This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

One of the most intriguing mysteries in the entire Bible is the famous phrase concerning a plague on the land of Egypt when God told Moses, "there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt" (Exodus 10:21 CSB).

The story also notes "there was thick darkness throughout the land of Egypt for three days" (Exodus 10:22 CSB).

But what do these cryptic events connote?

The author of a brand-new book illuminating the hidden content of Holy Scripture is now shining the light of clarity on these mysteries on the popular Bible TV show, "Shabbat Night Live."  (WATCH THE EPISODES BELOW.)

"The Bible brings up darkness many times, many different examples from the Old Testament to the New," says Joe Kovacs, author of "Reaching God Speed: Unlocking the Secret Broadcast Revealing the Mystery of Everything."

"God is light as we know, the Bible makes no secret about that: 'God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all' (1 John 1:5 NLT). But what is darkness?"

Kovacs explained that Jesus spoke exclusively in allegories called parables (Matthew 13:34), and the term "darkness" itself is packing a metaphorical meaning on the Spirit level, since people themselves are made up of darkness, specifically the dust of the earth as is mentioned in Genesis 2:7.

"The earth, as you know, is dark. Soil is dark. It's not a bright light like the sun is. So WE, on the spirit level of God speed, are considered the darkness, and the Bible uses the term darkness many times to refer to people."

"Here's one Scripture that may seem a little obscure to people: 'See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples' (Isaiah 60:2 NIV).

"That's saying the same thing twice. Darkness covers the earth. Again, at God speed, we are the earth (Genesis 2:7). This is our darkness. It doesn't matter what kind of complexion you have. We, as physical beings, are darkness. And thick darkness is over what? The peoples! 'Cause we are the peoples. The earth is the peoples. If you know how to read the poetry of the Bible, darkness is us. It's our flesh. We are the peoples. So darkness is the human condition in our fleshly state.

"Again we're not Spirit beings yet. We have the Spirit of God within us, and we're meant to get out of the flesh, but right now we have darkness of the earth [covering us]."

"Here's another kind of obscure verse: 'I am dark like the tents of Kedar' (Song of Songs 1:5 CSB).

"'Kedar' is a word that means darkness! So the woman in the story – the bride, by the way – is telling people that she's in the flesh – like we in the flesh now are dark like the tents, 'cause we're all in a tent. We all realize this is an earthen tent, the earthen vessels that we're in – we're in the tents of darkness. We're covered with a tent. Our skin and flesh is a tent of darkness. So when you look up the word sometimes, it helps you get to that spirit level, that parable level. We're all dark like the tents of darkness. That's all it's saying.

"When we take this concept, we can go all over the Bible to find all kinds of fun stories dealing with darkness. For instance, three days of darkness in Egypt. It's one of the plagues on Egypt in the Old Testament. We know that darkness represents the flesh. But why is it three days of darkness?

Kovacs then connected the dots of the Bible by joining the verse to one in the New Testament illuminating its meaning.

"It goes back to the point of Hebrews 13:8, yesterday, today and forever. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Those are the three days. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and those three days represent the past, present and future. If you are in the fleshly mindset, and literally of the flesh, you are in darkness for [those] three days."

Kovacs noted the opposite of the plague of darkness was the presence of light in Goshen where the Israelites dwelled: "The opposite of that story, incidentally, is that there was light in Goshen. (Exodues 10:23)

"Why was there light in Goshen, but darkness for three days in Egypt? Well, Goshen actually means something … it means 'drawing near.' So the message at God speed, the parable level, the metaphor level, the Spirit level, is that if we're drawing near to God, we have light in our dwellings.

"This is our dwelling place," he said, motioning to his entire physical body, "and if you're drawing near to God, you have light in your dwelling place. But if you're not drawing near to God, you are in darkness. Simple as that."

But what about the enduring mystery of the darkness that can be felt, as Scripture states outright?

"The Bible says it was a darkness that could be felt," Kovacs began. "It's literally a darkness that can be felt because when you feel your skin, your flesh, you are feeling the darkness that can be felt. That's why that phrase is in the Bible.

"God is using every tool in the box, every possible way of phrasing something so that you know what he's talking about if you're paying attention. Jesus even in the New Testament mentions … somebody who's disobedient – [saying] take him away from the king and bind him in outer darkness. (Matthew 22:13, 25:30)

"Outer darkness is this," Kovacs explained as he touched his own hand to demonstrate. "Bind him in the flesh because he's gonna stay in the flesh in the body of the beast."

"This is the darkness that can be felt. These are not scary terms. God is just saying the same thing over and over using different words."

Scott Laird, the host of "Shabbat Night Live" filling in for Michael Rood, interjected: "So when we come out darkness, or to come out of Babylon … come out of Egypt …"

Kovacs responded: "It's all saying the same thing. We are meant to come out of the darkness, the dark place of misery which is Egypt; come out of Sodom, which is the burning place, the flaming place; come out of her my people [referring to the Babylon of confusion]. You see all these phrases in the Bible because the Bible is basically a book about Spirit versus flesh. God is a Spirit, the Bible tells us in the Gospel of John.

"He's a Spirit being. We are not a Spirit being – yet. We are [eventually] meant to be, but we are currently in the body of a beast, the body of flesh, and we see examples of that in the Bible."

Kovacs appeared on four episodes of "Shabbat Night Live," with the discussion of the meaning of darkness in the fourth and final episode here:

The other three episodes are here:

Watch Episode 1:

Watch Episode 2:

Watch Episode 3:

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A conservative columnist writing at PJMedia has decided to give Planned Parenthood, the leading player in America's lucrative abortion industry, a "thumbs up."

"This one time."

It happened after one of the abortion organization's chapters delivered a "mobile health clinic" to Chicago during the Democrat National Convention in order to give away vasectomies and medication abortion.

The commentary from Athena Thorne noted, "Okay, maybe not a thumbs-up across the board, but I don't entirely hate it. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers (PPGR), which bills itself as 'the leading provider, educator and protector of reproductive health care in St. Louis and Southwest Missouri for more than 90 years,' has deployed its 'mobile health clinic' to Chicago to coincide with the DNC convention currently underway.

"There, it will busy itself preventing radical leftists from reproducing," the report said.

Abortion industry players explained in the commentary, "Accessibility is a core value at Planned Parenthood Great Rivers, and our mobile health clinic helps us bring care to more people who need it. As people from across the country travel to Illinois this week, we are proud to demonstrate what is possible when policies truly support accessible reproductive health care."

A publication spotlighted a Democrat as he "casually threw away his ability ever to be a father."

The report: "Patient Marcus Aguinaga said the concept of the mobile health clinic seemed 'wild' to him. But the 27-year-old Chicago resident said he has wanted to get a vasectomy since 2020 but the procedure was cost-prohibitive; Planned Parenthood officials said vasectomies typically cost about $800 out-of-pocket and medication abortions are usually around $500. … After the procedure, Aguinaga said he felt 'relief.'"

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The battles the Democrats are choosing to fight in court this election year are raising alarm bells about the integrity of the coming November vote, according to an analysis published in the Washington Examiner.

For example, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is demanding "more lenient" mail-in voting rules in Ohio and Alabama, and it is suing to have more Spanish-speaking poll workers in the "border state" of Rhode Island.

Also, it has gone to the Supreme Court to try to give voters in Arizona permission to request absentee ballots without proof of citizenship.

The government has had the right to enter state election matters since the Voting Rights Act, a plan to make sure black Americans had an equal ability to vote.

But under the direction of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the presumed Democrat nominee for president, "the DOJ has become more vocal about elections and made a concerted effort to expand access to voting, an entirely opposite approach from the Trump administration. The activity aligns with Democrats' broader claims that Republicans want to make voting harder, which Democrats claim can disenfranchise voters or discriminate against racial minorities."

Republicans long have wanted to make it easier to vote, but harder to cheat in elections, the foundation for their work to have voters provide identification as U.S. citizens before they are allowed to vote.

The report noted Chad Ennis, of the Honest Elections Project, noted the threat that arises from lax ballot access.

"They'll couch it in under the guise of expanding voting rights, but it's really, almost without fail, an attack on common sense rules to help make sure the elections run smoothly and fairly and accurately," he told the Examiner.

During recent elections Republicans have been sounding alarms over vote fraud, and Joe Biden's election in 2020 was after multiple states had expanded voting "access" rules because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Donald Trump subsequently attributed his election results to those changes, often made without the authorization of state legislatures by Democrat election officials.

Courts repeatedly rejected cases challenging those changes, although most of the decisions were based on issues such as standing, and most never reached any actual conclusion about the validity of vote fraud claims.

The Biden-Harris DOJ eventually attacked Trump himself, with an indictment on claims his challenges to the election results were illegal, but that case largely is unraveling. It was part of a multi-case lawfare strategy the Democrats launched in the hope they could find a sympathetic jury and judge to put Trump behind bars before he could defeat the incumbent Biden, who now has been replaced by Democrat party elites with Harris.

In Arizona, Democrats are asking the Supreme Court to let stand a lower court decision banning a voting requirement that addresses the threat posed by illegal aliens voting.

Republicans say they want to prevent foreigners from voting in a critical battleground state that has been flooded, under the current administration's open borders policies, with illegal aliens.

Since voters are "registered" in Arizona by the check of a box on a form, the GOP claims it's reasonable to have that affirmed.

"We know how people sometimes fill out forms, either by accident … sometimes, we've seen this in states, that the box doesn't get checked. People still get registered because of clerical errors," Ennis said. "So, requiring documented proof of citizenship is not a big deal. If Arizona wants to do it, they should be able to do it."

Gineen Bresso, an election integrity official for the Trump campaign, explained that the Biden-Harris administration willfully has ignored the crisis of illegal aliens and instead has been trying to make it easier for foreigners to vote.

"It is illegal for non-citizens to vote, and Arizona should be allowed to enforce the law," Bresso said in the Examiner analysis.

It explained Trump's DOJ fought over elections, too, but the priorities were different then.

For instance, it was involved in some 30 cases to protect military members' ability to vote and clean up voter rolls.

"Under Biden and Harris, the DOJ has pursued more than four dozen cases for a wide array of reasons, which have included stripping away restrictions on absentee ballots in multiple states," the analysis said.

The gap remains, with Republicans seeking state laws that weed out foreign voters and Democrats wanting an open path for voting.

The report noted, "House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., drilled down on this point in a call with reporters Tuesday night, saying he has campaigned in more than 170 cities across the country and that the matter is Republican voters' greatest concern, particularly when it comes to noncitizens voting."

He said, "I can tell you the first or second question in every single public forum, no matter where I am in the country, is about election security. And people are deeply concerned that illegals are going to participate in this election cycle and throw off the results, and we can't tell them with any degree of confidence that that's not going to happen."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The American Center for Law and Justice has sued Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, state officials and the radical abortion promoters with whom they have partnered because of an ongoing "vicious smear campaign" against pregnancy resource centers.

It accuses the defendants of scheming to deliver "targeted, false, and baseless accusations" and setting up "a system of informal censorship designed to suppress the pro-life viewpoint of our client, YOM (Your Options Medical), with the intent to obstruct, chill, deter, and retaliate against it for its speech."

"Our client, YOM, is fully compliant with state licensure requirements; it has never had an actual patient complaint and provides its services in full compliance with the law. But these defendants do not care and are accusing it of wrongdoing anyway, solely because of its pro-life position," the ACLJ report said.

The ACLJ pointed out it previously has worked on behalf of pro-life pregnancy resource centers.

"We have now also taken legal action and filed a complaint on behalf of one of those PRCs, Your Options Medical (YOM), against Massachusetts officials and their allies. With Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center serving as our local counsel, we have filed a major constitutional lawsuit in federal district court in Massachusetts."

The charges include that state officials orchestrated "an overt viewpoint-based discrimination campaign – including harassment, suppression, and threats against YOM and other PRCs. Directed by Governor Maura Healey, this pro-abortion smear campaign involves selective law enforcement prosecution, public threats, and even a state-sponsored advertising campaign with a singular goal – to deprive YOM and their counterparts of their First Amendment rights to voice freely their religious and political viewpoints regarding the sanctity of human life."

The state has partnered with a pro-abortion organization called Reproductive Equity Now Foundation to attack the pro-life centers, and has posted an entire section on the state's website promoting its "AVOID Anti-Abortion Centers" campaign.

It uses loaded words like "warning" to tell people, falsely, that "anti-abortion centers cause harm."

REN insists, "Anti-abortion centers often offer abstinence-only sex education, post-abortion support, spiritual support, or bible study. While some people need and want post-abortion counseling, and may seek it through their faith leaders, there is no scientific evidence that abortion results in adverse mental health outcomes."

Joining Healey as defendants are state health commissioner Robert Goldstein and REN and its director, Rebecca Hart Holder.

"Normally, a private entity like REN cannot be sued for a constitutional violation, but there is an exception: It can be held accountable when it acts on behalf of the state, which is exactly what happened here. REN and Executive Director Holder acted as the trusted partner of the state, with state funding and support, and in explicit partnership with Massachusetts officials to harass PRCs like YOM for their viewpoint," ACLJ reported.

The ACLJ reported, "Here the government has exercised its authority to target the viewpoint of pro-life groups for their pro-life religious views. Governor Healey publicly claimed that PRCs engage in deceptive and dangerous tactics; and as attorney general, she issued an advisory that falsely accused PRCs of deceptive advertising. Commissioner Goldstein unlawfully exercised his authority to accuse PRCs of wrongdoing, threatening them with legal action and making public statements saying, 'As the commissioner of public health, I'm resolute about calling out this deception for what it is: a public health threat.'"

The actions identified in the case provided support for the complaints about harassment, threats, unequal enforcement of the law based on political and religious beliefs.

"The Left is waging a coordinated assault to threaten pro-life pregnancy centers and stifle their views by burying them in complaints, punishments, and disciplines. Such a targeted system of harassment and discrimination is unprecedented and unconstitutional. Their choice of words goes far beyond mere disagreement or criticism; the state has repeatedly accused PRCs of illegal behavior like deception, misrepresentation, and fraud," ACLJ explained.

The impetus for the pro-abortion ideology isn't complicated: Dollars.

"Pro-life centers represent one of the biggest threats to abortionists' bottom lines – and our client is no exception. Abortionists like Planned Parenthood consider PRCs to be the competition. They will do anything to shut them down, and liberal politicians in Massachusetts have been all too eager to help. But in doing so, they have violated the U.S. Constitution."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

After the high-profile discussion between Donald Trump and Elon Musk last week, the former president is now floating the possibility of making the billionaire entrepreneur a top adviser or member of his cabinet, should he win the White House race in November.

"He's a very smart guy," Trump said of Musk when asked Monday if he'd consider naming Musk to an advisory role or cabinet job.

"I certainly would, if he would do it, I certainly would. He's a brilliant guy."

Monday night, Musk posted a response to the possibility, indicating he's "willing to serve" as head of the Department for Government Efficiency.

Musk, who calls himself a "moderate Democrat," has endorsed the Republican Trump, sounding the alarm about a potential Kamala Harris victory in the 2024 presidential race, saying, "I think we're in massive trouble with a Kamala administration."

"It's essential that you win for the good of this country and that's understating my position," Musk told Trump during the Aug. 12 conversation on X, which has been seen more than a billion times.

"You are the path to prosperity, and Kamala is the opposite," Musk told Trump. "I'm just trying to tell people my honest opinion."

"Now I feel like we're at a critical juncture for the country," Musk added. "We're gonna see an even further left administration with Kamala."

"Her dad is a Marxist economist – you can Google it … that's how she was brought up."

"America is in a fork in the road … We're at a fork in the road in the destiny of civilization and I think we need to take the right path, and I think you're the right path. … We're in deep trouble if it goes the other way."

In addition to pondering Musk as a top adviser, Trump on Monday said if elected, he'd consider ending a $7,500 tax credit for purchases of electric vehicles.

"I'm not making any final decisions on it," Trump said of the EV tax credit.

"I'm a big fan of electric cars, but I'm a fan of gasoline-propelled cars, and also hybrids and whatever else happens to come along."

He repeated his promise to eliminate rules by the Biden-Harris administration pushing carmakers to build more EVs and plug-in hybrids, indicating there's a "much smaller market" for those vehicles due to their high cost and limitations of battery range.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A police department in the United Kingdom is paying a woman 13,000 British pounds, about $17,000, after catching her in silent prayer and then arresting her. Twice.

A report from ADF International explains the case is a victory against censorship.

It is Isabel Vaughan-Spruce – a Christian who twice already has been on viral videos being arrested for silent prayer – who is getting the payout from the West Midlands Police, to acknowledge her unjust treatment, and the breach of her human rights.

She had filed a claim against the department for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments; assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person; and for a breach of her human rights both in respect to the arrests, and to the onerous bail conditions imposed on her, the report explained.

"There is no place for Orwell's 'thought police' in 21st Century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I'm delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that. Yet despite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces," she said in a prepared statement.

The report noted the news comes only days after reports that the Home Office will strengthen the crackdown on silent prayer near abortion facilities by expressly criminalizing it in upcoming "buffer zones" legislation.

Lawmakers and bureaucrats in the U.K. are set to review the initial guidance published by the previous government which protected the human right to freedom of thought, reading: "Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances."

Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for silently praying in a censored "buffer zone," a common practice also used in the United States to provide special protections for abortion businesses and deprive people of faith of their rights.

The zone, covering several streets in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham, was installed by local authorities via a Public Spaces Protection Order and banned all expressions of "approval or disapproval with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means" within a large vicinity of an abortion facility, the report said.

Her arrests widely are considered to be prosecutions of "thoughtcrimes."

She was acquitted in February 2023, but just weeks later was arrested for the same offense again.

A police officer said at that time, "You've said you're engaging in prayer, which is the offense."

She added, "Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that 'prayer is an offense.'"

Lord Frost, the senior Conservative peer and former cabinet minister, said, "It is incredible that people have been arrested for thoughtcrime in modern Britain. I am very glad Ms Vaughan-Spruce has received compensation for her unjust arrest for this so-called offense."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A California municipality that decided it would allow just about anybody to rent its public facilities – except anyone who wanted to have a religious gathering – has reversed itself.

Word of the change in the practice by the City of Manhattan Beach comes from the American Center for Law and Justice, which had protested the discriminatory practice that targeted residents of faith.

It was the city's facilities use policies that specifically stated any religious gathering was banned.

The policy, before the recent change, specifically stated: "The Facility Reservation Policy governs use of public facilities such as community center rooms, picnic shelters, swimming pools, basketball courts and sports fields that are available to the public for civic, social, educational, athletic, cultural activities and limited commercial use. The purpose of this policy is to provide use regulations and application and scheduling procedures to accommodate residents and individuals who would like to use City facilities. Facilities will not be used for religious worship or other religious purposes, political fundraisers, political advocacy or other partisan campaign events, or the sale of goods or services. Candidate or ballot issue forums that present all opposing viewpoints may be accepted."

A client being assisted by the ACLJ had asked to reserve a city facility for an event to sing worship songs and watch a sermon on television.

City officials refused.

"Meanwhile, residents were permitted to use the same facilities for non-religious purposes. Such a broad prohibition preventing any religious gathering solely because it's religious clearly violates the First Amendment," the legal team pointed out.

So it dispatched a letter to the city explaining its obligations under the Constitution.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Amid reports that Kamala Harris will announce her first policy position on Friday – an attack on "greedy" grocery companies with a plan for price limits – there's bad news for American consumers about their grocery costs.

Harris's plan, reported by multiple outlets on Thursday, said her idea is to pursue a "price control" scheme, a tactic that repressive governments often pursue to try to make their economies look better.

It is the Post-Millennial that documented, "Americans are experiencing the consequences of increased grocery prices under the economic policies of the Biden-Harris administration. The cost of food has not been this high since the Carter administration."

The report said the cost for "basic," "food at home" products is up 21% since Biden and Harris took over the White House.

Inflation also remains a top concern among voters this election year, with 77% seeing it as a "very important issue."

"Grocery prices have risen significantly under Harris's time in the White House, despite the White House's attempts to minimize the impact of recent price increases. Harris was instrumental in the legislative agenda that resulted in this outcome. Her tie-breaking votes in the Senate were instrumental in the passage of trillions of dollars in expenditure, which many economists believe contributed to the inflation crisis, Breitbart News reported."

The report noted food inflation has up more over the first 42 months of the Biden-Harris tenure "than it has under any other president since Jimmy Carter, and is the third-largest increase over the first three and a half years of a presidential term behind Nixon's second term and Carter's record.

In contrast, the grocery costs rose only 6.3% during the first 42 months of President Donald Trump's first term.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A Christian pancake maker who declined to work on Sundays in order to attend church services has been awarded $40,000 from his former employer, who fired him.

According to the Christian Institute's report on the fight, Eddie Moton Jr. was fired from his position as a cook at International House of Pancakes for declining to work on Sundays.

When he was hired in 2021, he was granted a religious accommodation to his schedule, but, the report said, "when a new manager required him to work two Sundays, Moton was fired for refusing to do so again."

The franchise owner, Suncakes, also will provide annual training to managers on religious liberty, tell employees of the case, and change its policies to protect religious accommodations.

"The manager reportedly told other employees that 'religion should not take precedence' over the workplace and that Moton 'thinks it is more important to go to church than to pay his bills,'" the report said.

Taittiona Miles, a lawyer on the case, explained, "Employers must respect all sincerely held religious beliefs, which includes providing reasonable accommodations when no undue hardship exists."

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the Suncakes restaurant is in Charlotte, N.C., and the "new manager" was the one who "expressed hostility" toward the accommodation initially given Moton.

The EEOC explained, "Such alleged conduct violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which provides for religious accommodations in the workplace and protects individuals from religious discrimination and retaliation. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Suncakes NC, LLC and Suncakes, LLC, d/b/a IHOP, Civil Action No.: 3:23-cv-00274) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its voluntary conciliation process."

Melinda C. Dugas, regional attorney for the EEOC's Charlotte District, said, "Requesting an accommodation for a religious observation is protected activity under federal law. And employers are prohibited from taking adverse employment action against an employee for exercising that right."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

There is no doubt that life has become harder for Americans over almost four years of a Biden-Harris administration. While interest rates climb, food prices remain on an upward trajectory, and inflation still surges far higher than the 1.4% inflation handed to President Joe Biden by former President Donald Trump after he left office in January 2021.

But just how much have the worst leadership duo in U.S. history spent since taking office? The answer is sadly not shocking in the slightest – over $7 trillion in taxpayer money has been blown by Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris in less than four years.

Currently, the U.S. has reached over $35 trillion in federal debt – with $30.71 trillion added since 1993 according to USAFacts.org. Over the past year, the debt increased by approximately $2.41 trillion, which equates to around $6 billion per day.