefectures near Fukushima.

On Thursday, the WTO ruled in Japan’s favor, claiming that while South Korean practices were initially justified, they now violate the WTO’s sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement. “By maintaining the product-specific and blanket import bans on the 28 fishery products from the 8 prefectures and the 2011 and 2013 additional testing requirements on Japanese products, Korea acted inconsistently with Article 2.3, first sentence of the SPS Agreement and, as a consequence with Article 2.3, second sentence,” the rulingsaid.

South Korea on Friday refused to bow to the WTO ruling due to public health and safety concerns, announcing that it will challenge the ruling while maintaining the current level of restrictions.

“The Korean government will appeal to safeguard public health and safety,” the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a release. “Regardless of the decision, the current import ban will be put in place until the WTO’s dispute settlement procedure ends.”

Japan’s minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Ken Saito, called Seoul’s disobedience regrettable. “Japan will respond accordingly so that our position will be accepted by the Appellate Body as well. We will also call on South Korea to sincerely and promptly correct their measures,” he said at a news conference.

Twenty-four nations across the globe still have some import limitations on Japanese seafood products. Originally, 46 nations adopted protective measures but over time have eased their restriction practices to allow Japanese imports. Despite the ban on Fukushima products, South Korea has imported 708,566 tons of seafood from Japan since March 2011, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. South Korean authorities returned only around 0.03 percent of those imports, asking for additional radiation level tests.

***

THEMINDUNLEASHED

LA Has Criminalized Poverty By Making It Illegal To Sleep In Cars and RVs

John Vibes

February 20, 2018

Raising rent prices and low wages have resulted in thousands of people across the city of Los Angeles becoming homeless, many of them now living in cars and RVs if they were able to keep it together that well.
According to the most recent counts by the KPCC, there are at least 7,000 people live in their cars in Los Angeles.

Many of these people still maintain jobs and try to live the most fulfilled lives that they can, but they are constantly facing problems from authorities.

It is such a common issue that many churches have opened up their parking lots to people living out of their cars. For example, the New Beginnings Counseling Center opened up their parking lot for a “Safe Parking program,” which was intended to provide a safe and welcome parking place for people living out of their cars. Unfortunately, under new legislation passed in Los Angeles, programs like this will be illegal, because sleeping in cars and RVs have been entirely outlawed.

Under the new laws, it is illegal to sleep in a car or RV that is parked in a residentially zoned area from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Areas within one block of a park, daycare, or school are entirely off limits. Fines will range anywhere from $25 to $75 which is impossible to pay for most people in these situations.

In 2014, LA lawmakers attempted to pass a similar bill but it was shot down in a federal appeals court. The judge in the case ruled that the legislation was “broad enough to cover any driver in Los Angeles who eats food or transports personal belongings in his or her vehicle. Yet it appears to be applied only to the homeless.”

The policy is up for debate and reconsideration in July, where homeless advocates are expected to strongly protest for an appeal.

Policies like this can have disastrous consequences, in Canada where laws like this have been implemented for some time, one man racked up over $110,000 worth of fines for essentially being homeless.

Last year, The Mind Unleashed reported that the city of Seattle was planning to set up razor-wire fencing to keep homeless populations from camping. Then, earlier this year we reported that San Francisco was using Robots scare homeless people away from encampments and report them to police.

Not soon after that, the city of San Francisco spent $8,700 installing large boulders under overpasses to prevent homeless people from setting up camps. There were numerous homeless encampments in the area until they were recently forced out of the area, and now the City’s government is doing everything they can to keep the camps out of the area.

***

***

ElectricSense

5G Radiation Dangers – 11 Reasons To Be Concerned

Posted by Lloyd Burrell on May 12, 2017

Like it or not we’re rapidly moving into the world of 5G, or 5^th generation cellular telecommunications.

Why?

Because the frequency bandwidths used currently by cell phones and similar technologies are becoming saturated.

And also because we live in a world where people want more. 5G, and the Internet of Things (IoT) that goes with it, promises to give us more.

But more what?

Super-Fast Download Speeds

5G and IoT promises to connect us in our homes, schools, workplaces, cities, parks and open spaces to over a trillion objects around the world. It promises cars that drive themselves, washing machines that order their own washing powder and softener plus of course super fast downloads and streaming.

According to Fortune.com 5G will support at least 100 billion devices and will be 10 to 100 times faster than current 4G technology.(4G was already about 10 times faster than 3G).

It’ll bring download speed up to 10 Gigabits per second. This would let us have an entire building of people send each other data in close to no time, thus improving productivity.

What is 5G?

5G offers mind-blowing data capabilities, practically unrestricted call volumes and near infinite data broadcast. It does this by 5G using largely untapped bandwidth of the millimeter wave (MMW), which is between 30GHz and 300GHz, as well as some lower and mid-range frequencies.

This table compares the different generations of mobile technologies:

There are some other features of 5G you need to be aware of:

Wireless Cell Antennas Galore

Millimeter waves (MMWs) do not travel well through buildings and they tend to be absorbed by rain and plants. This interferes with the signal. Added to this, high frequency waves like MMWs also have much shorter wavelengths that can’t travel far.

To counter this problem 5G will utilize smaller cell stations (and the technology of beamforming) that’ll scramble/unscramble and redirect packets of data on a no-interference path back to us. This could mean wireless antennas on every lamp post, utility pole, home and business throughout entire neighborhoods, towns and cities.

This short video gives a succinct explanation of what you can expect:

MIMO Miniature Cell Towers

Current 4G cell towers have about a dozen or so antenna ports to support all communication, the new, smaller 5G cell towers (or bases) will be MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) and carry about a hundred ports. These towers will probably be about 4 feet tall as opposed to the usual 90 feet towers currently erected around us. Cells will be available within a 100 meter range and these smart antennas will be able to differentiate between various mixed-up signals – like radio waves and WiFi signals – in the air and beam them back in an orderly fashion so to speak.

Low Latency – High Efficiency

5G will break down data and send it in smaller sizes to offer significantly reduced transmission times. Data will be sent with only a 1 millisecond delay instead of a 50 millisecond delay commonly found with 4G. With communication this fast, it’ll allow machines to talk to each other with practically no room for error. As Marcus Weldon the CTO of Alcatel Lucent comments, “up until now, we’ve designed the networks for people and their needs, and now we’re designing it for things.”

The Dangers Of 5G – 11 Reasons To Be Concerned

The USA is currently leading the way on 5G. At the June 2016 press conference where the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) head Tom Wheeler announced the opening up of low, mid and high spectrum’s. There was no mention of health effects whatsoever. But the dangers are real.

Thousands of studies link low-level wireless radio frequency radiation exposures to a long list of adverse biological effects, including:

• DNA single and double strand breaks

• oxidative damage

• disruption of cell metabolism

• increased blood brain barrier permeability

• melatonin reduction

• disruption to brain glucose metabolism

• generation of stress proteins

Let’s not also forget that in 2011 the World Health Organization (WHO) classified radio frequency radiation as a possible 2B carcinogen.

More recently the $25 million National Toxicology Program concluded that radio frequency radiation of the type currently used by cell phones can cause cancer.

But where does 5G fit into all this? Given that 5G is set to utilize frequencies above and below existing frequency bands 5G sits in the middle of all this. But the tendency (it varies from country to country) is for 5G to utilize the higher frequency bands. Which brings it’s own particular concerns. Here is my review of the studies done to date – 11 reasons to be concerned.

#1 – A DENSER SOUP OF ELECTROSMOG

We’re going to be bombarded by really high frequencies at low, short-range intensities creating a yet more complicated denser soup of electrosmog – as this diagram shows.

Source: Latest on 5G Spectrum – EMFields Ltd.

To work with the higher range MMW in 5G, the antennas required are smaller. Some experts are talking about as small as 3mm by 3mm. The low intensity is for efficiency and to deal with signal disruption from natural and man-made obstacles.

#2 – EFFECTS ON THE SKIN

The biggest concern is how these new wavelengths will affect the skin. The human body has between two million to four million sweat ducts. Dr. Ben-Ishai of Hebrew University, Israel explains that our sweat ducts act like “an array of helical antennas when exposed to these wavelengths,” meaning that we become more conductive. A recent New York study which experimented with 60GHz waves stated that “the analyses of penetration depth show that more than 90% of the transmitted power is absorbed in the epidermis and dermis layer.”

The effects of MMWs as studied by Dr. Yael Stein of Hebrew University is said to also cause humans physical pain as our nociceptors flare up in recognition of the wave as a damaging stimuli. So we’re looking at possibilities of many skin diseases and cancer as well as physical pain to our skin.

#3 – EFFECTS ON THE EYES

A 1994 study found that low level millimeter microwave radiation produced lens opacity in rats, which is linked to the production of cataracts.

An experiment conducted by the Medical Research Institute of Kanazawa Medical University found that 60GHz “millimeter-wave antennas can cause thermal injuries of varying types of levels. The thermal effects induced by millimeterwaves can apparently penetrate below the surface of the eye.”

A 2003 Chinese study has also found damage to the lens epithelial cells of rabbits after 8 hours of exposure to microwave radiation and a 2009 study conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Pakistan conclude that EMFs emitted by a mobile phone cause derangement of chicken embryo retinal differentiation.

#4 – EFFECTS ON THE HEART

A 1992 Russian study found that frequencies in the range 53-78GHz (that which 5G proposes to use) impacted the heart rate variability (an indicator of stress) in rats. Another Russian study on frogs who’s skin was exposed to MMWs found heart rate changes (arrhythmias).

#5 – IMMUNE SYSTEM EFFECTS

A 2002 Russian study examined the effects of 42HGz microwave radiation exposure on the blood of healthy mice. It was concluded that “the whole-body exposure of healthy mice to low-intensity EHF EMR has a profound effect on the indices of nonspecific immunity”.

#6 – EFFECTS ON CELL GROWTH RATES

A 2016 Armenian study observed MMWs at low intensity, mirroring the future environment brought about by 5G. Their study conducted on E-coli and other bacteria stated that the waves had depressed their growth as well as “changing properties and activity” of the cells. The concern is that it would do the same to human cells.

#7 – EFFECTS ON BACTERIA RESISTANCE

The very same Armenian study also suggested that MMWs effects are mainly on water, cell plasma membrane and genome too. They had found that MMW’s interaction with bacteria altered their sensitivity to “different biologically active chemicals, including antibiotics.” More specifically, the combination of MMW and antibiotics showed that it may be leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

This groundbreaking finding could have a magnum effect on the health of human beings as the bandwidth is rolled out nationwide. The concern is that we develop a lower resistance to bacteria as our cells become more vulnerable – and we become more vulnerable.

#8 – EFFECTS ON PLANT HEALTH

One of the features of 5G is that the MMW is particularly susceptible to being absorbed by plants and rain. Humans and animals alike consume plants as a food source. The effects MMW has on plants could leave us with food that’s not safe to consume.

Think GMOs on steroids. The water that falls from the sky onto these plants will also be irradiated. A 2010 study on aspen seedlings showed that the exposure to radio frequencies led to the leaves showing necrosis symptoms.

Source: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijfr/2010/83627

Another Armenian study found that MMWs of low intensity “invoke(s) peroxidase isoenzyme spectrum changes of wheat shoots.” Peroxidase is a stress protein existing in plants. Indications are that 5G will be particularly harmful to plants – perhaps more so than to humans.

#9 – EFFECTS ON THE ATMOSPHERE AND DEPLETION OF FOSSIL FUELS

Implementation of the 5G global wireless network requires the launching of rockets to deploy satellites for 5G. These satellites have a short lifespan which would require a lot more deployment than what we’re currently seeing. A new type of hydrocarbon rocket engine expected to power a fleet of suborbital rockets would emit black carbon which “could cause potentially significant changes in the global atmospheric circulation and distributions of ozone and temperature” according to a 2010 Californian study. Solid state rocket exhaust contains chlorine which also destroys the ozone.

The effects on the ozone are thought to be worse than current day CFC exposure.

Google’s Project Loon is said to bring Internet to rural and hard-to-access areas by using helium balloons. But these balloons only have a 10-month lifespan. We’re looking at a lot of helium being used here, more than what we can possibly have on Earth?

#10 – DISRUPTION OF THE NATURAL ECOSYSTEM

Since the year 2000, there have been reports of birds abandoning their nests as well as health issues like “plumage deterioration, locomotion problems, reduced survivorship and death,” says researcher Alfonso Balmori. Bird species that are affected by these low levels, non-ionizing microwave radiation are the House Sparrows, Rock Doves, White Storks, Collared Doves and Magpies, among others.

But it’s not just the birds. The declining bee population is also said to be linked to this non-ionizing EMF radiation. It reduces the egg-laying abilities of the queen leading to a decline in colony strength.

A study conducted by Chennai’s Loyola College in 2012 concluded that out of 919 research studies carried out on birds, plants, bees and other animals and humans, 593 of them showed impacts from RF-EMF radiations. 5G will be adding to the effects of this electrosmog.

#11 – MOST 5G STUDIES MIS-LEADING

5G will use pulsed millimeter waves to carry information. But as Dr. Joel Moskowitz points out, most 5G studies are misleading because they do not pulse the waves. This is important because research on microwaves already tells us how pulsed waves have more profound biological effects on our body compared to non-pulsed waves. Previous studies, for instance, show how pulse rates of the frequencies led to gene toxicity and DNA strand breaks.

LIVE TESTING ALREADY BEGUN

AT&T have announced the availability of their 5G Evolution in Austin, Texas. 5G Evolution allows Samsung S8 and S8 + users access to faster speeds. This is part of AT&T’s plan to lay the 5G foundation while the standards are being finalized. This is expected to happen in late 2018. AT&T has eyes on 19 other metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta, San Francisco and so on. Indianapolis is up next on their 5G trail due to arrive in the summer.

Qualcomm has already demonstrated a 5G antenna system with about 27 decibel gain. According to ABI Research, is “about 10 to 12 more db than a typical cellular base station antenna.” Not a good sign.

Many more private sector companies such as HTC, Oracle, Sprint, T-Mobile are playing a role in the developing of testing platforms by contributing time, knowledge or money.

Call to Action

Research and pre-testing is rampant by companies who are interested to tap into the lucrative waters of 5G. But few are willing to research its effects on health. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) guidelines remain essentially unchanged since 1998, not allowing for the recognition of radio frequency microwave radiation and MMWs as harmful unless there is a heating effect. But a few experts are speaking out.

DariuszLeszczynski from the University of Helsinki and also former member of the International Agency Research on Cancer is one of them. He has brought to attention to ICNIRP intention to classify skin as limbs. Limbs are paid lesser attention to when classifying exposure levels. Research indicates that MMWs affect the skin and the eyes the most. If skin is classified as a limb, this will pave the way for industry giants to introduce even higher exposures and put more people at risk.

The Global Union Against Radiation Deployment from Space (GUARD) addressed a letter to the FCC in September of 2016, bringing to their attention the harm 5G will inflict. GUARD warned the FCC that 5G violates Article 3 of The UN Declaration of Human Rights which states that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.” The document is laden with research, information and global support.

To learn how to write, call or email the relevant agencies to protest against the 5G deployment go here parentsforsafetechnology.org

WHAT EXPERTS ARE SAYING

Here’s what experts are saying about 5G:

“Along with the 5G there is another thing coming – Internet of Things. If you look at it combined the radiation level is going to increase tremendously and yet the industry is very excited about it…. they project 5G/IoT business to be a $7 trillion business.”
-Prof. Girish Kumar, Professor at Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay

“The new 5G wireless technology involves millimeter waves (extremely high frequencies) producing photons of much greater energy than even 4G and WiFi. Allowing this technology to be used without proving its safety is reckless in the extreme, as the millimeter waves are known to have a profound effect on all parts of the human body.”
-Prof. Trevor Marshall, Director Autoimmunity Research Foundation, California

“The plans to beam highly penetrative 5G milliwave radiation at us from space must surely be one of the greatest follies ever conceived of by mankind. There will be nowhere safe to live.”
-Olga Sheean former WHO employee and author of ‘No Safe Place’

“It would irradiate everyone, including the most vulnerable to harm from radiofrequency radiation: pregnant women, unborn children, young children, teenagers, men of reproductive age, the elderly, the disabled, and the chronically ill.”
—Ronald Powell, PhD, Letter to FCC on 5G expansion

How To Protect Yourself From 5G

My 3 step approach for dealing with EMFs can be summarized as:

1. Understand your exposures. Understand the different types of EMFs and how they behave – hence the need to read (and share) articles like this one.

2. Measure – use EMF meters to obtain readings and identify hotspots.

3. Mitigate your exposure. Which means either eliminate the source, move further away from the source of radiation or shield your body.

I recommend the same approach with 5G. There is a concern that current EMF meters are not able to measure the frequencies of MMWs. On this point, researcher Alasdair Philips from Powerwatch states “current RF meters cover the frequency ranges proposed for most 5G use in the next three years”.

Endless Possibilities For The Future

5G may bring about a new form of industrial revolution, human connectivity and even a new reality. It offers endless possibilities for the future.

We do need more research. But already what is clear, as the research I’ve shared here indicates, is that there are real dangers.

Which is why it even more important to take action to protect yourself and your loved ones. Please share this article with your friends and family.

Sources include:
A 5G Wireless Future – Dr. Cindy Russell
Latest on 5G Spectrum – EMFields Solutions Ltd
IJMTER ISSN (online) 2349 – 9745 Evolution of Mobile Generation Technology: 1G to 5G and Review of Upcoming Wireless Technology 5G by Lopa J. Vora

The Globe And Mail

I have forgotten how to read

Michael Harris

February 9, 2018

Turning, one evening, from my phone to a book, I set myself the task of reading a single chapter in one sitting. Simple. But I couldn’t. There was nothing wrong with my eyes. No stroke or disease clouded my way. Yet–if I’m being honest–the failure was also not a surprise.

Paragraphs swirled; sentences snapped like twigs; and sentiments bled out. The usual, these days. I drag my vision across the page and process little. Half an hour later, I throw down the book and watch some Netflix.

Out for dinner with another writer, I said, “I think I’ve forgotten how to read.”

“Yes!” he replied, pointing his knife. “Everybody has.”

“No, really,” I said. “I mean I actually can’t do it any more.”

He nodded: “Nobody can read like they used to. But nobody wants to talk about it.”

For good reason. It’s embarrassing. Especially for someone like me. I’m supposed to be an author–words are kind of my job. Without reading, I’m not sure who I am. So, it’s been unnerving to realize: I have forgotten how to read–really read–and I’ve been refusing to talk about it out of pride.

Books were once my refuge. To be in bed with a Highsmith novel was a salve. To read was to disappear, become enrobed in something beyond my own jittery ego. To read was to shutter myself and, in so doing, discover a larger experience. I do think old, book-oriented styles of reading opened the world to me–by closing it. And new, screen-oriented styles of reading seem to have the opposite effect: They close the world to me, by opening it.

In a very real way, to lose old styles of reading is to lose a part of ourselves.

For most of modern life, printed matter was, as the media critic Neil Postman put it, “the model, the metaphor, and the measure of all discourse.” The resonance of printed books–their lineal structure, the demands they make on our attention–touches every corner of the world we’ve inherited. But online life makes me into a different kind of reader–a cynical one. I scrounge, now, for the useful fact; I zero in on the shareable link. My attention–and thus my experience–fractures. Online reading is about clicks, and comments, and points. When I take that mindset and try to apply it to a beaten-up paperback, my mind bucks.

Author Nicholas Carr (The Shallows) writes that, “digital technologies are training us to be more conscious of and more antagonistic toward delays of all sorts.” We become, “more intolerant of moments of time that pass without the arrival of new stimuli.” So, I throw down the old book, craving mental Tabasco sauce. And yet not every emotion can be reduced to an emoji, and not every thought can be conveyed via tweet.

Even Eric Schmidt, the erstwhile chief executive of Google, was anxious about the mental landscape he was helping to cultivate. He once told Charlie Rose: “I worry that the level of interrupt, the sort of overwhelming rapidity of information … is in fact affecting cognition. It is affecting deeper thinking. I still believe that sitting down and reading a book is the best way to really learn something. And I worry that we’re losing that.” In fact, there’s a great deal of reporting now–from neuroscientists such as Susan Greenfield and Gary Small–to show that digital native brains do engage in concretely different ways from those of previous generations. Spend 10 hours a day staring at screens and–yes–your synapses will adapt.

For a long time, I convinced myself that a childhood spent immersed in old-fashioned books would insulate me somehow from our new media climate–that I could keep on reading and writing in the old way because my mind was formed in pre-internet days. But the mind is plastic–and I have changed. I’m not the reader I was.

When we become cynical readers–when we read in the disjointed, goal-oriented way that online life encourages–we stop exercising our attention. We stop reading with a sense of faith that some larger purpose may be served. This doesn’t mean we’re reading less–not at all. In fact, we live in a text-gorged society in which the most fleeting thought is a thumb-dash away from posterity. What’s at stake is not whether we read. It’s how we read. And that’s something we’ll have to each judge for ourselves; it can’t be tallied by Statistics Canada. For myself: I know I’m not reading less, but I also know I’m reading worse.

It’s no wonder why. Spend your life flashing between points of transitory data and a dog-eared novel begins to feel interminable.

Our sense of time has always been warped by our technologies. Church bells segmented the day into intervals. Factory whistles ushered workers. But the current barrage of alerts and pings leaves us more warped than ever. I’ve been trained not just to expect disruption, but to demand it. Back in 1890, William James wrote in The Principles of Psychology that “our sense of time seems subject to the law of contrast.” No kidding.

Marshall McLuhan believed that every technology “has the power to numb human awareness during the period of its first interiorization.” And it seems we have digested our devices; they can numb us, now, to the pleasure of patience. They can numb our enjoyment of that older literary experience.

The other day, I was spending time with a young niece–still a toddler–while she watched videos on her iPad. She was working her way through a YouTube playlist–in each video, a pair of hands opened a Kinder Surprise and assembled the toy inside. Thinking I was doing her a favour, I made the video full-screen. But this sent my niece into a panic. “Little TV!” she insisted. “Not big TV!” She needed the smaller screen format so as to monitor the lineup of videos still to come. Focusing, even for a minute, on a single video was no good. She needed the panoply, the stream, the comfort of attending entertainments.

The suggestion that, in a few generations, our experience of media will be reinvented shouldn’t surprise us. Our default state is, if anything, one of distractedness. How primed are we for distraction? One famous study found humans would rather give themselves electric shocks than sit alone with their thoughts for 10 minutes. We disobey those instincts every time we get lost in a book.

Literacy has only been common (outside the elite) since the 19th century. And it’s hardly been crystallized since then. Our habits of reading could easily become antiquated. Those old, solitary experiences with literature were “just a side-effect of living in an environment of impoverished access.” In our online world, we can move on. And our brains–only temporarily hijacked by books–will now be hijacked by whatever comes next.

Victor Hugo once wrote that the book replaced architecture as “the great handwriting of the human race.” Is it so unreasonable to assume that our “great handwriting” will be scrawled by some other means tomorrow? How could it not?

What we’ll have to look out for is how cynical–how efficient and ruthlessly algorithmic–that next thing is going to be. “A book,” one author told me, “is really just a reverse-engineered TED Talk, right? It’s a platform that lets you do a speaking tour.”

For many writers, this is the new wisdom. A cynical style of reading gives way to a cynical style of writing.

Meanwhile, I admit it: The words I write now filter through a new set of criteria. Do they grab; do they anger? Can this be read without care? Are the sentences brief enough? And the thoughts? It’s tempting to let myself become so cynical a writer because I’m already such a cynical reader. I am giving what I get.

In Silicon Valley, they have a saying that explains why an algorithm starts producing unwanted results: Garbage in, garbage out. The idea is that an algorithm can only work with the information you feed it. Aren’t writers–all creators–algorithmic in that way? Our job is to process what we consume. Beauty in, beauty out. Garbage in, garbage out.

So maybe that change into a cynical writer can be forestalled–if I can first correct my reading diet, remember how to read the way I once did. Not scan, not share, not excerpt–but read. Patiently, slowly.

***

Natural Blaze

US Meat Conditions So Filthy, UK Shudders At Post-Brexit Trade Deal

POSTED ON February 22, 2018

By Heather Callaghan, Editor

Turns out, the American food system is so filthy, disgusting and deceptive that the UK shudders at the thought of trade. How disgusting is it? The American food system is so degraded, that the UK would have to seriously drop their official standards in order for any deals to move forward.

Not terribly long ago, we reported that Russia warned the UK not to do a trade deal with the United States because of our dismal food system. But even Russia couldn’t foresee just how rotten the U.S. food system really is. Not only do factory farm chickens require chlorine spray to be suitable for consumption, but, legally, salmonella-tainted foods are allowed to be sold. Furthermore, meat can be smattered with fecal material as it makes its way to the grocer.

The UK recently woke up to a sudden boom of factory farms in their country, causing residents to live in unbearable stench and pollution. They’ve gotten a glimpse of factory farm horrors and don’t want any more of that from the U.S. (We don’t want it either!)

Common Dreams reports that “Safety Breaches at US Meat Plants Spark Outcry in UK Over Possible Post-Brexit Trade Deal”:

British food safety experts and lawmakers are raising concerns over a possible post-Brexit trade deal with the United States in light of newly-released records showing serious hygiene breaches in U.S. meat plants.

“We cannot allow this to be a race to the bottom. We should insist the U.S. raises its standards, and guarantees food safety, before we are prepared to allow in U.S. meat imports,” said Kerry McCarthy, a former member of parliament and shadow environment minister.

The outcry comes after U.S. government data showed several instances of safety failures at American packing plants, including the packaging of diseased poultry meat in containers used for food products and the discovery of fecal matter in meat bound for grocery stores.

Health experts also raised alarm over a legal loophole that allows meat containing salmonella bacteria to be sold to Americans.

The British organization Sustain has found that nearly 15 percent of Americans—48 million people—suffer from foodborne illnesses per year. Only about 1.5 percent of people in the U.K. experience food poisoning annually, and only about 10,000 cases of salmonella contamination were found in 2016 compared with one million in the U.S. [emphasis added, H.C.]

Furthermore, Prime Minister Theresa May hasn’t made a stand against lowering food safety standards – a requirement to secure a deal with the U.S. “following Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, angering groups including Sustain.”

Kath Dalmeny, CEO of Sustain, told the Guardian:

The U.S. has already warned us that we will need to lower our food standards in exchange for a quick trade deal, but we need to fight this hard. They are desperate to sell us their chlorine-washed chicken, but we know chlorine and other unpalatable treatments can mask dirty meat, low hygiene standards, and poor animal welfare, which the U.K. consumer will not stand for.

This article (US Meat Conditions So Filthy, UK Shudders at Post-Brexit Trade Deal) was created by and appeared first at Natural Blaze. It can be reshared with attribution.

***

Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him [ought] to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.”
( John 4:32-34)