Wednesday, June 13, 2007

ACT FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM



The Virginia Act For Establishing Religious Freedom


Thomas Jefferson, 1786

Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in his Almighty power to do; that the impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves, is sinful and tyrannical; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporal rewards, which proceeding from an approbation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the instruction of mankind; that our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, more than our opinions in physics or geometry; that, therefore, the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to the offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which in common with his fellow citizens he has a natural right; that it tends also to corrupt the principles of that very religion it is meant to encourage, by bribing, with a monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments, those who will externally profess and conform to it; that though indeed these are criminal who do not withstand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way; that to suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession or propagation of principles, on the supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, because he being of course judge of that tendency, will make his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own; that it is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil government, for its officers to interfere when principles break out into overt acts against peace and good order; and finally, that truth is great and will prevail if left to herself, that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate, errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them.

Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.


And though we well know this Assembly, elected by the people for the ordinary purposes of legislation only, have no powers equal to our own and that therefore to declare this act irrevocable would be of no effect in law, yet we are free to declare, and do declare, that the rights hereby asserted are of the natural rights of mankind, and that if any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural right.


Source: http://www.sundaylaw.net/opening/religlib/rel_lib.htm

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

WAITING FOR GODOT


Théâtre de Babylone: Middle East War Theater and other dark venues, circa June 2007.




  • The latest news to hit the U.S. Media-airwaves is a plan to supply weapons to Extremist Sunni militants in Iraq, so that they can assist in the WAR On Terror (WOT).

  • When President Bush visited Albania, on Sunday, June 10, he expressed the opinion that he'd like to see Kosovo( remember that fracas) become a free and sovereign nation.

  • Last week Turkish troops crossed the Iraqi border to quash a situation that got out of hand in Northern (Kurdish) Iraq.

  • Hamas and Fatah are battling each other tooth and nail in the Gaza Strip.

  • Lebanon's Army has been fighting (purported) Palestinian Al Qaeda elements to such an extent that the U.N. is considering issuing sanctions against Lebanon .

  • Syria is allegedly supplying Arms to the Palestinians in Lebanon; While at the same time there are heightened tensions between Syria and Israel: Syria has stated it wants peace.

  • Prince Harry, the son of Princess Di and Prince Charles of Britain, will be deploying to war in Afghanistan. He originally wanted to go to Iraq, but it was later considered too dangerous for his royal highness.

  • Monday 6/11, Israel launched a new spy satellite to boost surveillance over Syria and Iran.

  • On CBS's "Face the Nation", on Sunday 6/10, Senator Joseph Liberman, hinted that a limited strike by the U.S. might be required. Recently, in April 2007, Sen. John McCain was heard chanting a knock-off rendition of the Beach Boys song, "Barbara Ann". Thus: "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb-Bomb-Iran".

  • Saturday 6/9/2007, when President Bush visited Pope Benedict 16, at the Vatican; The Pope expressed his concerns for "the Christians in Iraq".

  • Former Sec of State, Colin Powell referred to the War in Iraq as a Civil War, when interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press", with Tim Russert. On The Surge? He said, "It can only put a heavier lid on a boiling pot". He also stated that Guantanamo Bay Prison should be closed immediately.

  • Tonight on the NBC Nightly News, President Bush said that he isn't trying to "twist any arms", over the struggle to pass his "Illegal Immigration Amnesty Bill". Well, the President has been pushing (as in: President Bush prodded rebellious Senate Republicans to help resurrect legislation that could provide eventual citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants), arm-twisting, bullying, biting, and insulting, or shoving his opinions and agenda down the throats of Congress and the American People, ever since he became President in 2001.
  • The Separation of Church and State was further violated with the visit of President Bush to the Vatican, recently, to meet the vicar of the Roman Catholic religion while flying to Rome via Air Force One. Why the State Visit to meet the Pope, a Monarch of The Church/State entity known as The Vatican? As if the United States were a homogenously a Catholic, South American Nation, or like Spain or Italy, who flaunt they are 99.9% Catholic? Mr. President "we (as in We The People) are not all "papal sympathizers", as you seem to be:

The United States was founded by people fleeing the tyranny of the Papal power, and the Church of England, a similar yet, less brutal enemy. Why this new-found camaraderie with Rome all of the sudden? Have you had an epiphany of Mary? If this is you inclination,if so by all means, Sir, knock yourself out with those dogmas and doctrines. But, to impose them on Protestant America, that is absurd. America was supposed to break with those old-world traditions and superstitions which dictated to men's consciences. No king, No Pope. Capite!

Remember The Monroe Doctrine it prevents such liasons. What, will you suggest that "Blue Laws"or Sunday Laws be enforced, "DIES DOMINI", just what the 'holy father' wants? Here in the land of the Free and the home of the Brave? In the U.S.A.?

Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Jeremiah 17: 5&7.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
Romans 6: 16.

Is the world being prepared for "The Antichrist"? By the "False Prophet" or leader of the Second Beast, The one that rises out of the Earth? Hegelian Dialectics is the Modus Operandi of the (NWO) Global Elite. The chaos that abounds in most of the world can not be coincidence. Albert Pike the 33rd Degree Grandmaster FreeMason laid out the plans for fomenting the conditions that would create WWIII: It sure looks as if his followers have instituted every aspect of those plans to the letter.

I am waiting on Jesus Christ to return to Earth and bring justice and true peace, and an end to all the suffering and corruption. I'm Not Waiting for The Anti-Christ, but, I know who he is, where he lives, and what he's up to: NO GOOD; What about those Christians in Iraq?

Who are the Christians in Iraq:
1. The Chaldeans, whose 600000 people represent the majority of Christians in Iraq, are an oriental rite Catholic community..............
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1E5FAE56-8F8B-496E-86BB-136D2BBD0999.htm - 57k
2.The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East .......
www.answers.com/topic/assyrian-church-of-the-east - 119k

Vatican

MEANWHILE, back (at the ranch) in Crawford, Texas, it is business as usual. "Summertime and the livin' is easy, fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high". Mimosas by the pool after Brunch (Filet mignon and Hush-puppies), and let's celebrate life.


P.S. On my way home from work I saw a sign and it boggled my mind. Gas prices are gradually dropping. It read Regular gas at $2.93, and I said, Ooh wee, it almost sounds like its for free. $2.93, it 's not free, it's a steal.

Waiting for Godot.

Vladimir: Well? Shall we go?
Estragon: Yes, let's go.
They do not move

Monday, June 11, 2007

IMPLANTED RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP

SOCIAL SECIENCE: AMERICA'S IMPLANTED RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP

Nancy Levant
June 5, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

It is this writer’s opinion that the divisions in the Christian religion – the denominations – worked like political charms to all but topple the religion on American soil. In light of the fact that nearly 90% of our churches are now governmental/corporate entities (501-c-3’s), perhaps this was the ultimate road to unalienable ruin. But for certain, the voice of the church was divided and replaced with new missions, beliefs, and social/civil mandates. As such, a new priesthood evolved, which now defines and directs the moral values, moral COMPASS, and behavioral trajectory of the American people.

We the people now live under the professional guidance of social sciences. In fact, we are all profiled and counseled by social scientists of many, many makes and measures. Who amongst us does not personally know an MSW, an “advocate,” or a “counselor” working in one “human service” system or another? And who among these “professionals” does not have pen, multiple triplicate forms, and computer entry screens with your names highlighted and in hand?

We the people are now told by our socialist scientists what, when, and how to eat; when and how to sleep, which and how many drugs we are required to take, what to learn and not learn, what to believe and not believe, how and where to volunteer our community services, what careers we should pursue, what life-ling learning courses, certifications, licenses, and credentials we must have to work; what is politically acceptable, what religions are acceptable and unacceptable, what our beliefs regarding gender definition and reproduction should be, and why we must be genetically profiled to determine the reproductive fitness of our personal gene pools.

We are counseled, referred, profiled, and directed in our schools, churches, health care clinics and hospitals, in our mental and social health attitudes, political inclinations and designations, through our TV sets, and throughout all aspects of our “community citizenship” duties and mandates.

We the people are counseled, profiled, and directed toward and into homeowner association living, live-work units, co-op housing and food partnerships, consensus-based and democratic living arrangements, community service (mandatory “volunteerism”), and we are forcibly envisioned by group consensus opinion.

We the people are counseled, profiled, and directed to live as Communitarians vs. individuals with choice, personal opinions, and personal freedom to make individual life decisions. In fact, you have no personal freedom to make decisions whatsoever. You are, in fact, Communitarian people without any freedom whatsoever. If in doubt, ask your social worker what they do with your “profile” if you disagree with their “assessment” of your condition or situation. Ask your social worker where and to whom your “profile” is forwarded once their forms are completed. For that matter, ask them who funds their “community human service project” of which you are forcibly directed – no doubt, having been referred from another “human service” organization or “social” worker.

It would appear that religious guidance in America has been replace by a new priesthood - new religious leadership, so to speak – and one which far, far outweighs the former authority and powers of ministers, pastors, priests, and others. It would appear that totalitarian observation and control of we the people has fallen into the hands of the MSWs, advocates, and professional counselors who now force-direct the beliefs, behaviors, and courses of our lives – and under threats of “mental” and “drug therapy” designations. In other words, one dares not disagree with nor disregard the authority of the social scientists that have acquired the authority to take your children and your sanity if you are seen as a “threat” to their politically prepared definitions of proper “community” opinion.

They have the authority to drug your elders to death. They have the authority to drug your children into insanity or lethargy. They have the authority to forward your entire personal “profile” to their governmental grantors, who, in turn, have the authority to forward your entire profile to the COMPASS data base.

The Communitarian system of governance pays social scientists to govern YOU under threats of many makes and measures. They are the “gatekeepers,” so to speak, who enforce through “counseling and referral,” your total social exposure and control of your behavior and opinions. We’ll just call them priests on dictatorship steroids.

These “human service agents” are crawling all over your public schools systems – in EVERY public school - your daycare centers, your healthcare clinics and organizations, EVERY social/human service organization, and even your public libraries, who are now quietly pushing Teen Screen in their after-school “care” programs for teens.

And how willingly we offer ourselves to these “counselors” and their data bases – how willingly we appreciate their “human service” on our behalf. How willingly we walk into “screenings” of every make and measure – health screenings (mobile units), school screenings (from pre-K through university education), mental health screenings, Internet screening/screen profile date entry, homeowner associations screenings (mandatory interviews before being “invited” to participate in a homeowner association “community”), etc. – the key word being “screening.”

It’s all about transformation, folks – your transformation. Our “screeners” are our behavioral priests, and they operate with the powers of threats behind their smiling human service faces. And they have been thoroughly trained and are well paid to carry out the mandated threats of their financial grantors.

Too old to live and contribute? You are slated for drug overdose. Too cocky to follow rules? You are slated for chemical redirection (drug therapy). Too selfish to become a community servant? You are slated for mandatory volunteerism. Too individualistic to settle into consensus rules and regulations? You are red flagged in the COMPASS data base, which also makes future employment with a community partnership next to impossible. Too traditionally religious? You are slated to be an emotional child abuser and a mentally ill extremist. Too Constitutionally guaranteed? You are slated to be a dissident and enemy combatant. This you doubt? Just ask your social worker, advocate, or counselor. Or, for that matter, ask your 501-c-3 church leader – the ones who answer to the Department of Homeland Security via Executive Order 13397.

One tip: Be very careful about your confessions to social scientists. They are paid to profile and report. Remember that your Americanism, individuality, freedom, and brain now belong to their governing and financial masters, and they are checking to make sure you follow all Communitarian rules.

Nancy Levant is a renowned writer for Constitutional governance and American culture. She is the author of The Cultural Devastation of American Women: The Strange and Frightening Decline of the American Female (and her dreadful timing).

She is an opponent of deceptive governance and politicians, global governance by deception, political feminism, the public school system, political economics based upon manufactured wars and their corporate benefactors, and the Federal Reserve System. She is also a nationwide and lively radio personality. To book an engagement with Nancy Levant, send an email request to:

E-Mail: nlevant@juno.com

Source: http://theuniversalseduction.com/articles/social-secience-americas-implanted-religious-leadership

PUTIN: NEW "FINANCIAL" ORDER NEEDED

Putin calls for new financial world order

Published on Monday, June 11, 2007

Source: Financial Times - By Neil Buckley and Catherine Belton in St Petersburg
Russian president Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for a radical overhaul of the world’s financial and trade institutions to reflect the growing economic power of emerging market countries – including Russia.

Mr Putin said the world needed to create a new international financial architecture to replace an existing model that had become “archaic, undemocratic and unwieldy”.

His apparent challenge to western dominance of the world economic order came at a forum in St Petersburg designed to showcase the country’s economic recovery. Among 6,000 delegates at the biggest business forum ever held in post-Soviet Russia were scores of international chief executives including heads of Deutsche Bank, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Nestlé, Chevron, Siemens and Coca-Cola.

Business deals worth more than $4bn were signed at the conference – including an order by Aeroflot for Boeing jets – as executives said they were continuing to invest in Russia despite deteriorating relations with the west.

Mr Putin’s hosting of the forum capped a week in which he dominated the international stage. He warned last Monday that Russia might target nuclear missiles at Europe if the US built a missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, then offered a compromise at the G8 summit involving switching part of the US system to Azerbaijan.

His speech on financial institutions suggested that, along with an aggressive recent campaign against US “unilateralism” in foreign policy, he was also seeking to challenge western dominance of the world economic order.

Mr Putin said 50 years ago, 60 per cent of world gross domestic product came from the Group of Seven industrial nations. Today, 60 per cent of world GDP came from outside the G7.

“The interests of stable economic development would be best served by a new architecture of international economic relations based on trust and mutually beneficial integration,” Mr Putin said.

The Russian president said there was increasing evidence that existing organisations were “not doing a good job regulating global economic relations”.

“Institutions created with a focus on a small number of active players sometimes look archaic, undemocratic and unwieldy. They are a far cry from recognising the existing balance of power,” he said.


Source: http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3476

ORTEGA CALLS FOR "NEW WORLD ORDER"

Nicaragua leader in Iran, calls for New World Order
Published on Monday, June 11, 2007.

Source: Reuters

ortega_iran


TEHRAN - Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who wants more aid from the United States, called on Sunday for a new world order to replace "capitalism and imperialism", at the start of a trip to arch U.S. foe Iran.

His comments echoed some remarks by his Iranian counterpart who often attacks "imperialist" and "arrogant powers", although Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a more vehement critic of Washington.
Ortega has raised eyebrows in Washington, which broke diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980, for forging ties with the Islamic Republic. But the Nicaraguan president said he did not need permission about who to befriend.

"We have chosen our friends by our own will and we haven't got permission from anyone," Ortega said shortly after arriving in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"In negotiation with America we have explained our personal and political positions towards imperialism ... Imperialism and capitalism should be removed and we should create a peaceful and friendly world," Ortega added.

Ortega, a Cold War-era enemy of Washington, had earlier said he would travel to Iran on a jet loaned to him by Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, a former U.S. foe who has been developing better ties with Washington.

The Nicaraguan president, like Ahmadinejad, is also an ally of U.S. antagonist President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

The Iran trip will focus in part on getting Iranian investment in Nicaraguan factories that build tractors and other agricultural equipment, Ortega said before the visit. Business links were a topic when Ahmadinejad visited Managua in January.

"In this trip (by Ortega), the agreements between the two countries which were agreed in Nicaragua will be finalised and put into effect," Ahmadinejad said, IRNA reported.

State media also quoted Ahmadinejad saying Nicaragua had been wounded by "the lashes of colonialism".

Ortega is a former Marxist guerrilla who fought U.S.-backed Contra rebels during his 1980s government.





Source: http://www.blacklistednews.com/view.asp?ID=3473

KLAUS BARBIE

KLAUS BARBIE


the Butcher of Lyon, was not only smuggled out of Europe by the OSS but actually hired by the US government. Later he was moved to South America, where he served as liaison between US intel, the Nazi diaspora, and drug lords. A key player in the 1980 "Cocaine Coup" in Bolivia.

Source: http://www.subliminal.org/mugbook/fascists/face.html?1=gehlen

LICIO GELLI


LICIO GELLI
was head of the Propaganda Due (P2) Lodge in Italy during the 70s and early 80s. P2 was a "Masonic" org comprised of at least 1,000 of the country's top politicos and spooks, and tied closely to the CIA. One operation included GLADIO, an Agency-sanctioned network of well-armed terrorist militias. P2 was at the center of the kidnapping and murder of prime minister Aldo Moro, staged terrorist attacks designed to look like the work of leftists, the looting of the Vatican Bank, funding and collaboration with Argentinian fascists and Nazis, and they probably assisted in the October Surprise before finally being exposed.



Source: http://www.subliminal.org/mugbook/fascists/face.html?1=gehlen

WILLIAM CASEY


WILLIAM CASEY

started in the OSS and had a lifelong love for covert ops. After WWII, he headed US intel in Europe, working with GEHLEN and other Nazis. Under Nixon, he headed the SEC. Later, he was attorney to CIA agents and numerous CIA cut-outs. As Reagan's 1980 campaign director, he engineered the October Surprise. Became DCI in 1982, running countless illegal covert ops, including Iran-Contra. Died of a brain tumor just before he was scheduled to testifying before Congress about this role in the scandal.

Source: http://www.subliminal.org/mugbook/spooks/casey.html

666 ORIGIN AND HISTORY

Origin and History of the number 666

Where does the number 666 come from? Many have read of it in the Bible or even heard of it from various sources, but very few know where it actually comes from or why the book of Revelation speaks about this number with such negative connotations. Here is a brief overview of the history of the number 666, where it comes from, and why the book of Revelation speaks so negatively of this number.

The number 666 comes directly from the worship practices of the city of Babylon about he time of the Bible prophet Daniel. The people of Babylon worshiped gods that were associated with the sun, moon, visible planets of our solar system, and certain of the stars involved with the practice of astrology. The Babylonians were the principle developers of astrology, as we know it today. In their worship system, they had 37 supreme gods, and one of these, the god associated with the sun, was supreme over all the other gods. These people believed that numbers in some way had power over the gods they worshiped. However, they had to create numbers that they could assign to the gods so that they could have power over them. To do this, they counted their gods and assigned a count number to each of the 36 lesser supreme gods, and then added up all of these numbers (from one to 36) and assigned the sum to the sun god. The first god they counted got the number one assigned to it, and the second god they counted got the number two assigned to it, and so on up to all 36 lesser supreme gods. Now, if you have not guessed it by now, the sum of the numbers from one to 36 totals 666, which they assigned to the god associated with the sun. They did the calculation like this:

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12
+ 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22
+ 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32
+ 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666


However, they went further. They feared these gods and worried that one of them might strike them down sometime, so they made amulets with a 6 x 6 matrix of the numbers one through 36 on them. Today we call these numeric matrixes magic squares. The design of the amulets was to achieve a magic purpose, and they evidently believed that wearing a particular god's number would protect one from a specific god striking them down using his power of magic. Now, the amulets had to be as powerful as possible, so in order to increase its power, they arranged these numbers in such a way that the sum of any given row, column, or diagonal is 111, and therefore the sum of all six rows or all six columns was 666. This was supposed to provide extra protection, including from the god associated with the sun, since this god's sum was present on the amulet.

Below is an example of one such arrangement of numbers in a 6x6 matrix of numbers. Note that any given column, row, or diagonal adds up to 111. The ancient Babylonians wrote these numbers out on a small clay tablet, and after drying and baking it to make the writing permanent, they would hang it on a support and wear it around their neck. As long as they carried the amulet with them, they thought that the amulet provided protection.

632334351
7112728830
191416152324
182022211713
25291092612
365334231

The practice of creating amulets with this arrangement of numbers as part of astrology appears to have continued well past the time of Jesus. Archeologists have found amulets with Latin Inscriptions, so we know that the Romans were indulging in this practice.

Therefore, the 666 number came about because of the pagan worship practices of the Babylonians and their practice of astrology.

If you want more information about this topic, see some of the links at the bottom of the page. You may also look for a copy of the book by Roy Allan Anderson called Unfolding the Revelation, in which explains this topic in detail. That book is (or at least has been) published by Pacific Press Publishing Association of Nampa, Idaho. You likely could find a copy through one of the major online bookstores such as Amazon.com. Another book of good information about this is called the Trail of the Serpent, by Murl Vance and published by Oriental Watchman Publishing House of Pune, India. This book is no longer in print; however, you may find a copy of it by checking out some of the online book auctions.

Nevertheless, you may ask, why does the Bible speak about this number in such serious tones? Before responding to this question, another issue requires an answer.

What About Manuscript's Of Revelation That Have The Numbers 606 Or 616?

There are several ancient manuscripts of Revelation that show numbers such as 616 or 606 instead of 666. This very likely was due to a scribal error of some sort that somehow propagated down through additional copies as the scribe copied the manuscripts This is especially likely given that the original meaning of the number 666 was concerned with the numbers magical properties. The numbers 616 or 606 had no magical meaning of any significance, so that by itself should inform the reader that these were due to copy errors. Remember that people copied things by hand before the invention of the printing press. They did not have copy machines in those days. If you wanted, a copy of something, had the money, and could read, you hired somebody to copy it for you, or you did it yourself. Those were the only choices available. Of course, if you did not have the money, there was only one choice then - you did not get a copy of your own and had to wait until somebody was willing to read it to you! If they did not read it to you, then you were simply out of luck.

Why does the book of Revelation Speak against Babylon and the Number 666?

When the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon (539 B.C,) they came with their own religious practices and gods, so had no need of the priests of the Babylonian religious system. Although the Persians were somewhat sympathetic towards the Babylonian god Marduk and did accommodate the priests of this god for a while, it appears from history that eventually they simply fired the whole crew of priests and installed their own! Sounds like things that happen in Washington when a new political party comes into power. What scholars do know is that eventually the Babylonian priests left Babylon for a new location, probably because they were out of a job, though the exact reason why they left Babylon is unclear.

Therefore, these Babylonian priests, being out of a livelihood (or whatever the real reason was), began to look for more fertile ground to work. The Babylonian priests found it in the city of Pergamum, which was a city in what is now Western Turkey, with no port or major industry at that time except education. It was a city of the universities of its day, where students came to learn medicine and law, and the Babylonian priests added their religious schooling there after leaving Babylon. There was also a major library there, with some 200,000 volumes.

Map of Asia Minor during the time of the Greeks and Romans.

This is a large map and may take a minute or two to load. You should be able to find Pergamum on the northwest end of Asia Minor in an area known as Mysia just a little to the south across the strait from a region known as Thrace. If you look carefully, you should also be able to see the locations of some of the other cities mentioned as part of the seven churches in Revelation, such as Ephesus, Thyatira, and Laodicea.

Some of the Babylonian priests went instead to Egypt, where they taught their religious practices to the Egyptians. The Egyptians readily picked up these Babylonian religious concepts and further extended and developed some of the ideas that are in astrology. They also picked up the idea of 37 supreme gods from the Babylonians. One source the author has run into claimed that the Egyptians saw the numbers 3, 6, and 7 as having magical properties, and that was one reason they liked the idea of 37 supreme gods (it had both 3 and 7 in it). By adding up the numbers 1 to 36, they could reach the magical 666. Also, they could multiply 37 by 3 or any multiple of it, and reach magical numbers such as 111, 222, 333, 444, 555, 666 (the product of 3 x 6 x 37), 777, 888, and so on.

Of course, we use the base ten numbering system, so three and seven do occur in the number 37. Whether the Babylonians and Egyptians at that time used the same numbering system is something the author does not know. However, it seems very unlikely that they used the base ten numbering system, so they likely would have seen 37 for its apparent magical properties in being able to generate numbers such as 111, 222, 666, etc., and not for containing the digits 3 and 7. Therefore, they may have extended this idea. Historically we know that the Egyptians developed several ideas that are a part of modern day astrology. Now, back to what happened at Pergamum.

The teaching of the Babylonian religious practices by the Babylonian priests and their direct descendants went on in the city of Pergamum for centuries afterwards. They taught astrology and making the amulets with the numbers 1 to 36 on them in the special arrangements they commonly used. They built a large complex as part of their worship system, which you can view a model of by clicking here. This continued until about the year 133 B.C, at which time the last king of the Attalid Empire, who had his capital at Pergamum, died, and in his will, he gave his kingdom to the Romans. After putting down a small rebellion, the Romans easily took over the Attalid Empire by 129 B.C. Then, or sometime relatively soon after this, the priests who were still teaching the Babylonian religious practices saw their opportunity and went to Rome. The Romans often adopted the religious practices of other cultures, something that went a long way towards helping their empire survive as long as it did. The Babylonian priests rightly calculated that the Romans would be very willing to learn and follow their teachings.

Therefore, Babylonian priests moved to Rome and set up shop there. Soon all of Rome filled with their religious teachings and practices. It eventually became so pervasive that people called Rome the new Babylon. It is for this reason that many teach that references to Babylon in Revelation is in fact a code word for Rome. Of course, some will dispute this, but for more information see is Babylon a symbol for Rome?

Eventually, when the Christian Church came along, the practices and beliefs of the Babylonian religion followed right into the church. Historians have noted that at one point it seemed almost the entire city of Rome converted virtually overnight to Christianity, but what actually happened is the Babylonian religion was simply brought into the church and the three supreme gods of the Babylonian religion were simply renamed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Other lesser gods became saints of the church. The pagan Babylonian religious practices came into the church right along with it. This made it easy for the followers of the Babylonian religion to "convert" to Christianity, but it certainly was not a genuine conversion. Because of the movement of pagan religious practices into the Christian church, Revelation condemns Babylon. Since the practice of writing out the sum of the numbers one through 36 on amulets continued and was brought into the church, this is used to help identify who the beast is - the church which imported the pagan religion into the church against God's wishes. God condemns pagan religious practices, but in spite of that, they brought these practices into the church anyway.

History supports this. The pagan Babylonian priests had a chief priest who held the title Pontifex Maximus (translated to Latin and essentially meant that he was head pagan priest). You have no doubt heard of the word "Pontiff" applied to the pope. History explains where that term comes from. Originally, the king of the Attalid Empire held the title of Pontiff, and he passed it on to the Babylonian Priests before he died and they went to Rome. This title was given to Julius Caesar in 63 B.C, thereby making him the supreme priest of the Babylonian Religion and its gods. (This shows that the Babylonian priests arrived in Rome before the time of Julius Caesar or this event could not have happened.) This meant that the Babylonian religion literally moved into Rome and took it over, becoming head of the Roman government. This title passed from emperor to emperor, all of whom served as chief priest of the Babylonian Religion from then on, until, in 376 A.D, the Roman Emperor Gratian became the first since Julius Caesar to refuse the title Pontifex Maximus. Before Gratian refused the title Pontifex Maximus, Pope Callistus I passed a decree, which he called himself the Pontifex Maximus or the bishop of bishops. To read more about Pope Callistus I, see Pope Callistus I from Catholic Encyclopedia Article (219-223 A.D. as Pope). When Pope Callistus I took the title of Pontifex Maximus this made him head of the Babylonian religion. Here, you have the man that Catholic Church claims as one of the early popes. Callistus I was the head of the Christian Church in Rome, and took the title as head of the pagan Babylonian Religion and its collection of pagan gods. Therefore, did the Babylonian Religion move into the Christian Church? History says most definitely YES.

Some might dispute that Church leaders incorporated pagan religious practices into the Christian Church of that time, but even Catholic historians admit to it. Cardinal Newman, in his Development of Christian Doctrine, pages 272, 273, says that the Church incorporated many pagan religious practices into the church. Cardinal Newman claims that the church sanctified them and that made it safe to bring these practices into the church. Here is what historians have to say about the influx of Babylonian religious practices into the Catholic Church, - Go about 1/4 of the way down the page and look for the section titled "Ecclesiastical characteristics" While some of these practices may have been relatively innocuous, what do you believe God thinks of the less innocuous ones? Consider that many Catholic Pilgrims every year kiss the feet of the Roman god Saturn, thinking they are kissing the image of Peter (see Links below on Historical Pictures of Christianity). Do you think God approves of this? These people are kissing the feet of a pagan god idol. God condemns idolatry, the making of images for worship, and even bowing down before images as part of an act of worship. Yet many images are in Catholic Churches and the Church teaches people to bow down before them. The worshiper may be praying to someone else while bowing before the image, but the act of bowing down before the image, regardless of what or whom one is actually worshipping at the time God condemns in Exodus 20:5.

Ultimately, this traces back to the Babylonian religious practices. The Roman Catholic Church does this in direct violation of the command by God not to do this. Many do so ignorantly, and God will be fair and just for these individuals, but God still does not approve bowing to an image. In ancient Israel, they too brought pagan practices into their "church" (synagogue), but in spite of the evident belief among them that this made these practices safe to bring into the synagogue, God condemned this practice. Why would it be any different for the Christian Church today? Has God changed (consider Malachi 3:6 - For I am the LORD, I CHANGE NOT therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.)

Who is the supreme authority in this universe, God or the pope? It appears the Catholic Church thinks the Pope is because it long ago dropped the commandment against the making of, or worship of images, from the list of the Ten Commandments. However, a long time ago God told Isaiah.

Isa 48:11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

Look at that phrase again, "I will not give my glory unto another". It seems unlikely this is speaking of the light that surrounds the presence of God, of that we may be sure. Verses around this text speak of the great power of God as creator and his ability to foretell the future, so it strongly suggests that it is speaking of his power, his authority, and most of all, his position. The Popes have usurped that authority and claimed they have the right to interpret or change the Law of God (see link below about the authority they have claimed for themselves). When the Catholic Church claims it has the authority to change the Law of God, did this give the Church an authority equal with God? Consider again, about what God says, "I will not give my glory unto another." Something we need think about very carefully.


Many individuals in the Catholic Church are genuine Christians who will be in heaven, but it is also true that as a religious system, God condemns it because it is a conglomeration of paganism and Christianity. So, do not mistake the destiny of the individual member of that church for the destiny of the system of which they are a part. They are not necessarily synonymous. God loves all people everywhere and wants to save everyone, but not all will choose salvation and will be lost as a result.

Nevertheless, God is now calling all genuine Christians out of this system so that they will not have to suffer the same fate that is going to come to the system as a whole. The end of this world is near and God tells us in the Bible that this system, along with all other forms of evil in this world, is soon to be the subject of the judgments of God. To prevent the destruction of good people along with those who do evil, God is calling those who will follow him to come out of Babylon.

Rev. 18:1-4 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Note that Revelation 17 portrays a woman that symbolizes Babylon and it says she is the mother of harlots, which clearly indicates she has daughters. There are many who believe that a woman in Revelation symbolizes a church, so this woman of Revelation 17 symbolizes a corrupt church. The Catholic Church is the only church that claims it is the mother church, so, the daughters must be the protestant churches that will corrupt themselves by joining with Babylon at the end and by doing the same thing the mother did - commit fornication with the kings of the earth of this world. Therefore, this call applies to the protestant churches as well.

The only way to salvation is through Jesus, for Acts 4:12, says, speaking of Jesus, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Note that Peter, whom the Catholic Church claims was the first pope, spoke these last words. It also claims the right to determine salvation for other people. Nevertheless, here Peter himself declares it is Jesus alone who saves. The Pope or the church cannot save you. Many of God's people are in the Catholic and Protestant churches and He is calling all to return to worshipping him the way He approves. Look to Jesus and His word (the Bible) for direction and help for this because He is the sole source of salvation. He will help you if you sincerely ask Him and are willing to follow where He leads. Jesus gave His life for you, so He is very willing to help. Consequently, you can trust Him to lead you in the right path. Please choose to follow Him wherever He leads. You will not be disappointed in the end.

Now, the Bible speaks of the number 666 is very serious tones. Probably the most serious warning in the Bible is in connection with the mark of the beast and the number 666 (see Revelation 14). Nevertheless, since you should now understand what Babylon is, how it is identified (through its description in the Bible and the number 666), and know that it is about to be destroyed. You should be able to understand that God is trying to save the lives of those caught up in this system by giving a warning of what is about to happen so that people may get out to safety. As a result, if God is calling you today, please follow Him wherever He leads you. You will be glad you followed Him.

The Links below provide additional information. Please come back when done!

To see amulets and several arrangements of the 6 x 6 magic square, click here and go about 90% of the way towards the bottom of the page.

This is a web page with pictures of the amulets and the 6 x 6 magic square. This page is part of a web site showing Historical Pictures of Christianity. This an excellent web site that describes how paganism entered the Christian Church at Rome.

Alexander Hislop's book, The Two Babylons, documents the movement of paganism into the Christian Church. You can read it online.

Here is some of the history of Babylon.

Some chapters from the book - A Woman Rides the Beast by Dave Hunt

Chapter 6 - A City of Seven Hills

Chapter 7 - Rome's Fraudulent History

Chapter 9 - Infallible Heretics

Chapter 12 - Unholy Mother

A well documented site that describes some of the Babylonian religious history as it relates to Rome. The Pope's Seat

A source of rather interesting information on the city of Pergamum is on the introduction of this web page. The remainder is a Commentary on the text in Revelation relating to Pergamum. History of Pergamum.

Information on the history of how the Babylonian religion transferred to Rome. Amazing Discoveries.

Would you like to know more about what the Papacy has said regarding the powers it has? Papal Documents!

The number 666 has some interesting mathematical relations to other numbers that has nothing whatsoever to do with Revelation and everything to do with mathematics. Number of the Beast.

LLT Productions Home Page

Pacific Press Publishing Home Web Page

Source: http://www.666man.net/666ReligionHistoryOverview.html

HERO IN TIRANA


HERO IN TIRANA, ALBANIA.
DO THE ALBANIANS KNOW SOMETHING AMERICANS DON'T?
COULD THEY KNOW THE PREZ BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE THAT HE REPRESENTS?
MAYBE THE REST OF THE WORLD (BESIDES ALBANIANS) JUST HAS THE WRONG IMPRESSION?
IS HE MISUNDERSTOOD, OR MISQUOTED?
WELL, WHAT WAS ALL THAT CHEERING ABOUT? I JUST DON'T GET IT.
MAYBE, THE TIRANEANS, SIMPLY ADMIRE HIS STYLE?

Sunday, June 10, 2007

MIDDLE EAST MELTDOWN

Middle East Meltdown
The crisis accelerates


by Justin Raimondo


June 8, 2007


As the situation on the ground in Iraq veers out of control, the rest of the Middle East is coming undone – a state of affairs directly attributable to our policy of "regime change" throughout the region.



On the western front, Lebanon is teetering on the brink of (yet another) civil war, with the very forces we have been backing covertlyal-Qaeda-affiliated Sunni radicals – in a stand-off with the (U.S.-allied) government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. With the Americans, the French, and assorted Euro-types standing behind them, the busybodies over at the UN – supposedly the world's major force for "peace" – have engineered a scenario whereby the Syrians and their Lebanese allies are being blamed for an assassination so mired in murk and mystery that it would take Sherlock Holmes on steroids to unravel it – and certainly the UN "investigation" has done nothing to solve this whodunit. The outcome is likely to be a UN-sponsored intervention that will be little more than a fig-leaf for American (and Israeli) meddling in the internal affairs of a supposedly sovereign nation – and, perhaps, a confrontation with Iran, which supports the nationalist-Shi'ite Hezbollah.



Also on the western front: the Turks have launched what is to all intents and purposes an invasion of Kurdistan, sending thousands of troops into a region effectively controlled by the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a terrorist group that has wreaked death and destruction on thousands of Turkish civilians and foreign nationals over the years. The Turks legitimize this open violation of Iraqi sovereignty in the name of "hot pursuit," but of course they could pursue the terrorists all the way to Sulaimaniya, the regional capital, if they wanted to get at the true source of the PKK's support. They mounted this incursion in spite of strenuous warnings by the Americans that the consequences of such an act could be disastrous for US-Turkish relations – an indication of just how volatile this long-simmering issue has become.



To the east, Pakistan's crisis looms as potentially the biggest disaster of them all, one that would give a rather sinister meaning to the prospect of a Middle East meltdown – because Pakistan, after all, possesses nukes, the only Muslim nation so endowed. The result could well be a nuclear meltdown, with horrific consequences for the region and beyond. General Pervez Musharraf's grip on power – never all that firm to begin with – is increasingly shaky, with the nation's Muslims in open rebellion, the National Assembly in an uproar over newly-imposed restrictions on the media, and much of the countryside slipping outside the General's control. If Muslim extremists succeed in toppling the Musharraf regime, the West could find itself confronted with a nuclearized ally of al-Qaeda ensconced in Islamabad.



Superimposed on the twin crises currently unfolding in Iraq and Iran – the former deteriorating into chaos and the latter just as rapidly rising to challenge American hegemony – these new threats to regional stability threaten to ignite a conflagration on a par with both world wars.



To begin with, the economic blowback from the outbreak of World War IV in the Middle East would strike a stunning blow to the American middle class – and, perhaps, drag us and much of the rest of the world into a downward spiral that would make the formerly "Great" [.pdf] Depression seem like a minor blip on the screen.



The economic costs of empire were calculated half a century ago by the Old Right seer Garet Garrett, who said part of the problem was that "everything goes out and nothing comes in." The American Imperium, Garrett averred, was an "empire of the Bottomless Purse" – and yet perhaps we will soon scrape bottom, having mortgaged our children, and their children, and exchanged our republic for what will surely go down in history as one of the biggest, and shortest-lived, empires of all time. An empire built on debt, an exercise in vanity and a monument to the hubris of our rulers: like the pyramids of Egypt, its relics will be the object of study and much wonder at how so great an effort could have been wasted on behalf of such a towering narcissism.



We have the mightiest military machine in human history, yet what do we have to show for it? In Iraq, we have an insurgency mounted by a rag-tag army of Ba'athist "dead-enders" and makeshift local militias that have fought us to a standstill. In the meantime, we have no effective defense against the day the Chinese and Japanese dump their dollars and stop subsidizing American militarism. No purse is bottomless: our empire of debt puts us at the mercy of our creditors.



America's imperial aspirations are also cause to fear a threat on yet another front: as 9/11 proved, "blowback" is likely to hit us on our own soil. It behooves us to remember that, for all the diversions away from our real enemies, al-Qaeda and its satellites around the globe, we do indeed face the very real threat of a 9/11-like attack in the continental US. This, after all, has always been the linchpin of Osama bin Laden's strategic line: that, rather than conducting guerrilla operations around the edges of the empire – say, against Israel, or the local U.S.-supported tyrants, such as Hosni Mubarak and the House of Saud – it is necessary to hit the Americans where they live.



Seismic tremors – rippling outward from the center of the earthquake set off by the invasion and ongoing war in Iraq – are shaking the entire region, and the shockwaves are sure to hit Washington, London, Paris, and Tokyo with gale force. Whether our fragile freedoms and the bubble of inflated prosperity will survive the storm is an open question, but of one thing we can be sure: we're about to be tested as never before.



Given the sorry record of the past five years or so, I'm not at all confident that we'll muddle through, this time, without losing a lot of what America – and the developed world, often known as "the West" – used to be about. It's at times like these that I wish I was religious, in the true sense of the word, and could put my faith in Providence as the ultimate guarantor of American liberty and our republican traditions, but, unfortunately, I find that impossible. Although I am not evangelical in my atheistic fervor, and give moral credence to religiously-motivated resistance to militarism and authoritarianism, the only sort of faith I can claim is full confidence in the power of ideas. Specifically the power of the libertarian and anti-imperialist ideas that generated the American Revolution – and hold out the promise of sparking yet another.



My great fear, however, is that it is too late for that. We are hurtling toward catastrophe in the Middle East at such speeds that it seems almost impossible to slow down, let alone reverse, the momentum for war. With lemming-like determination, our rulers seem intent on leaping over the Middle East precipice and into an abyss. Who will stand in the path of the War Party as it force-marches a reluctant nation into battle, this time against the entire Muslim world?



Like that lone Chinese dissident who stood in the pathway of a Red Army tank during the Tiananmen Square protests, such a leader would have to possess the kind of courage that surpasses all reason – and where are such people to be found?



Surely not on the stage of either party's presidential debates, unless we're talking about Ron Paul or the Democrats' Cassandra, Mike Gravel. Gravel is not a real factor, except as a provocateur to show up the cowardice and opportunism of the "majors." However, Ron Paul is a different matter: his candidacy could easily set off the sort of ideological avalanche that paleoconservatives and many libertarians have long awaited, one that could eventually sweep away the neoconservative hegemony over the GOP and help return the Republicans to their anti-interventionist, pro-individual rights roots. This, however, is a long-term project, one that cannot be achieved in the course of a single election season, and that's the problem: we don't have a lot of time.



The spark was struck when we invaded and occupied Iraq, and the fuse is now burned nearly to the end. If our republic survives the inevitable explosion, it will be in some permanently disfigured form – an America rendered unrecognizable not only to the shades of the Founders, but to ourselves.



Source: http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=11094


PAPAL LETTER TO HANS KOLVENBACH

Papal Letter on 50th Anniversary of encyclical 'Haurietis Aquas'

6/16/2006 - 8:00 AM PST

Remembrance of Encyclical on Devotion to Sacred Heart

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 16, 2006 (Zenit) - Here is a Vatican translation of Benedict XVI's letter to the superior general of the Jesuits to mark the 50th anniversary of Pope Pius XII's encyclical "Haurietis Aquas," on devotion to the Sacred Heart.

* * *

To the Most Reverend Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J.
Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Today, 50 years later, the Prophet Isaiah's words, which Pius XII placed at the beginning of the Encyclical with which he commemorated the first centenary of the extension of the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus to the entire Church, have lost none of their meaning: "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3).

By encouraging devotion to the Heart of Jesus, the Encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" exhorted believers to open themselves to the mystery of God and of his love and to allow themselves to be transformed by it. After 50 years, it is still a fitting task for Christians to continue to deepen their relationship with the Heart of Jesus, in such a way as to revive their faith in the saving love of God and to welcome him ever better into their lives.

The Redeemer's pierced side is the source to which the Encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" refers us: We must draw from this source to attain true knowledge of Jesus Christ and a deeper experience of his love. Thus, we will be able to understand better what it means to know God's love in Jesus Christ, to experience him, keeping our gaze fixed on him to the point that we live entirely on the experience of his love, so that we can subsequently witness to it to others.

Indeed, to take up a saying of my venerable Predecessor John Paul II, "In the Heart of Christ, man's heart learns to know the genuine and unique meaning of his life and of his destiny, to understand the value of an authentically Christian life, to keep himself from certain perversions of the human heart, and to unite the filial love for God and the love of neighbor."

Thus: "The true reparation asked by the Heart of the Savior will come when the civilization of the Heart of Christ can be built upon the ruins heaped up by hatred and violence" (Letter to Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, superior general of the Society of Jesus for the beatification of Blessed Claude de la Colombière, Oct. 5, 1986; L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, Oct. 27, 1986, p. 7).

In the Encyclical "Deus Caritas Est," I cited the affirmation in the First Letter of St John: "We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us," in order to emphasize that being Christian begins with the encounter with a Person (cf. No. 1).

Since God revealed himself most profoundly in the Incarnation of his Son in whom he made himself "visible," it is in our relationship with Christ that we can recognize who God really is (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," Nos. 29-41; "Deus Caritas Est," Nos. 12-15).

And again: since the deepest expression of God's love is found in the gift Christ made of his life for us on the Cross, the deepest expression of God's love, it is above all by looking at his suffering and his death that we can see God's infinite love for us more and more clearly: "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

Moreover, not only does this mystery of God's love for us constitute the content of the worship of and devotion to the Heart of Jesus, but in the same way it is likewise the content of all true spirituality and Christian devotion. It is consequently important to stress that the basis of the devotion is as old as Christianity itself.

Indeed, it is only possible to be Christian by fixing our gaze on the Cross of our Redeemer, "on him whom they have pierced" (John 19:37; cf. Zechariah 12:10).

The Encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" rightly recalls that for countless souls the wound in Christ's side and the marks left by the nails have been "the chief sign and symbol of that love" that ever more incisively shaped their life from within (cf. No. 52).

Recognizing God's love in the Crucified One became an inner experience that prompted them to confess, together with Thomas: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28), and enabled them to acquire a deeper faith by welcoming God's love unreservedly (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," No. 49).

The deepest meaning of this devotion to God's love is revealed solely through a more attentive consideration of its contribution not only to the knowledge, but also and especially to the personal experience of this love in trusting dedication to its service (cf. ibid., No. 62).

It is obvious that experience and knowledge cannot be separated: The one refers to the other. Moreover, it is essential to emphasize that true knowledge of God's love is only possible in the context of an attitude of humble prayer and generous availability.

Starting with this interior attitude, one sees that the gaze fixed upon his side, pierced by the spear, is transformed into silent adoration. Gazing at the Lord's pierced side, from which "blood and water" flowed (cf. John 19:34), helps us to recognize the manifold gifts of grace that derive from it (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," Nos. 34-41) and opens us to all other forms of Christian worship embraced by the devotion to the Heart of Jesus.

Faith, understood as a fruit of the experience of God's love, is a grace, a gift of God. Yet human beings will only be able to experience faith as a grace to the extent that they accept it within themselves as a gift on which they seek to live. Devotion to the love of God, to which the Encyclical "Haurietis Aquas" invited the faithful (cf. No. 72), must help us never to forget that he willingly took this suffering upon himself "for us," "for me."

When we practice this devotion, not only do we recognize God's love with gratitude but we continue to open ourselves to this love so that our lives are ever more closely patterned upon it. God, who poured out his love "into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (cf. Romans 5:5), invites us tirelessly to accept his love. The main aim of the invitation to give ourselves entirely to the saving love of Christ and to consecrate ourselves to it (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," No. 4) is, consequently, to bring about our relationship with God.

This explains why the devotion, which is totally oriented to the love of God who sacrificed himself for us, has an irreplaceable importance for our faith and for our life in love.

Whoever inwardly accepts God is molded by him. The experience of God's love should be lived by men and women as a "calling" to which they must respond. Fixing our gaze on the Lord, who "took our infirmities and bore our diseases" (Matthew 8:17), helps us to become more attentive to the suffering and need of others.

Adoring contemplation of the side pierced by the spear makes us sensitive to God's salvific will. It enables us to entrust ourselves to his saving and merciful love, and at the same time strengthens us in the desire to take part in his work of salvation, becoming his instruments.

The gifts received from the open side, from which "blood and water" flowed (cf. John 19:34), ensure that our lives will also become for others a source from which "rivers of living water" flow (John 7:38; cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 7).

The experience of love, brought by the devotion to the pierced side of the Redeemer, protects us from the risk of withdrawing into ourselves and makes us readier to live for others. "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16; cf. "Haurietis Aquas," No. 38).

It was only the experience that God first gave us his love that has enabled us to respond to his commandment of love (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 17).

So it is that the cult of love, which becomes visible in the mystery of the Cross presented anew in every celebration of the Eucharist, lays the foundations of our capacity to love and to make a gift of ourselves (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," No. 69), becoming instruments in Christ's hands: Only in this way can we be credible proclaimers of his love.

However, this opening of ourselves to God's will must be renewed in every moment: "Love is never 'finished' and complete" (cf. "Deus Caritas Est," No. 17).

Thus, looking at the "side pierced by the spear" from which shines forth God's boundless desire for our salvation cannot be considered a transitory form of worship or devotion: The adoration of God's love, whose historical and devotional expression is found in the symbol of the "pierced heart," remains indispensable for a living relationship with God (cf. "Haurietis Aquas," No. 62).

As I express the wish that the 50th anniversary will give rise to an ever more fervent response to love of the Heart of Christ in numerous hearts, I impart a special Apostolic Blessing to you, Most Reverend Father, and to all the Religious of the Society of Jesus, who are still very active in promoting this fundamental devotion.

From the Vatican, May 15, 2006

BENEDICTUS PP. XVI

[Original in Italian; translation by Vatican, adapted]

© Copyright 2006 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Contact: The Vatican
http://www.catholic.org/ , VA
Pope Benedict XVI - Bishop of Rome, 661-869-1000
Keywords: Pope, encyclical, Haurietis Aquas, Pius, Pius XII, Sacred Heart

Source: http://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=3400

NOTE: Bolds and highlights added for emphasis. Blogmaster.

BROWNS: DOG WALKER SAVED LIVES

Browns: Dog walker saved lives
[Claims Marshals Shot At & Tasered Him]
Source: Concord Monitor
URL Source: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070609/REPOSITORY/706090329
Published: Jun 9, 2007
Author: Margot Sanger-Katz
Post Date: 2007-06-09 16:22:17 by JoeSnuffy
6 Comments

Browns: Dog walker saved lives Supporter claims marshals chased him

By Margot Sanger-Katz Monitor staff June 09. 2007 9:01AM

Danny Riley on video talking about his interaction with goverment officials on or near the Brown compound. His shirt was off because he was showing the place where he claims a police Taser burned him.

Zoom

A day after federal and state officers swarmed near the hilltop home of tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown, the couple thanked a supporter from upstate New York, Danny Riley, for saving their lives.

Riley, who posted a video account of his experience on the internet, said he was walking the Browns' dog early Thursday when he discovered a large group of U.S marshals hiding in the woods near the Brown's Plainfield house. The marshals, he said, shot at him and shocked him with a Taser. If not for that encounter, Ed Brown said yesterday, he and his wife might be dead.

"If it wasn't for Danny Riley taking that walk yesterday morning with the dog the way he did," Brown said yesterday on his daily radio show, Ed Brown Under Siege. "The fact that he did probably saved our lives."

A law enforcement source confirmed yesterday that Riley was the man marshals detained Thursday after encountering him with a dog near the Brown property.

U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said that the officers were near the fortified concrete home Thursday to watch the Browns and their supporters while marshals and IRS agents acted on a warrant to seize a commercial property owned by the couple in West Lebanon. He said his officers had never intended to arrest the Browns but wanted to monitor them in case they retaliated in response to the seizure. ---ADVERTISEMENT---

On Thursday, Monier described how officers performing surveillance near the Brown home encountered a supporter leaving the property. Marshals detained and questioned the man, but they released him without charges on Thursday afternoon.

Riley's internet video has fueled speculation on various pro-Brown websites and radio shows that marshals had intended to arrest or kill the Browns on Thursday, and were stopped only when Riley accidentally blew their cover.

"Astounding testimony from Danny Riley, the man who was arrested by U.S. Marshals after walking Ed Brown's dog near his property yesterday morning, proves that Thursday's events in Plainfield New Hampshire represent a planned siege that was only aborted after Riley's disappearance gave the Browns early warning that militarized police and SWAT teams were descending on their home," says an article on prisonplanet.com.

Ed Brown told his radio audience that the marshals' actions suggested that they intended to kill him and his wife.

"If they were willing to shoot an unarmed guest of ours," Brown said, "then their intention was to come down and kill us."

Though there had been calls Thursday for supporters to visit the Brown property, Brown said yesterday that he would prefer supporters stay put. He did request the hand delivery of a high powered ham radio and a "third-generation, good" thermal imaging scope for a rife.

"They're very expensive, but so what guys," he said. "We're going to give our lives to you if we have to."

In the video, Riley, shirtless and sitting in front of a bulletin board, gives a detailed description of his experience. After walking down the Browns' long, wooded driveway, he came face to face with a man in camouflage. When Riley asked the man if he was a turkey hunter, he initially got no reaction.

"Then all of the sudden, the guy stood right up in front of me," Riley said. "And with a full camouflage suit on and yelled, 'Freeze.' At that point I turned around and ran, ran for my life."

On the video, Riley describes hearing bullets whiz by him as he yelled to the marshals that he was unarmed. Brown said on the radio yesterday that he also heard gunfire Thursday morning from his house. But Monier said that marshals never shot at the dog walker.

"Absolutely no lethal force was ever employed towards him or against him," Monier said.

Once he started running, Riley said that several more marshals emerged from both sides of the Brown driveway. Realizing he was surrounded, he held his hands out in attempt to surrender.

Riley said, and the law enforcement source confirmed, that marshals shocked him with a Taser before handcuffing him and placing him in a vehicle. Riley said that marshals, whose badges identified them as "special operations unit," asked him about who was at the house, what weapons were there and whether the Browns had a bomb.

Then, Riley said, marshals were uncertain of how to use him. Initially, they asked him to help ask the Browns to surrender and drove him past armored vehicles, a helicopter and an ambulance. But the marshals decided against the strategy, he said, and took Riley to the Lebanon police station instead, where they questioned him for several more hours.

In the afternoon, Riley was released about a mile from the house, he said, and instructed to tell the Browns that he was arrested by two officers involved with the seizure. He said marshals threatened him with prison time if he assisted the Browns again or told his story to journalists.

He told the two-officer story to the Browns, he said, but the couple already knew about his run-in with the marshals because of phone calls from neighbors and information from reporters.

"They pretty much already knew the deal," Riley said on the video.

Riley said that after he returned to New York, he discovered a message on his cell phone from another Brown supporter who said he'd been arrested.

Monier said yesterday that his office had not detained or arrested anyone but the dog walker.

Ed and Elaine Brown were both convicted of multiple federal felonies in January. The jury found that the Browns had evaded taxes on $1.9 million in income from Elaine Brown's dental practice and that the couple had broken large financial transactions into small increments to avoid federal reporting rules. The couple maintain that there are no laws that require them to pay federal income taxes and that the court that convicted them was a "fiction."

Midway through their trial, Ed Brown retreated to the couple's home, where they have long stockpiled food and can operate without municipal power or water. A few weeks after their conviction, Elaine Brown, who had been free on restrictive bail conditions, joined her husband.

Since then, they have remained at home, entertaining a rotating cast of supporters and making repeated statements that any attempt to arrest them will end violently. In April, each was sentenced to more than five years in prison.

Monier, charged with arresting the couple on bench warrants, has taken a low-key approach to their capture. Though he acknowledged Thursday that he has sent officers to quietly check in on the couple, he has not established a visible presence near the house and has limited his communications to phone calls urging the Browns to surrender. He has said often that he does not plan to raid the Browns' home.

Thursday's actions, if not an arrest attempt, marked a change in style. Armored vehicles, SWAT teams and helicopters were sent to Plainfield, and dozens of state troopers blocked roads near the home. Monier said it was important to seize the West Lebanon building this week because of ongoing concerns about its security.

Phone and internet service at the Brown house, which had been disconnected by marshals on Thursday, were working again for much of yesterday, allowing the Browns to appear on a number of radio talk shows and post updates to their MySpace website.By 3 p.m., however, phone service was again cut off. On a website frequented by supporters, a poster said that the personal cell phone of Cirino Gonzales, a man who is living with the Browns, had also been disabled.

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By MARGOT SANGER-KATZ

Source: http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=190515