#Ozzone 11-5> We must experience the sufferings of Christ, or we are of little use to Him

 

In the seeking of temporal rewards, avoiding identifying in the sufferings of Christ, we limit our rewards in Eternity. Some will have great rewards; some will have much less so. You can have many of your rewards here and now if you insist and refuse Christ’s sufferings, but you may not see them in Eternity. The things God could have done with you may not get done, or He may have to equip someone else to do them.

Ozzone 9-30 > How much are you willing to suffer for God? Are you willing to identify with His cross?

 

And it will benefit God’s Kingdom, and will ultimately benefit you. Have you so surrendered your right to yourself to God that you will allow Him to make you into broken bread and poured-out wine? He will knead you, put you on the back burner until you rise, and then throw you into the oven. After all that, He will pull you apart like Jesus was pulled apart on the Cross. Are you willing to endure the pain?

Disturbing story of Quebec man's poor medical care leading to Medically Assisted Suicide

 

Sin is progressive! Once you open a door to evil, even though it seems good, things will just get worse and worse. Canada's MAiD, Medical Assistance in Death policy is an example. Off to a cautious and almost reasonable start when first introduced by woke elites, it has taken steps every year to make it more accessible to more people. Now they want people to be able to decide well in advance of meeting the requirements. 

In this case, a man's poor medical care left him in so much agony, he chose to end his life in order to end the pain.

Quadriplegic man’s MAID death from bedsore 

results in public inquiry being ordered

By Kalina Laframboise  Global News

Posted June 25, 2024 9:28 am

 Updated June 25, 2024 3:38 pm

 2 min read

Quebec’s chief coroner has ordered a public inquiry into the medically assisted death of a quadriplegic man after he developed a severe bedsore during a hospital stay.

The decision announced Tuesday comes after Quebec’s public security minister demanded an investigation into Normand Meunier’s death.

The 66-year-old man was admitted to a hospital in Saint-Jérôme, just north of Montreal, last January. He was being treated for a respiratory illness.

During his hospital stay, Meunier developed a major pressure sore on his buttocks. Moelle épinière et motricité Québec, a group that advocates for people with spinal cord injuries and improved mobility, said the sore exposed muscle around Meunier’s tailbone.

In late March, he received medical assistance in dying to put an end to his suffering.

“It was not his choice. He asked for medical assisted to death as a result of no choice and lack of care,” said Ariane Gauthier-Tremblay, a social worker with the advocacy group.

“We want to make it very clear.”

Meunier’s death sent shock waves through Quebec, with members of opposition parties describing Meunier’s death as a “true shame” for the province.

An internal investigation was launched by the local public health authority that oversees the hospital, but calls grew for a separate, independent probe. Health Minister Christian Dubé has also announced an investigation into Meunier’s death.

Meunier’s wife told Radio-Canada she had said to hospital staff that Meunier needed a special mattress to avoid bedsores, but that he spent four days on an emergency room stretcher without one.

Sylvie Brosseau spoke publicly about her husband’s death in May, saying she would continue to fight and that she didn’t want Meunier to have died “in vain.”

“There are other people who are very unwell in hospitals at the moment,” Brosseau said at the time, adding they must receive proper care.

Quebec Coroner Dave Kimpton will oversee the inquiry, which will include public hearings from interested parties.

The inquiry will look into the circumstances surrounding Meunier’s case and make recommendations as to prevent similar deaths. The dates have not yet been set.

The decision to hold a public inquiry comes as a relief for both Meunier’s family and Moelle épinière et motricité Québec. Gauthier-Tremblay hopes it will help prevent similar situations.

“We want physically disabled people to be confident when they go to the hospital and we want them to have specific care that respects their spinal cord injuries. We want them to be safe and healed when they go to the hospital,” Gauthier-Tremblay said.

The regional health authority in charge of the hospital confirmed its own investigation is ongoing and it will cooperate with the coroner’s inquiry.

— with files from Global’s Felicia Parrillo and The Canadian Press

Bits and Bites > The Netherlands to Ban Pugs and other Designer Pets

..

Dutch to ban unhealthy designer pets

Charlotte VAN OUWERKERK

Fri, January 20, 2023 at 7:55 AM PST

The Netherlands wants to ban pets such as flat-faced dogs and cats with folded ears, which look sweet but suffer "miserable" health problems, the government said on Friday.

Dutch Agriculture Minister Piet Adema said he would seek to outlaw the ownership of the designer breeds and to ban photos of them in advertising or on social media.

"We make life miserable for innocent animals, purely because we think they are 'beautiful' and 'cute'," Adema said in a statement.

"That is why today we are taking a big step towards a Netherlands where no pet has to suffer from his or her appearance."

Despite sought-after looks that have made them a favourite with celebrities and a fixture among social media influencers, such pets suffer from a range of health conditions.

The Dutch minister said that owners often "have the best of intentions but are often unaware of the dark side of their pets' appearance".

"This subject touches me as a minister but also as a human," added Adema.

The government would now work out a full list of affected breeds, he said, adding that it could take some time.

But the public broadcaster NOS said squish-faced pugs could be among those banned.

The Netherlands banned the breeding of pets that are affected by their appearance in 2014, but some animals were still being traded illegally or bought from abroad.

The proposed new rules are designed to close a loophole so that it will also be illegal to own them.

In 2019, the Dutch government updated the rules to specifically apply to dogs whose snout is less than half the length of their skull.

- 'Out of breath' -

"Dogs with snouts that are too short are constantly out of breath, making them gasp throughout their life," Adema said in a letter to parliament setting out the proposal.

"Dogs that have a deviant skull shape may suffer from a permanent headache.

"Cats with folding ears have deviated cartilage which can cause them a lot of pain."

The fold-eared felines would definitely qualify for a ban, as was already the case in the Flanders region of neighbouring Belgium, the agriculture ministry said.

Ozzone 6-25 > Have you been through the fires of sorrow? You will need to in order to be of real value to the Lord and His Kingdom.

 

Suffering is required to grow as a Christian. We are expected to identify with Jesus Who suffered horribly. Paul and Silas praised God for the privilege of suffering for Him.

But we have many otherwise good Christians who refuse to believe that many of us will go through the Great Tribulation before being raptured. It is the theory that God will rescue His people before the real suffering begins. This is unfortunate and Unbiblical. Jesus was rescued out of His sufferings, not from His sufferings. Why should we expect any better treatment? Is there an example in the Bible of God rescuing His people before suffering began? I can’t find one.

On the other hand, the Israelites were protected during the ten plagues of Egypt, but were not rescued until the plagues were complete, that’s when they fled Egypt. And, in fact, they weren’t completely rescued until they were within minutes of being slaughtered by Pharoah’s Army.

If you expect anything less terrifying than that, you are not ready for the End Times. - GWM

Ozzone 5-15 > Are you broken-bread and poured-out wine, or the same miserable crosspatch set on having your own way?

 

Great Lesson from The Voice of the Martyrs

..

"For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." – 2 Corinthians 12:10 ESV

A church occupied in Great Commission work will see growth when people discover the love of the Father through Jesus, His Son. Then, fuelled by the Holy Spirit's guidance, these new followers of Jesus mature in the faith through discipleship and the application of God’s Word. Thus, the church becomes a marvellous blending of young and old, immature and mature, growing together in awe and reverence of the one true God.

However, Christians will encounter hostility in this world because of their faith and witness of Christ. As the church increases through conversion, the world's pushback will be one of threats, intimidation and eventual attack. Regardless of where they live, every Christian will be hated by the world because of their allegiance to Jesus. This is just as true for Christians in Canada as it is for believers in North Korea. While hostility from the world may vary from location to location, suffering for righteousness is a normal aspect of the Christian life.

For example, in Sri Lanka, while mob intimidations and attacks incited by Buddhist monks are common, local authorities often turn a blind eye to these incidents. Such aggression is not what we in the West typically associate with Buddhism, as a "violent Buddhist" is an oxymoron. And yet, whoever rejects Christ, regardless of their religion or belief, the normal outcome will be expressed in opposition to His will and way.

I recall hearing a story of a Sri Lankan pastor who witnessed Buddhist leaders and police stand silently in the foreground as an angry mob stormed his church and set it on fire. When the fire eventually died out, the church was completely gutted, with everything destroyed by the flames. Yet, picking through the charred remains, the pastor found a small clay flowerpot – the only thing that survived the fire.

The next Sunday, the congregation gathered in the ruins of their church. The pastor stood to welcome the members and lifted the flowerpot. He then asked, "Why do you think this little pot survived while everything else burned?" After a moment of silence, the pastor stated, "The reason this little pot survived is because it had already been through the fire while being made and, therefore, was able to withstand the heat."

Drawing a lesson from this little pot, he further explained: "The same can be said about our lives. When we go through trials and challenges because of our faith, we become stronger, our faith becomes stronger, and we can stand firm. Remember Isaiah 43:2 which reads, ‘When you pass through the waters, I [God] will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.’ You may be going through a challenge this very day in your own life. Whatever it may be, it is not a fire that will destroy you, but the Refiner's fire that will purge and purify your faith for His glory."

Christians are made of "stronger stuff," as God uses the difficulties and trials of life to shape us for His unique calling on our lives. The Apostle Paul tells us that all Christians are in the process of being transformed daily into the likeness of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18). He also reminds us of the fact that all things work together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). For all who desire to live the Godly life in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:12), the question we must ask ourselves is: How will we respond when trouble comes because of our faith in Him?

Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, the international founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, spent 14 years in a Communist prison. For much of that time, he was imprisoned underground in complete solitary confinement. He endured tortures and mistreatments that should have killed him. And yet, amid such miserable conditions, Rev. Wurmbrand said: "There's always a good reason to rejoice. There is a God in heaven and in the heart. I had a piece of bread this morning. It was so good! Look now, the sun is shining, and so many here love me! Every day you do not rejoice is a day lost!"

What amazing insights from a man who would not allow hate to rule his heart. Instead, Rev. Wurmbrand chose to live a life of worship, even in the darkest moments of his human experience. A characteristic of the Christian life is thankfulness – a thankfulness not influenced by outward circumstances, but one that resides in the recesses of the heart and offers right sacrifices to God. Hope is the "stronger stuff" in the life of a believer who finds peace in the flames of adversity and rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

Grace and peace,

Floyd A. Brobbel

Chief Executive Officer

The Voice of the Martyrs Canada Inc.

Ozzone 4-5 > Do You Really Understand the Agony of Christ in Gethsemane?

 

Islam - Current Day - Toronto's Muslim Gangster; Links to Stories From My Other Blog - Some Hardly Believable

Four of the worst stories I've ever posted and they are all from Pakistan and recent:

Today's Global Pervs and Paedos List > 

Pakistan's Evils Astonish Even Me, and That's Not Easy to Do

It's not just Pakistan where Muslims kidnap Christian girls and Islamic police and courts back them up:

'Jihad of the Womb': Watchdog Details Systemic Abduction of Christian Girls in Egypt

Losing the War on Christianity in Egypt

Toronto murder victim dodged earlier assassin's bullet with cocaine bribe

Police wiretaps reveal bounty hunter was paid to fake victim's death in 2013

By Sam Pazzano · CBC - Posted: Sep 16, 2020 

Farogh Sadat was shot outside a bakery in Toronto's Corso Italia neighbourhood on June 23, 2020. Police wiretaps reveal there had been two previous attempts on his life. (Muslim Association of Hamilton)

In a plot twist worthy of a Hollywood crime thriller, the victim of a brazen execution in Toronto this summer escaped an earlier hit attempt by bribing a bounty hunter to fake the target's death.

The revelation came from a police wiretap of a phone conversation between the victim, Farogh Sadat, and another man on Jan. 15, 2015, which CBC learned about after recently obtaining a copy of a 2017 court decision about Sadat's bail conditions.

At the time of the wiretapped call, police were investigating the brutal kidnapping of a drug runner, allegedly by Sadat and others, in September 2014.

In the call, Sadat boasted that he bribed his would-be assassin with half a million dollars' worth of cocaine to stage Sadat's death in the Caribbean. Sadat said he then short-changed the bounty hunter by only giving him half of the promised amount.

Sadat, 37, was shot and killed in broad daylight on June 23, 2020, while he was sitting in his SUV with California licence plates at 1346 St. Clair Ave. W., in Toronto's Corso Italia neighbourhood.

It was the third known assassination attempt on his life.

Two previous murder attempts

In the 2017 judgment dismissing Sadat's bail application on the kidnapping allegations, Superior Court Justice Leonard Richetti noted that Sadat had bad blood with Mexican drug dealers in the Greater Toronto Area.

Police were called to the scene on St. Clair Avenue West near St. Clarens Avenue in June,

where they found Sadat in his car, having suffered fatal gunshot wounds. (Devin Keshavjee/CBC)

It started in 2013, when Sadat orchestrated a home invasion robbery. Sadat sent his henchmen to rob a suspected drug runner, H.G. (CBC is withholding his identity, as his life is likely at risk.) They grabbed $40,000 in cash and $20,000 worth of jewelry, and H.G. also gave them the keys and location of a stash house, where they stole several kilograms of low-quality cocaine.

That home invasion robbery was never reported to police.

A year later, on Sept. 6, 2014, Sadat and others allegedly kidnapped H.G., beat him and held him hostage for 12 hours, seeking information about another stash house. After that, the drug dealers put a bounty on Sadat's head, wrote Richetti.

On Sept. 23, 2014, shooters mistook Sadat's brother-in-law Ghorzang Zazai for Sadat, wounding Zazai and killing a friend, Gul Alakoozi, outside Sadat's parents' home in York region, north of Toronto. At the time, Sadat was living with his parents, who were his sureties for guns and drug possession charges in a Toronto hotel room in June 2014.

'We can't even fight these guys'

The wiretapped 2015 call was a conversation with Alakoozi's father. In it, Sadat told him he "knows" his son's killers, but York Regional Police say no one has been charged for the shooting and the investigation is ongoing. 

Sadat admitted on the call that he had sold up to 20 pounds of cocaine and "bought a couple of houses" with the profits of his criminal activity, but that he wasn't wealthy enough to mount a battle against the heavily armed drug lords.

"We can't even fight these guys, because I don't have the money like these guys," he said. Sadat also said he had a "toy" – meaning a handgun – because he didn't trust anyone at the time.

Sadat also disclosed his first assassination escape, in 2013. 

He said that a bounty hunter kidnapped him in the Dominican Republic, but that he bribed his would-be killer by offering him double the price of the hit — "10 bricks" (kilograms) of cocaine, worth $525,000.

The bounty hunter then staged Sadat's death by covering his "corpse" in fake blood as it lay in a Dominican ditch and photographing the "hit." But Sadat said he only gave him "half the bricks."

Sadat went into hiding on the West Coast and later tried to resolve the dispute with the drug barons.

'I hit a home run'

The drug dealers eventually discovered Sadat was still alive after he and others were busted and charged with possessing guns, drugs, a bulletproof vest and silencer after a maid spotted a man with a firearm inside a Toronto hotel room in June 2014.

Police found evidence on a laptop in the hotel room that Sadat and his partners had placed a tracking device on H.G.'s car, as well as details of a plot to pose as cops, abduct H.G. and force him to surrender the keys and location of a stash house.

Sadat's charges were stayed, however, after another man pleaded guilty. "I hit a home run," said Sadat on the wiretap.

Before H.G. was abducted in September 2014, a Peel Regional Police sergeant warned H.G. his life was in jeopardy and left her business card with him.

When the kidnappers took H.G. hostage that September, they discovered the officer's business card in his personal effects. Fearing H.G. might be under surveillance, the captors let him go after he agreed to give them some cash and the name of another potential kidnapping victim. He provided them $5,000 cash but not another name. Two days later, H.G. went to Peel Regional Police.

'Potential for further violence'

In a 2017 judgment dismissing Sadat's bail application on the kidnapping allegations, Justice Richetti wrote, "Any informed member of the public would be shocked that Mr. Sadat would be released into the public."

Sadat's vehicle at the scene in June.

Police continue to investigate Sadat's death.

(Paul Borkwood/CBC)

"Given the matters described by Sadat in the wiretaps involving shootings, bounty, faking deaths, retaliation and other criminal activity, the potential for further violence looms large," stated Richetti.

The judge quoted a "chilling" conversation between Sadat's wife and a co-accused's brother, in which Sadat's wife said, "If [the kidnapping victim] doesn't drop the charges, then they want to get rid of everyone involved permanently."

The kidnapping charges against Sadat were stayed in 2018 after Sadat's lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, undermined H.G.'s credibility during cross-examination at the preliminary hearing.

Toronto police continue to investigate Sadat's killing.

#Ozzone 2-2 > Have You Refused to Hear God's Call?

Dutch Supreme Court Approves Euthanasia for Dementia Patients Against Their Will

This is the case where a dementia patient changed her mind about being euthanized, but the doctor went ahead and euthanized her anyway. He was acquitted of murder.

By Danielle Haynes

The Dutch legislature passed legislation in 2001 making euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal.

File Photo by Photographee.eu/Shutterstock/UPI

(UPI) -- The Netherlands' Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Dutch doctors may euthanize patients with severe dementia if at any time they gave written consent to do so.

Previously, doctors were required by law to have patients reconfirm their wish to be euthanized.

The Dutch court's ruling stemmed from the case of a nursing home doctor who was acquitted of murder in a lower court, for euthanizing a 74-year-old woman in 2016 based on a written directive she gave previously while still lucid.

The woman said she didn't want to be in a nursing home and wanted doctors to euthanize her when it was the "right time."

Public prosecutors charged the doctor, saying there were signs the woman changed her mind and didn't want to die.

"The court was of the opinion that the doctor acted carefully and was therefore not punishable," the high court said Tuesday, adding that "the court made no mistakes in its assessment."

The Dutch legislature passed legislation in 2001 making euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide legal. The law, which took effect the following year, applies to patients at least 12 years old who endure unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement.

There were more than 6,000 cases of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide in 2016, according to the Dutch Regional Euthanasia Review Committees.

Tortured Evangelist Supernaturally Escapes High-Security Chinese Prison by Simply Walking Out

Author: Paul Steven Ghiringhelli

Charisma

 Brother Yun (Vimeo/Back to Jerusalem)

Liu Zhenying fell to the floor convulsing, his frail body coursing with electricity. Prison guards, electric-shock batons in hand, stepped back unashamedly as he lost consciousness.

Inside Nanyang Prison, located in China's Henan Province, 25-year-old Liu was beginning the 75th day of his fast from both food and water. Although he was 5 feet 5 inches, he weighed less than 70 pounds and had to be carried to a room where officials had arranged for his family to see him. The Public Security Bureau (PSB), China's secret police, was hoping Liu's wife and mother would convince him to renounce his "superstitious" beliefs and reveal the identities and locations of his unregistered house-church contacts.

When Liu regained consciousness, his head was in his mother's lap. She was sobbing. His young wife and sister peered at him in horror. He was an unsightly pile of skin and bones, covered in crusty blood and filth. His ears were shriveled like raisins, and portions of his scalp were exposed because the prison guards had ripped his hair out.

Only a birthmark convinced Liu's mother that the man she was holding was her son. Soon they were all crying. Liu broke his fast by sharing communion with his family. Then he cried, "I will see you all in heaven!"

That was April 7, 1984. Liu believed he would soon die for the Lord in that prison, but God had other plans. He was released four years later but imprisoned and tortured twice more before escaping China in 1997.

Today, Liu Zhenying, 49, is known to Christians around the world as Brother Yun (pronounced "Yoon"), a name Chinese believers gave him to protect his identity. Thousands have been inspired by his account of supernatural intervention and miraculous survival, which he detailed in his autobiography, The Heavenly Man (Piquant Editions and Monarch Books).

Co-authored by Paul Hattaway, the book has been translated into 33 languages and has sold more than 800,000 copies. In 2003, it won the United Kingdom's Christian Booksellers' Book of the Year Award.

But more than being a testimony of one man's spiritual journey, The Heavenly Man offers a glimpse inside the Chinese underground house-church movement, a Christian community that is poised to reach the world with the gospel.

China's Christian Awakening

Although the numbers vary, observers estimate between 100 million and 130 million Christians live in China, an indication that nearly 10 percent of the nation's 1.3 billion people may be believers.

Protestant missionary work to South Asia began exactly 200 years ago when Robert Morrison landed in Macao in 1807. The Scottish missionary eventually translated the Bible into Chinese from his base in the coastal city of Guangzhou. Later, missionaries such as Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission in 1865, carried the gospel into interior provinces such as Henan.

There were roughly 1 million Christians living in China when Mao Zedong's community army took over in 1949. But Mao's regime looked to turn back the tide. "The first thing Mao did was expel all missionaries, throw pastors in prison or labor camps where most of them died, destroy church buildings and burn Bibles," Yun says. "By the 1970s, it was said the only Bibles left in China were in history museums in Beijing."

Yet when Mao's bloody Cultural Revolution ended with his death in 1976, an underground Christian movement erupted. It was around this time that a proselytizing 17-year-old Yun first became a wanted criminal in China, having led 2,000 people to Christ in his native Henan Province during his first year as a Christian.

He says his zeal came from his mother, a poor and backslidden woman who, while caring for her cancer-stricken husband and near suicide herself, tearfully turned back to God one night in 1974. The prodigal gathered her five children (Yun was the fourth of five) and told them Jesus would save them. They prayed all night for their father, and he was healed. Yun says God then told him to be His witness "to the south and the west."

The young evangelist continued to preach despite the constant threat of arrest. Even after Mao's brutal reign ended, Chinese authorities continued to persecute Christians. In 1983 after a secret house-church meeting in a village, PSB officers arrested Yun.

As he was being kicked and dragged through the snow, Yun feigned insanity to warn other believers to run, shouting, "I am a heavenly man! I live in Gospel Village! My father's name is Abundant Blessing! My mother's name is Faith, Hope and Love!"

One of several Christians to be arrested that night, Yun spent four years in Nanyang Prison. There he rejected numerous enticements to join the government-sanctioned Three-Self Church, as do most Christians in China. Members of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement or the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association face legal restrictions on core Christian practices, including evangelism, youth outreach and home groups.

Because Yun refused to conform, prison officials resorted to beatings and electric shocks in an attempt to penetrate his house-church connections. "They wanted me to reveal names of co-workers and meeting places," Yun told Charisma. "With thick needles they squeezed acids under my nails, and I fainted from the pain. I woke up and told them nothing."

Unlike many Western teachers who equate Christianity with comfort and abundance, Yun preaches a gospel that emphasizes suffering and ruin. He sees affliction as a way to commune with God.

"I did not really suffer for Jesus while in prison—I was with Jesus," he writes in his book. "The ones who really suffer are those who never experience God's presence."

Revivalist Rolland Baker—who with his wife, Heidi, ministers among the poorest of Africa—says Yun's life is one "so totally captured by [Jesus] that no imaginable hardship or persecution can stop him from being more than a conqueror."

Yun says there was a time when he allowed ministry "to become an idol." After being released from Nanyang Prison in 1988, Yun says he temporarily lost sight of God and became overzealous and obstinate. He ministered around China at a breakneck pace, ignoring his wife's pleas to slow down.

Yun later admitted that he had forgotten his "first love." Of his second imprisonment in 1991, he says, "The Lord graciously allowed me to rest in Him behind bars."

Released in 1993, Yun says he soon developed a burden to see unity among China's house churches, a passion he shared with his mentor, Peter Xu Yongze, who at that time led China's large house church, the Born Again Movement.

The unity movement, later named Sinim Fellowship, spread so quickly that by early 1997 word of it reached the office of high-level communist officials in Beijing. Subsequently, the PSB raided a clandestine Sinim meeting in Henan's provincial capital of Zhengzhou.

Trying to avoid arrest, Yun leaped from the second-floor window but fractured his leg. He was met on the ground by the PSB, who beat him and issued electric shocked. Sharing a wall between their cells, Yun and Xu, who also was arrested during the raid, were tortured for several days at Zhengzhou's Number One Maximum Security Prison. Yun's legs were beaten with clubs to rule out an escape attempt.

Yun says torture taught him an important lesson: "Even though God did not speak a word to me, no matter how much I cried; even though God didn't immediately set me free from the pain and terror; I have come to understand that He was there."

CHARISMA is the only magazine dedicated to reporting on what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of believers around the world. If you are thirsty for more of God's presence and His Holy Spirit, subscribe to CHARISMA and join a family of believers that choose to live life in the Spirit. CLICK HERE for a special offer.

After six weeks on the prison's third floor, Brother Yun believed God wanted him to escape. So on the morning of May 5, 1997, after his wife in a vision that morning told him to "open the iron door" and after Zu whispered to him that the time had come, Yun asked the guard for permission to use the bathroom.

Although he barely could stand on his battered legs, when the iron door opened, Yun says he suddenly was able to walk on his own, which he did, right past the first guard. On the stairwell he says he grabbed a broom to pretend he was tidying up the place, then proceeded past the second guard, who looked straight through him. Praying with every step, Yun says he reached ground level and found the third iron door open as well. Stepping onto the courtyard and into broad daylight, Yun thought he would be shot in the back at any moment.

But amazingly, when he reached the prison's main gate, it was open too. He walked onto the busy Zhengzhou streets and a taxi pulled up. The driver asked, "Where to?"

Yun later learned that no one had ever escaped from Zhengzhou Prison.

There is much more on this story at Charisma

Yemen: Up to 85,000 Young Children Dead from Starvation

Yemen is a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, ie Shia and Sunni Islam. Western countries

happily provide Saudi Arabia with weapons while Eastern countries provide Iran with weapons.

So, in effect, it is also a proxy war between Eastern and Western arms manufacturers.

And, as always, it is children who suffer the most from adult madness.

This article is more than 11 months old - Update follows.

Save the Children condemns ‘preventable’ deaths of under-fives and calls for end to war

Bethan McKernan, Middle East correspondent, and agencies

The Guardian

An estimated 85,000 children under the age of five have starved to death over the last three years as a result of Yemen’s civil war, a report from Save the Children has found, as the charity urged an immediate ceasefire to prevent more loss of life.

The figure is a conservative estimate based on UN data on severe acute malnutrition, which the international body says has afflicted more than 1.3 million children since the conflict between Houthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition that seeks to restore Yemen’s exiled government began in 2015.

About 14 million people – half of Yemen’s population – are currently at risk of famine, largely because of Saudi border blockades designed to weaken the Houthis, which have also strangled civilian access to food, fuel, aid and commercial goods.

Fears for Yemen’s civilian population have increased in recent weeks because of an escalation in fighting around the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, through which about 80% of the country’s imports flow.

Even a small amount of damage to the port’s facilities, and a delay in aid deliveries, is likely to lead the UN to declare a widespread famine.

“I am scared of the war and worried we won’t have food. It is distressing,” said Suad, a mother to 13-month-old Nusair, whom Save the Children is treating for severe acute malnutrition. “I can’t go to sleep, it is torturing, and I am worried about my children. I couldn’t live if any harm came to them.”

The new violence in Hodeidah has forced the charity to divert shipments for the rebel-held north of the country via Aden, a city nominally loyal to the government, causing delivery delays of up to two weeks.

“This conflict has created a perfect storm of conditions that has driven the country to the brink of famine,” said Bhanu Bhatnagar, a Save the Children spokesman. “The violence has disrupted food production and destroyed hospitals and health centres where the weak and sick can be treated.

“Barriers to importing and distributing supplies have severely restricted the amount of food getting into and around the country. And in markets where food is actually available, ordinary people simply can’t afford to buy it as salaries have been unpaid for months and the currency has collapsed in value.”

The UN’s special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has extracted promises from both the coalition and the Houthis to attend peace talks at the end of November after a failed round in September.

Griffiths flew into rebel-held capital Sanaa Wednesday to push for fresh peace talks.

A draft resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire was presented to the UN security council on Monday, although a vote has not yet been timetabled.

“For children under the age of five this situation is proving a death sentence,” Bhatnagar said. “What is shocking about Yemen is that these 85,000 deaths are not a result of drought or climate change, they are entirely the result of a manmade conflict that is fuelled by countries who have the power to stop it.”

The UK – along with other western governments – has been repeatedly criticised by rights groups for its support for the Saudi-led coalition, including arms sales.

In the House of Commons on Wednesday, British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt said the conflict was a “humanitarian catastrophe”, and told MPs the UN resolution seeking to relieve the humanitarian crisis in the country put forward by Britain aimed to “maximise the chances of achieving a political settlement”.

Hunt said: “The important thing about the resolution that we are proposing is not that this is the end of the story, in terms of international efforts to broker a ceasefire, this is a step in the road.

“We want a ceasefire, we want a ceasefire that will hold, and we know that the risk that if you go for too much too early in these resolutions is that they end up getting ignored.

“And so this is a carefully brokered form of words designed to get a consensus from both sides that allow talks to start before the end of this month in Stockholm. That’s the objective of this resolution.

“If the talks are successful we will be able to have a much stronger resolution that follows those talks.”

Update: Oct 4th, 2019 - 

Saudi Arabia considering some form of Yemen ceasefire

Aziz El Yaakoubi, Stephen Kalin, Lisa Barrington, 

DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is considering a proposal by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement for some form of ceasefire which, if agreed, could bolster U.N. efforts to end a devastating war tarnishing Riyadh’s reputation.

The Houthis offered two weeks ago to stop aiming missile and drone attacks at Saudi Arabia if the western-backed coalition led by Riyadh does the same, as a step to what a Houthi leader called a “comprehensive national reconciliation”.

In other words, there has been no real progress in the 9-10 months following the Guardian article. Children are still dying, Western countries are still raking in Saudi cash, and no governments or media outlets are standing up for the suffering and dying children of Yemen. The media is all too focused on the climate change hysteria. What a sad commentary on 21st century society.

Dutch Woman With Dementia Euthanized Against Her Will

The Doctor Was Just Cleared Of Wrongdoing

Lethal injection. - stock photo David Hills/Getty Images

By AMANDA PRESTIGIACOMO
The Daily Wire

Three years ago, a 74-year-old Dutch woman with dementia was euthanized by a doctor who drugged the patient's coffee without her knowledge and then had family members physically restrain her for the final lethal injection.

The doctor, who has not been publicly named, was cleared of all wrongdoing by a court in the Netherlands on Wednesday, "clarifying" the country's euthanasia law enacted in 2002 in relation to patients with "severe dementia," according to MedicalXPress.

Patients with dementia can now be killed by their doctors even if they strongly object to euthanasia at the time, so long as they have previously given consent for the fatal procedure. In other words, if a patient were to change their mind about the assisted suicide, a doctor could still legally kill them against their will. "The court ruled that in rare cases of euthanasia that were being performed on patients with severe dementia — and who had earlier made a written request for euthanasia — the doctor 'did not have to verify the current desire to die,'" MedicalXPress reported.

No consent!

And in the case of this specific Dutch woman with dementia, she never once gave an express request to be euthanized. In her will, which was renewed about a year before her death, the woman said she would like to be euthanized "whenever I think the time is right." And when she was asked if she wanted to be euthanized, she reiterated multiple times that her suffering was not bad enough to where she wanted to be killed:

“The 74-year-old woman had renewed her living will about a year before she died, writing that she wanted to be euthanized ‘whenever I think the time is right.’ Later, the patient said several times in response to being asked if she wanted to die: ‘But not just now, it's not so bad yet!’ according to a report from the Dutch regional euthanasia review committee.”

She was killed, anyway.

Part of the rationale for clearing the doctor of drugging the patient's coffee without her knowledge and killing her while she was being physically restrained against her will was in part, according to the court verdict, because "the patient no longer recognized her own reflection in the mirror," the MedicalXPress report said.

As noted by The Daily Wire last August, "A panel had previously cleared the doctor of ethical violations by saying she 'acted in good faith,'" but that decision was overturned by the Regional Euthanasia Review Committees. On Wednesday, the doctor was again cleared of wrongdoing.

The Netherlands has become a hotbed for euthanasia particularly among the most vulnerable. In 2017, 83 people with mental illness were killed in the country, as noted by National Review.

"The Dutch plunge into the euthanasia moral abyss continues to accelerate, with the number of patients killed by doctors exceeding 6,000 in 2017. That's more than 500 a month, 100 a week, and 15 a day," the outlet reported in March 2018. "Demonstrating the consequences of accepting the premise that eliminating suffering justifies eliminating the sufferer, Dutch psychiatrists killed 83 of their mentally ill patients in 2017 — up from twelve in 2012 and 43 in 2014."

Sin is progressive! It can hardly be more obvious. What begins as 'ending someone's suffering', slowly morphs in getting rid of those who are hopelessly sick, especially the aged. It will continue to morph into simply getting rid of the aged whether they are suffering or not. This is another example of #PCMadness!

Spectacular Irony - Duterte Outlaws Misogynistic Behavior

Duterte outlaws misogynistic behavior,

despite long history of public rape jokes

But with one loop-hole, just for him

File photo: © REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Outspoken Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill penalizing public sexual harassment ranging from cat-calls and wolf-whistles, to persistent telling of sexual jokes – for which he himself is famous.

Duterte signed the so-called Safe Spaces Act in April but, for unknown reasons, the legislation wasn’t publicly released until Monday.

Among the offending acts for which perpetrators will now be liable are:

intrusive gazing

cursing,

misogynistic acts,

the use of sexual slurs,

persistent telling of lewd jokes both in public and online.

In addition, the law targets those who expose themselves in public or engage in “groping or any advances, whether verbal or physical, that is unwanted and has threatened one’s sense of personal space and physical safety.”

Public spaces like bars, restaurants and cinemas will now be required to install clearly visible warning signs in addition to hotline contact information to report any offences. 

Senator Risa Hontiveros, the main author of the bill, called it a “massive victory” which allowed people to “reclaim our streets from sexual harassers and gender bigots.”

Under the new law, punishments for unseemly behavior range from small fines to imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offense. Foreign violators will be deported after paying their fine or serving their sentence.

Duterte himself has been excoriated by women’s groups and political opponents throughout his presidency for a slew of crude jokes, often involving rape. 

The women’s rights political party, Gabriela, described him in a scathing assessment as “the single most brazen violator of the law’s intent with his staple macho-fascist remarks.”

It looks like many will be watching like hawks in case Duterte breaks any of the stringent new rules himself. However they’ll be wasting their time as a spokesman said on Tuesday that the new law “does not apply” to the president.

“When he cracks jokes, it is intended to make people laugh, never to offend,” Salvador Panelo said, adding that Duterte respects women and is never lewd.

Counterfeit Medicines, from Headache Pills to Cancer Drugs, have Become a $200-Billion Problem

Jonathon Gatehouse · CBC News 

Tonnes of counterfeit and illegal medicine are seen after a 2015 seizure in Dakar. A similar week-long, Interpol-coordinated blitz last fall saw authorities in 116 countries seize 500 tonnes of fake pharmaceuticals worth an estimated $14 million US. (Seyllou/AFP/Getty Images)

The World Health Organization is warning cancer patients in North America and Europe about a batch of fake drugs that contain nothing but a common painkiller.

The product alert, released earlier this month, says that counterfeit medicine packaged to look like the cancer drug Iclusig, known generically as ponatinib — a targeted therapy for chronic myeloid and acute lymphoblastic leukaemia — simply contains acetaminophen.

The fakes, first discovered by a Swiss wholesaler, have also been detected in Turkey and Argentina. They were being sold online at a fraction of the more than $16,000 US that American pharmacies currently charge for a one-month supply of the drug.

Of course, if Big Pharma didn't charge such extraordinary prices, there would be less incentive for counterfeiting. 

Counterfeit or substandard pharmaceuticals are a big business,

worth an estimated $200 billion US a year.

In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, where the bulk of the fakes are sold, the WHO estimates that as many as 116,000 people die due to ineffective malaria medication each year. It adds that the counterfeits are adding hundreds of millions to health care costs, due to the treatment and hospitalization of people who might not have otherwise been infected.

So this counterfeiting is really a form of massacring hundreds of thousands of people and causing unnecessary suffering for many millions more. 

Bottles of counterfeit Viagra, confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protections. Counterfeit or substandard pharmaceuticals are a big business, worth an estimated $200 billion US a year worldwide. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

A week-long, Interpol-coordinated blitz last fall saw authorities in 116 countries seize 500 tonnes of fake pharmaceuticals worth an estimated $14 million US. The haul included anti-inflammatory medication, birth control pills, and counterfeit treatments for HIV, Parkinson's and diabetes. (Investigators also found more than 110,000 fake medical devices like hearing aids, contact lens and syringes.) The seizures resulted in 859 arrests and the closure of 3,671 weblinks.

In recent years, Health Canada has been waging a battle against counterfeit Viagra, Cialis and Levitra — sometimes containing too little of the active ingredient, and sometimes too much. All of it widely available online at a steep discount from the $15 per prescription pill.

I was in Algodonez, Mexico several years ago when I entered a pharmacy type store to pick up some ointment my daughter had asked for. As I was about to pay, the guy behind the counter, without explanation, threw a bag of pills on the counter. It was an unmarked, clear, plastic bag with several dozen pills. He wanted about $30 US, if I remember correctly. My two friends broke out laughing as I slowly realized what I was being offered. I simply said, "I'm not there yet!" and left. God only knows what was really in those pills.

Authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland are currently dealing with a spate of overdose deaths linked to fake Valium and Xanax. The pills, which are being pressed in the U.K. from materials made in Far East drug labs, differ dramatically in strength with every batch, and sometimes contain entirely differently sedatives than the brand names.

No one is quite sure how to best tackle the global fake drug crisis.

Workers pile 50 tonnes of fake medicine for incineration after it was confiscated in Abidjan in 2017. Several nations

around the world are turning to tracking systems to help buyers and sellers determine whether medicine is genuine.

(Sia Kambou/AFP/Getty Images)

West African nations are talking about creating their own pharmaceutical firms to try ensure that quality products make it to local markets. Kenyan authorities plan to roll out a system of country-specific codes that pharmacists and consumers can track via a smartphone app, ensuring that they are selling and buying real, government-approved medicine.  

Some believe that blockchain systems might provide the answer, documenting every step of a drug's journey from manufacturer to consumer.

Although it's unclear if any technology will ever be able to trump politics.

This past weekend, the European Union finally debuted its own continent-wide system to fight and track fake drugs, which has been more than four years in the making.

But the U.K. will no longer have access come March 30, if it fails to reach a Brexit divorce agreement. Almost three-quarters of the prescription drugs used by the National Health Service (Britain) are made in Europe.

The Interpol blitz happened just last October so it is too early to know the consequences to be suffered by those arrested. They must be treated as nothing short of mass murderers as should all criminals who cut their street drugs with fentanyl.