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PARENTAL WARNING: Demonic Online Game ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ Urges Young People To Kill Themselves

The family of a Texas teen who hanged himself says their son was involved in a ghoulish online suicide game called the Blue Whale Challenge.

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The family of a Texas teen who hanged himself says their son was involved in a ghoulish online game that calls on participants to complete a series of tasks before taking their own lives, and some schools are warning parents about the so-called Blue Whale Challenge.

“Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.” Colossians 3:20 (KJV)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The very first “challenge” I became aware of was the incredibly stupid Cinnamon Challenge where people swallowed whole spoonfuls of cinnamon to see how much of a throat burning they could take. Then there was the Eraser Challenge, the Ice Bucket Challenge and various others. So while it’s incredibly sad, the Blue Whale Challenge, which has claimed the lives of over 130 teens around the world, seems to me like the natural and logical progression in the ‘challenge’ world. The Devil doesn’t get you in one, big bite, he gets you in a bunch of little steps. Parents, if your child participates in any ‘challenge’, take their phones away and suspend their social media accounts. Take the ‘I Love My Child’ challenge. 

Jorge Gonzalez told San Antonio television station WOAI that he wanted to caution others after his son, Isaiah, was found hanging in his bedroom closet Saturday in the family’s home with his cellphone propped up on a shoe to record his death.

A report on the boy’s death from the San Antonio Police Department does not mention the challenge. But Gonzalez’ family said in the days after the teen died, they pieced together from his social media and communication with friends that he had participated in the game.

His sister, Alexis, told the TV station that a person behind the challenge had gathered personal information from Isaiah and had threatened to harm the family.

The police department did not return a message left by The Associated Press asking whether authorities were investigating the game as a factor in the case. Many parents and other authorities are skeptical that the game actually exists, citing a lack of suicides directly attributed to it.

Agent Michelle Lee of the FBI’s San Antonio office said the agency is not assisting in the investigation, but urged parents to monitor their children’s online activities.

“It’s a reminder of one of the many dangers and vulnerabilities that children face using various social media and apps online every day,” Lee said. “Parents must remain vigilant and monitor their child’s usage of the internet.”

Gonzalez is the second parent this week to tell news outlets about a child who died by suicide allegedly as a result of the game.

A Georgia woman spoke Monday to CNN about her 16-year-old daughter killing herself as part of the challenge but asked that their names not be used.

Educators, law enforcement officers and parents across the country have reported rumors about the challenge for months. But until this week, there had been no allegations in the United States about a death directly linked to the game. Suicides in Russia, Brazil and a half dozen other countries were reportedly linked to the challenge in cases that usually involved teenagers or young adults.

Mississippi teen with ties to Florida says she took part in Blue Whale Challenge:

Notes have been posted on school district social media pages and sent home to parents in school districts across the country, including Vacaville, California; Baldwin County, Alabama; Warwick, Rhode Island; and Denver.

In Connecticut, Danbury Public Schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella sent a short note to parents around May after administrators from the district’s 19 schools started hearing about the challenge from kids as young as elementary schoolers.

“The elementary school principals started hearing their kids talk about this thing. Then the secondary principals started mentioning the same thing,” he said. “We discovered on our school network content about the challenge had been looked at on YouTube. … I decided I would rather err on the side of information with parents.”

Parents allege that teens reach out to game administrators called curators through various social media platforms. Those curators lead the players through 50 days of challenges including watching scary movie clips, cutting symbols into their arms and legs and taking pictures of themselves in dangerous positions such as on the edge of a roof or on train tracks.

The participants are allegedly required to take pictures of their challenges being completed and share them before being directed to end their lives on the 50th day. A search of related hashtags on Instagram shows users posting pictures of scars and cuts or memes that depict suicide, and a similar Twitter search shows users reaching out for curators to lead them through the game.

Instagram warns that some images tagged under some of the related phrases could be harmful and directs users to mental health resources. Twitter assesses reports of self-harm or suicide and also directs users to mental health or suicide-prevention resources.

The Center for Missing and Exploited Children is aware of the challenge and encourages parents to report it and similar activity to the center’s cyber tip line even if they feel like they do not have enough information to go to police, said Eliza Harrell, the group’s director of education and outreach.

Harrell said she had not heard about the use of threats and intimidation, but said it was particularly concerning.

“That really adds another level to this,” she said. “We do not tend to address specific apps or games when we give advice to parents.”

When parents talk to their children, “the underlying conversation needs to be about dealing with strangers online and putting themselves in a position of trust,” she added. “It’s an issue that a child is listening to someone anonymously and doing what they are told by a stranger to do.” source

 


 

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The NTEB Cyber Monday Sale At The Bookstore Starts Now Offering You Massive Savings Of 20-50% Off With New Items Added Daily All Week Long!

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The NTEB Cyber Monday Sale starts now, and will go until Friday, and it will be the last sale we’ll have until the Springtime so take full advantage now

We have a tradition here at Now The End Begins every year with our Cyber Monday Sale at the Bookstore that starts Monday and lasts all week until Friday. Not only that, but we add new items on all 5 days, with everything tagged between 20-50% off the regular retail prices. Many NTEB’ers use this sale to purchase top of the line leather and calf skin Bibles, commentaries and book collections, or any of the other hundreds of items we have on sale.

Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.” Deuteronomy 32:3 (KJB)

Not only is this sale amazing, but we have spent the last number of months adding a whole lot more inventory, expanding our selections, and widening the variety of what we offer. If you haven’t been to the Bookstore recently, you are in for a happy surprise. We have all the great favorites on sale that you have come to expect from NTEB, teachers like like Larkin, Ruckman, Grady, Gipp, Moody, Spurgeon and all the others. But to that we’ve added many more titles that you will also want to have in your library.

This sale starts right now, and will go until Friday, and then that will be the last sale we’ll have until the Springtime. We invite you to take full advantage of these great savings and discounts and pray it will be a blessing to you. TO THE FIGHT!!!

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

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.

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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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NTEB RADIO BIBLE STUDY: In Part 4 Of Our Seventh Seal Series, We Meet The Two Witnesses Moses And Elijah And Finally See The Seventh Angel In Action

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In Part #4, we are introduced to the Two Witnesses Moses and Elijah and finally see what the Seventh Angel is tasked with carrying out. It’s wild!

In our Tuesday night Bible study, we took a serious look at the 144,000 Witnesses that God seals at the beginning of the time of Jacob’s trouble, we saw who they are, where they come from and the end times ministry they will perform. The logical follow-up to that seems to me to be the opening of the seventh seal in Revelation chapter 8. That’s where all the wild things are.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Revelation 8:1 (KJB)

On this episode of Rightly Dividing, we take a deep-dive into the seventh seal where we see seven angels who are given 7 trumpets that provide 7 distinct judgments, and 7 vials of additional judgment that is poured out upon the inhabiters of the Earth. Ever hear of a “21-gun salute”? That’s when 7 US soldiers fire into the air 3 times each, totaling 21 shots in the air, with each round separated by a 5-second interval. It is the highest miliary honor that can be bestowed, and it is usually reserved for the President of the United States, to honor a king, or fallen soldiers. As it turns out, God has a 21-gun salute for this world, and when the last of those 21 shots are fired, ‘the kingdoms of this world’ will have become the kingdoms of the KING OF KINGS Jesus Christ. Tonight we take you on perhaps our wildest ride ever here on ‘Rightly Dividing’, and after 13 years of broadcasting, that’s saying something. In tonight’s Part 4, we are introduced to Moses and Elijah has the Two Witnesses, and finally get to see what the Seventh Angel actually is there to do.

REMINDER: We will be having the Lord’s Supper toward the end of tonight’s live Bible study, so make sure you have your grape juice and matzahs! 

Check out what’s new & exciting at the NTEB Bible Believers Bookstore!


Study Helps And Links For Tonight’s Bible Study

We Are Broadcasting Live Four Days A Week

Every Sunday morning, from 10:00 AM – Noon EST, we invite you to join us live and in-person at Bethany Baptist Church here in Saint Augustine where we lift up the Lord Jesus Christ in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and preach a message from the pages of the King James Authorized Version Holy Bible.

OUR MOST RECENT SUNDAY SERVICE VIDEO: Heaven Or Hell? That’s The Question!


• The RIGHTLY DIVIDING Radio Bible Study

Every Sunday and Tuesday evenings from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, we offer an in-depth rightly dividing and dispensationally correct rocket ride through the preserved word of God as found within the pages of the King James Holy Bible. 

  • SUNDAY NIGHT: Our original Sunday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.
  • TUESDAY NIGHT: Our Tuesday Night Radio Bible Study, it’s from 7:00 – 9:00 PM EST, and we have praise, singing, testimony and of 90-minute King James Bible study. All our King James bible study programs are archived here.

• The NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST Hour

Every Monday and Friday afternoons from Noon to 1:30 PM EST, we examine breaking news and current events  in light of bible prophecy. 

  • MONDAY AT NOON: Every Monday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.
  • FRIDAY AT NOON: Friday at Noon we review all the latest news and events related to bible prophecy, and examine what is happening in light of what is written. If you miss the live show, all of our Prophecy News Podcast programs are archived here.

Your Generous Donations Make These Live King James Radio Bible Studies Possible!

On our Sunday and Wednesday night radio bible study, we are preaching and teaching the gospel of the grace of God, rightly divided and dispensationally correct, to a truly global audience who is hungry for the word. These programs would not be possible without your generous support. Listen to just a few of the recent comments we have gotten:

  • I  thanked God for sending to your website in 2015 , I  live in the South of France near Nice and let me tell you here there isn’t any Bible Believing church at all, the sad reality of France is that is full of freemasons and Muslims. You came to me at the time I  was going to take my own life because of my job. You’re anointed person and I pray for you, family  and  ministry because you’re a blessing to all of us. May God bless you always. I know I’ll meet you in heaven one day. Lots of Love from your sister in Christ, Paula.
  • “Hi Geoffrey and staff, Today is my one year anniversary that I got saved on your podcast!  I am now a KJB only, I threw away my other two versions I had.  I was shocked to learn of the differences and how the new versions twist the words of God, and dilute the message at best. Thank you for the fabulous bible  education and fire for the Lord.  I donate on your website throughout the year.  Thanks for all that you do.” Donna
  • “I have been reading on NTEB for about 5 years and listening as I can to your services.  If I could list the encouragement, the doctrines, the awareness of what is coming (our blessed hope) but also the last days culture in which I live that you have taught me, this email wouldn’t fit in this letter. Because of you, I am a stronger more equipped soldier for Jesus Christ. Thank you sir for you, your ministry in my life. Faithful to the end because He lives in me.” Ruthie Dennis
  • “My name is Carl N from Mumbai, India. My wife Andrea and I have been ardent listeners of your Bible Study and news update podcasts from the very start of the lockdown last year. In fact we make it a point to share these links with our family and friends… many times getting into trouble, as the truth upsets people. We cannot even begin to tell you how this has changed our lives and walk with the Lord. Thank you so much for what you’ve been doing for the Kingdom!! We’ve even switched Bible translations to the KJV. For the last month or so, you’ve been speaking about making end times Bible study materials available. This got us really excited, as we’re eager to use these for our weekly house church group.” Carl N – Mumbai, India
  • “I listen to your podcasts often. Very enlightening and I’ve learned a lot. I’m Catholic and followed the Holy Bible throughout my life however, since listening to your podcasts, I’ve learned much more. I recently sent NTEB a small donation. I’d like to do so again in the future. I’ve also signed up for NTEB chatroom. Anyways, I have a downloaded version of KJB on my computer and I follow your Bible Study with my pdf version KJB. You have offered to send out printed version of KJB if requested. If not too much trouble, when you or your staff get the opportunity please send me a copy.” Kevin W – Frankfurt, Germany
  • Just wanted to let you know that your ministry is producing fruit. After listening to the studies and church on NTEB, I was motivated to write witness letters along with NTEB gospel tracks to friends from my hometown who I know are not saved. I sent two of the letters to former Catholic priests of mine….I attached the response from him urging me to read the book “Prove It!.” My wife and I have been placing your gospel tracks in different places we visit. This coming Sunday, I am hosting my first Bible study in my house with some people in our neighborhood. Tomorrow evening I have been given a chance to teach the lesson to our youth church group (our church is very Laodicean), and I am going to talk to the youth on end times. Thank you so much for your ministry and encouraging us to get something done for Jesus while we still can! Thomas B 
  • “The sole purpose of this email to you is to let you know how much we have been blessed by your amazing ministry/website. ‘We’ is my wife and I, in our early forties, 3 kids, professing, churchgoing, bible believing Christians in The Netherlands.  Since two months, I listen to your bible studies on Sunday evening, and since this week also to your prophecy podcast. I listen to them in the archives, because of the 6 hour time difference. The shofar and the blessing at 0:30 into the study never fails to make tears in my eyes. We are praying for you, we are praying for your voice, that it lasts in these incredible busy times for you. Listening to your podcasts, you seem to do it effortlessly, talking, scanning the chatbox for questions, diving into the texts, from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between, I love it when you realize after 1:30h into the study, actually a lot more subjects need to be addressed! Thank you for all your work and effort, you are doing an amazing job. Although it all seems effortlessly, I know it is not…Our faith is strengthened by your work and we are able to testify in a better way to the people around us!” Wouter D. van der Wiel – Netherlands
  • “Wanted to send you encouragement and thank you for all you are doing!! I’ve been reading from this website for about 5 years and I’ve been on this at least 10 times a day. It’s the most honest prophecy website in history. And you have ministered to me greatly. This lockdown has been amazing as God gets us unto himself and smooths out the paths for us. I was reading devotional from Kenneth Copeland and during that time you had really hit That ministries hard. I was not Word Faith but I was feeding off his teaching. During this time I have removed Kenneth Copeland I wanted to thank you for your exposure of his ministry. Holy Spirit is truly the leader of all truths. The bible study on Bill Gates was tremendous. And I had the same check in my spirit as you did. He’s the guy that gonna lead this one world revolution Amazing times we live in. I’m super excited and living in total victory and peace. Once again thank you for the time you put in your reward in heaven will truly be great. Looking forward to this coming week. My prayer tonight is this …Father send Your Son!! DG
  • Thank you oh so much for sound teaching. I am so thankful and blessed for clicking on your channel. I have been on your Facebook page since 2011 and never subscribed to you-tube channel until today. I loved the live recording of singing, what a delight to hear the joy of the Lord in the voices of the congregation. So wonderful to hear the part about Luke 12:36, that has made my eyebrows furrow when I read and therefore I have always steadfast to not leaning on my own understanding. May God continue to bless you, your family friends and loved ones. All Glory be to Jesus, my Saviour Redeemer and King, Amen.” Susan Anderson
  • Loved this teaching! Presented in a clear contextual manner that was easy to follow along. You connected the dots for me that had previously brought so much confusion, namely the 4th seal covenant, the 5th seal tribulation saints, and the 6th seal 2nd Coming of Christ AFTER the wedding of the Body/Bride of Christ IN HEAVEN. Wow, after 41 years since my being born again by the Holy Spirit in to the Body of Christ, I finally have the answers to end the confusion. What joy and peace has flooded my heart! Thank you for this encouraging teaching of the Word.” SB
  • “I am from Sri Lanka and listen to the radio Bible study every week.” Nihal Perera

Nothing thrills my soul like teaching the word of God, it is what the Lord called me to do 29 years ago, and Now The End Begins is the vehicle in which I am able to do it. How exciting it is to be able to teach the Bible to tens of thousands of people per year. Like I told you with the first post of 2020, I have dedicated myself now full-time to NTEB, and it is only through your generous support that such a thing is possible.

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

Listen to what our donation angels have to say about the ministry of Now The End Begins

  • “You are truly an end time ministry and I appreciate how our Precious Lord is using you to educate his very own flock. There is a lot of confusion , but your ministry is putting scripture in the right prospective. Thank-you so so much Geoffrey S Grider for standing firm and putting in a lot of hours of your time. God Bless You , also your Ministry and your family. IN JESUS MIGHT NAME.” T. Muto
  • “Jesus. I am now 64 years old and never in all the years I’ve been a Christian was I able to grow in the Lord as much as I have in the last past year. All because of our blessed brother’s work Geoffrey Grider who as the bravery of standing fast forward without fear of claiming the truth of God by the power of his love in Jesus Christ. May God bless you abundantly to the end my dear brother… ROMANS: 8: 36,37,38” Mireille Anderson
  • “I met you at the car dealership earlier this year. We spoke briefly, then you handed me a card and told me to check out the website. You left. A few minutes later, you returned to tell me not to forget to look up the website. I told you…” I already did. I already subscribed.” In that short time we spoke, I experienced from you…a total stranger…peace, joy, kindness, gentleness, compassion, and love. I am convinced that God sent you to share the Good News that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. For that, and for the work you are doing for the Kingdom of God, I say…Thank you and God Bless You.” Sonia Merced
  • “I really enjoy the emails and Bible studies! I haven’t found a church and enjoy your services very much! Be blessed brother!” Marcia Mann
  • “You and your organization are on the front lines in the Battle For Truth…. current events, end times, and trying to awaken a sleeping laodicean Church. Thank you brother for fighting for us and all your teaching and insight God bless…” Daniel Cartrette
  • “I’m a KJB believer. We’re so close to being “caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. I have many lost family who don’t want the truth, including my husband & son. I’ve been banned from seeing my grandsons since I comforted the 4 1/2 year old with sharing Jesus loving the little children & telling him about the one who created him last he stayed overnight March 3rd. He was so excited to hear about Jesus! His dad (my son) was angry that I told him & wants me to apologize. I never will do so. If my own family won’t hear, I know there’s others searching for the truth. My heart grieves for all the lost who will spend eternity in hell if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ, the expectant hope of the world. He is not willing that any should perish. God bless your ministry, Geoffrey! (I continue to pass out your tracts & you’re on my prayer list!)” LouAnn Benham
  • “Love the Sunday night bible study. I want to support someone who has the passion for the lost like Geoffrey does and rightly divides the word of God. God bless you.” Teresa Carey
  • “I give because not many news outlets are brave enough or Godly enough to tell these stories from a Christian’s point of view. I see stories here that will not be seen anywhere else.” William Grayshaw

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

STREET-TESTED NTEB GOSPEL TRACTS:

This is the official gospel tract of NTEB, used here on the streets of Saint Augustine and sent around the world as they are purchased through our website. We ask you to prayerfully consider supporting the work of Now The End Begins by purchasing a box of these full-color, high-quality gospel tracts. Thank you in advance!

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

HOW TO DONATE: Click here to view our WayGiver Funding page

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NTEB SUNDAY SERVICE: As Christians, We Are Called To Ask People The Most Important Question That’s Ever Existed, Will You Go To Heaven Or Hell?

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Frank Jenner stood on a street corner for 40 years and asked people a simple question about Heaven and Hell, that was his course. What’s your course?

There was a man by the name of Frank Jenner, and he stood on a street corner for 40 years, asking everyone who passed by him one very simply and fundamental question. “If you were to die tonight, would you go to Heaven or Hell?” Frank Jenner never received a response to that question to his face, but in asking that question, thousands became saved and the work of the Lord spread out around the world. That was a big question he asked, now here’s another question. Would you be willing to stand on a streetcorner for the Lord for 40 years without seeing any results?

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20 (KJB)

On this Sunday Service, we ask you a simple question. Are you telling lost people about Heaven and Hell, and are you reminding the saints of the Judgment Seat of Christ? Frank Jenner grappled with that question until he settled it with the Lord, fulfilling his course on George Street in Sydney, Australia. How’s your course coming along? What course is that, you say? The one the Lord gave you when He saved you. Saved and don’t have a course? Read 2 Timothy 4:1-8, and see how Paul fulfills his course, the same Paul that all Christians are called to follow. If you haven’t gotten your course yet, don’t panic, this Sunday Service message is here to help you figure it out. Preached live this morning from Bethany Baptist Church in Saint Augustine, Florida.

If you’re on Facebook, please follow our Bethany Baptist Church page for information and updates on service times and upcoming events. You can also visit KJVChurches.com as well.

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

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.

nteb-free-king-james-bible-program-750-550

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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