Saturday, June 28, 2008

Mystery Babylon, The Great Whore...

Revelation 17

1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

8The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

10And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

12And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

13These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

14These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

15And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

18And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Friday, June 27, 2008

ST. LOUIS ARCHBISHOP GETS POST AT VATICAN


St. Louis Archbishop gets post at Vatican

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Archbishop Raymond Burke, in a move likely to elevate him to cardinal, was named today to a high Vatican post after nearly five years at the helm of the St. Louis archdiocese.

Burke, a church law expert, was named to head the Vatican’s supreme court. Burke has served on the Vatican’s Supreme Court for two years. He is viewed as the most outspoken of conservative bishops in the United States. Nearly all the Vatican supreme court members are cardinals, which signaled the likelihood Burke would be elevated to that position as well.

He was known, among other things, for his tough stance that politicians who support abortion rights should be denied Holy Communion.

During his time in St. Louis, he excommunicated the board and priest of St. Stanislaus Kostka church and three women for participating in a women’s ordination that is forbidden by the Roman Catholic Church.

Burke becomes the first American bishop to hold the position as head of the Vatican supreme court. His appointment illustrates that Pope Benedict XVI has a great amount of respect for bishops in the United States, said Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.

The naming of Burke, as well as that of William Joseph Cardinal Levada as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of Benedict’s first major appointments, shows the pope "is willing to use Americans to help him run the church," Reese said. "Among a lot of European clergy, there’s an anti-American bias. Benedict doesn’t seem to have this.

"This is more power than Americans have ever had in Rome."

Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Jun/20080627News014.asp

P.S. Bolds and Highlights added for emphasis. Blogman.

MESSIANIC JEWS TO PROTEST DISCRIMATION



Messianic Jews to protest 'discrimination'



A contingent of about 300 Messianic Jews from the US will protest this weekend against what they call Israel's discriminatory immigration policy against Jews who believe that Jesus is the messiah. The Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, an umbrella body for about 80 US congregations, is holding a three-day conference in Jerusalem that starts Thursday. During the conference a number of issues will be discussed - including the recent public burning by haredim of New Testaments distributed by missionaries in Or Akiva, a bomb attack that seriously wounded the son of well-known Messianic Jew in Ariel and the attempt to disqualify a Messianic Jewish high school girl from this year's International Bible Quiz for Jewish youth. "We are planning to call on the Israeli government to address the problem of discrimination against Messianic Jews who wish to make aliya," said Rabbi Russ Resnik, executive director of the US-based Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations. "Messianic Jews see Israel as the place of our past, from the earliest visit by Abraham to the modern rebirth of the Jewish state. And it is the place of our future, which will culminate in the messiah's return," Resnik said. "We are avid supporters of Israel in the present, and that's why we brought our conference here. But we are also concerned about recent expressions of violence against Messianic Jews." Messianic Jews include all people with Jewish ancestry who identify as Jewish but who believe that Jesus is the messiah, Resnik said. There are an estimated 12,000 Messianic Jews living in Israel, most of whom made aliya under the Law of Return. There are about a quarter of a million Messianic Jews living in the US.............. read more


Source: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com

AMERICA'S PLURALISTIC IMPULSE TOWARD TOLERANCE, CHRISTIANS ABANDON JESUS



America's pluralistic impulse toward tolerance having theological consequences as "Christians" abandon Jesus as the only way to heaven



America remains a deeply religious nation, but a new survey finds most Americans don't believe their tradition is the only way to eternal life -- even if the denomination's teachings say otherwise. The findings, revealed Monday in a survey of 35,000 adults, can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don't know fundamental teachings of their own faiths. Among the more startling numbers in the survey, conducted last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life, in conflict with traditional evangelical teaching. In all, 70 percent of Americans with a religious affiliation shared that view, and 68 percent said there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of their own religion. "The survey shows religion in America is, indeed, 3,000 miles wide and only three inches deep," said D. Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion. "There's a growing pluralistic impulse toward tolerance and that is having theological consequences," he said............. read more


Source: http://www.prophecynewswatch.com

Thursday, June 26, 2008

YOUNG U.S. EVANGELICALS AIM TO BROADEN AGENDA`



Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:53am EDT

By Deborah Jian Lee

PRINCETON, N.J., June 22 (Reuters) - Matt Dunbar is not your typical evangelical Christian.

With his tousled hair, sideburns and a scruffy "soul patch" beard, the 26-year-old New Yorker belongs to a growing minority of young evangelicals who want to broaden their political agenda beyond the traditional opposition to abortion and gay marriage.

Evangelicals like Dunbar are eager to move on and tackle such hot topics as global warming and social justice.

As they move to the center of the political spectrum, they are deciding whether Republican presidential candidate John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama aligns best with their values and deserves their vote in the November presidential election.

A former Republican, Dunbar's political views began to change with the war in Iraq. "I couldn't keep my political affiliation with the Republican Party at that point," he said.

Research shows many young white evangelical Christians are moving away from the Republican Party.

Surveys by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life show a 15 percentage point drop in the alliance of white evangelicals aged 18 to 29 with the Republican Party over the past two years.

"This group is going to be definitely worth watching," said Dan Cox, a Pew research associate and author of the report. "If anything, they're becoming more independent in their outlook."

Most favor stricter laws to protect the environment, for example, an issue not typically associated with Republican platforms, yet remain conservative on issues like opposition to abortion and support for the death penalty.

BEYOND SOCIAL ISSUES

Several hundred young evangelicals gathered last week at Princeton University in New Jersey to meet with Christian leaders, discuss the evangelical agenda and look at the role of religion in public life. The conference was called "Envision: the Gospel, Politics and the Future."

Tattoos, scruffy facial hair and flip-flops abounded among the young attendees.

Shane Claiborne, author of "The Irresistible Revolution -- Living as an Ordinary Radical," called on young Christians to get politically and personally involved on issues of justice.

"I see an entire generation of young people who want a Christianity they can wrap their hands around," said Claiborne, who wears his hair in shoulder-length dreadlocks. "They don't want to just believe stuff. They're saying if you want to know what I believe, then watch how I live."

Claiborne and others at the conference pressed the crowd to move beyond the typical platform of the religious right.

One in four Americans consider themselves evangelical Christians, and some four-fifths of evangelical voters backed Republican President George W. Bush as he sought reelection in 2004.

McCain is regarded with suspicion in conservative evangelical circles because of his past support for stem cell research, his failure to support a federal ban on gay marriage, and his support for immigration reform, among other things.

Both McCain and Obama will be hard pressed to attract voters like Tonya Grant, a 23-year-old Bible college student from New Jersey, who said she voted for Bush in 2004.

"It seems like he (McCain) is playing the evangelical Jesus card," she said. But she's not sold on Obama either, and she doesn't favor his health-care reform proposals.

"I'm completely torn," she said.

Amy Coffin, 27, of Los Angeles said she is drawn to Obama because of his health-care plan and desire to end the war in Iraq.

She does not align herself with any political party and is critical of how so many evangelicals supported Bush. "I think a lot of that is apathy and laziness, letting people tell them how to vote," she said.

She is not looking to the election to further social change, but is pushing for change in her own life. A year ago she moved to India, where she is helping start a church in New Delhi.

"Hopefully by living with the poor, you end up doing social justice naturally," she said. (Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Chris Wilson)

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN22351968

POPE ENCOURAGES HONDURAN BISHOPS TO COUNTER SECTS' INFLUENCE


Pope encourages Honduran bishops to counter sects' influence

Vatican, Jun. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) met on June 26 with the Catholic bishops of Honduras, encouraging them to protect the faith against the "the spread of secularism and the proselytism of sects."

In Honduras, the Pope said, a strong Catholic culture has been nourished by "numerous and deep-rooted practices of popular devotion." Implicitly recognizing the past influence of pagan practices, the Pope noted that over time these Catholic devotions have been "purified of elements alien to the faith."

Today the people of Honduras need to recover "a sense of belonging to the Church," the Pope said. He advised the bishops-- who were concluding the ad limina visits-- to undertake "a bold and far-reaching effort of evangelization, founded - rather than on the effectiveness of material means and human plans - on the power of the Word of God, faithfully accepted, humbly experienced and trustingly announced."

Touching on themes that he brings up regularly with the bishops who travel to Rome for their ad limina meetings, the Holy Father urged the Honduran prelates to pay special attention to the formation of priests and the protection of marriage. He noted with approval "the important step taken by including an explicit recognition of marriage in your country's constitution," while cautioning that legislation alone is not sufficient protection against the forces that undermine proper understanding of Christian marriage.

Pope Benedict also mentioned the problems of poverty, environmental destruction, and corruption that continue to trouble the Central American country. He asked the bishops to continue their efforts to promote Catholic social teaching and especially to ease poverty, reminding them that the original Apostles were known for their care for the poor.

Source: http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=59334

Bolds and Highlights added for emphasis. Blogman.

JESUIT PRIEST SLAMS THE DOMINICAN GOVERNMENT'S POLICY ON HAITIANS

Local - 26 June 2008, 7:53 AM

Jesuit priest slams the Dominican Government’s policy on Haitians

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SANTO DOMINGO. - “Until there is a Migration Law or regulation by consensus, adapted to our Constitution, while there isn’t institutionality the problem of the immigrants is never going to be solved,” said the priest Regino Martinez, director of the Jesuit Refugee and Immigrants Service.

The prelate, in reference to the current increase in undocumented Haitians who beg in the country’s streets, said “what anarchy and the lack of laws generate is disorder, violence and repression.”

He said it’s a national problem which must be faced by the State. “It’s not a question of whether Immigration director Carlos Amarante has the sufficient human, economic or technical resources to control the situation; the issue of the children begging can’t be individualized.”

Martinez said the traffic of illegals shouldn’t be treated “in a gross, violent manner, nor with corrupt or repressive controls,” and denounced that in Palo Verde, Hatillo Palma and Villa Vásquez the immigrants are taken with or without ID cards and their rights are violated.

Amarante said that the routine sweeps of Haitian immigrants will continue, within his entity’s possibilities.

Source: http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2008/6/26/28447/Jesuit-priest-slams-the-Dominican-Governments-policy-on-Haitians


LEADING UFO RESEARCHERS CONFIRM CHRISTIAN VIEW

Approved 2008-06-19 02:08:09

A general consensus has emerged among serious, science oriented UFO researchers that a certain small percentage of UFOs are real and are not figments of anyone's imagination. Furthermore, it is well known that many individuals claim to receive messages from alleged extra-terrestials aboard UFOs.

The messages received from UFOs are generally occultic and steer people away from belief in Christian doctrine. Extra-terrestials tend to undermine or attack the Christian faith.

Christian scholars and researchers have responded to this attack. In this article I will show that leading UFO researchers, many of whom are agnostic, have come around to generally support the Christian position on UFO phenomena.

After all the UFO sightings have been carefully analyzed and most explained away as natural phenomena the remaining UFOs, called residual UFOs (RUFOs) are regarded as real. They are real yet the leading researchers say they are not metallic spacecraft from distant stars or planets.

Astronomers who have devoted their careers to studying UFOs point to the fact that UFO flight patterns defy the laws of physics such as turning and accelerating so fast that any metal spaceship would disintegrate even if the metal spaceship was a solid iron ball. Furthermore, UFOs are seen in the atmosphere and not observed coming in from outer space.

UFO sightings have been reported throughout history. Ancient literature describes 'aerial people' and 'cloud ships' in terms that correspond to modern UFO sightings. In 1691 a Scottish minister wrote a book describing how Scottish farmers were harassed by paranormal entities similar to the UFOs of our time.

All of us are aware of the many UFO cults that have sprung up. There have even been television specials devoted to UFO phenomena.

Francis Crick, Nobel prize winning co-discoverer of DNA, calculated the probability of proteins forming by random collisions of atoms in the primordial ooze. Crick found it so remotely improbable that proteins and other building blocks of life could form by chance on earth that he decided that aliens from outer space must have brought life to earth.

Crick's theory that claims that aliens brought life to earth is called the "Guided Panspermia Theory" of life origins. This new theory of life origins gave momentum to UFO research.

Close encounters of the fourth kind are when people (almost invariably occultists and New Agers) are actually abducted and communicate with the aliens. The aliens generally give messages with deep religious impact that steer people away from Christianity.

Let's consider the following quote: "For example, 'The Urantia Book,' a tome supposedly communicated to humans by spirit dictation from 'superuniverse rulers,' spends the first two-thirds of its 2,097 pages describing a 'universe of universes' that is not subject to space and time"

The quote continues: "The last third of this UFO bible denies the full deity of Jesus Christ and humanity's need for salvation from its sinful condition." (Quoted from Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestials by Ross, Samples and Clark p. 122.)

It seems plain from the above quote and from abundant other evidence that the aliens oppose Christian doctrine. This leads me to believe that the aliens are actually demons.

It is also very interesting and revealing to note that many of the best UFO researchers seem to be coming around to a view that undergirds and supports the Christian view that demons are involved.

Astronomer J. Alan Hynek and the late French physicist Jacques Vallee are perhaps the most respected UFO researchers in the world. Both are agnostics. No one can consider them Christians with a theological ax to grind.

Both men have made what I consider to be very bold statements that clearly undergird the Christian position that spiritual entities are behind UFO phenomena. For example, Hynek said that UFOs cause physical effects "in the same way that a poltergeist can produce very real physical effects."

Vallee said "The UFO phenomenon represents evidence for other dimensions beyond spacetime . . . It is a spiritual system that acts on humans and uses humans."

There are many other quotes I could cite. Vallee was the leading proponent of the Interdimensional Hypothesis which is the view that UFOs come from another dimension (Christians like me would say the other dimension is the dimension of spirit) and not from interstellar travel.

Many prominent born-again Christian scholars such as David Allen Lewis have done research on UFO phenomena. It seems clear to them that demons are using UFOs to deceive millions and prepare them to embrace an occultic, 'New Age' type of faith.

Some say that UFOs and the teachings that proceed from them are preparing the world to receive the coming antichrist.

I will close this article by mentioning the fact that there have been documented cases of close encounters of the fourth kind, which are abductions of people by UFOs, that have actually been stopped when the people involved called out the name of Jesus. In other words the people appealed to the atoning work of Christ who died for our sins.

When they cried out to Jesus the demons attempting the abduction ceased their activity. The demons fear the power of Christ and must submit to the power of Christ because Christ is the Son of God. See the April 2001 issue of Charisma magazine for documentation of UFO abductions that were stopped in this way.

A major source for this article was Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at UFOs and Extraterrestials by Ross, Samples and Clark.
Article Source : Article Directory Online: Free Online Article SubmissionAuthor Resource :
Bill Nugent has written many articles on Christianity, philosophy and science. He has also written books that give Bible based teaching on sanctification and that caution against the error of legalism. His books are available at his website
http://www.gracelawandsonship.com/.

Source: http://www.articleonlinedirectory.com/Art/18162/377/Leading-UFO-Researchers-Confirm-Christian-View.html


WORLD RELIGION AND WORLD FEDERATION



World Religions and World Federation Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:27:38 -0300


"In a future world federal government, every nation will give up every claim to make war and will only be allowed to maintain armaments for purposes of maintaining internal order. A world federal government should have an International Executive, a World Parliament, and a Supreme Tribunal."
Read more, click on title below:

ISN'T TILTING IN THE SAME OLD WAYS

Photo (Courtesy) http://www.matrixmasters.com/assets5/PopesDreamTeam.jpg


Isn't Tilting in The Same Old Ways


By Dahlia Lithwick
Sunday, June 15, 2008; Page B01

With just two weeks left in the Supreme Court's term, everything we thought we knew about the Roberts court seems wrong. The question now is: Who plans to tell the presidential candidates?

Both Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain are finally beginning to campaign as though the composition of the Supreme Court actually matters. And that's a good thing, because -- the American public's lack of interest notwithstanding -- the court counts as much as almost every other issue facing the voters in November. Assuming that you work, worship, vote, parent, own property the government might covet or occasionally have sex, the high court will intimately affect your life. This is particularly true now that the average justice is older than Mount Rushmore and the next president may well have two or three new court picks in the space of a few years.

But it's hard to generate much public hysteria over nameless, faceless future jurists deciding nameless, faceless future cases. And so the court plods along undisturbed, like the tortoise, while presidential elections zoom by like the hare.


But the dialogue about the judiciary now taking place between the two presidential nominees is antiquated. (Bear in mind that in picking their way among the minefields of abortion, affirmative action, same-sex marriage and school prayer, presidential candidates tend to discuss the courts only in code.) Both McCain and Obama have now taken predictable stands on the Supreme Court of their dreams. In a speech last month, McCain offered a jeremiad about the evils of "judicial activism," deriding the "common and systematic abuse of our federal courts by the people we entrust with judicial power." Last March, Obama offered up his own judicial ideal: a judge with "enough empathy, enough feeling, for what ordinary people are going through."

The main problem: Both McCain and Obama start from the premise that the Supreme Court is tidily balanced among four conservative judicial minimalists, four liberal judicial empaths and the inscrutable Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, swinging away at the center. This is a useful model for trying to stir up public concern about the court's composition, and the decision in at least one blockbuster case -- last Thursday's ruling that the Bush administration is violating the constitutional rights of foreign terrorism suspects being held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- did indeed go down along the traditional lines. Still, the current term is rapidly proving the simple conservatives-vs.-liberals construct to be a thing of the past. This court term has revealed a series of patterns that aren't so easy to neatly file away: conservative moderation, moderate conservatism, liberal pragmatism and pragmatic minimalism. And that's just for starters.

Court watchers have stood dumbfounded all spring as the high court rejected and renounced the 5 to 4 conservative-liberal splits that seemed to have calcified after last term's bitter divisions. The end of June 2007 saw a full third of the court's cases decided by a 5 to 4 margin; as of this writing, the court has decided just four cases that way this year. At this point last year, Kennedy had cast his vote with the prevailing five justices every single time. But this term has seen a slew of ideology-busting unanimous, 7 to 2, and 6 to 3 decisions, which have not just baffled the experts but also made the usual end-of-term chatter about "activists," "minimalists" and "strict constructionists" sound as old-fashioned as the Bee Gees.

Last week, the high court handed down five more unanimous opinions. The week before, it served up a 5 to 4 split decision in which the dissenters included the usually conservative Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., his fellow Bush appointee Samuel A. Alito Jr., the moderate Kennedy and the liberal Stephen G. Breyer. We've passed the point of crying "strange bedfellows" at the Supreme Court. As of this month, conservative and liberal justices are routinely sharing a toothbrush.

So what has happened? Have the liberals caved, are the conservatives becoming more restrained, or is something else afoot? Most court watchers have been astonished to witness the liberal lion, John Paul Stevens, voting with the conservative bloc in cases upholding Kentucky's lethal-injection process, Indiana's rigid voter-identification law and Texas's fast-and-loose treatment of a Mexican on death row. (One commentator joked that 2007 might have been the year in which Stevens remembered that "he is a Republican.") Linda Greenhouse, who covers the court for the New York Times, speculated that the court's liberals may be joining with the conservatives to dilute the force of right-leaning decisions, extracting "modest concessions as the price of helping the conservatives avoid another parade of 5-to-4 decisions."

Perhaps all the newfound bipartisanship is explained by the fact that it's an election year, putting the justices on their best behavior. And of course, there are still a couple of weeks left in the term, which might not turn out to be so harmonious after all; the potentially explosive cases still pending include the decades-in-the-making D.C. gun rights case and a fight over expanding the death penalty to rapists. But here's one more hypothesis to explain the implosion of judicial ideology at the high court this year: It may simply have to do with the strange physics of time.

Last year, dissenting in the school affirmative-action case, the liberal Breyer lashed out at the slash-and-burn tendencies of the new conservative majority: "It is not often that so few have so quickly changed so much." Breyer was chiding the conservatives for their push to eviscerate decades' worth of abortion, affirmative-action and church-state doctrine in a week-long binge at the end of June. But even before Breyer's outburst, a key rift had been carved into the court's right wing: Alito and Roberts were declining to go as far as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas wanted to in several big cases that logically demanded that established precedents be overturned. In a church-state case last term, Alito wrote cryptically that he would not overrule a key precedent but "leave [it] as we found it." That language seems to have enraged Scalia, who dressed down Alito and Roberts for clinging to the empty shells of old cases. In yet another case, Scalia accused the two young conservative justices of "faux judicial restraint." The seeds of a split between two generations of conservatives had been sown: The younger justices opted for the tortoise, while their impatient elders chose the hare. Scalia and Thomas call to mind the famous quip about Gladstone being an old man in a hurry.

The urgency that Thomas and Scalia feel about "fixing" constitutional doctrine in big, sweeping ways may simply be caused by their lengthy tenures on the bench. Scalia and Thomas have served for 22 and 17 years respectively. Roberts and Alito have each served just over two. The young Turks are not sitting on decades of accumulated frustration and outrage. (Scalia barely bothers to hide his scorn for his lily-livered colleagues these days; he sneered in his dissent that last Thursday's Guantanamo ruling "will almost certainly cause more Americans to get killed.") But Roberts and Alito can afford to move slowly, with an eye toward how things look to observers already sourly suspicious -- especially after the travesty of Bush v. Gore-- that the court has become crassly political. And with the court hearing fewer cases every year -- it heard just 70 this year, its shortest docket in modern history -- the decision to slow the pace of change is probably a savvy one.

At the liberal end of the spectrum, Breyer and Stevens appear increasingly inclined to work with the court's conservatives to sidestep the trap of a 5 to 4 stalemate. Again, that may have more to do with age than you'd think. At 88, Stevens may well be the justice closest to retirement, and he may not to want to end his brilliant career with a series of brokenhearted dissents. At 69, Breyer may feel -- much like Alito and Roberts -- that he can afford to be a bit patient. He may also be learning the lesson that Sandra Day O'Connor taught in recent years: You can catch more votes with honey than with vinegar.

But the notion that time heals all wounds may mask what really lies beneath the new compromises at the high court. Consider how these new majorities of six, seven or eight justices are actually forged. Time and again, the justices have converged around the narrowest possible reading of a case -- in effect using the decision as a placeholder to say, "We'll decide the present case on very narrow facts, but we reserve the right to revisit the underlying issues in years to come."

This approach certainly represents judicial minimalism, or humility, and it was the young chief justice's confirmation promise to the American people. But it also does very little to guide future litigants. It's a deflection -- a constitutional push of the pause button that allows legislatures and the electorate to catch up. This new conciliation is a way for the younger justices to defer ideological disagreements and for the aging justices to pass the baton to their more energetic successors. And it may simply reflect an understanding on the part of various justices that some of them have big dreams but very little time remaining, while others have big dreams and all the time in the world.

dahlialith@hotmail.com

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/13/AR2008061303178.html

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate.

TRANFORMING THEMSELVES



For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

OUT OF TIME...

Friday, June 22, 2007

I would like to apologize for the sloppy updating....been kinda tied up with some projects, including some good news about our choir which I would like to share soon, but not yet. So, in the meantime, I would like to relate this to you.

I was out for a drive in a car with a Capuchin priest friend, sometime rather late in the night, when the car were were in crashed into another car. Stunned, we exited the vehicle, only to discover that the other driver was a Jesuit priest. "It was my fault," each of them insisted -- as is only right and proper with religious men. The Jesuit in his concern for the Capuchin priest said, "You look badly shaken up. You could probably use a good stiff drink right now to calm down." So he produced a flask. The Capuchin drank and said, "Thank you, Father; I feel much better now."

The Jesuit said, "You still look a little rattled, have another drink." And the Capuchin took another chug. "One more," said the Jesuit," and you'll be feeling fine again." The Capuchin, after taking a drink, said, "But Father, you're probably shaken up too. Why don't you have a drink." "I will," the Jesuit replied, "but I think I'll wait until after the police have come."

Haha....

THE PRIESTS AND THE PROPHETS

Deuteronomy 18

1The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.

2Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

3And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

4The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

5For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.

6And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;

7Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.

8They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

9When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

10There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch.

11Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

12For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

13Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

14For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

15The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

16According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.

21And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

22When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

*Emphasis added!

Monday, June 23, 2008

4.0-MAGNITUDE QUAKE SHAKES LOMA LINDA

7:18 a.m.: 4.0-magnitude quake shakes Loma Linda


LOMA LINDA - A 4.0 magnitude earthquake rocked Loma Linda this morning, but there were no reports of damage.

The 7:14 a.m. quake came just nine minutes after a 2.6-magnitude quake shook the city.

The 4.0 tremblor was centered three miles west of Redlands and about five miles southeast of San Bernardino, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and Caltech in Pasadena.

The quake could be felt as far away as Rancho Cucamonga and Hemet, according to the USGS.

Source: http://www.sbsun.com/ci_9670128

ROTARY PRESENTS SECOND WEIDNER AWARD

Rotary Presents Second Weidner Award

The Rotary Foundation of the Indianapolis Rotary Club presented its second annual award to Butler University Freshman Tony Liszewski. The $1500 award was presented on April 8 to Liszewski, a pharmacy major at Butler.

The recipent of many awards for community service, Liszewski is an Eagle Scout who, among other things,:

-developed a six-month program “Travel Lends Care” which involved the collection of new travel-sized toiletries in care kits for needy people
in the community and for those served by the Salvation Army at the Katrina site.
-cleans, restocks, and inventories supplies during bi-weekly visits to the Ronald McDonald House
-solicits donations for St. Jude’s Memorial Hospital
-helps the “Butler’s Bulldogs in the Streets” project to collect school supplies for underprivileged school children
-assists St. Vincent DePaul Society’s projects for foster children and nursing home residents
- landscapes for Habitat for Humanity projects

As an Eagle Scout, Liszewski developed an orientation program for new scouts as well as a symposium for adult Scout leaders to build teamwork in preparing future Scout leaders.

Source: http://weidnerfoundation.org/en/index.php/news/rotary_presents_second_weidner_award/

*********************

(WEB PAGE HOME--Excerpt)

The Weidner Foundation was established in 1996 by John Weidner’s wife Naomi to commemorate the lives of those people with whom he heroically worked as well as those for whom he courageously provided solace, refuge, and safety during the Holocaust of World War II and thereafter.

Mr. Weidner gave the Foundation his personal letters and effects, intending them to illustrate and encourage a life of human compassion, encouraging Foundation leadership to use them as potential models and teaching tools toward promulgating selfless, independent, non-institutionalized behavior that ensures the dignity and safety of others.

The Foundation operates The John Henry Weidner Center for Cultivation of the Altruistic Spirit, which generates creative activities that discover, investigate, and encourage pro-action of the sort that Weidner practiced and believed in during his life. The Center has offices at Atlantic Union College in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. The Board of Trustees is a diverse group of men and women who represent the various constituencies John Weidner helped, worked with and believed in to maintain his vision for a community of pro-active, independent thinkers and doers.

Source: (Home) http://weidnerfoundation.org/en/index.php/home/

Highlights and Bolds added for emphasis! .........................Arsenio.

TWO PEAS IN A POPEMOBILE

Andrew Bolt

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 09:30am


image

Spengler on the unusually warm meeting between the Pope and President George Bush:

It is not only faith, but the temerity to act upon faith, that the pope and the president have in common. In the past I have characterized Benedict’s stance as, “I have a mustard seed, and
I’m not afraid to use it.” ... Despite his failings, Bush is a kindred spirit. That is what horrifies their respective critics within the Catholic Church and the American government, who portray the president and the pope as destroyers of civilizational peace. The charge is spurious because there was no civilization peace to destroy…

Never before did a pope descend to the Vatican gardens to greet a national leader as Benedict did for Bush, returning the unprecedented deference that the president showed in meeting the pope’s plane at Andrews Air Force Base in April. More than mutual courtesy is at work here; the two men evince a natural affinity and mutual sympathy…

Benedict XVI, like his predecessor John Paul II, disagrees with American policy in Iraq, but not the way that the European or American left would like. “There was not a word from the papal throne about the possibility of an attack on Iran during the coming months, the catastrophic results of which terrify all the bishops of the Middle East,” Marco Politi fulminated in La Repubblica June 14…

Despite his position on Iraq, Benedict’s critics within the church regard him as a civilizational warrior as dangerous as the US president.

Of course, there’s also that other rumor to explain the friendship:

Will President Bush convert to Catholicism?

The Pope has already had that other veteran of Iraq, Tony Blair, come over to his side. Bush’s brother Jeb, too.

MOURNING GLORY..."THE RUSSERT MIRACLES"

Mourning Glory

The media goes overboard with "the Russert Miracles."


When the late Tim Russert actually became the late Tim Russert, I wrote an appreciation for the Vanity Fair Web site and said what I genuinely thought: that he was a nice and generous man and a first-rate journalist and one of nature's democrats. I added that he'd been very fair-minded to me when it came to our own greatest difference, which was his highly devout Catholicism. He'd always made room on his cable show for opinions that clashed with his own and had in fact positively sought out people like me who disagreed with him. And then I added, because I may have had some kind of premonition, that the journalistic profession sometimes overdoes things when one of its senior members dies, and it has a tendency to bang on as if some great and irreplaceable saint or statesman has passed away.

A few days after I published this innocent little appreciation, one could already detect a slight feeling that the media "tribute" industry had gone a tad far. Surely Tim can't have been the only person ever to have done well after being born into a working-class family in Buffalo, N.Y., for example? And other people must have served on the staff of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (even if not so brilliantly able to imitate the crusty old solon). The job of hosting Meet the Press was a job that a mere mortal could actually do, otherwise Tim would not have been able to do it. The seat would be filled soon enough. In a moment of irreverence at the Russert memorial service, Tom Brokaw pronounced that the largest group present was composed of people who thought they should be filling his shoes; I notice he's now landed the job.

But it was precisely around the time of these various wakes and memorials that the thing began to get seriously out of hand. One started to hear whispers about something more than the merely ordinary, as if a numinous and mysterious element had crept into the everyday obsequies. I quote from an e-mail entitled "The Russert Miracles," which came to me from someone quite well-known in the world of Washington TV and media:



The first "Russert miracle," as attendees called it, happened at the private funeral service held at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown; the family had requested that Senators Obama and McCain sit together. … CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman describes the scene to Newsweek: "They sat side by side and spoke for twenty minutes. The body language was total friendship. … I kept thinking here we are at the funeral of the son of a sanitation worker, and the presidential candidates are having their first one-on-one conversation here."

So at this point we are supposed to celebrate the holy miracle of "bipartisanship," an everyday occurrence in the Senate of which both men are members. The second "miracle," according to similar e-mails, consisted of the appearance of Bruce Springsteen on a big screen at the end of the next service or memorial, which took place at the Kennedy Center. The Boss did a version of "Thunder Road" and announced to Tim's son Luke that "this is for your pop." Springsteen is known —very much to his credit—to do these kinds of favors for the living. And the way in which this miracle was transmitted to the waiting flock is easily understood—not by me, admittedly—but by almost all the media folks who were present.

Last on the list of miracles (and do please beware anything that comes in threes) was the apparition of a huge and beautiful rainbow arcing over the Potomac as the mourners came up to the Kennedy Center rooftop for a reception. In the words of NBC News executive Phil Griffin, "After the magical experience of this service, to come out and see the rainbow and Luke at the bottom of it made the last dry eye weep." It was further pointed out that the last song at the memorial service had been "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Tim's son, Luke, was quoted as asking, "Is anyone still an atheist now?"

Not pausing to answer that question, I think this media myth-making, however tongue-in-cheek some of it may be, helps our understanding of why people are theists. After all, just remember why we mourners of that day were gathered in the first place. One of our friends and colleagues had been struck stone dead by his coronary arteries, in the prime of life, at just the moment when he had been celebrating his son's graduation. He had had everything to look forward to. For my part, I was distressed by all this, and sorry about it, which is why I donned a tie and went along to bow my head. But now I read that, because of room-temperature political politeness and the vagaries of the weather, I was supposed to have been grateful for the bereavement? What if it hadn't been an election year? What if the network couldn't have contacted a rock star? What if the sky had been merely sunny or had filled with lightning? Surely our mass media would adopt a tone of polite condescension if it was reporting on such primitive attitudes in the backlands of Alaska or Peru or Congo.

In John Updike's brilliant novel In the Beauty of the Lilies, the son of a Presbyterian minister who lost the faith is listening to those who eulogize his departed father and suddenly realizes how the myths about Jesus got started in the first place. Surveying my e-mail traffic this week, I could see another such bubble of legend begin to swell. And I remain unshakably certain on two points. The first is that no benign deity plucks television news-show hosts from their desks in the prime of life and then hastily compensates their friends and family by displays of irradiated droplets in the sky. (I bet you now that it won't happen for Brokaw or Williams or Olbermann, even if they all convert to Catholicism, and you know I am right.) My second bet is that Tim Russert, a man of firm but modest faith, would reject this foolish superstition and the silly cult of celebrity. This latter cult belongs to the material world, which in the absence of a supernatural one is the only world we have.

Source: http://www.slate.com/id/2193819/

PUNCH TO THE BREADBASKET

Punch to the breadbasket


Two uncontrollable forces - Mother Nature and the world oil market -- are about to give Americans more economic grief than they've seen in years.

Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean costs soaring are sure to bring higher prices at the grocery store at a time when consumers already are trying to cope with record gas prices.

Meanwhile, there was some hope that a rare, hastily called summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday between oil-producing and consumer nations would bring some relief at the pump. But when the meeting ended, Saudi Arabia had agreed only to a modest increase in oil production. Otherwise, there was no resolution on what other practical steps should be taken to ease the crisis.
Trouble in America's breadbasket is expected to bring a new bout of food inflation. Beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk likely will get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed.

The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. Before the end of the month, the government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.

Rod Brenneman, president and chief executive of Seaboard Foods, a pork supplier in Shawnee Mission, Kan., that produces 4 million hogs a year, said high corn costs were already forcing producers in his industry to cut back on the number of animals they raise.

"There's definitely liquidation of livestock happening," and that will cause meat prices to rise later this year and into 2009, said Brenneman, who is also vice chairman of the American Meat Institute.

Brenneman's cost for feeding a single hog has shot up $30 in the past year because of record-high prices for corn and soybeans, the main ingredients in animal feed. Passing that increase on to consumers would tack an extra 15 cents per pound onto a pork chop.

It's a similar story for U.S. beef producers, who now spend a whopping 60 percent to 70 percent of their production costs on animal feed and are seeing that number rise daily as corn prices hover near an unprecedented $8 a bushel, up from about $4 a year ago.

"This is not sustainable. The cattle industry is going to have to get smaller," said James Herring, president and CEO of Texas-based Friona Industries, which buys 20 million bushels of corn each year to feed 550,000 cattle.

Corn prices were already rising before the floods, driven up 80 percent over the past year. U.S. production of ethanol, an alternative fuel that can be made with corn, has also pushed prices higher.


Little relief from Saudis

But the pressure to produce alternative fuels will only grow, as the stalemate between oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia and consumer nations such as the United States lingers indefinitely.

The Saudis agreed Sunday to increase production by 200,000 barrels a day. But news of that increase was not expected to affect prices.

Rather than finding areas of agreement, participants in the one-day meeting in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, illustrated the sharply diverging views on what has caused oil prices to double in the past year to the $130- to $140-per-barrel range.

The U.S. and other consumer nations see more supply as the answer to higher prices. But most producing nations say a big reason for the inflation is market speculation.

If anything, Sunday's summit made one thing clear: You'll see little or no significant easing of gas prices.

Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/services/newspaper/printedition/monday/orl-a3water2308jun23,0,4892436.story

LABOR UNIONS AND TRUSTS


Labor Unions and Trusts


Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. James 5:7.


The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began. {Mar 182.1}



In all our great cities there will be a binding up in bundles by the confederacies and unions formed. Men will rule other men and demand much of them. The lives of those who refuse to unite with these unions, will be in peril. {Mar 182.2}



The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force. In the world gigantic monopolies will be formed. Men will bind themselves together in unions that will wrap them in the folds of the enemy. A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men. . . . {Mar 182.3}



These unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned. They may be church members, but while they belong to these unions, they cannot possibly keep the commandments of God; for to belong to these unions means to disregard the entire Decalogue. {Mar 182.4}



"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself." . . . How can men obey these words, and form combinations that rob the poorer classes of the advantages which justly belong to them, preventing them from buying or selling, except under certain conditions. {Mar 182.5}



Those who claim to be the children of God are in no case to bind up with the labor unions that are formed or that shall be formed. This the Lord forbids. Cannot those who study the prophecies see and understand what is before us? {Mar 182.6}



Important issues must soon be met, and we wish to be hid in the cleft of the rock, that we may see Jesus, and be quickened by His Holy Spirit. We have no time to lose, not a moment. {Mar 182.7}



Maranatha, E. G. W., p.182.

JON GRAZ OF INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS LIBERTY ASSOCIATION



John McCaain and Jon Graz

About John Graz, Secretary GeneralInternational Religious Liberty Association

Dr John Graz, a citizen of both Switzerland and France, was born at Thonon-les-bains, France. His father was Swiss, and his family has lived in Switzerland for centuries. He was elected Secretary General of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) in 1995, and he served as liaison to the United Nations at Geneva.

John Graz studied theology, history of religion, and sociology of communication, obtaining his Master's Degree at the University of Montpellier, and his Doctorate from the Sorbonne University in Paris.

He began his career as a pastor for students in Montpellier, France and then worked in Pau, and in 1989 in Paris as a church Communication Director for 6 years.

John Graz was also director of an international youth organization for ten years, a guest speaker for many international congresses, and has organized major international meetings in Europe and throughout the world. He organized the Fourth IRLA World Congress on Religious Liberty in Rio de Janeiro in 1997, the Fifth IRLA World Congress in Manila in 2002, and is planning one for Cape Town in 2007. Graz organized and initiated the annual IRLA Meetings of Experts for Religious Freedom, the Festival of Religious Freedom, The Washington Coalition for International Religious Freedom with Ambassador Robert Seiple and many International Congresses which have been held in several capital cities around the world. With his team, he has developed the IRLA world network in more than 80 countries.

Since the beginning of his career Dr Graz has been involved in the promotion and defense of religious freedom. For ten years he was Public Relations Director for the Association Internationale pour la Défense de la Liberté Religieuse in Europe. He has produced radio and television programs and currently is Executive Producer of the TV show Faith and Freedom. He has written several books and numerous articles, some of which have been translated into more than ten languages. He is the publisher of the journal on religious freedom, Fides et Libertas.

John Graz grew up in a family that accepted religious diversity. His father was Protestant, but was not a churchgoer; his mother was Catholic; one of his aunts was an Evangelical; and the other was a Seventh-day Adventist. All lived in good harmony and mutual respect. For the Graz family, freedom has great value. All his mother's brothers and sisters joined the Allies during World War II. An uncle was killed during the war, and his grandfather died in the Dachau concentration camp for having helped Jews and the French resistance.

In July 1995, Dr Graz was elected director of the Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty for the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He is a member of the John Weidner Foundation's Board, and in 2002 was elected, then reelected in 2004, as Secretary General of the Conference of Secretaries of the World Christian Communions—a conference of Christian leaders representing two billion Christians. He is also a member of the Board of the International Academy of Religious Freedom. He has been Director for External Relations for the International Center on Government and Religion at Andrews University.

In December 2004 he was awarded the National Medal For Merit in Rank of Commander by the President of Romania.

John Graz is married to Medina Chitty Graz, and they have three sons who currently live in Switzerland.

TOP

Religious Freedom and John Graz

My father was Protestant, but a non-churchgoer. My mother was Catholic, but she became very interested by the Adventist religion in her later years. My aunt was an Adventist. I grew up in Catholicism without burning the bridges to Protestantism.

When I was 16, I gave up my faith and my religious beliefs. My cousin, who was like a sister to me, died when she was 19. I was 18 at the time. She was a good Adventist and a very good witness for me. Talking with members of her SDA church, I was impressed by their convictions. I read the Bible and was so impressed by God's love that I became a Christian and an Adventist. My life was totally changed. I left my job and began attending college.

From childhood, I was exposed to many different religions and learned how to deal with them. I also learned to have strong convictions in respecting other's convictions.

From the beginning of my ministry, I have been involved in interchurch relations and religious freedom. I organized the lectures of Dr. Pierre Lanares and produced Radio-TV programs on religious freedom. I worked six years at the Franco-Belgian Union as Communication director, working closely with the Religious Liberty director.

Then for ten years I was in Public Relations for the Association Internationale pour la Defense de la Liberte religieuse, with Dr. Rossi.

In my family, we learned the price of freedom. My four uncles and aunt were volunteers with the Allies against the Nazis. One was killed. My grandfather died in the concentration camp of Dachau.

TOP

Resume

Position Director, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, Department of State liaison, United Nations liaison, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist headquarters, Silver Spring, Maryland, August 1995-Present
Secretary General, International Religious Liberty Association


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Education Ph.D., History, Paris Sorbonne University, Paris, France, 1986
MA, History, University Paul Valery, Montpellier, France, 1974
License in History, University Montpellier, France, 1973
License in Theology, Saleve Adventist University, Collonges, France, 1971
BA, University Grenoble, University Montpellier, France, 1970


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Languages French, English; understands German, Italian, Spanish


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Credentials Pastoral: Arles, France, 1979


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Former Service Youth/Communication Director, Euro-Africa Div: Berne, Switzerland, 1985-95
Communication Director, Franco-Belgium Union, 1979-1985
Pastor, South France Conference: France PAUC1971-79
Organized 4 international Youth Congresses (1988, 1989, 1991, 1994)
Organized World Congress on Religious Liberty (1997 Rio de Janeiro)
President of Student Association, CEVE 1971-1975 Montpellier, France
Founder, BIA (Adventist Information Bulletin)


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Other Positions Radio/TV producer/speaker 1979-1985
Member, Christian World Communion
Advisor, Christian World Council of Churches Committee
Rotary Club Member

Member of John Weidner Foundation Board
Speaker for Liberty Magazine Tour in North America
Member of the Board, International Academy of Religious Freedom


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Literary 101 Questions Adventists Ask, Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2000 (10 languages)
World Youth Spiritual Week, General Conference, Silver Spring MD, 1997
L'avenir est moi, Vie et santé, Dammarie, 1996 (9 languages)
Sur le chemin de l'éternité, Belle rivière, Lausanne, 1994 (4 languages, 2 editions)
Réussir sa vie, Vie et santé, Dammarie, 1993 (9 languages, 2 editions)
Une histoire d'amour, Vie et santé, Dammarie, 1989 (8 languages)
Le courage de vivre, SDT, Dammarie, 1978 (8 languages)
S'enrichir, mourir et puis, SDT, Dammarie, 1976 (8 languages)
Numerous articles translated in several languages

Doctoral Dissertation: Radio and TV's Protestant Programs: The Public Response,


(History and Sociology) 1986
Masters Dissertation: SDA Church History and Growth, (History) 1974
License Dissertation: The 13th Century Movements of Poverty, (History) 1971


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal Born Thonon-les-bains, Haute Savoie, France, August 29, 1945
Married Medina Chitty, 1968
Children David, 1969, Olivier, 1973, Yohann, 1975

Source: http://www.irla.org/aboutus/secretarygeneral.html


P.S. ~ Observation:
  • Secretary General of the Conference of Secretaries of the World Christian Communions--World Council of Churches. "I thought the Conference claimed it didn't belong to it." see proof @ http://www.oikoumene.org/en/ecumenical-links/church-ecumenical-organizations/christian-world-communions.html
  • Director for External Relations for the International Center on Government and Religion at Andrews University. Separation of Church and State violation.
  • Department of State liaison, United Nations liaison Association with the unbelievers; Church and State Conflict; Compromise with World Government: See - II Corinthians 6:14*.
  • Rotary Club Member? Read 2SM:pp121-140: Should Christians Be Members of Secret Societies? or Maranatha, p.182.
You can't have it both ways; Give to Caesar what belongs to ...and to God what belongs to HIM.
.

Arsenio.
.
Hear it from the conference's (GCSDA) own dubious sources: http://news.adventist.org/data/2004/1100026215/index.html.en
,

RELIGIONS UNITE TO ADDRESS WASTE PROBLEMS



Religions unite to address waste problems

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Religious leaders gathered Saturday to discuss waste problems as a part of every religion's concern amid mounting environmental problems.

"Waste is a real problem, something that all religions can find a solution to together," said Muslim scholar Yudi Latif from the Nurcholis Madjid Society.

Yudi was speaking at a seminar on religion's role in the waste problem in Jakarta, held by the Faith Movement to Care for Jakarta (Gempita).

"Unlike interfaith issues, waste does not have ambiguous interpretations because it is about the public interest. Anyone would react similarly toward waste regardless of religion," Yudi said.

"The problem is most people regard waste as the government's problem. It is time for religion to take part in overcoming waste issues because the government already has too many problems," he said.

"Who produces waste? Us. Then who should be responsible for it? Us," said a representative of the Nahdlatul Ulama female Muslims, Siti Hasanah Hasbiyallah.

A representative of the Parisada Hindu Dharma, Ngakan Gede Sugiarta, also said the Hindu religion produced waste.

"We use a lot of coconut leaves, flowers and water in our ceremonies," Sugiarta said.

"First, we have to acknowledge that we are guilty in producing waste, then, we should move on to cooperating with others to find a solution to this problem," said Siti.

She said during religious holidays, like Idul Fitri and Idul Adha, most Muslims produced waste during celebrations at mosques.

"We must have the courage to prevent our congregation from cluttering like that again," she said.

Chairwoman of the Indonesian Solid Waste Association, Sri Bebassari, said all human beings on the planet were waste manufacturers.

"Every person produces at least half a kilogram of waste a day," she said.

Jakarta alone produces some 6,000 tons of waste every day.

Jakarta Archbishop Julius Kardinal Darmaatmadja said he was concerned about waste lately.

"I used to think the government should take care of the problem," he said.

"A Catholic priest I knew once showed me how planting trees is important. In every church he was assigned to, he always took time to plant trees," Julius said.

"He taught me to care more about the environment. Now, I too am encouraging other people to care about waste," said the 74-year-old bishop.

Julius suggested all parochial priests start raising environmental awareness. He said other religious leaders should do so as well in their neighborhoods and districts.

Chairman of the Indonesian supreme council for Confucianism, Budi S. Tanuwibowo, also emphasized the importance of bringing up the topic of waste in religious sermons.

"Sermons only talk about human beings' relationship with God and rarely talk about human relationships with the environment.

"Let's have more sermons that discuss humanity as well as environmental issues, instead of merely giving sweet praises to God," Budi said.

At the end of the seminar, the religious leaders received drills for making biopore holes that make compost and absorb water.

"The drill is a symbol for them to start working on solutions for the city's environmental problems," said Gempita coordinator Andang L. Binawan.

Source: http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20080623.C04&irec=3