Life in An Upside-Down World

IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER... 
 

• Featured Article: Life in An Upside-Down World 
• Europe Looks to Build EU Army for Strategic Autonomy from US 
• Where Did They Go? There Are Supposedly 107 Million Working Age Americans That Do Not Have A Job Right Now 
• What Really Matters 
• Daily Jot: Don’t rely on the courts 
• Daily Devotion: Hearing with Your Heart 

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Life in An Upside-Down World - By Daymond Duck - https://www.raptureready.com/2021/11/07/life-in-an-upside-down-world-by-daymond-duck/
 
On Jan. 19, 2021, Pres.-Elect Biden announced that he will seek the appointment of Rachel Levine, a man that wears a bra and identifies as a woman, to serve as Assistant Health Secretary in his administration.
 
It was reported that the nominee, Richard “Rachel” Levine, is a father of two who divorced his wife in 2013 after 30 years of marriage.
 
The father of two children does not become a woman by divorcing his wife, wearing a bra, and letting his hair grow long, but he can become an abomination to God and be given over to a reprobate mind by doing things like that.
 
This writer’s understanding of a reprobate mind is that it refers to someone that doesn’t think straight, someone whose thinking is worthless or debased, someone that is incapable of doing what is best for them or others.
 
It seems that many people have been given over to reprobate thinking today.
 
Many are making decisions that don’t seem to be in the best interest of our nation.
 
Dave Ramsey recently said, “We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right. Wake up, America. The great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, is taking on water, and sinking fast.”
 
On Oct. 19, 2021, the Biden administration promoted “Rachel” and swore “her” in as a four-star admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC) even though “she” has no known record of military service.
 
The next day, it was reported that some in the media are calling “her” the “first female to reach that position even though “she” is the father of two children.
 
Here are more stories that recently made the news.
 
One, on Oct. 20, 2021, it was reported that the UN Human Rights Council has adopted a report that normalizes homosexuality and transgenderism, accuses those that oppose it of breaking international human rights laws, says they are guilty of hate speech, and identifies the lawbreakers as primarily ultra-conservative politicians and religious groups that promote bigotry, dehumanize persons, and foster stigma and intolerance among their constituencies.
 
The report urges the nations of the UN to pass laws to allow the prosecution of those that are guilty of hate speech and hate crimes.
 
The UN Human Rights Council is clearly calling for UN laws that outlaw Bible teaching so that people that repeat what the Bible says can be prosecuted.
 
This writer recommends that people read what the Bible says God did to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:1-29).
 
Two, in Canada, two Christian pastors have been convicted of disobeying a court order for telling their congregations and church members to assemble as citizens of a free country and to refrain from wearing a mask.
 
The judge has ordered one of the pastors to speak about the scientific consensus of medical experts on wearing a mask and the Covid emergency laws.
 
During the Tribulation Period, people will be forced to agree with the government or die.
 
Update: On Oct. 25, 2021, it was reported that one of the pastors said a judge cannot compel him to tell his congregation things that he believes is wrong, he will appeal the judge’s order, he will not comply with the judge’s order, and he is fully prepared to go to prison over this issue.
 
Three, concerning Biden’s mandated vaccination of 5–11-year-old children: on Oct. 26, 2021, a Harvard professor that serves on the Food and Drug Advisory Committee (FDA) said, “We’re never gonna learn about how safe the (Pfizer Covid-19) vaccine is until we start giving it.”
 
Update: On Oct. 28, 2021, it was reported that the U.S. has just bought 50 million more doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for children.
 
This writer believes they should want to know it is safe before they buy 50 million doses and start forcing children to take it.
 
Four, concerning deceit and lying: in May of 2021, Sen. Rand Paul accused White House Covid advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci, of lying under oath to Congress by denying that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) helped fund China’s “gain of function” research on viruses (strengthening viruses to make them more deadly for research purposes).
 
Dr. Fauci, while under oath, angrily denied Sen. Paul’s accusation and responded by falsely accusing Sen. Paul of being the one that was lying.
 
In a letter to the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee on Oct. 20, 2021, the Principal Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) confirmed that the NIH did provide money that helped fund “gain of function” virus research in China.
 
Fauci, now a proven liar, is pushing mandated vaccinations, and people are being terminated at work for not believing Fauci and refusing to take what they believe could be a dangerous vaccination.
 
Note: It has been reported that two books will be released in November that will be very critical of Fauci.
 
Five, concerning world government: on Oct. 18, a former Premier of British Columbia, Bill Vander Zalm, said the Covid virus and mandated vaccination end-game seems to be a great reset “that will lead to a global communistic order.”
 
According to Vander Zalm, people can forget about returning to normal; the globalists have started their march toward the world government. Covid is just the first step, and they will continue until they have everyone under their control.
 
Vander Zalm said global government means a dictatorship, not democracy.
 
Six, concerning the ability to track everyone: on Oct. 29, 2021, it was reported that the G20 (Group of 20 nations with the largest economies) called for 40% of the population of all nations to be vaccinated by the end of 2021, and 70% to be vaccinated by the middle of 2022.
 
Put another way, the G20 has established a goal to track 40% of those on earth by the end of 2021 and 70% of those on earth by the middle of 2022.
 
Seven, one of my recent articles recalled that on Oct. 30, 2008, Pres. candidate Obama said, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”
 
On Sept. 25, 2015, the UN started considering a document called “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
 
Supporters called it a “New Universal Agenda,” and that comes from the Preamble of the document itself.
 
Delegates from 193 nations voted unanimously to adopt the document.
 
On Sept. 27, 2015, Pres. Obama assured the UN of America’s commitment to the “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” goals.
 
UN Sec. Gen. Ban Ki-moon called this transformation of the world the “start of a new era.”
 
Anyway, the world has entered a new era, there is a New Universal Agenda, and that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2016.
 
This week, on Oct. 28, 2021, Pres. Biden was trying to get Congress to pass his $1.75 trillion framework spending proposal before flying to Rome for a meeting with Pope Francis.
 
Biden spoke from the White House and said, “Any single part of this framework would fundamentally be viewed as a fundamental change in America.”
 
Biden added, “Taken together, they’re truly consequential.”
 
This writer does not believe it is an accident that Biden said his bill would be viewed as a fundamental change in America.
 
This writer believes Biden was sending a message to globalists that he was seeking funds to fundamentally transform America according to the “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” goals.
 
Don’t forget Biden’s past promise to try to make it (the Great Reset) happen.
 
Eight, concerning the deliberate decline of America: in Sept. 2021, Pres. Biden was pushing his $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act, and Republicans were complaining about 42 policy changes that they believed would damage America.
 
Due to disagreements among the Democrats, the bill wouldn’t pass, and the Build Back Better Act was reduced to $1.7 trillion, but the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) said it still includes 31 policy changes that will “wreck America.”
 
According to the RSC, the main objection is not the $1.7 trillion dollars; the main objection is the 31 policies that will “wreck America.”
 
The Republicans cannot stop this fundamental change (wrecking) of America.
 
The only thing that is holding this orchestrated wreck back is a few dissenting Democrats.
 
Nine, this week, it was reported that the Biden administration is considering a payment of $450,000 per person (perhaps more than $1,000,000 per family) to certain people that entered the U.S. illegally during the Trump administration.
 
Ten, on Oct. 20, 2029, the Pres. and CEO of the National Assoc. of Wholesale Distributors, a group that represents about 6 million workers, sent a letter to the Biden administration urging it to delay its Dec. 8, 2021, deadline for employees of federal contractors to get vaccinated or be fired.
 
According to this group, putting thousands of people out of work will be catastrophic for them, their families, and the U.S.
 
Note: This catastrophe is nothing compared to what the Rapture will do.
 
Finally, are you Rapture Ready?
 
If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to forgive your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.
 
[email protected]

 


 
Europe Looks to Build EU Army for Strategic Autonomy from US – Soeren Kern - https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5057
 
European federalists seeking to transform the 27-member European Union into a European superstate -- a so-called United States of Europe -- have revived a decades-old proposal to build a European army.
 
The call for a supranational army, part of a push for Europe to achieve "strategic autonomy" from the United States, is being spearheaded by French President Emmanuel Macron, who, as part of his reelection campaign, apparently hopes to replace outgoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the de facto leader of Europe.
 
Macron claims that Europe needs its own military because, according to him, the United States is no longer a reliable ally. He cites as examples: U.S. President Joe Biden's precipitous withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan; the growing pressure on Europe to take sides with the United States on China; and France's exclusion from a new security alliance in the Indo-Pacific region.
 
Many EU member states disagree with Macron. Eastern European countries, some of which face existential threats from Russia, know that neither the EU nor France can match the military capabilities offered by NATO and the United States.
 
Other countries are concerned about a panoply of issues ranging from financial costs to national sovereignty. Still others are opposed to creating a parallel structure to NATO that could undermine the transatlantic alliance. A common EU army appears to be a long way from becoming reality.
 
A logical course of action would be for EU member states (which comprise 21 of the 30 members of NATO) to honor past pledges to increase defense spending as part of their contribution to the transatlantic alliance. That, however, would fly in the face of the folie de grandeur -- the delusions of grandeur -- of European federalists who want to transform the EU into a major geopolitical power.
 
Strategic Autonomy
 
The term "strategic autonomy" in European discussions on defense has been in use since at least December 2013, when the European Council, the EU's governing body comprised of the leaders of the 27 EU member states, called for the EU to improve its defense industrial base.
 
In June 2016, the term appeared in the EU's security strategy. The document -- "A Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy" -- was said to "nurture the ambition of strategic autonomy" for the European Union. "An appropriate level of ambition and strategic autonomy," it stated, "is important for Europe's ability to promote peace and security within and beyond its borders."
 
In recent years, the concept of "strategic autonomy" has taken on far broader significance: the idea now means that the EU should become a sovereign power that is militarily, economically, and technologically independent from the United States.
 
EU observer Dave Keating noted:
 
"The Brussels buzzword is now 'strategic autonomy,' an effort to wrestle the word 'sovereignty' away from nationalists and make the case that only a strong EU can make Europeans truly sovereign in relation to Russia, China, and the United States."
 
European federalists increasingly have called for building an autonomous EU military force over the years:
 
March 8, 2015. In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, Jean-Claude Juncker, then the president of the European Commission, the EU's administrative arm, declared that the European Union needed its own army because it was not "taken entirely seriously" on the international stage.
 
The proposal was flatly rejected by the British government, which at the time was still an EU member: "Our position is crystal clear that defense is a national -- not an EU -- responsibility and that there is no prospect of that position changing and no prospect of a European army."
 
September 26, 2017. President Macron, in a major speech at Sorbonne University, called for a joint EU defense force as part of his vision for the future of the bloc: "Europe needs to establish a common intervention force, a common defense budget and a common doctrine for action."
 
November 6, 2018. Macron, marking the centenary of the armistice that ended World War 1, warned that Europe cannot be protected without a "true, European army." He added: "We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America."
 
November 13, 2018. German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed Macron's calls for a European army: "The times when we could rely on others are over. This means nothing less than for us Europeans to take our destiny in our own hands if we want to survive as a Union.... We have to create a European intervention unit with which Europe can act on the ground where necessary. We have taken major steps in the field of military cooperation; this is good and largely supported in this house. But I also have to say, seeing the developments of the recent years, that we have to work on a vision to establish a real European army one day."
 
September 10, 2019. During her first press conference as the new president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who has long called for a "United States of Europe," said that she will lead a "geopolitical Commission" aimed at boosting the EU's role on the world stage. She did not offer many details other than a vaguely worded pledge that the European Union would "be the guardian of multilateralism."
 
November 7, 2019. President Macron, in an interview with the London-based magazine, The Economist, declared that NATO was "brain dead" and warned that European countries can no longer rely on the United States for defense. Europe, he said, stands on "the edge of a precipice" and needs to start thinking of itself strategically as a geopolitical power and regain "military sovereignty" or otherwise "we will no longer be in control of our destiny." Macron criticized U.S. President Donald J. Trump because he "doesn't share our idea of the European project." Chancellor Merkel said Macron "used drastic words -- that is not my view of co-operation in NATO."
 
November 26, 2019. France and Germany announced the "Conference on the Future of Europe," a two-year post-Brexit soul-searching exercise aimed at reforming the EU to make it "more united and sovereign."
 
June 17, 2020. The European Council tasked the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, with drafting a written "Strategic Compass." The document should have three main purposes: 1) to formulate the EU's first common threat analysis; 2) to strengthen the EU's security and defense role; and 3) to offer political guidance for future military planning processes. The Strategic Compass, aimed at harmonizing the perception of threats and risks within the EU, is to be presented in November 2021, debated by EU leaders in December 2021, and approved in March 2022.
 
December 3, 2020. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in blog post, "Why European Strategic Autonomy Matters," wrote: "It is difficult to claim to be a 'political union' able to act as a 'global player' and as a 'geopolitical Commission' without being 'autonomous.'" He described "strategic autonomy" as a long-term process intended to ensure that Europeans "increasingly take charge of themselves."
 
May 5, 2021. Fourteen EU countries -- Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain -- called for the creation of a so-called EU First Entry Force consisting of 5,000 troops with air, land and sea capabilities.
 
August 29, 2021. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, said that the moment had come to establish an EU expeditionary force -- a "First Entry Force" -- to compensate for U.S. "disengagement" from international affairs. A senior EU diplomat, speaking to the Guardian newspaper, asked: "We have been here before -- which leader is going to allow their nationals to be killed in the name of the EU? What problem is this reaction force meant to solve? Does Borrell seriously entertain the idea the EU would be able to step into the void the US left?"
 
September 15, 2021. In her annual State of the Union speech delivered to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen urged greater military independence from the United States. "Europe can -- and clearly should -- be able and willing to do more on its own," she said. She called for a "European Defense Union" but admitted the "lack of political will" to "build the foundation for collective decision-making."
 
October 2, 2021. European Council President Charles Michel, speaking at an award ceremony of the International Charlemagne Prize, declared that "2022 will be the year of European defense."
 
October 5-6, 2021. At an EU Summit in Slovenia, EU member states were so divided on the issue of strategic autonomy that the topic was not even included in the summit's final declaration. To create the illusion of consensus, Michel issued an "oral conclusion" of the summit: "To become more effective and assertive on the international stage, the European Union needs to increase its capacity to act autonomously."
 
A History of Failure
 
The debate over building a European army has been going on since the end of World War 2. In 1950, France proposed creating a common army to protect Western Europe from the Soviet Union without having to rearm Germany. A treaty creating the so-called European Defense Community was signed in 1952, but it was never ratified by the French Parliament due to concerns that France would lose its sovereignty to a multilateral decision-making body.
 
In the late 1990s, after the EU and its member states failed to prevent a decade of bloodletting in the Yugoslav Wars, and after the United States intervened, European leaders called for the creation of a European Rapid Reaction Force capable of acting in future crises.
 
In 2007, after years of debate, the EU established two so-called EU battlegroups consisting of 1,500 troops each to respond to crises, but due to intra-European disputes over financing and deployment, they have never been used.
 
The European Union is now calling for the battlegroups to be rebranded as a "First Entry Force" comprised of 5,000 troops. It remains unclear why EU leaders think the latter will achieve what the former could not. In any event, a force that small is nowhere near enough to give the EU "strategic autonomy" from the United States.
 
German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, in a recent opinion article published by Politico, concluded that "illusions of European strategic autonomy must come to an end." She added: "Europeans will not be able to replace America's crucial role as a security provider. We have to acknowledge that, for the foreseeable future, we will remain dependent."
 
Lack of Capabilities
 
An important obstacle to building a European army is the reluctance of EU governments to invest in defense. At the 2014 Wales Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, allies agreed to spend a minimum of 2% percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense spending. In 2020, only nine of NATO's 21 European members honored their pledges, according to data supplied by NATO.
 
Germany -- the biggest economy in the EU and the fourth-biggest in the world -- spent only 1.53% of GDP on defense in 2020. That represents an increase of less than 0.5% of GDP since 2015. France, the EU's second-biggest economy, spent 2.01% of GDP on defense in 2020, an increase of only 0.3% of GDP since 2015.
 
Italy, the EU's third-biggest economy, spent 1.41% of GDP on defense in 2020, while Spain, the EU's fourth-biggest economy, spent a mere 1.02% of GDP on defense in 2020, according to NATO data. The numbers show that defense spending is not a priority in most European countries.
 
The German armed forces (the Bundeswehr) are in an especially sad state of disrepair. A damning report published by the German Parliament in January 2019 found that critical equipment was scarce and that readiness and recruitment were at all-time lows. "No matter where you look, there's dysfunction," said a high-ranking German officer stationed at Bundeswehr headquarters in Berlin.
 
A May 2018 report by the German magazine Der Spiegel revealed that only four of Germany's 128 Eurofighter jets were combat ready. Germany's obligation to NATO requires it to have at least 80 combat-ready jets for crisis situations.
 
At the end of 2017, not one of the German Air Force's 14 large transport planes was available for deployment due to a lack of maintenance, according to the German Parliament. In October 2017, a spokesman for the German Navy said that all six of Germany's submarines were in the dock for repairs. In February 2015, Germany's defense ministry admitted that its forces were so under-equipped that they had to use broomsticks instead of machine guns during a NATO exercise in Norway.
 
Much of the blame falls on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During her 16 years in office, she has been content to free-ride on the U.S. defense umbrella. Also to blame is Ursula von der Leyen, who was German defense minister between 2014 and 2019, before she was promoted to lead the European Commission, and who now wants to build a European army. As German defense minister, von der Leyen was plagued by scandals and accused of cronyism, mismanagement and nepotism.
 
EU affairs analyst Matthew Karnitschnig quipped:
 
"With Merkel on her way out, fixing the Bundeswehr will likely be up to her successor. Until then, plans for a 'European Army' that includes Germany have about as much chance of getting off the ground as the German Air Force."
 
France, which has just under 300,000 active-duty personnel, has the largest military in Europe. Still, it remains a regional power, not a global one. In September 2021, the RAND Corporation, in a major study -- "A Strong Ally Stretched Thin: An Overview of France's Defense Capabilities from a Burdensharing Perspective" -- concluded that the French military suffers many shortcomings that render as "limited" its capacity to sustain a high-end, conventional conflict.
 
The French Army "faces a challenge with respect to readiness, owing to past budget cuts and austerity measures, a small number of weapon systems, and the burden of sustaining ongoing overseas operations," according to RAND. The French Air Force "suffers from limited capacity" and "severely lacks strategic airlift." The French Navy, which has only one aircraft carrier, like France's other services, "has issues with readiness, and munitions stocks reportedly are low," according to RAND. The report's takeaway is that the French military would require decades of preparation and massive budget increases to realistically form the basis for a European army.
 
Poland, which is opposed to a European army because it would "weaken" the armies of NATO's member states, plans to double the size of its armed forces to 250,000 soldiers and 50,000 reserves. The expansion, announced on October 26, would make the Polish military the second-largest in Europe, ahead of that of the United Kingdom. In January 2020, Poland signed a contract worth $4.6 billion to purchase 32 F-35A fighter jets from the United States.
 
In October 2018, Belgium signed a $4.5 billion deal to purchase 34 F-35A fighter jets from the United States. "The offer from the Americans was the best in all our seven evaluation criteria," Belgian Defense Minister Steven Vandeput wrote on Twitter.
 
"The decision is a setback for Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain, who are behind the Eurofighter program, and also means the rejection of an informal French offer to sell Belgium the Rafale fighter built by Dassault Aviation," according to Reuters.
 
This implies that in the future the Belgian and Polish militaries will be further integrated with the United States and NATO rather than with a hypothetical European army.
 
Macron's Motives
 
One of the most vocal champions of the idea of a European army is French President Emmanuel Macron. He must know that an independent EU military remains only a distant possibility, despite his describing the NATO alliance as "brain dead."
 
As German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to retire, it appears that much of Macron's posturing on European "strategic autonomy" is part of a French nationalist campaign strategy aimed at presenting France as a great power that dominates the European Union. Macron seems to be trying to appeal to French voters while carving out a role for himself to replace Merkel as the new leader of Europe.
 
Macron, who has yet to declare his candidacy, faces reelection in April 2022. Currently he is the clear first-round front-runner at 24%, according to recent polls cited by Politico. His main rivals are two nationalists: Marine Le Pen of the right-leaning National Rally party, and Éric Zemmour, a French essayist and media personality.
 
Macron has been calling for a European army for several years, but his professed aspiration for "strategic autonomy" shifted into high gear after U.S. President Donald J. Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO if European member states refused to pay their fair share. Trump's warning, which appears to have been more of a bluff than a real threat, prompted many European countries to increase their defense spending, even if most are still below the agreed-upon threshold of 2% of GDP.
 
Macron subsequently was dealt a humiliating blow by the Biden administration. In September 2021, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States announced a new tripartite strategic alliance aimed at countering China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
 
Notably, the so-called AUKUS agreement does not include any member state of the European Union, which was completely left in the dark about the new alliance. AUKUS was announced on September 15, just hours before the EU unveiled its much-hyped "Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific." The EU had been hoping that its new plan would highlight its "strategic autonomy" from the United States in the Pacific region. Instead, the EU was eclipsed by AUKUS and exposed as a paper tiger.
 
Adding insult to injury, Australia announced that as part of the AUKUS deal, it had cancelled a multi-billion-dollar submarine contract -- once dubbed the "contract of the century" -- under which France was to supply Australia with 12 diesel-powered submarines. Instead, Australia said that it would be buying nuclear submarines from the United States.
 
France has reacted angrily to its change of fortunes. French Foreign Minister called AUKUS a "stab in the back." The French Ambassador to Australia, Jean-Pierre Thébault, said that Australia's decision to cancel the submarine deal was akin to "treason." The French government claimed that the Australian decision caught Paris by surprise, but the subsequent leak of a text message between Macron and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed that Macron knew well in advance that Australia was planning to cancel the contract.
 
The AUKUS humiliation set Macron into a rage and appears to be fueling his increasingly frenzied calls for "strategic autonomy." An advisor to Macron said:
 
"We could turn a blind eye and act as if nothing had happened. We think that would be a mistake for all Europeans. There really is an opportunity here."
 
So far, however, only Italy and Greece have come out in support of Macron's calls for an autonomous EU military force.
 
In September 2021, France and Greece signed a new defense and security agreement in which France pledged to provide military assistance to Greece in the event of an attack by a third country, even if such a country, Turkey, is a member of NATO. Macron said the deal, worth $3 billion to France, was a "milestone" in European defense because it strengthened the EU's "strategic autonomy."
 
Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis described the Greek-French defense deal "a first step towards the strategic autonomy of Europe." But some in the EU were skeptical of the deal and are concerned it will only serve to inflame tensions between Greece and Turkey.
 
"It is a bit bizarre to say the pact contributes to European sovereignty," an unnamed EU diplomat told Politico. "By all accounts, this is a traditional 19th-century defense pact between two European powers."
 
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken, said that Macron was escalating his dispute with the United States way out of proportion:
 
"I think it is important to say, in relation to the discussions that are taking place right now in Europe, that I experience U.S. President Joe Biden as being very loyal to the transatlantic alliance.
 
"I think in general that one should refrain from lifting some specific challenges, which will always exist between allies, up to a level where they are not supposed to be. I really, really want to warn against this."
 
Meanwhile, the British newspaper, The Telegraph, on September 22 reported that Macron had offered to put France's seat on the United Nations Security Council "at the disposal of the European Union" if its governments back Macron's plans for an EU army. The French Presidency later denied the report:
 
"Contrary to the assertions reported this morning, no, France has not offered to leave its seat on the United Nations Security Council. It belongs to France, and it will remain so."
 
France assumes the EU's six-month rotating presidency on January 1, 2022. During that time, Macron is sure to continue pushing for "strategic autonomy" from the United States, including at a "Summit on European Defense" scheduled for the first half of 2022.


 


 
Where Did They Go? There Are Supposedly 107 Million Working Age Americans That Do Not Have A Job Right Now - by Michael Snyder - http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/where-did-they-go-there-are-supposedly-107-million-working-age-americans-that-do-not-have-a-job-right-now/
 
We are being told that we are in the midst of the worst worker shortage in the history of the United States, but the numbers that we are being given by the federal government suggest that there should be no shortage of workers. As I will detail in this article, we are being told that there are 107 million working age Americans that are not employed right now. That is an astoundingly high figure. In fact, it is much, much higher than the peak that we hit during the “Great Recession” of 2008 and 2009. Of course back then we had millions upon millions of unemployed Americans that were absolutely desperate for a job. Today, the opposite is true. There are millions upon millions of open jobs, and employers are doing everything that they can to entice people to come to work. They are dramatically raising wages, they are handing out huge signing bonuses, they are offering to pay for college, and in some cases they are even completely waiving drug testing requirements. But even though all of this is happening, we still have 107 million working age Americans on the sidelines.
 
On Friday, we got some brand new employment numbers from the Labor Department. According to those numbers, there are more than 100 million Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force” right now…
 
The Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Friday that 100,450,000 people in this country were not in the labor force in October, up 38,000 from the 100,412,000 in September.
 
This is the 14th straight month that this “not in the labor force” number has remained above 100,000,000.
 
But that figure doesn’t give us the full number of potential workers that are on the sidelines, because it doesn’t include anyone that is officially unemployed…
 
Persons who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force. This category includes retired persons, students, those taking care of children or other family members, and others who are neither working nor seeking work.
 
So to get the full number of working age Americans that are “potential workers”, we need to add in those that are officially considered to be “unemployed”, and according to the Federal Reserve that number currently stands at 7.4 million.
 
Once we add 100 million to 7 million, that gives us a grand total of 107 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.
 
Why can’t we get more of them to go back to work?
 
Of course there are many that were not working before the pandemic came along and that still have no intention of working now.
 
We aren’t really concerned about them.
 
But what should alarm all of us is that the number of Americans that were working just before the pandemic was much higher than the number of Americans that are working now.
 
So where did all of those workers go?
 
Are they just lazy?
 
Are some of them sitting at home collecting government checks?
 
Have some of them become incapacitated?
 
Have some of them died?
 
Needless to say, an increasing number of Americans are not working in their chosen fields right now because they have been forced out of their jobs by various local mandates.
 
The good news is that the big OSHA mandate which was scheduled to go into effect on January 4th has been temporarily put on hold by the Fifth Circuit court of appeals…
 
President Joe Biden‘s rule forcing businesses of over 100 employees to mandate the Covid vaccine has been temporarily halted by the Fifth Circuit court of appeals.
 
Attorneys general for several states, including Texas, Louisiana, and Utah, joined advocacy and business groups in the petition, which is not the only legal challenge faced by the administration over the rule.
 
Many conservatives seem to think that this is some sort of massive court victory.
 
It is not.
 
It is just a temporary order issued by one court to halt enforcement of the mandate while litigation proceeds.
 
Ultimately, many courts will be looking at this mandate, and I am entirely convinced that eventually this will get to the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
And at this point I have very, very little faith in the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
Meanwhile, the Biden administration is already talking about creating an additional mandate for companies that have less than 100 employees…
 
The Biden-Harris administration on Thursday is weighing if they should expand the vaccine mandate for companies employing fewer than 100 employees.
 
According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) federal rules released Thursday, the agency is “seeking comment to help the agency” determine if smaller employers with fewer than 100 employees can implement a coronavirus vaccine mandate “without undue disruption.”
 
They want to make it so that there is no escape.
 
If you do not comply with their orders, they want to make it so that you will not be able to work anywhere.
 
There are also rumors that the Biden administration is actually considering a national mandate for children that attend schools.
 
When CDC Director Rochelle Walensky was asked about this, her response was more than a little bit alarming…
 
“I will always encourage that parent to get their child vaccinated, and speak to them about the information and communication, and education that they need in order to get their children vaccinated,” Walensky said. “Right now, at this moment, those decisions are made at the jurisdictional level as they are for vaccination of other all — other vaccine preventable diseases among children.”
 
The Democrats don’t seem to understand that the mandates are the number one reason why they just did so poorly in Virginia and elsewhere.
 
And if they keep pushing these mandates, they will get soundly defeated in 2022 and 2024.
 
But they are going ahead with them anyway.
 
It is almost as if they don’t care about the political consequences.
 
In the short-term, the various mandates that are being implemented around the nation will force millions of highly qualified Americans out of their jobs. Doing this in the midst of the worst worker shortage in our history is absolutely insane.
 
In the long-term, the consequences of these mandates will set the stage for a societal meltdown of epic proportions.
 
We were such a divided nation before Biden announced these mandates, but now we are rapidly approaching a point where national unity may no longer be possible.
 
A house divided will surely fall, and thanks to Biden we are now facing divisions that may never be repaired.

 


 
What Really Matters - By Hal Lindsey - https://www.hallindsey.com/ww-11-7-2021/
 
What is important? When you boil it all down, what matters most? Everyone has an opinion. But thankfully, someone once asked Jesus. And He gave us the definitive answer.
 
In Matthew 22, the Sadducee sect used their best argument in an attempt to trip up Jesus. The Lord gave a deft answer, destroying the false doctrine on which their question was based. Then it was the Pharisees’ turn. Matthew 22:34-35 says, “When the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him.” [NASB]
 
So, they huddled up. They tried to think of a question that would trap Jesus into an answer they could use against Him. They sent out an expert in the law with their question. In verse 36, he asked it. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” [NASB]
 
Before we look at the Lord’s answer, think about the significance of that question. The lawyer was a Jewish believer. He believed that God had spoken through Moses and the prophets. He wanted to understand what was and is the most important thing in life. His question gets to the heart of everything. He was asking Jesus to explain the point of human existence.
 
Jesus gave Him the perfect answer. “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:37-40 NASB]
 
Jesus didn’t quote any of the Ten Commandments. But if you compare what He said to those famous commands, you will find them in perfect harmony. The Ten Commandments can be broken into two groups. The first four deal with our relationship with God. The last six deal with our relationships with people.
 
Jesus divided His answer the same way. He referred the lawyer to Deuteronomy 6:5 where it says to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Then He directed the lawyer’s attention to Leviticus 19:18 — “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
Jesus finished by saying, “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” If you love God completely and perfectly, you will fulfill all the law regarding God. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, and you will fulfill all the law regarding other people.
 
I know some say they don’t really love themselves, but when those same people are hungry, they try to feed themselves. When they are cold, they try to clothe themselves. When they are tired, they try to give themselves a place to rest. When they are fearful, they seek refuge for themselves. Love others like that.
 
Has anyone ever done it? Have anyone ever loved God or his neighbors like these scriptures say to love them, and has he done it all day of every day for his entire life? Only one Person in all of history perfectly fulfilled those two basic commands — Jesus. That’s why to be clean before God, we must accept the gift of His righteousness. And remember that it is a gift, something He offers freely.
 
Both of the Lord’s answers center on love. That is our purpose. God made us to love — to love Him and to love others. What’s really important? Love God and love people.

 


 
Daily Jot: Don’t rely on the courts - Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
 
In 1961, future president Ronald Reagan recorded a 10-minute talk about socialized health care. He said, “One of the traditional methods of imposing statis or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.” Reagan said that “pretty soon your son won’t decide when he’s in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him.” Fast forward to today with the Biden and Democratic Party mandate that every American must have a COVID 19 shot.
 
The current government makes Reagan look like a prophet. Already in many places across the United States, American citizens are unable to attend public events, eat in restaurants, go to college, or freely travel without proof of having the COVID shot. If Biden and the Democrats have their way, American citizens will be forbidden to provide for their families and their children will not be allowed to go to school unless they have taken the jab. Do you see and fully understand the grave threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by this statist oppression? If allowed, your right to privacy, to autonomy, to speech and freedom of worship, even what you wear, will be dictated by government. This mandate is an unparalleled assault on the very freedoms we hold so dear.
 
The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily stayed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s November 5 mandate that all businesses of 100 or more employees must require their workers to be COVID 19 vaccinated. The New Orleans federal court said the petition by various businesses and individuals “give cause to believe there are grave statutory and constitutional issues with the mandate.” The petitioners claim that OSHA does not have the authority for such an unprecedented mandate because it does not target dangers specific to the workplace; that the government does not have Constitutional authority to establish a nationwide vaccine mandate; that on June 21, OSHA explicitly rejected that all workplaces faced a grave danger due to COVID; and the mandate will have devastating impact on the economy.
 
We are facing a defining moment. While the temporary mandate stay is encouraging, we cannot rely just on the courts to protect our liberties as many judges are politically motivated and support a statist society. Your voice and your actions will speak to the courts and the politicians. What you put into your body is your business. Where you work is your business. What you eat is your business. What you think is your business. How you worship is your business. What you speak is your business. It is unconstitutional for the government, or any company acting on its behalf, to deny your rights. Don’t let the courts lull you to inaction. As in Jeremiah 6:14, “They have healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, ‘Peace, peace!’ When there is no peace.” There is no peace. Boldly speak and act now or you will truly know no peace.

 


 
Daily Devotion: Hearing with Your Heart - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
 
Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. —James 1:21
 
https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/hearing-with-your-heart/ - Listen
 
In our time of instant information and 10-second sound bites, it’s challenging to slow down and apply the words of Psalm 46:10 to our lives: “Be still, and know that I am God” (NKJV). So many of us tend to run around in our self-made circles of activity instead of wisely and calmly sitting at His feet.
 
We need to be ready to hear what God has to say. In Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower, Jesus described four reactions to the truth of God’s Word. First there is the hard heart, which the seed on the roadside represented. The hard heart doesn’t understand and receive the Word, and therefore doesn’t produce any fruit.
 
Next there is the shallow heart, which parallels the seed that fell on ground filled with rocks. This describes those who are very emotional but have no depth in their lives. Thus, they bear no fruit.
 
Thirdly, there is the crowded heart, represented by the seed that goes into the soil imbedded with weeds. This speaks of those who receive the Word initially, but they lack repentance and permit sin to choke out the Word of God
 
Lastly, there is the fruitful heart that receives the Word and allows it to bring forth fruit.
 
You determine what kind of soil your heart will be. You determine whether you will have a hard heart, a shallow heart, a crowded heart, or a fruitful heart. You determine how the Word of God will affect your life. It’s up to you.
 
James tells us, “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls” (1:21 NKJV).
 
The Word of God can’t work in our lives unless we receive it the right way. That’s because it’s possible to hear with our ears but not with our hearts.

 


 


 
FROM THE HEART
    
Let Us Make the Short Time We have Left,
Count for ALL of Eternity!

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"Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!" - Hal Lindsey
 
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