The State of North Dakota authorizes the use of armed police drones, and a virtual reality
simulation allows visitors to see the Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
This is Skywatch TV for Tuesday, September 20th, 2016. I'm Derek Gilbert.
First up, a couple of clarifications about things that I said yesterday, sometimes in
the hurry to get information out. I don't think my words threw all the way, and that
was the case yesterday. Upon going back and watching the report, there were some things
I said that should have been phrased better, clarified better. Yesterday in talking about
the replica of the triumphal arch from Palmyra, Syria that was erected yesterday near City
Hall in New York City. I didn't mean to imply that we Christians should just passively
accept the arrival of pagan architecture in our cities. In watching the report, it came
across that way. My point is that we shouldn't just focus on these really obvious displays
of pagan architecture, sacred architecture in some cases, because we are surrounded
by them, surrounded by reminders that we are in fact behind enemy lines. In a sense, we
are living in a pagan culture, and that's a fact that becomes more obvious every day
as we move deeper into a post-Christian America. The idea that the United States is or really
ever was a Christian nation in the true sense of the word is just false. Now, many of the
founders of the country were committed Christians, especially the early members of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony, those who set up the colony to be a beacon on a hill. But over the years,
the return of blind eye is pagan architecture, sacred architecture has been built all around
us, especially in government buildings and in the very layout of Washington, DC itself.
But it's only when something obvious like the triumphal arch shows up that we seem to
notice it. That was my only point. We need to be aware of all of it and just be reminded
every single day that we are behind enemy lines. We are in fact surrounded by it, which
to quote General Puller again, simplifies our problem. It's easy to pray for something
because there is always something around us that we need to pray against. And secondly,
I made a very careless and thoughtless remark in characterizing Christians over the years
who've chosen an obelisk as a permanent memorial, as nominal Christians, Christians in name
only. And I received a very gentle, loving email from a woman in Rola, Missouri who called
me out on it and she was correct. I have no basis to characterize all Christians who've
chosen an obelisk as their final memorial, as Christian in name only. I don't know the
status of their hearts. And sometimes it's easy for me to forget that not everybody
spends every single day researching and reading about the influence of pagan religion on our
so-called Christian nation. There are many people out there who aren't aware of it and
that's why we do what we do at Skywatch TV to try to awaken the church to the reality
of the supernatural war that's taking place around us. The gods, the small G gods of the
pagan nations, nations are real and they have a very real influence on the world in which
we live. But most of us are asleep to it. I shouldn't assume that everybody is as aware
of it in making conscious decisions as we here at Skywatch TV. So I apologize for that.
That was thoughtless. That was careless. And it was hurtful to some. And I will do my best
to be a little more careful, a little more thoughtful in the future. Now in the news,
more creepy clowns showing up, especially in the South, two schools in Alabama were locked
down Monday after posts to social media and a telephone threat warned that clowns might
show up at schools in the Birmingham area. Last week, Thursday, police near Mobile arrested
a 22-year-old woman and two juveniles for posts under the name Flomo Clown. And in Kentucky,
a woman posted a picture to Facebook of someone in a clown costume on a highway in Hazard
County. Police in Pulaski County, Kentucky received a complaint of three people in clown
costumes acting suspiciously. We've also seen these reports from Raleigh, North Carolina
and the Greenville, South Carolina area. Overseas, the ceasefire in Syria is over mainly
because the combatants refused to cease firing. Syria's military said they were done with
the truce yesterday. Now Russia and the United States had agreed last week Monday that if
the ceasefire lasted for seven days, they would begin cooperating on military operations
against ISIS and against a group called Shabbat Fattah al-Sham. That's a group that was formerly
known as the Al-Nusrah Front, Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, which makes us ask then since the
United States led an airstrike on Saturday during the period when the ceasefire was supposed
to be in place for seven days in order to trigger the cooperation with Russia. Was that attack
really an accident after all? Well, the UN says it's stopping aid convoys in Syria after
airstrikes in Aleppo province Monday night killed 12 people, mainly truck drivers and
aid workers for the Red Crescent. The Red Crescent is the Red Cross operating in Muslim
areas because of the connotation the cross has to Muslims. The attack was blamed on the
Syrian Air Force convoy reportedly bringing aid to Uram al-Kubra, that's a town of about
78,000 people west of Aleppo. Well, apparently the time is here, if you believe in Islamic
prophecy, to bring on the apocalypse because a coalition of US led troops are ready to
attack Dabak, and that is the correct pronunciation by the way I've checked. Dabak is the town
that supposedly was prophesied by Muhammad as the site of the climactic battle between
the forces of Islam and the armies of Rome, after which the Mahdi would arrive and lead
them to victorious global jihad. US special forces, Turkish troops and Arab militia had
gathered last Friday at the village of Al-Rite, that's just this side of the Syrian side of
the Turkish border. That's about eight miles from Dabak. But as we reported yesterday in
the video clip that we showed you, the American troops withdrew from Al-Rite, being jeered
by the Arab militia called Crusaders and Infidels and Dogs. The group of Arabs called the Free
Men of the East, a militia unit angry at the US for our support of the Kurdish YPG militia.
See the Kurds are allies of the United States, but enemies of the Arabs. We are in a sense
backing two of the many sides, at least two in this ongoing war. The plan is for this
coalition to move south from Al-Rite through Dabak, which is in flat ground, very hard
to defend. They don't expect to meet a whole lot of resistance there in spite of what Muhammad
supposedly prophesied, to take out the ISIS stronghold of Al-Bab, which is about 20 miles
farther south of Dabak. Now, American troops last night regrouped on the Turkish side of
the border. Again, they withdrew to prevent a confrontation, an armed confrontation with
the Arab militia unit. It remains to be seen how that tension will affect this planned
offensive through Dabak. Now, the key point in all of this is that Turkey has managed
finally to secure American support for its ground offensive into Syria. This is an invasion
of Syria. In spite of President Obama's promise that there would be no American boots on
the ground in Syria, either these soldiers are wearing sneakers or the president wasn't
quite being truthful. There's been no authorization for the use of military force by American
soldiers on the ground in Syria. The official name of this new mission, Operation Noble
Lance. Now, this is a huge development for the Turks because the presence of American
soldiers means it is far less likely that the Russian Air Force will attack the Turkish
soldiers. Russia wants to avoid a confrontation with the U.S. just as the U.S. commanders
want to avoid a confrontation with Russia. It's also a very clear signal to the Kurds.
Since the U.S. is backing a Turkish invasion of Syria instead of supporting a YPG invasion
or offensive, it means to the Kurds that their plan to link up the areas that they control
across northern Iraq with the enclave that they control in northwestern Syria is a non-starter
for the United States. Once again, the U.S. is throwing the Kurds under the bus, basically.
The Kurds had made that a major goal, their primary goal, linking up those areas so they
could create a de facto independent state, which is something the Turks want to prevent.
We have different agendas. All of the groups fighting in this war have different agendas,
and the United States is trying to keep all of these balls in the air, and I'm not sure
that that's entirely possible. In fact, U.S. military commanders have reported that they
are not happy with this new development, the promise of cooperation with the Russian military,
which may now be off the table since the ceasefire has collapsed. According to an article in
yesterday's Military Times with a headline that I can't repeat on this program, the Pentagon
is ticked off by what it calls mission creep in Syria. U.S. commanders want to target ISIS.
The Russians want to knock out the opposition to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, including
the group Fatah al-Sham. But Fatah al-Sham is fighting ISIS, so they are ostensibly
fighting the same enemy as the U.S. and our allies. Sort of an enemy of my enemy is my
friend thing going on there. But they're also fighting each other, so it becomes difficult
to know who to support, who to train, who to give weapons to. And the Pentagon is apparently
getting tired of this. And again, it makes you wonder if that airstrike Saturday night
against the Syrian troops was really an accident, if perhaps it was intended to bring down
the ceasefire so that we wouldn't have to cooperate with the Russians.
The Air Force has announced that it is grounding its brand new fifth generation fighter, the
F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter, just weeks after declaring it ready for war. On
August 2nd, the Air Force said the F-35 was ready to go. There are 10 of them based at
Hill Air Force Base in Utah. But crumbling insulation on avionics lines inside the fuel
tanks have reversed that decision. The grounding order affects 57 aircraft, 10 in Utah, a number
on the production line, and some that have already been delivered to the Air Force of
Norway. Now this only affects the Air Force version of the jet, not the versions developed
for the Marines and the Navy. I don't understand why. Presumably they are using different avionics
lines. At least we hope so. As we've reported, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has been plagued
by problems. The program was supposed to cost $400 billion, but according to a recent
report obtained by Bloomberg, it looks like it's going to be closer to a trillion by the
time the F-35 is really ready for war. The Pentagon's top weapons evaluator in a memo
dated August 9th wrote to the Pentagon that, quote, the F-35 is actually not on a path
toward success, but instead on a path toward failing to deliver, end quote, its promised
capabilities. The state of North Dakota has apparently authorized its own Air Force, armed
drones. The state legislature has just approved their use, although the drones will be limited
to less than lethal weaponry. Things like tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets, and pepper
spray could all be used under the new law. Now this isn't the way the bill was originally
proposed. State Representative Rick Becker proposed the bill to ban the use of drones
by police for surveillance on private property without a warrant. But the bill, the original
draft of House Bill 1328 said, quote, a state agency may not authorize the use of, including
granting a permit to use an unmanned aircraft armed with any lethal or non-lethal weapons,
including firearms, pepper spray, bean bank guns, mace, and sound-based weapons, end quote.
However, the state's police union amended the bill, limiting the ban to only lethal weapons.
Becker says he's going to try to amend the bill when the state's legislature meets again
in two years. And you know, maybe limiting Congress to only getting together every two
years would be a good way to keep them from meddling too much in our affairs. Just a thought.
The drones, at least, that are being or could be deployed, there's no guarantee that the
state police in North Dakota will actually use these drones, even with the authorization.
But at least they're not considering laser weapons on these drones. That is something,
however, that the Marine Corps is looking into. This is a new weapons platform called
Lightning Strike by Aurora Flight Sciences, which is the prime contractor on DARPA's X-Plane
project. The X-Plane project is intended to develop a new type of vertical takeoff and
landing plane. The drones being used for testing apparently could provide a platform for a
powerful weapons laser.
Top analysts from the Bank of America say we may, in fact, be living in a simulation.
They call it a 50-50 chance. In fact, this is normally the realm of philosophers and
physicists. Why analysts from Merrill Lynch, which is now a division of Bank of America,
have opted to tell their clients this. I'm not quite sure, but they cite top scientists,
philosophers, and astrophysicists who claim that we could just be a simulation being run
by our distant descendants, a technologically advanced future us. Wanting to see what their
ancestors looked like. In a sense, we could be living in a high-tech version of the old
computer game Oregon Trail. It would be so advanced, according to these analysts, that
you and I would never know that we aren't actually real. We would think that we're real,
while in fact just being a collection of bits and bytes inside a very, very advanced computer
system. Now, they concluded the memo by adding, unless we are now living in a simulation,
our descendants almost certainly will not run an ancestor simulation. This is interesting
philosophical table talk, something to consider over a few cold ones for an intellectual exercise,
but if you take this seriously, it can be dangerous. In fact, it is this type of thinking
that provides a philosophical basis for people to decide there is no real harm, no real harm
to anyone if they just take everything that they want and blast anyone who gets in the
way. Look, this is the realm of the enemy. It's a lie from the pit. We are real. We have
been created and placed here specifically by God, and our actions here in this plane
of existence will determine what happens to us in the next. A Roman Catholic priest who
engaged on the front lines of the spiritual war, performing some 70,000 exorcisms, rather,
has died. Father Gabriel Amorth had been in a hospital in Rome for several weeks before
he passed away Saturday of heart issues at the age of 91. The Italian news agency reported
that the father Amorth, in spite of the 70,000 exorcisms, said that he had only faced true
demonic possession about 100 times over the course of his long career. That's still about
100 times more than I want to face that type of manifestation. He also reportedly believed
that the devil could possess groups of people, for example, according to Father Amorth, the
Nazis, and more recently, the Islamic State. And finally, the Second Temple, Solomon's
Temple, as rebuilt by Herod, has reappeared on the Temple Mount thanks to augmented and
virtual reality. The Temple Mount Heritage Foundation has unveiled the Temple through
VR. Visitors to the Western Wall in Jerusalem can see what the Temple looked like on the
Temple Mount with a set of virtual reality goggles, which also allows viewers to access
parts of the Temple only open to the priests. The tour is available to all visitors of the
Western Wall in Jerusalem, no advance registration or reservation required.
The Bible is a book of mysteries, things that are beyond human comprehension. And we talk
with Rabbi Jonathan Kahn about his new book, which looks at those mysteries. 365 of them,
one for each day of the year. In fact, it's a story. It's also a unique type of Bible
study. The Book of Mysteries by Rabbi Jonathan Kahn is the topic of Skywatch TV this week.
You can see it four different places tonight, different parts of the country. The Victory
Television Network in Arkansas tonight at 6.30 p.m. Central Time. At the same time, it'll
be playing in Sandusky, Ohio, and WGNTV 52. Kalamazoo, Michigan tonight, 7 p.m. Central,
and then coast-to-coast on the Christian Television Network at 8.30 Central Time, Direct TV Channel
3.76, Dish Network Channel 2.67, and the Glory Star Satellite Channel 1.17. Tomorrow, coast-to-coast
on the Cornerstone Network at 2.30 p.m. Central, and on World Harvest Television at 6 p.m. That
is Direct TV Channel 3.67. On Thursday evening, you'll see it in Kalamazoo and WLLA TV 64,
and then Saturday afternoon, 3.30 p.m. on the Victory Television Network and WCLF TV in
Tampa Saturday night at 6.30 p.m. Web exclusive content from Skywatch TV. In addition to these
daily updates every Thursday into the Multiverse with Josh Peck. Friday, I look at science
news through a biblical lens. Cy Friday with our science advisor, my best friend and wife,
Sharon K. Gilbert. We also have the interviews that we can't fit into our regular television
schedule on the networks and other programs like the forthcoming Skywatch Women and Teens
Talk. You'll find those at skywatchtv.com and on the Skywatch TV channel on Roku. And
of course we have a portable version for you to take with you as you travel. An audio version
of everything that we do on Skywatch TV, updated seven days a week, the Skywatch TV podcast.
Find it online at skywatchtv.com. Click the link in the top menu bar that says podcast.
We depend on your support here at Skywatch TV, September being the month for national
preparedness, called National Preparedness Month. Your donation of $25 or more during
September. We will send you this women's safety kit, a personal alarm, pepper spray,
whistle, this attractive camo style handbag or military style handbag and a book that
we pray you'll never need. Survive the unthinkable, the total guide to women's self-protection.
Again, we will send those to you for your donation of $25 or more during September.
For more information and to donate, log on to skywatchtv.com slash donate. And of course
you can help us just by clicking like, click share, click subscribe if you're watching
on YouTube. And if you get comments, questions or suggestions for me, please send those to
D. Gilbert at skywatchtv.com. Thank you for watching As We Keep Watch. I'm Derek Gilbert
and this is Skywatch TV.
Most American families are just 72 hours away from disaster. Here at Skywatch TV, we hope
we can help avoid that.
I have been given permission to tell about this massive deal. There's one packet where
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Three packages for preparedness. One that feeds a family of six for a month. One that
feeds a family of six for three months and one that feeds a family of six for half a
year. Of course, that includes the 50 gallon water tank. With each package, we'll include
free the everyday gourmet cooking with long term food storage of $50 value. You'll find
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