The Faithful Watchman

THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IS ON THE RISE WORLDWIDE

In recent years, Christian persecution has been sharply on the rise, and its terrible impacts have only begun to be felt. In fact, according to Pope Francis, conditions for Christians are worse now than they were in the days of the early Church.

The merciless targeting of Christians—driven by hatred of Christians and the faith itself—emerges as a common denominator in hundreds of testimonies of persecution received by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) from countries around the world. As a Catholic charity providing emergency aid and pastoral support to the persecuted and suffering Church in 140 countries, ACN is committed to chronicling and assessing the evolving phenomenon of the persecution of Christians around the world today.

Today, according to ACN research, almost 340 million Christians around the world—or 1 out of every 7—live in a country where they suffer some form of persecution, such as arbitrary arrest, violence, a full range of human rights violations and even murder.

“It is difficult to be chained. It is difficult to be hit. But I lived in the moment as God presented it to me, and I wished no harm to my captors,” said Sister Gloria Cecilia Narváez after being released from captivity in Mali, where she was tortured by Islamic extremists for four years. “Let’s see if your God gets you out of here,” one of her captors had said. She couldn’t believe their hatred.

Sadly, Sister Gloria is not alone. She is one of the many thousands of Christians around the world who suffer because of their faith. Aid to the Church in Need is committed to comforting and supporting these innocent victims. Our mission is twofold. First, we provide persecuted Christians with pastoral and humanitarian aid. Second, we document and report on the hardship they face. Through our fundraising, advocacy, and journalism, we highlight and provide for the needs of these endangered faithful.

Unholy Communion: Chatbot Leads Services at German Church

There have been many articles and videos posted about the decline in the doctrines and worship in many churches. Of course, that has been going on for hundreds of years for a number of reasons, but it has become particularly noticeable as the mainline protestant denominations have skewed left, followed closely by many evangelical churches and some pockets of the Roman Catholic Church. But the latest development in Germany should make all believers sit up straight and take notice, even when they aren’t in the pews.

St. Paul’s Church in Fuerth, Germany, recently held a service in which everyone in attendance was a live person, but the preacher was not. Welcome to 21st-century worship where your pastor is generated by ChatGPT. The attendees at the Lutheran church experienced a service in which the prayers, the songs, and even the sermon were generated by AI.

In most cases, sermons are usually delivered by an ordained minister. This time it was an AI-generated image that delivered a homily in a flat tone devoid of emotion. The bot’s avatar began the sermon with, “Dear friends, it is an honor for me to stand here and preach to you as the first artificial intelligence at this year’s convention of Protestants in Germany.”

According to Breitbart, the service was created by Jonas Simmerlein, who is a theologian and philosopher from the University of Vienna. But Simmerlein shied away from taking credit, saying that he “accompanied” the service, rather than creating it. He explained that 98% of it had been created by AI. Simmerlien stated, “I told the artificial intelligence, ‘We are at the church congress, you are a preacher … what would a church service look like? You end up with a pretty solid church service.

Heiderose Schmidt, who works in IT, was not as impressed, stating, “There was no heart and no soul. The avatars showed no emotions at all, had no body language, and were talking so fast and monotonously that it was very hard for me to concentrate on what they said.” Others refused to recite Lord’s Prayer with the avatar, and others laughed at its monotone delivery that did not quite match the message. But then again, this was the beta test, I guess. I’m sure someone will get the bugs worked out.

Schmidt however, summed it up perfectly in stating that the AI had no heart or soul. While she was referring to the delivery, she touched on the most important factor. Those attending the service were asked to put their souls in the care of something that has no soul. Is it not bad enough that we will be asked in the future to place our bodies and our jobs in the care of something that has no body? Will we be told to put our spiritual welfare in the hands of something that knows nothing of humanity except through the algorithms it has been fed?

Pastors have multiple things with which to contend: finances, programs, attendance, and physical plant issues, just to name a few. But a pastor’s primary calling is to shepherd his flock. That must always be his first duty. And a good pastor shepherds his flock not as an autocrat or a businessman, but through compassion, sympathy, empathy, and catharsis. Qualities that AI, no matter how well it is programmed to respond will always lack. AI can recite God’s Word, but it cannot interpret or apply it. It cannot help members of a congregation bear their burdens or find God even in the dark places. In other words, AI cannot minister.

Jonas Simmerlein has created a curiosity but not much more. And if we are not careful, that curiosity could become a monster that may come much closer to succeeding where men such as Nero and Diocletian failed. If nothing else, it could become an effective tool for diluting the relationship to God that people seek through worship. After all, God does not mistakes, but people make them relentlessly. And AI may make it easy to sever our ties with God.

Software VP Fired for Using ‘Assigned by God’ as Preferred Pronoun Sues Employer

A software engineer fired for putting “Assigned By God” as the preferred pronoun on his employee profile has filed a civil rights lawsuit against his company.

Chard Scharf was fired by the software company Bitwarden, an online storage service for sensitive information. Scharf served as Vice President of Software Engineering at the Jacksonville, Florida, location.

The lawsuit alleges that Bitwarden violated Scharf’s Title VII rights against religious discrimination by allowing other employees to post preferred pronouns on their employee profiles, but prohibiting Scharf from using his preferred pronoun based on his religious beliefs.

“Had Chad set aside his religious beliefs and acquiesced to Bitwarden’s promotion of gender ideology, he would not have been fired,” Scharf’s attorney Jennifer Vasquez told The Epoch Times, “which means his religious beliefs were the cause of his termination.” Vasquez is with the Florida law firm Campbell, Trohn, Tamayo & Aranda.

Neither Bitwarden nor its attorney B. Tyler White of Jackson & Lewis, responded to multiple inquiries from The Epoch Times about Scharf’s lawsuit. The company has not yet filed a response to the federal complaint.

“Bitwarden violated Title VII when it placed Mr. Scharf into a disfavored class by promoting its gender ideology, when it failed to approve his reasonable request for accommodation, and when it terminated his employment,” the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Scharf was repeatedly pressured to add his preferred pronouns to his Slack employee profile under his company’s “inclusivity initiative.” Slack is a platform utilized for intra company communication.

When Scharf added “Assigned By God” to his employee profile page, he was told to remove it, his complaint alleges.

Scharf, a Catholic, told his company he would not participate in its request to choose preferred pronouns because it was part of a gender ideology that went against his religious beliefs.

He told Bitwarden executives that it was his belief that there are only two sexes and “that gender cannot be changed, chosen, or manipulated,” and that it was the company discriminating against him for failing to accommodate his beliefs.

Americans’ ‘Health May be Undermined’ by Not Going to Church: Surgeon General

In a recent official government report, the Biden administration has warned that Americans’ “health may be undermined” due to their “decline in participation” in church services and other religious activities.

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued the first-ever government advisory on the “epidemic of loneliness and isolation” earlier this month, calling persistent isolation an “urgent public health issue” that impacts the physical and mental health of millions. “Research shows that loneliness and isolation are associated with a greater risk of heart disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death,” says Murthy in an online video released to coincide with the report.

Loneliness is as bad for individuals as smoking 15 cigarettes a day — a pack-and-a-half daily habit — and harms physical health “even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity,” the report notes.

Unfortunately, Murthy writes, Americans have become disconnected from one of the institutions that can forge deep and permanent social connections: church attendance. “Religious or faith-based groups can be a source for regular social contact, serve as a community of support, provide meaning and purpose, create a sense of belonging around shared values and beliefs, and are associated with reduced risk-taking behaviors,” Murthy writes. “As a consequence of this decline in participation, individuals’ health may be undermined in different ways.”

“Membership in organizations that have been important pillars of community connection have declined significantly,” including “faith organizations,” writes Murthy. “In 2020, only 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue, or mosque. This is down from 70% in 1999 and represents a dip below 50% for the first time in the history of the survey question.”

Experts have known about the fraying web of meaningful personal relationships for decades. For instance, the percentage of American men who said they have no close friends had increased 500% between 1990 and 2021. But a persistent sense of abandonment reached societal proportions during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

Church attendance and health issues have an inverse relationship, according to multiple studies, including a new report released by evangelical pollster George Barna.

The percentage of millennials who attended a church worship service, either in-person or online, dropped by seven percentage points over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, says the study from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University (ACU), where Barna is director of research.

The retreat from faith has devastated young people, Barna told “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” recently.

Separate ACU polls found that 75% of millennials “say, ‘I don’t know why I should get out of bed in the morning,’” said Barna. A majority “admit that every day they’re struggling with mental health issues, severe depression, anxiety, fear,” and “the highest suicide rate of any generation we’ve ever seen.”

That’s roughly the percentage of millennials who do not attend religious services: Only 28% take part in services in any way.

Conversely, Americans who believe in God and value marriage are more likely to be “very happy” than isolated secularists, according to a Wall Street Journal-NORC poll taken in March.

American citizens to be ‘evacuated from Taiwan’ as tensions grow with China

Amid mounting tensions, U.S. Government reported to be working on evacuation plans for Americans in Taiwan.

The US government is reported to be currently organising the evacuation of Americans living in Taiwan. According to themessanger.com, a senior US intelligence person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the strategy, reported this evacuation planning has been ongoing for at least six months and has significantly increased over the last few months.

The official explained to the US outlet that the preparations have been prompted by a heightened level of tension, citing factors such as the visible build-up of forces and China’s alignment with Russia concerning the situation in Ukraine.

They also stressed that these developments are not beyond what is already reported in the news.

themessanger.com reported that a source with knowledge of the situation told them that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was a major factor in the planning for the evacuation.

The source claimed that Ukraine “Ukraine drove a relook at what the plans were”.

The U.S. government has not released any announcements to the public, although Lt. Col. Martin Meiners is reported to have said when approached, “We do not see a conflict in the Taiwan Strait as imminent or inevitable.”

Xi Jinping Is Preparing China For A War With The United States

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made reunification with Taiwan one of his most important foreign policy goals. If he was actually able to pull it off, he would be a national hero in China. But there is a huge problem standing in his way. The moment that China invades Taiwan, a war with the United States will begin. Xi Jinping understands this very well, and so if an invasion of Taiwan is going to happen it must take place at a moment that is favorable to the Chinese.

Many would argue that we will be in such a window of opportunity for about the next year and a half. Right now, the U.S. and other western nations are pouring vast amounts of military resources into the conflict in Ukraine. As a result, they are ill-prepared to militarily confront a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.

In addition, Xi Jinping knows that Joe Biden would not use nuclear weapons if the Chinese move against Taiwan. It would be a conventional war, and such a scenario would greatly favor China. But if the Chinese wait until after the next presidential election in the United States, Donald Trump or another Republican could be in the White House, and the risk of sparking a nuclear conflict would go up substantially.

So if Xi Jinping wants to make a move, the clock is ticking.

And over the past few weeks, he has made statements that certainly suggest that he intends to get China prepared for a coming war with the United States. The following comes from the Wall Street Journal…

At a top-level meeting focused on national security on May 30, the Chinese leader said, “We must be prepared for worst-case and extreme scenarios, and be ready to withstand the major test of high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms.”

A week later, Xi extended that concept to the economic arena. While inspecting an industrial park in Inner Mongolia, Xi said efforts to build up the domestic market are aimed at “ensuring normal operation of the national economy under extreme circumstances.”

The foreign policy experts that the Journal interviewed for their story clearly understood that Xi was referring to war.

And the only reason the Chinese would be fighting a major war any time soon is if they launch an invasion of Taiwan.

Over the past week, China has continued to send large numbers of military aircraft into Taiwan’s air defense zone…

Taiwan’s air force scrambled into action on Sunday after spotting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, as the island’s defence ministry said four Chinese warships also carried out combat patrols.

This is the second time in less than a week that Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into the island’s air defence zone, some of which then flew into the western Pacific.

They are probing Taiwan’s defenses.

The are looking for weak spots and they are testing to see how the Taiwanese would respond to certain scenarios.

Top GOP Rep Says There’s Evidence The Biden Admin Released Migrants With Chinese Military Ties Into The US

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green possesses evidence that some Chinese migrants that crossed the southern border illegally and were released into the U.S. under the Biden administration are connected to the Chinese Communist Party and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), he told the Daily Caller News Foundation during a press conference Wednesday.

The intelligence came directly from a Border Patrol sector chief, Green told the DCNF. Border Patrol has seen a roughly 393% increase in illegal Chinese migrants at the southern border, with 9,711 Chinese migrant encounters recorded between October 2022 and April.

“In terms of the verification that the individuals released into the United States have ties to the PLA came from a sector chief and I’ll leave it with that at this point. We have a classified briefing coming up in the very near future,” Green said.

China expert Gordon Chang recently expressed concerns of sabotage among Chinese migrants crossing the southern border in an interview with the DCNF.

“When I first saw that the surge in Chinese migrants, that’s the thought that came to my mind that these are either Ministry of State Security agents or Chinese military, who are coming to this country to commit acts of sabotage against the US,” Chang said at the time.

Green announced the revelation while presenting his evidence suggesting Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is guilty of “dereliction of duty” in his handling of the crisis at the southern border. Green’s committee released a report on Wednesday about its initial findings on a five-phase investigation into Mayorkas’ tenure, saying the probe will conclude in roughly 12 weeks.

“I believe that the major fault falls with Secretary Mayorkas,” Green said.

The Coming Cyrus Accords?

Zionism is the legacy of Cyrus the Great and the national inheritance of the Iranians. The Islamic Republic’s anti-Zionism is not a historical norm, but a radical break from history by a radical regime. The Iranian revolution seeks to return to its historical origins, and Zionists must rejoice if it succeeds.

The former crown prince of Iran and the most prominent opposition figure, Reza Pahlavi, became the most prominent Iranian to have ever visited Israel this week. He made history by taking the first step to restore it. Pahlavi’s cautious approach to leadership, out of the fear of alienating Iranians from different camps, has been a point of criticism over the decades. His trip doesn’t suggest that he has overnight become more risk-taking, but that he understands that anti-Zionism is no longer a political force among his audience inside his country. This is an early sign that a free Iran will cease hostilities with Israel and end the region’s most destabilizing conflict, caused by one of the most destabilizing regimes in the world. Only a few years after Abraham Accords, we can now envision the potential for the future Cyrus Accords.

Pahlavi’s trip was as much about symbolic gestures as it was political business, evident by his decision to visit during Holocaust Remembrance Day and participate in the ceremonies. He posted a picture of himself wearing a kippah and his wife praying at the Western Wall. His post’s caption cited the Book of Ezra and Cyrus the Great’s edict to rebuild the Second Temple. On Farsi social media, Cyrus Accords immediately began to trend, with more than 100,000 tweets in 24 hours.

The Iranian opposition leader also met with Israeli government officials, likely to seek their assistance for the protest movement that has been roiling Iran for the last seven months. Minister of Intelligence Gila Gamliel hosted the crown prince, and the itinerary included meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog. Given Israel’s covert assets in Iran, Pahlavi’s following there, and the two parties’ mutual interest in regime change, it is a reasonable guess that they discussed avenues of cooperation to effect change. He had also mentioned that, given Iran’s water crisis and Israel’s expertise in desalination, he intended to meet with Israeli water experts, so Gamliel gave him a tour of the water desalination facility in Shurk.

As seen by their reactions to Pahlavi’s visit, for many Iranians, Israel has transformed from an enemy to an ally against the Islamic Republic. Masih Alinejad, another opposition leader, tweeted that “the nation of Iran has no enmity with Israel. It is the Islamic Republic that has conquered the borders of hostility against Jews, not just in Iran, but also in the region and the world.” Hichkas, the first professional Iranian rapper, humorously tweeted his wish that the trip would result in countless Qassem Soleimani-like assassinations. Former national soccer team captain Ali Karimi, the opposition leader most in tune with the Iranian street, posted a picture of the Pahlavis and Gamliel with Iranian-flag-colored hearts.

The regime’s response, on the other hand, has been official silence. The spokesperson for the ministry of foreign affairs dismissed a question on the topic for it concerned “an irrelevant individual to an irrelevant destination country.” Unofficial and semi-official media tried to downplay it by mentioning Israel’s domestic political turmoil and the Pahlavi dynasty’s historically warm views of Israel. The combination of the regime’s dismissiveness and the opposition’s embrace is a hint that both sides are aware that Israel has ceased being a bogeyman in Iran.

Russian hackers promise takedown of European banking system

Russian hackers have unleashed on social media a threat to the European banking system, promising, ‘Within 48 hours … nothing will save you.”

The Russian activist groups are known by the names KillNet, Anonymous Sudan and REvil.

“This is not a DDoS attack, the games are over,” the video statement said. “No money, no weapons, no Kiev regime – this is the formula for the death of Nazism and it will work.”

It continued, “Within 48 hours we are launching this global company, nothing will save you and this is not a warning. I am just informing. You have never seen such problems before.”

A report by the Gateway Pundit noted that the three “notorious hacktivist groups, KillNet, Anonymous Sudan and REvil,” are generally not united.

“The three hacker groups declared their intention to unleash a massive cyber onslaught on the European banking system, threatening to bring it to its knees within ’48 hours’ (the information was relevant as of yesterday),” the report said.

The report continued, “Killnet’s leader, who goes by the alias Killmilk, has confirmed to Lente.ru [in Russia] that plans for the attack are already underway. The attack, as he revealed, is set to commence within the ‘next 48 hours.'”

Six Flags hosting drag queen shows for ‘all ages’ at amusement parks across the country, one theme park showcasing history of Pride presentation

Six Flags – the national amusement park company – is presenting drag queen shows at several of its theme parks in honor of Pride month. One Six Flags amusement park is also showcasing a presentation about the history of Pride month.

The Six Flags Over Texas location is offering a “schedule of live entertainment and fun activities to celebrate Pride month,” including eight drag shows for “all ages.”

From the amusement park’s website: “The 45-minute live show will make you laugh and clap as our PRIDE entertainers offer a first-of-its-kind show at Six Flags Over Texas. Local Drag Queen legend Salem Moon will emcee our Drag Show.”

The site adds, “All content is rated PG and is considered to be family-friendly and inclusive for all ages. Anyone under 17 should consult with a parent or guardian if there is concern.”

“If you are interested in learning more about how the national PRIDE celebration began, then visit Crazy Horse Saloon to see a digital presentation on the TV screens,” the site states.