World of Signs

Evangelical Leaders Uniting for Spiritual Warfare

 

CP Aug 28, 2018

About 100 evangelical leaders were invited to dinner at the White House Monday night for what was a prayer-filled event that's been compared to a church camp meeting and a campaign rally.

Dubbed a "state dinner" for evangelical leaders, the event was held specifically in the "honor of evangelical leadership." The dinner was attended by dozens of evangelical pastors, evangelists and activists who've been involved in informally advising the administration including well-known figures like Franklin Graham, James Dobson, and Greg Laurie.

The dinner was also attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Homeland Security Ben Carson, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. The event was officially hosted by first lady Melania Trump.

"We are here today to celebrate America's heritage of faith, family and freedom," Trump told the crowd. "As you know in recent years, the government tried to undermine religious freedom but the attacks on communities of faith are over. We've ended it."

Chase ATMs go cardless

Fox  August 02, 2018

Forgot your bank card? No worries. Chase has you covered.

The New York City-based bank announced that it has expanded its cardless access to nearly all of its 16,000 ATMs nationwide.

The new technology will allow customers to get cash through their phone’s mobile wallet without needing a physical debit card or an access code for authentication.

Users can simple “tap” their smartphone on the ATM to “easily and securely access money on the go.”

“Cardless no longer means cashless,” Sol Gindi, chief administrative officer of consumer banking at Chase, said in a statement. “As more of our customers are using digital wallets to pay, we’re pleased to be able to provide them with the same experience at the ATM.”

Adventists leaders sounding like Rome

Adventist Jul 10, 2018

Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty leaders were invited by the Colombian government to help celebrate the country’s third annual National Religious Freedom Day, held July 4. During a morning meeting at Casa La Giralda, headquarters of Colombia’s Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Ganoune Diop, director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the Adventist world church, addressed more than 100 religious and political leaders who had gathered to mark the occasion. 

“You have the opportunity to make a historic contribution to peace by recognizing human dignity as the essential foundation for building a peaceful coexistence,” Dr. Diop told the group, which included Evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and representatives of other faiths. 

A group of strict Protestants who believe Sunday should be a day of rest are going to court on Friday to have a festival in the centre of Alkmaar banned

Dutch News July 20, 2018

A group of strict Protestants who believe Sunday should be a day of rest are going to court on Friday to have a festival in the centre of Alkmaar banned. 

The Vereniging Zondagsrust is using legislation dating from 1815 to make its case to halt the outdoor dance party, due to be held on Sunday August 26. 

The legislation, which was amended in 1953, states that there must be no noise nuisance close to churches before 13.00 on Sunday or any public entertainment nearby, unless local councils rule otherwise. 

But it also stops local councils in strict Protestant communities from banning sports events on Sundays. 

Councils are allowed to deviate from the rules, but must properly support their arguments, association lawyer Laus Vogelaar told local paper Noordhollands Dagblad. 

And, he says, the town council has failed to mention the legislation when granting the licence for the event. Sunday as a day of rest is being increasingly undermined, he says, adding ‘it is right that the courts take a look at it’. 

The Alkmaar resident who initiated the legal action told local website Alkmaar Centraal he hoped the courts would realise the importance of having a day of rest to city centre residents. 

The previous coalition government had planned to remove the law from the statute books but the new coalition, which includes two Christian parties, decided to leave it unchallenged.

A group of strict Protestants who believe Sunday should be a day of rest are going to court on Friday to have a festival in the centre of Alkmaar banned. The Vereniging Zondagsrust is using legislation dating from 1815 to make its case to halt the outdoor dance party, due to be held on Sunday August 26. The legislation, which was amended in 1953, states that there must be no noise nuisance close to churches before 13.00 on Sunday or any public entertainment nearby, unless local councils rule otherwise. But it also stops local councils in strict Protestant communities from banning sports events on Sundays. Councils are allowed to deviate from the rules, but must properly support their arguments, association lawyer Laus Vogelaar told local paper Noordhollands Dagblad. And, he says, the town council has failed to mention the legislation when granting the licence for the event. Sunday as a day of rest is being increasingly undermined, he says, adding ‘it is right that the courts take a look at it’. The Alkmaar resident who initiated the legal action told local website Alkmaar Centraal he hoped the courts would realise the importance of having a day of rest to city centre residents. The previous coalition government had planned to remove the law from the statute books but the new coalition, which includes two Christian parties, decided to leave it unchallenged.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

A group of strict Protestants who believe Sunday should be a day of rest are going to court on Friday to have a festival in the centre of Alkmaar banned. The Vereniging Zondagsrust is using legislation dating from 1815 to make its case to halt the outdoor dance party, due to be held on Sunday August 26. The legislation, which was amended in 1953, states that there must be no noise nuisance close to churches before 13.00 on Sunday or any public entertainment nearby, unless local councils rule otherwise. But it also stops local councils in strict Protestant communities from banning sports events on Sundays.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

A group of strict Protestants who believe Sunday should be a day of rest are going to court on Friday to have a festival in the centre of Alkmaar banned. The Vereniging Zondagsrust is using legislation dating from 1815 to make its case to halt the outdoor dance party, due to be held on Sunday August 26. The legislation, which was amended in 1953, states that there must be no noise nuisance close to churches before 13.00 on Sunday or any public entertainment nearby, unless local councils rule otherwise. But it also stops local councils in strict Protestant communities from banning sports events on Sundays.

Read more at DutchNews.nl:

When a man of God becomes complacent

The Spirit of God came on Azariah son of Oded. ² He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. ³ For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a priest to teach and without the law. ⁴ But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them. ⁵ In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the lands were in great turmoil. ⁶ One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress. ⁷ But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.”

 ⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of^[a] Oded the prophet, he took courage. He removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the towns he had captured in the hills of Ephraim. He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the portico of the Lord’s temple.

 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from leaving or entering the territory of Asa king of Judah.

² Asa then took the silver and gold out of the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and of his own palace and sent it to Ben-Hadad king of Aram, who was ruling in Damascus. ³ “Let there be a treaty between me and you,” he said, “as there was between my father and your father. See, I am sending you silver and gold. Now break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so he will withdraw from me.”

⁴ Ben-Hadad agreed with King Asa and sent the commanders of his forces against the towns of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim^[a] and all the store cities of Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha heard this, he stopped building Ramah and abandoned his work. ⁶ Then King Asa brought all the men of Judah, and they carried away from Ramah the stones and timber Baasha had been using. With them he built up Geba and Mizpah.

⁷ At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him: “Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. ⁸ Were not the Cushites^[b] and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen^[c]? Yet when you relied on the Lord, he delivered them into your hand. ⁹ For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”

¹⁰ Asa was angry with the seer because of this; he was so enraged that he put him in prison. At the same time Asa brutally oppressed some of the people.

¹¹ The events of Asa’s reign, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹² In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the Lord, but only from the physicians. ¹³ Then in the forty-first year of his reign Asa died and rested with his ancestors. ¹⁴ They buried him in the tomb that he had cut out for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier covered with spices and various blended perfumes, and they made a huge fire in his honor.    2 Chronicles 15, 16

God's love letter

Top bank warns that earth is running out of resources to sustain life

RT 9 Aug, 2018

One of the world’s largest banks, HSBC, has highlighted research indicating that Earth is running out of resources to sustain life and that governments and corporations are failing to prepare for the effects of climate change.

The world has spent its entire budget of natural resources for the year after crossing the threshold on August 1. The date, dubbed ‘Earth Overshoot Day’, marks the earliest point the planet hit its annual resource limit.

HSBC highlighted the issue using research from the Global Footprint Network (GFN), an independent think tank that promotes conservation and sustainability. The bank blamed businesses and governments for not adequately preparing for climate change, and not using natural resources efficiently.

The bank noted extreme weather events, such as rising temperatures across Europe and wildfires in California, Greece and Scandinavia in its remarks about the research. "As scientists work on attribution analysis for specific events – the general consensus is that climate change is making these events more likely to occur and more severe,” HSBC said, according to Business Insider.

Scientists have discovered a supervolcano in eastern California

SFGate August 14, 2018 

Scientists have discovered 240 cubic miles of semi-molten magma below the Long Valley Caldera, a supervolcano in eastern California near Mammoth Mountain.

The long-dormant supervolcano is currently a 20-mile-long caldera, or a crater that forms after an eruption forces the mouth of a volcano to collapse. According to an August report published in the scientific journal Geology, the semi-molten magma found could lead to possible eruptions.

Get ready for a commuter doomsday

NY Post August 9, 2018 

It’s a good thing that New York is the city that never sleeps — since it takes all day to get anywhere.

A perfect storm of subway repairs, highway construction, commuter rail woes and worsening gridlock is creating a commuter doomsday the likes of which the city has never seen before.

“It’s really bad out there, and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any better,” Robert Sinclair, spokesman for AAA Northeast, said of the amalgam of transit troubles. “For the next four or five years, every day will be like Thanksgiving.”

The cost of living in the U.S. is rising at its fastest rate in 10 years

The Hill 08/10/18
The cost of living in the U.S. is rising at its fastest rate in 10 years, according to new data from the Labor Department.
The data, released Friday, revealed that consumer prices increased 2.9 percent in July from the year before, meaning Americans may be earning less than they did at this time last year.
The consumer price index, meanwhile, rose 0.2 percent last month, which analysts largely attributed to rising housing costs, CNBC reported. Annual inflation remained unchanged from June's pace at 2.9 percent.
Energy, medical care and apparel costs dropped in July, while food prices ticked up.
"Rising rents remain the source of inflation. This is driven by shortages of housing in desirable markets," Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, told CBS News.
"Unfortunately, the downward trend in housing construction means that these shortages are unlikely to be addressed on the supply side in the foreseeable future."
CBS reported that, when adjusted for inflation, average weekly earnings have dropped 0.1 percent in the past year.

Google tracks your location even when you ask it not to, says report

RT. 14 Aug, 2018 

If you’ve ever suspected that Google is watching your every move even when you explicitly tell it not to, a new investigation has vindicated your suspicions by proving just that.

An investigation carried out by the Associated Press has found that Google is in fact storing Android and iPhone users’ location data even when they have chosen privacy settings to prevent the company from doing so.

Google claims that if you turn off the ‘Location History’ setting on your device, the company will not be able to store information about where you have been. The company states on its support page, that you can turn off Location History “at any time” and that, with the setting turned off, “the places you go are no longer stored.”

But that’s not true, the AP report says, because some Google apps continue to store time-stamped location data even when the ‘Location History’ setting is switched off – without asking for permission.

Some of the examples given by the AP include the Google Maps app, which takes a snapshot of your location as soon as you open it and even completely unrelated searches like “chocolate chip cookies” which “pinpoint your precise latitude and longitude” and save it to your Google account.
The AP looked into the issue after K. Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley, blogged about how her Android device had prompted her to rate a recent shopping trip to Kohl’s even though her location history had been turned off.

The deformed corporeality by algorithms in an artificial intelligence society.

Utopia

The backlash against the high tech mob is so obvious that no sane person can deny that their version of acceptable thinking requires banning Free Speech. The genie is out of the lamp and the only way to prevent these demons from repeating their censorship is to cork the bottle of any product offered by these companies. Utopia for the authoritarian collectivists necessitates that they conjure up twisted and absurd content targets as hate speech in a desperate attempt to rationalize the purging of counter opinions to their orthodox "PC" Communist Manifesto. In essence, the "so called" left has become the model of fascism by and under Silicon Valley's techno plutocrats. Merging Fabian ideals with state/corporatist absolutism produces a deformed corporeality by algorithms in an artificial intelligence society.

Algorithms function as filters to identify dangerous voices of reason and common sense. Eradicating any kind of dissent or historic cultural viewpoints is automated in the digital cloud of approved thinking. The canard that the masters of artificial truth are private companies and are not subject to Bill of Right protections is an insult to anyone who is committed to the building of a free society. Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have emerged as monopolies that restrict speech and excel at censorship.

10 numbers that prove America’s current financial condition

The Economic Collapse 

America’s long-term “balance sheet numbers” just continue to get progressively worse.  Unfortunately, since the stock market has been soaring and the GDP numbers look okay, most Americans assume that the U.S. economy is doing just fine.  But the stock market was soaring and the GDP numbers looked okay just prior to the great financial crisis of 2008 as well, and we saw how that turned out.  The truth is that GDP is not the best measure for the health of the economy.  Judging the U.S. economy by GDP is basically like measuring the financial health of an individual by how much money he or she spends, and I will attempt to illustrate that in this article.

#1 U.S. consumer credit just hit another all-time record high.  In the second quarter of 2008, total consumer credit reached a grand total of 2.63 trillion dollars, and now ten years later that number has soared to 3.87 trillion dollars.  That is an increase of 48 percent in just one decade.

#2 Student loan debt has surpassed 1.5 trillion dollars for the first time ever.  Over the last 8 years, the total amount of student loan debt has shot up 79 percent in the United States.

#3 According to the Federal Reserve, the credit card default rate in the U.S. has risen for 7 quarters in a row.

#4 One recent survey found that 42 percent of American consumers paid their credit card bill late “at least once in the last year”, and 24 percent of Americans consumers paid their credit card bills late “more than once in the last year”.

#5 Real wage growth in the United States just declined by the most that we have seen in 6 years.

#6 According to one recent study, the “rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991”.

#7 We are in the midst of the greatest “retail apocalypse” in American history.  At this point, 57 major retailers have announced store closings so far in 2018.

#8 The size of the official U.S. budget deficit is up 21 percent under President Trump.

#9 It is being projected that interest on the national debt will surpass half a trillion dollars for the first time ever this year.

#10 Goldman Sachs is projecting that the yearly U.S. budget deficit will surpass 2 trillion dollars by 2028.

America's biggest weapons-sale in all of history.

UNZ   August 10, 2018

Donald Trump’s biggest success, thus far into his Presidency, has been his sale of $400 billion (originally $350 billion) of U.S.-made weapons to the Saudi Arabian Government, which is owned by its royal family, after whom that nation is named. This sale alone is big enough to be called Trump’s “jobs plan” for Americans. It is also the biggest weapons-sale in all of history. It’s 400 billion dollars, not 400 million dollars; it is gigantic, and, by far, unprecedented in world-history.

US Spending On Interest Hits All Time High

Zero Hedge   08/10/2018
The US' spending problem is starting to become a major issue.

According to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement, in June, the US collected $225BN in tax receipts - consisting of $110BN in individual income tax, $91BN in social security and payroll tax, $4BN in corporate tax and $20BN in other taxes and duties- a drop of 2.9% from the $232BN collected last July and a reversal from the recent increasing trend...

 ... and in July, the 12 month trailing receipt total was barely higher compared to a year ago, up just 0.4% Y/Y after rising as much as 3.1% at the end of 2017.

Meanwhile Federal spending rose, up 9.9% from $275BN last July to $302BN last month.

 ... where the money was spent on social security ($83BN), defense ($49BN), Medicare ($24BN), Interest on Debt ($35BN), and Other ($111BN).

This resulted in a July budget deficit of $77 billion, in line with expectations, and a signification deterioration from the $43 billion recorded in July of 2017.
The July deficit brought the cumulative 2018F budget deficit to over $684BN during the first 10 month of the fiscal year, up 28% over the past year.

MIT computer model predicts end date for civilisation by 2040

Express  Aug 13, 2018

A COMPUTER MODEL developed in 1973 by a team of MIT researchers has predicted the "end of civilised life as we know it" by 2040, with a major change coming in 2020 - just two years away from now.

An apocalyptic computer model, processed by one of the world's largest computers in 1973, has predicted the end of civilization  by 2040.

The prediction came from a programme nicknamed World One, which was developed by a team of MIT researchers and processed by Australia's largest computer. 

It was originally devised by computer pioneer Jay Forrester, after he was tasked by the Club of Rome to develop a model of global sustainability.

However, the shocking result of the computer calculations showed that the level of pollution and population would cause a global collapse by 2040.

This shows that the world cannot sustain the current level of population and industrial growth for more than two decades.

Australian broadcaster ABC has republished its original report from the 1970s, since there is just two years until a major change is expected according to the computer model.

The model based its predictions on trends such as pollution levels, population growth, availability of natural resources and quality of life on earth.

The eerie calculation has been remarkably accurate in certain predictions, such as a stagnated quality of life and diminishing pool of natural resources.

Monsanto Guilty Verdict Is Only Beginning

Journal Neo. 15.08.2018

A jury trial in California has resulted in a guilty verdict against the agrichemical and GMO giant, Monsanto, now Bayer/Monsanto. The judge has ordered Monsanto to pay damages of USD 289 Million to former school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, who has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His lawyer argued it was caused by Monsanto’s glyphosate-based weed-killer Roundup. Not surprisingly Monsanto plans to appeal the verdict. The impact of the ruling, regardless the outcome of the appeal, will unleash worldwide consequences that spell huge problems for the entire GMO agrochemicals business model.

The Johnson trial, Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Co., CGC-16-550128, in California Superior Court in San Francisco,is the first of more than 5,000 such cases across the United States awaiting trial for claims that Roundup ingredients cause cancer.

Johnson, age 46, is a former pest control manager for a California county school system, where he applied Roundup and Monsanto’s Ranger Pro on school grounds across the county up to 30 times per year for more than two and a half years.

According to the magazine Insurance Journal, the guilty verdict could influence the outcome of thousands of similar cases against Monsanto glyphosate-based Roundup. Notably, the same law firm, California-based Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, PC is involved as part of the legal team in many of the other cases awaiting trial.

French doctor treating homosexuality by homeopathy faces medical investigation

RT 16 Aug, 2018

A French doctor who claimed that homosexuality can be treated by alternative medicine is facing a Swiss government probe. The Geneva-based homeopath Jean-Yves Henry said homosexuality is “not a pathology but a special symptom.”

Henry published a paper saying that homosexuality is a symptom of illness, and can be treated with homeopathy and alternative medicine depending on the patient’s gender. Geneva regional health minister Mauro Poggia has urged the government body that oversees health professionals and patient rights in the Swiss canton to investigate the doctor’s practice.

“For him, it would seem that homosexuality is an illness to cure. This element is enough to justify opening an investigation,” Poggia told Le Courrier daily. The case was brought to Poggia’s attention following significant backlash on social media, with Twitter users dubbing the French doctor a “clown,” an “insult to science,” and a “charlatan.”

Militarizing Space

Counter Punch  August 10, 2018

This week Vice President Pence announced that the Department of Defense is beginning a planning process to establish a sixth military branch, known as the Space Force.  Pence’s statement was a public reassurance that Trump’s sudden announcement of the Space Force was not just another of the president’s frequent sudden announcements that have no connection to reality.  Pence claimed that this new Space Force military division will be in place by 2020, and while many in the media are reacting as if the militarization of space were a sudden departure from American policy, as with much of the Trump presidency, this policy shift is only a minor, more grotesque version of what our government has long routinely undertaken.

The Secret Battle for Africa

Corbett Report 08/12/2018

In October 2017 United States African Command confirmed that three Green Berets had been killed and two more had been wounded when their patrol was ambushed in Niger. Reaction to this news from the non-Corbett Report audience was: “What? There’s a United States African Command?” followed swiftly by “What are Green Berets doing conducting patrols in Niger, anyway?”

First things first: As my long-time viewers will be aware, there is indeed a United States African Command (AFRICOM). It was established in 2007 and has been the spearhead of Uncle Sam’s attempts to gain a military foothold on the African continent. My viewers will likewise be aware that the whole Kony 2012 psyop was similarly used as a cynical ploy to increase American military intervention in Africa.

But the extent of US Special Forces penetration in Africa (also reported on in these pages in recent years) is a reality that is still only gradually being revealed to the public. A recent congressional review of the incident in Niger has again cast a spotlight on the use of Special Forces around the world, with the Pentagon now floating the possibility that they will cut back on commandos in Africa to concentrate on the “real” enemies: Russia and China.