Wednesday, October 24, 2007

THE SPIRITUALISM OF ADVENTISM

The Spiritualism of Adventism

What is the final delusion that takes the world captive? What is its nature? Does sanity prevail one day then delusion the next? I see a gradual process of worldwide deception — regarding the judgment — that is deceiving the world and the church. Let’s expose super-spiritual spiritualism and the denial of the judgment in modern times. Let us discuss its impact on faithful Seventh-day Adventists.

For an introduction, I will quickly trace the unfolding of the ever-intensifying delusion, beginning with the signs that were already evident in the 1890’s. All quotes are from Ellen G. White’s classic work, The Great Controversy. The purpose of the words highlighted in bold or italics is not to change the author’s original 19th century emphasis but to merely call your attention to thoughts and ideas already present in the text. —The Editor.

“Satan has long been preparing for his final effort to deceive the world. ... Little by little he has prepared the way for his masterpiece of deception in the development of spiritualism. He has not yet reached the full accomplishment of his designs; but it will be reached in the last remnant of time. Says the prophet: ‘I saw three unclean spirits like frogs; . . . they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.’ Revelation 16:13, 14. Except those who are kept by the power of God, through faith in His word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this delusion. The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.” —The Great Controversy, pp. 561-562.

The Message

“Satan is making the world believe that the Bible is a mere fiction, or at least a book suited to the infancy of the race, but now to be lightly regarded, or cast aside as obsolete.” —The Great Controversy, p. 557. “And to complete his work, he declares, through the spirits that ‘true knowledge places man above all law;’ that ‘whatever is, is right;’ that ‘God doth not condemn;’ and that ‘all sins which are committed are innocent.’ ”The Great Controversy, p. 555.

“If there were no other evidence of the real character of spiritualism, it should be enough for the Christian that the spirits make no difference between righteousness and sin. ... Satan says to the world: ‘No matter how wicked you are; no matter whether you believe or disbelieve God and the Bible. Live as you please; heaven is your home.’ The spiritualist teachers virtually declare: ‘Everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?’ Malachi 2:17. Saith the word of God: ‘Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.’ Isaiah 5:20. —The Great Controversy, pp. 556-557.

“It is true that spiritualism is now changing its form and, veiling some of its more objectionable features, is assuming a Christian guise. ... While it formerly denounced Christ and the Bible, it now professes to accept both. But the Bible is interpreted in a manner that is pleasing to the unrenewed heart, while its solemn and vital truths are made of no effect. Love is dwelt upon as the chief attribute of God, but it is degraded to a weak sentimentalism, making little distinction between good and evil. God’s justice, His denunciations of sin, the requirements of His holy law, are all kept out of sight.” —The Great Controversy, pp. 557-558.

“In the truths of His word, God has given to men a revelation of Himself; and to all who accept them they are a shield against the deceptions of Satan. It is a neglect of these truths that has opened the door to the evils which are now becoming so widespread in the religious world. ...

“Professor Edwards A. Park, in setting forth the current religious perils, ably says: ‘One source of danger is the neglect of the pulpit to enforce the divine law. In former days the pulpit was an echo of the voice of conscience. ...Our most illustrious preachers gave a wonderful majesty to their discourses by following the example of the Master, and giving prominence to the law, its precepts, and its threatenings. They repeated the two great maxims, that the law is a transcript of the divine perfections, and that a man who does not love the law does not love the gospel; for the law, as well as the gospel, is a mirror reflecting the true character of God. This peril leads to another, that of underrating the evil of sin, the extent of it, the demerit of it. In proportion to the rightfulness of the commandment is the wrongfulness of disobeying it....

“Affiliated to the dangers already named is the danger of underestimating the justice of God. The tendency of the modern pulpit is to strain out the divine justice from the divine benevolence, to sink benevolence into a sentiment rather than exalt it into a principle. The new theological prism puts asunder what God has joined together. Is the divine law a good or an evil? It is good. Then justice is good; for it is a disposition to execute the law. From the habit of underrating the divine law and justice, the extent and demerit of human disobedience, men easily slide into the habit of underestimating the grace which has provided an atonement for sin.’ Thus the gospel loses its value and importance in the minds of men, and soon they are ready practically to cast aside the Bible itself.” —The Great Controversy, pp. 464-466.

“The prophet Isaiah brings to view the fearful deception which will come upon the wicked, causing them to count themselves secure from the judgments of God: ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.’ Isaiah 28:15. In the class here described are included those who in their stubborn impenitence comfort themselves with the assurance that there is to be no punishment for the sinner...

“Marvelous beyond expression is the blindness of the people of this generation. Thousands reject the word of God as unworthy of belief and with eager confidence receive the deceptions of Satan. Skeptics and scoffers denounce the bigotry of those who contend for the faith of the prophets and apostles, and they divert themselves by holding up to ridicule the solemn declarations of the Scriptures concerning Christ and the plan of salvation, and the retribution to be visited upon the rejecters of the truth. ...They manifest as much assurance as if, indeed, they had made a covenant with death and an agreement with hell —as if they had erected an impassable, impenetrable barrier between themselves and the vengeance of God. Nothing can arouse their fears. So fully have they yielded to the tempter, so closely are they united with him, and so thoroughly imbued with his spirit, that they have no power and no inclination to break away from his snare.

... “The people are fast being lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God.

“Saith the Lord God: ‘Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.’ Isaiah 28:17,18.” —The Great Controversy, pp. 560-562.

“Spiritualism declares that there is no death, no sin, no judgment, no retribution; that ‘men are unfallen demigods;’ that desire is the highest law; and that man is accountable only to himself.” —Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 688.

Satan says, “Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5. Spiritualism teaches “that man is the creature of progression; that it is his destiny from his birth to progress, even to eternity, toward the Godhead.” And again: “Each mind will judge itself and not another.” “The judgment will be right, because it is the judgment of self. . . . The throne is within you.” Said a spiritualistic teacher, as the “spiritual consciousness” awoke within him: “My fellow men, all were unfallen demigods.” And another declares: “Any just and perfect being is Christ.” —The Great Controversy, p. 554.

In effect, spiritualists have so little awareness of moral accountability or a belief in the true God that, virtually, the spiritualists’ belief is that you may “Live as you please for heaven is your home.” “You set the standard.” “Reality is only what you perceive it to be,” which they often express as, “Do your own thing,” “there is no right or wrong except for what you think is right or wrong.”

That was the nineteenth century view of Spiritualism. It is still taught today. I would now like to bring you up to date to cutting edge spiritualism from the New Age source, A Course In Miracles. We follow that by a quote from an article three times published in a newspaper read by, and specially targeted for, Seventh-day Adventists.

Warning. This is a look at some cutting edge spiritualistic teachings. (Please don’t cry too excessively if I expose some frightening ideas warmly embraced by many Seventh-day Adventists.)

Please note the following ideas as you read.

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matthew 24:14.

1. The final judgment will not come until it is no longer associated with fear.
2. The crucifixion was not a form of punishment.
3. The crucifixion is nothing more than an extreme example.
4. The crucifixion was a useless journey.
5. The crucifixion represents release from fear to anyone who understands it.
6. Those who fear God speak of the ‘wrath of God’ as His retaliatory weapon.
7. Punishment and condemnation do not come from God.
8. No one is punished for sins, and the Sons of God are not sinners.
9. Everyone is holy.
10. Judas was righteous—as much a part of the Sonship as is Jesus.
11. The New Testament gospel is really only the message of love.
12. The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear: ‘Teach only love, for that is what you are.’
13. If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault.
14. The Apostles often misunderstood Jesus and were imperfect.
15. The devil is God and God is the devil.

Here it comes. The following paragraphs have been chosen for their clarity and shocking similarity to the aberrant theology of many Seventh-day Adventists. In these citations, the editor sees a unique combination of beliefs — that of an unholy trinity: the theology of Laodiceans, Maxaliens, and Satanists.

“The Message Of The Crucifixion”

“For learning purposes, let us consider the crucifixion again. I did not dwell on it before because of the fearful connotations you may associate with it. The only emphasis laid upon it so far has been that it was not a form of punishment. Nothing, however, can be explained in negative terms only. There is a positive interpretation of the crucifixion that is wholly devoid of fear, and therefore wholly benign in what it teaches, if it is properly understood.

“The crucifixion is nothing more than an extreme example. Its value, like the value of any teaching device, lies solely in the kind of learning it facilitates. It can be, and has been, misunderstood. This is only because the fearful are apt to perceive fearfully. I have already told you that you can always call on me to share my decision, and thus make it stronger. I have also told you that the crucifixion was the last useless journey the Sonship need take, and that it represents release from fear to anyone who understands it.” — A Course In Miracles, Vol. 1, pp. 84-85.

“The message of the crucifixion is perfectly clear:

‘Teach only love, for that is what you are.’”

“If you interpret the crucifixion in any other way, you are using it as a weapon for assault rather than as the call for peace for which it was intended. The Apostles often misunderstood it, and for the same reason that anyone misunderstands it. Their own imperfect love made them vulnerable to projection, and out of their own fear they spoke of the ‘wrath of God’ as His retaliatory weapon. Nor could they speak of the crucifixion entirely without anger, because their sense of guilt had made them angry.

“These are some of the examples of upside-down thinking in the New Testament, although its gospel is really only the message of love. If the Apostles had not felt guilty, they never could have quoted me as saying, ‘I come not to bring peace but a sword.’ This is clearly the opposite of everything I taught. Nor could they have described my reaction to Judas as they did, if they had really understood me. I could not have said, ‘Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?’ unless I believed in betrayal. The whole message of the crucifixion was simply that I did not. The ‘punishment’ I was said to have called forth upon Judas was a similar mistake. Judas was my brother and a Son of God, as much a part of the Sonship as myself. Was it likely that I would condemn him when I was ready to demonstrate that condemnation is impossible?

“As you read the teachings of the Apostles, remember that I told them myself that there was much they would understand later, because they were not wholly ready to follow me at the time. I do not want you to allow any fear to enter into the thought system toward which I am guiding you. I do not call for martyrs but for teachers. No one is punished for sins, and the Sons of God are not sinners. Any concept of punishment involves the projection of blame, and reinforces the idea that blame is justified. The result is a lesson in blame, for all behavior teaches the beliefs that motivate it.” —A Course In Miracles, Vol. 1, pp. 87-88.

“Is Each One To Be Judged In The End?”

“Indeed, yes! No one can escape God’s final judgment. Who could flee forever from the truth? But the final judgment will not come until it is no longer associated with fear. One day each one will welcome it, and on that very day it will be given him. He will hear his sinlessness proclaimed around and around the world, setting it free as God’s final judgment on him is received. This is the judgment in which salvation lies. This is the judgment that will set him free. This is the judgment in which all things are freed with him. Time pauses as eternity comes near, and silence lies across the world that everyone may hear this judgment of the Son of God:

‘Holy are you, eternal, free and whole,
At peace forever in the Heart of God.
Where is the world, and where is sorrow now?’ ”
A Course In Miracles, Vol. 3, p. 37.

How one Adventist Ministry Interprets Genesis 2 and 3

“We have been told that blessings and cursings cannot proceed from the same mouth. James 3:8-12. The ‘Lord God’ in Genesis 2 is obviously a grudge-holding, fault-finding personality who obviously thinks it is not enough to curse man and woman for their ‘sin’ but every created being as well. Neither does He bless anyone or give any Sabbath rest from their constant labors. He is a real slave driver.

“There seems to have been no attempt to comfort, encourage or reconcile the deflated pair in chapter 3. There was no mention of the great forgiveness of God, which is His middle name, that leads all toward total and complete restoration. Rather, their errors are held up and pointed out over and over again. Curses are pronounced upon them with no mercy and they are banished from their lovely garden home at a time when kind words and actions would have been most effective in drawing them closer to the heart of God. These punishments were designed to serve as an ever-present reminder of guilt and could not serve any other purpose but to impose upon them shame and further alienation from God. It would seem this is the real motive of this supposed ‘Lord god.’

“Genesis 3 seems to show the serpent trying to break a web spun by an impostor. It was Eve that listened to the voice of the serpent, previously the most glorious animal created. Eve ate of the fruit, felt no condemnation and joyously spread the ‘gospel’ to her husband. ...

“If Eve listened to the true God in the tree reminding her that everything He created was good, would not she provoke the ire of the ‘Lord God’ in chapter 2?” —Mike Clute, God’s Last Call, May-Aug. 1995.


There Is No Need To Fear

According to both the New Age interpretation of the crucifixion and A. Graham Maxwell—Adventism’s most beloved teacher of spiritualism—the crucifixion represents release from fear to anyone who understands it.

The following quotes are stunning excerpts from a taped Graham Maxwell evangelistic series at Andrews University and were transcribed by the Biblical Research Institute, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.


Why Did Jesus Have to Die?

“I would like to talk to you tonight about what Jesus did on the cross has to do with our being His servants or His friends. It is the essence of the meaning of all 66 books, and I would like to summarize it in less than half an hour.”

“You remember that when Jesus answered questions, He often went back to the beginning, which always takes a little time. But you remember when they brought up the question of divorce, He said, Well, if you have the time, let Me go back to the beginning. In the beginning it was not so, and so on. And with this most serious of all questions, and the costly answer, that makes it possible for the universe, the whole vast universe, to be secure for eternity, we need to go back to the beginning always. In the beginning God spoke those terrible words, ‘In the day you eat thereof, you will die.’ Now, if Satan is right, if God has lied to us, that is the end of trust. But if God really meant it when He said, You will die, how will we die? Will He kill us? In the day you eat thereof, I will kill you. Is that the way our Father runs His family? Obey Me, or I will kill you.”

“I thought God wanted love and friendship. Is it love Me, or I will kill you?”

“If the soul is mortal, how long will the mortal soul live in the fierce final fires? You die quickly in fire. How is it that some will live longer in the fire, and you know the verses—Luke 12:47,48. Some have more stripes than others. Do you know what this means? If God is the executioner, He will have to perform a miracle to keep you from dying prematurely from shock or suffocation in the flames, and the message is, Love Me, accept Me, or I will torture you in the flames. And you will never get a friend that way. We will all turn into fearful, trembling servants. And He doesn’t want that. Do you know what torture is? In any dictionary? The worst kind of torture is inflicting exquisite pain before execution. Do you think our God will do that? I have read in books that even is the loving thing to do.”

“Be my friend, or I will torture you to death, but I won’t torture you one minute longer than you deserve. Oh, I love that.”

“So, I stand at the foot of the cross, and I say, Jesus, hanging there on the cross, what did You mean when You said, Love and obey Me or you will die? And Jesus could reply, I am showing you right now. What was He showing them? As you read on through the 66 books, there are so many references to God’s wrath and His anger, some day to be poured out without mixture on the rejecters of His love, especially in the third angel’s message. What is this wrath? Is it love and obey me, or in the fury of my wrath I will destroy you?”

“I remember more than forty years ago I determined I had to work that out. I searched all through the Bible for the meaning, and most helpful was the book of Romans. In Romans 1:24, 26, 28, God’s wrath is clearly described as His turning away in loving disappointment from those who do not want Him anyway, thus leaving them and giving them up and handing them over to reap the awful consequences.”

“And that wasn’t new with Paul. It’s all through Hosea, chapter 11. God says, My people are bent on leaving Me. I’ll have to let them go. But how can I give you up? How can I let you go? Many other places like that.”

“Now, was God’s wrath poured out on His Son? Well, let me ask you, Did He give Him up? Did He let Him go? Romans 4:25, I am sorry some versions say He was put to death for our transgressions. There is not a word in the Greek about being put to death. It is exactly the same word as in Romans 1:24, 26, 28. He was given up. He was handed over for our transgressions. Yes, the wrath of God was poured out on His Son, as it will be poured out on unsavable sinners at the end.”

“What was Jesus' cry on the cross? Why are you torturing Me to death? No, Why have you given Me up?”

“If you want to know how the sinner will die, go to the cross, watch Jesus die, and hear His sad cry, Why have you given Me up? Why have you let Me go? It would be better to come even earlier to Gethsemane, where Jesus began to experience the sinner’s separation from the Father. His unity with the Father breaking up. And Jesus fell dying to the ground. Did the Father kill His Son? He didn’t even touch Him. And the angels looking on got the costly answer to their questions. Does sin result in death? Indeed it does. But is it the result of God torturing us to death? He never touched His Son.”

“Now, that makes sense to me. God doesn’t say, Love Me, or I will kill you. He says what we even say to each other. Love Me, or what else can I do but let you go. But when God says, I will have to let you go, we will die. But God says, I won’t let you go easily. I’ll try everything first. I’ll thunder on Sinai to get your attention. I’ll send she-bears to inspire a little reverence, because if you don’t respect Me, you won’t listen, and I can’t help you. Ill even come Myself and show you now terrible is the consequence of sin, and if that doesn’t win you, what else can I do but sadly give you up, and we mortals cannot live apart from God. Left to our rebellious selves, we will die.”

“The angels watched Gethsemane. But the three disciples chosen to witness that costly event slept through the whole meeting. So the angel strengthened Jesus to go out to Calvary and go through it all over again. Besides, there was another question to be answered. Why, dear God, is it so important that we understand all of this? You are the sovereign Creator. You have the right to govern your universe any way you wish. No one would dare question your right to give orders and expect submission to your every command. Nor would anyone dare to question your right to destroy those who are disobedient. And that is just the point. God has replied, I don’t want you just to be My servants. I want you to be My friends. I could easily have destroyed Satan when he rebelled, but then you would have served Me from fear—not friendship. Even if I had simply let him go, he would have died, just as Jesus has demonstrated. But the angels, never having seen death, would have assumed that the Lifegiver had killed him, and they would have served Him from fear, just the same.”

“And so I hear God saying, Oh, My children throughout the universe, I want you to understand that the obedience that springs from fear can produce the character of a rebel. Even as you fearfully obey Me, you will be turning against Me. Now, please go out to Calvary and see that demonstrated. And this is the one thing that is almost always left out of the explanation of why Jesus has had to die. And why it is a terrible mistake, as you may hear sometimes, to call this explanation the moral influence theory. This is an awesome explanation.” —A. Graham Maxwell.”

Prayer and Praise Summary Statement For the Purpose of the Cross

“Our Heavenly Father is unwilling to lose one of His children. He wants us to realize the terrible consequence of sin and take sin very seriously. And He wants us to see the falsity of Satan’s lies and accusations. Yes, we will die. But He has not said, Love Me, or I will kill you. It’s love Me, or I will let you go, and you will die. But it is not torture and execution at the hands of our gracious Father. For God does not want us to serve Him from fear. Or we will become His enemies.”

“I can hear God saying, I want more than anything else freedom in My family. I want peace and joy and love and freedom from fear. Children, I want you all to be My friends. And to tell this and to demonstrate all this costs everything. Truly, only our best friend would tell us. And Jesus went up to heaven, and He went in before the angels, and He asked them, did you get the message? And so after Jesus had heard them tell Him that they got the message, they got the meaning, He came back to this planet to see if the brethren had got it. And He couldn’t find them. They were all in deep depression. Well, they hadn’t even gone to the meetings to get the answers. The three chosen ones who went to Gethsemane slept through the whole evening, and only one went to the cross. And he is the one who later on shows how clearly he understood it.”

“You see, they were dears. And the Lord was going to use them to build our church, and I am glad He uses such people, because that means that He can use you and me, but they still were just servants, you see. They still didn’t really understand. So tonight, could you say to Jesus tonight, we get the message. We are your friends. Should we pray.”

“Our loving Father in heaven, hopefully, all of us here can join with the loyal angels in saying that we do get the message. What a price Thou hast paid to make it clear that Thou art our friend, and just want us to be friends. What an exalted position that seems to be. But how Thou hast humbled Thyself to come down and be like a human being among us, to make it clear Thou doest not want us to be afraid. And so we thank Thee for making this evidence so clear, and we thank Thee most of all for what it cost. We get the message. We want to be your friends. In Jesus name. Amen.” —A. Graham Maxwell.

Maxwell’s Church-Sanctioned Spiritualistic Philosophy Replaces Repentance

“But part of the freedom that comes with friendship, the friendship that is offered in John 15:15, is freedom from fear, and most of all, freedom from the fear of God. And the Bible recognizes that one of people’s greatest fears is the fear of dying. And the devil has made the most of it. Even the atheist knows, and I’ve talked to some. You know, around a medical center you see a lot of people who realize that if there is a god out there, they are about to meet him. And even the atheist knows, though he may have denied all his life that there is a God, that if there is one, he is about to come face to face with him. And he wonders what that powerful something or person will be like. It is very interesting to help such people die unafraid. Or would you think an atheist ought to die scared stiff? He deserves to. You know, even God’s enemies have no need to be afraid of Him.” —A. Graham Maxwell.

Are You Now Ready to Face God Without Fear?

“And last night we discussed one of the freedoms that comes with friendship, the freedom from being afraid of an unfriendly God. And hence, as Hebrews 2 says, losing one of the fears of dying. Because we know that if we should die, we would awaken the very next moment of consciousness, face to face with a very friendly God. Even if we are going to be lost.” —A. Graham Maxwell.

Am I the only Seventh-day Adventist who is alarmed by this?

Source: http://www.everythingimportant.org/seventhdayAdventists/spiritualism.htm

WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR? AN ESCAPE!


China Launches First Lunar Probe


Wednesday, October 24, 2007


BEIJING - Embarking on an ambitious 10-year moon exploration program, China launched its first lunar probe Wednesday - a leap forward in the Asian space race that gave a boost to national pride, and the promise of scientific and military payoffs.


Just a week ago, Japan put a probe into orbit around the moon, and India is likely to join the rivalry soon, with plans to send its own lunar probe into space in April.


The Long March 3A rocket left a trail of smoke Wednesday as it soared into cloudy skies from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.


Twenty-four minutes later, the Chang'e 1 satellite - named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon - separated from the carrier rocket on a trajectory to reach lunar orbit in 13 days.


"The launch of China's first moon probe satellite is successful!" Xu Fuxiang, a professor from the China Institute of Space Technology, declared on state television, which broadcast the launch live.


"We have passed through the most difficult time," he said after the rocket and satellite separated. "It should be heading smoothly toward the moon."


The lunar mission adds depth to a Chinese space program that has sent astronauts orbiting around the Earth twice in the past four years.


President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders sent congratulations, the official Xinhua News Agency said.


Though national pride is one benefit of the space program, China is also looking for scientific and military benefits.


Wednesday's launch marks the first step of a three-stage moon mission. In about 2012 there will be a moon landing with a moon rover. In the third phase, about five years later, another rover will land on the moon and be returned to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples.


"It's a very significant launch," said Charles Vick, a space analyst for the Washington think tank GlobalSecurity.org. "It certainly demonstrates that China is pushing its sciences and technology ... at the same time demonstrating its national space program to its own people."


It also puts China squarely at the forefront in Asia, said Joan Johnson-Freese, chair of the national security decision-making department of the Naval War College in Rhode Island.


"In Asia, there are a lot of countries looking for who will be the next regional leader," she said. "Showing you have technical capability certainly lends the idea that you are the leading country in the region."


"For the Chinese, there's also a great deal of domestic credibility," she said. "It lends a lot of credibility to the Communist Party."


Earlier this month, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in unusually candid remarks that he thought China will get to the moon before the United States can meet a 2020 deadline for a return visit.


"It is a prestige issue," said Michael Auslin, resident scholar in Asian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. "China has had a more extensive space program than Japan, they've launched astronauts into space, so they clearly don't want to be seen as giving up superiority to Japan."


In addition, the launch shows China is able to build and use the best technology, which has domestic, economic and military implications, he said. "Ultimately, it's about strategic advantage," he said. "They clearly see space as a new area of potential competition ... this is moving in new directions, away from sea and air, and space launches are part of that."


Soon after Wednesday's launch, Xinhua quoted an unidentified spokesman of the military-run space program as saying China was not interested in a space race and that the probe's mission was "without any military aims and carrying no military facilities and equipment."


However, Vincent Sabathier, director of space initiatives at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China's probe poses a military concern.


"You cannot make the distinction between civil space and military space," he said, adding that civil space involves projects done in the open. "The more you show the capability in civil space, the more you tell the potential adversaries you have the same thing on the military side. That you are mighty."


Henry R. Hertzfeld, research professor at the Space Policy Institute and Center for International Science and Technology Policy at George Washington University, said he hopes China and Japan will follow the U.S. example in sharing scientific findings.


In comments carried by Xinhua, Luan Enjie, commander of the lunar orbiter project, said, "China will, in the principle of pursuing a policy of peaceful use of airspace, share the achievements of the lunar exploration with the whole world."


At the Xichang site, several thousand people living within 1 1/2 miles of the launch center and under the rocket's trajectory were evacuated two hours before the launch, Xinhua said.


It said tourists paid $106 to watch the launch of the Long March, which was emblazoned with a drawing of the moon in eclipse that was also designed to look like a dragon. "China Lunar Probe" was written in Chinese on its side.


"Before long, human beings may live or tour space. Anything can happen," said Tony Zhang, who watched the launch on a big-screen television at a shopping mall in the heart of Beijing.


The project's goal is to analyze the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface. The probe will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of the surface and study the moon's dust.


The 5,070-pound satellite is expected to transmit its first photo back to China in late November, and to conduct explorations of the moon for a year.


China sent its first satellite into Earth orbit in the 1970s but the space program only seriously took off in the 1980s, growing apace with the booming economy.


In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to put its own astronauts into space.


But China also alarmed the international community in January when it blasted an old satellite into oblivion with a land-based anti-satellite missile. It was the first such test ever conducted by any nation.


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Associated Press Writer Carley Petesch in New York contributed to this report,


Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.




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Oct. 24, 2007, 3:21PM
Astronauts examine shuttle wings





CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Discovery's astronauts used lasers and digital cameras Wednesday to examine the shuttle's wings for any signs of launch damage as they gained on the international space station with every circling of Earth.


The inspection is standard procedure, but it's an even higher priority this time because of questions about possible flaws in three wing panels.


Flight director Rick LaBrode said a preliminary look at the images revealed nothing of significance, but it will take another few days before experts on the ground finish analyzing everything.


Commander Pamela Melroy and her crew used a 100-foot boom to survey Discovery's wings and nose, which are exposed to as much as 3,000 degrees during re-entry. The inspection took a little longer than usual because NASA wanted to collect more detailed pictures of the wings, in particular the three suspect panels.


Before Tuesday's launch, a NASA safety group recommended that the flight be delayed because there may be some cracking beneath the coating on these three panels. But senior managers decided to proceed, saying it was an acceptable risk.


NASA wants to make sure none of the protective coating has chipped away and nothing else is wrong with the reinforced-carbon panels, before bringing Discovery home.


Columbia was destroyed during re-entry 4 1/2 years ago because of a hole in the left wing, left there by flyaway fuel-tank foam.


Just as important will be the hundreds of digital pictures snapped by the three space station residents as Discovery makes its final approach for Thursday morning's docking. The shuttle will do a slow-motion backflip, exposing its belly.


Discovery is delivering a new room for the space station that's about the size of a school bus. It's the first live-in addition since 2001.


The pressurized compartment, called Harmony, will serve as the docking port for Europe and Japan's laboratories, which will be launched on the next three shuttle flights.


Onboard preparations for the docking and the first spacewalk of the mission, set for Friday, were interrupted by repeated computer and cable problems.


"We seem to have had more than our fair share of bad cables," Melroy said, sighing, as she struggled to get a continuous stream of readings from one of the shuttle's fuel cells.


Once Discovery arrives at the space station, the seven astronauts will have little if any time to deal with problems.


They're facing the most challenging construction work ever attempted in a single mission: installing Harmony, moving a massive girder and set of solar wings on the station, and pulling out those solar wings and radiators. Four spacewalks are planned to accomplish all this, and a fifth will demonstrate a repair method for shuttle thermal tiles.


GOVERNATOR ARNOLD'S KALI-FORNIA BURNS


WILL YOU TURN TO HOLLYWOOD FOR A SOLUTION TO THIS CATASTROPHE?

TERMINATOR/ERASER/COMMANDO/ ARNOLD

YOU MADE A KILLING AT THE BOX OFFICE,

WILL YOU MELT UNDER THE HEAT?

CRASH AND BURN?

TRUE LIES?

1 MILLON PEOPLE EVACUATE,

$1 BILLION LOSS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY,

MORE THAN 1,500 HOMES DESTROYED.

WHAT NOW, GOVERNATOR?

THIS SCRIPT MAY BE MORE DIFFICULT THAN YOU THOUGHT!

SDA PRESIDENT TO VISIT JAMAICA

Seventh-day Adventist World Church president to visit Jamaica
published: Sunday October 21, 2007


Paulsen

The President of the Seventh-day Adventist World Church, Pastor Jan Paulsen, is scheduled to visit the island of Jamaica from October 26-28, 2007.

According to a release from the West Indies Union of Seventh-day Adventist Churches, Pastor Paulsen's visit is to facilitate dialogue with 35 young professionals of the English-speaking Caribbean in a live television programme dubbed Let's Talk Caribbean. The one-hour unscripted, unedited programme will be broadcast live via satellite from the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) Gymnatorium on Saturday, October 27. It will be seen worldwide on HOPE TV.

Pastor Paulsen will also be the keynote speaker at a thanksgiving service in celebration of the centenary of the founding of NCU, formerly West Indies College. The service will be broadcast live on HOPE TV from 10:00 a.m. to 12 noon on Saturday.

Source: http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20071021/news/news2.html

IS THE GREAT CONTROVERSY MISSING A CHAPTER?

"Is The Great Controversy Missing a Chapter?"

Return to White Estate Vault Feature

Readers comparing the Spanish edition of The Great Controversy to the English original may be surprised to learn that the Spanish version contains an additional chapter—chapter 13. The origin of this chapter is explained in The Later Elmshaven Years, [vol. 6 of the Ellen G. White Biography series,] p. 377, as follows:

As the work of the church was broadening to take in many countries and many languages, steps were taken to translate the new book so that the peoples of many tongues might read. One of the first was the Spanish, undertaken almost immediately. As this work was entered upon, it was observed that no place had been given to the reformation in Spain. As counsel was taken with Ellen White, it was decided it would be well if in the Spanish printing, a supplementary chapter compiled by competent writers could be added. Thus, the Spanish Great Controversy carries forty-three chapters in place of the forty-two in other printings. Chapter thirteen in that book, titled The Awakening in Spain, is clearly designated as a work of "collaboration" and has a footnote stating:

This chapter was compiled by C. C. Crisler and H. H. Hall, and was inserted in this book with the approval of the author.--Page 252.

Consequently, there has never been any missing chapter from The Great Controversy. This non-Ellen White material has always been available in the Spanish edition, and it was never intended by her to be a part of the original English edition.

Source: http://www.whiteestate.com/vault/gcmissing.asp

FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS

FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS

Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, Frontispiece to 1761 Edition

Edited by William Byron Forbush

This is a book that will never die--one of the great English classics. Interesting as fiction, because it is written with both passion and tenderness, it tells the dramatic story of some of the most thrilling periods in Christian history.

Reprinted here in its most complete form, it brings to life the days when "a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid," "climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 'mid peril, toil, and pain."

"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification." -- James Miller Dodds, English Prose.

FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS

A HISTORY OF THE LIVES, SUFFERINGS AND TRIUMPHANT DEATHS OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN AND THE PROTESTANT MARTYRS

FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS

"When one recollects that until the appearance of the Pilgrim's Progress the common people had almost no other reading matter except the Bible and FOXE'S Book of Martyrs, we can understand the deep impression that this book produced; and how it served to mold the national character. Those who could read for themselves learned the full details of all the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers; the illiterate could see the rude illustrations of the various instruments of torture, the rack, the gridiron, the boiling oil, and then the holy ones breathing out their souls amid the flames. Take a people just awakening to a new intellectual and religious life; let several generations of them, from childhood to old age, pore over such a book, and its stories become traditions as individual and almost as potent as songs and customs on a nation's life." -- Douglas Campbell, "The Puritan in Holland, England, and America"

"If we divest the book of its accidental character of feud between churches, it yet stands, in the first years of Elizabeth's reign, a monument that marks the growing strength of a desire for spiritual freedom, defiance of those forms that seek to stifle conscience and fetter thought." -- Henry Morley, "English Writers"

"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly inflienced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even in our own time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification." -- James Miller Dodds, "English Prose"

FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS

SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR

John Fox (or Foxe) was born at Boston, in Lincolnshire, in 1517, where his parents are stated to have lived in respectable circumstances. He was deprived of his father at an early age; and notwithstanding his mother soon married again, he still remained under the parental roof. From an early display of talents and inclination to learning, his friends were induced to send him to Oxford, in order to cultivate and bring them to maturity.

During his residence at this place, he was distinguished for the excellence and acuteness of his intellect, which was improved by the emulation of his fellow collegians, united to an indefatigable zeal and industry on his part. These qualities soon gained him the admiration of all; and as a reward for his exertions and amiable conduct, he was chosen fellow of Magdalen College; which was accounted a great honor in the university, and seldom bestowed unless in cases of great distinction. It appears that the first display of his genius was in poetry; and that he composed some Latin comedies, which are still extant. But he soon directed his thoughts to a more serious subject, the study of the sacred Scriptures: to divinity, indeed, he applied himself with more fervency than circumspection, and discovered his partiality to the Reformation, which had then commenced, before he was known to its supporters, or to those who protected them; a circumstance which proved to him the source of his first troubles.

He is said to have often affirmed that the first matter which occasioned his search into the popish doctrine was that he saw divers things, most repugnant in their nature to one another, forced upon men at the same time; upon this foundation his resolution and intended obedience to that Church were somewhat shaken, and by degrees a dislike to the rest took place.

His first care was to look into both the ancient and modern history of the Church; to ascertain its beginning and progress; to consider the causes of all those controversies which in the meantime had sprung up, and diligently to weigh their effects, solidity, infirmities, etc.

Before he had attained his thirtieth year, he had studied the Greek and Latin fathers, and other learned authors, the transactions of the Councils, and decrees of the consistories, and had acquired a very competent skill in the Hebrew language. In these occupations he frequently spent a considerable part, or even the whole of the night; and in order to unbend his mind after such incessant study, he would resort to a grove near the college, a place much frequented by the students in the evening, on account of its sequestered gloominess. In these solitary walks he was often heard to ejaculate heavy sobs and sighs, and with tears to pour forth his prayers to God. These nightly retirements, in the sequel, gave rise to the first suspicion of his alienation from the Church of Rome. Being pressed for an explanation of this alteration in his conduct, he scorned to call in fiction to his excuse; he stated his opinions; and was, by the sentence of the college convicted, condemned as a heretic, and expelled.

His friends, upon the report of this circumstance, were highly offended, when he was thus forsaken by his own friends, a refuge offered itself in the house of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Warwickshire, by whom he was sent for to instruct his children. The house is within easy walk of Stratford-on-Avon, and it was this estate which, a few years later, was the scene of Shakespeare's traditional boyish poaching expedition. Fox died when Shakespeare was three years old.

In the Lucy house Fox afterward married. But the fear of the popish inquisitors hastened his departure thence; as they were not contented to pursue public offences, but began also to dive into the secrets of private families. He now began to consider what was best to be done to free himself from further inconvenience, and resolved either to go to his wife's father or to his father-in-law.

His wife's father was a citizen of Coventry, whose heart was not alienated from him, and he was more likely to be well entreated, or his daughter's sake. He resolved first to go to him; and, in the meanwhile, by letters, to try whether his father-in-law would receive him or not. This he accordingly did, and he received for answer, "that it seemed to him a hard condition to take one into his house whom he knew to be guilty and condemned for a capital offence; neither was he ignorant what hazard he should undergo in so doing; he would, however, show himself a kinsman, and neglect his own danger. If he would alter his mind, he might come, on condition to stay as long as he himself desired; but if he could not be persuaded to that, he must content himself with a shorter stay, and not bring him and his mother into danger."

No condition was to be refused; besides, he was secretly advised by his mother to come, and not to fear his father-in- law's severity; "for that, perchance, it was needful to write as he did, but when occasion should be offered, he would make recompense for his words with his actions." In fact he was better received by both of them than he had hoped for.

By these means he kept himself concealed for some time, and afterwards made a journey to London, in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. Here, being unknown, he was in much distress, and was even reduced to the danger of being starved to death, had not Providence interfered in his favor in the following manner:

One day as Mr. Fox was sitting in St. Paul's Church, exhausted with long fasting, a stranger took a seat by his side, and courteously saluted him, thrust a sum of money into his hand, and bade him cheer up his spirits; at the same time informing him, that in a few days new prospects would present themselves for his future subsistence. Who this stranger was, he could never learn; but at the end of three days he received an invitation from the Duchess of Richmond to undertake the tuition of the children of the Earl of Surry who, together with his father, the Duke of Norfolk, was imprisoned in the Tower, by the jealousy and ingratitude of the king. The children thus confided to his care were, Thomas, who succeeded to the dukedom; Henry, afterwards Earl of Northampton; and Jane who became Countess of&127; Westmoreland. In the performance of his duties, he fully satisfied the expectations of the duchess, their aunt.

These halcyon days continued during the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII and the five years of the reign of Edward VI until Mary came to the crown, who, soon after her accessiopn, gave all power into the hands of the papists.

At this time Mr. Fox, who was still under the protection of his noble pupil, the duke, began to excite the envy and hatred of many, particularly Dr. Gardiner, then Bishop of Winchester, who in the sequel became his most violent enemy.

Mr. Fox, aware of this, and seeing the dreadful persecutions then commencing, began to think of quitting the kingdom. As soon as the duke knew his intention, he endeavored to persuade him to remain; and his arguments were so powerful, and given with so much sincerity, that he gave up the thought of abandoning his asylum for the present.

At that time the Bishop of Winchester was very intimate with the duke (by the patronage of whose family he had risen to the dignity he then enjoyed,) and frequently waited on him to present his service when he several times requested that he might see his old tutor. At first the duke denied his request, at one time alleging his absence, at another, indisposition. At length it happened that Mr. Fox, not knowing the bishop was in the house, entered the room where the duke and he were in discourse; and seeing the bishop, withdrew. Gardiner asked who that was; the duke answered that he was "his physician, who was somewhat uncourtly, as being new come from the university." "I like his countenance and aspect very well," replied the bishop, "and when occasion offers, I will send for him." The duke understood that speech as the messenger of some approaching danger; and now himself thought it high time for Mr. Fox to quit the city, and even the country. He accordingly caused everything necessary for his flight to be provided in silence, by sending one of his servants to Ipswich to hire a bark, and prepare all the requisites for his departure. He also fixed on the house of one of his servants, who was a farmer, where he might lodge until the wind became favorable; and everything being in readiness, Mr. Fox took leave of his noble patron, and with his wife, who was pregnant at the time, secretly departed for the ship.

The vessel was scarcely under sail, when a most violent storm came on, which lasted all day and night, and the next day drove them back to the port from which they had departed. During the time that the vessel had been at sea, an officer, despatched by the bishop of Winchester, had broken open the house of the farmer with a warrant to apprehend Mr. Fox wherever he might be found, and bring him back to the city. On hearing this news he hired a horse, under the pretence of leaving the town immediately; but secretly returned the same night, and agreed with the captain of the vessel to sail for any place as soon as the wind should shift, only desired him to proceed, and not to doubt that God would prosper his undertaking. The mariner suffered himself to be persuaded, and within two days landed his passengers in safety at Nieuport.

After spending a few days in that place, Mr. Fox set out for Basle, where he found a number of English refugees, who had quitted their country to avoid the cruelty of the persecutors, with these he associated, and began to write his "History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church," which was first published in Latin at Basle in 1554, and in English in 1563.

In the meantime the reformed religion began again to flourish in England, and the popish faction much to decline, by the death of Queen Mary; which induced the greater number of the Protestant exiles to return to their native country.

Among others, on the accession of Elizabeth to the throne, Mr. Fox returned to England; where, on his arrival, he found a faithful and active friend in his late pupil, the Duke of Norfolk, until death deprived him of his benefactor: after which event, Mr. Fox inherited a pension bequeathed to him by the duke, and ratified by his son, the Earl of Suffolk.

Nor did the good man's successes stop here. On being recommended to the queen by her secretary of state, the great Cecil, her majesty granted him the prebendary of Shipton, in the cathedral of Salisbury, which was in a manner forced upon him; for it was with difficulty that he could be persuaded to accept it.

On his resettlement in England, he employed himself in revising and enlarging his admirable Martyrology. With prodigious pains and constant study he completed that celebrated work in eleven years. For the sake of greater correctness, he wrote every line of this vast book with his own hand, and transcribed all the records and papers himself. But, in consequence of such excessive toil, leaving no part of his time free from study, nor affording himself either the repose or recreation which nature required, his health was so reduced, and his person became so emaciated and altered, that such of his friends and relations as only conversed with him occasionally, could scarcely recognize his person. Yet, though he grew daily more exhausted, he proceeded in his studies as briskly as ever, nor would he be persuaded to diminish his accustomed labors. The papists, forseeing how detrimental his history of their errors and cruelties would prove to their cause, had recourse to every artifice to lessen the reputation of his work; but their malice was of signal service, both to Mr. Fox himself, and to the Church of God at large, as it eventually made his book more intrinsically valuable, by inducing him to weigh, with the most scrupulous attention, the certainty of the facts which he recorded, and the validity of the authorities from which he drew his information.

But while he was thus indefatigably employed in promoting the cause of truth, he did not neglect the other duties of his station; he was charitable, humane, and attentive to the wants, both spiritual and temporal, of his neighbors. With the view of being more extensively useful, although he had no desire to cultivate the acquaintance of the rich and great on his own account, he did not decline the friendship of those in a higher rank who proffered it, and never failed to employ his influence with them in behalf of the poor and needy. In consequence of his well-known probity and charity, he was frequently presented with sums of money by persons possessed of wealth, which he accepted and distributed among those who were distressed. He would also occasionally attend the table of his friends, not so much for the sake of pleasure, as from civility, and to convince them that his absence was not occasoned by a fear of being exposed to the temptations of the appetite. In short his character as a man and as a Christian was without reproach.

Although the recent recollection of the persecutions under Bloody Mary gave bitterness to his pen, it is singular to note that he was personally the most conciliatory of men, and that while he heartily disowned the Roman Church in which he was born, he was one of the first to attempt the concord of the Protestant brethren. In fact, he was a veritable apostle of toleration.

When the plague or pestilence broke out in England, in 1563, and many forsook their duties, Fox remained at his post, assisting the friendless and acting as the almsgiver of the rich. It was said of him that he could never refuse help to any one who asked it in the name of Christ. Tolerant and large-hearted he exerted his influence with Queen Elizabeth to confirm her intention to no longer keep up the cruel practice of putting to death those of opposing religious convictions. The queen held him in respect and referred to him as "Our Father Foxe."

Mr. Fox had joy in the fruits of his work while he was yet alive. It passed through four large editions before his decease, and it was orderred by the bishops to be placed in every cathedral church in England, where it was often found chained, as the Bible was in those days, to a lectern for the access of the people.

At length, having long served both the Church and the world by his ministry, by his pen, and by the unsullied luster of a benevolent, useful, and holy life, he meekly resigned his soul to Christ, on the eighteenth of April, 1587, being then in the seventieth year of his age. He was interred in the chancel of St. Giles', Cripplegate; of which parish he had been, in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, for some time vicar.



Copyright ©1999-2007, The Reformed Reader, All Rights Reserved

Source: http://www.reformedreader.org/rbb/foxe/bom/about.htm

SICK, SORRY, & SAD

Sick, Sorry, & Sad

Between the porch and the altar

Will they never get tired of picking the 'Platform of Truth' apart? 
I am sick, sorry and sad that Satan ever attacks truth so
subtly /no that is not a good word/ let's say blatantly and yet with out the blinking of an eye on the part of so many members!?!?! 

CASE 1: We receive the Journal of Pacific Union College called "Viewpoint" four times a year.  Thursday the Fall 2007 issue arrived in our mail box. 

Not being from PUC, I didn't pay it much attention, but my wife sat down to scan it through.  She was reading of the address given at the Spring Graduation (2007). 

DO THE FOLLOWING WORDS MATTER?

OR SHALL WE JUST SMILE AND GO ON OUR WAY?

 

CAN WE SEE THE RED FLAG OF REVOLT AND REVOLUTION?

OR SHALL WE JUST SMILE AND GO ON OUR WAY? 

Here is what was printed on page 12: 

"Whatever our dream might be, it must be a dream that is bigger than our own selves - to use our gifts and accomplishments also as a mean of compassion. 

I also pray that our young alumni will dream big toward transforming Adventism. (No mention of following God’s directions as given in Authentic Scripture and Spirit of Prophecy) 

Down the road, they may feel that they have no need for the church. And they may be right. (What a tragedy that graduates have been disappointed by the leadership of the church and feel no need) 

But their church desperately needs them - - just the way they are. (No need for a converted heart or commitment to following Christ in the straight and narrow way. . .) 

We need them to challenge some of the lifeless, rigid, calcified remains of the past that they see in our church.  (So now, Christ’s living, vibrant, church militant is likened unto DEAD! If doctrines and beliefs of times gone by are ‘lifeless, rigid, calcified’ it is only in hearts that has chosen to reject The Truth.)  

We need them to help us grow into a community that can be meaningful, relevant, transformative in the world.  (No mention of Christ or of His power to transform an individual into the His likeness) 

The Adventism that some of them see and despise doesn't have to be the Adventism of the future.  This is a growing, changing, expanding, progressive church that is waiting to be shaped by them." (The church needs to be shaped –transformed- by the Heavenly Father in His way - - not by a group of young graduates with multitudes of ideas, often in opposition to Council already given)

CASE 2: A slick sided brochure from It Is Written was inserted into 10-20-2007 Church Bulletin:

MULTITUDES

Inspiration and Education for

Reaching Your City for Christ

Inside the cover Speaker/Director Shawn Boonstra says "We are excited to introduce you to Joe Cirigliano, It Is Written’s evangelistic coordinator for North American. . .

At the bottom of the page Joe Cirigliano’s credentials are paraded thus:

"Joe Cirigliano has conducted dozens of metro area evangelistic meetings and revivals from coast to coast. In the last ten years he has served the Seventh Day Adventist Church as a senior pastor, associate pastor, Bible worker, and lay pastoral assistant. His humor, enthusiasm, and conviction have made him a very popular speaker and trainer for camp meetings, week of prayers and conventions. (Humor and popularity are not what God values. Instead does Joe preach Present Truth from Authentic Scripture which equals "What saith the Lord.?")

Following his completion of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism in his native New York City, Joe’s revival preaching and evangelism preparation methods were part of a feature in Decision [A Billy Graham monthly publication] magazine. He also received a special invitation to join the exclusive Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Emerging Evangelist’s Program of only 22. (Will a person immersed in Billy Graham philosophies and methods be using God’s tried and true methods found in the book Evangelism by Ellen G. White?)

A graduate of Andrews University Theological Seminary he will also be continuing his education through Yale and Harvard Divinity School. (Does attendance at these institutions solidify or weaken faith in Authentic Scripture, Spirit of Prophecy, and basic foundational Adventism?)

Near Joe Cirigliano’s picture it indicates that he has the degree M.Div. (Master of Divinity Degree)

(In all of this wording, have we been pointed to THE Man, Christ Jesus, or to A man?)

Joel 2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Published Oct.23, 2007

Source: http://www.sdadefend.com/Defend-foundation/Letters-S2.htm

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER INTERRUPTED

Bill Maher in a 2005 appearance on Canada AM.

Bill Maher in a 2005 appearance on Canada AM.

Bill Maher helps boot 9/11 conspiracy theorist

Updated Sat. Oct. 20 2007 12:18 PM ET

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES -- Bill Maher can add "security guard" to his job description alongside comedian and political commentator.

Maher on Friday night helped security remove a rowdy protester from the studio during his weekly HBO show "Real Time with Bill Maher," and it was all captured on live television.

Maher was talking science during one of his weekly panel discussions when a protester in his audience stood up, held up a smuggled-in sign reading "9/11 is a cover up fraud" and shouted comments to the same effect.

The host tried to shout down the audience member, who only became more agitated.

"Do we have some (expletive) security in this building," Maher yelled, "or do I have to come down there and kick his (expletive)?"

When security reached the man's aisle and the man resisted leaving, Maher ran into the seats and helped them push him out the door, shouting "Out! Out! Out!"

Several other protesters, sprinkled throughout the audience, then stood up and shouted.

"This isn't the Iowa Caucus, OK, we're not here to debate," Maher shouted with most of his audience cheering him on. "This is the problem with live television."

The incident was shown live on the East Coast, and the network appeared to show the entire affair unedited for the taped-delayed West Coast version.

After the instigators were ejected, Maher told his panelists -- MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson -- that they often linger outside his studio to share 9/11 conspiracy theories with him and try to get into the show.

"It's the only time I defend Bush," he said.

"I'm thinking about firing my audience department," he added.

Regular audience members found the ruckus thrilling.

"We picked a very exciting night to be here," Eliot Stein, a 54-year-old high school teacher, said via cell phone. "There's few live TV shows anymore, and here you got to see, it was like a movie. it was great."

Phone and e-mail messages left with HBO officials late Friday were not immediately returned.

Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071020/maher_scuffle_071020/20071020?hub=Entertainment&s_name=

Opening Sketches from Real Time with Bill Maher.

Sheila Jackson

On Iraq

It's fighting the last war. You know, for the Republican side who are so fond of their candidates because they're the ones who are going to protect us, the idea that you use an army against an enemy that doesn't have an army is not liberal or conservative. It's just stupid. – Bill Maher

I want to call a military success. I want to thank the soldiers for the job they've done. They completed their mission, and I want them to come home with ribbons and banners and I want to celebrate. We're not cutting and running. We're acknowledging that the soldiers did their job, the military job. You know, the basic job. They went into Iraq. They got rid of Saddam Hussein, and he went off in the sunset. But, the point is, is that they did their jobs and the political folk have got to find a resolution. The Iraqis got to find a solution. The leadership of Iraq has to find a solution. But the soldiers need to come home. – Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Source: http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/episode/index.html

WARNING! WARNING! PROFANITY, VULGARITY ON THESE VIDEOS!

Source: http://smallscreen.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1367121.php/Live_TV_ruckus_Bill_Maher_kicks_out_protesters_during_show_-_VIDEO

The following video is from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, broadcast on


October 19, 2007:


Source: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bill_Maher_show_interrupted_by_911_1020.html

BENEDICT XVI BISHOP OF CANTERBURY CANCEL CRUSADE


Pope Benedict Archbishop of Canterbury Cancel George Bush’s Crusade

Karen Fish
2:50pm
Martes 23 Octobre 2007
General News

The first Crusade was a thousand years ago when Pope Urban II marched his Christian Army across Europe slaughtering every Jew in his way to reclaim the Holy Land from Islam until the Christian soldiers stood knee deep in Muslim blood in Jerusalem. In 2003 President George Bush publicly declared another Christian Crusade. President George Bush subsequently conquered Muslim Afghanistan, Muslim Iraq and is now preparing to nuclear conquer Muslim Iran. Fortunately, two days ago on Sunday October 21, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, the head of the Church of England and the World Wide Anglican Church officially cancelled George Bush’s Christian Crusade, which is good since the last Crusades lasted for 200 years.

This past Sunday October 21, 2007 the world’s religious leaders convened in Naples to bring everlasting peace to earth. Pope Benedict XVI hugged the Archbishop of Canterbury and then they sat down for lunch with the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Yona Metzger and the Iranian Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Mousavi Bojnourdi. Prior to lunch, Pope Benedict XVI gave the most historic Christian speech since Jesus Christ’s Sermon on the Mount.

Like Barack Obama, Pope John Paul II was a vigorous opponent of the invasion of Iraq in 2003 by the United States. So too was Pope Benedict XVI, who at the time was German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In early 2003 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger wrote, “It seems clear that the negative consequences of invading Iraq will be greater than anything positive that might be obtained.” Last week the Oxford Research Group, the most brilliant minds on earth today said that George Bush’s war on terror had made the west less safe, and fuelled Muslim extermism tremendously, and that war with Iran would be a disaster for the west and must be avoided at all costs.” One billion Muslims including the nuclear armed ones in Pakistan know that they are being massacred by the American Christian Crusader George Bush, and are screaming, “Death to the Crusaders”, “Death to America”. The Muslims in Iran have now formed a strategic military alliance with Russia and China, who combined to defeat the United States in Vietnam, in order to defend themselves from the Crusader in Chief.

Prior to lunch this past Sunday in Naples, Pope Benedict addressed 200 of the world wide Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Zoroastrian and Buddhist religious leaders and said, “In a world wounded by conflicts, where violence is justified in God’s name, it’s important to repeat that religion can never become a vehicle of hatred. Religion can never be used in God’s name to justify violence. On the contrary religions can and must offer precious resources to build a peaceful humanity because they speak about peace in the heart of man.” In simple terms Pope Benedict XVI cancelled Christian Crusades for Christ permanently.

Two weeks ago 138 Muslim scholars, religious and political leaders sent a letter to Christian leaders world wide called “A common word between you and us, love.”, The 138 Shiite, Sunni and Sufi Muslim scholars, religious and political leaders from every country on earth sent this letter, an olive branch of peace from 99.9 % of Islam to the Christian world, asking for Islam and Christianity to unite under God of Mount Sinai aka God the Father, Jesus Christ, (the prophet and Messiah of Islam), the Holy Spirit, Allah, Elohim, and Yehovah, and their common belief in “Love your neigbour as you love yourself” from the Hebrew Old Testament.

The Muslim scholars’ 29 page letter was enthusiastically received by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Head of the Church of England and the World Wide Anglican Church, Dr. Rowan Williams, who said, “Love of God and Love of neighbor are scriptural foundations for Jews, Christians and Muslims and are the basis for justice and peace in the world. The call to respect, peace and goodwill should now be taken up by Christians and Muslims at all levels and in all countries and I shall endeavour in this country and internationally to do my part in working for the righteousness which this letter procalims as our common goal.”

The United States claims to have separated Church and State. Where does it come to an American President to declare a Crusade on behalf of Christianity? George Bush claims to be a Methodist. John Wesley invented the Methodist religion a couple of centuries ago, in the 1740’s. John Wesley himself said that he always remained within the Church of England and insisted that his movement was well within the bounds of the Anglican Church. If George Bush is invoking the name of Jesus Christ and the Anglican Church to Crusade against Islam, then he has now put himself under the jurisdiction of Dr. Rowan Williams, who has now officially called for peace with Islam.

If George Bush is saying that he is fighting Islam on behalf of Jesus Christ, then which Jesus Christ is George Bush speaking about? Jesus Christ Himself said in the Sermon on the Mount, “Turn the other cheek, do not strike back even in self defense, love God, love yourself, love your enemies, blessed are the peacemakers, and love your neighbour.” The American colony of Iraq is the next door neighbor of Iran.

George Bush is leading the world into the Apocalypse because he read in the book of Revelations that during the Apocalypse, Jesus Christ will descend from Heaven on his flying horse and defeat the snake, goat, lion Beast, Devil. What all Bible Scholars on earth know today is that the New Testament was written in Greek by Greek authors and that the Prince Jesus flying horse story is a dead on plagiarism by John Patmos of the Greek Myth of Prince Bellerophon on his flying horse Pegasus defeating the snake, goat, lion Chimera. Therefore President Bush is not following Peter, the Apostle who Jesus Christ built his Church upon, aka Pope Benedict XVI, or the Anglican Church, or John Wesley, or Jesus Christ. In fact, George Bush is following the Greek and Roman God of War, Ares, aka Mars. The men in the White House are from Mars.

Nostradmus’ first two anti Christs Napoleon and Hitler lost their armies in Russia. Nostradmus code named his third anti Christ maBUS. Ares aka Mars, the Greek God of War was the mythical son of Apollo and Medussa. Ares was the Olympian God of savage war, bloodlust and slaughter. Ares was born among the barbarous and warlike Thracians, to whom he withdrew after he was caught on the couch with Aphrodite. Apollo had a quadriga, a chariot which was pulled by four horses, which he drove across the heavens, delivering daylight and dispensing the night. George Bush will now deliver us nuclear winter, in which the sun of the tiny ball earth will be blotted out from the sky for one year by the world wide radioactive black purple cloud.

Ares and Aphrodite conceived Deimos and Phobos, the spirits of terror and fear. Ares’ sister was Eris, the Goddess of bloodshed and violence. Alala was the attendant of Ares, and the female personification of the Greek Empire’s soldiers war and battle cry, “Alale Alala”. Alala was the daughter of Polemos, the demon of war. The American people will now be sacrificed to Alala, of whom the Greek poet Pindar wrote in 500 BC, “Hearken! O Alala, daughter of Polemos! Prelude of Spears! To whom soldiers are sacrificed for their city’s sake in the holy sacrifice of Death!” Lovefoxxx aka Luisa Hana Matsushita, the 23 year old Japanese German lead singer of the Brazilian band, Cansei de Ser Sexy, will be performing their hit song “Alala”, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch? at Oxford University on Dec. 11, 2007. In case the Ides of March come before that, you can watch the Bush twin clones dancing to “Alala” here: http://www.thetempleoflove.com/


Source: http://chiapas.mediosindependientes.org


Note: I do not agree completely with the views expressed in the above article. I just wanted this article to display how many people around the world feel about this administration's war on terror. ----Blogmaster.