Uncategorized – Page 33 – The Faithful Watchman

Congressional witnesses claim China is sequencing DNA for forced organ harvesting

New testimony given before Congress has indicated that the allegations of forced organ harvesting in China have taken an even more disturbing turn.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) held a hearing last month, with Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — the chair and co-chair of the commission — present. During the hearing, titled, “Stopping the Crime of Organ Harvesting: What More Must Be Done?” the commission heard from witnesses detailing how China has continued forcibly harvesting organs from Uyghurs, other Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Falun Gong practitioners, political prisoners, and more — but with an added twist.

Jewish Student Needs Police Escort To Enter MIT Anti-Israel Encampment

Shabbos Kestenbaum told the anti-Israel students that they should be ashamed of themselves

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A Jewish university student needed a police escort to enter the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s anti-Israel encampment on Friday.

Shabbos Kestenbaum, a student at Harvard Divinity School, spoke at a pro-Israel rally across the street from the encampment hosted by the Israeli American Council before deciding to cross the street and enter the encampment.

‘We are frogs in the kettle’: Persecution watchdog sounds alarm on growing threat facing American Christians

Open Doors, the watchdog group born of an effort to smuggle Bibles into communist-occupied Poland, indicated in its latest annual report that one in seven Christians worldwide faces “high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith.” That amounts to over 365 million Christians with targets on their backs. Things appear to be getting progressively worse, granted five years ago, the statistic was one in nine.

UN 2.0 Coming This Fall – Setting The Stage For Global Government

The United Nations will meet in September for the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, as well as the highly-anticipated “Summit of the Future” where nations will sign the so-called “Pact for the Future”. The Pact is expected to call for declaring a “planetary emergency”. What does this agreement and its policies mean for the future of individual and national sovereignty?

By the end of September, the United Nations member states may vote to radically alter the UN itself, what some are calling UN 2.0, and the very nature of how nation-states make decisions regarding the future of the planet. The UN will convene for the 79th session of the General Assembly in New York City starting on September 10th in New York City. The high-level general debate will begin on the 24th of September.

Hollywood Actor Slams Bible as ‘One of the Worst Books Ever,’ Says Those Who Believe Genesis Narrative Are ‘Stupid’

A popular actor recently unleashed on the Bible, God, and religion, calling faith a figment of people’s imaginations and critiquing the impact of religion on society.

“Succession” star Brian Cox called the Bible “one of the worst books ever” and said those who believe the Adam and Eve narrative are “stupid” in a recent episode of “The Starting Line” podcast.

United Methodists repeal longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — United Methodist delegates repealed their church’s longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy with no debate on Wednesday, removing a rule forbidding “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained or appointed as ministers.

Delegates voted 692-51 at their General Conference — the first such legislative gathering in five years. That overwhelming margin contrasts sharply with the decades of controversy around the issue. Past General Conferences of the United Methodist Church had steadily reinforced the ban and related penalties amid debate and protests, but many of the conservatives who had previously upheld the ban have left the denomination in recent years, and this General Conference has moved in a solidly progressive direction.

AI Firm Suggests ‘Claud 3’ Has Achieved Sentience.

The U.S.-based, Google-funded artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic is suggesting that its AI-powered large language model (LLM) Claude 3 Opus has shown evidence of sentience. If conclusively proven, Claude 3 Opus would be the first sentient AI being in human history. However, experts in the field remain relatively unconvinced by Anthropic’s insinuation.

Claude 3 Opus has impressed many AI experts, especially the LLM‘s ability to solve complex problems almost instantly. However, claims of sentience began to circulate after Anthropic’s prompt engineer Alex Albert showcased an incident where Claude 3 Opus seemingly determined that it was being “tested.”

Oklahoma House Passes Bill to Add Chaplains to Schools. The Satanic Temple Is Onboard.

You know you are in the midst of a miserable news cycle when a story with a headline containing the words “Satanic Temple” looks like it might be a break from the grind.

Back when I was planning on becoming a priest, I went through a quarter of Clinical Pastoral Education, which was akin to being a chaplain intern at a Salt Lake Hospital. I did pray with patients and their families, but the majority of the discussions I had were not religious or even spiritual.

US issues travel warning for Germany: ‘Terrorist groups keep planning attacks’

The United States has issued a travel advisory to Germany over fears of terrorism.

On Wednesday, the Department of State upgraded Germany to Level 2 out of four — an edict to “exercise increased caution” — with the stark warning that “terrorist groups keep planning attacks in Germany.”

The US government added that tourist locations and transportation hubs are frequently targeted, along with hotels, restaurants, clubs, places of worship, parks, and both sporting and cultural events.

“Terrorists may attack with little or no warning,” the State Department noted.

In late March, Canada also advised travelers to “exercise a high degree of caution in Germany due to the threat of terrorism.”

Israel Strikes Back Against Iran

Israel is playing a different game than Joe Biden is used to. Israel is playing in the Middle East, where what you do matters a hell of a lot more than what you say.

Last night, Israel finally struck back against Iran.

Last weekend, Iran struck Israel with some 350 drones and missiles. Israel was expecting that it was going to have to fire back against Iran in some form or fashion.

There are a few different options that were tabled that had been considered. One was a full-scale attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, completely degrading their nuclear program. Another option would have been to do virtually nothing, which is what Joe Biden wanted to do.