‘Assassination Culture’: Half of Left-leaning Americans say assassinating Trump, Musk is justified
The Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University’s Social Perception Lab released a report Monday titled “Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence.” The data included in the report is based on responses collected from 1,264 U.S. adults. The main takeaway from the report is that, “A broader ‘assassination culture’ appears to be emerging within segments of the U.S. public on the extreme left.”
“This report points to disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Across survey responses, nearly one-third of respondents — and a significantly higher share of left-leaning respondents — expressed some degree of justification for acts of lethal violence,” the report stated.
“Unless political and cultural leadership explicitly confronts and condemns this trend, [a] growing probability of real-world escalation” exists, the report added. “Given the current economic volatility and institutional distrust, the online normalization of political violence may increasingly translate into offline action.”
“Taken together, the findings underscore the erosion of democratic norms and the growing acceptability of political violence in American discourse, particularly among ideologically extreme communities online,” the report warned. “Continued monitoring and broader measurement efforts are urgently needed.”
Fortunately for Christians, God has revealed how this story plays out, and we know it is both good news and bad news. The good news is that Jesus’s return is imminent, but the bad news is that God allows Satan to refine His church and to do his utmost to deceive the world. The following Scripture is Jesus’s response to the disciples’ question about what it will be like in the end times before He returns to restore righteousness.
“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. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
We cannot say that Jesus did not warn us. It is time to draw close to God to ensure we do what He has called and prepared us to do.
One week from tomorrow, Elon Musk and Tesla will hold its “We, Robot” event
It’s expected that the company will reveal its first dedicated robotaxi. This is being heralded as a “game changer” for the future of autonomous transportation.
“We, Robot” is expected to be a watershed moment for Tesla wherein the company introduces its first dedicated robotaxi, tentatively called the “Cybercab.” Tesla is also expected to showcase groundbreaking advancements in Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and artificial intelligence as the company pushes toward a future where human drivers are obsolete.
At the heart of this transportation revolution is a convenient, driverless ride at a fraction of the cost of traditional services. If it’s everything it’s cracked up to be, this will send ripples throughout the automotive, technology, and investment sectors.
Consider what a rollout of Tesla’s robotaxi would mean… With the tap of a button, you can have a car at your disposal, 24/7, at a much lower all-in cost than owning a car (or purportedly, calling an Uber).
Today, car ownership can be a major financial burden. AAA reports that last year, the average annual cost to own and operate a car in the U.S. was about $10,000. A fully autonomous, reliable, ever-present robotaxi would enable consumers to save thousands of dollars by eliminating the need for car ownership.
Yes, there will be plenty of Americans who will still want their own. But if you’re one of the 66.2% of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck today (according to MarketWatch in August), are you not going to seriously consider letting go of your car to free up thousands of dollars per year?
According to a 2022 study by McKinsey & Co., 25% to 30% of urban dwellers would consider using shared autonomous vehicles as their main transportation mode if it were widely available. And if 25% to 30% of Americans decide to stop buying cars, get ready for a financial earthquake.
First and obviously, we have the major car manufacturers that would be rocked by this size of a reduction in auto demand. We’re talking unprecedented disruption that would require a business-model pivot, and potentially, enormous layoffs.
Cars are parked 95% of the time. If you’re merely “renting” your car, when you’re done with it, it speeds away to service someone else. Such collective ownership of cars will radically explode car efficiency, reducing how many are needed, which would impact how many workers are required. Also, you do not need a garage at home or at work.
Now, consider the knock-on effects… With 25% to 30% fewer drivers (at the beginning – expect this percentage to grow), what happens to the auto insurance industry? According to Benzinga, U.S. auto insurance premiums amount to more than $308 billion per year. So, what happens with far fewer car owners? Do we lose loads of related insurance jobs? Or does the insurance model switch from vehicle coverage to some sort of ride-based individual coverage? What would be the impact on business models?
Next, what about car mechanics and chain repair shops?
What happens when autonomous driving hits our trucking industry? In the U.S., that’s a $216 billion market with roughly 3.5 million drivers. Think “robotrucks” might be disruptive there?
Now, consider the investment implications, good and bad… What will be the impact of all this on the share prices of not just Tesla, but Ford… Alphabet (which owns Waymo, another autonomous driving company)… Uber… Insurance companies… Auto parts manufacturers, and retailers, the list goes on and on… And what about the stocks of the companies that make the components for Tesla’s fleet or robotaxis? All the sensors and semiconductor chips? The plastics? The electronic circuitry?
It is all about technology replacing the need for humans. In 2013, Amazon used about 1,000 robots in its warehouses. Last year, that number clocked in at 750,000 and the savings have been incredible. The warehouses work 24 hours a day non-stop and seven days a week.
Think about the coming impact of AI and automation on, well, everything… It’s already affecting jobs for customer service agents… paralegals and legal assistants… accountants… medical diagnosticians… radiologists… financial analysts… journalists… recruiters… insurance underwriters… and marketing specialists… to name a few. Should we expect it to stop?
It will lead to a chaotic workplace as shown by the International Longshoremen’s Association strike that began yesterday, with dockworkers demanding assurances that the United States Maritime Alliance will never replace human workers with automation? As well, the Screen Actors Guild/Writers Guild of America strikes in 2023, wherein Hollywood workers demanded protection from the rising capabilities of artificial intelligence. Unions will not stop the use of AI and robots and lawlessness and chaos will erupt across cities.
In Matthew 24:12, Jesus told his disciples what will unfold in the end times before He returns to Earth. He says, “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold”. Christians know what is coming and we need to use Biblical end-times prophecies to evangelize the lost. As these end times prophecies are fulfilled, people will realise God is real and the Bible is God’s word.
We are living in a time of moral, spiritual, and civilization polarization, where Western civilization is decoupling itself from the faith and the worldview to which it has been joined for nearly two thousand years. Its mainstream culture is purging itself of Judeo-Christian values, beliefs, laws, practices, worship, ways, and culture just as God prophesied would happen in His Word, the Bible before Jesus’ second coming to Earth.
Children that should be in school marching in Sydney, Australia: “Stop Israel’s Genocide Now”?Hamas had invaded Israel and killed innocent people including babies, women, children, and the elderly.
We see it, in its deification of the material world, its desanctification of life, its religious syncretism, its moral relativism, its sexualization of popular culture, its abuse of life, its worship of images, and its overturning of biblical standards, values, and precepts.
So, it was in the days of the man known in the Bible as Josiah. Josiah was born into a kingdom, Israel, that had known God but had fallen from His ways. It had come into existence for the purposes of God but had detached itself from those purposes. It became a civilization turned in upon itself and against the foundation of which it stood, an inverted kingdom, a civilization in a state of spiritual schizophrenia. It still invoked His name but lived in opposition to His ways. Such is the culture in which we now live. American civilization was founded on the reality of God and established for its purposes (In God We Trust on its bank notes). But, as with ancient Israel, it has fallen and now exists in a state of spiritual schizophrenia—as does its parent, Western civilization.
Josiah was not afraid or intimidated by the evil that had taken possession of his culture because he knew that the power of God was far greater. Spiritual darkness did not discourage Josiah from acting, rather it inspired him. He could never have accomplished what he did, had he sought the approval of man or feared the wrath of the majority. He broke customs, conventions, and the status quo. He did what others had thought to do, had felt to do, and believed to do, but of fear, did not do.
The people of God must now make the most of every moment and circumstance to impact their world—in their homes, their workplaces, their schools, in their positions of power and influence, their skills and abilities, their experiences and resources, their coming and going, all times and places. They must use all means and resources at their disposal to fulfill the purposes of God. And they must always remember that their most powerful of means are not of this world but spiritual—that of prayer, the Word, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. In times of repression or persecution, there may be no other power. If then, their only means are spiritual, it will be enough. For no instrument of man, no force of government, no power on earth is strong enough to stop the means given by the Spirit of God.
Post adapted from a section of Jonathan Cahn’s book The Josiah Manifesto.
What they are promoting in our universities and colleges: Critical Theory insists that societies are oppressed by a hegemony of powerful ruling interests. People can be divided between those who are complicit with the hegemony and those who resist it. God does not exist. He is not a consideration. Evolution and billions of years did away with God and His Word. Take away the Creator God who made man in His image. the origin of death – man’s sin of rebellion, then who needs a Saviour? Who needs Jesus?
Humanity is viewed as divided between powerful privileged groups and powerless victim groups (and their declared allies).
‘Resource equity’ is the phrase used to demand equal outcomes between groups. In terms of knowledge, only those who have lived experience of suffering oppression can claim true knowledge of that oppression. In academic circles, this is referred to as ‘standpoint theory’. Different people have access to different truths. Those deemed to have multiple layers of privilege may be stripped of any right to comment on the position of those with less privilege. They are not allowed to question their claims.
They may be banned from speaking in public (‘Noplatforming’ is barring someone from speaking because they do not agree with certain views). People without privilege may need to be protected from hearing any opinions which damage them. The only option for those with privilege is to declare themselves to be allies of those without privilege (i.e. accept their accounts of ‘truth’). Proponents of critical theory know that their claims can’t be exposed to external critique. They have the ‘hidden knowledge’ of lived experience.
MULTIPLE TRUTHS
In 2017, Evergreen College in Washington State in the USA hit international headlines. The socially progressive president had been encouraging students to oppose any perceived discrimination, and he had an informal system of labelling faculty as either allies or enemies.
One of the teaching staff, Professor Bret Weinstein, asserted in an email: On a college campus, one’s right to speak — or to be — must never be based on skin color. But Weinstein was told by colleagues that ‘there are multiple versions of “truth” that exist at once’. And he was warned to accept the experience of minority students without question: If our students are telling us … that they are experiencing a hostile environment, we must take our students at their word. On one level, there’s still the belief that there’s no universal truth. But some activists imply that those without privilege have access to a truth that the privileged can never enjoy. The only hope for the privileged is to sign up as allies of those without privilege.
A free society should ensure equal opportunities. All human beings made in God’s image should have the opportunity to flourish. But human beings are different. There will always be a wide variety of abilities, competence, energy, motivation, and integrity. Enforcing equal outcomes demands social engineering on a vast scale. It assumes state intervention in every aspect of life. It signals the end of a free society.
God’s Word tells us that this would be the state of the world prior to Jesus’ second coming to restore righteousness. We are yet to see it, but we are heading for a one-world government, the Antichrist and the Mark of the Beast.
INJUSTICE MULTIPLIED
Critical Legal Theory:Use the Law to Right Past Wrongs: Ideas like ‘equality before the law’ and ‘justice is blind’ were part of the ‘hegemony’ of power by which the privileged kept victims oppressed.
Critical Legal Theory:New Injustices Perpetrated If someone is part of a victim class, their crime may be excused if it is thought to result from their disadvantage. We are no longer equal before the law.
‘Hate’ legislation means that if an alleged victim (or someone else) ‘perceives’ that hate has motivated a crime, then the sentence can be heavier. The law is a means by which to advance the ‘progressive’ agenda (e.g. abortion rights, same-sex marriage, or self-declaration of gender). Justice is no longer blind. Judges take on too much power when they create laws rather than applying laws.
A BREAKDOWN IN THE LOGIC OF CIVILISATION
Critical theory aims to dissolve the universe of meaning by denying the existence of objective universal truth.
If we can’t appeal to reason and logic there can be no reasoned debate. On what shared basis can civilisation continue? Such a society is vulnerable to tyranny. The subjective judgements of the loudest voices win. Those who resort to violence and intimidation are given a free pass. The great political philosopher Edmund Burke observed: Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years. Burke was writing in the context of the French Revolution. The dream of equality led straight to the ‘reign of terror’. Once universal truth has been denied, discrete groups claim their own ‘truth’ (aka experience of oppression) which others cannot comprehend. Reasoned debate is not an option. Violence is the only possible means to the end of perfect equality. That threatens the basic logic of civilisation.
Fortunately, Christians can affirm with confidence that there is such a thing as objective universal truth. And we are able to communicate with others, whatever their group identity because all human beings have been given the priceless gift of reason by their Creator.
“And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:12-14
The Los Angeles Dodgers will move ahead with plans to honor a blasphemous drag troupe to perform at the team’s pride event next month after initially removing them from the event in response to backlash from conservative and Catholic groups.
It all started after the Dodgers announced their plans last month to give a Community Hero Award to the Los Angeles Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), an organization that holds annual Easter events mocking the crucifixion of Christ, as part of the team’s annual pride event in June. SPI’s stated motto on its website is “Go forth and sin some more!”
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence 40th Anniversary Celebration
In a May 4 statement, the MLB said it would recognize the group’s LA chapter during a June 16 home game against the San Francisco Giants “for their countless hours of community service, ministry, and outreach to those on the edges, in addition to promoting human rights and respect for diversity and spiritual enlightenment.”
But after receiving criticism on social media from conservative groups and lawmakers, like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who questioned why the Dodgers were awarding “a group of gay and transgender drag performers that intentionally mocks and degrades Christians,” and Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League, who called SPI an “obscene anti-Catholic group,” the team reversed course.
Following that announcement, a wave of backlash from LGBT advocacy organizations and media outlets like the LA Times, which blamed the move on complaints from “religious and political extremists” and described SPI as using “satire and drag to call attention to sexual intolerance and raise money for nonprofit organizations that benefit underserved communities.”
The LA Times echoed similar language used by the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which accused the Dodgers of “buckling to pressure from out-of-state, right-wing fundamentalists” and accused abortion opponents of “white supremacy.”
“We at the Center know that the religious right — a minority aligned with white supremacy and attacks on reproductive justice — does not speak for all people of faith, including the many people of faith within the [LGBT] community,” the LGBT Center said in a statement.
Days later, the Dodgers apologized and re-invited SPI to participate in the pride event.
A team statement said in part: “After much thoughtful feedback from our diverse communities, honest conversations within the Los Angeles Dodgers organization and generous discussions with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Los Angeles Dodgers would like to offer our sincerest apologies to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, members of the [LGBT] community and their friends and families.”
The drag group later confirmed they had accepted the Dodgers’ apology: “This affair has been an opportunity for learning with a silver lining. Our group has been strengthened, protected, and uplifted to a position where we may now offer our message of hope and joy to far more people than before.
God, Jesus, and God’s Word have been cast off. It is as if He does not exist, and we can do whatever we like including blasphemy.
What we see Jesus spoke about as being one of the many end times signs before He returns. For Christians, it will be a time of increasing persecution as Jesus refines His church. It is time we stand firm and allow the Holy Spirit to direct our every step. Only then will we have the peace of God which passes all understanding.
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “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. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:6-14
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Stanford Law School’s website touts its “collegial culture” in which “collaboration and the open exchange of ideas are essential to life and learning.” Then there’s the culture Justice Stuart Kyle Duncan experienced when he visited Stanford last week. He had been invited by the student chapter of the Federalist Society to discuss the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, on which he had served since 2018. He has spoken at law schools across the country, and he was glad to accept this invitation. One of his first clerks graduated from Stanford. He also has friends on the faculty. He gave a talk there a few years ago and found it a warm and engaging place, but not this time.
When he arrived, the walls were festooned with posters denouncing him for crimes against women, gays, blacks, and “trans people.” Plastered everywhere were photos of the students who had invited him and fliers declaring “You should be ASHAMED,” with the last word in large red capital letters and a horror-movie font. This didn’t seem “collegial.” Walking to the building where he would deliver his talk, there was loud chanting a good 50 yards away, reminiscent of a tent revival in its intensity. Some 100 students were massed outside the classroom as he entered, faces painted every colour of the rainbow, waving signs and banners, jeering and stamping and howling. As he entered the classroom, one protester screamed: “We hope your daughters get raped!”
What Stuart Duncan experienced is mild by comparison with what persecution lies ahead for followers of Jesus Christ prior to His return to earth to rule and reign with the resurrected Saints for 1000 years. Jesus’ coming Millennial Kingdom is a transition period when Jesus will rule the nations from a new Jerusalem to fulfill the covenant God made with Abraham and all the Biblical prophecies made by the O.T prophets and the N.T apostles.
“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, 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. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:9-14
“But understand this, that in the last days, there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5
“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 20:4-6
“God lift me from the intolerable burden of my ignorance, arrogance, willful blindness, bitterness, and resentment. And I pray that others rise above the same faults and temptations.
I watched Fox News release this message: There are terrible things afoot under the surface of our society, and the perpetrators are coming for you and coming for us. And then I watched the Democrats respond in panic and anger, saying: There are terrible things afoot under the surface of our society, and the perpetrators are coming for you and coming for us.
Are there terrible things afoot, bubbling under the surface? Is something coming for you? And for us? Ask yourself how true that is of yourself and your own life. Have you addressed all that? Are you concerning yourself with the dust in your enemy’s eyes, instead of attending to the filth that obscures your own sight? Do we want accusation, suspicion, discord, derision, and hatred? Or the peace and prosperity and happiness that beckons to us at this moment like never before? Who’s the enemy here? Is it the basket of deplorables? Is it the freaks and the queers? Is it the plumbers and carpenters and tradesmen and managers who work honestly and diligently during the day and the soldiers who stalwartly defend the borders and protect us? Is it the artists and visionaries whose expressions of unbridled creativity entertain and rejuvenate us and who continually offer to us an unending panoply of technological miracle? Is it the institutions that guide and protect us that so many lived and died to erect and establish which for all their faults have served us so well?
Do we want revenge or justice? Do we want contempt or mercy? Do we want war—or peace? And what are you aiming at in your heart of hearts? I see even the best of men degenerating into the exchange of blows. I see even the best of men identifying the enemy in our neighbours and friends. I see even the best of men falling prey to cowardice and self-righteous anger. It needs to stop. I need to stop. You need to stop. Before it’s too late. Who is the enemy here? The snake in your heart? The lies on your tongue? The arrogance of your intellect? The cowardice of our refusal to see? The enemy is that which divides to sow discord. The enemy is the pride and fear that stops us from lending a hand across the divide. The enemy is the great and eternal adversary of mankind. And if we demonize our brothers, our comrades-in-arms, do we not precisely call that dread spirit forth? Have we not yet learned? courage, trust, truth, love, even unto your enemy. Which is you? God forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. May what is the highest guide our vision. May what is highest open our ears. May what is the highest guide our tongues. And may we pray fearful of the hell we could so easily and carelessly create. Deliver us from evil. Shine a light into the corners of our dark hearts. For thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.“
“But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5
“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. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
These two verses show us we cannot claim Jesus did not tell us that Christians will face persecution in the last days as God refines His church before the Rapture. It shows the Pretribulation position held by much of charismatic church in the USA and Australia is untenable. The church will go through a refining process with the tribulation and even great tribulation but Jesus tells us that we will kept from the wrath of God that is poured out on the world with the Trumpet and Bowl judgements.
“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” Romans 5:9
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:10
It is at the sixth seal that heralds the coming wrath of God
“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, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”Revelation 6:15-17
The trumpet blast at the seventh seal is when the Rapture of the Saints on earth takes place and it is then John sees the Saints in heavenin their glorified bodies.
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”Revelation 7:9-10
Hold steady by keeping close to Jesus, by following the leading of the Spirit and by keeping short accounts with the Lord. Confess sin quickly and be restored from all unrighteousness. Pray and seek guidance so that we can walk on the Highway of Holiness prepared for the ransomed, doing the things He has prepared beforehand for us to walk in – all for His glory.
Popular Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV Show Q & A
One of the most fascinating aspects of this Q & A programme was the tweets that the ABC flashed up on the screen. In that unique definition of impartiality that the ABC has, all of them were hostile or mocking to Martyn and Christianity.
The tweets themselves betray an ignorance of Christianity which is quite shocking. I will list them first so that you gauge the extent and nature of the ignorance.
“ACL needs to follow more of Jesus’ style”
“Who decides which souls need to be saved, Martyn?”
“I don’t want my soul to be saved Martyn. Please keep your beliefs to yourself and stop forcing them on to all of us?”
“We need a law giving us freedom from religion in this country. “
“Actually the Bible says we should ‘love one another as I have loved you’ so let’s not judge”.
“God loves everyone, made in his image. Straight, gay, bi, trans”
I believe this Q & A clearly shows we are in the days Jesus spoke of as representing the godless society that will precede His return first to take believers to heaven prior to His pouring our His wrath on an unbelieving, unrepentant world.
Although we are all made in the image of God, that image is tainted, distorted, perverted and fallen. We all need to be restored, renewed, reborn and there is only one way that can happen: repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We must die to the old self and be been born again of the Holy Spirit as water baptism so clearly expresses. Only then will we realise that following the Maker’s instructions on all aspects of life not only sex and sexuality is essential for our own good and for the well-being of society. Also, that it is love that compels us to speak as we do.
“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. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” Matthew 24:9-13
ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS BEHEAD IN MOZAMBIQUE REIGN OF TERROR
Islamic extremists have unleashed a reign of terror in northern Mozambique leaving churches burned to the ground, people beheaded, and tens of thousands displaced and traumatized. There have been reports that the militants beheaded 15 people in one week. Earlier in Holy Week, 52 young people who refused to join the Islamic terrorists were killed. Since 2017, more than 1,100 people have been killed in attacks after extremists launched a violent campaign to persecute Christians and recruit young soldiers.
OVER 8,000 MEMBERS OF ONE NIGERIAN CHURCH KILLED
One church in northeast Nigeria has revealed extremist group, Boko Haram, has taken the lives of 8,370 of its members. In a press conference, Reverend Joel Billi, from the Church of the Brethren, stressed the far-reaching and systematic persecution by Boko Haram. “Over 700,000 members have been displaced, with only seven out of 60 District Church Councils not directly affected,” he said. According to Rev Billi, 300 branches of the church have either been burned or destroyed. As well as countless homes and properties. This has forced at least 25,000 church members into refugee camps in neighbouring Cameroon.
POLICE SHUT HOUSE CHURCHES IN CHINA AND ORDER CHRISTIANS TO STOP BELIEVING IN GOD
House churches across China have experienced intensified persecution in recent months. Bitter Winter, a publication produced by the Centre for Studies on New Religion which covers human rights issues in China, documented numerous instances where Christians were threatened by Chinese Communist Party officials. Recently a group of officials in the city of Leiyang, in the central province of Hunan, raided a house church. The Religious Affairs Bureau in Yongzhou city shut down a house church for “holding illegal gatherings without permits” and confiscated computers, a photocopier, and Bibles. Police in Dengzhou city raided a house church, confiscating its Bibles and hymnbooks, and took 8 members away for interrogation. Officers warned them that they would be sentenced to 3 to 5 years in prison if they gather again. “The government wants to eliminate all religions and force us to give up our belief.” Christian churches that refuse to register with the government, known as “house churches,” are illegal. However, even Three-Self churches, those registered with the government, have also experienced an uptick in persecution in recent months. Regardless, according to estimates, there are more Christians in China than Communist Party members.
COVID 19 STOPS CHRISTIANS FROM ESCAPING NORTH KOREA
With borders closed and security increased, COVID-19 has made it harder than ever for North Korean refugees to escape. Between April and June 2019, 320 refugees fled to South Korea. In 2020, the number of those who made it across the border amounted to only 12. According to South Korea, these numbers are the lowest ever.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 