"Susan" finalist as Sarasota City Manager
Tuesday morning update: This morning, the Sarasota City Commission voted Susan Stanton as one of six finalists for the City Manager job. The rest of the story: Washington, D.C. - Susan Stanton was the toast or at least the toaster of the town Monday night in Washington. As Stanton and the largest group of transgender people prepared to lobby Congress, she was jokingly given a toaster as part of her transition. But the fired Largo city manager is here for a serious purpose. People get fired because of the gender identification every day, you just don't hear about it. And that's why Stanton says she felt compelled to come to Capitol Hill not just for herself but for all transgender people. She says she hopes to convince Congress that people who change sex should not be forced to change jobs. The fact is they can there is no specific federal provision that says you can't fire someone because they are changing their name on the resume. Stanton knows that first hand and believes commissioners reacted to pressure from organized opposition. The normal deliberative process that commissioners use and decision making was put aside and people started reacting from their gut and not their head. And that vote shocked Stanton, who believes the citizens would have voted to give her a chance as Susan instead of summarily firing her. She says she never thought it would end as it did in Largo. And while Stanton never thought she would lose her job for becoming Susan, she also won't look back. And when Stanton talks to Florida's congressional delegation, she hopes to have an impact with lawmakers that go far beyond largo and far beyond Florida. Tampa Bay's 10 News | ||
AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND. *** REVELATION 14:9
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
CALL HIM/HER SUSAN!
POPE APPLAUDS ECUMENICAL EFFORT

Pope applauds European ecumenical effort
Stuttgart, May. 15, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Christians should join together in Europe in an effort "not to lose our roots," Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) said in a message to an ecumenical assembly taking place this week in Stuttgart, Germany.
The Pontiff's message-- sent in his name by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news), the Vatican Secretary of State-- cited the words of Pope John Paul II (bio - news) in decrying "the loss of Europe's Christian memory and heritage, accompanied by a kind of practical agnosticism and religious indifference whereby many Europeans give the impression of living without spiritual roots and somewhat like heirs who have squandered a patrimony entrusted to them by history."
The Pope's message applauded the ecumenical initiative, entitled "Together for Europe 2007," for its effort to bring together different Christian groups in defense of "a Europe that risks losing its original values and giving up on its Christian roots."
Pope Benedict's message went on to voice the hope that the ecumenical effort would "strengthen the desire for communion" among different Christian groups, and recognize that the ultimate success of any effort will rely on God's help.
Source: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=51139
ARE YOU A TERRORIST?
| Are you a terrorist? |
| Written by Alberto Redi (halfmoon) | |
| Monday, 14 May 2007 | |
TV, radio and newspapers from all over the world often linger on the costs of terrorism, but what is not so often mentioned are the costs of the fight to terrorism. While dealing with such costs, we do not refer to how much money were spent to set up proper countermeasures against terrorist attacks, but to the consequences of a sort of Hysteria that affected whole western society from September 11th on. Terrorism is undoubtedly a threat that must be fought with all means, but we should take care to avoid that this state of alert will turn us into witch hunters, and we should prevent the fear of terrorism from damaging us much more than terrorism itself. Need some examples? Earlier this year, specifically on January 4th, the CNN apologized after mistakenly putting the name of US Senator Barack Obama as a caption on a story about Osama bin Laden. Senator Obama did not make objection about the fact that it had been just an innocent slip and the whole issue should have been soon forgotten. But it has not, and an rumor spread out in streets and on-line forums: Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and eventually a jihad sympathizer . Obviously, there’s nothing wrong in being a Muslim but, for a candidate to US presidential elections a similar rumour, worsened by Jihadist suspicions, could mean a political collapse.The most common hysteria among people, anyway, is linked to terrorists detection. As any form of “witch hunt”, it is based on the principle that anyone could potentially be a terrorist until he or she proves his or her innocence. The situation is definitely worth noticing in the USA, where citizens are particularly vulnerable to similar problems and authorities are very effective in putting regulations on anything that can be regulated. For instance, some years ago the FBI distributed a brochure to local enforcement agencies in Phoenix, Arizona (page 1 and page 2 ). The brochure includes a list of suspicious activities , but actually, things such as “request authorities for a stop”, “make numerous references to the US Constitution”, “defend the US Constitution”, “drive without driving licence” and even “claim that driving is a right and not a privilege”, seem to be very far from a “terrorist behaviour”. Moreover, States such as Alabama and Arizona published a series of tips and advices to better recognize terrorist activities, in order to report them to authorities. According to such vade-mecum, if you say that “the Constitution has been subverted” , if you “advocate for property rights” or if you believe in “Marxist” philosophy… then you might be a domestic terrorist and your name could be soon added to the Terrorist Screening Database . Maybe, what the brochure and governmental websites are referring to, is just a list of general behaviours that, if associated to violence or specific activities, could characterize a potential terrorist. But people is not so wise, and the risk to be transformed into a horde of bounty-hunters is verisimilar, because according to the lists we quoted above, there are few people who could say they are not terrorists. For incredulous readers: we found a quiz that could help you in making up your mind. It is just a joke and there’s nothing institutional in it, but it is based on the characteristics listed as “terrorists’ behaviours” by US authorities.. Enjoy it and let us know your personal score! |
THE BLACKLIST OR BLOCKLIST
The black list of “Specially Designed Nationals and Blocked persons”. Written by Alberto Redi (halfmoon) | |
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
| |
The US Treasury Department recently released a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers that can be publicly checked up by private businesses that, according to companies themselves, cannot offer certain services to people quoted in the list. So, for example, rental and mortgage companies and car dealers added the following statement to their rental application: “ The company X is prohibited by law from leasing to persons listed on the dept. of the treasury’s OFAC list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers”. This may be considered as a normal procedure in countries where Homeland Security is taken in high consideration. What is not normal, but unfortunately quite usual, is that companies sometimes deny such services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.
According to the “Frequently Asked Questions section” on the Department of Treasury Website, the procedure to follow in case a company finds that a customer’s name matches with one on the list , is the following one: “What do I do if I have a match to the SDN list?If you have checked a name manually or by using software and find a match, you should do a little more research. Is it an exact name match, or very close? Is your customer located in the same general area as the SDN? If not, it may be a "false hit." If there are many similarities, contact OFAC's "hotline" at 1-800-540-6322 for verification. If your "hit" concerns an in-process wire transfer, you may prefer to e-mail your question to OFAC. Unless a transaction involves an exact match, it is recommended that you contact OFAC Compliance before actually blocking assets. [09-10-02]” The List of “Specially Designated nationals and Blocked persons” ( the SDN List ) has been often used by banks to block financial transactions carried out by people flagged as drug traffickers, but after sept.11, 2001, the list was expanded and used in many other occasions. As reported by the Washington Post, “Businesses have used it to screen applicants for home and car loans, apartments and even exercise equipment, according to interviews and a report by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area to be issued today.” "The way in which the list is being used goes far beyond contexts in which it has a link to national security," said Shirin Sinnar, the report's author. "The government is effectively conscripting private businesses into the war on terrorism but doing so without making sure that businesses don't trample on individual rights." Treasury Department spokesmen, declared that actually some “false positive” could be root out but they also claimed that the department has set up an effective compliance section on the OFAC Web site and that it is promoting workshops with industry representatives in order to fix up this problem. The Washington Post also reports the story of Mr. Tom Kubbany who is “neither a terrorist nor a drug trafficker, has average credit and has owned homes in the past, so the Northern California mental-health worker was baffled when his mortgage broker said lenders were not interested in him. Reviewing his loan file, he discovered something shocking. At the top of his credit report was an OFAC alert provided by credit bureau TransUnion that showed that his middle name, Hassan, is an alias for Ali Saddam Hussein, purportedly a "son of Saddam Hussein." Under OFAC guidance, the date discrepancy signals a false match. Still, Kubbany said, the broker decided not to proceed. "She just talked with a bunch of lenders over the phone and they said, 'No,' " he said. "So we said, 'The heck with it. We'll just go somewhere else.' " Kubbany and his wife are applying for another loan, though he worries that the stigma lingers. "There's a dark cloud over us," he said. "We will never know if we had qualified for the mortgage last summer, then we might have been in a house now." |
Monday, May 14, 2007
FROM SATAN'S MOUTH
Volume XXVI Issue V May 2007
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Fax: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/
The Flood of Evil from Satan's Mouth!
“I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith……Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.”
Habakkuk 2:1-4, 7-8“For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.”
Hebrews 10:37-39“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”
Matthew 12:43-45In this issue of the Last Trumpet, we will examine the strange and amazing conditions of our world, and especially of our own country of the United States of America, in these very last days before the return of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. We have been watching conditions deteriorate for years as morals, decency, and character give way to liberal new age thought. It is a sad fact that our halls of government have become dens of thieves, our schools and universities have become cess pools of immorality, and homosexuals have been given respect in response to their militant demands. Television, Hollywood, and the Internet or worldwide web continue to be purveyors of unspeakable filth and perversions beyond the imaginations of the normal human mind. There is a general rottenness in society, and those that govern manifest it at every facet and level. It is as if there is a common thread from hell itself that is weaving a net of entrapment, and its drawstrings are pulling ever more tightly as Satan, the horned hunter of the night, works quickly to finalize his hunting expedition and completes his mission of walking to and fro in the earth, and walking up and down in it. Truly, the adversary of the Almighty and His children has traversed every parallel of latitude and every meridian of longitude, and he has left his footprints everywhere with a myriad of evil in his wake.
Discerning people may rightfully ask why this magnanimous manifestation of evil has come upon us of late. We find our answer to this question in the Scripture. We know that every generation rises and falls with the passage of time and becomes increasingly worse. In II Timothy 3:13 we read of this as follows: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” We also know that something very peculiar and unique happens to the last generation.
Our Saviour told us that when an evil spirit is cast out of a man, it wanders through dry places seeking a new home. When it finds none, it goes back to the man it came out of, and if that man’s house is still empty, not indwelt by the Holy Ghost, it takes seven evil spirits worse than itself as it re-enters that person. The Lord Jesus also clearly stated that this is exactly the case with the wicked last generation. Not just a man, but an entire generation suddenly becomes seven times more evil than it originally was. Can any thinking person doubt that this is the very case with our generation and nation at this present time? Thus, we know why things are as they are, and we also know that only the King of Righteousness can unravel all of this on Judgment Day, which is not far off! Every human being will be there -- either at the Saviour’s right hand or at His left hand. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew, we are told that those at His left hand go into eternal damnation, and those at His right hand go into His glorious Kingdom of Heaven. Where will you be? If you truly repent and call upon Him now, He will hear your faintest cry and save your soul. Why wait another minute? Eternity is just ahead!
...(Read more) Click http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/2007/May2007.html
KARACHI STRIKE
The Associated Press
KARACHI, Pakistan -- A general strike paralyzed Karachi and closed businesses in other major Pakistani cities Monday as discontent grew over President Pervez Musharraf's ouster of the chief justice and a weekend of violence that left 41 people dead.
Shops were shut and traffic was thin on the roads in the southern port city, where security forces have authority to shoot rioters on sight, after the worst political violence in Pakistan in years broke out over the weekend.
Security forces Saturday took no action as rival groups demonstrating over an abortive visit to Karachi by suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry fought fierce clashes that also wounded more than 150 and caused widespread damage to property. Opposition parties blamed the government for the violence and called a nationwide protest strike Monday.
"There is a complete strike in Karachi," said Azhar Faruqi, the city police chief.
He reported that law and order was improving -- after the unrest took an ominous ethnic turn Sunday with clashes between Urdu-speaking Mohajirs linked to a pro-government party and Pashtuns, whose rivalry has caused bloodshed here in the past.
Officials said the strike was being observed in towns and cities across southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. It was also observed, in varying degrees, in Islamabad and the capitals of Pakistan's other three provinces, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta.
Many citizens appeared to support the strike call; others observed it out of fear of recrimination or unrest during pro-Chaudhry street demonstrations.
In Lahore, about 8,000 people, including lawyers, opposition party and human rights activists, chanted "Go Musharraf Go!" and "Death to Altaf Hussain." Hussain is leader of the pro-government Mutahida Qaumi Movement party blamed for much of the Karachi violence.
They burned two effigies of Musharraf and hundreds of protesters pushed through a police barricade.
The weekend's bloodshed marked a serious escalation in a crisis that began March 9 when Musharraf suspended Chaudhry, and has hardened opposition to plans for the general, a key U.S. ally, to extend his nearly eight-year rule, seeking another term this fall.
Source: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2007/05/15/256.html
WHAT TO DO NOW
What to Do Now
AT this point let us change our focus from past history, and the crisis that lies just ahead, and consider the heart of the matter.
You can be God’s child just now—this very minute—if you will. God has already done all that a God can do, until you accept what He has done. God loved you so much "that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
Enabling Power
H
AVE you received that gift? All who receive Him are given power to be God’s children. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." John 1:12. You belong to God. He made you. So you are also His by creation. He redeemed you. So you are His by redemption. But He will not take you by force; you must choose to be His; you must acknowledge His rights, and your relationship. When you yield to Him, then you are His. See Romans 6:16. Just the minute that you surrender your life to His guidance, that minute He takes control. Then it is a minute-by-minute walk with God. Led by Him, you are His child. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Romans 8:14.Do you know that sin is the transgression of God’s law? "Whosoever commiteth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. See also Romans 5:13 and 7:7.
Do you know that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord? "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:2–3. See also Exodus 20:8–11.
The New Birth
WITH an earthly friend we make connection with a look or a touch. With Jesus we make union with our thoughts. You believe God’s Word. You believe with the heart. See Romans 10:10. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17. Then the faith of Jesus comes by studying God’s Word. See Revelation 14:12. We must study to show ourselves approved unto God, and then obey present truth. See 2 Timothy 2:15. Then that Word (in your heart) begins the new life. which is the "new birth." See 1 Peter 1:23. Then, keep drinking the milk of the Word, and so, "grow." See 1 Peter 2:2. Do not wait for some feeling. Take God at His Word, no matter how you feel.
Cleansed Now
B
Y loving obedience to God’s commandments, our love for Him is expressed. "And hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." 1 John 2:3–5. Whatever you want, ask God for it, then thank God for it. Now it is yours. See Mark 11:24. Of course you must ask according to God’s will. See 1 John 5:14–15.God says, "I will cleanse you." "I will give you a new heart." "I will put my Spirit in you." Ezekiel 36:25–27. Ask Him to do it. Thank Him that it is done, because He promised. Confess your sins to Him. Ask Him to forgive you. Thank Him that He has done it. 1 John 1:9; Matthew 7:7, 11; Philippians 4:6, 19. The Bible is full of promises—all yours, regarding this simple plan.
Walk With Christ
D
OES God want you, dear reader, to be His child? The answer is, Yes, Yes, Yes! Now the question is, Do you, dear reader, want to be God’s child? If your answer is Yes, then by the authority of God’s Word, you are a child of God. Put your hand into His and stay with Him. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." Isaiah 26:3–4.Reader, what will you do?
Jesus our High Priest
Hebrews 3:1
Source: http://www.earthsfinalwarning.com/efw-english_html/chap_16.htm
Sunday, May 13, 2007
WAR HAS GUTTED NATIONAL GUARD

Governors say war has gutted Guard
States fear lack of disaster responseBy Kirsten Scharnberg
Tribune national correspondent
Published May 13, 2007
As wildfires, floods and tornadoes batter the nation, the readiness of the National Guard to deal with those disasters, as well as potential terrorist assaults, is so depleted by deployments to foreign wars and equipment shortfalls that Congress is considering moves to curtail the president's powers over the Guard and require the Defense Department to analyze how prepared the country is for domestic emergencies.
The debate over the state of the National Guard has been intensifying for several years, but a powerful tornado in Kansas early this month has spun the topic back into the spotlight.
Her comments infuriated the Bush administration, which countered that the vast majority of her state's Guard members were available to be called up and that she would be provided any equipment she lacked as soon as she requested it.
The bitter exchange represented a familiar debate to governors across the U.S., many of whom have long feared and predicted that a catastrophic event could find their National Guard units woefully hard-pressed to react to mass casualties or chaos after four years of war in Iraq.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire watched the events unfold in Kansas, remembering her own worries from 2006.
At the beginning of last summer's wildfire season, she was attending a meeting with other governors from the Northwest. She had a big problem, Gregoire told them. Parts of her state were a tinderbox because of drought. Key segments of Washington's National Guard had deployed to Iraq. And the units that were left—the ones that would be called up to respond in the event of fast-spreading fires—were facing such severe equipment shortages that they sometimes struggled even to adequately train for disasters, let alone respond to them.
"I soon discovered that virtually all of the other governors were in the same position," Gregoire recalled.
Not long after that meeting, all 50 U.S. governors—the commanders in chief of their states' National Guards—signed a letter to President Bush imploring him to immediately begin reoutfitting their depleted National Guards. But little changed, and the Guard now has only 56 percent of its required equipment, the lowest level in nearly six years, according to the Government Accountability Office.
The tug of war between the president and the governors over the National Guard seems to heat up every time there is a national emergency. But how much of the rhetoric is simply the finger-pointing and power-jockeying of politics and how much is a frank assessment of how prepared the Guard would be in the event of a catastrophic domestic emergency, be it a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina or a terrorist assault on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks?
"The problem with the National Guard is not being exaggerated or overstated," said Loren Thompson, a military analyst at the Lexington Institute, a Virginia-based national security think tank. "It is very real, and it is a very big deal."
Feds: States can share
The administration has said that while the problem is a concern, it believes states can overcome any issues by sharing among themselves during disasters. In addition, Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week said that the administration is asking Congress for $22 billion for the Army National Guard over the next five years, which would take Guard equipment levels up to 76 percent. Still, the GAO recently determined that "this equipment may be deployed to meet overseas demands."Warning signs have been emerging for years relating to readiness of the National Guard, the oldest component of the nation's military force. The Guard was begun as a force of "citizen soldiers" to ensure their protection in their new land. Later the Constitution ensured that the Guard would be a dual federal-state force by giving the federal government the responsibility of funding, arming and organizing the Guard while mandating that the appointment of officers and routine training fall under the responsibility of each state, with the governor the commander in chief except during the rare instances when the Guard is "federalized," traditionally in times of war.
In late 2005, a GAO report found that almost every state's National Guard had just a fraction of the equipment it was supposed to have. Another GAO report issued just months ago took the criticism further. "The high use of the National Guard for federal overseas missions has reduced equipment available for its state-led domestic missions," it concluded. The top commander of the National Guard, Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, testified to Congress last month that the continuous use of its forces for overseas missions has "resulted in a decline of readiness for units here at home."
Missing equipment—much of which has been shipped to Iraq or destroyed there—is a large part of the problem. Certain states are worse off: Arizona has just 34 percent of its allotted equipment; New Jersey and Idaho 42 percent; and Louisiana, ground zero for the worst natural disaster in modern memory, remains at less than 50 percent.
Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, wrote in March to the House Armed Services Committee that her state's National Guard was missing the kinds of vehicles it would need to dig out from a late-spring northeaster or to evacuate residents in the wake of a flood. The California National Guard, routinely called up in the event of earthquakes and any subsequent looting, is missing 700 Humvees, and it has only half the high-water vehicles it should and less than a third of its required stockpile of machine guns.
In Illinois, the GAO estimates that the Guard has just 45 percent of its authorized equipment on hand and that it is particularly short of trucks, earthmovers and other equipment critical to emergency response.
"That's under half of what we need to dam the Mississippi if it overflows," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a Democratic presidential candidate, wrote Bush last week.
Readiness questions
As troubling as the equipment shortfalls may be, that is only part of the worry among governors, the GAO and the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, a federally appointed group of former generals and other military experts. All are critical of the fact that the Pentagon does not routinely measure the equipment readiness of non-deployed National Guard forces for domestic missions. There is now a push that this information be collected and reported to Congress.The other hot-button issue between the governors and the president regarding the National Guard involves the Insurrection Act, the law that governs when the National Guard can be "federalized" for domestic law enforcement without the consent of a governor. A 2006 revision to the act expanded the president's power to assume control of the Guard during domestic events, something that governors say threatens to derail state disaster planning and response. Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Kit Bond (R-Mo.), co-chairmen of the Senate National Guard Caucus, have introduced a bill to repeal the changes.
One of the healthy byproducts of the fight between the president and governors over the National Guard is that states have learned to work closely with one another. After Katrina, Guard leaders and state officials developed the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement that if one state is in short supply of people or gear when disaster strikes, it can borrow from other states.
Yet borrowing from neighbors is not always feasible, as Gregoire found out at that meeting between governors last year. A map drawn up by the GAO illustrates that there are many neighboring states with such severe equipment shortages they might have trouble borrowing from one another. North Carolina, for example, has only about 39 percent of its equipment while South Carolina sits at about 49 percent.
"You want to tap into the resources of the closest available state," said Lt. Col. Denis Riel, spokesman for the Rhode Island National Guard, "because time translates to lives in disaster scenarios."
Some states satisfied
There are a few spots for optimism.The Tennessee National Guard, the only armored Guard unit in the nation, has received about $170 million in replacement equipment and is currently better prepared than most states to respond to a disaster, a spokesman announced recently. Rhode Island, which just completed the largest hurricane drill in the nation, concluded that its National Guard's response indicated that it was adequately equipped and trained to respond to such an event, despite the fact that much of its key engineering heavy equipment is in Iraq.
Officials in Florida, which is predicted to have a busy hurricane season this year, say they are prepared for whatever storms come, despite having just about half of the Guard's allotted equipment.
"I feel very good that way," Gov. Charlie Crist said.
It seems everyone fears the same thing: the kind of massive disaster that might cross state boundaries and demand a full-scale emergency response that would dwarf what was required this month in Kansas.
"This isn't just a week when a little town in Kansas was torn apart," said Thompson, the military analyst. "It is also a week when there were wildfires across Georgia and Florida, a week when the Missouri River flooded. We have natural disasters every week in this country, and that's why the National Guard needs to be ready to respond every week. It's not."
kscharnberg@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-070513govs-guard-story,1,3999163.story
BEES DYING FROM GM FOODS?
The Bald Eagle, The Bird of Freedom
Glides , gazing, calm and sure!
Proof Bees Dying From GM Crops?
5-12-7
LONDON (AFP) - Research by a leading German zoologist has shown that genes used to genetically modify crops can jump the species barrier, newspapers reported here on Sunday. A three-year study by Professor Hans-Heinrich Kaatz at the University of Jena found that the gene used to modify oil-seed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside honey bees. The findings will undermine claims by the biotech industry and supporters of GM foods that genes cannot spread.
They will also increase pressure on farmers across Europe to destroy fields of oil-seed rape contaminated with GM seeds. In an interview for The Observer newspaper, Kaatz said: "I have found the herbicide-resistant genes in the rapeseed transferred across to the bacteria and yeast inside the intestines of young bees. This happened rarely, but it did happen." Asked if his findings had implications for the bacteria inside the human gut, Kaatz replied: "Maybe, but I am not an expert on this."
The Observer said Kaatz was reluctant to talk about his work until it is officially published and reviewed by fellow scientists. The reports come a day after Britain's Agriculture Minister Nick Brown urged farmers to destroy crops contaminated with genetically modified seeds. Up to 600 farmers in Britain are believed to have inadvertently planted more than 30,000 acres of oilseed rape contaminated with GM rape seeds, supplied by Anglo-Dutch seed company Advanta. Similar crops have been planted elsewhere in Europe, including in France, Germany and Sweden. The French and Swedish governments have already announced they are ordering the uprooting of the crops.
____
Modified Crop Genes 'Jump The Species Barrier'
By AnthonyBarnett
Public Affairs Editor - The Observer
A leading zoologist has found evidence that genes used to modify crops can jump the species barrier and cause bacteria to mutate, prompting fears that GM technology could pose serious health risks.
A four-year study by Professor Hans-Hinrich Kaatz, a respected German zoologist, found that the alien gene used to modify oilseed rape had transferred to bacteria living inside the guts of honey bees.
The research - which has yet to be published and has not been reviewed by fellow scientists - is highly significant because it suggests that all types of bacteria could become contaminated by genes used in genetically modified technology, including those that live inside the human digestive system. If this happened, it could have an impact on the bacteria's vital role in helping the human body fight disease, aid digestion and facilitate blood clotting.
Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, who was yesterday advising farmers who have accidentally grown contaminated GM oilseed rape in Britain to rip up their crops, confirmed the potential significance of Kaatz's research. He said: 'If this is true, then it would be very serious.'
The 47-year-old Kaatz has been reluctant to talk about his research until it has been published in a scientific journal, because he fears a backlash from the scientific community similar to that faced by Dr Arpad Pustzai, who claimed that genetically modified potatoes damaged the stomach lining of rats. Pustzai was sacked and had his work discredited.
But in his first newspaper interview, Kaatz told The Observer: 'It is true, I have found the herbicide-resistant genes in the rapeseed transferred across to the bacteria and yeast inside the intestines of young bees. This happened rarely, but it did happen.' Although Kaatz realised the potential 'significance' of his findings, he said he 'was not surprised' at the results. Asked if this had implications for the bacteria inside the human gut, he said: 'Maybe, but I am not an expert on this.' Dr Mae-Wan Ho, geneticist at Open University and a critic of GM technology, has no doubts about the dangers. She said: 'These findings are very worrying and provide the first real evidence of what many have feared. Everybody is keen to exploit GM technology, but nobody is looking at the risk of horizontal gene transfer.
'We are playing about with genetic structures that existed for millions of years and the experiment is running out of control.' One of the biggest concerns is if the anti-biotic resistant gene used in some GM crops crossed over to bacteria. 'If this happened it would leave us unable to treat major illnesses like meningitis and E coli .'
Kaatz, who works at the respected Institute for Bee Research at the University of Jena in Germany, built nets in a field planted with genetically modified rapeseed produced by AgrEvo. He let the bees fly freely within the net. At the beehives, he installed pollen traps in order to sample the pollen from the bees' hindlegs when entering the hive. This pollen was fed to young honey bees in the laboratory. Pollen is the natural diet of young bees, which need a high protein diet. Kaatz then extracted the intestine of the young bees and discovered that the gene from the GM rape-seed had been transferred in the bee gut to the microbes.
Professor Robert Pickard, director-general of the Institute of the British Nutrition Foundation, is a bee expert as well as being a biologist and has visited the institute where Kaatz works. He said: 'There is no doubt that, if Kaatz's research is substantiated, then it poses very interesting questions and will need to be looked at very closely. 'But it must be remembered that the human body has been coping perfectly well with strange DNA for millions of years. And we also know many people have been eating GM products for years without showing any signs of ill health.' (link to www.rense.com)
Gene transfer to bacteria inside the bees intestine. Maybe that's a contributing factor in their disappearance.
=========================
Source: http://disc.server.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=110861;show_parent=1
NATIONAL"ID" OPPOSITION GROWS
ID Continues To Grow
By Tom DeWeese
5-12-7
|
Saturday, May 12, 2007
TERROR WATCH LISTS

Debate Revived Over Private
Use Of Terror Watch Lists
Tuesday , May 01, 2007
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
WASHINGTON —
A debate over whether federal terror lists are wrongly singling out innocent Americans has been revived in a recent report suggesting that landlords, employers and even health insurers are vetting people against a Treasury Department terror list and not always getting it right.The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area alleges that more Americans than ever are being mistakenly connected to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list of persons and companies engaging in or affiliated with terrorism.
The Treasury Department acknowledges that mistakes can happen, but says the list's benefits make the program worth continuing.
"We have seen success, being able to choke off terror financing and proliferation financing," Molly Millerwise, a spokeswoman for OFAC told FOXNews.com. "It's hard to set markers. Your success is the attack that didn’t happen. But it’s making it harder for terrorists to make, move and store money."
The report, titled "How a Treasury Department Terrorist Watchlist Ensnares Everyday Customers," acknowledges that "few people in the United States are actually on the list. ... But because many of the names on the OFAC list are common Muslim or Latino names -- such as 'Mohammed Ali' or 'Carlos Sanchez' -- people in this country with similar names are being snagged."
Click here to read the report (pdf).
The result, the report's authors conclude, is that "a growing number of Americans have endured stigma and lost opportunities in ordinary consumer settings" like buying a car or home, even online retail purchases.
Skeptics of the report say that the problem of "false positives" generated by the list of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) is not nearly as big as the report suggests, and the benefits of tracking terror funds post-Sept. 11, 2001, far outweigh the small number of people snared by the list.
"I find it hard to believe that this is a national issue," said James Carafano, homeland security expert for the Heritage Foundation. "There are a lot of urban legends out there. You would have to show me the data to support it."
The lawyers' report does not include data, noting that it learned through a Freedom of Information request that "the Treasury Department does not keep count of complaints received from individuals mistakenly flagged by OFAC screening," nor does it maintain a formal procedure of recourse to set records straight, causing delays and denials of service, perhaps multiple times before the problem is cleared up.
But the report offers anecdotal examples. For instance, a couple with common Latino names trying to purchase a home had to get a Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights attorney involved before they could convince the title company they were not the people on the OFAC list. Unlike most of the other entries, the list had no identifying information like a date or place of birth to distinguish the couple from the terrorist-affiliated names.
In another example, Tom and Nanci Kubbany lost out on their new home because of an erroneous red flag on his credit report. "It's so surreal, I still can't believe it now," said Tom Kubbany, who is of Syrian descent. His middle name is the common name Hassan, which the report states is one of the aliases used by a supposed third son of the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The Kubbanys are still trying to get a home loan.
The American Civil Liberties Union said that like the federal “no-fly list,” individuals with common names such as "Ali," "Mohammed," "Ahmed," "Ortiz" and "Ramirez" are getting caught in a web and it’s often hard for them to avoid getting repeatedly snagged. The experience is often humiliating and burdensome, he said.
"I'm not sure we are giving proper protection for people with common surnames," said Tim Sparapani, legislative counsel for the ACLU, who says there is no proof that the treasury list -- about 6,000 names and companies strong, including aliases -- is thwarting major terrorist activities.
"We have a great burden on our businesses and huge burden on our individuals and I'm not sure we're getting the best bang for our buck," he said.
Molly Millerwise, spokeswoman for OFAC in the Treasury Department, could not provide the exact amount of assets frozen or transactions blocked in the last year, nor the number of mistakes generated by businesses vetting Americans against the SDN list.
However, she said the OFAC hotline remains the primary avenue for complaints by people and vendors who believe they've received the wrong match. The hotline got 90,000 calls last year, Millerwise said. Those calls include inquiries from vendors checking customer data.
As for terror funds, the Treasury Department’s most recent Terrorist Assets Report, reports that as of 2005, the government has blocked $13.7 million in terror funds specifically through persons and entities listed on the SDN. The vast majority of names on the list reside outside of the United States and are broadly affiliated with terrorists and drug cartels.
The same report indicates that in 2005, the U.S was blocking a total of $479 million in funds connected to six countries listed as state sponsors of terrorism.
As far as false positives go, Millerwise pointed out that most names and entities on the list -- many of which were added after the Sept. 11 attacks -- come with identifying information like passport numbers and birth dates and places so as to avoid mistaken identity.
"We, of course, get accidents of false positives," she said. "That's something we've been focused on, and working at including more and more identifier information as we can."
But according to the Treasury Department Web site, while all U.S businesses and financial institutions are required to ensure they are not doing business with anyone connected to terrorism, the onus is largely on vendors to clarify -- through the hotline -- whether they have a legitimate "hit" on the OFAC list if they use it.
Aside from the hotline, OFAC suggests that any individual who believes he or she is the victim of an erroneous alert should contact the credit agency that issued the red flag to get it erased.
Ed Hasbrouck, travel writer and privacy expert, who has been monitoring the same type of problems with the nation's no-fly list, said the bureaucratic slog and the heightened sensitivity to the terrorist "taint" is causing vendors to cut off customers before they can fully verify the names are a true match.
Penalties for anyone in the U.S. doing business with a person or entity connected to terrorism can reach as high as $10 million and 30 years in jail. While businesses are not mandated to use the SDN list every time they make a transaction, many companies, including health insurers, landlords and even retail companies, do and often employ private services or software that vet customers against the list.
When vendors take shortcuts, or don't double check information, innocent people get the short end of the stick, said Hasbrouck.
"I think it's totally understandable (how this happens). But it's not good, not acceptable," he said.
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a terrorism expert for the Center for the Defense of Democracies, said the “terror watch list” system for tracking terrorists and their supporters is a good one, but recent problems indicate that it could be refined.
"The more people see the machinations of the War on Terror as bureaucratic and unresponsive," the less seriously they are going to take it, he said. "I'm a believer that we are facing a pretty grave threat, and we need to take measures to combat it. But often it can be done more intelligently than it is."
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,269305,00.html
P.S. Does anyone see here a trend towards the ban on "buying and selling" mentioned in Revelation 13?
WARRIOR CULTURE OF LAPD

By ANDREW GLAZER, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 1 minute ago
LOS ANGELES - The Police Department's violent response at the end of an immigrant demonstration is the latest incident highlighting what critics describe as the force's "warrior culture."
It's an ethos that's been on display before — the use of clubs and tear gas to disperse 15,000 peaceful anti-war protesters in Century City in 1967, the Watts riots, the Rodney King beating in 1991, the harsh crackdown on demonstrators at the 2000 Democratic National Convention.
Public outcry and inquiries that followed each event haven't deterred some officers from cracking a few kneecaps to assert order, even in front of cameras.
Chief William Bratton's criticism of his department and decision to quickly reassign two high-ranking officers after the immigration rally near two weeks ago were roundly applauded, though skeptics say it's not nearly enough to address deep-seated issues that produce violent responses by some officers.
Bratton was appointed in 2002 to steer the LAPD after a rogue anti-gang unit scandalized the department by assaulting and framing people in the tough Rampart district. Dozens of criminal convictions were tossed out as a result of the scandal.
Bratton has since had some success in improving community relations, including his swift action following the May 1 immigration rally violence.
However, skeptics say none of these efforts are enough to address the deep-seated culture that has caused repeated bouts of excessive force.
"The LAPD is a big ocean liner and it will take a long time to turn around," said Joe Domanick, a senior fellow of criminal justice at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Institute for Justice and Journalism. "(Bratton) has not focused on the paramilitary culture and us-against-them mentality that seems to still persist in the LAPD."
He said the culture originated during the reign of William H. Parker, hired as chief in 1950, who imagined the city's police force as an urban army.
Domanick said Parker's view was: "We're the only thing standing between chaos and anarchy. We are the professionals. We know better. No one tells us better."
After the King beating, lawyer Warren Christopher, who later became secretary of state, was tapped to lead a commission in dissecting the department.
The Christopher Commission examined five years of reports, police radio communications and hearings and interviews with dozens of residents and police, and found that "a significant number of officers" routinely used excessive force.
"The Department not only failed to deal with the problem group of officers but it often rewarded them with positive evaluations and promotions," according to the report.
Civil rights attorney Connie Rice led a similar investigation after the Rampart scandal and, in a 2000 report, found little had changed.
The anti-gang unit, known as CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums), "developed an independent subculture that embodied a 'war on gangs' where the ends justified their needs,' the report said. "They resisted supervision and control and ignored LAPD's procedures and policies."
Since then, Bratton has had to take a number of actions in response to police use of force.
He restricted police from firing on cars in most cases after officers killed a 13-year-old car theft suspect who rammed a squad car in 2005. In 2004, Bratton banned police from carrying long metal flashlights after video showed a Hispanic police officer using one to repeatedly beat a black suspect who was lying on the ground.
Critics say it will take a lot more to change the LAPD's warrior culture.
Particularly telling of a resistance to change was the department's decision to put Cmdr. Louis Gray in charge of policing the May 1 rally, said National Lawyers Guild attorney Carol Sobel. Gray was the one who gave the order to fire rubber bullets at demonstrators outside the 2000 convention, said Sobel, who said one of the rubber projectiles hit her between the eyes.
"The institutional memory is very short," said Sobel, who worked with police afterward to revise crowd control protocols.
Bob Baker, president of the police union, turned down a request for an interview, but issued a statement defending the police response after the May 1 clash, saying officers responded appropriately when some members of the crowd threw bottles and rocks at police.
"As Chief Bratton says, 'sometimes policing isn't pretty and there is little if any time for reflection and discussion before action,'" Baker said. "... In the coming days it will become clear what transpired. Until then there should be no rush to judgment."
___
Associated Press writer Jeremiah Marquez contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070513/ap_on_re_us/immigration_rally_la_police
(Bolds added) To illustrate similarities with other entities. Blogmaster
THE MARK OF THE LIVING GOD

The Mark of the Living God
or
The Mark of the Beast?
What is represented by the Beast, the Im-age, and the Mark in Revelation 13?
Daniel 7:17,23 states that a Beast represents "Kings" or "Kingdoms". Scripture also tells us in Job 18:3; Psalms 49:12, 20; Ecclesiastes 3:18; Daniel 5:21; Micah 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:32; Titus l:12; 2 Peter2:12 and Jude 10 that "Beasts" are a symbol to represent "men". In Revelation 13:l-10 is given the description of a "Beast" or "Kingdom" of men "like unto a leopard" that arose from the "sea". Revelation 17: 15 states that "waters" represents, "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."
Revelation 13:5,6 states that this "Beast"or "King" had a "mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;" and that "he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
"And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?...But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." Matthew 9:2-4, 6. In John 10:33 we read, "The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not;' but for blasphemy; and because that thou, BEING A MAN, MAKEST THYSELF GOD." The Jews did not believe that Jesus was God. (see 1 Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Matthew 1:23; Philippians 2:6; and Hebrews1:8) Jesus was the ONLY MAN who walked on this earth who can FORGIVE SINS. (see1 John 1:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:15-16) For any other man on earth to claim this power is BLASPHEMY! (see also Isaiah 37:23)
The ONLY "Beast" 'King" or "Kingdom" of "men" that arose from a populated area of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" and that claims the "power on earth to forgive sins" is the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH whose leader is the POPE! "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter dated June 20, 1894. This is the"Beast " of Revelation 13:l-l0! The Catholic popes and priests claim the power and authority to forgive sins. Therefore, the title "Holy Father" is attached to their names. But Jesus said, "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call NO MAN YOUR FATHER UPON THE EARTH: for ONE IS YOUR FATHER, WHICH IS IN HEAVEN." Matthew 23:8-9
The prophet Daniel declared that the Roman Church, symbolized by the little horn (Daniel 7:8, 20-25), was to THINK TO CHANGE TIMES AND LAWS (Daniel 7:25), while Paul styled it the MAN OF SIN (2Thessalonians 2:3-4), who was to exalt himself above God. Only by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above God; whoever should understandingly keep the law as thus changed would be giving supreme honor to that power by which the change was made. Such an act of obedience to papal laws would be a mark of allegiance to the pope in the place of God.
The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. The second commandment, forbidding image worship, has been dropped from the law, and the fourth commandment has been so changed as to authorize the first instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. But papists urge as a reason for omitting the second commandment (Exodus 20:4-6) that it is unnecessary, being included in the first, and that they are giving the law exactly as God designed it to be understood. This cannot be the change foretold by the prophet. An intentional, deliberate change is brought to view: "He shall THINK TO CHANGE TIMES A LAWS." (Daniel 7:25) The change in the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the prophecy. For this change the only authority is that of the church. Here the papal power openly sets itself above God. The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the Sabbath, is disproved by His own words. In his sermon on the mount He declared:
"Think NOT that I am come to destroy the LAW or the prophets; I am not come to destroy but to fulfil1. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew5:17-18)
Roman Catholics acknowledge that the change of the Sabbath was made by their church; and they cite this change as evidence of the authority of the church to legislate in divine things, and declare that Protestants, by observing the Sabbath as thus changed, are recognizing her power.
"Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from MY SABBATHS, and I am profaned among them." Ezekiel 22:26.
"Protestants...accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change..." "Our Sunday Visitor" Feb. 5, 1950 "We Observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday." - Peter Geiermann, CSSR, A Doctrinal Catechism, 1957 edition, p. 50.
"Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (of the Sabbath to Sunday) was her act. It could not have been otherwise, as none in those days would have dreamed of doing anything in matters spiritual and ecclesiastical and religious without her. AND THE ACT IS A MARK of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters." James Cardinal Gibbons, in a letter to J.R. Snyder of Bloomington, Ill., Nov. 11, 1895, and signed by H.F. Thomas, Chancellor for the Cardinal.
The fourth commandment, which Rome has endeavored to set aside, is the only precept of the decalogue that points to God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and thus distinguishes the true God from all false gods. "REiMEIMBER the SABBATH DAY to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the SEVENTH DAY is the SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the SEVENTH DAY (SATURDAY): wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11
The dignitaries of Church and State will unite to bribe, persuade, or compel all classes to honor the SUNDAY. The lack of divine authority will be supplied by oppressive enactments. Legislators will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance.
The SEVENTH DAY SABBATH is SATURDAY. God blessed the SABBATH DAY after the creation of the world. (Genesis 2:1-3) He gave the Sabbath as a "sign" between Him and His people forever. (Ezekiel 20:12, 20) Jesus kept the Sabbath Holy. (Matthew 12:1-13; Mark 1:21; 2:27-28; 3:2-4; 6:2; Luke 4:16, 31; 6:1-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6; John 5:9-16) The disciples kept it AFTER the crucifixion of Christ. (Luke 23:54-56) Paul kept it. (Acts 13:42-44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4) The Sabbath remains a "rest to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:4-l 1) It will be kept by God's people in the new earth. (Isaiah 66:22-24) The Sabbath is the "Lordk"Day. (Isaiah 58:13; Matthew 12:8; Mark 2:27-28; Revelations 1:l0)
SUNDAY will soon be the MARK OF THE BEAST when enforced by law, yet, this must not be confused with the number of the beast. 666 is the NUMBER of the BEAST, it is the number of a MAN. (Revelation 13:18)
"And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon." Revelation 13:11
The beast with "two horns like a lamb" in Revelation 13:11-17 represents the United States of America. The lamb-like horns, emblems of innocence and gentleness, well represent the character of our government, as expressed in its two fundamental principles, Republicanism and Protestantism.
The Bible reveals that this "beast" "spake as a dragon" thus showing that this "Christian nation" will "exercise all the power of the first beast (Roman Church) before him..." (Rev. 13:11-12) Furthermore, this nation will form an "IMAGE TO THE BEAST". (Rev. 13:14-15) This "IMAGE TO THE BE4ST" will enforce the MARK OF THE BEAST (SUNDAY WORSHIP!). This national SUNDAY LAW will be enforced upon ALL NATIONS. Those who refuse to surrender the Bible Sabbath (Saturday) will not be able to "buy or sell" and many will be "killed" (Rev. 13:15-17; 20:4; John 16:1-2).
When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an Image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution, as were God's ancient people. Please read also John 16:1-2; Matthew 10:16-17; 24:20; Luke 21:16-17; and Revelation 13:15-l 7; 20:4.
John saw in vision the "remnant" people of God (Rev. 12: 17) who "...had gotten the
victory over the beast (Catholic Church), and over his image (Protestant churches who unite church and state to enforce Sunday worship), and over his mark (Sunday worship), and over the number of his name (666), stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God." Rev. 15:2
These "'remnant " people of God are described thus, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and the faith of Jesus." Rev. 14:12 These are God's faithful people who receive the "seal of the living God" "in their foreheads." Rev. 7:1-4. God's SEAL is his "SIGN". (see Romans 4:11 where "sign" and 'Seal" mean the same thing) God's "SIGN" or "SEAL" is in HIS LAW! "Bind up the testimony, SEAL THE LAW among MY DISCIPLES." Isaiah 8:16.
"Moreover also I gave them MY SABBATHS, to be a SIGN between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them." "And hallow MY SABBATHS; and they shall be a SIGN between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God." Ezekiel 20:12, 20
Strength and grace have been provided through Christ to be brought by ministering angels to every believing soul. None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteoasness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to strip them of their garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live, and not die. (Philippians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 10: 13; Matthew 5:48)
Will you receive the "SEAL" of God by keeping the Bible SABBATH (Saturday)? Or will you receive the "MARK OF THE BEAST"? (SUNDAY WORSHIP)
For more information, and/or a free book write:
Healthful Living Ministry
PO Box 7684
Citrus Heights CA 9562 l-7684
healthful-living@yahoo.com
Source: http://www.a4t.org/Sermons/Misc/kirtley-god_or_beast.html
SELF-SENT MESSENGERS

99
counsel of God. Even if wicked men talk the truth, some may receive it; but it does not bring those who talked it into any more favor with God. Wicked men are wicked men still, and according to the deception they practiced upon those who were beloved of God, and according to the confusion brought into the church, so will be their punishment; their sins will not remain covered, but will be exposed in the day of God's fierce anger. {EW 98.1}
These self-sent messengers are a curse to the cause. Honest souls put confidence in them, thinking that they are moving in the counsel of God and that they are in union with the church, and therefore suffer them to administer the ordinances, and, as duty is made plain that they must do their first works, allow themselves to be baptized by them. But when light comes, as it surely will, and they are aware that these men are not what they understood them to be, God's called and chosen messengers, they are thrown into trial and doubt as to the truth they have received and feel that they must learn it all over again; they are troubled and perplexed by the enemy about all their experience, whether God has led them or not, and are not satisfied until they are again baptized and begin anew. It is much more wearing to the spirits of God's messengers to go into places where those have been who have exerted this wrong influence than to enter new fields. God's servants have to deal plainly, act openly, and not cover up wrongs; for they are standing between the living and the dead and must render an account of their faithfulness, their mission, and the influence they exert over the flock of which the Lord has made them overseers. {EW 99.1}
Early Writings, Ellen G. White, 1882, pgs. 98-99.
HEED AND SEEK THE LORD

1Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
18Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?