President Trump convened his first cabinet meeting Wednesday, and the milestone was marked with prayer.

Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, led Trump’s new team in an opening invocation.

“Father the Bible says that blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, Father today we honor You in Your rightful place and thank You for giving us this opportunity to restore faith in this country and be a blessing to the people of America, and we pray in our meeting that You would be glorified in our conversation. In Jesus name, Amen,” Turner prayed as the group responded with “Amen.”

While prayer moments were also a visible part of President Trump’s first term, he said earlier this month that he’s had a deeper realization about God since he was nearly killed by a would-be assassin’s bullets during a campaign rally in Butler, PA last summer.

“None of us knows exactly when our time on earth will be over,” Trump told those gathered at the National Prayer Breakfast. “You never know—a truth I confronted a few short months ago when there was an incident that … was not fun.”

The president has frequently said he believes the Lord saved him that day. “God was watching me,” Trump said.

“It changed something in me,” he said. “I feel even stronger. I believed in God, but I feel much more strongly about it. Something happened.”

After the Cabinet meeting’s opening prayer, Trump then gave the floor to Elon Musk to talk about the DOGE efforts. He attempted to clear up some of the recent drama about emails to federal workers.

“What we are trying to get to the bottom of is we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond, and some people who are not real people and just like fictional individuals… some collecting paychecks… so we are literally just trying to figure out are these people real? Are they alive? And can they write an email?” Musk explained.

One million workers have responded to the email, about half the number of federal workers. Trump said those who did not respond “are on the bubble” and might be let go.

The White House also instructed federal agencies to begin planning to eliminate positions calling it a “reduction in force.” Agency leaders have to submit their plans by March 13.
Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS

http://theendtimeradio.com

വാഷിങ്ടന്‍: വിശ്രുത നടന്‍ ജീന്‍ ഹാക്മനും (95) ഭാര്യ ബെറ്റ്‌സി അറാകവയും മരിച്ച നിലയില്‍. ന്യൂ മെക്‌സിക്കോ സാന്റാ ഫെയിലെ വസതിയിലാണ് മൃതദേഹങ്ങള്‍ കണ്ടെത്തിയത്. മരണത്തിനു പിന്നിലെ കാരണം വ്യക്തമല്ല. രണ്ടു തവണ ഓസ്‌കര്‍ നേടിയിട്ടുള്ള ജീന്‍ 1967 ല്‍ പുറത്തിറങ്ങിയ ബോണി ആന്‍ഡ് ക്ലൈഡ് എന്ന സിനിമയിലൂടെയാണ് ശ്രദ്ധേയനായത്.

സൂപ്പര്‍മാന്‍, ഫ്രഞ്ച് കണക്ഷന്‍, അണ്‍ഫൊര്‍ഗിവന്‍, മിസിസിപ്പി ബേണിങ്, ബോണി ആന്‍ഡ് ക്ലൈഡ്, റണ്‍എവേ ജൂറി തുടങ്ങിയവയാണ് ജീനിന്റെ പ്രശസ്ത സിനിമകള്‍. ഭാര്യ ബെറ്റ്‌സി അറാകവ പിയനിസ്റ്റാണ്.
Sources:azchavattomonline.com

http://theendtimeradio.com

An investigation is underway after actor Gene Hackman, 95, and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, 65, were mysteriously found dead alongside a dog in their Santa Fe, New Mexico, home, authorities said.

The couple was found on Wednesday during a welfare check, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office.

There were no obvious signs of how they died. However, their deaths were “suspicious enough in nature to require a thorough search and investigation” due to all of the “circumstances surrounding” the scene, according to the search warrant affidavit.

Initial autopsy findings showed “no external trauma to either individual,” the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release Thursday afternoon. The manner and cause of death have not been determined.

Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests have been requested for both, with the official results pending, the sheriff’s office said.

The Academy Award-winning actor was found on the floor in the mud room, according to the search warrant. It appeared he fell suddenly, and he and his wife “showed obvious signs of death,” the document said.

Arakawa was found lying on her side on the floor in a bathroom, with a space heater near her body, according to the search warrant.

Her body showed signs of decomposition, the document said. There was mummification to her hands and feet, the document said.

On the counter near Arakawa was an opened prescription bottle, with pills scattered, according to the search warrant.

A German shepherd was found dead about 10 to 15 feet from Arakawa, the document said. That dog was in a crate or a kennel, according to Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza.

But two other dogs were found alive, and it appeared they had access to a doggy door, the sheriff said. One healthy dog was near Arakawa and the other was located outside, according to the search warrant.

The Santa Fe City Fire Department found no signs of a possible carbon monoxide leak or poisoning, the document said. If there was carbon monoxide at the scene, it could have vented out of the home through the open front door before responders arrived.

New Mexico Gas Company also responded, “As of now, there are no signs or evidence indicating there were any problems associated to the pipes in and around the residence,” the document said.

Two maintenance workers said they hadn’t heard from Hackman and Arakawa in about two weeks, the document said.

A maintenance worker who initially responded to the home found the front door open, according to the search warrant affidavit. But there were no signs of forced entry and no signs items were taken or rummaged through, the document said.

There was no indication of a crime and “there could be a multitude of reasons why the door was open,” the sheriff told reporters Thursday.

There was “no obvious sign or indication of foul play,” but authorities “haven’t ruled that out yet,” the sheriff said.

Investigators are “keeping everything on the table,” he added.

Mendoza said it “sounds like they had been deceased for a while,” but he would not speculate for how long.

Hackman’s daughters and granddaughter said in a statement, “He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss.”

http://theendtimeradio.com

Late last week, ISIS-affiliated terrorists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rounded up 70 Christians, corralled them into a church, beheaded them, and left their bodies for others to find later. The facts are disturbing, and we naturally recoil from contemplating this barbaric display of Islamist violence. This horror seems a world away—not to mention a thousand years in the past.

But underneath the revulsion, if we force ourselves to stare at this evidence of human depravity a moment longer, what other emotions does it stir within us? One natural response is pity for the weak and defenseless villagers who were massacred unresistingly for no good reason. This may be quickly followed by a flash of thankfulness that we enjoy much greater security in America, that we may never face the business end of a sword for our faith.

But, when I suggest these are natural responses, I mean partly that these reactions come out of our fallen human nature. God’s Word would lead our thoughts in quite a different direction.

Firstly, we cannot indulge the fantasy that our situation is all that different from these Congolese Christians—at least considered from a perspective limited to this present age. We too are called to live self-sacrificial lives, walk blamelessly before a hostile world, and endure opposition for following Christ. If the Lord tarries, we too will die with our greatest hopes unrealized. Paul writes that, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

But secondly, Scripture declares that these defenseless Christians are not pre-eminently pitiable, but blessed. “Blessed are you,” Jesus taught, “when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account” (Matthew 5:11). He added that anyone who heeds these words would be established like a house on a rock, which is able to withstand the oncoming storm (Matthew 7:24-25).

In His next discourse, Jesus rachets up the warning, “Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, and you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:21-22).

After repeating this call for endurance (Revelation 14:12), John records a heavenly confirmation of the blessedness of martyrs. “And I heard a voice from Heaven saying, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!'” (Revelation 14:13).

Why does Jesus consider persecuted, defenseless Christians to be “blessed”? One reason is that they are following in His footsteps. The night before He Himself was put to death, Jesus told His disciples, “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. … But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause'” (John 15:20, 25).

Of course, Jesus’ death was quickly followed by His resurrection. And those who follow Him into death will also follow Him into everlasting life, since Jesus Christ is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). As Paul describes it, this is undeniably glorious: “What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).

In the moment “when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory'” (1 Corinthians 15:54).

Yet we live in the period of time between Jesus’ resurrection and the final resurrection, as the Lord patiently waits for all the elect to reach repentance (2 Peter 3:9) and the number of those martyred for the name of Jesus to be complete (Revelation 6:11).

John sees the souls of these slain saints crying out to God for justice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10). When God does answer the prayer, the fortunes will be reversed. These martyrs will rise to everlasting glory, while their persecutors will face everlasting torment. Unless they repent and believe in the interim, the wicked will look for the pity they did not show, and they will not find it.

Thus, the slain in Christ are blessed because they have conquered. In following Christ, they have conquered death, as Paul describes. They conquered satan by their faithfulness, as John writes, “they have conquered him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:11). And they will even live to see their Lord defeat the very persecutors who gained a temporary victory over their physical bodies.

This is true for all Believers. But it stands out in sharper relief for those who, like these Congolese Christians, God has caused to seal their witness with their blood. However weak, or helpless they appear in the world’s eyes, God calls them faithful, and God calls them blessed. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Sources:BREAKING CHRISTIAN NEWS

http://theendtimeradio.com