These are the purchase of My blood

Satan knows that those who ask God for pardon and grace will obtain it; therefore he presents their sins before them to discourage them. Against those who are trying to obey God, he is constantly seeking occasion for complaint. Even their best and most acceptable service he seeks to make appear corrupt. By countless devices, the most subtle and the most cruel, he endeavors to secure their condemnation. 

In his own strength, man cannot meet the charges of the enemy. In sin-stained garments, confessing his guilt, he stands before God. But Jesus, our Advocate, presents an effectual plea in behalf of all who by repentance and faith have committed the keeping of their souls to Him. He pleads their cause, and by the mighty arguments of Calvary, vanquishes their accuser. His perfect obedience to God's law has given Him all power in heaven and in earth, and He claims from His Father mercy and reconciliation for guilty man. To the accuser of His people He declares: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. These are the purchase of My blood, brands plucked from the burning.” And to those who rely on Him in faith, He gives the assurance, “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Zechariah 3:4

Satan has an accurate knowledge of the sins that he has tempted God's people to commit, and he urges his accusations against them, declaring, that by their sins they have forfeited divine protection, and claiming that he has the right to destroy them. He pronounces them just as deserving as himself of exclusion from the favor of God. “Are these,” he says, “the people who are to take my place in heaven, and the place of the angels who united with me? They profess to obey the law of God; but have they kept its precepts? Have they not been lovers of self more than lovers of God? Have they not placed their own interests above His service? Have they not loved the things of the world? Look at the sins that have marked their lives. Behold their selfishness, their malice, their hatred of one another. Will God banish me and my angels from His presence, and yet reward those who have been guilty of the same sins? Thou canst not do this, O Lord, in justice. Justice demands that sentence be pronounced against them.”

But while the followers of Christ have sinned, they have not given themselves up to be controlled by the satanic agencies. They have repented of their sins and have sought the Lord in humility and contrition, and the divine Advocate pleads in their behalf. He who has been most abused by their ingratitude, who knows their sin and also their penitence, declares: “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. I gave My life for these souls. They are graven upon the palms of My hands. They may have imperfections of character; they may have failed in their endeavors; but they have repented, and I have forgiven and accepted them.”      Prophets and Kings pp. 586-589

The Joy of Obedience

A profession of faith and the possession of truth in the soul are two different things. The mere knowledge of truth is not enough. We may possess this, but the tenor of our thoughts may not be changed. The heart must be converted and sanctified.

The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely—because he is required to do so—will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness 

“For ever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. ... I will never forget Thy precepts: for with them Thou hast quickened me. ... I have seen an end of all perfection: but Thy commandment is exceeding broad.” Psalm 119:89-96.      Christ Object Lessons p. 97

Brought near by the blood of Christ

Victory in the Blood

1That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;

² (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

³ That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

⁴ And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

⁵ This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

⁶ If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

⁸ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰ If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.      1 John 1

Jesuit general claims satan is only a ‘symbol’ created by man

June 2, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- It’s been said that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And the new head of the Jesuit order seems to have fallen for it. 

Fr. Arturo Sosa Abascal, the Jesuit’s Superior General, said in a May 31 interview with the Spanish paper El Mundo that Satan is a “symbolic figure” who doesn’t really exist. 

“We have created symbolic figures, such as the devil, in order to express [the reality of] evil,” said Abascal when asked if he believes evil is a process of human psychology or comes from a higher being. 

“Social conditioning also represents that figure,” he added.     More

The Church can become an image of the communion and goodness of the Trinity, Pope Francis said Sunday in St. Peter's Square

Vatican City, Jun 11, 2017 / 09:11 am (CNA/EWTN News)

Through God's mercy the Church can become an image of the communion and goodness of the Trinity, Pope Francis said Sunday in St. Peter's Square.

“The Christian community, though with all its human limitations, can become a reflection of the communion of the Trinity, of its goodness and beauty,” he said Jun 11 during his Angelus address.

“But this – as Paul himself testifies – passes necessarily through the experience of the mercy of God, of his pardon.”

The Pope's address on Trinity Sunday reflected on the “mystery of the identity of God,” which so affected St. Paul.     More

Nigerian priests must clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope.

by Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.11 Jun 2017

In what is perhaps the most strongly worded address of the Francis pontificate, the Pope blasted a group of Nigerian priests who have rejected the papal appointment of their bishop to the diocese of Ahiara, comparing them to the “murderous tenants” spoken of by Jesus in the gospel.

The Pope goes on to describe the priests’ offense against the Church as a “mortal sin,” demanding that each one write a personal letter of apology manifesting “total obedience to the Pope.”

This act of rebellion goes beyond “tribalism,” Francis said, and is rather “an attempted taking of the vineyard of the Lord.”

The Ahiara diocese has been embroiled in controversy ever since 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed Peter Okpaleke as its bishop, an appointment that was reportedly opposed by “lay people and priests of the diocese.”

Members of the local church have demanded a bishop from the Mbaise region, like their former bishop, the late Victor Adibe Chikwe, who came from Mbaise and was accepted as a “son of the soil.”

In 2013, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal John Onaiyekan as apostolic administrator of the diocese but no resolution to the crisis has been found.

Now, Pope Francis has issued an ultimatum to the priests of the Diocese of Ahiara, giving them 30 days to write a letter promising absolute obedience to him along with the acceptance of their appointed bishop. Priests who do not write a personal letter imploring the Pope’s forgiveness will be suspended from the priesthood.

On Wednesday, Pope Francis received a delegation from the Diocese of Ahiara, which included the Archbishop of Abuja and the apostolic administrator of Ahiara, Cardinal John O. Onaiyekan, along with a number of other Nigerian prelates and diocesan staff.

In the text of his address, released on Saturday by the Vatican, Pope Francis says that the behavior of the Ahiara clergy reminds him of “the parable of the murderous tenants, of which the Gospel speaks, that want to grasp the inheritance.”

“Whoever was opposed to Bishop Okpaleke taking possession of the Diocese wants to destroy the Church,” Francis said. “This is forbidden; perhaps he does not realize it, but the Church is suffering as well as the People of God within her. The Pope cannot be indifferent.”

In his speech, the Pope praised the “holy patience” demonstrated by the bishop during these four years. He also states that he had considered “suppressing the Diocese,” but then thought that “the Church is a mother and cannot abandon her many children.”

Francis also suggests that the priests of the diocese “are being manipulated even from abroad and from outside the Diocese.”

“The Church is a mother and whoever offends her commits a mortal sin, it’s very serious,” Francis said, before laying out his ultimatum to the priests.

Every priest or ecclesiastic of the Diocese of Ahiara, Francis said, must “write a letter addressed to me in which he asks for forgiveness; all must write individually and personally. We all must share this common sorrow.”

In the letter, he continued, the priests “must clearly manifest total obedience to the Pope,” and “must be willing to accept the Bishop whom the Pope sends and has appointed.”

“The letter must be sent within 30 days, from today to July 9th, 2017. Whoever does not do this will be ipso facto suspended a divinis and will lose his current office,” Francis said.

“This seems very hard, but why must the Pope do this?” he continued. “Because the people of God are scandalized. Jesus reminds us that whoever causes scandal must suffer the consequences.”      Breitbart

What is the connection between Roman Catholicism and Islam?

Happy Sabbath!

German scientists have found a way to photograph people in 3D through walls using Wi-Fi

By Dave Mosher, 22.05.2017

Wi-Fi can pass through walls.

This fact is easy to take for granted, yet it's the reason we can surf the web using a wireless router located in another room.

But not all of that microwave radiation makes it to (or from) our phones, tablets, and laptops. Routers scatter and bounce their signal off objects, illuminating our homes and offices like invisible light bulbs.

Now, German scientists have found a way to exploit this property to take holograms, or 3D photographs, of objects inside a room — from outside it.

"It can basically scan a room with someone's Wi-Fi transmission," Philipp Holl, a 23-year-old undergraduate physics student at the Technical University of Munich, told Business Insider.

Holl initially built the device as part of his bachelor thesis with the help of his academic supervisor, Friedemann Reinhard. The two later submitted a study about their technique to the journal Physical Review Letters, which published their paper in early May.

Holl says the technology is only in its prototype stage and has limited resolution, but he is excited about its promise.

"If there's a cup of coffee on a table, you may see something is there, but you couldn't see the shape," Holl says. "But you could make out the shape of a person, or a dog on a couch. Really any object that's more than 4 centimeters in size."    Read More

JetBlue Airways Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. will test facial- and fingerprint-recognition technology

by Mary Schlangenstein 

JetBlue Airways Corp. and Delta Air Lines Inc. will test facial- and fingerprint-recognition technology at two U.S. airports to replace boarding passes, building on industry efforts to increase security and ease passage through airports.

The JetBlue program will start next month on flights from Boston to Aruba’s Queen Beatrix International Airport, the airline said in a statement Wednesday. It will match passenger photos to their passport or visa photos. Delta has been trying fingerprint identification in Washington that may eventually replace boarding passes.

The testing highlights efforts by carriers to speed customers through congested airports while increasing security. Europe’s KLM airline in February began using face-scanning technology for boarding at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport. Delta this month said it would attempt a self-serve process for checking bags at one airport using facial recognition.

“We hope to learn how we can further reduce friction points in the airport experience, with the boarding process being one of the hardest to solve,” Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue’s executive vice president for customer experience, said in the statement.

JetBlue passengers will be able to participate without enrolling or registering in advance.

A custom-designed camera will take a photo and transmit it to U.S. authorities to compare against databases of passport, visa and immigration images. A display above the camera will notify travelers when they can board. New York-based JetBlue is working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and SITA, an information-technology provider for airlines.    More

The likelihood of an asteroid smashing into Earth is increasing, according to new research

7 Jun, 2017

The likelihood of an asteroid smashing into Earth is increasing, according to new research from a team of Czech scientists which discovered new asteroids traveling around our planet.

The team studied 144 large meteors from the Taurids, a meteor stream which appears in our skies twice a year. The group discovered a new branch of the phenomenon containing at least two asteroids measuring a whopping 200-300 meters (220-330 yards) in diameter.

This branch likely includes even larger undiscovered asteroids, according to a statement from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

The Taurid meteoroid stream produces at least four meteor showers over Earth: two are active from the end of September until the beginning of December, and two from the end of May to the middle of July.

Earth encounters the newly discovered branch every few years for about three weeks. Scientists say that during this time the chance of an impact with a sizeable asteroid – measuring up to tens of meters – is significantly greater.

The meteors analyzed by the Czech astronomy team were from 2015 when the stream’s activity was enhanced. Details of the study are published in Astronomy & Astrophysics,

The new digital autonomous observatories of the European Fireball Network spotted the fireballs over Czech Republic (at 13 stations), Austria (1 station) and Slovakia (1 station).

The researchers say further study is vital to gain a better understanding “of this real source of potentially hazardous objects,” warning that the meteors could cause significant regional or even continental damage.     RT

12 signs the economic slowdown that the experts have been warning about is now here

By Michael Snyder, on June 1st, 2017 

Since the election there has been this perception among the American public that the economy is improving, but that has not been the case at all.  U.S. GDP growth for the first quarter was just revised up to 1.2 percent, but that is even lower than the average growth of just 1.33 percent that we saw over the previous ten years.  But when you look even deeper into the numbers a much more alarming picture emerges.  Commercial and industrial loan growth is declining, auto loan defaults are rising, bankruptcies are absolutely surging and we are on pace to break the all-time record for most store closings in a single year in the United States by more than 20 percent.  All of these are points that I have covered before, but today I have 12 new facts to share with you.  The following are 12 signs that the economic slowdown that the experts have been warning about is now here…

#1 According to Challenger, the number of job cuts in May was 71 percent higher than it was in May 2016.

#2 We just witnessed the third worst drop in U.S. construction spending in the last six years.

#3 U.S. manufacturing PMI fell to an 8 month low in May.

#4 Financial stocks have lost all of their gains for the year, and some analysts are saying that this is “a terrible sign”.

#5 One new survey has found that 39 percent of all millionaires “plan to avoid investing in the coming month”.  That is the highest that figure has been since December 2013.

#6 Jobless claims just shot up to a five week high of 248,000.

#7 General Motors just reported another sales decline in May, and it is being reported that the company may be preparing for “more job cuts at its American factories”.

#8 After an initial bump after Donald Trump’s surprise election victory, U.S. consumer confidence is starting to fall.

#9 Since Memorial Day, Radio Shack has officially shut down more than 1,000 stores.

#10 Payless has just increased the number of stores that it plans to close to about 800.

#11 According to the Los Angeles Times, it is being projected that 25 percent of all shopping malls in the United States may close within the next five years.

#12 Over the past 12 months, the number of homeless people living in Los Angeles County has risen by a  staggering 23 percent.

And in case those numbers have not persuaded you that the U.S. economy is heading for rough times, I would encourage you to go check out my previous article entitled “11 Facts That Prove That The U.S. Economy In 2017 Is In Far Worse Shape Than It Was In 2016” for even more eye-popping statistics.

During a bubble, it can feel like the good times are just going to keep rolling forever.

But that never actually happens in reality.

The truth is that we are in the terminal phase of the greatest debt bubble of all time, and the evidence is starting to mount that this debt bubble has just about run its course.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

A recurring theme on this website has been to periodically highlight the tremendous build up in US corporate debt, most recently in April when we showed that “Corporate Debt To EBITDA Hits All Time High.” The relentless debt build up is something which even the IMF recently noted, when in April it released a special report on financial stability, according to which 20% of US corporations were at risk of default should rates rise. It is also the topic of the latest piece by SocGen’s strategist Andrew Lapthorne who uses even more colorful adjectives to describe what has happened since the financial crisis, noting that “the debt build-up during this cycle has been incredible, particularly when compared to the stagnant progression of EBITDA.”
Lapthorne calculates that S&P1500 ex financial net debt has risen by almost $2 trillion in five years, a 150% increase, but this mild in comparison to the tripling of the debt pile in the Russell 2000 in six years. He also notes, as shown he previously, that as a result of this debt surge, interest payments cost the smallest 50% of stocks in the US fully 30% of their EBIT compared with just 10% of profits for the largest 10% and states that “clearly the sensitivity to higher interest rates is then going to be with this smallest 50%, while the dominance and financial strength of the largest 10% disguises this problem in the aggregate index measures.”

The same report noted that net debt growth in the U.S. is quickly headed toward negative territory, and the last time that happened was during the last recession.

We see similar things when we look at the 2nd largest economy on the entire planet.  According to Jim Rickards, China “has multiple bubbles, and they’re all getting ready to burst”…

China is in the greatest financial bubble in history. Yet, calling China a bubble does not do justice to the situation. This story has been touched on periodically over the last year.
China has multiple bubbles, and they’re all getting ready to burst. If you make the right moves now, you could be well positioned even as Chinese credit and currency crash and burn.
The first and most obvious bubble is credit. The combined Chinese government and corporate debt-to-equity ratio is over 300-to-1 after hidden liabilities, such as provincial guarantees and shadow banking system liabilities, are taken into account.

We just got the worst Chinese manufacturing number in about a year, and it looks like economic conditions over there are really starting to slow down as well.

Just like 2008, the coming crisis is going to be truly global in scope.

It is funny how our perspective colors our reality.  Just like in 2007, many are mocking those that are warning that a crisis is coming, but just like in 2009, after the crisis strikes many will be complaining that nobody warned them in advance about what was ahead.

And at this moment it may seem like we have all the time in the world to get prepared for the approaching storm, but once it is here people will be talking about how it seemed to hit us so quickly.

My hope is that many Americans will finally be fed up with our fundamentally flawed financial system once they realize that we are facing another horrendous economic crisis, and that in the aftermath they will finally be ready for the dramatic solutions that are necessary in order to permanently fix things.        The economic collapse

United Airlines will end its daily flight service to Venezuela in July, further isolating the crisis-hit South American country

By Girish Gupta | WASHINGTON

United Airlines will end its daily flight service to Venezuela in July, further isolating the crisis-hit South American country from international travel after the exit of many major airlines in recent years.

Many airlines have left after a protracted dispute over billions of dollars they say the government owes them. They say President Nicolas Maduro's administration has failed to reimburse companies in hard currency for ticket sales in local currency, as per strict currency controls in the socialist nation.

United, which flies daily between Caracas and Houston'sGeorge Bush Intercontinental Airport, confirmed to Reuters that it was halting that route, though said it was not because of any payment dispute.

While the flight is popular with Texas-based oil executives and Venezuelans living in the United States, few tourists travel to the crisis-stricken country and flights often have low occupancy.

"In every market we serve, we continually review demand for service and because our Houston-Caracas service is not meeting our financial expectations we have decided to suspend it, effective July 1," United spokesman Charles Hobart said in an email to Reuters.

In addition to currency disputes and low occupancy on flights to Venezuela, airlines also fret about security for their crews on the ground.

Unrest prompted by food shortages has resulted in the deaths of at least 64 people since April. On Saturday, a few hundred activists staged a protest in western Caracas.

United in April added a one-hour stop in the Caribbean island of Aruba to its Houston-to-Caracas leg, a move analysts said was to ensure crews would not have to stay overnight in Venezuela.     Reuters

Bilderberg 2017: Should we be worried yet?

5 Jun, 2017

Just like they've been doing every year since 1954, influential Bilderberg members - including journalists - assembled behind closed doors to hold off-the-record talks on a number of pressing global issues.

The best criticism I’ve seen yet against the Bilderberg Group was found on a banner that draped a barbed-wire fence surrounding a golf course at one of these high-powered pow-wows: “Bilderberg Ate My Hamster” the message declared. That’s basically the long and the short of it, because thanks to the group’s arcane cloak of secrecy, everything and anything can now be blamed on them.

First, for the uninitiated, a brief primer on Bilderberg. In 1954, the world’s movers and shakers, then top-heavy with balding American and European white males, arranged to meet in private at Oosterbeek, Netherlands. Inside of the discrete Bilderberg Hotel, these global overachievers, according to investigative journalist Daniel Estulin in his book, The True Story of the Bilderberg Group, first began to debate “the future of the world.”

Needless to say, Bilderbergers think big.

“Imagine a private club where presidents, prime ministers, international bankers and generals rub shoulders, where gracious royal chaperones ensure everyone gets along, and where the people running the wars, markets, and Europe (and America) say what they never dare say in public,” Estulin wrote.

Bilderberg is a bit like Fight Club for the rich and powerful where the first and second rules are, 'You do not talk about Bilderberg!' Although the meetings conform to the Chatham House Rules, which says “participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed,” some members have tossed tantalizing morsels of inside information for public consumption.

Lord Denis Healey, for example, one of the group's founders, did little to detract from the mystery surrounding Bilderberg when he triggered conspiracy theorists worldwide by mentioning "one-world government" in an interview with journalist Jon Ronson: "To say we were striving for a one-world government is exaggerated, but not wholly unfair. Those of us in Bilderberg felt we couldn't go on forever fighting one another for nothing and killing people and rendering millions homeless. So we felt that a single community throughout the world would be a good thing."         More

The rich ingesting the blood of the young to foster longevity is now a reality and an actual business in the United States

By Matt Agorist June 5, 2017

Once the talk of conspiracy theorists — the rich ingesting the blood of the young to foster longevity — is now a reality and an actual business in the United States. Not only is it a business but billionaires are actually admitting their interest in it.
“I’m looking into parabiosis stuff, which I think is really interesting. This is where they did the young blood into older mice and they found that had a massive rejuvenating effect,” Peter Thiel, the billionaire co-founder of PayPal and adviser to Donald Trump told Inc. magazine. “I think there are a lot of these things that have been strangely under-explored.”
But it’s no longer an experiment with just mice. The startup company by Jesse Karmazin, Ambrosia, is doing this with humans, and the rich are lining up to get the blood of the young.

As Vanity Fair reports, Ambrosia, which buys its blood from blood banks, now has about 100 paying customers. Some are Silicon Valley technologists, like Thiel, though Karmazin stressed that tech types aren’t Ambrosia’s only clients and that anyone over 35 is eligible for its transfusions.
As The Free Thought Project reported in January, a study published in Science and Nature Medicine revealed that transfusing young mouse blood into old mice can actually prevent the symptoms of aging. This groundbreaking discovery could lead to medical breakthroughs and the development of new medicines. However, a report from the Vice health news outlet “Tonic” has pointed out far more sinister applications for this knowledge.
It was suggested in the report that aging elites are using the blood of young people as a type of youth serum. Now, we know that they actually are using it.

A similar claim was made by journalist Jeff Bercovici last year, after he conducted several interviews with Silicon Valley aristocrats including Peter Thiel, and learned about this transfusion procedure called “parabiosis,” where the blood of young people is used to prevent aging.
“There are widespread rumors in Silicon Valley, where life-extension science is a popular obsession, that various wealthy individuals from the tech world have already begun practicing parabiosis, spending tens of thousands of dollars for the procedures and young-person-blood, and repeating the exercise several times a year,” Bercovici reported.
In his article, Bercovici also expressed concerns about a developing black market for young people’s blood.
While there is certainly nothing wrong with willing young adults selling their blood to the elite, the underlying theme of this practice has strong roots in the occult.
In most modern cultures, mass murder and human sacrifice still takes place out in the open under the cover of warfare, while many argue that cannibalism also still takes place but behind closed doors.
It is only in the past few hundred years that the practice of cannibalism among royals has not been publicized. In Europe, around the time of the American Revolution “corpse medicine” was very popular among the ruling class, Charles II even brewed his own.Read More

Congressman is appealing to “Christendom” to “hunt down” and kill anyone suspected of being an "Islamic radical"

7 Jun, 2017 

Louisiana congressman Clay Higgins is appealing to “Christendom” to “hunt down” and kill anyone suspected of being an "Islamic radical."

The Republican politician made his comments in response to Saturday’s terror attack in London which left seven people dead and another 48 injured.

“The free world... all of Christendom... is at war with Islamic horror,” Higgins, a former law enforcement officer, posted on Facebook on Sunday.

“Not a single radicalized Islamic suspect should be granted any measure of quarter. Their intended entry to the American homeland should be summarily denied,” Higgins said. "Every conceivable measure should be engaged to hunt them down. Hunt them, identify them, and kill them. Kill them all. For the sake of all that is good and righteous. Kill them all.”

The post is accompanied by a photo from the scene of the attack on London Bridge. It shows a man with canisters strapped to his body lying on the ground.

He also has a message for other nations: “Not one penny of American treasure should be granted to any nation who harbors these heathen animals.”       RT

Theresa May says the internet must now be regulated in the light of the London Bridge attack

New international agreements should be introduced to regulate the internet in the light of the London Bridge terror attack, Theresa May has said.

The Prime Minister said introducing new rules for cyberspace would “deprive the extremists of their safe spaces online” and that technology firms were not currently doing enough.

The Prime Minister made the comments outside Downing Street on Sunday morning in the aftermath of the van and knife attack that saw seven people killed and dozens injured. 

“We cannot allow this ideology the safe space it needs to breed – yet that is precisely what the internet, and the big companies that provide internet-based services provide,” Ms May said.

“We need to work with allied democratic governments to reach international agreements to regulate cyberspace to prevent the spread of extremist and terrorism planning.”

The call was one plank in Ms May’s speech following the attack. The Prime Minister also said Britain was too tolerant of extremism and that “pluralistic” British values had to be established as superior.

She warned there was “a new trend in the threat we face” and that while the three recent terror attacks in the UK were not linked by “common networks”, they were “bound together by the single evil ideology of Islamic extremism”.

The Conservative manifesto pledges regulation of the internet, including forcing internet providers to participate in counter-extremism drives and making it more difficult to access pornography.

Ms May’s speech is thought to be the first time she has publicly called for international cooperation in bringing forward more red tape to cyberspace, however.

The intervention comes after the introduction of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 – dubbed the “Snooper’s Charter” – which expands the powers of spying agencies and the Government over the internet.

The Act, championed by Ms May, requires internet service providers to maintain a list of visited websites for all internet users for a year and gives intelligence agencies more powers to intercept online communications. Police can access the stored browsing history without any warrant or court order.
The PM’s comments come after the third terror attack on the UK in three months. A car and knife attack on Westminster in March left five people dead, while a bomb attack at a concert in Manchester two weeks ago killed 22.          Independent

Venezuela is facing complete socioeconomic ruin. What comes next?

By Salvatore Giannavola,  Jun 3, 2017

The economic and political crisis in Venezuela is rapidly deteriorating into a monumental human tragedy. Essential goods are becoming exceedingly rare and political violence is on the rise.

We decided to analyze the Venezuelan paradox from close up. Alejandra, a Venezuelan girl who left her country about four years ago for Europe,offered us some perspective on what is happening in her homeland. Today she works as an architect in Malta. Find the video of the complete interview here at Blogstermind.

Venezuela through Alejandra's eyes

Hi Alejandra, thank you for accepting our proposal. For us, this testimony has enormous value. Let's start with the first question.

How is the typical day of a young Venezuelan?

I can answer this question as I have a 23-year-old brother. There is nothing to do because it is dangerous to walk in the streets, there is no money to devote to something other than food, water, and utilities. Those few who have the money work for the government, for criminal organizations or are tourists.

We read in the international newspapers that today electricity and other essential goods have been rationed. Is this true?

Yes, the rationing of resources in my country has been a sad reality for years and the situation is aggravated by the unpredictability with which the government operates. It often happens that electricity and water are missing for several hours without any notice and this does not allow the population an adequate organization. This economic war pushes companies, nationally and not, to impose fixed prices that increase each day.

Who are the Bachaqueros? How did this profession come out?

The Bachaqueros are marginal people willing to wait for hours in lines at the shop, and then resell the necessities on the black market for three times their purchase price. They're the "daughter-in-law" of the food shortage, which has caused endless lines in front of supermarkets, accompanied by party restrictions that allow purchases only one day a week per person.

How long have you been abroad? How often do you visit your family?

I've been twice in my country for the last four years. Traveling is only possible if you have your passport; they're very difficult to obtain because the bureaucracy doesn't even have the paper needed to print them. Those who managed to leave without a passport have serious problems coming back because then when he returns, he would not get one. There is no paper to print them in the offices.

Alejandra, history teaches us that discontent and repression cannot last long, when and how will you end all this? Do you think the Trump administration will intervene?

Power needs to change but I do not want American intervention at all. I would not like to see Trump's intervention, I hope rather than the national governments of other states pledge to help us get out of this crisis situation.       Russia Insider

Millennials: The Me Me Me Generation

Joel Stein May 20, 2013

I am about to do what old people have done throughout history: call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. But I have studies! I have statistics! I have quotes from respected academics! Unlike my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, I have proof.

Here's the cold, hard data: The incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that's now 65 or older, according to the National Institutes of Health; 58% more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. Millennials got so many participation trophies growing up that a recent study showed that 40% believe they should be promoted every two years, regardless of performance. They are fame-obsessed: three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to be a Senator, according to a 2007 survey; four times as many would pick the assistant job over CEO of a major corporation. They're so convinced of their own greatness that the National Study of Youth and Religion found the guiding morality of 60% of millennials in any situation is that they'll just be able to feel what's right. Their development is stunted: more people ages 18 to 29 live with their parents than with a spouse, according to the 2012 Clark University Poll of Emerging Adults. And they are lazy. In 1992, the nonprofit Families and Work Institute reported that 80% of people under 23 wanted to one day have a job with greater responsibility; 10 years later, only 60% did.

Millennials consist, depending on whom you ask, of people born from 1980 to 2000. To put it more simply for them, since they grew up not having to do a lot of math in their heads, thanks to computers, the group is made up mostly of teens and 20-somethings. At 80 million strong, they are the biggest age grouping in American history. Each country's millennials are different, but because of globalization, social media, the exporting of Western culture and the speed of change, millennials worldwide are more similar to one another than to older generations within their nations. Even in China, where family history is more important than any individual, the Internet, urbanization and the one-child policy have created a generation as overconfident and self-involved as the Western one. And these aren't just rich-kid problems: poor millennials have even higher rates of narcissism, materialism and technology addiction in their ghetto-fabulous lives.      Time

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg stated his belief that the world is in need of a “global superstructure"

In an article titled “Can Facebook Fix It’s Own Worst Bug?” author Farhad Manjoo poses the question, “Mark Zuckerberg now acknowledges the dangerous side of the social revolution he helped start. But is the most powerful tool for connection in human history capable of adapting to the world it created?”

The author met with Zuckerberg to discuss Facebook and the many issues that the company faces. At one point, Zuckerberg discussed the need for the development of social infrastructure in order for humanity to “get to the next level.”

“There’s a social infrastructure that needs to get built for modern problems in order for humanity to get to the next level,” he stated. “Having more people oriented not just toward short-term things but toward building the long-term social infrastructure that needs to get built across all these things in order to enable people to come together is going to be a really important thing over the next decades.”

Zuckerberg highlighted Facebook’s “safety check” feature which allows users to publicly acknowledge that they’re safe during dangerous events. Zuckerberg later expanded on this, describing a “global superstructure to advance humanity.” Zuckerberg stated, “we’re getting to a point where the biggest opportunities I think in the world … problems like preventing pandemics from spreading or ending terrorism, all these things, they require a level of coordination and connection that I don’t think can only be solved by the current systems that we have.”

The author of the article states, “What’s needed, he argues, is some global superstructure to advance humanity.”

Manjoo goes on to describe Zuckerberg’s idea as not a particularly controversial one, but his position as unelected CEO of a company and not an elected government official makes his proposal troubling. “This is not an especially controversial idea,” the author writes, “Zuckerberg is arguing for a kind of digital-era version of the global institution-building that the Western world engaged in after World War II. But because he is a chief executive and not an elected president, there is something frightening about his project.”

The author argues that Zuckerberg is purposefully positioning himself as a key figure in the future: “He is positioning Facebook — and, considering that he commands absolute voting control of the company, he is positioning himself — as a critical enabler of the next generation of human society. A minor problem with his mission is that it drips with megalomania, albeit of a particularly sincere sort.”

Manjoo notes that Zuckerberg acts in quite a casual manner about his plans to transition from the current infrastructure of the world into his newest vision. “Zuckerberg is often blasé about the messiness of the transition between the world we’re in and the one he wants to create through software,” he notes. “Building new ‘social infrastructure’ usually involves tearing older infrastructure down. If you manage the demolition poorly, you might undermine what comes next. In the case of the shattering media landscape, Zuckerberg seems finally to have at least noticed this problem and may yet come up with fixes for it. But in the meantime, Facebook rushes headlong into murky new areas, uncovering new dystopian possibilities at every turn.”

Given Facebook’s recent decision to hire partisan left-leaning fact checkers such as ABC News, Snopes, Politifact, and even the George Soros-funded Correctiv to police “fake news” on their platform, many would question the type of  “global superstructure” that Mark Zuckerberg wishes to architect.      Breitbart

The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord is that Spirit

“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” Acts 5: 3, 4. 

This bible verse is used by those who want to justify that the Holy Spirit is another individual being who can be lied. But does the bible really support this?

We are told also that the Holy Spirit, as a separate individual being, can be grieved in Ephesians 4:30: “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption."

The bible tells us that when we grieve the Spirit of God we are actually grieving God himself, not another individual being.

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” Genesis 6:3, 6.

Acts 5:9 says: "How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.” Acts 5:3, 4, 9.

And who is the Spirit of the Lord according to 2 Corinthians 3:17?

“Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” 2 Corinthians 3:17.  Jesus is that Spirit!

In Testimonies to Ministers p. 431 we read:  “How can you, oh, how can you grieve your Redeemer? How can you dishonor Him before His angels and before men? How can you grieve the Holy Spirit of God? How can you crucify the Lord of glory afresh, and put Him to open shame? How can you give occasion for Satan and his angels to exult and triumph over those who claim to be loyal subjects of Jesus Christ?” 

When we grieve the Spirit of God, we grieve the Lord Jesus himself, our redeemer.

We also read in the SOP that the life of Christ is the Holy Spirit: “Christ declared that after his ascension, he would send to his church, as his crowning gift, the Comforter, who was to take his place. This Comforter is the Holy Spirit, --the soul of his life, the efficacy of his church, the light and life of the world. With his Spirit Christ sends a reconciling influence and a power that takes away sin.” Review & Herald, May 19, 1904

In conclusion, no one denies that there is a Holy Spirit. But, does that mean the Holy Spirit is a separate individual being called "god the holy spirit"? Absolutely not. We will never find the title "God the Holy Spirit" in the Bible nor in the SOP.  The Bible and the SOP are clear regarding who the Holy Spirit is. It is God's own personal presence, in Spirit. "The Holy Spirit is a person; for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God."  20 Manuscript Release p. 68. 
 

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.    Psalms 139:7-10

  

"The greatness of God is to us incomprehensible. 'The Lord's throne is in heaven' Psalms 11:4; yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present. He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in, all the works of His hand." Education p. 132.

  

 Luis

God's Beautiful Creation

Happy Sabbath

Melania Trump will be the first Catholic in the White House since President John F. Kennedy

United States First Lady Melania Trump is a practicing Catholic, her spokeswoman has confirmed.

Following speculation over Mrs Trump’s faith during her visit to the Vatican on Wednesday, her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed to DailyMail.com that the First Lady is indeed Catholic.

Mrs Trump placed flowers at the feet of a statue of the Virgin Mary and spent time praying at the Bambino Gesù Hospital during her visit. She also presented Pope Francis with rosary beads for the Pontiff to bless.

It is unclear when Melania Trump became Catholic. She was raised in a Communist-supporting family in Slovenia and was not baptised as a child. She married Donald Trump, a life-long Presbyterian, in 2005 at an Episcopal church in Palm Beach, Florida.

Despite her husband being inaugurated US president in January, she is not due to move into the White House until the summer. When she does, she will be the first Catholic to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie in the early 1960s.    Catholic Herald

Trump and Pope set aside rude comments

By Jonathan Lemire, Nicole Winfield and Julie Pace | AP May 24

VATICAN CITY — Handshakes, gifts, friendly small talk and big hopes for peace. Setting aside past differences and rude comments aside, President Donald Trump and Pope Francis put a determinedly positive face on their first meeting Wednesday at the Vatican.

The two global leaders, vastly different in temperament and views of the world, talked seriously and extensively in a 30-minute private meeting about terrorism, the radicalization of young people, immigration and climate change, officials said. Details were not revealed.

But all was upbeat in public, peace the overarching theme.

Francis gave Trump a medal featuring an olive branch.

“We can use peace,” said the president, acknowledging the symbolism.

He gave the pope a custom-bound, first-edition set of Martin Luther King Jr.’s works, an engraved stone from the King Memorial in Washington and a bronze sculpture of a flowering lotus titled “Rising Above.”

“I think you’ll enjoy them. I hope you do,” Trump said.

The pope’s other gifts could be taken as offering a more pointed message, though Francis is known to give them to other visitors, too.

He gave Trump three bound papal documents that he has written that to some degree define his papacy and priorities. One focuses on the environment, demanding an end to a “structurally perverse” economic system that has turned Earth into an “immense pile of filth.” He frames climate change as an urgent moral crisis and blames global warming on an unfair, fossil fuel-based industrial model that harms the poor the most.

Trump has expressed skepticism about global warming and possible causes, and he has promised changes to spur more coal and oil production in the U.S.

The president is midway through a grueling nine-day, maiden international journey which has included Middle East stops in the cradles of Islam and Judaism. In Saudi Arabia, he addressed dozens of Arab leaders and urged them to fight extremists at home and isolate Iran, which he depicted as a menace to the region. In Israel, Trump reaffirmed his commitment to strong ties with the longtime U.S. ally and urged Israelis and the Palestinians to work harder toward peace.   Washington Post

Donald Trump and Social Engineering

A record low percentage of Americans believe that the Bible is "actual word of God," with more calling it a "book of fables," according to a new survey

by Paul Bedard | May 16, 2017

A record low percentage of Americans believe that the Bible is "actual word of God," with more calling it a "book of fables," similar to Aesop's, according to a new survey.

Gallup reports that just 24 percent believe the Bible should be taken "literally, word for word."

"This is the first time in Gallup's four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism," said the pollster.

By comparison 26 percent view the Bible as "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man."

And the largest group, at 47 percent, believe it is the "inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally."

Among Christians, 30 percent believe the Bible is the word of God, and Protestants more than Catholics agree.

Gallup said that the long decline in the authority of the Bible could have significant moral impacts.

"Americans in all age groups still largely accept the Bible as a holy document, but most of these downplay God's direct role in it. That could mean people are more willing than in the past to believe it is open to interpretation — if man, not God, wrote the Bible, more can be questioned. And that, in turn, may have consequences for where Americans come down on a number of morally tinged issues. The country may already be seeing this in growing public acceptance of a variety of behaviors that were once largely frowned on from a Christian perspective — ranging from gay marriage and premarital sex to out-of-wedlock births and physician-assisted suicide."       Washington Examiner

The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted

Our students need lessons that they have not yet received. There must be no lowering of the standard as to what constitutes true education. It must be raised far above where it now stands. It is not men whom we are to exalt and worship; it is God, the only true and living God, to whom our worship and reverence are due. According to the teaching of the Scriptures, it dishonors God to address ministers as “reverend.” No mortal has any right to attach this to his own name, or to the name of any other human being. It belongs only to God, to distinguish him from every other being. Those who lay claim to this title take to themselves God's holy honor. They have no right to the stolen word, whatever, their position may be. “Holy and reverend is his name.” We dishonor God when we use this word where it does not belong.

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.” “And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.” “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Let the brightest example the world has yet seen be your example, rather than the greatest and most learned men of the age, who know not God, nor Jesus Christ whom he has sent. The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted. YI July 7, 1898, par. 2

People are starving in Venezuela

How grains destroy your skin

By Dr. Mercola May 17, 2017
You may prudently care for your skin each day, cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing and hydrating. But, did you know that the sandwich you had at lunch may be doing more damage to your skin than skipping one of your nightly rituals?
Your skin is the largest organ in your body, responsible for temperature control, protection and excreting toxins to name just a few. Far from being an inactive covering for your internal organs, your skin is an intricate system of nerves, glands and cell layers that plays a fundamental role in your overall health and wellness.
If you want to protect your skin, age gracefully and reduce problem breakouts, it is time to care for your skin in the same way you care for your heart, control your weight and lift your mood. In other words, pay attention to the foods you eat every day.
Wheat is one of the grains in many of the processed foods at your grocery store that interferes with a healthy complexion and contributes to psoriasis and eczema outbreaks. Proteins in wheat are responsible for inflammation and changes to your gastrointestinal tract, nervous system and cardiovascular system.

Number of People with Gluten Sensitivity Rising

The extreme form of gluten sensitivity, celiac disease, affects people differently. Over 200 symptoms have been attributed to the condition. Approximately 3 million people in the U.S. suffer from celiac disease¹ and close to 20 million suffer from gluten sensitivity.² Dr. Alessio Fasano is the director for Celiac Research and the chief of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition at Massachusetts General Hospital. In a Celiac Disease Foundation blog, Fasano said: ³

"We also know that prevalence is rising and we're in the midst of an epidemic. Based on our study it seems that prevalence has doubled every 15 years in North America.

Why? I think it goes back to the microbiome. There are antibiotics, our diet has changed, we travel more. There have been so many changes in the past 50 years … We don't digest gluten completely, which is unlike any other protein. The immune system seems to see the gluten as a component of bacteria and deploys weapons to attack it, and creates some collateral damage we call inflammation."

In the press release announcing the publication of his new book, "Gluten Freedom," Fasano said: ⁴

"We've shown now that gluten sensitivity actually exists. It's moved from a nebulous condition that many physicians dismissed to a distinctly identifiable condition that's quite different than celiac disease. Gluten sensitivity affects six to seven times more people than celiac disease."

5 Skin Conditions Triggered by Grains

There are several different skin conditions associated with the changes that happen in your body when you eat wheat and other gluten-containing foods. Whether you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, you are at higher risk for suffering these skin conditions when you eat gluten:

• Acne: This skin condition affects nearly 80 percent of all people between ages 11 and 30 in Western cultures.⁵ In contrast, the condition is virtually nonexistent in primitive societies. Hunter-gatherer communities in Paraguay were observed for three years, during which no acne on individuals were found.⁶
The type of symptoms from gluten sensitivity are different from celiac disease, but both include an increase in adult onset acne.⁷ Researchers have found a link between what you eat, how it affects your brain and your skin.⁸
• Atopic Dermatitis: Researchers have found that atopic dermatitis is three times more likely in people with celiac disease and two times more likely in families who have members with celiac disease.⁹
• Psoriasis and Eczema: Psoriasis is uncomfortable and sometimes disfiguring, while eczema is a term applied to a wide range of different rashes that are itchy, red and dry.
One-third of the U.S. population will experience eczema at some point in their lives. Prevalence at least doubled between 1995 and 2008. Eczema is driven in part by an allergic response and often linked to other allergic reactions, such as asthma, allergic rhinitis and acid reflux.¹⁰
Psoriasis often affects large areas of skin and is an immune reaction linked to grain proteins, namely gliadin. In a study published in the British Journal of Dermatology, participants who tested positive for antibodies to gliadin improved when they were placed on a gluten-free diet.¹¹
The National Psoriasis Foundation also recommends those with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity adhere to a gluten-free diet to reduce or eliminate their symptoms.¹²
• Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis (RAS): Although they appear similar on the surface, these mouth ulcers or canker sores are not related to cold sores caused by the herpes virus. They can be a minor annoyance or become so painful they inhibit eating and speaking. In a paper published in BMC Gastroenterology,¹³ the authors propose that RAS may be the only visual symptom of gluten sensitivity and recommend patients presenting with RAS are evaluated also for celiac disease.
• Vitiligo: In this skin condition, the pigment is lost, causing white patches to appear. Although not dangerous, it can have a profound effect on an individual's life. A case report of a 22-year-old young woman with vitiligo was published in Case Reports in Dermatology.¹⁴

After previously undergoing medical therapy without success, she was placed on a gluten-free diet. Partial, but rapid repigmentation occurred in the first month and stabilized after four months of remaining gluten-free. The authors suggest that diet modifications, including a gluten-free diet, should be considered for treatment of vitiligo.     Read More