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End Times

A Bible Believer Asks Should Christians Be Celebrating Halloween?

When Christians participate in Halloween we are continuing the Druid tradition that was begun in human sacrifices and worship of the gods of the underworld.

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The cute jack-o-lanterns on your front porch were first used by the Druids in their human sacrifices.

“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” Ephesians 5:11,12 (KJV)

The Bible says that the Christian is called to liberty, that we are under grace and not under the Law. New life in Jesus Christ has given us freedom to live as we choose to live. But with that freedom comes the awesome responsibility of living our lives in such a way that we are prepared for the Judgment Seat of Christ. Good choices, Godly choices made here on earth will reap crowns in Heaven. But using that same liberty as an occasion for our own selfish desires results in the loss of those crowns. Choose you this day whom ye shall serve, the Bible says. God allows us to make the choices.

All through the Bible we read about Satan, the Devil, whose only goal in life is to trip us up, cause us misery and sorrow. The Bible says that he only comes to seek his victims, kill his victims, and destroy as many lives of the saved and unsaved as possible. He is a constant force luring us astray, and never-ending downward pull to the dark side, and he uses any means possible to complete the mission.

HALLOWEEN IN AMERICA IN 2015 IS ONE THE MOST-CELEBRATED “HOLIDAYS” ALL YEAR, AND CHRISTIANS PARTICIPATE IN IT NEARLY AS MUCH AS ANY OTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE. PARENTS DRESS THEIR LITTLE DARLINGS IN PRINCESS AND COWBOY COSTUMES, KNOCK ON DOORS FOR CANDY, AND DECORATE THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THEIR HOUSES WITH FESTIVE JACK-O-LANTERNS, HANGING GHOSTS, ADORABLE WITCHES AND WARLOCKS. BUT WHERE DID THIS DAY ORIGINATE? LET’S TAKE A LOOK.

Many Christians celebrate holidays, such as Halloweenwithout thinking about their origins or true meaning. It is impossible to separate Halloween from the Druids because they originated the “holiday.” For several hundred years before Christ, the Celts inhabited what is now France, Germany, England, Scotland and Ireland. Celtic priests were called Druids. These people were eventually conquered by the Romans. Information about the Celts and Druids comes from Caesar and the Roman historians, Greek writings from about 200 B.C., and very early records found in Ireland. Greek and Roman writings about the Druids dwell heavily on their frequent and barbaric human sacrifices. The ancient Irish texts say little about human sacrifices, but detail the Druids’ use of magic to raise storms, lay curses on places, kill by the use of spells, and create magical obstacles.

The cute jack-o-lanterns on your front porch were first used by the Druids in their human sacrifices. After they killed their victim, they drained the fat from their body and filled the gourd or pumpkin with it and put a candle wick inside. A sinister face was carved on the outside face of the pumpkin and the wick was lit, burning the fat as fuel. This was done to appease their gods, the dark spirits, Satan.

October 31st was celebrated by the Druids with many human sacrifices and a festival honoring their sun god and Samhain, the lord of the dead. They believed that the sinful souls of those who died during the year were in a place of torment, and would be released only if Samhain was pleased with their sacrifices.

Irish records tell of the fascination the Catholic monks had with the powerful Druids, and Druids soon became important members of their monasteries. Pope Gregory the Great decided to incorporate the Druids’ holiday into the church. He made the proclamation, “They are no longer to sacrifice beasts to the devil, but they may kill them for food to the praise of God, and give thanks to the giver of all gifts for His bounty.” Pope Gregory III moved the church festival of October 31st to November 1st and called it All Hallows or All Saints’ Day. Pope Gregory IV decreed that the day was to be a universal church observance. The term Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve.

The founding fathers of America refused to permit the holiday to be observed because they knew it was a pagan holiday. Halloween was not widely celebrated in the U.S. until about 1900. In the 1840’s there was a terrible potato famine in Ireland which sent thousands of Catholic Irish to America. They brought Halloween with them. The modern custom of going from door to door asking for food and candy goes back to the time of the Druids. They believed that sinful, lost souls were released upon the earth by Samhain for one night on October 31st while they awaited their judgment. They were thought to throng about the houses of the living and were greeted with banquet-laden tables. People greatly feared these spirits and thought that the spirits would harm and even kill them if the sacrifices they gave did not appease Samhain. They carved demonic faces into pumpkins or large turnips, placing a candle in them to keep the evil spirits away from their homes.

The modern custom of going from door to door asking for food and candy goes back to the time of the Druids. They believed that sinful, lost souls were released upon the earth by Samhain for one night on October 31st while they awaited their judgment. They were thought to throng about the houses of the living and were greeted with banquet-laden tables. People greatly feared these spirits and thought that the spirits would harm and even kill them if the sacrifices they gave did not appease Samhain. They carved demonic faces into pumpkins or large turnips, placing a candle in them to keep the evil spirits away from their homes.

The tradition of bobbing for apples and giving out nuts came from a Roman addition to the Druidic New Year’s eve. The Romans worshiped Pomona who was the goddess of the harvest. They combined their harvest festival to Pomona with Halloween. Very little archeological evidence of the Druids has been found, but there is excellent agreement between the Roman and Irish documents. Both clearly state that the knowledge of the Druids was never committed to writing but passed from generation to generation by oral teaching. This was to protect their secrets. Nothing is put into writing. The Druids continue on secretly with much the same traditions.

When we, the Christians, participate in Halloween we are continuing the Druid tradition that was begun in human sacrifices and worship of the gods of the underworld. The Bible tells us to not merely avoid evil, but to also avoid anything that might appear evil. We are called to be “salt and light” to a lost and dying world. We are called to be a “peculiar people”, visibly different from the world around us. Participating in the Devil’s holiday, at the very least, is a bad testimony and sends confusing messages to our children.

Use your liberty in Christ any way you chose this October 31st, just remember that one day Jesus will ask you about it at the Judgment Seat.

What answer will you give Him in that day?

End Times

Apple Releases First Major Product Since 2014 The $3,499 ‘Vision Pro’ Mixed-Reality Headset That Will Immerse Users In An Alternate Universe

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Apple announced its mixed-reality headset, the Vision Pro, on Monday during its WWDC developer conference. The $3,499 headset is its first major new product since the Apple Watch in 2014.

The unsaved person looks around and sees the stunning developments in technology and takes that as proof we are living in a special time. But nothing more. The Bible believer takes a look around and passes current events through the filter of the King James Bible, and knows instantly where they are on the end times timeline. We’re at the end for us, the beginning for them. Apple has some big news today.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” Revelation 13:15 (KJB)

During the time of Jacob’s trouble, technology will fuse with the supernatural, and mind-blowing things will take place. But technology here at the end of the Church Age packs an incredible punch all by itself, even without the spirit of the supernatural. God is preparing the world to receive Antichrist whom He will deliberately release (Revelation 5:1-5, Revelation 6:1,2, Isaiah 10:5,6) as judgment upon everyone who will be left behind at the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church takes place.

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Apple just announced its first major product since 2014: The Vision Pro for $3,499

FROM CNBC: The Vision Pro will allow users to see apps in a new way, in the spaces around them. Users can use their eyes and hands to navigate through apps and search with their voices. The headset can be used to watch movies, including in 3-D, with spatial audio, view their own pictures or videos, and play video games. It can also be used for work with video conferencing apps, Microsoft Office tools or Adobe Lightroom.

It will be available starting at $3,499 beginning early next year. Apple stock dropped about 1% after the company unveiled the headset, giving up gains from earlier in the day.

With a feature called EyeSight, the headset can become transparent or opaque to signal to people around the headset user if they’re immersed in an experience or available to interact. Spatial audio will make it feel like the user is totally immersed in the experience, including by sensing other items in the room.

The Vision Pro can also create a realistic-looking avatar of a user to use in the experience. The headset is made to fit different face shapes and sizes with adjustable and interchangeable parts.

The company announced several partnerships for the Vision Pro on stage. Disney CEO Bob Iger appeared on stage to announce that Disney+ would be available on the Vision Pro from day one of its release. Unity stock spiked over 20% and trading was briefly halted after Apple announced a partnership with the game development platform.

Apple has worked on headset hardware and software since at least 2016 in a division called the Technology Development Group. Monday’s launch is the culmination of years of development — some in secret, and some as public-facing groundwork previously released for the iPhone, such as depth-sensing cameras and software. READ MORE

Apple and its Vision Pro headset are getting you closer and closer to this.

Environments let you transform the space around you, so apps can extend beyond the dimensions of your room. Choose from a selection of beautiful landscapes, or magically replace your ceiling with a clear, open sky. The Digital Crown gives you full control over how immersed you are.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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End Times

Get Ready For ‘No Scan’ Smart Checkout Technology Powered By AI That Greatly Accelerates Our Immersion Into The Mark Of The Beast System

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Customers in 7,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard stores will soon experience near-instantaneous smart checkout via AI computer vision technology.

I walked into my local Circle K gas station earlier today to buy a couple of bottles of water and a pack of peppermint Altoids, and when I got up to the counter to make my purchase, I was surprised to find that there was no one behind the counter. Nobody. But what I did see was an enormous bright red display compelling me to place my items into the Smart Checkout system, which I hesitantly did. What happened next? All three items were immediately totaled and rung up, with a screen directing me where to place the microchip in my debit card, and in the blink of an eye I was done. What on earth just happened? Oh, you know, and it’s happening so much faster than you think it is.

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:17 (KJB)

For those of us that were raised at the ocean and have experienced the power of the undertow in rough waters, we know exactly what’s happening right now. The Mark of the Beast System, which just celebrated it’s 30th birthday on April 30th, you call it the internet, is going through a major paradigm shift as the technology advances, and it’s pulling us deeper into it. The next time you go shopping anywhere, a WalMart, a grocery store, a Circle K or whatever the gas station convenience store is called where you live, look up over the glass doors of the refrigerated section and see the scanning and tracking devices. If you don’t see it yet, you will in the coming months. The Smart Checkout that I used today worked beautifully as advertised, all I had to do was set my items down and the AI did everything, the whole thing happened in under 5 seconds. Tick, tock, Christian…it’s almost flying time on Flight #777.

No Scan Smart Checkout Coming to 7,000-plus Circle K and Couche-Tard Stores

FROM RETAIL INFO SYSTEMS: Convenience retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. said it will deploy more than 10,000 Mashgin Touchless Checkout Systems branded as “Smart Checkout,” to over 7,000 of its Circle K and Couche-Tard stores during the next three years. The AI-powered self-checkout system will improve customer checkout times as much as 400%, driving customer experience forward while allowing store staff to focus their time on helping customers.

The agreement with Mashgin launches the global deployment of the pioneering system, and represents one of the largest scale expansions of computer vision-powered checkout technology to date, the company said. It builds upon the successful deployment of Mashgin across nearly 500 Circle K locations in the U.S. and Sweden since 2020, as well as at Couche-Tard’s retail innovation lab store on the campus of McGill University in Montreal.

Referred to as ‘Smart Checkout’ in Circle K and Couche-Tard stores, the compact countertop device fits into the existing store layout. It uses computer vision to recognize items presented from virtually any angle and instantly ring them up in a single transaction. Customers place their items on the checkout system, which uses cameras to ring up everything in under a second. Shoppers don’t need to download an app or find and scan barcodes; they simply put items down, pay as they normally would, and are on their way in as little as 10 seconds – eight times faster than traditional self-checkout.

“We’re committed to investing in and scaling technology that sets a new standard for convenience with our customers and advances our mission to make our customers’ lives a little easier every day,” said Magnus Tägtström, vice president, global innovation at Couche-Tard. “The Smart Checkout system powered by Mashgin’s game-changing technology shortens lines, improves the customer experience and frees up our teams to focus on helping our customers. We look forward to introducing this new platform to stores across our network.” READ MORE

Mashgin No Scan Touchless Smart Checkout Powered By AI

Is this a paid actor? Of course. Did we use clever cuts to speed up the checkout experience? Absolutely not. Watch to see how customers can check out in seconds at Circle K locations across the globe. Mashgin self-checkout kiosks are becoming common at Circle K locations across the country. And for good reason – Mashgin provides a fast, convenient, and user-friendly self-checkout experience. With Mashgin, customers can quickly and easily scan their items and complete their purchases without having to wait in line. This not only saves time but also helps to create a more efficient shopping experience.

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Continue Reading

End Times

Apple Slated To Release Stunning New Virtual Reality Headset The ‘Reality Pro’ At WWDC23 In June That Some Say Might ‘Replace The iPhone’

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The next major product from Apple, the Reality Pro VR headset, is mere weeks away from launching – and an early review suggests it will live up to the hype.

In early 1994, there was a buzz about something that was going to ‘change everything’, called the ‘information superhighway’, and when it was released the internet did just that. It ushered in the personal computer age, and the world was never again the same. Here in 2023, there is the same buzz about Apple and AI and it is going to get this old sin-cursed world in line with Bible prophecy.

“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Daniel 12:4 (KJB)

I can well remember the excitement of being able to send real-time messages to people through my AOL Instant Messenger, and the thrill of being connected to the entire world. Soon, people will be interacting with holograms so realistic it will be like you are in the room with the people you’re talking to. The machines are waking up, our computers are becoming self aware, and you are stepping out of the headlines and into the pages of Bible prophecy.

Early review of upcoming Apple VR product suggests it will live up to the hype

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: Palmer Luckey, the 30-year-old American entrepreneur and founder of the Oculus VR platform, appears to have tried the device. Luckey, who sold his firm Oculus to Meta for $3 billion (£2.4 billion) in 2014 at the age of 21, simply said in a tweet on Sunday: ‘The Apple headset is so good.’

Official details about Apple’s device are scarce, but it’s believed it will display notifications, messages, directions and more in front of the wearer’s eyes.  It’s not known how or where he got to try the device, although Luckey is a big name in the VR industry. Luckey, who began Oculus when he was just 15, is a video game enthusiast and owner of a defence company called Anduril Industries, founded in 2017. More recently, he devised a headset called NerveGear that instantly ‘destroys the brain’ of the user when they die in a virtual game.

Thankfully, Apple’s new headset – which is expected to be called ‘Reality Pro’ and released later this year – will not be quite as deadly.

Publicly, Apple has made no acknowledgement of the upcoming device, but its existence is an open secret within the tech industry. A US leaker called Mark Gurman, who has been drip-feeding information about it in his weekly newsletter for months, says it could ‘replace the iPhone’.

Reality Pro will be launched on Monday June 5, the first day of Apple’s five-day Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), Gurman claims.

Apple confirmed the dates for WWDC in March but didn’t make any official mention of the headset in the announcement. However, Apple’s promo image for WWDC this year features curving coloured lines that look similar to the curved shape of a headset. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

Please continue to pray for us, and for wisdom for me especially, as we continue taking steps to print the NTEB branded King James Bible for our free Bible and Bibles Behind Bars program. It is exciting and intimidating at the same time. If the Lord has prospered your financially, we ask you to donate to help us continue to send out free Bibles at this level, and even higher than we are at the moment. It takes a lot of prayer, and a lot of resources to do all this. Praise the Lord we are doing it, all of us together, labouring in the Lord’s harvest field. TO THE FIGHT!!!

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

Continue Reading

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