Wow, I am SO happy I did not take my kids to see the Barbie movie.
Call it intuition, but I knew the movie would likely not be good for them.
But I didn’t know exactly WHY until I saw this from Jonathan Cahn.
As usual, Cahn takes what is hidden in plain sight and connects the dots and explains it so clearly that we can all see it.
Then once you see it you can’t UNSEE it.
Watch here: 100percentfedup.com
Taiwan has been buying weapons from the US in a $345 million defense package in response to China’s ongoing pressure
China sent navy ships and a large group of fighter jets toward Taiwan, continuing its military pressure on the island, Taiwan’s defense ministry said Thursday.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and has regularly sent flights toward the island in reaction to the island’s political activities. In the past year, it has also sent navy vessels as well as drones to circle the waters near the island.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said the Chinese People’s Liberation Army sent 33 warplanes and 6 navy vessels between 6 a.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. The J-10 and J-16 fighter jets flew across the midline and to the southwest of Taiwan.
The ministry said in an earlier statement Wednesday that Taiwan’s military tracked five of the ships as they sailed in coordination with the flights of the fighter jets.
The ministry said it used land-based missile systems to track the aircraft, 10 of which crossed the midline of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial boundary that had been considered a buffer between the island and mainland.
Read more at: www.foxnews.com
For as far as back as he can remember, Rickey Hill knew God was calling him to play professional baseball. The only problem? He was born with a defect that required him to wear braces on his legs — and his father, a stern Baptist preacher, wanted him to enter the ministry, not professional sports.
But his faith, combined with a fierce belief that miracles are possible, compelled Hill to persevere and realize his dream.
“I always believed that I should be a professional ballplayer,” Hill told The Christian Post. “I’ve never, ever wavered from my faith, period. Never did, which would be easy to do when your father’s kind of against what you’re doing. I still never wavered from my faith at all. It’s the same still today.”
Hill’s remarkable story is the subject of a new film titled “The Hill,” starring Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Colin Ford, Randy Houser and Joelle Carter. It showcases how Hill, who possessed a natural ability to hit a baseball despite his disability, overcame multiple obstacles to make it to the minor leagues, eventually leading the 1978 Grays Harbor Loggers to a Northwest League championship. He was the team’s top home run hitter.
“God gives you the talent; either have it or you don’t,” Hill said. “It’s just a matter of what you do with it. You can take that talent, and you can work. Scripture says that faith without works is dead. You can have all the faith in the world, but if you don’t have that work that goes along beside that faith, it’s dead. So I always looked at that Scripture my whole life, knowing that I had to work to make it happen. And I did, every day.”
The narrative of “The Hill” revolves heavily around Hill’s relationship with his father, a well-meaning yet stern pastor (Quaid). Both roles pulled at Hill — the passionate preacher’s son who once mimicked his father’s sermons and the dedicated athlete who knew he had a higher calling on the baseball field.
The film captures how Hill managed to bridge these worlds, eventually realizing, “You can serve in ministry anywhere.” Throughout his life, he’s been guided by Philippians 4:13: “I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”
“I wanted to be in the ministry, but I also wanted to play baseball at the same time, so [my father and I] kind of battled it out there a little bit and came to the conclusion that I can serve in the ministry while I’m playing ball,” he said.
“My father let me decide on my own, and when I told him that I would do both, he understood it,” he continued. “In the end, he loved every bit of it. God kept the spirit going in me, and I never stepped away from it.”
Read more at: www.christianpost.com
Is it an answer to our prayers or an idolatrous representation of the Son of God?
That’s the inescapable question faced by those who, depending on one’s theology, either stumble upon or are called to a new AI chatbot which one theologian says is a new representation of Jesus Christ.
Twitch channel Ask Jesus is an experimental AI-generated livestream that gives viewers the chance to query a chatbot “trained after Jesus and the teachings of the Bible.”
The nonprofit project — which is supported by contributions from users and The Singularity Group, described on the Twitch page as “not a Christian organization” — offers “spiritual guidance” or even just “someone to talk to” and responds to questions ranging from theological and practical advice to inane requests to incorporate nonsensical words or phrases into its responses.
For example, a question from user “FXvirusLive” asked the AI Jesus to explain Christianity but to replace every vowel with the word “burger.”
Or the prayer request from user “greenshoesbrownsocks” for their cat Whiskers, but with the phrase “grrrr” inserted after each word.
Another request asks AI Jesus to rap about the Father, resulting in a cringey yet biblically-adjacent “divine rhymes”: “Yo, let me tell you about my Father up in heaven/ creator of the Earth and the stars up in the sky/ He’s a legend/ He brought life into the world/ That’s no lie.”
Upon being asked a sincere question like, “Can you explain more in-depth what it means to be meek?” the chatbot quoted Matthew 11:28-29: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
In response to a question from user “daveisdigital” about which career to choose, the AI pointed to Colossians 3:23, which says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
While a talking image of God might seem blasphemous to some, Joseph L. Kimmel, a scholar of early Christianity and comparative religion at Boston College, argued that this AI Jesus is merely the latest “reinterpretation” of the Son of God.
Kimmel, pointing to various traditional portrayals of Jesus as merely a “prophet” or a “philosopher” in traditions ranging from 19th century American to Hindu mystic to a proponent of Black Liberation theology, says the chatbot is “the latest in this ongoing pattern of reinterpretation, geared to making Jesus suited to the current times.”
Read more at: www.christrian.com
Psychologist with access to students told sexual assault victim to consider ‘restorative approach instead of going to authorities,’ victim tells The Daily Wire
A woman who was sexually assaulted in school as a teenager says the founder of a prominent “social emotional learning” non-profit that receives funding from California public schools pressured her to drop charges against the teacher who attacked her because his arrest could contribute to the “over-incarceration” of black men.
Jennifer Freed, a psychologist, astrologist, and sex guru who runs the “social emotional learning” (SEL) non-profit AHA! Santa Barbara, conducts talk circles with high school students with the goal of “reducing emotional/physical violence in schools by building healthy campus climates,” according to its website. But a woman who participated in those talk circles as a high school student says Freed pressed her to let a teacher who tormented her with sexual advances off the hook.
The woman, who The Daily Wire is referring to only as Maria because she was the victim of an assault as a minor, says Freed delivered a lecture to her about how her accusations against the teacher would contribute to the mass incarceration of black men in America. Freed suggested, according to Maria, that she consider a “restorative approach instead of going to authorities” after the teacher grabbed her buttocks and nibbled her ear when she was 17.
“I was very scared of Jennifer because she’s very persistent in getting what she wants. She said I will feel better if I talk to him and do a restorative approach instead of going to authorities,” Maria told The Daily Wire. “I think it’s really inappropriate for a licensed psychologist to say that to a victim a week after they’ve been assaulted by someone in authority. That really harmed me.”
Freed’s group AHA! Santa Barbara has gained national prominence for its work to advance SEL, a school curriculum that has been embraced by the Left in recent years. Freed’s organization has been feted by celebrities such as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who visited the organization in May to herald its purported mental health benefits for youth. But the actions by Freed could fuel critics who say SEL prioritizes leftist politics over children’s emotional well-being
Maria did not take Freed’s advice. Her accusations against the teacher, a black nationalist and socialist named Matef Harmachis, led to a criminal conviction for battery in 2017, his firing from the school in 2020, and a nearly $1 million settlement with the school district just months ago in a lawsuit that faulted the district for keeping Harmachis on staff despite years of sexually inappropriate behavior.
Freed is just one of the leftists who Maria says turned on her in defense of Harmachis. She told The Daily Wire that she is now “scared for [her] safety” after seeing far-left activists defend her attacker as the real victim because of his race.
Read more at: www.dailywire.com
The Pentagon and FBI have alerted several of the grieving families who lost relatives in the deadly 9/11 attack in which nearly 3,000 Americans were murdered that the suspected architect of the attacks and his fellow defendants may have their death sentences overturned through plea deals.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — who suggested the 9/11 attacks to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and then planned the attacks — and four other terrorists have been incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for years, while repeated delays and legal disputes have postponed the death penalty being applied. No trial date has been set.
“The Office of the Chief Prosecutor has been negotiating and is considering entering into pre-trial agreements,” the August 1 letter sent to the families stated. It stated that although no plea deal has “been finalized, and may never be finalized, it is possible that a PTA in this case would remove the possibility of the death penalty.”
The families were given until Monday, August 21, to respond to the FBI’s victim services division with any comments or questions about the matter.
Some relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed outright in the terror attacks expressed outrage over the prospect of ending the case short of a verdict. The military prosecutors pledged to take their views into consideration and present them to the military authorities who would make the final decision on accepting any plea agreement.
Jim Riches, a retired deputy fire chief whose son Jimmy was a firefighter who died as a result of the 9/11 attacks, emitted a bitter laugh when he received the letter. “How can you have any faith in it?” he said, adding, “Those guys are still alive. Our children are dead.”
Former President George W. Bush established the prison and court system at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 following the 9/11/2001 attacks. Former President Barack Obama promised to close the center; during his administration, the number of prisoners was reduced from roughly 250 to 41. Republicans in Congress blocked Obama’s move to close the detention center.
In early 2021, President Biden declared he would close the facility.
Read more at: www.dailywire.com
The International Chess Federation (FIDE) has updated its handbook to ban trans-identifying males from competing in women’s competitions.
FIDE, the international governing body for the sport, provided new guidelines to address transgender chess players and how it would handle titles such as Woman Grandmaster, Woman International Master, Woman FIDE Master, and Woman Candidate Master amid transgender players, Mediaite reported.
“In the event that the gender was changed from a male to a female the player has no right to participate in official FIDE events for women until further FIDE’s decision is made,” the rule read. “Such decision should be based on further analysis and shall be taken by the FIDE Council at the earliest possible time, but not longer than within 2 (two) years period.”
“Titles. If a player holds any of the women titles, but the gender has been changed to a man, the women titles are to be abolished,” the guidelines added. “Those can be renewed if the person changes the gender back to a woman and can prove the ownership of the respective FIDE ID that holds the title.”
“The abolished women title may be transferred into a general title of the same or lower level (e.g., Women’s Grand Master may be transferred into FM, Women’s International Master into Candidate Master, etc.),” it continued, noting that there “are no restrictions to play in the open section for a person who has changed the gender.”
Read more at: www.dailywire.com
Five Medicaid healthcare insurers have violated Florida’s rule against using taxpayer funds to provide transgender treatments, and the state is now fining them for the action. It’s the first time any state has taken this step in regard to gender transition coverage.
Among the procedures one of the plans covered was a double mastectomy on a 16-year-old girl. The other plans paid for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors. Florida health officials sent out letters informing the providers they were being fined over the violation late Thursday.
“These plans recklessly continued to cover these services with permanent, harmful effects, after the rule was adopted,” Jason Weida, Secretary of the Agency for Healthcare Administration, told The Daily Wire news podcast Morning Wire. “[They] will not stand in the way of our fight to protect the innocence of Florida’s kids.”
Though a federal judge recently blocked a new law in Florida that banned transgender surgeries and medications for children, a rule from the Agency for Health Care Administration still required the state’s Medicaid plan providers to deny coverage for all such treatments.
The rule went into effect last August after the agency performed a systematic review of the medical literature on treatments for gender dysphoria in children, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones. It determined they are not medically necessary. But in December, well after the agency says Medicaid healthcare plan providers were notified of the rule, the five providers covered the trans treatments anyway. The violations were caught as part of a routine audit of the Medicaid system.
Typically, Medicaid rule violations occur when providers refuse to pay for treatment that should have been covered. Paying for procedures and medications that have been banned is extremely unusual, raising the question of whether the providers’ decisions to provide coverage were politically motivated. Weida told The Daily Wire he doesn’t want to speculate about their reasons but “they’re certainly going to be on notice now.” He added that his office would consider more drastic penalties for any further violations.
Simply Healthcare, the provider that covered the mastectomy, is facing a $30,000 penalty and will be sanctioned. The other providers face smaller, unspecified fines, but the non-willful sanction is the more serious penalty as it places a black mark on a provider’s record that must be disclosed when it competes for contracts. Providers who have been sanctioned are much less likely to be awarded other state contracts for 10 years until the sanction expires. According to the Agency for Health Care Administration, Simply Health has already replaced the team that approved the mastectomy coverage.
Weida told The Daily Wire that he’s grateful Governor Ron DeSantis empowered his office to issue the rule blocking public money from going to transgender surgeries, and he doesn’t see it as a question of politics but of ethics.
Read more at: www.dailywire.com
Many people are familiar with the account in the biblical Book of Genesis about the two sin-filled cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and their cataclysmic destruction.
Yet many in this modern, scientific age struggle — or outright refuse — to accept that the cities ever really existed, much less that God wiped them out with fire from heaven. …
But last week — and again this week — on THE ROSENBERG REPORT, I sat down for an exclusive interview with Dr. Steven Collins, the archaeologist who claims that he and his team have actually uncovered the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Kingdom of Jordan.
If he is right, Collins is responsible for the most dramatic — and controversial — archaeological find of the 21st century. …
As Collins explained in the interview, he first rejected the notion that Sodom and Gomorrah are fictional, mythical cities that were made up by ancient writers. …
Second, Collins said that the wealth and size of Sodom as described in the Bible meant that Sodom would have been one of the largest and most influential and powerful cities of its time. And thus hard to make up to ancient audiences who knew the history and the geography of the region well.
Third, Collins noted that the apocalyptic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ought to be verifiable, if the cities really existed.
So, Collins told me, he simply followed all the location clues laid out in Genesis and boom — he uncovered the biggest Bronze Age city in the entire Middle East, a city that comports with the Biblical account of Sodom in every respect, including its sudden and cataclysmic annihilation. …
Another clue the Bible gives regarding the location of Sodom, he told me, is the description of the meeting between Abraham and Lot before they parted ways.
“The proper question to ask in the location of Sodom is, ‘Where was Lot standing when he lifted up his eyes and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well-watered?’ It was Bethel and AI,” Collins explained. …
All this led Collins and his team to dig in a site called Tall el-Hammam, with the permission of — and under the supervision of — the Kingdom of Jordan.
And what did they find?
A massive series of cities, including the biggest and wealthiest city of the Bronze Age in the entire region.
What’s more, they found a massive metropolitan city that was completely wiped out in a sudden firestorm and then uninhabited for the next 700 years. …
Read more at: allisrael.com
The planned relaunch of religiously-themed Barbie dolls in Argentina, dubbed “Barbie Virgin Mary” and “Jesus Ken,” has sparked outrage globally, especially among Catholic groups in Buenos Aires, the birthplace of Pope Francis.
This comes after the international success of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, prompted the creators, local artists Emiliano Pool Paolini and Marianela Perelli, to reissue their contentious collection.
As reported by Jam Press, the artists’ original “Barbie: The Plastic Religion” exhibit in 2014 received serious death threats for representing important religious figures, including Catholic saints and the Virgin Mary, as dolls.
Despite these threats, at least one toy shop in Argentina has allegedly agreed to stock some models of the revived collection, with the artists planning to showcase their dolls in an art show in December, according to the New York Post.
The previous exhibit, “Barbie, The Plastic Religion,” drew ire worldwide, according to USA Today. Priest Adrian Santarelli from St. Thomas More parish in Buenos Aires at the time questioned the appropriateness of the dolls, saying their representation of sacred images might damage a child’s understanding of the sacred.
It included Barbies depicted as Joan of Arc and Virgin of Guadalupe, among others, and Ken as Buddha and Moses. It notably avoided dolls representing Muslim figures due to Islamic prohibitions on such depictions.
In response to the controversy, the artists insist that the exhibit is purely artwork and not intended to cause offense. Paolini insists that the creations were “simply the union of the two most popular elements of history: the Barbie doll and religion.”
“Frankly, we don’t understand why we’re being attacked,” the New York Post quoted Paolini as saying. “Religion has always depicted virgins as the most beautiful women,” he added. “Today, the most beautiful woman is Barbie.”
The exhibit reportedly planned for December is expected to draw about 400 visitors, according to the organizers, with police presence to ensure security.
Read more at: www.christianpost.com
