A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – The Islamic State is calling for lone wolf attacks on hurricane relief centers in Houston and Miami.

A confidential document from the Department of Homeland Security’s Southeast Bureau details the threats. The document, obtained by CNBC, says ISIS is using social media to rally fighters and sympathizers to wage jihad against the hurricane victims.

“To all the (lone mujahids) in the U,S, (warrior), pop down to Houston and drop in at any of the relief centers housing displaced people from the Houston floods, make sure to bring lots of supplies, gadgets, toys to see if you can help put any (unbeliever) out of their misery,” one post cited in the Homeland Security document says. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Is God trying to send people a message with all of the catastrophic natural disasters taking place all over the world? As far as Anne Graham Lotz of AnGel Ministries is concerned, the answer is yes.

Lotz, the daughter of world-renowned evangelist Billy Graham, wrote in an op-ed piece for Fox News that America has experienced “record-breaking fires in the northwest, record-breaking hurricanes in Texas and Florida, and a record-breaking earthquake in Mexico” within weeks.

But instead of dismissing these as random disasters or freaks of nature, Lotz said Christians should focus on its significance, which may be found in the book of 1 Kings 19.

“The Lord God passed by as the prophet Elijah stood in the mouth of a cave. The description is eerily similar to ours, because first there was a great and powerful wind, but the Lord was not in the wind,” she wrote. “After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice – the gentle voice of Father God speaking to His frightened, weary child.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Iran’s army chief warned Monday that his country would immediately lay waste to Israel’s commercial capital of Tel Aviv should Israeli leaders make any mistakes.

The threat came just a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was set to take the stage to deliver a U.N. General Assembly speech widely believed to center on Iran’s growing influence in the Middle East. Israel’s traditionally dismal relationships with other countries in the majority-Muslim region have shifted, with some Gulf Arab states reportedly moving away from a decades-long boycott established after Israel’s founding in 1948 and the subsequent expulsion and exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

Iran’s Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, however, expressed Tehran’s staunch opposition to Israel, which has joined the U.S. and Gulf Arab states in lobbying the international community to contain Iran’s expanding sphere of influence with increasing urgency. Mousavi warned that Israel would likely not exist in 25 years if it remains on its current geopolitical path. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – The first permanent U.S. military base in Israel was dedicated on Monday.

A few dozen American soldiers will live and work on the base, situated inside the school of the Aerial Defense Division of the Israel Air Force, in the Negev. High-ranking U.S. officers attended the dedication ceremony.

Brig. Gen. Zvi Haimovich, the commander of the division, said the new base reflects the close military cooperation between Israel and the United States. He declined to elaborate on the exact activities of the American soldiers, but said, “The base is here to stay. It involved a significant allocation of resources, in the understanding that this was right and necessary and part of the United States’ assets in Israel.”

He was evidently referring to the U.S. soldiers who have been operating the X-Band radar system that the United States deployed in the Negev in 2009. The powerful system, which can detect missile launches from a distance of hundreds of kilometers away, was part of U.S. efforts to improve Israel’s defensive capabilities in the face of the growing threat from Iran. [ Source: Ha’aretz (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – A large crowd gathered outside the prison in St. Louis, Missouri, overnight to call for the release of protesters still in police custody. Earlier, several hundred people also marched peacefully through the city’s downtown, while high school students in at least two districts also joined a demonstration.

Police said there were no arrests or incidents, following a weekend in which peaceful protests turned violent three nights in a row.

Some 123 people were arrested on Sunday for failing to disperse, officers said. Some of them have been released, but protesters chanting “free our people” outside the jail Monday night said many were still behind bars 24 hours later.

Organizers said they planned to hold another rally on Tuesday. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – U.S. government investigators were wiretapping the head of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, both before and after the election, CNN reported Monday night.

Citing “three sources familiar with the investigation,” CNN Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort had his phones tapped under secret orders from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.

“The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Donald Trump,” CNN reported.

Mr. Manafort has owned a home in Trump Tower since 2006. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – “The U.S. won’t let Iran gain control over Syria. The U.S. won’t leave Israel alone in the battlefield,” a senior White House official quoted U.S. President Donald Trump as saying unequivocally in a meeting on the topic over the weekend, amid reports suggesting that Iran was cementing its foothold in Syria and building precision missile factories in the south of the war-torn country.

According to the source, the aftermath of the Syrian civil war, currently in its seventh year, is a topic of serious discussion among American officials.

“We are prepared for all the scenarios,” the source said, adding that the U.S. “won’t allow Israel’s security interests in the region to be harmed.” [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Believers with Muslim and Buddhist backgrounds are the most persecuted Christian groups in China, according to a watchdog organization. And those Christians are in urgent need of Bibles in their own languages.

“We need as many Bibles in our own languages as possible,” said Patrick, an MBB (Muslim-background believer) church leader. “We don’t know where to find them, so please bring as many as you can. Many brothers and sisters need them!”

Open Doors USA said on Friday that Muslim- and Buddhist- background believers, who are heavily monitored by the Communist government, are in “burning need” of Bibles in minority languages such as Uyghur, Kazakh, and Tibetan. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Hurricane Maria made landfall Monday evening as an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm on the island of Dominica and is expected wreak devastation across the Caribbean over the next couple of days before making a turn north when it could dance around a meandering Hurricane Jose and send that storm flying toward the East Coast.

Only two weeks ago the Caribbean braced for Irma, a record-breaking Category 5 hurricane which wracked many of the same islands in Maria’s path.

Maria is not expected to weaken much over the next couple days, as the NHC notes warm waters and low wind shear make favorable atmospheric and oceanic conditions for the hurricane. “Maria is expected to remain a Category 4 or 5 hurricane when it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, however some fluctuations in intensity are possible due during the next 24 to 36 [hours] due to eyewall cycles,” said the NHC advisory.

Also a possibility is what meteorologists call the “Fujiwara Effect,” in which Maria and Jose could perform a sort-of dance around each other, resulting in a diminished Jose getting slung westward toward the East Coast while Maria heads north out into the Atlantic Ocean. [ Source (Read More…) ]

(Worthy News) – Major Hurricane Maria poses a significant threat to Irma-devastated areas in the northern Caribbean into midweek.

On Monday evening, Maria strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane on its way toward the northeastern Caribbean Sea, making it the second Category 5 storm of the season.

Early Tuesday morning, Maria was a powerful Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 155 mph.

Power outages and structural damage are likely. Small craft should remain in port and cruise and cargo ships should avoid the area. [ Source: AccuWeather (Read More…) ]

Puerto Rico imposes rationing as Hurricane Maria approaches

Puerto Rico has imposed a rationing of basic supplies including water and baby formula as Hurricane Maria approaches as a Category 5 storm.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria — on a path that would take it near many of the islands already wrecked by Hurricane Irma and then on toward Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic — is an “extremely dangerous” storm with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. It was centered about 15 miles east-southeast of Dominica — or 40 miles east of Martinique — and heading west-northwest at 9 mph late Monday afternoon. [ Source (Read More…) ]