Well, I’m back from a week’s vacation camping in Zion National Park in Utah. Great trip, but I see that not much has changed on the global landscape – except it’s gotten worse. I believe it will continue to get worse over the long-term despite some short-term optimism. But this is no time for Christians to be fearful. The Lord will take care of His own. Instead, we must become bolder in pointing out the futility of greed and materialism to provide what only our Lord and Savior can provide – true peace, forgiveness and eternal life.

AFA Ends Boycott: McDonald's Agrees to Changes

McDonald’s has told the American Family Association that they will remain neutral in the culture war regarding homosexual marriage. AFA is ending the boycott of McDonald’s. As you know, AFA called for the boycott in May after McDonald’s joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). McDonald’s said McDonald’s Vice President Richard Ellis has resigned his position on the board of NGLCC and that his seat on the board will not be replaced. McDonald’s also said that the company has no plans to renew their membership in NGLCC when it expires in December. In an e-mail to McDonald’s franchised owners the company said, “It is our policy to not be involved in political and social issues. McDonald’s remains neutral on same sex marriage or any ‘homosexual agenda’ as defined by the American Family Association.” In an e-mail to McDonald’s franchised owners the company said, “It is our policy to not be involved in political and social issues. McDonald’s remains neutral on same sex marriage or any ‘homosexual agenda’ as defined by the American Family Association.”

Louis Farrakhan Calls Obama the Messiah

Scary. See video at http://election.newsmax.com/obama_messiah.html?s=al&promo_code=6CF8-1

Atheists File Suit over National Day of Prayer

A Wisconsin-based group of atheists and agnostics has filed suit against President Bush over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer, Religion News Service reports. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which urges a strict separation of church and state, also names White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, and National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairwoman Shirley Dobson in the lawsuit filed Friday (Oct. 3). "The point is to stop the National Day of Prayer," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, in an interview Monday. The law, created in 1952 by Congress and signed by President Harry Truman, establishes an annual prayer day. In 1988, President Reagan amended the law, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of May. "We hope to buttress the wall of separation of church and state," Gaylor said.

Conn. High Court Allows Same-Sex Marriage

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A sharply divided Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to get married, saying legislators did not go far enough when they approved same-sex civil unions that were identical to marriages in virtually every respect except the name. The 4-3 ruling will make Connecticut the third state, behind Massachusetts and California, to allow same-sex marriages, decisions that in all cases were made by the highest state court. The decision marks the first time that a court rejected civil unions as an alternative to granting gay couples the right to marry. Californians will vote next month on a ballot measure that would reinstate the gay-marriage ban, but Connecticut's governor and attorney general said there is little chance of a similar challenge to Friday's ruling.

Ø JJ Commentary: Once again, it’s the courts that are establishing new law that’s very much in sync with the homosexual agenda.

New Capital Visitor Center Censors God

WallBuilders (newsletter@wallbuilders.com) Washington, D. C. is filled with impressive structures openly acknowledging God: the Washington Monument , the Jefferson Memorial, the Library of Congress, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and many others. The newest federal structure (scheduled to open in just=2 0a few months) is the Capitol Visitor Center – a massive underground facility that spans more area than the Capitol itself. It will acquaint some 15,000 visitors each day – including thousands of school children – with the 200 year history of the Capitol as well as its current content and operation. However, the new Visitor Center has deliberately censored mentions of God from both the Capitol's historical and current aspects. For example, in presenting the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Visitor Center officials actually deleted the words "religion and morality" from the document. And in presenting images of the current Speaker's Rostrum in the House Chamber, they deliberately omitted the phrase "In God We Trust" from its prominent location engraved in marble above the Speaker's head. There are many other examples. No wonder a congressman has dubbed it the "$600 million dollar godless pit." But not only does the Center censor God and religion from America's history but it also contains basic historical errors about the war of 1812, the Bill of Rights, the constitutional separation of powers, and many other simple topics (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fls6yfx7fs)

3,000 Christians Flee Mosul 'Killing Campaign'

BAGHDAD (AP) — Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape Sunni extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the northern Iraqi city, local officials said Saturday. The governor of northern Iraq's Ninevah province, Duraid Mohammed Kashmoula, said some 3,000 Christians have fled Mosul over the past week alone in what he called a "major displacement." He said most have left for churches, monasteries and the homes of relatives in nearby Christian villages and towns. "Of course al-Qaeda elements are behind this campaign against Christians," Kashmoula said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. He called on the government to launch a fresh military offensive to chase al-Qaeda in Iraq from his province, as the government has done elsewhere in the country. While the Christian community in Iraq's third-largest city has previously been targeted, local religious and political leaders say a new trend is emerging of assassinations and forced displacement based solely on religion.

Europe Pumping Billions of Dollars into Banking System

LONDON — European governments on Monday began pumping billions of dollars into their banks in a bid to prop them up, encourage lending and calm stock markets. Investors greeted the bailout action and promises of more with an upswing in European markets, led by a rise in bank shares. Three of Britain's biggest banks said they would take up to $63 billion of taxpayers' money to improve their balance sheets. The Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB were the first to take the government up on its offer to shore up their books. The banks lost billions in share value last week, as markets plummeted. The German government on Monday assembled a rescue package worth as much as 500 billion euros ($671 billion) to shore up the country's financial system — part of a coordinated European bailout. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says his government will provide up to 320 billion euros ($436 billion) to guarantee bank refinancing and another 40 billion euros ($54 billion) for a government-backed financing vehicle to provide banks with the capital they need. Spain said it would guarantee up to 100 billion euros ($135 billion) in bank bond issuance this year. Portugal's government has already announced it would provide guarantees of 20 billion euros ($27 billion) — nearly 12% of annual GDP — for Portuguese inter-bank lending.

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — This is what a rapid financial meltdown can do. The government seizes banks, leaving shareholders luckless and foreign depositors unable to touch their money. The stock market is shut down. The currency is in free fall, leaving mortgage holders who took out loans in foreign currency paying double. Prices on imported goods are on the rise. This is the situation in Iceland, where a small, struggling government is even turning to the Kremlin to prevent bankruptcy after it became the first country to succumb to the global financial meltdown in a matter of days last week. "No Western country has crashed in peacetime as quickly and as badly," says Jon Danielsson, an associate professor of finance at the London School of Economics. "This shows the degree of problems facing the global financial systems and how governments must do all they can to stabilize them."

WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank agreed Sunday to help developing countries strengthen their economies, bolster their financial systems, maintain growth and protect the poor against the financial turmoil roiling international markets. The head of the bank's policy-setting committee, Mexican Finance Minister Agustin Carstens, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick announced the commitment at the end of a day-long meeting. Zoellick said the financial crisis "has been a manmade catastrophe. The actions and responses to overcome it lie in our hands." He said that as the current crisis has unfolded, people in the United States and Europe reacted first with confusion, then anger, then fear. He said any prolonged tightening of credit or a sustained global slowdown could cause serious setbacks to developing countries' efforts to improve the lives of their populations. Such countries are already struggling with high prices for energy and food. Zoellick said the financial crisis underscored the need to modernize markets for a new global economy.

Ø JJ Commentary: A global economy and a one-world government are not wrong or evil of themselves, but it gives more and more concentrated control to unscrupulous leaders who are motivated by greed and are influenced by the devil (as described in Revelation 13).

North American Union and Amero Still Alive

After much public protest, the promoters of the North American Union (i.e. the USA, Mexico and Canada) have gone underground, but by no means away. This current economic crisis is being engineered to hasten this union and will be accomplished by the devaluing of the American dollar to be replaced by the Amero. According to former radio host Hal Turner, the Denver mint is already producing Ameros (see video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge2J2lNusJs)

Dow Has Worst Weekly Drop Ever – Then Rallies Monday

The Dow Jones industrial average ended the day down 128 points at a new five-year low of 8,451. It capped a brutal eight straight days of selling and the market's worst week ever. The Dow fell 1874 points, or 18% during the week, which on both a point and percentage basis, is more than in any week in the average's 112 -year history. Stocks enjoyed a much-needed rally Monday with the Dow Jones industrial average soaring more than 500 points at midday on optimism governments around the world can stabilize the financial system.

U.S. to Buy Equity Stake in Banks for 1st Time Since the Great Depression

WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that the Bush administration will move ahead with a plan to buy stock in financial institutions. Paulson said the program to purchase stock will be open to a broad array of institutions. The administration received the authority to make direct purchases of stock in banks in the $700 billion measure Congress passed last week to rescue the nation's financial system. It would mark the first time the government has taken equity ownership in banks in this manner since a similar program was used during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The purchase of equity stakes in companies would be besides the main thrust of the $700 billion rescue effort, which is to buy distressed assets off the books of financial institutions as a way of unthawing frozen credit markets and getting banks to resume more normal lending operations.

Ø JJ Commentary: The government is assuming more and more control over our formerly “free-market” as we slide deeper and deeper into the socialist pit of the New World Order.

Oil Falls Below $78, a 13-Month Low

NEW YORK — The stunning collapse in oil markets accelerated Friday, with a barrel plunging below $78 as investors grow more pessimistic about a mushrooming global economic crisis. A barrel of oil hasn't been this cheap in 13 months — a rare silver lining for consumers amid a rapidly imploding financial landscape. Crude has now lost 47% of its value since hitting a record $147.27 on July 11 as a deepening credit crisis sparked by the subprime mortgage fiasco wreaks havoc around the globe and drives down energy demand.

N. Korea to Resume Nuclear Disablement Work

SEOUL (AP) — North Korea said Sunday it will resume dismantling its main nuclear facilities, hours after the United States removed the communist country from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. The North's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it will again allow U.S. and International Atomic Energy Agency inspections at Yongbyon to verify the disablement process, pledged under a previous disarmament-for-aid deal with the United States and four other regional powers. North Korea halted the disablement in mid-August in anger at Washington over what it called a delay in the terror delisting and began moves aimed at potentially restarting the plutonium-producing facility north of Pyongyang. The U.S. had said the North had to first allow verification of its declaration of nuclear programs submitted in June.

More than 100 Taliban Killed in Afghan Clashes

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) — Taliban militants launched a surprise attack on a key southern Afghan town, sparking a battle that killed some 60 insurgents, an Afghan official said Sunday. A second clash in the same region killed another 40 militants. Taliban fighters used rockets and other heavy weapons to attack Afghan forces on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. Militants attacked the city from three sides starting just after midnight and were pushed back only after a battle that involved airstrikes. Rockets landed in different parts of the city but there were no civilian casualties. NATO said its aircraft bombed insurgents after they observed them gathering for a major attack, killing "multiple enemy forces," the military alliance said in a statement. "If the insurgents planned a spectacular attack prior to the winter, this was a spectacular failure," said Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, the spokesman for the NATO-led force.

2008 Tornado Season Could Blow Away Records

The 2008 tornado season is on track to set a record for the number of tornadoes in the USA, according to National Weather Service data. Through July, 1,390 tornadoes were officially recorded in the first seven months of a year — the most ever. "The 123 deaths so far this year are the second most in the Doppler-radar era, behind only 1998, when tornadoes killed 130," Greg Forbes, of the Weather Channel says. "We tend to see a peak in the central Plains and Midwest in October, and the Southeast USA in November," says meteorologist Gregory Carbin at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

California Wildfires

LOS ANGELES — Intense Santa Ana winds swept into Southern California on Monday morning and whipped up a 2,000-acre wildfire, forcing the closure of a major freeway and the evacuation of hundreds of homes. The Foothill Freeway was closed in both directions for about a three-mile stretch between the 118 Freeway and Interstate 5, the California Highway Patrol said. The blaze had jumped a fireline at about 4:30 a.m. in an area of Lopez Canyon in the eastern San Fernando Valley that had already been evacuated. Fire department helicopters had taken to the air at about 5 a.m. Monday but it was unsafe for them to fly and they were grounded. The blaze 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles sent about 1,200 people from their homes. Fire officials had warned that the fire could be a "sleeping giant," with gusts expected Monday morning of up to 60 mph as the region's serious fire season began.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire stoked by moderate winds burned about 500 acres in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday and threatened hundreds of homes and an animal sanctuary north of Los Angeles, authorities said. The blaze began about 2 a.m. in a rugged area of Little Tujunga Canyon about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, fire officials said. About 400 firefighters were on scene and aided by aerial strike teams,. About 1,200 people were evacuated from two canyons as the blaze brushed up against some of the area's 450 homes and moved southeast toward city limits. The fire was south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials were loading up the animals in case the fire switched direction.

ST. HELENA, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of firefighters are battling a fast-growing wildfire that is threatening homes and wineries in California's Napa Valley. Fire officials say the blaze has burned 300 acres in the rugged hills just outside the wine country town of St. Helena. The fire was about 40% contained Saturday morning. CalFire spokeswoman Nancy Carniglia says the fire has destroyed at least two structures and threatens 200 homes and several wineries. About 100 residents left their homes under voluntary evacuation orders Friday night, and an evacuation center has been set up at St. Helena High School.

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire that burned up to 1,900 acres on a Marine Corps explosives range was contained Thursday without causing any injuries or damage to buildings on the base, officials said. The fire erupted Wednesday afternoon about 40 miles north of San Diego as hot, dry weather gripped Southern California. Aircraft attacked the flames and firefighters set backfires, working through the night to slow its advance. The fire burned between 1,400 and 1,900 acres. Billowing smoke could be seen in neighboring counties. Some people in Los Angeles called 911 to report the smell of smoke Thursday.

LOS ANGELES — An outbreak of wildfires in California last year worsened smog pollution in rural areas and caused levels to spike above federal air quality standards, a study released Thursday found. California witnessed an intense wildfire season in 2007 with drought conditions and unusually powerful Santa Ana winds fanning flames. More than 9,000 fires blackened over a million acres around the state and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. Using computer models and data from 55 rural ground monitoring stations, scientists found that drifting smoke from wildfires sent ozone pollution to unhealthy levels in 66 instances, about triple the usual number. The calculations were based on the Environmental Protection Agency's old standard for ozone at 80 parts per billion over an eight-hour period. The EPA earlier this year tightened the amount of ozone that will be allowed in the air to 75 parts per billion. Under the stricter smog limit, scientists estimated that violations would double from the previous standard.