Uncategorized – Page 37 – The Faithful Watchman

Archaeologists Found an Entirely New Language Among the Ruins of an Ancient Empire

Today, the ancient city of Hattusha—the capital of the Hittite empire that ruled north-central Turkey in the late Bronze Age (1650 – 1200 BCE)—is a treasure trove of ancient languages. At the Boğazköy-Hattusha archeological site, excavations over the past century have uncovered around 30,000 cuneiform tablets detailing the history, traditions, and society of Bronze Age Anatolia. This site is so rich in Bronze Age history that the once-powerful capital became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

Although most of the tablets found in Hattusha are written in Hittite—the oldest attested Indo-European language (and the language tree through which English evolved)—many other languages of the region can be found among these cuneiform treasures, including Luwian, Palaic, and Hattic. However, this year’s excavations at the site revealed a surprising discovery—an entirely new language.

“The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages,” Daniel Schwemer, head of the Chair of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Germany, said in a press statement.

And hidden in this particular ancient cultic text is a recitation written in an unfamiliar language. According to the archeologists, the Hittite text refers to an idiom from the language of the land of Kalašma—an area that would’ve lied along the northwestern edge of the Hittite empire’s frontier. Although experts have no idea what this particular cuneiform passage says, they can confirm that the language is a member of the Anatolian Indo-European family, which also includes Luwian, Palaic, and Hittite.

As its name suggests, Indo-European languages make up a large family of languages that encompass many modern countries in Europe and the Indian subcontinent. Most of the languages from these regions can trace their roots back to an original “mother” language (though the Basque language is a head-scratching outlier). Experts believe that the Proto-Indo-European language likely originated around the Black Sea, in what is now southern Ukraine.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Teases Gender ‘Non-Binary’ Bonanza

Not even Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is safe from the left’s maniacal obsession with gender non-conformity.

The family-friendly holiday tradition — which will be broadcast on NBC — will feature performances from several Broadway shows, including the musicals Shucked and & Juliet, both of which feature gender “non-binary” performers in major roles.

Shucked stars Alex Newell, a biological male, who won a Tony Award this year for his performance in the female role of Lulu.

Newell, who uses “he/she/they” pronouns, has identified as a male in the past, describing himself as “a little black gay boy from Massachusetts” in a 2016 interview. However, Newell has worn women’s clothes in recent public appearances, and dressed in a simmering gold ball gown for the Tonys.

& Juliet — a jukebox musical riff on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet — features actor Justin David Sullivan, who also identifies as “non-binary.”

In the stage musical, Sullivan plays the role of “May,” a “non-binary” friend of Juliet.

Eisenhower strike group, submarine arrive in Middle East

The aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower and its strike group, as well as an Ohio-class submarine, have entered the Middle Eastern waters of U.S. Central Command as concerns continue about a larger conflict erupting in the region as Israel’s war with Hamas grinds on.

Ike’s arrival also comes amid continued attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria that Pentagon officials have blamed on Iran-backed proxies.

Eisenhower transited the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea on Saturday, according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

The Eisenhower’s presence in the region marks the first time a carrier has operated in Central Command’s area of responsibility since the end of the Afghanistan war in 2021.

“The arrival of [the Ike Carrier Strike Group] to Middle East region displays our speed and agility to flex as our nation’s leaders determined a balance of maritime capability in support of national security priorities,” Rear Adm. Marc Miguez, commander of Carrier Strike Group 2, said in a Navy news release. “The strike group brings an unparalleled combat superiority to CENTCOM and we will be leveraging our presence in the theater to enhance regional security and operate alongside our allies and partners.”

Additionally, CENTCOM issued a rare announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter, that an Ohio-class submarine entered its waters on Sunday, although it did not disclose the name of the submarine.

“The submarine’s rapid deployment in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility demonstrates flexibility and dynamic ability to deter potential adversaries, reassure partners, enhanced maritime security, and ensure freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce,” the Navy said in a news release Monday.

CENTCOM did not provide additional details, although it did include an image of a submarine appearing to transit the Suez Canal.

The U.S. has a total of 18 Ohio-class submarines, including four guided-missile submarines outfitted with 154 Tomahawk missiles.

Vatican says transgender Catholics can be baptised

Transgender believers can be baptised in the Catholic Church, if it would not cause scandal or “confusion”, the Vatican said Wednesday, clarifying a sensitive area of doctrine.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, tasked with promulgating and defending matters of Catholic faith, also raised no objections to baptism for the children of same-sex couples, either adopted or born through surrogacy.

The comments were made in a document responding to questions from a Brazilian bishop, written on October 31 but only made public now.

It was approved by Pope Francis, who has repeatedly said the Church should be open to everyone, including LGBTQ believers.

However, he has made clear that he considers homosexuality “a sin, as is any sexual act outside of marriage”.

Catholic teaching defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman in order to have children.

In the document, the dicastery said transgender faithful “can receive baptism, under the same conditions of other faithful, if there is no situation in which there is a risk of generating public scandal or uncertainty among the faithful”.

This is true of someone who has undergone hormone treatment and/or sex reassignment surgery, it said.

In response to a question on whether a same-sex couple could be viewed as parents of a child who must be baptised, the dicastery said only there must be a “well-founded hope” that the child would be educated in the Catholic religion.

Biden Backdoors Israel in the U.N., Rescinding Trump’s Recognition of Sovereignty over the Golan

In a move from the Obama playbook, the U.S. is advancing a stealth agenda in the Middle East at the expense of its allies

Sometimes, U.S. foreign policy is what you see on the news. Increasingly, however, changes in policy are hidden from view because they are unpalatable to many Americans. The growing divide between the policies that America claims to be pursuing and the policies that it’s implementing on the ground poses a growing threat to America’s global standing, as well as to its democracy, which is supposed to exert oversight of foreign policy through Congress. In order to maintain key alliances, allies must believe that American commitments will endure regardless of changes in administration. In order for American commitments to be worth the paper they are written on, allies must believe that America has their backs.

Nowhere is the split between formal U.S. policy and the stealth agendas being implemented by U.S. policymakers more glaring and toxic than in the Middle East. This is true because the core of U.S. Middle East policy is the de facto alliance with Iran promoted by the Obama administration and enshrined in the JCPOA. Obama’s revisionist approach to Iran has in essence left the U.S. with two Mideast policies—one enshrined in our alliances and understandings with historic U.S. allies, and the other centered on dumping our commitments to our allies in order to appease Iran. Only one of these is truly U.S. regional policy, of course—the policy that seeks to establish Iran as the center of a new Middle East. As a result, American commitments now serve to gaslight our allies into going along by encouraging them to imagine that, sooner or later, things will go back to normal.

The focus of the split in U.S. policy and of gaslighting our allies is the Lebanese pseudo state run by Hezbollah, the terror army controlled by Iran. By dealing with “Lebanon,” the U.S. can help forward the objectives of its Iranian partner without ever dealing directly with Iran—and thereby can continue gaslighting its allies to the extent that they would prefer to believe that the U.S. is still their partner.

The latest act in the Biden administration’s Middle Eastern Kabuki theater is the use of Lebanon to rescind America’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. No formal announcement of this major policy shift was made, of course. Instead, it was buried in the fine print of the U.N. Security Council’s reauthorization of UNIFIL, the force that ostensibly secures Lebanon’s border with Israel. In a reprise of Barack Obama’s passage of Security Council Resolution 2334 in the final days of his second term, Team Obama-Biden on Aug. 31 again used the route of the Security Council to abandon a formal American commitment and implement a new policy with extreme repercussions for Israel’s security.

With UNSCR 2334, Obama adopted the so-called 1967 lines as the official U.S. position on Israel and its conflict with neighboring Arabs. The resolution called upon all states “to distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied since 1967,” and reaffirmed that all Israeli communities established in territory “occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity.” It meant that the U.S. had adopted the position of Israel’s enemies on East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, as well as on the Golan Heights.

UNSCR 2334 was the twin of UNSCR 2231, the resolution Obama used to lock in his deal with Iran at the Security Council. Obama’s objective in both cases was to bypass Congress and to tie the hands of his successor by etching his preferences—what people like to call his “legacy”—in Security Council resolutions.

Both planks of Obama’s “legacy” were cracked by Donald Trump, who made two historic moves of his own: moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

When Trump made his move, officials from Team Obama (who now serve in the Biden administration) publicly opposed it. Obama’s former ambassador to Israel, Daniel Shapiro, who is currently the Biden administration’s senior adviser for “Regional Integration,” was particularly vocal in his opposition to the recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan. In fact, Shapiro wrote, the recognition might become an obstacle to a future Israeli-Saudi agreement—a line that offered a preview of how the Biden administration would invert the Abraham Accords in order to reassert Obama’s framework.

World Series Champs Only Team in MLB Not to Hold Pride Night

Only one team in Major League Baseball has refused to bow down to the Alphabet Activists. Only one team has refused to ever hold a Pride Night celebration. And tonight, that team won the World Series.

The Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 to become World Series champions for the first time in the 63-year history of the franchise.

Earlier this year the Rangers defended its policy of not pandering to the radical LGBT activists.

“Our commitment is to make everyone feel welcome and included in Rangers baseball. That means in our ballpark, at every game, and in all we do — for both our fans and our employees,” the team said in a statement to Associated Press. “We deliver on that promise across our many programs to have a positive impact across our entire community.”

The team even faced backlash from Fox News Channel. The news organization’s website posted a critical story titled, “Texas Rangers face criticism for lack of Pride Night: ‘Just Ridiculous.’

“The fact that there’s so much resistance is a huge point of contention, not just for the gay folks, but for everyone,” a former employee was quoted as saying. “It was always something that bothered me greatly about the organization. They do a lot of things well, where they have all these other nights for different fans and cultures. The fact that they omit one group very clearly is just ridiculous.”

Ray Davis, the majority owner of the Rangers, acknowledged during the trophy ceremony tonight that he is a man of faith.

Orwellian nightmare: British woman FINED for ‘silently praying’ outside of abortion center

You know you live in scary times when the simple act of prayer lands you in trouble.

Although this happened in Britain, America, which shares much of the same Western ideology, likely isn’t far behind.

Pat Gray plays the clip of a woman being confronted by law enforcement for “silently praying” outside an abortion center in Britain.

The officer, reading from some kind of handbook, asked a range of questions, such as, “Are you here as part of an organized protest,” “Are you part of a pro-life organization or pro-choice organization,” and “Are you protesting?”

The woman responded “no” to all of the questions.

“Can your action be carried out elsewhere?” the officer pressed.

“I can pray elsewhere, but I want to pray here today,” the woman responded.

“Are you aware that there is a Public Space Protection Order in place here?” the officer inquired, to which the woman responded that she was aware of the order but did not believe she needed to move because she was only praying silently and not protesting.

The officer then informed her that she would be issued “a fixed penalty notice … for failing to comply with the Public Space Protection Order and the Antisocial Behavior Crime and Policing Act of 2014.”

“Just to make it clear, I’m not protesting,” the woman said again, but the officer’s only response was “OK” before she issued the fine anyway.

“She wasn’t hitting people with a hammer as they walked by. She wasn’t blocking an entrance. She wasn’t doing anything but praying on the sidewalk,” sighs Pat Gray in disbelief, “and you can’t do that in Great Britain?”

Nearly 100 Ohio churches leave UMC amid homosexuality schism

Nearly 100 congregations in Ohio have left the United Methodist Church amid the denomination’s ongoing debate over homosexuality, joining thousands of other churches in the United States that have done the same.

At a special session of the UMC West Ohio Conference held last weekend, 96 churches were granted their request to disaffiliate from the mainline Protestant denomination.

The session was held at Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church in Tipp City, with around 800 clergy and laity in attendance. Bishop Gregory V. Palmer presided over the gathering.

In addition to the 96 disaffiliations, the session also dealt with budgetary issues, recommending the sale of two camping properties and electing additional delegates to the UMC General Conference.

“We were empowered to make some challenging decisions,” said Palmer in a statement. “We brought glory to God by the patient, honest, and respectful way we engaged one another. In spite of the challenges, we have come through, our future is open because God is able.”

In June, the West Ohio Conference voted to allow 172 congregations to disaffiliate from the UMC, having allowed 80 churches to leave the denomination last year. It is estimated that, at present, the regional body covering over 50 counties has a little over 600 member congregations remaining.

“Our calling is to serve this present age, even if there’s a storm … in the midst of passing over. One of our storms is disaffiliation,” Palmer said in a June statement.

“That’s not a blame thing; it’s just the way it is. It’s in the book. We’ve given a lot of attention to it. Let me be clear. It is not our mission. We gave attention to it. We’ll finish up what there is to be finished up.”

Over the last couple of years, more than 6,600 congregations have voted to leave the UMC amid the debate over whether to change the denomination’s rules to allow for the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of clergy in same-sex relationships.

We’re Entering A New Era In The United States, Where There Will Be A Cost To Following Jesus

For those of us who call the United States home, we have—for the most part—lived a life of religious freedom. We have not had to fear for our health or our family as we have worshiped our Savior.

This is not the case in other areas of the world. I’ve met a pastor in India whose skin is scarred from an acid attack. In Nigeria, Christians are regularly killed for their faith. In some parts of the Middle East, you can be murdered by your own family if you profess Christ.

In some ways, even the freedom of religion in our country feels like it is slipping away, as “cancel culture” seems to take ever-greater precedence over the First Amendment.

Some might debate me on this, but it certainly feels like we’re entering a new era in the United States, where there will be a cost to following Jesus.

This is nothing new, of course. Approximately 2,000 years ago, shortly after Jesus physically walked the roads of Jerusalem, Christians were already suffering for His Name.

In 1 Peter 4:12-19, we are told how we should respond when the world attacks us for our faith.

As Christians, we must expect sufferings (v. 12). Peter advises us to expect and anticipate suffering. It is unavoidable.

We occasionally act like we should get a free pass because we’re Christians—even questioning God’s goodness when bad things happen—but God promised that difficulties would come our way.

In John 16:33, Jesus says, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

If God promised us that we’re going to go through hard times, we shouldn’t be surprised when it happens.

We can rejoice when we go through trials (vv. 13-14). It sounds odd to say we can rejoice during suffering, but there are several reasons why we should:

1. First, we can rejoice because when we suffer we are identified with Christ. This is exactly what the disciples did in Acts 5:41: “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

2. Second, we can rejoice because we share in God’s glory. Just as we suffer with Him, we will also share in God’s glory when He returns in the near future.

3. Finally, we can rejoice because when we are reviled, insulted, persecuted or mocked, God’s Spirit will rest on us.

Our suffering will be a result of following Christ (vv. 15-16). We often want to play the victim, and claim we are being attacked when we’ve actually brought the suffering onto ourselves by our own actions (and it has nothing to do with our faith).

There are consequences for our sin. If you are a thief or a gossip, you brought the punishment upon yourself.

Peter makes it clear that we should not suffer in that way, because—as followers of Christ—we should live a life set apart for Him. Rather, we will suffer the wrath of the world because of our faith.

We should glorify God in our suffering (vv. 16-18). We are not to be ashamed if we suffer for Christ. Rather, Peter instructs us to glorify God instead.

Why? Because the suffering we endure on this earth in our service to Christ pales in comparison to the hope of eternity that awaits us in Heaven. On the other hand, “those who do not obey the gospel of God” must still face eternal judgment.

The passage is summed up in 1 Peter 4:19, which says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

Chilling video shows Russians storming airport to reportedly hunt down Jews arriving from Israel

Hundreds of individuals stormed an airport in Russia to hunt down Israelis flying in from Tel Aviv, according to multiple reports.

Terrifying video shows the horde flooding into the Makhachkala International Airport in the North Caucasus republic of Dagestan in Russia. The mob is seen waving Palestine flags and are heard shouting: “Allahu Akbar.”

The Moscow Times reported, “The flight from Tel Aviv landed at 7:17 p.m. local time, according to the airport’s website, after which the protesters stormed into the airport, breaking past security and running onto the tarmac.”

The mob allegedly stormed the tarmac to search for any incoming flights carrying Jews.

The demonstrators reportedly held up signs that read: “Child killers have no place in Dagestan” and “We are against Jewish refugees.”

According to the Jerusalem Post, “Footage reportedly from the scene shared on local Telegram channels showed rioters chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and stopping cars in order to check the documents of passengers to ensure they were not Israeli or Jewish.”

The Russian state-owned RIA Novosti media outlet reported that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency had temporarily closed the Makhachkala airport for arrivals and departures due to the swarm of angry people.

“The measures are in effect until the situation normalizes. Law enforcement agencies are working on the spot,” the agency stated.

Unconfirmed videos show a chaotic scene at the Makhachkala Airport as it was breached by the mob.

The Times of Israel reported, “An Israeli security official says the incident in Dagestan’s capital of Makhachkala is ongoing after a plane from Israel was attacked by a local pro-Palestinian mob.”

The official told the outlet, “A limited number of Israelis and Jews are currently isolated and under guard at the airport. We are working on having them depart on a connection flight to Moscow once conditions allow. Israeli security officials and the Israeli ambassador are working with the local security authorities.”