"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." Northwoods is a ministry dedicated to refreshing Christians and challenging them to search for the truth in Christianity, politics, sociology, and science
"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"
Father God, thank you for the love of the truth you have given me. Please bless me with the wisdom, knowledge and discernment needed to always present the truth in an attitude of grace and love. Use this blog and Northwoods Ministries for your glory. Help us all to read and to study Your Word without preconceived notions, but rather, let scripture interpret scripture in the presence of the Holy Spirit. All praise to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Please note: All my writings and comments appear in bold italics in this colour
Brazil Supreme Court chief suspends colleagues' rulings amid election row
Americas
The chief justice of Brazil's Supreme Court stepped in Wednesday to halt conflicting rulings by two fellow judges as a dispute over alleged links between Justice Alexandre de Moraes and a banker accused of fraud deepened. The clash has spilled into the campaign for next month's presidential election, adding to tensions around the court.
Brazil's Supreme Court president attempted Wednesday to end a crisis in the court by suspending a series of conflicting rulings by rival judges that have dominated a bitter election campaign.
The court is reeling from a scandal involving the alleged links between leading Justice Alexandre de Moraes and a disgraced banker charged with massive fraud.
The case has descended into open warfare between Moraes, who famously led the coup investigation into far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, and fellow Justice Andre Mendonca, a Bolsonaro appointee.
On Tuesday, the country's top policeman, Andrei Rodrigues, got swept up in the infighting, when he was suspended by Mendonca, who accused the police of spying on him.
A day later a third justice, Flavio Dino, a former minister under incumbent president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, reinstated the head of the federal police.
The court's president Edson Fachin promptly waded into the dispute and suspended both rulings, according to a ruling seen by AFP.
Fachin gave Rodrigues 48 hours to provide information before deciding his fate.
The eruption in the court has overshadowed the run-up to next month's presidential election, in which Bolsonaro's senator son, Flavio Bolsonaro, is trying to unseat left-wing Lula.
Mendonca fired the opening salvo in the row by ordering the publication last week of text messages from banker Daniel Vorcaro to Moraes, asking for information about the case against him.
Moraes hit back, accusing Mendonca of abuse of power on the basis of confidential police intelligence reports, whereupon Mendonca suspended Rodrigues.
'Selective leaks'
The texts from Vorcaro, whose private bank Banco Master collapsed last year in a multi-billion-dollar pool of debt, have become fodder in the presidential race.
Lula on Wednesday said "greater transparency" was needed in the case, as well as an end to "selective leaks that impact the electoral race".
"It is urgent to fully lift the secrecy of the investigations into all those involved in the Master case, whoever they may be, no matter who it hurts. Brazil needs to know the truth," he insisted on X.
Vorcaro had boasted of having "friends in all branches of government" before becoming embroiled in one of Brazil's biggest-ever financial scandals.
The Master case is a "toxic" affair, a Supreme Court source told AFP, adding that police suspect the banker "put money into various places in order to later collect favours".
In the days leading up to his arrest in November, Vorcaro sent around 30 text messages to a phone number police say belonged to Moraes.
"Do you think I need to be out of the country as early as Monday?" he asked in one message, just before his arrest while boarding a private jet.
Flavio Bolsonaro has pounced on the texts to bash Moraes, a hate figure for the Brazilian and US right for having spearheaded the coup trial of his father.
But Flavio Bolsonaro's own links to Vorcaro have been questioned after it emerged that the banker transferred millions of dollars to an intermediary at the senator's request.
The younger Bolsonaro said the money was intended for use towards a film about his father.
The scandal engulfing the Supreme Court has sown alarm in the Brazilian business community.
Some 3,000 business organisations released a manifesto on Wednesday, warning of an "extremely serious institutional crisis".
"If the legitimacy (of the judges) is questioned, everything else becomes uncertain: legal certainty, trust in institutions, and even social peace," they argued.
In Vienna, a schoolteacher has experienced extraordinary difficulties because of the presence of so many Muslim students: “Vienna teacher warns of a path toward apartheid:
‘They view us as infidels'
translated from “Wiener Lehrerin warnt vor einem Weg in die Apartheid: „Sie sehen uns als Ungläubige,“” Tichys Einblick, September 6, 2026 (thanks to Medforth):
Stephansplatz and Graben street in the evening. Vienna, Austria, Marek Ślusarczyk (Tupungato), www.wyprawa.info, Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
A lack of German language skills exacerbates the problem, says Wiesinger: some children can technically decipher words but do not grasp their meaning, which is why she relies on images and gestures. Consequently, the Vienna-based teacher advocates for mandatory language proficiency assessments for three-year-olds—with penalties for non-compliance—alongside significantly increased funding for kindergartens. Early childhood educators, she notes, suffer from poor pay, oversized groups, and a lack of recognition.
Current figures underscore the urgent need for reform: the proportion of Muslim students stands at 39 percent in Vienna’s primary schools and 49 percent in middle schools. In the Favoriten district, the share of foreign students reaches 74 percent. Most recently, Vienna enrolled 1,700 children starting school in German support classes.
Susanne Wiesinger is well-meaning, but she thinks the problem is one that can be solved by remedial courses in German. That isn’t the problem. Even if they speak perfect German, these Muslim students will resist any kind of integration. They will continue to be hostile to the Infidels in whose midst they have landed. Learning the language will only make them better able to seduce or fool the Infidels — Muhammad himself said that “war is deception” — wielding words as fluently as do those non-Muslims who are native born. The well-spoken Muslim, a Zohran Mamdani or Mehdi Hasan, is more dangerous than one less linguistically gifted.
Conversations between teachers and students’ parents are particularly fraught; beyond language barriers, Wiesinger describes a fundamental conflict regarding identity. Many strictly religious families define themselves through their faith, customs, and clans. They do not want their children to drift away from this way of life. To them, Austria appears as a “culture of infidels” or a “hostile Christian country.” For this reason, Wiesinger explains, they remain within “their own” neighborhoods—whereas other immigrant groups integrate far better. The problem, according to Wiesinger, lies primarily within strictly Muslim milieus. She also points to the issue of patriarchal patterns: boys are predominantly involved in scuffles and instances of severe verbal abuse.
Wiesinger sees the problem, that Muslims don’t want to mix, to integrate, or even to live in non-Muslim neighborhoods. If they could, they would shut out the larger society, even as they rely on Infidels to supply them with all the welfare benefits that are the reason they settled in Austria in the first place. Yet she keeps pinning her hopes on teaching Muslims German. But a better command of the language will not change Muslim contempt for non-Muslims, for that “culture of Infidels.” Muslims complain about a “hostile Christian country” most unfairly. In truth, they have been allowed to settle by the millions in a country that at first was prepared not only to welcome them, but to support them in a host of ways. That complaint is backward: it’s the Muslims who have been and remain hostile to Austrian Christians.
Despite a track record that is not exactly positive, Susanne Wiesinger does not consider the future lost; giving up would mean allowing the emergence of neighborhoods around which “fences would one day have to be erected.” What is needed, she argues, is a long-term plan for Austria as a country of immigration—ideally one that transcends party lines.
Here’s the only ”long-term plan” for Austria as a “country of immigration” that will stave off demographic disaster:
End all immigration from Muslim countries. If immigrants are needed, find them among Catholics from South America and the Philippines, both Catholics and the Orthodox from central and eastern Europe, and Hindus from India.
Make immigrants eligible for welfare benefits only after they have lived in Austria, gainfully employed, for five years. That applies also to those who are already in Austria.
Deport back to their countries of origin all those migrants who have been convicted of crimes as soon as they have served their sentences. We already know the staggering rates of criminality of Muslim migrants; they will be the ones most affected by this policy.
That’s not what the well-meaning Susanne Wiesinger has in mind. She wants those German lessons to help Muslim children “integrate.” She expects them to cast aside the hatred they have been taught to feel for Infidels since they were toddlers. You and I know it won’t happen. And so, eventually, will she.
The free world’s ongoing defense against the jihad does not stop at Israel. It is a global battle. Israel is currently fighting the lion’s share of this battle, because it is the single, tiny Jewish country in a vast region that Islam has conquered. As a wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas is not marginalized in the region nor globally, despite the outward show of its having been outlawed in several countries, such as Saudi Arabia. The West forgets that no honor exists in the minds of jihadists when engaging with kaffirs. Jihadists have never honored ceasefires and ever will, and their religion instructs them to employ taqiyya. They use these so-called ceasefires to regroup after their enemies have hammered them. Such is the case with Hamas, now rebuilding after Israel decimated Gaza due to Hamas hiding its weaponry and operatives among Gazan civilians.
Hamas working to reclaim weaponry, reestablish military control over Gaza, IDF says – report
Hamas has been operating to reclaim its weaponry and reestablish military control over the Gaza Strip, despite the ongoing ceasefire and disarmament agreement, N12 News reported on Wednesday, citing IDF sources.
“Recently, Hamas terrorists have been reaching weapons depots and using the weapons inside to carry out surveillance and establish control over the Gaza Strip,” a senior security source told the outlet.
Meanwhile, the IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) destroyed three Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad weapon storage facilities and a launch pit from which rockets were fired toward Israel throughout the war in precise strikes on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the military announced on Wednesday.
Dozens of different weapons were stored inside the facilities, including rockets and Kalashnikov rifles, among other combat equipment.
Hamas terrorists had been using the stored weapons to carry out operations and establish control in Gaza recently, according to the IDF…
Photo: 25th anniversary of Hamas celebrated in Gaza, Hadi Mohammad, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
By now, even witless leftists should understand that martyrdom is the highest calling in Islam. It comes with showers of praises and rewards from fellow Sharia-observant Muslims, and boundless rewards in the afterlife. Knowing one’s enemy is a foreign concept to arrogant leftists, as well as to many also on the right. In the case of Islam, 1400 years of proof isn’t enough for them.
Going back a few years: following Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021, in which Hamas was pummeled, Israel thought that the blow to Hamas’ capabilities was so severe that “Hamas was unlikely to act against Israel for years.” The Saudis aided the rebuilding of Hamas. In 2022, Saudi Arabia released senior Hamas official Mohammad al-Khudary from prison on health grounds. Less than three months before that, the Saudis freed two jailed Palestinians who were linked to Hamas; a larger scale Hamas prison release followed, after a meeting with a senior Hamas delegation which demanded their release. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also held meetings with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about “continuing violence in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories.” That meeting coincided with the Hamas’ delegation visit, although the meetings were separate.
Hamas saw Operation Guardian of the Walls differently from how the leaders of the “resistance axis,” who “praised Hamas and its military wing,” regarded it. The Amit Terrorism and Intelligence Research Institute reported on “transcripts of conversations and written correspondence between Hamas leaders and senior figures in Iran and Hezbollah, featuring phrases such as ‘mythical power’ and ‘heavenly victory,’ and denials of Israeli claims about significant damage to the tunnel network.”
Hamas then regrouped and planned a much worse attack that culminated in October 7.
Muslim Brotherhood is not about to disappear, and neither is the “resistance axis.” It is rooted in Islamic supremacy itself, and the goal of a global caliphate. This is why the the Organization of Islamic Cooperation has declared the Palestinian cause to be the central cause of the Muslim ummah. Hamas is a front man in this cabal. Recall that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran stood in unison on the very day Israel was savaged by Hamas on October 7 and justified the ISIS-like attack because of “the occupation.”
The West has been completely fooled. The jihadist determination to destroy Israel began at Israel’s founding, when the surrounding Arab nations immediately attacked the new Jewish state. Ditto in 1967, with the Six-Day War, and again in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The targeting of Israel for annihilation has never stopped, despite deceptive talk and naive acceptance of the Palestinian “resistance.” And the determination for global conquest began with Muhammad himself.
The call of God may be to some great life-long adventure, or it may be for some mundane act for that day. Listening for the Voice of God is arguably the most
vital part of our walk with Jesus. Like Jesus, when He walked the Earth, we
need to start every day by listening to God, lest we go into battle each day
without marching orders, completely unprepared for the fight.
Three of 11 people seized from Nigeria’s Kaduna state have died while being held captive in the same forest hideout used to confine 37 worshippers taken during Easter Sunday services at three churches in a nearby community.
The three made up part of a group of 11 people seized from Awon area on April 20 by heavily armed Fulani militia in Kachia Local Government Area, according to the U.K.-based advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.
Militants confined the captives at the same forest hideout used to hold 37 worshippers kidnapped in coordinated attacks on three churches in Ariko community, also in Kachia LGA, during Easter Sunday services on April 5.
One of the 11 captives from Awon later escaped. Joy Samuel gave birth in the camp, and the baby died. Samuel herself died on Aug. 28. Her 3-year-old daughter, Silvia Samuel, was seized alongside her mother and is said to be in critical condition.
A woman from Ariko gave birth while in captivity, and the baby died about two weeks later. In early August, she escaped with her three other children, ages 4, 6 and 12. The youngest of the three was already critically ill and died while her mother carried her through the forest during the escape. The 12-year-old sibling then carried the child's body after their mother grew too weak from hunger to continue.
Yusuf Bawa, 34, and his 5-year-old son died of illness and severe hunger. Faith Kefas, 14, and Rachel Bulus, also 14, are reported to be gravely ill after months of surviving on nothing but river water.
The kidnappers initially demanded 300 million naira, about $225,700, and 23 motorcycles for the group’s release. They rejected a counter-offer of several million naira from the community and threatened to withhold food from the captives until the ransom was paid.
The kidnappers have since lowered their demand to 9 million naira, about $6,770, plus four motorcycles, in exchange for freeing the seven captives who remain, acknowledging that those captives are in extremely poor condition from illness and hunger.
CSW President Mervyn Thomas said, “Our hearts break at the horrific circumstances,” and extended condolences to the families of those who died.
Thomas called on state and federal authorities to intensify efforts to free all captives, including the children held in Borno state, several of whom are young. He also urged the government to adopt a comprehensive security strategy to protect vulnerable communities from armed groups operating with impunity.
Nigeria has continued to see ransom-driven mass kidnappings increase, with hundreds of people held in what the advocacy group called the normalization of prolonged captivity while payment is negotiated.
In one example, 42 schoolchildren abducted on May 15 from Mussa Primary and Junior Secondary School in Askira area in Uba LGA in Borno state by suspected Boko Haram militants remain in captivity more than 100 days later, according to CSW.
Thirty-six students and a teacher abducted on June 29 from Government Day Secondary School in Lassa, also in Askira area, remain captive as well.
The abductions form part of a six-year pattern documented by the Observatory for Religious Freedom in Africa, a nongovernmental research group, which recorded 34,773 civilian abductions in Nigeria from October 2019 to September 2025, including 15,932 Christians, 15,272 Muslims, 252 adherents of African traditional religions and 3,317 people whose religious identity could not be determined.
Kaduna state accounted for the largest share of civilian abductions overall and of Christian civilians abducted specifically, at 26% and 42% respectively, and the country’s Northwest zone recorded the most abductions of any region over the same period.
The same research counted 4,590 attacks involving abductions over the six years, an average of two a day, and found that unidentified armed groups carried out 49% of civilian abductions and Fulani-linked terror groups 43%, with Boko Haram and the Islamic State’s West Africa affiliate together responsible for the remaining 6%.
Syria: Sunni Muslims kidnap and murder 24-year-old Alawite
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights classifies this as having taken place on “retaliatory and sectarian grounds.” This man was apparently murdered for having the wrong beliefs.
“Kill them wherever you find them…” (Qur’an 2:191, 4:89, 4:91, cf. 9:5).
Homs syria3, No machine-readable author provided. Ss6sam6 assumed (based on copyright claims), Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5
Sectarian violence | Unidentified gunmen kidnap and kill young man in western Homs
Homs province: A 24-year-old man from the Alawite community was shot dead by unidentified gunmen yesterday, after being kidnapped from his work place in Al-Qabw area in the western countryside of Homs….
The Syrian Observatory has documented the murder of 135 persons, including 10 women and five children on retaliatory and sectarian grounds in different Syrian governorates since early 2026….
Nigeria: Muslims abduct and murder Christian pastor, taunt his wife about how she’ll never see her husband again
Why do jihadis seem to lack even an ounce of ordinary human compassion? Because the Qur’an commands them not to have it: “Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are ruthless to unbelievers, merciful to one another.” (48:29)
Village near Bokkos by Jiří Komárek, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
‘They told me I won’t see my husband alive’ – Widow of Plateau clergy killed by bandits. by Lekkyez Auta, Daily Post, September 1, 2026:
The widow of a Plateau State-based clergy, Pastor Emmanuel Hills, who was abducted and killed by gunmen said to be Fulani bandits on Friday, August 28, has narrated how the abductors taunted her.
According to her, the gunmen told her she would never see her husband alive again, before dragging him and another clergyman, Pastor Gabriel Dipak, into the bush.
True to their words, the body of Pastor Hills, a Ghanaian missionary and Senior Pastor of Wonderful Grace of God Ministry, as well as treasurer of the Bokkos chapter of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, was discovered the following morning close to where they were abducted….
Uganda: Muslim sons beat their father because he converted to Christianity, say he doesn’t deserve to live
The Qur’an depicts Abraham saying to his non-Muslim relatives: “We have done with you. And there has arisen between us and you hostility and hatred forever, until you believe in Allah alone.” (60:4).
The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law. It’s based on the Qur’an: “They wish you would disbelieve as they disbelieved so you would be alike. So do not take from among them allies until they emigrate for the cause of Allah. But if they turn away, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them and take not from among them any ally or helper.” (Qur’an 4:89)
A hadith depicts Muhammad saying: “Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him” (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
This is still the position of all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence, both Sunni and Shi’ite. Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the most renowned and prominent Muslim cleric in the world, has stated: “The Muslim jurists are unanimous that apostates must be punished, yet they differ as to determining the kind of punishment to be inflicted upon them. The majority of them, including the four main schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi’i, and Hanbali) as well as the other four schools of jurisprudence (the four Shiite schools of Az-Zaidiyyah, Al-Ithna-‘ashriyyah, Al-Ja’fariyyah, and Az-Zaheriyyah) agree that apostates must be executed.”
Qaradawi also once famously said: “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment, Islam wouldn’t exist today.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A 52-year-old Christian in eastern Uganda was recovering from injuries after his Muslim sons attacked him for leaving Islam, sources said.
In Nakalama village, Iganga Town Council, Kibirige Abumusa returned home on Aug. 9 after an extended stay in Jinja City, where he had put his faith in Christ on June 1. One of his adult sons, 28-year-old Kibirige Budallah, confronted him about his conversion, said neighbor and eyewitness Alice Naigaga.
Abumusa converted to Christianity after attending an open-air evangelistic event organized by Pastor Zakalia Sserwada of Evangel Church in Jinja City. A business colleague and member of True Worship Centre Church had encouraged Abumusa to attend the event.
Abumusa accepted Christ after attending the meetings for three days and later attended True Worship Church Centre in Jinja, where he stayed for discipleship until his return to his village in Iganga District on Aug. 9, according to the colleague, whose name is withheld for security reasons.
Abumusa’s son, Budallah, had learned about his conversion from Imam Kisige Musitafa of Jinja mosque, which Abumusa had previously attended. The imam had accompanied Abumusa to the evangelistic event, according to the friend. Immediately after Abumusa’s conversion, the imam informed Budallah, the source said.
Budallah questioned his father upon his return about abandoning Islam, calling him a kafir (infidel), and told him that he did not deserve to live because of his decision to leave Islam, Naigaga said. Budallah struck Abumusa with a stick, and his four other sons joined in beating him, said Naigaga, who took photographs of the attack from a distance before calling for neighborhood help.
By the time neighbors arrived, Abumusa was weak, bleeding from the nose and had wounds on his hands, legs and back, she said.
Naigaga said she heard Budallah referring to Islamic teachings concerning Muslims who leave Islam and claiming that killing such persons would earn the killer paradise….
Paradise in Islam is a pseudonym for Hell.
Thailand: Islamic jihadis carry out wave of bomb blasts, shootings and arson
They want a separate Islamic nation in southern Thailand. Note the similarities: in Israel, the “Palestinians” want a separate Islamic nation (and ultimately, to destroy the state of Israel altogether). In Cyprus, the Muslims want a separate Islamic nation (and ultimately, to take over the whole island). In Kashmir, the Muslims want a separate Islamic nation (and ultimately, to take over all of India). Everywhere Muslims go, they want a bit more land for the dar al-Islam, and short-sighted Infidels, anxious for peace, are all too often happy to give in to them, not realizing that more demands will immediately follow.
Pattani Bypass Highway, Unknown author, Public domain
Wave of bomb blasts, shootings and arson shakes Southern Thailand: All you need to know about the Islamic insurgents suspected behind the attacks
A wave of coordinated attacks jolted southern Thailand over the weekend (22nd and 23rd August), leaving three people injured and causing massive property damage. According to some reports, around 51 coordinated attacks were carried out in 21 districts of three Muslim-dominated, insurgency-hit provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat. Some other reports stated that the attacks were over 70 in number and were spread across four provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla.
The attacks included bombings, warning shootings, attacks on local government offices, and arson targeting telecommunications infrastructure, CCTV cameras, vehicles, and property. The majority of the attacks reportedly happened in Narathiwat province, where three people were injured, followed by Yala and Pattani….
The provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat were officially recognised by the British as part of Thailand in the early 1990s under the Anglo-Siamese Treaty, which demarcated the existing political border between Thailand and Malaysia. The treaty was signed between Thailand (then the Kingdom of Siam) and the United Kingdom in 1909.
Under the treaty, the Siamese kingdom relinquished its claim over the territories of the northern Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu in favour of the British colonisers but retained its control over regions including Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Satun. The three provinces were already being ruled by the Siamese kingdom, and the treaty merely recognised it. Before the treaty, the three provinces were part of the former Malay-Muslim Patani sultanate. It is based on this piece of Thai history that the insurgents have been calling for a separate Islamic nation….
