Tag Archives: world
Scripture of the Day
A Psalm of David.
1. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
4. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
5. Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6. Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7. The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
8. The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9. Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.
Matamoros strike threatens to shut down North American auto industry
21 January 2019
The strike by 70,000 auto parts workers in Matamoros, Mexico is beginning to affect production at US automobile assembly plants, raising the possibility that auto production across North America could be brought to a standstill.
US workers are reporting to the World Socialist Web Site that management is slowing production at General Motors and Ford assembly plants as a result of the strike. Production at Ford’s assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan will stop this week due to a shortage of parts caused by the walkout.
By courageously withholding their labor, the workers at 50 auto parts plants that have been struck in Matamoros, just south of Brownsville, Texas, could bring a major sector of the world economy to its knees.
The strike demonstrates the objective unity and class common interests of US, Canadian and Mexican workers. It is the answer of the working class to Donald Trump’s racist threat to build a wall between the US and Mexico and the nationalist poison spread by the United Auto Workers and Unifor unions to make American and Canadian autoworkers think that their enemies are their Mexican brothers and sisters, not the auto bosses and the capitalist profit system.
Matamoros workers are beginning to recognize their social strength. Yesterday, thousands of workers marched from their plants to the city plaza, chanting “Bourgeoisie, get out!” The strikers have issued a social media appeal for “all Mexican workers” to join them in a national general strike, which they are calling “A Day Without Workers.”
A section of yesterday’s mass demonstration marched behind the banner, “The union and company kill the working class.” Striking workers report that “everyone has read” the coverage on the World Socialist Web Site.
“The union and the company kill the working class”
There are indications the strike may spread. On Friday, the parts company Aptiv fired hundreds of workers in the border city of Reynosa for engaging in partial strikes demanding a 100 percent wage increase. The firings provoked outrage among the workers.
The eyes of a million maquiladora workers near the US-Mexico border—accounting for nearly two-thirds of Mexican exports—are on the struggle in Matamoros.
The strike shows that the international interconnectivity of the auto industry is a source of profound strength for workers everywhere. While the companies have used globalization to facilitate the hyper-exploitation of workers all over the world, the Matamoros strike demonstrates that workers at each center of production have the power to disrupt the whole machine of global for-profit production.
Tens of thousands of workers around the world are following the World Socialist Web Site’s coverage of the strike, and growing numbers are sending messages of support:
• A GM worker in Oshawa, Canada said: “The companies are trying to exploit all of these workers across the border. I’m sick of it! Canada, USA and Mexico do not deserve this. We are going to follow exactly what the Mexican workers are doing. Our union isn’t doing too much for us. You need to fight this fight, you need to win it. Keep your heads up.”
• A Romanian worker at Autoliv—one of the companies being struck in Mexico—told the WSWS: “The conditions in Mexico are an outrage. In Romania it is no good either. We work 12 hours for 20 euros a day. The unions are the same in Romania as in Mexico. They are little bosses. In Mexico and Romania we must get better, decent conditions.”
• A GM Silao worker in Guanajuato, Mexico agreed: “We have to do something similar here in Silao. This union is not worth anything.”
• An auto parts worker in Detroit, Michigan said: “I take heart that you are reaching across these illusory national borders to your working class brothers and sisters north of you and saying ‘an injury to one is an injury to all.’ We must stand together as a united global force. We will not let US-based companies hurt Mexican workers in the name of capitalism. You are our fellow workers, you just happen to live in a different country.”
Chinese Christians Forced to Make Choice Between Welfare Benefits or Belief
01/18/2019 China (International Christian Concern) – Chinese Christians in poor health who depend on the government’s welfare benefits are forced to choose between their belief or social benefits.
According to Bitter Winter magazine, several elderly Christians in Henan province were approached by local officials, asking them to remove religious items in their homes and hang up the portraits of President Xi Jinping or Chairman Mao Zedong in order for them to continue to receive welfare benefits.
Their rationale is that it’s the state that fills your pocket, not God, so the praise and worship belongs to the Party and its leaders.
A 60-year-old ill woman Song Lanyin, who relies on the minimum living subsidy provided by the government to survive, refused to take down decorations showing her Christian belief in her home as demanded by the visiting deputy mayor and the other officials. They then took it upon themselves to destroy all of the Christian symbols in her home, including a work of calligraphy with the words “God loves the world” and “Immanuel” written on it.
Yanjin County’s Wu Fengying also experienced similar harassment last August. Local government officials discovered and photographed Wu attending church gatherings, and warned her not to believe in God or else have her minimum living subsidy revoked.
Zhao Shun, on the other hand, had his house intruded by a village party secretary. He ripped a religious couplet off the door while Zhao was not present. Zhao was also threatened that his benefits will be revoked if he fails to remove religious symbols at his house. When Zhao confronted him later, on how Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of belief, the village party secretary replied that only fools believe in this provision.
Turkey Rejects Attempt to Investigate Dink Murder
01/24/2019 Turkey (International Christian Concern) – According to the Turkish Minute, a parliamentary motion to investigate the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist, has been rejected. Dink was assassinated by an ultranationalist youth and the authorities have not revealed the murderer’s identity.
Prior to his death, Dink reported receiving a number of threats from ultranationalists for describing the killing of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire as a genocide. Dink himself was an Armenian. Human rights groups have repeatedly noted worrying irregularities in the subsequent murder investigation, including deleted or missing evidence and police officials misinforming the court.
While the Armenian Genocide predates the modern Republic of Turkey, it remains a highly sensitive topic within the country. Turkey is divided into several ethnic-religious identities. Culturally, to be considered truly Turkish then one must be Muslim. Armenians, in addition to having a different ethnicity, are Christian. Many Armenians continue to report regular harassment and discrimination in Turkish society.
Rejoicing in Acquittals While Facing Challenges in Algeria
Learn more at http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org/PrayerApp
Friends, Christians in Algeria ask for prayer for five Christians recently acquitted of proselytizing and blasphemy charges. While our Algerian brothers and sisters rejoice in these acquittals, they note that these brothers still face many challenges not uncommon for North African Christian believers from Muslim backgrounds.
For example, in one case that includes four men who left Islam to follow Jesus, the prosecutor has appealed the acquittal verdict and has requested another hearing for January 20.
Another Christian brother from Algeria’s Ain-Delfa province was forced to take his family and flee his farm after his wife’s family discovered his conversion from Islam. They family found him and persuaded his wife to accuse him of insulting Islam and file for divorce. Under Islamic law, the divorce was granted, and his wife was granted custody of their daughters.
Pray that the four Christians’ acquittals will not be overturned on appeal and that they would know the Lord’s peace, wisdom and guidance in the face of ongoing challenges.
Pray with our brother from Ain-Defla—that God would give him special strength to face the separation from his family and to find another job soon.
Pray there would be just laws and greater societal tolerance towards Christians in Algeria.
And pray that those responsible for the intimidation of Christians would know the conviction of the Holy Spirit and ultimately, forgiveness and new life in Jesus.
*Representative names and photos are sometimes used to protect identity.
Scripture of the Day
Psalms 23
A Psalm of David.
1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
The Vatican Surrenders to China
-
The Vatican may learn the hard way that the Communist Chinese government does not honor its agreements. Beijing may attempt to extort even more concessions from the Vatican, just as the Chinese regime demands ever more surrender of sovereignty from western companies that do business in China.
-
It is also highly dubious that the Vatican will purchase peace by this pact: the regime will continue to persecute the Church. If the Communist regime is true to form, thousands more crosses will be taken down from Christian churches, especially in areas that have a high Christian population.
-
The courageous elders of Chinese Catholicism, who have endured decades of government persecution and regime efforts to divide the Church, may be seen by their flocks as having been bypassed by the Vatican. Many, if not most, Chinese Catholics are likely to view this agreement as a cynical political betrayal by the Vatican rather than a faith-based decision.
-
“In light of this dismal record, it seems that prudence and caution would seem to be the order of the day in Vatican negotiations with the totalitarians in charge in Beijing, at whose most recent Party Congress religion was once again declared the enemy of Communism.” — George Weigel, Catholic author and political analyst.
Scripture of the Day
2 Peter 3
3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4. And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7. But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
The Problem of Evil: A Christian Response
Well worth your time, very informative.
Published on Jan 4, 2019
Join us at: http://www.inspiringphilosophy.org
To help support this ministry click here: https://www.patreon.com/inspiringphil…
This is a long explanation for why there is evil, and how it is understood in a Christian Worldview.
Sources:
God and the Problem of Evil – William Rowe
Blackwell’s Companion to Natural Theology – JP Moreland and William Lane Craig
Why Does God Allow Evil – Clay Jones
The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology – Michael C. Rea
The Nature of Necessity – Alvin Plantinga
Letters to a Christian Nation – Sam Harris
The Problem of Pain – CS Lewis
Mere Christianity – CS Lewis
The Rape of Nanking – Iris Chang
Ordinary People and Extraordinary Evil – Fred E. Katz
How Can We Commit The Unthinkable? – Israel Charny
Shantung Compound – Langdon Gilkey
https://ourworldindata.org/ethnograph…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146…
Milgram Experiments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdUu3…
https://www.simplypsychology.org/milg…
https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com…
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases…
Darwinism and Christianity Redux – Michael Ruse
The Denial of Death – Ernest Becker
How Long, O Lord?: Reflections of Suffering and Evil – D. A. Carson
Free of Charge – Mirslov Volf
Exclusion and Embrace – Mirslov Volf
2011 Ligonier Conference – R. C. Sproul
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/2011-li…
https://www.premierchristianradio.com…
Divine Action – Keith Ward
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview – William Lane Craig and JP Moreland
The Rebel – Albert Camus
The New Problem of Evil – NT Wright
https://vimeo.com/10785299
245 Million Christians Facing ‘Extreme’ Persecution Worldwide
WASHINGTON, DC — North Korea remains at the top of a list of 50 countries where at least 245 million Christians are facing “extreme persecution” this year, up 14 percent from 215 million at the beginning of 2018, the World Wide Watch List (WWL) released on Wednesday by Open Doors, a group that monitors the mistreatment of Christ followers, revealed.
At the Heritage Foundation, David Curry, the president and CEO of Open Doors, unveiled the 2019 WWL that ranks the top 50 “most dangerous” countries to follow Jesus, noting that women are especially targeted.
“The Open Doors World Watch List which you will see today is the most comprehensive grassroots study of what is happening around the world to restrict religious freedom, particularly for Christians,” he explained, adding “The data proves conclusively that Christian women are the most exploited group on the face of the earth.”
Curry highlighted several trends that are currently fueling the mistreatment of Christians, including the rise of authoritarianism and spread of radical Islam, particularly into sub-Saharan Africa.
“Radical Islam is the driver behind eight of the top 10 on the World Watch List this year, four of which are from Africa,” the Open Doors chief proclaimed.
“Africa is now a major epicenter of violence against Christians,” he observed.
Last year, worldwide persecution resulted in 4,136 deaths, 1,266 attacks on worshipping centers, and the detention 2,625 individuals, the report revealed. The number of deaths increased by about 35 percent from 3,066 at the beginning of 2018.
“Christians were killed for faith-related reasons. On average, that’s 11 Christians killed every day for their faith,” Open Doors noted.
Overall, one in 9 Christians across the world suffered from “high levels of persecution,” the organization added.
North Korea remained at the top of the list for the 18th year in a row.
Curry noted:
North Korea is number one on the World Watch List again and number one in the use of authoritarian tactics. It’s illegal to own a bible. The very suggestion that you’re a Christian can get you arrested with neighborhood watches again using old school communist tactics to control people. The use of authoritarian methods is a major trend on this year’s World Watch List and it’s a worrisome trend. We believe that churches must be sacred from authoritarian tactics.
This year, Open Doors listed 11 countries where Christians are experiencing “extreme persecution”: North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, India, and Syria.
“For the first time since the start of the World Watch List, India has entered the top 10,” Open Doors pointed out.
Open Doors’ report thus argues that India is a worse place to practice Christianity than China, where persecution against followers of Jesus has intensified under Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, who has vowed to “Sinicize” the country’s religions or make them more Chinese by instilling core communist values.
“China jumped 16 spots, from 43 to 27,” the monitor group reported.
Referring to both India and China, the Open Doors report said:
Each of these countries is home to more than a billion people, so these trends are distressing. Hindu nationalists in India continue to attack Christians with what seems like no consequences, and in China, the increased power of the government and the rule of Xi Jinping continue to make open worship difficult in some parts of the country.
Open Doors described the persecution of Christians in China as the worst it has been for more than a decade, with at least 50 million people facing some form of repression this year as the Xi administration tightens its grip over religious worship, the Guardian found.
The watchdog group, alluding to the estimated 65 million Christians in India, reported:
Christians have been targeted by Hindu nationalist extremists more each year. Since the current ruling party took power in 2014, attacks have increased, and Hindu radicals believe they can attack Christians with no consequences. The view of the nationalists is that to be Indian is to be Hindu, so any other faith— including Christianity—is viewed as non-Indian. Additionally, in some regions of the country, converts to Christianity from Hinduism experience extreme persecution, discrimination and violence.
Hindu nationalist groups in India are reportedly affiliated with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Curry pointed out:
The BJP party, which is the ruling party, Prime Minister Modi’s party has created a radical Hindu agenda within India that seeks to push out the Christian faith and anything other than the Hindu faith. They’re not hiding it. It’s not a secret. It’s their agenda and they have created an environment where people have impunity to attack churches — hundreds of churches have been attacked.
He went on to urge “influential business people in America of Indian descent…to speak out about the discrimination against Christians in India.”
“We believe the international community is beginning to wake up to this discrimination within India … because this is a massive human rights violation and Indian needs to be held to account if they want to be part of the international business community,” Curry added.
The Open Doors chief also urged the United States and other Western nations to defend and promote religious freedom.
Curry told reporters:
People around the world are losing their freedom to choose their faith and we have to pay attention. Religious freedom is the key to what it means to be free. It is the key to what it means to be human and we believe at Open Doors that everyone should have the right to choose their own faith or if they want to have no faith at all. The United States and the Western world can lead in defending and promoting religious freedom.
Open Doors released its WWL assessment one day after the United States government marked 2019’s Religious Freedom Day on Tuesday.
A Nationwide Epedemic
Know The Warning Signs
January 14th, 2019
More than 40% of men today suffer from it—and their loved ones pay the price.
It’s called “toxic masculinity,” and it’s the latest disease to plague the nation. It can affect every aspect of a toxic man’s life. Worst of all, toxic masculinity is contagious, so if you’re infected, you need to know right away so you can avoid spreading it to your friends and family.
Are you or a loved one suffering from toxic masculinity? Know the warning signs so you can seek help:
- Even the faintest whisper of facial hair – If you have a mustache, schedule a check-up. If you find a goatee on your face, consider going into the emergency room. If you have a full-grown beard, well, it’s probably too late for you.
- A belief that men and women are at least a little bit different – Should you be infected with the cancerous idea that men and women are even the slightest bit different from one another, you could have toxic masculinity. If you’re a woman who believes this, then you suffer from an even worse disease called internalized misogyny.
- Throwing a professional wrestler off a steel cage right through the announcer’s table – Men who suddenly look around and find that they’re tossing a professional wrestler off a steel cage to plummet right through the announcer’s table are at high risk of developing toxic masculinity. If a man in your life is suffering from this symptom, encourage him to stop wrestling in the WWE immediately.
- Eating meat on occasion – A disease like toxic masculinity can quickly change your diet. If you find yourself leaving your vegan avocado quinoa toast smoothies untouched in favor of wolfing down some bacon-wrapped bacon, you might have toxic masculinity.
- Holding the door open for a woman once in a while – It looks innocent enough: a woman approaches, and you hold the door so she doesn’t have to open it again. Seems like common courtesy, right? WRONG. It’s one of the first warning signs of toxic masculinity, and you need to do better if you’re going to beat this thing. One way to reduce your toxic masculinity is to slam the door right in a woman’s face and scream, “EQUALITY!!!” through the glass when she glares at you.
- Yelling stuff about freedom and charging into battle wearing blue face paint – If you find yourself charging into battle against the English wearing blue face paint in the 14th century, you might be beyond medical help. Do all of society a favor and get yourself drawn and quartered so no one else catches this contagious illness.
- Being a man who doesn’t hate himself – This is the most telling sign. If you’re a biological male and you don’t hate yourself, toxic masculinity is already coursing through your veins. If there’s going to be any hope of recovery, you need to begin hating yourself today.
If you or your man are showing one or more of these symptoms, contact your medical professional today. Get help, before it’s too late.
Democrats Prepare Hearings on “Rightwing Extremism”
Prior to the 2018 midterm election, I speculated a Democrat-controlled House would result in hearings targeting “hate groups,” that is to say anybody on the “right” who challenges official narratives, otherwise known as “conspiracy theories.”
“Rep. Bennie Thompson, an African American lawmaker from Mississippi, is in charge of the House Homeland Security Committee,” reports McClatchy. “Thompson intends to hold hearings to spotlight what experts say is a growth of deadly right wing extremism in America, even if the hearings could feature members of white supremacist groups.”
Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.
The corporate propaganda media has done a fair job of conflating “white supremacy” and political thought the government wants to silence and shutdown.
The McClatchy article follows this line and links the “trend” of antigovernment activism to Timothy McVeigh and the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. That event has served as a touchstone for over two decades, primarily thanks to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has made a cottage industry out of hyping “rightwing hate” (unacceptable political thought) and the threat of violence (for the state, the two are inseparable).
McClatchy and the corporate media have attached “rightwing extremism” to a number of violent incidents that have more to do with disturbed individuals than ideology.
A recent spate of deadly incidents—including the shooting deaths of 11 congregants at a Pittsburgh synagogue in October, the February 2018 shooting deaths of 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and the August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—have given Thompson and other congressional Democrats anecdotal evidence about the extreme right.
The Obama administration, continuing the work of the Bush administration, had the Department of Homeland Security produce a paper on the supposed threat posed by “rightwing extremists,” who are by the state’s definition terrorists on par (or worse than) al-Qaeda and its follow-up act, the Islamic State. Republicans, at the time a majority in the House, lambasted the paper and accused the Obama administration of overreach. Then DHS boss Janet Napolitano went into damage control mode.
Napolitano apologized for the report. But the political backlash led DHS to halt work on tracking violent far right extremism, according to Daryl Johnson, the report’s author.
But now the House is in the hands of the Democrats and they want blood following the election of Donald Trump and the rise of the so-called Alt-right, or New Right.
Under Republican control from 2011 until last week, the House Homeland Security Committee repeatedly rejected calls by Thompson and Democrats for specific probes of domestic far right activities. Some Republicans now are wary that Thompson’s probe would be conducted with a partisan eye.
“Congress and the White House has looked at terrorism through the lens of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. The House Homeland Security Committee, established after those attacks, largely has focused on the foreign threat or potential danger posed by U.S. residents becoming radicalized by foreign terrorist groups.
That emphasis will change under the Democrats. The new terrorists are “homegrown” and include nationalists (shorthand for racist), constitutionalists, and libertarians. There will be hearings and possible show trials in the months ahead.
The DHS will finally arrive at its final destination—a national secret police focused on political activism challenging the ruling elite and their contrived political arrangement.
Thompson said his aim is to change the dialogue and find a balance in a U.S. domestic terrorism strategy that he believes has focused too heavily on the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism and too little the rise of far right, white nationalist, and anti-Semitic groups.
In order to be classified as antisemitic, a group or an individual only need criticize Israel and its incestuous relationship with the ruling elite and its political operatives, in particular the neocon faction.
Thoughtcrime—opposition to the state and its policies—will not be tolerated by the political class. Democrats want to make sure another Donald Trump will not sit in the White House. In order to do this, they have to go after high profile individuals and groups, hold show trials, and continue the work of deplatforming “deplorables” and their “hate,” in other words, free speech.
Finally, a word of warning to the “far-left.” If you wander outside the parameters set by Democrats and their “progressive” foundations, you will also be attacked and undermined by the state, especially if you oppose Bush’s wars, which became Obama’s wars and now Trump’s.
Things are Changing
NEWSER) – Attention anyone who navigates by compass, be they shipping companies, aircraft, or uber-serious hikers: North may not be where you think it is. The magnetic north, that is. Nature reports that the Earth’s northern magnetic pole has moved so quickly since the last update of an official guide known as the World Magnetic Model in 2015 that scientists are jumping in early to update it again instead of waiting until 2020. The move was supposed to happen on Tuesday, but it will now wait until Jan. 30 because of the government shutdown. It seems the pole, whose movement is notoriously difficult to predict, is speeding away from the Canadian Arctic on its way to Siberia much faster than scientists predicted three years ago.
story continues below
The upshot is that the difference between magnetic north—where a compass needle points—and geographic, or true, north is bigger than it should be, explains Live Science. Modern navigation systems use the World Magnetic Model to help adjust for the difference between magnetic and true north. The reason for the erratic movement is unclear, but it all has to do with the complex movements of liquid iron in the core of the planet. Not helping: Scientists detected “an unusually punchy geomagnetic pulse” beneath South America in 2016, and that pulse may be a factor in the anomaly, per IFL Science. Here is how one geomagnetist explains it to Nature: “The location of the north magnetic pole appears to be governed by two large-scale patches of magnetic field, one beneath Canada and one beneath Siberia. The Siberian patch is winning.” (Read more discoveries stories.)
A Laymans Discourse 
You must be logged in to post a comment.