Get Cynical

A video of my cat chirping or barking or something at the outside world.

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

The sign is everywhere, and where there is no sign, there are smiling people in yellow t-shirts handing out flyers. Nothing since I have been here has been so well advertised as this.

In a country where fighting misinformation is a major part of the battle against HIV/AIDS, I am not sure these crusaders have picked the right side.

The sad thing is, I don’t even think they are ill-intentioned. I am willing to bet Angley and his gang are here at a loss, funded by their church in Ohio. It’s not a scam: they really believe in what they are dispensing. (Though I bet their home church in Ohio is not doing too shabbily…) No matter how many people show up to a crusade in Maseru, an offering plate passed among the poor here is not going to make a dent in the airfare or hotel budget of Angley and his friends.

On the other hand, those few dollars thrown into the offering plate probably are the school fees of a child, or at least somebody’s dinner. Picture it: the poor throwing their livelihoods into a pot to finance wealthy preachers on their world tours. What a reversal of the message of Christ!

Of course, the worst of it is that last line on the advert: AIDS and Other Death Diseases Healed! They clearly have not thought about the irresponsibility of claiming to cure AIDS. Rather, somebody had the idea, “AIDS is a big problem in Africa, I bet that would be a real hook!”

Do you need a miracle or healing? You can have a miracle; you can have a healing today. Untold multitudes have been healed as they put their hand against mine on the screen.
You can have your deliverance. This is just a point of contact. I am not a healer; Jesus is
the Healer. He said a believer would lay hands on the sick and they would get well. I am God’s believer, endowed with His precious gifts to bring healing to the people.

1. DO NOT commit suicide, and stay extremely calm if you have missed the rapture. There will be a period of total chaos, suicides, and heart attacks. People all over the world will be in total chaos. Please understand the fact that you who remain here have missed the rapture, and are living in the tribulation period, and nothing you do can change that fact. Listen! Don’t look back. Face the fact you’ve been left, but there still is hope for you!!

2. KEEP A TIME TABLE. Look back and find the date people were reported missing or raptured, mark that date, and put it away. Keep track of the following 7 years. The first three and a half years will not be too bad, but the last three and a half years will be so horrible that human vocabulary is insufficient to describe the events that will take place.

5. BEWARE OF A WORLD CHURCH. This church is not of God. Do not back this church. It is from Satan himself. Do not associate with any kind of world church. Beware of Communist agents who will play the role of pastor. Beware of any big church movement after the rapture. Ask Jesus for a spirit of discernment.

7. DO NOT accept the mark of the beast (666). The Anti-Christ will control the economic system completely, and he will destroy the money system and install a number system either on your hand or your forehead. Do not take this mark. If you do, you will be automatically doomed for eternity. Be prepared if you do not take it. You will be tortured or even put to death, but your soul will be saved in the end. You probably won’t be able to buy, sell, or trade anything, but do not take the anti-Christ’s number system. Begin now to ask Jesus for strength and boldness. There will be very rough times ahead.

The DPRK is also one of the world’s most secretive nations. For a North Korean, contact with a foreigner can land one in jail… or worse. But there is one embarrassing secret that is hard for the government to hide, literally. It’s the Ryugyong Hotel in the Potong District of North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang. It’s difficult to hide because it’s a massive, 105-story structure which dominates the city’s skyline. It’s an embarrassment because it’s a complete engineering failure… its empty, dilapidated husk lurks over the capital, mocking the citizens of the proud country.

The most infamous prison in history, it was a desolate place of exile in French Guiana (Devil’s Island was actually a small island off the coast of French Guiana, but the main prisons on the mainland, over time, became known collectively as “Devil’s Island”. Just as we have school children (and adults) who have never heard of Hiroshima, there are many more who have never heard of this most dreaded of all prisons.

During its existence as a penal colony (1884-1946), more than 56,000 prisoners were transported to French Guiana from France. Of this number, perhaps one-fourth returned to France. Many of those who evaded death in the jungle camps did so by escape—a feat that became increasingly difficult as the years passed.

At first the neighboring government of Dutch Guiana provided sanctuary to those who successfully crossed the piranha-infested Moroni River. Later, as a result of atrocities committed by “bagnards” (the prison was referred to as the “bagne”), the Dutch administration adopted a firm policy of returning all Devil’s Islanders except those of German nationality (a policy instituted by Hitler on his accession to power in 1933). Thousands of the less imaginative convicts persisted in crossing to the Dutch side in an attempt to escape down the Moengo Road to Paramaribo, the only passageway through the dense jungle. Catching these convicts proved remarkably simple; Dutch soldiers merely stationed themselves along the road and waited. A Dutch soldier, stationed on the Maroni River, once heard a piteous screaming from the river after dark and went to investigate. About 25 feet from the bank he saw a convict struggling forward, with the water boiling beneath him. Fist-sized chunks of flesh were being torn from his arms, face and chest. The piranhas were skeletonizing the convict before the soldier’s eyes; in short order, the convict sank screaming into the dark brown water.

Using Ms. Spears meant he had to take artistic licence. For a start, she delivered by caesarean section. Medical experts also point out the sculpture depicts her in an unlikely position for giving birth.

Mr. Edwards said his wife had already told him this, but the all-fours position represents the singer’s past skin-flashing stage shows.

And therein lies the rub with the family values and anti-abortion groups.

“It’s not in my taste,” said Jeanne Head, president of the Manhattan Right to Life Committee, which Mr. Edwards contacted to obtain anti-abortion literature.

Said John-Henry Westen, editor of LifeSiteNews.com, a conservative family values group in Canada, “It’s a farce to suggest that this is pro-life. You get unwanted babies through the type of promiscuous sex celebrities like Britney Spears portray through their acts.”

Even animal rights groups are upset at the bearskin rug, modelled from an actual bearskin bought over the Internet from Canada for US$150.