Russia-China Alliance Prepares to Take on America – Emily Thompson - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5515 China and Russia have deepened their cooperation in recent years in large part thanks to the US decoupling itself from many regions as it focuses on domestic issues. China's engagement with Russian biotech has increased and in general the Sino-Russian relationship has improved. Moscow and Beijing have grown increasingly closer, starting with the 2001 Treaty of Friendship up to the most recent agreement between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in February. The agreement states that the friendship between the two states "has no limits." Americans are not pleased with this growing partnership between China and Russia. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, around nine out of ten US adults say they believe it is at least somewhat of a serious problem for the US. A 62% majority say it is a very serious problem. Among other problems, Americans are concerned over China's involvement in US politics, human rights issues in China, and tensions between China and Taiwan. Michael Hirsh, a senior correspondent at Foreign Policy, writes that with NATO expanding its focus to China, new battle lines are being drawn. Hirsh also believes that today, we are experiencing a new cold war which has already begun and is about to go global. The NATO summit in Madrid is a sign that the global order is indeed changing swiftly. The Foreign Policy Research Institute published a paper by Carla Jones in which she highlights China's increased investment in Africa, pointing to widespread concern that China may use its strengthening economic power "to extract concessions from that may be economically and politically detrimental to Africa." She also quotes former US Secretary of State John Bolton who derided China's hegemonic ambitions in Africa as predatory and "the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing's wishes and demands." Closer to home, China's naval ambitions are clear. Recently, it launched its third and most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian. China is spending heavily on its military and, together with the Fujian, has 17 Type 39A/B submarines, ten Type 055 destroyers, and numerous merchant ferries. This is a worrying development as China's increasing aggression against Japan over territorial disputes in the East China Sea, as well as disputes with a number of Southeast Asian countries in the South China Sea and with Taiwan. The Center for a New American Security conducted a war game simulation to determine America's response in the event China invades Taiwan. Experts determined that "with Chinese assertiveness rising, U.S. and Taiwanese policymakers need to think through the challenges of responding to a crisis strongly enough to defend their security interests without turning crisis into conflict. By gaming out these challenges, the US and Taiwan can fully grasp the urgency of building an effective deterrence strategy now to help prevent a future Chinese fait accompli." NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, in a speech in November at the NATO-Industry Forum in Rome, Italy, said China already has the second-largest defense budget and will soon have the biggest economy in the world. "We need to address the rise of China which really is something that is changing the security environment we all are faced with," he said. Stoltenberg added that China "has the ambition to become the world leader in artificial intelligence by 2030 and to have the most technologically advanced armed forces in the world by 2050... This ambition is not rhetorical - it is very real." China's failed attempt to rally support behind the Common Development Vision, an agreement which would have linked the Pacific island nations closer to China, proves that not everything is going according to plan. China aims to change the geopolitical status quo in the Pacific and the region's reluctance to align with China is a glaring red flag for the communist country's leadership. For now, China will focus its ambitions on other areas such as Africa where it hopes to gain leverage and power through its Belt & Road Initiative. In addition, melting sea ice in the Arctic means China may be able to take advantage of the shorter route while avoiding the Russia-controlled Northern Sea Route. This would have a tremendous impact on China's ability to deliver goods more quickly and cheaply so there is a lot of interest in this region of the world as well. And of course, there is space. China is building its own space station to rival the International Space Station, has built the world's largest radio telescope, and is expected to launch a powerful space telescope next year. Chinese ambitions extend to space and it is a clear signal to the US and other countries that it wants to be viewed as a superpower and taken seriously. The same Pew poll found that 66% of US adults say China's influence on the world stage has grown stronger in recent years. They also see China's growing power as a threat to the US. Today, 82% of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of China. In addition, a majority of Americans view the China-Russia relationship as a very serious problem. This, coupled with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, has resulted in millions of Americans and Europeans viewing Russia and China as problematic and even dangerous. But as the US reduces its footprint around the world and leaves governance and military support to others, only China and Russia have the capacity to fill the void; and for this reason, America needs to fight for uni-polarity. A multi-polar world, with China and Russia growing increasingly stronger, is dangerous for all democracies and freedom-loving nations around the world.
Nearing Midnight: Redefining the Meaning of Recession to Avoid Reality – Todd Strandberg - https://www.raptureready.com/category/nearing-midnight/ The Biden administration has done a terrible job of handling the economy. Not only has it been blind to the dangers that are headed our way, but it also took steps that made them worse. President Biden ignored inflation warning cries over the trillions we were spending on covid stimulus packages. The Treasury increased the money supply by 40% in less than two years. The Fed bought $5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. When all this debt creation caused inflation to rise higher, Biden said it was only a temporary problem. When inflation kept on rising, the American people started noticing the financial pain. Figures that the Fed follows closely show that we now have the highest levels of inflation since January 1982. The president’s nose-diving poll numbers finally forced some action. Interest rates have increased by 1.75% over the past two months. Washington is so far behind on inflation, that rates would need to go up by another 7% to generate real yields on bond investments. The U.S. economy is facing another financial problem – recession. Last week it was learned that the gross domestic product (GDP) had declined for the past two quarters. The U.S. economy shrank at an annual pace of 1.6% in the first quarter and declined by 0.9 percent in the second quarter of 2022. Shortly before the new GDP numbers came out, a post was made to government financial sites that stated two back-to-back declines in GDP do not mean we are in a recession. When asked if the Biden administration was trying to change the definition, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the strength of the labor market and other indicators are “not what we generally see as we talk about recession or even pre-recession.” Biden addressed the debate, predicting the U.S. will dodge a downturn and similarly highlighting the labor market’s rebound as a sign of good economic health. “We’re not going to be in a recession, in my view. The [un]employment rate is still one of the lowest we’ve had in history,” he said. “My hope is we go from this rapid growth to steady growth.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said an organization called the National Bureau of Economic Research that looks at a broad range of data is what decides whether or not there is a recession. And most of the data that they look at right now continues to be strong. The truth-seeking Snopes.com was once a helpful site. Because it is run by leftists, it agreed with Biden’s adjusted meaning of recession. Snopes tried to have things both ways in saying it didn’t want to “give readers the misleading impression that the Biden administration literally tried to revise the criteria economists use to determine when a recession has occurred. But that was not the case.” Wikipedia has been criticized after the website changed the definition of the term recession and locked the page to prevent editing by the public. Wikipedia said it locked the page to require proper citation and avoid political bias. When you’re editing your content based on the word of the 21st century’s great economist, Joes Biden, no other source is needed. It is very dangerous to change something that has been the standard way of measuring the economy for over 50 years. Because the NBER doesn’t declare that a recession has occurred until it’s in the past, we will never live through another one. A bear market is when a market experiences prolonged price declines. It typically describes a condition in which securities prices fall 20% or more from a recent high. An official depression occurs when GDP declines by more than 10% and an unemployment rate that at one point reached 25%. If we run into a bear market, the Biden administration may declare it to be a bargain market, where investors can buy stocks at a good discount. If we run into a depression, Washington would likely talk it up as just a correction. Biden would say stocks came down so they can go much higher. The greatest danger we face here is mankind’s arrogance in thinking we have full control of the economy. If something goes wrong, we’ll just rename it. If inflation spikes higher, we’ll raise interest rates. If the economy starts to stall, we’ll print more money. There have been several times in American history when a financial calamity occurred and people were powerless to fix the situation. The Great Depression and the inflation of the 1970s are two examples. Our political leader tried several plans to restore our nation to a sound economy but failed. The stock market has remained steady not because our nation is run by geniuses. These people have no idea what they are doing. The financial stability is likely the result of God getting the world ready for judgment. What seems like a blessing is just the calm before the storm. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance” (Psalm 33:120). |
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‘Evil Is Good And Hate Is Love’: Media And Politicians Refuse To Tell The Truth About Monkeypox – Samuel Sey - https://harbingersdaily.com/evil-is-good-and-hate-is-love-media-and-politicians-refuse-to-tell-the-truth-about-monkeypox/ Many of the people who say they love LGBTQ people hate them. The biggest enemies of LGBTQ people are actually their “allies”. The most homophobic people in the world are people who are afraid of telling LGBTQ people the truth. Monkeypox is evidence of this. The “allies” of LGBTQ people in politics and media are refusing to tell gay men the truth about monkeypox. According to the World Health Organization, 95% of people infected with monkeypox are gay men. However, though this current outbreak has been mostly transmitted through sexual acts between gay men, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say monkeypox isn’t a sexually transmitted disease. Nevertheless, though Joe Biden declared monkeypox as a public health emergency on Thursday—like the media and other Democratic politicians, he refused to tell gay men the truth about monkeypox. In fact, in response to the World Health Organization urging gay men to stop participating in orgies, Scott Wiener—A California state senator who represents San Francisco—said, “If people want to have sex, they are going to have sex…People will make their own decisions about their own risk levels.” Naturally, Wiener’s words received significant attention on social media, especially over his contradictory reactions to COVID. However, the most important thing about Wiener’s words isn’t what it implies about his views on COVID—it’s what it implies about his views on gay people. In reaction to politicians refusing to tell the truth about monkeypox, one prominent gay activist said, “It was devaluing gay men’s lives and health not to warn gay men…Now, here we are, really on the verge of monkeypox being endemic in gay communities all over the world, and how is that for stigma.” In other words, it’s not homophobic to warn gay men about monkeypox—It’s homophobic to not warn gay men about monkeypox. People who refuse to warn gay men about monkeypox are not their “allies”, they are their enemies. People who refuse to protect gay people do not love them, they hate them. But this is what happens when society redefines the meaning of love. When Wiener said, “If people want to have sex, they are going to have sex”, he was essentially saying “love is love.” However, that description of love is a circular argument that gives people an opportunity to label evil as good or hate as love. But as the Bible says in Isaiah 5:20-21: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” Many of us are familiar with the first part of verse 20. Most of us, however, rarely quote verse 21. But verse 21 explains verse 20. Meaning, the reason why some people label evil as good or hate as love is because they are wise in their own eyes. In other words, the reason why some people label hate as love is because in their arrogance, they refuse to believe and submit to what God has said about love. As I said in an article last year, God loves LGBTQ people more than we do. God is love. Therefore if we hate what God says in the Bible about identity and sexuality, we do not love LGBTQ people. Love is an attribute of God and it’s an attribute from God. We cannot separate love from God. Therefore if we do not love God, it distorts what it means to love our LGBTQ neighbours as ourselves. (Mark 12: 28-31) Therefore, when God says love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6), it means it’s hateful, not loving to withhold the truth from LGBTQ people. It means it’s loving to tell LGBTQ people the truth—the truth about monkeypox, the truth about sin, the truth about the wrath of God in hell, and the truth about the grace of God in Jesus Christ. So, do you love LGBTQ people? Do you love LGBTQ people enough to tell them the truth? Do you love LGBTQ people enough to tell them the truth about the consequences of their sins in this life and the next? Do you love LGBTQ people enough to tell them the truth about the horrors of hell and justification by faith in Jesus? If you are a Christian and you tell LGBTQ people the truth, some people will say you are homophobic and transphobic. But that’s because they say evil is good, and hate is love. If you love LGBTQ people, tell them the truth. |
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Daily Jot: The slippery slope to tyranny - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com The FBI raid of Donald Trump’s home should be a wake up call to all Americans that the Democratic Party leadership is intentional about reimagining the homeland into a statist nation. It is a slippery slope to tyranny. From David Koresh and Elian Gonzalez during the Clinton years to IRS treatment of conservative and Christian organizations to the Russian influence scam to spying on Trump’s campaign and the news media under Obama, Democrat regimes increasingly have abused government power. This week, people should at least consider that the FBI raid on Trump’s home and the passage of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 are harbingers to the tyrannical agenda of the extreme left. The Obama Administration used the IRS to harass many groups critical of Obama. In May 2013, Red State reported, “Among the ministries targeted are the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Samaritan’s Purse and the Biblical Recorder–the newspaper of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention. The revelations seem to indicate the IRS was targeting more than just Tea Party groups and conservative political organizations.” In June 2021, Biden’s IRS denied the 501(c)(3) application for Christians Engaged because the IRS considered bible teachings to be affiliated with the Republican Party. This recent incident with Christians Engaged demonstrates how an unconstitutional agency like the IRS can sway back and forth on its interpretation of administrative law based on what party holds office. In June of 2018, the Inspector General issued a report on the FBI abuse of power during the Obama Administration. The FBI and the Obama White House used the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) to spy on Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. On December 17, 2019, the FISC issued an order saying that it was duped by Obama’s FBI into issuing a warrant to spy on President Trump’s campaign, stating: “This order responds to reports that personnel of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provided false information to the National Security Division (NSD) of the Department of Justice… When FBI personnel mislead NSD in the ways described above, they equally mislead the FISC.” Obama was responsible for approving the spy request to the FISC at the urging of his former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Fast forward to this week where the FBI conducted an unprecedented show-raid on Trump’s home and the Democrats rammed through the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Trump rightly claims the FBI raid is a weaponization of the Justice System. The Inflation Reduction Act raises taxes, arming the IRS with an additional $80 billion to hire 87,000 more agents. The FBI actions with the FISA Court and Trump combined with the use of the IRS to silence political dissent should send shivers down the collective spine of all Americans. These people must be voted out of office and their agenda reversed if American liberty is to survive. As in 2 Peter 2:2, “And many will follow their destructive ways, because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” We need to repent and turn toward the God of truth as the tide of tyranny rises before us. |
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Daily Devotion: When Failure Is Good - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org But as I looked at everything, I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. —Ecclesiastes 2:11 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/when-failure-is-good-2/ - Listen Is success the most important thing in life? It depends on how we define success. Many people achieve their goals, but what cost did they pay to achieve them? Was it through deception and betrayal? Was it by abandoning their principles and sacrificing their integrity? Was it by neglecting their family and friends and even forgetting about and, in some cases, outright abandoning God? They may be successful. But ultimately, they are failures. Success can be a form of failure. King Solomon, who went on a sinful binge, of sorts, said, “Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere” (Ecclesiastes 2:10–11). He had seen it all and done it all, and it didn’t satisfy him. We can do worse than fail. We can succeed and be personally proud of our successes. We can succeed and worship the accomplishment rather than the One who helped us reach it. Sometimes failure can be good because we can learn from our mistakes. And failure can be good even when we do something that is wrong—if we learn from it and if we learn to fail forward. That means after we have done something wrong and have tasted the bitter results of it, we say, “I really don’t want to do that again.” So we put safeguards around our lives, taking precautionary steps to never fall into the same trap. If that is the case, then we have learned something from our failures. |
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