More on Target and the Transgender Products

Take some time to read this CNN article on the transgender who created the company and products that were being sold at Target.  Satan seems to be winning the current battle on earth that repeats the lie, “whatever desires you were born with and whatever your heart wants, that’s a wonderful thing!”  In reality we were all born as sinners in need of a savior.  Our hearts and wicked and our minds are confused.  Only Jesus can help.

*****************************

“I take what I do incredibly seriously,” he said. “I owe it to my younger self, who was so lost and in so much pain … I owe it to him to create stuff that he could be proud of, stuff that tells him that who he is is not wrong. That who he is is wonderful,” he said. 

When Carnell, who is trans, thinks about his younger self he recalls a time “when I was a child and desperately wished that I was a boy, and didn’t realize that there was a way I could do that.” Carnell knows his experience was not isolated. “There are so many people out there like him,” he said, referring to his younger self.

Abprallen sells shirts, elaborate pins and other accessories that juxtapose pastel blues, pinks and purples with skulls, skeletons and UFOs. The images are paired with a variety of phrases, like “Transphobia sucks” and “Gay icon.” Some are in direct conversation with specific incidents, like “Witches & wizards love trans people,” a response to Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s heavily criticized comments about trans people. 

But one design sparked an uproar online.

 https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/27/business/target-pride-abprallen/index.html

Target Stores and LGBTQ

The extreme left-wing women on The View simply don’t get it.  Conservatives aren’t triggered and looking for safe spaces and cry zones because Target is selling LGBTQ merchandise to kids.  Nope!  We just are doing our best to not shop at stores that choose to push the LGBTQ agenda.  Bud Light is evidently feeling some pain and we hope Target does too.  Maybe other businesses will think a little harder before they decide to push a godless agenda that is aimed directly at our kids.  Bud Light now has commercials featuring the Clydesdale horses and another featuring straight, white couple caught in the rain.  I sure hope all the Bud Light drinkers see through this lame attempt to win back their customers.

*****************************************

"The View" debated the controversial move by Target to move some of its Pride merchandise to avoid a Bud Light-style backlash, with Sunny Hostin saying she was "very disappointed" in the company and Whoopi Goldberg roasting anyone offended by such apparel as "snowflakes." 

Fox News Digital reported this week that Target held an "emergency" meeting last week and pushed some of its southern store locations to move or tamp down its LGBTQ Pride merchandise. An insider at the company said the corporate action was in part out of desire to avoid a "Bud Light situation," referring to the ongoing backlash to the beer company's partnership with a transgender social media influencer. 

Goldberg was outraged by the situation with Target, the latest company to make headlines for getting wrapped up in cultural battles.

"I’m sick of people moving my desires because their desires are not being met in some way," she said. "I’m sick of people telling me I can’t go to a drag show. I’m sick of people telling me that my friends are different because you don’t understand them. I’m sick of it. This is America. You’re supposed to be able to be whoever you are. You know, stop with all this stuff. You want to talk about snowflakes? Who are the snowflakes really?"

 https://www.foxnews.com/media/whoopi-goldberg-erupts-target-controversy-after-store-moves-pride-merchandise-really-tired-this?dicbo=v2-2oeuptU

Reparations for Black People?

The discussion and desire seems to be building.  There are folks who are seriously calling for millions of dollars to be given to black people whose ancestors were slaves.  But who should pay?  Where does the money come from?  Who should get it?  What if you descended from slaves who were owned by black people?  Should the blacks who descended from that black slave owner have to pay reparations to other blacks?  The whole thing is so stupid I don’t know where to start explaining!  But nothing appears too idiotic these days for the Democrats to embrace and then push down everyone else’s throats.  Let’s watch what California does for reparations and you can be sure it’ll spread.

************************

 A descendant of slaves running for Congress is calling on President Biden to give qualifying Black Americans $2.8 million in reparations for the lasting effects of slavery.

"Reparations is about a debt that is due," Gregg Marcel Dixon, who hopes to unseat Democratic Rep. James Clyburn in South Carolina’s 6th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital.

For 31 years, Dixon lived with his great-grandmother who was raised by former slaves, according to a campaign ad he posted on Twitter.

"We like to say slavery was a long time ago, but you are looking at a man who was raised in the same house with a woman who was raised by someone who was enslaved by America," he said about Justine Brown, who died at 101 years old in 2015.

Dixon explained that Brown's grandfather was born enslaved in Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1838, and died in 1930.

"This country owes reparations to Black Americans and if this country had done to you what it had done to Black Americans, I would be right there fighting for you to get what you owed as well," he said.

He told Fox News Digital that his ancestor Quash Fripp fought in the Union Army during the civil war.

Dixon said that he thinks that Americans who identify as Black and can trace their lineage to slaves are owed $2.8 million in government bonds, adding that the amount should go up each day the reparations are not given.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/descendant-slaves-hits-biden-lack-action-reparations-all-we-get-fish-fries-feel-good-dances

USA Uses Foreign Aid to Coerce LGBT Agenda

I understand and agree with America not sending money to governments who don’t foster democratic values.  But now Biden and his delusional friends want to stop sending money to nations who refuse his LGBT agenda. America has become the chief exporter of perversion.  How long can we stand?  How much longer will God allow us to stand?

**************************

 United States Agency for International Development (USAID) recently released a new draft "LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy" aimed at "championing LGBTQI+ inclusive development and the human rights of LGBTQI+ people as part of a coordinated, whole-of-U.S. government effort with our partners on the ground." If enacted, the policy would be the first of its kind for USAID.

Family Research Council submitted a public comment addressing several concerns during a short window when the draft policy was open for public comment until May 11, 2023. Among FRC's concerns is that it is fundamentally "inappropriate, counter-productive, and coercive" to "implement programs ultimately designed to change the mores and cultures of other countries."

The United States gives more foreign assistance than any country in the world, and USAID has a powerful position as the government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and assistance. USAID's mission is a noble one -- it is intended to "save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance." FRC expressed concern that "it simply does not fall within the mission of USAID to 'affirm and celebrate' sexual orientation or gender identity," quoting from the opening lines of the draft policy.

Rather, "the agency should remain committed to supporting American foreign policy, international development, and disaster assistance," all of which can be accomplished without creating this new LGBT-focused policy. FRC's comment noted that the draft policy's goals further represent "mission creep" because "it is beyond the scope of USAID's legitimate mandate to foster working relationships with LGBTQI+ organizations and activists in order to 'keep pace with dynamic, vibrant, and growing international LGBTQI+ movements.'"

Allocating resources in pursuit of implementing radical gender ideology abroad is not in the interests of the American people or those of the receiving countries. FRC's comment pointed out that often, "foreign leaders and citizens in the countries receiving U.S. foreign assistance regard efforts to change their domestic laws and culture about marriage and human sexuality to be condescending." With so many legitimate needs around the world to be addressed, U.S. assistance funds would be more wisely apportioned elsewhere.

The very premise of the policy is to inflict this extremely "Western, post-modern perspective that ignores biological sex and underestimates the purpose and significance of families and familial ties" throughout the countries in which this proposal will take effect. FRC's comment concluded with a much-needed reminder about the purpose of USAID and the foundations of the international human rights project:

"It will harm U.S. relations with other countries and apply heavy-handed, coercive pressure on foreign countries to change their laws, policies, and culture. In all, it simply fails to forward the mission and purpose of USAID.

"Unfortunately, this draft misunderstands the implications of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states, 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.' It is precisely because all humans inherently have equal dignity and worth rooted in humanity's possession of reason and conscience (not rooted in sexual orientation or gender identity) that we do not need a policy emphasizing LGBTQI+ inclusive development. Such individuals should be and are already served by USAID programs."

Recently, USAID released a new "Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy," which was also infused with a harmful gender ideology which undermined the policy's purported goal of uplifting women and girls across the globe. The policy also stated that "family planning and reproductive health services" (code for abortion) was an essential part of the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Policy under President Biden.

The draft of Biden administration's new "LGBTQI+ Inclusive Development Policy" is yet another example of how President Biden is using taxpayer money to push a radical agenda abroad that many Americans oppose. This draft policy would be bad for American taxpayers, bad for recipient countries that do not want President Biden's ideological colonialism, and would fail to accomplish the mission of USAID. The Biden administration should reverse course and refrain from enacting the policy.

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6110

Can Retailers Survive the Looting and Shoplifting That Happens Everyday?

 In the last days there will be lawlessness.  Today we are seeing this play out like we have NEVER seen it.  Thieves are so emboldened by lack of police and absence of prosecution that they literally walk into stores in Democrat controlled cities and shovel anything they choose into their bags and walk out.  Many video show them walking right past managers and even security guards.  The Democrat mayors scream at the retailers who are leaving and throw out the racist card.  But corporations are not in business to give away merchandise to thieves.  The Democrats are going to end up boiling in their own stew of delusion.  I sure hope to see it but I’m not gonna hold my breath that we will.  Lawlessness will increase.

************************

This week, Target made headlines all over the nation when it publicly admitted that theft will cost it 500 million more dollars than it did last year...

Target said Wednesday that organized retail crime will fuel $500 million more in stolen and lost merchandise this year compared with a year ago.

Target's inventory loss, called shrink, totaled about $763 million last fiscal year, based on calculations from the company's financial filings. With the anticipated increase, shrink this year would surpass $1 billion.

Let's do some math.

763 million from last year plus 500 million more this year equals 1.263 billion dollars.

Please keep in mind that this is just one chain.

As Target CEO Brian Cornell openly admitted earlier this week, organized retail crime has become a massive problem "across the entire retail industry"...

'The unfortunate fact is violent incidents are increasing at our stores and across the entire retail industry. And when products are stolen, simply put they are no longer available for guests who depend on them.

'Left unchecked, organized retail crime degrades the communities we call home. As we work to address this problem, the safety of our guests and our team members will always be our primary concern.

'Beyond safety concerns, worsening shrink rates are putting significant pressure on our financial results,' CEO Brian Cornell said on a call with reporters.

In the entire history of our nation, we have never seen anything quite like this.

Do you remember all the looting that we witnessed during the riots of a couple years ago?

Well, now the looting literally never stops, and it has become very sophisticated...

According to the NRF report, which conducted its latest assessment in partnership with global risk advisory firm K2 Integrity, these organized retail crime groups "primarily favor large national retailers and big-box retailers, and cargo shipments for booster operations." They are also more likely to target everyday consumer goods rather than luxury products. Based on an analysis of 116 groups, 81% exclusively stole general consumer goods.

These groups have also been planning out their booster operations in advance by studying store layouts, camera and exit locations, understanding the types of anti-theft precautions and knowing the different store policies for stopping suspected thieves, the report said. Boosters are known as the individuals who are paid to commit theft on behalf of these groups.

In 2020, theft cost U.S. retailers 90.8 billion dollars, and that number increased to 94.5 billion dollars in 2021...

Last year, a survey from the National Retail Federation, an industry group, found that so-called "shrink" -- or losses attributed to theft, fraud or employee error -- amounted to $94.5 billion in losses in 2021. That was up from $90.8 billion in 2020. And the survey found that retailers reported a 26.5% increase in organized retail crime, on average.

The final number for 2022 is expected to be somewhere around 100 billion dollars, and the final number for 2023 is expected to be way above 100 billion dollars.

For a while, major retailers tried to weather the storm because they had invested so much money in these stores.

But now retailer after retailer is shutting down locations in the cities where organized retail crime is the worst.  In fact, even Walmart is now shutting down stores in the most troubled areas...

Walmart decided to shut 17 of its stores across nine states after CEO Doug McMillon warned in December that theft was the highest it's ever been around the country and if it did not slow down, stores would have to close.

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=6107

While We Cannot Know the Day, We Should Know the Season of Our Lord’s Return

Dr. David Reagan is an awesome pastor and teacher and I have listened to him many times over the years.  This following article is written by him.  I’ve talked to so many Christians over the years who say that we are never going to know the day of Jesus’ return so don’t pay attention to or think about it at all.  Of course I believe that is dead wrong.  Why would Paul clearly tell us that we aren’t children of the darkness?  For them the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief.  But!!  For us, we are children of the light and day so the things of the Lord will not come upon us as a surprise.  If we are paying attention we should not be surprised when the Master returns.

************************

Is there anything we can know about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ?

If you had asked me that question years ago, I would have said, “No, absolutely not! There is not one thing you can ever know about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.” But after over 45 years of intensive study of Bible prophecy, I’ve come to a different conclusion. When people ask me now, “Can we know when Jesus will return?” my answer is, “Yes and No.” No, we cannot know the date. Yes, we can know the season.

Now, when I say we cannot know the date that Jesus will return, I mean that with all my heart. The Bible makes it crystal clear we cannot know the date. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus Himself said, “of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” We simply cannot know the date. Unfortunately, there are a lot of sincere people who are setting dates. I do not doubt their sincerity, but they are sincerely deceived.

Why Date-Setting Is So Dangerous

You see, Satan loves date setters because they bring discredit to Bible prophecy. You know how it works. Somebody sets a date. People get their hopes focused on that date rather than on their Savior, Jesus Christ. They become obsessed and run around all over the place talking incessantly about the date. The press picks up on the story and focuses in on the date. Then, the date comes and passes, and scoffers heap ridicule on those who believed in the date. The individuals who put their faith in that date are embarrassed, and they become embittered. They say to themselves, “I’ll tell you one thing, I’ll never do that again!” Then, when a responsible prophecy teacher comes along and says, “I don’t know the date, but I do know Jesus is coming soon,” they say, “Oh sure, I’ve heard that nonsense before,” and they refuse to listen. They close their minds to God’s prophetic word. And Satan loves it.

The closer we get to the Rapture, the more of these date-setters Satan is going to deceive. The effect will be like the person who constantly yells, “The wolf is coming, the wolf is coming, the wolf is coming!” Although the false messenger continues to shout a warning, people grow frustrated and decide to ignore the message. And then the wolf comes.

So, while we cannot know the date Jesus is coming, we can know the season of the Lord’s return.

We Can Know the Season

One of the most important Scripture passages that proves we can know the season of the Lord’s return is in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonian church. In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 he wrote, “Now as to the times and seasons, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”

Notice that for most of the world, Jesus’ coming will be “like a thief in the night!” Verse 3 says it will occur while people are saying, “Peace and safety!” At that time, Paul says, “Destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.”

But too many Christians stop reading at verse 3 and never get to the fundamental point found in verse 4. Underline that crucial verse in your Bible. Don’t ever forget it. The verse proves beyond a doubt that you and I can know the season of the Lord’s return. First Thessalonians 5:4 says, “But you brethren, believers, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”

Now, what does that verse tell us? Paul is saying Jesus is coming like a thief in the night. But not for the brethren, not for Christians. He’s coming like a thief in the night for the world. He’s coming like a thief in the night for pagans. He’s coming like a thief in the night for those professing Christians who do not have any personal relationship with Him, who have never really been born again, and who refuse to believe and study the Word of God.

What do you think Paul means when he says, “We are sons of light and not of darkness”? I think what He’s referring to is the fact that if you are truly a born-again child of God, you have the Holy Spirit residing inside of you. The Holy Spirit is the Person of God who inspired the Bible. So if you lean on the Holy Spirit, He will illuminate your mind and heart, opening your spiritual eyes to understand the mysteries of God’s Word — including the season of the Lord’s return. And so the Bible says point blank, Jesus is not coming as a “thief in the night” for those who know Him and those who love Him.

 https://harbingersdaily.com/while-we-cannot-know-the-date-we-should-know-the-season-of-the-lords-return/

When Jesus Returns Will He Find Any Faith Left in the World?

 Prophecy tells us that a famine is coming and it appears it's already here.  Not a famine of food and water but a famine in the hearing and believing of the Word of God.  Some will say, "Well, that's not here in America because there is a church on every street corner at every town in the country!"  But sadly we all know that most of those churches are pretty empty and for even the ones that have people in the pews, the message being preached could be totally false and the beliefs of the congregants could be totally unbiblical.

This recent Barna discovery should be shocking to us all, but sadly it's not surprising.

More than half of born-again Christians don't believe Jesus lived a sinless life.

That is what the respected George Barna survey tells us.

Many people want to blame this sorry state all on COVID-19, when 15 million people stopped attending church in America. 

As the apologetics website Got Questions explains, Jesus being sinless is central to the hope Christians have in Him as Savior. It explains why it's so important to believe. If he was not God incarnate, Jesus would not be able to forgive sins. 

But he was able to do just that, as we're are told in 1 Peter 2:21-24: "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

This is fundamental to the Christian life. If you don't truly believe it with every bone in your body, you don't know Jesus. It can't be blamed on church attendance or COVID-19.

Born-again Christians make up the backbone of church activity and a high level of commitment to their faith, but the study shows that between 2020 and 2023, the share of those who say they believe Jesus did not commit sins during his lifetime on Earth fell from 58% to 44%.

This shift in belief among born-again Christians was among six that showed a significant decline in the past three years, which Barna characterizes as "indefensible." Those include the findings that fewer than half of born-again Christians now believe they have a unique, God-given calling or purpose. The share of those who held that belief fell from 88 to 46% during the pandemic.

A downward trend was also observed among those who say the Bible is unambiguous in its teaching about abortion, falling from 58 to 44%. Those who say human life is sacred fell from 60 to 48%, and the number of born-again Christians who say God is the basis of all truth fell from 69 to 63% over the period.

The share of born-again believers who say they are deeply committed to practicing their religious faith fell from 85% to 50%, while the share of those who say they read or study the Bible at least once a week fell from 60 to 55%.

When it comes to the general population of U.S. adults, Barna said the share of the population that claims to hold a biblical worldview fell from 6% to 4% in the last three years, while less than half now claim to be "deeply committed to practicing" their religious faith. That measure fell from 60 to 48%.

"Most religious beliefs change over the course of generations, not a few years," Barna said. "However, we know that major life crises have the capacity to introduce substantial change quickly in the foundations of people's faith."

Perhaps we should describe this as the apocalypse of the church.

"The pandemic was certainly a life crisis for our nation, so even though this magnitude of spiritual shift was not expected, it is feasible given the physical and psychological effects of COVID along with the economic, relational, and lifestyle effects of the government's drastic policies," Barna explained.

Barna previously warned in 2022 that a significant driver behind the decline in Christians holding on to a biblical worldview is syncretism, an ideology described as "the worldview that merges otherwise incompatible philosophies of life into a made-to-order worldview that incorporates enough biblical elements to be minimally Christian in nature."

"Although some of the belief and behavior shifts seem to conflict with each other, this is precisely what happens when the prevailing worldview of the nation is syncretism," Barna said.

"Syncretism does not rely upon logic or consistency," he said. "Over time, many people struggle with the conflicts inherent in their syncretistic belief system, and the strange jumble of behaviors that emerge from those beliefs. But for the foreseeable future, it is likely most people will ignore their incompatible philosophies and make do the best they can. They are seeking comfort and security more than spiritual and intellectual consistency."

Yes, they are not willing to give their lives to God. Yet it's the only thing that can save them.

As John 10:10 tells us, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

Here;  Shock Poll: Results Show More Than Half Of Christians Are Deceiving Themselves (prophecynewswatch.com)

If Jesus didn't live a sinless life then he can't be the spotless lamb that takes away the sins of all of us.  If Jesus isn't sinless then He's not God.  If Jesus isn't God then He was a liar because He claimed He was! And lying is a sin!!

Can a faith in something wrong save you?  No it can't.  Millions of Muslims might have genuine faith in Allah and Muhammad but it will not save them.

You might claim that you know Jesus, but if you are denying his claims and his deity then tragically you may be one of those who hears these terrifying words on Judgement Day, "Depart from me!  I don't know you!"

Think about it.