The LGBT agenda to normalize child abuse is being assisted by mainstream media and social media. A child unrelated cries (Shutterstock)
The well-known multinational chocolate companies Mars, Nestlé, and Hershey, among others, were sued in the United States by eight young people who as children were exploited as slaves on African cocoa plantations.
These young men represent the thousands of children who are recruited each year by trickery and deception, and then trafficked to cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, The Guardian reported on Feb. 12.
Child slavery in Africa
There they were forced to work for years without pay, without travel documents, and without knowing where they were or how to return home.
One of them was only 11 years old when he was convinced in his hometown of Kouroussandougou, Mali, that he would be paid $47 a month, but after two years he was paid nothing, according to lawsuit documents.
As part of his work, he often had to apply toxic pesticides and herbicides, without protective clothing or equipment.
Another plaintiff had scars on his hands and arms from machete accidents. They also had to endure constant insect bites.
Alone, fed little, and long work days
They stated that they were fed little and worked long hours. They were left alone or with children who spoke different dialects.
Among other charges, it is argued that what the children endured is morally repugnant, and that they suffer a “humanitarian catastrophe,” which generates “long-term mental and physical trauma,” according to The Guardian.
The lawsuit was filed in Washington D.C. by the human rights firm International Rights Advocates (IRA), a first in the United States.
Research from the Department of State, the International Labor Organization, and UNICEF is cited in support of their claims for compensation.
The problem of the enslavement of children in Africa has been denounced for decades, and although the large companies linked to the chocolate industry make promises to combat it, it seems that in practice there is little change.
Through the Harkin-Engel voluntary protocol, the companies promised to have it solved by 2005, which they failed to do. Now the World Cocoa Foundation, with which the defendants are associated, has moved the date to 2025.
Some 1.56 million children, many as young as 5 years old, are forced to harvest chocolate in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. These countries supply nearly 70% of global consumption, Fortune reported in October 2020.
The Gates Foundation has at least $32 million invested in the chocolate company Mondelēz, which has been criticized for its use of child labor, according to The Nation.
The investments are made through the Berkshire Hathaway company, in which they own a stake of $11.5 billion.
Additionally, the Gates Foundation donated $32.5 million to the World Cocoa Foundation, an industrial group to which Mondelēz belongs, to improve the lives of farmers, without including measures against child labor.
I’ve been thinking about this subject, because we have a model. Our model is the first century church, which witnessed the biggest explosion not just in numbers of believers, but in power.
One thing we learn from that experience is that the church grows in numbers and effectiveness – not to mention to the glory of God – in times of persecution. Like these.
But let’s start at the beginning. What did Jesus teach His church to do?
I think it’s worth noting that His first instruction to His disciples, who numbered no more than a few hundred or thousand, was not to do anything except keep it together, be a comfort to each other and teach others.
They were ready to go restore the Kingdom to Israel. In Acts 1, He told them to forget that for a while. That would have to wait for Him to come back.
What was the first instruction from Jesus?
He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father in the form of the Holy Spirit.
It wouldn’t take long. Jesus evidently knew that – because once the power fell upon them, this was their next and only assignment: “And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
They would have to figure the rest out for themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and all Jesus taught them.
It wasn’t the only time Jesus had given them this instruction. He also did so in Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”
It would seem to me we already learned two important lessons about the role of the church:
Make sure you are working under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Then, as Frank Sinatra would say, start spreading the news – the Good News, that is.
There are all kinds of debates going on in the American church today about “church planting,” “church growth strategies” and “how we must seek a new approach today with Christianity in decline.”
But I wonder if we’re going about this in an entirely wrong way.
For starters, if the goal is to reach the uttermost parts of the earth – not to mention our own neighborhoods – are we really waiting on the Holy Spirit? And are we really focused on evangelism?
I’ve heard that American-style “evangelism” largely consists of attracting people away from other churches. Here the American church is like one big revolving door. Some churches grow, others do not. Some wither away, others grow stronger and bigger. Yet neither of those ends has much bearing on what Jesus commanded us to do.
So, what did the first century church do?
Exactly what Jesus said to do.
They waited, got empowered and they turned the world upside down. Was that just for then?
I wonder. What I do know is that their church didn’t look like ours.
They met together. They prayed together. They ate together. They worshiped together. They comforted each other. They discipled. They edified. They fellowshipped. They glorified God. And they recited or read the Scriptures.
In the American church, we’re watching the clock. People can’t wait to get out of there.
I recently read that one large mega-church built a multi-lane overpass to ensure that they could get everyone out of the 35,000-attendee parking lot within 30 minutes of the close of service.
In how many churches have you experienced evangelism training or expeditions?
Isn’t that the urgent mission of the church? Why don’t we do it? Do you know I was 21 years old before anyone ever evangelized me – in America? Am I that unusual? What are we waiting for? Who are we going to recruit to do it, if not us?
That’s why the light is going out in America – because the Christian culture, which was healthy and vibrant in America when it was founded, has been ceded over to the world.
Meanwhile, what about elsewhere? Where is the church exploding? Where it is persecuted. You know that. That’s where the Holy Spirit is. That’s where miracles are taking place today – in China, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.
There have been some notable revivals in the U.S. over the years – but not one for some time.
Another thing we learn from the first century church is that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).
Does that still work?
I know it does for me. That doesn’t mean it works for everyone. Unless you believe everyone is going to be saved, nothing is going to work for everyone.
But I find it deeply disturbing that some pastors believe we should stop emphasizing the Word. Some say we should drop the Old Testament pretty much altogether. They say we should tell stories and attribute them to people rather than the Word of God.
Do we no longer believe in the Word of God? Are we ashamed of it? Are we ashamed of doing exactly what Jesus told us to do?
I don’t have all the answers, but I do have one.
Do you think there is a more important book than the Bible anywhere on earth?
Do you think getting people to crack it open would generally bring them closer to the Lord – maybe even get them saved?
Do you think God has changed His mind about the way He spoke the world into existence and revealed His plan to His children?
Is there really anything new under the sun?
Or, is it time for the church to start following instructions? Has the salt lost its savor? Or are we ready to be the salt and the light in the world again?
By the way, that’s one of the things the church is supposed to be.
Matthew 5:13-16: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”
That’s right. The church is supposed to glorify our Father in heaven.
We’re supposed to be Jesus’ heavenly bride. We’re His children if we are doing His will – yes, even in this age of grace. We all fall short of the mark, but the mark goes beyond salvation, does it not? Does He not take pleasure in us when we are obedient to His call, holy and surrender all to Him?
I don’t consider myself an expert on the church. But I do know how I came to know and love Jesus – and love Him more every day.
I would like everyone to understand that – not wishing that anyone would perish.
And that’s why I took several years to research and write “The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament.” I wanted people to see what I see when I look at the Bible – the most miraculous book in the whole world, one that has stayed the test of time, one that is fully integrated, singular in purpose, abounding in wisdom, cohesive and without contradictions, one supernatural message of repentance, revival, redemption and restoration from Genesis to Revelation.
It’s all about the Word. It will always be about the Word – whether its written on our hearts, etched in our minds or seared in our souls.
Jesus told us all to be evangelists. And that’s what I am doing right now.
I want to share “The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament” with you because I think it might open up the Scriptures to you, with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, bringing you not only the keys of everlasting life, but a place of honor in His Kingdom.
Amen? Amen.
Note: “The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament” by Joseph Farah is available in both hardcover and e-book versions.
The Al-Bayan newspaper said the council in the village wrote on Twitter: “What happened today of pollution to the environment is due to the pouring damaged paint materials into the valley, which led to a change in the color of the water. To red.”
Berkowitz explained: “Despite the mundane explanation offered by the authorities, many Arab-language social media commenters emphasized the Biblical connotations, likening it to a ‘River of Blood.’ In Islam, there are five plagues i.e. floods, locusts, lice, toads, and turning of drinking water into blood, while in the Bible there are 10 plagues i.e. water in to blood, frogs, lice, wild animals, diseased livestock boils, storms of fire, locusts, darkness and death of firstborn.”
No matter the cause, the visual image recalls the first plague to strike Egypt in the book of Exodus. That’s when God gave instructions to take a rod and stretch “thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools and … they may become blood.”
Rabbi Yosef Dayan pointed out the differences between then and now.
“The Arabs in Israel are not at all like the Egyptians. The Egyptians enslaved us, thereby preventing us from coming into Israel. The Arabs in Israel are trying to prevent us from fulfilling God’s commandment of dwelling in the land. Egypt’s military physically prevented the children of Israel from leaving. Today, it is the Jews, albeit only some Jews, who are preventing us from fulfilling God’s commandment,” he said.
The report said Jewish tradition notes the 10 plagues will reappear before the coming of the Messiah.
Israel365 explained: “Nahmanides, a prominent 12th century Torah scholar from Spain, wrote in his commentary on the plagues that the primary reason God punished the Egyptians was not for enslaving the Israelite people, but for dismissing God and his influence in their life.”
WND previously reported in 2019 rivers in Malawi and Indonesia suddenly turning blood red.
At the time, Berkowitz, writing for Breaking News Israel, explained: “The Linthipe River in Dedza, Africa, turned blood red last Wednesday, shocking residents living along the river. The river is the center of life in the village and the women were the first to notice the phenomenon when they came to do laundry in the afternoon.”
And a report from Malawi 24 quoted one woman saying: “As usual, we came to this place to wash our clothes besides drawing water for home use. But to our surprise we saw that blood like stuff was flowing in the river. This scared us and we called some people to witness the bizarre circumstances.”
The same thing happened in Jayapura, on Indonesia’s island of New Guinea.
Russian media called a sudden change of Siberia’s Molchanka River into a blood-red estuary a “biblical bombshell.”
The causes of the color change have not always been determined. Some have speculated an organic cause, such as algea.
While a waterway suddenly turning red can be shocking, the phenomenon is not uncommon. WND reported in 2013 a similar, sudden change in the canals of Nootdorp, South Holland, in the Netherlands.
Dutch waterway turned suddenly red
“It looks like red wine,” remarked Nootdorp resident Mark Ruder to the Netherlands’ Telstar Online.
In the prophetic book of Revelation, the Scriptures foretell a time when oceans and rivers will flow with blood again.
Revelation 8:8 states, “And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood.”
And Rev. 16:3-4 states: “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.”
‘Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance’ ~ Isaiah 19:25
In the Bible, Egypt was known for her wealth, agricultural prowess, mighty army, and abundance. It was a powerful empire known worldwide, not only in Africa. When nations faced any trouble, they turned to Egypt not knowing that ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength’ (Jeremiah 17:5). Nonetheless, everyone wanted to be associated with her and none wanted to be an enemy. In fact, God knew Egypt’s ulterior motive and says, ‘Egypt rises like the Nile, like rivers of surging waters. She says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth: I will destroy cities and their people’ (45:v8). They were even considered as gods themselves but God reminds, ‘But the Egyptians are men and not God, their horses are flesh and not spirit’ (Isaiah 31:3).
Egypt was also recognized for its notoriety in idol worship, having many gods, full of superstitions and divination. They consulted ‘idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists’ (19:v3). But God says, ‘Do not learn the ways of the heathen or be terrified by signs of heaven for the heathen are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless’ (Jeremiah 10:2-3). Still, many nations were fascinated with Egypt which was described as ‘a beautiful heifer’ (46:v20).
Only God knew that the beautiful heifer wanted more power and control. Egypt wanted to impose her rule and religion throughout the world in some kind of a One World system. They wanted to be god. But the Lord Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth thwarted her plans. God says, ‘I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh’ (v25). Even after God had showed His undisputed power through plagues, parting of the Red Sea and overthrowing Egypt’s best chariots in order to bring ‘judgement on all the gods of Egypt’ (Exodus 12:12), Egypt still did not revere God. Decades later, God says ‘I am against you Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among your streams.
You say, “The Nile is mine; I made it for myself.” But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams with all the fish sticking to your scales’ (Ezekiel 29:3-4). Not only judgement was decreed on Egypt, but all her allies, ‘Cush and Put, Lydia and all Arabia, Libya and the people of the covenant land’ (Israel) will fall by the sword’ (30:v5). Egypt and her neighbours were descendants of Ham (Psalm 78:51). The people living in Cush located in the upper Nile region, were described as ‘a people tall and smooth-skinned . . . a people feared far and wide . . . an aggressive nation of strange speech whose land is divided by rivers’ (Isaiah 18:2,7).
A judgement was decreed for Egypt and the surrounding African nations, as well as its allies. Egypt’s and Africa’s judgement was, ‘I will dry up the streams of the Nile and sell the land to evil men; by the hand offoreigners I will lay waste the land and everything in it . . . I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis. No longer will there be a Prince in Egypt, and I will spread fear throughout the land’ (Ezekiel 29:12,13).
During that time, ‘Dark will be the day at Tahpanhes when I break the yoke of Egypt’ (v18). God says to Pharaoh whom He describes ‘like a lion among the nations’ (32:v2); ‘I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land’ (v8). In this darkness, Egypt would ‘be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations’ (29:v15). In addition, God says ‘I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord’ (30:v26).
Isaiah describes in detail when he prophesies, that ‘Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old’ (Isaiah 20:4) will be led captive ‘with buttocks bared- to Egypt’s shame’ (v4). True to the prophecy, Africa has many deserts, was colonised by brutal men and foreigners plundered her wealth, some of her people were scattered in diverse nations through captivity and slavery, monarchies are scarce, and we are considered Third World in the Global map. In fact, we were referred to as the ‘Dark Continent’. All this was so that the African people as God says, may know that I am the Lord.
Keenly looking through the establishment of God’s initial nation, Israel, Africa was also featured. Not only was Egypt mentioned as a source of refuge during times of famine for Abraham and Jacob’s family, but a place of prosperity for some Israelites such as Joseph. In fact, alliances were formed by Israelites with Egyptians, bringing the African heritage into Israel’s bloodline. This happened when Joseph was in Egypt, ‘Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Phaneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Photiphera, Priest of On, to be his wife’ (Genesis 41:45).
Joseph and his Egyptian wife had two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh who composed of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Jacob say to his son Joseph regarding Ephraim and Manasseh, ‘they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers’ (48:v6). God also says, ‘Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of my head’ (Psalm 60:7). Moses also had a Cushite wife and ‘Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite’ (Numbers 12:1). God did not take this lightly and ‘The anger of the Lord burned against them’ (v9), and Miriam became ‘leprous, like snow’ (v10) for seven days. Also, King ‘Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter. He brought her to the City of David until he finished building his palace and the temple of the Lord, and the wall around Jerusalem’ (1 Kings 3:1).
Long before the plagues, destruction, and captivity, God had already set a plan to redeem His people, Egypt. He reveals this plan through the Prophets, especially Prophet Isaiah when He says, ‘In that day five Cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun’ (Isaiah 19:18). God continues to say, ‘In that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt’ (v19-20). Currently, the heart of Africa is Christianity, which makes up 49% of the Continent’s population. ‘So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord . . . They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them . . . ‘ (v21,22).
In fulfilment of the Prophecy, the Light of Christ started penetrating through the ‘Dark Continent’, as in the rest of the world. The first evidence of this is recorded when God sent one of the Apostles, Phillip, to meet with ‘an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his Chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit told Phillip, ‘Go to that Chariot and stay near it’ (Acts 8:27-29). ‘Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus’ (v35). Since then, the good news about Jesus has caught fire in Africa and is continuing to spread, all to the glory and plan of God.
‘In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth’ ~ Isaiah 19:24
Baseless criticisms foisted upon the Church are cyclic. They repeatedly appear, are confronted and debunked by one generation, only to reappear in a future generation. Some of these, like the wholesale condemnation of the Crusades, recur primarily as the result of historical ignorance by Christ-hating heretics and skeptics. Others, like the lie that “religion is responsible for more wars than any other cause,” are kept alive in part, by professors of the Christian faith who attempt to appease corrupt hearts and minds.
In our age of anti-truth, facts are ineffective in contending with the lies parroted by those whose view of reality is merely subjective. Nothing short of a personal encounter with the Divine will affect them. It’s a frightening situation that portends escalating violence and unfathomable wickedness for all involved.
Human history is replete with demonstrable proof that when man becomes the arbiter of morality, unspeakable carnage and suffering are the certain outcome. The hundreds of millions of murders and torturous deaths perpetrated by communist and socialist regimes in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America profoundly illustrate the consequence of human arrogance.
Statisticians can debate the body counts racked up by monstrous butchers: Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, Idi Amin and American abortionists, but the numbers are so enormous that any comparison between them and the thousands of tragic deaths caused by the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, and the Salem Witch trials, are silly and absurd. The God-rejecting man is supremely dangerous and miserable.
Now, the resurgent charge that “the Church is full of hypocrites” is being revived. Short-sighted pastors and teachers frequently attempt to befriend the lawless through self-flagellation. It always fails terribly. One of the best responses to the ludicrous accusation of hypocrisy in the Church, comes from Dr. Michael Youssef, who simply says, “Yes, and we have room for one more.”
The fact is that hypocrisy is most rampant—not in the Church but in our godless evil culture. After all, one who sets a high goal for himself or herself and occasionally fails to reach it, is no hypocrite. He is a hypocrite who claims to be sufficiently noble to judge the righteous, while rejecting defined moral principles. She is a hypocrite who aborts her child, and then screams about human rights. They are hypocrites who celebrate every form of sexual degradation while professing to care about children’s futures.
No righteous authority can exist apart from the absolute and unchanging standard of morality supplied by the Creator. As respect for the standard declines, the godless will always supplant timeless moral law with a personal subjective counterfeit that appeals to his or her capricious feelings.
The human eye cannot detect darkness unless there be a contrasting light. In like manner, people who keep large numbers of dogs are oblivious to barking noise and those who live with many cats disregard the odor of litter boxes. But their visitors are repulsed. Thus, worldlings cannot see their own hypocrisy because they have become accustomed to the moral sewer in which they dwell.
The truth is that the unbelieving secular culture is infinitely wicked and hypocritical. The Christian Church has civilized a barbaric world without resorting to the tyranny often employed in other cultures. Christian values provided the freedoms that Americans enjoy, abuse, and routinely take for granted.
Pastors and teachers who forfeit moral ground for the sake of a friendship, or, in a misguided effort to demonstrate love for the lost, are dancing with devils. And the dance always ends the same way, in stumbling confusion, loss, and a little bit of death.
Are sins, unfaithfulness, and heresies commonplace in churches today? Of course they are. But churches are purified by straining out the polluting influences of sin, by regular washing with truth, and by the disinfecting power of God’s Holy Spirit. These are tasks that many, it seems, would prefer to avoid.
It would be unthinkable to close a hospital simply because a few patients could not be saved. How much more absurd to condemn the Church—which holds the keys to eternal life—in order to garner the acclaim of the dead and dying? Perhaps it’s worth considering whether denying the Bride of Christ is not tantamount to denying Christ Himself.
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