The Percentage Of Christians In America Has Hit An All-Time Low         

The decline of the Christian faith in the United States continues to accelerate, and the latest numbers that we just got are absolutely staggering. Most European countries are already considered to be "post-Christian" nations, and the U.S. appears to be headed down the exact same path.  But when America was originally founded, it is estimated that 98 percent of the colonists were Christians.  

The Christian faith played a critical role in the development of our form of government, and down throughout history every generation of Americans was overwhelmingly Christian.  But now things are changing in a major way.  

According to a brand new survey that was just released by the Pew Research Center, only 65 percent of Americans now consider themselves to be "Christians", and that represents the lowest level ever recorded... The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. 

Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009. When it comes to religion, a 12 percent drop in a single decade is not just a decline. In reality, it is a mass exodus. As a Christian, this alarms me greatly.  Year after year we have seen a steady decline in the percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians, and this has been helping to fuel the rapid growth of the "nones"...

Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population - a group also known as religious "nones" - have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as "nothing in particular," up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population. The Pew Research survey also showed that there is a tremendous generation gap when it comes to religious affiliation.

Older Americans still overwhelmingly identify with the Christian faith, but at this point less than half of all Millennials consider themselves to be Christians... Furthermore, the data shows a wide gap between older Americans (Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation) and Millennials in their levels of religious affiliation and attendance. More than eight-in-ten members of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) describe themselves as Christians (84%), as do three-quarters of Baby Boomers (76%). In stark contrast, only half of Millennials (49%) describe themselves as Christians; four-in-ten are religious "nones," and one-in-ten Millennials identify with non-Christian faiths.

The Millennials are the first generation in American history in which Christians are a minority. Just think about that.  We have never seen a religious shift of this magnitude, and it has tremendous implications for the future of our society.

The percentage of our young adults that are "nones" has nearly quadrupled since 1986.  That is a mind blowing statistic, and it is one of the clearest indications that the left has been winning the culture war. As a result of this mass exodus from the Christian faith, churches are closing down in droves all across the country. In fact, it has been estimated that somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are shut down in the United States every single year, and that means that over 100 churches will die this week alone.

As a result, we have a whole lot of empty church buildings on our hands, and many of them are being converted into hotels, bars and indoor playgrounds... A large number of abandoned churches have become wineries or breweries or bars. Others have been converted into hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and Airbnbs. A few have been transformed into entertainment venues, such as an indoor playground for children, a laser-tag arena, or a skate park. But just because the Christian faith is declining in America does not mean that it has to stay that way.  Throughout U.S. history, the greatest spiritual awakenings have often erupted when things seemed the bleakest.  The message of Jesus is timeless, and we have an opportunity to show an entire generation of young people what it really means to be a Christian. 

Just because they aren't going to church does not mean that Americans have lost their spiritual hunger.  Sadly, these days they are just searching out other outlets to satisfy it. Of the 65 percent of Americans that still consider themselves to be "Christians", many of them never really go to church or practice their faith at all.  Church attendance in the U.S. has been plummeting for years, and the influence that faith has on our political process has also been waning. At one time, it was exceedingly difficult to run for public office in this country if you did not consider yourself to be a Christian.  But today, being a Bible-believing Christian is considered to be a huge political liability in much of the nation.

The faith that was once the foundation of our republic is now mocked, ridiculed and laughed at on television and in our movies.  It has been pushed out of our government, out of our schools and out of the mainstream entertainment industry. We wanted a godless society, and so that is what we got.But if we ever do intend to "make America great again", we need to get back to what made it great in the first place.

Chinese Church Fined $1,400 for Owning ‘Wrong’ Version of Bible

A Chinese church was fined this year the equivalent of $1,400 in U.S. for having a copy of the Bible in a different language, according to a religious watchdog.

The congregation, Fengyang Road Three-Self Great Church in the northeastern province of Liaoning, is a member of the officially recognized Three-Self network of Protestant churches that face severe restrictions.

In April, Chinese Communist Party officials found copies of South Korean Bibles in the church’s possession – an illegal action that sparked a fine of $10,000 RMB (about $1,400 USD), according to Bitter Winter, which monitors religious freedom in the country. 

“The church was also prohibited from selling Bibles,” Bitter Winter reported.

The fine was part of the Communist Party’s effort to “eradicate pornography and illegal publications” – and the latest example of the party’s crackdown on Christianity. 

“Many believers have reported that the Three-Self churches to which they belong have been subjected to sudden inspections by the government,” Bitter Winter reported. “All newspapers, hymnbooks, gospel leaflets, and especially Bibles that weren’t published and printed by the state were confiscated and even burned.”

The government even has forced churches to hang banners promoting the campaign against illegal books. In August, Fengzhuang Three-Self Church in the central province of Henan was forced to display a banner urging its members to help “eradicate pornography and illegal publications.” 

Some members of the Fengzhuang Three-Self Church objected to the banner because it implied the congregation was hiding either pornography or illegal publications.

“The government’s campaign to ‘eradicate pornography and illegal publications’ has actually swept into churches. This is slanderous to God!” one of the church’s co-workers told Bitter Winter.

A second Christian agreed.

“This isn’t just slanderous, but is a trap laid by the devil to make people mistakenly believe that there is a severe problem with the church’s ethos,” the second Christian said.

Benevolent Teenager Raises over $12,000 for Local Food Pantry

Thirteen-year-old Joshua LeRette has spent the past four years raising thousands of dollars for his local food pantry. He recently donated $12,583 that slowly accumulated over the years, according to KCCI.

The Iowa teenager started his compassionate venture in the third grade after he heard one of his classmates didn’t have food at Thanksgiving. In response, Joshua asked his friends and family to donate canned goods in lieu of his birthday presents. He was able to gather 100 cans from his request to donate to the local food pantry in Red Oak and hasn’t stopped since.

Joshua slowly built up the cash for his most recent donation with bake sales and lemonade stands. “I’ve seen people pay more than $50 for one of his pies,” his mom, Dawn LeRette said. The teenage entrepreneur has also invited other community members to donate their pies as well.

But Joshua doesn’t take in just high donations. One woman who could only contribute a dollar was allowed to choose anything on the bake sale table. “Those are the people we do this for,” Dawn said.

The motivation behind Joshua’s benevolent work is to help kids in school.

“He thinks if kids are not thinking about being hungry, they will be more focused on school,” Dawn said.

According to the Christ Cupboard, a food pantry run by First Covenant Church in Red Oak, recipients of the donated goods are often struggling to make ends meet. Many of them have low-paying jobs or don’t qualify for governmental assistance. Others are recovering addicts or recent prison charges who need help while getting back on their feet.

With the Thanksgiving holiday on the horizon, volunteers are always needed to help local food pantries sort, organize and serve food. Some also accept other donations, such as cosmetic or hygiene products or baby supplies. 

Four Lessons from The Biggest Riots In Decades

If you've been following the news, you might have seen reports about civil unrest in Chile - the worst in decades. I lived in Chile for more than seven years before moving to Puerto Rico; I still have business interests there, along with hundreds of employees (both foreign and local), many of whom I've been speaking to over the last few days.

First things first, Chile is ordinarily a quiet, stable, peaceful country.

The last time Chile went to war was 140 years ago back in 1879. They even skipped both world wars. And while there are occasional protests, Chile is quite tame by Latin American standards. It's also the most modern and advanced nation in the region- this is not a destitute, impoverished country. Chile has thriving industries and a large middle class that's in better shape than just about anywhere else in the region. But just like every other country in the world, there are countless imperfections. Inflation has eaten away at the purchasing power of workers' incomes, and a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet.

The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was a 3% increase in metro fares. It's nothing. But it was enough to make thousands of people become completely unglued, resulting in riots, looting, arson, and all-out mayhem.

Let's talk about some of the key lessons from this:

1) It can happen anywhere.

It's not just Chile. Looking around the world right now we can see major demonstrations and even violence in places like Hong Kong, Spain, Haiti, Lebanon, etc. The 'yellow vest' movement in France in late 2018/early 2019 brought hundreds of thousands of people out into the streets to torch cars and destroy property, all apparently in protest of rising fuel prices. Political tensions, social tensions, economic tensions... they exist everywhere, in rich countries and poor countries alike. People everywhere are tightly wound, and it doesn't take much for them to become unhinged. If you think this can't happen where you live, think again.

2) It can happen faster than anyone realizes.

The weather in central Chile is one of the great benefits of living there; it's warm, sunny, and dry... southern California climate. And this past Friday was a particularly beautiful day. By lunchtime, people were out in the parks enjoying the weather. It was calm, peaceful, and joyful. Within a matter of hours the city had turned into a war zone. Hour One of my team members told me on the phone yesterday, "If you had said on Friday afternoon that Santiago would be in chaos by nightfall, I would have laughed... And then it happened."

3) It only takes a few idiots.

There are roughly 18 million people living in Chile. And there may even be a few million people nationwide who are deeply frustrated about the rising cost of living. But only a few thousand have been stupid enough to cause such chaos and devastation; they've destroyed dozens of metro stations, buses, and even lit office buildings and grocery stores on fire. Innocent people have died. And almost everyone else has had their lives heavily disrupted. They can't get to work. Schools are closed. Grocery store lines are crazy. There's a curfew. Tanks are in the streets. Most people are rational and peaceful. They might be angry about certain issues, but they know that torching property and killing innocents won't solve anything.

Only a trivial fraction of a percent of the population are acting like cowards- the ones who steal a bunch of flat-screen televisions from the neighborhood electronics store before setting it on fire. And they're selfish and delusional enough to believe in their own righteousness- that their actions are justified as payback because of some economic injustice. Yeah. Because nothing proves your moral superiority more than looting flat-screen TVs.

4) They often think Socialism is the answer.

Human beings seem hardwired to think that they can solve any economic injustice with Socialism. More often than not, people don't even think through the issues. They feel symptoms- difficulty making ends meet, difficulty getting ahead in life, etc. and they get angry. And that's where the analysis stops. There is no analysis actually. It's just anger. A rational person thinks things through- why is my cost of living increasing? Why aren't I getting ahead? What's the root cause of these problems? How can I fix it? Again, Chile isn't perfect. Not by a long shot. But think about the 18-year old kid taking selfie videos while lighting a grocery store on fire because he's angry... angry that his education was sub-par, angry that he can't find a good paying job. And he's partially right. Public education in Chile is pretty bad, and he doesn't have the skills for a high-paying career. But I wonder how many books he's read this year? How many free online courses has he taken? What has he done to solve his own problem? Instead of torching buildings, he could have been at home watching countless videos on YouTube learning how to code in Python. For free.

And in developing real, marketable skills, he would become much more valuable and able to command a substantial wage and work remotely for prospective clients and employers worldwide. But the Socialist mentality is not about solving your own problems. Socialism means that you don't have to lift a finger (except to light a match). You just have to throw a temper tantrum until someone else solves your problems... even if you can't even define your problem or present a reasonable solution. I don't want to make light of the issues; there are several problems that protesters have bought up which I agree with. But neither Socialism nor burning buildings ever solved any problems. It may take time, but Chile is undoubtedly going to recover from this nightmare and move on. The 'sane' population (i.e. the vast majority) is already fighting back and defending their neighborhoods. But I can't help but wonder- where's next?

So Far, 296 Unborn Babies Have Been Saved During 40 Days for Life Campaign

Nearly 300 women have opted not to get an abortion thanks to the work of volunteers for 40 Days for Life, the annual campaign that involves prayer, fasting and peaceful vigils outside abortion clinics. As of Sunday, 296 unborn babies had been saved from abortion, according to the 40 Days for Life blog. 

The campaign began Sept. 25 and runs through Nov. 3. It is the largest-ever 40 Days for Life, with volunteers participating in 505 cities and 30 countries.

The 40 Days for Life blog recounts hope-filled stories from the campaign. In Portland, Ore., a mother who already had two children, ages 9 and 11, traveled to the abortion clinic to end her pregnancy.  “I could tell she was very uncertain about what she was going to do,” said Carissa, a 40 Days for Life volunteer. “I approached her and told her we were here for her and loved her … we had help for her, and I gave her a hug.” The mother accepted the resources from Carissa and left the clinic “Please keep them both in prayer,” Carissa requested.

In Hollywood, Fla., the owner of a house adjacent to the abortion clinic is pro-life and allows protesters to use his property. This also allows the volunteers to pray for and observe both entrances to the facility. 

The clinic’s owner called the police.

“Two police cruisers were dispatched to speak with us,” said Nancy, a 40 Days for Life volunteer. “The officers could not have been nicer.”

An even bigger victory, though, came when a young pregnant woman changed her mind after hearing the peaceful volunteers and seeing their pro-life signs.   

She smiled and waved and told them, “You don't have to worry about me … I'm keeping my baby!”

The 40 Days for Life campaign in 2009 resulted in Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic, quitting and joining the pro-life movement. Her story was recounted in the movie Unplanned. 

China Demolishes 3,000-Seat Mega church during Worship Service

Communist authorities destroyed a 3,000-seat megachurch over the weekend, using a large excavator to tear apart the building as members and citizens watched helplessly, according to China Aid.

The large building – which resembled many large church buildings in the United States and was topped with a spire and cross – was located in the province of Anhui, which rests in the eastern part of the country and has about 60 million residents. 

The congregation was part of China’s officially recognized network of churches. Communist officials lacked the proper legal paperwork to order the destruction, China Aid reported. China Aid monitors religious persecution in the country. 

A China Aid video shows the excavator pulling the building apart, as pieces of concrete tumble into a pile of rubble on the ground. 

“This is yet another clear example showing the escalation of religious persecution today by the Chinese Communist regime,” said Bob Fu, president of China Aid. “The total disregard of religious freedom's protection as enshrined in the Communist Party's own Constitution tells the whole world [Chinese] President Xi is determined to continue his war against the peaceful Christian faithful. This campaign will surely fail in the end.”

The officials also detained the church’s pastors, Geng Yimin and Sun Yongyao, on suspicion of “gathering a crowd to disturb social order,” China Aid reported. 

China officially recognizes two Christian bodies: the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association. Churches within the two networks, though, don’t have the freedom to worship as they choose. In the past, Communist officials have edited sermons, forced the removal of crosses, and banned Sunday Schools for children. The law prohibits the conversion of minors. 

The lack of religious freedom is one reason millions of Christians have gone underground to worship in illegal house churches. 

Earlier this year a Three-Self pastor told Bitter Winter, a religious watchdog, that the government was “subtly changing our faith” by forcing pastors to follow unbiblical requirements. That pastor was ordered to preach about Confucius.

“This is the erosion of Christianity,” the pastor said. 

Terror Attacks In France: A Culture Of Denial

On October 3, 2019, a knife-wielding Muslim employee of the Paris Police Department Intelligence Directorate stabbed to death four other employees at police headquarters in the center of Paris, before a trainee police officer shot and killed him. While it was not the deadliest terror attack France has experienced in recent years, the fatal stabbings that took place at the Paris police headquarters were perhaps the most worrisome. Its author (a French public servant employed by the police), its highly sensitive target, and the catastrophic handling of the aftermath of the attack reveal the failure of the French institutions.

As it was the case for all recent terror attacks, French media and authorities first tried to downplay what happened. The attacker was initially described through potentially mitigating factors, such as his handicap (the killer is partly deaf and mute). It took 24 hours before it was eventually revealed that he was an Islamist militant who had carefully planned his attack.

That a radicalized militant had been able to remain undetected in a critical security institution for years sent shockwaves throughout the country. Members of the parliamentary opposition asked for the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Christophe Castaner, who at first had said that the attacker "had never shown any warning signs or behavioral difficulties." For the record, this "very normal behavior" included cutting down to a bare minimum communication with women (he had for months being avoiding all women but his wife), attending a notoriously radical mosque, and having a phone full of Islamist contacts. His colleagues reported that already in January 2015, he had cheered the murderous Islamist terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in front of other police employees. In many countries, a mistake of this scale would be enough for a government minister to resign, but not in France.

The whole picture of the attack, which is still not clear, demonstrates an incredible failure of internal control inside the French police. The French Parliament is now asking how the murderer managed to fly under the radar when everything in his behavior clearly signaled an increasing radicalization.

Notably, this is the first time that the French state and its institutions were directly targeted. Also for the first time, the victims were not journalists (as was the case for the Charlie Hebdo attacks in January 2015), Jews (who have been targeted several times in recent years) or civilians (such as the massive coordinated attacks in Paris on November 2015 that caused more than 131 deaths and 413 wounded). This latest attack also demonstrates how inadequately prepared France is to tackle the problem. The killer was not just any civil servant: his security clearance allowed him to have access to sensitive files such as the personal details of police officers and individuals monitored by the department, including several individuals suspected of terrorism.

After Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan in Paris, the truck-ramming massacre in Nice, and countless other attacks, French institutions have failed repeatedly. However, instead of recognizing this failure and assuming a share of responsibility, instead of hitting the problem of religious radicalization head-on, French President Emmanuel Macron regularly describes it as a "societal problem," that "institutions alone will not be able to solve." It is necessary first to recognize and name a problem in order to tackle it. In the current state of affairs, French political institutions are a long way from success in the fight against terrorism. Beyond the political sphere, there is also a culture a denial of the Islamist threat in the French media. Journalists, academics and politicians, with a few exceptions, have consistently played down not only the risk of terrorist attacks but also the threat of growing Salafist radicalization in the country. A growing number of Muslims, while not advocating the use of violence, desire to live under Sharia law, separate from the rest of French society. According to a study by the Montaigne Institute, 29% of Muslims in France believe that Sharia law is more important than French law. This means that almost one-third of French Muslims live according to values that are fundamentally incompatible with French or Western standards.

Although France is the European country most targeted by Islamists (263 killed since 2012), politicians are paralyzed by the fear of being accused by the mainstream media of discrimination against Muslims, of creating an amalgam between terrorists and Muslims or of "fueling tensions."  Senior figures acknowledge a major problem only when they are no longer in charge. In a book published after he stepped down, the socialist former president François Hollande wrote: "Islam? Yes, there is indeed a problem with Islam. Nobody doubts this. The Islamic veil is a form of enslavement. We cannot continue welcoming migrants without any form of control in the context of increased terror attacks." Hollande never would have said such a thing when he was president. Like others, he sheepishly ignored the problem.

The same happened with Christophe Castaner's predecessor, Gerard Collomb, after he resigned as Interior Minister. He warned against no less than the risk of civil war in France."In some suburbs (...) it is the rule of the strongest, of drug dealers and radical Islamists that prevails instead of the laws of the Republic... Today we live side by side, next to each other, but tomorrow, I fear that we might end up facing each other. It is important to note that theses quotes are not from right-wing thinkers or activists. Both François Hollande and Gerard Collomb were long-time eminent figures of the Socialist Party.

These are typical examples of what some call "la démission des élites" (the abdication of the elites): refusing to act on a situation of which they are perfectly aware but afraid to mention because of the dominant ideology of political correctness.In the meantime, France's police officers are increasingly unmotivated and demoralized. Since the start of the year, more than 50 police officers have committed suicide. They face increasingly difficult working conditions, in particular, rioters in the suburbs of cities like Paris, Marseille, Lille or Lyon -- suburbs that are progressively escaping the control of the French authorities. Attack after attack, the ritual is the same. There are flowers, tributes and words for the victims, political leaders affirm their resolve to act to protect the people. But after a few days, the news cycle ends and things go back to normal -- until the next terrorist attack.

China’s War on the Bible: If You Can’t Ban it, Alter it

A recent article at WORLD Magazine reported how the Chinese-language app called “WeDevote” recently surpassed 10 million downloads. That number, as well as the overall success of “WeDevote,” is even more remarkable given the back story, one that illustrates Beijing’s ongoing war on the Bible. “WeDevote” is a Bible-reading and devotional app known for its “aesthetically-pleasing” design and respect for copyright laws, a rarity in China. The month after its launch, China’s biggest app store listed WeDevote as a “Recommended App” right on its homepage. The Communist Party’s crackdown on Christianity in recent years meant that both the app and its developers faced increasing government scrutiny. Eventually, they were given a choice: shut down the app or face jail time.

Well, a third option, transferring ownership of the app to a Hong Kong-based company, provided a temporary respite from the ultimatum, but the government has now banned “WeDevote” from Chinese app stores. Though the developers are actively seeking some kind of work-around, it’s a struggle to get the app in the hands of users on the mainland. The government’s shut down of “WeDevote” is part of a disturbing trend. Last year, China banned online Bible sales. Of course, that doesn’t mean Bibles are unavailable in China. Chinese publishers continue to print Chinese-language Bibles. Some are exported, of course, but plenty remain in China. That’s good news. The bad news is that soon, at least spiritually speaking, Chinese-language copies of the Bible may not be worth the paper they’re printed on. According to the Guardian, the Communist Party has plans “for ‘retranslating and annotating’ the Bible,” in order to “establish a ‘correct understanding’ of the text.” Is there any doubt this “correct understanding” will include reinforcing the primacy of the Communist Party? As one pastor told the Guardian, “The Chinese Communist party . . . wants to be the God of China and the Chinese people. But according to the Bible only God is God.” The reality on the ground is that “The government is scared of the churches,” and is cracking down on them.

Any attempt to control and re-write the Bible is a tacit admission by the Communist Party that it’s failing to eradicate Christianity. It’s way too late for that, of course. Depending on who you ask, there are between 60 and 100-plus million Christians in China. Since they cannot eliminate Christianity, the Party’s goal is to pervert it, creating a version of Christianity that doesn’t threaten the Party’s claim of ultimate authority. This demand for sole allegiance not only targets Christians, but other religious minority groups, like the Muslim Uighurs. Anyone who believes that “only God is God” is a threat to the Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping. Such repression also reflects that the Party is concerned about its rule. As many experts have pointed out, China’s stability rests on an implicit bargain: The Party promises economic growth and broad-based prosperity in exchange for the Chinese people giving up the kinds of political freedoms taken for granted in the West. With the Chinese economy slowing down, the demographic legacy of China’s “one-child” policy, the pervasive corruption and the ever-widening chasm between urban “haves” and rural “have nots,” it’s not clear the Party will be able to hold up its end of the bargain. More and more the Party is looking like yet another would-be “god” that has failed its worshipers. We know, given China’s tumultuous history, the sort of bloodshed and chaos that comes from disappointed worshipers there. We also know, given the inherently religious nature of human beings, that such dissatisfaction will only catalyze the growth of the Church and the spread of the Gospel. That means we should pray that God’s Word will prosper in China ... and that God will protect all those who preach it.

Ex-Drug Addict Baptized at Church He Vandalized 6 Months Earlier – ‘God Is Real’

A homeless drug addict who broke into an Arkansas church and vandalized $100,000 worth of property was baptized at the same congregation six months later – all because the staff and church members displayed grace and got him much-needed help. Brenton Winn, 23, was arrested in February after breaking into Central Baptist Church of Conway, Ark., and destroying $100,000 in church property. He threw the soundboard over the worship center balcony. He set part of the family life center on fire. He destroyed laptops. At the time, the church’s senior pastor, Don Chandler, told KTHV it was “about as messy of vandalism as you could possibly imagine.” Winn, who was homeless and high on drugs, faced multiple charges and seemed destined for years behind bars.

But Chandler, while meeting with the prosecutor, chose to extend grace, according to Baptist Press. Chandler wanted Winn to get help. “You can't preach something for 50 years without practicing it, especially in front of your whole church,” Chandler told Baptist Press. “Had we not shown some grace to him, everything we've talked about and encouraged, would have gone by the wayside. It was simply the right thing to do. This was not a hardened criminal. This was a young man who had made some mistakes. He was on drugs and alcohol when he did what he did. But he was redeemable.”

The judge gave Winn an option: Face up to 20 years in prison or voluntarily enter a 12-month rehab and recovery program run by a Christian-based ministry, Renewal Ranch. Winner chose the latter, Baptist Press reported. Winn had been doing methamphetamines and other drugs, off and on, since age 14. “Before I knew it, I had a full-blown drug addiction,” Winn told Baptist Press. “From the time I was 16 until a few months ago, my life was nothing but chaos, suicide attempts and brokenness.” Winn accepted Christ at one of the Renewal Ranch Bible studies. In August – six months after his crime – he was baptized at Central Baptist Church, the same congregation he tried to destroy.

“As I'm starting to understand how God works, I've realized I didn't pick the church that night. God picked me,” Winn told Baptist Press. “If it had been any other church, I think I'd be sitting in prison right now.” He added, “I used to think it was a coincidence [that I chose to break into the church that night], but now I call it confirmation that God is real, and He answers prayers. What was weighing on my heart was that I needed a relationship with Jesus Christ.”

No Place To Hide: DHS' New HART Database Uses Scars, Tattoos, & Voice ID

These days, you can't really go anywhere without encountering cameras.  Going into a store? Chances are there are security cameras. Getting money at an ATM? More cameras. Driving through the streets of a city? More cameras still. Your neighbors may have those doorbells from Amazon that are surveilling the entire neighborhood. And many of these cameras are tied into facial recognition databases, or the footage can be quite easily compared there if "authorities" are looking for somebody. But as it turns out, it isn't just facial recognition we have to worry about.

DHS has a new recognition system called HART.

Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology system is the alarming new identity system being put in place by the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is retiring its old system that was based on facial recognition. It's being replaced with HART, a cloud-based system that holds information about the identities of hundreds of millions of people. The new cloud-based platform, called the Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology System, or HART, is expected to bring more processing power, new analytics capabilities and increased accuracy to the department's biometrics operations. It will also allow the agency to look beyond the three types of biometric data it uses today--face, iris and fingerprint--to identify people through a variety of other characteristics, like palm prints, scars, tattoos, physical markings and even their voices.  Incidentally, the cloud hosting for HART is being done by none other than Amazon - you know, the ones with surveillance devices like the Ring doorbell and the Alexa home assistant and the Nest home security system. Does anyone see a pattern here? Also note that Amazon Web Services also hosts data for the CIA, the DoD, and NASA.

More about HART

As HART becomes more established, that old saying "you can run but you can't hide" is going to seem ever more true. The DHS is delighted at how much further the new system can take them into surveilling Americans. And by freeing the agency from the limitations of its legacy system, HART could also let officials grow the network of external partners with whom they share biometric data and analytics capabilities, according to Patrick Nemeth, director of identity operations within Homeland Security's Office of Biometric Identity Management. "When we get to HART, we will be better, faster, stronger," Nemeth said in an interview with Nextgov. "We'll be relieved of a lot of the capacity issues that we have now ... and then going forward from there we'll be able to add capabilities." 

The DHS wants to break free of the limitations of the old system with their new and "improved" system. HART will use multiple pieces of biometric data to increase identification accuracy. Today, when an official runs a person's face, fingerprint or iris scans through IDENT's massive database, the system doesn't return a single result. Rather, it assembles a list of dozens of potential candidates with different levels of confidence, which a human analyst must then look through to make a final match. 

The system can only handle one modality at a time, so if agent is hypothetically trying to identify someone using two different datapoints, they need to assess two lists of candidates to find a single match. This isn't a problem if the system identifies the same person as the most likely match for both fingerprint and face, for example, but because biometric identification is still an imperfect science, the results are rarely so clear cut. However, the HART platform can include multiple datapoints in a single query, meaning it will rank potential matches based on all the information that's available. That will not only make it easier for agents to analyze potential matches, but it will also help the agency overcome data quality issues that often plague biometric scans, Nemeth said. If the face image is pristine but the fingerprint is fuzzy, for example, the system will give the higher-quality datapoint more weight.

"We're very hopeful that it will provide better identification surety than we can provide with any single modality today," Nemeth said. And palm prints, scars, tattoos and other modalities are added in the years ahead, the system will be able to integrate those into its matching process. 

HART will also use DNA.

Remember a while back when we reported that DNA sites were teaming up with facial recognition software? Well, HART will take that unholy alliance even further. The phase-two solicitation also lists DNA-matching as a potential application of the HART system. While the department doesn't currently analyze DNA, officials on Wednesday announced they would start adding DNA collected from hundreds of thousands of detained migrants to the FBI's criminal database. 

During the interview, Nemeth said the agency is still working through the legal implications of storing and sharing such sensitive data. It's also unclear whether DNA information would be housed in the HART system or a separate database, he said. Nifty.

The DHS is operating without any type of regulation.

Currently, there's no regulation or oversight of government agencies collecting and using this kind of data. Civil liberty activists and some lawmakers are alarmed by this, citing concerns about privacy and discrimination. This hasn't slowed down the DHS one iota, however. Critics have taken particular issue with the government's tangled web of information sharing agreements, which allow data to spread far beyond the borders of the agency that collected it. The Homeland Security Department currently shares its biometric data and capabilities with numerous groups, including but not limited to the Justice, Defense and State departments.

In the years ahead, HART promises to strengthen those partnerships and allow others to flourish, according to Nemeth. While today the department limits other agencies' access to IDENT to ensure they don't consume too much of its limited computing power, HART will do away with those constraints. 

Mana Azarmi, the policy counsel for the Freedom, Security and Technology Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology is one of those people voicing concern. A person might give information to a single agency thinking it would be used for one specific purpose, but depending on how that information is shared, they could potentially find themselves subjected to unforeseen negative consequences, Azarmi said in a conversation with Nextgov.

"The government gets a lot of leeway to share information," she said. "In this age of incredible data collection, I think we need to rethink some of the rules that are in place and some of the practices that we've allowed to flourish post-9/11. We may have overcorrected."  You think?

Many people voluntarily provide biometric data.

Many folks provide biometric data without giving it a second thought. They cheerfully swab a cheek and send it into sites like Ancestry.com, providing not only their DNA, but matches to many relatives who never gave permission for their DNA to be in a database.

Then there are cell phones. If you have a newer phone, it's entirely possible that it has asked you to set up fingerprint login, facial recognition, and even voice recognition. It isn't a stretch of the imagination to believe that those samples are shared with folks beyond the device in your hand. Add to this that your device is tracking you every place you go through a wide variety of seemingly innocuous apps, and you start to get the picture.

You can't opt-out. Back in 2013, I wrote an article called "The Great American Dragnet".  At that time, facial recognition was something that sounded like science fiction or some kind of joke. Our drivers' licenses were the first foray into creating a database but even in 2013, it far exceeded that.

Another, even larger, database exists. The US State Department has a database with 230 million searchable images.  Anyone with a passport or an immigration visa may find themselves an unwilling participant in this database.   Here's the breakdown of who has a photo database:

- The State Department has about 15 million photos of passport or visa holders

- The FBI has about15 million photos of people who have been arrested or convicted of crimes

- The Department of Defense has about 6 million photos, mainly of Iraqis and Afghans

- Various police agencies and states have at least 210 million driver's license photos

This invasion of privacy is just another facet of the surveillance state, and should be no surprise considering the information Edward Snowden just shared about the over-reaching tentacles of the NSA into all of our communications. We are filing our identities with the government and they can identify us at will, without any requirement for probable cause. Some people don't even seem to mind that their identities have been tagged and filed by the US government. And even those of us who do mind have no option. If you wish to drive a car or travel outside of the country or have any kind of government ID, like it or not, you're in the database. Six years ago, I wrote:

The authorities that use this technology claim that the purpose of it is to make us safer, by helping to prevent identity fraud and to identify criminals.  However, what freedom are we giving up for this "safety" cloaked in benevolence? We are giving up the freedom of having the most elemental form of privacy - that of being able to go about our daily business without being watched and identified. And once you're identified, this connects to all sorts of other personal information that has been compiled: your address, your driving and criminal records, and potentially, whatever else that has been neatly filed away at your friendly neighborhood fusion center.

Think about it:  You're walking the dog and you fail to scoop the poop - if there's a surveillance camera in the area, it would be a simple matter, given the technology, for you to be identified. If you are attending a protest that might be considered "anti-government", don't expect to be anonymous.  A photo of the crowd could easily result in the identification of most of the participants.

Are you purchasing ammo, preparedness items, or books about a controversial topic?  Paying cash won't buy you much in the way of privacy - your purchase will most likely be captured on the CCTV camera at the checkout stand, making you easily identifiable to anyone who might wish to track these kinds of things.  

What if a person with access to this technology uses it for personal, less than ethical reasons, like stalking an attractive women he saw on the street?  The potential for abuse is mind-boggling.

If you can't leave your house without being identified, do you have any real freedom left, or are you just a resident in a very large cage? 

When I wrote that, it still seemed far-fetched but remotely possible, even to me. This was before we were really aware of anything like the social credit program in China or how crazy the censorship was going to become or how social media would change the very fabric of our society.

Now, it's here and it looks like there's no stopping it.

Christian Family in Hiding after Hindu Extremist Mob Assaults Them in India

NEW DELHI, October 3, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A retired pastor, his wife and their sons are in hiding from police after a Hindu extremist mob injured them in a gruesome assault in northern India, sources said.

Patram Mangala, retired Church of North India pastor now helping to run St. John School in Sohna, Gurugram District in Haryana state, sustained injuries to his nose when he was hit with a spade in the face, and his 28-year-old son Abhishek Mangala lost four front teeth and ruptured blood vessels in his eye in the Sept. 22 attack. 

Pastor Mangala’s 65-year-old wife Sarla Mangala sustained an injury under her right eye apart from internal injuries to her body, and their son Raj Kumar Mangala, 40, sustained internal injuries in the attack, which appeared to be rooted in a recent court judgment against the Hindus in their attempt to erect a Hindu idol on the property, the retired pastor said.

The 68-year-old Pastor Mangala and his wife were cleaning their front yard in the early evening when a group of Hindu extremists with wooden sticks surrounded them and began to assault them, he said. Between 30 to 40 other people then joined in the assault.

Pastor Mangala’s sons ran to help their parents but were also attacked. The pastor said he could identify only some of the assailants, and that those who joined in had been notified earlier for a well-planned attack.

“Two men, Anil Kumar and Danny, smashed a stone on Abhishek’s face, breaking four of his front teeth,” Pastor Mangala told Morning Star News. “His mouth was profusely bleeding, and his face was covered with blood. Abhishek’s lip tore, and his left eye blood vessels ruptured.”

Their home is part of the St. John’s school premises, and the assailants picked up a spade used for repair work on the institution in the attack, he said. They also struck them with rocks lying outside the gate, along with sticks.

“They began to hit me with their legs and fists and manhandled my wife by pushing her and hitting her,” he said. “They abused us using vulgar language and threatened to kill us. The attackers snatched the gold ring that I was wearing in my finger and snatched my son Abhishek’s cell phone as well.”

Besides the injury to his nose from the spade, Pastor Mangala sustained injuries to his thigh and other parts of his body, he said.

The family reported the assault to city police in writing on Sept. 24, but officers registered no complaint for nearly a week – in stark contrast to a false complaint registered against the Christians the day of the attack, he said.

“The culprits have been threatening us to kill us, and they have warned us that if we go to the police, they will kill us,” Pastor Mangala reported in his complaint, translated from Hindi. “In the future if I or my family members are attacked, these people named in the complaint should be held responsible. I request that strict action be taken against these hooligans and a First Information Report be registered and they be arrested. I pray that justice be given to me and my family.”

Local news media broadcast the Hindu extremists’ false charges as stated by a police official and the main accused in the pastor’s complaint, Anil Kumar. Officer-in-Charge Arvind Dahiya told Punjab Kesari News Channel that an FIR had been registered against Pastor Mangala, his wife and their two sons for “breaking the Hindu temple and illegally trying to take possession of the Hindu temple land under the Indian Penal Code.”

They were also charged with rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant, injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, he said.

Kumar told media that the Christian family attacked him and the others.

Denying all allegations, Meenal Mangala, the daughter of Pastor Mangala, told Morning Star News that she felt helpless as she does not know who to contact for help.

“The allegations against us are false and fabricated,” she said. “We don't know what to do. It is our property, and we have the papers to prove it. They forcefully wanted to worship their god on our land. Through court we stopped that and won the legal battle, but now they are spreading a false and fabricated story through media, and it is being telecasted on local TV.”

Meenal Mangala said the family has submitted a CD to the police containing footage from CCTV cameras installed at the school facing its front gate. The cameras captured the entire assault and show how the Hindu extremists beat the family, she said.

Fearing arrest, the Christian family has left their home and gone into hiding since being released from the hospital.

Only after Morning Star News spoke to Investigating Officer and Assistant Sub-Inspector Shish Ram asking why no action was taken on the complaint of trespassing and assault filed by the Christian family did officers register a case against the assailants on Friday (Sep. 27).

Ram said a case was registered against the Hindu assailants under First Information Report 608 for rioting, rioting armed with deadly weapon, unlawful assembly, disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation.

He said justice would be done, though no action has been taken yet.

The land on which the St. John’s School was built was purchased in Sarla Mangala’s name on Sept. 30, 1985, according to official records. She and Pastor Mangala were running the school and residence in 2015 when some Hindus trespassed and erected a Hindu idol and brought construction material onto the campus, Sarla Mangala charges in a lawsuit.

“On June 10, 2015, in the evening between 6-6:30, some anti-social elements came to our land and tried to enter forcefully,” Pastor Mangala said. “They threatened to kill my wife if she did not leave the property, hence we filed a complaint in the court claiming that the property is ours and that no construction should be done on that land. I approached the court against the trespassing four years ago and got a stay from the court. The court pronounced judgment in our favor two months ago.”

Tehmina Arora, director of legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom-India, said in a press statement earlier this year that India must enact laws to protect religious minorities from such attacks.

“Nobody should be persecuted because of their faith,” Arora said. “It is worrying to see these horrendous acts of mob violence continue. It is high time special laws are enacted to protect Christians and other religious minorities from being attacked and then imprisoned under false accusations.”

Mob attacks are not isolated incidents in India, added Paul Coleman, executive director of ADF-International.

“While the right to religious freedom is protected by the Indian constitution, we nonetheless see Christians face persecution and denial of their fundamental rights,” he said. “Sadly, the recent mob attacks are not isolated incidents but testify to what many Christians experience in India today. All people have the right to freely choose, and live out, their faith.”

India is ranked 10^th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has been worse each year since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014. 

‘Give Your Life to Christ’ — Brother Forgives, Hugs Ex-Cop Who Killed Botham Jean

The brother of a man shot and killed in his own apartment by a former Dallas police officer shocked the courtroom and sparked a national debate Wednesday by forgiving his brother’s killer and urging her to turn her life to Christ. 

The brother, Brandt Jean, then hugged the officer who had killed Botham Jean. The interaction even brought the judge to tears. 

“I forgive you,” Jean said before urging the former officer to “... Give your life to Christ.”

Amber Guyger was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison for the 2018 fatal shooting of Botham Jean. Guyger had mistakenly entered the wrong apartment and believed he was in her apartment. 

Brandt Jean, who is 18, took the witness stand after the sentencing and addressed Guyger.  

“I don't want to say twice or for the hundredth time ... how much you've taken from us. I think you know that,” Jean said. “But ... I hope you go to God with all the guilt [and] all the bad things you may have done in the past. Each and every one of us may have done something that we're not supposed to do. If you truly are sorry – I know I can speak for myself, I forgive you. And I know if you go to God and ask Him, He will forgive you.”

As he spoke, sobbing could be heard throughout the courtroom. 

“But I love you just like anyone else. And I'm not gonna say I hope you rot and die just like my brother did, but I personally want the best for you,” Jean added. “And I wasn't gonna ever say this in front of my family or anyone, but I don't even want you to go to jail. I want the best for you. Because I know that's exactly what Botham would want you to do. And the best would be [to] give your life to Christ.”

Seconds later, Jean turned to Judge Tammy Kemp and asked, “Can I give her a hug? Please?”

Kemp, wiping away tears, responded, “Yes.”

Jean and Guyger hugged in front of the courtroom for nearly a minute. 

Later, Kemp gave Guyger a Bible. 

Some on social media said Brandt Jean went too far. 

“Why on earth would anyone with a brain hug his brother's murderer?” one person on Twitter asked.

Most people on social media, though, were in awe at the moment. 

“There is hope for the country with young men like this,” one person wrote. “If only there were more.”

When The Culture War Comes For Your Kids            

In the October edition of The Atlantic, there is a fascinating and revealing long-form essay by George Packer titled "When the Culture War Comes for the Kids." Packer, who appears to be an old-school liberal with a few progressive sympathies, writes about his family's decision to remove his son from an elite private school and send him to a public school in New York City, where he will be exposed to more diversity and give the family a chance to participate in a community. For the first several years, he writes, they were happy with their choice--until, around 2014, the school community began to be seized by wokeness.

The first sign of this was the school's attempt to do away with traditional grading systems as well as test-taking. Test-taking, the parents were told, was too stressful for children and often discriminatory towards minority students (the racism of low expectations present in this surge of sympathy, as always, went unnoticed). Soon, the staff were actively discouraging parents from permitting their children to take tests, and there was enormous pressure to get with the new political program. 

Additionally, Packer says, identity--sexuality, race, disability, etc.--became such a focus that Packer grew concerned that the school was entrenching differences rather than reducing them. In fact, he wrote, several other schools in New York "had taken to dividing their students by race into consciousness-raising 'affinity groups,'" which caused several mixed-race families to transfer their kids out because they were sick of the focus on race. They didn't need their children to start with the identity politics at such a young age.

And then, Packer writes, the "bathroom crisis hit our school...A girl in second grade had switched to using male pronouns, adopted the initial Q as a first name, and begun dressing in boy's clothes. Q also used the boys' bathroom, which led to problems with other boys."  The school began searching for a solution, but instead of simply creating a single-stall bathroom (one already existed), they decided to "get rid of boys' and girls' bathrooms altogether." This, they presumed, would handily eliminate any confusion, and the problem would be solved, and "within two years, almost every bathroom, from kindergarten through fifth grade, had become gender-neutral."

Every previous generation could have predicted that this would end in disaster, but with minds addled by wokeness and identity politics, the school staff somehow forgot some very fundamental facts about children--and human beings in general. Packer's description of the confusion experienced by the school children as a direct result of the decisions of deluded adults is genuinely sad to read: Where signs had once said boys and girls, they now said students. Kids would be conditioned to the new norm at such a young age that they would become the first cohort in history for whom gender had nothing to do with whether they sat or stood to pee. All that biology entailed--curiosity, fear, shame, aggression, pubescence, the thing between the legs--was erased or wished away...The school didn't inform parents of this sudden end to an age-old custom, as if there were nothing to discuss. 

Parents only heard about it when children started arriving home desperate to get to the bathroom after holding it in all day. Girls told their parents mortifying stories of having a boy kick open their stall door. Boys described being afraid to use the urinals. Our son reported that his classmates, without any collective decision, had simply gone back to the old system, regardless of the new signage: Boys were using the former boys' rooms, girls the former girls' rooms. 

This return to the familiar was what politicians call a "commonsense solution." It was also kind of heartbreaking. As children, they didn't think to challenge the new adult rules, the new adult ideas of justice. Instead, they found a way around this difficulty that the grown-ups had introduced into their lives. It was a quiet plea to be left alone.

Fortunately, at least some of the parents were outraged when they discovered what had taken place, and a crowd of them showed up at a PTA meeting to protest this policy, where they faced off with parents who proposed a series of profoundly stupid ideological solutions to the problem:

The parents in one camp declared that the school had betrayed their trust, and a woman threatened to pull her daughter out of the school. The parents in the other camp argued that gender labels--and not just on the bathroom doors--led to bullying and that the real problem was the patriarchy. One called for the elimination of urinals. It was a minor drama of a major cultural upheaval. The principal, who seemed to care more about the testing opt-out movement than the bathroom issue, explained her financial constraints and urged the formation of a parent-teacher committee to resolve the matter. After six months of stalemate, the Department of Education intervened: One bathroom would be gender-neutral.

It is interesting to note that it is again students--in this case children--who are pushing back against the delusions that adults are imposing on them. As I reported back in April, teenage girls have staged school walkouts to protest biological males identifying as females being permitted into their bathrooms. 

In Sussex, England recently, a large crowd of female students protested outside their high school, furious that the staff was enforcing a change to "gender neutral" uniforms and eliminating the traditional--and feminine--skirts. In Alberta, Canada, students rebelled against a gender-neutral bathroom policy and started a petition to demand a return to the old system. "I don't know whose idea this was," one student remarked bitterly, "but it wasn't a very good one." I sometimes wonder if the adults creating and imposing these policies remember anything at all about growing up, going through puberty, or being a teenager. Would they have wanted to sit in the bathroom stall next to the girl they had a crush on? Or vice versa? Would they have wanted to use the same change rooms as awkward teens from the opposite gender, just as their bodies were changing and they were trying to make sense of everything? 

Did they not stop to consider that essentially eliminating privacy for boys and girls--or pretending, with brazen asininity, that there is no difference between the two--would make difficult years even harder? Obviously the ideologues do not remember such things, or perhaps they have forgotten them. But perhaps it will be children and teens who will be forced, out of embarrassment and necessity, to lead the pushback. It is possible, after all, to force your ideology on to other people. But it is not possible to conform the natural world to your will, no matter how hard you try.

The 'Fastest Growing Church' in the World Is 'Spreading Like a Wildfire' in Iran: New Documentary

Large numbers of Iranian Muslims are walking away from Islam and toward Christianity, a new documentary says. According to the Frontier Alliance International Studios’ Sheep Among Wolves Volume II documentary, inside of Iran — a country where the majority of the citizens are Muslim — the “fastest-growing church” in the world is blossoming underground. 

One unidentified Iranian church leader even went as far as to say that “Islam is dead” in Iran. The church leader — who remained anonymous for their protection — asked, “What if I told you Islam is dead? What if I told you the mosques are empty inside Iran? What if I told you no one follows Islam inside of Iran? Would you believe me?” “This is exactly what is happening inside of Iran. God is moving powerfully inside of Iran,” the church leader asserted.

The church leader also shared that they believe that Ayatollah Khomeini is “the best evangelist for Jesus.”  “The ayatollahs brought the true face of Islam to light and people discovered it was a lie ... After 40 years under Islamic law — a utopia according to them — they’ve had the worst devastation in the 5,000-year history of Iran,” the leader said.

According to Fox News, the church is without buildings, property or central leadership, but still, it is steadily growing. The movement's aim is not to plant churches, but to grow discipleship. “The seismic shift that’s happened in the church of Iran is, when all these church planters found out that converts run away from persecution, but disciples would die for the Lord in persecution,” the church leader said.

"Disciples forsake the world and cling to Jesus 'till he comes. Converts don't. Disciples aren't engaged in a culture war. Converts are. Disciples cherish, obey, and share the word of God. Converts don't. Disciples choose Jesus over anything and everything else. Converts don't. Converts run when the fire comes. Disciples don't," the leader asserted.

The underground movement — which is pro-Israel and is largely led by women — is being dubbed by film director Dalton Thomas, the “Iranian Awakening.” One believer said in the video that they understand the danger of participating in the Iranian Awakening, but it is a risk they must take. “We know that if they get us, the first thing they will do to us as a woman is rape us and then they will beat us and ultimately they will kill us. “This is the decision we have made that we want to offer our bodies as sacrifices. Because I have this thought when I wake up, that when I leave, that door I might not come back."

Ransom Paid, but Kidnapped Pastor's Wife Is Killed in North-Central Nigeria

Muslim Fulani herdsmen this month kidnapped and killed a pastor’s wife in north-central Nigeria’s Kaduna state three days after suspected herdsmen killed a Baptist pastor in another part of the state, sources said.

Unaware that Esther Ishaku Katung had been killed after being kidnapped in Bagoma, 122 kilometers (75 miles) west of Kaduna City on Sept. 14, her family paid a 250,000 naira (US$690) ransom before discovering her body, said the Rev. Joseph Hayab, chairman of the Kaduna state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Her husband, the Rev. Ishaku Katung of the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA) congregation in Bagoma, escaped but was wounded by gunfire when the herdsmen broke into their home on church premises at 11:30 p.m. as they slept, Pastor Hayab said.

“Information we got from some of the kidnapped victims who escaped from the herdsmen’s enclave shows that Esther Katung and two other victims had escaped from the herdsmen’s captivity, but she was recaptured by them,” Pastor Hayab told Morning Star News. “She attempted to escape with two others after they were kidnapped by the herdsmen; this infuriated the herdsmen, leading them to kill her. They broke her legs in order to prevent her from escaping and smashed her head too. This led to her death.”

The kidnappers dumped her corpse in the bush, he said.

“After they had killed her, they were still demanding the ransom without telling her family that they had killed her,” Pastor Hayab said. “It was only after the ransom was paid that it was found by her family that she had been killed by her abductors.” 

Baptist Pastor Slain 

In Jema’a County some 230 kilometers (142 miles) south of Kaduna City, suspected Muslim Fulani herdsmen shot a Baptist pastor dead on Sept. 11, sources said.

The Rev. Alhamdu Mangadus, pastor of Nasara Baptist Church in Asso, was killed while working on his farm at about 1 p.m., said the Rev. Danladi Boyis Hassan of the ECWA church in the Ungwan Kadara area of Kaduna City.

Given the high level of killings and kidnappings by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in southern Kaduna in recent years, Christian leaders suspect herdsmen killed the pastor. Pastor Hassan, a native of the slain pastor’s village, visited the area after the killing and was told that the assailants were Muslim Fulani herdsmen.

“Pray along with the church and family as they mourn the barbaric act by Fulani terrorists,” Pastor Hassan told Morning Star News.

Pastor Hayab of the CAN also said Fulani herdsmen were behind the killing.

“He was shot dead on his farm, and the attackers injured another fellow from Tanda,” he said. “The corpse of the pastor was taken away by the Fulani herdsmen but was eventually recovered in the bush after a frantic search by our brethren in the area.”

Pastor Hayab said the killing of the pastor was one too many for Christians in violence-wracked Kaduna state.

“We are going back to the era of senseless killings. When will people be safe to go out and seek food to feed their families?” he said.

Nigeria ranked 12^th on Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of countries where Christians suffer the most persecution. 

Live Birth Abortions Continue To Happen In Canada

One of Canada's best pro-life bloggers is Pat Maloney, who writes at Run With Life and has consistently made use of Freedom of Access to Information Requests to uncover shocking and sobering information about Canada's ugly abortion regime. Her work on the issue of babies born alive in Canada after abortions and left to die, and her research into the 491 babies that survived abortions and subsequently died between 2000 and 2009 triggered a National Post investigation and a call by Members of Parliament for RCMP involvement. 

In a country where there are no legal restrictions on abortion from fertilization until birth, awful things are guaranteed to occur. Maloney has been fantastic at uncovering those horrors.

Her latest discovery is timely considering the fact that abortion, as always, is a hot topic in Canada's federal election (never in the history of the country has there been a "closed debate" that receives so much media attention, stump campaigning, and oppo research.) 

Canada's progressive politicians (who only campaign on their pro-abortion credentials in English and French, but ensure that their campaign literature in Punjabi, Urdu, and other common languages avoid all social conservative issues to avoid alienating new Canadians, who reliably tell pollsters that regardless of how they vote, they are very traditionalist in regard to their values.)  Research like Maloney's is very inconvenient to the progressive narrative of a compassionately pro-choice country: Live birth abortions continue to happen in Canada.

Here are the latest numbers of late term abortions in Canada from CIHI. There were 910 late-term (20 weeks and greater) stillbirths and 150 born alive abortions. ([See] previous years here.)

20 of these born alive abortions were greater than 25 weeks gestation.

107 of these born alive abortions were between 21 - 24 weeks gestation.

23 of these born alive abortions were 20 weeks gestation.

Note: These are for hospital abortions only and do not include clinics or physician's offices. These numbers also do not include late-term abortions done in Quebec. Think about this carefully for a moment: A "born alive abortion" means that the child was born, and then subsequently died, often in the presence of parents or medical personnel.  This is happening in Canada, while Justin Trudeau scampers across the country claiming that opposition to these sorts of things is evidence of a medieval mindset. His government is funding the death of these children around the world and in developing countries--and although he likes to claim that Canadians are in lockstep behind him on this issue, keep in mind that a full 80% of Canadians do not know that we have no restrictions on abortion. That means that the vast majority of people who are claiming to support Canada's abortion regime have no idea how brutal and extreme that regime actually is.

And that, of course, is why abortion activists will do everything to try and close this debate, including the censorship of billboards that simply read "Canada has no abortion laws." The supporters of Canada's abortion regime would like the discussion to be filled with rhetoric and devoid of facts--and they want to keep the babies who perish after being born out of sight, tucked away in medical bio-hazardous waste buckets or in dumpsters with lids shut tight. 

Maloney has reminded us once again that they were here, briefly, before dying before they could even see or enjoy this country that our politicians will spend the upcoming weeks bragging about. For them, the promise of Canada is a cruel joke.

Christian Persecution on the Rise in India with Over 200 Violent Incidents This Year, New Report Finds

Christians in India have endured a rapid increase of violent persecution with over 200 reports of incidents this year.

“The attacks are spread across the country and usually take the form of mob attacks, which can include interruptions to worship and prayer services, intimidation, verbal assault, and even death threats and violence,” Johanna Hohenberg, Communications Officer for Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) told Faithwire.

ADF in India has discovered that 218 incidents have occurred this year. Despite the large number, only 25 police reports after the attacks have been filed. According to Hohenberg, the violence “rarely receives the police attention that it should.”

For many of these incidents, a mob will appear at a Christian gathering, shouting and beating up anyone in their way. Often, when the police arrive, the perpetrators are not arrested. The police instead bring in the pastors or priests under the false allegation of forced conversions, which is illegal in India.

“These are not isolated incidents and there has been an increase recorded this year—the average has risen from 20 to 27 per month since last year,” Hohenberg said.

Many watchdog groups point to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the increased persecution. Ever since the party rose to power in 2014, the attacks have more than doubled.

“The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) documented 147 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2014, the year the BJP took control of the central government,” International Christian Concern’s Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark, said to Faithwire. “That number skyrocketed to 351 documented incidents in 2017 and then 325 documented incidents in 2018.”

According to Stark, the BJP uses divisive language to stir up trouble. “In their speeches, these leaders and politicians single out Christians and Muslims as followers of ‘foreign faiths’, individuals who are ‘anti-national’ and deserving of suspicion,” he said.

The attacks are often committed by radical Hindu nationalist groups who take the messages to heart. The police rarely take action to help victims after the violence and Christians are often unable to take legal action, though ADF is attempting to seek legal victories for survivors.

“Nobody should be persecuted because of their faith,” Hohenberg said. “It is very worrying to see these acts of mob violence not only continue but also increase. Special laws should be put in place in order to protect Christians and other religious minorities from these attacks and false accusations,” Hohenberg concluded.

Children Should Not Be Allowed to Medically Change Their Genders,' Says Johns Hopkins Professor

A psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University says children should not be allowed to medically change their genders because the treatments are similar to a “frontal lobotomies.”

“[Doctors] don’t have evidence that [the treatment] will be the right one,” said Dr. Paul McHugh, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “Many people are doing what amounts to an experiment on these young people without telling them it’s an experiment," CBN News reports.

“You need evidence for that, and this is a very serious treatment. It is comparable to doing frontal lobotomies.”

McHugh said there could be longterm negative impacts in using the hormonal treatments used for gender transitions, which McHugh says are “reckless and irresponsible.”

McHugh said he believes that children struggling with gender dysphoria are likely dealing with mental health issues or “being driven by psychological and psychosocial problems.”

“I think their mental problems, often depression, discouragement, are the things that need treatment,” he said. “I’m not positive about this. It’s a hypothesis, but it is a very plausible hypothesis, and it would explain why many of the people who go on to have treatment of their body discover they are just as depressed, discouraged, and live just as problematic lives as they did before, because they did not address the primary problem.”

It’s also possible that children who transitioned early in life may “be in the hands of doctors for the rest of their lives,” he added.

McHugh warns that many trans-identifying young people may be “sterilized and not able to have their own children,” noting that he believes, “many will regret this.”

“Can you imagine having a life where you need to seek doctors all the time, for everything, just to live?” McHugh continued. “Getting your hormones checked, getting everything checked. That is something doctors should like to spare people of.”

Father’s House,

Brotherhood Missions,

4/364 E, Anna Salai 1st Cross Street,

ECR, Palavakkam, Chennai 600041.

Tamil Nadu, India.

National Worship Centre is a centre where the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty is worshipped in His majesty all the 24 hours. Per day 12 worship teams come to worship from different parts of the Nation. One slot consists of 2 hours. The opening of NWC also turns to be the trumpet sign to start the fatal war against satan to this Nation for Christ! Do you want to join this praising Army?

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Drone Warfare/Terrorism Only Just Beginning

The vulnerability of infrastructure to drone terrorism was just laid bare this week as ten drones launched by Iran-backed militants sparked a huge fire at the world's largest oil processing facility and a major oilfield in Saudi Arabia where over 5 percent of the world's daily supply is produced. Yemen's Houthi rebels, considered an Iranian proxy force in the region, have claimed responsibility for the attacks at Abqaiq in Buqayq, which contains the world's largest oil processing plant, and Khurais, which contains the country's second largest oilfield.  

The fires have now been brought under control but the disruption is still expected to have an impact on oil prices around the world as the flow of oil is disrupted with some estimates suggesting 50% of Saudi output could be temporarily affected. Last week Hamas militants used a drone to drop a bomb on the Israeli side of the Gaza-Israel perimeter fence hitting a military vehicle, marking the first time an attack occurred with a drone piloted from Gaza.

During the same time period Hezbollah shot down an Israeli drone performing reconnaissance over Lebanon and last month Iran shot down a US drone flying over the Strait of Hormuz, almost sparking a larger conflict. Drone and anti-drone conflict is on the rise worldwide and many experts fear the use of weaponized drones by lone individuals or small groups--some acting as proxies of nation-states, on US soil is only a matter of time.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have declared unmanned aerial systems, or drones, as one of the greatest national security threats to America -- rating it as severe a concern as cybersecurity hacks, critical infrastructure attacks, and terrorism. Civilian drones pose a "steadily escalating threat," as the devices are likely to be used by terrorists, criminal groups or drug cartels to carry out attacks in the U.S., FBI Director Christopher Wray previously told a Senate committee.

"The FBI assesses that, given their retail availability, lack of verified identification requirement to procure, general ease of use, and prior use overseas," drones will be used in an attack in the U.S. including "a mass gathering," Wray said. One nightmare scenario universally feared by law enforcement and security services is the use of a small drone to deliver chemical or biological agents in an attack. It is already well-established that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups have long sought to engineer a spectacular attack in the West using weapons of mass destruction. The possibility that drones could be used to disperse deadly agents or viruses over public gatherings is a harrowing prospect. Even if a drone attack fails to result in large numbers of fatalities, the attempt could still achieve an attacker's goal of perpetuating the psychological dimension of terrorism.

Sporting events are undoubtedly one of the top targets for a drone attack. Upwards of 100,000 people attend college football games. Open air stadiums used for football, soccer, baseball and other events such as music concerts are more vulnerable than domed stadiums as the crowd, players and coaches are not protected by a shield above. Drones are already used by transnational criminal syndicates and drug cartels. On the U.S.-Mexico border, drones are being used to spy on federal law enforcement operations and smuggle contraband through the sky. The first drug smuggling incident via drone was documented in Nov. 2015. Now, it's a daily occurrence in some regions of the southern border, but it's rarely reported because they are unable to seize the devices and arrests are rare.

Many countries are now using armed drones in combat--Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey have recently done so--the chances for sophisticated drone technology getting into the wrong hands increases exponentially. If a terrorist group can steal or purchase a drone from a rogue state or corrupt military or intelligence officials, then they could rely on the myriad online videos posted that essentially demonstrate how these unmanned systems could be used to conduct an attack.

In Syria, the Islamic State has successfully used drones to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance in addition to carrying out offensive actions like dropping explosives on an adversary's military base. The most well known drone attack was the attempt last year to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. That the drones were able to get so close to the leader at a public outdoor event in Caracas, Venezuela, speaks to how easy drones are to use--and how difficult they are to defend against. The most recent attack in Saudi Arabia was only 10 drones. More advanced militaries in China and Russia have already shown that drone swarms of 100 or more controlled by AI are possible and how they can defeat almost any defensive measure currently available. It is clear that a new era of warfare (& terrorism) is just getting started and we should expect more drone related conflicts in the days ahead.

Father’s House,

Brotherhood Missions,

4/364 E, Anna Salai 1st Cross Street,

ECR, Palavakkam, Chennai 600041.

Tamil Nadu, India.

National Worship Centre is a centre where the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty is worshipped in His majesty all the 24 hours. Per day 12 worship teams come to worship from different parts of the Nation. One slot consists of 2 hours. The opening of NWC also turns to be the trumpet sign to start the fatal war against satan to this Nation for Christ! Do you want to join this praising Army?

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The Rising Tide Of Christian Antisemitism in America

Soon after I came to faith in Jesus in 1971 as a 16-year-old, drug-abusing, hippie rock drummer, my father said to me, "Michael, I'm glad to see the changes in your life, but we're Jews, and we don't believe in this." He introduced me to the new rabbi of our synagogue, fresh out of Jewish Theological Seminary, and the rabbi and I quickly became friends, a friendship that has lasted to this day. One of the first books the rabbi gave me detailed the history of antisemitism in the Church -- a shocking, painful, and often bloody history. It made for some very difficult reading, replete with disturbing quotes from famous Church fathers, Catholic popes, and the great reformer, Martin Luther. In the eyes of many Jews, there was a straight line from the Church Fathers to the Holocaust. How could this be?

Unaware of Our History

The Christians I had met had a great love for the Jewish people, even a reverential respect. And to this day, evangelical Christians are Israel's best friends. How could there be such a thing as "Christian" antisemitism? As an Iranian Christian once said to me, "You cannot love Jesus and hate the Jews!" One of the first books the rabbi gave me detailed the history of antisemitism in the Church -- a shocking, painful, and often bloody history.

Over the years, I discovered that many contemporary Christians were completely unaware of their painful history with the Jewish people. As expressed by the Catholic historian Edward Flannery in his book The Anguish of the Jews, "The vast majority of Christians, even well educated, are all but totally ignorant of what happened to Jews in history and of the culpable involvement of the Church. ... It is little exaggeration to state that those pages of history Jews have committed to memory are the very ones that have been torn from Christian (and secular) history books." This is what led me to write the book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood: The Tragic Story of the 'Church' and the Jewish People, which came out in 1992 and has never gone out of print. Since I could relate to both Church and Synagogue, I wanted other Christians to feel the pain the Jewish people had felt.

Christian Philo-Semitism and a Rising "Christian" Antisemitism

But to be perfectly candid, in all my travels across America and around the world (almost always in evangelical circles), I witnessed very little "Christian" antisemitism first hand. To the contrary, I experienced an outpouring of philo-Semitism in nation after nation, from Mexico to Korea and from Kenya to India. And where I did see signs of "Christian" antisemitism, it was on the fringes. Not so today. It is rising again in some influential, Catholic circles as well as among evangelicals, some of whom seem obsessed with bashing the Jews. As I prepared to release an updated and revised edition of my book, what I discovered was chilling.

According to bestselling evangelical author Texe Marrs, "Of all the diseased schools of racial supremacism, I am convinced that the Jewish specimen is the most evil and most threatening to the lives, bodies, and eternal destinies of humankind." Yes, Marrs states, "Zionism has existed as a satanic ideological force in opposition to all things good and even to life itself for three thousand years."

Indeed, "Zionism and its accompanying religious disease, Judaism, are the champions of all time in terms of the total number of innocent men, women, and children being imprisoned in concentration camps, beaten, bludgeoned, raped, robbed, humiliated, and unmercifully slaughtered" (from his book Blood Covenant With Destiny: The Babylonian Talmud, the Jewish Kabbalah, and the Power of Prophecy).

"Synagogue of Satan"

Echoing these sentiments is evangelical broadcaster Rick Wiles on his TruNews TV network. He recently claimed that, "Our culture has been decimated through abortion, pornography, the sexual liberation movement, filthy, raunchy movies [and] television shows, vile, violent rap music and hip hop and all of it owned by the synagogue of Satan." Consequently, he opined, "I cannot be a preacher of the Gospel and not confront the synagogue of Satan, even if it costs me my life. A day is coming [when] Christians are going to lose their lives as they confront the synagogue of Satan. You cannot stand for Jesus Christ and righteousness in this world without confronting the synagogue of Satan." It's time we wake up to these harsh, disturbing realities and uproot these insidious lies once and for all.

So, not only are these nefarious Jews everywhere, they are deadly as well. To expose their evil deeds is to risk your life.

Echoing similar sentiments (albeit, with more erudition) is Catholic scholar E. Michael Jones, who opined that, "Jews are never content to integrate themselves into existing structures, whether those structures are states, universities, art museums or the military. They feel compelled to infiltrate and subvert the institutions which admit them as members." Consequently, "If the Church wants to have its history back, then it will have to contend with the Jews once again as the Apostles and the Church Fathers did 2000 years ago." (From his book The Jews and Moral Subversion.) And what, exactly, will it look like when the Church once again "contends" with "the Jews"?

Uproot Dangerous Antisemitic Lies

Jones, in turn, has influenced Owen Benjamin, a conservative comedian and professing Christian. As pointed out by Dexter Van Zile, Benjamin "declared that Jews use pornography to destroy the masculine strength of American men so that they will be unable to father children and have the courage to protect their families from Jewish control. 'It is literally by design so the West doesn't have kids,' he said, adding later, 'The Jews are only one percent of the population and yet they're in control of the media, all of banking, pornography, opioids.'"

These quotes represent but the tip of a very dangerous, lie-infested iceberg. And they reflect the alleged ideology of the Poway, California, synagogue shooter, who felt it was his Christian duty to slaughter the Jews. It's time we wake up to these harsh, disturbing realities and uproot these insidious lies once and for all. Antisemitism has no place in the heart or mind of a true Christian.

Father’s House,

Brotherhood Missions,

4/364 E, Anna Salai 1st Cross Street,

ECR, Palavakkam, Chennai 600041.

Tamil Nadu, India.

National Worship Centre is a centre where the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty is worshipped in His majesty all the 24 hours. Per day 12 worship teams come to worship from different parts of the Nation. One slot consists of 2 hours. The opening of NWC also turns to be the trumpet sign to start the fatal war against satan to this Nation for Christ! Do you want to join this praising Army?

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Prophecy Unfolding: Israel & Iran Prepare For War                         

Are we about to see World War 3 erupt in the Middle East?  Over the past several days, Israel has attempted to prevent attacks by Iranian forces and their allies by striking targets in Syria, Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.  

As you will see below, political leaders in both Lebanon and Iraq are now accusing Israel of a "declaration of war", and Hezbollah is pledging to strike Israel back extremely hard.  

Of course if a full-blown war erupts between Israel and one of her neighbors, it is likely to become a multi-front war almost immediately.  

But at the core, this is a conflict between Israel and Iran.  The Iranians have repeatedly pledged to wipe the nation of Israel off the face of the planet, and the coming "final war" is going to literally be a matter of life or death for those two nations.  

Both sides have been preparing for this "final war" for a very long time, and once it fully erupts the death and destruction that we will witness will be off the charts.

Just within the past few days, the fighting has escalated dramatically as the Israelis have conducted operations in four different territories...

Israeli forces openly claimed attacks over the weekend in Syria and the Palestinian-administered Gaza Strip and were blamed for two more operations in Lebanon and Iraq. As reports of what occurred across the region emerged, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted at his country's ongoing efforts abroad, telling a Monday planning meeting that "we will deepen our roots and strike at our enemies."

The attacks in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq specifically targeted Iranian forces and their allies, and the goal was to prevent imminent attacks against Israel...

In Syria, Israeli warplanes killed two members of the Lebanese Hezbollah. Israel says the individuals were supporting an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps plot to launch explosive-laden drones into Israel. 

The Israelis say that the specific Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit responsible was the Quds Force, led by Qassem Soleimani. If true, the Quds Force was likely using Hezbollah as a deniable proxy to avoid direct links between the plot and Tehran.

In another operation in Lebanon, Israel targeted another Iranian-allied group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In Iraq, senior Iran-aligned figures accused Israel of another air strike.

Missiles are not flying directly back and forth between Israel and Iran yet, but at this point a state of war essentially exists, and many are deeply concerned about what is going to happen next.

In particular, it looks like Hezbollah could launch a large scale attack against Israel at any moment, because their leadership is absolutely furious that the Israelis just hit their headquarters building in Beirut...

Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's secretary-general, threatened to attack Israel in retaliation for a drone attack over the weekend on the organization's headquarters in Beirut. Tensions between Israel and Hezbollah are now at their highest point since the 2006 war.

And the Lebanese government itself is extremely angry as well.  In fact, the president of Lebanon has publicly stated that what Israel has just done is essentially the equivalent of "a declaration of war"...

Lebanese President Michel Aoun met Monday with the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis, calling Israel's moves in Beirut and Qusaya "a declaration of war."

The statement echoed the words of Iraq's powerful Fateh Alliance, which called separate strikes that killed a militia commander in the border town of Al-Qaim "a declaration of war on Iraq and its people," according to the Associated Press.

This is an extremely serious situation.  Israel is literally on the brink of war with Hezbollah, and many feel that such a war is inevitable.

Meanwhile, a very powerful bloc in the Iraqi government has also accused Israel of "a declaration of war"...

A powerful bloc in Iraq's parliament has called for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, following a series of air raids targeting Iran-backed Shia militias in the country that have been blamed on Israel.

The Fatah Coalition said on Monday that it holds the United States fully responsible for the alleged Israeli aggression, "which we consider to be a declaration of war on Iraq and its people."

We had not seen the Israeli military strike targets in Iraq until just recently, and this latest attack has absolutely enraged the Shia militias.  During the funeral procession for the commander that was killed in the attack, some of the Shia fighters were actually trampling the American flag...

The Shia militia group, meanwhile, held a funeral procession in Baghdad for the commander killed on Sunday.

"There is no greater God but God!" the mourners shouted as they marched behind a banner with the words "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Some trampled on an American flag as they marched.

Thousands of U.S. soldiers died, thousands more were injured, and we spent trillions of dollars in the process of "liberating" Iraq, and this is how they feel about us.

What a colossal waste.

Ultimately, nothing is going to be able to stop the massive war that is coming to the region.  The Iranians and all of their allies have a religiously-fueled hatred for Israel that most people living in the western world will never understand, and they are absolutely obsessed with permanently destroying the nation of Israel as it exists today.  

There will never be peace between the two sides, and the coming apocalyptic conflict will literally be a battle for national survival.

This can definitely be described as a time of "wars and rumors of wars", and the situation on the ground is extremely fluid right now.  The fact that the Israelis have another national election coming up adds another layer of complexity to all of this, and that election may cause events to accelerate even faster than many were anticipating.

Let us pray for peace, because right now tensions are extremely high and things are beginning to spiral out of control.

And when a full-blown war does break out, it is highly likely that the U.S. will get involved, and that will have enormous implications for all of us.

Father’s House,

Brotherhood Missions,

4/364 E, Anna Salai 1st Cross Street,

ECR, Palavakkam, Chennai 600041.

Tamil Nadu, India.

National Worship Centre is a centre where the Lord of hosts, the Lord God Almighty is worshipped in His majesty all the 24 hours. Per day 12 worship teams come to worship from different parts of the Nation. One slot consists of 2 hours. The opening of NWC also turns to be the trumpet sign to start the fatal war against satan to this Nation for Christ! Do you want to join this praising Army?

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The Push To Kill Cash - Next Up Is Australia                             

The supposed coordination of governments and tech companies to create a one-world, cashless society is often viewed as little more than fodder for silly YouTube conspiracy videos. After all, cash is still king in daily life, even in extremely high-tech, innovative societies like Japan. 

Upon closer examination, though, current realities like Australia's proposed cash transaction ban for 2020, the continuing removal of higher denomination bills from several world economies, and the creation of centralized, state cryptocurrencies by governments worldwide cannot be ignored.

These trends signal a global push to kill paper money in the name of safety, security, and financial inclusion.

You Can Pay, But It Better Be Our Way

Australia's "Black Economy Taskforce" wants to put people accepting over 10,000 AUD (~$6,750) in cash in the slammer for up to two years, or fine them up to 25,000 (~$16,890), in an ostensible bid to fight black market economies. The Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 states:

Transactions equal to, or in excess of this amount would need to be made using the electronic payment system or by cheque. The Black Economy Taskforce recommended this action to tackle tax evasion and other criminal activities.

Note the similarity here with talking points of other governments. India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, when announcing the devastating surprise removal of 86% of the country's circulating paper cash in 2016, proclaimed:

Black money and corruption are the biggest obstacles in eradicating poverty. Not surprisingly, Modi's shock move put the dominantly cash-based society in a panic, forcing people to take their now worthless 1,000 and 500 rupee notes to banks within 50 days of the announcement, to exchange them for smaller denominations. Now The Royal Bank of India is moving to ban all cryptocurrencies but one, the state-approved, digital rupee.

The removal of large cash bills is a worldwide, ongoing reality, with the European Central Bank (ECB) stopping production of the 500 euro note earlier this year. The note, dubbed by the media as "the Bin Laden," was said to be used disproportionately in financing terrorism. 

The U.S. used to have banknotes worth $500 and higher as well, some which were known as gold certificates, entitling the bearer to physical gold upon redemption. As fractional reserve banking took over, however, and national debt increased, these systems were progressively abandoned. The trend continues today in the form of Negative Interest Rate Policy (NIRP), and the resultant push for digitization of money.

Stop Holding Cash and Take Our Debt

"If everyone is holding cash, negative interest rates become useless." These are the words of former People's Bank of China (PBOC) governor Zhou Xiaochuan after the Chinese government had just completed a trial run of their new national cryptocurrency back in 2017. Now the country's sovereign digital currency is "almost ready." Zhou has also officially stated:

At the current stage, the central bank's major goal of issuing digital currency is to replace the physical cash.

Earlier in the same interview, he maintained that "The cost for cash transaction will gradually increase in the later stage. 

For instance, banks do not charge any fee for counting a large amount of coins now, but in the future they may charge their clients for such services." Zhou's remarks about negative interest rates are arguably the biggest giveaway as to what is going on here. If people are holding cash outside of banks, reckless, Keynesian NIRP policies won't have the desired effect of coercing spending in the populace.

New Zealand Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr agrees with Zhou:

Let's tax cash holdings, simple as that: we're back to monetary policy as usual; people are disincentivised to be holding large lumps of physical cash; they are having to think harder about putting money to work. While draconian government monetary policy is alarming, the lack of support for actual financial sovereignty in the crypto and tech space is indicative of another problem. 

Government's designs on eliminating paper money and fighting permissionless, decentralized crypto exchange -- both moves to control money supply and populations of individuals -- are obvious, and to be expected. But even big tech companies and exchanges like Facebook and Binance are jumping on the propaganda bandwagon, dragging many well-meaning enthusiasts into the fight against financial freedom (even if unintentionally) right along with them.

"We believe that we all have a responsibility to help advance financial inclusion, support ethical actors, and continuously uphold the integrity of the ecosystem." - Libra whitepaper

"This is why we believe in and are committed to a collaborative process with regulators, central banks, and lawmakers..." - Facebook's David Marcus

"Binance is looking to create new alliances and partnerships with governments, corporations, technology companies, and other cryptocurrency companies and projects involved in the larger blockchain ecosystem, to empower developed and developing countries to spur new currencies." - Binance's 'Venus' announcement

The common theme here is eager compliance with Keynesian value destroyers. And these examples are illustrative of the true financial epidemic.

Forced 'Perfection'

Digital currencies really are extremely convenient. Everybody in the world really should have a chance at financial inclusion. Holding wads of paper cash and coins really can be a bother, as well as a safety hazard, where crime is concerned. 

In Finland, passengers on state railways won't be able to purchase tickets with cash for long-distance trips, starting in September. Much easier than messing with the paper stuff. ATMs are becoming less common worldwide, even in countries like China, the U.S., and cash-obsessed Japan. Settlements and payments can be made effortlessly, though, with just a quick scan or entering a PIN, so it's no big deal. But this is not a perfect world. Governments are corrupt. Artificial monopolies and seas of red tape exist, keeping the life-threateningly impoverished and entrepreneurial from accessing crypto and banking services via strict KYC and AML policy, and by mandating, like Modi in India, that their hard-earned and hard-saved money is worthless. People already have the opportunity for extreme financial inclusion. 

A $40 smartphone and an internet connection enables anyone, anywhere in the world, to make or receive money with Bitcoin. In the name of regulation, safety, and financial inclusion, however, the state makes the situation more chaotic, less safe, and extremely exclusive where real human need is concerned.

Some of us crazy people still like paper cash, and prefer to pay that way. Some annoying, behind-the-times Luddites still put money in their mattresses, where global financial policy turns more and more toward negative rates, continued inflation, and devaluation of money sitting in banks.  Some entrepreneurs and tech-savvy fans of crypto simply think it's nobody else's business, preferring paper wallets, coin shuffling, and VPNs, in a world where everyone but those in power are presumed guilty until proven innocent. 

Some of us "conspiracy nuts" just like crypto for crypto, and paper cash is still closer to that clean and private model than any slimy, centralized digital state currency could ever hope to be.