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Franklin Graham: Battle Against Godless Secularism Is for the Soul of the Nation

Oct. 25….(CP Politics) Besides the election, there is a more important battle taking place, Franklin Graham says, and the battle against godless secularism is for the soul of the country. Writing on his Facebook page Sunday, the president of Samaritan's Purse and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association said that the "forces of godless secularism want to remove the name of God and his son Jesus Christ" from the United States, and that those battles have been rising with for several years with more intensity.

The candidates may be focusing on the key battleground states and the electoral college but the real battle, Graham said, is in the heavenly realm. Citing the famous passage in the New Testament about spiritual warfare, the evangelist quoted Ephesians 6:12-13 which reads: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." "My question for you — Have you put on your armor?" he concluded.

Graham has warned multiple times in the past few months about the dangers of godlessness, particularly the variety that appears on the progressive left and in the entertainment industry. Last Sunday Graham noted that in the 1930s, America experienced the Great Depression but that now the nation is in the midst of a Great Deception. Today, he said, "Hollywood and media moguls want you to think sin is okay, even something to celebrate. It's not. Sin has a price, and the price is death, spiritual death."

As CP reported on Oct 10, when tapes emerged of Republican candidate Donald Trump bragging about groping women in 2005 Access Hollywood interview with Billy Bush, the evangelist said Trump's remarks were indefensible but added that "the godless progressive agenda of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton likewise cannot be defended."

"Our nation's many sins have permeated our society, leading us to where we are today. But as Christians we can't back down from our responsibility to remain engaged in the politics of our nation," he continued.

PUTIN’S WARNING – Russia Tells the US ‘if you Want a War You will get one EVERYWHERE’

(Russia has warned the US it will give America a war if it wants one after Joe Biden called for an all-out cyber assault on Kremlin emails.)

Oct. 18….(Express) Moscow military experts have said Vladimir Putin will not back down amid escalating tensions between the global superpowers, blasting the White House’s “aggressiveness”.

US Vice President Biden revealed last weekend that Washington will be launching an attack on the Russian government’s emails. But Kremlinmilitary chief Lt Gen Yevgeny Buzhinsky described the provocative action as “full-scale confrontation”. The retired general added: "Of course there is a reaction. As far as Russia sees it, as Putin sees it, it is full-scale confrontation on all fronts. If you want a confrontation, you'll get one.” "But it won't be a confrontation that doesn't harm the interests of the United States. You want a confrontation, you'll get one everywhere.” Spokesman for the Russian government Dmitry Peskov moved quickly to denounce Biden’s threats. He said: "The threats directed against Moscow and our state's leadership are unprecedented because they are voiced at the level of the US vice president. "To the backdrop of this aggressive, unpredictable line, we must take measures to protect our interests, to hedge risks." Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov also accused the US of “unprecedented threats” and “borderline insolence”.

Cold War deployments are being setup by the Russia military as nuclear bombers sweep the US border and plans are set in motion for new bases in Cuba. Pentagon chiefs warned Russia could be on the verge of launching a “terrible” nuclear attack on a NATO nation.

Oct. 14....(Reuters) One of the world's most important religious sites and Judaism’s holiest site, Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and Western Wall, were reclassified as an exclusively Muslim shrine Thursday after a United Nations organization adopted a polarizing resolution that denies Jewish connection to the site.

The resolution, which condemns Israel for its activities in Jerusalem and the West Bank, asserts that Jerusalem is holy to three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Islam and Christianity. However, it includes a special section pertaining to the Temple Mount that says the site is sacred only to Muslims and fails to mention it as sacred to Jews. The resolution from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization does not refer to the Al-Aqsa mosque by either the Hebrew term for the site—Har Habayit—or its English translation, the Temple Mount, but only by its Muslim name.

"What's next? A UNESCO decision denying the connection between peanut butter and jelly? Batman and Robin? Rock and roll?" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted after the decision.

The complex is considered Judaism’s holiest site due to it being the location of its first and second temples. It is the third holiest site to the Muslim faith as the place where the prophet Mohammed made the miraculous night journey to and from Mecca in order to ascend up to heaven.

The UNESCO resolution this week coincided with international efforts to calm violence in the region after what Palestinians say are increasingly frequent Jewish visits to the compound that is officially under Muslim administration. Under Israeli law, Jews are not allowed to pray at the site to avoid potential violence, but many Jewish activists still rally at the site.

Palestinian protesters have fought back in recent months and clashed with Israeli police outside the temple, with police releasing tear gas and stun grenades and Palesintians throwing rocks at officials. Meanwhile, between July 8 and Aug. 27, more than 2,100 Palestinians were killed during a Israeli military operation in the Gaza strip, along with 66 Israeli soldiers and seven civilians in Israel, according to a BBC News report.

The U.S. State Department expressed concern in September about violence at Temple Mount.

"The United States is deeply concerned by the increase in violence and escalating tensions surrounding the (al-)Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount," said State Department spokesman John Kirby, referring to another Islamic name for the site. "We strongly condemn all acts of violence. It is absolutely critical that all sides exercise restraint, refrain from provocative actions and rhetoric and preserve unchanged the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount."

The Palestinian Authority initiated the UNESCO campaign to reclassify the Temple Mount in 2015 and garnered support from Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and Sudan. Palestinians want the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip for a future state, with Arab East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, including the predominately Arab east annexed in 1967, though the claim is not recognized internationally.

Multiple efforts had been made by the Israeli government to try and prove the historical Jewish connection to the holy site before the historic vote. Israel’s Mission to UNESCO in Paris gave board members and international diplomats a brochure that included a ninth-century BCE inscription referring to the House of David, an eighth-century BCE seal from King Hezekia, a stone etching of a Jewish menorah from the year 66 CE found in Jerusalem and a picture of the Arch of Titus in Rome on which images of holy artifacts that the Romans stole from the Second Temple in Jerusalem are depicted, according to a PressReader report.

“If the Jews have no definite connection to the holy sites-UNESCO and the United Nations has no connection to history and reality,” said Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, Israel's parliament speaker, after the Thursday resolution.

Due to Israeli diplomatic efforts before the vote, no European country backed the motion. Twenty-four countries voted in favor of the decision, while six voted against. Twenty-six abstained while two were missing, according to a Haaretz report. The U.S., United Kingdom and Germany were among those against the resolution. France, Sweden, Slovenia, Argentina, Togo and India abstained from the vote.

Jordan has custodian rights over the Al-Aqsa mosque compound after Israel seized East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War.

Oct. 10….(CNN) Russia plans to expand its supply base in the Syrian port city of Tartus into a permanent naval base, Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Monday, according to state news agency TASS. "In Syria, we will have a permanent naval base in Tartus. The corresponding documents have been drafted. Currently they are in the process of inter-departmental coordination," said Pankov, during a meeting of Russia's Federation Council's international affairs committee. "The degree of readiness is rather high," he said, adding that he hoped to ask the committee to ratify the move soon.

Tartus lies on Syria's Mediterranean coast between Lebanon to the south, and Turkey to the north. Russia's naval facility in the port city, its only base in the Mediterranean dates back to Soviet days. Consisting of a single pier, the base has acted primarily as a repair yard and supply station for Russian warships during Mediterranean Sea missions, and is described by Russian state media as a logistics facility.

Since Moscow entered the war in September 2015, helping to swing momentum in the conflict in the favor of Syrian government forces, the strategic center of Russia's military operation has been Hmeymim airbase, near Latakia. Last month, Tartus featured in a Syrian government tourism campaign which showcased idyllic shots of the Mediterranean resort city.

Pankov had earlier said Russia's Defense Ministry was considering restoring military bases in countries where they had been based in Soviet times, TASS reported.

His comments were made in response to a call from Aleksey Chepa, deputy chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee, to restore Russian bases in Latin America, Africa and southeast Asia.