"Selling Your Soul To FaceApp?"

Every move we make online is being scrutinized.

Don't believe it? Only a few years ago, we reported on a creepy website called 'clickclickclick', developed to demonstrate how our online behavior is continuously measured.

According to news.com.au: "Dutch media company VPRO and Amsterdam-based interactive design company Studio Moniker are the masterminds behind the site, which observes and comments on your behaviour in great detail."

Why would they do such a thing?

The designers claim it was an experiment done in a "lighthearted" way to prove a point: Big Data has destroyed your privacy.

"From the minute you visit the website, it begins detailing your actions on the screen in real-time."

And get this--there's a voice offering a running commentary about your behavior.

"What we do is just a little funny: we use a voice, a kind of psychologist who will assign properties" (to your behavior), they say.

While VPRO and Studio Moniker may just be conducting a funny little experiment to bring awareness, Big Data is busy tracking and analyzing our every move.

Nothing funny about it, especially when you consider:

news.com.au now reports the FBI has been called in to investigate the wildly popular FaceApp over privacy concerns that could pose "national security and privacy risks for millions of U.S. citizens."

A wise man once said: "Your web searches about sensitive information might seem a secret between you and your search engine, but companies like Google are creating a treasure trove of personal information by logging your online activities and making it potentially available to any party wielding enough cash or a subpoena." -- Electronic Frontier Foundation

"Therefore, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the housetops" -- Luke 12:3.

Click here to find out How To Go To Heaven 

News:

• The Wall Street Journal: Facebook and Google Algorithms Are Secret--but Australia plans to change that; Government considers limits to big tech's power
• Daily Mail: AI experts: pre-crime algorithms more magic than reality; comes with consequences
• Business Insider: Hacker reveals how to create the best password; use a "pass phrase"

"Eyes On The Prize"

"Throughout the New Testament, the Christian life is compared to a race," says Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship.

"With that in mind, we need to realize that it is not a short sprint, but a long-distance run."

Throughout all the twists and turns, ups and downs, good times and bad, Laurie contends the answer is the same: "A successful runner must keep his eyes on the prize."

In other words, remember what the race is all about.

"We must bear in mind," says Laurie, "for Whom and to Whom we are running: Jesus Christ. In essence, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus."

Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who survived the horror of Hitler's concentration camps during World War II, often said, "Look within and be depressed. Look without and be distressed. Look at Jesus and be at rest."

"God will see us through to the end," says Laurie. "He has given us His word."

"And I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."-- Phil. 1:6

 A wise man once said: "It's good to remind ourselves of God's faithfulness and the hope we have in Him...The same God who has been faithful in the past will continue His love for us in the future." --  James Banks, Christian author

How To Go To Heaven

News:

• Reuters: Iran claims to have arrested 17 CIA spies amid escalating international crisis; Trump says "totally false".
• DEBKAfile: UK intelligence warns pro-Iranian sleeper cells ready to strike across Europe.
• Alt-Market.com: California launching creepy "cradle to career" data system to track children.

"Supernatural Instructions"

"The words Read This First have taken an important role in the packaging of modern consumer products," says Bible editor Barry J. Beitzel, PhD.

Why? Because most of us think life is too short to read instruction manuals.

The Bible is a supernatural instruction manual; all of it "is given by the inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16), but the Gospel of John is the Read This First of the Bible.

The Gospel of John was written "to tell individuals how to find eternal life" (John 20:31), says Beitzel.

"This clearly identified purpose sets the Gospel of John apart from the other Gospels. It is not so much a life of Jesus as it is a powerful presentation of His deity.

"Every chapter presents evidence--both signs and statements--for His divine authority. According to John, believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Savior of the world, is the beginning of eternal life (John 3:14-17).

"What could be more important? John's statement about his Gospel is as good as a Read This First sticker for one's eternal life."

A wise man once said: "The Gospel of John is a persuasive argument for the deity of Jesus. It concentrates on presenting Jesus as the Word, that is, God (John 1:1) who became a man (John 1:14). Thus John meticulously records the statements and describes the miracles of Jesus that can only be attributed to God Himself." -- Barry J. Beitzel, PhD

"Jesus said, 'I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God...Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven. So don't be surprised at My statement that you must be born again.'"                   -- John 3:3, 5-7

How To Go To Heaven

News:

• The Economic Collapse: Global Earthquakes 3 Times Above Normal
• ZD Net: E.U.'s GPS Satellites Down 4 Days In Mysterious Outage
• The New York Post: Baffled by weekend blackout, NYC warned more could be coming due to heatwave

"Current Technology Described in Revelation?"

Any sufficiently-advanced technology can seem indistinguishable from magic, especially waaaay back in, say, A.D. 95 when the Apostle John wrote the Book of Revelation.

Remember, John was instructed to write down the things "that he saw" (Rev. 1:2) and most of what he saw was nearly 2000 years in the future.

Talk about mind-blowing future-shock! How would a 1st century prophet describe things like:

• advanced attack helicopters
• armored vehicles
• biological and chemical weapons
• fighter jets
• nuclear warfare

Imagine the difficulty a primitive, non-technical man from the 1st century would have trying to make sense of modern advances and warfare--never mind trying to put it all in writing.

We take today's technological advances for granted, but back in John's day they must have seemed like magic.

In Revelation 13, John describes a statue that come to life and is able to speak. Some believe John is using symbolic language. We believe he's probably describing a technology.

"Holoportation" is a new type of 3-D capture technology that allows high-quality 3-D models of people to be reconstructed, compressed and transmitted anywhere in the world in real time. When combined with mixed reality, they are actually present in the same physical space. Communicating and interacting with remote users becomes as natural as face-to-face communication. 

A wise man once said: "John was catapulted by God from one time period to another so that his extensive "visions" would have the authority of an eyewitness. The prophet then unknowingly encoded a warning for the generation in which these things would happen with conviction, accuracy and authority." -- Hal Lindsey, author

"He was permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die" -- Revelation 13:15.

"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" -- Revelation 1:3. 

How To Go To Heaven!

News:

• The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Weighs Options In Denuclearization Talks With N.Korea
• Associated Press: Quakes Alert Californians To Be Ready For The Dreaded "Big One"; shaken residents clean up after two biggest earthquakes in decades
• DEBKAfile: Iran to increase its uranium enrichment beyond ceiling mandated by 2015 nuclear deal