I was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ while in high school.

My life was radically changed July 3, 1964, during a family camp in Sanders, Idaho. After coming home from that camp, I would occasionally visit the home of some new friends made at the camp. Jim became a very good friend. His dad was a pastor on the north side of Spokane, Washington. Dale and his wife were the youth leaders at the church in Spokane Valley where I was attending regularly. He worked for Armor Meats in Spokane.

Going to the homes of these two friends was an amazing experience for me.

Walking into their houses was like walking into a sanctuary. There was an atmosphere very different from anything I had known. The light in the houses was brighter.

I heard George Beverly Shea for the first time at Jim’s house. His mom loved the music of this man who sang for Billy Graham. I heard intercessory prayer for the first time while visiting Dale’s home.

It was more than the music or hearing someone praying, it was a powerful awareness of being in a holy place. There was peace, yet more than peace, it was serenity. This was totally foreign to me, but fully aware this was a Christian home. While uncomfortable at first, it was good, and I was drawn to their presence more and more.

I wanted what they had in my life.

That is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how shall it be made salty? It is from then on good for nothing but to be thrown out and to be trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a basket, but on a candlestick. And it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:13-16).

The light was shining bright in these homes. It revealed how much darkness was in my own. The salt was very tasty in these godly families, and I wanted more. That is what our Lord was talking about.

Every disciple is to be a sanctuary, the temple of the Holy Spirit, filled and overflowing with the presence of God.

The apostle Paul said this is the mystery of the ages, that God would not dwell in a tent, a golden box or a building on a mountain. He would dwell in the hearts of men and women, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” You would be the temple, the sanctuary, the holy place.

When a man and a woman, filled with the presence of Holy Spirit, unite in the covenant of marriage, their home becomes a sanctuary filled with the presence of Christ. All who enter that home become intimately aware they have stepped out of a world of darkness and entered a sanctuary of God’s presence.

This does not happen just because two people who profess they believe in Jesus get married and start a family.

There is a conscious choice made by the man and the woman to make their heart a living temple of the Holy Spirit. They choose to make Him the very source of their life. His love, His peace, His joy fills and overflows their life on a daily basis. His gentleness, His longsuffering, His goodness, His faithfulness, His self-control determines their actions and behavior.

Together, they make the choice to fill their house with that same fruit of the Spirit by the way they speak and treat one another.

The life of prayer and worship fill the atmosphere of that home with the very presence of Holy Spirit.

The music they play, the movies they watch, the decorations and wall hangings do not distract from or hinder the Spirit in their home. Rather, they aid and assist in establishing the awareness this is a sanctuary of God.

Too often, decorating the temple of Holy Spirit has been confused with legalism.

When a child of God becomes fully aware their body is, indeed, the house where Holy Spirit abides, a conscious decision should be made to nurture His presence and increase His influence over that temple. Such a decision will greatly impact the way they decorate the house of the Lord.

They will intentionally seek to reflect the holiness of His godly presence. They will do nothing to distract from Him or to hinder His reflection from their life. Their behavior, actions and words will reflect His light. His influence and presence will be a divine flavoring in all they say and do. Everyone around them will see the light and taste the presence of Holy Spirit in them.

That atmosphere will be present in even greater measure to everyone who steps into the home of such disciples of Jesus Christ.

Their very presence will make an impact in the neighborhood. Friends and family who come to their home will be greatly touched by the serenity, love and grace that fill the atmosphere of that home.

Dr. F. Dean Hackett has served in full-time Christian ministry since October 1971. He has ministered throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, serving as pastor, conference speaker and mentor. He has planted four churches, assisted in planting 15 others, and currently serves as lead pastor of Living Faith Church in Hermiston, Oregon. Dr. Hackett founded Spirit Life Ministries International in 2001 to facilitate ministries in Croatia and Bosnia Herzegovina and to open a training center for workers in those nations. You can find him at F. Dean Hackett – Foundational, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. 

Should public facilities continue to offer separate bathrooms for men and women? In 2016, this has become a political “hot potato” that is causing emotions to run high on both sides of the debate. Many liberals consider the push for gender-neutral bathrooms to be on the cutting edge of the civil rights movement in the United States. Meanwhile, many conservatives consider separate bathrooms for men and women to be a matter of basic moral decency.  What both sides of the debate can agree on is that this is an issue that is not going away anytime soon. Gender-neutral bathrooms are popping up in public places all over America, and the Obama administration has even installed one in the White House. Unfortunately, these gender-neutral bathrooms can have some very serious unintended consequences as you will see below.

U.S. colleges and universities are at the center of this debate. All over the country, student groups are pushing for gender-neutral restrooms, and many institutions of higher learning are now starting to implement them. The following comes from an editorial in the Harvard Crimson that addresses the transition that is now taking place at that university:

The need for gender-neutral restrooms is profound, and their expansion is long overdue. Gender-neutral restrooms are critical for the safety and well-being of BGLTQ students, and it is vital that they are installed more widely throughout campus. While it is commendable that some of the Houses have started to implement gender-neutral restrooms, single-gender bathrooms are the majority, especially in residential buildings. The process by which students can petition for gender-neutral restrooms in their dorms remains inconsistent and opaque. Additionally, very few gender-neutral restrooms exist in academic buildings.

Of course, other institutions of higher learning are far ahead of Harvard in this regard. In fact, there is one university in New York City that only has gender-neutral restrooms at this point.

The Cooper Union, a small but prestigious art and engineering university in New York City, has taken the bold step of making every single bathroom on campus gender-neutral.

Instead of being classified as “men’s,” “women’s,” or single-occupancy restrooms, all facilities at the Cooper Union will carry descriptive signs describing exactly what lies within. Former men’s rooms, for instance, are now described as “urinals and stalls,” while former women’s rooms now carry the label “stalls only.” Regardless of their type, all bathrooms will be open to whomever (sic) wants to use them. According to Inside Higher Education, Cooper Union appears to be the first college in the country to entirely de-gender all of its bathroom facilities.

Unfortunately, when men and women start using the same bathrooms, really bad stuff can happen.

This is something that the University of Toronto found out the hard way.

The administration at the University of Toronto was recently enlightened on why two separate washrooms are generally established for men and women sharing co-ed residencies.

The University is temporarily changing its policy on gender-neutral bathrooms after two separate incidents of “voyeurism” were reported on campus September 15 and 19. Male students within the University’s Whitney Hall student residence were caught holding their cellphones over female students’ shower stalls and filming them as they showered.

Anyone with half a brain could have figured this out.

If you allow young men into areas where young women are exposing themselves, some of those young men are going to try to look. We are a nation of voyeurs, and our young men have been trained by thousands of hours of television and movies to think of women as sex objects.

As I wrote about recently, it has been estimated that 68 percent of all Christian men watch pornography on a regular basis. Considering what our men are doing behind closed doors, do you really want them around when women are trying to shower or use the toilet?

I don’t mean to be crude, but this is the reality of the situation.

Sadly, the University of Toronto doesn’t seem to get the message. The rule change at that one residence hall is only “temporary,” and no changes have been made to the rules at other residence halls.

The University concluded that while the changes were made in the specific residence hall of the voyeurism incidents, “there has been no change to the designation of gender-neutral washrooms in the other University College Residences or elsewhere on campus as a result of these incidents.”

I suppose that it is “politically incorrect” to think that there will be problems if young men and young women are using the same restrooms. The officials are the University of Toronto clearly believe in what they are doing, and they don’t plan to reverse course now.

But I would suggest that it is quite naive to put men and women in the same public bathrooms and just assume that everything will work out just fine somehow.

And we have seen problems start to happen in non-academic settings as well. Just consider what recently happened at a public swimming pool in the Seattle area.

A man claimed a right to use a women’s locker room at a public swimming pool after his partial undressing there caused alarm.

According to Seattle Parks and Recreation, women alerted staff at Evans Pool staff when a man wearing swim trunks entered the women’s locker room and took off his shirt.

When staff told him to leave, the man reportedly said “the law has changed and I have a right to be here.”

Ultimately the man was not arrested, and he later returned to the women’s locker room while young girls were changing.

No one was arrested in this case and police weren’t called, even though the man returned a second time while young girls were changing for swim practice.

What is going to stop other sickos like this from putting on a dress and demanding that they have every right to sit there and watch women change at public swimming pools all across the nation?

In the end, the only thing that will stop it is if laws are passed, but that is not going to be as easy as you may think. In fact, the state of North Carolina has created a massive national controversy because of the law that was just passed there.

In the face of travel bans from at least five states, 10 cities and two counties, North Carolina’s governor issued an executive order Tuesday that he said restores some protections to gays in the state.

Gov. Pat McCrory’s order, signed in the state capital of Raleigh, does not change North Carolina’s controversial law, which he signed March 24 and became effective immediately. It prohibits counties and municipalities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances and requires transgender people to use public bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender at birth.

As you can see, this is becoming a major political issue all over the nation.

Should what do you think the solution is?

It has been the long-standing policy of the United States will not use the United Nations Security Council to intervene in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But recent activity at the U.N. is raising concerns that President Obama is ready to break with that tradition in order to force Israel to adopt its proposal for peace in the Middle East. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that the timeline for the reversal could be later this year, perhaps at the next annual opening ceremony for the U.N. General Assembly in the fall.

If that is the avenue Obama decides to pursue, the world stage will suddenly become a hostile environment for Israel without its closest ally at its side.

The White House has previously discussed a freeze of West Bank settlement activity and Jewish building in east Jerusalem. These have been rejected in the past by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but could be back on the table, if a U.N. Security Council resolution is adopted.

Additionally, the Obama administration remains eager to force Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders—also known as the Green Line—with a few land swaps thrown in. Israel to retain a small portion of territory over the Green Line in exchange for giving Palestinians land within the Green Line.

Areas outside of the Green Line include East Jerusalem, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula. These territories were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967.

The Palestinians would be asked to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and end its “right-of-return” claims for Palestinian refugees. These claims have been previously rejected by the Palestinian Authority.

A few weeks ago, the Obama administration signaled it was re-evaluating the U.S. position on the so-called “Two-State Solution.” He said past U.S. vetoes on the U.N. Security Council were based on that being the “best outcome” for the nearly 70-year conflict.

“Now our ally in these talks has said that they are no longer committed to that solution,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said. “That means we need to re-evaluate our position.”

Netanyahu is in the process of setting up a new coalition government. There is a preliminary deadline of April 22 to complete that task, after which Obama is expected to begin applying pressure on Israel to accept his terms for Middle East peace.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has promised a “violent backlash by the Congress, bipartisan in nature,” if the president follows through with the reported plan. He told the Council on Foreign Relations last month he’s personally willing to pull the purse strings, if necessary, to protect Israel.

Graham is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which has direct oversight of the U.S. annual contribution to the U.N. The world body receives more than $650 million a year from American taxpayers.

David’s Tent has been worshipping for over six months straight—and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. David’s Tent is a 24/7 worship tent set up at the foot of the Washington Monument, on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It’s named after how, in 1 Chronicles 15, David constructed a tent for the ark of the covenant and staffed it with worship singers and musicians for the length of his reign.

Jason Hershey founded David’s Tent in 2012, running it for 40 days to correspond with the 2012 election. In 2013, David’s Tent ran for 42 days, reaching 1,000 consecutive hours of worship. In 2014, David’s Tent did 50 days, one for each state. And on Sept. 11, 2015, David’s Tent started its most recent run—one that won’t end until Nov. 8 (Election Day).

Ryan Montgomery, administrative director for David’s Tent, explained the heart of the organization and their three objectives.

“There are three primary reasons why we do David’s Tent,” Montgomery says. “First, Jesus is worthy. He’s eternally worthy of all worship and glory and honor. Second, (we do it) as an evangelistic witness to Jesus. By sitting here and declaring His worth and His beauty, it makes people curious what’s going on. Ten people just wandering by as tourists in D.C. came to the Lord and were saved just by being drawn in by the worship. We get opportunities to share the gospel all the time, especially with people whose countries are closed to the gospel.

“And third, but probably most important, it’s an act of intercession for America. In worshipping Him, we draw His presence close and turn our nation’s heart toward God.”

Any worship group, regardless of denomination or music genre, can sign up for two-hour blocks of worship. Montgomery says they’ve seen everyone from Anglican priests to Christian rappers lead worship, and that’s part of the beauty of David’s Tent.

“One of the greatest miracles of David’s Tent has been seeing the body of Christ come together in a way that I don’t often see,” Montgomery says. “We know that’s what every tribe and denomination rallies around: the worship of Jesus. We’ve seen everything from black gospel choirs to white Christian boys from New Jersey doing Christian punk sets.”

Anyone interested in visiting David’s Tent or conducting a worship set can find out more information at . —Taylor Berglund

Four men confessed to killing a pastor because he was preaching the gospel, according to a statement from police.  

The gang “confessed to have been responsible for the kidnapping Pastor Chukwu Ekere of same Ohigha community and killed him for the simple reason that the man of God disturbed them with his preaching of repentance and also for urging them to shun their nefarious activities and accept God,” Nigeria’s PM News reported.  

Christian persecution around the world reached record-highs in recent years, with 2015 labeled as the “most violent” ever, with violence at a “level akin to ethnic cleansing,” CNN reports.  

Despite the rising anti-Christian attacks, Muslims are finding Christ in record numbers, especially in Africa.  

READ: Despite Death Threats, Muslims Turning to Christ in Droves 

“In several areas in Northern Nigeria, the Christian presence has become virtually extinct or substantially diminished while in other areas church congregations have grown due to an influx of Christians fleeing violence and a number of Muslims converting to Christianity,” according to a new report released by Open Doors. 

“The headlines focus on the Middle East, but there were more recorded killings of Christians due to their faith in northern Nigeria in 2015 than in the rest of the world put together; 4,028 out of a worldwide total of 7,100 reported deaths,” according to The Guardian.

Much of the blame resides with the radical Islamic group Boko Haram. 

“This report shows that extent and impact of the persistent violence on the church in northern Nigeria is much more serious than previously expected. Once Boko Haram is defeated, the problem will not be solved,” an Open Doors partner in West Africa told the organization. 

“Christians living under Sharia law are facing discrimination and marginalization and have limited to no access to federal rights. We hope that this report will prompt the Nigerian government and international community to take the real suffering of persecuted Christians seriously and act on their behalf. Next to that, I hope that Nigerian Christians will become more involved with their brothers and sisters; that they will stand in the gap for them,” the partner said. 

American Unity Fund, a nonprofit bankrolled by billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer, is once again pushing the LGBT “rights” agenda in Congress.

AUF is a Republican-aligned group dedicated to “advancing the cause of freedom for LGBT Americans” using “conservative” arguments. It does that by “making the conservative case that freedom truly means freedom for everyone.”

From its website:

Republicans believe strongly in the American Dream. Too often government serves as an obstacle to prosperity for millions of Americans—confiscating their wealth with escalating taxes, strangling their businesses with burdensome regulations and undermining our economy with unsustainable spending and increasing uncertainty. For Americans who happen to be LGBT, it goes one step farther, denying them the same rights and responsibilities extended to every other taxpaying family. We believe the American Dream belongs to all of us, regardless of our sexual orientation or gender identity.

Because of our commitment to these values, pro-freedom conservatives, major GOP donors and ordinary American citizens who care about their LGBT neighbors have come together in a new effort to build more Republican support for LGBT rights.  That effort is American Unity Fund.

As a 501(c)(4) “social welfare organization,” AUF is allowed to advance legislation that would attain its “social welfare purposes.” Its primary lobbyist in Washington, D.C., is Legislative Counsel Casey Pick. He is also a board member of the Gay Christian Network and used to be program director for Log Cabin Republicans, an organization for gay Republicans.

According to Politico’s Isaac Arnsdorf, Pick—on behalf of AUF—has filed support for the following pieces of legislation:

• Restore Honor to Service Members Act, H.R. 3068/S. 1766;
• Safe Schools Improvement Act, H.R. 2902/S. 311;
• First Amendment Defense Act, H.R. 2802/S. 1598;
• Every Child Deserves a Family Act, H.R. 2449/S. 1382;
• Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act, H.R. 1779/S. 262;
• Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act, H.R. 1299/S. 667;
• Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act, H.R. 1598;
• Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act, S. 270;
• Social Security and Marriage Equality Act, S. 753/H.R. 1404; and
• Juror Nondiscrimination Act, H.R. 864

It’s not entirely clear how each piece of legislation advances AUF’s cause, but the organization has been working hard to apply pressure to the Republican-controlled Congress to advance its agenda. From its website:

Support for relationship recognition and non-discrimination is mainstream among rank-and-file Republican voters, presenting opportunities for Republican officeholders to embrace inclusive public policies. Advocating for “American Families, American Individuals and American Values”, American Unity Fund is solidifying a pro-freedom Republican voice on Capitol Hill, taking the federal push for LGBT liberty to the next level.

AUF says the Restore Honor to Service Members Act would allow for an upgrade to military discharges under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” while the Safe Schools Improvement Act would ensure public school districts are equipped to handle “instances of pervasive harassment and bullying.” The Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act of 2015 would “address the epidemic of homelessness among LGBT youth.”

AUF’s support for some of the legislation is a direct result of the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges last summer. The organization is pushing for the GOP to break from its official platform plank in opposition to same-sex “marriage.” From its website:

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell has established that the freedom to marry is the law of the land across the United States.  However, there remains work to be done to ensure that all American families have the protections they need to keep our communities strong.

The Every Child Deserves a Family Act would prohibit publicly-funded child welfare agencies from discriminating against prospective foster and adoptive families on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. And, the Veteran Spouses Equal Treatment Act and the Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act would change the definition of “spouse” for purposes of veterans benefits to include same-sex spouses.

The Social Security and Marriage Equality Act would remove the remaining “loopholes” in Social Security treatment of “lawfully married same-sex couples,” the organization says.

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

These words of Jesus (and others like them) immediately raise questions: Jesus couldn’t have meant what He said here, could He? Aren’t there many exceptions to a statement like this? But doesn’t this turn prayer into some kind of magic formula of faith and answer?

But underneath the intellectual balking lies something much more telling—our own disappointments with prayer. We all have stories of unanswered prayer: presents that didn’t come as kids, parents who got divorced, jobs that never came through, loves that were unrequited, sicknesses that weren’t healed and loved ones who died.

To talk about prayer at this level is to uncover our worst disappointments. Is Jesus trying to raise our hopes again only so that they can be dashed? Wouldn’t it be better just to ignore or at least explain away what Jesus seems to be saying here?

I have known many such disappointments myself. One of the most stinging had to do with career. I was convinced in my early 20s that God wanted me to be a missionary, and I actually got training for that in seminary. But my experience of working in other cultures was disorienting: I felt emotionally chewed up each time. Despite my prayers to be changed, no change came. I felt God had let me down, and I had also let Him down. I went back into youth ministry after seminary, painfully confused.

How was I to make sense of all this in light of Jesus’ teaching on prayer? How are any of us to make sense of the disappointments?

Perhaps we can find a clue in a strange place—a movie universally loved: It’s a Wonderful Life. In the film, George Bailey prays two very different prayers. In the first one, he is at the end of his rope, knowing that he is going to jail over the lost $8,000 dollars. He prays for God to help him in a bar and instead gets punched in the face!

Distraught, he goes to kill himself by jumping off a bridge, only to have Clarence the angel appear! It’s not the answer George looked for or expected, but it turned out to be an answer nonetheless.

But the whole movie turns on the second prayer. As he learns what would have happened if he had not been born, George begins to learn what he really longs for. It’s not escape from life by suicide or $8,000 to repay the debt. He doesn’t even care what happens to him anymore. He just wants Mary and his family back; he wants his old life of helping others out of poverty and debt. George learns that his life has been wonderful after all, because he has tried to serve everyone else around him. As a result, he finds the greatest joy of all: others loving and celebrating him at the end of the movie.

This is exactly the motion Jesus is inviting us up into with His teaching on prayer. It’s not about us anymore. It’s about something higher and wider than our narrowly constricted stories. It’s about the kingdom of God, the story Jesus is telling, and entering that story will give us our deepest joy and our truest strength as men.

This is precisely what Jesus taught in the Lord’s Prayer. With the first three petitions, we learn that it’s first about God’s name, God’s kingdom and God’s will. This means abandoning a life of trying to magnify our names, build our kingdoms and pursue our wills. Only in the last three petitions are we invited to ask for provision, forgiveness and protection for ourselves.

You may sigh and think that praying this way is somehow the end of praying for what you really want in life. Think again. Think about what happened to George. When it was no longer about him, that’s when he learned what he really wanted anyway; that’s also when he got the answer he asked for in prayer and, along with it, a depth of joy he had never known before.

This is the life Jesus is inviting men into with His teaching on prayer.

It’s an invitation worth accepting. {eoa}

Bill Delvaux is a graduate of Duke University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and has served as a pastor and a high school Bible teacher. Presently, he leads Landmark Journey Ministries as a speaker, small group coach, and author of Divided: When the Head and Heart Don’t Agree and Landmarks: Turning Points on Your Journey Toward God. Bill and his wife have two grown daughters and reside in Franklin, TN. Follow Bill on Twitter @BillDelvaux.

For the original article, visit .

The elite are fleeing major cities around the globe at a staggering rate. In fact, the Chicago Tribune is reporting that approximately 3,000 millionaires left the city of Chicago alone during 2015. The same study discussed in that Chicago Tribune article found that 7,000 millionaires left Paris, France last year. So why is this happening? Why are thousands of millionaires suddenly packing up and moving away from the big cities? Could it be possible that they have many of the same concerns that “preppers” do about what is coming?

For quite a while, I have been writing about how the elite have been preparing for the coming collapse. But I had no idea that literally thousands of them are packing up and permanently leaving our major cities:

Millionaires are leaving Chicago more than any other city in the United States on a net basis, according to a new report.

About 3,000 individuals with net assets of $1 million or more, not including their primary residence, moved from the city last year, with many citing rising racial tensions and worries about crime as factors in the decision, according to research firm New World Wealth.

But of course this is not just happening in Chicago, nor is it just an American phenomenon. Actually, the two cities that lost the most millionaires last year are both located over in Europe.

Paris saw the largest exodus.

The French city lost 7,000, or 6 percent, of its millionaires, followed by Rome, which lost 5,000, or 7 percent.

It is true that some of these millionaires are moving for tax reasons, but many others are quite concerned that humanity is hurtling toward a deeply apocalyptic future, and they want to get prepared for what is about to happen while they still have time.

In eastern Germany, one company known as “Vivos” has spent an enormous amount of money converting an underground facility built by the Soviets during the Cold War into the largest private shelter on the planet. It is called “Europa One,” and it is being billed as an ultra-luxury survival bunker for the elite.

The following comes from their official website:

Located in the heart of Europe is one of the most fortified and massive underground survival shelters on Earth, deep below a limestone mountain. Built by the Soviets during the Cold War, this shelter was a fortress for military equipment and munitions. Now privately owned, this 76 acre above and below ground hardened facility is capable of withstanding a substantial close range nuclear blast, a direct airliner crash, biological and chemical agents, massive shock waves, earthquakes, electro-magnetic pulses, and virtually any armed attack.

This irreplaceable complex is now being re-tasked as Vivos Europa One, becoming the world’s largest and most fortified underground shelter for long-term, uncompromising protection of high net worth individuals, their families, and most precious assets when no other above-ground exfiltration solution will suffice.

The complex includes over 21,108 square meters (227,904 square feet) of secured, blast proof living areas; and, an additional 4,079 square meters (43,906 square feet) of above-ground office, apartments, warehouse buildings, and its own train depot. Collectively there are over 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of continuous tunnel chambers.

An RT report that was posted on YouTube right here contains some stunning visuals from the inside of this facility. Personally, I was quite stunned when I saw the extent of their preparations for the first time.

This is something that I could go on and on about, but I won’t. If you are interested in reading more, please see my previous article titled “Superyacht Getaway Subs and Luxury Bomb Shelters: The Elite Are the Most Paranoid Preppers of All.”

As I was preparing for this article, I remembered something that Zero Hedge just reported that I think relates to this subject. It turns out that “the smart money” has been net sellers of U.S. stocks for 11 weeks in a row:

Last week, during which the S&P 500 was down 1.2%, BofAML clients were net sellers of US equities for the 11th consecutive week. Net sales of $ were smaller than in the prior week, but all three client groups (hedge funds, institutional clients, private clients) remained net sellers, led by institutional clients.

So why are the elite dumping stocks like crazy right now?

Don’t they realize that the stock market has been going up?

Could it be possible that they have information that the rest of us do not?

Most people have absolutely no idea how vulnerable our society truly is, or how very easy it would be to plunge the general population into a state of utter chaos.

That is why I am so glad that Mike Norris (the son of Chuck Norris) is coming out with his new movie titled AmeriGEDDON. This film imagines a time when a global terror organization disables the U.S. power grid and martial law is instituted. Rioting, looting and civil unrest break out, and the government moves in to disarm the citizens and “restore order.” You can watch the official trailer for this new film right here.

Could we actually witness such a scenario in our future?

Well, I don’t expect to see anything like this next month, but in my new book I explain why I believe that America is heading for a future that is even more apocalyptic than the one portrayed in AmeriGEDDON.

Everywhere you turn, our world is becoming increasingly unstable. Economic collapse has already gripped some areas of the planet, there is tremendous geopolitical instability in the Middle East, Islamic terror is on the rise, there have been outbursts of civil unrest all around the world, and just this week we have seen a series of very alarming earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Many people believe that we are entering a period of time when an unprecedented confluence of events will combine to create a “perfect storm” which will shake the world to the core.

And it isn’t just “preppers” that feel this way. As you have just seen, thousands of millionaires are so concerned about changing conditions that they are fleeing the major cities.

So before you dismiss all of this apocalyptic talk as “nonsense,” perhaps you may want to consider what the elite may know that you do not.

Look around. Three in 10 people you see claim they are pretty satisfied with life, happy, healthy and moral, too.

They’re the “highly religious,” 30 percent of U.S. adults who say they pray daily and attend church at least once a week.

“Religion in Everyday Life,” a new survey from Pew Research released Tuesday (April 12), teases out the particular ways they differ from the majority of U.S. Christians who are less observant and from non-Christians, including the “nones” who claim no religious identity.

The highly religious are overwhelmingly (95 percent) Protestant, Catholic or other Christians. Nearly half (49 percent) are white evangelicals. Most of the overall group (62 percent) are women.

And many are smiling. Four in 10 highly religious people say they’re “very happy” with the way things are going in life, compared to 29 percent of those who are not highly religious.

But, “we don’t know why they are happier” or more satisfied with their health, said Pew researcher Besheer Mohamed, a co-author of the report.

“We see the patterns but we don’t know what is causing what. Is it that regular churchgoers get something from the church practice and involvement or is it that a certain sort of person is more likely to go to worship more frequently?” he said.

Nearly three in four (74 percent) highly religious people say they’re “very satisfied with family life” compared to 67 percent of those who are not highly religious.

And 47 percent say they gather with extended family at least monthly (compared to 30 percent of those not highly religious).

The less religious may also be prayerful folks who attend worship less frequently or people with no religious affiliation who value moral behavior. The report points out that many say “attributes such as gratitude, forgiveness and honesty are essential” to what being religious or moral means to them personally.

Still, the survey finds many similarities in beliefs and behavior between the two groups. 

Few rely on clergy.

Rather than consult a pastor or priest, 82 percent of the highly religious and less religious rely on their own research when making important decisions; 45 percent turn to prayer and personal reflection; 43 percent to family; 25 percent to professional experts; but only 15 percent to religious leaders.

“It’s the age of Google and consulting your own conscience or Aunt Susie,” said Boston University professor of sociology Nancy Ammerman, an adviser to Pew on the research.

Believers don’t act on their faith in the marketplace.

Fewer than 30 percent, highly religious or not, and across all traditions, say they pay attention to a company’s environmental record or to whether it pays fair wages before making purchases. Bringing religious views to economic choices “is still very low no matter where you look,” she said.

Couch potatoes are “very satisfied with their health.”

The highly religious also admit they overeat about as often, and don’t exercise much more than the seven in 10 Americans whose everyday lives are less shaped by religiosity.

The report draws on two major basis for most of the demographic data is the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Study based on a telephone survey of 35,000 adults that has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point. A second survey, delving into beliefs and behavior, was conducted among 3,278 members of Pew’s American Trends Panel and it has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. There were too few interviews to break out findings about minority religions or among historically black Protestants.

Pew also asked people about what they saw as the essentials of their faith or to the report, “Christians are about equally likely to cite moral behaviors as vital to their Christian identity as they are to mention explicitly religious behaviors.”Among Christians, the top five of 16 beliefs and behaviors were:

• Belief in God (86 percent)
• Gratitude for what they have (71 percent)
• Forgiving those who have wronged them (69 percent)
• Honesty (67 percent)
• Praying regularly (63 percent)

At the bottom: Living a healthy lifestyle and resting on the Sabbath each were cited by only 18 percent. Only 14 percent said being Christian means “buying from companies that pay a fair wage.”Among the 27 percent who said they were religiously unaffiliated, the top five criteria for a moral life were similar, minus God:

• Being honest at all times (58 percent)
• Being grateful for what they have (53 percent)
• Committing to spend time with family (47 percent)
• Forgiving those who have wronged them (39 percent)
• Working to protect the environment (35 percent)

There was one other noteworthy divide between the highly religious and the other 70 percent of most faithful were also more likely to admit that they told a “white lie” in the prior week (45 percent compared to 39 percent among the less religious).”Maybe they just have a greater sense of introspection or conscience,” said Ammerman. “Maybe they are more empathetic and attuned to other people’s feelings. Or maybe they’re just more willing to tell (that they had lied).” {eoa} 

© 2016 Religion News Service. All rights reserved.

At what point do agents within the Internal Revenue Service decide to investigate a church with regard to its tax-exempt status?

In light of the IRS Targeting Scandal, it’s a valid question with a potentially terrifying answer for many congregations around the country. But officials with the tax-collecting agency have no intention of answering it.

Two years ago, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for records related to secret procedures for investigating churches. The existence of the secret procedures became known through the agency’s settlement of an atheist group’s lawsuit, but the IRS has stonewalled the release of details.

The IRS refused to produce any records for a full year. When it finally started producing documents in July 2015, months after ADF filed suit through its attorneys with Judicial Watch, the agency withheld more than 10,000 out of 16,000 pages requested, and of the pages it did produce, more than 2,000 are almost entirely blacked out.

Now ADF is asking the court to order the IRS to comply with its legal duty to justify the thousands of records withheld or else produce them.

“The IRS is not above the law, and Americans deserve to know the truth about the agency’s secret deals with activists,” ADF Legal Counsel Christiana Holcomb said. “The IRS has a legal obligation to explain why it is hiding things or else produce the documents. Its ongoing refusal to follow the law is absurd, particularly since much of we are asking for is information that the IRS has already provided voluntarily to Freedom From Religion Foundation.”

The whole matter stems from a legal settlement between the IRS and FFRF in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Koskinen. The IRS assured the atheist group that it had adopted new protocols and procedures for church investigations in order to end the lawsuit.

In July 2014, a Freedom From Religion Foundation press release announced it had reached a settlement with the IRS in its lawsuit against the agency. As the release revealed, “The IRS has now resolved the signature authority issue necessary to initiate church examinations. The IRS also has adopted procedures for reviewing, evaluating, and determining whether to initiate church investigations.”

The FFRF press release mentioned the ADF-sponsored “Pulpit Freedom” movement as a motivation for its lawsuit, which urged the IRS to enforce what’s known as the “Johnson Amendment” against churches. That law authorizes the IRS to regulate sermons and requires churches to give up their constitutionally protected freedom of speech in order to retain their tax-exempt status.

ADF and Judicial Watch filed the motion to compel Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Alliance Defending Freedom v. Internal Revenue Service. Several members of Congress, at least one state attorney general, and a number of concerned organizations have also asked the IRS to come clean on its settlement with FFRF.

“The Obama IRS first ignored the ADF FOIA request and is now stonewalling in federal court,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “The public has the right to know about any new IRS guidelines for investigating the practice of our basic First Amendment freedoms.”