“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.”
~ St. Paul, 1st century
Philippians 4:8 ~
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
heavenly places.”
~ Ephesians 6:12 ~
"Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said: 'Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.'"
~ Ephesians 5:11-14 ~
"Blessed is that man who makes the LORD his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies."
~ Psalm 40:4 ~
"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."
What is your heart’s desire… A hot new car? Your dream home? The perfect job? Finding your “soul mate?” Winning the lottery?
Well, imagine if ** POOF ** all your fondest wishes were suddenly realized. Then you would be absolutely content? Perfectly happy, no more longings? Maybe so, for a while anyway. But somehow we never are quite satisfied are we? The feeling of contentment may last for days, months, or even years – but in the end it’s only temporary. There always seems to be something missing.
I really like Archbishop Sheen’s explanation for that persistent empty feeling that we all feel to one extent or the other, a small void deep within, that never quite gets filled ~
Trying to satisfy our longing for complete peace and happiness by looking to others for fulfillment, or by chasing after material things, very often leads us to ever-darker places, from which escape becomes almost impossible. Perfect contentment is to be found only in reunion with our perfect Creator.
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.
February 12th is supposed to be “Darwin Day,” but what exactly is there to celebrate? The more science discovers about life on earth, and the universe around us, the less likely it all just somehow “evolved” – no matter how many billions of years we postulate.
A little over a hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin jointly proposed the notable idea of natural selection. In addition, he hypothesized all of life came from a common ancestor by way of natural selection.
After Darwin, other process(sic) were also suggested. For example, mistakes and copy errors in DNA (genetic mutation) creates the diversity. Today, Darwinian evolution proposes universal common descent driven primarily by genetic mutation filtered by natural selection.
Then about fifty years ago, we learned life contained extremely large amounts of functional and meaningful information, such as found in DNA and many other structures. They carry programs and recipes that build life’s structures. They tell the organism how to build motors and gears, turbines and generators, heat imaging devices and heat sensors, audio sensors and light sensors. The list goes on and on. Stunning structures stud life. Structures so more advanced than our technology that we try to copy many of them.
However, from universal experience, we know of only one source for large quantities of functional and meaningful information. We know of only one source for new programs, instructions and building plans. We know of only one source for technology like gears, motors and turbines.
It’s not just our intuition, it’s not what we don’t know, but what we do know. The evidence points to today’s most forbidden conclusion. Even after a hundred and fifty years of looking, we know of no naturalistic source. The only known source is intelligence.
(He) said it’s common knowledge that illegal aliens obtain fraudulent documents to “survive” and find work in California […]
De Leon told the committee that “half of my family would be eligible for deportation” under a Trump executive order, because they have obtained false documents. He named Social Security cards, drivers’ licenses, and immigration “green” cards as examples of false identification.
New Orleans East, a neighborhood in the Ninth Ward, was hardest hit by the twister. Sadly, this area is still recovering after being inundated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina […]
Please pray for the safety and spiritual comfort of New Orleans residents. Pray also for wisdom as we respond to yet more devastating weather this winter.
“I can see from the trends in abortion on grounds of disability that the writing is on the wall for people like me,” said Shinkwin, who is disabled. “People with congenital disabilities are facing extinction. If we were animals, perhaps we might qualify for protection as an endangered species. But we are only human beings with disabilities, so we do not.”
The Sierra Club has been issuing multiple daily press releases since President Trump was elected and inaugurated. They range from opposing the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court to opposing the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion Act, which makes the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding of abortion permanent. The Sierra Club has also opposed Sen. Jeff Sessions becoming the United States Attorney General because he is “a proven opponent of environmental protection, civil rights and civil liberties and he must be stopped.”
The Sierra Club was an official partner of the pro-abortion Women’s March on Washington because “Trump’s administration has proven itself to be a threat to women, immigrants, workers, LGBTQ rights, clean air and water, climate safeguards, and so many other people and places.”
France’s New Islamist Guillotine ~ The Trial of Georges Bensoussan ~ French Muslims are allowed to hold a dangerous “Islamaphobia” kangaroo court ~
It is not racist to accuse Muslims of wrongdoing; Islam is a religio-political system, not a race. This conflation of two very different things already causes endless confusion and miscarriages of justice.
According to testimony, the Navy is the smallest and least prepared it’s been in 99 years.[…]
Gen. Daniel Allyn, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said that only three of the Army’s more than 50 brigade combat teams have all the troops, training and equipment needed to fight at a moment’s notice.
And the Marine Corps, which wants an additional $4.2 billion added to its 2017 budget, warned that the “nation’s force in readiness” will have to continue shifting money intended for new weapons to pay current bills.
“That’s why our administration has moved to aggressively secure our borders more, by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many criminal aliens as every before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring welfare benefits to illegal aliens,” Clinton said.
Clinton received a standing ovation for his remarks.
David Harbour, star of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things:”
… great acting can change the world, is a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper, and through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness, and exclusivity of our predominately narcissistic culture, and through our craft to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Friday, February 10, 2017 ~
Well, it didn’t take long for Barack Obama’s outrageously, irresponsible deal with Iran to bear the inevitable rotten fruit ~ Iran wages 10 terrorist acts vs. U.S. despite ‘nuke deal’ ~
The Islamic Republic of Iran – which has consistently been reported to be forwarding its militant nuclear arsenal under the guise of a nuclear energy program – is unapologetically devoted to the jihadist teachings of Islam, and has therefore continued its hostile aggression against the United States, which it has labeled “the Great Satan.”
For most sane individuals, the lopsided agreement with Iran was clearly going to make the world a much less safe place.
The ugly consequences were obvious before the deal was even done.
Iran test-fired its first ballistic missile while Obama’s agreement with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism was still being finalized (Nov. 2015). BHO essentially shrugged, and continued with his reckless scheme.
Then there was the humiliating abduction of 10 American sailors, a disgraceful episode which had most real Americans wishing Ronald Reagan was still president…
… an unretaliated-against act of aggression on January 12, 2016, that saw the jihadist nation steal sensitive information from the U.S., along with strategic equipment.
The list goes on, surveillance drones, a shipment of Iranian missiles and rockets to Yemen last spring, other aggressive acts at sea, more missile tests (one emblazoned with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew! That’s not too provocative is it?!) – and talking tough ~
“Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made it clear during a speech at the University of Tehran that President Trump will not ‘tear up’ Obama’s nuclear deal with the radical country, and also warned that Tehran will react to any extension of American sanctions [by declaring], ‘The U.S. is our enemy.’“
On Sunday January 29th Iran tested their first ballistic missile of 2017 in direct defiance of UN resolution 2231 (which was put in place while the ink on the Iran nuclear deal was still drying); basically thumbing their nose at the whole world ~
Ali Akbar Velayati, who advises Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on foreign affairs, said that Iran had not breached a nuclear deal reached with six major powers in 2015 or a U.N. Security Council resolution that endorsed the accord. The White House has accused Tehran of acting “in defiance” of a separate U.N. Security Council resolution on ballistic missiles, as opposed to the nuclear agreement.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the Trump administration deals with a rogue Muslim nation with nukes (Looking forward to the president’s meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu next Wednesday.). I for one am more than a bit nervous… Trump is a novice at international affairs, untested and unpredictable. And the Iranians are crazy.
If World War III breaks out at least we’ll know who to blame.
It’s a temporary terrorist filter.
Yes it’s true, despite all the frenzied drama produced by progressives’ propaganda – it’s NOT a “Muslim Ban.” And it is constitutional (the 9th Circuit court is not).
So heads are spinning in the mainstream media and crazed protestors are disrupting travel at airports across the country because they’re angry leftists – and that’s what angry leftists do. Protest. Inconvenience others. Throw tantrums. Period.
Seriously, if you’re looking for some real answers behind the latest hysterical backlash against President Trump’s executive order on immigration… If you’re wondering who to believe amidst all the hype… Well then, you could search my site for “Islam” and read through numerous posts where I’ve documented endless acts of terrorism, jihad, hijrah, Christian genocide and the history of Muslim conquests through the centuries – OR you could just read this one, and visit the sites I’ve referenced.
First of all, you’re to be applauded for wanting to be informed before jumping on either bandwagon in this debate. So many are just reacting to Trump’s EO on an emotional level, oblivious to the facts. Here are the basics:
The federal government’s primary responsibility is to keep us safe – from all enemies foreign and domestic.
Constitution 101. Contrary to what many mistakenly believe these days, this government of united states that we all enjoy, was established by a people who valued above all else their independence, the freedom to determine their own destinies. While the individual states are left to deal with services such as law enforcement, roads and infrastructure, education, and other necessary functions of community interactions, the federal government exists only to ensure our rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That’s it.
A large part of protecting us from all enemies foreign and domestic means making sure that anyone entering America isn’t here to harm us – intentionally or not (we should be screening for communicable diseases)
Muslim extremists represent a very real threat.
Even before 9-11 Islamists were regularly terrorizing Western countries. Certainly Israel had been targeted for years, and so had we. Attacks have become so frequent it’s hard to keep track of them; the Daily Signal put together an interactive timeline of Islamist terrorist plots against the U.S. HERE.
On an international basis, there are any number of credible sites that do an excellent job of tracking world-wide terrorism ~
And here are a couple sites that track the sobering attacks on individual Americans, our fellow citizens murdered by illegal aliens. These people would still be alive if their killers had been deported as as immigration laws require ~
• The Remembrance Project
• Ohio Jobs & Justice PAC ~ With illegal alien crime and victim statistics
Muslim extremists continue to be a threat because of their ideology
Islam is not merely a religion, because it seeks to control – by law (sharia) – every aspect of society (see Iran and Saudi Arabia) ~
If you’d rather not struggle through the Qur’an and the companion Hadith to understand the entire Muslim worldview, check out Answering Muslims and Jihad Watch who have read both and do an excellent job of explaining the basics.
“Jihad” of course is a key component of Islam, and once you realize that it consists of three stages you’ll better understand the rapid spread of the “religion” throughout North Africa, the Middle East, and now Europe. David Wood explains how the subterfuge works in this enlightening video ~
You see, it doesn’t really matter how much Muslims themselves may insist their motives are entirely peaceful because – taqiyya. (Lying to infidels is a central tenet of Islam.)
Follow the money
The curiously coordinated, country-wide, pro-immigration demonstrations didn’t just spring up spontaneously – as the Left would have us believe. As usual with so many progressive causes, there’s serious cash involved.
The flurry of anguished news stories and protests surrounding President Trump’s executive action temporarily suspending “immigrants and non-immigrants” from “countries of particular concern” appears to be part of a coordinated PR effort financed by left-wing billionaire George Soros.
Then there’s the other money angle, the duplicitous “non-profit” organizations that have been profiting from an ongoing flood of “refugees.” As I explained months ago, there are several ostensibly faith-based groups who stand to lose out on the $2,000/person they get from the State Department (that is, we-the-taxpayers) to process these immigrants. (Guess they forgot that money-is-the-root-of stuff.) Which explains sanctimonious crap like this ➡ 100 Well-Known Evangelicals Just Delivered a Tough Response to Trump’s Immigration Ban.
Refugee Resettlement Watch is a great source of the depressing truth about immigration and the whole resettlement racket. “Depressing” because we-the-people are the big losers in the “Big Refugee” scam.
The president’s executive order is temporary, and targeted to specific hotbeds of Islamic terrorism.
Andrew C. McCarthy, writing at National Review, does an excellent job of explaining what the directive is and isn’t ~
For decades, Washington has been suicidally unwilling to target our radical Islamic enemies for fear of offending Muslims in general. Trump’s more security-minded approach — which many Americans outside Washington regard as common sense — was to call a temporary halt to the admission of Muslim aliens until the government could figure out an effective way to screen out Islamists from pro-constitutional Muslims who would be an asset to our country.
Despite the 9th Circuit Courts’ extra-Constitutional ruling today the federal government is well within its authority to restrict immigration into the United States – unless we’ve decided to abrogate sovereignty altogether.
McCarthy’s entire article is excellent, but here are some highlights ~
(T)he only reason there is an EO (executive order) is the threat posed by sharia-supremacism, which we inexactly refer to as “radical Islam.” You can’t have radical Islam without Islam. Therefore, the people the EO seeks to exclude are, of necessity, Muslims — not all Muslims, of course, but a significant subset of them nonetheless […]
For decades, Washington has been suicidally unwilling to target our radical Islamic enemies for fear of offending Muslims in general. Trump’s more security-minded approach — which many Americans outside Washington regard as common sense — was to call a temporary halt to the admission of Muslim aliens until the government could figure out an effective way to screen out Islamists from pro-constitutional Muslims who would be an asset to our country […]
Trump is starting with temporary exclusions that are categorical: an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, a four-month ban on other refugees, and a three-month ban on aliens from seven Muslim-majority countries that were cited by Congress and President Obama because of vetting challenges.
These bans are not the ultimate objective. The goal is to give the public immediate protection while the government has a few months to refine threat-based vetting procedures […]
The seven countries in Congress’s Obama-era statute were cited as vetting problems because they are Muslim-majority countries embroiled in savage wars and terror promotion, which have resulted in governments that either hate the United States or are too dysfunctional to provide background checks on their nationals. It is not our fault that majority-Muslim societies tend to breed such pathologies.
So before you head to the nearest airport to join the protests, understand that this is not about hating “the Other.” It’s about keeping Americans safe from a very real threat ~
I make no apologies for wanting to keep them out of my country. Nor do I look at excluding them as excluding religion. It is, instead, the exclusion of a totalitarian political ideology — something that our law already explicitly endorses. See, e.g., Section 1182(a)(3)(D) of federal immigration law (“Immigrant Membership in Totalitarian Party”): “Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible” (emphasis added).
Forget TV tonight. Here’s a much better way to spend a couple hours in front of a screen. Ravi Zacharias (internationally-renowned Christian apologist, speaker and author) and his RZIM (international ministries organization), were here in my home state of Michigan for the last two evenings at two of our largest reality-free zones college campuses (U of M and MSU) presenting “A Post Mortem on the Post Truth Culture.”
This video is from tonight’s session at Michigan State University (Would have loved to be there in person – but I did get to Live -Stream it). Although it’s over two hours long, it’s well worth the time investment. Ravi and Abdu Murray are both extremely gifted at communicating God’s truth with empathy and confident compassion. The Q & A session at the end is especially compelling ~
You’ll have to speed this up to about the 8 min. mark
or just enjoy the music for a few minutes 🙂
Far too many colleges these days are nothing more than monuments to moral relativity, discouraging honest intellectual pursuit and rejecting all objective truth. I truly pray that the Holy Spirit uses these two events to reach and change hundreds of these young hearts!
In a sincere effort to do my part to enlighten our well-intentioned, but incredibly naive gangs of “Let-them-in!” protestors, I’m re-posting this edifying message from December 2015 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is another cogent, concise and convincing
example of the rightness of Conservatism.
Whack your favorite drone(s) with the TRUTH:
[There’s a high probability it won’t penetrate their thick
armor of denial – but hey, it’s worth a shot.]
If immigrants were gumballs…
It’s futile to try and “save” the third world by bringing them here. And ruining our own economy in the hopes of making a difference isn’t the answer either. We need to help them help themselves.
There are many charitable organizations – who truly care about those in developing nations – that aim to do just that. We should direct our international aid toward those same ends.
And happily, Gaga seems to have moved beyond her stunned grief over last November’s election results (when she mounted a garbage truck in front of Trump Tower to express her disappointment).
But of course – being a staunch promoter of LGBTQ Rights – Ms. G couldn’t resist performing her signature hit “Born-That-Way” – unfortunately reinforcing that falsehood. As Michael Voris of Church Militant resolutely explains in the following video, even science has disproven that theory ~
While mobs of suddenly altruistic lefties were self-righteously protesting Donald Trump’s “heartless” attempt at screening incoming foreign-nationals to prevent potential terrorists from sneaking into the country, Catholic Archbishop Bashar Warda of Irbil, Iraq was wondering where the protesters were in 2014.
Referring to the Trump Administration’s ham-handed roll-out of the refugee pause, the priest was speaking with Crux (an independent Catholic news site) ~
Everyone, including the administration, seems to agree that this should have been implemented with more clarity. There was much confusion about what the order meant and many people were very upset.
Warda however is more than justified in criticizing the inconsistency of the pro-immigrant demonstrations ~
From my perspective in Iraq, I wonder why all of these protesters were not protesting in the streets when ISIS came to kill Christians and Yazidis and other minority groups. They were not protesting when the tens of thousands of displaced Christians my archdiocese has cared for since 2014 received no financial assistance from the U.S. government or the U.N. There were no protests when Syrian Christians were only let in at a rate that was 20 times less than the percentage of their population in Syria.
I do not understand why some Americans are now upset that the many minority communities that faced a horrible genocide will finally get a degree of priority in some manner.
“No one is free when others are oppressed.” Seriously?!
Thanks mostly to our mainstream media’s (and the Obama adminstration’s) indifference – as Warda continues – these folks are pretty much clueless about the ongoing persecution of Iraq’s minority populations ~
Most Americans have no concept of what it was like to live as a Yazidi or Christian or other minority as ISIS invaded. Our people had the option to flee, to convert, or to be killed, and many were killed in the most brutal ways imaginable. But there were none of these protests then of ISIS’s religious test.
Our people lost everything because of their faith – they were targeted for their faith, just like the Yazidis and others too. Now these protesters are saying that religion should not matter at all, even though someone was persecuted for their faith, even though persecution based on religion is one of the grounds for refugee status in the UN treaty on refugees.
The archbishop also had some specific requests for western media outlets ~
I would also say this, all those who cry out that this is a “Muslim Ban” – especially now that it has been clarified that it is not – should understand clearly that when they do this, they are hurting we Christians specifically and putting us at greater risk. The executive order has clearly affected Christians and Yazidis and others as well as Muslims.
Here in Iraq we Christians cannot afford to throw out words carelessly as the media in the West can do. I would ask those in the media who use every issue to stir up division to think about this. For the media these things become an issue of ratings, but for us the danger is real.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Read the entire interview with Archbishop Warda HERE.
Squad cars that were parked in front of homes had their windows broken and their tires were slashed. Alarmingly, those whose cars weren’t home still had vandalism done to their property, including graffiti on their garage doors. The graffiti included “F**k WPD (Whitestown Police Department).”
(T)he media outlets peddling these dubious reports are the same outlets that did everything they could to avoid covering Benghazi. Which truly was a preventable disaster.
Juliana Farris Mazurkewicz was picking up her kids at the day care outside Houston on Friday afternoon when she spotted a new sign welcoming her at the door.
The sign read: “You are picking up your child! GET OFF YOUR PHONE!!!! Your child is happy to see you! Are you not happy to see your child??”
Palestinians’ Fort of Torture ~ Lefties don’t want us to waterboard terrorists – even if it means saving lives – but when the terrorists themselves are the perpetrators? Just ignore it ~
The most recent evidence of torture in the West Bank was disclosed in a report by a Hamas-affiliated online website. The report sheds light on some of the torture methods employed by PA interrogators and offers a unique insight into the conditions detainees are held under. The report refers specifically to the notorious Jericho Central Prison, which is controlled by various security branches of the PA […]
(Many victims) are willing to tell their stories. But who is willing to listen? Not Western governments, human rights organizations and journalists. Most of them seek evil in Israel, and Israel alone.
Information gathered by intelligence agencies shows that criminal gangs in Africa who work to traffick migrants into Europe have developed “partnerships” with terrorist organisations in the Middle East including Islamic State, Alessandro Pansa told La Stampa on Tuesday.
(Pastor Eric Dill of Bayside Baptist Church) came to the aid of a player who was down on the field for nearly half an hour after receiving a hard blow to the neck that made him unable to move his legs while waiting for an ambulance […]
He insisted that he cannot ignore his divine calling to ask for God’s healing on behalf of an injured child […]
“The person who made the complaint and the Freedom from Religion Foundation are not the enemy, and so we need to make sure that our words and the thoughts that we post and the things we say in this conversation verbalize that … they are not the enemy,” Dill expressed.
But let’s not be fools ourselves pastor, The Enemy is most certainly behind today’s rabid variety of atheism and the full-frontal assaults on Christianity.
On Wednesday, President-Elect Donald Trump chose former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue as his agriculture secretary. Perdue served two terms after becoming Georgia’s first Republican governor in well over a century, slashing the state’s budget and pursuing trade on behalf of the state. So, how did The Washington Post headline the appointment? “Trump picks former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue, who once led a prayer for rain, for agriculture secretary.”
The NYU College Republicans likely had no idea what they were setting themselves up for when they invited Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes to speak on their campus. Two years ago such an event almost certainly would have gone completely unnoticed but for the the couple of hundred students in attendance. But in today’s post-Trumpian world, every appearance of a conservative personality is taken by intolerant Leftists as just another opportunity to destroy public/private property, incite violence and shout catchy slogans incorporating the word “Nazi.”
According to Reuters, McInnes’ speech was cut short when protesters rushed into the room where he was speaking and began interrupting him. The protesters subsequently scuffled with police officers and McInnes supporters outside the university’s student center in New York City…
Republicans and conservatives, including Trump, should not gripe or whine about different treatment by the liberal media. Magnanimity commands that we have compassion and try to understand our fallen brethren.
We should make every effort to sell them on the moral superiority of personal liberty and its main ingredient — limited government.
