130 Year Flood Record in ND

The natural disasters continue to set records. This time a 130 year record for flood water levels has been shattered in North Dakota. No deaths have been reported.

From Fox News:

River Hits Record Flood Level in North Dakota City

Published June 24, 2011

MINOT, N.D.-- The Souris River's full weight hit Minot on Friday, swamping an estimated 2,500 homes as it soared nearly 4 feet in less than a day and overwhelmed the city's levees. City officials said they expected as many as 4,500 homes to be severely damaged by the time the river peaks Saturday.

More than a quarter of the city's 40,000 residents evacuated earlier this week, packing any belongings they hoped to save into cars, trucks and trailers.

The Souris River set a new record for flooding, covering the city of Minot, N.D. in water and forcing as many as 10,000 residents to evacuate.

June 23: A neighborhood is submerged by flood water from the Souris River in Minot, N.D. Officials in North Dakota's fourth-largest city said Thursday they had done all they could to protect critical infrastructure from the rising Souris River as it headed toward a record flood.

"The river's coming up rapidly," Mayor Curt Zimbelman said. "It's dangerous and we need to stay away."

Fed by heavy rains upstream and dam releases that have accelerated in recent days, the Souris surged past a 130-year-old record Friday and kept going. The river was more than 5 feet above major flood stage Friday afternoon and expected to crest as early as Saturday evening some 8 1/2 feet beyond major flood stage.

The predicted crest was lowered a foot based on new modeling by the National Weather Service, but it was little consolation in Minot.

"This has been a very trying time for our community," Zimbelman said. "It's emotionally draining for all of us."

As they had the past two days, emergency officials focused on protecting water and sewer systems to avoid the need for more evacuations. They were confident about the water system, but a little less so about the sewer treatment plant. It had been sandbagged as high as possible.

Zimbelman said water coming up through a storm sewer briefly began to erode one downtown levee before it was controlled.

Also of concern was the Broadway Bridge, a key north-south route. Levees protecting the northern approach were being raised, but Army Corps of Engineers Lt. Col. Kendall Bergmann said it was touch and go. The levee work also protected the campus of nearby Minot State University.

Members of the state's congressional delegation pressed for a federal emergency declaration making people eligible for individual assistance, a step they said was needed for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to set up transitional housing centers.

Sen. John Hoeven said a helicopter flight over the Souris valley showed damage to smaller cities nearby. He estimated more than 5,000 homes in the valley would eventually have water damage, including those in Minot and Burlington, where officials gave up sandbagging Thursday. The Army Corps of Engineers was leading an effort to build emergency levees in Velva, a small town about 20 miles downstream of Minot, before the Souris crests there Tuesday.

In Burlington, deputy auditor Cindy Bader estimated Friday that more than half of the town's 1,000 residents had left to escape the rising Souris River.

Burlington's city hall, school and police and fire departments appeared safe, but some homes in the evacuation zone had water up to their first floors and higher. In one neighborhood, the tops of two traffic signs barely peeked above the brown, brackish water, which reached just beneath the eaves of two nearby houses.

Wayne Walter, a Burlington city councilman and truck driver for a snack food company, said residents were stunned by the river's rapid rise.

"When we went to bed last night, and when we got up this morning, it was a big difference," Walter said Friday. "Down by the dikes, we saw it just trickling over (Thursday night). This morning, everything was gone."

Walter said he lived across the street from the evacuation area, and the Souris was still about 4 feet from his own home.

"Right now, we're staying there, but we've got the camper packed," he said. "They tell us to leave, we're gone."

The National Guard had 870 members activated for the crisis. Minot is best known as home to an Air Force base, which oversees 150 Minutemann III missiles in underground launch silos scattered over 8,500 square miles in northwest North Dakota.

Col. S.L. Davis, commander of the 91st Missile Wing, said there was some "localized flooding" at a handful of missiles sites because of the wet spring and summer. But he said the silos are designed to safety handle some water and protective measures were taken at a few sites similar to what's done in preparation for spring runoff from snowmelt.

In Minot, a car parked near the Broadway Bridge was dry Friday morning but submerged by midday. Nearby, about a half-dozen gophers found themselves stranded in a small and shrinking dry patch. Furniture store workers cheered as one of the gophers swam 20 yards to safety.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service launched four boats to patrol flooded neighborhoods and respond to 911 calls, but no injuries were reported and no rescues were necessary. The evacuation zone was empty except for emergency officials and some geese, who paddled in about 5 feet of water washing down the streets.

George Moe, 63, whose house was about a block from the water's edge, returned briefly Friday to pick up some keys. Moe said the only thing left in his house was the mounted head of an antelope shot by his wife, who died about three years ago.

Moe worried about the home he's lived in for four decades and the shop where he works as a mechanic; it was taking on water and he wasn't sure he'd have a job after the flood.

"I hate to see something go to hell after 40 years," he said. "There ain't much you can do."

The earth continues to groan under the weight of sin and bondage and we see the continued increase in magnitude of those groanings all around us. Some other signs below that one should keep an eye out for as we live out the final hours before the Lord comes back to take His believers home.

From Contender Ministries:

SIX SIGNS GIVEN BY JESUS TO INDICATE HIS COMING AND THE END OF THE AGE

---

In Matthew24:3 Jesus was asked, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus told his apostles to look for the following signs prior to his second coming and the end of the age.

1. FALSE PROPHETS AND CHRISTS

Matthew 24:5 "For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will mislead many."

Matthew 24:11 "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many."

In the last several years many have claimed to be the Messiah. Jim Jones and David Koresh are examples of these false christs as well as countless others who are not as newsworthy. These false prophets are a prelude to the ultimate false christ, the antichrist. Many New Age groups, some even NGO's working for the United Nations, are anxiously awaiting the antichrist, preparing the way for his acceptance as the head of the hierarchy of gods and the one who will usher in world peace.

2. WARS

Matthew 24:6 "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end."

Rumors of wars in all areas of the world now occur frequently thanks to instant media coverage and the availability of a multitude of 24-hour news sources.

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

More people have been killed in warfare in this century than at any other time in history. As the death toll rises in the Middle East, more and more countries work feverishly to develop devastating weapons of mass destruction. Add to that the expanding threat of terrorism and unpredictable dictators such as Saddam Hussein, and the potential for the outbreak of war exists in nations, kingdoms and places across the globe.

3. FAMINES

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

As white, Christian farmers are driven out of Zimbabwe in increasing numbers, and foreigners move in to replace life-sustaining crops with poppies that now supply 25% of the worlds drugs, famine spreads across the African continent. The undernourished are not limited to Africa, however. A large portion of the worlds 5 billion people suffers from a shortage of food.

4. EARTHQUAKES

Matthew 24:7 "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes."

The number and intensity of earthquakes this century is at a level higher than any other time in history. A staggering number of seismic events occur around the world daily. The earthquake seismic monitor IRIS shows all major earthquakes for the last year. Indicated by yellow and red circles, the seismic events of the last 15 days provides strong evidence of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:7 in our day. By contrast, in the years from 1890 to 1900 there was only one major earthquake in the world.

5. TRIBULATIONS

Matthew 24:8-9 "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of my name."

Christians are under attack throughout the world today. In the United States Christians still enjoy freedom to worship God without suffering much more than ridicule, hatred, or discrimination at work and school. However in many other countries such as China, Sudan, Africa, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia, and many Muslim nations, Christian suffer much greater persecution and often times death for their faith. During the tribulation this suffering will be worldwide and will continue even to the point of martyrdom. These first 5 signs will increase in intensity and severity as the tribulation approaches, much like the birth pangs or contractions of a pregnant woman worsen as the delivery time approaches.

6. THE GOSPEL WILL BE PREACHED THROUGHOUT THE WORLD

Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come."

This prophecy has already been fulfilled through television, radio, missionaries, the translation of the Bible into many languages, and the internet. People all over the world now hear the message of Christ from missionaries who have the means to travel the globe, and via technology that allows us to communicate with people on the other side of the world right from our own homes, churches and offices.

Market Armageddon

Just a slight miscalculation by the brains at Google.

Islamic Conference in UK July 9, 2011

A UK Conference takes shape that will discuss the furtherance of Islamic Law around the world.

From the Blaze.com

Are You Ready For a World Governed by Islamic Law?

Are you ready for a world dominated by Islamic law? On July 9, the international political group Hizb ut-Tahrir will meet for the “UK Khilafah Conference” in London. During the gathering, meetings will focus upon ways in which a caliphate can be instituted. As The Blaze explained back in February, a caliphate is an Islamic state that draws its authority from, and is based upon, Sharia law.

Hizb ut-Tahrir, which stands for the “Party of Liberation” in English, is an

international political organization that seeks one, unified Muslim state that is dominated by Muslim law. This particular group stands firmly planted against the United States, accusing the Super Power of colonization, among other offenses.

Additionally, the group would like to see Israel, which it deems “illegal,” be dismantled. Below, you can see a graphic that the group is using to promote the conference:

War Approaches.

"World war III is here. This world is going into crisis. The domestic police state is unfolding against the people of our republic."



I understand you need to be provocative to gain an audience. Alex Jones is certainly making some valid points here, although maybe with some un-necessary drama, but hey, it does make for great entertainment. WWIII maybe not upon us yet, but it is eventually coming and now is the time to get prepared.

Revelation 16:14-16

¹⁴ They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵ “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

¹⁶ Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

Revelation 19:17-19

¹⁷ And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, ¹⁸ so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” ¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.

Comic Relief

Trading of Gold and Silver becoming Illegal July 15, 2011

It's the subtle moves that catch you off guard. After you're lulled to sleep by the A/C in a quiet comfortable bed and dreaming of sunshine and heaven upon your feather pillow, then danger can strike unnoticed. It seems that way with America these days. In just two short years we've seen a complete overhaul of so many areas of our lives from Business to Health Care to the Financial Industry. Another one of the many bills that 'had to pass so that we'd be able to see what was in it', the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulatory Overhaul bill is beginning to take root.

Apparently, one section of the bill bans US traders from trading gold and silver if they don't intend to sell it within 28 days. Recently, a major Foreign Exchange Company sent out the following---notice it will become in effect in little over a month.

This excerpt was sent out by the major gold and silver brokerage company FOREX:

We wanted to make you aware of some upcoming changes to FOREX.com’s product offering. As a result of the Dodd-Frank Act enacted by US Congress, a new regulation prohibiting US residents from trading over the counter precious metals, including gold and silver, will go into effect on Friday, July 15, 2011.

In conjunction with this new regulation, FOREX.com must discontinue metals trading for US residents on Friday, July 15, 2011 at the close of trading at 5pm ET. As a result, all open metals positions must be closed by July 15, 2011 at 5pm ET.

As for OTC precious metals such as gold or silver, Section 742(a) of the Act prohibits any person [which again includes companies]from entering into, or offering to enter into, a transaction in any commodity with a person that is not an eligible contract participant or an eligible commercial entity, on a leveraged or margined basis. This provision intends to expand the narrow so called “Zelener fix” in the Farm Bill previously ratified by congress in 2008. The Farm Bill empowered the CFTC to pursue anti-fraud actions involving rolling spot transactions and/or other leveraged forex transactions without the need to prove that they are futures contracts. The Dodd-Frank Act now expands this authority to include virtually all retail cash commodity market products that involve leverage or margin – in other words OTC precious metals.

This is not a conspiracy folks.

To read more, a more thorough coverage of the topic can be found here:

For the "new order" to take root, a new currency must be formed--a world currency. Hence, the American dollar must continue to depreciate. Making trading over the counter precious metals (physical form) illegal helps remove alternative forms of currency (i.e. competition to the American dollar), so that the current Central Bank (The Federal Reserve) and the Government can continue to force Americans to the us the dollar longer, despite its crumbling value. As long as the people are prevented from using real currency, real money, the ruling elite can further debase the fiat currency of the dollar. Why would they want to do that? Simple, to pay off the massive debt that has become to large to repay.

Eventually the house of cards will collapse and the world government will form behind a world currency. That currency cannot be gold or silver--it must be fiat, and controlled by those in power. Thus, gold and silver are antithetical to everything the elites stand for. Eliminating the ability to obtain these metals is an important step toward maintaining their power and control.

There is a Shaking in the Making

Hebrews 12:25-27

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? ²⁶ At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”^{[a] 27} The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.

In case you missed it, Perry Stone gave a terrific message on the shaking of the Church, through the illustration of the shaking of an Olive tree. You can catch his message here.

The olive tree is a tree that gets harvested in the fall, and is unique in the fact that it can only get harvested by shaking as opposed to wheat or barley which can be picked or harvested. You literally have to shake the tree, causing the olives to fall to the ground. Once you shake the tree free of olives, those olives hit the ground and then go an olive press where in Biblical times, a donkey would pull a stone round and round, grinding the olive until it became oil. The process grinds everything, the pits and the olive, until it produces both a 1st oil--extra virgin oil, and a 2nd oil--virgin oil.

The illustration could not be more clear. In order to produce the Holy Spirit, which is illustrated by oil or olive oil in this situation, the Christian must be shaken. God is looking to shake us off from our comfortable position and through the trials of life, squeeze us to produce the oil--an anointing of God in our lives.

That is what the trials of life are for, to refine us and make us more like Christ, the Christ who endured the Cross and bore our sins. Olive oil will never be made without a pressing and without a shaking. We also must go through the pressures and battles of life to become like Christ and receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Oil does not flow from the tree with you just sitting in a church pew and when we become too comfortable where we are, God shakes us to move us in the direction where he wants us to go!

All the more, after we've been through that trial then we are able to go help others in that same situation. You're depressed? I've been there, let me help you through. You're fearful and battling failure in your life? I know what it feels like. Not only do we experience the trial and thus understand what it is like and what it takes to get out of the trial, we can then go back and proclaim what God has done.

Don't just take trials in your life as something that is from the devil. God may be shaking you to get your attention. Be warned though as Jesus said in Matthew 15:13, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots." Seek out the Lord in your trial, and when you make it out on the other side, go and help others make it through theirs.

Bilderberg 2011

I'm not sure this group is as powerful as it is made out to be. Either way, the power concentrated in terms of financial power with this group makes them a group that must not be taken lightly. No doubt, the future world government will involve many if not all in this Bilderberg group.

From the Guardian:

Bilderberg 2011: Lord Mandelson's nature walk

Charlie Skelton looks on as Peter Mandelson – and some billionaire buddies – take the air at Bilderberg

Peter Mandelson and Richard Lambert at Bilderberg. Photograph: Quierosaber

A shadow fell across the Engadine. The skylark ceased his merry song, the flowers curled and blackened in the meadow and a man in a special issue Bilderberg anorak set off on his stroll.

Bilderberg has had some bad ideas in its time (a European superstate, anyone?) but Lord Mandelson's nature walk has to be the worst. What were they hoping for? Had they not seen the 200 activists camped opposite the hotel gates?

Out of the gates they drove in their very own Bilderbus, up the mountain to a charming spot. The plan: to amble down through the gorgeous scenery, back to the Suvretta House Hotel for tea.

Out of the bus stepped Erich Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, and Franco Bernabè, the CEO of Telecom Italia, followed by China's vice-minister of foreign affairs, Ying Fu, with her amazing hair.

Photograph: Hannah Borno

Then came the Swedish billionaire banker and industrialist Jacob Wallenberg, and the dapper CEO of Airbus, Thomas Enders. More of him later.

Mandelson led the way, locked in conversation with Sir Richard Lambert, a global non-executive director for Ernst & Young and the former editor of the FT. The Tory MP Rory Stewart trotted behind.

It was an odd walk right from the start. From nowhere, like something from a dream, a distinguished lady, dressed from top to toe in white, whooshed serenely past security and swanned to the front of the power walkers.

Photograph: Hannah Borno

No one recognised her or has seen her since. She had an other-worldy quality; I half expected her to be leading them to Charon's boat, or up a stairway formed of clouds.

Mandelson fell into step with Schmidt. We couldn't hear their happy chatter, but I presume they were admiring the breathtaking scenery, comparing their favourite wild flower, and hammering out how best to implement an internet kill switch.

Photograph: Stefan-Hans Bauer

The lady in white led her band of Bilderberg bigwigs and billionaires along the charming Swiss byways, across bridges over gentle streams ... and straight into a pack of 50 baffled activists, who were milling around outside a community hall during a break in a symposium.

This couldn't possibly be happening. "This is terrible," Mandelson was heard to exclaim as the activists swarmed around the delegates, firing questions and chorusing their concern. You can watch some remarkable footage from the incident on Alex Jones's website.

One activist, Ali Aslan, walked alongside Enders, the Airbus boss, and
asked him what was being discussed at this year's conference. "Nothing bad," said Enders. "We are just making our agendas." (This was the German word used: agenda – the same as in English).

"I don't understand," said Alsan. "There are politicians inside. Why are we not allowed to know what you're talking about?"

Enders smiled and said: "I don't have to tell you, and you don't need to know." And with that, he and his fellow delegates ducked beneath the security cordon, into the blessed safety of Bilderberg.

I don't know who organised the conference itinerary this year – but good luck in your next job.

Family & Children; Oil & Water

In a related story to the last post on the Death of Family in America which found that 40% of children are raised in a single parent household, this research report here also shows the changing role of families in raising children as 50% of dad's under 45 now have at least 1 child outside of marriage.

From the Pew Research Poll:

WASHINGTON -- Nearly half of American dads younger than 45 this Father's Day say they have at least one child who was born out of wedlock. And the share of fathers living apart from children is more than double what it was not so long ago.

In encouraging news, though, among married fathers, children are said to be getting more attention from both parents at home than ever before.

A Pew Research Center report highlights the changing roles of parents as U.S. marriage rates and traditional family households fall to historic lows.

For example, college-educated men who tend to marry and get better jobs are more involved with their children than lesser-skilled men struggling to get by.

"When a father can't provide monetarily for his offspring, he often becomes estranged," said Beth Latshaw, an assistant sociology professor at Appalachian State University, who researches changing paternal roles. She pointed to an economic advantage for college graduates hired at companies with better benefits and family-friendly policies, contrasted with the situation for the larger ranks of low-wage workers.

"As a result, many women now raise children outside of marriage or without a father figure," Latshaw said.

Pew's survey and analysis of government data, released Wednesday, found that about 46 percent of fathers ages 15 to 44 say they had at least one of their children born outside of marriage.

And more than one in four fathers -- or 27 percent -- with kids 18 or younger live away from at least one of their children. That number is more than double the share of fathers who lived apart from their kids in 1960.

In Indiana, mother-only households accounted for 24 percent of all households in 2009, according to the Indiana Youth Institute.

On the other hand, married fathers who live with their children are devoting more time to helping their wives with caregiving. Such fathers on average now spend about 6.5 hours a week on child care, which include playing or taking them to activities. That's up from 2.6 hours in the 1960s. The 6.5 hours is still just half the amount of time mothers spend per week.

"Father's Day reminds us parents that we have no more solemn obligation than to care for our children. But far too many young people in America grow up without their dads, and our families and communities are challenged as a result," President Barack Obama said Wednesday in calling for fathers to be more involved. Sunday is Father's Day.

Obama has often reminded Americans how his father left his family when the future president was a small child, describing a "hole in a child's life that no government can fill." The Health and Human Services Department is running public service advertisements this week urging fathers to "Take Time to Be a Dad Today," and the administration next week is expected to announce new support for local fatherhood programs.

The Pew study, "A Tale of Two Fathers," found sharp differences based on race and education. Black and Hispanic fathers were much more likely to have children out of wedlock, at 72 percent and 59 percent, respectively, compared with 37 percent for white men. Among fathers with at least a bachelor's degree, only 13 percent had children outside marriage, compared with 51 percent of those with high school diplomas and 65 percent of those who didn't finish high school.

The findings come as the latest census data show that the share of U.S. households with married couples is below 50 percent for the first time.

Gretchen Livingston, a senior Pew researcher who co-authored the report, noted that fathers who live away from their children are not always absent. More than 20 percent of such dads said they saw their children several times a week. Still, 27 percent of fathers who live away from their children reported that they didn't see them at all in the past year.

Pew based its findings on Census Bureau figures as well as National Center for Health Statistics survey data from 2006-08, the latest available. On behalf of Pew, Princeton Survey Research Associates International also interviewed 2,006 people 18 and older by cellphone or landline May 26-29 and June 2-5. The Pew survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The Death of Marriage, the Death of America

40% of children born in 2011 are born from single parent households. That number was near 3%, 75 years ago. Why? Quite a few reasons for the decline I would say, but most of all because we have forgotten God. First, take a look at the following graphs to get a clearer picture of the marriage epidemic that America is facing.

Take a look at the following graphs provided by the Heritage Foundation:

Child poverty is an ongoing national concern, but few are aware of its principal cause: the absence of married fathers in the home. According to the U.S. Census, the poverty rate for single parents with children in the United States in 2008 was 36.5 percent. The rate for married couples with children was 6.4 percent. Being raised in a married family reduced a child’s probability of living in poverty by about 80 percent.[1] (See Chart 1.)

Decline in Marriage and Growth in Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing

Regrettably, marriage is declining rapidly in the U.S. The current decline is unusual. As Chart 2 shows, throughout most of the 20th century, marital childbearing was the overwhelming norm in the United States. Nearly all children were born to married couples.

The flip side of the decline in marriage is the growth in the out-of-wedlock childbearing birth rate, meaning the percentage of births that occur to women who are not married when the child is born.[3] As Chart 3 shows, throughout most of U.S. history, out-of-wedlock childbearing was rare. When the War on Poverty began in the mid-1960s, only 6 percent of children were born out of wedlock. Over the next four and a half decades, the number rose rapidly. In 2008, 40.6 percent of all children born in the U.S. were born outside of marriage.[4]

Not surprisingly, single-parent families make up the overwhelming majority of all poor families with children in the U.S. Overall, single-parent families comprise one-third of all families with children, but as Chart 6 shows, 71 percent of poor families with children are headed by single parents. By contrast, 74 percent of all non-poor families with children are headed by married couples.[8]

Growth in Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing Among Blacks and Whites. Historically, the black out-of-wedlock childbearing rate has always been somewhat higher than the white rate; however, through much of the 20th century, the rates for both groups were comparatively low. For example, as Chart 10 shows, 2 percent of white children and 14 percent of black children born in 1940 were born out of wedlock.

The antidote to poverty is married fathers and mothers raising their children together in the bounds of marriage, not outside of it. Government spending and anti-poverty programs that do not promote marriage are only compounding the problem, a problem that is threatening to topple this once great country. This two caste system that is being formed; the lower income and educated welfare recipient, single parent household and the higher income & educated, married household, has transformed our culture. The political class that was responsible for the 'war on poverty' that helped ignite the epidemic of out of wedlock births, has capitalized on the failure of their own program to lock in the lower classes support at the voting booth by pitting those two classes against each other. Sickening politics and even more saddening policy.

"While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage." II Peter 2:1

When a nation forgets God, priorities change. No where has priorities changed more than in America's responsibility to its children and family. God instituted the family for good reason and the statistics bear out that fact with children raised in families 82% less likely to enter into poverty. Families, while not always perfect, provide an shelter for young kids trying to navigate the sea of life and provide a refuge from life's troubles.

The death of marriage, as illustrated by these graphs, has extreme economic consequences. But the tragedy goes even further than that to both cultural and social consequences. We can see changes in culture all around us with our tv shows glamorizing violence, sex, and promiscuity while our culture hails the football stadium as the modern day Roman Colosseum. Suicides are up, violence has increased, prisons are full, drop out rates despite lower education standards are up, etc. The list of cultural consequences are all around us.

These problems have been growing for years---decades. What was taught in culture and the classroom in the 60's is becoming the law of the land today. Culture today spells the end of a society reliant on God as the source of breath and life. We are given to change as we our moorings are tied to the doc of an ever floating relative idea of truth. Coming back to God must be the first step.

Marriage is the most basic unit of government. As the family goes so goes the nation.

In a related post at FirstThings, a researcher has attempted to put a number on the cost of the divorce and non-marital childbearing.

And again, the facts haven’t born this out. As Wilcox points out, “the divorce revolution’s collective consequences for children are striking. Taking into account both divorce and non-marital childbearing, sociologist Paul Amato estimates that if the United States enjoyed the same level of family stability today as it did in 1960, the nation would have 750,000 fewer children repeating grades, 1.2 million fewer school suspensions, approximately 500,000 fewer acts of teenage delinquency, about 600,000 fewer kids receiving therapy, and approximately 70,000 fewer [attempted] suicide attempts every year.”

Peace? Not until Jesus Returns.

"There is no peace, says the Lord, unto the wicked."

One cannot make peace with an enemy that celebrates death and sends out its young men on murder missions. Evil knows no bounds and will continue to manifest itself in hatred toward Israel until the day, that glorious day, when Christ shall return upon the Mount of Olives.

From Jihad Watch:

The two alleged attackers accused of murdering the Fogel family.

Two Palestinian teens have been charged in the brutal, horrific death of an Israeli family. And one of those teens not only has no remorse, but he said he would do it all again.

The Fogel family was attacked back in March. The two young Fogel boys, aged four and eleven, were stabbed, one in the heart, while the family’s 3-month-old baby had its throat slashed. During the attack, the parents were also stabbed while in bed. The father died of knife wounds while the mother was shot.

17-year-old Hakim Awad and 18-year-old Amjad Awad have now been charged in the murders. But don’t look for remorse from at least one of them.

“I don’t regret what I did, and would do it again,” Amjad Awad told reporters in court, according to the Jerusalem Post. “I’m proud of what I did and I’ll accept any punishment I get, even death, because I did it all for Palestine.”

Hakim and Amjad have been charged with five counts of homicide.

Peaceful Bliss: Artic Timelapse Video

"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them, sweeping them all away." Luke 17:26-28

Unrelated to the above quote, here is a peaceful reminder of what creation looks like outside of the busy life many of us are consumed with:

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

National Debt-- it's not that big!

A good reminder on the most important debt we owe:

From Ray's Blog at Living Waters:

According to the recent news, America is so in debt that the amount we owe would be enough to buy every American worker three years of paid vacation.

I’m not worried about our nation’s debt. Politicians got us into it, and they can worry about getting us out. I am more worried about two other, more important debt problems. These are much deeper than the mere national debt. I have a huge debt to this world, and this world has a massive debt to the moral Law.

When I bike to work each day, I always have my hand near the brake. There are two reasons for this. One is that I have fallen off three times in ten years, and each time was painful. The second reason is closely tied to the first. I have often watched young people ride with no hands and thought about how unthinking they are, because they could never reach the brake in an emergency.

The “brake” for the Christian is his tender conscience. He should always be ready for danger. The ungodly don’t prime their conscience, and so they often land on their face because of their foolishness. Many survive emergencies in this life, but they won’t in the next. Hell is a very real place, and I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to end up there. Therefore, I am in a moral debt—to “warn every man” of the danger (Col. 1:28). If the world won't listen, their blood will be upon their own head.

I recently saw a TV program called "I Should Have Died." It reenacted a true story of a man who became lost in a desert for four days. He had neither food nor water. He finally stumbled upon a road and was at the point of death when he saw a car heading toward him. He waved it down, but couldn't speak because his throat was so dry. All he could do was gesture for water. One of the passengers reached out with a bottle of water, tipped it on the ground, and off they drove laughing, leaving the man to die of thirst in the desert . I was horrified that they could do such a thing. His blood was on their wicked hands.

If I don't warn the lost of their terrible danger without Christ, I'm as guilty as the men in that car. But my conscience is primed and its voice stops me from ignoring the unsaved. In Psalm 51:14 David speaks of something called "bloodguiltiness" (KJV). Most commentators believe it is referring to murder, but according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, it "seems to indicate that the phrase does not necessarily signify bloodshed, but any grievous sin which, if it remains, will block God's favor to His land and people."

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness" (vv. 13,14, emphasis added). The context is speaking of our debt to the unsaved. Paul said that he was only free for the blood of all men when he preached to them the whole counsel of God (see Acts 20:26,27). He said that he was "a debtor" to preach the gospel "both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise" (Romans 1:14). We are in debt to this world, because the world is in debt to the moral Law, and there will be hell to pay for those who die in their sins.

So let's leave politicians to worry about the temporal debt, and instead be deeply concerned about the eternal debt, to a point where we reach out to this dying world.

Israel Borders Becoming More Insecure

Israel is in trouble on multiple fronts. The recent overthrown of the former ally in Egypt is already beginning to show signs of trouble. The radical group in the Muslim Brotherhood who like many of the other neighbors of Israel wants a Palestine state without any Jews has been anticipated to come to power in Eqypt when elections are to be held this fall. Already though, the current government rulers have relaxed the borders with the Gaza Strip, allowing weapons to pour across the border--weapons that the USA financed being the #1 financier of Egypt's military I might add--and these weapons I will suspect will eventually be used by the Muslim Brotherhood to target Israel once they do come to power. The terrorists continue to arm up, whether in Syria, Gaza, the West Bank, or in Iran. Eventually this powder keg will become too big not to blow.

Perilous days ahead for Israel. Time to pray.

Egypt Permanently Opens Gaza Border Crossing

Rafah – Egypt lifted a 4-year-old blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday, greatly easing travel restrictions on the 1.5 million residents of the Palestinian territory in a move that bolstered the Hamas government while dealing a setback to Israel's attempts to isolate the militant group.

The sense of relief was palpable as buses piled high with luggage crossed the Rafah border terminal and hundreds of people traveled abroad for overdue medical appointments, business dealings and family affairs. In Israel, fears were heightened that militants and weapons will soon pour into the territory.

Israeli Military Preparing for Possible Border Clashes

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military is preparing for the possibility of violent protests along its borders in the coming days, aiming to avoid a repeat of deadly unrest that erupted earlier this month, a senior military official told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Facebook-organized activists have called for demonstrations next weekend in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to mark the anniversary of the 1967 Mideast war, in which Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip east Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

Israel's police commissioner said the army also is planning to counter possible unrest in the West Bank in September after an expected U.N. vote to recognize Palestinian independence.