Massachusetts Passes Bill Legalizing Pregnant Women to Sell Their Babies

“All right, next up we have a pretty little blonde girl.  She’s 5 months pregnant and testing has confirmed the father is a white, pro baseball player who is 6’3 and 195 pounds.  Let’s start the bidding at $20,000!  Who’ll give me $20,000?  Do I hear twenty?  Yep!!  Who’ll say $25,000?”

This may sound absurd but the doors are wide open and Massachusetts just confirmed it.  If “my body, my choice” is what women demand and lawmakers concur, then why can’t she sell something from her body?

If a woman can legally kill her baby why shouldn’t she be legally able to sell it?  We sell calves, kittens and puppies to the highest bidder so why not human babies?

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It’s impossible to stress enough how much the abandoning of biblical authority—and thus the absolute morality of the Christian worldview—has impacted our society, hurting the most vulnerable (women and children). And a new bill that unanimously (keep that in mind—unanimously) passed the Massachusetts house just highlights another layer of the brokenness that comes from leaving behind God’s design for marriage, gender, and sexuality.

Consider this headline: “Mass. House unanimously approves Parentage Equality Bill”

Now, such a headline looks good on the face of it—who wouldn’t want “parentage equality”? The Boston Globe describes the bill this way:

[This bill] will fix “archaic” sections of state law that can make it difficult for LGBTQ families and those who use alternative methods of reproduction, like in vitro fertilization, to establish legal parenthood.

Apparently, this bill is designed to make it easier for LGBTQ couples specifically (but they say it impacts everyone) to establish “parentage rights” so that a non-biological parent can be considered the parent of a child without having to go through the formal adoption process.

“Keep[ing] pace with the changes that are occurring in society,” as one House Speaker put it, continues to degrade God’s design for the family, but it gets worse than simply making it easier for LGBTQ couples to have children (which purposely deprives a child of either a mother or a father). According to The Federalist, this bill will have some other very serious consequences—allowing a mother to legally sell her child.

This bill redefines parenthood as a “person’s intent to be a parent of a child” (notice the gender-neutral language—no mothers or fathers). That is bad enough—God’s design is for a child to have a mother and a father (who are married to each other), not for a child to have “parents,” defined as whoever wants to be the child’s parent! But it gets worse.

The bill allows for commercial surrogacy of a woman’s own biological child. Usually, a surrogate is not carrying her own baby; the egg is provided by another woman (either purchased by the couple or provided by the “intended mother”), fertilized outside the womb, and then transferred to the surrogate’s womb. This new bill allows the woman to offer her own offspring to someone else and receive compensation for it (and, reportedly, she can even draw up and accept a surrogacy agreement after the child is already conceived). It’s not hard to imagine the abuses that can and will take place if a woman can sell her own child. Traffickers certainly won’t hesitate to use this new bill to sell precious newborns to eager couples!

Here’s how The Federalist explains this:

Under H. 4672, the following would be perfectly legal: a woman undergoes the physical and mental health screenings required to become a surrogate, becomes pregnant via sperm from a sperm bank, and then posts to a surrogacy forum or social media group that she is not only available as a surrogate but already pregnant.

She could then choose to “match” with the couple willing to pay the highest “payment of consideration,” essentially auctioning off her child. As long as the surrogacy agreement meets the requirements outlined in the bill, it could be validated by a court and viewed as not only permissible but legally binding.

Children are not a commodity to be bought and sold at the whim of adults. Children are precious image bearers of God, given by him to their parents to be treasured and raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Commercial surrogacy turns that on its head, purposefully separating a child from his or her biological mother or father (the egg or sperm “donor”) and the child’s gestational mother—and with this new bill, that biological and gestational mother might be the same person.

These kinds of bills highlight the dangers of doing something just because we can without stopping to consider if we should. We need God’s Word and its eternal truths to provide the standard for right and wrong. It’s the biblical worldview that protects women and children from exploitation and from being seen as nothing more than a commodity for sale.

This is all an attack on the family, the first and most fundamental of all human institutions God ordained in Scripture. The family is the backbone of the nation. The family is the educational unit God uses to transfer a spiritual legacy from one generation to the next and to impact the world for God. No wonder the devil hates the family and will do all he can to destroy it.

 https://harbingersdaily.com/massachusetts-unanimously-passes-bill-that-would-legalize-sale-of-babies-by-pregnant-mothers/

Now Putin Threatens Argentina

 I won't spend much time on this, but when I turned on my computer this story on Putin was scrolling across my new tab feed.  The world continues to be in a very dangerous place and time.  What do you do with a tyrant who believe that the Western world wants to take over his country and flood it with LBGTQ, gay marriage, transgender kids, drag queens and all sorts of perversion?  Wait....what if Putin isn't insane but actually realizes that's EXACTLY what the Western world is trying to do?

If you haven't seen Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson you might want to pull it up on YouTube.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's warnings to other countries go beyond European borders. He first threatened to attack British bases and military equipment, after the head of British diplomacy, David Cameron, justified Ukraine's use of weapons to attack Russia within its own territory.

Putin then warned that they had begun to prepare exercises with nuclear weapons in the face of “provocations and threats” from some Western leaders, such as the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, who raised the possibility of deploying NATO troops in Ukraine. Now, however, it is Argentina's turn.

In fact, the Russian ambassador in Buenos Aires, Dmitry Feoktistov, has conveyed Putin's "deep disappointment" over the approach of the Argentine president, Javier Milei, to Ukraine, as reported by the Europa Press agency.

Putin's "disappointment" has arisen after learning of a possible shipment of weapons and military equipment from the Latin American country to Ukraine, through Germany.

"We have clearly and firmly communicated to Argentina that such actions will be considered hostile actions against Russia," Feoktistov said.

But the possible shipment of military material is not the only source of annoyance for the Kremlin, which has also criticized the presence of Luis Petri, the Argentine Defense Minister, in the Ramstein format, speaking of disappointment on the part of the Russian authorities.

The Ramstein format is the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine, which brings together more than 50 countries that have decided to support the defense of Ukraine by sending military equipment after Russia's invasion in 2022.

Putin's latest threat escalates tensions: Russia targets Argentina (msn.com)

Hezbollah LeaderWarns Israel About a “War With No Red Lines”

It would be pretty cool if Israel could just take this Nasrallah fellow out.  He’s been threatening Israel for years.  While today there is no declared war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the missiles and targeted attacks back and forth sure make it seem like war has already started.

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 The leader of Hezbollah has vowed a fight with “no rules and with no red lines” if full-out war erupts between the Lebanese militant group and Israel, warning Cyprus against getting mired in the conflict.

Lebanon and Israel have regularly traded cross-border fire since the start of the Jewish state’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas — which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran — in the Gaza Strip. Fire exchanges have intensified since an Israeli airstrike last week killed a senior Hezbollah commander, Taleb Sami Abdullah, along with three other group operatives.

In a televised speech at the official’s memorial service on Wednesday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: “Israel knows very well that no place will be safe from our missiles and drones” in the event of a war between the neighboring states, according to comments carried by the Hezbollah-aligned al-Manar TV news outlet.

He added that Hezbollah has now “obtained new weapons,” but did not share any more details. The group often uses rockets, anti-tank missiles and Burkan heavy warhead rockets, which are modeled off the Iranian Ababil drones, according to Seth Frantzman, adjunct fellow at the U.S.-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank.

Nasrallah declared that Hezbollah’s numbers have now “far exceeded 100,000 fighters,” after first saying they’d hit that threshold in 2021, according to the Associated Press. The secretive nature of the group — which wields considerable political, military and social influence in Lebanon — makes it challenging to verify the figures. Lebanon’s formal military forces are estimated to have around 80,000 personnel, according to data portal IndexMundi.

The Hezbollah leader also threatened war against the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, if the European Union member permits Israel to launch military operations from its territory. Nasrallah accused Israel of “conducting maneuvers in preparation for the Lebanon war” in Cyprus, without disclosing his sources.

“I say that the Cypriot government must be careful because opening airports for the enemy to attack Lebanon means that Cyprus is part of the war and we will deal with it as part of the war,” al-Manar quoted Nasrallah as saying, according to a Google translation.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/20/hezbollah-leader-warns-israel-of-war-with-no-red-lines-threatens-cyprus-.html

Russia and North Korea Sign Mutual Defense Agreement

No surprise here but Russia must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for friends.  So now if NATO attacks Russia because Russia attacked a NATO nation, the North Korea will join the war with Russia.  It would appear the world keeps falling towards WWIII.

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Neither the governments of Russia or North Korea have so far released a full text of the agreement that has been signed. Russia state-owned media Tass does have an summary of some of the key messages from Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, and it includes this section on international security and relations. Tass writes:Security issues and the international agenda “occupied significant attention at the negotiations” Russia and the DPRK “consistently defend the idea of ​​​​forming a more just and democratic, multipolar world order,” which should be based on international law and cultural and civilizational diversity.

Moscow and Pyongyang’s assessments regarding the root causes of the escalation of military-political tensions coincide: “This is the confrontational policy of the US to expand its military infrastructure in the subregion.” Such steps undermine peace and stability and pose a threat to all countries of Northeast Asia.

Moscow rejects “attempts to blame the DPRK for the worsening situation.” Pyongyang has the right to “take reasonable measures” to strengthen its own defence capabilities, ensure national security and protect sovereignty.

The negotiations held in Pyongyang “will contribute to the further development of friendship and partnership between Russia and the DPRK, strengthening security in the entire region.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jun/19/north-korea-live-updates-vladimir-putin-kim-jong-un-pyongyang-latest-news

The Russians Are Coming!...Again!!

 I was just a baby during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 but my dad was in the army at that time and tells of having his duffel bag ready at the front door.  For some weeks Kennedy verbally fought with Kruchev over Russia's plan to put nukes in Cuba.  Kennedy said no and the Russian relented. Scary times.

Today we read that Russia is visiting Cuba again with their military ships.

The Russians are coming. Again.

In a dramatic reminder that the Russians are seeking to intimidate the White House and launch a second chapter of the Cold War, a Russian nuclear-powered submarine, along with an accompanying flotilla of warships, recently spent five days visiting Cuba. In the event, the Oval Office missed the point; several of these vessels can deploy nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.

Published reports suggest the Biden Administration's response is studied indifference, telling reporters that missile test firings off the Florida coast by the Russian vessels were routine.

Hardly.

Putin's navy is reminding the United States that it has recaptured the Soviet Union's ability to project naval power where and when it wants. And by extension, that if it wishes to send a potent reminder that it has the coordinates of America's cities if it ever came to unleashing the unimaginable, it doesn't need to base ballistic missiles in Cuba.

This display of military power by an adversary on the march is not something that has gone unnoticed by the American public. In a recent poll conducted by McLaughlin Associates, it becomes clear that our citizens are seeking strong, resolute, and unequivocal national leadership at a time of historic international tensions.

An overwhelming 88% of those surveyed said they were concerned about the prospect of a new Cold War, and more than half of the respondents feel that America's national security has declined. In addition, Putin's saber-rattling in Havana Harbor is a reminder that some 54% of Americans responding to the survey believe Putin is capable of using nuclear weapons against the United States.

The findings come at a time when Americans will be asked who will occupy the Oval Office for the next four years. It is a sobering reminder that at a time when we are witnessing political wrangling here at home, there are serious external threats that seek to challenge our nation's future. It would be wise to appreciate that while Putin's navy may have departed Havana Harbor, they left behind a message for every American.

The Russians Are Coming :: Gatestone Institute

USA Also Obligated to Defend Philippines

Someone should make a list of all the places America has military bases and would be obligated to defend if war ever breaks out with that country.  We know Taiwan.  Soon it will be Saudi, and don’t forget NATO and today we read about the Philippines.  We aren’t saying this is bad, but we are wondering where all the money is going to come from to keep all these bases occupied and be ready to wage war against possibly numerous nations on numerous fronts?

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MANILA, Philippines — The United States renewed a warning Tuesday that it is obligated to defend its close treaty ally a day after Filipino navy personnel were injured and their supply boats damaged in one of the most serious confrontations between the Philippines and China in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, officials said.

China and the Philippines blamed each other for instigating Monday’s hostilities in the Second Thomas Shoal, which has been occupied by a small Filipino navy contingent aboard a grounded warship that has been closely watched by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships in a yearslong territorial standoff. There is fear that the disputes, long regarded as an Asian flashpoint, could escalate and pit the United States and China against each other in a larger conflict.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell discussed China’s actions with his Philippine counterpart, Maria Theresa Lazaro, in a telephone call. Both agreed that China’s “dangerous actions threatened regional peace and stability,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Campbell reaffirmed that the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which obligates Washington and Manila to help defend the other in major conflicts, “extends to armed attacks on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft — including those of its coast guard — anywhere in the South China Sea,” according to Miller.

 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/us-reiterates-obligation-defend-philippines-new-clash-south-china-sea-rcna157666

Other Raptures in The Bible That Have Already Happened

 All of my readers know this but will repeat it again for any new readers;  the word rapture isn’t in the Bible, but the word Harpazo is in the Greek translation and that word was translated from the Latin word, Rapturo, where we get the English word Rapture.  It’s such a crazy and exciting idea that God is going to send Jesus into the atmosphere of earth and call His bride (all followers of Christ) to come meet him in the clouds!  On our way, we will swap our sin-filled flesh for eternal flesh that is capable of living in many dimensions.  This flesh will be the same type of flesh Jesus has been living in since the resurrection over 2000 years ago.  So how many harpazos have already happened and been recorded in the OT and NT?  Read on to find out.

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A lot of people find the idea of a rapture, a snatching away of people to heaven without dying, very difficult to accept. It seems too strange and too bizarre to be true. “After all,” they say, “nothing like that’s ever happened before!” But that’s actually not true.

It may surprise you to know that there has been a rapture before. In fact, there are several in Scripture. Six of these raptures have already occurred, historically foreshadowing and helping to shed some light on the final rapture still to come.

So, what are these six previous raptures, and what do they tell us about the final rapture that’s to come?

The rapture prior to the New Testament had not been clearly revealed. The Rapture in First Corinthians 15 is called “the mystery.” Now, “mystery” in the New Testament is not something spooky or hard to understand. It means a truth that’s never been revealed before. However, there are still three Old Testament rapture events that help serve as types, illustrations, foreshadows, previews, or patterns of the future rapture to come.

The Rapture of Enoch

The first is the rapture of Enoch. The first of these raptures involved a man named Enoch, who lived before the global flood. We find his story in Genesis chapter five.

Now, I like to call Genesis chapter five “God’s obituary column.” Adam and Eve sinned, and they died spiritually and were separated from God, but they didn’t die physically until hundreds of years later. When you get to the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis, we begin to see the results of the fall.

The words “and he died” appear eight times. It’s like a sad refrain. Adam died, Seth died, Enos died, Cainan died, Mahalaleel died, Jared died—but then suddenly and shockingly, in the midst of all this death and decay, there’s a striking change in Genesis 5:21-24: “And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”

Enoch walked with God for 300 years during the Dark Ages of the spiritual corruption before the flood, and then God took him directly to heaven without dying. To make certain there was no misunderstanding about what happened to Enoch, Hebrews 11:5 confirms Enoch’s rapture to heaven, saying, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.”

There’s a little story I heard years ago. It’s kind of corny. It’s about a little child who heard the story about God and Enoch going on a walk. “Enoch loved to walk with God every day,” he reckoned. “They would go on these long walks fellowshiping together, and one day, they had walked so far that God turned to Enoch and said, ‘Enoch, we walked so far today. We’re closer to my house than we are to yours. Why don’t you just come home with me today?’“

Enoch is a powerful example of the importance of walking with God in difficult days, like those before the flood. We, too, need to walk with God in these days before the coming of Christ.

Enoch also serves as a very graphic illustration of the suddenness of the rapture. He was there, and then a moment later, he was not there. The Bible tells us we will be taken up “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

The Rapture of Elijah

The second Rapture in Scripture is the Rapture of Elijah in the book of Second Kings. 2 Kings 2:1, 11 says, “And it came to pass, when the Lord would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal…. And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.”

Elijah and Elisha are there together, walking along, and suddenly Elijah is caught up to heaven without dying. All Elisha could do was look on in amazement.

https://harbingersdaily.com/the-seven-raptures-why-the-catching-away-of-the-church-is-not-a-biblically-unprecedented-event/

Top Hezbollah General Killed by Israel

 Israel is at war in Gaza but they also have a war going on with Hezbollah to the north in Lebanon.  Muslim terrorists took over that nation 50 years ago and turned it into another blight.  Remember the bombing of the US Marine base that was blown up in Beirut,Lebanon and killed over 200 US soldiers?  So Israel flew into Lebanon a few days ago and killed a Hezbollah general.  And now all the leaders of Hezbollah know that Israel can kill any of them anytime they want…and maybe they aren’t as ready to meet Allah as they claim to be?

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Approximately 250 rockets were launched on Wednesday towards northern Israel, disrupting the holiday calm with successive alerts. Rockets that exploded in open areas caused fires. In the city of Tiberias, a siren was activated for the first time since October.

These launches come after the assassination of senior Hezbollah official Sami Taleb Abdullah, whose rank was equivalent to a brigadier general in the IDF. 

For the past 20 years, Abdullah had led rocket fire toward Kiryat Shmona, the Galilee panhandle, and the Golan Heights. He is the highest-ranking Hezbollah commander to have been killed so far in the war.

Abdullah was also active during the Second Lebanon War, serving as a brigade commander and developing rockets in the region. 

Yesterday, following attacks on Kfar Blum and after recent intelligence gathering on him, the IDF precisely assassinated Taleb using a fighter jet. The operation was led by the Northern Command chief in collaboration with the Intelligence Directorate and the Air Force.

"The powerful elimination worries Hezbollah members. They now understand that the IDF knows much more about them than we do. Additionally, the operation indicates that Hezbollah's field security is not airtight and that the organization's intelligence system has been penetrated to such an extent that we were able to eliminate such an important sector commander. The IDF managed to infiltrate their networks and systems and identify the right people for elimination," says Professor Amatzia Baram, suggesting that this also impacts the leader of the terrorist organization.

Hezbollah leadership worried

He further added, "[Hezbollah Secretary-general Hassan] Nasrallah realizes that the IDF has the ability to kill him whenever it wants, and I believe this worries him quite a bit. Contrary to popular belief, Nasrallah is not a suicidal Shiite yearning for death (martyrdom). He understands that he would be next in line to die if a full-scale war breaks out. This poses a significant danger for him. Additionally, the elimination is a significant success in the psychological warfare against the terrorist organization, as it leads to great concern among the commanders, who know they could be next."

https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-806019#google_vignette