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.
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Due to a historic spike in gun sales and ensuing background checks sparked by COVID-19 fears, the FBI is warning “offices in charge of conducting the background checks could shut down, effectively stopping sales.”
According to Washington Examiner, “Fears of a crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an historic spike in gun purchase background checks, leading to long delays in approval.”
The FBI’s National Instant Background Criminal Background Check System (NICS) released a statement, explaining, “As the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Section works through the impact of the COVID-19 operationally, we are working to maintain our services.”
“We are aware that states may be considering options to protect the health and safety of their employees, which may include a reduction in office availability or even closure to some offices,” the press release continues.
The FBI conducted 1 million more background checks in the months of January and February of 2020 than they did in the same two months last year.
PRESIDENT TRUMP MOVES TO FAST TRACK MEDICINES FOR COUNTERING CORONAVIRUS
10,000 CASES IN U.S. BEING TREATED
$1,000 CHECKS BEING MAILED
TO AMERICANS IN APRIL
Chloroquine Study Shows 100% Cure Rate as Coronavirus Spread SLOWS!!!
★★★ A NEW CONSERVATIVE AGE IS RISING ★★★
The Coronavirus Spread SLOWS as the latest Chloroquine Study Shows a 100% Cure Rate; that’s what we’ll be talking about on today’s video. President Trump HAS just announced and indeed has confirmed that the malaria drug chloroquine is showing astonishing results in the fight against the coronavirus, and we’re going to take a look at the observations of a Noble Laureate as to the rate of natural immunity to the virus; I think you’re going to find it very, very interesting.
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While standing in front of a Marian painting, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church issued a prayer to Mary last week, who he referred to as the “Health of the Sick,” to ask that she deliver the world from COVID-19 through her intercession. On Sunday, he visited the Basilica of St. Mary Major to stand before an icon of “Mary, Protection of the Roman People,” as well as the Church of San Marcello al Corso, where he prayed before a crucifix that was carried through the streets during the Black Plague of 1522.
The prayer of Jorge Bergoglio, also known as Pope Francis, was posted online by Vatican News with an English translation of his remarks.
“O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,” he said.
“You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need. We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial,” Bergoglio stated, referring to Mary’s request of Jesus after the wedding ran out of wine.
While acknowledging Jesus and the sufferings He bore, the prayer was directed solely toward Mary for protection and asking that she would help mankind conform to God’s will.
“We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God,” he said. “Do not despise our pleas — we who are put to the test — and deliver us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.”
According to reports, Begoglio also walked to the Basilica of St. Mary Major on Sunday to appear before the Salus Populi Romani, “Mary, Protection of the Roman People,” asking that she intercede for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Then-leader Gregory I had the image carried throughout Rome in 593 to pray for the end of the Black Plague, and Gregory XVI prayed before it in 1837 in seeking the end of the cholera outbreak.
“Mary is a mother, and a mother worries above all about the health of her children. She knows how to care for them always with great and tender love. Our Lady guards our health,” Bergoglio said, according to Catholic Philly.
Bergoglio then went to the Church of San Marcello al Corso to pray before a crucifix that some consider to be “miraculous” as it remained unharmed amid a church fire in 1519. The crucifix was marched for 16 days through the streets of Rome during the plague of 1522.
Italy has been especially hard hit by COVID-19, with over 35,000 confirmed cases as of press time and nearly 3,000 deaths. More than 8,000 cases have been confirmed in the United States as of press time, with 124 deaths. Current figures may be viewed here.
Photo Credit: Billy Alexander
IS IT BIBLICAL?
1 Timothy 2:5 says that there is only “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” Jesus taught in John 14:13-14, “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 16:23 likewise instructs, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give [it] you.”
Roman Catholics believe that since Jesus heeded Mary when she asked for His help at the wedding in Cana, her requests have sway with Him even still today.
“He performs His first miracle at her behest, even though He tells her it ‘is not my time.’ This is remarkable, because Jesus still does what His mother asks, even though it wasn’t time to reveal His divine powers. This shows us the powerful intercession she has with Jesus,” St. Mary’s Aggie Catholic blog claims.
Scripture also prohibits communication with the dead, which is known as necromancy (Deuteronomy 18:11; Isaiah 8:19).
Roman Catholics believe that Mary did not die, but ascended to Heaven like Jesus. This belief was made official Catholic doctrine by Pius XII, who wrote in 1950, “We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the immaculate mother of God, the ever virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly glory.” The Feast of the Assumption, which recognizes this belief, is observed each August.
The American Catholic admits, however, “Scripture does not give an account of Mary’s assumption into Heaven.”
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The president of a nationally-recognized religious liberties organization that supports the right to life is noting that the international response to COVID-19 in seeking to protect the vulnerable demonstrates the fact that life is precious. He says that this runs counter to a culture where life is often disposable, from the unborn to the elderly to those with poor health.
“The fundamental reason nearly every nation is taking drastic steps to curtail the advance of the coronavirus is the belief that all life is precious,” Michael Farris posted to social media on Sunday.
As officials state that the elderly and those with underlying health conditions are most at risk of having a severe response to COVID-19, Farris pointed out that those who push for the “right to die” often target this very group.
“The euthanasia movement takes aim at this very population with the implicit argument that some lives no longer have sufficient value,” he noted. “[But] contrary to the euthanasia assumptions, we are making dramatic sacrifices to protect the vulnerable.”
As previously reported, in 2018, an elderly scientist ended his life by lethal injection in Switzerland after stating that he “regretted” living to 104 because his “quality of life” was not what it used to be. He outlined that his eyesight was failing, that he needed assistance when crossing the street, and he wasn’t able to play tennis or perform in theater like he used to.
That same year, an Oregon couple died together under the state’s assisted suicide law due to their failing health, as the husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012, and also had battled prostate cancer and heart ailments. His wife had been diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2009 and also had a heart attack that same year. They were not terminally ill, but said that “quality of life is what counts.”
In his post, Farris also pointed to the bold-faced pride exhibited by post-abortive mothers, who argue that having an abortion gave them fame and fortune. However, at this time, nations are having to sacrifice their jobs and the economy in order to protect life.
“The pro abortion movement has launched a ‘celebrate your abortion’ tactic. Women are proudly proclaiming that their careers and earning potential soared because they chose to sacrifice the life of their baby,” he wrote. “Yet, we are seeing a worldwide consensus develop that elevates the sanctity of life so highly that great economic and career sacrifices are being called for and made.”
Philipps
As previously reported, earlier this month, actress Busy Philipps angrily yelled into the microphone outside of the U.S. Supreme Court about how she was able to have an acting career and purchase a nice house and expensive car because she was allowed to end the life of her unborn child.
“There I was sitting in Los Angeles in my beautiful office of my own late-night talk show,” she fumed. “Soon I would be driving my hybrid to my beautiful [expletive] home to kiss my beautiful and healthy children and my husband, who had taken the year off to parent so I could focus on my career.”
“And I have all of this — all of it,” Philipps screamed, “because, because, because I was allowed bodily autonomy at 15!”
In 2013, a woman unabashedly announced to an attendee of a pro-life event in California, “I’m a millionaire because I had an abortion when I was 18.” She later added, “I got a college degree from Berkley and a master’s degree. It’s a woman’s right to have [an abortion]!”
Farris said that while he wasn’t sure about some of the public health recommendations because of their secondary impacts, “Life is indeed precious … and it is intrinsically right that the protection of life is the highest value.”
“If the view that life is precious and all should be protected no matter how small or vulnerable gains ascendancy in the hearts of the vast majority, then we can just pause and thank God,” he wrote.
“Something that the spiritual forces of darkness foisted on mankind for evil purposes can be turned for good if we indeed soften our hearts and use our heads to embrace the ultimate sanctity of every person no matter how small.”
Psalm 8:3-6 says, “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained, what is man that Thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet.”
Psalm 139:17-18 reads, “How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.”
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As of this writing, 6,400 people all over the world have died from the coronavirus. In the United States, 68 people have died.
Some perspective:
Chinese deaths (3,217) account for half of the worldwide total. If you add Italy (1,441) and Iran (724), two countries where many Chinese were allowed in until recently, that totals another 2,165. In other words, outside of China, Italy and Iran — with 5,382 deaths collectively — 1,018 people have died. There are 7.8 billion people in the world.
Regarding Italy, the Jerusalem Post of March 16 reported that according to Nobel Prize-winning chemist Michael Levitt, “Italy’s higher death rate was likely due to the fact that elderly people make up a greater percentage of the population than they do in other countries such as China or France.” As former CBS correspondent Sharyl Attkisson further explained: “Italy has the oldest population in Europe and more elderly per capita than the U.S. Most of the Italian deaths are in patients in their 80s and 90s. In addition, Italy has a great number of direct China contacts. Italy was the first to join China’s ‘silk road’ economic partnership project … (Italy’s) deaths are out of a population of 60 million people.”
Regarding Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on March 11:
“Iranian officials trace the origins of the country’s coronavirus epidemic to the holy city of Qom, home to … a number of Chinese-backed infrastructure projects built by scores of workers and technicians from China … ‘(China has) turned into a very toxic bomb,’ said Sanam Vakil, deputy Middle East director at Chatham House, a think tank in London.”
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced a ban on flights from China on Jan. 31 — for which he was denounced by leading Democrats and throughout the left. The very next day, presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden declared, “This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysteria and xenophobia — hysterical xenophobia — and fearmongering.” On Feb. 2, the American Civil Liberties Union announced, “These measures are extraordinary incursions on liberty and fly in the face of considerable evidence that travel bans and quarantines can do more harm than good.”
The current consensus favors near-total social isolation, or “social distancing,” as it is now called. The thinking is that we must shut down the Western world to prevent the exponential growth of the virus. If we don’t, our hospital systems will be overwhelmed. Many thousands, maybe more, would die, as doctors have to make grisly triage decisions as to who gets care and who doesn’t. This latter scenario is reported to have already happened in Italy.
Though there is no longer an exponential growth in the United States, they may otherwise be right.
Is this thinking correct? The truth is we don’t know.
We have no idea how many people carry the COVID-19 coronavirus. Therefore, the rates of either critical illness or death are completely unknown. Perhaps millions of people have the virus and nothing serious develops, in which case we would have rates of death similar to (or even below) the flu virus. On the other hand, perhaps not many people carry the virus, but the rates of illness demanding intensive care and of death are much greater than those of the flu.
We can only be certain that shutting down virtually every part of society will result in a large number of people economically ruined, life savings depleted, decades of work building a restaurant or some other small business destroyed. As if that were not bad enough, the ancillary effects would include increased depression and divorce and other personal tragedies. The effects of closing schools for weeks or months will include family chaos, vast numbers of bored young people, health care providers who will have to stay home and more. Yet young people are the least likely people to become ill from the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this statement regarding closing schools:
Available modeling data indicate … that other mitigation efforts (e.g., handwashing, home isolation) have more impact on both spread of disease and health care measures. In other countries, those places who (sic) closed school (e.g., Hong Kong) have not had more success in reducing spread than those that did not (e.g., Singapore).
But the longer-term ripple effects are potentially far worse. Economic disasters rarely remain only economic disasters. To give a particularly dramatic example, the Nazis came to power because of economics more than any other single reason, including Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Versailles Treaty or anti-Semitism. Nazi success at the polls was almost entirely related to the Weimar economy. Communist parties don’t fare well in robust economies, but they’re very tempting when people are in dire economic straits. Only God knows what economic dislocation the shutting down of American and other Western economies will lead to. I am not predicting a Nazi or communist ascendancy, but economic and political disaster may be as likely, or even more likely, than a health disaster.
But here is a prediction: If the government can order society to cease functioning, from restaurants and other businesses to schools, due to a possible health disaster, it is highly likely that a Democratic president and Congress will similarly declare emergency and assert authoritarian rule in order to prevent what they consider the even greater “existential threat” to human life posed by global warming.
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Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center
On February 26, 2020, I spoke at the U.S. Army War College’s Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Penn. The title (and topic) of my talk was lifted from my last book: Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West.
Since then, I have received a number of questions concerning this hitherto “controversial” event—how it was, how I was, if there were any disruptions, if the talk even took place at all—which I hereby try to answer in this article.
First, as many know, the terrorist-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (“CAIR”) triedagain—through press releases, petitions, and direct complaints to the Army War College—to get my talk canceled. This time they failed.
Secondly, everything went smoothly and properly. The Army Heritage and Education staff were professional and courteous. The same two main heads of the Army War College that people directed their appeals to—both those who protested letting me speak (CAIR, etc.) and those who supported free speech (ten congressmen, the National Association of Scholars, etc.)—were also present: Major General John S. Kem, the commandant of the U.S. Army War College, and its provost, Dr. James G. Breckenridge both greeted and briefly spoke with me, and sat in the front and center row for the duration of my talk (an hour, followed by Q&A). Geoffrey Mangelsdorf, director of the Army Heritage and Education Center, which hosted the event, was also present and agreeable.
I heard various numbers from staff concerning how many people attended—as many as “nearly 300.” The large room certainly seemed packed.
I saw no protests or disruptions of any sort, including during the Q&A (probably because this was at a secure military facility).
No media or reporters were admitted.
Right after the event, a colleague emailed asking how I did. By the time I saw it, one of those copied on the email, who I subsequently learned attended the event, had given a comprehensive response. I liked it very much—not least due to its enthusiastic and “live” feel, having been written soon after the event, which I myself didn’t really know how to gauge (was focused on my presentation, and then quickly ushered out of the building and flew out first thing in morning). As such, I thought it would be nice to share her account, for the benefit of all those many people who had a stake in seeing this talk—that is, in seeing free speech about Islam—go through. She graciously agreed. What follows are the exact words of Stacey Swain, a retired Navy lieutenant commander, as they appeared in an email responding to someone else asking me how I did:
Mr. Ibrahim was MASTERFUL. The room was packed, and people were riveted. Frankly, I can’t say enough. I learned so much last night – to include some of the quotes Mr. Ibrahim mentioned that fascinated me – and that I probably should have heard before. I must say I felt like a bit of a clod that I didn’t know some of this information already. The questions after the presentation were interesting – though some made me want to tear my hair out for the way they clearly were trying to manipulate this presentation and subject matter; others really reinforced my faith that people may finally be “getting it.” For a few of the questions that obviously had motives behind them, Raymond was unshakable, professional, direct and steadfast in his answers; so much so that I quietly laughed at one of them, turned to the friend next to me and mouthed the word, “BOOM” (mic drop) after he gave his answer. I was the guest of a friend – a retired Army LTC and Congressional chief of staff – who I thanked no less than 10 times for inviting me to this presentation, and who laughed as I was actively searching for Raymond’s Facebook page, and then ordered his book while I was sitting and listening. I don’t want to be melodramatic, but he was THAT good. Mr. Ibrahim doesn’t opine, interpret, judge and accuse; he delivers his message through what was clearly painstaking research and historical fact – period. The presentation was magnificent. I can’t say enough.
Finally, I was informed that the lecture was videotaped and would be made available online. I’ll share it here once it’s out.
★★★ A NEW CONSERVATIVE AGE IS RISING ★★★
US Turns Back ALL Asylum Seekers as the UN Stops Refugee Resettlement! That’s right; this virus is doing more to turn the world into a thoroughly nationalist populist political order than anything we could ever have dreamed of. We’re going to take a look at the latest measures implemented by the Trump administration at the border, and see how even the otherwise incurably liberal United Nations has given up and stopped refugee re-settlements; you’re not going to believe it!
