Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The Percentage of Christians in America Has Hit An All - Time Low
Oct 26th, 2019
CommentaryMICHAEL SNYDER/ECONOMIC COLLAPSE BLOG
Categories: Contemporary Issues

The decline of the Christian faith in the United States continues to accelerate, and the latest numbers that we just got are absolutely staggering.  

Most European countries are already considered to be "post-Christian" nations, and the U.S. appears to be headed down the exact same path.  But when America was originally founded, it is estimated that 98 percent of the colonists were Christians.  

The Christian faith played a critical role in the development of our form of government, and down throughout history every generation of Americans was overwhelmingly Christian.  But now things are changing in a major way.  

According to a brand new survey that was just released by the Pew Research Center, only 65 percent of Americans now consider themselves to be "Christians", and that represents the lowest level ever recorded...

The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. 

Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

When it comes to religion, a 12 percent drop in a single decade is not just a decline.

In reality, it is a mass exodus.

As a Christian, this alarms me greatly.  Year after year we have seen a steady decline in the percentage of Americans that consider themselves to be Christians, and this has been helping to fuel the rapid growth of the "nones"...

Meanwhile, all subsets of the religiously unaffiliated population - a group also known as religious "nones" - have seen their numbers swell. Self-described atheists now account for 4% of U.S. adults, up modestly but significantly from 2% in 2009; agnostics make up 5% of U.S. adults, up from 3% a decade ago; and 17% of Americans now describe their religion as "nothing in particular," up from 12% in 2009. Members of non-Christian religions also have grown modestly as a share of the adult population.

Older Americans still overwhelmingly identify with the Christian faith, but at this point less than half of all Millennials consider themselves to be Christians...

Furthermore, the data shows a wide gap between older Americans (Baby Boomers and members of the Silent Generation) and Millennials in their levels of religious affiliation and attendance. More than eight-in-ten members of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) describe themselves as Christians (84%), as do three-quarters of Baby Boomers (76%). In stark contrast, only half of Millennials (49%) describe themselves as Christians; four-in-ten are religious "nones," and one-in-ten Millennials identify with non-Christian faiths.

The Millennials are the first generation in American history in which Christians are a minority.

Just think about that.  We have never seen a religious shift of this magnitude, and it has tremendous implications for the future of our society.

The percentage of our young adults that are "nones" has nearly quadrupled since 1986.  That is a mind blowing statistic, and it is one of the clearest indications that the left has been winning the culture war.

As a result of this mass exodus from the Christian faith, churches are closing down in droves all across the country.

In fact, it has been estimated that somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 churches are shut down in the United States every single year, and that means that over 100 churches will die this week alone.

As a result, we have a whole lot of empty church buildings on our hands, and many of them are being converted into hotels, bars and indoor playgrounds...

A large number of abandoned churches have become wineries or breweries or bars. Others have been converted into hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, and Airbnbs. A few have been transformed into entertainment venues, such as an indoor playground for children, a laser-tag arena, or a skate park.

But just because the Christian faith is declining in America does not mean that it has to stay that way.  Throughout U.S. history, the greatest spiritual awakenings have often erupted when things seemed the bleakest.  The message of Jesus is timeless, and we have an opportunity to show an entire generation of young people what it really means to be a Christian.

Just because they aren't going to church does not mean that Americans have lost their spiritual hunger.  Sadly, these days they are just searching out other outlets to satisfy it.

Of the 65 percent of Americans that still consider themselves to be "Christians", many of them never really go to church or practice their faith at all.  Church attendance in the U.S. has been plummeting for years, and the influence that faith has on our political process has also been waning.

At one time, it was exceedingly difficult to run for public office in this country if you did not consider yourself to be a Christian.  But today, being a Bible-believing Christian is considered to be a huge political liability in much of the nation.

The faith that was once the foundation of our republic is now mocked, ridiculed and laughed at on television and in our movies.  It has been pushed out of our government, out of our schools and out of the mainstream entertainment industry.

We wanted a godless society, and so that is what we got.

But if we ever do intend to "make America great again", we need to get back to what made it great in the first place.

Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Promoting Islam in Public School
Oct 26th, 2019
CommentaryCLARION PROJECT
Categories: Contemporary Issues

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case of a Christian high school student in Maryland who, despite threats of receiving a failing grade, refused to deny her faith by making a written profession of the Muslim conversion prayer known as the shahada.

The shahada states, "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."

Caleigh Wood, an eleventh-grader in La Plata High School, a public school in La Plata, Maryland, was represented in the case by the Thomas More Law Center, nonprofit public interest law firm know for defending First Amendment rights - particularly those that violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

As part of the school's "World History" curriculum, the La Plata High School high school students were taught extensively about Islam and required to list the benefits of the religion.

Wood and other students were forced to view a series of pro-Islamic PowerPoint slides, including one that stated, "Most Muslims' faith is stronger than the average Christian."

The curriculum also taught:

"Islam at heart is a peaceful religion."

Jihad is a "personal struggle in devotion to Islam, especially involving spiritual discipline."

"To Muslims, Allah is the same God that is worshiped in Christianity and Judaism."

"Men are the managers of the affairs of women."

"Righteous women are therefore obedient."

The case was previously heard by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the course did not violate the Establishment Clause.

The ruling came despite the fact that the high school's content specialist, Jack Tuttle, testified that use of such comparative statement was inappropriate, and that he would have advised the teacher not to use it.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the law center, commented on the fact that the Supreme Court refused to hear the case:

"I'm not aware of any public school which has forced a Muslim student to write the Lord's Prayer or John 3:16 [which states]: 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'"

"Yet, under the pretext of teaching history or social studies, public schools across America are promoting the religion of Islam in ways that would never be tolerated for Christianity or any other religion.

"It's disappointing that the Supreme Court did not take this opportunity to clarify the test which lower courts should use when ruling on establishment clause and free speech challenges to public school classes on religion."

The legal question in front of the Supreme Court at stake was whether La Plata High School violated the First Amendment's Establishment and free speech clauses when it gave Wood an assignment she was unable to complete without violating her religious conscience as a Christian.

Wood believes it is a sin to profess the existence of any other god but the Christian one. School officials refused her father's request that she be allowed to opt-out or be given an alternative assignment.

When Wood refused to complete the assignment to write the shahada, she received a failing grade.

"Many public schools have become hot beds of Islamic propaganda. Teaching Islam in schools has gone far beyond a basic history lesson," Thompson commented.

"Prompted by zealous Islamic activism and emboldened by confusing court decisions, schools are now bending over backwards to promote Islam while at the same time denigrating Christianity.

"Although the Supreme Court passed up an opportunity to provide clearer constitutional guidance on this important issue, there will be other chances as this issue isn't going away anytime soon," he added.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 26th, 2019
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

Ben Shapiro Calls for Building House of Worship on Temple Mount
It is enormous but it was definitely a pretty incredible experience. And the Kotel, the Western Wall, which everybody always says the holiest site in Judaism …. They’re getting it wrong. The holiest site in Judaism is the stuff that is above the Western Wall. The Western Wall isn’t even one of the original walls of the of the temple. It is an outer retaining wall that was outside the walls of the temple.

Leaked Pentagon report reveals US troops can fire on vehicles at southern border
“Weapons may be fired at a moving vehicle or watercraft when DOD forces have a reasonable belief that the vehicle or watercraft poses an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to DOD forces. Weapons may also be fired at a moving vehicle or watercraft posing an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm to non-DOD persons in the vicinity when doing so is directly related to the assigned mission,” the document states.

Steve Bannon Teams Up With Chinese Group That Thinks Donald Trump Is Bringing On THE END-TIMES
New Tang Dynasty is part of the Epoch Media Group, a collection of far-right media outlets linked to Falun Gong, a Chinese spiritual movement that has been repressed by the Chinese government. The group’s members apparently now see Trump’s presidency and Chinese trade war as a fateful moment.

Omniviolence Is Coming and the World Isn’t Ready
The terrorist or psychopath of the future, however, will have not just the Internet or drones—called “slaughterbots” in this video from the Future of Life Institute—but also synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and advanced AI systems at their disposal. These tools make wreaking havoc across international borders trivial, which raises the question: Will emerging technologies make the state system obsolete? It’s hard to see why not. You need only three guys to write the program and launch.” In this scenario, the K/K ratio could be perhaps 3/1,000,000, assuming a 10-percent accuracy and only a single one-gram shaped charge per drone.

Top Hamas Official: Israel Planning to Build Third Temple
Achmad Abu Khalbiah, who heads the Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Commission in the Palestinian parliament, categorized permitting Jews to practice freedom of worship on the Temple Mount “a blatant provocation” and warned that Israeli officials seek to demolish the Al-Aqsa mosque and build the temple on its ruins.

The Israel Defense Forces is Becoming ‘God’s army,’ Says Lieberman
The Israel Defense Forces is becoming an organ of the country’s Chief Rabbinate, Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman said on Wednesday. Lieberman’s comments, which he posted on Facebook, came in reaction to a booklet authored by senior rabbinical figures, among them military rabbis, with instructions for religious Jewish soldiers on how to avoid interactions with women forbidden by Jewish law. “This attempt to turn the IDF into the ‘army of Hashem,’ with conduct resembling that of a haredi [ultra-Orthodox] kollel, is part of the same messianic worldview that has penetrated Israeli society and which seeks to damage the fabric of life and the status quo on religion and state issues,” wrote Lieberman.

Syrian Kurds accuse Turkey of violations, Russia says peace plan on track
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) accused Turkey on Thursday of launching a large land offensive targeting three villages in northeast Syria despite a truce, but Russia said a peace plan hammered out this week was going ahead smoothly. Under the plan, agreed by Presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, Syrian Kurdish forces are to withdraw more than 30 km (19 miles) from the Turkish border, a goal Russia’s RIA news agency, quoting an SDF official, said was already achieved.

Christians continue to support President Trump
A new poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute finds 77% of white Evangelicals like the job Mr. Trump is doing. 54% of white Mainline Protestants agree while white Catholics are split about 50-50.

More than half a million Californian customers may face power outages
More than half a million homes and businesses in California could lose power this week as utilities including Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison cut off electricity as a preventive measure against wildfires. Over 308,000 customers in seven counties, including Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura in southern California, are under the Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) consideration, Southern California Edison said.

Algeria shuts down Protestant churches, police arrest worshipers
The closure of three Protestant churches in the Muslim-majority North African country of Algeria coincided with arrests of Protestant worshipers in mid-October. These church closures are completely baseless and clear indicators of persecution and harassment of Algeria’s Christians, who represent a significant religious minority.

The Harrowing Facts Of Chicago Homicide
Most of the violence is related to gang activity. But Chicago is unique among similarly afflicted cities in that its gang violence problem is not just the result of poverty or cultural issues. One of the worst aspects of these homicides is that very few cases are solved, meaning most of the criminals responsible do not face justice.

Trump Cancels All Admins’ NYT, WaPo Subs: “Will Save 100s Of 1000s Of Taxpayer Dollars”
In what we are sure will be “hair-on-fire” screamed about as ‘tyrannical-book-burning’, President Trump has reportedly planning to instruct federal agencies to not renew their subscriptions to the New York Times and the Washington Post. Not renewing subscriptions across all federal agencies will be a significant cost saving – hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars will be saved.”

Pacific measles outbreak: NZ Govt under pressure to step up
New Zealand’s government is under pressure to limit harm from the highly-contagious measles virus, which is spreading into Pacific Island countries.

US Air Force gets drone-killing laser
The US Air Force has taken delivery of its first high-energy laser for shooting down Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Built by Raytheon, it will be used in overseas deployments as part of a year-long experiment to test the laser weapon and to train operators in real-world scenarios. Laser weapons are starting to move out of the realm of science fiction and into the real world, and it seems that the US Air Force is looking at the small end to deal with UAVs. It may appear odd to use a high-tech energy beam to take out a quadcopter, but in many ways, it’s a neat match of threat and capabilities.

Amnesty says Turkey deporting Syrians to planned “safe zone” region
Turkey is forcibly sending Syrian refugees to an area of Syria near the border where it aims to set up a “safe zone” even though the conflict there has not ended… Turkey currently hosts some 3.6 million refugees who fled Syria’s eight-year-long civil war. But, with Turkish public sentiment towards them souring over time, Ankara hopes to resettle up to two million in the planned safe zone in northeast Syria.

Russian military police reinforcements arrive in Syria
Around 300 more Russian military police have arrived in Syria…under an accord between Ankara and Moscow which halted Turkey’s military incursion into northeast Syria. The deal, reached on Tuesday by Presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin, requires that Russian military police and Syrian border guards remove all Kurdish YPG militia from within 30 km (19 miles) of the Turkish border by next Tuesday.

Turkey Syria offensive: Kurds accuse Turkish army of violating ceasefire
Kurdish-led forces in north-east Syria have accused Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels of violating a ceasefire deal that ended a two-week offensive. The head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, Mazloum Abdi, said there had been attacks on the frontline near the town of Ras al-Ain. He urged the truce’s guarantors – the US and Russia – to “rein in the Turks”.

Russia Will Test Its Ability to Disconnect from the Internet
Russia will test its internal RuNet network to see whether the country can function without the global internet, the Russian government announced Monday. The tests will begin after Nov. 1, recur at least annually, and possibly more frequently. It’s the latest move in a series of technical and policy steps intended to allow the Russian government to cut its citizens off from the rest of the world.

Poll: Majority of Americans Want First Amendment Rewritten
A majority of Americans believe the First Amendment should be rewritten and are willing to crack down on free speech, as well as the press, according to a new poll. More than 60 percent of Americans agree on restricting speech in some way, while a slim majority, 51 percent, want to see the First Amendment rewritten to “reflect the cultural norms of today.”

Iraqi police open fire to disperse protesters on Baghdad streets
Iraqi police fired live ammunition and volleys of tear gas canisters to disperse thousands of protesters in Baghdad on Friday as anti-government demonstrations resumed after a three-week hiatus. At least two people were killed and about 100 wounded. Security forces were deployed on the streets of Iraq’s capital city on Thursday night in anticipation.

Israel, Jordan mark 25 years of imperfect peace
The Naharayim park was established 25 years ago as a symbol of the landmark peace agreement between Israel and Jordan. Now…the park and its “Island of Peace” are being shuttered. It is a fitting reflection of the Israeli-Jordanian relationship — one that began with great promise, but which has been plagued by mistrust, disappointment and missed opportunities.

‘I think we’re very close’: Freed pastor Andrew Brunson urges young American Christians to prepare for persecution
The American pastor whose two-year imprisonment plunged Turkey into a diplomatic feud with the United States urged young Christians in his home country to prepare for the persecution he sees gathering for them on the horizon.

DOJ reportedly opens criminal inquiry into DOJ Russia-collusion investigation of Trump
The New York Times reports that the administrative review of the Department of Justice investigation of the Trump campaign has shifted from an administrative review to a criminal investigation.

“Absolutely Horrendous”: All 39 Dead Found By UK Police In Back Of Truck Were Chinese Nationals
More than 24 hours have passed since Essex police were called to investigate a container truck with 39 dead bodies inside, including one victim believed to be a teenager. And while police have been tight-lipped, some new information trickled out on Thursday.

Kincade Fire explodes to 4 047 ha (10 000 acres), mandatory evacuations ordered, California
A fast-moving wildfire has exploded in rural Sonoma County late Wednesday (LT), October 23, 2019. The so-called Kincade Fire further intensified by 113 km/h (70 mph) winds, consuming around 4 047 hectares (10 000 acres) by October 24 and forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes their Geyserville in Northern California.

Heavy rains wreak havoc across capital Cairo, killing 8, Egypt
Heavy rains pounded parts of Cairo (population 9.5 million) prompting schools to cancel classes on October 23, 2019. The rains also produced floodwaters that blocked many major roads and caused massive traffic jams. Eight people have died, including four children, due to the harsh weather conditions.

Heavy rains brought by strong positive IOD impact East Africa, hundreds of thousands affected
Hundreds of thousands in East Africa are now being affected by torrential rains influenced by the very strong positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), which was predicted to cause extreme rainfall in the region from October to December. The current positive IOD event has strengthened significantly over the past month. The latest weekly value of +2.15 °C is the strongest positive weekly value since at least 2001 (when the BOM’s weekly dataset commenced), and possibly since 1997, when strong monthly values were recorded.

Forbes Magazine Publishes Open Letter To Facebook’s Zuckerberg: Call Your New Cryptocurrency ‘The Mark’ Instead Of Roman Empire Libra
Forbes Magazine is a serious periodical for serious investors, they are not known for their humor. So it is with great interest that we see that Steve Forbes, CEO of the Forbes empire, has written an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg regarding his fledgling Libra cryptocurrency he is currently trying to get congressional approval for. Forbes had a novel suggestion for the social media magnate, he told him to call it “the Mark” instead of Libra. Wow.

Planned Parenthood admits guilt in illegal baby body parts trafficking scheme
A preliminary hearing in the case of Planned Parenthood versus the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) has already revealed that the nation’s largest abortion provider is, in fact, guilty of illegally trafficking aborted baby body parts, just as CMP proved with the undercover video footage it released to the world.

Soros Group Eclipses $70 Million Spent on Lobbying Since Trump Took Office  – Washington Free Beacon
The Open Society Policy Center (OSPC), an advocacy group funded by billionaire George Soros, has now pushed more than $70 million into lobbying efforts since Donald Trump took office.

Former Department Of Justice Information Technology Specialist Sentenced To Federal Prison For Posse
..In November 2018, law enforcement officers received information that Darenberg, then employed as an information technology specialist with the Middle District of Florida’s United States Attorney’s Office, was in possession of child pornography..A forensic review of Darenberg’s personal computer confirmed his attempts to encrypt and conceal files containing approximately 1,630 images of child pornography, including approximately 270 videos

I will Lead on Softly, Until I Come Unto My Lord Unto Seir - Genesis 33:14
Oct 26th, 2019
Morning MeditationF.B.Meyer
Categories: Meditation;Inspirational;Book Study

This was rather unworthy of the man who, the night before, had seen the face of God, and learned to prevail. The man who had seen God, and prevailed, was doubtful of His newly-given blessing! He did not realize that it would carry him through the difficulty that threatened him. He had not as yet learned to apply it to every emergency. It is a solemn lesson to those who have passed through some rapturous experience.

After blessing, often trial. - When the fair colors have been laid on, the vessel is plunged into the furnace, that they may be burned in.

The trial frequently presents itself in the home or ordinary life. - Some are led into the wilderness to be tempted; but more often it is the contact with our Esaus that furnishes us with the supreme test of the worth of what we have received.

Failure comes from not reckoning on God. - Jacob looked at Esau's four hundred armed men, and compared his own following with despair. So Peter looked at the winds and waves. At such times we must fail, if we rely on schemes or plans, instead of saying, God is.

Oh for the peace that floweth as a river.
Making life's desert places bloom and smile;
Oh for the faith to grasp Heaven's bright "forever"
And the shadow of earth's "little while."

We must act faith. - If Jacob had refused to use this subterfuge, and had spoken simply and manfully, he would have found that Esau would have acquiesced and left him. The angels who had gone forward to deal with him (Genesis 32:2) had done their work effectively, and God had changed his purpose.