Biblical Archaeology > Noah's Ark Revealed by Ground Penetrating Radar in Turkey

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Archaeologists Find Boat-Like Formation Matching 'Biblical'

 Description of Noah's Ark in Turkish Mountains

Milton Quintanilla | 

Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | 

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Biblical archaeologists recently discovered a "boat-like formation" matching the biblical description of Noah's ark in Eastern Turkey using 3D scans.

According to The U.S. Sun, the discovery was made by archeologists associated with the project Noah's Ark Scans. The team used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to probe the site where the Durupinar boat-shaped formation was found.

Andrew Jones, who led the project, believes that the formation matches the biblical description of Noah's ark.

"This is not what you would expect to see if this site is just a solid block of rock or an accumulation of random debris from a mudflow," Jones told the outlet.

"But these results are what you would expect to see if this is a man-made boat matching the Biblical requirements of Noah's Ark," he added.

The boat formation is also believed to be the "exact length" of the ark, which is around 150 meters, or 300 cubits in Biblical terms.

Despite the ground-breaking discovery, some geologists say that the site is an unusual rock formation and not Noah's ark.

But Ryan Mauro, president of the Doubting Thomas Research Foundation, which is part of the project, says that the new findings further support the historical authenticity of the biblical ark.

"It's a whole new ballgame now," Mauro told the Sun. "Those judgments dismissing the site were made decades ago and based on limited data compared to what we have now. As I learned more, I became convinced that the project was worth my support and that it is vital that we determine the truth about the Durupinar site."

Mount Tendürek is located near the mountains of Ararat, which is traditionally believed to be where Noah's ark came to rest after God flooded the Earth (Genesis 8:4).

According to Noah's Ark Scans website, the Durupinar site was first discovered in 1959 by Turkish Army Captain Ilhan Durupinar. Researchers would later become interested in the site from the 1970s through the mid-1990s because of the work by American explorer Ron Wyatt and others, The Christian Post reports.

In 2014 and 2019, independent private geophysical surveys were conducted on the ark formation "showing layers and interesting angular structures below the ground."

"The new GPR data shows parallel lines and angular structures 8 to 20 feet down," the project states. "These parallel lines and right angles below the surface are something you would not expect to see in a natural, geologic formation. Interestingly, the boat formation has also been confirmed to be the exact length of the ark given in the Bible (Genesis 6:15)."

The mention of 'right-angles' here is very significant. The Biblical Ark was built as a rectangle, not with a bow or traditional stern, such as shown in the image above. The Ark was not built to sail but merely to float. It had no means of locomotion or steering, and, I believe, there was very little in the way of winds or waves until the waters began to recede.

In 2021, a consortium of Turkish scientists, Americans and other supporters intend to do "the most complete geophysical survey and scientific study of this site to date using as many modern scientific methods as possible."

"The scientific study will also focus on how best to preserve the site for future generations," the website explained. "Friends, we have a huge scientific project in front of us! All the pieces are in place."

Mount Tendürek, Turkey

Middle East Geopolitics and Oil > America's Quiet War; Iran - Venezuela Oil Swap; Jordan and Syria Reopen Border; Saudi Arabia and Iran Talking

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As US troops continue to quietly occupy Syria’s oil fields, Russia-

Turkey talks could help bring calm to nation devastated by war

27 Sep, 2021 09:32

American and Turkish soldiers walk together during a joint U.S.-Turkey patrol, near Tel Abyad, Syria

September 8, 2019. © REUTERS/Rodi Said

By Julian Fisher, a policy analyst at the Russian Public Affairs Committee (Ru-PAC). He writes about Russia-US relations, American foreign policy, and national security.

After more than a decade of fighting, Syria’s Civil War still grinds on. With the West’s military missions on the slide, other rivalries and conflicts of interest are opening up on the ground between a range of different players.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet with Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi, on Wednesday, for a showdown over the current situation in the Middle Eastern nation. Over the past few days, both Russia and Turkey have stepped up military operations in and around the tense Idlib province, where the Russia-backed Syrian government continues to fight Turkish-backed militant rebels.

The who’s who of the Syrian Civil War that has pitted Russian concerns in Idlib against Turkish ones comes against a backdrop of increasingly tense relations between the two countries. As recently as September 22, during his address to the 76th UN General Assembly, Erdogan re-affirmed Ankara’s position on Crimea, saying it does not recognize Moscow’s sovereignty over the peninsula.

That’s not to say the two sides can’t be useful to each other, however. Erdogan has committed to purchasing additional Russian S-400 missile systems despite the threat of sanctions from the US. Meanwhile, Turkey’s state gas company BOTAS is currently negotiating a new contract with Russia’s Gazprom to secure gas deliveries via the Turkstream pipeline. 

While the decade-long conflict in Syria continues to induce geopolitical headaches, America’s involvement has seemingly escaped the public’s headspace. Contrary to US Senator Tim Kaine’s assessment that “[the US] is not a nation now that is [in] a ground war in the Middle East”, there has been and continues to be a US occupation of Syria. 

While Russia was invited by Damascus to come into the country, the USA never was. Their presence is basically an act of war. Their control of Syria's natural resources borders on human rights criminal activity.

The US invasion of Afghanistan may have encapsulated the totality of America’s post-9/11 military expeditions in some sense, but President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from that theater has not ended the global “war on terror”. Like previous administrations, the Biden White House has renewed the national emergency in response to terrorism, which was first declared in 2001 and serves as justification for the extraordinary steps the government has taken in the name of combatting threats.

Part of the global war on terror, which remains very much in progress, is Operation Inherent Resolve, the Pentagon’s military intervention in Iraq and Syria since 2014 to ostensibly defeat ISIS. According to a POLITICO report from July 2021, the US contingency in Syria today officially consists of around 900 troops tasked with “supporting Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS”, though no American troops have actually patrolled alongside local Syrian forces in over a year. Moreover, the Islamic militant group (a prohibited terrorist organization in Russia) continues to mainly concentrate on Syrian government targets, such as in the recent September 18 attack on a pipeline in Deir Ali, southern Syria. Still, the Biden Administration’s interim strategy pending a review of long-term Syria policy remains, at least on paper, the fight against ISIS. Such stances are echoed by NATO lobby group The Atlantic Council, which wrote of America’s 900 troops in Syria as “contributing to post-ISIS stabilization”.

That the US occupation of Syria doesn’t receive a lot of attention bodes well for the Pentagon, which has all but conceded that this sustained US military presence does not, in fact, serve the fight against scattered ISIS remnants. Instead, the objective is to maintain control over strategic sections of Syria’s vital oil and agricultural sector concentrated in the northeast of the country, where the SDF have their strongest presence. 

In 2019, Trump openly stated that the US mission in Syria, which he initially sought to end, was to “keep the oil”, a statement of policy that provoked the ire of some in the Washington Foreign Policy establishment who thought it gave the wrong impression to the American public. 

Actually, it appears that the truth is definitely the wrong impression as far as the WFP establishment is concerned.

But Trump was not the only one touting oil as the reason for keeping troops in Syria. 

As highlighted in a comprehensive analysis by Aaron Maté earlier this month, Dana Stroul, former co-chair of the Congressional ‘Syria Study Group’ and currently Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, confirmed in a 2019 speech that the US “owned” approximately 1/3 of Syria, the aforementioned northeastern corner, giving Washington leverage to “hold a line on preventing reconstruction aid” if Syrian President Bashar Assad doesn’t demonstrate “behavioral changes.” 

This same Biden official, Dana Stroul, went before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in August this year – around the same time that the Afghanistan withdrawal dominated the news cycle – to justify America’s military presence as part of Washington’s commitment to “addressing the humanitarian crisis in Syria”. Apart from confirming that the Biden administration, as of yet, shows no sign of backing out of Syria, the stated intention of aiding the civilian population is dubious when considering the far-reaching sanctions the US has imposed on the Syrian government and its backers, as some critics have noted of the controversial Caesar Act that went into effect in June 2020.

Ultimately, barring Assad’s compliance with a political solution favorable to Washington, the US will maintain sanctions and pressure to the point of restricting Syria’s access to its own natural resources and severely stunting the possibility of a humanitarian recovery. 

As Russia and Turkey seek out dialogue to restore some semblance of cohesion and a desire for stabilization, the US will resume its quiet occupation around those Middle Eastern oil fields.

Iran and Venezuela strike oil swap deal in the face of US sanctions

28 Sep, 2021 14:05

© AP

According to these sources, the swaps are set to begin this week and last for six months, although they could be extended. The imports of Iranian superlight crude will help Venezuela revive its falling oil exports amid US sanctions that, among other problems, have cut off the country's access to the light oil that is used to blend with its superheavy to make it exportable.

For Iran, the deal will bring in heavy crude it could sell in Asia, the Reuters sources also said. The diluted Venezuela crude will also likely go to Asian buyers.

Reuters also reported that, according to the US Treasury Department, the deal could constitute a breach of sanctions, to which both Venezuela and Iran are subjects.

"Transactions with NIOC by non-US persons are generally subject to secondary sanctions," the Treasury Department said in response to a Reuters request for comments on the deal. It added that it "retains authority to impose sanctions on any person that is determined to operate in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy."

From whence do they derive that authority?

Despite the sanction noose, Venezuela has been ramping up its oil exports, generating vital revenue. According to a recent Reuters report, the country, which is home to the world's largest oil reserves, exported more than 700,000 bpd of crude in July—the highest daily export rate since February.

Most of the oil went to China and Malaysia, although the latter is usually only a stop along Venezuelan oil's trip to China. The same report noted that three of the five crude oil blending facilities in the Orinoco Belt (Venezuela) were operational, and another crude upgrader was preparing to restart operations after a year's pause.

Iran, meanwhile, recently revealed plans to attract some $145 billion in oil and gas investments from both local and foreign sources.

"We plan to invest $145 billion in the development of the upstream and downstream oil industry over the next four to eight years, hence I welcome the presence of domestic and foreign investors in the industry," Javad Owji, Iran's new oil minister, said during a meeting with executives from China's oil giant Sinopec.

Jordan fully reopens main border crossing with Syria,

expects trade to begin recovering after war & sanctions

29 Sep, 2021 15:46

Trucks wait at Jaber border crossing with Syria, near Mafraq, Jordan on September 29, 2021.

© Reuters / Alaa Al Sukhni

A Syria-Jordan border checkpoint is allowing vehicles and goods to flow between the two nations once again. Officials in Amman hope the move will help boost trade relations, which have been ravaged by war and US sanctions.

Dozens of vehicles lined up at the Nasib-Jaber crossing on Wednesday, when the border checkpoint was officially fully reopened for the first time in years. Announcing the reopening of the crossing, Jordan’s trade and industry minister, Maha Al Ali, expressed hope the move will boost trade between the two nations.

“The aim of these understandings is to boost trade exchange between the two countries to achieve the interests of every party,” the minister told Jordanian state-owned Al-Mamlaka TV.

The border crossing was defunct for years while large swaths of territory in southern Syria remained under militant control. Before the war, the Nasib-Jaber crossing was a major transit hub, seeing hundreds of trucks passing each day.

The Nasib-Jaber checkpoint was partially reopened in 2018 when Syrian government troops liberated the surrounding areas. The unstable security situation, as well as coronavirus-related restrictions, however, prevented the crossing from operating at full capacity.

“The security situation is now stable on the Syrian side and we hope it remains stable,” the head of the Jordanian part of the crossing, Colonel Moayad Al Zubi, told Reuters.

Crippling Western sanctions against Damascus heavily affected trade between Jordan and Syria as well. Before the years-long war in Syria, the two nations enjoyed bilateral trade worth around $1 billion each year.

The most serious sanctions package against Damascus, known as the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, was adopted by the US in 2019 under the Donald Trump administrations. The package, which came into force last June, has effectively prohibited foreign businesses from trading with Damascus. Now, however, Jordanian businessmen hope the US will ease the sanctions on Syria, particularly in dealing with its southern neighbor.

“We now are feeling there is a US move to give a bigger space for Jordanian businessmen to deal with Syria,” vice chairman of the Jordan Chamber of Commerce, Jamal Al Refai, has said.

Saudi Arabia & Iran may re-establish relations after

series of discrete meetings

29 Sep, 2021 18:11

FILE PHOTO: Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi ©  president.ir

Riyadh and Tehran may soon formally resume relations severed in 2016, one report said as officials from Saudi Arabia and Iran quietly met this week. The series of contacts is reportedly mediated by the Iraqi government.

Saudi and Iranian officials met in Baghdad this week, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing Iraqi sources. The meeting’s agenda was “dominated by efforts to repair the bilateral relationship and by regional issues concerning both sides,” according to the US outlet.

Journalist and researcher Elijah Magnier went a step further, tweeting that the two countries are preparing to reopen diplomatic missions.

Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Iran in January 2016, after protests in Tehran over the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, a dissident Shia cleric. Iranians are mainly Shia Muslims, while the Saudis follow the Wahhabi Sunni branch of Islam.

This week’s meeting was reportedly the fourth in a series that began in August, thanks to the efforts of Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the prime minister of Iraq. A personal friend of the Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, al-Kadhimi apparently reached out to Tehran following the Iranian presidential election, and hosted a regional meeting in Baghdad that included Egypt, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as well. Bilateral contacts followed.

Axios has blamed former US President Donald Trump – who took a hard line on Iran and openly sided with the Saudis – for the hardening of the conflict between Riyadh and Tehran that predated his election. 

The regional meeting in Baghdad took place as the US was evacuating from Afghanistan, following the collapse of the US-backed government in Kabul to the Taliban.

President Joe Biden’s national security advisor Jake Sullivan visited Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks with the crown prince, officially about Yemen and the Saudi human rights situation – but “de-escalation of regional tensions with Iran” was also on the agenda, according to Axios.

Snowden Delighted Hong Kong Friends Find Refuge in Canada

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‘Best news in long, long time’: Edward Snowden hails Canadian

resettlement of refugee family who sheltered him in Hong Kong

29 Sep, 2021 10:49

FILE PHOTO. The seven 'Snowden refugees' in Hong Kong. Supun Kellapatha on the right with his daughter Sethumdi in pink and Nadeeka Nonis holding their son Dinath. Mae Rodel on the left with daughter Keana. Ajith Puspa behind.

©Jayne Russell / Global Look Press

Canada has finally agreed to grant residency to a Sri Lankan family that was among the refugees who offered hospitality to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden when he went to Hong Kong to share classified materials with journalists.

Snowden spent two weeks hiding from possible pursuers at various locations in a poor area of Kowloon Walled City in the semi-autonomous Chinese city in 2013. The homes of asylum seekers mostly overlooked by Hong Kong authorities were great spots to lay low. But the lives of his generous hosts were turned upside down after their Western guest became a world-famous fugitive from the US government.

This week, four of the seven so-called ‘Snowden refugees’ saw a major positive development in their lives after Canada finally accepted their bids for permanent residency. Supun Thilina Kellapatha, his wife Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their two children were allowed to fly to Toronto on Tuesday and are expected to settle in Montreal, according to a campaign advocating on their behalf. The couple are Sri Lankan nationals while their children are stateless.

“We are thrilled beyond measure to see this long ordeal finally come to an end for Supun, Nadeeka and their children,” said immigration lawyer Marc-Andre Seguin. He heads the For the Refugees non-profit organization, which offered to be a private refugee sponsor for all seven people.

After over a decade in limbo they can now begin to build new lives in Canada, reunited with the rest of their family and free of the constant fear and worry that marked their existence as high-profile asylum seekers in Hong Kong.

Snowden, who for a long time has been a vocal supporter of his ‘guardian angels’, said it was “the best news I’ve heard in a long, long time.”

The four will be reunited with Filipina Vanessa Mae Rodel and her daughter, who was born in Hong Kong. They were granted permanent residency in Canada in March 2019, but their relocation was bittersweet. Vanessa and Supun were in a relationship and he is the father of her daughter, who got separated from her dad and two step-siblings when she moved to Canada.

The seventh person in the group is former Sri Lankan soldier Ajith Pushpakumara. He remains in Hong Kong, as his application for Canadian residency makes its way through red tape. 

“I just hope that Canada will do the right thing and let him in,” Seguin told Canadian media. “They’ve been through so much together… There is that sense of belonging in the group.”

The campaign and Snowden called on Ottawa to expedite processing the immigration paperwork required for Ajith’s relocation. Applications on behalf of all seven refugees were filed in January 2017.

The four adults all fled persecution in their home countries. They sought asylum in Hong Kong, but their bids were all rejected several months after they applied for Canadian residencies. Their advocates believe city authorities took that decision in retaliation for the help they offered Snowden.

Snowden himself enjoys political asylum in Russia, where he got stranded after the US revoked his passport as he was flying from Hong Kong to Latin America through Moscow. He picked Hong Kong as the location to share materials exposing US illegal mass surveillance programs because the city for him was a “symbol of democratic resistance” to Beijing’s autocracy, according to Glenn Greenwald, one of the reporters he met with there.

Snowden went into hiding with the asylum seekers after his work with the journalists at the Mira hotel was complete. His hosts said they perceived the American as a fellow refugee seeking safety. The identities and roles that they played in Snowden’s life were first made public in 2016.

It's a little curious that Canada would do this so soon after the USA arranged the transfer of Meng Wanzhou (Huawei CFO) for the two Michaels. 

Meng (known in China as the Princess of Huawei) was arrested Dec 1st, 2018 at Vancouver Int'l Airport on a warrant from the USA for fraud (actually, for apparently bypassing American sanctions on Iran). Shortly thereafter, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, both Canadians, were arrested in China on spying charges. More than 1000 days later after Meng was under house arrest in Vancouver and the two Michaels were in a Chinese prison, the USA arranged a deal with Huawei and China for Meng to plead guilty and pay a large fine. In exchange, they dropped all charges, and Meng was allowed to fly home. While still in the air, the two Michaels began flying back to Canada, their charges apparently dropped as well.

This is justice, China style - hostage diplomacy. But Canada's handling of this case was disgraceful. There is no way that Canada should have started a major diplomatic rift with China because of American sanctions. If our Liberal government had any courage it would have told Washington to do their own dirty work. Instead, Trudeau repeated many times that Canada is a country where the government doesn't interfere with the rule of law. He has already forgotten the political atrocity of SNC-Lavalin where he interfered with the Attorney-General's work so much that it cost him two of his best cabinet ministers. Of course, Canada's Liberal media glossed it over and took Trudeau's side. 

I welcome the two Michaels home, but hope they tell us how they really feel about the Liberal Government.

War on Christianity > Over 100 Incidents of Christian Persecution in China in 1 Year; Destruction from Within - Kenneth Copeland, Jesse DuPlantis

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Persecution watchdog documents over 100 incidents of China’s

crackdown on Christians in 1 year

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor| 

Saturday, September 18, 2021

Catholic worshipers attend a morning mass on Easter Sunday at a Catholic church in a village near Beijing

on April 4, 2021. | JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images

A U.S.-based persecution watchdog says it has documented more than 100 incidents of Christian persecution in China between July 2020 and June 2021 as the country's communist regime seeks to forcefully convert independent religious groups into mechanisms of the Chinese Communist Party.

A significant trend throughout the past year was an increase in church raids, says a report published by International Christian Concern. It notes that "not only were churches shut down or demolished, but pastors and church attendees were often arrested.”

One example of this crackdown happened earlier this month when more than 30 officials from the CCP, including SWAT officers, police officers, religious affairs bureau officials and local school district administrators raided Maizi Christian Music High School (3rd story on link) in Harbin city in China’s Heilongjiang province, the U.S.-based rights group China Aid reported at the time.

In August, officers from Chenghua District Mengzhuiwang office in Sichuan province forcibly entered the home of a church member, He Shan, where the small group of Early Rain Covenant Church members were meeting for worship, CBN News said at the time.

ICC has also tracked 23 incidents of authorities demolishing religious structures and symbols during its reporting period. “The CCP has torn down, destroyed, and removed numerous churches in China, especially those that refused to submit to its control,” the report says.

The persecution watchdog adds in the report that it recorded 14 cases of “Sinicization,” which is a state campaign to forcefully assimilate religious groups into CCP-defined Chinese culture.

As an example, ICC highlights the plight of a church bookstore that was forced to display Mao Zedong’s Little Red Book instead of the Bible. The Administration for Religious Affairs also ordered Christians to study President Xi’s book and memorize his speeches.

Chinese authorities are also removing Bible apps and Christian WeChat public accounts as new highly restrictive administrative measures on religious staff went into effect earlier this year.

The ICC report says that almost every province in China has seen an increase in Christian persecution, and this rise has been especially apparent in Sichuan, Hebei and Fujian provinces.

“China tightening down on people of faith comes as no surprise to observers,” says Gina Goh, ICC’s Regional Manager for Southeast Asia, in a statement about the report.

“What is concerning is the depth and width of persecution and that it continues to expand. From Xinjiang to Sichuan, from state-sanctioned groups to underground churches, from verbal threats to imprisonment, believers in China are constantly watched and persecuted,” Goh adds.

Under the direction of President Xi Jinping, officials from the CCP have been enforcing strict controls on religion, according to another report released in March by China Aid.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be “illegal” and unregistered underground house churches.

Christians are not the only religious minority to face persecution at the hands of the CCP.

Estimates suggest that as many as 1 million to 3 million Uyghur and other ethnic Muslims have been subject to internment camps in the western Xinjiang province, where they are taught to be secular citizens who fall in line with the CCP. In January, the U.S. State Department recognized China's treatment of Uyghurs as a “genocide.”

China has also reportedly violated the rights of Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetan Buddhists.

Televangelist Kenneth Copeland Asks Viewers for Money to

Buy Private Jet to Avoid Vaccine Mandates

Milton Quintanilla | 

Contributor for ChristianHeadlines.com | 

Monday, September 27, 2021

Controversial prosperity preacher Kenneth Copeland is asking his supporters for money to help him buy a private jet so that he can avoid vaccine mandates and still travel freely.

Copeland, 84, made the plea during a “VICTORYthon” fundraiser last Tuesday during which he called vaccine mandates “the mark of the beast,” a reference from the book of Revelations.

“The time has come for ministries, particularly traveling ministries, to have some other method of travel other than the airlines,” the televangelist explained.

“You get into this situation, ‘We’re not going to let you fly unless you’re vaccinated.’ Well, to me, that’s the mark of the beast,” Copeland claimed. “Not the vaccination,” he later clarified. “I’m not taking the vaccination, but you can do what you wanna do.”

Whaaaat?

According to Inside Edition, Copeland reportedly owns three jets and a private airport. In a 2019 interview with the outlet, the televangelist explained that the reason he needed a private jet was so that he wouldn’t have to fly commercial with “a bunch of demons.”

As reported by The Christian Post, Copeland has also made controversial claims during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last June, Copeland claimed that his faith in God would shield him from the coronavirus. He also accused Christians of not having enough faith, arguing that they spent too much time watching news reports about the disease.

“I’m talking now to Holy Spirit born-again, Holy Spirit baptized, Holy Spirit speaking in other tongues, healing, believing Christians that don’t watch anything but COVID-19 on the television. Your faith is idle and dumb,” Copeland said at the time.

He added that by consuming media about the pandemic instead of absorbing faith-building content, Christians were subjecting themselves to further attacks by the devil.

“Your angel has nothing to do because all you’re listening to is the news broadcast, and you’re exalting this creep that you have authority over,” Copeland said.

Shortly after the start of the pandemic, Copeland called for a supernatural heatwave to kill the coronavirus as it spread across the United States.

We had a 'supernatural' heatwave in southwest British Columbia, but it came a year and a half after the pandemic started, and it failed to kill the virus. 

Copeland is, in my humble opinion, far off base with this request for another jet, and his preaching is far off base with its selfish, prosperity gospel. Jesus never taught anything close to that.

According to Wikipedia, Copeland spent close to $40 million on a Gulfstream V luxury jet and airport facilities to use it. Copeland is himself a pilot and his ministry owns 5 airplanes including 3 jets.

He is claimed to have a wealth of between $300 - 760 million dollars. He can afford to buy another jet already. Why is he robbing Christians of the blessing of giving money to the poor and needy instead of to the rich and greedy? 

Preacher like Copeland are destroying the church from within rather than building it. He is manifesting the character of wealthy, worldly, aristocrats, rather than the sweet, humble nature of Jesus Christ.

We Can 'Speed Up' Jesus' Return by Giving Money to TV Ministry,

Jesse Duplantis Says

Michael Foust | 

ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Tuesday, September 28, 2021

Christians can "speed up" the time of Jesus' return by giving more money so the gospel can be shared across the globe, Louisiana pastor and televangelist Jesse Duplantis said during the Kenneth Copeland Ministries "VICTORYton" fundraiser.

Duplantis urged viewers recently to donate to the Victory Channel, which currently can be viewed on the Dish Channel, DirectTV and YouTube and is a network of Kenneth Copeland Ministries.

Duplantis' sermons are broadcast on the Victory Channel.

"The reason why Jesus hasn't come is because people are not giving away what God told them to give," Duplantis said. "You see what I'm saying? I mean, when you understand it – you can speed up the time."

Duplantis continued, "What is God saying to you? And I really believe this. If people would call this number and put this Victory all over the world — every available voice, every available outlet. The Father would say, 'Jesus, go get them.' Because you see, He wants to see us as much as we want to see Him."

The reason Jesus has not returned, Duplantis concluded, is "because people are not doing in the financial realm – because we live in an economic world – what God's called them to do."

His comments were posted on social media by Right Wing Watch.

Duplantis is the pastor and co-founder of Covenant Church in the New Orleans area, and the founder of Jesse Duplantis Ministries.

The Victory Channel is a non-profit, free-to-air television network that "fills the airways with the hope and healing from the Word of God," according to its website, which also says it features "faith-filled, Spirit-led ministers" such as those of Jerry Savelle, Jesse Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, Keith Moore, Bill Winston and Nicole Crank.

A year or two ago, Creflo Dollar begged his supporters for a new Gulfstream luxury jet 'for his ministry'! Prosperity gospel preachers are mostly concerned about their own prosperity, IMHO.

I'm not sure why they would want to hurry the return of Jesus, because that just hurries the day they will have to stand before Him. That will not be a pretty sight.

Decision Magazine, a publication of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, warned in a 2011 article that "although the Scriptures say the Gospel will be preached to the whole world and then the end will come, it does not say that the coming of Christ will follow immediately after the completion of the Great Commission."

"And even if it is to follow immediately, our understanding of completing the Great Commission may not match God's," the article said. "A day may come when we think the task has been completed, but we may be unaware of other people whom God still intends for us to reach. If Christ delays His coming for another hundred years, we must be faithful to proclaim His name to every generation, for as long as He tarries."

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European Politics > Iceland's Girlie Parliament Lost in Recount; Germany's Gov't in Chaos After Vote; Kosovo - Serbia Conflict, 10 Arrests

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Matriarchy hopes dashed: Women will NOT take up majority

of seats in Icelandic parliament after vote recount

27 Sep, 2021 04:17 / Updated 14 hours ago

An election poster from the Social Democratic Alliance, saying "green attack" in Reykjavik, Iceland,

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021. © AP Photo/Brynjar Gunnarsson

While the initial election results put Iceland on course to become the first European country with a female-majority parliament, making international headlines, the new tally shows the female MPs fell short of the mark.

Multiple media outlets (including this one) reported on Sunday that Iceland’s parliamentary elections propelled more women into the country’s legislature than men in a first for Europe. Reports citing local electoral officials put the number of would-be female lawmakers at 33, and men at 30.

Icelandic public broadcaster RUV called the election historic, while numerous public figures rushed to congratulate Reykjavík for the results, which were portrayed as a victory for gender equality.

Some drew parallels between Iceland’s parliament and less women-dominated legislatures in other developed countries, such as Canada and the US.

According to projections, Iceland is about to elect the first majority-woman parliament in European history. It's expected 52% of their legislative body will be women. By comparison, 27.4% of the U.S. House and 24% of the U.S. Senate are women, both records.

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) September 26, 2021

The updated tally, released late Sunday, however, showed that men will retain their fragile majority in the 63-seat parliament with 33 seats, AFP reported, citing the head of the electoral commission in one of the six Iceland’s constituencies, Ingi Tryggvasonmen.

Tryggvason said the decision to hold a recount, which robbed Iceland’s female lawmakers of their chance to enter the history books, was made because the “result [of the elections] was so close.” The official said that no party had requested the recount.

The recount did little to change the political make-up of the future parliament. Iceland’s ruling left-right coalition of three parties led by Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir received the majority of votes, and is expected to renegotiate the tripartite deal.

It remains to be seen if Jakobsdottir will continue to serve as prime minister, after her Left-Green Movement won 8 mandates as opposed to 11 in the 2017 election. She could be replaced by the leader of the Independence Party, Bjarni Benediktsson, whose party retained its 16 seats.

Conservative wing of Merkel’s bloc says party leadership

must resign after ‘debacle’ in Germany’s general election

27 Sep, 2021 08:44

Workers remove a campaign poster showing Armin Laschet, the Christian Democratic Union’s candidate for chancellor,

in Bad Segeberg, Germany, September 27, 2021. © Fabian Bimmer / Reuters

The conservative wing of Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU/CSU union said the party’s leadership is responsible for the historic failure in Sunday’s parliamentary election in Germany.

“The board of directors and party leaders of the CDU and CDU must draw the conclusions from the election debacle in the federal elections on September 26, 2021 and resign immediately,” the party’s informal conservative wing, the Values Union, said in a statement.

The group argued that Armin Laschet, the CDU’s leader and candidate to replace Merkel as chancellor, and Markus Soeder, the head of the CDU’s sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), bear personal responsibility for the loss and must step down as well. The Values Union called for the new leadership of the CDU to be elected directly by all party members, rather than through a system of delegates.

The Values Union was formed in 2017, mostly by longtime members of the CDU and CSU, according to their website.

In Sunday’s vote, the CDU showed its worst result since the first democratic vote in the postwar era in 1949. The CDU/CSU bloc came in second with 24.1%, trailing behind their main rivals the Social Democrats (SPD), which received 25.7%. According to official projections, Merkel’s party lost 49 seats, while the SPD gained 53, becoming the biggest party in parliament.

The Values Union argued that the CDU took “a fatal turn to the left” during Merkel’s long tenure as chancellor. “For the first time in a long while, the [party] is clearly not the strongest force and has fallen to a second place.”

Values Union chairman Max Otte said the CDU and CSU must return to their conservative roots. “A large part of the [party’s] base shares conservative values. The task of the CDU and CSU is to represent these values on political stage. Instead of marginalizing such members, they must be put back where they belong – in the center of the party.”

The CDU has been bleeding support over the past several years, as Merkel oversaw the influx of migrants from the Middle East and Africa, and most recently the economic downturn due to the harsh lockdowns amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Before the general election, the CDU/CSU bloc and SPD ruled together in a coalition government. Germany’s leading parties will now have another round of negotiations to determine whether they want to continue working with each other or form a government with other parties.

The 2021 German Bundestag election was a blow to the Left Party and Alternative for Germany (AfD), showing a massive increase in support for the Greens. The Left lost 30 seats from the last election, while AfD lost 11 seats. The Greens gained 51 seats for a total of 118, making them the third-biggest party.

10 Albanians arrested in Kosovo after attacking Serbs

as ethnic tensions flare, drawing in Serbia & NATO

28 Sep, 2021 09:30 

FILE PHOTO. Kosovo special police in Jarinje, Kosovo. ©REUTERS / Laura Hasani

Police in self-proclaimed Kosovo say they have arrested 10 Albanian citizens for attacking ethnic Serbs. Ethnic tensions have escalated in the breakaway Serbian region, with Serbia, Russia and NATO getting involved.

The 10 Albanians were detained on Monday in the city of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, after they attacked a group of Serbs visiting a government building on official business, the police reported. The city itself is predominantly Serb, but the incident happened in the southern part, which is overwhelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians.

Eight detainees were kept in custody and charged in connection with the alleged attack, while two others, identified as minors, were released, the report said. The police pledged to hold the underaged assailants accountable for their actions.

The incident highlights the ongoing escalation of ethnic tensions in Northern Kosovo, which ratcheted up last week due to a row between Kosovo and Serbia over the issue of the opposing sides’ non-recognition of the legitimacy of each others’ vehicle licence plates. Kosovo authorities decided to no longer recognize plates issued by Serbia, forcing drivers of vehicles who want to cross the border to buy temporary Kosovo-issued plates instead.

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence and never treated its licence plates as legitimate, so it has been issuing temporary plates for cross-border traffic for a long time.

The Kosovo move was perceived as discriminatory by the local Serb population even as the authorities insisted it was reciprocal. Many Kosovar Serb truck drivers responded by blocking border checkpoints in the north in a gesture of protest. The Kosovo government deployed special police forces to the border in response, further fueling resentment of the Serbs.

As tensions in Kosovo grew, Belgrade got involved too, with President Aleksandar Vucic ordering a military bulid-up along the border and saying that troops would intervene if Kosovar Serbs were targeted with violence. Serbian military planes and helicopters were reported flying along the border in an apparent show of force.

Russia, Serbia’s long-time ally, showed its support by sending officials to inspect Serbian troops in the border region during the weekend. It also stated that the responsibility for the latest escalation was with the Kosovo side and called on them to return to the status quo.

Meanwhile, NATO’s KFOR mission in Kosovo on Monday ramped up patrols along the border, touting it as an attempt to de-escalate the situation. NATO played a key role in helping Kosovo split from Serbia in the late 1990s amid a bloody civil war. The breakaway region declared itself an independent nation in 2008 in a move that was not recognized by two members of the UN Security Council, Russia and China.

Yeah, right, NATO de-escalating - oxymoron!

The row over licence plates is just one aspect of the festering conflict over Kosovo’s status. Kosovo authorities want to resolve the stand-off by having both sides drop the temporary licence plates scheme. Serbia rejected the proposed solution and demanded a withdrawal of Kosovo troops deployed to the border before EU-mediated talks on the issue could take place.

Islam - Current Day > Moroccan Mafia Threatens Rutte; France Drastically Cuts Maghreb Visas; Swede Apartment Explosion-Fire from a Bomb; Muslim Assaults Dermatologist for Complimenting Wife's Skin

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Dutch PM receives extra security on high alert over fears

of Moroccan Mafia kidnapping plot – media

27 Sep, 2021 11:28

The Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives at 10 Downing Street to meet

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson © AP

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has reportedly received extra security after the appearance of “spotters” in his vicinity sparked fears of a potential Moroccan Mafia kidnapping plot.

Citing “well-informed sources” on Monday, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that suspicious “spotters” who are believed to be affiliated with the Moroccan Mafia, also known as the Mocro Mafia, were observed near Rutte and that he has subsequently been receiving extra security on high alert.

De Telegraaf also reported that such spotters are commonly deployed by the mafia before an attack is set to take place, which could include kidnapping or even assassination. Spotters were deployed before the 2019 murder of lawyer Derk Wiersum, who was shot to death while working for a client who was a witness against the Moroccan Mafia, and the July 2021 murder of crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, according to the newspaper.

Rutte’s extra security reportedly includes special officers from the Royal and Diplomatic Security Service (DKDB) and both “visible and invisible measures” are being used to protect the prime minister from any potential mafia plot.

The Netherlands is one of the Moroccan Mafia’s many territories and has recorded many incidents of violence related to the loose organization.

In September 2019, Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders – a member of the Netherlands’ House of Representatives – controversially questioned whether the government was “still the authority” or whether the Mocro Mafia had “become boss in this country,” and warned that the organization was “getting stronger and more violent every day.”

France makes ‘drastic’ decision to cull visas for Maghreb nationals

over region’s refusal to ‘take back people that we don’t want’

28 Sep, 2021 12:11

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks to police officers during a visit on the strengthening of border controls

(FILE PHOTO) © Guillaume Horcajuelo/Pool via REUTERS

The French government has said it is slashing the number of visas available for people from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, complaining that those countries are not taking back the migrants that France does not want to keep.

On Tuesday, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told French Europe 1 radio that Paris was taking action against its former North African colonies as they were refusing to take back illegal migrants sent home by the French authorities. 

Attal said the government was halving the number of visas available for nationals from Algeria and Morocco, while visas available to those from Tunisia would be cut by almost a third. 

“It is a drastic decision, and unprecedented, but one made necessary by the fact that these countries are refusing to take back nationals who we do not want or cannot keep in France,” the spokesman said.  

According to Europe 1, President Emmanuel Macron made the decision a month ago after negotiations with the North African nations failed to deliver. “There was dialogue, then there were threats, and today we’re carrying out those threats,” Attal stated on Tuesday, adding that they hoped the aforementioned nations would enhance their cooperation with Paris. 

Attal’s comments come as political parties start positioning themselves for the 2022 presidential election, in which immigration is likely to play a major role. 

On Monday, Rassemblement National leader Marine Le Pen vowed to call a referendum proposing severe limits on immigration if she is elected next year. "The referendum will propose a complete draft bill that will aim to drastically regulate immigration,” Le Pen told France 2 television.

Despite the popularity of her movement, Le Pen has always trailed more mainstream parties in the second round of voting, in which the top two candidates from the first round are pitted against each other, if neither had secured a majority in the first round. A survey conducted by research institute Odoxa last week suggested Macron would win the second round against Le Pen with 58% of the vote. 

In 2017, Len Pen reached the second round of the presidential election, losing to now-president Macron who won more than 66% of the vote.

Blast & fire at Gothenburg apartment block likely caused by

explosive device, gas leak ruled out, police say

28 Sep, 2021 14:36

Apartment building hit by an explosion in Gothenburg. © Bjorn Larsson Rosvall / TT News Agency via REUTERS

A powerful blast that tore through an apartment building in Sweden’s second most-populous city on Tuesday was not caused by a gas leak and probably involved foul play, Swedish authorities have said.

Swedish police are investigating whether an explosive device caused the blast that went off in Annedal district in central Gothenburg on Tuesday morning, starting a serious fire. The Sahlgrenska University Hospital said it was treating 16 people injured in the incident, four of them in serious condition.

The explosion rocked through the building just before 5am local time, damaging three stairwells. Some residents used tied sheets to escape from their homes through windows, as the fire ignited by the blast spread and sent thick plumes of grey smoke in the air.

Emergency services ruled out a gas leak as the cause of the explosion, confirming that there was no gas pipeline in the area, police spokesperson Thomas Fuxborg told a news conference. He said investigators’ working theory was that an explosive device was planted at the site.

Sweden has been gripped by an increasingly violent wave of gang violence, in which bombs have been used by rival criminals against each other among other weapons. The police said they couldn’t immediately identify any particular resident as a possible target for a bombing attack.

The emergency in Gothenburg prompted mass evacuation from the damaged building, with hundreds escaping. Initial reports said 20 to 25 people sustained various injuries.

The police could not immediately collect evidence on the site to confirm foul play behind the explosion because of the blaze that followed. It required significant deployment of firefighters from seven nearby stations and hours of hard work to contain it. The responders managed to prevent its spread to other buildings, but the blast wave and the flames reportedly caused significant damage inside.

Annedal residents who lived nearby were advised to lock windows and stay inside due to the risk of smoke inhalation.

The four people hurt most by the blast were identified by health officials as three women in their 60s, 70s and 80s respectively and a man in his 50s. The youngest patient treated by the hospital is a 10-year-old child. One of the 16 is a firefighter, who was hurt when dealing with the fire.

Municipal authorities have offered assistance to people affected by the incident. A shelter was organized at a nearby church, with some 40 people, some in a state of shock, finding refuge there.

“This is terrible and of course completely unacceptable,” Axel Josefson, the chair of the Gothenburg municipal board, said of the explosion. He offered his condolences to victims and pledged that the city will do everything it can to support them.

Sweden’s national government reacted to the incident as well, with Interior Minister Mikael Damberg expressing confidence that the police would get to the bottom of what had happened.

Man in Russia charged with ‘hooliganism’ after badly beating male

dermatologist who said hijab-wearing wife’s skin was ‘beautiful’

28 Sep, 2021 07:45

A man has been placed under house arrest in Russia after he beat up and concussed a doctor who inspected his wife and complimented her. The woman, a hijab-wearing Muslim, claimed the dermatologist dubbed her skin “beautiful.”

The incident took place on September 21 in Nizhnevartovsk, Siberia.

According to the doctor, Vladimir Zhirnokleev, he simply asked the woman to show her elbows, stomach, and back, and did not ask her to undress. Once the inspection was complete, he found no cause for concern and said, “The skin is beautiful.”

After leaving the doctor’s office, the woman complained to her husband that the medical examination did not comply with “Muslim law.”

“I am sure the doctor complimented my wife during the examination, which is not befitting of my principles,” said Bakhriddin Azimov, the Tajikistan born 29-year-old husband of the patient. “If you are a doctor, do your job. Excessive compliments and questions are beyond a doctor’s job description.”

However, according to the doctor, he did nothing wrong and simply gave a positive judgement after inspecting the woman.

“Muslims should resolve all issues immediately with the management - calmly and constructively,” Zhirnokleev said, according to the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. “Running into a doctor’s office without a trial and smashing his nose is morally and legally wild.”

“I am an adult, I have several educations, a lot of experience, and we still live in a state governed by the rule of law. People should obey the law and follow the rules,” he said.

They do, just not Russian Law and Rules.

Zhirnokleev also noted that those who doubt his competence should see another doctor, where they will discover that all skin examinations are conducted in the same manner. 

“I told her: ‘You are fine, your skin is beautiful,’” Zhirnokleev said. “She interrupted me: ‘Don’t pay me any compliment.’”

After the attack, Zhirnokleev was diagnosed with a head injury, concussion, and numerous bruises. Bakhriddin, in turn, was charged with “hooliganism” and is now under house arrest.

On Saturday, an imam in Nizhnevartovsk condemned the attack.

“We condemn this and call on all Muslims to treat doctors, medical workers and all people in general with respect, as our religion teaches us,” said Salavat Hazrat Sitdikov, head of the city’s mosque. “I urge everyone to study their religion, improve their morals, behave with dignity and not defame our religion.”

Good luck with that!

Ozzone 5-14 > Is my life exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or just the basic irritation of “myself” apart from Him?

 

The CIA > Black Ops to Kill Julian Assange, Glen Greenwald and Other Disapproved Journalists

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CIA was ready to wage gun battle in London streets against Russian

operatives to kill or snatch Assange, bombshell report claims

26 Sep, 2021 14:43

(L) Mike Pompeo © Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS; (R) Julian Assange © REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Under Obama, the CIA wanted to define Julian Assange and other journalists as “information brokers” in order to ramp up their spying on them. And during the Trump era, it prepared plans to abduct or kill the WikiLeaks founder.

The claims about the extraordinary lengths to which the CIA under Director Mike Pompeo were prepared to go to get Assange were made on Sunday in a Yahoo News report based on interviews with more than 30 former US officials. The report offers an insight into how the US national security apparatus was escalating its war with WikiLeaks under two consecutive US administrations.

At the peak of preparations for hostilities in 2017, the CIA was allegedly expecting Russian agents to help Assange flee the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. In such a contingency, the Americans, together with the British, were planning to engage in street battles against the Russians, potentially starting a firefight, ramming a Russian diplomatic vehicle, or shooting at the tires of a Russian plane to prevent it from lifting off, the story said. The attempt to spring Assange was reportedly expected on Christmas Eve.

“It was beyond comical,” a former senior official told the outlet regarding the situation in the vicinity of the embassy at the time. “It got to the point where every human being in a three-block radius was working for one of the intelligence services – whether they were street sweepers or police officers or security guards.”

The CIA was also deliberating plans to kill Assange and other members of WikiLeaks, the report said. Alternatively, the agency was considering snatching him from the embassy and bringing him to the US, or handing him over to the British authorities. At the time, the UK wanted Assange for skipping bail in an extradition trial on a request from Sweden – a case that has since been dropped.

It's been dropped but he's still in prison! Go figure!

The possibility of carrying out a successful rendition or assassination were described as “ridiculous” by one intelligence official, because of the location. “This isn’t Pakistan or Egypt – we’re talking about London,” the source was quoted as saying. There was also resistance in the Trump administration because such an operation might be deemed illegal under US law. A source said using CIA powers meant only for spy-versus-spy activities would be “the same kind of crap we pulled in the War on Terror.”

As far as the CIA was concerned, WikiLeaks prompted these extreme measures after the so-called ‘Vault 7’ publications, which exposed a cyber-offensive toolkit used by US agents. The leak of those tools was a major humiliation for US intelligence, so “Pompeo and [then-Deputy CIA Director Gina] Haspel wanted vengeance on Assange,” Yahoo was told.

Pompeo had to do some legal maneuvering so the agency could go more aggressively after Assange and WikiLeaks without having then-president Donald Trump sign off such operations. When, shortly after taking office, he infamously called WikiLeaks a “non-state hostile intelligence service” during a public speech, it was more than just rhetoric, according to the report. Designating in that way allowed the CIA to file its snooping under “offensive counterintelligence” activities, which it’s allowed to conduct on its own volition.

“I don’t think people realize how much [the] CIA can do under offensive [counterintelligence] and how there is minimal oversight of it,” a former official said.

While Pompeo’s CIA ramped up its “war on WikiLeaks” to 11, even under then-president Barack Obama the agency was likewise angling for ways to target the transparency group. It lobbied the White House to redesignate WikiLeaks and a number of high-profile journalists, including Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras as “information brokers,” allowing more surveillance powers to be deployed against them, the report says.

“Is WikiLeaks a journalistic outlet? Are Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald truly journalists?” a source speculated in an interview with Yahoo News. “We tried to change the definition of them, and I preached this to the White House, and got rejected.”

Ultimately, Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy and currently remains in custody in a high-security British prison. The US has appealed a court decision to deny its request to extradite him on charges related to hacking. Proceedings are expected to resume next month.

Concerns about jeopardizing the US case against Assange were among the factors that prevented the CIA’s plants from going further, according to Yahoo News. Assange’s defense team hopes this proves true.

“My hope and expectation is that the UK courts will consider this information and it will further bolster its decision not to extradite him to the US,” his lawyer, Barry Pollack, told the outlet when asked about the alleged CIA plans targeting his client.

Resentment towards Assange is a bipartisan endeavor in the US establishment. Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election, reportedly joked about “droning” the Australian citizen back in 2010, but later said she didn’t remember having said that.

The presidential election and WikiLeaks’ publication of Democratic emails was a pivotal moment for the CIA’s campaign against Assange, according to Yahoo News, since it was able to claim the leak was carried out in collaboration with Russian intelligence. WikiLeaks denied it and Moscow insists the accusation of election interference was baseless and was part of the Democrats’ attempt to downplay Clinton’s defeat.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation issued a statement calling the CIA “a disgrace,” adding, “The fact that it contemplated and engaged in so many illegal acts against WikiLeaks, its associates, and even other award-winning journalists is an outright scandal that should be investigated by Congress and the Justice Department.”

The foundation also called on President Joe Biden and his administration to immediately drop all charges against Assange, describing the CIA’s alleged plans as “beyond the pale.”