Palestinian Arabs See Violence Toward Israel as the Solution

 God was pretty clear in His Word that when He brought the Jews back to the Promised Land they would never be destroyed again.  The Arabs/Muslims have sure tried but have always failed under miraculous circumstances.

Today we find out that most Arabs of Palestine don't want peace and a 2 state solution.  They want to use violence to try and wipe the Jews off the land.

According to the survey, support for a bilateral negotiated two-state solution stands at 28%, and opposition at 70%. Some 71% believe that the two-state solution is no longer practical or feasible due to the expansion of Israeli settlements. In comparison, 28% believe that the solution remains practical. Moreover, 78% believe that the chances of creating a Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel in the next five years are slim or nonexistent, while 19% believe the chances to be medium or high.

When asked about the most effective means of ending the Israeli occupation and building an independent state, the public split into three groups: 52% chose armed struggle (55% in the Gaza Strip and 49% in the West Bank), 21% preferred negotiations, and 22% chose “popular resistance.” 

When asked what has been the most positive or the best thing that has happened to the Palestinian people since 1948, the largest percentage (24%) said that it was the establishment of Islamic movements, such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad (both classified as terrorist organizations) and their participation in “armed struggle.” 21% said the first and second intifadas were the most positive developments in Palestinian history since 1948. 

The poll was conducted on “the 75th anniversary of the Nakba” (Arabic for ‘catastrophe,’ referring to the Arab nations’ failure to annihilate Israel in 1948) and surveyed Arabs from the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria. 35% of respondents believed that the most damaging development since 1948 has been the split between Gaza and the “West Bank” (i.e., Judea and Samaria). Some 32% believed the most damaging development since 1948 was Israel’s 1967 “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War. 

Some 25% believed it was the “inability of the refugees to return to their homes and the unresolved nature of the refugee problem.” 

It should be emphasized that the problem of “Palestinian refugees” is a matter of semantics. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established in 1949 solely to “support the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees,” using the universal and UN definition of ‘refugee’ as “people who have fled war, violence, conflict or persecution and have crossed an international border to find safety in another country.” 

UNRWA later amended this to include the descendants of Palestine refugee males, including adopted children. This addition has led to a multigenerational status of Palestinian refugees. While about 750,000 Arabs fled Israel in 1948, there are 5.8 million Palestinians currently classified as refugees by UNRWA. In 2018, a State Department report disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon recorded that around 20,000 of the original refugees are still alive today. 

Here;  Palestinian Poll: Vast Majority See Violence as Solution; Few Believe in Two-State Solution - Israel365 News

It should be noted that if you read the book of Nehemiah you will find that that Arabs were standing around 2500 years ago as Nehemiah tried to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  They were doing their best to discourage Nehemiah and the men and women building the walls.  Nehemiah told them then that they have no historical right to the land!

And today they are saying the same thing!

I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.

Marriage is a Dying Foundation

 We recently attended a wedding where there was no music, no scripture reading, no pastor, no prayer and not one mention about the meaning or sanctity of marriage.  Of course they had already been living together for a few years, bought a house, probably have a dog so had already been "practicing" marriage for quite some time.  My wife and wondered why they were actually getting married?  Why not just live together for as long as they can tolerate each other?  I guess they just wanted to have a big party and invite all the friends and family.

It is now the norm for the 20-somethings and 30-somethings to live together.  Back in the 1970's whenever such a thing was discussed it was in hushed tones with a certain amount shame involved and the words "living in sin" were used.

Bible readers know that what we are witnessing is one more major foundation of a civilized, God-fearing nation coming apart.

Due to shifting social norms, a statistical majority of Gen Z is uninterested in marriage. Are they giving up on love entirely? Certainly not.

Even though a survey showed that 74% of Americans acknowledge marriage is unappealing to younger generations, most Gen Zers still desires exclusivity with partners. As commitments to marriage decrease, divorce rates increase. What is responsible for lagging marriage rates amongst younger generations? According to experts at Family Research Council, a variety of factors are behind these developments.

In comments to The Washington Stand, Joseph Backholm, FRC's senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement, said, "I think the reason Gen Z is less interested in marriage than other generations is that they haven't been taught to see the value of marriage. They've been taught to see the value in doing whatever makes you happy." In an age where young people seem to stray from the uncomfortable, marriage is now on the list. "Marriage is uncomfortable, but wonderful," Backholm added.

Likewise, David Closson, FRC's director of the Center for Biblical Worldview, added, "Members of Gen Z and millennials, for that matter, are increasingly pursuing the goods of marriage, such as companionship, sex, and children, outside of God's design for marriage. As a result, commitment to marriage as an institution is at an all-time low." According to Closson, a strong marriage culture is the foundation of a thriving society, and as marriage crumbles, a host of social maladies will follow.

In comments to the Stand, Closson outlined three developments that he believes have led to a deterioration in marriage norms in the United States.

First, we must "understand where our nation is regarding worldview. Only a fraction of Americans view all of life according to Scripture." Closson explained how worldview shapes everything one thinks and does. A biblical worldview provides the context for strong families which are the basic building block of strong societies. 

Within a biblical worldview, the proper context for sex is the covenant of marriage which provides security, permanence, and stability -- intangible benefits that are especially important for women and children. A secular worldview, which has "decoupled sex from marriage," fails to provide a stable context for families to thrive. Despite its promises of liberty, a "hook-up culture devalues and dehumanizes its participants," Closson noted.

A second factor is the exposure to pornography among men. "Recent research reveals a record high of men who are single and uninterested in marriage," Closson said. "Sixty-seven percent of 13-year-old boys have seen pornography, resulting in about 90% by age 18." For Closson, exposure to pornography corrupts how marriage is viewed today because "pornography destroys what one expects in a relationship" and changes how men interact with women.

The third factor pertains to the rise of social media use, which affects both males and females. "We are swimming in an age of superficiality," Closson commented. "We are losing the ability to create relationships in person -- the kind of relationships that lead to marriage." As Backholm put it, "The ideal situation for children is to grow up with their biological mother and father who have made lifelong commitments to each other." But with pornography altering how men view relationships, and social media mitigating authenticity, these lifelong commitments are becoming increasingly difficult to build, they argue.

Here;  Gen Z And The Unappealing 'I Do' (prophecynewswatch.com)

How sad.  Is marriage hard?  Yes it is.  You have the joining of two very imperfect people trying to share all of life til death do you part.  But is it awesome!  Yes it is!!  You have a relationship like none other on earth with both of you going through all the ups and downs of life, jobs, homes, children, finances, health issues and everything else that pertains to life.

As one preacher said, "marriage isn't supposed to make you happy all the time, it's meant to make you holy."  It's the picture on earth of Christ and His bride, the church.  It's also the place that God designed to be a place that sexual intimacy is blessed and also the best union to raise children.  We all know the statistics for how damaging it is for kids to not have a father at home. 

We truly don't see a future in store for us where this trend will actually reverse.  It's only going to get worse.

So what is the good news in reporting this foundational collapse?  Only that Jesus said we can expect the world to become worse and worse as the nearness of His return comes into view.  "Fear not!  For I have overcome the world!"

Georgia Peaches Wiped Out

There are just so many articles/headlines about extreme/unusual weather events affecting everyone’s food.  It’s the worst drought in decades or the worst flooding in a generation or “a cold snap not seen since 1955”. The strange weather continues.  The Leftists are positive that it’s man-made Climate Change wreaking all the havoc.  That has become their new religion and they will eventually incarcerate anyone who disagrees.  Bible readers know that all this strange weather is just one of the birth pangs that Jesus spoke about.  The earth is groaning for its redemption.

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The Peach State lost more than 90% of this year’s crop after abnormally warm weather this winter and a late-season freeze, Dario Chavez, an associate professor of Horticulture at the University of Georgia, told CNN. 

Georgia normally produces more than 130 million pounds of peaches annually, according to the University of Georgia, and the crop in 2021 was valued at nearly $85 million. 

Georgia was the third-largest producer of peaches in the country as of 2021, according to the US Department of Agriculture. South Carolina – which is also seeing a thinner yield this year due to extreme temperatures – ranks second behind California, which produces four times more peaches than Georgia and South Carolina combined.

Crops like peaches require a certain number of “chill hours,” ranging between 32 degrees and 45 degrees. The cold allows the plants to go into dormancy, much like people need sleep, Chavez explained. Different varieties of peaches require different number of “chill hours,” and this year the state did not have enough cold hours for many varieties that were planted. 

The problem was exacerbated when late-season cold temperatures swept across the Southeast. Some varieties of peaches had already started to bloom in March and were “very susceptible to damage,” Chavez said. The freeze damaged and destroyed a number of the early flowers.

 https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/05/us/georgia-peach-loss-climate/index.html

Would Putin Use Nukes if He Has to?

 If Putin begins losing the war, would he be willing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to stop his defeat?  We have always said we didn’t think Putin would just go home, admit defeat and lick his wounds off.  We think he would do anything including using nukes if his back is against the wall.

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RFE/RL: In a recent essay, you argued that Putin will indeed resort to the use of nukes to avert defeat in Ukraine. An overwhelming majority of Western experts and analysts have been saying this is an unlikely scenario. You don’t seem to share that optimism. Why?

Ryan: I’m not the first to warn his threats are serious. Many people say that his threats are serious, but then they quickly say, “However, they are not likely.” But this undermines the first part of the sentence. Why would you take a threat seriously if it’s not likely to happen?

I’m one of the few people who has said that these threats are not only serious but they’re likely to happen. That makes a threat urgent — something which others are not saying. If these threats are recognized as urgent, then the governments will do something about it; if they’re not urgent, or if they’re not likely, then the governments have many other things on their plate that they want to take care of that are urgent.

I’m not an alarmist, although people may want to call me one because of what I’ve said and written. But my intent is not to alarm civilians. For the people living in that region — Ukrainians and Russians alike — this is not a theoretical discussion.

Instead, my audience are the political leaders in Moscow, Washington, Kyiv, and NATO capitals. They underestimate the likelihood that Putin will follow through on his threats to use nuclear weapons. When they underestimate that, when they consider these threats unlikely, they push aside the question of what to do about it.

We don’t have that luxury anymore. We must think ahead and think now about what to do for medical preparedness, the humanitarian-aid preparedness, military preparedness to operate on a nuclear battlefield. All these things — we need to be doing more about that.

RFE/RL: So you’re not buying the argument that Putin has been categorically convinced not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, that there would be catastrophic consequences for that, if you take Victoria Nuland’s quote, for example?

Ryan: I don’t know that anything we say or do in the West would ultimately cause Putin to either use a nuclear weapon or not use a nuclear weapon. This is his decision. He has shown that he’s making decisions about this without the support of many world leaders [or] even people within his own military and government.

He’s had to silence a lot of people who spoke out against that…. Because Putin is making his decision based on his own situation and on the situation of the Donbas regions, Zaporizhzhya, what they have taken there, he will use the nuclear weapon if he cannot escalate conventionally to prevent the loss of those things.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2023/06/us-ex-general-says-russia-benefits-from-dam-blast-putin-likely-to-use-nuclear-weapons-rather-than-lose-in-ukraine/

911 Call in Las Vegas Reports 8ft Tall Aliens Walking Around

Body-cam footage from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department captured a suspected UFO soaring across the night sky before a nearby resident called in a report of something “100% not human” on their property, local TV channel 8 News Now reported.

Fascinating story coming out of Las Vegas today, police on bodycams recorded UFOs soaring across the skies, and according to the audio they were quite shaken by what they saw. Not only that, local Las Vegas residents said they saw men, a minimum of 8ft high, walking through backyards. Do I believe all that? You bet I do. For over 2 years on our Podcasts, we’ve been warning you will soon see UFOs and aliens on the nightly news, and we are a kitten’s whisker away from that reality.

FROM NY POST: A Vegas officer’s camera picked up the object at about 11:50p.m. on April 30, and, according to the American Meteor Society, its flash was seen as far as Utah and California. Approximately 39 minutes after, another man — who lives about 80 miles from Area 51 — made a chilling call to 911, saying that there were two unknown entities in his backyard after he and his family saw a similar object fall from of the sky.

“There’s like an 8-foot person beside it and another one is inside us and it has big eyes and it’s looking at us — and it’s still there,” the homeowner told police dispatch, according to audio obtained by the TV channel.

“They’re very large. They’re like 8 foot, 9 feet, 10 foot. They look like aliens to us. Big eyes. They have big eyes. Like, I can’t explain it. And big mouth. They’re shiny eyes and they’re not human. They’re 100% not human,” he claimed.

 https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/las-vegas-police-capture-live-ufo-sighting-on-bodycam-with-locals-claiming-they-saw-8ft-high-aliens-days-of-noah/