The Associated Press report of The Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony: “In an unprecedented display of inclusivity, drag queens took center stage at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, showcasing the vibrant and influential role of the French LGBTQ+ community.
The 2024 Olympics made a mockery of Christianity as drag queens and dancers lined a long table resembling Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”, which marks the last meal shared with Christ and his disciples.
Le Filip, the recent winner of “Drag Race France,” expressed their positive “surprise” and “pride” at the ceremony’s scale and representation.
“I thought it would be a five-minute drag event with queer representation. I was amazed. It started with Lady Gaga, then we had drag queens, a huge rave, and a fire in the sky,” they said. “It felt like a crowning all over again. I am proud to see my friends and queer people on the world stage.”
In addition to inviting condemnation for mocking one of the most sacred events for Christians, the opening ceremonies featured another prop viewed as a slap in the face to people of faith: a golden calf. As explained in Exodus 32, while the people of Egypt were waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain, they decided to create an idol of a golden calf despite God’s instructions in Exodus 20 not to worship idols.
A fashion show at the ceremony included a scene that resembled a modern re-creation of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, with French actor Philippe Katerine appearing as the Greek god Dionysus, painted blue and wearing little more than a bunch of flowers covering his modesty. Katerine was reclining on a dinner platter in an attempt to imitate Dionysus, the pagan god of drunkenness and orgies.
St Peter and Paul’s Catholic Cathedral bishop Andrew Mukukuoi told The Australian the act was a distasteful joke. “I think it was offensive to all Christians around the world,” Father Mukukuoi said.
“It was a mockery because they made a joke of something really important for Christians, the Last Supper was when Christ gave us his body.” “They didn’t mock any other religion but chose to make a joke of Christianity. It was a distasteful thing to watch and whoever commissioned this should be held to account.”
Surely, this will be sufficient evidence to show Christians that we are in the Biblical prophesied end times before Jesus returns to restore righteousness. God will not allow His Son to be mocked. Macron does not realise the extent of the judgment he has unleashed on the nation he governs.
Volocopter has received regulatory approvals to begin several limited routes in the coming weeks around the Paris Olympics:
Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris-Le Bourget airport – integrating successfully into the skies of Europe’s busiest airport
Vertiport of Austerlitz barge to Paris Heliport – integrating a connection over the densely populated urban area of Paris
Paris Heliport to Airfield of Saint-Cyr-l’École (Versailles) – validating the route potential for tourism use cases.
This is all to show that we won’t be waiting 5 or 10 years before this next generation of air transportation becomes a reality. It’s happening, this year, in Paris, with Volocopter.
Cheaper, Safer, and Faster Than a Taxi
Current expectations are that the initial cost per mile for one passenger will be in the $3-6 range. That’s on the higher end of the going rate of a New York City taxi cab.
Once a service scales to regular flights throughout the day, the prices will drop closer to $3 a mile very quickly. This will put these kinds of air transportation services within the reach of a large population.
And the real kicker will be when autonomous flight technology is adopted. Two companies in the USA, Joby and Archer were smart to pursue their certifications for piloted eVTOLs. It’s a faster path toward commercialization and allows the companies to scale their manufacturing.
Autonomous flights can follow later. The impact, of course, is to further reduce the cost per mile. So that $3 will drop likely to $1 with full autonomy, making a ticket for the 13-mile journey from Wall Street to Newark just a $13 ride. Even at $2 a mile per seat, it quickly becomes a mass-market form of air transportation.
Autonomous technology is what will transform the way we travel, not just on surface roads and highways, but across the skies.
In Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom all of this technology will be in use. Capitalism and the free market economy will be the order of the day as given in your Bible. Simply put, capitalism is nothing more than believing in private individual ownership. e.g. one of the commandments is “Don’t steal” which means we are meant to own stuff (http://www.millennialkingdom.net).
Does Psalm 83 speak of the end times? Jonathan Cahn says it does. It is about the enemies of Israel coming against Israel to destroy it. The enemies of Israel are enemies of God.
Satan has been coming against Israel ever since its inception. The nations mentioned in Psalm 83 are all the nations that are coming against Israel today so it does have meaning for today. Remember that Israel did not exist as a nation for almost 2,000 years. It only became a nation again in 1948 and when it became a nation again, almost immediately, all of the nations mentioned in Psalm 83 came against Israel intending to annihilate it exactly as stated: “They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!”Psalms 83:4
This is a great sermon. God has raised up Jonathan Cahn as an end-times prophet. He is just one of many who speak the truth from God’s Word about the perilous times we are living in.
It really does not matter who wins the next Presidential election as Biblical prophecy reveals:
1. We are fast approaching the last seven years before Jesus returns to Earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom (http://www.millennialkingdom.net).
2. Biblical prophecy shows us that during the end times, there is a one-world government and the USA is no longer a leading nation. It will fall further under the judgement of God.
Following Trump’s survival of the assassination attempt and his acknowledgment that but for the grace of God, he would be dead, many Christians hoped that Trump was God’s vessel to turn the nation back to God.
However, the deceptive action taken by Trump and a select group of Republicans at the RNC Platform Committee Meeting last week indicates he is prepared to do whatever is necessary to win the election even if that means compromising with the world’s values. They changed the Republican Party’s Platform on which it will stand for re-election. The platform waters down and walks away from bedrock principles that have defined the Republican Party. Donald Trump and his operatives this year decided that they wanted rid of strong pro-life language so that language was taken out of the platform. Not only is the RNC position on Pro-life watered down but marriage as well. All it says now is the RNC supports the sanctity of marriage. What does that mean? It no longer defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Will Harris and Obama accept more U.N. control?
Christians are already speaking up about this anti-God deceptive move by Trump and his allies. Hence the support he was getting from Christians as a result of the failed assassination attempt and Trump’s supposedly Godly reaction will likely dissipate.
Whilst Obama has not yet supported Harris as the Democratic Presidential candidate, I believe he will, and when he does, they will emerge as the winning team. We already know that Obama is one of the influential leaders of the World Economic Forum who is working to create a one-world government. Obama and Harris will further the decline of the USA as a world power as it becomes a godless, lawless nation.
In August 2021, China announced the completion of its first experimental thorium-based nuclear reactor. Built in the middle of the Gobi Desert in the country’s north, the reactor is undergoing testing. If the experiment proves successful, Beijing plans to construct another reactor potentially capable of generating electricity for more than 100 000 homes.
China is not alone in its intentions to reap thorium’s unique properties. In the past, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and other countries have demonstrated enthusiasm for research into the possible application of thorium in nuclear power.
What can thorium offer?
Thorium boasts several advantages over the conventional nuclear fuel, uranium-235. Thorium can generate more fissile material (uranium-233) than it consumes while fuelling a water-cooled or molten-salt reactor. According to estimates, the Earth’s upper crust contains an average of 10.5 parts per million (ppm) of thorium, compared with about 3 ppm of uranium.
“Because of its abundance and its fissile material breeding capability, thorium could potentially offer a long-term solution to humanity’s energy needs,” Kailash Agarwal, a Nuclear Fuel Cycle Facilities Specialist at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
Another advantage is that thorium-fuelled reactors could be much more environmentally friendly than their uranium counterparts. In addition these reactors — and nuclear power in general — do not emit greenhouse gases in operation, they also produce less long-lived nuclear waste than present-day uranium-fuelled reactors.
Not without challenges
However, several economic and technical obstacles make the deployment of thorium challenging. Despite its abundance, the metal is currently expensive to extract.
Maritime / China Unveils Plans For ‘Largest Ever’ Container Ship, Powered By Thorium Reactor
January 2024 Report: Jiangnan Shipyard, a division of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), said the KUN-24AP, featuring a thorium-based Generation IV molten salt reactor, would prove safer and more efficient than the uranium reactors currently used to power warships.
China has an abundant supply of thorium meaning that it could be a cost-effective low-carbon alternative for shipping and other industries.
Did you know Russia is the largest nuclear energy player in the world? I certainly did not. Nor did I know China is building more nuclear reactors than Russia but only two in other countries compared to Russia’s fifteen. The video below, answers how Russia maintains control of the nuclear energy market through business, politics, and money.
VVER-1200 reactor is the flagship nuclear reactor and core product of ROSATOM’s integrated solution. Being an evolution of VVER-1000 reactors that were built in India (Kudankulam) and China (Tianwan) in the 1990s and 2000s, the new design features improved performance across all parameters and a range of additional safety systems preventing radioactive substances from getting out of hermetically sealed containment in cases of emergency. VVER-1200 has a 20% higher power capacity while having a size comparable to VVER-1000. It also has an extended 60-year service life, load following capability, high capacity utilization (90%), and an 18-month refueling cycle. The unit is expected to produce 9.1 trillion kWh per year compared to the VVER-1000’s 7.5 trillion kWh per year. The number of personnel has been decreased by 30% to 40% (on a per MW basis) due to automation, and the centralization of functions and processes. Other innovative design aspects have been employed to cut costs. For example, the project employs only one cooling tower instead of two.
Russia is considered the world leader when it comes to the export of nuclear plant development. Between 2012 and 2021, Rosatom initiated construction of 19 nuclear reactors; 15 of these were initiated abroad. That is far more than the next most prolific providers: China, France, and South Korea. Although China started building 29 reactors during the same period, only two of them were initiated abroad. France started building two reactors abroad, and South Korea four.
Selling nuclear technology is also part of Russia’s effort to gain influence and reap profits in countries that are new to nuclear energy. One of the reasons countries want to cooperate with Russia is that it offers a “whole package” solution. Russia can not only build a nuclear plant and supply fuel, but it also trains local specialists, helps with safety questions, runs scholarship programs, and disposes of radioactive waste.
However, offering attractive loans is probably Russia’s most powerful tool. These loans are usually backed by government subsidies and cover at least 80 percent of construction costs. For example, Russia has already lent $10 billion to Hungary, $11 billion to Bangladesh, and $25 billion to Egypt — all to build nuclear power plants.
Russia has operating nuclear reactors in 11 countries, and more are under construction or being planned. Besides that, Russia has also signed either memorandums of understanding or intergovernmental agreements with at least 30 countries around the world, mostly in Africa. These serve as a declaration of interest in nuclear technology or set an intention to cooperate on the building of nuclear plants, respectively.
X-energy, working in partnership with Cavendish Nuclear, is planning a fleet of up to 40 of its advanced small modular Xe-100 power reactors in the UK, creating thousands of high-quality jobs in construction and operations. X-energy is also proposing to develop a £multi-billion 12-reactor plant at Hartlepool, to be ready by the early 2030s.
X-energy’s intrinsically safe advanced small modular reactor (“SMR”) and TRISO-X fuel greatly expand applications and markets for deployment of nuclear technology relative to other SMRs and conventional nuclear. Its high-temperature gas reactor (“HTGR”) technology can support broad industrial use applications through its high-temperature heat and steam output. In addition, it can integrate into and address the needs of both large and regional electricity systems through more efficient load ramping and can support intermittent renewable (solar and wind) and other clean energy options with reliable baseload generation.
“This is a huge opportunity for Teesside and the country as a whole. There is a skilled nuclear workforce, with decades of experience of high temperature gas reactor technology, already in place at Hartlepool Power Station and the plant will be reaching the end of its life just as our project entered development and construction,” said Carol Tansley, X-energy’s Vice President of UK New Build Projects. “We can provide high quality local jobs and the broadest range of decarbonisation options for the area’s industrial base, and then use that experience to benefit similar regions across the UK.”
“Nuclear energy offers a major boost to industrial clusters seeking to rapidly reduce emissions and improve competitiveness by providing stable, local, low-carbon energy with long-term price certainty,” said Dr. Philip Rogers, Director at Equilibrion. “The opportunities on Teesside are clear, and with another five large industrial clusters around England and Wales, the potential national socio-economic benefits are huge, enabling long-term, economy-wide decarbonisation of transport and industry.”
Electricity use is responsible for less than a quarter of the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, whereas demand from heat and transport represent more than twice the amount.
X-energy already has a project underway on the U.S. Gulf Coast which will produce high-temperature heat and power for the Seadrift, Texas, manufacturing facility of the materials science company Dow. Construction on X-energy’s four-reactor project in Texas is expected to begin in 2026 and to be completed by the end of this decade. The project is focused on providing the Seadrift site with safe, reliable, zero carbon emissions power and steam.
Surely the Australian government is aware of these developments and if so why are they not considering nuclear as part of our energy supply?
There are many different views of God. How do these compare with the Christian view? I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video “Which God” as the Australian organisation that produced it is not flush with money. I would use it and I suggest you take a look at it and let me know what you think.
Elon Musk explained why he bought Twitter in a tweeted note in which he spoke about promoting a “digital town square” where various beliefs can be expressed within limitations. “The reason I acquired Twitter is that it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated healthily without resorting to violence,” he wrote in a tweet.
However, Musk repeatedly said that he shelled out the $44 billion necessary to acquire Twitter for tworeasons. The second is in reality the primary reason. Musk wants to make his dream of an everything app, a reality. The name X.com was Elon’s first company. It became PayPal when X.com merged with Confinity in 2000. PayPal was eventually bought out by eBay. PayPal is a niche payment system. It never aspired to be what Musk wanted for X.com to take over the world’s financial system. Musk’s idea for X.com, was to create an “everything-store for all financial needs: banking, digital purchases, checking, credit cards, investments, and loans.
According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Musk had been planning to rebrand Twitter to X in a bid to fulfill his dream from the ’90s since before he took over the company.
A major plank of Elon Musk’s plan for expanding X into an “everything app” has been grafting a payments network onto its main social networking service. The details of this project have remained blurry, but dozens of documents the company has submitted to state regulators—which have not previously been made public—give a new view of the business. Those plans include a Venmo-like payments feature that will let users store money on their X accounts, pay other users or businesses, and even buy goods and services in physical stores.
Expect an announcement from Musk on X.com’s expansion into financial services before the end of 2024. Considering his success with PayPal, Tesla, Space X/Star Link, and now X.com, Neuralink, and The Boring Company, it is reasonable to conclude that X.com (previously Twitter) will shake up the world’s financial system.
This is all part of the Biblical prophesied end times scenario playing out in our day. Musk is the richest man in the world and he is becoming the person the world is looking to for answers. Undoubtedly, he has a brilliant mind and says the right things such as he wants what is best for humankind in all that he does. But as he comes from South Africa he is not a candidate for the Antichrist.
There seem to be many paradoxes in Scripture. Not in the sense that the Bible contradicts itself, but that the Bible proclaims truth that makes no sense to those who are not in Christ. Even for believers, we’re struck by the unfathomable workings of a God who makes all things work together for good to those who love Him.
For instance, Scripture proclaims that, for the Christian, to lose is to gain. We read that to be humble is to be exalted. Perhaps most amazingly, the Bible proclaims that Christ’s victory over the grave means that to die is to live and to live abundantly. But what I’m sure confuses many, in or out of the church, is this concept Paul writes about in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, where he makes the case for how our weakness is our strength. It’s interesting, especially given the fact that weakness is often considered a grave flaw, and something meant to be hidden.
“ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”2 Corinthians 12:9-10
How are we expected to boast about our weaknesses? We are far weaker than we ever care to admit. It is in ignoring our weaknesses that our lives become harder. In fact, Christianity only makes sense when you’ve reached the end of yourself.” Think about it — it is the proud who most believe they have no need for God. The plague of thinking, “I can do it,” has hurt countless relationships. But Christianity declares this profound truth that what often makes Christianity most understandable is rooted in the fact that we need help. We need saving. Why? Because we are weak and helpless.
James 1:9 tells us, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,” we shrink back in shame as we reflect on the fact that, more often than not, we’re actually slow to hear, quick to speak, and quick to resort to anger.
And if you take a step even further back, it becomes clear just how quickly we fail in many other areas of life — especially when compared to how Scripture calls us to live. We often covet, lie, steal, and cheat. We may not be as heinous as a murderer, yet murder occurs frequently in our hearts.
Thankfully the Bible provides stories such as David and Bathsheba: Scripture tells us that David is a man after God’s own heart, and yet David not only sleeps with Bathsheba and gets her pregnant but he tries to cover it up and when that is unsuccessful he conspires to kill Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.
“In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. 15 In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”2 Samuel 11:14-15
Though David made a horrible decision, he took responsibility and had remorse for his actions. He earnestly sought God’s forgiveness. David penned Psalm 51, “A Contrite Sinners Prayer for Pardon,” after his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. In this Psalm, David brokenheartedly confesses his sin and asks for God’s forgiveness and restoration. David never stopped worshipping God.
Jealousy is such a blinding emotion that consumes us easily, and our hearts are hardened toward those we feel have wronged us. Scripture says to “bear with one another in love,” forgive “seventy times seven,” and “value others above” ourselves, but how often do those commands actually take priority in our lives?
Suddenly, when the world is crashing down around us, and we can’t seem to get anything right, we realize: “Wow, I truly am weak.” And it’s not just the rude awakening of becoming aware of said weaknesses that hurt, but the harsh reality of the fact that the world is quick to use them against us. Far too commonly, weakness is abused in the machinations of manipulation and mockery. And if the world was all we had to turn to, we’d likely find ourselves wondering: what’s the point of it all?
But thanks be to God because He does not define us by these weaknesses. Indeed, Psalm 103 declares, “The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. … The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. … He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” Don’t you see? We may struggle, fail, or feel dismayed, but our God does not treat us as weak, failing sinners. He treats us as forgiven and free children of His promise!
Perhaps among several seemingly paradoxical yet joyous truths in Scripture is this understanding of our weakness being our strength, for it is in embracing our weaknesses that we can see Christ’s strength. And this strength resides within us, for Galatians 2:20a states, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” By the power of the Holy Spirit, we are new creations, and yet we still fail Him daily grieving the Holy Spirit. And yet, He never fails us. We neglect time with Him and time in His word, yet He never leaves us nor forsakes us. We made it necessary for God to send His Son to die on the cross, yet He has loved us with an everlasting love that leads us into eternity with Him. We take blessings for granted, yet He never stops blessing us. How astounding and unfathomable, this God we serve. May we never tire of singing His due praises, just as He never tires of holding us in His embrace of sovereign grace.
Adapted from an article in The Washington Stand 19/07/2024: Embracing Weakness Allows Us to Understand Our Strength Is Found in Christ by Sarah Halliday
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 