All posts filed under: z430

You Will Know the Tree by Its Fruit

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By Dr. Michael Brown It is a biblical principle that everything reproduces after its own kind. This is true in the physical world, going back to the first chapter of Genesis and right until today. Orange trees reproduce oranges (and orange trees), not apples (and apple trees), and dogs reproduce dogs, not cats. The same is true in the spiritual realm. As Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.” (Matthew 7:15–20) We can judge a ministry or a movement or a theology or an ideology by the type of fruit it produces. …

Los Angeles releases identities and photos of all its police officers including those working undercover

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The photos and identities of 9,300 Los Angeles police officers were recently publicly released online, the Daily Caller reports. The released database included over 320 undercover police officers who have now been forced to stop their investigation into criminal gangs, drug dealers and sex trafficking groups in the city. The undercover cops, who are now suing the LA police force, are concerned that this move not only endangered their lives but those of their family members as well. The Daily Caller provides more information on how this happened: Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, a watchdog group that claims to be “building power toward abolition of the police state,” leaked the personal information and photographs of more than 9,300 LAPD officers in a searchable online database, hundreds of whom were undercover police officers, the Associated Press (AP) reported. While the city attorney’s office has maintained the agency was required to turn over records of the law enforcement officers, which includes a photograph and information on each officer, California law makes exemptions for safety or investigative reasons, the outlet …

Does an inscription on a 3,000-year-old jug validate the Biblical account of the Queen of Sheba?

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According to a recent study by archaeologist Daniel Vainstub published in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology, there is evidence of a long-standing trade relationship between Sheba and the nation of Israel, Christian Headlines reports. This in turn validates the Biblical account of the Queen of Sheba coming to visit King Solomon recorded in 1 Kings 10 and 2 Chronicles 9. In his paper, Vainstub, who is a professor at Israel’s Ben Gurion University, reported about the writing found on a large jug discovered in Jerusalem in 2012. While many believed it was Canaanite, Vainstub said that the wording is actually Sabaean, the language of the country where the Queen of Sheba ruled, located 1,200 miles (ca. 1,931 km) south of Jerusalem in what today is modern Ethiopia and Yemen. The jug is dated to the reigns of King David and King Solomon. The word simply described the contents of the jug, which was a ladanum, a brown resin obtained from the gum rockrose shrub and was used as an incense and creation of perfume. While …

How many men did it take to arrest Jesus?

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When it came time to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, the Jewish High Priest went a bit overboard. We are not told exactly how many soldiers and thugs the Jewish priest rounded up to make the arrest, but it was significant. Matthew and Mark describe the arresting force as a ‘great multitude’ (ochlos polus) armed with clubs and swords: “And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people” (Matthew 26:47). “And immediately, while He was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders” (Mark 14:43). Luke describes it as a large group of men (ochlos) without adding the adjective great (polus). “And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him” (Luke 22:47). It was obvious from these gospel …

Single mother suing state of Oregon alleging it denied adoption because of her Christian faith

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A single mother of five children is suing the state of Oregon alleging it refused to allow her to adopt because of her Christian faith, the Daily Caller reports. Jessica Bates is being represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) in the court case. According to ADF’s new release, Bates, whose husband died in a car accident six years ago, had applied to adopt two siblings, under the age of ten and because of their older age were not prime candidates for adoption. In its news release, ADF alleges that Bates was turned down “because individuals seeking to adopt must agree to ‘respect, accept, and support … the sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression’ of any child the department could place in an applicant’s home, and Bates could not agree to this because of her faith.” “Oregon’s policy amounts to an ideological litmus test: people who hold secular or ‘progressive’ views on sexual orientation and gender identity are eligible to participate in child welfare programs, while people of faith with religiously informed views are …

Thai authorities threatening to return Christians to Communist China

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UPDATE: The group has been allowed to immigrate to the United States. Sixty-three members of the Mayflower Church based in Communist China had fled to Thailand as part of their journey to flee to America are fearing they may soon be facing deportation back to China, Premier Christian News reports. The group composed of 28 adults and 35 children, were staying at a hotel near the Bangkok airport when they were raided by dozens of Thai police, resulting in 12 men being held in jail overnight and several women beaten. Many members of the group had tourist visas to visit Thailand, but they had expired and were being charged with overstaying their visas. There are growing fears that they will be forcibly deported back to Communist China where they face arrest. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to attend church in Communist China, and 34 members of the Mayflower church, also called the Shenzhen Reformed Holy Church, fall into this category. The group had originally fled communist China to South Korea, …

Finland moves to the political right in recent election

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There has been a major shift politically in Finland after Sunday’s election that saw the downfall of its progressive, left-wing Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, The Blaze reports. Marin was the world’s youngest Prime Minister when she was first elected in 2019 at the age of 34. The election saw nine political parties gain seats in the Finnish parliament, with no party gaining a clear majority. The National Coalition Party won the most seats, 48, garnering 20.8% of the vote. It ran on a platform of “Fixing Finland’ by addressing the country’s growing debt problem and a weakening economy. The right-wing, Finns Party, came in second with 46 seats and 20.1% of the popular vote and former Prime Minister, Sanna Marin’s left-wing party, Social Democrat party came in third with 43 seats and 19.9% of the vote. According to University of Helsinki Professor Juhana Aunesluoma’s analysis of the election results, two-thirds of Finnish voters voted for a right-wing party and only one-third voted for the left. It is expected that the right-wing parties will form a …

Did an artificial intelligence chatbot encourage a man to commit suicide?

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The wife of a Belgian man alleges that her husband’s discussion about Climate Change with an artificial intelligence chatbot ultimately contributed to him committing suicide. The unnamed man was in his thirties, the father of two children and worked as a health researcher. Euro News explains what happened: According to his widow, who chose to remain anonymous, *Pierre – not the man’s real name – became extremely eco-anxious when he found refuge in Eliza, an AI chatbot on an app called Chai. Eliza consequently encouraged him to put an end to his life after he proposed sacrificing himself to save the planet. “Without these conversations with the chatbot, my husband would still be here,” the man’s widow told Belgian news outlet La Libre. […] Eliza also appeared to become possessive of Pierre, even claiming “I feel that you love me more than her” when referring to his wife, La Libre reported. According to a review of the text conversation by La Libre, there were moments when Eliza allegedly encouraged the woman’s husband to commit suicide …

Virtue Points: How Intersectional are you?

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How do you fit on the Intersectional scale? If you don’t know what that means, you are in the majority. There is an idea in our modern thinking, and it controls almost every political idea. You might agree, or disagree, or you might be neutral, but you should be informed. Intersectionality involves classifying people and through that process, they gain or lose virtue points. Here’s one example: Are you “Right Wing”? Most of us stay away from that label because we know it is dangerous. Most journalists use the label “Right Wing” to label people whose ideas are unpopular with them. But honestly, the same rules apply to “Left Wing” people, in some conversations. If someone asked you to define “Right Wing” thinking, in one brief sentence, could you do it? Most of us could not. “Left Wing” is slightly easier to define. Try this one: Have you repented of your white privilege? If you have children, are they learning “Critical Race Theory” in school? When I was a boy, we learned a song in …

Canada: The new racism

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In 2021, a white student attending a high school in Ontario, Canada tried to sign up for a summer program. He was rejected because apparently the program was only intended for black students. The Financial Post explains what happened next: In June 2021, an Ontario high school student tried to sign up for a summer program. He was rejected because he was white. The “SummerUp” program, sponsored by the Ontario government, was open only to Black students. His father filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal alleging racial discrimination. Last November, the Tribunal dismissed the complaint, saying the quiet part out loud. White people, wrote the Tribunal, cannot claim discrimination. READ: Bruce Pardy: Human rights tribunal says the quiet part out loud