6000 Years & Not a Day More

They will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power

Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.

As spiritualism more closely imitates the nominal Christianity of the day, it has greater power to deceive and ensnare. Satan himself is converted, after the modern order of things. He will appear in the character of an angel of light. Through the agency of spiritualism, miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed. And as the spirits will profess faith in the Bible, and manifest respect for the institutions of the church, their work will be accepted as a manifestation of divine power.

The line of distinction between professed Christians and the ungodly is now hardly distinguishable. Church members love what the world loves and are ready to join with them, and Satan determines to unite them in one body and thus strengthen his cause by sweeping all into the ranks of spiritualism. Papists, who boast of miracles as a certain sign of the true church, will be readily deceived by this wonder-working power; and Protestants, having cast away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium.

The Great Controversy, pp.588,589.

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Idea of the Day: Millennium Development Goals

August 22, 2014





Today, fewer people go hungry. There are more children attending school. Fewer and fewer people are dying unnecessarily from easily preventable and treatable diseases. Yet with only 500 days until the end of the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, criticism remains that many countries will be unable to reach what can be considered arbitrary global targets.

At the beginning of the new millennium, the world decided to make tackling global poverty a top priority. The MDGs attempted to address this through a set of eight specific goals and 21 targets. The framework focuses on economic poverty, communicable diseases, gender equality, education, environmental issues, and global partnerships. In an unprecedented manner, developed nations rose to the challenge of addressing the key issues facing humanity by instituting innovative programs and significantly increasing funding.

For more on this idea, please see:
What the Millennium Development Goals Have Accomplished by Annie Malknecht


To speak with our experts on this topic, please contact:

Print: Allison Preiss (economy, education, poverty)
202.478.6331 or apreiss@americanprogress.org

Print: Tom Caiazza (foreign policy, health care, energy and environment, LGBT issues, gun-violence prevention)
202.481.7141 or tcaiazza@americanprogress.org

Print: Chelsea Kiene (women's issues, Legal Progress, Half in Ten Education Fund)
202.478.5328 or ckiene@americanprogress.org

Spanish-language and ethnic media: Tanya Arditi
202.741.6258 or tarditi@americanprogress.org

TV: Rachel Rosen
202.483.2675 or rrosen@americanprogress.org

Radio: Chelsea Kiene
202.478.5328 or ckiene@americanprogress.org

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Jan Paulsen: Challenges for a global Church in the 21st Century

Stuttgart/Germany, 02.06.2014/APD

Pastor Jan Paulsen (left) and pastor Frieder Schmid, translator
© Photo: Reinhard Knobloch

Pastor Dr Jan Paulsen, former President of the General Conference (headquarter of the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist church) spoke in the Seventh-day Adventist church Stuttgart/Germany about the church’s challenges in the 21st century. He stressed that the decision about women’s ordination as pastors was one of the top priorities. A wide range of committees in the world church have tackled this question for the past 40 years. In 1990 the General Assembly of the General Conference (World Council) and the supreme decision-making body denied the right of women’s ordination. When the Adventists in North America asked for permission to ordain women as pastors in their area of responsibility, the majority of the world council meeting in Utrecht in 1995 rejected the request again. This very same question is again on the agenda of the General Conference General Assembly in 2015 which is scheduled from 2 to 11 July in San Antonio, Texas/USA. On fears that a decision to ordain women, could divide the church, Paulsen replied : "Perhaps so. But equally, not to ordain women has the same probability to divide our church." It is, therefore, important to find a solution which is acceptable to both parties. All arguments – whether for or against – have been presented and exchanged and the problem cannot be postponed again.

Church – an active part of life or irrelevant sect

According to Paulsen, there are, however, a number of additional challenges for the church. Despite cultural differences and theological challenges it was necessary for the global church to preserve the unity and identity. A global community of faith faced the difficult task of integrating their spiritual values into the practical aspects of daily life in many different cultures. It was necessary to resist the ‘easy solution’ to withdraw from people who had completely different values of life into ‘the own perfect world’. Paulsen cautioned: "Either the public accepts us as part of society and sees that we want to be an active part of life in the political community, or the public considers us as an irrelevant sect which dissociates itself from all others. Our world may no longer be interested in God, but it is a world full of people whom we, under no circumstances, can leave to fend for themselves." Adventists should therefore live out their values, prepare people for the future, such as by way of education, and act as peacemakers.

Inter-church relations

In dealing with other Christian churches and other world religions Paulsen also posed the question: "In our dealings with them are we having an open-minded attitude and apply a constructive dialogue? Do we explain to them who we are, what we believe and which duties we have, or do we seal ourselves off, withdraw and consider any communication with other faiths as dangerous?" Either Adventists introduce themselves "or others will do it for us – but then we will be most likely misrepresented or even ridiculed.” It was of course easier to only interact with like-minded people, however, the ‘Truth’ would not have to be afraid of scrutiny. It was the duty of Adventist church members, pastors, teachers and leaders to demonstrate how one's own convictions and the respect for other faiths could co-exist.

Jan Paulsen was born in Northern Norway. After finishing his studies he served as pastor, professor and dean at Adventist universities in Africa. He then taught at Newbold College in England, where he soon was appointed dean. He earned his doctorate in theology at the University of Tübingen in 1972. In 1980 he was elected Secretary and in 1983 President of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Northern and Southeastern Europe. In 1999 he was elected President of the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists (world headquarter), an appointment which he held until the age of 75 years in 2010. In 2012 the King of Norway decorated Jan Paulsen ‘for his meritorious service to the welfare of mankind’. Paulsen is married to Kari and they have an adult daughter and two sons.

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African bishops delegation in Europe to discuss Millenium Development Goals

2010-09-10

AFRICA - African bishops delegation in Europe to discuss Millenium Development Goals

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – On the occasion of the Summit for review of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be held in New York, September 20 to 22, a delegation of SECAM (Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar) is in Europe to meet with European political leaders and to discuss efforts to improve the welfare of African communities, the obstacles blocking the development of society, and the priorities for change. The delegation, which consists of African bishops and development experts, will be divided into two groups that will travel to Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany. The two groups will meet in Brussels to meet with representatives of the European Union.

“We the Bishops of SECAM call for a new approach in implementing the MDGs that is not limited in time and space but which focuses on a progressive transition to the integral development of Africa based on the principles of morals and ethics, Economic growth, Subsidiarity, common Good and Benefits accruing from resources,” says the “Position Paper” of SECAM sent to Fides.

The Church in Africa, often the only subject of civil society capable of reaching remote communities, provides services that compensate for the shortcomings of the state. Among the testimonies given by the delegation is that of Bishop Francisco Joao Siloti of Chimoio (Mozambique) and Vice-President of SECAM, who has worked for peace across all of Africa and Bishop Louis Portella Mbuyu, Bishop of Kinkala (Congo-Brazzaville), who, despite three attempts on his life, continues to strongly support democratization and transparency in managing oil revenues.

The delegation's mission is organized by SECAM with the support of CIDSE, an international alliance of Catholic development agencies, and Caritas Europa. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 09/10/2010)


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United Nations: Millennium Development Goals in Need of Crucial Support

Thursday, September 30, 2010
By: Christianity Administrator

For more information, contact:

John Torres, Senior Public Relations Manager
301.680.6357 (office)
301.680.6370 (fax)
John.Torres@adra.org

To donate to ADRA go to:
Online: www.adra.org 

Phone: 1.800.424.ADRA (2372)

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A decade after world leaders agreed to fight global poverty by implementing eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the progress is at a crucial stage, needing significant commitment from governments, investment of resources, and a clear action plan, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) said./p>

“Ten years ago, the world community took eight bold decisions with the intent to slash poverty, hunger, disease, maternal and child deaths and other ills by 2015,” said Frank Teeuwen, United Nations Senior Liaison for ADRA. “Now the international community must keep its promise of the Millennium Declaration to the millions of vulnerable people around the world. We cannot let them down.”

The MDGs, adopted in September 2000 by all 192 United Nations member states, were recognized as the most pressing issues needing improvement among the world’s developing nations, namely eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empowering women, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, ensuring environmental sustainability, developing a global partnership for development, and combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.

“Together, we created a blueprint for ending extreme poverty. We defined achievable targets and timetables,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told world leaders in New York this week that attended a three-day summit on ending global poverty. “We established a framework that all partners, even those with different views, have been able to embrace. We brought new urgency to an age-old mission.”

While vast improvements have been made in the areas of disease control, school enrolment, and access to clean water, significant work is still needed to reduce children mortality and improve maternal health.

With just five years remaining until the MDGs are to be achieved, the world’s least developed countries (LDCs) continue to face high poverty rates. More than 800 million people in LDCs live below the poverty line, while just six of the 49 LDCs have poverty rates of less than 30 per cent, according to the United Nations. Also experiencing difficulties are land-locked developing countries, small island developing states, countries experiencing or emerging from conflict, and those most affected by climate change.

“The international community must continue to stand with them at this time, despite the economic difficulties that are putting pressure on aid budgets and other kinds of support,” Ban remarked Tuesday. “This is a moral commitment, first and foremost - a test of global solidarity.”

For more information about the MDGs, please click here.

The following list provides a progress update of the MDGs:

Goal 1 - Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger:

•The number of people living under the international poverty line of $1.25 a day declined from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion between 1990 and 2005.
•The proportion of people living in extreme poverty in developing regions dropped from 46 per cent to 27 per cent - on track to meet the target globally.
•The economic crisis is expected to push an estimated 64 million more people into extreme poverty in 2010.
•About one in four children under the age of five is underweight in the developing world, down from almost one in three in 1990.

Goal 2 - Achieve Universal Primary Education:

•Enrolment in primary education in developing regions reached 89 per cent in 2008, up from 83 per cent in 2000.
•The current pace of progress is insufficient to meet the target by 2015.
•About 69 million school-age children are not in school. Almost half of them (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa, and more than a quarter (18 million) are in Southern Asia.

Goal 3 - Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women:

•In 2008, there were 96 girls for every 100 boys enrolled in primary school, and 95 girls for every 100 boys in secondary school in developing regions.
•The share of women employed outside of agriculture remains as low as 20 per cent in Southern Asia, Western Asia and Northern Africa.
•The global share of women in parliament continues to rise slowly and reached 19 per cent in 2010 - far short of gender parity.

Goal 4 - Reduce Child Mortality:

•The number of children in developing countries who died before they reached the age of five dropped from 100 to 72 deaths per 1,000 live births between 1990 and 2008.
•Almost nine million children still die each year before they reach their fifth birthday.
•The highest rates of child mortality continue to be found in sub-Saharan Africa, where, in 2008, one in seven children died before their fifth birthday.
•Of the 67 countries defined as having high child mortality rates, only 10 are currently on track to meet the MDG target.

Goal 5 - Improve Maternal Health:

•While declining slowly, the maternal mortality rate remains unacceptably high. Hundreds of thousands of women die annually from complications during pregnancy or childbirth, almost all of them - 99 per cent - in developing countries.
•In 2008, skilled health workers attended 63 per cent of births in the developing world, up from 53 per cent in 1990. Progress was made in all regions, but was especially dramatic in Northern Africa and South-Eastern Asia, with increases of 74 per cent and 63 per cent, respectively.

Goal 6 - Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases:

•The number of new HIV infections fell steadily from a peak of 3.5 million in 1996 to 2.7 million in 2008. Deaths from AIDS-related illnesses also dropped from 2.2 million in 2004 to two million in 2008.
•Antiretroviral treatment has expanded, but continues to be outpaced by HIV infection rates. By the end of 2009, more than five million people were on treatment. But for every two individuals starting HIV treatment each year, five are newly infected.
•In 2008, 45 per cent of HIV-positive expectant mothers in low- and middle-income countries received treatment, up from 35 per cent in the previous year. In 2008 alone, more than 60,000 HIV infections among at-risk babies were prevented because their HIV-positive mothers received treatment.
•Half the world’s population is at risk of malaria. There were an estimated 243 million cases of malaria in 2008, causing 863,000 deaths, 89 per cent of them in Africa.
•Global production of mosquito nets rose from 30 million to 150 million annually between 2004 and 2009. Artemisinin-based antimalarial medication has also become more readily available, though coverage varies sharply by country. External funding for malaria control has risen sharply in recent years, and reached $1.5 billion in 2009 - still far short of the estimated $6 billion needed in 2010 alone to meet the MDG target.
•An estimated 11 million people suffered from tuberculosis in 2008. But the number of new cases fell from 143 to 139 per 100,000 people between 2004 and 2008.

Goal 7 - Ensure Environmental Sustainability:

•Some 1.7 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 1990. Yet 884 million people worldwide still do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines.
•The world has missed the 2010 target for biodiversity conservation. Based on current trends, the loss of species will continue throughout this century.
•Slum improvements are failing to keep pace with the growing number of urban poor. The absolute number of slum dwellers keeps rising, with some 828 million people living in slums today, even though the share of the urban population living in slums is declining.

Goal 8 - Global Partnerships for Development

•Official development assistance stands at 0.31 per cent of the combined national income of developed countries, still far short of the 0.7 per cent UN target. Only five donor countries have reached or exceeded the target.
•Debt burdens have eased for developing countries and remain well below historical levels.
•Only 1 in 6 people in the developing world has access to the Internet.

Follow ADRA on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information as it happens.

ADRA is a global non-governmental organization providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org.

Author: Hearly Mayr

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ADRA and Millennium Development Goals

Kara Watkins/ADRA International

Residents of Totogalpa, a small Nicaraguan farming community skirting the country's northern border with Honduras, plant tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini and other non-traditional crops. These days, the robust agricultural region is known for its high-quality produce, but it wasn't long ago that drastic climate swings left it desolate. Then an Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) project helped Totogalpan farmers overcome their dependence on locally grown grains by equipping them with the tools, training and resources to diversify their crops.

The project is one of many that fall under the United Nation's first Millennium Development Goal: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Initiated in 2002, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) challenge nations to achieve measurable improvement in alleviating poverty and other crucial humanitarian issues by the year 2015. From its beginnings in 1956, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has operated under the mission of giving humanitarian aid and development assistance to all those in need. Today, ADRA continues its mission, working alongside the worldwide humanitarian community to fulfill the MDGs.

ADRA is also active in working toward the UN's 7 other Millennium Development Goals.

Achieve universal primary education

ADRA has always emphasized education as the foundation for success, developing projects that provide both children and adults -- especially girls and women -- with the opportunity to attend school to learn the basics of reading, writing, and math, and perhaps a marketable job skill.

In Lima, ADRA Peru provides tuition for vocational training and psychological support to impoverished street kids ages 14 to 18 -- an often forgotten age group. Most teens in the program have had troubled childhoods. They now live in shelters with other teens who grew up on the streets or left home because of domestic or sexual abuse or other family problems.

Once finished with the nine to twelve month vocational courses, which include several months of practical training, the young people are equipped to find jobs or even open their own businesses. More importantly, they are prepared to embrace a more hopeful future.

Promote gender equality and empower women

ADRA Peru is promoting gender equality with a project to strengthen women's rights in the region of Ayacucho. The project works with local women in the region, educating them about their rights, building their capacity, and increasing their representation as decision-making citizens at all levels of society. In addition, the project supports civil society organizations and promotes women's economic participation.

Also in South America, female heads of household and women who have been displaced by civil war in Colombia are becoming empowered through vocational training and personal development classes provided by ADRA.

Women make up nearly half of Colombia's internationally displaced population, and ADRA Colombia has helped hundreds achieve financial independence by offering hands-on training in tailoring and cosmetology. The women also participate in health education, women's rights, and personal development classes designed to improve their quality of life and self-esteem.

Reduce child mortality

ADRA Cambodia is helping to reduce child mortality by creating "Child Friendly Villages." The multi-year project is improving the quality of health and reducing the morbidity and mortality of more than 22,500 women of reproductive age and more than 17,400 children under five in the Baray-Santuk district of the Kampong Thom province of Cambodia.

A village-level initiative, the project trains and empowers village leaders, volunteers, and traditional birth attendants, who then teach local women of child-bearing age about proper nutrition, birth spacing, breast-feeding, and pre-natal, labor and delivery, and post-natal care -- all important factors affecting infant and child health.

Addressing the most common health problems affecting village mothers and children, the project also ensures villagers have access to clean water and sanitation, provides education classes in health, hygiene, and sanitation, and coordinates community-based nutrition activities. In addition, women learn how to grow home gardens that improve household nutrition and provide a source of income, and attend literacy classes to help build knowledge and improve family livelihoods.

Improve maternal health

ADRA Nepal reports that one woman in Nepal dies every two hours due to preventable pregnancy-related causes. Contributing factors include inadequate health care facilities and trained health care staff, lack of equipment and pharmaceuticals, and cultural and geographical barriers.

In response, ADRA Nepal has launched the Safe Motherhood Innovation Project (SMIP). The SMIP project reduces maternal mortality and morbidity rates through training maternal health care staff, improving access and quality of maternal health services, increasing community awareness of Safe Motherhood issues, and establishing an active maternal health network.

Funded by the European Commission through ADRA Germany, the project will directly benefit nearly 270,000 women ages 15 to 49 living in Nepal's Eastern Development Region. The project will also directly benefit 3,610 female community health volunteers, 979 traditional birth attendants, and hundreds of other health care workers.

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases

HIV/AIDS

Since 1985, ADRA has implemented successful HIV and AIDS projects that have reached more than 10 million people worldwide. In February 2004, ADRA's Training of Trainers (TOT) program began training hundreds of religious leaders, teachers, and healthcare workers in hospitals and schools to counsel people infected or affected by HIV. The TOT program has already reached more than 220,000 people directly and more than 1,000,000 indirectly.

The trainers provide counseling to community members on a continuous, voluntary basis. Along with offering HIV and AIDS awareness and education to reduce HIV infections, TOT participants provide counseling and support services that help improve the quality of life, increase access to medical care, empower, encourage social wellbeing, and preserve the rights of vulnerable groups in their communities, such as women and people living with AIDS.

Malaria

Almost six million cases of malaria are reported per year in Mozambique, where the disease is a major cause of death. Malaria also contributes to the high level of poverty throughout the southeastern African country by reducing productivity, especially in rural areas.

ADRA Mozambique is fighting malaria at the grassroots level with the Together Against Malaria (TAM) project. Funded through President Bush's Malaria Initiative by a grant worth nearly $2 million, TAM is an interfaith project that will reach more than 1.5 million Mozambicans.

"TAM represents an integral partnership between ADRA, the Inter-Religious Campaign, the Washington National Cathedral's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation, the Mozambique Ministry of Health, and the United States government," explains Darcy de Leon, country director for ADRA Mozambique.

The project is training more than 250 faith leaders from ten distinct religions to provide health education, train other individuals, and mobilize their unique faith communities to work together in fighting the spread of malaria.

Ensure environmental sustainability

ADRA's humanitarian and development efforts also take environmental sustainability into consideration. Natural resource management is a vital component of ADRA's initiatives to improve food source sustainability throughout the world.

With ADRA's help, communities learn to grow food with water-saving agricultural methods and irrigation systems, manage seedling nurseries, replant forests, build living fences, protect watersheds, and clear agricultural land responsibly. In the process, communities reestablish damaged environments, improve soil quality, grow diet-enriching fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and create stable, marketable sources of income.

ADRA also utilizes "green" technology, installing solar powered wells in Namibia and wind-powered wells in Somalia, both of which provide vulnerable communities with low-cost, reliable, environmentally friendly water supplies. Using innovative straw-bale technology, ADRA China has built hundreds of energy-efficient homes and schools.

Build a global partnership for development

Successfully meeting MDGs 1 through 7 hinges upon the partnership and accountability of rich and poor countries, governments, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) such as ADRA. In every country where it works, ADRA's efforts are made more effective through its cooperative relationships with partner organizations and collaborations with a variety of government and NGO partners at all levels: community, regional, state and provincial, national, and international, including the United Nations.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) oversees the Millennium Development Goals and monitors their progress. More information about the MDGs can be found on the UNDP Web site at www.undp.org/mdg.

For more information about ADRA and its worldwide development activities, visit http://www.adra.org/.

Source

What Kind Of Decade Was It?

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xbk3x6_2000s-decade-recap-politics_newshttp://

2000s Decade Recap - Politics
Uploaded by MojoSupreme. - Up-to-the minute news videos.

Despite Y2K panic at the beginning of the decade, the first ten years of the new millennium proved that our fellow humans are much more dangerous than malfunctioning machines. Unprecedented terrorist attacks on American soil, followed by subsequent attacks around the world punctuated the 2000s. Climate change and unparalleled natural disasters killed hundreds of thousands. Not to mention the global economic meltdown. To finish it off, the world was scared to death by the swine flu pandemic – the perfect end to a dreadful decade. In this video, http://www.WatchMojo.com reviews these and more milestones from the first decade of the new millennium.

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The Coming Capitalist Consensus

Walden Bello December 24, 2008

Editor: John Feffer


Foreign Policy In Focus http://www.fpif.org/

Not surprisingly, the swift unraveling of the global economy combined with the ascent to the U.S. presidency of an African-American liberal has left millions anticipating that the world is on the threshold of a new era. Some of President-elect Barack Obama’s new appointees – in particular ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers to lead the National Economic Council, New York Federal Reserve Board chief Tim Geithner to head Treasury, and former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk to serve as trade representative – have certainly elicited some skepticism. But the sense that the old neoliberal formulas are thoroughly discredited have convinced many that the new Democratic leadership in the world’s biggest economy will break with the market fundamentalist policies that have reigned since the early 1980s.

Among the key propositions advanced by partisans of GSD are the following:

• Globalization is essentially beneficial for the world; the neoliberals have simply botched the job of managing it and selling it to the public;



• It is urgent to save globalization from the neoliberals because globalization is reversible and may, in fact, already be in the process of being reversed;



• Growth and equity may come into conflict, in which case one must prioritize equity;
  



• Free trade may not, in fact, be beneficial in the long run and may leave the majority poor, so it is important for trade arrangements to be subject to social and environmental conditions;



• Unilateralism must be avoided while fundamental reform of the multilateral institutions and agreements must be undertaken – a process that might involve dumping or neutralizing some of them, like the WTO’s Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs);
  



• Global social integration, or reducing inequalities both within and across countries, must accompany global market integration;



• The global debt of developing countries must be cancelled or radically reduced, so the resulting savings can be used to stimulate the local economy, thus contributing to global reflation;



• Poverty and environmental degradation are so severe that a massive aid program or “Marshall Plan” from the North to the South must be mounted within the framework of the “Millennium Development Goals”;
  



• A “Second Green Revolution” must be put into motion, especially in Africa, through the widespread adoption of genetically engineered seeds.
  



• Huge investments must be devoted to push the global economy along more environmentally sustainable paths, with government taking a leading role (“Green Keynesianism” or “Green Capitalism”);



• Military action to solve problems must be deemphasized in favor of diplomacy and “soft power,” although humanitarian military intervention in situations involving genocide must be undertaken.

The Limits of Global Social Democracy

Global Social Democracy has not received much critical attention, perhaps because many progressives are still fighting the last war, that is, against neoliberalism. A critique is urgent, and not only because GSD is neoliberalism’s most likely successor. More important, although GSD has some positive elements, it has, like the old Social Democratic Keynesian paradigm, a number of problematic features.

A critique might begin by highlighting problems with four central elements in the GSD perspective.

First, GSD shares neoliberalism’s bias for globalization, differentiating itself mainly by promising to promote globalization better than the neoliberals. This amounts to saying, however, that simply by adding the dimension of “global social integration,” an inherently socially and ecologically destructive and disruptive process can be made palatable and acceptable. GSD assumes that people really want to be part of a functionally integrated global economy where the barriers between the national and the international have disappeared. But would they not in fact prefer to be part of economies that are subject to local control and are buffered from the vagaries of the international economy? Indeed, today’s swift downward trajectory of interconnected economies underscores the validity of one of anti-globalization movement’s key criticisms of the globalization process..

Second, GSD shares neoliberalism’s preference for the market as the principal mechanism for production, distribution, and consumption, differentiating itself mainly by advocating state action to address market failures. The kind of globalization the world needs, according to Jeffrey Sachs in The End of Poverty, would entail “harnessing…the remarkable power of trade and investment while acknowledging and addressing limitations through compensatory collective action.” This is very different from saying that the citizenry and civil society must make the key economic decisions and the market, like the state bureaucracy, is only one mechanism of implementation of democratic decision-making.

Third, GSD is a technocratic project, with experts hatching and pushing reforms on society from above, instead of being a participatory project where initiatives percolate from the ground up.



READ THE REST AT: http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5765 . .


Source: http://carmeloruiz.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html
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The 1000 Year Millennium

Shocking Facts about a Misunderstood
Prophecy and your Eternal Destiny

By Steve Wohlberg

A lie can travel halfway around the world, while truth puts on its shoes.
-- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Massive confusion exists within Christian churches about the “Millennium,” a unique thousand-year period depicted in the book of Revelation. Some teach this period is entirely symbolic, and not worth fretting over. Others say we’re in the Millennium now, and that it began when Jesus Christ defeated Satan by His death, burial, and resurrection. Most prophecy teachers contend that this apocalyptic period is still future, that it will immediately follow the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and will be a time of universal peace on earth as Jesus Christ governs all nations from Jerusalem.

What is the truth about the thousand years?

To discover the answer, we must carefully examine the only authoritative source where it’s taught, the Bible, especially chapter 20 in the book of Revelation. Let’s see what Revelation 20 actually says, and doesn’t say.

Here’s Revelation 20 in its entirety:

“1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. 4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20, King James Version, with verses left in).”

Now here’s a brief summary of each verse (we will soon take a closer look at these events):

vs. 1 - An angel descends from heaven with a key and a chain.
vs. 2 - He binds Satan for 1000 years.
vs. 3 - During the 1000 years Satan cannot deceive the nations any more.
vs. 4 - Martyrs are resurrected to reign with Jesus Christ for 1000 years.
vs. 5a - The rest of the dead will be raised at the end of the 1000 years.
vs. 6 - Those in the first resurrection will reign with Jesus for 1000 years.
vs. 7 - Satan will be loosed at the end of the 1000 years.
vs. 8 – After the rest of the dead are raised, Satan deceives them again. There will be billions - like the sand of the sea. They are called Gog and Magog. Satan gathers them for a final battle.
vs. 9 - Satan and this host surround God's City. Fire comes down and devours them.
vs. 10 - Satan, the Beast, and the False Prophet end up in this lake of fire.
vs. 11 - Before this fire falls, a final judgment occurs.
vs. 12 - All the resurrected lost are judged.
vs. 13 - Another description of the resurrected lost being judged.
vs. 14 - Death and Hell are cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death.
vs. 15 - All the resurrected lost are cast into the lake of fire.

To break it down even further: there is a ‘good resurrection’ (called “the first resurrection”) at the beginning of the 1000 years (vs. 4-6), whereas “the rest of the dead” are resurrected at the end of the 1000 years (vs. 5a). Satan is bound during the 1000 years (vs. 3), but is loosed “when the thousand years are expired” and “the rest of the dead” are raised (compare verses 5a and 7). Satan gathers the lost for a final battle against God's City (vs. 8). A final judgment occurs, and then the lost are punished in the lake of fire (verses 9, 14, 15). Then the old earth passes, and the new earth comes (Revelation 21:1).

The above points are undeniable, for this is exactly what Revelation 20 says. Two significant facts should be noted:

1. Revelation 20 doesn’t say there will be peace on earth during the 1000 years.
2. Revelation 20 doesn’t say Jesus Christ will rule during the 1000 years from the present city of Jerusalem.

These common doctrines are being taught worldwide but are not found in Revelation 20, the only place in God’s Word that specifically mentions the 1000-year period. Now let’s go deeper.

The Two Resurrections

There are two defining ‘bookends’ marking the beginning and the end of the thousand years, the two resurrections (vs. 4-6). Let’s see what else the Bible says about them.

Jesus Christ taught two resurrections. “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). The apostle Paul did too. “[T]here shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:15). Thus both Jesus Christ and Paul taught two resurrections, the first being “the resurrection of life” for the saved, the second being “the resurrection of damnation” for the lost.

Revelation 20 revolves around these two resurrections. As we’ve already seen, verses 4-6 reveal that one takes place at the beginning of the 1000 years, the other at the end. The Word says, “Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (vs. 6). This is the good, or “first resurrection,” at the start of the 1000 years. Those in it need not fear the second death. “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years where finished” (vs. 5a). This is the bad or second resurrection, at the conclusion of the 1000 years. Jesus Christ called it “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).

Thus it is plain that there are two resurrections - one at the beginning of the Millennium, in which true believers in Christ are raised to eternal life; and one at the opposite end of the Millennium, in which the “unjust” awake to something else entirely.

The Second Coming

If the thousand years begins with the resurrection of the just, the question is, When does this good resurrection take place? When we find the answer, then we’ll understand what initiates the thousand years.

Scripture teaches that the return of Jesus Christ results in the resurrection of His saints. In 1 Corinthians 15:23, 51-55, Paul tells us plainly that it is at “His coming,” when “the trumpet sounds,” that “the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Paul also wrote, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).

According to Paul, “the dead in Christ shall rise first.” This is the same as “the first resurrection” depicted in Revelation 20:6.

In summary, Revelation 20:4-6 begins the 1000 years with the resurrection of the saints. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 teach that the resurrection of the saints, who are called “the dead in Christ,” occurs when Jesus Christ returns. Thus it is the return of Jesus Christ, when His saints are resurrected, that marks the beginning of the Millennium.

Left Behind

Jesus returns, the righteous dead are raised, and along with the righteous living they all are “caught up” to meet the Saviour in the air. This is great news for true believers!

But what about those who are not “caught up,” those who are left behind? Popular teaching says they will have a second chance during a “seven-year Tribulation,” an idea heavily promoted in the wildly popular Left Behind novels by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. Though those books have sold by the millions, the important question for us should be, Is that theology truly biblical?

Immediately after Paul describes true believers being “caught up,” he then declares, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. For when they shall say Peace and Safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them ... and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3). Thus, according to Paul, those who are not “caught up” will reap “sudden destruction” and “not escape.”

Does this sound like ‘the second chance’ so graphically depicted in Left Behind novels and films? Hardly.

It gets worse. How widespread is this “sudden destruction”? Jesus Himself explained it: “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:26 -30, italics added).

In Noah’s day, all who refused to enter the ark were left behind, destroyed in the deluge. In Lot’s day, everyone except Lot and his family were consumed by falling fire. Jesus Christ said, “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Other texts make it clear that when Jesus returns, those left behind will be destroyed, not given another chance during some hypothetical “seven-year Tribulation” (which, by the way, is nowhere specifically referred to in the Bible). Here are just a few texts describing the global desolation that follows Jesus’ return.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 - When Jesus returns in flaming fire, the lost will be destroyed.
Revelation 16:17, 18 – At Armageddon, cities crumble around the world.
Revelation 6:14; 16:20 - Every island sinks, and all the mountains disappear.
Jeremiah 4:23-26 - Planet Earth is totally devastated, with “no man” left alive.
Jeremiah 25:30-33 - Those slain by the Lord lie dead, unburied, all around the world.
Revelation 19:17, 18, 21 - The birds eat the flesh of every human being worldwide.

These verses teach that those not “caught up” when Christ returns will be destroyed, and the destruction will encompass all the earth, as it did during Noah’s flood. Jesus Himself taught this. “The flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the son of man be” (Matthew 24:39).

The Rest of the Dead

The last sentence in Revelation 19 describes birds feasting upon “the flesh of all men” (vs. 21). Immediately following is Revelation 20, which depicts the binding of Satan so that he can “deceive the nations no more” during the 1000 years (Revelation 20:1-3). Why not? The answer’s easy--there’s nobody left alive on earth to deceive. Those in the first resurrection were “caught up” to be with Jesus, and the rest, those left behind, were slain.

This helps explain what follows (Read carefully): “that he [Satan] should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled” (Revelation 20:3). Notice these three words “no more until.” What do they tell us? They teach that those “nations” are entirely Satan’s nations. Satan is deceiving them now, but can’t continue deceiving them during the Millennium, “until” a certain time.

What time is that? When the 1000 years are over, obviously. Now put two and two together. At the end of the Millennium, “the rest of the dead” (who missed “the first resurrection”) are raised back to life. Then Satan deceives them again. Look again, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise:

Verse 5a - “The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished”

Verse 7 - “When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison”

At the end of the 1000 years, “the rest of the dead” are raised, and Satan is “loosed.” Therefore the raising of the “rest of the dead” is what “looses” the devil. Satan then swoops into these resurrected nations (now alive in the four corners of the earth), deceives them again, and then gathers them for the grand finale (verses 8, 9).

What does all this mean? The answer will come shortly after we examine a few more crucial points. What should be clear so far, however, that the common notion of the Millennium, reflected in Left Behind, leaves much to be desired. In fact, it’s completely bogus.

The Bottomless Pit

Crucial to understanding the Millennium are the first texts of Revelation 20, verses 1 and 2. According to these texts, Satan is bound with “a great chain” and confined to “the bottomless pit” for 1000 years. The expression, “a great chain,” doesn’t mean a literal chain. Even today, all of “the angels that sinned” with Lucifer are described as being in “chains of darkness” (2 Peter 2:4). These words do not refer to actual clinking and clanging metal, but to circumstances of darkness that these angels find themselves in after having been booted out of heaven.

During the 1000 years, Satan is represented as being bound with a chain because his new circumstances prevent him from deceiving the nations during the Millennium (Revelation 20:2). Again, what are those circumstances? Everyone left on earth is dead.

What’s this “bottomless pit”? In the Old Testament the word “pit” often refers to a grave, a cemetery, or to the place of the dead.

Psalms 55:23 - Evil men will go “down into the pit of destruction.”
Numbers 16:32, 33 - “the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up ... into the pit.”
Ezekiel 32:22, 23 - “his graves are about him ... in the sides of the pit ... all of them slain.”
Psalms 28:1 - David prayed not to “become like them that go down to the pit.”
Psalms 69:15 - “Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.”

Isaiah 14 contains one of the Old Testaments clearest prophecies about Lucifer. He was cast out of heaven (vs. 12) for exalting himself (vs. 13). Yet he is to be brought down “to the sides of the pit” (vs. 15). Isaiah 14:18-21 perfectly parallels the prophecy in Revelation 20:1-3. “All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house [the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. Thou shall not be joined with them in burial” (Isaiah 14:18 -21)

These verses predict a time when all the nations are slain and lie in their graves, yet Satan will not join them in burial. He will be left, instead, to wander among earth’s ruins. Notice carefully: “Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, thou inhabitant of the earth ... The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be moved like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days shall they be visited” (Isaiah 24:17 - 22).

This is a prediction of a destroyed and devastated earth. Its inhabitants are gathered as prisoners in the pit [the grave]. When Revelation 20:1-3 describes Satan as bound with a chain for 1000 years, this means that a chain of circumstances will prevent him from deceiving the nations. The major circumstance is the return of Jesus Christ in “flaming fire” (2 Thessalonians 2:8), the “sudden destruction” of sinners (1 Thessalonians 5:3), the largest earthquake in history (Revelation 16:18), the global crumbling of cities (Revelation 16:19), the disappearing of mountains and islands (Revelation 16:20), and the total depopulation of planet Earth just like “it was in the days of Noah” (Matthew 24:37-39). This “great day of the Lord” will come “as a destruction from the Almighty” (Joel 1:15). “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be as dung upon the ground” (Jeremiah 25:33).

Earth will then be like one gigantic bottomless pit, a huge cemetery. Jeremiah predicted: “I beheld the earth, and lo, it was without form and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger” (Jeremiah 4:23 -26). As Satan and his angels behold their kingdom in ruins, they can only wander about, counsel together, and contemplate with trembling the final events to occur at the end of the 1000 years.

Yet it doesn’t end here. We mustn’t forget the last section of Isaiah 24:17-22, which predicts that those who lie dead in their graves “shall be visited” (Isaiah 24:22). What could that possibly mean other than what we’ve seen in Revelation 20:5? “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” It’s what Jesus was talking about when He warned about the “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29). This occurs at the end of the Millennium.

Far, then, from being a time of earthly glory when Jesus reigns from Jerusalem, the Millennium is a time when earth lies waste, in desolate ruins, a prison house for Satan and his demons.

The Saints in Heaven

If this doesn’t sound inviting, it’s because it isn’t supposed to be inviting. It’s a time of chaos, desolation, and ruin, a time when sin takes another step toward its horrific ending. The Millennium is not some idyllic era of peace and goodness upon this old earth, with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem, but a time of utter devastation and judgment.

What about God’s people? What about those who participated in “the first resurrection,” who were “caught up” with Jesus as opposed to being left behind? What happens to them during the Millennium?

Near the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus told His followers that He was going to heaven, where He would be preparing mansions for His children (John 14:1, 2). When He returns, He will take us to Himself, “that where I am, there you shall be also” (vs. 3). When He comes, Jesus will take us to the place where He is now, in heaven in the New Jerusalem (see Revelation 3:12; 21:10). As we saw earlier, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 tells us that at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ we shall be “caught up.” Thus we are going up to glory. In perfect agreement with this is Revelation 19:1, 2, which teaches that immediately after the destruction of Babylon (Revelation 18:8-24), John beheld God’s saints in heaven. “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand” (Revelation 19:1, 2).

According to Revelation 20:4, 6, the saints will “reign” with Jesus for 1000 years. Contrary to popular opinion, Revelation 20 does not say they will reign on earth during that time. Why would Jesus and His people rule over a devastated and ruined world anyway? The Bible says we will soar upward when Christ returns (1 Thessalonians 4:17), that He will take us to the New Jerusalem (John 14:1-3), and that we will then be in heaven praising God (Revelation 19:1, 2).

Some might ask, How can we “reign” for 1000 years if we’re in heaven? Don’t we have to be on earth to “reign” over others during this time? Not necessarily. The Bible also says the saints will “reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). Thus this “reign” idea implies we will be in some position of authority, just as Adam originally exercised dominion over the earth, that’s all.

Now, if planet Earth is depopulated, with no survivors (except Satan and his angels), and the saints are in heaven, then what is the purpose of the 1000 years? A few possibilities exist:

1) It gives the loyal universe an opportunity to behold the terrible results of Satan’s rule; 2) It gives the saints in heaven an opportunity to go through heaven’s records and to have all their questions answered about why some of their loved ones are there and some are not; 3) It provides a period of time when Jesus and the saints together can make decisions about the just punishments to be carried out upon the lost at the end of the 1000 years (see 1 Corinthians 6:2,3); 4) It also gives the saints a period of time to prepare mentally for the events at the end of the 1000 years, at which time many of their loved ones will be resurrected, judged, and sentenced to the lake of fire (Revelation 20:5a, 11-15).

The Resurrection of Damnation

OK, we’ve seen that at the Second Coming, Jesus returns, the saved (both the resurrected dead and those alive at His return) are taken to heaven where they “reign” for a thousand years, the earth is destroyed--and Satan remains captive there for the allotted thousand years. What then happens at the end of the thousand years?

Revelation 20 (as we’ve already seen) is clear that two events occur:

1) The “rest of the dead” are raised to life (vs. 5a).
2) Satan is “loosed” (verses 3, 7).

Both events occur simultaneously. When the lost are resurrected, Satan now has people once again to deceive; thus he is, in effect, “loosed” from his chains. Satan then “will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea” (vs. 8). The “sand of the sea” means myriads of people (all the lost--from the days of Adam down to the last person who experienced “sudden destruction” at Christ’s return). During the 1000 years, they remain in their graves; now, they are raised to life in “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).

Immediately after the lost are resurrected, Satan gathers “them together to battle.” What Hollywood movie producer could even envision such a scene: billions of lost people, including (no doubt) great military commanders, gathered together in one final burst of rebellion?

The next question is, Who will this terrible army attempt to fight? The Bible makes it plain: “They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city...” (vs. 9). This is the New Jerusalem, the home of the saved (Revelation 3:12; 21:10), which descends from heaven to the earth (Revelation 3:12; 21:2) right before the second resurrection. Then Satan and his macabre army surround the “camp of the saints” in a last-ditch effort to conquer God's fortress.

Picture this scene: all the world’s lost and all the world’s saved are together for the first time--the saved inside the city, the lost outside. The lost will behold the reward of the righteous, the saved the doom of the damned.

This is Satan's last stand, his final opportunity to conquer Jesus Christ, His New Jerusalem, and the redeemed of all ages. But he can never defeat the King of the Universe. He failed miserably when Jesus was a lowly carpenter in human flesh. What chance does he have against Him now as King of the New Jerusalem? None whatsoever!

Fire from Heaven

After Lucifer’s legions gather round God’s holy city to make war against it, what happens next? The Bible explains explicitly: “[Satan] shall go out to deceive the [resurrected] nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them” (Revelation 20:8, 9).

Notice, “fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” That’s their fate!

Before the fire falls, a vast cosmic judgment scene unfolds. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it ... And I saw the [resurrected] dead standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it [another description of the resurrection of the lost], and Death and Hades [the grave] delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to their works” (Revelation 20:11 -13).

This judgment occurs while Satan’s army is gathered around the city; it concerns only the lost, who are then judged “according to their works.” As books are opened above them, they are allowed to see the complete record of their lives. They are shown why they are lost, why they are outside God’s City, why they have forfeited eternal life with Jesus. As the Book of Life is opened, they discover their names are missing. Then Jesus will undoubtedly show them how much He loved them, how He tried hard to save them, and yet how by their own persistent efforts they resisted His tender appeals. Yes, they will see that Jesus Christ died for them, that on the cross He paid the full penalty for all their sins, and that they could have been inside the city with His saints; but now they are outside with another master, the master of their own choosing. They will see that, though Jesus willingly took upon Himself the punishment that was theirs, they spurned Him, and now they are forced to stand before His holy majesty in the shame of their spiritual nakedness, with every wrong thought, every wrong word, and every wrong deed bearing down upon their consciences to condemn them, and there is no longer any Mediator to represent them and intercede for them.

After sentence is pronounced, the fire of God brings final retribution upon the lost. By this time, all the unsaved understand why they are lost. This destruction is an act of justice, not cruelty. The book of Revelation is very clear about God’s uprightness. “Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints” (Revelation 15:3); “You are righteous, O Lord ... Because you have judged these things” (Revelation 16:5); and “For true and righteous are His judgments” (Revelation 19:2).

The judgment at the close of the Millennium will be perfectly just, without any taint of imperfection chargeable upon God. By rejecting His love and mercy, and by a life of continued sinning, the lost have earned their just reward. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). The Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, holy angels, and the saints will all weep over the unsaved. But nothing more can be done. Now it’s too late.

Revelation 20:8 says the lost will march across “the four quarters of the earth” right before the fire falls upon them. Thus we conclude that God’s fire will descend all over planet Earth. This unquenchable downpour will become a “lake of fire” (14, 15) boiling everywhere. Malachi 4:1, 3 says that entire fateful day will “burn as an oven.” 2 Peter 3:10 adds “...the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” Thus God will totally purify and cleanse our sin-polluted earth with flames. In fact, 2 Peter 3 parallels the destruction of the world by water in Noah's day with the purification of the earth by fire at the end of the 1000 years (2 Peter 3:5-7). In Noah's day, the whole earth was under ‘a lake of water’; at the end of the 1000 years, this planet will be wrapped in “a lake of fire.” In Noah's day, God's people floated in the midst of the water but were protected inside the ark; at the end of the Millennium, when a lake of fire envelops our planet, God's saved “saints” will be right there, riding the storm safely inside the New Jerusalem.

The New Heaven and New Earth

Revelation 20 concludes with these solemn words, “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story. The next verse reads: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1).

New heaven (sky), new earth! What happened to the old ones? We just saw. The lake of fire consumed them. When the Bible says, “...the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,” this must include the lake of fire! After God's fire completely purifies this planet and its atmosphere, He will recreate the earth and sky, so long under the contaminating effects of sin. God will make “a new heaven and a new earth.” Eventually the cleansing fire will disappear, after purifying this earth from every trace of sin, sinners, Satan, and demons, and in place of smoggy sky and a polluted earth the Lord will create new ones.

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

Revelation 21 also adds, “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He that sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said to me, 'Write, for these words are true and faithful'” (Revelation 21:4, 5).

“Write, for these words are true,” says God Almighty. When this finally happens, the lake of fire, death, sin, sorrow, crying, and pain will “have passed away.” There will be no more terrorists, no more tears over the World Trade Center, nor crying over a million other things like natural disasters, sickness, divorce, child abuse, or graveside services. These will all have “passed away.”

As Noah and his family finally walked out of the ark onto a cleansed world, so will God's faithful saints finally step out of the New Jerusalem into a brand new world.

Conclusion

Contrary to popular opinion, the biblical Millennium is a time of desolation and ruin, followed by more rebellion, then judgment, and finally, re-creation--when the Lord who first spoke heaven and earth into existence (Genesis 1) repeats His creativity, “His wonders to perform”!

The most important issue, however, isn’t so much our knowledge of millennial details but our knowledge of the God who has revealed the truth about it. What this study shows us, perhaps more than anything else, is that there is no second chance, no middle ground, no neutrality in this Great War between Jesus Christ and Satan. Remember, the devil deceives “nations” (Revelation 20:3) in many areas, including this one. You friend, will be on one side or the other. You will either be inside the city, safe and secure with Jesus, looking down on the hordes outside; or you will be outside, deceived by the Devil, looking up at what might have been yours had you only repented and given yourself fully to Jesus Christ for faithful obedience.

Jesus died for you! He died so that you could have a place with Him in that New Jerusalem and in the new heavens and new earth that are coming. Your final destiny, inside or outside, eternal life or eternal destruction, depends upon your choice. Will you give yourself to the One who gave Himself for you, and thus have eternity with Him, or will you continue resisting His pleadings?

The Millennium is coming; nothing you can do will change this. All you can do is decide – by your choice for or against Jesus – where you are going to spend it.

The Lord is pleading with you. Choose Jesus Christ now, before it’s too late.

Source: http://www.1000yearmillennium.com/

MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Millennium Development Goals

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"MDG" redirects here. For other uses, see MDG (disambiguation).

List of UN Millennium Development Goals in the United Nations Headquarters in New-York

The Millennium Development Goals are eight goals that 189 United Nations member states have agreed to try to achieve by the year 2015.

The Millennium Development Goals derive from earlier 'international development goals'^[1], and were officially established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, where 189 world leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, from which the eight-goal action plan, the 'Millennium Development Goals', was particularly promoted.

Contents 1 Goals 2 References 3 See also 4 External links

Goals

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were developed out of the eight chapters of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, signed in September 2000. The eight goals and 21 targets include

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
   • Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day
   • Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
   • Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger
2. Achieve universal primary education
   • Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
   • Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015.
4. Reduce child mortality
   • Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
5. Improve maternal health
   • Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
   • Achieve, by 2015, universal access to reproductive health
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
   • Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
   • Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.
   • Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
   • Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes; reverse loss of environmental resources.
   • Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss
   • Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation (for more information see the entry on water supply).
   • By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum-dwellers
8. Develop a global partnership for development
   • Develop further an open trading and financial system that is rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory. Includes a commitment to good governance, development and poverty reduction—nationally and internationally.
   • Address the special needs of the least developed countries. This includes tariff and quota free access for their exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for heavily indebted poor countries; and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous official development assistance for countries committed to poverty reduction.
   • Address the special needs of landlocked and small island developing States.
   • Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.
   • In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youth.
   • In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.
   • In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

References

1. ^ OECD Development Co-operation Directorate - About the Millennium Development Goals

See also

• Copenhagen Consensus
• International Finance Facility
• 2005 World Summit
• The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria
• Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization
• Global Goods Partners
• Economic development
• Development assistance
• United Nations Millennium Project
• Millennium Promise
• HungryKids
• The End of Poverty

External links

• United Nations Millennium Declaration
• centre of excellence for MDGs
• The Millennium Goals (UN Site)
• BBC Summary 2005 of UN Millennium Goals
• Millennium Development Goals Indicators: MDG Dashboard (downloadable database)
• MDG Monitor
• UN Stats Division - MDGs
  • MDG Report 2007 (2006) (2005)
  • MDG Report Statistical Annex 2007 (2006)
  • MDG Progress Chart 2007 (2006) (2005)

• www.developmentgoals.org - World Bank
• [1] According to a report by the Child Healthcare Problem Identification Programme, denial of HIV/AIDS is one of the reasons South Africa is not progressing in its Millennium Development Goals for child health.

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