THE CHURCH MILITANT
Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse.
2 Timothy 3:1-7-"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
ABOVE: MOLLY & MALLOY'S BARTENDER
WAVE OF DEPRAVITY FOR POPE FRANCIS;
ROMAN CATHOLICISM: STORING UP WRATH FOR THE DAY OF WRATH
TONY MIANO & A TEAM OF STREET EVANGELISTS ENCOUNTER HARD HEARTS IN PHILADELPHIA FOR THE POPE FEST
Published on Oct 2, 2015
Part Mardis Gras; part religious observance; part zombie walk. The last day of Pope Francis' (Jorge's) visit to Philadelphia saw a crescendo of idolatry and blasphemy. After the million-person out door trampling under foot the blood of Christ (The Mass), the people washed over the intersection of Broad Street and Walnut Street like a wave of depravity.
Jeff Rose, founder of JeremiahCry Ministries and organizer of the "No Hope in the Pope" outreach, preached this powerful open-air message, during which he called the masses to repent of their sin. He warned them if they did not heed and obey the gospel they would continue to store up wrath for the day of wrath.
More Idolatry at the Philadelphia Pope Fest
POPE-ADELPHIA
FOR SOUTH PHILADELPHIA CATHOLICS,
POPE, FOOTBALL, BOOZE, & CARNAL CARNIVAL
ARE ALL COMPATIBLE!
AND THEY, AND MANY APOSTATE PROTESTANT 'EVANGELICALS', BELIEVE THEY ARE CHRISTIANS?
POPE FRANCIS IS "GOOD FOR THE ECONOMY", AND
"WE ALL DRINK" & DRESS IN CLERICAL ATTIRE FOR FUN TOO!
Futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil predicts humans are going to develop emotions and characteristics of higher complexity as a result of connecting their brains to computers.
“We’re going to be funnier. We’re going to be sexier. We’re going to be better at expressing loving sentiment,” Kurzweil said at a recent discussion at Singularity University. He is involved in developing artificial intelligence as a director of engineering at Google but was not speaking on behalf of the company.
Kurzweil predicts that in the 2030s, human brains will be able to connect to the cloud, allowing us to send emails and photos directly to the brain and to back up our thoughts and memories. This will be possible, he says, via nanobots -- tiny robots from DNA strands -- swimming around in the capillaries of our brain. He sees the extension of our brain into predominantly nonbiological thinking as the next step in the evolution of humans -- just as learning to use tools was for our ancestors.
And this extension, he says, will enhance not just our logical intelligence but also our emotional intelligence. “We’re going to add more levels to the hierarchy of brain modules and create deeper levels of expression,” he said. To demonstrate, he gave a hypothetical scenario with Google co-founder Larry Page.
“So I’m walking along, and I see Larry Page coming, and I think, ‘I better think of something clever to say.’ But my 300 million modules in my neocortex isn’t going to cut it. I need a billion in two seconds. I’ll be able to access that in the cloud -- just like I can multiply intelligence with my smartphone thousands fold today.”
In addition to making us cleverer in hallways, connecting our brains to the Internet will also make each of us more unique, he said.
“Right now, we all have a very similar architecture to our thinking,” Kurzweil said. “When we can expand it without the limitations of a fixed enclosure" -- he pointed to his head -- "we we can actually become more different."
“People will be able to very deeply explore some particular type of music in far greater degree than we can today. It’ll lead to far greater individuality, not less.”
This view is in stark contrast to a common perception, often portrayed in science fiction, that cyborg technologies make us more robotic, less emotional and less human. This concern is expressed by Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, head of neuroengineering at Duke University, who fears that if we rely too much on machines, we’ll lose diversity in human behavior because computers operate in black and white -- ones and zeros -- without diversion.
"We’re going to expand the brain’s neocortex and become more godlike."
But Kurzweil believes that being connected to computers will make us more human, more unique and even godlike.
“Evolution creates structures and patterns that over time are more complicated, more knowledgable, more creative, more capable of expressing higher sentiments, like being loving,” he said. “It’s moving in the direction of qualities that God is described as having without limit.”
“So as we evolve, we become closer to God. Evolution is a spiritual process. There is beauty and love and creativity and intelligence in the world -- it all comes from the neocortex. So we’re going to expand the brain’s neocortex and become more godlike.”
But will brain nanobots actually move out of science fiction and into reality, or are they doomed to the fate of flying cars? Like Kurzweil, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab, thinks that nanobots in our brains could be the future of learning, allowing us, for example, to load the French language into the bloodstream of our brains. James Friend, a professor of mechanical engineering at UC San Diego focused on medical nanotechnology, thinks that we're only two to five years away from being able to effectively use brain nanobots, for example to prevent epileptic seizures.
However, getting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would likely be very difficult, Friend told The WorldPost. He thinks approval would take “anywhere from only a few years to never happening because of people being concerned about swimming mysterious things into your head and leaving them there," he said.
Other scientists are skeptical that brain nanobots will be safe and effective anytime soon or at all, largely due to how little we currently understand about how the brain works. One such scientist is David Linden, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who thinks the timing of Kurzweil’s estimation that nanobots will be in our brains in the 2030s is premature. Linden says there are huge obstacles, such as adding a nanobot power source, evading cells that attack foreign bodies and avoiding harming the proteins and sugars in the tiny spaces between brain cells.
Although the science is far from application in brains, nanotechnology has long been heralded as a potential game changer in medicine, and the research is advancing. Last year, researchers injected into living cockroaches DNA nanobots that were able to follow specific instructions, including dispensing drugs, and this year, nanobots were injected into the stomach lining of mice.
And we are learning how to enhance our brains, albeit not with nanobots. Researchers have already successfully sent a message from one human brain to another, by stimulating the brains from the outside using electromagnetic induction. In another study, similar brain stimulation made people learn math faster. And in a recent U.S. government study, a few dozen people who were given brain implants that delivered targeted shocks to their brain scored better on memory tests.
We’re already implanting thousands of humans with brain chips, such as Parkinson’s patients who have a brain chip that enables better motor control and deaf people who have a cochlear implant, which enables hearing. But when it comes to enhancing brains without disabilities and for nonmedical purposes, ethical and safety concerns arise. And according to a survey last year, 72 percent of Americans are not interested in a brain implant that could improve memory or mental capacity.
Yet, some believe enhancement of healthy brains is inevitable, including Christof Koch, chief scientific officer of the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and Gary Marcus, professor of psychology at New York University. They use the analogy of breast implants -- breast surgery was developed for post-mastectomy reconstruction and correcting congenital defects but has since become popular for breast augmentation. Brain implants could follow the same path, they say.
Here are Kurzweil’s answers to a couple of the questions he took at the Singularity University discussion:
You have predicted that in 2029, we will reach the singularity -- the point at which artificial intelligence outpaces human intelligence.Your opening remarks suggest that you’re fundamentally positive about AI in the post-2029 world. Other speakers have been a little more ambivalent, certainly regarding the future of employment. Would you elaborate on your overall sentiment on the post-2029 world?
I’ve actually written about the dangers of AI more than most. But I’m also optimistic, having looked at the positive impact that technology has had on human life.
When it comes to the existential threat of AI, the primary strategy comes from governance and social systems. We will have conflict between different groups of humans, each enhanced by AI. We have that today with humans using intelligent weapons. The best tool we have to combat that is to continue to work on our democracy, liberty and respect for each other.
When it comes to potential unemployment caused by AI, it’s always been the case that we can clearly see the jobs that are going away. This started 200 years ago in the textile industry in England. The weavers, who had enjoyed a business model passed down for centuries, were suddenly losing their jobs to machines that could spin thread or weave cloth. You could look at almost every job, and it would not be long before it’d be automated. The reality is that employment went up, and prosperity went up. The common man or woman, rather than just having one shirt, could now have a whole wardrobe. Life became better, and there were actually more jobs.
If I were a futurist in 1900 and said, “OK, about [40 percent] of you work on farms and a thirdwork in factories. I predict, by the year [2012], only about two percent of us will work on farms and [nine percent] in factories,” everyone would go, “Oh my God, we’re going to be out of work!” I’d say, “Don't worry. You’re going to get new jobs creating apps, web sites, chip designs and data analysis” -- nobody would have any idea what I’m talking about.
We’re destroying jobs at the bottom of the skill ladder and creating new jobs at the top. We’ve invested more in education in the U.S. over the last century. We’ve increased per capita investment in K-12 education significantly. We had 50,000 college students in 1870; we have [20 million] today.
It’s a difficult political situation because people can see the jobs that are going away, and that's painful. You say, “Well but there will be new jobs,” and people say, “What new jobs?” And you say, “Well, I don't know; they haven’t been invented yet.” It’s kind of a weak argument. But it’s true.
We’re also creating jobs that move up Maslow’s hierarchy so we can spend more time doing things that give us gratification. People a century ago for the most part were happy if they could have a job and provide for their family. Today, to an increasing degree, people get gratification from what they’re doing. They look for a career that meets their passion -- lots of people are pursuing entrepreneurial ideas. We have 20 million college students and an equal amount of people who teach them and support that infrastructure, all to think about knowledge and organize knowledge. That’s not something people spent much time doing a century or two ago -- we’re going to keep moving in that direction.
"In the 2030s, we will be able to send nanobots into living people’s brains and extract memories of people who have passed away."
Most things are becoming information technology, including clothing, which will be printed on 3-D printers. We’ll be able to grow food in vertical agriculture and print it on 3-D printers, which are pennies for pounds. In the 2020s, 3-D printing designs will be open source and free so you can live extremely well and print out everything you need, including printing out houses.
People say, “Great, there goes all these industries, like fashion and construction.” But look at industries that have already gone from physical products to digital products, like music, movies and books. There’s an open source market with millions of free products but people still spend money to read Harry Potter, see the latest blockbuster and buy music from their favorite artist. Fueled by the ease of distribution and promotion, you have a coexistence of a free open-source market and a proprietary market. That's the direction we’re moving in.
I can’t actually describe exactly what the new jobs will be but they will be more gratifying. We are already redefining the nature of work. I don't feel like I’m working when I go to Google because I’m doing what I’m passionate about. A lot of people today don't like their jobs. So why are people so upset if these jobs go away? We’ve created a society where you need a job to have a livelihood. But that’s going to be redefined. We’re going to have the means of providing an extremely high standard of living to everyone easily within 15 to 20 years.
In the documentary about yourself, you are preparing yourself to transcend your death. How do you explain your theory of immortality?
In the film “Transcendent Man,” I talk about bringing back my father, Frederick Kurzweil. I’m writing a book now called The Singularity Is Nearer, and I’m talking about this concept of a replicant, where we bring back someone who has passed away. It’ll go through several different stages. First, we’ll create an avatar based on emails, text messages, letters, video, audio and memories of the person. Let’s say in 2025, it’ll be somewhat realistic but not really the same. But some people do actually have an interest in bringing back an unrealistic replicant of someone they loved.
By the 2030s, the AIs will be able to create avatars that will seem very close to a human who actually lived. We can take into consideration their DNA. In the 2030s, we will be able to send nanobots into living people’s brains and extract memories of people who have passed away. Then you can really make them very realistic.
I have collected and keep many boxes of information about my father. I have his letters, music, 8mm movies and my fading memories of him. It will be possible to create a very realistic avatar in a virtual environment or augmented reality. When you actually interact with an avatar physically, it will ultimately pass a Frederick Kurzweil Turing test -- meaning he’ll be indistinguishable from our memories of the actual Frederick Kurzweil. _______________________________________________________________
Google Exec: With Brain Chips, We'll Become Like Gods
NEW YORK — What do Kenneth Copeland, Paula White, Jan Crouch, Dr. David Jeremiah and Robert Jeffress all have in common? A video has surfaced online showing the men and women, along with others, laying hands on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this week and praying for his potential presidency.
According to reports, an estimated three dozen spiritual leaders from across America met with Trump for over two hours at his Trump Towers on Monday, providing advice. Those in attendance included a number of nationally-recognized televangelists and prosperity preachers, including the aforementioned Copeland, Crouch and White, as well as TBN regulars Jentezen Franklin, Steve Munsey and Clarence McClendon.
The meeting concluded as many of those gathered laid hands on Trump and prayed for God’s wisdom and favor on the candidate—the last few moments of which was captured on camera. He was flanked by White on one side and Jeffress on the other.
“Father, we just secure him right now by the blood of Jesus. We thank you that no weapon formed against him will be able to prosper and any tongue that rises against him will be condemned according to the word of God,” White, who leads New Destiny Christian Center in Florida, prayed as she touched his arm. “Even as we lay hands on him right now, let Your hand be laid upon him. Let him have a greater encounter with You, a greater encounter with the spirit of God.”
“All the days of his life, let him live well,” she continued. “I secure him. I secure his children. I secure his calling and his mantle.”
Kenneth Copeland, who leads Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Texas and has come under criticism for his health and wealth teaching, asked for wisdom for the candidate.
“[W]e ask you today to give this man your wisdom, boldly. Make sure and certain that he hears You. Manifest Yourself to him,” he prayed. “And we thank You and praise You for a bold man, a strong man and an obedient man.”
Following Copeland, Kirt Schneider of Jews for Jesus laid his hand on Trump’s forehead and prayed the Abrahamic blessing over the Republican presidential candidate.
“Donald Trump, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up with His countenance and give you His peace,” he declared.
David Jeremiah, pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, California also participated in the prayers, asking that the next president “will help us economically and spiritually, and in every way.”
“So today we pray for Donald Trump,” he said, as the others in the room joined in agreement. “We pray for his family. We pray for his associates. We pray that what he has heard today from those who have spoken into his life, he will consider.”
“Lord, whatever it is that You are going to do to bring around him the right people as he moves forward in this campaign, we ask you to give him direction and give him hope,” Jeremiah continued. “And Lord, thank you for allowing us to be here for this special moment. Perhaps we’ll look back on this day and remember that we stood together and we prayed for the next president of the United States.”
But not everyone is happy to hear about the meeting. Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, said that he was concerned that out of all of Christianity, billionaire Trump seems to be attracted to prosperity preachers.
“The people that Trump has so far identified as his evangelical outreach are mostly prosperity gospel types, which are considered by mainstream evangelicals to be heretics,” he told Politico.
“Trump seems to be positioning himself as a secular version of the health-and-wealth televangelists,” Moore continued. “What Donald Trump is doing in terms of promises for the future is very similar to what’s going on among these prosperity gospel hawkers.”
PAULA WHITE LOOKING FOR A RICH HUSBAND AGAIN?
TRUMP & WHITE BOTH MARRIED THREE TIMES (TO OTHERS)
HOLD BIBLE, LAY HANDS ON, & PRAY THAT ALL THOSE $BILLIONS COME BACK TO AMERICA; AND, OH YES, CALL IN THE PRESS TO RECORD FOR THE CAMPAIGN & POSTERITY!
Introducing her guests, she said, "If you want to change the way you live, change your thinking. I want them to bring their wisdom to you today, give people tools to really transform their lives." And then the camera panned over to two men, co-authors of the book,"Why We Want You to be Rich": Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump.
Yes – the Donald. Donald Trump -- to give you the wisdom of the world to transform your life! I mean, who wouldn’t want a life like his? On his fourth marriage – all to beautiful (at least by outer appearance) women who mothered his children. The Donald – living in the lap of luxury, flying around in his own private jet, hosting his own reality program, The Apprentice, and here on this "Christian" program to share his worldly wisdom with all of us: how to become rich – how to become a billionaire.
"The only limitations are the ones we put on ourselves," Paula bubbled. "If we change our way of thinking, change our way of life – the bible all about empowerment."
She was speaking Trump’s language. He told of athletes who make bad financial deals for a lack of knowledge and end up bankrupt, while making their managers rich. Trump lamented, "If they knew what you preach, Paula, they would never be in the condition they’re in today."
SECOND VISIT: HERE'S THE VIDEO FROM 2008:
"PASSION IS THE WORD"
Trump Hosts Televangelists Who Fleece Their Flocks
EXCERPTS:Trump palling around the televangelist world of get-rich-quick promises, multiple marriages, and questionable coiffures is, well, perfect. His decision to host these leaders at Trump Tower in Manhattan suggests he may see faith the way he sees other endeavors: as a way to lure big audiences with glitzy promises that are less than reality-based. Much like his outreach to the more mainstream evangelical community, he’s been connected with the televangelist set for quite a while. Trump and White have been friends for years, which makes sense because they have a lot in common. In addition to having their own popular TV shows, they’re on their third marriage—Trump’s to former model Melania Trump, and White’s to the keyboardist for Journey. Trump has been a guest on her programming numerous times, and they seem to be big fans of each other. He’s called her “a beautiful person, both inside and out,” and recommended that viewers read her book You’re All That: Understanding God’s Design For Your Life so they would “be ready for great success.” White has compared him to “a diamond that reveals a new facet each time it is turned in the light,” according to The Tampa Tribune. ______________________________________________
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
PHILADELPHIA — During his final remarks at the Festival of Families in Philadelphia, the Roman Catholic pontiff Jorge Bergoglio, known as “Pope Francis,” led the thousands in attendance in a prayer to Mary and Joseph out of his belief that the former earthly parents of Christ serve as protectors of families in the present.
“Before the final blessing, let’s pray a prayer to Mary and also an invocation to Saint Joseph, so that they can protect our families and they can help us to believe that it’s worth the struggle and the fight for the good of the family,” he said at the conclusion of the event, which included song and dance from various musical celebrities, as well as speeches from Catholic families from around the world.
Francis then led the crowd in the “Hail Mary,” who recited the common prayer with him.
“Hail Mary, full of grace, our Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus,” he prayed. “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
The Roman Catholic leader immediately followed the prayer with an invocation to Joseph.
“Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us,” he repeated three times. “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
The event also featured a reading by Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of Gianna Beretta Molla, who was canonized as a saint following her death in 2004 and was proclaimed to be the “patron saint” of the World Meeting of Families. According to reports, “women pray to St. Gianna to intercede in difficult pregnancies or with fertility issues, or to solve family crises.”
But Mike Gendron of Proclaiming the Gospel Ministries in Plano, Texas, a former Roman Catholic who now leads an evangelistic ministry to reach Catholics, told Christian News Network that the practice of praying to any deceased person is unbiblical.
“The pope would do well to study the truth of God’s word so that he will stop deceiving people. For him to ask people to pray to Mary and Joseph, who are physically dead, is an abomination to the Lord,” he said, pointing to Deuteronomy 18:11-12, which forbids communicating with the dead.
Gendron outlined that it is furthermore not necessary to ask any deceased person to pray for them when the Scriptures outline that men must pray to the Father in the name of Jesus.
“Nowhere in Scripture do we see any God-fearing man praying to anyone other than God,” he explained. “The Lord Jesus taught us how to pray in Mat. 6:6-7. He said, ‘[P]ray to your Father … and when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.”
“Paul also made it clear how to pray when he wrote to the Church. He said, “[B]y prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God,” Gendron continued, pointing to Philippians 4:6.
He said that he hopes the pontiff will place truth over tradition.
“Francis would do well to heed the warning of Peter, whom he thinks was the first pope. Peter said, the Lord is against those who do evil—which would include consulting the dead—but His ears are open to the prayers of the righteous,” Gendron stated. _____________________________________________________________
DR. GIANNA EMANUELA, DAUGHTER OF "SAINT" ABOVE: PRAYING TO SAINT GIANNA IN VAIN
