The once productive America is being burdened by unproductive welfare states. Welfare in turn infects the culture by encouraging an attitude of dependency. Being dependent is wholly contrary to the American spirit.

In high school, two female classmates met a woman who told them about a scam. The goes like this: She makes herself available to men and encourages them to send here money with the promise of meeting them. They send the money, but she never meets the men. She would try to get more money out of them, but always come up with some excuse as to why she is unable to travel. She never worked. She was never productive to society, and had children who learned the same laziness. In turn these children grow up becoming dependent on welfare or conducting the same scam.

all across America, every neighborhood where people are dependent on welfare have the highest crime rates, and have the most unmaintained buildings (both residential and commercial).

Welfare is a drain on all of society. People who get free money become complacent. They loose their spirit of self worth.

Welfare should never be.

Refugees -- the current crisis.

Is the news coming from Europe disturbing to you? Well it should be. I am disturbed about this news.

I've seen what these 'immigrants' do. They claim to come to our countries looking for a better way of life. They get free money, and are provided for better than us citizens. They become a drag on the economy, and turn the once great places into the very way of life they are claiming to flee from.

They should not be sent back. We need to stop this invasion. Send them back!

They are forcing their way of life on us. Allowing them to get a foothold in Europe will destroy Europe.

Credit Cars, secured or not secured?

I remember a time when all you needed was the credit card number and expression date to run up any charges (legitimate or not). Then additional security measures were added. Companies added the need for a name, then the billing zip code, then the billing address, and the + 3 code on the back.

In the 1980's, clothing stores added radio frequency identity tags (RFID) to clothing merchandise to prevent shoplifting. Soon smaller sticker chips were developed and added to tapes and CDs. The potential of this technology soon became clear, (at least to the retail companies). But this technology was expanded.

The RFID only works with computers. The signal being given off means nothing unless a computer, with a scanner, is programed with the relevant information. With the advancement of computer and RFID scanning technology, RFID use expanded beyond preventing shoplifting.

Scientists began using RFID implant chips on wildlife to track animals in the wild.

About ten years ago, one bank began using RFID chips in their credit and check cards. The Tap-and-Go scanner was developed to make this work. I once had a card issued from one back seven years ago. (I don't have that card anymore.) Mostly I did not use this feature.

Cell phone technology used a gold chip integrated into a credit card like card with a punch out card to insert into the cell phone. This chip completed the circuit of the cell phone instructing it as to who telephone number it is and was service it functions on. This same chip idea was adapted by the Department of Defense. I worked for the DoD and was issued an ID chip card to access the computers and allow me access into secured areas.

Now we see the combination of all this technology being used in many credit cards. Currently I heard people and the news saying it is mandated to have this RFID chip as part of every credit and debit card.

Currently my bank don't use the RFID chips in their cards. So I don't have a chip card.

I have researched this new chip technology. First thing, it is supposed to be safer. The method certainly makes it after, and would cut down on data breaches. But they still have the RFID feature.

I'm sure most people have seen advertisements on television about card reader blocking technology. This technology takes advantage of the scanning feature RFID was originally developed for.

For those who have the chip, RFID blocking technology does exist and work. But if you don't have a chip card, don't worry about identity thieves and their card scanning technology. A traditional swipe card can only be read buy passing by a magnetic strip reader.

What is a magnetic strip reader, you many be wondering. If you look at a cassette tape player, you will see a rounded metal device that comes down and comes in contact with the tape. This 'tape technology' is the same technology the magnetic strip on the back of credit and debit cards are based on. In some card swiping machines, (at shopping stores), you can see the metal magnetic reading device sticking into the swipe path where you slide your card.

Amazing how these different technologies come together.

So is this new RFID chip card safer? The process of charging your account may have gotten safer at the check out counter, but card scanning thieves can still scan your card information right out of your wallet if you don't have the RFID blocking technology in your wallet.

Lets look into the future.

This same technology being used to track wild animals is being developed for humans. You can get an RFID sub-dermis implant. It can be used like a credit card Tap-and-Go with all your personal information.

Let's explore this.

For the military, it can ensure secure access to areas of military installations using a RFID scanner, (like the place I once worked). It can be programed with your banking information, therefore replacing your credit and debit cards. Along with this, it can be programed with your identity, therefore replacing your passports, driver licenses, and other forms of ID cards. Of course if you want to do online shopping, you would need a QR code to scan with your computer or cell phone camera. The only logical way to have this QR code is to be tattooed on your arm or hand.

Hmm... Sounds like Revelation 13:16-17: And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Persecution against Christians is still growing. More schools are threatened, and denied Constitutional rights. I heard on the radio a report that the Colorado supreme court and their court of appeals ordered Christians schools banded from allowing their students from participating in religious natural after school programs.

It is a fact if these schools and students were to forsake God, denounce Jesus, then they will be permitted to participate. Colorado is home to Focus on the Family, and several other Christian organizations. With this recent decision, Colorado is saying they are against God and Jesus. Colorado has become an anti-Christian state.

But this should not surprise anyone.

Earlier this year you may have seen a Pew Research Center report that America is rapidly becoming less Christian and more atheistic. The number of adults claiming no religious affiliation increased to 56 million, an all-time high. Almost a third of those are self-described atheists.

Before you grow too discouraged over these trends, remember what the early church faced. The New Testament Christians were a small, despised minority, unpopular, opposed, and often persecuted. The government pressured them, and their culture looked down on them. They were reviled. But they were also resolved. These stalwarts held to their convictions and changed the world.

God's people have always been yeast in the dough, salt in the wound, light in the darkness, and sand in the snake oil of secularism. There's no silencing a Christian who, like Esther, is willing to speak the truth with the attitude, If I perish, I perish (Esther 4:16). The apostle Paul said, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

In Christ, we can uphold our convictions, whether in life or in death whether anyone else does or not.

We need to stand up for Christ. We Christians need to hold our ground. We need to advance the Gospel. The signs of the end times are upon us all, but this is no excuse to stop working for Christ.

Onward Christina soldier, onward!