New Coronavirus News from 31 Mar 2020

China’s coronavirus propaganda has shifted dramatically, report finds [Fortune, 31 Mar 2020]

BY JEFF JOHN ROBERTS

As news of a coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, began to appear in Western news outlets in January, the country’s state-run media initially struck a tone of reassurance and transparency with hashtags like #wuhancoronavirus and #wuhanpneumonia. By February, such messaging had disappeared.

According to a new report by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, Chinese authorities have directed two abrupt shifts in the English language media it produces. The first shift skirted facts about the disease’s spread and origins in favor of social media posts that praised the response of the government and President Xi Jinping. Then, starting in late February, such posts took on a more aggressive tone, accusing the West of xenophobia and casting doubts on the virus’s origins.

Both tweets are from Global Times, a Chinese propaganda account that has 1.7 million followers. According to Recorded Future, Global Times and other such media outlets—including Xinhua, People’s Daily, CCTV, and CGTN—have posted tens of thousands of coronavirus-related items on services like Twitter and Instagram.

Recorded Future’s account is consistent with a similar report published by news site Pro Publica last week, which describes a massive Twitter disinformation operation run by the Chinese government. Pro Publica claims the operation initially focused its attention on Hong Kong, but then shifted to a flood of coronavirus coverage. The publication also noted that the campaign appeared to be directed at Chinese expatriates and cited unnamed sources who said China was paying influential Twitter users to spread propaganda.

Many of the Chinese propaganda outlets continue to publish on Twitter, despite reports of their promoting blatantly false information. A Twitter spokesperson said the company is aware of such accounts and, in some cases, is taking action against them.

“Using technology and human review in concert, we proactively monitor Twitter to identify attempts at platform manipulation and mitigate them,” said the Twitter spokesperson. “If we identify further information campaigns on our service that we can reliably attribute to state-backed activity either domestic or foreign-led, we will disclose them.”

All of this comes as the Chinese Communist Party attempts to portray its handling of the Wuhan situation as a success, and a model for other countries to follow. The country’s success in Wuhan is coming into question, however, as Bloomberg reports shared photos of thousands of funeral urns in the city—suggesting the actual death toll in Wuhan is much higher than the 2,535 fatalities authorities have stated. Meanwhile, the International Business Times has reported a soaring number of phone cancellations as evidence that the death toll in China owing to the coronavirus has been understated.

‘Our Situation is Apocalyptic’: Bangladesh Garment Workers Face Ruin [The New York Times, 31 Mar 2020]

By Elizabeth Paton

The new coronavirus is potentially disastrous for low-wage workers who power the global clothing trade.

The empty, echoing shopping malls of Western cities are a testament to the biggest crisis borne by global clothing and retail industries in over a generation. But the impact of the coronavirus on retail is a two-part devastation, as the daily flow of thousands of orders placed by Western retailers to supplier factories in South Asia has suddenly slammed to a halt.

Factory owners face financial ruin, while the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of garment workers hang in the balance.

“Our situation is apocalyptic,” said Rubana Huq, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), which represents Bangladeshi factory owners. “The cancellations and hold instructions coming in from Western fashion retailers are pushing us to the point of insolvency, with massive open capacity and raw materials liabilities.”

Fast fashion retailers rarely own the factories that supply them with their wares. Instead, the vast majority of garment and footwear orders are outsourced to suppliers in emerging markets like Bangladesh, where overhead is cheap and the cost of human labor is cheaper.

The majority of suppliers are in countries that can be the most vulnerable to large global economic shocks, such as India, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh, which is the second largest garment exporter nation after China.

Bangladesh, in particular, which has been the site of one of the most effective campaigns of the globalized era to improve labor and safety conditions for garment workers, has seen more than $2.8 billion worth of orders canceled or postponed since the start of the coronavirus crisis, according to Ms. Huq.

Ready-made garments comprised 84 percent of Bangladesh’s total exports, worth $40.5 billion, in its 2019 fiscal year, according to data posted on the website of the BGMEA. This loss compromises the ongoing employment of more than two million Bangladeshi garment workers.

“The situation is very bad. The Bangladeshi supply chain is in complete disarray with many foreign brands acting irresponsibly,” said Sharif Zahir, the managing director of the Ananta Group, which owns seven factories with a total of 26,000 workers. His company supplies brands that include H&M, Zara, Gap, Levi’s and Marks & Spencer.

According to Mr. Zahir, most Bangladeshi factories had already faced losses or thin margins since last year because of government-implemented wage increases in December 2018. Now, many buyers were canceling orders that had been produced, delaying payments and asking for discounts on already shipped goods.

“We have been left with around 20 percent of our orders for April. Beyond that, everything is uncertain,” Mr. Zahir said.

On March 26, the country deployed soldiers and police to enforce the start of a nationwide 10-day shutdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The densely populated country of 160 million people is deemed to be at a high risk of increased infections because hundreds of thousands of overseas Bangladeshi workers had returned home in recent weeks, often traveling from virus-affected nations to cramped and closely confined living conditions with little sanitation.

In an indication of the importance of the garment sector, which provides 80 percent of the country’s export earnings, retail factories are currently an essential industry, though the majority are currently closed.

“Factories are likely to empty of orders from April onward and are not in a position to pay salaries to workers. We understand it is a difficult time for buyers but they must understand that garment manufacturers are currently the weakest link,” said Mr. Zahir. “Workers are the responsibility of brands as well. They have better access to liquidity and governments offering much bigger rescue packages.”

A survey of factory owners in Bangladesh by Pennsylvania State University’s Center for Global Workers’ Rights found that millions of workers, mostly women from rural areas, had already been sent home without owed wages or severance pay. According to the survey, nearly all Western buyers refused to contribute to worker wages, and 70 percent of furloughed workers had been sent home without pay.

Big-name retailers have been at pains to stress that the cuts hit all areas of their businesses. After weeks of pressure, H&M said, on March 30, that it would take and pay for the shipments of goods that had already been manufactured for the company, as well as those currently in production. It said it would not negotiate prices on orders that had already been placed.

But the Swedish retailer has also warned that it will have to cut jobs; the pandemic has closed more than two-thirds of its 5,000 shops worldwide and has threatened landlords with the possibility of leaving leases early if sales don’t start to recover.

“We are doing everything in our power in the H&M group to manage the situation related to the coronavirus,” said H&M’s chief executive Helena Helmersson. “My hope is that we will be able to get operations up and running again as soon as possible.”

On March 31, Inditex, which owns Zara among other retailers and has temporarily closed nearly 4,000 of its stores, said it too would pay suppliers for orders that had already been produced. PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and the British high street retailer Marks & Spencer have also followed suit.

The vast majority of brands, however, are a long way from similar commitments. Primark, one of the largest purchasers of garments in Bangladesh, does not sell online. All 376 Primark stores in twelve countries are now closed until further notice, which represents a loss of some $807 million of net sales per month, the company said. It has frozen all future orders.

“The current situation has been so fast moving. We could not have foreseen that over the course of 12 days, our stores in every country in which we operate have had to close,” said Paul Marchant, the chief executive of Primark, last week.

“We have large quantities of existing stock in our stores, our depots and in transit, that is paid for and if we do not take this action now we will be taking delivery of stock that we simply cannot sell,” Mr. Marchant continued. “We recognize and are deeply saddened that this will clearly have an effect throughout our entire supply chain. This is unprecedented action for unprecedented and frankly unimaginable times.”

Although there are now signs from China that some fashion production lines are slowly starting to resume manufacturing, few industry observers are expecting things to get any easier for retailers.

“Though retailers are striving to entice spending with discounting and promotions, or with loungewear at the forefront of marketing campaigns, we expect these to have little impact at present as consumers acclimatize to new daily routines,” said Kate Ormrod, the lead retail analyst at the market research company GlobalData. “Significant fallout across the fashion sector is expected this year as fundamentally weaker players fail to recover once demand finally picks up.”

In a bid to offset some of the Western retail fallout, Bangladesh’s prime minister Sheikh Hasina announced a 5,000 crore Bangladeshi taka bailout worth $590 million on March 25. Many members of the Bangladeshi government are factory owners, but the funds, Prime Minister Hasina said, would be used solely as salaries and allowances for workers.

The challenge now facing the country is not only to ensure that the bailout gets to the right place, but that safety standards do not slip as factory owners find themselves in an increasingly desperate situation.

“It is essential for the government to engage in social dialogue with employers’ organizations and trade unions to come up with practical solutions which will keep people safe and protect jobs,” said Tuomo Poutiainen, country director for Bangladesh at the International Labor Organization.

“Proven social protection measures like supporting job and income security, preventing poverty and unemployment, and strengthening economic and social stability and peace is critical,” he said.

Koen Oosterom, the manager for Bangladesh and Myanmar for Fair Wear, a membership organization paid for by brands to improve working conditions, said that the fashion business faced an “extremely grim and unprecedented” situation, far worse in terms of potential ramifications than the financial crisis of 2008.

“There have been many tough conversations as of late about the sustainability of the industry. This situation is underscoring how unsustainable many of its practices really are,” he said.
“Many in precarious work have lost their income and in some areas, people have never been more exposed to exploitation.”

As some fashion retailers fight to stave off bankruptcy in the next few months, there is concern that recent ethical and environmental improvements in manufacturing will not be maintained. “Events are playing out in countries where there is very little in terms of social security and labor laws are not always upheld,” Mr. Oosterom said.

And as for the overtures by Western brands and retailers in recent weeks to making masks and hospital gowns for front line medical workers, Ms. Huq said that the change would offer little reassurance or practical solutions for the army of garment workers in lockdown.

“We would need substantial support to change toward those sorts of product lines. The raw materials would have to be sourced and certified, it is stepping toward a totally new type of supply chain,” Ms. Huq said.

“For them, it’s a question of the survival of the businesses,” she said, of Western retailers. “For us, it’s the survival of our 4.1 million workers.”

Japanese carmakers brace for US sales shock as coronavirus hits consumers [CNBC, 31 Mar 2020]

by Nancy Hungerford

KEY POINTS
• As the U.S. auto industry braces for the biggest downturn since the 2008 financial crisis, analysts are counting the cost for Japan’s automakers — whose fortunes depend heavily on the world’s second largest car market.
• To reflect weaker U.S. demand, Goldman Sachs slashed its combined operating profit estimate for seven Japanese automakers by 22% in a note to clients last week.
• Nissan is projected to fare the worst under Goldman’s revision, with fiscal year 2021 operating profit forecast cut by 92%.

As the U.S. auto industry braces for the biggest downturn since the 2008 financial crisis, analysts are counting the cost for Japan’s automakers — whose fortunes depend heavily on the world’s second largest car market.

The United States overtook Italy and China last week to become the country with the most confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. As of Wednesday morning Asia time, there were about 188,000 infections reported and more than 3,800 people killed by COVID-19, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. Cities have been shut down and businesses shuttered as a result of the pandemic.

To reflect weaker U.S. demand, Goldman Sachs slashed its combined operating profit estimate for seven Japanese automakers by 22% in a note to clients last week.

The revised forecasts are based on assumptions of a 30% drawdown in U.S. auto sales for 2020 to 12 million units, owing to the bank’s outlook for a major economic slowdown tied to COVID-19.

Although car sales are predicted to slump globally, the drop-off in shipments for Japan’s manufacturers will be most pronounced in North America, where Goldman sees an 18.6% fall, compared to a 9.6% drop for Europe and 3% dip for Japan.

Awaiting US damage report

Major automakers are due to report U.S. sales this week, giving investors a better grasp of the damage from coronavirus containment measures, which have shut both dealerships and factories across the country.

However, since most carmakers have switched from monthly to quarterly reporting, the full extent of the damage will not be revealed until the second quarter release because many stay-at-home notices were initiated in the middle of the month.

Ahead of the reports, market research firm J.D. Power forecast that monthly sales alone could plunge by as much as 40% compared to March last year.

Drawing on lessons from the downturn in 2008, however, Goldman predicted that latent demand will drive a sharp sales rebound of 25% in 2021 and 13% in 2022.

Consumer credit cracks

Analysts are also keeping an eye on the carmakers’ sales-finance business, which Goldman estimated would generate about 25% of operating profits at Japan’s three biggest automakers: Toyota, Nissan, and Honda.

“We see potential downside risk if loan loss ratios rise and used-vehicle prices decline due to a sharp deterioration in macroeconomic conditions,” the bank warns.

Although U.S. auto loan ratios have been stable since 2010, Goldman cautioned that credit scores can deteriorate if unemployment spikes.

Economists expect the U.S. to reveal millions of new weekly jobless claims on Thursday, after a record 3.2 million claims were filed for the week ended March 21.

Best in a bad bunch

Although a great deal of bad news has already been reflected in the double-digit percentage declines in Japanese auto stocks year-to-date, it may be too early to declare a bottom.

“We think it is not yet time to argue that valuations are at historical lows,” Goldman Sachs said in its report.

Nissan is projected to fare the worst under Goldman’s revision, with fiscal year 2021 operating profit forecast cut by 92%.

Analysts raised concern that Nissan would forgo a dividend in 2021 due to a further blow to free cash flow.

Credit ratings agency Moody’s Japan K.K. also indicated that Nissan could be the weakest link from a credit perspective, when it downgraded the embattled carmaker’s long-term rating by two notches last week. Toyota and Honda were each dealt a one notch downgrade.

Moody’s noted that Toyota was starting from a better base due to a recent run of high profitability and robust liquidity. Still, the ratings agency expects Toyota’s unit sales to decline, “straining its future cash flow and profitability.”

It’s a reminder that even the sector’s strongest players aren’t immune to the coronavirus outbreak.

Italy has lowest daily coronavirus infections in 2 weeks — but risks losing control in south with fear of riots, looting [Fox News, 31 Mar 2020]

By Danielle Wallace

Italy on Tuesday saw the lowest daily increase in confirmed coronavirus cases in the last two weeks -- but risks losing control of its poorer southern region amid rioting and looting during times of greater economic hardship prompted by a nationwide lockdown that has shut down all nonessential business.

The death toll for COVID-19 in Italy reached 11,591 Tuesday -- up by 812 from Monday, marking the lowest increase within a 24-hour period in two weeks. Italy ranks first in the worldwide tally of coronavirus deaths. It comes in second only to the United States for the number of confirmed cases, recording at least 101,739 infections as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, in the underdeveloped southern half of the Italian peninsula -- a macroregion known the Mezzogiorno -- many poorer Italians are facing economic hardship as the country enters the fourth week of a nationwide lockdown.

Police have been deployed to the streets of Palermo, the capital of Sicily, amid concerns gangs were using social media to plan attacks on local grocery stores, Bloombergreported.
Meanwhile, the ferry company that shuttles people, as well as food and medicine, to and from the island went bankrupt. And Italian officials fear the mafia will intervene during a period of civic unrest.

“We need to act fast, more than fast,” Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando told the daily La Stampa. “Distress could turn into violence.”

Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced Monday the national lockdown would be extended from its initial April 3 deadline until at least Easter Sunday.

Leaders within the European Union are working to finalize a financial aid package for Italy.

Germany, the wealthiest nation, and Italy, the most indebted nation in the bloc, reportedly have butted heads over terms of a bailout.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is working to finalize a $33 billion stimulus package to bolster the country’s virus-stricken economy, a follow-up aid after his initial $27.5 billion bailout announced on March 10. Over the weekend, Conte released more than $440,000 to be used by Italian mayors for food stamp programs for residents struggling to feed their families amid the lockdown.

Conte first announced the nationwide lockdown on March 10 and has since been rolling out stricter measures, most recently closing all nonessential business in the country.

An initial lockdown applied to Italy’s northern Lombardy region, where Milan is located, and 14 surrounding provinces. One of the first cases of the coronavirus in Italy was identified Feb. 21 in Codogno, a town of about 16,000 people, and the infection swiftly spread, devastating the Lombardy region, which is now the epicenter of the outbreak in the country.

Medical supplies, such as ventilators and masks, have been allocated mostly to Italy’s historically more prosperous industrial north, leaving many officials in the south demanding the government send reinforcements to hospitals as the infections continue to advance down the peninsula.

Meanwhile, Spain reached another chilling milestone Tuesday, recording its largest daily uptick in coronavirus deaths after 849 people died within a 24-hour period. Spain recorded at least 8,269 coronavirus deaths by Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins University, ranking in second for the worldwide tally of fatalities. Spain was the third most-infected country, recording at least 94,417 confirmed cases, falling behind only the United States and Italy.

Italy Observes Moment Of Silence For COVID-19 Victims, As Case Numbers Plateau [NPR, 31 Mar 2020]

by SYLVIA POGGIOLI

Cities across Italy, the country hardest hit in coronavirus deaths, marked a minute of silence on Tuesday at noon to honor the many victims since the outbreak emerged about six weeks ago.

The death toll as of Tuesday had reached 12,428, and the total number of cases stands at almost 106,000. Italy's victims account for more than a third of the pandemic's global fatalities.

At government buildings across the country, flags were lowered to half-staff, and Italians marked a minute of silence to honor the victims, most of whom were residents of the northern Lombardy province, Italy's financial and business heartland. The Lombardy city of Bergamo is Italy's hardest-hit urban area.

The moment-of-silence initiative was promoted by a group of mayors to show solidarity with residents in the crisis' epicenter.

As the country moves into its fourth week of lockdown, the head of Italy's national institute of health, Silvio Brusaferro, announced that the country "has reached a plateau" in its infection rate. The past 24 hours saw 4,053 new infections, just three more than the previous day.

Brusaferro said there should soon be a decline in new cases "if we continue to place maximum attention on what we do every day." He added that it would be folly to relax current restrictions on business and movement.

Why Asia’s New Coronavirus Controls Should Worry the World [The New York Times, 31 Mar 2020]

By Motoko Rich

After a surge in cases tied to international travelers, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and other places that seemed to have the epidemic under control have imposed stricter measures.

In China, international flights have been cut back so severely that Chinese students abroad wonder when they will be able to get home. In Singapore, recently returned citizens must share their phones’ location data with the authorities each day to prove they are sticking to government-ordered quarantines.

In Taiwan, a man who had traveled to Southeast Asia was fined $33,000 for sneaking out to a club when he was supposed to be on lockdown in his home. In Hong Kong, a 13-year-old girl, who was spotted out at a restaurant wearing a tracking bracelet to monitor those in quarantine, was followed, filmed and subsequently shamed online.

Across Asia, countries and cities that seemed to have brought the coronavirus epidemic under control are suddenly tightening their borders and imposing stricter containment measures, fearful about a wave of new infections imported from elsewhere.

The moves portend a worrisome sign for the United States, Europe and the rest of the world still battling a surging outbreak: Any country’s success with containment could be tenuous, and the world could remain on a kind of indefinite lockdown.

Even when the number of new cases starts to fall, travel barriers and bans in many places may persist until a vaccine or treatment is found. The risk otherwise is that the infection could be reintroduced inside their borders, especially given the prevalence of asymptomatic people who might unknowingly carry the virus with them.

Following a recent uptick in cases tied to international travelers, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan barred foreigners from entering altogether in recent days. Japan has barred visitors from most of Europe, and is considering denying entry to travelers from countries including the United States. South Korea imposed stricter controls, requiring incoming foreigners to quarantine in government facilities for 14 days upon arrival.

“Countries have really been struggling to implement their own domestic solutions, and domestic solutions are insufficient for a transnational global health problem,” said Kristi Govella, an assistant professor of Asian studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

“Even countries that have been relatively successful in managing the pandemic are only as safe as the weakest links in the system,” she said, adding that in the absence of cooperation among countries, “closing borders is one of the ways that individual governments can control the situation.”

The virus, which emerged in Asia and spread to the West, is at risk of ricocheting back. Citizens who were worried about outbreaks in Europe and the United States rushed home after finding themselves in the new epicenters of the pandemic.

Almost immediately, countries and cities in Asia started seeing a rise in new cases, often detecting infected passengers at airports as they passed through health screenings. Hong Kong, which had been reporting new daily cases in the single digits, suddenly saw new cases spike as high as 65 in one day. In Japan, where infections have remained relatively controlled, cases started to rise last month in Tokyo as travelers returned from overseas.

To try to stem the influx of infections, governments clamped down on their borders.
South Korea, which has been praised globally for flattening the curve quickly after an early explosive peak in infections, initially required travelers from some countries to quarantine. This week it expanded the list to cover the entire world.

Japan started by having travelers quarantine, but now bars travelers from most of Europe outright. It is discussing more bans, including for travelers from the United States.

China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have simply shut their borders to virtually all foreigners.

“We believe that under the current situation of the epidemic, minimizing unnecessary entry and exit activities is a responsible and necessary measure to effectively protect the life, safety and physical health of all Chinese and foreign personnel,” said Liu Haitao, director-general for border control and management of the National Immigration Administration in China.

Even some residents are having a hard time getting home. On mainland China, where leaders are keen to declare the worst of the outbreak that started there over, the new border controls have forced most foreign airlines to cut back to one flight a week. Ticket prices have skyrocketed and bookings are constantly canceled.

Alex Fei, a Chinese student at a university in Canada, has struggled to get back. His flights have been canceled twice — once after Hong Kong banned transfers through the hub, and another time when the airline suspended a direct flight from Vancouver to Shanghai.

Mr. Fei said he might have no choice but to remain in Canada. “Overseas students’ hands are tied for now,” he said.

Citizens who do return to Asia are often put under strict surveillance as they serve out their time in quarantine. In some cases governments are using the tools of criminal justice to enforce them.

Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese city, initially managed to contain its early coronavirus outbreak with swift measures like the closing of schools and government offices and restrictions on travelers from mainland China.

But as students and expatriates rushed back from Europe and the United States in March, officials warned that a new wave of imported cases was beginning to strain hospitals. Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, barred all nonresidents on March 19, and returning residents are now tested upon arrival.

During a 14-day quarantine at home, they wear tracking bracelets, and their movements are monitored by a smartphone app. Ms. Lam said that more than 200,000 people were currently being quarantined at home.

Technology is a key tool for enforcing quarantines. In China, returnees spend 14 days in government-assigned hotels and send their temperatures daily to neighborhood committees on WeChat, a messaging service. In Taiwan, the government uses location tracking on mobile phones and adds some old-fashioned police shoe leather; officers visit people at home if they leave or turn off their phones.

Filia Lim, 50, said the quarantine measures in Singapore were a “headache” because she normally travels extensively for her job in human resources. But she said she was “thankful” that Singapore was monitoring returnees so closely.

“The virus spread mostly because people didn’t realize they have the symptoms, or for some they blatantly ignored those symptoms and they interacted with a lot of people despite advice by government to self-isolate themselves,” she said.

Punishment for breaking the rules of quarantine can be stiff. A 53-year-old Singaporean who breached the order had his passport invalidated, the immigration authorities said Sunday.

Japan officially says those who break quarantine can be imprisoned for up to six months or fined as much as 500,000 yen, about $4,600.

But the Japanese government relies on trust that those in quarantine stay cloistered. Upon returning from countries on the banned list, residents sign a pledge stating that they will remain in one place for 14 days and stay off public transit. If they go out for food, they are told to wear a mask and “be quick.”

South Korea has yet to bar entrants from anywhere but the Hubei region of China. Critics say that simply quarantining foreigners may inadvertently put more stress on the medical system.

“Some say that there are people abroad who think they should come to Korea to be tested and treated,” said Dr. Park Jong-hyuk, a family medicine specialist and spokesman for the Korean Medical Association.

Dr. Park has called for a total entry ban on foreigners.

“It is time to make efforts to protect one another on a global level by practicing international social distancing,” he said.

In the immediate term, when governments are still scrambling to protect their citizens, such measures make sense, experts say. But the longer it goes on, the more likely it could do sustained damage to the global economy and the collective psyche.

“Although the first priority should be on definitely trying to control the virus,” said Karen Eggleston, director of the Asia health policy program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, “one has to think about those very large costs, and as the crisis is prolonged, those costs can definitely mount.”

Sean Sierra, 30, a petty officer in the United States Navy stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, said he did not see an end in sight. After a recent posting to a ship based in Singapore, he was required to quarantine at home in Japan for 14 days when he returned.

Although he has completed his stint in isolation, the entire base is now sheltering in place.
“We’re going to be stuck here for a bit,” said Petty Officer Sierra. He said that his mother-in-law was scheduled to visit in two weeks but that the quarantine “puts a damper on any plans.”

More coronavirus infections confirmed in Japan [NHK WORLD, 31 Mar 2020]

Japan has reported 28 more coronavirus infections as of Tuesday afternoon, bringing the total number to 2,015. It includes 14 people who returned from China's Hubei Province on chartered flights.

When 712 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship are included, the total stands at 2,727.

The figure was provided by the health ministry and local governments.

The figure also includes 61 cases among health ministry officials, quarantine officers and those who were found to have the virus during arrival checks at airports.

By prefecture, there are 443 cases in Tokyo, 216 in Osaka, 176 in Hokkaido, 170 in Aichi, 165 in Chiba and 137 in Hyogo.

The health ministry says 70 people have died, including 11 who were on the cruise ship.
It says that another 70 people, including 11 from the Diamond Princess, were in serious condition as of Monday.

A total of 1,027 people, including 424 who were infected in Japan and 603 from the cruise ship, had recovered and left hospital as of Monday.

A Lesson from Japan’s Fight against Coronavirus: Masks Help [National Review, 31 Mar 2020]

By LINDA HALDERMAN

People wearing protective face masks reflected on a screen displaying stock prices outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, March 17, 2020. (Issei Kato/Reuters)

Like other countries in East Asia, Japan has managed to slow the spread. Masks may be an important part of that recipe.

The medical nightmare that is uncontrolled coronavirus spread has afflicted Americans with another painful condition: economic paralysis. But Japan, despite sharing a maritime border with China and nearly one million tourists in January 2020, has so far managed to spare its 127 million citizens the medical and financial disaster of COVID-19. With about ten geographically isolated “hotspots” across Japan, there have been fewer COVID-19 deaths in that nation in a three-month period than among the 400,000 people of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the past six weeks. Japan has not been immune from economic damage, which is global.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, moreover, recently voiced concern about a possible explosion in outbreaks. But the country has, for now, managed to keep the growth in cases and deaths modest while keeping much of its economy open.

What are the lessons? The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic took the lives of nearly 500,000 Japanese. (For perspective, the combined death toll after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was 200,000.) Since then, a phenomenon began to emerge: “mask culture.” The wearing of cloth or paper “sickness masks” while healthy and in public has become such a standard practice in Japan that in average years, the nation manufactures 4.3 billion face masks for personal use. The typical Japanese citizen goes through 43 masks per year.
Initially a personal public health decision, daily mask wearing became a social etiquette standard and then a fashion accessory. Within the past several years, “sickness masks” have morphed into a trendsetting statement worn by celebrities and fashionistas. Daily public use is ubiquitous.

Articles are written about the season’s most popular patterns. Magazines inform which color mask makes a woman more attractive. There are masks marketed to men, scented versions and even a model that purports to highlight a Japanese standard of beauty —a smaller-appearing face. The latest Japanese mask trend is the Bi Fitto Masukuru, or “Be Fit Mask.” Cut to contour the jawline, it provides a closer fit than the typical rectangular-shaped mask. Smaller gaps provide less room for respiratory particles to escape.

Masks matter because COVID-19 spreads through droplets. The primary way a healthy person is exposed is by coming into physical contact with viral particles contained in the saliva or respiratory secretions of a person with the virus — including one without symptoms. Particles are released when someone infected sneezes, clears his or her throat, laughs, eats or speaks.
Droplet spread is not the same as aerosol spread, and evidence suggests that, unlike measles, COVID-19 viral particles do not remain airborne for long enough to create a “cloud” of infectious gas. (The risk of aerosol spread is high mostly for medical professionals, who may come in prolonged close contact with infected patients during procedures.)

Not all masks are as fashionable as the Bi Fitto Masukuru. Different kinds differ in efficacy. The gold standard is the “N95” respirator, whose name derives from testing that proves it filters out at least 95 percent of small particles — including viruses — when carefully fitted to the wearer. Next are surgical masks, typically made of rectangular, pleated nonwoven fabric that loosely conforms to the face without a tight seal. They are meant to provide a physical barrier between the wearer and larger particles in the environment, but are not as reliable as a fitted N95. Finally, there are simple cloth masks. These are not an effective barrier to virus particles, though there is some research suggesting that a homemade mask with a double-layer of cloth and a nonwoven filter in between may equal or exceed the effectiveness of the surgical mask.

In the U.S., across Europe, and among Western public-health authorities, the relentless mantra has been to wash your hands. That’s an excellent part of hygiene, preventing viral transmission from droplets on surfaces to hands that then touch the face, nose and mouth. But hand washing does not prevent person-to-person droplet spread: the spread that will occur when quarantines are lifted and a financially desperate workforce returns to a more normal world, the spread that could lead to a “second bounce” in infections. The visible success Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and other East Asian countries have had in keeping the virus under control should prompt many in the West to revisit their mask-skeptical stance. The new mantra should take into account that masks and hand washing, taken together, have been shown to reduce the transmission of disease.

For healthy people, young people, and essential workers to really make a difference in the spread of this virus to the entire community — including those at high risk who remain at home when the world normalizes — they should consider the Japanese cultural norm of mask-wearing in public. Masks worn in public by healthy people are not to stop the wearer from contracting the virus. They work by limiting the exposure of nearby people to the virus potentially contained within an asymptomatic mask-wearer’s cough or sneeze.

Unfortunately, the adoption of such a radical cultural departure is normally slow. Right now, many of my physician and nurse colleagues in California hospitals are being told by misguided administrators NOT to wear masks outside of patient rooms because “it scares the other patients.” All the while, the spread continues.

Perhaps the Social Influencers of the 21st century could drive this shift from #WashYourHands to #WearYourMask. Celebrity “mask-wearing challenges” might appear on Twitter and Facebook, offering a fad that is lifesaving as well as attention-generating. Fashion designers could offer “spring mask collections” using cutting-edge couture to cut viral transmission. The NHL, NBA, and other sports leagues know more about merchandising than almost anyone in the marketing world; put athletes in team logo masks, and fans will follow.
Eventually, Americans will go back to work. When they do, let’s hope they’re wearing masks.

Japan's coronavirus containment strategy faces breaking point [Al Jazeera English, 31 Mar 2020]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces more restrictions on cabinet meetings as Tokyo expands overseas travel ban.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his deputy will no longer attend meetings together to cut exposure to the coronavirus, as pressure for a lockdown builds and a minister warned the country's containment strategy was stretched to the limit.

The decision comes as Japan's Foreign Ministry announced that foreign nationals from the United States, China and South Korea, as well as most of Europe, will be banned from entering the country.

Abe told cabinet members on Tuesday that his second-in-command, Taro Aso, would no longer be present at any meeting the prime minister attends, a government spokesman said, in a move to guard the leadership against infection that could hamper Japan's response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Last week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was obliged to switch to running the country from isolation after testing positive for the virus.

Abe's step came as Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan was not yet in a situation to declare a state of emergency, triggering a potential lockdown, but that the situation was precarious.

"We're just barely holding it together," Nishimura told reporters on Tuesday. "If we loosen our grip even a little, it wouldn't be surprising to see a sudden surge (in cases)."

Speculation that a lockdown may come soon has been intense, fuelled by rising numbers of domestic cases.

Possible state of emergency declaration

A centre for disabled people in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, found seven more infections on Tuesday, pushing the national total past 2,000.

A total of 59 deaths have been recorded, according to national broadcaster NHK.

Only last Tuesday, the Japanese government and International Olympic Committee succumbed to intense pressure from athletes and sporting bodies around the world to delay Tokyo's 2020 Summer Games for a year because of the global outbreak.

But any lockdown in Japan would look different from mandatory measures in some parts of Europe and the United States. By law, local authorities are only permitted to issue requests for people to stay at home, which are not binding.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has requested citizens in the capital to stay indoors, while her counterpart in Osaka, Japan's second-biggest city told reporters on Monday he thought the national government should declare a state of emergency, according to local media.

A director of the country's top organisation of doctors has said the government should declare a state of emergency before it is too late.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday Japan is urging its citizens not to travel to 73 countries and regions - a third of all countries in the world including the United States, Canada, China, South Korea and Britain.

Citizens from the US, China, South Korea, as well as most of Europe will also be banned from entering Japan.

Elsewhere Abe said in a call with World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday evening that development of medicines and vaccines would be crucial to contain the outbreak.

Abe said Japan intends to promote clinical research on an anti-flu medicine called Favipiravir with other countries as a treatment for the virus.

The drug, also known as Avigan, was developed by a Japanese company.

South Korea reports 125 new coronavirus cases, total 9,786: KCDC [Reuters, 31 Mar 2020]

by Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Tuesday it will open school classes online next week and reschedule its annual college entrance exams slated for November as concerns persist over the coronavirus and small outbreaks continue to emerge.

The country has postponed the beginning of all schools’ new semester three times from early March to April 6 amid a rise in confirmed virus patients.

After a big early outbreak, South Korea has largely managed to bring down its daily number of new cases to around 100 or less, but infections from small clusters including churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as imported cases, continue to arise.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country is not ready yet to open schools as before despite the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We regret that we have not reached levels where children can go to schools safely even though we mobilised all our capabilities to substantially decrease risks of infection,” Chung told a meeting of government officials, according to his office.

“It is difficult to guarantee the safety of children as the sizable number of new patients emerge every day, and there are concerns that it might spread again from schools to homes and communities.”

Schools will provide online classes starting April 9, Chung said, vowing to ensure students’ access to technology at home to minimise any study gap. The highly competitive annual college entrance exam, held every October, will need to be postponed.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 125 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, bringing the total infections to 9,786. The death toll stood at 162.

The daily tally has been hovering slightly above 100 or less for the past three weeks, but the latest number marked an uptick from 78 recorded on Monday.

Of the new cases, 60 were from the hard-hit southeastern city of Daegu, where a hospital saw more than 75 infections over the past few days, KCDC data showed.

U.S. spies find coronavirus spread in China, North Korea, Russia hard to chart [Reuters, 31 Mar 2020]

by Mark Hosenball & Jonathan Landay

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As U.S. spy agencies seek to assemble a precise picture of the world’s coronavirus outbreaks, they are finding serious gaps in their ability to assess the situation in China, Russia and North Korea, according to five U.S. government sources familiar with the intelligence reporting.

The agencies also have limited insight into the full impact of the pandemic in Iran, although information on infections and deaths among the ruling class and public is becoming more available on official and social media, two sources said.

The four countries are known by U.S. spy agencies as “hard targets” because of the heavy state controls on information and the difficulty, even in normal times, of collecting intelligence from within their closed leadership circles.

An accurate assessment of those countries’ outbreaks would aid U.S. and international efforts to limit the human and economic tolls from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, experts say.

The agencies are not just looking for accurate numbers, but also for any signs of the political ramifications of how the crisis is being handled.

“We want to have as close an accurate, real-time understanding of where the global hotspots are and where they are evolving,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, an expert at the Center for Global Development thinktank, who led the Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance from 2013 to 2017, including the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak. “The world is not going to get rid of this thing until we get rid of it everywhere.”

U.S. intelligence agencies first began reporting on the coronavirus in January and provided early warnings to lawmakers on the outbreak in China, where it originated in the city of Wuhan late last year, said the sources, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely about intelligence matters.

The pandemic has grown to nearly 740,000 cases in some 200 countries and territories, Reuters figures show, with the United States now reporting the most cases at more than 152,000.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies, declined to comment.

NOT ONE CASE

North Korea claims to have not had a single case even though it borders China, but has asked international aid agencies for supplies like masks and testing kits.

One U.S. source said, “we don’t know” anything about the scale of the problem in the hermetic country.

“It’s a nuclear-armed country where things that could destabilize the government would be of great interest to the United States,” said Konyndyk, who also led the U.S. response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Russian authorities are considering a nationwide lockdown after recording the biggest one-day rise in coronavirus cases for the sixth day in a row, for a total of 1,836 cases and nine deaths.
Knowing the full extent of Russia’s coronavirus spread could be critical as it shares borders with 14 other countries and is a hub of trade and travel.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo alluded last week to the dearth of accurate information on Russia and Iran, and accused China of a disinformation campaign, which Beijing denies.

China, which has reported more than 81,000 cases and more than 3,300 deaths, says no new cases are originating at home. It remains wary of travelers returning from abroad.

The U.S. view of the Chinese claim of no new domestic cases is that “some of it may be true,” according to one source. U.S. agencies remain skeptical that the Chinese have the virus under control, the source said.

Konyndyk said while Beijing concealed the severity of the initial outbreak, it does not appear to be doctoring numbers now, however.

China “seems to be the most successful country in terms of taking very large-scale growth and rapidly extinguishing it,” he said. “If their case numbers are real, it’s really important to understand their approach and adapt it.”

Coronavirus cluster emerges at another South Korean church [AsiaOne, 31 Mar 2020]

ByPARK CHAN-KYONG

Another controversial religious sect in South Korea has come under public scrutiny with a cluster of at least 22 coronavirus cases, as some protestant churches went ahead with worship services on Sunday despite a government order for social distancing.

Health authorities have been tracing close contacts of at least 200 church-goers after a member of the Manmin Central Church in Seoul's western district of Guro tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday.

As of Sunday afternoon, 22 people linked to the church, including a female pastor, had tested positive.

Infections occurred when about 200 members of the church gathered in early March to prepare video footage to use in online worship services in response to government guidelines for social distancing, according to the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Some 70 other members of the church also on March 5 travelled to the southern county of Muan, the birthplace of the church's founder Lee Jae-rok, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his most famous "miracle" - allegedly making the salty water in a fountain drinkable to ease chronic potable water shortages in the county.

Pastor Lee has been in prison since May 2018 after he was arrested for raping nine female followers - some of who believed he was a living god - over several years.

Three of the women went public as South Korea experienced a wave of #MeToo accusations, describing how he had summoned each of them to a flat and raped them. The Supreme Court in August upheld his 16-year prison term.

Lee, 76, set up the church in Guro district, once a backwater area of Seoul, with just 12 followers in 1982. Using his supposed healing powers to attract new members, he grew his congregation to 130,000, but his conviction has reportedly resulted in a sharp decrease in congregants.

The church has a spotlight-filled auditorium, sprawling headquarters and a website replete with claims of miracle cures.

This is the latest in a series of church-related clusters in South Korea, where many churches have pushed ahead with services.

The Seoul City government last week filed a lawsuit worth at least 300 million won (S$1.5 million) against the Shincheonji Church, a religious sect widely blamed for accelerating the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak in South Korea, holding it responsible for hampering quarantine efforts by dragging its feet on revealing the names of its 200,000 followers.

Eunhyui Gang (River of Grace) Church in Sungnam City near Seoul produced a cluster of more than 70 cases, after the wife of its leading pastor sprayed salt water into the mouths of followers in the belief that this would prevent the spread of the virus.

Churches in other cities - Suwon, Busan, Geochang and Bucheon - also reported clusters numbering up to 22 people.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun warned that "stern" legal action would be taken against churches violating orders that they must ensure a distance of at least two metres between people at services and check the temperature of congregants.

Among the most defiant churches was Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul, whose leading pastor Chun Gwang-hoon was imprisoned for breaching election laws and defaming President Moon Jae-in.

Some followers clashed with police as the church pressed ahead with services on Sunday despite a two-week administrative order requiring the church to ban offline worship services till April 5 for violating the quarantine guidelines.

All members violating the order face a penalty up to 3 million won.

The country's health ministry has advised public facilities such as religious institutions, nightclubs and indoor gyms to close from March 22 to April 5 as part of measures to contain the virus.

The Christian Council of Korea, an umbrella group of protestant churches, accused the government of "trampling down" on religion, asserting Sunday services are at the centre of their faith.

Pastor Bang In-sung, a reformist campaigner, told JTBC TV: "Most Korean churches are small in scale and if they stop worship sessions for a month or so, it would cause financial difficulties to them."

Religion is widespread in technologically advanced South Korea, with 44 per cent of people identifying themselves as believers. A 2015 government survey found 28 per cent belonged to
Christian churches and 16 per cent described themselves as Buddhist.

Most belong to mainstream churches, which can accumulate wealth and influence as followers donate as much as 10 per cent of their income.

But fringe groups are also widespread, especially ones that claim to offer a path to material and spiritual prosperity. According to Park Hyung-tak, head of the Korea Christian Heresy Research Institute, around 2 million people are followers of cults.

Religious experts say around 60 people in the country claim to be divine - and some have been implicated in fraud, brainwashing, coercion, and other behaviour associated with cults worldwide.

South Korea has reported 9,583 confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Whether you believe in God or not, read this message!!

All throughout time, we can see how we have been slowly conditioned coming to this point where we are on the verge of a cashless society. Did you know that Jesus foretold of this event almost 2,000 years ago?

In the book of Revelation 13:16-18, we will read,

"He (the false prophet who deceives many by his miracles--Revelation 19:20) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666."

Speaking to the last generation, this could only be speaking of a cashless society. Why so? Revelation 13:17 states that we cannot buy or sell unless we receive the mark of the beast. If physical money was still in use, we could buy or sell with one another without receiving the mark. This would contradict scripture that states we need the mark to buy or sell!

These verses could not be referring to something purely spiritual as scripture references two physical locations (our right hand or forehead) stating the mark will be on one "OR" the other. If this mark was purely spiritual, it would indicate both places, or one--not one OR the other!

This is where it comes together. It is amazing how accurate the Bible is concerning the implantable RFID microchip. Here is information from someone named Carl Sanders who worked with a team of engineers to help develop this RFID chip:

"Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the C.I.A. to discuss plans on how to bring about this one-world system. The government commissioned Carl Sanders to design a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the world—a microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle (a quick, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).

Carl Sanders, with a team of engineers behind him, with U.S. grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature changes in our skin. Without the knowledge of the Bible (Brother Sanders was not a Christian at the time), these engineers spent one-and-a-half-million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip inserted.

Guess what? These researchers found that the forehead and the back of the hand (the two places the Bible says the mark will go) are not just the most convenient places, but are also the only viable places for rapid, consistent temperature changes in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of storing pages upon pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, criminal record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this chip.

Brother Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped design, is the “mark” spoken about in Revelation 13:16–18. The original Greek word for “mark” is “charagma,” which means a “scratch or etching.” It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is actually a word in the original Greek. The word is “chi xi stigma,” with the last part, “stigma,” also meaning “to stick or prick.” Carl believes this is referring to a hypodermic needle when they poke into the skin to inject the microchip."

Mr. Sanders asked a doctor what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor replied by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:

"And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image" (Revelation 16:2).

You can read more about it here--and to also understand the mystery behind the number 666: [url=https://2ruth.org]HTTPS://2RUTH.ORG[/url]

The third angel's warning in Revelation 14:9-11 states,

"Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'"

Great hope is in our midst, and is coming in a mighty way--the greatest revival for Jesus in the history of the world where we will see the most souls come to Him of all tribes, tongues, nations, and peoples (Rev. 7:9-10); for we have this promise in God's Word in the midst of these dark times:

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years (not literal--rather a spiritual label for time spent in eternity); and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (when the Antichrist and false prophet will rise up and God will test the world)." (Revelation 20:1-3)

"The coming of the lawless one (the Antichrist) is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12)"

Who is Barack Obama, and why is he still around?

So what about his name? The meaning of someone's name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface.

Jesus says in Luke 10:18, "...I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

The Hebrew Strongs word (H1299) for "lightning": "bârâq" (baw-rawk)

In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 14, we read about Lucifer (Satan) saying in his heart:

"I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High."

In the verses in Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it mentions him falling from the heights or the heavens. The Hebrew word for the heights or heavens used here is Hebrew Strongs 1116: "bamah"--Pronounced (bam-maw')

In Hebrew, the letter "Waw" or "Vav" is often transliterated as a "U" or "O," and it is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning (Baraq) and a high place like heaven or the heights of heaven (Bam-Maw), the letter "U" or "O" would be used. So, Baraq "O" Bam-Maw or Baraq "U" Bam-Maw in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah, would translate literally to "Lightning from the heights." The word "Satan" in Hebrew is a direct translation, therefore "Satan."

So when Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 10:18 that He beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven, if this were to be declared by a Jewish Rabbi today influenced by the poetry in the book of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew--the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18 as, and I saw Satan as Baraq O Bam-Maw.

The names of both of Obama's daughters are Malia and Natasha. If we write those names backward (the devil does things backwards) it would be "ailam ahsatan". Now if we remove the letters that spell "Alah" (the false god of Islam being Allah), we get "I am Satan". Coincidence? I don't think so!

Obama's campaign logo when he ran as President in the year 2008 was a sun over the horizon in the west, with the landscape as the flag of the United States. In Islam, they have their own messiah that they are waiting for called the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi (the Antichrist of the Bible), and one prophecy concerning this man's appearance is the sun rising in the west.

"Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'" (Revelation 14:6-7)

Why have the words of Jesus in His Gospel accounts regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, been translated into over 3,000 languages, and nothing comes close (the Quran about 110 languages)? Because the same Spirit of God (YHVH) who created all people likewise transcends all people; therefore the power of His Word is not limited by people; while all other religions are man-made, therefore they tend to primarily stay within their own culture. The same God who speaks to all people through His creation of the heavens and earth that draws all people around the world likewise has sent His Word to the ends of the earth so that we may come to personally know Him to be saved in spirit and in truth through His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus stands alone among the other religions that say to rightly weigh the scales of good and evil and to make sure you have done more good than bad in this life. Is this how we conduct ourselves justly in a court of law? Bearing the image of God, is this how we project this image into reality?

Our good works cannot save us. If we step before a judge, being guilty of a crime, the judge will not judge us by the good we have done, but rather by the crimes we have committed. If we as fallen humanity, created in God's image, pose this type of justice, how much more a perfect, righteous, and Holy God?

God has brought down His moral laws through the 10 commandments given to Moses at Mt. Siani. These laws were not given so we may be justified, but rather that we may see the need for a savior. They are the mirror of God's character of what He has written in our hearts, with our conscious bearing witness that we know that it is wrong to steal, lie, dishonor our parents, murder, and so forth.

We can try and follow the moral laws of the 10 commandments, but we will never catch up to them to be justified before a Holy God. That same word of the law given to Moses became flesh about 2,000 years ago in the body of Jesus Christ. He came to be our justification by fulfilling the law, living a sinless perfect life that only God could fulfill.

The gap between us and the law can never be reconciled by our own merit, but the arm of Jesus is stretched out by the grace and mercy of God. And if we are to grab on, through faith in Him, He will pull us up being the one to justify us. As in the court of law, if someone steps in and pays our fine, even though we are guilty, the judge can do what is legal and just and let us go free. That is what Jesus did almost 2,000 years ago on the cross. It was a legal transaction being fulfilled in the spiritual realm by the shedding of His blood with His last word's on the cross crying out, "It is finished!" (John 19:30).

For God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). This is why in Isaiah chapter 53, where it speaks of the coming Messiah and His soul being a sacrifice for our sins, why it says it pleased God to crush His only begotten Son.

This is because the wrath that we deserve was justified by being poured out upon His Son. If that wrath was poured out on us, we would all perish to hell forever. God created a way of escape by pouring it out on His Son whose soul could not be left in Hades but was raised and seated at the right hand of God in power.

So now when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), where God no longer sees the person who deserves His wrath, but rather the glorious image of His perfect Son dwelling in us, justifying us as if we received the wrath we deserve, making a way of escape from the curse of death; now being conformed into the image of the heavenly man walking in a new nature, and no longer in the image of the fallen man Adam.

Now what we must do is repent and put our trust and faith in the savior, confessing and forsaking our sins, and to receive His Holy Spirit that we may be born again (for Jesus says we must be born again to see and enter the Kingdom of God in John chapter 3). This is not just head knowledge of believing in Jesus, but rather receiving His words, taking them to heart, so that we may truly be transformed into the image of God. Where we no longer live to practice sin, but rather turn from our sins and practice righteousness through faith in Him in obedience to His Word by reading the Bible.

Our works cannot save us, but they can condemn us; it is not that we earn our way into everlasting life, but that we obey our Lord Jesus Christ:

Jesus says,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

"And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him." (Hebrews 5:9)

"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'

Then He who sat on the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful.'

And He said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.'" (Revelation 21:1-8)
by Sarahmug (2023-04-29 13:24)