Church of God News

Telegram App logo

COGwriter

There are more concerns about the elimination of free speech in Europe after the arrest of the Telegram App’s founder :

Detention of Telegram founder sparks debate about free speech and criminal activity online

Updated August 26, 2024

The detention of the Russian-born billionaire founder of Telegram, a messaging app known for its unfiltered content, has sparked debate about freedom of speech and illegal content on the internet.

Pavel Durov, 39, was detained at Paris’s Bourget Airport Saturday on a warrant related to Telegram’s lack of moderation, which has led to money laundering, drug trafficking and the spread of pedophilic content on the platform, according to CNN-affiliate BFMTV.

Durov was traveling to Paris from Azerbaijan aboard his private jet, the network reported.

Telegram, which has about 900 million users, is a crucial communication tool in many countries, used for everything from day-to-day chatting to disseminating government messages. …

The detention is a sign that France is cracking down on the lack of moderation on platforms like Telegram, Clark said.

European Union regulators have ramped up scrutiny of tech giants and invoked a flurry of new laws designed to rein them in. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/24/tech/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-detained-france-intl-latam/index.html

Red Alert: Free Speech Is Dead In Europe With Arrest Of Telegram Founder In France. Is Musk Next?

Russia is demanding answers following the arrest Pavel Durov, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram. He was detained by French authorities at the Bourget airport outside of Paris Saturday evening after arriving in his private jet.

The Russian embassy in Paris has demanded that the French government explain itself, and has so far said that French authorities are being uncooperative. …

Russian diplomats say there has been no reply from Paris: “The French side has so far been avoiding cooperation on this issue,” a statement said. Russian lawmakers have gone so far as to say he is now a “political prisoner”.

Russian member of parliament Maria Butina said on Sunday, “Pavel Durov is a political prisoner – a victim of a witch-hunt by the West.

“The arrest of Pavel Durov means there is no freedom of speech – it means that freedom of speech in Europe is dead,” she continued. “Now basically they have a hostage and they will try to blackmail Russia, they will try to blackmail all the users of Telegram and not only try to get control but also try to block the network here in Russia.” …

The arrest was characterized by Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom as part of the “crackdown against free speech.”

Other prominent figures have voiced alarm over what this means for free speech, or even the question of who is next to be targeted by Western governments …

Pavel Durov left Russia when the government tried to control his social media company, Telegram. But in the end, it wasn’t Putin who arrested him for allowing the public to exercise free speech. It was a western country, a Biden administration ally and enthusiastic NATO member,… https://t.co/F83E9GbNHC

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 24, 2024

“Liberté Liberté! Liberté?” Musk added in another post. “Dangerous times.”

Musk added a “FreePavel” hashtag when he shared a video of Durov praising Musk and his pro-free-speech outlook during an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year.

“It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward X posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries,” Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

And in case you wondered, none other than deep state bagman Alexander Vindman makes it clear who the real target is…

While Durov holds French citizenship, is arrested for violating French law, this has broader implications for other social media, including Twitter. There’s a growing intolerance for platforming disinfo & malign influence & a growing appetite for accountability. Musk should be… https://t.co/GyPMquKtKV

— Alexander S. Vindman ❎ (@AVindman) August 25, 2024

08/25/24 https://www.technocracy.news/red-alert-free-speech-is-dead-in-europe-with-arrest-of-telegram-founder-is-musk-next/

August 26, 2024

French judicial authorities have extended the detention of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov following his surprise arrest at Paris’ Le Bourget airport on Saturday.

The list of charges include fraud, drug trafficking, organized crime, terrorism promotion and cyber-bullying on the popular encrypted messaging platform. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform,” the company has said in a fresh statement.

The 39-year old Russian-born Durov, who also holds French and UAE citizenship, is being held for “questioning”. Le Monde is reporting Monday that his detention has been extended by the investigative magistrate. …

Geopolitical analyst Arnaud Bertrand points out that “This is insane.” He goes on to explain:

Pavel Durov actually acquired French nationality in 2021 through an exceptional procedure: the so-called “eminent foreigner” process. Initiated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, it grants French nationality to “a French-speaking foreigner who contributes through their eminent action to the influence of France and the prosperity of its international economic relations”. 3 years later France arrests the guy for doing the very same “eminent actions” they’d granted him citizenship for 3 years earlier. Make it make sense.

Telegram has stated that “Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/france-extends-detention-telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-questioning

Notice also:

The U.K. and Europe have been watching Musk like hawks to censor free speech amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ongoing Israeli war on Iranian-backed terrorist proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, and the rise of terrorist and extremist activity endangering public safety.

Also, the EU’s Thierry Breton, a French businessman who is the European Commissioner for Internal Market, sent a letter to Musk warning him against spreading disinformation before an X Spaces interview with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump earlier this month — which Musk denounced as an anti-Trump election interference attempt.

The latest calls to close in on Musk come after Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late Saturday, three sources told Reuters. https://www.newsmax.com/world/globaltalk/musk-x-censorship/2024/08/25/id/1177819/

While free speech is not yet dead in Europe, will we see more such as loss of free speech and of the press?

Yes.

Notice item 3 of my list of 24 items to prophetically watch in 2024:

3. Media, Internet, and Other Censorship  …

The labeling of things as ‘extremism’ is gaining so much traction that those that do it seem to think that it is normal to label whatever they are not comfortable with as extreme.

Expect more biblically-proper views to be categorized as extremists by more in the media and society.

Even connecting world events to biblical prophetic writings has triggered censorship.

Why stay on platforms like YouTube (which has censored and shadow-banned us), Twitter, and Vimeo (which has censored us) then?

Because they still, usually, are open doors for us to reach people.

We have had a couple of million views on YouTube and still, overall get about a couple thousand views of our videos each week.

YouTube is, overall, more effective than our other video platforms–but it is not reaching as well as it once did because of YouTube’s selective anti-biblical censorship and shadow-banning (which Google, who owns YouTube, also does)..

Furthermore, notice that he Bible teaches:

1 Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. (Isaiah 58:1)

Yet, if some are insulted because their sins are called out, various ones want to stifle religious speech!

And this is in places like the USA, Canada, and Europe.

And it is not just the USA that is supporting restricting–And yes, we realize that more censorship is expected.

Was loss of freedom of free speech and of the press prophesied?

Back in 1981, the old Worldwide Church of God correctly pointed out that it was:

THE MOST important work in the world cannot be done without freedom of the press!

What is that work?

It is the work of announcing that God will restore His Government to the whole earth! But before the Government of God is restored, it must first be announced! The good news of that announcement — the Gospel of the Kingdom of God — must be preached (Matthew 24:14) to all nations (Matthew 28:19). And the nations must choose whether they will want it or resist it.

In this day, God has made the MASS media available to accomplish His work. But reaching a mass audience with the good news of God’s soon-coming Government requires the freedom to PUBLISH. Notice Mark 13:10: “And the gospel must first be published among all nations.”

Further, God lays a special duty on his messenger and Church to publicly disseminate certain warnings to certain nations. Ezekiel 33:1-7 describes God’s charge upon the watchman. When the watchman sees “the sword” come upon the land — a prophetic symbol of military devastation — he must “blow the trumpet” or God will hold him personally responsible. …

Governmental Reaction

And yet while the Bible places a duty on God’s servants, it also warns that this world — even now and in the future — will not always allow the freedom to publish.

In the past a government’s excuse for persecution was that God’s message IS TOO DISTURBING to be allowed to circulate freely. …

In the New Testament, the authorities tried to prevent the apostles from preaching the Gospel. The apostles were forcibly brought before the council. The high priest asked them: “Did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine…” (Acts 5:28).

In other words, the civil and religious authorities were seeking to regulate the content of their message!

In response, the apostle Peter declared the firm rule that “we ought to obey God rather than men” (verse 29). Since Peter and company had a God-ordained duty to say what they were saying, the commands of the civil government of Jerusalem were in direct conflict with God’s.

For the future, the Bible prophecy reveals that the time will come when most of this world’s nations will be led by Satan to abolish freedom of the press — and all related freedoms. Why? To prevent any publishing of God’s message from reaching any substantial number of people!

`Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).

Elsewhere the Bible reveals how this prophesied press clampdown will take place. Revelation 13 describes a great religious-civil power that will arise in the place of the old Roman Empire. This prophesied power will not allow free speech, a free press or the free exercise of any religion — except the official religion of the state.

(Calkins J. FREE PRESS IN THE BIBLE? Was It Prophesied? Plain Truth. May 1981)

The Philadelphia portion of the Church of God did begin in the USA and its most faithful remnant, the Continuing Church of God, is still based out of the USA and we are proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and other biblical truths.

Yet now, in the USA and especially out of it, we are seeing more and more calls for speech restrictions and censorship.

More censorship is coming.

The Bible teaches:

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it. (Amos 8:11-12)

That does not mean that there will be no Bibles. But the time will come when those promoting various biblical teachings will no longer to be able to have access to the internet, etc. as before. We are seeing more and more of this.

Jesus said:

4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. (John 9:4)

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. (Revelation 3:7-9)

As Philadelphia Christians, we do not give up when when door is closing–we look out for others to be opened. So, in 2023, we greatly increased our radio presence around the world.

So far, radio is NOT subject to the type of censorship Big Tech and many governments around the world have been engaging in–despite the problems we faced.

As far as censorship goes, expect more.

The Bible shows more restrictions are coming.

Consider that Jesus said:

4 … the night is coming when no one can work. (John 9:4, NKJV)

4… the night cometh, when no man can work (John 9:4 KJV)

Do not place your confidence in any governments in this world, but in Jesus and the coming Kingdom of God.

Some items of related interest may include the following:

Preparing for the ‘Short Work’ and The Famine of the Word What is the ‘short work’ of Romans 9:28? Who is preparing for it? Will Philadelphian Christians instruct many in the end times? Here is a link to a related video sermon titled: The Short Work. Here is a link to another: Preparing to Instruct Many.
24 items to prophetically watch in 2024 Much is happening. Dr. Thiel points to 24 items to watch (cf. Mark 13:37) in this article. Here is a link to a related video: 24 Items to Prophetically Watch in 2024. Here is a link to related video in the Spanish language titled 24 Cosas a tener en cuenta en 2024: https://youtu.be/6f7oqEhjhbg
Orwell’s 1984 by 2024? In 1949, the late George Orwell wrote a disturbing book about a totalitarian government called “nineteen-eighty four.” Despite laws that are supposed to protect freedom of speech and religion, we are seeing governments taking steps consistent with those that Geroge Orwell warned against. We are also seeing this in the media, academia, and in private companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter. With the advent of technology, totalitarianism beyond what Orwell wrote is possible. Does the Bible teach the coming a totalitarian state similar to George Orwell’s? What about the Antichrist and 666? Will things get worse? What is the solution? Dr. Thiel answers these questions and more in this video.
Persecutions by Church and State This article documents some that have occurred against those associated with the COGs and some prophesied to occur. Will those with the cross be the persecutors or the persecuted–this article has the shocking answer. There are also three video sermons you can watch: Cancel Culture and Christian Persecution, The Coming Persecution of the Church, and Christian Persecution from the Beast. Here is information in the Spanish language: Persecuciones de la Iglesia y el Estado.
Could God Have a 6,000 Year Plan? What Year Does the 6,000 Years End? Was a 6000 year time allowed for humans to rule followed by a literal thousand year reign of Christ on Earth taught by the early Christians? Does God have 7,000 year plan? What year may the six thousand years of human rule end? When will Jesus return? 2031 or 2025 or? There is also a video titled: When Does the 6000 Years End? 2031? 2035? Here is a link to the article in Spanish: ¿Tiene Dios un plan de 6,000 años?
Might the U.S.A. Be Gone in 2028? Could the USA be gone by the end of 2028? There is a tradition attributed to the Hebrew prophet Elijah that humanity had 6,000 years to live before being replaced by God’s Kingdom. There are scriptures, writings in the Talmud, early Christian teachings that support this. Also, even certain Hindu writings support it. Here is a link to a related video: Is the USA prophesied to be destroyed by 2028? In Spanish: Seran los Estados Unidos Destruidos en el 2028?
The Great Tribulation: What Happens First? What events have happened? What are some events that are now happening? And what events need to happen for the Great Tribulation to start? Here is a link to a related sermon video: Counting Down to the Great Tribulation. Here is a video in the Spanish language: Contando los eventos y el inicio de la Gran Tribulación.
When Will the Great Tribulation Begin? 2024, 2025, or 2026? Can the Great Tribulation begin today? What happens before the Great Tribulation in the “beginning of sorrows”? What happens in the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord? Is this the time of the Gentiles? When is the earliest that the Great Tribulation can begin? What is the Day of the Lord? Who are the 144,000? Here is a version of the article in the Spanish language: ¿Puede la Gran Tribulación comenzar en el 2020 o 2021? ¿Es el Tiempo de los Gentiles? A related video is: Great Tribulation: 2026 or 2027? A shorter video is: Tribulation in 2024?
Lost Tribes and Prophecies: What will happen to Australia, the British Isles, Canada, Europe, New Zealand and the United States of America? Where did those people come from? Can you totally rely on DNA? What about other peoples? Do you really know what will happen to Europe and the English-speaking peoples? What about Africa, Asia, South America, and the Islands? This free online book provides scriptural, scientific, historical references, and commentary to address those matters. Here are links to related sermons: Lost tribes, the Bible, and DNA; Lost tribes, prophecies, and identifications; 11 Tribes, 144,000, and Multitudes; Israel, Jeremiah, Tea Tephi, and British Royalty; Gentile European Beast; Royal Succession, Samaria, and Prophecies; Asia, Islands, Latin America, Africa, and Armageddon;  When Will the End of the Age Come?;  Rise of the Prophesied King of the North; Christian Persecution from the Beast; WWIII and the Coming New World Order; and Woes, WWIV, and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

Tweet

This entry was posted on Monday, August 26th, 2024 at 3:30 pm and is filed under Prophecy.

• Myanmar Lifting Censorship Restrictions
• UK wants to ban silent prayer near abortion clinics; EU wants to censor political opinions
• ‘The EU Just Declared War On Free Speech In America …’
• ‘Elon Musk Reaches Agreement to Buy Twitter’
• ZH: “We Are Restricting Freedom… For The Common Good”: Irish Green Party Calls For Limiting Free Speech
• BibleNewsProphecy: 666, the Censorship Industrial Complex, and AI
• Facebook censors “Jesus died so you can live’ as ‘hate speech’?
• NN: Elon Musk says independent media will stay banned on Twitter; only “trusted” media outlets allowed
• ‘Internal Documents Reveal Bizarre Facebook Rules for Censorship of ‘Hate Speech’’
• EU warns Elon Musk regarding Trump interview–X claims a billion related views and comments