A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Australia on Tuesday launched a postal vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage as a widely watched poll indicated the country would be overwhelmingly in support.

The non-compulsory ballot, which runs until the end of October, will determine whether Australia becomes the 25th country to legalize same-sex marriage, while also healing a rift in the government.

Despite securing 70 percent public support in an Ipsos/Fairfax poll on Tuesday, the issue of same-sex marriage had faced a political deadlock, only broken last week when the High Court gave the all-clear for the vote. [ Source:Reuters (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The numerous hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena affecting the world today should serve as a reminder that people need to be prepared for the return of Jesus Christ, said evangelist Franklin Graham.

“Wildfires raging on the West Coast. Violent hurricanes, one after the other, ravaging everything in their paths, with one of the worst — Irma—bearing down on Florida. A magnitude 8.1 earthquake shook the southern parts of Mexico this week, and we even recently experienced a rare solar eclipse,” Graham said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

“The Bible says in Luke 21:25, ‘…there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves.’ In Matthew 24:7 it says, ‘For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.’ These are some of the Biblical signs before Christ’s return.” [ Source:Christian Post (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The U.S. military is playing a big part in the relief efforts associated with Hurricane Irma. The Department of Defense reports around 15,000 service members are helping in Florida, Georgia, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

For example, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has power teams, debris removal teams, temporary roofing teams and port survey personnel on alert and ready to assist in Florida and Georgia.

Another assignment involving military personnel is food distribution. The Defense Logistics Agency will help give out more than 12 million meals over the next 10 days. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – President Trump continues to confirm his verbal support for Christians, with his actions–this time, standing up for churches barred from relief funding after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas.

Trump tweeted Friday night:

Churches in Texas should be entitled to reimbursement from FEMA Relief Funds for helping victims of Hurricane Harvey (just like others).

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 9, 2017

Three Texas Churches sued the Federal Emergency Management Agency over its policy of excluding any organization whose facilities are primarily used for religious activities from receiving disaster relief funds. Non-religious non-profits are eligible. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been pushing the Trump White House to demand that Israel give back to the United States millions of dollars in military aid, prompting pushback in the West Wing and further fueling ongoing tensions between Foggy Bottom and the White House over a range of key diplomatic issues, according to multiple sources briefed on the situation.

The Washington Free Beacon first reported on Friday that the State Department has been lobbying the White House to call for Israel to hand back some $75 million in U.S. military aid that was awarded to the Jewish state above the Obama administration’s financial request in 2016.

The former administration came under fire from congressional leaders and the pro-Israel community for conditioning U.S. military aid—a cornerstone of the U.S.-Israel alliance—on a provision that bars Israel from lobbying Congress for increased aid as a range of conflicts in the Middle East develop. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Northern Command began the next stage of its wide-scale training exercise in the Western and Lower Galilee on Monday, conducting offensive maneuvers in a simulation of an all-out war against the Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah.

The drill, set to last 11 days, includes the Air Force’s new F-35 fighter jets and tens of thousands of soldiers.

The troops are drilling a scenario in which hundreds of Hezbollah fighters are able to infiltrate several locations in Israel under the cover of Borkan missile fire (heavy mortar bombs that can carry 100-200km warheads). [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Irma’s powerful winds triggered strong damage in the areas where the storm made a direct hit — but for cities including Jacksonville, Fla., and Charleston, S.C., it unleashed pushing amounts of storm surge.

In fact, the storm surge flooding in Jacksonville broke a record, according to the National Weather Service.

This is an incident of historic proportions. The St. Johns River has not seen these flooding levels since 1846. #HurricaneIrma #JaxReady http://pic.twitter.com/8awsM7lvGy

— City of Jacksonville (@CityofJax) September 11, 2017

Surge flooding water levels from the St. Johns River, under the Main Street Bridge, hit a record-high of 5.57 feet, the NWS reported. The previous surge record was 4.12 feet in September 1964 during Hurricane Dora. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Another hurricane is moving in the direction of the mainland U.S. as the remnants of Hurricane Irma continue to sweep through the Southeast.

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center on Monday shows Hurricane Jose, a Category 2 storm, making a clockwise loop in the Atlantic before heading northwest in the direction of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. By late Friday or early Saturday the center of the storm might skirt by the Bahamas.

Though boasting 100 miles-per-hour sustained wind speeds, forecasters expect wind sheer, or the change in wind speed and direction with height, to weaken the storm over the next couple of days, other factors will help it retain hurricane strength. “The storm will remain over warm water for the next several days, and this should allow it to maintain a robust circulation,” said AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily restored part of President Trump’s travel ban, potentially blocking up to 24,000 refugees from being able to enter the U.S.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, acting on a request from the Justice Department, stayed a ruling issued last week by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said Mr. Trump had drawn too tight a circle in deciding who was exempt from the travel ban.

His ruling allows the Trump administration’s halt on refugee admissions to take effect, even as the high court considers the case more fully. He ordered the travel ban opponents to file their briefs by noon Tuesday. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Russia has reportedly reassured Israel that it will not allow Iran and its Hezbollah proxy to threaten the Jewish state from Syria, where Moscow is fighting alongside Tehran and the Lebanese terror group on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israel has of late repeatedly warned of Iran’s ambitions to establish a military foothold in Syria that would threaten Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month in order to stress the threat posed by Iran’s presence on Israel’s northern border.

In light of Netanyahu’s vow that Israel was willing to act to prevent a continued Iranian military presence in Syria, a senior Russian official said Moscow was aware of Jerusalem’s concerns and would not allow Iran and Hezbollah to “go overboard” in Syria. [ Source (Read More…) ]