“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7-9)
Praise Reports: Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8)
The National Day of Prayer broadcast aired for 30 minutes on Thursday, May 4, at 8 p.m. Eastern time on a variety of platforms. The broadcast reached nearly 110 million U.S. households through television, radio and online platforms, and was focused on James 5:16 and the theme of praying fervently in righteousness. Thousands of in-person events were held by the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force volunteer coordinators throughout every state and U.S. territory. “As a nation, we’ve never been down this road. It’s a road of moral relativism, a road of cultural decadence, unprecedented strife and discord,” said Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, co-host of the year’s NDP broadcast. “We’re praying for an awakening in America.”
There’s a whole lot of baptism going on these days. As CBN News has reported, signs of revival have been ongoing around the US since February when a spiritual awakening began at Asbury University. Initially, the awakening seemed to mainly be happening among college students. But the latest evidence is being seen in the form of hundreds of salvations and baptisms at churches across the country over the past two months. From scores of souls being baptized at churches, to dozens being baptized at one prison, pastors across the US are declaring that God is on the move. Pastor Eric Petree of Citygate Church in Cincinnati, Ohio posted online, “Over the past two weeks at Citygate we have seen 650 people give their life to Jesus, 93 baptized, and yesterday hundreds of people filled the altars seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit.”
Christians traveled from around the country to infiltrate The Satanic Temple’s SatanCon in Boston, where they met with and witnessed to atheists and satanists at what was billed as the “largest satanic gathering in history” over the weekend of 5/4/28-29. A Twitter video from evangelist Sean Feucht showed one attendee on stage ripping up pages from the Bible. Christians who were covertly ministering at the event reported that nearly 100 people made decisions to follow Jesus though others have disputed that claim.
The Kansas Legislature overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a bill enacting a biological definition of the word “woman,” a measure that prevents courts and government officials from redefining the term to include biological men who identify as women. The House on Thursday voted 84-40 and the Senate on Wednesday voted 28-12 to override the Democratic governor’s April 20 veto of Senate Bill 180, known as the Women’s Bill of Rights. The measure, which now becomes law, defines a person’s sex as their “biological sex, either male or female, at birth,” based on their reproductive systems.
San Antonio, the second-largest city in Texas. rejected a pro-abortion, pro-marijuana referendum during local elections on Saturday, 5/6. Proposition A garnered only 28% of the vote on Saturday, with almost 72% voting “no” on the referendum.
A judge in Chicago has ruled that the city must rehire and compensate employees who were terminated for not complying with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate issued by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. The ruling, issued by Judge Anna Hamburg-Gal, found that Chicago’s actions were in violation of the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, as they did not negotiate in good faith with the workers regarding vaccine requirements.
Mississippi officials must allow students to obtain religious exemptions from vaccine mandates, a federal judge ruled recently. District Judge Halil “Sul” Ozerden ruled on April 18 that the state’s health officer and a handful of local school district officials were “enjoined from enforcing Mississippi’s school compulsory vaccination law…unless they provide an option for requesting a religious exemption from the law’s requirements.” Plaintiffs were represented by the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), a medical freedom advocacy group.
A Georgia school district has reached a settlement with a substitute teacher it fired for taking issue with an LGBT children’s book, agreeing to reinstate Lindsey Barr and pay her $181,000 in legal fees and damages. The religious liberty nonprofit Alliance Defending Freedom sued the school for violating Barr’s freedoms of speech and religion and discriminating against her religious viewpoint.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has signed into law a ban on most abortions throughout pregnancy, with exceptions only allowed prior to the detection of a heartbeat in cases of rape, incest, or medical emergency. The new law, which would effectively ban any abortion after six weeks, is expected to be legally challenged.
North Dakota also has become the latest state to prohibit minors from being chemically or surgically mutilated through transgender drugs and surgeries. House Bill 1254, signed on April 19 by Republican Governor Doug Burgum, prohibits medical professionals from performing “castration, vasectomy, hysterectomy, oophorectomy, metoidioplasty, orchiectomy, penectomy, phalloplasty, or vaginoplasty” on minors. It also prohibits a mastectomy and the administration of puberty blockers.
The City of Tampa, Florida, had to write a big check this week — $950,000 — for unlawfully banning Christians from receiving and Christian counselors from providing counsel for gender confusion and unwanted same-sex attractions. In Vazzo v. City of Tampa, Liberty Counsel represents marriage and family therapist Robert Vazzo and his minor clients, as well as the Christian ministry New Hearts Outreach Tampa Bay. The Court of Appeals ruled the Tampa ordinance that prohibited licensed counselors from providing voluntary talk therapy to minors seeking help to reduce or eliminate their unwanted same-sex attractions, behaviors, or identity is unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
A candidate for mayor in a London borough has won a substantial payout after being sacked by her employer for stating her Christian views in her election platform. Maureen Martin was supported in her fight with her housing association employer, L&Q, by the Christian Legal Center. Its chief, Andrew Williams, said, “Maureen is a courageous woman treated appallingly for having the guts to declare her belief that marriage between a man and a woman is best for children and our society. The settlement, not fully disclosed, was reached after considering her loss of earnings, injury to her political career and more.
Satanic Deception: He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. (John 8:44) The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone wherethe beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)
Chloe Jennings-White believes she was born in the wrong body. Despite being physically healthy, the 58-year-old Cambridge University-educated research scientist at the University of Utah “identifies” as a paraplegic. And now she wants doctors to sever her spinal cord so she can live as her “authentic self.” Meanwhile, three North Carolina Universities now encourage children as young as two years old to begin “transitioning” to the “opposite sex,” preparing the toddlers for “sex-change surgery” later in life.
New World Order – One-World Government: It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Revelation 13:7-8) The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces. (Daniel 7:23)
A brand-new database compiles information from 60+ different sources and organizations into one massive, government-run, continent-wide medical database for every person in Africa. This is exactly what the World Health Organization (WHO) wants for everyone. This has already spread to at least 10 other countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Haiti, Papua New Guinea, and more. “This is a huge threat to privacy and freedom, and it will be soon coming to America,” says Mat Staver, CEO of Liberty Counsel. The name of this WHO program is the “Health Equity Assessment Toolkit” (HEAT). “Equity” is the buzzword for dividing people up by race, economic status, nation, age, gender, LGBTQ, religion, etc.
The Federal Reserve warns: “A general-purpose CBDC (a Central Bank Digital Currency run by the federal government) would generate data about users’ financial transactions,” and this would give federal agents complete access to every penny you spend. The Fed cautions that there must be efforts to “safeguarding consumer privacy.” But there is no adequate “safeguard” that can protect you from the government when the government IS your bank and knows your transactions immediately, notes Mat Staver, CEO of Liberty Counsel.
- A CBDC is a key element on the road to the one-world government of Revelation 13.
According to a statement from the White House on 4/21, racial discrimination has created a situation in which minority groups are more likely to suffer from various environmental harms and are more susceptible to the impact of climate change. To address this issue, President Biden has created the White House Office of Environmental Justice, which will be led by a Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer to coordinate environmental justice policy across the federal government. The executive order will deepen the “whole-of-government” approach to climate change, which President Biden has frequently touted. It makes clear that the pursuit of environmental justice is a duty of all executive branch agencies and should be incorporated into their missions. The order also directs the agencies to consider measures that address adverse environmental and health impacts on communities, including the cumulative impacts of pollution and other burdens like climate change.
- Some of this is well-intentioned, but the net result is more governmental control from the executive branch, bypassing Congress, in lockstep with establishing an authoritarian one-world-government.
The Demise of America: The first was like a lion (Britain) and had eagle’s wings (America). I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. (Daniel 7:4)
Governors have begun to take action to protect their states’ citizens against President Biden’s plan for a cashless society in which the federal government monitors and controls every cent you make and spend. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has announced a bill designed to “protect Floridians from the Biden administration’s weaponization of the financial sector” through a Central Bank Digital Currency. “What central bank digital currency is all about is surveilling Americans and controlling Americans,” said Gov. DeSantis. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem recently vetoed a bill seeking to change the definition of money to sneak CDBC adoption into a South Dakota banking bill. Congress is also considering taking action via two bills now pending in the House and Senate.
Domestic violent extremists have in the last year increasingly shared tactics with each other on using guns to attack electric power stations in a move that likely escalates the threat to US critical infrastructure, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Following multiple high-profile attacks on US power substations last year, extremists have stepped up sharing of ‘online messaging and operational guidance promoting attacks against this sector,’ says the DHS bulletin, which was distributed to US critical infrastructure operators on Monday. The information and tactics shared by extremists online include ‘detailed diagrams, simplified tips for enhancing operational security, and procedures for disabling key components of substations and transformers,’ DHS warned. The last year saw a flurry of physical attacks and vandalism on US electric infrastructure.
Politics: Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. (Romans 13:1-2)
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the leading contenders for their parties’ presidential nominations, but most Americans don’t want either to run, according to a series of new polls. An NBC News survey released this week found that Americans oppose another Biden run for the presidency by a margin of 70-26 percent. That includes a majority of Democrats – 51 percent – who say he should not run. The same survey found that Americans oppose another Trump run for the White House, 60-35 percent. One-third of Republicans don’t want Trump to run. Biden is 80, Trump 76.
House Republicans on Wednesday morning unveiled new bank records showing that the Biden family has been profiting from a corrupt foreign influence scheme since Joe Biden’s time as vice president. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) announced the alarming new findings. “The committee has reviewed thousands of bank records from individuals and companies affiliated with the Bidens and their associates,” Comer said. “The committee is concerned by the complicated suspicious network of over 20 companies [that] the Bidens and their associates used to enrich themselves. Most of these companies were limited liability companies formed during Joe Biden’s vice presidency. The bank records show the Biden family, their associates, and their companies received over 10 million from foreign nationals and their companies.”
Censorship: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18)
A professor from the University of Albany has been arrested for disturbing a lawful assembly, resisting arrest and obstruction for shutting down the messaging of pro-life students who had set up a protest against abortion. But as constitutional expert Jonathan Turley explains, the bigger dilemma posed by the arrest of Renee Overdyke is the demand that the university itself affirm freedom of speech … or admit that its free speech rules “are a mere pretense of principle.”
Persecution: Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. (Matthew 24:9) Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2023 Annual Report, highlighting religious oppression taking place in dozens of nations around the world. In the report, the independent watchdog “sound[ed] the alarm regarding the deterioration of religious freedom conditions.” USCIRF recommended 12 countries be redesignated as CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan, with Cuba and Nicaragua being added as first-timers. In 2022, the Cuban government sought “total dominance over religious life in the country,” immediately worsening the religious freedom conditions. Additionally, the persecution of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua has greatly increased through the “imprisoning clergy, shuttering church-affiliated organizations, and prohibiting Catholic rituals.”
Islamic extremists killed a pastor in northeast Nigeria, and terrorists in the country’s middle belt state of Benue killed 134 Christians the first week of April, reports Christian Headlines. The Islamic State West Africa Province also attacked predominantly Christian Njimtilo, Pulka and Ajiri Mafa villages at the same time the pastor was slain, said area resident Josephine Joseph.
Approximately 23,000 people have fled ethnic violence in northeast India that has resulted in the death of 58 individuals, many of whom were Christians. At least 50 churches have suffered destruction and burning. The local Christian community has accused the Hindu nationalist government of supporting the attackers. Beginning last Wednesday, May 3, the violence was reported in several areas in the state, but mostly in the Imphal Valley and Churachandpur. The Christian victims have identified the predominantly Hindu Meitei ethnic community as the attackers.
During Holy Week, one of the most important celebrations of the Christian church year, believers in Nigeria suffered injury, kidnapping, and even death. Simply believing in Christ in Nigeria can be a death sentence for men, women, and children—regardless of age, social status, and vocation. At least 94 Christians were martyred throughout Holy Week in Nigeria. Nigeria remains the most dangerous place on earth to be a Christian, yet the U.S. government refuses to put them back on the Countries of Particular Concern list.
With Iranian regime officials unable to stop the Women, Life, Freedom movement, Tehran is escalating its War on Women by shutting down businesses, rigorously enforcing compulsory hijab laws, installing advanced surveillance technologies, and attacking more schoolgirls in poison gas attacks. The Iranian regime has used compulsory hijab requirements, mandated since 1979, to control and oppress women and girls. Iran’s officials also limit access to education and financial independence to keep women in the lower echelons of society.
Abortion/Contraception: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart. (Jeremiah 1:5)
A panel of advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously on Wednesday that the benefits of making a birth control pill available without a prescription outweigh the risks. If the F.D.A. approves nonprescription sales of the medication, called Opill, this summer, it would significantly expand access to contraception. Approval is not a foregone conclusion, however. FDA scientists who analyzed data submitted by the pill’s maker, HRA Pharma, have raised concerns about whether women with breast cancer and undiagnosed vaginal bleeding should avoid the product.
The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade has already impacted Planned Parenthood according to its newly released annual report, which shows the group performed thousands fewer abortions in the year justices delivered the landmark human rights ruling. Yet the amount of taxpayer dollars flowing to the nation’s largest abortion business increased by tens of millions. Planned Parenthood committed 374,155 abortions last years, down 2.4% or 9,305 fewer abortions from 2022. At the same time, Planned Parenthood received more government funding last year than at any time in its history, a $37 million increase over the $633.4 million it collected the previous year.
- Abortion giant Planned Parenthood has expanded its efforts to harm vulnerable Americans by becoming a leading organization facilitating so-called “gender transitions,” according to a new report by Live Action. The pro-life organization found that Planned Parenthood has become the second-largest group distributing irreversible puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
GOP dissenters defied the party to block abortion limits in two conservative states, perhaps a sign of emerging fears of political backlash in upcoming elections. All five women in the South Carolina Senate, including three Republicans, helped to stop that state’s bill, while a Nebraska bill went down because of an 80-year-old male Republican who voted against the GOP measure restricting abortions.
A new Biden policy represents a significant shift from USAID’s gender policy released by the Trump administration in 2020. Rather than simply affirming the inherent worth and dignity of women and girls, the Biden administration’s new policy devalues women and girls by espousing a radical gender ideology as well as overt sexualization by championing the global use of contraception and abortion, even for young girls.
Pestilence (Covid and other diseases): For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)
Thursday, May 11, marked the end of the public health emergency in the United States, more than three years after it was first declared to combat the novel coronavirus by unlocking powerful tools to detect and contain the emerging threat. While it closes a chapter in history, health experts point out the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over as the virus continues to claim more than 1,000 lives each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. To date, more than 1.1 million people in the country have died.
Covid-19 is also no longer a global health emergency, the World Health Organization said on Friday, May 5. “For more than a year the pandemic has been on a downward trend,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference. “This trend has allowed most countries to return to life as we knew it before Covid-19,” Tedros said. “Yesterday, the emergency committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.” Covid deaths decreased by 47 percent in 2022 over 2021 worldwide.
Over the week of April 27 to May 3, new Covid-19 cases in the U.S. declined by 22% to 77,263 cases per week. Hospitalizations were up 1% over the same time period to 4,535, while weekly deaths were down 11% to 1,109 for that week. The number of daily hospital admissions shows how many patients tested positive for Covid in hospitals and is more reliably reported than case counts at this stage of the pandemic.
COVID-19 was the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States in 2022, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, and the overall U.S. death rate fell 5.3%.
Vaccines – Harbinger of the Mark of the Beast?: He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)
Efforts to overturn vaccine mandates for both hospital patients and health care workers appear to be gaining momentum across the United States. In what is seen as a major victory for transplant patients who did not take the COVID vaccine, one of the largest transplant centers in the United States reversed its policy to require the jab in order to be eligible for an organ transplant. The University of Michigan (UM) announced its new policy on May 4 just before court proceedings were about to get underway in a lawsuit filed against it for declaring patients ineligible for an organ transplant unless they agreed to the jab.
Aimee (not her real name) had just months left on her Navy contract when the brass informed her she could not leave the Navy unless she got the COVID shot, reports Liberty Counsel. Now this once super fit sailor must learn to walk all over again — and the U.S. Navy won’t even give her so much as a wheelchair to help what its forced shot damaged. Aimee had refused to take the jab several times. But her commanding officers kept turning up the heat. At the 11th hour, she was informed that unless she took the shot, Aimee would be dishonorably discharged and would be forced to pay back what Uncle Sam had invested in her training and education.
- As a result of the shot, Aimee now has Guillain–Barré syndrome, a once-rare neurological disorder in which the immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system, causing muscle weakness, loss of reflexes, numbness of limbs, and paralysis. Guillain-Barre syndrome is not so rare anymore, thanks to the COVID shots. According to VAERS, tens of thousands of people have suddenly been struck down by this syndrome which is a known side effect of the COVID shots.
U.S. authorities rejected multiple people who sought compensation for COVID-19 vaccine injuries, despite diagnoses from doctors, documents show. Letters from U.S. officials reviewed by The Epoch Times show officials contradicting doctors who treated patients as they turned down requests for payment. The cases highlights how people who experienced problems after vaccination have struggled to get money from the federal government, even when doctors diagnose vaccine injuries.
Violence/Murder: When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword. (Revelation 6:3-4)
The death toll has risen to eight after an SUV slammed into a crowd of people waiting for a bus Sunday, May 7, outside a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas. At least 10 others were injured. The driver was hospitalized. “He’s being very uncooperative at the hospital, but he will be transported to our city jail as soon as he gets released,” police said. George Alvarez, 34, was identified as the man behind the wheel of the Range Rover that struck 18 people. Alvarez, who police said has a long rap sheet, has been formally charged and arraigned on 8 counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
A gunman opened fire at a crowded mall north of Dallas Saturday, May 6, killing at least eight people and wounding seven others before he was shot to death. The gunman has been identified as Mauricio Garcia, 33, a resident of nearby Dallas. Garcia, who was fatally shot by a police officer. He was wearing a patch on his chest reading “RWDS,” which stands for Right Wing Death Squad, a popular phrase among white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other right-wing extremists. Garcia brought 8 guns, but police are still unclear on his motive.
- The shooting was the second deadliest in the U.S. this year. There have been 199 shootings of at least four people this year in the U.S., according to the Gun Violence Archive.
The suspect in the recent Atlanta hospital shooting was apprehended Thursday, May 4, after a citywide search. Police accused Deion Patterson, a 24-year-old former Coast Guard member, of opening fire in a hospital waiting room, killing one and injuring four, before carjacking a vehicle and fleeing the scene.
In what police are calling a senseless act of violence, at least nine teenagers were hurt in a shooting at a bustling after-prom party in Texas shortly after midnight Sunday, 4/23. Eight people were taken to a local hospital. At least 250 people attended the party. Law enforcement also reported a second shooting within Jasper city limits that same day less than two miles away from where the after-prom party was being held. No motive has been established at present however, several witnesses and persons of interest were being interviewed.
A man killed 5 neighbors, including a child, after one of the neighbors asked him to stop shooting his AR-15-style rifle in his yard. Authorities charged Francisco Oropeza, 39, with five counts of murder and were searching for him Saturday morning, 4/29. The suspect, a neighbor, went to the victims’ Cleveland, Texas., home late Friday night after they asked him to stop shooting in his front yard. Five people, including an 8-year-old, were killed in the shooting about 40 miles northeast of Houston.
A shooter killed at least eight people and wounded 13 in a drive-by attack late Thursday in Serbia’s second such mass killing in two days, state television reported. The attacker shot randomly at people near the town of Mladenovac, some 30 miles south of the capital. Police were looking for a 21-year-old suspect who fled after the attack, the AP reports. The shooting came a day after a 13-year-old boy used his father’s guns to kill eight fellow students and a guard at a school in Belgrade.
Protests: Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy. (Proverbs 31:8-9)
Al Sharpton’s National Action Network has joined a growing number of radical activists demanding that the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg file charges in connection with the chokehold death of a Black man, Jordan Neely. Demonstrators have been rallying across New York City to demand justice for Neely, with protesters taking to the streets from Union Square to the 63rd Street-Lexington Avenue subway station. Neely, a homeless street performer, appeared to be in mental distress on a subway last week, and was put in a fatal chokehold by Danny Penny, a 24-year-old White man, a former marine and college student. New video shows Penny putting Neely into a “recovery” position after he was subdued. The intent was to make sure he didn’t “swallow his tongue” by laying on his back. Neely was charged with 2nd-degree manslaughter on May 11.
Gun Control: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. (Luke 11:21-22,ESV)
A federal judge in Virginia on Wednesday, May 11, declared unconstitutional a set of federal laws and regulations that prohibit federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to 18- to 20-year-olds, finding the measures violated the Second Amendment and “cannot stand.”
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed multiple gun control bills into law, including prohibiting the sale of semiautomatic rifles. The bill bans the popular AR-15 rifle, among other semiautomatic rifles, and prohibits the manufacture, importation, distribution, and sale of assault-style weapons in Washington, with an exception for sales made to armed forces and law enforcement. Gun shop owners will have 90 days to sell their inventory from today’s date. The White House praised Inslee for his semiautomatic rifle ban in a statement after the bills were signed.
Justice (or lack thereof): Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (Jeremiah 23:5)
Benjamin Ruckel, a 25-year-old resident of Pickerington, Ohio, pleaded guilty to setting fire to an Ohio church building and now faces up to 20 years in prison for violating the federal Church Arson Prevention Act. The Justice Department stated that Ruckel confessed to purposefully setting Mount Zion Church in Baltimore on fire “because of the religious character of the church.”
In yet another appalling example of leniency towards criminals, a former teacher’s aide in Oregon, Kelsey Meta Boren, was handed a ridiculously light sentence for pleading guilty to 11 heinous felony child sex crimes. Boren, a 33-year-old who has begun transitioning to female, was given a mere slap on the wrist, with a sentence of just 30 days in jail for each offense, less than a year in total. The charge of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct was dismissed, thanks to a deal struck with Lane County Deputy District Attorney Robert Lane. He was convicted of eleven crimes of “Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the First Degree.”
The Supreme Court has rejected appeals from fossil fuel companies over climate change lawsuits brought by local governments in several states. Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil Corp. petitioned the high court last year over a lawsuit by local governments in Colorado, asking the justices to decide if they should be sued in state or federal court. The companies had wanted the lawsuits to be decided in federal courts so there’s a uniform response. The high court’s move allows the lawsuits to proceed in state courts.
Law Enforcement: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)
While many U.S. cities are facing increasing crime rates as the ‘defund the police’ movements caused shrinkages in the police force, not Miami, Florida. They took a very different path from these other cities. They increased funding for the police, growing the police department to its largest size in our history. The result: crime dropped to one of its lowest levels in Miami’s history. And, they also deployed the most advanced technology that they could afford to equip our police to be more effective.
Asheville, North Carolina is now on a dangerous path as its police department declares it can no longer respond to certain 911 calls due to severe staffing shortages. The liberal mindset of defunding the police has resulted in a mass exodus of law enforcement officers since January 2020, leaving the city’s residents feeling the negative consequences. In an attempt to cope with this crisis, APD Police Chief David Zack has directed officers to ignore low-level offenses and focus on more severe crimes. He informed the Asheville City Council, “This is what it looks like when you’re down this much, when you lose 50% of your detectives.”
Lawlessness: For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. (2Thessalonians 2;7)
- As God’s hand of restraint is gradually lifting, end-time lawlessness will increase all the more.
Things have gotten so bad in San Francisco that a Target store has placed every single product behind security glass. A recent video posted on TikTok revealed that the store had implemented the extreme security measures since crime and shoplifting rates have increased to at least ten times a day, employees estimate. Nordstrom will close both of its stores in the downtown area this summer because of the worsening crime. Apparently stealing in San Francisco has become the new normal.
Robberies of postal carriers surged 78 percent in 2022, according to data provided by U.S. Postal Inspection Service data. Over the last decade, crimes against USPS workers have quadrupled, and weapons increasingly are being used by the perpetrators.
Racism/Discrimination: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)
In recent weeks, similar attacks have repeated across the country: A Jewish university student in New Jersey bombarded with antisemitic messages. A transgender man in Florida attacked for his identity. A Black YouTuber in Kentucky targeted because of his race. All found themselves flooded with racist and homophobic insults, memes, offensive photos and death threats, reports the USA TODAY. What these people all had in common, but didn’t know, was that they had been chosen as targets by a vicious campaign of online “raids” orchestrated by an account run by one of the internet’s most notorious white supremacists, using the secure messaging app Telegram. The Telegram channel called “Project Mayhem” is just a “doxxing channel,” referring to the act of intentionally publishing identifiable information about a person online.
Drugs: And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries [Greek: pharmakeia, i.e. pharmacy, drugs].
Despite common beliefs that marijuana is not addictive, the statistics show that in 2021, over 1.3 million adolescents between 12 and 17 years old experienced a marijuana use disorder, comprising more than 46% of users within that age group. The legalization of marijuana has resulted in a 25% upsurge in marijuana use disorders amongst this demographic. As rates of consumption, potency, and addiction have risen, so have the negative impacts of marijuana. Despite the efforts of legalization advocates to diminish the risks associated with marijuana use, the drug was responsible for over 70,000 emergency department visits in 2021, involving individuals under the age of 18.
- Marijuana is getting more potent as states rush to legalize it, raising fears that weed with little resemblance to Woodstock-era grass is causing psychosis, suicidal thoughts and other health problems. Colorado and Washington in 2012 became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana. Since then, 19 states and the District of Columbia have joined them.
Just a few years ago, the Washington state legislature decriminalized hard drugs, following a ruling from the state Supreme Court. But now Bellingham, once considered the “most hippie” location in the state, has moved to outlaw drug use entirely. The course reversal happened when city leaders became concerned by the number of overdose deaths. The city’s fire department responded to more than two overdoses a day from January through April 12. Now in Bellingham, open drug use is an “arrestable crime.”
Education: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. (Hosea 4:6) Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. (Proverbs 4:7)
Hundreds of professors at the University of North Carolina signed a public letter Tuesday opposing legislation that would require university students to take courses on America’s government and founding documents. The legislation, House Bill 96, would require students to take a 3 credit-hour course covering America’s founding and history. Required reading for the course would include the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, at least five essays from the Federalist Papers, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Gettysburg Address. The 673 UNC Chapel Hill professors revealed the public letter Tuesday, arguing the new courses would constitute an infringement on the university’s “academic freedom.”
- Leftist educators don’t want anyone to know the foundations of this country so they can rewrite history to match their secular, humanistic viewpoints.
Marriage/Family: “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)
A new study conducted by Brigham Young University’s Wheatley Institute has found that individuals who saved sex for marriage have significantly higher levels of marital satisfaction than those who had multiple sexual partners before marriage, confirming what numerous previous studies also found. “Our study confirms what other national studies have been finding the last few years, that sexually inexperienced dating couples are two to three times more likely to be in a highly stable marriage,” said Brian J. Willoughby, a Wheatley Institute fellow and co-author of the report.
A 2019 paper in World Psychiatry summarized a study that found, for children, divorce and separation are associated with higher risk of academic difficulties, lower grades, higher school dropout rate, conduct and substance use problems, and depression. Children of divorced parents are also “more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior, live in poverty, and experience their own family instability.” They are also more likely to have mental health struggles and to be institutionalized for mental health struggles. The findings hold true even if the divorce or separation is amicable.
Family: Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12) But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (1Timothy 5:8)
It seems that some major corporations and businesses have sent out emails to their customers offering a chance to “opt-out” of Mother’s Day-related communications. The emails were sent out by companies such as Fry’s Food Store, Kay Jewelers, Hallmark, and DoorDash. All of them had similar language, suggesting a choreographed ‘woke’ anti-family effort. The emails had messages such as “We understand that Mother’s Day may be a difficult time for some” and “We know Mother’s Day can be a challenging time, which is why we want to know if you’d rather not receive Mother’s Day related emails.” A school in Seattle is canceling both Mother’s and Father’s Day observations.
Gender Confusion: Male and female He created them. (Genesis 5:2)
- Gender confusion is being promoted by Satan and the globalists because it undermines God’s ordained family structure, giving secular government more control over people, particularly our youth.
Americans overwhelmingly oppose hormonal gender transition procedures for minors, according to a Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation (WaPo/KFF) poll published Friday. According to the published results, 68% of US adults oppose children ages 10-14 having access to puberty blockers, and 58% oppose children ages 15-17 having access to hormonal treatments (which would include puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones). According to the same poll, two-thirds of adults did not want biological males to “compete in sports with other women and girls” at any level—youth (62%), high school (66%), college (65%), or professional (65%)—despite a biased question that framed the males as “trans women and girls.” Meanwhile, three quarters (77%) of total adults said it was inappropriate “for teachers to discuss trans identity in public schools with students” in kindergarten through 3rd grade, although that number decreased by grade level—70% found it inappropriate in 4th-5th grade, 52% in 6th-8th grade, and 36% in 9th-12th grade.
- At the same time, large majorities also supported “laws prohibiting discrimination against trans people” by medical professionals (71%), from getting health insurance (72%), in K-12 schools (69%), at colleges and universities (73%), at their jobs and workplaces (73%), in housing (74%), and in the US military (65%).
- When asked “whether someone is a man or a woman as determined by the sex they were assigned at birth,” 57% of adults said “yes,” including 20% of people who self-identified as “trans.” Also, 72% of “trans adults” said they “currently have a doctor or other health care provider” he or she can “feel comfortable seeking health care from,” compared to 79% of total adults. Only 17% of people who identified as transgender reported ever having been “refused health care”
The governor of Washington state signed a bill on Tuesday, 5/9, to allow minors to undergo so-called “sex changes” while under the shelter of strangers without parental consent. In his most recent effort to promote abortion and child mutilation, Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee enacted a law that enables minors who have run away from their parents to pursue transgender drugs and surgeries with the oversight of individuals and programs who are housing them. Although those housing children would be required to report such cases to state departments, notification of and permission from a child’s parents are not required if the child is a seeking a “gender transition.”
Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report reveals that the multi-billion-dollar business has diversified its portfolio beyond abortion, pushing deeply into the transgender industry by offering puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to young adults and minors — often while explicitly withholding this information from parents. While the organization does not list the number of transgender procedures it carried out, it has acknowledged the number of people seeking such services numbers in the tens of thousands. Planned Parenthood also aims to turn teens into “fighters” for their cause, bashing “ugly” legislation that would prevent surgeons from permanently castrating minors, and proclaiming that its sex education courses contain the information America’s children “need to be free.”
Nearly 25 percent of high school students identify as something other than straight, more than double than previous years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s biennial Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Given the push in the media and the secular humanism indoctrination centers (aka public schools), this result is not surprising. Just 15 percent in 2017 answered that they were “gay,” “lesbian,” “bisexual,” “or questioning” their sexual preference, though the CDC notes that changes to how it states the questions could also be responsible for the rise, a rare admission of complicity in the left-leaning organization.
The survey also found: also found that: more than 1 in 10 LGBQ+ students did not go to school because of safety concerns; nearly 1 in 4 experienced sexual violence, and nearly 1 in 4 were bullied at school; almost half of LGBQ+ students seriously considered attempting suicide; nearly 1 in 4 attempted suicide, and nearly 3 in 4 reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness; 1 in 5 LGBQ+ students reported having ever used illicit drugs. When asked if they had been physically forced to perform a sexual activity they did not want to, 23% of bisexual students and 17% of lesbian and gay students said they had.
- Christians are commanded to love everyone with unconditional agape love, so violence and bullying is anti-Christ. But it is not surprising that LGBTQ+ individuals feel suicidal or hopeless, because when you’re living outside of God’s ordained laws and are separated from Hin, those are the consequences thereof.
A U.S. grant worth $500,000 designed to promote English language instruction and professional development in Pakistan somehow shoehorns the transgender agenda in as an essential program requirement. To win the grant, an applicant must detail a plan to “Strengthen English capacity and professional capability of Pakistani transgender youth and of Afghan teachers, students, and young professionals residing in Pakistan.” An estimated 10,000 Pakistanis identify as transgender, or 0.004% of the population.
Election Integrity: He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known… The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them. (Proverbs 10:9,11:3)
More than 200 self-acknowledged noncitizens have managed to register to vote in Arizona’s Maricopa County and at least nine of them have cast ballots in federal elections, according to a report that questions the federal law that pushes states to register more voters. The study is the first in a series of reports by the Public Interest Legal Foundation to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Motor Voter law, which requires states to allow people to register to vote at their local motor vehicle bureau offices. The law has increased registration but also has led to messy voter rolls. The Public Interest Legal Foundation says a striking number of noncitizens are illegally gaining access to the ballot box.
Immigration: He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. (Deuteronomy 10:18-19)
President Biden’s administration on Thursday will begin denying asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S.-Mexico border without first applying online or seeking protection in a country they passed through , according to a new rule released Wednesday, 5/10. It’s part of new measures meant to crack down on illegal border crossings while creating new legal pathways, including a plan to open 100 regional migration hubs across the Western Hemisphere, administration officials said. While stopping short of a total ban, the measure imposes severe limitations on asylum for those crossing illegally who didn’t first seek a legal pathway. The rule was first announced in February, but the finalized version takes effect Thursday. More than 50,000 people commented on it, but in the end it didn’t appear to substantively change.
- The new policy is almost certain to face legal challenges. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump pursued similar but stricter measures, but a federal appeals court prevented them from taking effect.
- Biden’s administration plans to send 900 additional soldiers to the border by the end of May. The president had already deployed some 550 troops, in addition to 2,500 members of the National Guard.
The chief of the Border Patrol authorized his agents to use parole to catch and release illegal immigrants caught in the border surge, saying the numbers are so high that his agency cannot be expected to process everyone correctly. Chief Raul Ortiz, in a memo Wednesday, said parole will be allowed if the Border Patrol is averaging more than 7,000 arrests a day. The agency is well above that level already, and the numbers will probably go even higher by Friday. Those admitted will be granted an initial 60-day stay, after which they are supposed to connect with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the main deportation agency, to collect an immigration court summons known as a Notice to Appear.
As of six months ago, 5.5 million people crossed our border illegally under Joe Biden’s watch. Drugs are pouring in, causing 100,000 deaths per year (and rising). Human trafficking is more and more common. MS-13 and other gangs, including the cartel, are building cells across the U.S. Since Biden’s inauguration in January 2020, the FBI has caught a record-breaking 169 illegals on its terrorism watchlist who entered America through the southern border, reports Liberty Counsel.
The current surge at the southern border is largely a reaction to the end of Title 42, a policy enacted during the Covid pandemic that enables the authorities to quickly expel many migrants who enter the country without permission, rather than letting them stay while courts consider their cases. Title 42 expired on Thursday, 5/12, as part of the end of the official Covid health emergency. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been releasing illegal immigrants, including those with criminal records, from custody to clear space for the looming surge of more migrants at the border, in the latest sign of the government’s scramble to prepare for the onslaught. ICE cut its detention population to fewer than 23,000 at the start of the month, down from more than 28,000 six weeks earlier. That includes hundreds of people with criminal records whom ICE has released.
According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the Biden administration anticipates that approximately 13,000 individuals will unlawfully cross the border every day once Title 42 is no longer in effect. In response to this, the governor declared that Texas will mobilize as many as 10,000 National Guard members and 1,200 troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Dramatic videos posted Wednesday show Texas National Guard troops in riot gear arriving at the southern border. The mayor of Laredo, Texas, declared a state of emergency last week due to a major influx of illegal immigrants streaming across the border.
- Arizona has established five new bus routes to transport migrants from small border communities to Tucson ahead of the expected lifting of Title 42. The routes run from Douglas, Naco and Nogales to the Casa Alitas migrant shelter in Tucson.
The Border Patrol union ripped into the Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday morning, calling its public warnings of “targeted” immigration enforcement a “sad joke” days after dubbing Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Vice President Kamala Harris “clowns.” The National Border Patrol Council, the service’s official union, lashed out after a Monday press release announced a “targeted enforcement operation? at the border crossing in El Paso, Texas, where thousands of migrants are waiting in the run-up to Title 42 ending Thursday, 5/11. “Nothing like publicly announcing that dangerous people will be arrested, while warning them ahead of time exactly where to run and hide to avoid arrest,” the union tweeted in reply to the press release.
The Mexican government issued triple its typical number of humanitarian visas to migrants seeking to travel through the country to the U.S.-Mexico border in April. Mexico issued some 30,000 visas in April, more than the months of January, February and March combined.
Food Supplies: Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. (2Corinthians 9:10)
Snow, torrential rains, massive floods. Extreme weather has battered the U.S. this year, and shoppers likely will feel the lingering effects at the grocery store heading into summer. The extreme swings this year have left many growers behind schedule, especially in California, which produces nearly half of U.S. fruits, nuts and “salad bowl” vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, spinach and kale. In the meantime, consumers may see smaller selections, lower supplies and higher prices, economists say.
The United States Food and Drug Administration has authorized gene-edited pigs to provisionally enter the food chain for human consumption—as German-style sausages. Gene-editing can make changes in an organism’s DNA that could occur in nature or through selective breeding but would take much longer without a gene-editing tool like CRISPR. The FDA authorization is investigational, and limited to a particular group of pigs, intended to show that gene-editing livestock to quickly produce desirable traits for improved food production is a viable strategy going forward.
Water Supplies: Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, [they] shall drink water by measure and with dread, that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed with one another, and waste away because of their iniquity. (Ezekiel 4:16-17)
Historic snowfall across the Rocky Mountains is helping recharge some of the country’s biggest reservoirs and provide – briefly – some much-needed breathing room for the oversubscribed Colorado River. Forecasts say the melting snow flowing into Lake Powell via the Colorado River and its tributaries could hit 177% of average this year, a major boost at a time when lake levels had hit historic lows. The levels are now headed up and will likely peak sometime in June, raising the surface by 50 feet. But experts say the boost won’t solve or even significantly delay the West’s water crisis that has drained the massive Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs – Lake Powell will probably only be about 40% full this fall, far below what it once held. “This buys a year,” longtime Colorado River expert Brad Udall said. “It doesn’t remotely come close to solving the long-term problems.”
The dry and empty outskirts of Kingman, Arizona, have morphed into something much more green that supports pistachio and almond orchards, as well as garlic and potato fields, in a climate similar to California’s Central Valley. The crops are fed by groundwater that also serves the city of Kingman. But now, the Arizona Department of Water Resources has put a limit on the amount of land that can be watered, designating the Hualapai Valley as an irrigation non-expansion area, as Kingman worries about a rapidly depleting aquifer. That means anyone who hasn’t farmed more than two acres there during the past five years can no longer do so. It’s the first such designation in Arizona in four decades, highlighting struggles around the U.S. as water supplies dwindle and tensions grow between farmers and cities. Just last week, a board that advises the Kansas governor voted to make a historic recommendation to protect the Ogallala aquifer, which has been tapped for decades to irrigate crops in an arid region.
Energy Supplies: He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. (Isaiah 44:14-15)
After weeks of buildup, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled on Thursday, May 11, its strictest-ever rules for power produced using natural gas, coal, and oil that could spur the use of carbon capture technologies. The standards will impact both new and old power infrastructure. Though the United States still has hundreds of coal plants, the number of such installations has fallen sharply during the past decade. “We will see some coal retirements,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said. The EPA thinks its proposals will induce American power plants to boost their use of certain technologies, including the co-firing of fossil fuels with hydrogen, a low-greenhouse gas, and the capture, sequestration, and storage of carbon.
- One new rule mandates that most coal- and natural gas-fired power plants reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 90% over a five-year period beginning in 2035 or be shuttered by federal regulators.
Electrifying the car market may be getting more difficult, with the share of Americans who say they’re “very unlikely” to consider an EV for their next vehicle purchase growing in each of the first three months of the year, according to a new report. In March, 21% of new-vehicle shoppers said they were “very unlikely” to consider an EV, up from 18.9% in February and 17.8% in January, consumer analytics firm JD Power said in a monthly EV report. Persistent worries about charging infrastructure and vehicle pricing’s dampening enthusiasm, the report said. In addition, long charging times are also a deterrent. EV’s market share of all new-vehicle sales dropped to 7.3% in March, down from a record high of 8.5% in February but up from 2.6% in February 2020.
Your electric vehicle may look like a normal sedan or SUV from the outside. But what’s underneath exacts a hidden toll, reports the Washington Post. The minerals most critical to EV batteries are each concentrated in just a handful of countries. For these countries, the EV boom holds enormous economic promise, but also environmental, social and workplace challenges that have yet to be addressed. A lot of slave and child labor is expended to extract these materials in gruesome working conditions.
The New York State Assembly became the first state legislature in the nation to pass a statewide ban on new natural gas hookups late Tuesday, May 4. The $229 billion state budget package will require almost all new buildings shorter than seven stories to go all-electric for cooking and heating by 2026 — with exceptions for manufacturers, restaurants, renovations and hospitals — while taller buildings would have until 2029, according to the Washington Post. While supporters argued that the law was necessary for the state to hit its climate goals, critics argued that it would raise expenses for homeowners in the state, where electricity tends to be more expensive than gas.
The Biden administration’s Department of Energy (DOE) has announced new rules cracking down on dishwashers, claiming that they will save Americans over $650 million in annual energy and water bills. “DOE expects the new standards for electric motors will save American businesses approximately $464 million per year on energy costs, while the proposed standards for dishwashers, which have not been updated in over a decade, will save American consumers approximately $168 million per year on their utility bills.” However, many are skeptical of the DOE’s claims, arguing that these new rules are just another example of government overreach and unnecessary regulation.
Rising oil prices have increased support for nuclear energy to its highest level in a decade of Gallup polling. Among adults responding to the company’s latest survey, 55% said they “somewhat” or “strongly” support nuclear energy, up 4 percentage points from 51% last year. Another 44% of respondents said they “somewhat” or “strongly” oppose atomic power, Gallup reported. Liberal critics have long claimed nuclear power harms the environment as a non-renewable energy source mined from uranium in the earth that also poses threats of health risks and accidents to local populations. Nuclear physicists have dismissed those claims, pointing to decades of data that shows nuclear power carries less risk than electricity provided by fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. Also, nuclear power emits no greenhouse gas emissions.
Homelessness: Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Matthew 8:19-20)
In the latest chapter of America’s approach to homelessness, Phoenix must permanently clear the area that’s become known as the Zone after a judge ruled in favor of neighbors who sued the city, calling the encampment – next to a non-profit social services hub and blocks from the state Capitol and the city’s Major League Baseball stadium – an illegal “public nuisance.” Their lawsuit could be a model for those looking to force other US cities to clear similar encampments. But the prospect worries advocates for the unhoused, who say it simply pushes a critical problem out of public view, especially as soaring home prices and high-interest debt have pushed households to the brink. As Phoenix officials prepare to start moving tents out of the Zone this week, they’re also scrambling to create safe options for the displaced: leasing more hotel rooms and vacant buildings to convert into shelters, and building an outdoor campground with security, restrooms and hand-washing stations.
Business: Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues with injustice. (Proverbs 16:8)
The mass layoffs in the tech industry that started late last year have continued into 2023, amid recession fears and economic slowdowns. he number of tech layoffs globally through the first four months of the year has exceeded the total number from a year ago. According to data compiled by online tracker Layoffs.fyi, the running total of tech layoffs to date is 191,416, surpassing last year’s total of 164,576.
Microsoft will not give raises to full-time employees this year and is cutting back on bonuses and stock awards, too, as revenue growth slows.
Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands, wants to cut 3,500 hourly skilled and production jobs in the United States, and it plans to offer buyout packages “corporate wide,” according to a letter from a local UAW union official. The company said the buyouts would be offered to 33,000 workers in the United States and an undisclosed number in Canada. UAW President Shawn Fain called the company’s “push to cut thousands of jobs while raking in billions in profits … disgusting.”
Banking: “Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.” (Matthew 25:27)
With the failure of three regional banks since March, and another one teetering on the brink, will America soon see a cascade of bank failures? Last week, First Republic Bank became the third bank to collapse, the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history after Washington Mutual, which collapsed in 2008 amid the previous financial crisis. A study on the fragility of the U.S. banking system found that 186 more banks are at risk of failure. Regional banks are failing because the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes to tamp down inflation have eroded the value of bank assets such as government bonds and mortgage-backed securities.
Economy – Depression/Shortages: When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” (Revelation 6:5-6)
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the 10th time by 25 basis points on May 3, lifting the benchmark federal funds rate to a range of 5 percent to 5.25 percent, the highest level since September 2007. The post-meeting statement opened the door to a rate pause, with the removal of the line, “The Committee anticipates that some additional policy firming may be appropriate,” from its summary.
The Consumer Price Index climbed 4.9 percent in April from a year earlier, the tenth straight month of decline. Inflation has come down notably from a peak just above 9 percent last summer, though it has remained far higher than the 2 percent annual gains that were normal before the pandemic. After stripping out more volatile food and fuel, the so-called ‘core’ inflation rose 5.5% over a year ago, slightly less than the 5.6% in March. The slowdown in price increases last month came even as gasoline and rent continued to climb briskly. New car prices, medical care and airfares all declined in April.
- UK consumers prices increased 10.1% in March, down from 10.4% in February. Canada’s March CPI rate was at 4.3%, down from 5.2% in February. The March consumer price index in India was 5.66%, down from February when it was at 6.44%. China’s citizens saw a 2.4% increase in food prices, with fresh fruit prices increasing by 11.5% and fresh vegetables decreasing by 11.1%. Egg prices shot up by 7.8% and pork prices were up by 9.6%. Japan’s CPI was at 3.2%.
Hiring picked up in April as employers added 253,000 jobs despite higher interest rates, a widening credit crunch and recession worries. Job gains for February and March were revised down by a total 149,000, portraying a dimmer picture of the labor market over the past few months than suggested by the April gain. The unemployment rate fell from 3.5% to 3.4%, reclaiming a 54-year low. The labor crunch has eased in recent months, but there are still 1.6 jobs available for each unemployed person, though that’s down from a record two jobs per unemployed person last year. Despite the persistent labor shortages, workers without a college degree still struggle to get higher-paying roles in America’s job market, according to a recent study by the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, rose at a preliminary estimate of a 1.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, 4/27. That was down from a 2.6 percent rate in the last three months of 2022 but nonetheless represented a third straight quarter of growth after output contracted in the first half of last year, reports the New York Times. Growth in the first quarter was dragged down by weakness in housing and business investment, both of which are heavily influenced by interest rates. The Federal Reserve has raised rates by nearly five percentage points since early last year in an effort to tamp down inflation.
Consumers, however, have proved resilient in the face of both rising prices and higher borrowing costs. Inflation-adjusted consumer spending rose at a 3.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter, up from 1 percent in the prior period. Consumers have been buoyed by a strong job market and rising wages, which have helped offset high prices. After-tax income rose at an 8 percent annual rate in the first quarter, adjusted for inflation. Spending slowed as the quarter progressed, however, and forecasters warn that it could weaken further amid increasing layoffs, recent bank failures and warnings of a possible recession.
- Savings have been edging higher, a sign that consumers may be growing more cautious, as more Americans are falling behind on debt payments, suggesting they have begun to struggle to keep up with rising prices.
Despite growing layoffs across several industries, the number of Americans filing jobless claims declined last week, according to the Department of Labor. In the week ending April 22, a total of 230,000 Americans filed for unemployment insurance for the first time, down 16,000 from the previous week. Inflation remains still well above the Fed’s 2% inflation target, so there will likely be further rate increases.
Immigrants are powering growth in the U.S. labor force, helping ease longstanding worker shortages. Since February 2020, before the pandemic started, 2.1 million foreign-born workers have streamed into the labor force – which includes people working and looking for jobs – compared with 422,000 U.S.-born people, according to data from Moody’s Analytics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means immigrants made up 83% of the growth in the nation’s labor force. In March, foreign-born workers comprised about 31 million, or 18.5%, of the nation’s total labor force of 167 million.
Mortgage rates ticked down last week for the second week in a row, as progress on inflation is keeping rates calmer. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35% in the week ending May 11, down from 6.39% the week before, according to data from Freddie Mac released Thursday. A year ago, the 30-year fixed-rate was 5.30%. Mortgage rates hit an all-time low of 2.65% in January 2021.
Home sharing has gained popularity in recent years, especially among older adults. The trend is also popularly known as a “paying guest” arrangement in many parts of the world. The arrangement’s popularity is fueled by rising rents and the increasing carrying costs of owning a home, such as mortgage debt, property taxes, maintenance cost and homeowner association dues. And, the high cost of rent – which has increased 17% since March 2021 – has hit seniors especially hard between 2006 and 2016, the number of adults age 65 and older in the U.S. who were sharing their homes with nonfamily members grew by 87%, from 470,000 to 879,000, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
Banks made obtaining a loan tougher for consumers and businesses in recent months amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and two other institutions. Forty-two percent of banks said they somewhat tightened lending standards for large and midsize companies over the past three months, according to the Fed’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey. And 45% said they somewhat toughened lending criteria for small firms.
Israel: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. (Psalm 122:6)
The “March of the Million” near the Knesset in Jerusalem on Thursday evening may not have hit its target (organizers say 600,000 attended; police say 200,000), but it succeeded in putting to bed opposition claims that Israelis are united against judicial reform. It also provided much-needed backing to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s beleaguered government. Supporters of reform have been slow to respond to months of protests against any reformation of the leftist judiciary. The pro-reform rally was different in tone from its anti-reform counterparts, which are grim affairs with warnings of pending dictatorship, clashes with police, solemn torchlit marches and women dressed as Margaret Atwood-inspired handmaids with heads lowered. This rally was boisterous, resembling a giant block party.
Middle East: When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. (Luke 21:20-22)
Militants in Gaza fired almost 300 rockets toward Israel on Wednesday afternoon, reaching as far north as the sky above the suburbs of Tel Aviv, as Israel carried out dozens of airstrikes against what it described as rocket-launching squads and sites operated by the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Palestinian coastal enclave. The Iron Dome Defense System intercepted most of the rockets. In Tel Aviv, the new David’s Sling system repelled an attack. The flare-up in fighting came after an attack on Islamic Jihad by Israel on Tuesday that killed three of its top commanders, along with 10 civilians, four of them children, according to Palestinian officials. The killings left both Israelis and Palestinians bracing for an escalation in cross-border attacks at a time when violence in the region has been surging.
The Israel Defense Forces killed three top Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leaders in strikes across the Gaza Strip early on Tuesday morning following a month of intermittent confrontations with terrorists in the Palestinian enclave. Israel also struck 10 sites belonging to PIJ, including weapons manufacturing facilities and depots. “The strikes targeted senior figures responsible for rocket fire from Gaza in recent months and who were involved in organizing additional attacks on Israelis, including in Judea and Samaria,” said IDF spokesperson Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari, adding: “Those who endanger Israeli lives, and those who work tirelessly to harm Israel’s security, will not remain unharmed.”
Israel Defense Forces tanks reportedly shelled a Syrian army post used by Iranian terrorist proxy Hezbollah early on Monday morning, in the second such incident in as many weeks. According to Syrian media, the artillery strike targeted a military observation post located close to the village of Hader in the Quneitra Governorate. Thereafter, the IDF dropped leaflets in the area warning Syrian soldiers against cooperating with Hezbollah.
Wars & Rumors of Wars: And you will hear ofwars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; forall these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.Fornation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. (Matthew 24:6-7a)
Ukraine/Russia/US: Russia issued a warning to President Joe Biden and the United States on Thursday, 4/27, signaling that the risk of nuclear war is “steadily increasing” as Ukraine-related tensions between the two nations continue to escalate. The statement comes amid reports that the United States has decided to cease exchanging certain information about its nuclear forces with Russia, following Moscow’s refusal to do so, as a response to Russia suspending its participation in the New START treaty. The START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia. It was signed in April 2010 and entered into force in February 2011, replacing the expired START I treaty. The treaty limits the number of deployed nuclear warheads each country can have to 1,550 and the number of deployed delivery systems to 700.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke on the phone Wednesday, 4/26,, and Xi pressed his position as a neutral peacemaker in the Russian-Ukrainian war that has dragged into a second year with no end in sight. Xi appealed for negotiations, warning “there is no winner in a nuclear war,” Chinese state media reported, although Russia has dismissed claims it would resort to nuclear weapons and Ukraine no longer has them.
Agents for Ukraine’s secret service tried to assassinate Russian President Vladimir Putin with a drone carrying explosives Sunday, but it fell short of its target, German newspaper Bild reported Thursday. The UJ-22 drone, the most modern Ukrainian medium-range drone with a range of nearly 500 miles, took off from Ukraine on Sunday carrying about 37 pounds of C-4 explosives, Bild reported. Its target was a newly built industrial park in Rudnevo southeast of Moscow that Putin was said to be visiting. The kamikaze drone flew through all the air defenses of the Russian Federation but crashed not far from the industrial park.
Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems.
Sudan: A convoy of buses carrying about 300 Americans left the war-torn capital of Sudan on Friday, starting a 525-mile journey to the Red Sea that was the United States’ first organized effort to evacuate its private citizens from the country. The convoy was being tracked by armed American drones that hovered high overhead, watching for threats. The United Nations and many nations have also evacuated their citizens overland, after receiving security assurances from the two warring sides. It raised questions about why the United States has taken so long to organize a civilian evacuation from Sudan, home to an estimated 16,000 American citizens, many of them dual nationals, when Western and Persian Gulf allies have moved faster and evacuated far more people.
- The World Health Organization representative in Sudan reportedly warned Tuesday, 4/25, of a “high risk of biological hazard” after one of the sides fighting in the conflict seized a central public laboratory with samples of measles and polio, creating an “extremely, extremely dangerous” situation.
Terrorism: My heart is severely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me… But You, O God, shall bring them down to the pit of destruction; bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You. (Psalm 55:4-5.23)
Advanced weapons and technology left behind by US and NATO troops during their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 have been used by militants in Pakistan to attack police and soldiers, security officials have said. The Tahrik-e-Taliban in Pakistan and Baloch militants are among the groups that have obtained modern weapons in Afghanistan. Experts have said the influx of arms has led to a sharp rise in attacks.
Neo-Nazis and far-right extremists committed 23,493 crimes in Germany last year, the government said on Tuesday. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser presented the government’s report on politically motivated crimes at a news conference in Berlin. ‘I am particularly concerned that there has been a sharp increase in attacks against refugees,’ Faeser said, pointing out that such attacks increased by 9% last year. ‘It is extremely inhumane to attack people who have fled from war and terror, and found protection in our country. Right-wing extremism continues to pose a particularly high risk,’ she said.
Volcanoes: Bow down Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. (Psalm 144:5); The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, (Psalms 97:5)
Thousands of people fled as a volcano in the African country of Congo unleashed huge lava flows that turned the night sky red and destroyed more than 500 homes. At least 15 people have been killed. Mount Nyiragongo erupted for the first time in nearly 20 years Saturday driving lava toward the city of Goma, which has a population of almost 2 million. On Sunday, Buhene, a neighborhood at the edge of the city, was covered in smoldering heaps of cooling lava. A half-mile-wide river of lava engulfed an area the size of several city blocks.
Scientists were trapped for a day by an erupting eastern Russia volcano on April 27. Getting trapped on an actively erupting volcano sounds like a nightmare scenario, but they survived and posted incredible videos of being covered by an enormous ash cloud sparked by a giant rock slide. The scientists had been warned not to go to the actively erupting volcano and rescuers were unable to come for a day. They were brought out with only minor injuries.
Wildfires: The first angel sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. (Revelation 8:7)
At least one person is dead and nearly 200 buildings have been destroyed in fires raging through Russia. Six “massive” fires were burning in the Sverdlovsk region on Tuesday and Wednesday, 4/26. The Russian Emergency Ministry said 178 buildings were destroyed, including 134 homes and 32 non-residential buildings. Flames may have first erupted at a sawmill before spreading with aid from high winds and dry vegetation. Flames “decimated” the village of Sosva, where one person was reported dead. “Here everything is just burned down—there are no houses anymore—everything is burning,” one witness said. There were reports of large fires erupting in other regions as well.
End-Time Weather Will Continue to Grow More Severe: (Daniel 9:26b, Ezekiel 38:22, Luke 21:25, Revelation 8:7, 11:19, 16:8,11)
Historic snowfall across the Rocky Mountains is helping recharge some of the country’s biggest reservoirs and provide – briefly – some much-needed breathing room for the oversubscribed Colorado River. Forecasts say the melting snow flowing into Lake Powell via the Colorado River and its tributaries could hit 177% of average this year, a major boost at a time when lake levels had hit historic lows. The levels are now headed up and will likely peak sometime in June, raising the surface by 50 feet. But experts say the boost won’t solve or even significantly delay the West’s water crisis that has drained the massive Lake Powell and Lake Mead reservoirs – Lake Powell will probably only be about 40% full this fall, far below what it once held.
- “This buys a year,” longtime Colorado River expert Brad Udall said. “It doesn’t remotely come close to solving the long-term problems.”
After rapidly overflowing its banks and pouring into homes and businesses along its upper reaches, the Mississippi River has crested in much of the Upper Midwest, easing fears of a record disaster, even though major flooding is forecast to continue in the region through mid-May. Because major flooding remains along the river in many areas, the weather service warns residents not to enter flooded waters – “hidden debris that the flood has picked up along the way can cause serious injury and/or trap you under the water with strong currents.” Record-setting snow fell in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin over the winter has been rapidly melting due to an extreme warmup in April. Portions of the upper Mississippi also received above normal rainfall in April, as much as 4 inches above normal.
Two tornadoes briefly touched down Thursday, 5/4. morning in Southern California, producing minor damage. The first happened about 8:45 a.m. PDT in Carson, ripping holes in the roofs of at least two warehouses. A second tornado touched down in Compton, about 3 miles east of the first tornado, producing a narrow path of minor damage. Prior to this year, Los Angeles County had seen just 45 tornadoes in 72 years.
A significant hailstorm with up to baseball sized hail struck a majority of Henderson, Texas on Wednesday, 4/26. Over one hundred vehicles were damaged as well as several structures. There are several other reports of large hail in Central Texas, including some the size of tennis balls in Eastland County, which is along Interstate 20 about 70 miles southwest of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, and up to baseball-size in nearby Erath County.
Floods and landslides killed more than 400 people in two villages in Congo’s South Kivu province. The death toll has continued to rise in Bushushu and Nyamukubi after heavy rainfall through last week caused rivers to overflow and created mudslides that devastated the villages. Twenty-six more bodies were recovered on Wednesday, May 11, bringing the death toll to 438, according to updated government figures. More than 1000 people are still reported missing.