Monday, April 07, 2008

RETROSPECTIVE - 2008

RETROSPECTIVE - 2008

Michael C. Ruppert

March 24, 2008 - I have owed you this update for a long time. Things have evolved so much and so relentlessly that there was no solid ground on which to plant my feet, take a look around and tell you what I saw with a steady gaze. I can do that now.

I know it's not necessary for me to point out to ever-loyal FTW supporters how right we got it in our eight and a half years. A look at economics, energy and geopolitics today mirrors - almost exactly - everything I and the FTW writing staff predicted from 2001 through the end of 2006. Oil is over $100 a barrel. Global oil production has never exceeded the levels of late 2005. Gold is settling in at over $1,000 an ounce and $1,500 may be locked in as a floor by year's end.

The US (and global) economy has begun its irreversible collapse.

The US has not (and will not) attack Iran.

Surrogate wars are developing in West Africa and around Venezuela. I predicted this in a mid-June 2005 private meeting with Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, (R) Maryland as I described a map I had made and he had seen on our web site. Its title was, "World Energy Picture, March 2005." (It's on the FTW web site.) A few days after our meeting Bartlett took that map, along with material from other Peak Oil activists like Matt Savinar, and one I had made of Africa into a private, one-on-one meeting with George W. Bush.

The subject of that meeting was Peak Oil.

In the most frightening article we ever published, "Eating Fossil Fuels" (October 3, 2003), the great Dale Allen Pfeiffer starkly described the umbilical between oil and food. We are just at the threshold of what he told us was coming. Read it if you dare.

FTW was right about Pat Tillman. That series was our last great exposé - but it was by no means our first.

The only major prediction we ever got wrong was that there would be a draft; something the Empire has avoided through Stop-Loss, the recruitment of green-card warriors, and a "surge" in enlistments from young men and women who can find no other employment.

We missed the collapse of the US economy by a year and only the deluded claim the worst is over. The major blessing that FTW enjoyed from 1998 through 2006 of having a readership that had the time and resources to read, to learn, and to fight the good fight, has been replaced by an entire population focused solely on immediate economic survival and a desire to stay out of a vortex swirling toward the drain.

There was always going to come a time when survival crowded out other concerns. That is not necessarily true for Peak Oil activists. We know that we have done all that we could, balancing to various degrees our concern for fellow man against the requisites of our own survival and health. Some of us did a better job of this than others. The courageous Ali Samsam Bakhtiari left us a few months ago. I will never forget or yield the honor I feel in having worked with all of them, especially the great Colin Campbell.

Nor will I ever surrender the places I have in my heart for Michael Kane, Stan Goff and Jamey Hecht.

As I said after the 2004 election, September 11th is all but forgotten. No one wants to hear about it anymore. People are too busy worrying about how to keep from becoming homeless. The one blessing here is that Rudy Giuliani did not benefit from 9-11 this election year. But I shudder to think of him as Attorney General under President John McCain who, as a commentator on CNN quipped, "will make Dick Cheney look like Gandhi."

As Attorney General, Rudy Giuliani would be just plain vicious.

What has been lost as a result of FTW's end? Not much. Our accomplishments are both significant and enduring. In my file cabinet I have several hundred letters (not counting emails) sent as I returned - desperately ill and broken in spirit - from Venezuela in December 2006. They all say the same thing. "Mike, you've done so much. You've given us a map and we are capable of reading it. Your book 'Crossing the Rubicon' is our reference 'bible'. FTW showed us how to analyze and to predict. You and the writers taught us how to analyze and question and think. We want you to rest, to recover, to have a life...You've earned it."

I do have a life now; a really good one. I am happier than I have been in the thirty years since, as a young Los Angeles police officer, I discovered that CIA was bringing drugs into the country. I am also living less than a quarter mile from where I was living then. I am two miles from where I graduated High School; four miles from my beloved UCLA.

Why am I not in Oregon? Why am I not preparing to live a sustainable life? The answers will make sense to you but not until I tell you how I got here.

The first thing that had to happen on my return was that I had to recover. There were serious medical and (yes) psychological issues. I was worn out, had been betrayed and waged war upon. I had PTSD. In Caracas I had been "tagged" with an evil substance called "burundanga". My glandular system was collapsing and I had lost 25 pounds (the wrong way). I had constant vertigo. Doctors in Venezuela who could have cared less about medical insurance added that I might also have kidney stones. Thank God, I didn't.

After our offices were burglarized in June of 2006 (in the middle of our Tillman series), the people I had left in place did not serve FTW or me well. Many of my personal possessions, including precious and rare books, mementos from 12 countries, wrist watches, my scrapbook of freelance articles, and other most precious items were stolen by people who were working for me. The bulk of my library, my photographs, and my clothes were put in storage. Why people stole my LAPD and UCLA diplomas (or threw them out) I don't know. Why someone stole a photograph my mother took of FDR at Fort Belvoir in D.C. I understand, but cannot yet forgive.

Everybody loses things. Some lose everything and come back stronger than ever - although forever changed. I had given up totally. I went to Venezuela to die. I could not fight the government's relentless attempts to silence me anymore.

By roughly April of 2007 my health had returned to a point where I could function. I will not write words I don't have to honor, love and express my gratitude to the amazing Jenna Orkin for saving my life and being the truest of friends.

Heeding a long-standing passion I became a volunteer groom and occasional trail guide at the Kensington Stables just outside of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. (That's right, Brooklyn.) Three days a week, in an unbelievably crowded, ancient and barely surviving barn that was home to more than 40 horses and ponies, I would turn out, roll, groom and tack between five and nine horses a day. I rode for free. The horses hastened my healing, but more was needed.

Finally in July, after more than two years, I gained control of an inheritance left me by my father who had passed in May of 2005. I always knew it would be there but I had to fight to keep it from the hands of my stepmother's kin in Alabama. When I came back from Venezuela it looked like I might never be successful.

You had sent in more than $12,000 in donations to keep me alive. That money sustained me for eight months through two hospitalizations. More importantly, it was a mandate for me to survive when I truly believed that I had served my purpose here.

I should tell you now that donations are no longer needed. For eight months now I have returned anything over $100. Whatever comes in - or remains in the "bank" - will be used for the maintenance of the web site.

The first thing I did was pay as many outstanding debts as possible, except for some that had been incurred without my approval while I was out of the country. Some people made out nicely on FTW's money after I left. I wasn't one of them.

The writers weren't either. I had to make good their back pay good out of my inheritance. Of the close to two million dollars FTW made in eight years, all of it went into the business, to hire more writers, and to support other dedicated activists. No one who ever worked for me experienced anything other than my intended generosity. The fruits of that and my philosophy that well-paid writers write better are on this web site forever.

It was being circulated then that I had smashed my own computers (for a motive no one has yet explained) and had also been guilty of sexual harassment against a female employee I fired shortly before the burglary. The Ashland Daily Tidings, which I had previously embarrassed after running a hit piece laden with falsehoods, pulled out all the stops. Even Wikipedia did an unjustified number on me. (I am not alone there.)

Getting the inheritance gave me the means to address these allegations and issues - and to eventually discover what bits of my life had been salvaged and put in storage.

I have made three trips to Ashland since July of 2007. On one of these trips I took my attorney Ray Kohlman and, on another, Jenna Orkin. I spent more than $20,000 seeking justice and the truth of what had happened. Ironically, I had learned who it was who had smashed my computers just weeks after leaving the US. Strong belief that others in Ashland had been involved had haunted me every day since.

On my first trip - with Kohlman - I took a sealed letter from Stan Goff discussing the Pat Tillman case to the Ashland Police Department. The contents of that letter will remain known only by me, him, the Ashland Police Department and a very few others. I can say that nine general officers were disciplined in that case and Donald Rumsfeld quit just as the revelations FTW had disclosed in June hit the mainstream press in October and November.

As it turned out, completely by coincidence, the detective we met with was also an Army Ranger veteran. As I had always known it would, the physical evidence instantly exonerated me. There were serious gaps in other areas too. I did not benefit from the burglary, nor did the facts suggest any intent to do so. The sole $7,000 insurance payment had gone directly and entirely to pay for new computers. Contrary to what had been reported, I had never been asked to take a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer or lie detector.

"I want one" were the first words out of my mouth in that meeting. I was told in that, and in our next meeting in October 2007, it wasn't necessary.

I contacted private investigators, I started developing information on key suspects who had likely either participated in the burglary and who had certainly become accessories after-the-fact. The main suspect, an employee who had been secretly telling Ashland PD on the day it was discovered that I had done it, had moved to California and was out of reach. He had been arrested for DUI in L.A. and was apparently in hiding.

From August 2006 through February 2008 every night was filled with dreams of revenge. It was torture for me as well but the psychiatrists said it was healthy and I should "let it run". After all, they don't put one in jail for thinking crazy. They put people in jail for acting crazy. Two of the psychiatrists who treated me had actually attended my lectures.

On August 22nd of 2007 I was thrown from a horse in the middle of Prospect Park. It was my first injury in 30 years of riding. I landed directly on the tip of my right thumb and shattered the socket. For more than six weeks I walked around with six large pins - to immobilize the joint - protruding through my flesh. I told the curious that they were NSA eavesdropping antennae. The pain was indescribable and it lasted until January. Just two days after the pins were removed (October 11th) Jenna and I boarded a plane for the west coast. On that trip I was told by the Ashland police that the one suspect who remained within the jurisdiction had voluntarily taken a CVSA and passed. She was the former employee who had charged me with sexual harassment. APD was sure that she had not been involved in the burglary. I could accept that because the prime suspect had held a huge grudge against her too. He set us both up...for a while.

On that trip I told the detective that we were planning (pending legal research) on suing the Daily Tidings, its reporter Bob Plain and its editor Scot Bolsinger. Now that it was clear that I was innocent and that Plain had apparently had some kind of relationship with my former employee, the paper had reason to be worried.

Just a few days after I told APD this, Bob Plain suddenly left the Tidings for "greener pastures". I can only speculate that it was more than coincidence. But I sure do hope so. The man's a true discredit to journalism whose only care is what he can get away with printing and not about the truth. Sometimes it's easy to find small people in small towns and Plain was not the only one I found.

On my last trip to Ashland in February of this year I learned that Bolsinger had been arrested for having sex with a minor and that a good part of Ashland was planning on suing him for looting several business that he had been given (or purchased) equity in. He was under active investigation by the police.

As for the female employee who waited for five months after my departure to file a sexual harassment claim with the state of Oregon (when she and many others thought I was going to die), I am still awaiting my day in court. She has made so many conflicting statements that we'll crush her if we ever get to a hearing. We can show her intent to blackmail based on a document she wrote the day I fired her that will match nicely with the $35,000 she asked for in damages. I refused to pay a penny and have demanded a hearing. That was last November and we have yet to hear anything back. I doubt we ever will.

My third and last trip to Ashland was different in that it was a round-trip ticket from LAX to Medford, Oregon and not from JFK. By late December it had become clear that Jenna Orkin needed to stay in New York for personal reasons. She had not warmed to Oregon after seeing Ashland, Eugene and Portland with me. She was a New Yorker through and through. I, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get out of New York City. It was a purgatory that had saved my life but it was alien, a song out of key and tempo with the rest of my life. More importantly I had come to a great realization.

I am now 57 years old. I will not survive the crash and transition phase of Peak Oil. I will not see whatever kind of sustainable civilization might emerge from the wreckage of my species' gross mismanagement of the planet and itself. I needed to go home; to a place where I knew the streets and had patrolled them as a cop; where I had had my first girlfriend and gone to college; where I knew both the climate and the people; and where I had friends - many, many friends. Once that was clear, I moved to LA, rented an amazing house, bought a car and started from scratch faster than East and West Germany reunited at the end of the Cold War. I have eighteen new owner's manuals.

I started writing a novel and became involved in a feature film project.

But I still had to finish old business.

On my last trip to Ashland it was made clear to me that the Ashland Police Department is a small police department, with a tiny cadre and limited budget. They cannot afford to send detectives to L.A. on a weak, eighteen-month old, low-level felony. They admitted that they had made errors in the initial investigation. The detective respectfully, and I believe genuinely, said, "You have a good life now. Enjoy it. You can pour a lot more money in but you'll be missing the good life you already have. It's a shame that these stories got printed but you and I know that once the damage is done nothing ever makes it right. Not even if we could make an arrest."

I had already formulated these thoughts before I went up there for the last time. Being back in L.A., near the beach, was already taking years off of those that had been added by the load I carried for so long. Already waiting for me at home was the life I hoped to have after I had secured justice.

That justice has already been rendered. For his entire life, the man who smashed my computers will know that this was the "biggest" thing he ever did. That's a shame because he could have been and done much more.

Before I end this, I should mention also that I, using inheritance money, did finally get to the bottom of my longstanding dispute with my publisher, New Society (link to letter), over royalties. Read that story on the website and you'll understand how frustrating life has truly been.

The CIA's world wide propaganda machine was once referred to by Deputy Director Frank Wisner as "The Mighty Wurlitzer". In the 21st Century it is no longer just a media operation and it no longer belongs exclusively to the Agency. Things have evolved, as they tend to do. I don't know all the details of how they got me but they got me. COINTELPRO is and was always a program designed to be out of sight and not deciphered. Yet much of it has been and many heroes before I came along have taught us how it works.

I have evolved too and I can't help but remember something I said in maybe my last twenty-five lectures and in too many private conversations in twelve countries. "I believe that the Universe is saying to the human race - as Peak Oil and Global Warming threaten all life on the planet - you must either evolve or perish. Grow up or die." Just recently I wrote to Matthew Simmons, "You know, the worse things get, the calmer I become."

The first thing I did when I got back from Ashland was find a "dawg" to rescue. His name is "Rags" because he had mange and that's what it looked like he was wearing. I have been nursing him back to health and I swear that he is the happiest and best pooch that God ever created.

Don't ask me to speak, to lecture, or to investigate. I will not. Don't send me your questions. I will not come. I will not answer.

I left you a map. Read it.

If you absolutely need to contact me then reach out to my agent and dear friend Ken Levine in Sherman Oaks. His email is ken@bighula.com.

Thank you God for everything You have given me. Thank you for everything You have taken away. And thank you for everything You have left me. As for me and Rags, we'll be somewhere in the wilderness doing our thing, our tails wagging mightily and defiantly until the end.

Source: http://www.fromthewilderness.com/retrospective2008.shtml

WALL ST. BROKERS BORROW $ 38.1B - A DAY

Wall Street brokerages borrowing $38.1 billion a day from Federal Reserve

By JEANNINE AVERSA • ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 3, 2008


WASHINGTON -- Big Wall Street investment companies are stepping up their borrowing a bit from the Federal Reserve’s unprecedented emergency lending program.

The Federal Reserve reports Thursday that those firms averaged $38.1 billion in daily borrowing over the past week from the new lending program. That compared with $32.9 billion in the previous week and $13.4 billion in the first week the lending facility opened.

The program, which began on March 17, is part of the Fed’s effort to aid the financial system.

The Fed, for the first time, agreed to let big investment houses temporarily get emergency loans directly from the central bank. This mechanism, similar to one available for commercial banks for years, will continue for at least six months. It was the broadest use of the Fed’s lending authority since the 1930s.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues opened the facility as it raced to deal with the sudden crash of the venerable Wall Street firm Bear Stearns, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. Fearful that other investment firms could be in jeopardy given the intense fear that gripped the markets at that time, the Fed moved to give investment firms a place to go for overnight cash loans.

The lending facility is seen as similar to the Fed’s “discount window” for commercial banks, where the Fed acts as a lender of last resort. Commercial banks and investment companies pay 2.5 percent in interest for overnight loans from the Fed.

Banks also stepped up their borrowing from the Fed’s discount window. Banks averaged $7 billion in daily borrowing for the week ending April 2. That compared with $550 million the previous week.

Source: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080403/BUSINESS07/80403058

IMF HEAD CALLS FOR GLOBAL ACTION ON TURMOIL

IMF head calls for global action on turmoil

By Krishna Guha in Washington

Published: April 6 2008 22:02 Last updated: April 6 2008 22:02


Government intervention at a global level is required to tackle the credit crisis, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund, who has warned that market turmoil will take a serious toll on world growth.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, IMF managing director, told the FT: “I really think that the need for public intervention is becoming more evident.”

Government intervention – whether in the securities market, the housing market or the banking sector – would act as a “third line of defence” supporting monetary and fiscal policy, he said.

The controversial call comes days before world finance ministers and central bank governors meet in Washington DC for the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank. Policymakers will discuss the credit crisis and steps to address it.

Until now authorities, particularly in the US, have employed increasingly aggressive measures to support market liquidity but stopped short of intervention in the financial system – with the exception of the rescue of Bear Stearns last month.

In recent months finance ministries and central banks have been exchanging ideas behind the scenes on possible interventions as part of contingency planning. Most policymakers, including those in the eurozone and the US, do not believe broad public intervention is yet necessary.

Mr Strauss-Kahn’s call will increase pressure on them to act. The Institute of International Finance, an association representing big banks, last week said there was a “growing case” for government intervention.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, rubbished the notion that the credit crisis was largely a US problem. “The crisis is global,” he said. “The so-called decoupling theory is totally misleading.” Developing countries such as China and India would be affected.

Public intervention would provide a third line of defence by tackling the housing and credit problem directly, he said.

“Effort has to be made on loan restructuring. With respect to the banks, if capital buffers cannot be repaired quickly enough by the private sector, use of public money can be examined.”

The IMF would this week revise down its global economic forecasts to below the current private and official consensus, he said. “The forecasts we are going to release in a few days are not very optimistic. The downside risks we underlined in the last world economic outlook have materialised.”

He said central banks around the world were constrained in their ability to battle the growth risks by high commodity prices.

IMF analysis suggests that the US and other countries that account for an additional 20 to 25 per cent of the world economy are in strong enough financial positions to provide additional fiscal stimulus if required.

But the IMF estimates that other countries, including most in Europe, are not in such a position.

RUSH TO RESTRICT TRADE IN BASIC FOODS

The rising cost of food

Rush to restrict trade in basic foods

By Alan Beattie in London

Published: April 1 2008 19:05 Last updated: April 1 2008 19:05

Governments across the developing world are scrambling to boost farm imports and restrict exports in an attempt to forestall rising food prices and social unrest.

US - VATICAN DIPLOMACY MORE COMPLEX...


WASHINGTON LETTER Apr-4-2008 (920 words) Backgrounder and analysis. With photos. xxxn


Archive shows U.S.-Vatican diplomacy more complex than the public saw


By Patricia Zapor




WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The letter from the pope to the U.S. president about the war was diplomatically florid, but clear in its message."Our contemporaries follow with their heartfelt prayers, and posterity will hold in honored memory, all those who -- undeterred by immense difficulties -- dedicate themselves to the sacred task of staunching the flow of youthful blood upon the fields of battle, and to the comforting of civilian victims despoiled and afflicted by the cruel conditions of our day," it said. "Blessed, indeed, are the peacemakers."The year was 1940. Franklin D. Roosevelt was president and the war about which Pope Pius XII agonized was World War II.The letter from Pope Pius to Roosevelt is part of a fascinating trove of material about U.S.-Vatican diplomatic relations on the Web site of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, N.Y.A series of memos and letters between the two leaders and their surrogates touches on efforts to avoid, then end the war; concerns for refugees and the fate of Christians in Russia; and worries about Allied bombing killing civilians and destroying important historic and religious sites in Rome.As current President George W. Bush prepares to welcome Pope Benedict XVI to the White House April 16, one topic widely expected to surface during their private meeting and during the pope's address to the United Nations April 18 is the five-year-old U.S.-led Iraq War and how to end it. As recently as March 17, Pope Benedict stepped up appeals for an end to the "bloodbath and hatred" tearing apart Iraq.After an Iraqi Chaldean archbishop was kidnapped Feb. 29 and murdered, Pope Benedict pleaded for "reconciliation, forgiveness, justice and respect for the civil coexistence among tribes, ethnicities and religious groups" to be the path to achieve peace. Pope John Paul II had been a fierce critic of the invasion of Iraq and made a point of reminding Bush of the Vatican's unequivocal opposition to the Iraq War during the president's 2004 visit to Rome.The Roosevelt collection illustrates that diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the White House have historically involved unified strategies as well as differences of opinion, though those disagreements may not necessarily have made it into public view at the time.At the time of the pope's March 1940 letter, Germany had invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia and tensions across Europe were high. By the summer of 1940, Hitler's troops would invade France, and Italy would enter the conflict.Four months earlier, Roosevelt had angered supporters of strict separation of church and state when he reversed a policy of more than 70 years by appointing Myron Taylor as a formal diplomatic representative to the Vatican.The United States has had some sort of diplomatic link to the Vatican most of the time since 1784, though relations were informal for decades after a political misunderstanding in 1867.After the war, President Harry S. Truman attempted to name Gen. Mark Clark full ambassador to the Vatican, but withdrew the nomination in the face of public controversy.For nearly 20 years the post of personal representative to the Vatican remained vacant. Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter named personal envoys, but it wasn't until 1984 under President Ronald Reagan that the United States established formal diplomatic relations with the Vatican.Reagan's first appointee, Ambassador William A. Wilson, held the post for two years. The seat has been filled with an ambassador since then, though various organizations have periodically sought to end the formal relationship as an improper government support of religion. They typically argue that diplomatic ties are inappropriate because the Vatican, though constituted as a civil state, is the Holy See of the Catholic Church.The archive of Roosevelt's interactions with the Vatican consists of correspondence between the president and the pope and Taylor's telegrams and memos recounting his meetings and discussions with Pope Pius and with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Luigi Maglione. Later correspondence was with Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini, a Vatican assistant secretary of state who would become Pope Paul VI in 1963.A lengthy memo from September 1942 touches on some topics that sound remarkably contemporary. In it, Taylor recounts a meeting with Cardinal Maglione that dealt with how a post-war Europe would be constituted and how best to prevent "general disorder" while maintaining security and providing necessary aid."It is the opinion in Vatican circles, expressed both by the pope and the cardinal, that great disorder will prevail, and both have some doubt as to the ability of the United Nations or other influences to suppress it," Taylor wrote. "Naturally, I took the opposite course, indicating that, at least in some of the states (of Europe) the military authorities, in collaboration with those of the United Nations, might effectively prevent general disorder."Taylor wrote that Cardinal Maglione in that meeting also voiced the Vatican's concern that it was difficult to envision the political, territorial and economic makeup of Europe after the war "and that, with a great variety of languages, political traditions and the hatreds engendered by war, as well as those which have for long previous periods existed, make very difficult the organization of such states in a cooperative way."Substitute "Iraq" for "Europe" and the excerpts might have an echo in the speeches and private meetings in coming days.END
Copyright (c) 2008 Catholic News Service/USCCB.


THE VATICAN AND GLOBALIZATION


Editorial Observer
The Vatican and Globalization: Tinkering With Sin

By EDUARDO PORTER
Published: April 7, 2008

It’s hard to erect rules to last forever. The recent suggestion by a bishop from the Vatican’s office of sin and penance that globalization and modernity gave rise to sins different from those dating from medieval times seemed to many like an acknowledgment that the world is, indeed, changing.
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Norms encoded hundreds of years ago to guide human behavior in a small-scale agrarian society could not account for a globalized postindustrial information economy. Polluting the environment, drug trafficking, performing genetic manipulations or causing social inequities, new sinful behaviors mentioned by Msgr. Gianfranco Girotti, regent of the Vatican Penitentiary, are arguably more relevant to many contemporary Catholics than contraception.
“If yesterday sin had a rather individualistic dimension, today it has a value and resonance that is above all social, because of the great phenomenon of globalization,” Monsignor Girotti told the newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
Sin, however, doesn’t take well to tinkering. Many Catholic thinkers reacted strongly against the idea that new sins were needed to complement, or supplement, the classical canon. They accused the press of exaggerating Monsignor Girotti’s words. Their reaction underscored how tough it is for the church to manage a moral code grounded in eternal verities at a time of furious change.
The Vatican has long been riven by this tension between dogma and the outside world. Yet it could apply to any religion: it’s hard to rejigger the rules when truth is meant to be fixed forever.
The core benefits of religions, unlike other, worldly institutions, often relate to the afterlife. Some social scientists argue, however, that many benefits of church membership are to be had this side of death. The gains are not unlike the advantages of a club of like-minded people. Religions provide rules to live by, solace in times of trouble and a sense of community. Some economic studies suggest that this can promote higher levels of education and income, more marriage and less divorce.
Such a club needs strong, believable rules. Like marriage, membership will be more valuable the more committed the other participants are to the common cause. Demanding rules — say celibacy, or avoiding meat during Lent — help enhance the level of commitment.
Strict rules, says the Nobel-winning economist Gary Becker, screen out free riders who wish to enjoy the benefits of membership but are unwilling to invest the necessary zeal in the enterprise. Rules provide commitment devices — like 10-point plans to stop drinking. And they tie members closer by substituting taboos — like drinking and dancing — with acceptable activities, like prayer or Sunday school.
Larry Iannaccone, an economist at George Mason University who has studied religions, notes that some of the most successful, like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Pentecostal Christians, which have very fervent congregations, have strict requirements. Religions relax the rules at their own peril.
“Religions are in the unusual situation in which it pays to make gratuitously costly demands,” Mr. Iannaccone said. “When they weaken their demands they make on members, they undermine their credibility.”
The Vatican is particularly attentive to these strictures. Catholicism has lost traction in many parts of the world. Only 24 percent of American adults identify with the church, though more than 31 percent say they were raised Catholic. In Italy, only about one in four respondents to a 2002 poll said religion was very important.
Many traditionalists attribute the church’s decline to the weakening of its strictures. They believe it was damaged by the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, which tried to bring the church closer to the people, proclaimed religious freedom, embraced people of other Christian faiths and acknowledged truth in other religions.
So it is perhaps unsurprising that the church has been pushing the other way. Pope Benedict XVI has brought back rites abandoned after Vatican II and reasserted the church’s hold on truth.
In this context, it could be tricky to update sins in a way that could de-emphasize individual trespasses and shift the focus to social crimes bearing a collective guilt. New sins might be a better fit for the modern world, but they risk alienating the membership.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/opinion/07mon4.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Saturday, April 05, 2008

US JUDGE RULES FOR EPISCOPAL SECESSIONISTS



US judge rules for Episcopal Church secessionists


Fri 4 Apr 2008, 14:33 GMT


By Michael Conlon, Religion Writer


CHICAGO, April 4 (Reuters) - A U.S. court has ruled in favor of 11 conservative congregations that broke away from the U.S. Episcopal Church and want to keep property worth millions of dollars, parties in the dispute said on Friday.


The ruling by a Virginia judge is the latest development in an upheaval over orthodoxy roiling the global Anglican community. The Episcopal Church, the faith's U.S. branch, has been beset by disputes, including one involving the installation of an openly gay bishop.


The churches that defected hailed the Virginia ruling as a victory but the decision is an initial one involving only one point of law and lengthy proceedings are ahead.


"We have maintained all along that the Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia had no legal right to our property because (Virginia law) says that the majority of the church is entitled to its property when there is a division within the denomination," said Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia to which the traditionalist churches now belong.


"Our churches' own trustees hold title for the benefit of the congregations."


Among the 11 breakaway congregations are the Falls Church and Truro Church, which have affiliated with the Anglican Church of Nigeria, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola. In the case of Falls Church and Truro the property is said to be worth at least $25 million, with historic roots -- both George Washington and his father served on the vestry at Truro.


The 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church claims that all church property belongs to it and that when a congregation switches allegiance, the property is merely "abandoned."


The 77 million-member Anglican Communion, a global federation of national churches, has been in upheaval since 2003 when the Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first bishop known to be in an openly gay relationship in more than four centuries of church history.


Disputes over scriptural authority, the blessing of gay unions and other matters have become a worldwide issue and threaten turmoil this summer when Anglicans gather for their once-a-decade Lambeth Conference in Britain.


There are several U.S. property disputes and more looming.


In the Virginia case Judge Randy Bellows of the Fairfax County Circuit Court ruled that the defecting congregations are covered by a state law written during the Civil War era. The statute says any "church or religious society" that "divides" remains under the control of the majority, as does property entrusted to it.


The law was adopted in response to numerous church splits arising during the 19th century, before, during and after the Civil War. Both Methodists and Presbyterians successfully invoked the statute immediately after its adoption in 1867.


Among the issues still to be decided is whether the Virginia law conflicts with the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of church-state separation, since a national church is involved.


"At issue is the government's ability to intrude into the freedom of the Episcopal Church and other churches to organize and govern themselves according to their faith and doctrine," the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia said in statement after Thursday's court ruling.


The defectors "were free to leave but they cannot take Episcopal property with them," it added. (Editing by Ed Stoddard and Bill Trott)



THE VATICAN'S QUIET AMERICAN

The Vatican's Quiet American



While Pope Benedict XVI is busy filling the shoes of John Paul II, a quiet American is trying to do the same in Benedict's old job. So how's it going for William J. Levada, former Archbishop of San Francisco, whom Benedict tapped to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? "I'm past the deer-in-the-headlights phase," he told TIME last week in his first interview since he took office in August.

Good thing. The most influential U.S. prelate in Roman Catholic history, Levada is tasked with maintaining doctrine and discipline among the 1.1 billion faithful at a time when several issues threaten to divide the flock. In November the church issued a controversial Instruction on gay seminarians. To Levada, "the document is very clear. A person with deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not suited for the priesthood." Another tricky topic: Should politicians be denied Communion if they espouse policies that contradict church teaching? Levada would like to see that debated more but says, "There are certain teachings that, as Catholics, we have to accept as part of Jesus' gospel," such as opposition to abortion. "Catholic politicians need to take this seriously," he says. "Maybe they need to say, 'I'm not able to practice my faith and be a public representative.'"

A more immediate concern is the ceremony this week at which Levada and 14 other prelates will be elevated to Cardinal by the Pope. Asked how he might feel when he gets the red hat signifying that high office, Levada admits a purely sartorial worry. "Of course," he says, "you want to make sure you have your hat on straight."

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1174688,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar

P.S. The Congregation for The Doctrine of The Faith; The CDF is the modern name for what used to be the Holy Office of the Inquisition.1

The Holy Office of the Inquisition was that organization that ensured that 'heretics and apostates' were given a warm sending-off to their final resting place!

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congregation_for_the_Doctrine_of_the_Faith

THE AMERICAN POPE

The American Pope

This will be Pope Benedict XVI's sixth trip to the U.S. and his first as Pontiff.
Tony Gentile / Reuters
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In 1984, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger dropped by New York City. He was heading home to the Vatican from a conference in Dallas and had saved a day to tour what was then still regularly called the Big Apple. According to Father James O'Connor, who was acting as his chauffeur, Ratzinger sat in the front seat, the better to take in the hustle and buzz of the city. They visited the (Episcopal) Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the medievally furnished Cloisters museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the way to Kennedy Airport, the car stalled halfway through the Midtown Tunnel, between Manhattan and Queens. O'Connor trudged to the Queens side, where he found a mechanic--who happened to be a Jordanian Catholic, recognized the Cardinal and rushed to his aid. O'Connor recalls Ratzinger, up and running again, saying "There is every sort of person in New York, and they're all helpful." A few minutes later, just after he stepped out onto the curb at J.F.K., someone rear-ended the car, shattering the back window.

Despite such sweet and sour experiences (including one in 1988 that produced the memorable tabloid headline GAYS PROTEST VATICAN BIGGY), the Pope likes New York and what it stands for. "I think he's really fascinated by the city and what it represents," says Raphaela Schmid, a Rome-based German with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who knows him. "It's about people being two things at once, like Italian Americans or Chinese Americans. He's interested in that idea of coexistence."

That observation captures an often ignored side of the German-born Pope Benedict XVI, 80, on the eve of his first pontifical visit to the U.S. The trip, which begins in Washington on April 15 and ends in New York City on April 20, will present most Americans with their first opportunity to take the "new" Pope's measure. Some American Catholics already feel they are familiar with Benedict and his values and coexistence is not an association that immediately crops up. Benedict clearly lacks his predecessor's charismatic affability and sense of the dramatic gesture. His conservative writings suggest a divergence from a large part of the U.S. laity, whom he regards as victims of the moral relativism he feels pervades Western culture. Given his past role as the Vatican's enforcer of orthodoxy, he might not seem to have any particular affinity for the democratic, pluralistic values that constitute (on our good days) the American brand.

And yet that last perception is particularly flawed. A survey of the 80-year-old Pontiff's writings over the decades and testimonies from those who know him suggests that Benedict has a soft spot for Americans and finds considerable value in his U.S. church, the third largest Catholic congregation in the world. Most intriguing, he entertains a recurring vision of an America we sometimes lose sight of: an optimistic and diverse but essentially pious society in which faiths and a faith-based conversation on social issues are kept vital by the Founding Fathers' decision to separate church and state. It's not a stretch to say the Pope sees in the U.S.--or in some kind of idealized version of it--a civic model and even an inspiration to his native Europe, whose Muslim immigrants raise the question of religious and political coexistence in the starkest terms. Says David Gibson, author of The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World: "As he tours the U.S., it's important to underscore that his philosophy has more consonances with our culture than meet the eye--some very profound."

What, if anything, does this American attachment mean, either about him or about how he sees America's place in the world? It does not necessarily translate into uncritical support for the Bush Administration's foreign policies or into willingness to overlook the U.S. Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal. But an examination of his lifetime of visiting and writing about the U.S. helps provide insight into what drives the Pope: his intellectual curiosity, his search for national models that can accommodate Catholicism as the vibrant minority in a position that he feels may be its next world role and his firm commitment to combine faith with practical reason. It is also a rather touching valentine and a testament to Benedict's surprising openness toward a very different culture that he sees us as the world's best example of how such things can be done.

Out of the Ruins

The Pope's admiration for the U.S. has deep roots. Unlike John Paul II, who was intellectually and theologically fully formed when he met his first Americans, Ratzinger first observed them when he was 18. As a defeated German soldier, he spent three months in a pow camp but was then allowed to return home and witness one of the great modern acts of charity, the rebuilding of Germany by an occupying force that could just as easily have exacted revenge. Cardinal William Levada, the Californian whom Benedict tapped as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), says, "He's of a generation that remembers, gratefully."

Ratzinger's next American exposure came during the momentous Second Vatican Council in Rome, from 1962 to '65. Then in his early 30s, Ratzinger was a theological wunderkind who made his name behind the scenes. The U.S. delegation, meanwhile, was embroiled in a contentious debate over religious freedom. Conservatives opposed it: states must sponsor faith, and the faith should be Roman Catholic. The Americans argued that religious liberty was morally imperative and--from experience--that in a multireligious state, Catholicism could best thrive when the government could not play favorites. The council sided with them, and Ratzinger, anticipating a world composed of jostling religious pluralities, heartily approved. In a 1966 analysis, he wrote, "In a critical hour, Council leadership passed from Europe to the young Churches of America and [their allies]," who "were really opening up the way to the future."

After Vatican II, Ratzinger embarked on a more conservative path. The embrace of religious plurality, in his view, did not extend to an acceptance that all roads to salvation are equal or to a license for democracy within his church. During 24 years as the prefect of the CDF, Ratzinger earned the nickname "God's Rottweiler," savaging suspected heresies, mostly liberal ones, and ending the careers of several old Vatican II allies. Americans were not exempt.

But he also came to respect the way Catholic leaders in the U.S. went about their business. A current (non-American) CDF official notes that the U.S. church is the only one that keeps a "serious" doctrinal office rather than an unthinking rubber stamp or an old-boys' club; when conflicts arise, its bishops are actually prepared to discuss them. Moreover, says Levada, "he seems to recognize that we're plain speakers. We don't hide behind words."

The Pope also admires the Americans' role as, in the words of one cleric, "intellectual first responders," especially as the country's great network of Catholic hospitals wrestles with novel problems of medical ethics. "Through the great sphere of worldly experience that the Church has in America," Benedict wrote, "as well as through her faith experience, decisive influences can be passed on." He has shown his comfort with the direct and thoroughly American approach by appointing Americans to the No. 1 and No. 3 spots in his powerful former office.

The most rapt expression of the Pope's enthusiasm for the U.S. came in a high-minded 2004 dialogue with the president of the Italian Senate, Marcello Pera, published as the book Without Roots. It bemoans the European Union's refusal to acknowledge Christianity in a draft constitution, and Pera wonders about bringing back some kind of multidenominational "Christian civil religion." In response, Ratzinger cites Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America and makes the case that America's Founding Fathers were pious men of different denominations who wrote the First Amendment prohibiting state establishment (that is, sponsorship) of religion precisely because sponsorship would stifle all non-established creeds--which they hoped would achieve full and varied flower.

Of course, no such bloom would occur if the American soil were not already faith-saturated. But Ratzinger believes in America's "obvious spiritual foundation," its natural, Puritan-instilled DNA. He is well aware that this is eroding; he thinks we watch too much TV and fears that American secularization is proceeding at an "accelerated pace." But he insists that there is a "much clearer and implicit sense" in the U.S. than in Europe of a morality "bequeathed by Christianity." He has also given earnest thought to the mechanics of this civil religion, specifying that to affect the moral consensus, it is not enough for Catholics to rub shoulders with other Christians; they must translate their concerns from doctrinal language into a "public theology" accessible to all.

His American Flock

It may be that Benedict, who has sometimes seemed ready to trade a larger, lukewarm flock for a small, fervent one, is studying how to be small effectively. Says a church official whose thoughts usually reflect his boss's: "The American church has always had to live the minority experience, and that's where the universal church is headed." In fact, the American church has not really shrunk much. At 24% of the population, Catholics remain a pivotal voting bloc, especially in swing states like Pennsylvania, where they appear to favor Hillary Clinton by sizable margins. A recent poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that a quarter of the country's cradle Catholics had left the fold. But they are being replaced by a few converts and a lot of (Mass attending!) Hispanic immigrants, and remarkably, such churn is about par across the American religious landscape.

Although the Catholic priest shortage continues in the U.S., the priest-abuse scandals have not sparked a massive parishioner exodus. (Benedict is expected to address the topic on this trip, but there have been no leaks as to how.) Perhaps out of relief that he has been writing encyclicals about love and charity rather than heresy, U.S. Catholics seem to be treating him a lot like former Pontiffs: handing him a 70% approval rating while continuing to ignore church teaching on birth control and abortion.

In any case, Benedict often seems less interested in scolding American Catholics than in talking up "new religious communities ... being formed who quite consciously aim at a complete fulfillment of the demands of religious life." In the U.S., that could mean schools like Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, Calif.; Christendom College in Front Royal, Va.; and Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Fla. The numbers are tiny--the three colleges combined claim some 1,200 undergrads--but they are precisely the kind of eruptions of non-state-related religious vitality at which he thinks we excel.

There are times when Benedict's love affair with American religious pluralism seems a bit naive, especially when it clashes with his nonnegotiable doctrinal stands. Without Roots had wonderful things to say about Protestantism as the genius of American religiosity and burnished the alliance between Catholic conservatives and American Evangelicals against abortion. But in 2000 and more acidly in 2007 (after he became Pope), the Vatican released documents describing Protestant churches as suffering from ecclesiastical "defects," adding that "it is difficult to see how the title of 'Church' could possibly be attributed to them." Some of Benedict's new allies were a bit stunned.

When Benedict zings the Protestants or his proxies zap scientific atheists, he is actually engaging in cultural pluralism American-style, which resembles a political talk show more than a stately seminar on the Bill of Rights. The desire to keep talking while airing real differences may also be influencing his policy toward Islam (which, as the Vatican noted in March, has just replaced Catholicism as the world's most populous faith). After a startling 2006 speech in which he quoted a source calling Muhammad evil, prompting enraged extremists to burn churches and kill a nun in Somalia, Benedict entered into a dialogue with Islamic clerics who sent an open letter expressing a more conciliatory if sometimes critical response. None of the parties are departing from their theology, but out of frankness, a tenuous bridge seems to have been built.

This may hold some implicit lessons about how Benedict feels the U.S. and its allies should interact with Islam. The Pope has refused to accept pre-emptive war as just, and a confidant recalls him shaking his fists and shouting "Basta!"--Enough!--back in the early days of the Iraq war. He may be trying to model a clash of civilizations without bloodshed. As Roberto Fontolan, the Vatican-savvy spokesman of the lay group Communion and Liberation, puts it, "Let's not talk about dogma. Or whether my God is better than your God. Let's talk about reason that we both have as a gift from God. What does it tell us?"

Benedict's Quest

Reason is a word that surfaces repeatedly in conversations about the Pope and the U.S. Benedict's critics regularly accuse him of Vatican II revisionism--of downplaying the idea that Catholics may legitimately balance church teaching against the demands of their conscience. More broadly, they accuse him of minimizing the degree to which the Holy Spirit led the council to make substantial changes in the faith. But he remains true to the Vatican II precept of complementing blind piety that prevailed in the church before the 1960s with the rationalism of the Enlightenment and thus with modernity.

He is hardly the first: John Paul II described faith and reason as the twin wings that lift the church. And yet a balanced takeoff has remained elusive. The U.S. is one of the few places where it seems to happen regularly. "America is simultaneously a completely modern and a profoundly religious place. In the world, it is unique in this," says a senior Vatican official. "And Ratzinger wants to understand how those two aspects can coexist." Almost all the things the Pope likes about us--our faith in the real value of plainspokenness, our pluralistic piety and even our wrangles around applying religiously grounded moral principles to increasingly abstruse science--can be understood in light of this quest. If he finds answers in the U.S., they could help define his papacy.

When he arrives on U.S. soil on April 15, we in the press will no doubt be parsing Benedict's every sentence for his opinions on U.S. policy or remonstrance of American morals. But the most important waves emanating from this contact may reverberate well beyond tomorrow's news cycle. John Paul II and the U.S. played as anticommunist co-leads on the 20th century stage. This Pope, more a student of global drama than an eager protagonist, knows that rising religious conflict may be the 21st century's great challenge. He also appears to sense that American power alone won't solve it--but that the power of American values still might. In rummaging through our founding precepts for a path for his own purposes, he might find something important for us to remember too.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1727724-1,00.html

P.S. That Ratzinger is really a swell guy.

They forgot to mention if he liked Cracker Jack or Cotton Candy.

HOW WILL NATIONAL SUNDAY LAWS WORK?




In response to the "National Law by Stealth" article:

Here's a solemn comment from one of the many brethren around the world, who do not have the benefits of having received the many blessings which have been afforded us by our blessed Creator; Where He allowed us to receive not only the 'true' light of the 'Everlasting Gospel', but also, the freedom of conscience to worship God as we understood Him. Apparently, he/she lives in a country where Christians are a minority, and perhaps they worship the Lord in secret, and are probably at this very moment persecuted for their belief in the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob (Israel), and for having the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed be His name. Blessed be these faithful Saints. Lord protect them, and bless them always.

4/4/2008
(Anonymous)

I live in a country where 9 per cent of the population are Christians. How will the Christian minority in my country be able to convince the other religious groups to keep the Sunday Law? Also, it is estimated that 33 per cent of the world's population are Christians. How will the Christian minority be able to convince the other 67 per cent to keep the Sunday Law? Can it be achieved through conquests (via warfare) or dishing out substantial economic benefits? A very detailed explanation of the steps that the Christian minority will take to enforce Sunday law on the rest of the world will be appreciated.

Thank you!

Beloved Brethren,

First, let's pray so that the Lord will allow his Holy Spirit to reveal to us
the truth that will prepare us for His coming.

Heavenly Father who art in Heaven, Blessed be your name. We come to you this day
to give you all the honor and glory, for your mercy and love. We ask you to reveal
to us this day the things that will show us the enemy's devices, not that we
may be made wise by him, but, by Thee. Your word is truth, and we hunger, and thirst
for every word that proceeds out of thy mouth. Blessed be the Saints that at this
moment don't have the freedom that we enjoy in this great nation that you have
created as a city of refuge for your children, to reveal to them the fulness of
your character. Bless and protect your children around the world, Father. You have
faithful servants around the world and they too depend on You. We humbly ask that
you impart to us this day the wisdom that will prepare 'all' your children
for Jesus' soon return to Earth; And the knowledge that will prepare us for
the tribulations that the enemy of souls has in store for us. We recognize that
you are faithful and will deliver every soul that relies and believes in you. We
thank you Father. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Dear friend, dear Brother:

First let me point out that the forces of evil have as a primary goal to take away
the attention from our Creator, and place them on trivial things. The Lord has always
wanted a faithful people to worship Him and obey his commandments; But, since Lucifer's rebellion, He (The FATHER) has tried to warn His elect to be wary of the crafty and devious workings of Lucifer. In these latter times, Lucifer has confused the whole world so profoundly that it's virtually impossible to discern what is truth, and to distinguish it from error. The same beliefs that were once commonly practiced in Babylon (the cradle of civilization), after the great flood, have now been spread around the whole planet.

The Roman Catholic Church's Holy See, and the Vatican have spread this Babylonian
religion more fully than any other political system (they're not only a church,
but also a government) on Earth. Sunday worship is their distinctive "mark".
Some overlook the fact that the whole world has been conquered by this Roman Empire,
under the guise of the Holy Roman Apostolic Church. The Calendaer that most nations
use save for a couple, is a Julian Calendar. This the product of a Julius Caesar1
the Roman Emperor. This is what is referred to in Daniel 7:25 as follows:

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

The Sunday institution is another creation of the Catholic Church. The whole word is also influenced by its Holy day, Sunday. Look around the world, and you'll see a common fact that Sunday is the end of the week. So they have spread their concept of Sunday as the "7th" day of the week; When in fact since creation the Sabbath has always been the 7th day of rest, instituted by God as His Holy Day. It's the day that would be remembered as a memorial to the Creator's magnificent work = Creation of the Universe. The Sabbath is the Lord's sign:

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 that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. ................Exodus 31:13.

Constantine, the Roman Emperor decided that he would "nomally" accept the Christian faith. To attract the pagans of his day he legislated that Sunday would be the Holy Day throughout the entire Roman Empire.
In an Edict in March 321 A.D., Constatine declared the venerable Day of the Sun ("Venerable die Solis").2

How do these historical facts affect the world we live in toda, you might wonder? They do because the same Roman Empire that ruled the world when Jesus Christ was crucified, is still ruling the world indirectly, today. The Roman Empire took on a different character when it transformed from a political government into a religio-political entity, called the Holy Roman Apostolic Catholic Church. Behind the scenes it works as a world government, unbeknownst to most except the few that interact with it at the upper echelons of world affairs. At this very moment the forces within this behemoth of an organization are secretly devising plans to change the Constitution of the United States of America. They, in conjunction with the Evangelicals (no longer Protestant- they do not protest if they are in accord with the Roman Catholic Church) are planning to legislate Sunday restriction to address (so they think) global warming, world hunger, drug abuse, teen-age pregnancy, AIDS, etc. But, the Lord has never willed that any government enforce any laws. Not even His holy laws. These were to be accepted by His people 'willingly', to show their obedience to Him. The Lord never forces the conscience! These tactics and means are used by tyrants, dictators, and Popes...His will is that all should come to Him in good faith. Blessed be His name!

When these Laws are passed in the United States of America. They will then be enforced world wide. Because who can resist the world's only SuperPower and The Holy Roman Catholic Church, a.k.a The Vatican??? Here are the "two" beasts of Revelation 13; The Beast that is Rome; And the Beast that is Apostate Christianity.




Revelation 13



1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.



Here's the conclusion of this whole matter, brother; That the Beasts will impose their beliefs around the world by treaties and by force. "Who can resist the Dragon?" The Beast from the West will abdicate all his power to the Beast of the East, The Vatican, and together they will first enforce Sunday restrictive laws to appease the "evil" spirits. For they will claim that the reason why their are so many natural calamities, and disasters are because the Sunday is not kept. Yet, the faithful around the world will resist all persecution. Many will be chased, deported, imprisoned, and some executed for defying these Sunday Laws. But, The Lord is faithful, as sure as His Word is. He will not tolerate much longer than it is required, to boldly sustain, and defend His chosen. And will promptly intervene and put an end to all this false worship, for only He is worthy of being worshiped... He will make sure that "all" know what the mark of the Beast, The name of the Beast, and what his Number is, so that "all" are clearly warned of the consequences for worshiping "IT", are. So, the Lord is conveying this very moment to you dear brother, dear sister. This is not me speaking. He wants you not to listen to the error, and the false 'profits', preaching prosperity, peace and security, and conformity with the world. He wants you to be separate. A royal priesthood, not to conform to the Dragon and his agents. He is faithful and will make "all" see and hear; The whole truth visible to those that want to see His Son's triumphant return. Blessed be the Father, blessed be His Son the Messiah.

"This is a warning against the coming national Sunday law which will affect your paycheck and put innocent people in jail."3

As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example.--6T 18 (1900). {LDE 135.1}

Thank you. God Bless the brethren around God's creation.


Happy Sabbath! Maranatha!

Arsenio.


Footnotes:

1
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar
2www.aloha.net/~mikesch/sunday.htm
" www.seventh-day.org/historians.htm
" www.pathlights.com/theselastdays/tracts/tract_22a.htm
3 www.reg6.com/reg6/index.html

Friday, April 04, 2008

THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

The Signs of the Times

God's indicators of His prompt second coming!

The signs of the times

, and of the end of the world are fulfilling so rapidly and occurring so frequently that instead of professed Christians being awakened and activated to finish God's work in the earth, they are becoming accustomed to, anesthetized by, and blinded to these signs. Because of their love of this world, the very things that should be awakening them are putting most professed disciples to sleep, and into a false security. Jesus says to all such, "O ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times." Matt 16:3.

Our Lord and Master clearly enumerates the signs of the times and of the end of the world for His children in Luke chapter 21. Christ declares that deceivers who claim to be the Son of God-Christ shall arise and draw many. There shall be wars and commotions, nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be many great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences. Fearful sights and great signs shall there be in the heavens. God's people will be persecuted and cast into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for His name's sake. The people of God will be betrayed by parents, brethren, kinsfolk's, and friends, and many will be put to death. God's people will be hated of all men for Christ's sake.

We must, under the influence of, and illuminating light of, God's inspiration - the Holy Spirit, correctly view the signs of the times, that they may have their heaven designed effect on our minds, hearts, and actions. May God be our help!!!

Source: http://www.godsfinalcallandwarning.com/signs_of_the_times

AS MANY AS TOUCHED HIM WERE MADE WHOLE

Mark 6

1And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him.

2And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

3Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

4But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

5And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

6And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

7And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

8And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

9But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

10And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.

11And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

12And they went out, and preached that men should repent.

13And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

14And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.

15Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.

16But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.

17For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife: for he had married her.

18For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife.

19Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him, and would have killed him; but she could not:

20For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

21And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;

22And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.

23And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.

24And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.

25And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.

26And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.

27And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison,

28And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.

29And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.

30And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught.

31And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

32And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.

33And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him.

34And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

35And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:

36Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.

37He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

38He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

39And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass.

40And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties.

41And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

42And they did all eat, and were filled.

43And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes.

44And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men.

45And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

46And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.

47And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

48And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

49But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:

50For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

51And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered.

52For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

53And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.

54And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,

55And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.

56And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.