Sunday, March 30, 2008

BUSH AIDE QUITS OVER MONEY USE

Bush Aide Quits Over Money Use

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 29, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) — An aide to President Bush has resigned because of his alleged misuse of grant money from the United States Agency for International Development when he worked for a Cuban democracy organization.

The aide, Felipe Sixto, was promoted on March 1 as a special assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs. He stepped forward on March 20 to reveal his alleged wrongdoing and to resign, a White House spokesman, Scott Stanzel, said on Friday.

Mr. Stanzel said Mr. Sixto took that step after learning that his former employer, the Center for a Free Cuba, was prepared to initiate legal action against him.

The alleged wrongdoing occurred when Mr. Sixto was chief of staff at the center, where he worked for more than three years before moving to the White House.

The matter has been turned over to the Justice Department for investigation, Mr. Stanzel said.

The Center for a Free Cuba calls itself an independent, nonpartisan institution dedicated to promoting human rights and a transition to democracy and the rule of law in Cuba. Frank Calzon, its executive director, said the group received “a couple million dollars” a year from the development agency.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/washington/29aide.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

AMERICANS MIGHT BE SURPRISED BY BENEDICT XVI

Americans with preconceived notions about Pope Benedict may be in for surprise during U.S. visit

Posted by David Gibson Religion News Service and Charles Honey The Grand Rapids Press March 29, 2008 08:00AM

Categories: Editors' Choice

If what you know of Pope Benedict XVI is the hard-line doctrinal decrees of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, he may surprise you on his first visit to the United States next month.

So says the Rev. Robert Sirico, who has met Benedict and seen his pastoral side closer than many.

"They're going to see he's far more gentle than he's very often made out to be," said Sirico, president of the Grand Rapids-based Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. "He's not a storm trooper. He listens, and he just wants to be heard."

Pope Benedict XVI greets the faithful March 23 as he celebrates Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican.
But don't expect Benedict to exude the charisma that made his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, a kind of papal pop star, Sirico added: "He's not bigger than life. He's a little awkward in public. He's not a mountain-climbing actor the way John Paul was."

Central to the anticipation surrounding Benedict's April 15-20 visit is a widespread curiosity among U.S. Catholics about a pontiff whom they mostly know only through headlines and video clips.

What is he like in person? And what he will say to his large and often independent-minded followers in the United States?

Such questions might seem odd because, for nearly a quarter-century before his 2005 election as pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was the Vatican lightning rod on the most explosive doctrinal controversies. No one in Rome -- except John Paul II -- garnered more media attention or got so much negative press.

But not only is Ratzinger in a different role now as pope, he has relatively little direct experience with U.S. Catholics -- a flock that, despite its outsized influence, still represents just 7 percent of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

Many U.S. Catholics are not familiar with Benedict or what he stands for, said Robert Marko, chairman of theology at Aquinas College. In a course he taught on Ratzinger's theology last semester, older and younger students had mistaken impressions, Marko said.

"I think there's a built-in prejudice against him among many," Marko said. "He's already been tagged as kind of God's rottweiler.

"He is a brilliant, brilliant theologian. As people come hear what he says, I suspect they will be impressed. I would hope it opens the eyes of those who tend to be overly critical."

Sister Nathalie Meyer, prioress of the Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters, was impressed when she met Benedict in a worldwide gathering of religious sisters last spring.

"He was very gracious, very gentle, very pastoral," Meyer said. "He's very different than I expected."

A learning experience

At heart, Benedict is a thoroughly European man, a German-born academic and classical pianist who speaks Latin with greater fluency than he does English. For years before his election, he wanted nothing more than to return to the Bavarian university town of Regensburg to write and lecture.

Yet, now, he finds himself about to visit Washington and New York as pope. It could be a learning experience for him, too.

Vatican officials say that, as cardinal, Ratzinger visited the U.S. five times -- the last nearly a decade ago -- and always on academic missions or church business. In a 1996 book-length interview, "Salt of the Earth," Ratzinger was hesitant to comment on the American religious scene "because I have so little knowledge of America."

Yet that's not to say Benedict does not appreciate the United States. In that interview, he noted that America has a "commitment to morality and a desire for religion" -- even citing Hillary Clinton's plea to families to watch less television as evidence of a "broad current" of counter-culturalism.

Last month, when he accepted the credentials of the new American ambassador to the Holy See, Benedict struck that note again, extolling the United States as "a nation which values the role of religious belief in ensuring a vibrant and ethically sound democratic order."

Associates of the pope also stress he is well-informed on American culture, politics and church life. As a cardinal, Ratzinger always had Americans on the staff at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and, as pope, appointed William Levada, the archbishop of San Francisco, to his old job, making Levada the highest-ranking American ever to serve at the Vatican.

The Rev. Joseph Fessio, a former student of Ratzinger's and the publisher of all of Ratzinger's works in English through Ignatius Press, also cited Benedict's intellect as compensating for his lack of direct experience with the U.S.

"I've had the practice over more than two decades of speaking with him, each time ... about the two or three problems here which I thought most important," said Fessio, a Jesuit. "I don't recall ever telling him something he didn't already know."

Reining in liberal forces

On the other hand, Benedict's American contacts are almost all like-minded conservatives, which may give him a somewhat slanted view of American church life. As John Paul's doctrinal czar, Ratzinger was instrumental in the campaign to rein in liberal and moderate forces in the American church. He disciplined theologians and prelates, promoted like-minded bishops to prominent posts and quashed debates over issues such as the role of women or birth control.

The tipping point -- in the Vatican's favor -- may have been a 1989 showdown in Rome between Vatican officials and American church leaders. During that summit, Ratzinger was John Paul's chief spokesman, and he told the bishops in no uncertain terms that they are "guardians of an authoritarian tradition" and must be firm and not overly tolerant: "Pastoral activity consists in placing man at the point of decision, confronting him with the authority of truth."

The effort, while taking a toll, was considered a success.

Observers generally agree the American church is in an inactive -- some would say resigned -- era. In his 1996 interview, Ratzinger acknowledged that tensions with the American hierarchy had eased, and that there were only "30 bishops at most" (out of about 300) who caused headaches for the Vatican.

Gentle reminders

Now that he is visiting as pope, Ratzinger likely will soften his tone. The pastor-in-chief will follow the model of John Paul, exhorting the flock to a greater fidelity to Rome but reminding them -- as gently as possible -- of their failings.

In addition, there may be more focus on Benedict's support for environmental protection, his "liberal" (by American standards) stands on social welfare and immigration and his continued opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Sirico expects the pope will address abortion and other human-life issues, the sanctity of marriage, prosperity and globalization, as well as academic freedom in his talk at The Catholic University of America.

"I think he is going to basically call people to look at the (Catholic) identity of the institutions," Aquinas' Marko said.

Overall, Benedict is far more likely to please conservatives than he is liberals. He surely will do little to advance the reform-minded agenda of Catholics who want the church to consider changes in doctrine, tradition or governance. Instead, the pope will want to remind Catholics that remaining a counter-cultural force is the best way to push America toward a more just society and to unite fractious followers under the banner of a common, and somewhat retro, Catholic identity.

"He's calling us back to the basic message of Christianity," Marko said. "That's his genius."

Source: http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/03/americans_with_preconceived_no.html

CANDIDATES TARGETING EVANGELICALS IN WV

October 3, 2004

Candidates are Targeting Evangelical Base in W. VA

by Rick Klein
Boston Globe

Bush campaign volunteers are calling their fellow churchgoers. The Christian Coalition's voting guides will ship out shortly. And pastors across West Virginia are making the case sometimes explicitly, sometimes less so that President Bush is a better choice on spiritual grounds than Democrat John F. Kerry.

Yet whether devout Christians will turn out en masse for Bush remains uncertain. The Republicans' network of pastors and religious voters is proving something less than rock-solid in a state and a region hit hard by manufacturing job losses, and with many sons and daughters serving in a war that has grown unpopular. In the campaign's final month, the Kerry campaign is beginning to escalate its fight for religious voters in West Virginia.

"We've been misled by our president," said Pastor David Allen of the Welcome Baptist Church in Beckley, who is urging parishioners to support Kerry. "We have become the aggressor instead of the peacemaker in Iraq. God is not Republican or Democratic he's for what's right."

Stung by exit polls suggesting that as many as 4 million evangelical Christians stayed at home on Election Day in 2000, the Bush campaign has been hard at work for more than a year to turn out voters from that religious background. Now, the Bush campaign considers evangelical Christians to be a potent force that could push the president over the top in such closely contested states as West Virginia, Iowa, and Ohio.

In West Virginia, Republicans have organized through churches just as Democrats have long organized through labor unions, with activist training sessions, coordinated letter-to-the-editor campaigns, and drives to register voters.

The efforts will be capped by a final push in the campaign's last 72 hours, employing a strategy used to defeat a Democratic governor and senator in Georgia two years ago. The strategy was organized by Ralph Reed, the former head of the Christian Coalition who is serving as a top Bush adviser this year.

"If we can get the word out on where the president stands and where Senator Kerry stands, West Virginians will support the president," said Steve Harrison, a Republican state senator from Charleston who is chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign's social conservative coalition in West Virginia. "The clear differences have social conservatives very aware of the stakes."

Bush, a devout Christian who has often talked openly of his faith, is expected to win the votes of the majority of evangelical Christian voters. His stump speech is marbled with references designed to reach out to such voters; he speaks of the "culture of life," calls marriage and family "the foundations of our society," and draws sustained applause by criticizing judges who "legislate from the bench."

Republicans are trying to shore up Bush's support among evangelical voters by keeping in play hot-button such issues as abortion, gay marriage, and judicial appointments. Last month, the Republican Party sent a mailing to West Virginia voters that urged recipients to "vote Republican to protect our families." It defined the "liberal agenda" by showing a Bible with the word "banned" on it and a man placing a ring on the hand of another man with the with the word "allowed."

But Democrats are not ready to concede West Virginia's churchgoers to the GOP. Bumper stickers are popping up in Charleston, the capital, and elsewhere in the state: "Christian and a Democrat," they read, with the Christian fish symbol next to a Democratic donkey.
Last week, a group called Clergy and Lay People in Support of John Kerry announced its start in West Virginia, saying a president who engages in preemptive war is not living by the doctrine of Christ. The state's senior political figure, US Senator Robert C. Byrd, hammered home that point on Monday at a rally in Beckley, where he blasted Bush as a hypocrite who is trying to exploit religion for political gain.

Kathy Roeder, a Kerry campaign spokeswoman, conceded that voters who have cast ballots strictly on social issues such as abortion are probably lost to Democrats. But with uncertain economy and continuing violence in Iraq, many voters will be turned off by the Bush campaign's attempts to use social issues as a wedge in the campaign, she said.

"We're connecting on faith issues," Roeder said. "You need to look at George Bush's deeds, not just his rhetoric. Look at what he has actually done. His actions and deeds haven't been reflected."

Four years ago, Bush carried West Virginia and won its five electoral votes by nearly 41,000 votes, or 6.3 percentage points. The results were among the biggest surprises of the race, given the 2-to-1 registration advantage Democrats hold over Republicans and the fact that Bill Clinton carried the state by a double-digit margin in 1992 and 1996.

Still, the state has grown more Republican in recent years, with all signs pointing to social issues as the driving force.

West Virginia's population has a strong evangelical element. By some estimates, 40 percent of the state's residents consider themselves to be evangelical Protestants, compared with the national average of about 25 percent.

By comparison, white evangelical or born-again Protestants represent 36 percent of all registered voters in Missouri, 30 percent in Iowa, 31 percent in Virginia, and 49 percent in Arkansas, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center's Election Survey. The national figure was pegged at 26 percent. The survey, published in July, also found that 72 percent of such voters said they approved of the way Bush was handling his presidency, although respondents were about evenly divided on whether the country was on the right track. The survey found such voters far more likely to support Bush than Kerry, but only 30 percent said they were paying close attention to the race at the time.

The Rev. J. Allen Fine, director of the Christian Coalition's West Virginia chapter, said the choice will be clear to West Virginia residents after they pick up voting guides printed by the Christian Coalition. An initial order of 2,000 such guides will be placed in churches across the state, and lay activists are being recruited to contact their fellow church members about the importance of voting, supplementing the Bush campaign's efforts.

Although churches and the Christian Coalition cannot make formal political endorsements because of IRS limitations, the coalition will make clear which candidate is preferred, Fine said.

"Christians have a responsibility to cast their vote on the side of right," said Fine, who works as a religious broadcaster. "We can put enough adjectives and enough statements in there so that they'll get the message. The two candidates running for president, it's pretty clear what they stand for."

But in West Virginia, religion is not the domain of only one political party. Gary Abernathy, executive director of the West Virginia Republican Party, said social issues are rarely crucial in in-state races, since the Democratic and Republican candidates often share the same views. He noted that Democrats from outside the state, such as Al Gore four years ago and Kerry this year, have a tough time relating to West Virginia voters.

Even so, Democrats have served notice that they will not let religious campaigning stand without an answer. To make a case against Bush Monday, Byrd sang "Amazing Grace" and quoted Scriptures. "The Bible, in the Gospel of Matthew, teaches, 'By their fruits ye shall know them,' " Byrd said, according to The Register-Herald of Beckley. "But what fruits do we see around us? We see division and discord. We see the hungry and the homeless. We see a nation divided by the very leaders who promised to unite us.

"We ought to rise up and vote, vote for John Kerry. Hallelujah, thank God."

At the Welcome Baptist Church in Beckley, Pastor Allen has a response for anyone who says Bush would make a better president because of Christian values: "I can't hear what you're saying, because I see what you're doing."

While he is careful not to run afoul of IRS restrictions on not-for-profit organizations, he is not shy about sharing his personal beliefs with his congregation. "I told them, make up your own mind, but the Bible says, 'Follow me as I follow Christ, ' " he said.

Source: http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=3972

CHRISTIAN COALITION WORKING FOR A REVIVAL

The Wall Street Journal
June 21, 2004

Christian Coalition Working for a Revival; Gay-Marriage Issue Seen as a Lightning Rod for Fresh Energy, New Conservative Troops

By Avery Johnson

Looneyville, W.Va. -- THE CHRISTIAN COALITION has fallen far from its glory days as a pro-Republican fighting force in the 1990s. But now Pastor J. Allen Fine has a new political weapon.

"Gay marriage is societal suicide," says Mr. Fine, a religious broadcaster who was recently installed as state director of the coalition's West Virginia chapter. "We were asked on our radio program, 'Is sodomy still a sin?' It brought in so many calls and the dish of the fax machine overflowed."

The same thing is happening in Ohio, another electoral battleground where Christian Coalition stalwarts are seeking political revival. "People see that there's something greater at stake here with gay marriage," says Rev. Dallas Billington at the Akron Baptist Temple in Akron, Ohio. "It's a crucial time in the cultural war, and I'm telling people to 'Vote your Bible.' "

President Bush today will try once again to get a political boost from promoting "traditional marriage" with a visit to Ohio. And the Senate is gearing up to vote next month on the constitutional ban on gay marriage that he favors. So far, there's little evidence that such moves are boosting President Bush and his party in the nation's ambivalent political center.

But the subject is giving a shot of adrenaline to conservative Christian activists who in recent years had grown politically listless. "The whole gay marriage issue has caused a rebirth of the social conservative movement," observes Republican strategist Scott Reed, manager of Bob Dole's 1996 presidential bid. John Green, a scholar of the religious right at the University of Akron, reserves judgment on the ultimate impact but says the Christian Coalition appears "much more alive" than it's been in years.

Mr. Bush's re-election campaign certainly hopes so. The president's top strategist Karl Rove has complained that lack of enthusiasm kept four million conservative Christian voters from turning out in the dead-heat 2000 election. To remedy that, the Republican National Committee has recruited some 60,000 evangelical "team leaders" and sought to identify "friendly congregations" who can help mobilize the pro-Bush base.

A revival of groups like the Christian Coalition would provide a welcome boost. Led by televangelist Pat Robertson and political operative Ralph Reed in the early 1990s, the coalition capitalized on conservative discontent with President Clinton and played a key role in the Republican drive to recapture House and Senate majorities.

More recently the organization has suffered hard times. Republican control of Congress and the White House has sapped some of the coalition's political energy. The Federal Election Commission accused the Christian Coalition of violating its tax-exempt status through excessively pushing Republicans in its trademark voter guides.

By 2001, Messrs. Robertson and Reed had both departed. In 2002, the coalition took in $5.3 million, according to politicalmoneyline.com -- down from peak revenues of $25.3 million in 1996. This year, press secretary Michele Ammons estimates the organization will take in $8 million.

"People have forgotten about the Christian Coalition," says longtime foe, Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

At the coalition's headquarters in Washington, national field director Bill Thomson says he wants to broaden the organization's traditional base beyond issues affecting the family to tax cuts and the defense budget.

But conservative ire over gay marriage is lending fresh energy. Some 30 new directors have been appointed to coalition chapters. The group is devoting attention to electoral battlegrounds with large numbers of evangelicals such as Missouri, Florida, Oregon, Iowa and Ohio. In the Buckeye State, director Chris Long plans a briefing for pastors this month and a statewide "citizenship Sunday" on July 4 to register voters.

Mr. Fine says conservative Christians can make headway in West Virginia, whose five electoral votes Mr. Bush carried four years ago. Mr. Green, the religious right scholar, estimates 40% of West Virginians consider themselves evangelical Protestants, compared with 25% of Americans as a whole. In 2000 exit polls, "white religious right" voters made up 14% nationally and 28% in West Virginia. But many of those voters, in the state's struggling mining communities, traditionally have responded more to Democratic messages.

So Mr. Fine, who once worked in the furniture business, plies the mountain towns where white churches dot the green landscape. From his home in Looneyville, he hosts a 30-minute radio show called "New Sounds of Inspiration." The 69-year-old pastor counts just 1,100 West Virginians as Christian Coalition members. The chapter went through multiple leaders before settling on Mr. Fine, who calls his budget "fluid." Yet he hopes the gay marriage issue will help rally new troops. He says he may start petition drives exhorting voters to stand up against "activist judges," whom Mr. Bush has cited as a threat to the institution of marriage through decisions legalizing same-sex weddings.

Mr. Fine aims to register voters on Sundays after church, and mobilize pastors to discuss important issues from the pulpit. Another goal: placing voter guides illustrating differences between Democratic and Republican candidates in 90% of West Virginia churches, up from 50% in years past. Whether he can accomplish that remains a question. And he acknowledges his admiration for Democrat John Kerry, a Vietnam War hero, "as a patriot and as a veteran."

But he says Mr. Kerry's position on gay marriage will undercut the Massachusetts senator's prospects here. Mr. Kerry opposes gay marriage, but also opposes the constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage that Mr. Bush has endorsed.

"Same-sex marriage just does not fly in West Virginia," Mr. Fine says. "Ninety-eight percent of people in the churches will vote for Bush. The other 2% think we are a bunch of loonies because we believe in the word of God."

---

Political Revival?

After seeing its influence wane in recent years, the Christian Coalition is
hoping the gay-marriage issue will provide new energy and make social
conservatives a greater force in the 2004 election:

Voters identifying themselves as part of the religious right voted more
Republican in 2000 . . .

1996

Dole: 65%
Clinton: 26%
Other: 9%

2000

Bush: 80%
Gore: 18%
Other: 2%

But represented a smaller share of the electorate nationally and in some
battleground states

1996 2000

Nationwide ..... 18% 14%
Florida ........ 23% 19%
Michigan ....... 23% 20%
Ohio ........... 23% 17%
Pennsylvania ... 22% 15%
West Virginia .. 33% 28%

Sources: Exit polls; John Green, Bliss Center for Applied Politics,
University of Akron

Source: http://www.irql.org/article_content.php?resourceID=118

Saturday, March 29, 2008

A VOICE ON THE HILL: CONGRESS & ADVENTIST® AGENDA

A Voice on the Hill:
The New Congress and the Adventist® Agenda


By James D. Standish


About the author: James D. Standish represents the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the United States Congress, White House, and executive agencies. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University, where he served as president of the church-state forum and a staff editor of the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. James lives with his wife, Dr. Leisa Standish, and their two daughters in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C.


In the 200-year history of the swings of political power in American democracy, the 2006 election will go down as one of the more dramatic.

In one fell swoop American voters transferred power from Republicans to Democrats in both houses of Congress. Modest Republican majorities in the House of Representatives (230-202) and Senate (55-44) evaporated as election night progressed. Democrats nearly reversed their position in the House (232-202), and achieved a slim majority in the Senate with the aid of two independents (51-49).

For the first time in 12 years, Democrats now chair all the committees in the House and Senate. They set the legislative agenda, and they wield the formidable subpoena power of Congress to probe and investigate. The president’s nominees to the Supreme Court now must pass through a committee chaired by a Democrat. All treaties must be approved by a Senate with a Democratic majority.

It is a whole new world on Capitol Hill.

But is it a better world? What do these political and ideological changes mean for religious liberty and other public issues important to Seventh-day Adventists? Will the future be kinder—or more difficult—for those who believe that American democracy must protect the constitutional guarantees of free speech, a free press, and freedom of religion?

It all depends whom you ask. Seventh-day Adventist membership in the United States is as diverse as the national population, and this diversity extends to political viewpoints as well. Some Adventists are relieved because they believe that the ascendant Democrats will save us from an impending theocracy imposed by the Religious Right. Other Adventists are convinced that political liberals will open the door to moral evils as our society “slouches towards Gomorrah.”1 Still others believe that the business of governing is a dirty, nasty affair at odds with spiritual life—that governance and governments are distractions believers ought to completely avoid.

Should Adventists Be Involved in Public Policy?

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has never engaged in partisan politics, a historical fact that underlines the church’s primary allegiance to a Lord whose “kingdom is not of this world.” Church cofounder and prophet Ellen White strongly condemned those who use their church positions to support political parties or candidates. At the same time, however, the Adventist Church has always been actively engaged with critical issues in the public square, some of which inescapably have a political dimension to them. From our earliest days Adventists fought crucial battles to preserve religious liberty,2 led in the movement for prohibition of alcohol, urged the abolition of slavery (and adamantly refused to obey the Federal Fugitive Slave Law),3 advocated for the rights of the poor, and firmly opposed war.

Explaining the rationale for Adventist public policy activism in 1892, Ellen White wrote: “Many deplore the wrongs which they know exist, but consider themselves free from all responsibility in the matter. This cannot be. Every individual exerts an influence in society.”4

Put another way, by our very existence as a faith community within a society, we have an influence. With that influence comes responsibility—at minimum, to witness to saving truth as the world approaches its end; more amply, to prepare the ground for the gospel by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. Doing nothing in the face of social evil is complicity, not neutrality. Passivity in the face of human need is actually sinful indifference. Adventist Christians reject complicity and indifference in favor of carefully considered public action. We are our brother’s keepers just as fully as we are commandment-keepers, which means that we cannot fail to be good neighbors to those in need. We are responsible to our Lord and to our fellow citizens to use our influence to make our society happier, healthier, and morally upright. These commitments are not extras, grafted onto the stock of who we are, but core features of our God-given identity as a people raised up to witness in earth’s last days.

We tell our children the Bible stories of Joseph, Esther, and Daniel, who used their time on earth to exert an influence on the public policy of the societies in which they lived. Should we not be telling one another such stories as adult believers—drawing out the lesson that believers today must also exert a godly influence on their own communities? When we see suffering, we are called to act. When we see oppression, we are called to speak.5

But how do Adventist Christians do this today? How do we “loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free”?6 How do we “speak up for those who cannot speak, for the rights of all the destitute”?7 How do we “defend the rights of the poor and needy”?8

The agenda points for Adventist public policy in the United States have changed from decade to decade, but each item harkens back to fundamental commitments this movement found in Scripture and expressed in its earliest years. We still fight for religious liberty; we still champion temperance; we still advocate for fundamental human rights; we work to achieve racial equity both in the church and in the wider society; we remain concerned about the moral climate of society.

What will the new shape of things in Washington mean to those efforts?

The Election and the Causes We Care About

For more than 120 years, Adventists have been at the forefront of the ongoing battle to protect the religious liberties of individual Americans, and for this activism the church has earned a sterling reputation among the friends of freedom. Religious liberty isn’t a nebulous concept or a philosophical abstraction: it’s an eminently practical effort to ensure that you can practice your faith without experiencing prejudice, coercion, or full-scale persecution—in a land where there are constitutional guarantees designed to protect your freedoms. It is, at its heart, about protecting the unfettered right to share the love of Christ through word and deed.

Serious challenges confront the Adventist Church on both the domestic and international fronts:

Workplace Religious Freedom Act

The most serious religious liberty problem facing American Adventists today is the increasing intolerance to Sabbathkeepers in the American workplace. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports that between 1993 and 2003 complaints regarding religious discrimination surged 82 percent—a massive increase, particularly at a time when complaints relating to other types of discrimination held roughly steady during the same period.

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA) was introduced in the 109th Congress to fight that growing intolerance. It seeks to protect the religious liberties of persons who want to practice their faith, and mandates that employers make reasonable accommodations to allow for persons wishing to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, for example.

WRFA has only two problems: powerful allies of the gay rights lobby (usually associated with the political “left”) oppose it, and commercial interests (usually on the political “right”) dislike it as well.

In the 109th Congress WRFA got mired in a Senate committee chaired by Senator Mike Enzi (Republican—Wyoming).9 Senator Enzi, who notes on his Web site that he is a Sunday school teacher and also a successful small business owner, was hardly an enthusiastic supporter of WRFA. As he noted during an informational meeting, he sometimes required his staff to work on Sundays when he was a small business owner—why should Sabbathkeepers expect any different treatment?

With the shift in Senate control that occurred this past November, Enzi no longer keeps his pivotal job as committee chairman.

The incoming chairman, Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat—Massachusetts), begins with a friendlier stance toward WRFA, but at this writing his ultimate opinion is unclear. His expressed support for the bill emerged before the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) became active against it.

The ACLU claims that by providing basic protections for people of faith, WRFA will permit the harassment of homosexuals in the workplace and limit access to abortion. These claims are far-fetched, but they are claims that have an impact on political progressives. According to one Democratic Senate staffer, “As long as the ACLU opposes the bill, right or wrong, you are going to have problems on our side of the aisle.”

Fortunately, not all Democrats have seen the opposition of the ACLU as a bar to supporting WRFA. Senator John Kerry (Democrat—Massachusetts) has been a leader in the fight to pass WRFA, and Senator Hillary Clinton (Democrat—New York) has also been a strong supporter. Eliott Spitzer, now governor of New York, publicly stated his support for WRFA based on the experience of New York State, which has a state version of the bill:

“I have the utmost respect for the ACLU, but on this issue they are simply wrong. New York’s law has not resulted in the infringement of the rights of others, or in the additional litigation that the ACLU predicts will occur if WRFA is enacted. Nor has it been burdensome on business. Rather, it strikes the correct balance between accommodating individual liberty and the needs of businesses and the delivery of services. So does WRFA.”10

Time will tell whether Senator Kennedy finds the logic of his fellow Democrats more compelling than the clamoring of the ACLU. Since the bill was not moving in the Republican-controlled 109th Congress, the change in Senate leadership can only improve its opportunity for passage in the 110th Congress.

Establishment Issues

Most advocates for religious liberty have observed that the U.S. House of Representatives has grown increasingly careless in recent years about the way it approaches the relationship between church and state—a collection of concerns often labeled “establishment issues” because they emerge from the provision of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment that asserts that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Recent legislation, for example, attempted to erode restrictions on churches advocating for political parties or candidates. Other bills attempting to strip the courts of jurisdiction over critical religious freedom questions have received significant support. The new Democratic majorities in both House and Senate are unlikely to be as lax on these matters as their predecessors, with the result that Adventists can expect the “wall of separation” between church and state to remain in fairly good repair in the 110th Congress.

International Religious Freedom

Most political pundits have it as an article of faith that Democrats are more interested in human rights than Republicans, perhaps owing to the frequency with which language regarding human rights appears in election speeches or political party platforms. But listening to speeches or reading promotional materials is invariably a poor way to assess any legislator’s actual commitments.

Concern about international religious persecution is, fortunately, a bipartisan issue, meaning that both Republicans and Democrats care about it. But it is at the top of the agenda for only a few members of Congress, the majority of whom currently are Republicans. Further, while many Democrats speak regularly about human rights, the issues at the top of their human rights agendas don’t necessarily comport with Adventist values. By human rights, these legislators mean advocacy for international trade unionism, funding of abortion services by international agencies that receive financial support from the United States, and support for gay rights in both the U.S. and other nations.

The new alignment of Congress will move the discussion of how Americans ought to relate to governmental oppression of persons of faith in other nations to new speakers and new platforms, but it’s unclear at this writing whether there will be any new groundswell of support for tying American foreign aid to greater respect for religious liberty in recipient nations.

The American Family

Adventists have long believed that God’s plan for human society is founded on the family unit, and that maintaining strong, morally healthy families is a vital component of preserving the fundamental personal and social freedoms the United States was founded to protect. Thus, individual Adventists and the wider church in North America can look only with dismay on facts such as these:

  • Almost 50 percent of American children now spend at least part of their childhood in single parent families.11
  • Rates of every form of child abuse have dramatically increased.12
  • Almost half of all Americans will contract a sexually transmitted disease during their lifetime. Sixty-five million Americans are currently living with a viral STD.13
  • Children are regularly exposed to ultraviolent images and the basest pornography.

Each of these problems is a complex social phenomenon resulting from the moral decisions of individuals and the ways in which government and social network action—or inaction—have affected behaviors. Whether we believe it should or not, public policy does have an impact on individual decision-making, and there can be little debate that a series of public policy developments in the last four decades accelerated the deterioration of the American family. These include the creation of relatively easy “no-fault” divorce; the relaxation of local legislation that formerly restricted promiscuity; new legislative and judicial activism to grant homosexuals the legal status of marriage; and easy access by children to violent, pornographic content via television, video and DVD, and the Internet—often in the name of “First Amendment” freedom of expression.

Neither political party has a lock on moral virtue, and cynics have had a field day decrying the hypocrisy of public figures whose personal lives are much at odds with their public image as protectors of virtue. The emergence of more socially conservative Democrats in the 2006 election, particularly in the U.S. Senate, suggests that the passage of family-friendly legislation may be possible. To succeed, however, the new legislators will have to overcome powerful Democratic constituencies.

Temperance

The Adventist Church in North America is continuing to support a bill to give the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over tobacco—classifying tobacco as a drug and thus allowing restrictions on its production and sale. The shift in political power in Congress will give additional impetus to that effort as there are a number of powerful Democrats strongly supportive of the measure.

A Time for Personal Responsibility

I met with a senator four years ago to ask for his support for a critical religious liberty bill. Initially, he insisted that he was extremely busy and didn’t know if he could add this to his agenda. As we talked further, however, he eventually looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll do it because it is the right thing to do.”

A month ago I went by the same senator’s office to wish him well as he reenters private life after losing his bid for reelection. I asked him what he was going to do.

He responded with a line I won’t soon forget.

“I really don’t know,” he said. “I am just thankful that when I had the chance to do some good, I did it.”

Yesterday he was part of the most powerful club in America. Today he is unemployed, looking for another job. His time of influence has come and gone.

His story is in many ways like our stories. We each have a short time span here on earth. Our ability to be the influence for good and right that Ellen White wrote movingly about is limited. Are we going to stand up and support religious liberty, temperance, policies that build strong families, and advocate for justice for the poor? Or are we going to let everything else in our crowded lives drown out the witness our nation and our society so much need?

Now would be a good time to find your voice.

Footnotes:

1Robert Bork, Slouching Towards Gomorrah (HarperCollins, 1996).

2When addressing challenges to religious liberty, Ellen White urged: “We are not doing the will of God if we sit in quietude, doing nothing to preserve liberty of conscience” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 713, 714).

3Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, pp. 201-204.

4Ellen G. White, Gospel Workers, pp. 387, 388.

5Speaking of Abraham’s dramatic rescue of the hostages, Ellen White wrote: “It was seen that righteousness is not cowardice, and that Abraham’s religion made him courageous in maintaining the right and defending the oppressed. . . . Abraham regarded the claims of justice and humanity. His conduct illustrates the inspired maxim, ‘thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself’” (Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 135, 136).

6Isaiah 58:6, NIV.

7Proverbs 31:8, 9.

8Ibid.

9Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

10Eliott Spitzer, “Defend the Civil Right to Freedom of Religion for America’s Workers,” The Forward, June 25, 2004.

11Frank F. Furstenberg, Jr., History and Current Status of Divorce in the United States.

12For example, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the incidence of child sexual abuse increased 458 percent between 1980 and 1993.

13American Medical Association Journal and American Social Health Association.

Source: Adventist Review®. Used by permission.

Posted 2/2/07

Source: http://adventistlawyer.org/article.php?id=30

REVIVAL IN THE LAST DAYS?

REVIVAL IN THE LAST DAYS?

General characteristics of people before the return of Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

General characteristics of false teachers before the return of Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 2:18-19 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

People will fall away from the faith in the last days.

Matt 24:5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many."

Matthew 24:11 "Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many."

Matthew 24:24 "For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand."

2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.

Warning to the churches.

Revelation 3:17-22 "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

How to avoid a false revival.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (Acts 17:11)

Source: http://www.truthandgrace.com/Revival.htm

DANIEL, FAITHFUL IN CAPTIVITY

Daniel 1

1In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.

2And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

3And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the princes;

4Children in whom was no blemish, but well favoured, and skilful in all wisdom, and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king's palace, and whom they might teach the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.

5And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king's meat, and of the wine which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king.

6Now among these were of the children of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

7Unto whom the prince of the eunuchs gave names: for he gave unto Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, of Shadrach; and to Mishael, of Meshach; and to Azariah, of Abednego.

8But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

9Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs.

10And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king.

11Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

12Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.

13Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.

14So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.

15And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.

16Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.

17As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

18Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

19And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.

20And in all matters of wisdom and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm.

21And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus.

BEWARE OF FALSE PROPHETS

RAPSPUTIN

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

Matthew 7:17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.

Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

Matthew 7:19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV ADMITS HE IS A CHRISTIAN

According to UK news source, Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian

S
ource: Miscellaneous News Source

By Malcolm Moore in Rome
Telegraph, UK

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist leader of the Soviet Union, has acknowledged his Christian faith for the first time, paying a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of St Francis of Assisi.

Accompanied by his daughter Irina, Mr Gorbachev spent half an hour on his knees in silent prayer at the tomb.

His arrival in Assisi was described as "spiritual perestroika" by La Stampa, the Italian newspaper.

"St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, the other Christ," said Mr Gorbachev. "His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life," he added.

Mr Gorbachev's surprise visit confirmed decades of rumours that, although he was forced to publicly pronounce himself an atheist, he was in fact a Christian, and casts a meeting with Pope John Paul II in 1989 in a new light.Click here to read more of this news story.

Related News:

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"Christian" Leader Still Promoting New Age

Featured Speaker at Willow Creek Promotes Eastern Meditation and the New Age

Global Meditation Same as Spiritual Formation Meditation

This article or excerpt was posted on March 20, 2008@ 8:03 pm .

Source: http://lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/index.php?cat=10

HALLELU, HALLELUJAH, PRAISE YE THE LORD

Hallelu , Hallelujah......................

Hal- le - lu , Hal - le - lu, Hal- le - lu , Hal - le - lu - jah

Praise Ye the Lord!

Hal- le - lu , Hal - le - lu, Hal- le - lu , Hal - le - lu - jah

Praise Ye the Lord!

Praise Ye the Lord, Hal le lu jah!

Praise Ye the Lord, Hal le lu jah!

Praise Ye the Lord, Hal le lu jah!

PRAISE YE THE LORD!

You can have a lot of fun with this song if half the family sings the Hallelujahs, and the other half sings the Praises. Give it a try.

and remember: Sing for Joy!
Source: http://www.trinity-reformed.org/praise.html (MIDI)

THE LAST CRISIS


The Last Crisis


We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God. The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude. {9T 11.1}

The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating. They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones. {9T 11.2}

The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species of evil prevails. {9T 11.3}

The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in filling men's hearts with the desire for selfish gain.
12
"Justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter." Isaiah 59:14. In the great cities there are multitudes living in poverty and wretchedness, well-nigh destitute of food, shelter, and clothing; while in the same cities are those who have more than heart could wish, who live luxuriously, spending their money on richly furnished houses, on personal adornment, or worse still, upon the gratification of sensual appetites, upon liquor, tobacco, and other things that destroy the powers of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by every species of oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal fortunes.
{9T 11.4}

On one occasion, when in New York City, I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to be fireproof, and they were erected to glorify the owners and builders. Higher and still higher these buildings rose, and in them the most costly material was used. Those to whom these buildings belonged were not asking themselves: "How can we best glorify God?" The Lord was not in their thoughts. {9T 12.1}

I thought: "Oh, that those who are thus investing their means could see their course as God sees it! They are piling up magnificent buildings, but how foolish in the sight of the Ruler of the universe is their planning and devising. They are not studying with all the powers of heart and mind how they may glorify God. They have lost sight of this, the first duty of man." {9T 12.2}

As these lofty buildings went up, the owners rejoiced with ambitious pride that they had money to use in gratifying self and provoking the envy of their neighbors. Much of the money that they thus invested had
13
been obtained through exaction, through grinding down the poor. They forgot that in heaven an account of every business transaction is kept; every unjust deal, every fraudulent act, is there recorded. The time is coming when in their fraud and insolence men will reach a point that the Lord will not permit them to pass, and they will learn that there is a limit to the forbearance of Jehovah.
{9T 12.3}

The scene that next passed before me was an alarm of fire. Men looked at the lofty and supposedly fire-proof buildings and said: "They are perfectly safe." But these buildings were consumed as if made of pitch. The fire engines could do nothing to stay the destruction. The firemen were unable to operate the engines. {9T 13.1}

I am instructed that when the Lord's time comes, should no change have taken place in the hearts of proud, ambitious human beings, men will find that the hand that had been strong to save will be strong to destroy. No earthly power can stay the hand of God. No material can be used in the erection of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God's appointed time comes to send retribution on men for their disregard of His law and for their selfish ambition. {9T 13.2}

There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis. If men would give more heed to the teaching of God's word, they would find a solution of the problems that perplex them. {9T 13.3}

The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before Christ's second coming. Of the men who
14
by robbery and extortion are amassing great riches, it is written: "Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you." James 5:3-6.
{9T 13.4}

But who reads the warnings given by the fast-fulfilling signs of the times? What impression is made upon worldlings? What change is seen in their attitude? No more than was seen in the attitude of the inhabitants of the Noachian world. Absorbed in worldly business and pleasure, the antediluvians "knew not until the Flood came, and took them all away." Matthew 24:39. They had heaven-sent warnings, but they refused to listen. And today the world, utterly regardless of the warning voice of God, is hurrying on to eternal ruin. {9T 14.1}

The world is stirred with the spirit of war. The prophecy of the eleventh chapter of Daniel has nearly reached its complete fulfillment. Soon the scenes of trouble spoken of in the prophecies will take place. {9T 14.2}

"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth." Isaiah 24:1-8.
15
{9T 14.3}

"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down, for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate." "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men." Joel 1:15-18, 12. {9T 15.1}

"I am pained at my very heart; . . . I cannot hold my peace, because thou has heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled." Jeremiah 4:19, 20. {9T 15.2}

"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down." Verses 23-26. {9T 15.3}

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7. {9T 15.4}

Not all in this world have taken sides with the enemy against God. Not all have become disloyal. There are a faithful few who are true to God; for John writes: "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:12. Soon the battle will be waged fiercely between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. Soon everything that can be shaken will be shaken,
16
that those things that cannot be shaken may remain.
{9T 15.5}

Satan is a diligent Bible student. He knows that his time is short, and he seeks at every point to counterwork the work of the Lord upon this earth. It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who shall be alive upon the earth when celestial glory and a repetition of the persecutions of the past are blended. They will walk in the light proceeding from the throne of God. By means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth. And Satan, surrounded by evil angels, and claiming to be God, will work miracles of all kinds, to deceive, if possible, the very elect. God's people will not find their safety in working miracles, for Satan will counterfeit the miracles that will be wrought. God's tried and tested people will find their power in the sign spoken of in Exodus 31:12-18. They are to take their stand on the living word: "It is written." This is the only foundation upon which they can stand securely. Those who have broken their covenant with God will in that day be without God and without hope. {9T 16.1}

The worshipers of God will be especially distinguished by their regard for the fourth commandment, since this is the sign of God's creative power and the witness to His claim upon man's reverence and homage. The wicked will be distinguished by their efforts to tear down the Creator's memorial and to exalt the institution of Rome. In the issue of the conflict all Christendom will be divided into two great classes, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark. Although church and state will unite their power to compel all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive
17
the mark of the beast, yet the people of God will not receive it. Revelation 13:16. The prophet of Patmos beholds "them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God," and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Revelation 15:2.
{9T 16.2}

Fearful tests and trials await the people of God. The spirit of war is stirring the nations from one end of the earth to the other. But in the midst of the time of trouble that is coming,--a time of trouble such as has not been since there was a nation,--God's chosen people will stand unmoved. Satan and his host cannot destroy them, for angels that excel in strength will protect them.

-
{9T 17.1}

God's word to His people is: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters." "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 2 Corinthians 6: 17, 18; 1 Peter 2:9. God's people are to be distinguished as a people who serve Him fully, wholeheartedly, taking no honor to themselves, and remembering that by a most solemn covenant they have bound themselves to serve the Lord and Him only. {9T 17.2}

"The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know
18
that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." Exodus 31:12-17.
{9T 17.3}

Do not these words point us out as God's denominated people? and do they not declare to us that so long as time shall last, we are to cherish the sacred, denominational distinction placed upon us? The children of Israel were to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations "for a perpetual covenant." The Sabbath has lost none of its meaning. It is still the sign between God and His people, and it will be so forever.

Testimonies to The Church, Volume 9, Ellen G. White, pp.11-17.

P.S. Bolds and Highlights added to reiterate the fact:

To those Soothsayers that would have us rely on them, and their message of peace and safety.