While you’re still debating if insects will be part of our future diet, you’ve already been eating crickets and larvae for over a year — disguised as your favorite foods.

Corporate translation: “We add insect flour to products, but call it ‘alternative protein’.”

Company #1: Barilla (pasta)
Since 2023, the premium pasta line contains “plant protein” — in reality, it’s cricket flour from farms in Thailand.
Official reason: “To increase nutritional value.”
Real reason: insects cost 3x less than meat with the same protein content.

Company #2: Beyond Meat (plant-based meat)
“100% plant-based” patties contain protein from mealworm larvae. Listed as “pea protein isolate” — a technical loophole.
Larvae are raised on pea waste, processed into protein concentrate. Technically still a plant-based product.

Company #3: Red Bull (energy drinks)
The red dye carminic acid comes from crushed female cochineal insects — about 70,000 bugs per liter.
It’s been used for 150 years, but now they also add chitin from shells “to improve taste,” listed as “natural flavors.”

Company #4: Ferrero (Nutella chocolate spread)
Since 2024, Nutella contains black soldier fly larvae flour to reduce cocoa costs. Masked as “mineral enrichment.”
Insects are high in iron and zinc — technically true, but you’re buying chocolate and getting bugs.

Company #5: PepsiCo (Lay’s chips)
“Natural flavoring” in some chips is actually extracts from grasshoppers and locusts. Brings umami taste without MSG.
Produced in Mexico, where locusts are a traditional food — but that’s never mentioned in local marketing.

How to spot it
Look for: “hydrolyzed protein,” “natural flavors,” “alternative proteins,” “mineral complexes.”
Avoid products with “new formula” labels without explanation.

Why they hide it
Goal — to slowly normalize insect consumption through unnoticed integration.

Read ingredient lists. Buy from small producers. Avoid “innovative” products from global brands.

Resurging Antisemitism – Do NOT Get Sucked In
https://slantedright2.blogspot.com/2025/08/resurging-antisemitism-do-not-get.html

SUMMARY: This is certain to bring the Antisemite loons out of the woodwork like cockroaches scattering when the light exposes their existence. I don’t mind disagreement but when comments slip into deranged Jew-Hatred, that person will be deleted and/or blocked. There is no use persuading a person afflicted with deranged Antisemitism syndrome. I will be sharing some videos and articles that have the theme of condemning Antisemitism. Essentially this is a Pro-Israel chorus. IF YOU ARE DEDICATED ANTISEMITE, do the chorus a favor and stop reading from this point. This post will only unhinge you. For the chorus, this will be a lengthy post. You might want to pick and/or choose which sections to read or watch. …READ & WATCH!
#Antisemitism #GazaLies #PalestinianPropaganda

You see I knew they would find a good use for those old vacant Sears stores. The Pacific Palisades High School in Pacific Palisades burned down in the Jan. 7 fires this year. In the interim they have taken residence in the empty vacant Sears store in Santa Monica. Well Sears went under and no one wanted a big empty building in a liberal, corrupt city as Santa Monica, so enter the LA Unified School District and boom, they got a free empty building. Read it;

https://www.surfsantamonica.com/ssm_site/the_lookout/news/News-2025/April-2025/04_22_2025_Pali_High_Returns_to_Class_in_Santa_Monica.html

Brethren, are you bearing fruit for God? We were joined to Christ for this purpose (Rom. 7:4). He chose us for this (Jn. 15:16), and if we abide in Him, we will bear fruit (Jn. 15:5). There is more than one way in which the metaphor of fruit is used, including that of being used to bring others to Christ. The most evident in our everyday lives, however, are the fruits of the Spirit, which are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Gal. 5:22). This fruit is sweet, and those of us who know God have tasted and know that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).
----------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 25

"His fruit was sweet to my taste." Song of Solomon 2:3

Faith, in the Scripture, is spoken of under the emblem of all the senses. It is sight: "Look unto me and be ye saved." It is hearing: "Hear, and your soul shall live." Faith is smelling: "All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia"; "thy name is as ointment poured forth." Faith is spiritual touch. By this faith the woman came behind and touched the hem of Christ's garment, and by this we handle the things of the good word of life. Faith is equally the spirit's taste. "How sweet are Thy words to my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my lips." "Except a man eat my flesh," saith Christ, "and drink my blood, there is no life in him."

This "taste" is faith in one of its highest operations. One of the first performances of faith is hearing. We hear the voice of God, not with the outward ear alone, but with the inward ear; we hear it as God's Word, and we believe it to be so; that is the "hearing" of faith. Then our mind looketh upon the truth as it is presented to us; that is to say, we understand it, we perceive its meaning; that is the "seeing" of faith. Next we discover its preciousness; we begin to admire it, and find how fragrant it is; that is faith in its " smell." Then we appropriate the mercies which are prepared for us in Christ; that is faith in its "touch." Hence follow the enjoyments, peace, delight, communion; which are faith in its "taste." Any one of these acts of faith is saving. To hear Christ's voice as the sure voice of God in the soul will save us; but that which gives true enjoyment is the aspect of faith wherein Christ, by holy taste, is received into us, and made, by inward and spiritual apprehension of His sweetness and preciousness, to be the food of our souls. It is then we sit "under His shadow with great delight," and find His fruit sweet to our taste.

https://www.oann.com/newsroom/desantis-defends-painting-over-lgbtq-themed-crosswalk-in-orlando-despite-backlash-from-local-democrats/

In the second chapter of Micah, God tells Israel that He will gather the remnant, and that the Lord, as a Shepherd, will go ahead of them, breaking them free from their oppressors, from captivity, and leading the way (Micah 2:12-13). Jesus did this when He burst forth from the grave. He broke the bonds of sin and deburred the sting of death to lead us into His kingdom.

Christian, be ever thankful that, in hearing Jesus' gospel, and believing the One who sent Him, that you now have eternal life and do not come into judgement but have passed out of death into life (Jn. 5:24). Keep the cross before your eyes that you may never forget Jesus who endured it for the joy set before Him. Let us share in His joy that He gave us in fulness when He came and spoke God's word into this world (Jn. 17:13).

Rejoice that "the breaker is come up before [us]!"
-----------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 24

"The breaker is come up before them." Micah 2:13

Inasmuch as Jesus has gone before us, things remain not as they would have been had He never passed that way. He has conquered every foe that obstructed the way. Cheer up now thou faint-hearted warrior. Not only has Christ travelled the road, but He has slain thine enemies. Dost thou dread sin? He has nailed it to His cross. Dost thou fear death? He has been the death of Death. Art thou afraid of hell? He has barred it against the advent of any of His children; they shall never see the gulf of perdition. Whatever foes may be before the Christian, they are all overcome. There are lions, but their teeth are broken; there are serpents, but their fangs are extracted; there are rivers, but they are bridged or fordable; there are flames, but we wear that matchless garment which renders us invulnerable to fire. The sword that has been forged against us is already blunted; the instruments of war which the enemy is preparing have already lost their point. God has taken away in the person of Christ all the power that anything can have to hurt us. Well then, the army may safely march on, and you may go joyously along your journey, for all your enemies are conquered beforehand. What shall you do but march on to take the prey? They are beaten, they are vanquished; all you have to do is to divide the spoil. You shall, it is true, often engage in combat; but your fight shall be with a vanquished foe. His head is broken; he may attempt to injure you, but his strength shall not be sufficient for his malicious design. Your victory shall be easy, and your treasure shall be beyond all count.
"Proclaim aloud the Saviour's fame,
Who bears the Breaker's wond'rous name;
Sweet name; and it becomes him well,
Who breaks down earth, sin, death, and hell."

As much as I agree with desantis, this is a very slippery slope. The party in power may disregard rulings at will? I sure hope this doesn't come back biting asses.
The proper procedure is that the supreme court ultimately rules Constitutionality of any judge exceeding their authority.

We are told in Scripture that "we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:12) and that "the Spirit of God dwells in us" (1 Cor. 3:16). But Christian, do you not realize that by this same Spirit, Christ dwells in our hearts through faith (Eph. 3:17)? Oh the glory of God's riches toward us to be strengthened with power through His Spirit so that we may have Jesus always with(in) us (Eph. 3:16)! How glorious to know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge (Eph. 3:18)!

That this indeed may be true, let us then say with the Apostle Paul, "...it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20)!
-----------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, August 23

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." Ephesians 3:17

Beyond measure it is desirable that we, as believers, should have the person of Jesus constantly before us, to inflame our love towards Him, and to increase our knowledge of Him. I would to God that my readers were all entered as diligent scholars in Jesus' college, students of Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ, resolved to attain unto a good degree in the learning of the cross. But to have Jesus ever near, the heart must be full of Him, welling up with His love, even to overrunning; hence the apostle prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts." See how near he would have Jesus to be! You cannot get a subject closer to you than to have it in the heart itself. "That He may dwell"; not that He may call upon you sometimes, as a casual visitor enters into a house and tarries for a night, but that He may dwell"; that Jesus may become the Lord and Tenant of your inmost being, never more to go out.

Observe the words- that He may dwell in your heart, that best room of the house of manhood; not in your thoughts alone, but in your affections; not merely in the mind's meditations, but in the heart's emotions. We should pant after love to Christ of a most abiding character, not a love that flames up and then dies out into the darkness of a few embers, but a constant flame, fed by sacred fuel, like the fire upon the altar which never went out. This cannot be accomplished except by faith. Faith must be strong, or love will not be fervent; the root of the flower must be healthy, or we cannot expect the bloom to be sweet. Faith is the lily's root, and love is the lily's bloom. Now, reader, Jesus cannot be in your heart's love except you have a firm hold of Him by your heart's faith; and, therefore, pray that you may always trust Christ in order that you may always love Him. If love be cold, be sure that faith is drooping.

Christian, are you weary of weeping? Do you long to be done with sorrows? For now, we weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15), but remember, this world is passing away. Keep your eyes upon Jesus. For when we enter into His kingdom, "the Lamb in the center of the throne will be [our] shepherd, and will guide [us] to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from [our] eyes" (Rev. 7:17). Even in weeping, let us find joy, for when He returns, we shall have joy everlasting, and our "voice of weeping shall be no more heard" (Isa. 65.19).
------------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 23

"The voice of weeping shall be no more heard." Isaiah 65:19

The glorified weep no more, for all outward causes of grief are gone. There are no broken friendships, nor blighted prospects in heaven. Poverty, famine, peril, persecution, and slander, are unknown there. No pain distresses, no thought of death or bereavement saddens. They weep no more, for they are perfectly sanctified. No "evil heart of unbelief" prompts them to depart from the living God; they are without fault before His throne, and are fully conformed to His image. Well may they cease to mourn who have ceased to sin. They weep no more, because all fear of change is past. They know that they are eternally secure. Sin is shut out, and they are shut in. They dwell within a city which shall never be stormed; they bask in a sun which shall never set; they drink of a river which shall never dry; they pluck fruit from a tree which shall never wither. Countless cycles may revolve, but eternity shall not be exhausted, and while eternity endures, their immortality and blessedness shall co-exist with it. They are for ever with the Lord. They weep no more, because every desire is fulfilled. They cannot wish for anything which they have not in possession. Eye and ear, heart and hand, judgment, imagination, hope, desire, will, all the faculties, are completely satisfied; and imperfect as our present ideas are of the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, yet we know enough, by the revelation of the Spirit, that the saints above are supremely blessed. The joy of Christ, which is an infinite fulness of delight, is in them. They bathe themselves in the bottomless, shoreless sea of infinite beatitude. That same joyful rest remains for us. It may not be far distant. Ere long the weeping willow shall be exchanged for the palm-branch of victory, and sorrow's dewdrops will be transformed into the pearls of everlasting bliss. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

The New Testament speaks a lot of riches, and riches in this world often become the focus of false teachers. The riches of which the Scriptures speak with regard to Christ and His followers, however, are not the silver and gold to which so many cling and in which too many put their hope.

God's patience, tolerance, and kindness toward us are considered "riches" (Rom. 2:4). He has made known the riches of His glory to and through those who have been called (Rom. 9:23). Paul calls salvation itself "riches" (Rom. 10:12-13).

So many passages speak of the riches bestowed upon believers by God:
- the wisdom and knowledge of God (Rom. 11:33)
- His grace (Eph. 1:7)
- we are the riches of His inheritance (Eph. 1:18)
- His grace in kindness (Eph. 2:7)
- being strengthened by the power through His Spirit (Eph. 3:16)
- from His riches, He supplies all our needs (not wants) (Phil. 4:19)
- Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27)

Christian, don't be deceived or derailed by the riches of this world. Do not fix your hope on them (1 Tim. 6:17), for you will "fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction" (1 Tim. 6:9).

God is rich toward us in Christ, and these are the riches we should seek after and long for.
---------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Evening, August 22

"The unsearchable riches of Christ." Ephesians 3:8

My Master has riches beyond the count of arithmetic, the measurement of reason, the dream of imagination, or the eloquence of words. They are unsearchable! You may look, and study, and weigh, but Jesus is a greater Saviour than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at the greatest. My Lord is more ready to pardon than you to sin, more able to forgive than you to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your wants than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus. When you put the crown on His head, you will only crown Him with silver when He deserves gold. My Master has riches of happiness to bestow upon you now. He can make you to lie down in green pastures, and lead you beside still waters. There is no music like the music of His pipe, when He is the Shepherd and you are the sheep, and you lie down at His feet. There is no love like His, neither earth nor heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in Him- oh! this is life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees well refined. My Master does not treat His servants churlishly; He gives to them as a king giveth to a king; He gives them two heavens- a heaven below in serving Him here, and a heaven above in delighting in Him for ever. His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need; your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One. The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the good news to others.

At one time or another in our lives, most of us have experienced what it is like to be lovesick, to long for the one with whom we wish to draw close. Believer, does your heart long for Jesus in this manner? Do you seek after him? Do you recruit others in your search? Brethren, let us not leave our first love, as did the Church at Ephesus (Rev. 2). Let us seek Him with all our hearts, for then we shall find Him (Deut. 4:29; Jer. 29:13).
-----------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 22

"I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love." Song of Solomon 5:8

Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for when they are away from Him they lose their peace. The nearer to Him, the nearer to the perfect calm of heaven; the nearer to Him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of life, and vigour, and joy, for these all depend on constant intercourse with Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry, clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveller in a weary land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and, therefore, if we are not consciously one with Him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, "I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell Him that I am sick of love. "This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing attending it: "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness"; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: if I may not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to hunger and thirst after Him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a promise. Such hungry ones "shall be filled" with what they are desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after Himself, He will certainly satisfy those longings; and when He does come to us, as come He will, oh, how sweet it will be!

“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬
This prophesy sent to Israelite captives in Babylon during Jeremiah’s time contains truths relevant for God’s people today.

TMZ - Patrick Blackwood and NinaUnrated Food Influencers Show Off Injuries After Car Rams Into Houston Restaurant:

https://www.tmz.com/2025/08/19/patrick-blackwood-ninaunrated-food-influencers-injuries-restaurant-car-crash/

#CuVeeCulinaryCreations #Houston #Texas #AssaultCar #NotOneMore #BanCarsNow #StopCrashing #StopCars #CarExtremism #EndCarViolence #CarViolence #RestaurantSafety #PedestrianSafety #TrafficSafety #Terrorism

Are you planting the seed of God's word? Are you watering? Do you feel that you're lacking what is necessary to perform these tasks? Do not lose hope; let your countenance not fall. We each have our job to do, as Paul wrote:

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor." - 1 Corinthians 3:6-8

God provides seed for the sower (2 Corinthians 9:10), and the one who waters will be watered (Proverbs 11:25).

We need only trust in, and rely on, God. God's harvest does not depend on us - we are merely workers in the field. Knowing this is why Paul was able to write that:

"when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." - 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Do not shrink from doing the Lord's work. He will provide what is necessary, and He will water the seed within you as well so that you too will grow.
-----------

Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotions

Morning, August 21

"He that watereth shall be watered also himself." Proverbs 11:25

We are here taught the great lesson, that to get, we must give; that to accumulate, we must scatter; that to make ourselves happy, we must make others happy; and that in order to become spiritually vigorous, we must seek the spiritual good of others. In watering others, we are ourselves watered. How? Our efforts to be useful, bring out our powers for usefulness. We have latent talents and dormant faculties, which are brought to light by exercise. Our strength for labour is hidden even from ourselves, until we venture forth to fight the Lord's battles, or to climb the mountains of difficulty. We do not know what tender sympathies we possess until we try to dry the widow's tears, and soothe the orphan's grief. We often find in attempting to teach others, that we gain instruction for ourselves. Oh, what gracious lessons some of us have learned at sick beds! We went to teach the Scriptures, we came away blushing that we knew so little of them. In our converse with poor saints, we are taught the way of God more perfectly for ourselves and get a deeper insight into divine truth. So that watering others makes us humble. We discover how much grace there is where we had not looked for it; and how much the poor saint may outstrip us in knowledge. Our own comfort is also increased by our working for others. We endeavour to cheer them, and the consolation gladdens our own heart. Like the two men in the snow; one chafed the other's limbs to keep him from dying, and in so doing kept his own blood in circulation, and saved his own life. The poor widow of Sarepta gave from her scanty store a supply for the prophet's wants, and from that day she never again knew what want was. Give then, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and running over.

Erin tonight. Tropical Storm conditions possible for the Atlantic coast and Bermuda Thursday and Friday.