AS THE WORLD REJECTS GOD’S VALUES LAWLESSNESS ABOUNDS

Youth crime and violence are on the rise across Australia. A recent article in The Guardian reads, 

The state’s overall offence rate has increased by 15% but youth crime has seen an even bigger increase.

“Youth offending also continues to grow, with crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 up 17.9%. It is the second quarter in a row that youth crime rates have reached record levels. Police said children (10 – 17 yrs) only accounted for 13.1% of all offenders, but they were overrepresented in serious and violent crimes such as robberies (63.1%), aggravated burglaries (46%) and car theft (26.9%).”

A study in the USA called “Father Absence and Youth Incarceration” showed that boys who are fatherless from birth are three times more likely to go to jail than peers from intact families.  While boys who do not see their father depart until they are 10 to 14 years old are over two times more likely to go to jail than peers from intact families.

Interestingly, Dr Pat Fagan showed that states in the USA with a lower percentage of single-parent families, on average, had lower rates of juvenile crime. State-by-state analysis indicated that, in general, a 10 per cent increase in the number of children living in single-parent homes (including divorces) accompanied a 17 per cent increase in juvenile crime.

Fagan, in his article, “The Real Root Causes of Violent Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage, Family, and Community”, demonstrates the correlation between marriage and fatherhood and what the absence of both does to our children. Among married two-parent families, whether white or black, the crime rate was very low. The capacity and determination to maintain stable married relationships, not race, was the pivotal factor. Chaotic, broken communities resulted from chaotic, broken families.

Rejecting God’s ordinance for marriage: one man and one woman for life so they become one flesh (Genesis 2:24), is why we no longer have stable God fearing homes.

Jesus tells us what end times families will do: “And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake.Mark 13:12

“Victoria’s crime rate surges with young offenders contributing to record arrests”.

The state’s overall offence rate has increased by 15% but youth crime has seen an even bigger increase.

“Youth offending also continues to grow, with crimes committed by children aged 10 to 17 up 17.9%. It is the second quarter in a row that youth crime rates have reached record levels. Police said children (10 – 17 yrs) only accounted for 13.1% of all offenders, but they were overrepresented in serious and violent crimes such as robberies (63.1%), aggravated burglaries (46%) and car theft (26.9%).”

TIM SCOTT CALLED IT RIGHT AT THIRD REPUBLICAN DEBATE

Tim Scott: ‘America does not work without a faith-filled Judeo-Christian foundation’

Scott insisted that “the loss of faith in this nation” has led to the “deep challenges” currently engulfing the U.S.

The South Carolina senator spoke of the importance of “restoring faith, restoring our Christian values that will help this nation once again become the city on the hill.”

He noted how former President Ronald Reagan’s description of the U.S. as a “city on the hill” originated from Matthew 5.

He also cited former President Abraham Lincoln’s warning that “a house divided against itself cannot stand” as a reference to the Gospel of Mark. 

“Our founding documents speak to the importance of the faith foundation,” he added. “You don’t have to be a Christian for America to work for you, but America does not work without a faith-filled Judeo-Christian foundation.”

Scott made his pitch to voters as a leader who can help “restore faith in God, faith in each other and faith in our future.” He contends that “without that focus, none of the issues, the policies matter.” 

“We have to get back to being a nation that is, in fact, the city on the hill that believes in each other enough for us to fight for that future,” he concluded. 

BUILDING A RIGHT WORLDVIEW

How can we build the right worldview? There is only one way and that is to start with the origins of this complex universe with its multitude of living things that require many scientific laws to make it function correctly. Those inter-related laws could not have constructed themselves. Science has discovered that DNA (complex information) controls all of the machinery in living cells instructing them what to do. Both the information and the machinery have to be complete and functional at the beginning. They cannot evolve. Moreover, information only comes from intelligence, not matter or energy, hence proof there is an Intelligent Designer. Even better still the Intelligent Designer has revealed Himself to us both by Word, and the person of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.

Down through the ages God has spoken to and worked with individuals so we know He created us in His image to be in a relationship with Him. As a result, we have His Word (Bible) most of which is now fulfilled prophecies so that we know it is God’s Word and that the many end times prophecies will also be fulfilled.

Why is church attendance decreasing SO drastically? In this presentation, Ken Ham discusses the mass exodus that churches are experiencing in Western society and what Christians can do about it.

Ken Ham’s talk is based on his book, Divided Nation: Cultures in Chaos and a Conflicted Church. The good news is that there is a link to download Ken’s slides (in four different formats) so you can use them to help get this message of biblical authority out to more believers! He also includes notes with each slide. You can find that resource on the Answers in Genesis online bookstore.

USA AND CANADA IGNORING DANGERS OF PUBERTY BLOCKERS, CROSS-SEX HORMONES, AND SEX CHANGE SURGERIES FOR MINORS

Norway joins Finland, Sweden, and the UK in denouncing puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and ‘sex changes’ surgeries for minors confused about their gender.

The Norwegian Healthcare Investigation Board (NHIB) is the latest European body to announce that the so-called “affirmative model of care” for gender dysphoric minors is not supported by evidence and is advising against the use of cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and “sex change” surgeries for minors. The NHIB recommended that these “treatments” be classified as experimental and noted that the spike in children identifying as transgender is concerning.  

“The knowledge base, especially research-based knowledge, for gender confirmation treatment (hormonal and surgical) is insufficient,” the report notes. “Little is known about the long-term effects.” Instead, the NHIB recommends that more data — especially follow-up data — be collected and noted that the current standards endanger children, who cannot consent to the irreversible impacts of these interventions. Media reports indicate that the new recommendations come after families complained about “safety, lack of parental involvement, and lack of follow-up for underage patients.”  

In the United States, legislatures passing laws restricting the use of the “affirmative model” are being condemned by trans activists and leftist legislators as an extremist right-wing campaign targeting “transgender youth,” but the global scene actually indicates that countries like the U.S. and Canada are increasingly out of step with the medical conversations taking place in other countries. Norway is only the latest to condemn sex changes and cross-sex hormones for children.  

In the U.K., the Tavistock gender clinic was shut down after an investigation by the National Health Service concluded that the standard of care there endangered children and released recommendations opposing hormonal and surgical interventions for children in most instances, going so far as to strongly caution against “social transition” as confusing and likely to impede natural desistance as time goes on. 

In September 2021, over 50 medical professionals, prominent academics, legal experts, doctors, philosophers, psychiatrists, judges, and psychoanalysts in France published a scathing open letter condemning aspects of gender ideology and “gender transition” in children. Published through the Observatory of Ideological Discourses on Children and Adolescents, the letter laid out their concerns — and was almost totally ignored by the international press. American and Canadian newspapers have no desire to cover a debate that exposes how out of step they are. 

Any discussion of the damage being perpetrated against a generation in North America is condemned by those who call themselves progressive. It appears that if progressive politicians have their way, North American children will be tragically left behind — and they will suffer irreversible consequences as a result.

 

God will not allow humans to continue to defy His commandments and His laws. He judged the world previously with a worldwide flood and we are told by God in His word that He will pour out His wrath once again on an ungodly, unrepentant world. God’s Word gives us many signs that are already happening in the world that precede Jesus second coming to earth. Read what Peter prophesied about scoffers coming in the last days. They deny the worldwide flood by which all but eight people perished and they also deny that Jesus will return as He promised.

I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.2 Peter 3:1-7

How foolish the world is to deny the authority of God’s Word when so many fulfilled prophecies attest to its authenticity.

PUTIN ON RELIGION AND FAMILY

Putin claims West trying to destroy the family institution by normalizing gay marriage, ‘pedophilia’

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a stark warning over what he called religious attacks from Western culture Tuesday as he suspended a landmark nuclear arms treaty and threatened to move forward with nuclear tests.

In his address, Putin leveled sharp criticism at Western values and said the U.S. and other Western nations were using “information attacks” to target youth, distort “historical truth,” and “attack our culture, the Russian Orthodox Church and other traditional religious institutions in our country.”

Putin appeared to suggest the advancement of same-sex marriage and other rights for LGBT-identified people are aimed at destroying the institution of the family and promoting pedophilia. Putin at least got this right.

“Look at what they’re doing with their own people,” he said. “It is all about the destruction of the family, of cultural and national identity, perversion and abuse of children, including pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life.”

As an illustration, Putin claimed priests are being forced to “bless same-sex marriages.”

After asserting that “people can live however they want” and that Russia has “never intruded into people’s private life,” Putin cited the definition of marriage found in the scriptures.

“Look at the holy Scripture and the main books of other world religions. They say it all, including that family is the union of a man and a woman, but these sacred texts are now being questioned,” Putin said.

Putin also cited a report stating the Anglican Church is considering the idea of a gender-neutral God, an apparent reference to a vote earlier this month by the Church of England to officially endorse plans for priests to offer prayers of blessing for same-sex couples.

“What can we say? God forgive them,” he said. “They don’t know what they’re doing.”

This is proof that God can use anybody to declare His truths. Just as God used leaders in the past such as Nebuchadnezzar and Darius the Mede he is using the most unlikely leader Vladimir Putin to declare the truth of what is really transpiring in the West.

IF ONLY OUR NATIONS LEADERS WOULD READ AND HEED PSALM 2

PSALM 2

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed (Jesus), saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
Psalms 2:1-12

If they did heed Psalm 2 then they would not face the wrath of God that is coming in the not-too-distant future.

Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus), for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Revelation 6:15-17

The Thousand Years reign of Jesus Christ with the resurrected Saints
​”Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be released for a little while.
Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:1-6

GREAT TO SEE A LOT OF YOUNG PEOPLE SUPPORTING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS

PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES ATTEND THE ANNUAL MARCH FOR LIFE IN WASHINGTON ON JAN. 21, 2022

Nearly seven months since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade and returned the issue of abortion to the individual state legislatures, tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists will descend on Washington, D.C., for the 50th annual March for Life on Jan. 21.

Since Roe‘s overturning, 24 states have banned abortion or are likely to do so, according to a January 2023 report by the Guttmacher Institute, a think tank that supports abortion rights. Legal challenges are pending in several of those states.

On Jan. 11, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a pair of symbolic anti-abortion bills that are not expected to be acted upon in the Democratic-controlled Senate. One of the bills, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would require health care providers to care for infants born after an attempted abortion. A 2002 federal law already mandates that health care professionals provide medical care to infants born at any gestational age.

Mancini called the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act “commonsense and compassionate.”

In October, she also described as “sensible and compassionate” a bill that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, sponsored to ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Other antiabortion leaders supported the legislation even though congressional Republicans distanced themselves from it.

Democrats seized upon Graham’s bill to portray the GOP as extremist on the issue, a strategy that seemed to resonate with voters. The Democrats increased their majority in the U.S. Senate while Republicans underperformed in securing the House with a slim majority.

Meanwhile, voters in Michigan, California and Vermont in November chose to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions. In Kentucky and Kansas, voters rejected constitutional amendments that would have said residents in those states had no right to an abortion.

“It seems to me we’re discovering that voters are generally in the middle” on abortion, said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California Davis School of Law who is a leading historian on the abortion debate in the United States. In the middle? Sadly, what our Creator says on the issue is no longer relevant and therefore not a consideration. It is another sure “end times” sign.

WHAT DOES THIS TEACH OUR CHILDREN?

Samuel Brinton, a man who identifies as non-binary and dresses in women’s clothes, serves as deputy assistant secretary for Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy under the Biden administration. He was charged with felony theft earlier this month after allegedly stealing a woman’s designer luggage—valued at $2,325—from the baggage claim at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in September. The woman’s clothes that were in the suitcase are now missing. 

Brinton was appointed to the senior position in the Energy Department in June, announcing his new role in a post to Twitter earlier this year, which showed him wearing women’s clothing.

The court documents state: “Brinton removed the blue bag’s tag and put the bag tag in the handbag he was carrying, the defendant then left the area at a quick pace.” as reported by the Washington Examiner.

Brinton reportedly used the stolen suitcase for a trip to Europe before being contacted by authorities in October regarding the item.

In response to the allegations, Brinton claimed back in October that he did not steal the bag, but took it by mistake.

“If I had taken the wrong bag, I am happy to return it, but I don’t have any clothes for another individual. That was my clothes when I opened the bag,” Brinton claimed, according to the Examiner.

As well as being a thief it is obvious from his statement that Brinton tells lies. One has to wonder at the discernment of the management in the Office of Nuclear Energy in the Department of Energy under the Biden administration that appointed this person to a senior position.

It is hard for me to comprehend that we have moved so far from the Christian values that most western countries were based on. Thank goodness, there are many prophecies in God’s Word that this would be the case in the “last days” before Jesus returns to put things right.

Because we hold to God’s values and speak against homosexuality, gay marriage, transgenderism, and abortion we will come under increasing persecution.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.John 16:2-4

Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.Matthew 24:9-12

AMERICAS CIVILISATION DECAY ACCELERATES

What does civilizational decay look like? On Wednesday afternoon, Americans received a major warning sign that their Republic is teetering on the brink. It came in the unlikely form of a Senate cloture vote — a rather obscure parliamentary procedure that sets up the final passage of a bill in the Senate. But it wasn’t just any cloture vote, and it’s not just any bill under consideration.

I’m talking about the so-called Respect for Marriage Act, it is anything but that if you accept marriage as defined by God, and it just moved one step closer to President Biden’s desk, where it will certainly be signed into law. It passed cloture by a vote of 62-37, as 12 Republican senators joined Senate Democrats to throw “people of faith under the bus” — and possibly into prison.

Whether you realize it or not, marriage is one the best indicators of the health and stability of a nation. Just like buildings societies demand a stable foundation. Without one, they will crumble and crash, leaving a wreckage of human suffering and misery in the ruins.

No matter how hard progressives try to deny it, marriage is the irreplaceable foundation for stable societies. Not just any “marriage” but one man joining with one woman in a permanent, monogamous, committed union and dedicated to caring for any offspring such a union may produce.

Patrick Brown, at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, put it clearly. He explains that:

“But the institution of marriage itself — in law, custom, and tradition — is intimately bound up with the act of creating and raising children. Marriage, at its core, is the social institution most fundamentally oriented towards procreation. It is God’s way, (he said societies way) of harnessing, binding, and supporting the relationship that creates a new life, and it gives the child produced from that union (and his or her parents) the best chance at a stable life.”

Why is marriage the bedrock of society? Because it is how humanity endures throughout the ages, just as God intended for it to be. Jesus, Himself reminds us of the inescapable gravity of marriage.

Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6

Now, Jesus is addressing divorce here, but the principle, which is that God-defined marriage is between one man and one woman for life, applies to the proposed redefinition of marriage that is now sailing through the United States Congress with the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act.” They are trying to separate “what God has joined together.”

If we start unraveling this thread, there is no telling where the stopping point may be. Well, we actually do have a stark and dark preview: “sex change” operations on teenagers at top hospitals around the country, “kid-friendly” drag shows in your small town, and the rise of the acceptance of pedophilia. When you cut the brakes on God’s design for human sexuality and flourishing you can soon expect to fly off the cliff and crash into hell.

Lest I conclude on such a dark note, join me in remembering that just as human history began with a marriage so too it ends with a marriage. The arc of redemption stretches from Genesis 2:21-25, the marriage of Adam and Eve, to Revelation 19:6-9, the “marriage supper of the Lamb,” that is, of Christ and the Church. The Senate, the Democrats, and worthless Republicans may prevail against the definition of marriage and our religious liberty here in America, but God has guaranteed that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church (Matthew 16:18)

However, the Bible reveals it will take Jesus’ return to this earth to restore sanity to the world. First, Jesus comes in the clouds to take His Saints to heaven, and then He pours out His wrath upon an unrepentant world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements. The severity of God’s judgement is fierce. Below, I reveal what the Bible tells us about the first two trumpet judgements. The judgements escalate in intensity.

We need to warn our unbelieving family members and friends of what they are facing if they do not repent of their rebellion against God and His commandments. Show them how to ask God for His saving grace provided by Jesus. It is only by dying to self and becoming a new creature in Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit indwelling their spirit can they avoid God’s coming judgement.

The Seven Trumpets
Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Revelation 8:6-9


The above is a much-abbreviated version of the original article published at the Standing for Freedom Center. The last three paras. are mine.

The author William Wolfe served as a senior official in the Trump administration, both as a deputy assistant secretary of defense at the Pentagon and a director of legislative affairs at the State Department. Prior to his service in the administration, Wolfe worked for Heritage Action for America, and as a congressional staffer for three different members of Congress, including the former Rep. Dave Brat. He has a B.A. in history from Covenant College and is finishing his Master of Divinity at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

EVIDENCE THE END IS NEAR

The Pride Liberation Project, which describes itself as a “nonprofit coalition of LGBTQIA+ students working to create safe, inclusive, and equitable schools,” estimates that 12,000-plus students participated in a walkout.

Twelve thousand children from at least 100 Virginia schools have been indoctrinated with this godless agenda indicating that the prophesied “end times” falling away is upon us.

Students are chanting “trans rights are human rights” and “protect trans youth.”

They were protesting a state government guidance directing schools not to allow trans-identified students to identify as the opposite biological sex without legal documents and to keep parents informed of changes to their child’s gender identity.

We commend the Virginia Department of Education under Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin who announced the “2022 Model Policies on the Privacy, Dignity, and Respect for All Students and Parents in Virginia’s Public Schools,” a document that defines ‘sex” as biological sex and creates a high bar for students to meet if they wish to identify as a member of the opposite biological sex in school. The guidance does not become official until after the public has had the opportunity to comment on it. The comment period opened Monday and lasts through Oct. 26.

Video footage from one of the protests, which took place at Annandale High School in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Fairfax County, Virginia, reveals students chanting “trans rights are human rights.” 

Only when parents present the school with a “legal document, such as a birth certificate, state- or federal-issued identification, passport, or court order substantiating” a student’s “change of legal name or sex” will the student’s record change to reflect their new gender identity.

Thank God that the document repeatedly acknowledges that “parents have the right to make decisions with respect to their children” and that “schools shall respect parents’ beliefs and values.”

We are in the world Jesus described as preceding His second coming to earth first to rescue His Saints and then to pour out His wrath upon an unrepentant world.