All posts filed under: z395

The Christian and pagan roots of Halloween

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Halloween has its roots in both the ancient Roman Catholic tradition of All Saints’ Day and Celtic paganism. Traditionally, All Saints’ Eve or All Hallows Eve from which we get the term Halloween has been celebrated on Oct. 31 by the Roman Catholic Church for centuries. All Saints Day was first commemorated by Pope Gregory III (731-741) on Nov 1, to honor the construction of an oratory for Saint Peter. The day was set aside to commemorate all who had died, particularly the saints and martyrs. All Saints’ Eve was celebrated the night before on Oct 31. Since the Roman Catholic Church believes in praying for the souls of the dead, this quickly became the main feature of the All Saints’ Day/Eve celebration. Roman Catholic theology believes in purgatory, which is a place where people can go to pay penance for their sins, before continuing on to heaven. The prayers for the dead are intended to shorten a soul’s stay in this intermediary state. The practice dilutes Jesus perfect sacrifice for the sins of the …

Sweden scraps its climate change department

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It was a bit of a shock, but the citizens of Sweden have finally tired of the left’s green and pro-crime agenda and for the first time in decades tossed them out of office. The first thing that the newly elected Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, did was scrap the country’s climate change department that promoted the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) agenda of net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Armstrong Economics provides more details: “New Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is not heeding to the Green agenda. He promptly eliminated the entire Ministry of Climate and Environment, marking the first time in 35 years that Sweden does not have a specific climate ministry. People are crying that the world will crumble without funding bureaucrats who pretend they have the ability to alter the weather cycle with enough funding.“ The Swedish government will also be restarting two nuclear reactors that were also shut down by the previous government’s green agenda and is also budgeting additional money for new nuclear power plants. It is the WEF’s net-carbon emission schedule, Agenda …

A simple Temple Pi mistake?

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In their attempt to mock and discredit the Bible, atheists and skeptics have pointed to 1 Kings 7:23, which described the Bronze Laver as being ten cubits from ‘rim to rim,’ with a circumference of 30 cubits. The Bronze Laver, also called the Molten Sea, located in the temple’s outer court, sat on top of 12 oxen. It was where the priests washed their hands and feet before entering the temple (Leviticus 30:20). Using the mathematical pi equation, which divides the circumference of a circle by its diameter, skeptics state that there is an error in the verse because if the sea of Bronze was 10 cubits across then the circumference should be 31.5 cubits. But Creation Moments points to a verse, 1 Kings 7:26, that the skeptics seemed to have missed: “What the skeptics fail to notice is that verse 26 informs us that there was a rim, with a width of a handsbreadth. A cubit is about 18 inches, while a handsbreadth is 4 inches. So the circumference is 540 inches. The rim-to-rim …

Christian Bakery wins Freedom of Religion case in California

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A California court has just ruled in favor of a Christian bakeshop owner in Bakersfield who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in 2017. After Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery, turned down their request, the couple took their case to California’s Department of Fair Housing. The agency in turn sued Cathy arguing she had discriminated against the lesbian couple under the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The Thomas More Society, which represented Tastries Bakery, ironically noted that the Unruh Act intended to prevent discrimination based on religion, race or ethnicity was being used to enforce religious discrimination. However, the judge ruled that under the protection offered by America’s first amendment, Cathy could not be forced to perform an activity that violated her Christian beliefs. During the initial conversations with the lesbian couple, the bakery had no problems providing a cake or previously decorated cake, but would not custom decorate a cake to specifically promote their Lesbian wedding, since it violated their religious beliefs. The case itself took many unusual turns. …

Video: Dealing with ‘woke’ bank’s attack on energy and farming?

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Left-wing activists and Democrats are trying to force American banks to go woke and allegedly using them to financially hinder oil companies and farmers over climate change issues. In response, nineteen state Attorney Generals (AGS) are demanding that six American banks hand over any documents related to the United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance. The AGs allege that the environmental and social practices (ESG) instituted under this program is harming America’s energy and farming industry.

A smile can lighten up your day

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A cheerful heart is good medicine,    but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 NIV) According to a study conducted by researchers at Stanford University simply smiling for a photo or selfie can actually improve your mood. The researchers came to this conclusion after studying 3,878 people from 19 countries. They were broken up into three groups. Half of them looked at images of things like kittens and puppies and the other half looked at blank screens. As they were looking at the images or blank screens, one group was told to put a pen in their mouth to mimic smiling. The second group was told to copy the smile of a photo of smiling actors and the third group was asked to use their hands, to physically pull up the corner of the mouths and cheeks to mimic a smile. The researchers found that those who copied the smile of the actors or pushed the corners of their mouths were significantly happier than those who didn’t. The study entitled, The Many Smiles Collaboration, …

In celebration of the church’s 3 main holidays, Christmas, Easter/Passover and Oct 31?

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Christians all over the world would probably agree that the celebration of Christ’s birth and His death and Resurrection are the two most important days in the church’s calendar. But allow me to now add a third day, Oct. 31. No, I am not referring to Halloween or even All Saints’ Day. Halloween, birthed in pagan fears, has to be the worst thing for believers to celebrate. Overindulging in sugar and wearing silly outfits often glorifying evil is strange because evil does exist. Years ago when I did security for a large corporate hotel, Halloween was the worst day of the year for the drunks, fights and all-around mayhem. Yet, we, the church, already have this date, Oct. 31, to celebrate. It is the most significant date in church history since the Book of Revelation was written. The problem is that we collectively have all but forgotten what we have and where we came from. Most Christian historians and theologians agree that the Protestant Reformation started on Oct. 31 in 1517. On that auspicious day, …

Major review of Australia’s response to COVID concluded lockdowns and school closures were a big mistake

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A major independent review of how different levels of Australian governments responded to the COVID pandemic through lockdowns and the closing of schools and borders has concluded their response was a HUGE MISTAKE and cause unmeasurable damage. The review was led by Peter Shergold, who currently serves as Western Sydney University chancellor, and is well respected by people on all sides of the political spectrum. The review came to this conclusion after consulting over 200 experts from all fields including health and epidemiology, Writing for news.com.au, Joe Hildebrand provides more details: Lockdowns were wrong. School closures were wrong. Border closures were wrong. Poor people were hurt the most. These are the findings of the first and so-far only full inquiry into Australia’s response to Covid, an independent review funded by three major philanthropic organisation and headed by Peter Shergold, previously the most senior public servant in the country and now Western Sydney University chancellor — an eminent and highly qualified mind deeply respected on both sides of politics. […] They were wrong and they caused …

Did the NY Times just endorse eco-terrorism and sabotage?

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The New York Times has apparently allowed a Swedish Eco extremist, Andrew Malm, to write a column for their paper. In his article, Malm apparently praised eco-terrorism and sabotage. The Daily Caller provides more details: Throughout his NYT essay, Malm, who is also an associate professor of human ecology at Sweden’s Lund University, criticized the climate activists who threw soup on a famous Van Gogh painting in London to protest fossil fuel production as their actions were not “gritty” enough. Malm argues that engaging in eco-terrorism is the most productive and logical form of climate activism and is also the author of the nonfiction book, How to Blow Up a Pipeline: Learning to Fight in a World on Fire.  “As a rule, I tend to think sabotage is most effective when it is precise and gritty,” Malm wrote. Malm praised the British environmentalists who destroyed gas station pumps in the United Kingdom, stating that they “hit the nail on the head” because it directly targeted a source of climate change. Malm claimed that climate movements in the West are now using …

Why is that Danish preacher in jail … in Florida?

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Have you heard of a man named Torben Sondergaard? Probably not, but you can expect to hear much more, soon. I learned a few things, for the first time, recently, and the story is puzzling. The story that we have is; A man, who apparently worked as a Christian street preacher, in Denmark, left his home country and moved to the United States. He had argued with the authorities in Denmark, and he believed he was in danger of being persecuted. In the U.S. he was detained for smuggling weapons from Mexico. He claimed that he was innocent and that he had never been in Mexico or near the Mexican border. Also, he had never smuggled weapons, or used drugs, at any time. From his own words, when the authorities dropped the weapons accusations, he expected to be released, on bail. At that time, he did not get what he expected, he was kept in jail, in solitary confinement, and no one told him why. Apparently, he was recently released from solitary, and he began …