After a short family visitation today at Rajaei Shahr prison in Iran, Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of American Pastor Saeed Abedini, heard disturbing news about possible new charges being brought against Pastor Saeed. Over the years, the Iranian government continually promised that Pastor Saeed’s eight-year-prison sentence could be arbitrarily extended, and recently they took their first steps to fulfill that promise.

Recently in Iran, Iranian intelligence officers summoned Pastor Saeed for an intense round of interrogation. Pastor Saeed reported to his family that the interrogators were abusive both verbally and physically. During the course of interrogation, the officers repeatedly used a taser gun on Pastor Saeed. This new assault is concerning as Pastor Saeed is still being denied needed medical care for injuries sustained as a result of beatings in the past.

The interrogators threatened that Pastor Saeed will face new criminal charges. They claimed Pastor Saeed has connections with anti-government groups and has made statements and taken actions against the government of Iran. Pastor Saeed denied all of these allegations, and once again asserted that he is apolitical and that he has never threatened the security of, made any statements against, or taken any action against the Government of Iran.

This troubling development comes as Iranian President Rouhani prepares to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York. It also coincides with new efforts by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) in the international arena as a growing number of global leaders urge Iran to release Pastor Saeed.

Pastor Saeed has repeatedly expressed to the Iranian Government, both during his interrogations and at trial, that he poses no threat to the government and was only present in Iran to assist Iran’s most vulnerable children by building a government-approved orphanage. Still, the Iranian Government continues to look for ways to keep this innocent U.S. citizen imprisoned.

In reaction to this news Naghmeh Abedini had this to say:

“When will this nightmare end? Saeed is not a criminal. Being a Christian and motivated by Christian values to help the poorest and most needy children in Iran should be seen as good for the Iranian society. Hearing that yet again, the hardliners in Iran are trying to fabricate evidence against my husband and that he was abused and tasered is almost too much to bear.

“It is time for governments all over the world shift their focus to the injustices of the Iranian Government and call on the Government of Iran to free my husband. It is time for businesses seeking to do business in Iran to look beyond their bottom dollar and see the instability of a government known to imprison innocent men and women who have exercised their fundamental freedoms. Whether we operate in the field of business, government, or simply are members of human society, we must expect and demand more of our leaders.

“I pray that as President Rouhani plans his travel to the United States next week, he will hear relentless voices crying out for Saeed’s freedom.”

Saturday marks the third year of Pastor Saeed’s imprisonment. And there will be hundreds of prayer vigils that day around the globe—prayers for Pastor Saeed and his family.

The ACLJ joins Naghmeh in calling for world leaders to do more to free Pastor Saeed. We have heard from more than 265,000 people urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intervene directly with the Iranian Government on Pastor Saeed’s behalf.

We renew that call today.

Kim Clement impresses doctors each day with his miraculous recovery after a brain bleed nearly incapacitated the prophetic voice. 

Donne Clement Petruska, Clement’s daughter, posted an update on Clement’s Facebook page, detailing how far Clement has come since an emergency craniotomy.  

“He’s still in ICU, but he’s awake and being himself, being naughty, recovering very nicely,” Petruska says. “(We’re) very happy with his progress so far, but he’s still very weak, still recovering.” 

Petruska says doctors are very impressed so far with his recovery, which is a testament to the power of prayer. 

Hundreds from around the world have posted their prayers on Clement’s Facebook page.  

According to Clement’s website, his prophetic ministry reaches countless people as he reveals the heartbeat of God in tragedy and triumph, good times and bad, war and peace, in democratic or theocratic circles, crossing all cultural barriers by communicating God’s feelings for them.

“Prophets were called to watch, which sometimes demanded unusual and difficult journeys,” he has said. “Isaiah was privy to the conversation of God, and heard them discussing the future of Israel. However, Elisha heard the plans of the enemy and revealed them to the king, placing himself in a very difficult position. I myself must also mount the watchtower.”

It’s fall, and health officials are beginning their yearly push to convince Americans to get the latest version of the flu shot.

Last year’s vaccine was a tremendous dud—a new strain of H3N2 influenza emerged after the vaccine was formulated, and the shot was a poor match. Even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted it did little to protect against flu. 

This year’s vaccine has been designed to protect against the new H3N2 strain, and the CDC hopes it will be a good match for this year’s virus, although the agency admitted in a recent advisory that it’s impossible to predict the upcoming flu season.

Should you get the new vaccine? The CDC says “yes,” and CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., got his yearly shot during a news conference meant to convince others to follow suit.

Not so fast, says holistic family physician David Brownstein, M.D. “In the past, the flu vaccine hasn’t worked for most of us, and there’s no indication that it will this year,” he tells Newsmax Health.

“The flu vaccine has been around for over 30 years, and there is not one single study showing that any flu vaccine has helped prevent the flu in the majority who receive it,” says Dr. Brownstein, author of the newsletter Dr. Brownstein’s Natural Way to Health.

“Nor has it been shown to prevent flu complications, such as pneumonia, hospitalizations and death, in well over 90 percent who receive it. As usual, they are taking their best guess as to which strain of flu will be predominant, but they have no way of being sure,” he says.

Even when the flu vaccine matches the circulating strains of influenza, the shot performs poorly, and does not offer 100 percent protection, Dr. Brownstein argues.

“Whether they are right or wrong, the cases of flu are about the same whether the vaccine is a good match or not because flu shots don’t work,” he says. “A review of 50 studies that included more than 70,000 adults found that 100 people needed to be vaccinated to avoid one case of flu. That means the vaccine failed 99 percent who took it—they received no benefit at preventing the flu.”

Although seniors are especially urged to get the flu shot, some experts say it doesn’t protect older people, and the government knows it. 

Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson says the government has ignored numerous studies showing the vaccine was ineffective in the elderly, and a 10-year-old study was ignored because the results weren’t what were expected. 

“It found that after decades and billions of dollars spent promoting flu shots for the elderly, the mass vaccination program did not result in saving lives,” Attkisson wrote. “In fact, the death rate among the elderly increased substantially.”

Dr. Brownstein agrees. 

“There are no good studies showing that the flu vaccine is effective for seniors,” he says. “When you take apart and break down a recent study that the government uses to promote the flu vaccine to senior citizens, you’ll find that 217 elderly people had to take the high-dose flu vaccine to prevent a single case of flu — that’s a 99 percent failure.

“In addition, every single person was exposed to possible adverse effects. It’s vital to always bear in mind that the flu vaccine can cause side effects, including Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), and has been linked with narcolepsy in children and an increased risk of Alzheimer’s.” 

He also points to a study published in the International Journal of Obesity which found that flu shots aren’t effective in obese people. 

Johns Hopkins scientist Peter Doshi, says that although the vaccines are being pushed on the public in record numbers, they are less effective and cause more side effects than admitted by the CDC.

Dr. Brownstein also notes some formulation of the flu shot contain trace elements of mercury and formaldehyde. Although CDC and other health authorities say these preservatives are at levels so low they pose no harm, Dr. Brownstein disagrees.

“There is simply no justification for injecting any living being with mercury or formaldehyde, especially pregnant women,” he says. “I guess I could encourage people to get vaccinated if the flu vaccine actually worked and did not contain toxic additives, such as mercury and formaldehyde. But it doesn’t work, and it does contains toxins, so I advise people to avoid it.

“There’s no real reason to believe that this year’s vaccine is going to be any better than in the past.” 

For the original article, visit .

In February we celebrated the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, two presidents whose deep but somewhat unconventional faith has evoked great debate. Does the faith of presidents truly matter? Does it significantly affect how they think, live, and govern?  Concluding that it does not, most biographers have treated presidents’ religious convictions as no more important than hobbies such as collecting stamps or playing golf. Many other Americans, however, have considered the faith of presidents as either a cause for celebration or alarm. While Christians often campaigned vigorously and voted in droves for candidates who shared their faith, their foes warned that the dangerous religious views of other presidential aspirants made them unacceptable for the nation’s highest office.

In the presidential campaign of 1800, Federalists denounced Thomas Jefferson as an infidel who would subvert the nation’s Christian foundation. Rumors spread that, if elected, Jefferson would use public funds to entice civil servants, teachers, military officers, and even ministers to either ignore religion or teach secularism. After Jefferson won, these claims prompted many Federalists in New England to bury their Bibles in their gardens so that his administration could not destroy them.

In 1908, Theodore Roosevelt assured apprehensive prospective voters that William Taft’s Unitarian faith did not disqualify him from being president. Twenty years later, fundamentalist Protestants argued that Democratic candidate Al Smith’s Catholicism made him unfit to be president. Despite John F. Kennedy’s assurances that he would be guided by the Constitution and his conscience, not the pope, his Catholic faith was as controversial in 1960 as Smith’s had been in 1928.

Jimmy Carter’s affirmation that he was born again baffled and frightened many Americans as did George’s W. Bush’s assertion that Jesus was his favorite philosopher. Many worried that their decisions would be based on what they perceived God wanted them to do rather than on the advice of their cabinet and the nation’s strategic needs.

Are these concerns justified? Does the faith of presidents truly affect how they govern?  Does it help shape their perspectives, policies, actions, and decisions?  The answer depends on which chief executives we are discussing. The faith of some presidents (such as Kennedy ironically) mattered little. The faith of many others, including Hoover, Carter, Bush, and surprisingly Jefferson, strongly influenced their political philosophy and policies.

Although it is impossible to disentangle the personal religious convictions of presidents from their use of religion to serve partisan political purposes, many of them were more deeply religious and had more vibrant personal devotional lives than most scholars have recognized. Presidents use religious language and engage in religious practices to win public approval and gain political advantages. Therefore, we must judge whether their faith is authentic by examining their private correspondence as well as their public pronouncements and evaluating the testimonies of those who knew them best. We must also assess their statements and behavior before, during, and after their presidencies.

Their religious practices—frequent church attendance, prayer, and reading of the Bible—close relationships with some religious groups, regular use of religious rhetoric, and particular policies all testify that their faith was important to many chief executives. Most presidents have worshipped consistently to continue their life-long practice, seek divine guidance, set a good example, or to please prospective voters. Almost all presidents have extensively used moral and biblical language to console grieving Americans, provide assurance in times of crisis, celebrate religious holidays, and promote particular policies.

The faith of many presidents has also helped shape their policies and determine their decisions. Numerous other factors—strategic considerations, national security, party platform commitments, campaign promises, political philosophy, relationships, and reelection concerns—affect their decisions. Nevertheless, their religious commitments have strongly affected the policies many presidents adopted. Religious beliefs helped inspire George Washington’s quest to guarantee religious liberty, Jefferson’s to ensure peace, and Abraham Lincoln’s to end slavery. Their Christian convictions helped prompt William McKinley to declare war against Spain and take control of the Philippines, Theodore Roosevelt to establish national parks, Woodrow Wilson to devise the Treaty of Versailles, Herbert Hoover to reform prisons, and Franklin Roosevelt to remedy the ills of the Great Depression. Harry Truman’s decision to recognize Israel, Dwight Eisenhower’s attempt to reduce armaments, Carter’s quest to promote human rights, Ronald Reagan’s crusade to crush communism, Bill Clinton’s efforts to resolve international conflicts, George W. Bush’s support for faith-based initiatives, and Barack Obama’s policies on poverty were all motivated in large part by their faith.

Has the faith of presidents affected them and their administrations positively or negatively?  The answer to this question depends largely on how individuals view the religious convictions and policies of particular presidents. However, when people’s faith gives them confidence, assurance, comfort, and inspiration, it is generally beneficial. People’s faith often stimulates them to be more compassionate, generous, and hopeful and supplies a constructive blueprint for bettering society. Moreover, the faith of presidents has often greatly aided them in carrying out their demanding duties and serving as the nation’s pastor-in-chief during crises and calamities.

Faith has played a very important and often controversial role in the lives of American presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama. Although the founders wisely separated church and state, religious belief and politics have often been inextricably joined and will undoubtedly continue to be.

Dr. Gary Scott Smith chairs the history department at Grove City College and is a fellow for faith and politics with The Center for Vision & Values. He is the author of “Faith and the Presidency From George Washington to George W. Bush” (Oxford University Press, 2009), “Religion in the Oval Office” and “Heaven in the American Imagination” (Oxford University Press, 2011).

Earlier this week, as devout American Catholics took to the streets of Washington to celebrate the arrival of Pope Francis, four Chinese human rights activists sat in a small, plain congressional office room on Capitol Hill.

There were neither barricades nor the glaring lights of news camera crews at the press conference hosted by China Aid, an international Christian human rights group.

Two translators were on hand to assist non-English-speaking panelists in telling their stories.

“During the Ramadan of last year, August of 2014, in the town of Yarkand [in Xinjiang region], China’s security forces broke into a house of Uyghur families and started shooting,” said Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, via a translator. “Including a 7-year-old, 12 people were killed.”

According to Kadeer, whose flat palm tapped rhythmically against her leg throughout the event, the Uyghur people—a Muslim, Turkic ethnic minority within China—have faced increasingly violent persecution by a Chinese government that fears radical ties to extremist groups like ISIS. The Washington Post reported that, also during last year’s Ramadan holiday,Chinese authorities forced Uyghur university students to break fast.

“Uyghur villagers from three different villages took to the streets to protest against such brutality,” Kadeer continued, her small stature accented by two long, gray braids winding down her back. “We learned from villagers that the Chinese government used armed helicopter gunships to attack the villages, killing many.”

“This is not just happening in our [Uyghur] homeland,” she stressed. “Similar things are happening in other parts of China and Tibet.”

Indeed, the other panelists at the press conference, held on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arrival in D.C. to discuss cyber security, detailed a systematic, government-sanctioned “crackdown” on religious liberty and expression within China.

But it remains to be seen if President Barack Obama and President Xi discuss the purported abuse. While White House officials said the topic of human rights would be on Obama and Jinping’s official agenda, the two world leaders’ opposing viewpoints could threaten the countries’ important trade relationship or rumored cyber security deal.

Experts like Olivia Enos, a research associate in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation, argue that a Chinese visit to American soil without large policy deliverables at stake would be the perfect time to prioritize human rights abuses.

“If we don’t have any huge policy objectives in mind [aside from addressing cybersecurity hacks], this is a great opportunity to recalibrate our policy to ensure that human rights plays a fairly important role among the other many important strategic issues we’re focused on,” Enos said, referring to trade and security.

Also on Wednesday, Bhuchung K. Tsering, vice president of the International Campaign for Tibet, spoke of the plight of Buddhists in China who, as the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)’s 2015 Annual Report outlines, face “harsh policies of repression” that span “the Tibetan plateau, including harassment, imprisonment, and torture.”

“Overall, the Chinese authorities are trying to control Tibetan Buddhism,” Tsering said. “This is different from their oppressing Tibetan Buddhists. This is different from their suppressing Tibetan Buddhists. This is different from their destroying Tibetan Buddhist structures. And this control has strengthened under President Xi Jinping’s rule.”

Pastor Jonathan Liu, a former government-sanctioned church leader in China, and Pastor Guo Baosheng, a former “prisoner of conscience,” imprisoned for his Christian beliefs, detailed the destruction of religious property that Christians in China have endured.

“For the Christian community, there has been a government-sanctioned campaign to destroy crosses and churches,” Pastor Baosheng—holding up a small, red cross as he spoke—said via a translator. “Over 1,500 [crosses and churches combined], and that’s a low estimate, have been destroyed in Zhejiang province and several other provinces. There is documentation to show that this is something that’s coming from the government.”

While China maintains that its constitution protects religious freedom, the nation is officially atheist. Chinese law requires religious organizations register with the government and fall under the umbrella of one of five “patriotic religious associations” recognized by the state: Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism.

“House churches,” those groups that are not legally registered, have reportedly long been a target of government harassment. But as the USCIRF report outlined, Jinping has allegedly launched a new wave of persecutions against Christians that can be described as “the most egregious and persistent since the Cultural Revolution.”

Enos called the campaign a “systematic consolidation of power” in an interview with The Daily Signal.

“Christianity, both Protestantism and Catholicism, have a long history of overthrowing communist regimes, especially in the post-Soviet block,” Enos said. “Most communist regimes view religion as a threat to their stability, and I think that’s why you see persecution of these minorities.”

An unintended outcome of the apparent persecution is the unification of the religious minorities within China. Kody Kness, vice president of China Aid, called the collaboration “unprecedented.”

“What’s been unique over the last year, year and a half, is that whiletraditionally the government has, for the Christian community, persecuted and harassed house-church leaders and house churches, they have now began to forcibly close and arrest members of officially-sanctioned churches,” Kness said. “So now these two communities, those in the house-church movement and those in the government-sanctioned churches, are coming together.”

Like Enos, Kness argues that Obama should use his face time with Jinping to call for an end to the religious registration process as well as an enforced respect for “the rule of law”—referring to the 220 human rights lawyers imprisoned in China beginning this past July. According to Kness, Obama should ask that both prisoners of conscience and human rights lawyers be released.

“There are a number of issues that we can engage on with the Chinese in addition to trade or other bilateral considerations,” Kness said. “Human rights has to be one.”

Maddie Donnelly is an assistant editor and producer for The Daily Signal. Send an email to Madaline.

For the original article, visit The Daily Signal.

A Harvard-affiliated hospital reportedly expelled a popular doctor after he voiced his religious beliefs about homosexuality.  

Dr. Paul Church, who had admitting privileges at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, was told his position on homosexuality constituted as “discrimination,” “harassment,” and “unprofessional conduct,” and that Bible verses regarding homosexuality are similarly “offensive” and discriminatory.

“Dr. Church was censured and subjected to disciplinary action for stating an objection on medical and religious grounds to the promotion of homosexuality,” says Richard Mast, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing Church. 

Mast confirmed Church received a letter from the hospital, assessed the letter and exercised his rights under the bylaws for admission purposes. Though the hospital had handed down the expulsion in March, Church was denied an appeal in early September.

LifeSiteNews reports the hospital began censuring Church’s comments more than a decade ago. 

Church’s comments were allegedly posted on a BIDMC communication server years ago. 

“The evidence is irrefutable that behaviors common within the homosexual community are unhealthy and high risk for a host of serious medical consequences, including STD’s, HIV and AIDS, anal cancer, hepatitis, parasitic intestinal infections, and psychiatric disorders,” Church reportedly wrote. 

“Life expectancy is significantly decreased as a result of HIV/AIDS, complications from the other health problems, and suicide. This alone should make it reprehensible to the medical community, who has an obligation to promote and model healthy behaviors and lifestyles.”

For attorney Mast, Church’s case represents the fight for religious freedom many Christians face when making their faith public in the private sector. 

Just because an act is legal—be it abortion, education standards or gay marriage—doesn’t make it moral, Mast says. 

“This needs to be a wake-up call for America,” Mast says. “What we see being enacted in corporate America is vague terms like labeling something ‘offensive’ is grounds for being fired. We’re seeing deligitimized expressions of religious beliefs. … Rather than disagreeing with ideas, (corporate America) is characterizing the expression of a Christian worldview as offensive, hateful and hurtful, effectively enacting gag orders across corporate America for religious beliefs.”

Whenever Republicans and conservatives gather among themselves – and I’ve been to many such meetings in recent months – people talk about the need for new leadership in Washington. Every day I hear Republican voters expressing disappointment with the Republicans who occupy the top jobs in the U.S. House and Senate.

The intense desire of Republican base voters for effective leadership is what explains the success of the three “outsider” candidates for president – Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. Trump and Carson have consistently shown double-digit leads over all the other candidates, but last week Carly dazzled the grassroots with her compelling performance in the CNN debate.

While other candidates resorted to inside-the-beltway jargon about “defunding” Planned Parenthood, Carly cut to the chase with her vivid declaration: “I dare Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully-formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation.”

Since the mainstream media has ignored the video evidence, Democrats think they can get away with pretending it doesn’t exist. One pro-abortion journalist even said the video “may have been a figment of Fiorina’s fevered imagination.”

To see for yourself the truth of what Carly said, just point your computer to the seventh video released by the Center for Medical Progress and advance to the 5:56 mark. There you can watch as Holly O’Donnell, a former employee of Planned Parenthood’s body-parts customer Stem Express, explains what her job required her to do. 

Whenever Republicans and conservatives gather among themselves – and I’ve been to many such meetings in recent months – people talk about the need for new leadership in Washington. Every day I hear Republican voters expressing disappointment with the Republicans who occupy the top jobs in the U.S. House and Senate.

The intense desire of Republican base voters for effective leadership is what explains the success of the three “outsider” candidates for president – Donald Trump, Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. Trump and Carson have consistently shown double-digit leads over all the other candidates, but last week Carly dazzled the grassroots with her compelling performance in the CNN debate.

While other candidates resorted to inside-the-beltway jargon about “defunding” Planned Parenthood, Carly cut to the chase with her vivid declaration: “I dare Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully-formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain. This is about the character of our nation.”

Since the mainstream media has ignored the video evidence, Democrats think they can get away with pretending it doesn’t exist. One pro-abortion journalist even said the video “may have been a figment of Fiorina’s fevered imagination.”

To see for yourself the truth of what Carly said, just point your computer to the seventh video released by the Center for Medical Progress and advance to the 5:56 mark. There you can watch as Holly O’Donnell, a former employee of Planned Parenthood’s body-parts customer Stem Express, explains what her job required her to do. (Note: You may watch the highly graphic video here – Ed.)

The House voted overwhelmingly last week to suspend funding for one year while the video evidence against Planned Parenthood is properly investigated, along with another bill to require medical care for infants born alive during an abortion. Both bills are also supported by a majority of Senators, so why aren’t they being attached to a bill that funds the government for the next fiscal year starting October 1?

Nothing shows the failure of leadership better than the apparent decision by Republican leaders in Congress to allow those bills to die like the fully-formed fetus on the table in the abortion clinic shown in the video, its legs kicking just as Carly said. After making a pro-life gesture or what’s known as a “show vote,” the Republican leaders have apparently decided to allow federal money to continue flowing to Planned Parenthood in the next fiscal year.

Newly elected Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), who upset then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the primary last year, revealed last week on C-SPAN that House and Senate leaders decided months ago to abandon “regular order” for funding the government. They’ve planned all along to push through a government-wide Continuing Resolution (CR) at the end of this month, to be followed by an Omnibus spending bill just before Christmas.

In other words, we’re about to see a repeat of what happened last December when House Speaker Boehner and Senate leader McConnell, working behind closed doors, cobbled together the 1,600-page, $1.1 trillion “cromnibus” spending bill and forced it through the lame-duck Congress on a narrow, bipartisan vote. Nancy Pelosi delivered enough Democratic votes to compensate for the 67 conservative Republicans who voted against that monstrosity, which even included the money to implement Obama’s executive amnesty of 5 million illegal aliens.

Most Republicans ran on a promise to return our government to the Constitution. Our founding document clearly vests in Congress the power of the purse by providing that “The Congress shall have power to … provide for the … general welfare of the United States” and that “No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.”

This is the same Republican Congress that passed the Corker bill, which exempted Obama’s dangerous deal with Iran from the two-thirds vote in the Senate which the Constitution requires. Congress has done nothing to curb the judicial supremacy by the Supreme Court and lower courts on social issues, despite clear authority in the Constitution for Congress to withdraw jurisdiction.

Our system is built on checks and balances, yet Congress is standing by while the President and the Supreme Court are encroaching on Congress’s powers. Congress should use its spending power to push back against overreaching by the other branches.

A final note: Carly Fiorina was the only candidate on stage who firmly declined the moderator’s invitation to recommend a woman for the $10 or $20 bill, replacing Hamilton or Jackson, two great men without whom America as we know it would not exist. The ten male candidates should have had the fortitude to resist that bad feminist idea.

For the original article, visit Eagle Forum.

I believe it is important to give an update.

I have given warning concerning judgment. I have said that I believe America is rapidly advancing toward calamity—that we have crossed the line in our apostasy and defiance of God. I’ve warned that if America continues in its present course, if there’s no return to God, its crown as head of nations will be removed and that I believe a great shaking is coming to this nation and the world.

As for when these things are to take place, I have from the beginning always issued a strong caution, in spoken word and in writing, from The Mystery of the Shemitah itself onward—specifically that we cannot be dogmatic about timing, and that nothing has to take place on a particular date or season, or according to any set calendar, or even as God has done before. 

I have ministered that it is wise to be aware of the signs and seasons of the times, and that though such things can take place on biblically relevant times or dates, nothing has to happen on any particular date, whether within the parameters of the Shemitah or in its wake. Our focus must be not on dates but on God and getting right with Him.

At the same time, we remain in a dangerous period—and one of the reasons I’ve always cautioned regarding dates is that I never wanted such focus to obscure or minimize the larger picture: that regardless of what does or does not happen a particular date, America is racing toward judgment.

In The Mystery of the Shemitah, I share of biblical patterns which, at times, have had stunningly precise manifestations. Each of the last two Shemitahs has climaxed with the greatest stock market point crashes in history on the same exact biblical day—a once-in-seven-year day that happens to be appointed in the Bible for the effecting of financial remission and nullification. It remains a stunningly and eerily precise historical reality.

And precisely because it is so precise and because it happened in the last two of the Shemitah’s cycles, many saw it as an absolute that a massive stock market day crash had to take place on the next such day, September 13. Thus we have cautioned repeatedly that this particular manifestation and any particular manifestation does not have to occur in every or any one of the Shemitah’s cycles.

 At the same time … having said and having said again all these things—there are a number of very large and significant facts to be noted: 

The Shemitah of 2015 has, in fact, followed the most prevalent of the Shemitah’s templates. 

What was missed by most in focusing on only one day, was that the largest and most prevalent of the Shemitah’s templates has, in fact, manifested. The Elul 29 day crash is only one of several manifestations, an exception and a minority template. In each of the last seven of the Shemitahs there has been a collapse—but only two of those seven collapses have involved an Elul 29 day crash. The majority have taken place according to a much larger template.

The larger and, by far, the predominant of the Shemitah’s templates is that of a long-term collapse, a collapse taking place over the course of several months, or one in which a rising stock market comes to an end, peaks within the Shemitah year, reverses its momentum, and begins a continuous descent. This descent may, at times, involve increasing volatility and dramatic day crashes, particularly in proximity to the Shemitah climax. And this is exactly what occurred in the Shemitah of 2015. 

*The 2015 Shemitah has followed this larger and predominant of the Shemitah’s patterns, a template that appears in the book repeatedly.

Following the Shemitah’s pattern… 

– The Shemitah of 2015 ended a rising stock market on May 19, a market that then reversed its overall momentum and began a long-term descent for the rest of the Shemitah year.

– As it approached its final phase, the stock market and its descent grew increasingly and dramatically volatile.

– Nearing its conclusion in late August, the Shemitah produced some of the most dramatic days in stock market history—most notably what would be called Black Monday—and which would trigger the collapse of stock markets throughout the world. 

– The Shemitah of 2015 produced the greatest stock market intraday collapse in world history, a crash of over 1000 points. 

– It would usher in the dramatic financial collapse of the world’s new economic engine—China.

– The collapse of China’s financial realm alone constituted one of the greatest long-term stock market crashes in history and, by itself, would make 2015 one of the most significant of Shemitahs. 

– The amount wiped out from the Shanghai Exchange, in the space of just a few months was over 40 percent. 

– The amount wiped out by the Shemitah of 2015, from the U.S. market, from its peak to Elul 29, would approach 2 trillion dollars! 

– The amount wiped out from international markets in the same period would exceed 5 trillion dollars!

In many of the Shemitah years, the turbulence and collapse continue and may intensify past Elul 29, into the period of the Shemitah’s wake. In others, they do not. But whatever happens from this point forward, the Shemitah has already and again powerfully manifested.

Other key manifestations that have marked 2015 as an especially significant Shemitah year:

– The Mystery of the Shemitah chronicles how the Shemitah has marked the shifting of world power. So it was again. The American Age began in 1871, when it became the strongest economic power on earth. Within the parameters of the Shemitah of 2015, that era has officially come to its end.

– The Shemitah of 1973 became a milestone in America’s moral and spiritual collapse as the Supreme Court legalized the killing of the unborn. The Shemitah of 2015 was no less a milestone in this fall—as it was the year that the nation’s hedges protecting the biblical definition of marriage collapsed across the land, and were then, by the Supreme Court, conclusively struck down.

I have said that I believe it is wisdom to be prepared and that regardless of what happens, it is always wise to have essentials on hand—and yet that each needs to be led by the Lord in such things. For you who have done so, I believe you’ve been wise and are prepared and better off than you would have been otherwise. Regardless of what the future holds, it is a wise insurance that can always be used. And of course the most important preparation one can do is to be right with God.

I have said and repeat now that we stand as a nation in danger of judgment. The Shemitah is one template by which judgment may be manifested. Whether or not what is yet to come will be joined to what has happened in the most recent Shemitah, I believe that this nation is in and approaches days both critical and perilous. I see ahead, apart from the hand of God, days of apostasy and persecution, and, by the hand of God, a great shaking.

At the same time, God’s heart is salvation. And the purpose of shaking is to bring to repentance, salvation, and revival to those who will come. At this point I believe it is only through shaking that a true and great revival can come.

For you who would seek safety, the word for safety in Hebrew is Yeshua. And Yeshua is the name of Jesus. Thus the only way to be safe is to be in Jesus, Yeshua. As for you who are in Yeshua, the safest place to be is in the will of God. Make sure that’s where you are.

Know that in all things, God remains absolutely on the throne. And the one who lives in His will, lives and stands on the winning side. Now is not the time to be silent, fearful, or compromised, but to be all the more strong and all the more bold. When the night comes and the dark grows even darker, it is then time, for the lights of God to shine even more brightly. Be strong and of good courage. Proclaim the good news of Messiah. And pray for revival but don’t only pray for revival—Live in revival.

And as the apostasy progresses, as America races to judgment, as the biblical signs, principles, and harbingers of judgment continue to manifest, and as the events of the last days continue to unfold, I will, and we must, continue to sound the trumpet and the alarm, to call to repentance those who will come, and to draw the lost to Messiah Jesus, Yeshua, who remains the same yesterday, today, and forever and the only answer, the only way, and the only hope America has and all have, to be saved.

“The Pharisees and certain scribes who came from Jerusalem gathered around Him. When they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, ritually unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, unless they wash their hands ritually, do not eat, keeping the tradition of the elders. When they come from the market, unless they wash, they do not eat. And there are many other traditions which they have received and observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze vessels and dining couches” (Mark 7:1-4, MEV).

What question would you ask Jesus if you had walked a hundred miles to get to Him? I doubt you would ask Him, “Why don’t Your disciples wash their hands before they eat?”

These religious leaders aren’t the only ones who ask the wrong question. I’ve seen it happen in the church.

I was once called upon to meet with a small group of people who were upset with a pastor’s decision. I drove 150 miles to meet with them. They were led by a long-time church member who is now in his 80s.

The church sanctuary sat about 1,000 people, but the congregation had dwindled down to about 100. They had been so divided that a new pastor was appointed to lead them, and the church, in the next two years, had grown to around 300. Good progress!

This group wanted me to listen to their grievance. I asked, “What’s the problem?”

Their elderly leader answered, “The pastor moved the church nursery without our permission.” The nursery had been at the back of the church and so many new families were coming that the pastor had wisely relocated the nursery near the front. This group was upset because they hadn’t been consulted.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like them who are more interested in their own agenda than in people coming to Christ.

So many conflicts in the body of Christ result not from division over doctrine, but division over preference.

We can be as bad as the Pharisees in picking the wrong issue!

The likes of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law have never gone away. There are still those today who look at the small things they deem wrong rather than the wonderful things God is doing! They nitpick at those who are doing the work of God because the way that work is being done doesn’t please them.

The Pharisees’ faultfinding with Jesus came at the very time the sick were being healed in villages, towns, and the countryside (see Mark 6:56). They should have rejoiced rather than criticized.

Mark takes time to explain the custom of hand-washing. His parenthetical aside shows us he is writing to a non-Jewish audience who wouldn’t be familiar with the customs of the Pharisees.

Is it wrong to wash your hands before you eat? By no means! There are hygienic reasons for that. We are careful in handling food lest we contaminate our body with unwanted germs. But the Pharisees had substituted a ritualistic legalism for matters that were best left to individual judgment. Jesus let His disciples violate these rules because such proscriptions had no bearing on one’s relationship with God.

Let’s not repeat their mistake. Jesus is more interested in clean hearts than clean hands.

A Prayer: “Lord Jesus, help me not to be a person whose initial tendency is to find fault with what someone else is doing. Help me first to look for the good, and if any fault remains, then grant me wisdom to know how to address it lovingly.”

Excerpted from Dr. Wood’s forthcoming book, Fearless: How Jesus Changes Everything, available in September from Vital Resources. George O. Wood is the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God. For the original article, visit .

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, will resign his speakership and his seat in Congress effective Oct. 30, a Boehner aide said on Friday.

“The Speaker believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution,” the aide said in an email, asking not to be named. “For the good of the Republican conference and the institution, he will resign the Speakership and his seat in Congress, effective October 30.”

(Reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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