Suicide is now a public health epidemic, not a personal problem

Hedieh Mirahmadi – January 20, 2021

The Surgeon General recently reported that our teenagers are more at risk of suicide since the pandemic than ever before in our nation’s history. Their feelings of isolation, uncertainties about the future, substance abuse, and other problems occurring in the home have triggered soaring rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts nationwide. Young people across every socio-economic class, race, and ethnicity are affected, with 6,600 teenagers committing suicide in 2020 alone. Our children are dealing with more uncertainty than any other generation in history. The average American youth will have seen close to 200,000 violent acts on some form of media by the time they turn eighteen, and most no longer live in two-parent households that provide emotional support. Consequently, many have an over-dependence on their peers, which ends up creating greater emotional instability.

During a recent podcast episode, my husband I were surprised to learn how many people in the church were affected by the horrible tragedy of suicide. Out of a dozen live listeners, five of them had an immediate family member who either attempted or committed suicide – including myself. My husband shared how in his early twenties, he placed a loaded gun inside his mouth, having lost the will to live. Interestingly, a commercial on TV about starving kids in Africa ultimately shocked him back into the reality that his life was worth living. For another, her son’s girlfriend committed suicide right before Christmas while pregnant with his child. It shook the family to their core, but their faith in God is helping them heal.

For myself, I deal with the powerlessness that comes from being the parent of a child who struggles with mental illness and thoughts of suicide. My faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and knowing my daughter has also accepted Christ comforts me and allows me to surrender the burden to Him. Yet, I can’t help but face the very real notion that God is ultimately in control and none of us know what life may have in store. Kay Warren, whose son took his own life in 2013, eloquently expressed the paradox in this way:

“My hope was pretty much centered around what could happen here. Rather than taking the longer view, sometimes things don’t happen the way we want them to here on Earth…Yet I can be safe and secure and even joyful with that confidence of what God is doing, ultimately.”

When anxiety about ourselves or our loved ones builds up inside, the real danger is turning away from the Lord and towards ourselves. Whether it’s money, social distancing, escapism in substance abuse, anger, or resentment against the “other,” none of these offer a real solution to the problem. In the midst of being threatened, we must realize God is our refuge. The pressure should lead us to run towards God for rest and peace rather than running away.

https://www.christianpost.com

‘Revival and Reformation Is Needed’: Canadian Pastors Sound Off On New Law That Threatens To Criminalize Evangelism

Ben Zeisloft – January 16, 2022

Days ago, Canada approved a “conversion therapy” ban that condemns Christian doctrine on the sinfulness of homosexuality and transgenderism as “myth.” Indeed, bill C-4 — passed unanimously by both the Senate and the House of Commons — threatens pastors with up to five years of prison time if they remain faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As thousands of American ministers stand in solidarity with Canadian believers by preaching about biblical sexual ethics on Sunday, January 16, two Canadian pastors — Jacob Reaume of Trinity Bible Chapel and Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church — told The Daily Wire about the implications of C-4 and how Canadian Christians plan to respond.

‘The Church must be a prophetic witness’

While describing C-4, Reaume — whose church incurred over $100,000 in fines last year for refusing to shut its doors in defiance of Canada’s COVID-19 lockdowns — noted that the edict will “make the preaching of the biblical gospel a criminal act.”

“The biblical gospel is a message of conversion, whereby Christ causes sinners to be born-again, thus converting them from sinful propensities to godliness,” he explained. “The bill’s language is vague enough that many think it might criminalize a biblical call to forsake sodomitic propensities to embrace righteousness.”

Stephens — who was jailed in a maximum-security facility last summer for refusing to close his church — added that “the law is overly broad in defining conversion therapy,” thereby enshrining “progressive gender ideology and queer theory as normative.”

https://www.dailywire.com

France’s Macron Calls For Abortion To Be Added To EU’s Fundamental Rights Charter

Cathy Burke – January 19, 2021

French President Emmanuel Macron is calling for abortion to be added to the European Union’s charter of fundamental rights.

Speaking to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg in eastern France on Wednesday, Macron said the rights charter needed to be revised, the National Catholic Register (NCR) reported.

“We must update this charter to be more explicit on the recognition of the right to abortion or on the protection of the environment,” he said, according to NCR.

“Let us open up this debate freely with our fellow citizens … to breathe new life into the pillar of law that forges this Europe of strong values,” he said.

The European Union charter recognizes the right to life but does not mention abortion.

Macron made the appeal the day after the European Union’s law-making body elected the pro-life politician Roberta Metsola from Malta as its new president, the news outlet noted.

Metsola, at 43 the youngest-ever president of the European Parliament — told Euronews after her election that she would respect the assembly’s majority view in favor of abortion during her renewable term of 2 1/2 years.

“The position of the parliament is unambiguous and unequivocal, and that is also my position,” she said Tuesday, Catholic News Agency reported. “That is exactly what I will do throughout my mandate as president on this issue.”

According to NCR, the European Parliament voted last June in favor of a report describing abortion as “essential healthcare” and seeking to redefine conscientious objection as a “denial of medical care.”

The report also declared violations of “sexual and reproductive health and rights” are “a form of violence against women and girls.”

Most of the EU’s 27 member states permit abortion on demand or broad social grounds, except Malta and Poland, which have strong pro-life laws, NCR reported.

https://www.newsmax.com

Doomsday Clock stands at 100 seconds to midnight, World ‘remains in an extremely dangerous moment’, Closest ever to Apocalypse

ETH – January 21, 2021

(OPINION) Doomsday is as close today as it was yesterday, according to a hypothetical timepiece known as the Doomsday Clock; for the second year in a row, the clock’s hands hover at 100 seconds to midnight — the hour of humanity’s destruction.

However, it’s still not too late to turn back the clock’s hands and make the world safer for people worldwide, said “timekeepers” with the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS). Representatives of the nonprofit announced the clock’s new time on Thursday (Jan. 20), at a virtual press event, which you can watch on Live Science.

The past year included “several bright spots and many disturbing trends,” including the alarming rise of online misinformation that curbed progress in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and hindered strategies for addressing climate change, BAS President and CEO Rachel Bronson said at the press event.

The 2022 Doomsday Clock statement explains that the “decision does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilized. On the contrary, the clock remains the closest it has ever been to the civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment.”

Rachel Bronson, president, and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the clock “continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet. We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.”

“It’s an imperfect metaphor,” Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, told CNN, highlighting that the clock’s framing combines different types of risk that have different characteristics and occur in different timescales. Still, he adds it “remains an important rhetorical device that reminds us, year after year, of the tenuousness of our current existence on this planet.”

https://endtimeheadlines.org

US envoy in Europe says ‘drumbeat of war is sounding loud’

Laura Kelly – January 13, 2022

Washington’s envoy in Europe on Thursday issued a stark warning of war in Eastern Europe amid Russia’s military buildup on Ukraine’s border but said the U.S. and the majority of its allies support ongoing dialogue to tamp down tensions.

“We’re facing a crisis in European security. The drumbeat of war is sounding loud, and the rhetoric has gotten rather shrill,” said Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Carpenter spoke with reporters following a meeting of the OSCE focused on advancing diplomacy between the U.S., Europe and Russia, the conclusion of an extraordinary session of three diplomatic meetings on the continent this week and in response to Russian military provocations.

“There’s close to 100,000 troops on the Russian side of its border with Ukraine. Their presence and the live fire measures being carried out are raising many questions about Moscow’s intention,” Carpenter said.

https://www.msn.com

Prominent Mystic: Next year will be the final Jubilee, year of Messiah’s arrival

– January 12, 2022

Rabbi Yekutiel Fish, a prominent mystic from Jerusalem, gave a lesson last week in which he proved through a precise mathematical equation that next year will be the final Jubilee before the arrival of the Messiah.

“We are now in the month of Shevat on the eve of the Messiah,” Rabbi Fish said at the beginning of his lesson. “If you happen to hear a shofar, don’t be alarmed or confused,” the rabbi joked. “It is only the arrival of the Messiah.”

Rabbi Fish attributed the teaching to Rabbi Oren Evron, a prominent mystic-numerologist.

“Rabbi Evron told me the following message in the most simple manner possible, like an innocent child and not like a Torah authority,” Rabbi Fish said. “But after he told me, I realized that what we have here is an atomic bomb. Rabbi Evron informed me that next year, 5783, will be a Jubilee year and will usher in the Messiah.”

It should be noted that the current year, 5782, is a shemittah (Sabbatical) year. The Shemitah is part of a larger framework of seven Shemitah (sabbatical) cycles, in which we count 49 years, and then the 50th year is the Jubilee year, as described in Leviticus.

https://www.israel365news.com

End Times Expert Warns Bare Store Shelves Will Get Barer Soon

Michael Snyder – January 12, 2022

It is happening again. In December, Joe Biden stood in front of the American people and boldly declared that he had defeated the supply chain crisis but of course that wasn’t true. There have been persistent shortages for months on end, and now fear of Omicron is taking things to an entirely new level once again.

On Monday, the hashtag #BareShelvesBiden was trending on Twitter, and that is because shelves are alarmingly bare in supermarkets from coast to coast. We are being told that these shortages are only “temporary” but of course that was what we were told when nationwide shortages first began to pop up all the way back in early 2020.

Unfortunately, food industry experts are warning us that supplies are going to get even tighter in the weeks to come. For example, the following is what billionaire John Catsimatidis just told Fox News.

“Omicron is taking its toll at different levels of the supply chain, whether it’s the warehouses, whether it’s the selectors, the drivers, the loaders – and as they call in sick there are interruptions in the system,” Catsimatidis told Todd Piro during an appearance on “Fox & Friends First.”

Catsimatidis went on to say that many of these interruptions will continue over the next 6 weeks as the COVID-19 variant impacts the labor market. The United Refining Company owner added that the Northeast in particular is seeing the price of various products, including eggs, poultry, and beef, go up because of low supply and high demand.”

https://www.charismanews.com

US surgeons successfully implant pig heart in human: statement

Insider Paper – January 10, 2022

US surgeons have successfully implanted a heart from a genetically modified pig in a human patient, a first of its kind procedure, the University of Maryland Medical School said Monday.

The surgery took place Friday, and demonstrates for the first time that an animal heart can survive in a human without immediate rejection, the medical school said in a statement.

The patient, David Bennett, had been deemed ineligible for human transplant.

The 57-year-old Maryland resident is being carefully monitored to determine how the new organ performs.

“It was either die or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” he said a day before the surgery.

Bennett, who has spent the last several months bedridden on a life support machine, added: “I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover.”

The Food and Drug Administration granted emergency authorization for the surgery on New Year’s Eve, as a last ditch effort for a patient who was unsuitable for conventional transplant.

“This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis,” said Bartley Griffith, who surgically transplanted the pig heart.

https://insiderpaper.com

Biden Admin Creates Hit List of Christians Objecting to COVID Vaccine Mandates

Sarah Parshall Perry and GianCarlo Canaparo – January 12, 2022

A tiny administrative agency in the District of Columbia announced a new policy Tuesday that will likely serve as a model for a whole-of-government push to assemble lists of Americans who object on religious grounds to a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Pretrial Services Agency for the District of Columbia—a federal independent entity that assists officers in the District of Columbia courts in formulating release recommendations and providing supervision and services to defendants awaiting trial—announced a new records system that will store the names and “personal religious information” of all employees who make “religious accommodation requests for religious exception from the federally mandated vaccination requirement.”

The announcement does not explain why the agency needs to create this list except to say that it will “assist the Agency in the collecting, storing, dissemination, and disposal of employee religious exemption request information collected and maintained by the Agency.” In other words, the list will help the agency make a list.

The announcement also does not say what the agency will do with this information after it has decided an employee’s religious accommodation request.

https://www.lifenews.com

Illinois elementary school promotes after-school Satan club for students

Sarah Taylor – January 13, 2022

A Moline, Illinois, elementary school is making major headlines after administrators allowed a flyer for an after-school Satan club to circulate.

Meetings for the club — which is sponsored and hosted by the Satanic Temple — will take place on school property after hours.

What are the details?

A flyer that made the rounds on social media described the club meetings as being based on “a uniform syllabus that emphasizes a scientific, nationalist, non-superstitious worldview” and is set to be held at Jane Addams Elementary School over a period of five dates through May — the first taking place on Thursday.

The club, geared toward first- through fifth-graders, promises attendees “science projects, puzzles and games, arts and crafts projects, [and] nature activities.”

In statement on the flyer, a spokesperson for the Moline-Coal Valley School District said that there are “policies and administrative procedures in place which allow for community use of its publicly funded facilities outside the school day.”

The spokesperson added that all religious groups are permitted to rent the school’s facilities “for a fee.”

“Flyers and promotional materials for these types of groups are approved for lobby posting or display only, and not for mass distribution,” the spokesperson added. “Please note that the district must provide equal access to all groups and that students need parental permission to attend any after-school event. Our focus remains on student safety and student achievement.”

https://www.theblaze.com