Monday, September 30, 2019

5 Quakes Hit Missouri In One-Hour Period

5 earthquakes rattle southeastern Missouri in hour, experts say 

An area of southeast Missouri experienced five earthquakes in less than hour Monday morning, experts say. 

It started with a 2.6 magnitude temblor around 11:18 a.m. near Lilbourn, a small city just north of Missouri’s boot heel, according to the United States Geological Survey. A mere three minutes later, a 1.1 magnitude quake rumbled nearby. 

Just before 11:30 a.m., a 2.7 magnitude quake rattled southwest of Lilbourn followed by a 1.8 magnitude quake only five minutes later, the USGS says. 

It would be 23 minutes before the next quake, another magnitude 2.7, shook an area just west of Lilbourn, the USGS says.

Ezekiel 38/39 Looms: Iran Now Says Israel 'Must Be Wiped Off The Map...An Achievable Goal

Iran Guards chief: Destroying Israel now not a dream but an 'achievable goal'

The commander of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Monday that destroying Israel was now an “achievable goal.”
Four decades on from Iran’s Islamic revolution, “we have managed to obtain the capacity to destroy the impostor Zionist regime,” Major General Hossein Salami was quoted saying by the IRGC’s Sepah news site.
“This sinister regime must be wiped off the map and this is no longer … a dream [but] it is an achievable goal,” Salami said.
The remarks were made at a biannual meeting in Tehran for commanders of the IRGC amid rising tensions between Iran and the US and its allies.

Salami’s comments were given prominent coverage by the Tasnim and Fars news agencies, close to ultra-conservative political factions.

The official IRNA agency also carried his remarks, but placed more emphasis on his assertion that Iran was growing stronger and would finally beat its foes despite “hostility” toward it.

Salami’s comments Monday came two days after Abbas Nilforoushan, the deputy commander of operations of the IRGC, threatened that if Israel attacks Iran, it will have to collect “bits and pieces” of Tel Aviv from the Mediterranean Sea.

“Iran has encircled Israel from all four sides. Nothing will be left of Israel,” said Nilforoushan in an interview with the Iranian news agency Tasnim on Saturday. “Israel is not in a position to threaten Iran,” he said according to a translation published by Radio Farda, the Iranian branch of the US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nilforoushan also boasted of Iran’s “deep and long-range [missile] assault capability” and said Tehran has the means to make this capability operations.

“We will not let the enemies to face us at our borders. We will quickly drag the war to the bases and interests of the enemies anywhere they may happen to be,” he warned.

Persecution And Presbyterian Church USA's Obsession With Israel

Christian Persecution and Presbyterian Church USA's Obsession with Israel

Jeremy Hunt, the British Foreign secretary, has recently commissioned a report on the persecution of Christians, most acutely occurring in the Muslim World, and especially in the Arab/Muslim Middle East.
Addressing an audience at the Foreign Office in London on July 8, 2019, along with Bishop Philip (Rt. Rev.) Mounstephen, (Bishop of Truro) who helped prepare the report, Hunt pointed out that, “The number of countries where Christians suffer because of their faith rose from 128 in 2015 to 144 a year later. In the Middle East, the very survival of Christianity as a living religion is in doubt. A century ago, 20% of the region’s people were Christians: today the figure is below 5%.” Jeremy Hunt added, “Perhaps because of a misguided political correctness – or an instinctive reluctance to talk about religion – British governments have not always grappled with this problem.”

Bishop Mounstephen’s concluded that, “Religious persecution and discrimination, political failures, the rise of Muslim extremists, and the lack of legally protected freedom of religion or belief have all contributed in shaping the status of Christians in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. Based on Pew Researchfindings, Christians remain the most vulnerable of religious groups in the Middle East. Though the decline of Christians from the Middle East started in the early 20th century, during the past decade, on the evidence cited above, millions of Christians have been uprooted from their homes, and many have been killed, kidnapped, imprisoned and discriminated against.” 

Specific cases include Palestinian and Saudi hate education against Christians and Jews. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued a study of Saudi school textbooks in March, 2018. The findings confirmed that they have been teaching pupils religious hatred and intolerance toward non-Muslims “including references to anti-Christians and anti-Jewish bigotry. Similarly, Palestinian textbooks are notoriously anti-Semitic, and triumphalist. 

Contrasting the positive treatment of Christians in Israel with that in Muslim states in the Middle East, such Iran and Turkey, reveal a sad reality. Arrest, detention and imprisonment are common in Iran. For example, in the course of six days before Christmas, 2018, 114 Christians were arrested in Iran with court cases still left pending, apparently as a form of intimidation. Though most cases in Iran involve converts, indigenous Christians such as Pastor Victor, an Assyrian Christian, with his wife Shamiran Issavi and their son, have also been targeted and imprisoned.

Yet, despite the above record compiled by Anglican Bishop Philip Mounstephen, it is Jewish Israel and not Muslim nations such as Iran, Turkey, or the Arab states (including Palestinians Arabs) that is being set up for boycotts, divestments, and sanctions, as well as other anti-Israel measures, by the mainline Protestant denominations, and especially the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA).  

The PCUSA is a shadow of its former glory. The church membership has declined from 2.5 million members in 2000 to 1.4 million in 2018, and the number is still falling. The Pew Research Study found that of the current membership, 38% of the church is 65-years old and older, 30% are 50-64, 24% are 30-49, and only 8% are 18-29 years old. In short, the PCUSA is an aging organization, and the young are going elsewhere.

At its 2018 General Assembly (GA), the PCUSA resolutions echo those of Israel’s enemies in statements such as calling for “the right of return of Palestinian refugees,” which is plainly a formula for the destruction of the Jewish state through demographics.

Another resolution called for the deployment of an “International Peacekeeping Force,” a measure that would deny Israel its right of self-defense against Palestinian terrorists. Still another resolution “urges the U.S. to end the occupation of Palestinian territories now.” This is a false premise to begin with. UN resolution 242 did not apply to, nor recognized an entity called Palestine. Hence, the phrase “Palestinian territories” is a total canard. Had the Palestinian leadership accepted the many offers for the partition of Palestine in 1937 (Peel Commission) or the 1947 UN Partition Plan, or even the Clinton (U.S. President) parameters of July, 2000, there would have been a Palestinian state.

Olmert’s (Israeli Prime Minister) in 2008, offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a most generous solution, but it was likewise rejected. The Palestinians have habitually refused a compromised solution. Thus, a Two-State solution never materialized, and therefore, no “Palestinian territories.” Instead of choosing statehood, the Palestinians preferred terror, and a zero-sum deal, namely, “all for them and nothing for the Jews.”

The Presbyterian Church (USA) Assembly passed eight resolutions against Israel and called it an “apartheid state.” Rabbi Noam Marans (American Jewish Committee Interreligious Director) asserted that, “For many years and in myriad ways, the PCUSA has gone beyond legitimate criticism of Israel and embraced demonization of the Jewish state.”

The End From The Beginning

The End from the Beginning

By Jack Kinsella

The Book of Daniel is among the most controversial books in the Bible, dividing scholars over whether it was actually written by the Prophet Daniel or if it was a late forgery.
In the third-century a heretic named Porphyry declared Daniel was written by Judas Macabeus around the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, around 170-163 BC — about four hundred years after Daniel.
The main reason for rejecting Daniel is his incredibly accurate prophecy regarding the four world empires that were to come.
It takes a dedicated critic to deny Daniel’s authorship. Daniel predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and his Greek empire, which defeated and replaced the Persian Empire in 334 BC.
Under Alexander, all subjects of his empire had to use Greek as their working language.
In obedience to that law, a group of rabbis and Jewish sages undertook to translate the Jewish Scriptures into Greek. Their final work, the Septuagint, translated in the 3rd century BC, and well before Macabeus, included the Book of Daniel.
There are lots of other examples that shatter the contention that Daniel is a forgery, but the most compelling evidence favoring Daniel’s authenticity is Christianity. Sir Isaac Newton argued that Christianity itself rests on Daniel’s authenticity.
Why? Because of the testimony of Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to the Book of Daniel and He called Daniel a Prophet. If Daniel was a forgery or a mythical character, then Jesus didn’t know that.
If Jesus didn’t know that, then He could not have been the Son of God. If Jesus was not the Son of God, then He was not qualified to pay your sin debt, your faith is in vain and you remain yet dead in your sins.
It is therefore not possible to reject the historicity and authenticity of Daniel without necessarily rejecting the entire Bible, including the New Testament. Which is, of course, the position taken by Daniel’s critics.
But apart from the obvious problems already articulated, there is one more logic problem associated with dating Daniel to the Maccabean Period. Even if that could explain Daniel’s incredible accuracy in predicting the fall of Babylon and the rise and fall of the Persian and Greek Empires, the Roman Empire was yet future.
Daniel had more to say about the rise and fall and rise again of the Roman Empire than he did of any other world empire — and even late-dating Daniel doesn’t explain the prophetic accuracy of the book that bears his name. In 170-163 BC, Judea was under Greek, not Roman rule.
The Roman Republic had not yet become the Roman Empire when Daniel’s critics claim the Book of Daniel was written. So even if it was written by Judas Maccabeus, (it wasn’t) the critics are still left scratching their heads, since even with the later date, most of Daniel’s prophecy was yet future.
It is a ridiculous, desperate effort by those who just can’t accept the supernatural explanation to find one that they can — even if their preferred explanation is even less defensible.
To accept Daniel at face value is to admit that God exists, since if Daniel is the actual author of the Book, then no other possible explanation makes sense.


“…For I am God and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:” (Isaiah 46:9-10)
In Daniel’s day, Rome was not yet even a republic, let alone an empire. The city of Rome was founded by Romulus at just about the same time that Daniel was interpreting King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
The king had dreamed a dream that he couldn’t remember, but it greatly troubled him. Eventually, Daniel was summoned to both reveal what the dream was and interpret it.
The king dreamed of a statue, or image of a man with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, two legs of iron and ten toes of iron mixed with clay.
THIS is the dream that confounds Daniel’s critics. By the time of the Maccabean Period, the empire of Babylon had already been defeated by Persia, which had been already defeated by Greece, which was already beginning to show signs of crumbling.
The two legs of iron, signifying Rome, were still future. By the fourth century, the Roman Empire grew too large to be administered from Rome and so the Empire was divided into the Western, Roman Empire and the Eastern Byzantine Empire, with its capital at Constantinople.
Rome was conquered by the barbarians in 476 AD. Rome’s political destruction was complete – a deadly wound directly to one of the heads of the empire, fulfilling the Apostle John’s prediction of a deadly head wound:
The Prophet Daniel predicts that the final form of the revived Roman Empire will be a confederation of ten kingdoms that were part of the two legs of iron. With the revival of the Roman Empire, that deadly wound is healed.
It is at this point that interpreters and Bible critics and Bible teachers and students of Bible prophecy branch out into all kinds of areas. Some are convinced the deadly wound signifies a failed assassination attempt against the antichrist.
Others focus their attention on the identity of the first beast, or the system overseen by the second beast, or are mesmerized by the concept of the Mark of the Beast and how it will be administered.
All these things are unknown and, I believe, unknowable, until the time appointed.
And all the speculation, (since it is all different and things that are different cannot be the same), throws out the baby with the bath water, can’t see the forest for the trees, is missing a piece of the puzzle, is out wandering in the desert, not to mention all the other metaphors I can’t think of.
If you back up to the point before the speculation begins, THAT is where the real meat is to be found.
At the time the Prophet Daniel was telling Nebuchadnezzar that the as-yet future Roman Empire would remain a force until it is abolished by Jesus Christ in the final hours of human government, an unwashed peasant named Romulus was founding a settlement along the Tiber River, declaring himself king.
Twenty-six hundred years after Daniel and sixteen hundred years after the barbarians entered the gates of Rome, the European Union declared itself the revival of the Roman Empire.
Whether it currently consists of ten nations or twenty-seven at this particular point in history is largely irrelevant. History is still unfolding. In the end, it will be fulfilled precisely as prophesied.
Isaiah 46:10 teaches us that prophecy starts at the end and works back to the beginning.
In 1948, for the first time since Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem (and Daniel) the nation of Israel was revived and restored to the same piece of real estate from which they had been ejected by the Romans in AD 70.
For a nation of antiquity to be conquered, scattered and then restored in such a manner had no equal in history. But this event was more than an historical first — it was the direct and unambiguous fulfillment of Bible prophecy for the last days.
At the exact same point in history, the six nations of the Benelux formed a cooperative economic union that marked the beginning of the revival of the Roman Empire. The revival of an historical empire such as we’ve witnessed in our generation is also an event without equal in the annals of history.
To assume both events happened at exactly the same point in history — by coincidence — takes a faith greater than I can muster up.
The world is in a state of chaos and confusion unlike anything in living memory — for the first time in the history of mankind, mankind faces an existential threat of extinction at his own hand.
Uncertainty and fear color every waking moment as we wonder if our world will look the same in the morning as it did when we went to bed the night before.
Our systems and infrastructure are in shambles, people are rioting in the streets, the economy is in the tank and everywhere one turns, they are talking about a New World Order.
There is no need to speculate. Just look at what is out there in the open.
If you know Jesus Christ (and He knows you) than what is unfolding in our world is proof positive that the world is wrong, God is not dead, Jesus Christ remains on the throne and remains intimately involved in the affairs of men.
Everything is unfolding according to Plan and what remains unfulfilled will be fulfilled in this generation just as literally as those that have already been fulfilled. So we have nothing to fear.
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid…And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” (John 14:27,29)
It IS coming to pass. And I believe.

Jews, Gentiles, And The Church

Jews, Gentiles, and the Church

By Dave Hunt

Before the cross of Christ, mankind was divided into two groups: Jews and Gentiles. The Old and New Testaments both make very clear what caused this distinction. It was the covenants God had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and with their descendants through Moses. These covenants were for Israel alone and separated her from all other nations on the face of the earth, making God’s “chosen people” absolutely unique. Israel was segregated from other peoples by the Mosaic law and by her special relationship with the One who calls Himself “the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” (Lev 20:24,26, etc.).
The important distinction between Jews and Gentiles is maintained consistently throughout the Bible: “…so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth” (Ex 33:16); “…for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people that ye should be mine” (Lev 20:26); “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his…own people for ever” (1 Chr 17:21-22); “…ye [Gentiles] were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God…” (Eph 2:12).
After the Cross a new entity came into existence—the church that Jesus Christ promised He would build (Mt 16:18). As a result, there are now three divisions of mankind: Jews, Gentiles and the church. Paul tells us that we are to “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God” (1 Cor 10:32). It is absolutely essential to understand that these three groups exist side by side in today’s world, to distinguish between them, and to recognize that God deals with each differently.

Pope Frances Supports/Recommends Essay Trashing U.S. Conservative Christians

Pope Endorses Essay Trashing U.S. Conservative Christians

On Thursday, La Civiltà Cattolica journal released the transcript of a meeting between Pope Francis and a group of 24 Jesuits on September 5, 2019, during his recent trip to Mozambique in which the pope suggested that certain Evangelical Protestants in the United States “cannot really be defined as Christian.”
“Two important articles in Civiltà Cattolica have been published in this regard. I recommend them to you. They were written by Father Spadaro and the Argentinean Presbyterian pastor, Marcelo Figueroa. The first article spoke of the ‘ecumenism of hatred.’ The second was on the ‘theology of prosperity,’” the pontiff said.
“Reading them you will see that there are sects that cannot really be defined as Christian. They preach Christ, yes, but their message is not Christian,” the pope said. “It has nothing to do with the preaching of a Lutheran or any other serious evangelical Christianity.”
In the first essay recommended by the pope, the authors, who are both friends of Francis, slammed conservative Christians in the U.S. as ignorant, theocratic, Manichean, war-mongering fanatics.
For the “Evangelical right,” the authors proposed, the panorama of threats to the American way of life “have included modernist spirits, the black civil rights movement, the hippy movement, communism, feminist movements and so on. And now in our day there are the migrants and the Muslims.”
The authors did not hesitate to suggest that many Evangelicals are southern racists who reject climate change.
“Another interesting aspect is the relationship with creation of these religious groups that are composed mainly of whites from the deep American South,” the article stated. “There is a sort of ‘anesthetic’ with regard to ecological disasters and problems generated by climate change. They profess ‘dominionism’ and consider ecologists as people who are against the Christian faith.”
At the time of its publication, the article triggered an avalanche of critical responses denouncing the ignorance and political ill-will underlying the essay.
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, for instance, wrote a sharp criticism of the essay, saying that the authors were guilty of “dumbing down and inadequately presenting the nature of Catholic/evangelical cooperation on religious freedom and other key issues.”

In his critique of the article, Dr. Samuel Gregg called the article “disturbing,” while lamenting the tacit anti-Americanism and “distinctly amateur grasp of American religious history.”

The published criticisms of the original article by serious scholars, both Christian and secular, ended up being so numerous they could fill a book. The article was eventually dismissed as simply an embarrassing attempt at political propaganda by overly zealous Italian and Argentinian clerics who were completely out of their depth.

Which could lead one to wonder what Pope Francis could possibly be thinking when he dredges up this ill-begotten essay out of the swamp of oblivion to recommend it as a useful aid for understanding America’s complex religious landscape.

Rouhani Has Exposed the Futility of European Diplomacy

  • The reality of the delusional approach adopted by Mr Macron and other European leaders was, though, brutally exposed the moment Mr Rouhani arrived in New York. Instead of showing any sign of seeking to repair Tehran's strained relationship with the West and its allies, he instead indulged in an orgy of self-justification in which he sought to portray his country as an innocent victim of Western aggression rather than accepting, as is really the case, that Iran was the primary instigator of the latest escalation in tensions.

  • "The security of our region shall be provided when American troops pull out." — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, UN General Assembly, September 25, 2019.

  • This will have made for uncomfortable listening for all those European leaders who still believe that the best way to resolve the global crisis with Iran is by trying to save the nuclear deal.

  • The reality is that, so long as Tehran remains committed to its hostile stance towards the West, there is little prospect of having a constructive relationship with Iran.

    The utter futility of European attempts to keep faith with the flawed Iranian nuclear deal has been brutally exposed in the wake of the uncompromising approach adopted by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani during the United Nations General Assembly.

    In the build-up to the UN's annual jamboree of global networkers, there had been much speculation that, against a background of mounting tensions in the Gulf over Tehran's aggressive conduct, the forum might provide an opportunity to re-establish a dialogue with the ayatollahs.

    To this end French President Emmanuel Macron has, in particular, been actively trying to broker a diplomatic rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, to the extent it was even suggested that a bilateral meeting might be possible between US President Donald Trump and Mr Rouhani.


    The prime target of his attack was, unsurprisingly, the US, which he accused of engaging in "merciless economic terrorism" following the Trump administration's decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and impose a new round of economic sanctions against Tehran.

    Washington's policies, Mr Rouhani contended, were designed to "deprive Iran from participating in the global economy" by resorting to tactics that amounted to "international piracy."

    In short, the tone of Mr Rouhani's address to the UN was that of a politician who wants to maintain his confrontational stance against the West, rather than of a man who genuinely seeks peace.

Nuclear Summer

Hal Lindsey: Nuclear Summer

If I said, “Tensions are running high in the Middle East,” most Americans would yawn and reply, “So? What else is new? Tensions in the Middle East have been going back and forth between a simmer and a boil for the last hundred years.”

But this time the United States sent an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, and its carrier strike group. This time there have been credible threats against US forces in Iraq. The Iran-sponsored Shia Muslim militias that helped rid Iraq of ISIS are now being repurposed for attacks on US troops in the region.

Iran’s goal is to get the US involved in a ground war against those Shia militias in Iraq. They do not want to face an American assault on their homeland. But President Trump has made it clear that if Iran-sponsored groups hit American forces, this country will retaliate against Iran itself. That threat alone may be enough to keep war at bay — for now.

But the radical Muslim leaders of Iran are not known for giving up. While they know than can’t withstand a direct assault by the United States, they will push America to the edge again and again. And they will not quit.

They are responsible for the catastrophe in Yemen where some 16 million people are at this moment in danger of starvation. Numerous aid agencies are trying to help, but the Houthi rebels steal the aid for their own use. Like other Shiite Muslim terrorists in the Middle East, the Houthis are financed and directed by the government of Iran. The Iranians could stop the catastrophe any time they want. But they don’t seem to care about the people of Yemen. They just want to keep control of the land near the Gulf of Aiden and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. 

Iran has long been considered the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. That’s growing worse, not better. Recently, the US State Department designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. 

Iran is a close ally with North Korea. Iranian missiles use technology developed in North Korea. And North Korea now has intercontinental ballistic missiles in its arsenal. Have they shared that technology with Iran? With North Korea’s financial predicament, it’s seems almost certain that they have. We also know about Iran’s obsession with nuclear weapons. Intelligence sources say that Iran’s North Korean friends have at least a hundred of those. The combination of ICBMs and nuclear weapons in Iranian hands would put the whole world in danger.

Iran is Shia Muslim. Their bitter enemies are the Sunni Muslims. Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons has pushed several Sunni nations in the Middle East to actively seek nuclear weapons of their own. To get such weapons, Saudi Arabia and others in the region can skip the long process of developing them. They can surreptitiously buy them from their fellow Sunni Muslims in Pakistan, one of the world’s nuclear powers.

The dynamics of all of this changed dramatically when Iran convinced mighty Russia to join them as an ally. The Chinese also remain on good terms with Iran. The ancient conflict between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups is now a major destabilizing force in global politics.

All of these events fit into the geopolitical pattern described in the Bible for the last days.

Don’t be discouraged by that. Be encouraged. It proves again that we can trust the Bible with our lives. Its warnings are again proving accurate. That is yet another reason to trust the Bible’s positive messages. Jesus is coming again, and He’s coming soon! In the meantime, all the Bible’s promises remain in effect — promises from God to you. So take heart!

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Chaos Continues In Hong Kong

Violence continued in Hong Kong as anti-government demonstrations entered their 17th week. The police response was described by the Washington Post as "among the most aggressive" since the movement began over a now-withdrawn extradition bill which would have allowed China to forcibly move suspects to the mainland for face trial in communist courts. 

Protesters destroyed signs and flags raised in advance of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the People's Republic of China, some of which were burned. According to WaPo, "At times, riot police appeared outnumbered. Shoppers at a luxury mall in central Hong Kong looked on as police and protesters engaged in a pitched battle. Protesters crouched, created a phalanx of umbrellas and tossed bricks and bottles toward the officers. Police fired round after round of tear gas."

The protesters inched forward as rubber bullets shredded their umbrellas. When it appeared the police might be outflanked, officers made a hasty retreat. Protesters seized the moment, rushing toward officers piling into police vans. 
Demonstrators, cheered by onlookers and fellow marchers, hit the vans with poles and bottles as the vehicles sped away. The road was littered with glass and spent tear-gas canisters clinked across the asphalt as the protesters continued their march. 
At nightfall in the nearby neighborhood of Wan Chai,residents left their homes and workplaces to jeer at police and pelt their vehicles with bricks and bottles. -Washington Post

Several people were seriously injured, including an Indonesian journalist based in Hong Kong who was hit in the eye by a projectile while live-streaming the event for her publication.
Street battles broke between protesters and police who struggled to keep the demonstrators at bay with rubber bullets and tear gas. 
Residents and tourists were caught in the crossfire, clutching their faces and running in fear in several areas, including the neon-lit luxury shopping district of Causeway Bay. -Washington Post

In addition to tear gas, authorities deployed water cannons again - spraying protesters with blue die containing an irritant. 

At approximately 5pm, riot police launched an aggressive clearance operation against protesters along Harcourt Road - a frequent location for clashes. 
Police pushed young demonstrators to the asphalt road and dragged them away, leaving pools of blood. Hong Kong’s hospital authority said 13 people were admitted to hospitals by 7:30 p.m., including one in serious condition. -Washington Post

Arrested protesters were lined up against a wall outside a government building before being frisked and taken away. 

6.8 Quake Hits Off Coast Of Chile

Magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes off Chilean coast

A powerful magnitude 6.8 earthquake shook the coast of Chile on Sunday, swaying buildings in the capital of Santiago. The national emergency agency said there were no reported injuries or damage to basic services.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at 10:57 a.m. local time and was centered 40 miles west-southwest of the city of Constitucion and about 225 miles south of Santiago, the capital. The epicenter was 10.3 miles below the surface.

Image: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Chile on Sept. 29, 2019.

In Constitucion, the cathedral was evacuated, but there were no reports of damage. Chilean officials said the quake was felt across a broad swath of the central and south of the country.
The USGS initially calculated the magnitude at 7.2

Signs Of The Times

The Time Shall Come...

By Jack Kinsella
The verses quoted above were part of Jesus’ response to the question, “What will be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3
The Lord’s reply to the question is known to Bible scholars as the “Olivet Discourse” because, 1) Jesus was standing ‘upon the Mount of Olives’ at the time, and; 2) His answer, which is contained in the three Synoptic Gospels, fills the entire chapter. It is one of the most lengthy teaching discourses in the New Testament.
The Olivet Discourse focuses its attention on events that take place DURING THE TRIBULATION, but begins by describing the events that conspire together to bring it about.
The period of wars and rumors of wars has been ongoing now since 1914 with the first truly global war in human history. It was followed by a second global war in 1939, whose conclusion brought about the ultimate ‘rumor of war’ between the West and the Soviet Empire.
There are two different entities under discussion, ‘nations’ and ‘kingdoms’. The word ‘nation’ is translated from the Greek word ‘ethnos’ and describes an ethnic state, like Israel or one of the ethnic states of the Arab world. Or North Korea.
The world translated ‘kingdom’ ‘basileia’ means “royal power, kingship, dominion, rule” and it describes a national entity bound together by economic/social interests, rather than ethnic relationships.
America would fit the Biblical understanding of a ‘kingdom’ in the sense Americans are not bound together by blood or ethnicity, but rather by common social and economic benefits. The same could be applied to the member/states of the EU. Individually, some European countries might be ethnic in origin, but the Common Market exists for economic reasons.
The collapse of the Soviet Union uncorked a new round of ethnic unrest and international conflict, but, as Jesus was careful to note, “the end is not yet.”


Ethnic or economic strife have been responsible for all the wars of modern times. The world wars were wars aimed at conquest for economic reasons. Hitler’s Nazis sought both ethnic purity and “liebensraum” (living space) for Germany.
Japan’s Imperial government set out to conquer Asia to ensure a steady supply of raw materials and to establish ethnic Japanese rule over Greater Asia.
Skeptics might argue that wars, ethnic unrest, even famines, earthquakes and pestilences, all have been part of the human condition since the Fall of Man at the Garden of Eden. (Or since the first amoeba turned into a person…for the skeptic who can’t bring himself to believe in God, but finds no conflict of faith in a frog turning into a prince).
Note that Jesus said “all these are the beginning of sorrows.” The word ‘sorrow’ first appears in Scripture in Genesis 3:16 when God tells Eve, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.” “Sorrow” is translated from the Hebrew “itstsabown” and refers to labor pains.
The Greek word ‘odin’ translated as ‘sorrows’ in Matthew 24:8 also refers to labor pains.
Every parent who has ever lived could instantly grasp the meaning of this metaphor — that is why Jesus chose it. As the birth of a child approaches, the mother begins to experience labor pains, which, having once begun, continue to increase in both frequency and intensity as the moment of birth approaches.
Prospective parents in Jesus’ day did exactly what I did with each of my kids — timed the interval between the contractions. It was a carefully chosen metaphor designed to resonate with all people, of all cultures, in all generations. But, to the generation to whom those signs were addressed, the meaning would be unmistakable.
When one compares the accuracy of the Bible’s account of the unknowable future to the ever-changing scientific ‘explanations’ for the distant past, doubts melt away. The skeptic has multiple explanations for static events that have already happened.
The Bible gives a single explanation for a fluid, changeable series of events predicted to happen thousands of years in the future — the events that define our present day. Which is more convincing?
Bible prophecy proves Jesus was the Son of God, regardless of the latest scientific, archeological or historical discovery. No matter what else might be offered as ‘evidence’ to the contrary, there is no other explanation for Bible prophecy. It is our generation’s unique miracle.
It proves that He remains in charge of the affairs of men. Scripture records His Promise in all three Gospel accounts, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35Mark 13:31Luke 21:33)
Bible prophecy is proof positive that God remains on the Throne, that His Word will NOT return to Him void, and that all the chaos and terror of the world notwithstanding, all continues to go according to His plan.
Given the unbeliever’s explanation of uncontrolled chaos, Bible prophecy isn’t all that depressing, after all. What WOULD be depressing would be to be among the lost, not knowing what this world is coming to, and believing the world is in a state of uncontrolled chaos.
For the believer, Bible prophecy can be pretty encouraging, which is what the Lord intended for the last days’ Church all along:
“But these things have I told you, that WHEN THE TIME SHALL COME, ye may remember that I told you of them.” (John 16:4)