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Escaping Debt Slavery
Why are U.S. middle-class incomes falling? Why do the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? Simple! Because the poor get tricked into giving their money to the rich! How? Through long-term and usurious interest rates.
The rich understand what most poor people don't: the magic of compound interest. When signing a 30-year mortgage at a so-called "5% compound interest rate," most people don't realize that in the first six years they're paying 74% interest. That means in the first six years, you've maybe paid for the front door and porch: the bankers and investors get most of your money up front.
But on a 6-year loan at 5% compounded you'll only pay 16% interest! People may say, "Toward the end of a 30-year mortgage, you're paying with cheaper dollars so it costs you less." True, but it also means at the beginning of your mortgage, you're paying the bankers and investors with dollars worth more! At Agape Restoration Society, we educate the poor about how to build up equity quickly without paying a huge amount of interest.
Another way that bankers and their investors get your money is by student loans and credit card debt. It seems so easy to take out a student loan... and another... and another... until you're thirty- or fifty- or eighty-thousand dollars in debt for your B.A. degree. Or you "need" new furniture for your new apartment or new house, so you "put it on the credit card"... at 18% or 22% interest. Then you get behind on your payments and are assessed costly penalties. All these types of credit allow the banking system to create "fiat money" out of thin air, making the rich richer and you poorer, adding to inflation and driving down your real income.
Please click on the above photo or title to read the whole article: debt is a moral and spiritual issue! "Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. Let no debt remain outstanding" (Romans 13:7-8). Here's another excellent article on debt from a Christian perspective: What America's Public Debt Crisis Says About Us and What We Can Do About It.
ALERT! A dear friend from Russia sent the following urgent prayer request: "We began the new year with a feeling of concern about freedom of religion in the Russian Federation. In 2018 Russia's 'anti-missionary law' was used to more aggressively prosecute religious leaders in various regions. In one instance, a Baptist pastor whom I have met personally was taken into the courtroom in handcuffs. His crime was leading his church in a public [outdoor] baptism.
"In another situation, earlier this month the Russian Baptist Union's Moscow Theological Seminary was accused of violating its education license and was placed under court ordered closure for 60 days. Moscow Theological Seminary is one of the largest and most prestigious protestant seminaries in Russia. The seminary's leader, Peter Mitskevich, is also serving as President of the Russian Baptist Union.
"Honest and sincere believers are coming under direct pressure from government entities. Please pray for the restoration of justice and freedom. The Moscow Seminary closure came before judicial review on February 1."
Socialism in the vast majority of its forms is based on Marxist and atheist foundations. If there is no God, the material universe is all that exists and the laws of physics, chemistry and mathematics tell us all we can ever know. This is why, as our first news article SHORT IS THE ROAD THAT LEADS FROM ABORTION TO INFANTICIDE AND EUTHANASIA explains, almost all who are in favor of abortion, infanticide and euthanasia are leftists and socialists.
Without belief in God, the sanctity of human life has no foundation. But if science can explain everything, it leaves us with an accidental universe governed only by random chance, leaving us as mere evolutionary accidents with no meaning of life, no value of human life, so ultimately it explains nothing. We've seen with our own eyes and heard with our own ears in Russia how disabled infants and elderly people are often considered disposable: about 30% of Russians polled openly say that disabled people should be put to death - infanticide and euthanasia.
Along with our above "ALERT" we point out in our second news article UZBEKISTAN: FINED FOR GIVING NEW TESTAMENT AWAY that the atheistic and anti-Christian attitudes of former Soviet Union governments are still very prevalent. The police's "psychological pressure" applied against several of the 40 Protestants who were interrogated was so intense and traumatic that a woman and a five-year-old girl had to be hospitalized. This is psychological torture, an old Soviet tactic.
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Metropolitan Epifaniy was oficially installed on 3 February as the head of the new "Orthodox Church of Ukraine," as described in our third news article METROPOLITAN EPIFANY BECOMES OFFICIAL LEADER OF OCU. Representatives from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, from monasteries on Mount Athos, Greece, from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox churches in the U.S. and Canada, as well as foreign diplomats and Ukrainian political leaders were all present.
A representative of the new OCU, Pavel Yuristy, concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Monastery of Pantocrator on Mount Athos, per our fourth news article HIERARCH OF UKRAINE'S NEW CHURCH CELEBRATES HIS FIRST LITURGY ON ATHOS. But as this article also points out, other monasteries on Mount Athos are pro-Russian, oppose the new OCU, and will refuse communion with its representatives. As our second and fifth news headlines 12 KYIVAN CLERGYMEN AND INTELLECTUALS OF THE UOC(MP) JOIN OCU and TRANSCARPATHIAN PRIEST LOCKED SELF IN CHURCH BUT PARISH STILL TRANSFERRED TO OCU report, many people and parishes are switching over to the new OCU.
GAY ATHEIST POLISH MAYOR IS OUT TO DIMINISH POWER OF CATHOLIC CHURCH - our fifth news article - points out the close relationship of atheism to sexual deviancy and abortion. This gay atheist politician openly aims to decrease the role of religion in Polish society and to make abortion freely available. As often happens, though, extreme political positions often detract votes from the nearest less-extreme position, causing both of them to lose power.
"Why should Christians be treated as if they are guilty of a crime?" - said Ravshan Yunusov, whose home was raided and whose personal Bible was confiscated, as our sixth news article UZBEKISTAN: "INVESTIGATIONS" DON'T STOP POLICE ILLEGAL ACTIONS relates. When the state controls all social institutions - education, police, healthcare, military, religion - laws on the books about freedom of religion and the ability to investigate the authorities mean nothing because the common people have no power to stand up against the behemoth.
NOW, THE NEWS:
SHORT IS THE ROAD THAT LEADS FROM ABORTION TO INFANTICIDE AND EUTHANASIA
from: Daily Signal
(6 Feb.) Consider this: in 2006, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecology in Britain surprised many people when it issued a formal statement arguing that the United Kingdom should consider legalizing infanticide in the case of disabled babies. Euthanizing the baby, the statement said, would alleviate a family's emotional and financial burdens.
Or, consider the fact that many of the West's most influential ethicists support infanticide. For example, John Harris, a founder of the International Association of Bioethics, argues that if abortion can be justified, so can infanticide. "There is no obvious reason," Harris said, per a Telegraph article published in 2004, "why one should think differently, from an ethical point of view, about a fetus when it's outside the womb rather than when it’s inside the womb."
Similarly, Jonathan Glover, senior ethicist at King's College London, argues that there is no such thing as an inherent "sanctity of human life." He argues that babies are not autonomous because they are not even aware of the difference between life and death. Thus, parents and medical personnel should evaluate whether or not the infant's life is worth living.
Even worse is the inevitability that the movement to legalize infanticide will be accompanied by a push to legalize euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. The career of Princeton University ethicist Peter Singer is case in point. Singer made his name by rejecting "the sanctity of human life" as nothing more than religious mumbo-jumbo, as he did in a 2009 Foreign Policy article. With the sanctity of human life thus rejected, he goes on to argue in favor of infanticide, voluntary euthanasia of the elderly, and physician-assisted suicide.
In nations that have legislated along the lines of Singer's utilitarian ethic, the results have been disastrous. Since the Netherlands legalized euthanasia nearly 20 years ago, doctors have taken the lives of thousands of elderly citizens annually. In the Netherlands' culture of death, it is therefore not surprising that thousands of citizens carry cards prohibiting doctors from euthanizing them, and some elderly citizens express fear about going in for basic medical care because of the possibility of euthanasia. [read more...]
UZBEKISTAN: FINED FOR GIVING NEW TESTAMENT AWAY
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service
(30 Jan.) In the southern city of Bukhara, a court fined a Christian, Shukhrat Safarov, about two weeks' average wages for giving an Uzbek-language New Testament away as a present. The judge ordered that the New Testament be destroyed. Police had found the New Testament during a search of the recipient's home. The authorities committed multiple illegalities throughout the case.
After a late September 2018 police raid on a group of 40 Protestants meeting in Tashkent Region, where police "psychological pressure" resulted in a woman and a 5-year-old girl being hospitalised, a court has upheld the fines on 27 local Christians and deportations of four South Korean Protestants. No prosecutions appear to have been brought against the police who carried out torture, despite Uzbekistan's legally-binding obligations under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
And after a large November 2018 raid involving the National Guard and other agencies on Baptists meeting for Sunday morning worship in Yashnobod District in the capital Tashkent, police returned some of the Christian literature they confiscated. However, they have not returned children's literature, song books, and music notes. The authorities do not appear to have brought any prosecutions or other actions against the officials who acted illegally.
In December 2018 Shukhrat Safarov, a Protestant in the southern city of Bukhara [Bukhoro], gave a local woman an Uzbek-language New Testament. Police subsequently searched her flat in Karakul District and found the New Testament, local Protestants who wish to remain unnamed for fear of state reprisals told Forum 18 on 27 January 2019.
Police officer Begzod, who refused to give his last name, told Safarov on 5 January that the search allegedly happened because of "because of complaints against her from residents of her mahalla [residential area]." Police confiscated the New Testament, even though she told officers it was a gift. [read more...]
(3 Feb.) Today, on February 3, in the Church of St. Sophia in Kyiv, the enthronement of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy (Dumenko) took place. The official representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch – Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, as well as representatives of the monasteries of Mount Athos, have arrived in Ukraine to attend this solemn event. The bishops of the UOC US, UOC of Canada and and the Exarch of Patriarch Bartholomew in Kyiv have taken part in the enthronement ceremony.
In concelebration with the priests of the OCU and the Constantinople Patriarchate, Metropolitan Epifaniy celebrated the Divine Liturgy. The ceremony of enthronement took place in the altar part of the church before the Gospel reading. Metropolitan Epifany was elevated to the throne by a senior hierarch. He was presented with a cross and two panagias – external signs of his primate’s ministry – following which Metropolitan Epifany officially became the Primate of the OCU.
Due to scheduled health-related procedures, Honorable Patriarch Filaret could not take part in the celebrations. The doctors forbade him to leave the hospital, and therefore Bishop Filaret sent his greetings to the Primate. After the Divine Liturgy, Metropolitan Dymytriy (Rudyuk) of Lviv and Sokal and the representative of the Constantinople Patriarchate, Metropolitan Emanuel of France, congratulated the Head of the OCU and handed him a metropolitan’s crosier.
Thereafter, President Poroshenko addressed the Head of the OCU. He noted that after the enthronement, the Church and Ukraine received a new leader, with whom many people associate their hopes. Poroshenko also mentioned all those who made this solemn day come: Patriarch Bartholomew and Ukrainian hierarchs Filaret, Makariy, and Simeon. [read more...]
HIERARCH OF UKRAINE'S NEW CHURCH CELEBRATES HIS FIRST LITURGY ON ATHOS
from: Interfax-Religion
(8 Feb.) Head of the Odessa Diocese of Ukrane’s new church Pavel Yuristy chaired a liturgy in the Monastery of Pantocrator on Mount Athos. On the eve monks and the delegation of the newly-established Ukrainian church conducted vespers there, Yuristy wrote in his Facebook.
These divine services have become the first ones conducted by Athonite monks together with officials of the church recently established in Ukraine mostly from representatives of non-canonical religious organizations. However, the Moscow Patriarchate’s high officials referring to the Orthodox teaching more than once noted that those who celebrate services with schismatics become schismatics themselves.
Pantocrator is one of the five monasteries, which during the session of Holy Kinot backed up Patriarch Bartholomew's call to visit enthronement of the new Ukrainian church head Epifaniy Dumenko. However, representatives of other Athos monasteries spoke against it. Philotheou and Karakalou Monasteries stated they would close their doors if Epifaniy came to visit them.
The creation of the local Orthodox church of Ukraine backed by the Constantinople Patriarchate and independent of the Moscow Patriarchate was announced at the unification assembly in Kiev on December 15. The new church is made up of representatives of the country's [previously] uncanonical church structures. The head of the new church received a tomos on autocephaly from Patriarch Bartholomew on January 6. [read more...]
GAY ATHEIST POLISH MAYOR IS OUT TO DIMINISH POWER OF CATHOLIC CHURCH
from: Patheos
(7 Feb.) Given that Poland is overwhelmingly Catholic, it must have come as a shock to many when, in 2011, atheist Robert Biedron, was elected to the country's Parliament, becoming the first openly gay official. The staunchly pro-EU politician made history again in 2014, after becoming the mayor of Slupsk, a town in Poland.
Now Biedron, an LGBT activist, above, has the Catholic Church in his sights, having just announced plans on Sunday to establish a new political party – Wiosna (Spring) – to diminish the Church's influence in his country by placing tighter restrictions on it. In launching Wiosna, Biedron intends opposing the conservative Law and Justice party which supports the Catholic Church. During a press conference, he made it clear that he wants to bring an end to the practice of pitching the Polish people against one another. He wants the atmosphere of the country to change, by introducing the concept of dialogue and mutual respect among the residents.
With Wiosna, Biedron wants to put pressure on the Catholic Church, by eliminating the tax breaks they receive. He wants to bring an end to religious lessons schools are compelled to teach. At the same time, he plans on allowing abortion to take place prior to 12 weeks gestation. Not surprisingly his announcement gave rise to considerable dismay.
Critics believe that by starting the new party, he will draw liberal supporters away from Law and Justice. Although current polls show that Biedron doesn't have the same popularity as other candidates, his focus on being a part of the European Union, along with addressing social issues in the country, may be enough to get the older voters to his side. [read more...]
UZBEKISTAN: "INVESTIGATIONS" DON'T STOP POLICE ILLEGAL ACTIONS
by Mushfig Bayram: Forum 18 News Service
(29 Jan.) Following two separate raids by police on Protestant Christians to punish them for exercising freedom of religion or belief, church members' complaints about police illegality have unleashed further punitive police measures against them. Protestants in the north-western city of Urgench [Urganch] and in the eastern Namangan Region complained about police raids and house searches without warrants, as well as police pressure on individuals to sign fabricated statements. "Investigations" in both places found no police wrongdoing.
Despite police bringing great pressure against multiple people to sign false statements against Pastor Ahmadjon Nazarov and other Christians in Urgench, "investigations" by the Interior Ministry and police have found no violations by police. The "investigations" followed complaints by local Christians to officials including the Prime Minister about illegal police actions.
However, police pressure to sign false statements against Pastor Nazarov continued during the time "investigations" were allegedly being conducted. In one of the "investigations," Urgench Prosecutor Davlatov took no action against blatant illegality by police, but is instead considering acting against those who reported police illegality.
In Namangan Region, local Christians also complained about illegal police actions during and after a raid including a Bible confiscation. The illegal actions included – as in Urgench - police falsifying statements. An "investigation" was alleged to have been conducted, but yet again no steps have been taken to punish police illegality. Instead a case has been opened against church member Ravshan Yunusov, whose home was raided and who complained to officials up to the General Prosecutor's Office about police illegality.
"I am a Christian and I keep a Bible in my home," Yunusov stated. "Why should Christians be treated for this as if they are guilty of a crime?" Local Protestants, who wish to remain unnamed for fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18 that they think police are "trying to make Yunusov weary to stop him complaining about illegal police actions." [read more...]
OTHER NEWS HEADLINES:
DOSSIER COMMISSION: BULGARIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH, INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, MILITARY INTELLIGENCE REFUSING TO CO-OPERATE
from Sofia Globe
12 KYIVAN CLERGYMEN AND INTELLECTUALS OF THE UOC(MP) JOIN OCU
from Religious Information Service of Ukraine
BIBLES FOR CHINA SEEKS TO BRING NEW RESOURCES TO CHURCHES
from Mission Network News
S. OSSETIA RELEASES FROM CUSTODY GEORGIAN PRIEST DETAINED FOR BORDER VIOLATION
from Interfax-Religion
TRANSCARPATHIAN PRIEST LOCKED SELF IN CHURCH BUT PARISH STILL TRANSFERRED TO OCU
from Russia Religion News
HIERARCH OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CZECH LANDS AND SLOVAKIA: CHURCHES ARE READY TO ADDRESS THE UKRAINIAN ISSUE TOGETHER
from Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
NATALIA VELIKANOVA: "HE WAS THE NOBLEST MAN I HAVE EVER MET"
from Orthodox Christianity
NORTH KOREA: "I'M A CHILD OF GOD AND I'M NOT SCARED TO DIE" — CHRISTIANS ENDURE INTENSE PERSECUTION
from ChristianPersecution.com
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The Valley of Indecision
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
Most likely you're familiar with the story of David and Goliath:
"Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. A champion went out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span [9 feet, 6 inches]. He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield bearer went before him.
"He stood and shouted to the armies of Israel, and said to them, 'Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Aren't I a Philistine, and aren't you servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants, and serve us. The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, so that we may fight together.' When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Saul" (1 Samuel 17:2-12).
There the two armies stood, facing each other overlooking the "Valley of Indecision." To the Israelite army, it looked like insurmountable odds: Goliath, a giant over nine feet tall, against any one of their soldiers! Have you ever faced such a challenge, such an overwhelming evil force, where it seems like there's absolutely no way you could ever come out alive? Then along comes David, who seems like a smart-aleck teenager to his older brothers as he brags - "I can do it! Let me at him!" And he did it. With a slingshot and five smooth stones, David overcame Goliath's coat of armor, brass helmet, spear and javelin by sending a stone straight into Goliath's forehead, killing him instantly, snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat! Then he cut off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword.
Think of the terrible odds that Noah faced: "God saw the earth, and saw that it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make an ark of gopher wood. You shall make rooms in the ark, and shall seal it inside and outside with pitch" (Genesis 6:12-14). Put yourself in Noah's shoes: "How on earth am I ever going to build this Ark? It's HUGE and I've only got three sons, everyone else is totally evil and against me!" But he did it anyway!
Remember the story of Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal? "Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? if the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. The people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred fifty men" (1 Kings 18:21-22). There the people stood in the "Valley of Indecision." Which side would they choose? One against 450 might seem like pretty lousy odds... but one believer plus the Lord is a majority!
John the Baptist preached to the multitudes - "'Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth. All flesh will see God's salvation.' He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, 'You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don't begin to say among yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father"; for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn't bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.' The multitudes asked him, 'What then must we do?' He answered them, 'He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.'" (Luke 3:5-11).
Some of the people responded, they repented and were baptized, then they brought forth fruits worthy of repentance - good works. Others held back, resting on the laurels of their ancestor's faith, Abraham's obedience flowing from his faith. That's the easiest excuse: "My parents raised me right, I went to Sunday School and church every week!" - they say as they sit on the couch, watching TV until midnight on Saturday and then sleep in on Sunday morning.
St. Paul wrote to the Hebrews - "Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today if you will hear His voice, don't harden your hearts, as in the provocation, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me by proving Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, "They always err in their heart, But they didn't know My ways"; As I swore in My wrath, "They will not enter into My rest."' Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called 'today'; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Hebrews 3:7-12).
The Apostle is referring to the time when the Israelites, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, grumbled and rebelled against Moses time and again for forty years. Even though they had been set free externally, they were still slaves internally, in their hearts and thoughts. They had fallen away from the living God. To them, it was simply the natural, normal thing to do: complain and be uncooperative if things weren't just right. "Why cooperate with this guy Moses? Look what a poor leader he is! See what a mess he's gotten us into!" But none of those do-nothing complainers made it into the Promised Land, not a single one of them.
Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher who lived just before Christ's birth, once said - "More is lost by indecision than by wrong decision." It's easy to complain, to sit back and do nothing, to waste our time watching TV or doodling on Facebook when there are more useful and important and even urgent things that we could and should be doing. Many people are afraid to take positive action because they fear they might fail, but the biggest failure is the failure to step up to the challenge and act. "Not to decide is to decide not to." Not making the decision to take action is actually making the decision to do nothing!
David took a big risk when he faced Goliath. Noah stepped up to the plate and took the challenge to build the Ark when it seemed an impossible task. Elijah staked his life on facing down the prophets of Baal. What is the challenge that God has given you? Are you going to decide to accept the risk of trying, or are you afraid of failure or making a fool of yourself? The biggest fool was that unfaithful servant who buried his talent in the ground, risked nothing... and lost everything!
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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Please remember to pray for Christians in socialist countries, and for...
Your fellow-servants,
Bob & Cheryl
p.s. Family values: "He who does not engage in propagation of the race is as though he had shed blood." - the Talmud
- 9 Feb. 2019