Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Those Who Control the Language Control the Culture: Dictionary.com Goes Woke
Sep 13th, 2020
CommentaryMICHAEL BROWN/ASKDRBROWN.ORG
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Speaking of Orwell's 1984, a blogger noted that, "By controlling the language, Big Brother controls the way that the people think. With a limited vocabulary, the people are limited in how much they can think, as well as, what they think about."

That's why we should be concerned with Dictionary.com's "biggest update ever."

Yes, in addition to the many new words added "are the deeper revisions that document what drives us here at Dictionary.com: the ways language is constantly evolving. A great many of these entries we've updated address topics that touch all of us on the most personal levels: race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, health and wellness."

The revisions are intended to "help eliminate heterosexual bias in language," and they were "informed" by the gay activist (or, gay activist driven) organizations GLAAD and the APA. No wonder LGBTQ websites like Out.com are celebrating the changes.

What, then, were some of these major revisions?

Goodbye "Homosexuality" -- The "Clinical" Term Implies Something is Wrong

First, references to the words homosexual and homosexuality were removed from references within the dictionary. Why? Dictionary.com wants "to put people, not practices, first, and ensure our definitions reflect--and respect--how people use language."

As for the "homosexual" and "homosexuality," they "originated as clinical language, and dictionaries have historically perceived such language as scientific and unbiased. But homosexual and homosexuality are now associated with pathology, mental illness, and criminality, and so imply that being gay--a normal way of being--is sick, diseased, or wrong."

So, because there is nothing wrong with homosexual practice -- thus says Dictionary.com! -- and because "homosexuality" implies that something is wrong, references to the word must be removed from definitions and descriptions.

Practically speaking, this means that "gayness" is now defined as "'gay or lesbian sexual orientation or behavior' compared to the outmoded gloss of 'homosexuality.'"

And in keeping with Dictionary.com's new wokeness, reflected in capitalizing the B in Black when it comes to race, the website has also capitalized the P in Pride when it comes to gay pride.

This entry has a twofold definition: 1) recognition of LGBTQ identity, affirmation of equal rights, and celebration of visibility, dignity, and diversity in the LGBTQ community (formerly referred to as Gay Pride); 2) events or organizations that celebrate the LGBTQ community and its members (often used attributively).

Dictionary.com Offering a Specific Newsletter for "LGBTQIA Language"

You can even sign up to receive "LGBTQIA Language Updates Every Week"! This way, you'll be able to "keep up with the growing language of the LGBTQIA community, right in your inbox." (Will we also be appraised of new letters being added to LGBTQIA?)

To be sure I didn't miss any of these exciting updates, I clicked on the link and signed up, after which I received an email allowing me to pick my preferences for future emails. These included: Word of the Day; Word Games & Quizzes; LGBTQIA Language from Dictionary.com; Synonym of the Day from Thesaurus.com; Slang Decoder; Parent Portal; Language Lovers; In Other Words from Thesaurus.com.

So, the one and only lexical category that is specific to the culture is LGBTQIA Language. No updates on any other specific subject are offered. Nothing about animal or plant life. Nothing about the environment. Nothing about politics. Nothing about sports. Nothing about anything specific other than LGBTQIA Language. (The Parental Portal is designed to help parents teach vocabulary to their kids.)

Talk about the hijacking of a dictionary by sexual and ideological activists. This is beyond woke.

Reminiscent of Orwellian "Newspeak"

In 1984, the Orwellian character named Syme was a philologist who specialized in Newspeak. According to Syme, "By 2050, earlier, probably -- all real knowledge of Oldspeak will have disappeared. The whole literature of the past will have been destroyed. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Byron -- they'll exist only in Newspeak versions, not merely changed into something different, but actually changed into something contradictory of what they used to be."

In addition, "Even the literature of the Party will change. Even the slogans will change. How could you have a slogan like 'freedom is slavery' when the concept of freedom has been abolished? The whole climate of thought will be different. In fact there will be no thought, as we understand it now. Orthodoxy means not thinking -- not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness."

Orwell wrote his classic book in 1948, meaning that he "predicted" this scenario almost 70 years ago. Today, there is an increasing attack on studying the classics, reflected in articles like Rebecca Futo Kennedy's "We Condone It by Our Silence. Confronting Classics' Complicity in White Supremacy." Who needs to rewrite the classics in Newspeak when they can simply be eliminated? 

Books are Banned and Acceptable Language is Defined: Refuse to Be Controlled

We already have had to deal with the growing practice of banning the sale of books that confront PC positions, along with banning ads for such books. (Most recently, Amazon banned sales of the well-documented, fact-filled book The Health Hazards of Homosexuality while banning ads for the important new book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.)

But that was not enough. Now, we are told how to speak and how to think. The implications of this are massive.

When I type in the phrase "he who controls language" on my browser, the following sentences come up: "He who controls language controls the conversation"; "controls thought"; "controls the argument"; "controls the debate"; "controls the masses."

My advice is simple: refuse to be controlled by LGBTQ activists and their allies. Speak wisely. Speak graciously. But speak truthfully, without compromise.

If you don't do that today, then come tomorrow, you won't be able to speak the truth at all.

The Reasons Which Justified This Supreme Act of Destruction:
Sep 13th, 2020
Morning MeditationF. B. Meyer
Categories: Meditation;Inspirational;Book Study

It was a merciful warning to the rest of humanity

The lesson of the Flood had well-nigh faded from the memory of man; and, heedless of all restraint, the human family had made terrible advances in the course of open shameless vice -- so much so that there seemed an imminent danger of men repeating the abominable crimes that had opened the sluices of the Deluge. It was surely, therefore, wise and merciful to set up a warning, which told its own terrible story, and reminded transgressors that there were limits beyond which the Judge of all the earth would not permit them to go.

It is true that the visitation, if it temporarily alarmed the nations of the immediate neighborhood, did not prevent them from reaching a similar excess of immorality some centuries later, or from incurring at the edge of Joshua's sword the doom which heaven's fire had executed on their neighbors in the Jordan plain. Still, God's warnings have a merciful intention, even where they are unheeded; and this Sodom catastrophe has been well said to belong to that class of terrors in which a wise man will trace "the loving-kindness of the Lord."

Revelation 11:19
Sep 13th, 2020
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

I would remind you that the chapter and verse divisions are not inspired, they were added later, they are very helpful but not inspired. Verse 19 in chapter 11 should really be the first verse in chapter 12. "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail", Rev. 11:19.

We are now entering a new prophecy which continues through chapter 14. This new section deals mainly with Israel. The ark of the covenant has to do with Israel, not with the gentiles or the church. It begins with, "The temple of God was opened in heaven". The book of Revelation is a book of openings or unveilings.

There are seven great openings in the book of Revelation which are not found anywhere else in scripture.

A door is opened in heaven-4:1   The seals are opened-6:1 to 8:1   The abyss is opened-9:2   The temple of God is opened-11:19   The tabernacle of testimony is opened-15:5   The heaven is opened-19:11   The books of judgment are opened-20:12

The temple in Jerusalem was patterned after the true temple which is in heaven, Exod. 25:40.  In Hebrews we read, "patterns of things in the heavens", 9:23. The earthly worship was patterned  after the worship that takes place in heaven. Sin, of course, corrupted the earthly worship. When John saw the holy city coming down out of heaven, Rev. 21:2, he pointedly said, "I saw no temple therein", 21:22. When sin is gone in that glorious age, we will worship God from pure hearts and we will worship Him directly, with no need of a temple. This is true for us today, though we must not neglect corporate worship, Heb. 10:25. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth", John 4:24. That is not yet true for Israel, it will be some day, though the some temple worship will be retained as a memorial. See Jeremiah 3:16, I believe when Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem, He will be the fulfilment of the temple and worship be consummated in Him. He will replace the temple which was a type of Christ in the first place.

"There was seen in His temple the ark of His testament:", the ark was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. It was the only piece of furniture in the holy of holies. There are five names given to it in the Old Testament. It was called the "ark of the covenant", because the two tables of the O.T. covenant were kept in it.  It was called the "ark of testimony", because it testified of God's holiness and man's sin and of Christ in His deity and humanity as the mediator between God and man, Exod.25:22. It was called the "ark of God", because it was the only visible throne of God, I Sam. 3:3.

Understand that when the instructions were given for the construction of the tabernacle and its furnishings, God began with the ark and finished with the gate This simply indicating that God began from within himself and worked out toward man. Salvation is of God, man receives it by faith, but he has no part in its provision, salvation is all of God. It is called the "ark of God's strength" because of the miracles and mighty associated with it, Psalm. 132:8. It was called the "holy ark" because it was God's throne, God actually dwelt between the two cherubims, where Moses actually met with Him and communed with Him.

One of the purposes of the ark was to protect and preserve its contents, the same as Noah's ark and the arc that Moses was placed into.  We have a beautiful reminder that we have been placed in Christ, the place of safety.

All of this to remind us that this next section of the book deals with Israel. Next we will begin our study of chapter twelve.

Paying Homage to Blm While Ignoring Anti - Semitism
Sep 13th, 2020
CommentaryJONATHAN TOBIN/JNS.ORG
Categories: Antisemitism

What do you think would happen if President Donald Trump decided to meet with the family of a shooting victim, and it turned out his father was a neo-Nazi?

It would be front-page news in the country's leading newspapers and be discussed pretty much continuously on CNN and MSNBC. Whatever the other circumstances surrounding the incident, such a meeting would be rightly seen as showing Trump's indifference to hate.

What do you think would happen if his opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, did something just like that?

The mainstream media would ignore it. Those who brought up the issue or even asked questions about it would be branded as "right-wing" provocateurs or denounced as trying to divide the country on race.

That was what happened when Biden met last week with the family of Jacob Blake, an African-American man who was left paralyzed when he was shot by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis., after resisting arrest.

Since the death of George Floyd, all incidents involving police shooting African-Americans have become the focus of intense scrutiny as the nation debates the questions of racism and alleged police brutality. Outrage about these shootings has propelled the Black Lives Matter movement to the center of public attention, as well as leading to protests, riots and violence.

In the days since the shooting of their son, both of Blake's parents had made many public appearances. His father, Jacob Blake Sr., spoke at the March on Washington on Aug. 28 at which Dr. Martin Luther King's 1963 event was commemorated.

In his remarks, he pronounced America "guilty" of racism and other crimes in a speech that was widely broadcast and published in leading newspapers. Indeed, as The Washington Post put it, the Blake family represented the feelings of all African-Americans.

But a few days later, when the elder Blake's views became known to the public, the same news media that was transfixed by his angry speech in Washington lost interest in him.

As it turns out, Jacob Blake Sr. has been angry about a lot of things long before his son's scuffle with the police led to tragedy. His Facebook page had been filled with hate for years. Most of Blake's posts were violently anti-Semitic in which he reproduced traditional memes about "pink toe Jewish people" controlling the economy and the media.

It was no surprise that a person who spewed anti-Semitism would say he was "with Farrakhan 100%." As a Nation of Islam sympathizer, it's also unsurprising that he posted a picture of Jesus in a toilet bowl to show his antipathy for Christianity.

Blake's hatred doesn't mean that we shouldn't feel sympathy for a family that is dealing with a tragedy. But all of this became public knowledge before Biden was scheduled to meet with the Blake family on a visit to Kenosha.

The Democratic nominee chose to meet with him anyway. That Biden's camp did so was clearly based on its calculation that offending Blake and the Black Lives Matter movement was politically more perilous than offending Jews or people who care about anti-Semitism.

That might have been a controversial decision, but when the mainstream press is acting as your bodyguard, such risks are minimal.

Biden got a pass for the meeting because neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post--or CNN or MSNBC or any mainstream media outlet--mentioned Blake senior's anti-Semitism and Farrakhan support in their coverage of the meeting. Indeed, as of this writing, none of them have even mentioned it once. Though the Blakes remain in the news, his father being a hatemonger was judged by the editors of these forums to be a non-issue.

Those who did raise the issue were denounced. A JTA story on the meeting was headlined "As Biden meets with Jacob Blake's family, right-wing media calls attention to father's anti-Semitic Facebook posts," as if the problem was with the publications that published the news rather than with the anti-Semitism.

One writer for Forbes denounced the whole discussion as a dastardly conservative attempt to divide blacks and Jews. From that point of view, those who talk about black anti-Semitism are the troublemakers, not the anti-Semites.

For the last four years, Trump's opponents have labored to portray him as an enabler of anti-Semites. They have harped on what they considered to be dog whistles to anti-Semites, including his infamous "very fine people" quote that has been consistently misrepresented in the media as referring to neo-Nazis when it was nothing of the kind.

His opponents dismiss Trump's historic pro-Israel record and close personal connections with Jews, including a daughter who converted to Judaism and Jewish grandchildren, as irrelevant to the question. Many Jewish liberals have regarded anyone whose personality and politics they dislike as much as Trump as morally equivalent to Hitler.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, it is still an article of faith on the Jewish left that a vote for Trump is a vote for anti-Semitism.

Yet Biden's meeting with an anti-Semite generated crickets from the same people.  Outlets that have been screaming about Trump's alleged enabling of anti-Semitism were mum.

Biden's decision to meet with Blake doesn't mean he's an anti-Semite. Nor does it obligate anyone to support Trump. But it does mean that the Democrat--assuming his aides told him about Blake senior's dubious record--or his handlers believe that paying homage to the BLM movement is more important than drawing lines in the sand about anti-Semitism.

This is about more than just media bias. The pass given to Blake senior--and to Biden for meeting him--demonstrates anew that anti-Semitism is one sin in which the cancel culture that dominates American public discourse in the summer of Black Lives Matter has no interest.

Just like the apology given Muslim-Americans by the Biden campaign for its statement denouncing Linda Sarsour for her anti-Semitism, the Blake meeting is a milestone that those who care about the spread of hatred cannot afford to ignore.

When our political leaders don't treat hatemongers as being beyond the pale--as was the case with Biden and Blake--they can't pretend that they take the issue of anti-Semitism seriously.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 13th, 2020
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

For The Full Story Click on the Individual News Item

Why Oman’s support for Bahrain-Israel deal is important for the Gulf
Oman’s support for the Bahrain-Israel deal is not entirely surprising since the Gulf nation that was the original trial balloon in 2018 welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oman’s wording of its support argues that the Bahraini step to normalize relations is linked to achieving peace by ending Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and establishing a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem.

Iranian DM reveals ‘strength’ of new missiles that threaten Israel
In an…interview…Defense Minister Amir Hatami spoke of the strength, readiness and capability of his defense forces and their new missile capabilities. He spoke directly about new missiles that were unveiled on August 31. Hatami discussed the quality and quantity of the missiles and said it was one of the great achievements in the field of missiles that the country has seen.

Greek and Turkish ships are playing chicken at sea. There’s already been one crash.
Last weekend, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan demanded that Greece engage in talks over escalating tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, warning that “They’re either going to understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or in the field with painful experiences.” The Greek government, meanwhile, announced further steps this week to bolster the country’s defenses.

Afghan-Taliban talks: Government calls for ceasefire
The Afghan government has called for a humanitarian ceasefire with the Taliban, as the first-ever peace talks between the two sides began in Qatar. Abdullah Abdullah, who led the government’s delegation, stressed that there was “no winner through war”. The Taliban did not mention a truce, reiterating instead that Afghanistan should be under Islamic law.

US prepares to quit strategic Incirlik air base amid increasing Turkish belligerence
A provocative live-fire drill by the Turkish navy off the coast of Cyprus was branded illegal on Saturday, as reports emerged that the US is drawing up plans to withdraw from the strategic Incirlik air force base. “We don’t know what’s going to happen to Incirlik,” Ron Johnson, the US senator who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee for Europe, told the Washington Examiner.

Exceptional rainfall and record floods hit African Sahel
Exceptionally heavy rains and record floods across West, Central, and East Africa have affected millions of people in recent weeks, with more than 200 people dead and hundreds of thousands left homeless. Unprecedented rainfall has destroyed homes and crops, adding to the already extremely difficult situation caused by historic locust outbreak and violent conflicts.

Authorities arrest 4 people on arson charges in deadly and massive California, Oregon, and Washington wildfires
Authorities have arrested at least four people for suspected arson in the massive and still-growing wildfires in California, Oregon, and Washington.

U.N. Chooses Teen Prostitution Advocate for Top Human Rights Post
The U.N. has tapped a former abortionist and advocate for teen prostitution to its top post of expert on health and human rights.

Schumer and Pelosi-Aligned Groups Funnel Millions in Secret Cash Into 2020 Elections
Liberal advocacy groups closely aligned with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) have pushed more than $12 million in dark money contributions into the 2020 elections, filings show.

Wildfire Smoke Causes Worst Air Quality in the World for West Coast Cities
Smoke pollution from wildfires raging in California and across the Pacific Northwest  worsened in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon, on Friday, giving those cities and others in the region the worst air quality in the world, according to iqAir.com

Transgender Satanist anarchist wins Republican nomination for county sheriff
DiMezzo, the High Priestess of the Reformed Satanic Church, said she’s running for the law enforcement position to oppose the “reckless” partisan electoral system that allowed her to become the Republican nominee.

Chinese Government Combines “Track & Trace” COVID-System With Social Credit Score
…coming to America soon!