Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Market motion sickness to continue


By Paul R. La Monica, CNNMoney.com editor at large
Last Updated: October 29, 2008: 3:58 PM ET
About the author

AMERICA'S MONEY CRISIS
Fed cuts rates and gives grim view
Investors losing faith in Citigroup
Entrepreneurs to Congress: Help our failing businesses
Governors disagree on bailout
Stocks succumb to bleak Fed outlook
Anticipating a rate cut


Should banks be required to make more loans with money from the $700 billion bailout?
The Dow has suffered big drops and enjoyed large gains in what's been a rocky October.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Don't get too excited: The Dow may have surged nearly 11% on Tuesday, but we've been here before...just two weeks ago.

On Oct. 13, the Dow jumped 936 points, and then went on to shed more than 1,200 points, or 13%, in the days before yesterday's big move.

The plain fact is, massive selling will lead to occasional massive pops.

Peter Sorrentino, senior portfolio manager with Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, said that many mutual funds and hedge funds have been forced to sell stocks because they face looming redemptions, i.e. investors demanding their money.

Talkback: How much longer will the market volatility last?
But at the same time, whenever there is even a whiff of a rally, other investors that have piles of cash waiting to invest may need to jump in and buy due to fear of missing a big move upwards.

"The hedge funds are still out there. Many are forced sellers and they have no choice. But there are also people that have gone to cash who are left at the dock and are afraid that the boat is going to set sail," Sorrentino said.

With that in mind, it's hard to make sense of where the market is headed in the near-term as long as it remains this tumultuous. And so far this month, just about every day has seen either a big gain or a huge loss.

The Dow has experienced a move of at least 100 points in 18 of the 20 trading days in October, as well as in each of the past 11 sessions.

It's going to be tough to declare that the market has finally bottomed out until stocks finally stop shooting up and down so violently.

"It's encouraging to see that we don't plunge day after day but it's still disconcerting that volatility remains this high," said Sorrentino. "Investors can't believe in the rally until the volatility goes away."

We are undeniably in a bear market and, it seems apparent that we are in a recession - even though the National Bureau of Economic Research has yet to declare it as such.

But as I've written consistently in the past few months, I do think that there are signs of hope that a recovery will soon be in the cards. This may be a longer and more painful recession than most but it's still a recession, not a depression.

The government's controversial bank bailout plan has slowly started to loosen up the gummed-up credit markets. That's a good thing.

Investments in stronger banks by the Treasury Department may also encourage consolidation. Weeding out the weak banks is also a good thing.

And the Fed cut rates again this afternoon, which should also eventually help get the credit markets back on track.

Still, any reasonable investor should realize that it may take months for the bailout, as well as all the Fed's previous rate cuts, to truly work their magic and stimulate the borrowing and lending activity that is crucial to a growing economy.

But just because they aren't working overnight doesn't mean that they are a failure.

"There is starting to be a sense that it will take time for all this to work out. There have been ounces of medicine and the market is digesting a pound of cure," said Matthew Lloyd, chief investment strategist of Advisors Asset Management, an institutional investment firm based in Monument, Colo.

Lloyd added that even though it would be premature to declare that yesterday's stock surge is a sign that the worst is over, it is still a good sign that some investors appear to be out there bargain hunting since many stocks are trading at attractive valuations.

"At least there's money out there that's willing to come in and buy at certain levels. It gives us some consolation that the bottom may be near," he said.

Bill Stone, chief investment strategist for PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, agreed. He pointed out that stocks rallied yesterday despite more evidence that housing prices are continuing to fall and a report showing that consumer confidence dropped to its lowest level in history.

"You can't really spin a big up day into that much of a worrisome sign. One thing's for sure. We were so oversold that the spring was coiled for a rally," Stone said.

"Eventually, all the bad news will be priced in and the selling will have exhausted itself. It's impossible to know when but the market likely will move before economic data gets better," he added.

What that means is that is probably a great time to buy stocks for the long-term. You just have to resist the urge to check on how your portfolio is doing every 10 minutes.

A lot of traders will make impulsive moves. Investors, however, should recognize that stocks are probably going to keep spinning wildly, like those cups in Disney World's Mad Tea Party ride.

"When you get in periods like this where people are trying to figure out where the bottom is, emotions start to drive things," said Jason Tyler, senior vice president and director of research operations with Ariel Capital Management, an institutional investment firm in Chicago.

"We have to get used to a prolonged period of volatility for the next several months."

First Published: October 29, 2008: 11:49 AM ET



Pakistan quake kills 170, leaves thousands homeless


20 hours ago

WAM, Pakistan (AFP) — Thousands of people in mountainous southwest Pakistan on Wednesday bedded down for a freezing night in the open, after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes and killed at least 170.

The 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake flattened mud houses and triggered landslides in the impoverished province of Baluchistan, killing or injuring their occupants as they slept.

Survivors were sent screaming into the streets in panic, eyewitnesses said.

At least eight villages were badly hit by the massive tremors, local police and officials said, voicing fears that some 46,000 people living in the wider region could now be in need of shelter and other assistance.

An AFP correspondent in one of the worst-affected villages, Wam, said emergency tents had not yet arrived and exhausted villagers had hunkered down in the ruined shells of their homes as temperatures plunged below zero.

They spent the day in a desperate search for loved ones or burying the dead in mass graves, as aftershocks nearly as big as the initial quake pounded the landscape, sending rocks spewing from nearby peaks and sparking fresh panic.

"The local graveyard has been devastated and we have no alternative. We have to bury them in mass graves," said local teacher Malik Abdul Hamid, 35. He said he had lost 15 family members.

"We have so far buried 140 bodies in two mass graves. The dead were mostly women and children."

Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the historic hill town of Ziarat, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the provincial capital Quetta, told AFP the death toll stood at 170, while about 400 people in the area were injured.

Virtually all houses were reduced to rubble either in the initial quake or by aftershocks. Schools and hospitals were also damaged, he added.

Earlier Khushal Khan, spokesman for the provincial revenue minister Zamarak Khan, said local people had told him about 6,000 people have been made homeless and in one case, 29 members of the same family died.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani both expressed their condolences to relatives of those killed and injured, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would send enough medical aid and supplies for 50,000 people for three months in the wake of the disaster, while the United States offered an unspecified humanitarian relief package.

"We are currently working with the Pakistani government, the UN (United Nations) and other potential donors to assess the damage," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"Once we are able to make that assessment and also talk to the Pakistani government about what their needs might be, we will stand ready to provide an assistance package," McCormack said.

Neighbour and rival India quickly offered any help that might be required, along with Turkey's Red Crescent.

Two teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross have already arrived in the area and are assessing the situation and the needs of the survivors, the humanitarian body said from Geneva.

The first official government figures from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put the death toll at 115 so far, with nearly 300 injured, its chairman, retired Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed, told a news conference.

Most of the victims were from outlying villages, but buildings collapsed in Ziarat and communications were cut while the main road to Quetta was also hit, with wide cracks and boulders blocking the way, an AFP reporter said.

Soldiers, helicopters, tents, blankets, food and medical help have been sent from Quetta to Ziarat and an aerial assessment of the damage has begun, the Pakistani military said.

"We have asked the government to send at least 10,000 tents as the temperature in the mountainous town is sub-zero and people need shelter during the night," said Kakar, Ziarat's mayor.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage in neighbouring Afghanistan, which borders the province, police there said.

Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.

In 1935 a massive quake killed around 30,000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India.



Fed cuts rates half a point, is open for more



THE FED

Fed cuts rates half a point, is open for more
Central bank says it will cut rates as needed to boost economy

By Greg Robb, MarketWatch
Last update: 4:52 p.m. EDT Oct. 29, 2008Comments: 318WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed overnight interest rates and left the door open for more cuts -- all part of an effort to return confidence to investors so that a weak economy doesn't crater.
In its statement, the Federal Open Market Committee said it had unanimously decided to cut its benchmark target interest rate by a half of one percentage point to 1% and clearly signaled it was considering further cuts. This signal came in a statement saying that the main risk facing the economy was weak growth.
Any more rate cuts would bring the funds rate to its lowest level since July 1958.

Video: What The Fed Rate Cut Means


PNC Financial Chief Economist Stuart Hoffman says the Fed made the right move when it cut rates, but it will still be some time before the housing market stabilizes. (Oct 29)Today's move, which was expected, follows a series of initiatives by the Fed and the Bush Administration to push cash into frozen credit markets, hoping to spur lending. As a result, the Fed has doubled the size of its balance sheet in the past month. At the same time, the Treasury has begun acquiring stakes in major financial institutions.
In addition, the Fed agreed to buy commercial paper from non-financial companies for the first time since the Great Depression. The Fed has also introduced a new fund to assist money markets.
In their official statement, Fed officials said the pace of growth has slowed "markedly" and the extraordinary financial market stress could put the economy at greater risk.
Inflation had moderated and should move even lower, the Fed said.
The FOMC said it "will monitor economic and financial developments carefully and will act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability."
Importantly, the Fed statement drew no line in the sand at the 1% funds rate target, raising the possibility that rates may move lower.
While the move raises lots of technical questions about having rates so low, many analysts said these matters are of less concern than ending the credit crunch.
The Fed's statement issued at the end of its two-day meeting was remarkable for its pessimism.
"The intensification of financial market turmoil is likely to exert additional restrain on spending, partly by further reducing the ability of households and businesses to obtain credit," the statement said.
On the other hand, the outlook for prices was quite benign, the statement said.
"In light of the declines in the prices of energy and other commodities and the weaker prospects for economic activity, the Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters to levels consistent with price stability," the statement said.
Many economists say that the next big threat for the central bank could be deflation, where prices fall sharply. This can be just as damaging for an economy as inflation.
Former Fed governor Frederic Mishkin has called for the central bank to consider announcing a public floor below which it will not let the inflation rate fall.
How low can they go?
Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said the "downbeat" statement from the Fed caused him to pencil in another half-point rate cut at the Fed's next formal meeting on Dec. 16.
But John Derrick, director of research at the mutual-fund company U.S. Global Investors Inc., said he thought the Fed would hold steady at 1% for the foreseeable future.
Derrick said the Fed cut rates today simply to give the market a shot of confidence and the statement was just an accurate description of the near-term outlook. E-mail



Bernanke is turning Japanese I think he's turning Japanese I really think so...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb5Ii0iIcXo



- FDRAllOverAgain




With interest rates so low already, economist at RBS Greenwich Capital, said the rate cut was a "side-show" and that the main event is the aggressive new measures undertaken to shore up the crumbling global financial system.
Analysts see some improvement in credit markets, but not much. The important London interbank lending rate remains well above the Fed funds rate.
The Fed said it was confident that all of the government actions would restore the markets to health.
"Recent policy actions, including today's rate reduction, coordinated interest rate cuts by central banks, extraordinary liquidity measures, and official steps to strengthen financial systems, should help over time to improve credit conditions and promote a return to moderate economic growth," the statement said.
Fed watchers have begun to discuss other extraordinary steps the Fed could take to help ease the stress in financial markets.
Scott Anderson, chief economist at Wells Fargo, said the Fed could directly purchase longer-term Treasuries, corporate bonds or mortgage-backed securities if the Fed funds rate cuts "don't do the trick" of lowering the average interest rate on corporate and consumer borrowing.
The Fed move comes 21 days after the global coordinated half-point rate cut with major central banks in Europe and Canada.

Earlier Wednesday, the central banks of China and Norway lowered their target rates.
Some analysts said today's rate cut would put pressure on the European Central Bank to follow suit next week. The Bank of England is also expected to cut rates again.
On the technical side, Fed officials also voted to lower the discount rate to 1.25%. This is the rate at which banks can borrow from the central bank.

Greg Robb is a senior reporter for MarketWatch in Washington.


Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/fed-cuts-rates-half-point/story.aspx?guid=%7B0966C29F-9945-4A76-A623-7AAA1FE038BB%7D&dist=msr_1

Thousands Still Without Power in Upstate New York After Snow Storm


Oct. 28: A snow plow clears a highway in Westerlo, N.Y.


ALBANY, N.Y. — Nearly 40,000 utility customers remain without power in eastern New York a day after more than a foot of snow fell on some areas.

National Grid has about 25,000 customers without power Wednesday morning, most in the Mohawk Valley and Adirondacks.

New York State Electric & Gas reports about 13,300 outages, most in the Catskills. Power is expected to be restored to most customers on Wednesday.

The storm dumped wet, heavy snow on trees still covered in leaves, bringing limbs down on power lines.

The National Weather Service reports snowfall totals ranging from 13 inches in northern New York to 15 inches along the northwestern edge of the Catskill Mountains.

Lower elevations were soaked by heavy rain, with areas around Albany recording about 2 inches of rain on Tuesday.

The first wintry storm of the season snarled parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as New York Tuesday as snow and high winds disrupted schools, roads and power lines throughout the region.

The weather closed some schools New York and Pennsylvania and caused numerous accidents on Interstate 84, which was closed for a time near Port Jervis, where the three state borders meet.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Mexican Leftists Seize Podium to Block Oil Law


Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:00 PM


MEXICO CITY -- Leftist lawmakers stormed the podium in the lower house of Congress on Tuesday in a bid to block passage of an oil reform bill aimed at reversing sagging production in Mexico, the third-biggest crude supplier to the United States.


But legislators from other parties held on to the lower part of the podium and continued a session that was widely expected to approve the bill. They loudly read out portions of the bill even as leftist legislators above them waved Mexican flags and shouted, "The homeland is not for sale, the homeland must be defended!"


The bill would allow more private and foreign investment in operations overseen by state-run oil monopoly Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, which lacks the technology and expertise for deep-water exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.


But leftists rallied popular support to limit openings to private investment, calling them a stealth privatization of an industry that was nationalized in 1938.


After months of negotiations, President Felipe Calderon's original proposal has been watered down.


While it will let Pemex keep more of its profits for exploration and development, experts say the measure is not likely to attract the investment needed to boost oil output that has been declining since 2005.


The bill would no longer allow private investment in building and operating oil refineries, and private ownership of storage and transport facilities would be banned. It also allows deep-water exploration only on a straight contract basis, without the results-based bonuses proposed under the original plan.


"They are very much just service contracts and probably not what most people in the sector wanted. But it was what possible politically do in Mexico today," said Enrique Bravo, a Washington-based oil analyst for Eurasia Group.


"Unless there is a major new discovery, with the current regulation that is not very prone for major private participation, I don't see how production can even be kept current levels, let alone be increased," he said.


Falling oil prices and output threaten to slash oil income, which makes up 40 percent of the federal budget, just as Mexico sees falling remittances from U.S. migrants and a plunging peso rattles the long-stable economy.


So far this year, Mexico has produced an average of 2.8 million barrels of oil a day, down 10 percent from 2007 levels. At current production rates, experts say Mexico will blow through its proven reserves in 10 years.


Former President Vicente Fox, a member of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, called the bill a disappointment.


"It's Pyrrhic and small," Fox said in comments published Tuesday in El Universal newspaper. "President Calderon presented complete and profound reform that would have resolved the country's problems of the country and its energy. It would have resulted in a better future for Mexicans."


Still, the government's concessions built consensus on one of the most sensitive issues in Mexican politics. The compromise bill easily passed in the Senate last week, and is widely believed to have the support of most lawmakers in the lower house, despite Tuesday's raucous protest by some members of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD.


"Oil politics in Mexico is a lot of about politics and a little about oil," Bravo said. While many people will be disappointed, "Within the political setting in Mexico, it's not a minor achievement."


The protest erupted shortly after former presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador denounced the bill in a speech to the lower house.


"What is at stake is whether we will be a country, or be converted into a colony," Lopez Obrador said.





© 2008 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved



Tens of thousands of civilians flee in east Congo


People throw stones at United Nations peacekeepers in an APC as they pass...


Oct 28 07:04 PM US/EasternBy MICHELLE FAULAssociated Press Writer

KILIMANYOKA, Congo (AP) - Rebels vowing to take Congo's eastern provincial capital advanced toward Goma Tuesday, sending tens of thousands fleeing. Chaos gripped a separate area as government soldiers fired on civilians and aid workers trying to escape, the top U.N. envoy said.
Alan Doss said peacekeepers were forced to "respond," apparently meaning they shot at troops who are supposed to be their allies, after the soldiers opened fire on those trying to leave Rutshuru, a strategic town north of Goma. He vowed to keep Rutshuru and other towns out of rebel hands.

"We are going to remain there, and we are going to act against any effort to take over a city or major population center by force," he told reporters in New York in a videoconference.

U.N. helicopter gunships were being used on fronts near Rutshuru and Kilimanyoka, which is about 7 miles north of Goma. They were hampered by rebels' use of civilians as shields, U.N. spokeswoman Sylvia van den Wildenberg told The Associated Press.

The rebels also are fighting around Rugari, a town between Goma and Rutshuru, as well as northwest of Goma around Sake—using several fronts to scatter government forces and U.N. peacekeepers.

By late afternoon Tuesday, it appeared the use of the gunships was paying off. About 200 government soldiers were nearly two miles closer to the rebels than the line of the troops that retreated. They were being resupplied from a truck loaded with rocket-propelled grenades.

Aid agencies in Rutshuru said their workers could hear bombs exploding as the rebels closed in and angry and frightened civilians and soldiers blocked their evacuation by U.N. peacekeepers.

The mob looted humanitarian centers and the belongings of about 50 trapped aid workers in Rutshuru, said Ivo Brandau, a spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian agency OCHA.

Brandau said tens of thousands of civilians were fleeing that town, heading north and east toward the Ugandan border. Rutshuru had a population of about 30,000 residents and the same number of refugees.

Doctors Without Borders said its doctors and nurses trapped at Rutshuru Hospital had treated 70 war wounded since Sunday but most patients had fled the hospital.

Meanwhile, a sudden influx of an estimated 30,000 people tripled in a matter of hours the size of a camp in Kibati, a few miles from the front line, said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency.

"It's chaos up there," Redmond told The Associated Press from Geneva, citing U.N. staff in Congo. "These crowds of people coming down from the north have already started turning up there."

In Kibati, young men lobbed rocks Tuesday at three U.N. tanks also heading away from the battlefield. The U.N.'s peacekeeping mission is the agency's biggest in the world, with 17,000 troops.

"What are they doing? They are supposed to protect us," said Jean-Paul Maombi, a 31-year-old nurse from Kibumba.

The unrest in eastern Congo has been fueled by festering hatreds left over from the Rwandan genocide and the country's unrelenting civil wars. Renegade Gen. Laurent Nkunda has threatened to take Goma despite calls from the U.N. Security Council for him to respect a cease-fire brokered by the U.N. in January.

Nkunda charges that the Congolese government has not protected his minority Tutsi tribe from a Rwandan Hutu militia that escaped to Congo after helping perpetrate the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Half a million Tutsis were slaughtered.

Nkunda's ambitions have expanded since he launched a fresh onslaught on Aug. 28. He now declares he will "liberate" all of Congo, a country the size of Western Europe with vast reserves of diamonds, gold and other resources. Congo's vast mineral wealth helped fuel back-to-back wars from 1997 to 2003.

The U.N. says more than 200,000 people have been forced from their homes in the last two months, joining 1.2 million displaced in previous conflicts in the east. Outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea have killed dozens in camps, compounding the misery.

On Monday, peacekeepers in attack helicopters fired at the rebels trying to stop them taking Kibumba, a village on the main road 30 miles north of Goma. But fleeing civilians say the fighters overran Kibumba anyway.

The rebels retaliated by firing a missile at one U.N. combat helicopter Monday, but missed, U.N. spokeswoman Sylvie van den Wildenberg said.

U.N. efforts to halt Nkunda's rebellion are complicated by the country's rugged terrain, dense tropical forests that roll over hills and mountains with few roads.

The chief U.N. mandate is to protect the population. But since the peace deal it also is supposed to help the Congolese army disarm and repatriate Hutu militiamen—by force if necessary.

But Bisimwa, the rebel spokesman, claimed Tuesday the Congolese army has abandoned dozens of its positions to Hutu militiamen.

"It's the Hutus who are on the front line and whom we are fighting, not the army," he said. U.N. peacekeepers "leave us no choice but to fight on."

Nkunda long has charged that Congolese soldiers fight alongside the militia of Hutus, an ethnic majority of about 40 percent in the region.

Some 800 Hutu militiamen have voluntarily returned to Rwanda, the U.N. says, but the fighters recruit and coerce Congolese Hutu children and young men into their ranks daily—far outnumbering those who have returned home.

___

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Alexander G. Higgins in Geneva contributed to this report.



AP Enterprise: In bad economy, power cutoffs soar


Marie Williams, right, helps her daughter Richelle with homework at their home in Cohoes, N.Y., Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008. Williams' power was cut off this summer for about a week, forcing her girls to do homework by candlelight. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)


By MICHAEL HILL – Oct 6, 2008

COHOES, N.Y. (AP) — The number of Americans whose electricity or gas has been shut off for nonpayment of their bills is up sharply in many parts of the country as people struggle to cope with higher prices and a shaky economy.

Shut-offs have been running 17 percent higher than last year among customers of New York state's major utilities, and 22 percent higher in economically hard-hit Michigan. They are up in all or part of dozens of other states, including Pennsylvania, Florida and California, according to an Associated Press check of regulators and energy companies.

Despite stepped-up efforts by state and federal governments, utilities and private groups to help people avoid shut-offs this winter, some worry the problem will only get worse in the coming months, particularly with the downturn on Wall Street.

"I just didn't have the money to pay," said Marie Williams, a single mother raising four daughters in Cohoes, N.Y., a former mill city on the Hudson River. "Rent had to be paid, and food for the girls."

Williams' power was cut off this summer for about a week, forcing her girls to do homework by candlelight. She became one of more than 230,000 residential customers of New York's 10 major utilities to have their service shut off for nonpayment through August of this year.

At the same time, people who rely on heating oil instead of gas or electricity to warm their homes are pleading for relief from high fuel prices.

Southern California Edison Co., with 4.5 million residential electric customers, reported residential terminations were up 10 percent through August of this year to 228,000; Westar Energy Inc. of Topeka, Kan., said it saw a 19.5 percent increase in residential shut-offs over the same period. Tampa Electric Co. reported a 19 percent climb in disconnect orders through June for residential and commercial customers.

Michigan regulators reported a 7 percent increase in residential natural gas shut-offs through June and a 39 percent rise in residential electricity terminations.

Shut-offs often are brief and the numbers can include customers whose service was shut off more than once.

"Because of high gasoline prices, many families at the lower incomes have really been squeezed," said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association. "It's like triage: You pay the most important things, and the last thing you pay is your utility bill."

In Boston, Jaqueta Oliver works at a program for the mentally disabled but was not able to keep up with her gas bills after three months of unemployment last year. She said her bill snowballed to $1,271 before the gas was shut off in late September. Heating was not yet a problem, but cooking for her two boys, ages 5 and 8, was.

"I had food to reheat in the microwave and I have a toaster oven," she said, "so I used the toaster oven for some chicken breast to make sure they were able to eat."

A $600 grant from a nonprofit organization helped her regain gas service last Tuesday.

Utilities, by policy and regulation, cut the power only as a last resort, and generally only after customers have run up hundreds of dollars in past-due bills. Many utilities instead offer extensions and payment arrangements.

Laws across the country protect the elderly and the ailing, and many states have cold-weather rules that make it hard or impossible to shut off service in winter.

In rare cases, shut-offs can lead to tragedy.

In Toledo, Ohio, last November, three children and their mother died in a fire started by a candle after their power was turned off. In New York last summer, a Long Island teenager was killed and members of his family were sickened by carbon monoxide from a gasoline-powered generator fired up after a shut-off. And in Michigan last December, a social worker found a 90-year-old woman and her 63-year-old daughter wrapped in coats and blankets on the floor of their Kalamazoo-area home four days after their electricity was shut off. The older woman later died after suffering what a relative called exposure, frostbite and pneumonia.

Congress recently approved a measure to nearly double the federal money available to help poor people cope with home heating costs, whether they use oil, gas or electricity. But advocates say the $5.1 billion is unlikely to be enough.

New York is spending an extra $49 million on household energy efficiency programs. Connecticut approved $44 million to help with heating costs and weatherization. Officials in Maine want to distribute 2,000 to 3,000 "warm kits" that will include caulk, low-flow shower heads and high-efficiency light bulbs. Alaskans in their annual oil-royalty checks from the state this year are seeing an additional $1,200 to help offset high fuel prices.

Utilities and private groups are also chipping in, helping customers make payments and winterize their homes. In hard-hit Detroit, DTE Energy matches money spent by a local group called The Heat and Warmth Fund and meets with customers at churches to work out payment arrangements.



Vatican's security force to join Interpol


GENDARME-INTERPOL Sep-29-2008 (290 words) xxxi

By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After setting up two new anti-terrorism units this year that work closely with international police, the Vatican's security force has plans to join Interpol.

Vatican Radio reported Sept. 28 that the Vatican's security force will join the international police organization sometime before Oct. 10 in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The announcement of the alliance was made during a Sept. 27 celebration at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome. Pope Benedict XVI briefly appeared at the celebration and gave his "sincere thanks for the competence and dedication" of the security force, or gendarme corps. The feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, the corps' patron saint, is Sept. 29.

The corps' director, Domenico Giani, said the force also is looking into forging an "agreement of cooperation with the Italian police," reported Vatican Radio.

The Vatican and Pope Benedict have been named as potential targets by extremist groups in recent years. Although the Vatican has downplayed the threats, it also has beefed up security, adding metal detectors for all visitors to St. Peter's Basilica and attendees at papal events. The gendarme corps also has been deployed at Vatican territories outside Vatican City, in particular at Rome's patriarchal basilicas.

The gendarme corps, which has about 130 members, works in close collaboration with the Swiss Guard, especially during events involving the pope.

Earlier this year the gendarme corps started working more closely with Interpol, and in June Giani told reporters that the arrangement marked a big step forward for Vatican security. The collaboration gives the Vatican access to a large data bank of suspects, the latest information on criminal or subversive organizations, and information on the latest anti-terrorism operational procedures.

END



Remember Lot's wife.


20And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:

21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

22And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see it.

23And they shall say to you, See here; or, see there: go not after them, nor follow them.

24For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven, shineth unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.

25But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.

26And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

27They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.

28Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;

29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.

31In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.

32Remember Lot's wife.

33Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

34I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

37And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

Luke 17: 20-37.

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice...


When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.


Proverbs 29: 2.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

'Third Jesus' Author to Discuss 'What Jesus Really Taught' in Web Series


By Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter
Wed, Oct. 15 2008 02:15 PM EDT

The author of controversial book The Third Jesus will be discussing “what Jesus really taught” and how it can be applied in today’s world through a six-part Web series that will be aired by an equally controversial group.

The online radio series is set to begin Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET, according to Paula Coppel, vice president of Communications at Unity School of Christianity in Unity Village, Mo. Unity School of Christianity and its affiliated organizations, like author Deepak Chopra, have been criticized for their belief that Jesus was only a man who attained a higher mental state, among other controversial ideas.

"We came up with the idea for this series after Oprah Winfrey's successful webcasts last spring with Eckhart Tolle on his book ‘A New Earth,'" said Coppel in a released statement, referring to another book that has drawn criticism from the conservative Christian community.

“The Web series contends that Jesus was not trying to start a new religion, nor was he aiming his teachings at some people and not others,” Coppel added. “He was pointing the way for all of us to experience the awakening that he himself had experienced."

According to Chopra, there is not one Jesus, but three.

“First there is the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than two thousand years ago and whose teachings are the foundation of Christian theology and thought,” he explains in his book. “Next there is Jesus, the Son of God, who has come to embody an institutional religion with specific dogma, a priesthood, and devout believers.”

Then there is the “third Jesus,” says Chopra, “the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name.”

“He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment," the author contends.

Since the release of The Third Jesus earlier this year, a number of heated debates have flared up amid its rising popularity. While some say the book is helpful in deepening understanding of how God works in the world, others are quick to criticize it for undermining the credibility of the gospels and asserting that the orthodox version of Christianity is nothing more than a sham.

“It is obvious that when Chopra approaches the New Testament he is so blinded by his New Age ‘light’ that he can only see that which supports it,” wrote Kelly Boggs, editor of the Baptist Message, the newspaper of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, in a column appearing in Baptist Press.

“As such, he cherry picks quotes of Jesus and twists them to fit his New Age version of a ‘third Jesus,’” added Boggs, who argues that “Chopra’s ‘third Jesus’ is no Jesus at all.”

“He is nothing more than the figment of a New Age imagination.”

The upcoming Web series, which will be available free at www.unity.fm, will feature in-depth discussions between Chopra and series host, the Rev. Wendy Craig-Purcell, founding minister of The Unity Center in San Diego.

Craig-Purcell sees the series as especially appealing to those who consider themselves "spiritual more than religious" as well as "Christians with questions."

Her organization, however, and the several other Unity groups founded by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore have been criticized for a number of teachings that conflict with orthodox Christianity, including the belief in reincarnation and the denial of heaven and hell’s existence.

Source: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20081015/-third-jesus-author-to-discuss-what-jesus-really-taught-in-web-series.htm

‘Why aren't all religious people vegetarians?’


Response by Miriam Kosman




With the start of the weekly Torah portion cycle this weekend, beginning with the Creation story, a challenge from a "lover of all beings" to a noted philosophy lecturer



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com Dear Miriam,


I am a vegetarian for ideological reasons, and it really bothers me that people eat meat. I wonder why Judaism, which seems to put such a big emphasis on sensitivity, allows people to eat meat. It seems inconsistent to me — with all the self-discipline that Judaism requires, I would think that it would be a simple thing for a Jew to take on not eating meat, and yet, it seems that it is even a mitzvah (religious duty) to eat meat on Sabbath and religious festivals. How can human beings and in particular the Torah be so cruel?

From someone who loves all living beings


Dear Lover of All Beings!


First of all, I want to tell you that I am impressed with your integrity and strength of character. It is not easy to refrain from pleasure for an ideal, and when a person chooses a vegetarian lifestyle, I imagine that it is not a one-time choice, but something that one has to struggle with over and over, every time a particularly tasty food appears on the table.

The topic of the relationship between humans and animals is a fascinating one in Judaism, and one that really deserves to be explored in depth. If you don't mind, I would like to start with a story that is a bit extreme in nature but did, actually, happen, and that I think can help us to understand the Jewish perspective.

A number of years ago, I had a student who was a fairly radical proponent of animal rights. Once, I mentioned to her that I was going to call an exterminator to get rid of some cockroaches and she was utterly horrified. How could a humane person cause a veritable "holocaust" to innocent bugs? To me, the answer was straightforward. I had no doubt that there would be no peaceful co-existence between me and the cockroaches and with all due respect, I chose me. I asked her what she would do and she said she would move to a different apartment. While I appreciated her sensitivity, it was clear to me that, without being dramatic, my life and my home came first!

A few months later, she called me from Jerusalem, where she had begun studying advanced Jewish studies, and said, "Miriam, now I understand why you were willing to exterminate those bugs."

Happy to be vindicated from my role as Inquisitioner, I asked her how she had come to that conclusion. "I have been learning the first chapter of Genesis and I see that the world was created as a hierarchy, with man at the pinnacle. In other words, the whole world was created for man, so — you really are more important than the cockroach."

Thanking her profusely for the compliment, and feeling affirmed and validated in my role as someone more important than a cockroach, I hung up the phone. But that conversation got me thinking ...

My student had really touched on one of the most fundamental concepts in Judaism. The universe is a hierarchy and the pinnacle is humanity. Every amoeba, every galaxy, and everything in between was created for the express purpose of creating a backdrop for the ongoing, heart dropping, hair raising, spine tingling drama of man in his endless pursuit of a relationship with his Maker.

The Talmud (Sanhedrin 108a) emphasizes this point, while explaining why innocent animals were killed in the flood in Noah's time together with the guilty humans, with a parable. A man builds a beautiful wedding canopy for his son. When his son dies before the wedding, the father destroys the canopy. "What use is a wedding canopy without my son?" In the same way, G-d exclaims, "What use is there in all these animals if I had to destroy the point of it all — mankind!"

At the same time, it is interesting to note the many laws dealing with our obligation towards animals. We are both prohibited to cause pain to animals, as well as obligated to relieve an animal's suffering.

We are even told that Moses was chosen as our leader because of his extreme sensitivity to the sheep that were under his care. It is not for nothing that one of the prized pictures in Jewish homes shows one of the Torah greats of the last generation standing outside feeding the neighborhood cats, or that there are many treasured legends about our leaders caring for the most helpless of G-d's creations.

And yet, even after reviewing these sources and many others, what becomes glaringly obvious is the difference in perspective between the Torah approach and the approach of animal rights activists. Nowhere does the Torah talk about animal rights. The emphasis is entirely on the obligation of man.

The death blow that Darwin and Freud dealt to the concept of man as the pinnacle and purpose of Creation, with the ability — nay, the mission — to change the world, and bring it to ultimate perfection, has dramatically changed society's perception of its role vis-a-vis the animal kingdom.

JWR contributor Dennis Prager conducted an interesting experiment. He asked high school students whom they would save if they were standing on the banks of a raging river, and both their beloved, pet dog and a human stranger were drowning, and they could only save one. Fifty percent of American students chose to save the dog. But what was the most telling about the switch in perspective in the Western world was that of the other fifty percent, nine-tenths said that they would not judge those that chose the dog. "They are entitled to their opinion ..."

The point being that even those who felt that that they would save the human, simply because he was a human, did not view their choice as being based on an objective value — that human life is worth more than animal life — but only as a personal opinion.

When I conducted the same survey here in Israel, those that chose the dog were considerably less than fifty percent, but the very fact that it was an issue that could be discussed in an academic setting says a lot about the value of human life in our society. (I am always amazed to discover that some of the students who would choose to save their dog over the human stranger are not even vegetarian. The implications of that perspective are, to my mind, staggering ... If she were hungry enough, would she eat a human?)

Darwin and Freud notwithstanding, the Torah, unequivocally, maintains that a human being, any human being, comes before an animal, and that that human being — as opposed to an animal — has the ability to choose good over evil and rectify the world.

While the commentaries differ about whether the reason for the many mitzvos about preventing pain to animals is concern for the animals, from our imperative to be G-d like or simply, as the Ramban states, to train us to be kinder, more merciful people, the clear result of these laws has been to create a nation historically renowned for its high level ethical and humane behavior. ( For those who maintain that we are what we eat, it might be interesting to note that no kosher animal is carnivorous ...).

To paraphrase the nineteenth century French scholar Anatoly Beaulieu: The fact that a Jewish woman never went out into her back yard, picked up her pet chicken, wrung its neck and dumped it into the dinner pot had wide ramifications on her and on the Jewish people. Instead, she brought her chicken to the shocheit, who sharpened his knife so that the killing would be as painless as possible, and said a blessing thanking G-d for sanctifying us with His commandments. She then took the chicken home, and went through the hour long process of removing all blood from the meat. This may help us understand why murder is rare among Jews and a distaste for physical violence, in general, is a trait associated with the Jewish nation.

Paradoxically, it is those who realize their superiority as humans, and understand the obligation and responsibility that that entails, who are the most likely to extend their mercy towards animals to other human beings, as well, and, of course, vice versa. It was Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, with his astute understanding of human nature, who pointed out that were man to accord animals the same status as humans, humanity would forget its unique status, and cease to demand a higher level of morality from humans. Your average lion, tiger, or bear is unlikely to consider any ethical issues before sinking its teeth into its prey, and though no kosher animal is carnivorous, the ability to put a value or ethic above one's own gratification is uniquely human.

A piece of steel will always move towards the stronger magnet. It doesn't have the ability to say, "Oh, that poor, weak magnet! Let me pretend I am attracted to her." A plant will always grow towards the sunlight. It can't say to itself, "Oh, that poor housewife. It would make her so happy if all my greenery cascaded into her kitchen." It follows the rule of nature. And as for the animal kingdom, we need only consider Buridan's theoretical donkey that would die if it were equally thirsty and hungry, and food and drink were equidistant from it, because of its inability to make a decision. Its primitive instincts are so powerful that even that most basic of drives — self-preservation — falls victim to them.

Consideration of ethics or values don't even come into the picture. It is only the human who can be in a situation where every fiber of his being is pulling him in one direction, and yet can defy that desire by listening to the irritating little buzz of his conscience or morality that leaves him no peace. At this point in history, psychologists, sociologists and criminologists constantly debate how much free choice a human being actually has, and how much the myriad factors pulling at him need to be taken into consideration, when judging him. And yet, the Torah maintains, "Hinei nassati lifneichem es hatov ve'es hara. I have put before you both the good and the evil." You have the ability to recognize the difference and make the right choices.

Though not compelling as evidence, it is still worthy of note that it was the Nazis who forbade vivisection, at the same time that the gas chambers were belching smoke, and that many Germans watched with equanimity as the Jews were being dragged from their homes, and then turned their attention and worry to the animals that were left behind.

The depth here is that as long as we talk about animal rights, we raise animals to the level of humans. And to be consistent with that approach, it would be those students who chose to save the human stranger, rather than their own beloved dog who depended on them, who would have to defend their position.

When I did Dennis Prager's experiment with one group, a student asked me, "What if the dog was a highly trained seeing-eye dog and the person was a severely brain damaged individual?" When I answered that I would still save the person, she said, "So it is just a preference of species." Yes. It is a preference of species. It is an awareness that a human being who was created betzellem Elokim, in the Divine's image, despite any limitations he might have, exists on an entirely different plane. And it is for him that the entire world was created.

THE COSMIC RESPONSE TO FREE CHOICE
This approach demands responsibility from us as humans. We must constantly justify the existence of the entire universe, and remain focused on our ultimate goal. By taking care of the helpless creatures dependent on us, and remembering that it is only by virtue of our superiority that we maintain the right to deprive an animal of life, we are spurred on to exemplify that superiority.

Interestingly, The Sefer Ha'ikarim claims that it was this very perspective — that there is no value difference between animals and humans — that caused Cain to kill Abel, and to ultimately bring the entire mankind to the violence and anarchy that eventually resulted in the destruction of the world through the flood.

And it was for this very reason, he explains, that after the flood, meat was permitted to mankind. When I put part of a chicken or cow on my dinner plate, it becomes clear to me that I am not a cow, and not even a chicken. This chicken and cow were created for my use, and that becomes the spur that drives me to justify my existence, and ultimately theirs.

(In mystical terms, the purpose of the world is unity. Unity between the physical and the spiritual; unity between humanity and its Creator. The credo of the Jew, "Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu, Hashem Echad," (Hear, O, Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is one) is carried out in myriad actions on a daily basis by a Jew who tries to reveal in every physical action its deep spiritual root. When a human being, striving to express his tzellem Elokim, eats food, he takes that mundane, physical creation and transforms it into a pulsating life force.

It becomes the very energy and glue that joins him to his Source. Lucky is the chicken, from this perspective, that makes its way to a Sabbath table, its very essence transformed into a cohesion of body and soul; six mundane work days and the holy Sabbath; the lowly homo sapiens with his Creator.

(I once read about a beautiful custom in an ancient Sephardic community: After eating the chicken and fish at the Sabbath table, the bones would be placed on a beautiful silver platter in the middle of the table, where they would remain until the end of the meal. The idea was: Of the trillions of chickens in the world, how many merit to make it to a Sabbath table? If the purpose of Creation is mankind, and the purpose of mankind is achieving unity between physical and spiritual, between finite man and infinite G-d, then let this particular chicken, which has achieved the ultimate in chickenhood, bask in its presence at the Sabbath table till the end ... (though I must admit that one of my friends commented that that kind of custom might be a real deterrent to having dessert ... So maybe there were some other reasons for it, too!)

Becoming a vegetarian for health reasons certainly can find its basis in the Torah's emphasis on protecting one's health. And even an individual refraining from eating meat because of the unprecedented suffering that today's mass production often causes can find Torah sources that resonate to this approach. Certainly, eating veal, duck and geese, which are all produced by cruel practices of restricting the movements of animals, or force feeding, is frowned on by some responsa as unfitting for the refined human being.

But the vegetarian, and all humanity, should take heed to remember the ultimate message, which is dramatized by having a fellow creature appear on one's dinner plate — that a human being is light worlds away from an animal, and that while he bears responsibility towards animals, and for that matter, towards the universe, he and only he justifies its existence.




In the USA SUNDAY LAWS ARE DECLARED AS CONSTITUTIONAL




"Sunday Closing Laws.--The history of Sunday Closing Laws goes back into United States colonial history and far back into English history. Commonly, the laws require the observance of the Christian Sabbath as a day of rest, although in recent years they have tended to become honeycombed with exceptions. The Supreme Court rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to Sunday Closing Laws in McGowan v. Maryland. The Court acknowledged that historically the laws had a religious motivation and were designed to effectuate concepts of Christian theology. However, ''[i]n light of the evolution of our Sunday Closing Laws through the centuries, and of their more or less recent emphasis upon secular considerations, it is not difficult to discern that as presently written and administered, most of them, at least, are of a secular rather than of a religious character, and that presently they bear no relationship to establishment of religion. . . .'' ''[T]he fact that this [prescribed day of rest] is Sunday, a day of particular significance for the dominant Christian sects, does not bar the State from achieving its secular goals. To say that the States cannot prescribe Sunday as a day of rest for these purposes solely because centuries ago such laws had their genesis in religion would give a constitutional interpretation of hostility to the public welfare rather than one of mere separation of church and State.'' The choice of Sunday as the day of rest, while originally religious, now reflected simple legislative inertia or recognition that Sunday was a traditional day for the choice. Valid secular reasons existed for not simply requiring one day of rest and leaving to each individual to choose the day, reasons of ease of enforcement and of assuring a common day in the community for rest and leisure. More recently, a state statute mandating that employers honor the Sabbath day of the employee's choice was held invalid as having the primary effect of promoting religion by weighing the employee's Sabbath choice over all other interests.


Also we read: on another page of FindLaw

In Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961) (plurality opinion), we upheld Sunday-closing laws against the claim that they burdened the religious practices of persons whose religions compelled them to refrain from work on other days.

Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599, 608 -609 (1961) (plurality opinion) (state interest in uniform day of rest justifies denial of religious exemption from Sunday closing law);



Shunning of the living testimony


By some there is shunning of the living testimony. Cutting truths must not be shunned. It needs something besides theory to reach hearts now. It needs the stirring testimony to alarm and arouse; that will stir the enemy's subjects, and then honest souls will be led to decide for the truth. There has been and still is with some a disposition to have everything move on very smoothly. They see no necessity of straight testimony.



Sins exist in the church that God hates, but they are scarcely touched for fear of making enemies. Opposition has risen in the church to the plain testimony. Some will not bear it.
They wish smooth things spoken unto them. And if the wrongs of individuals are touched, they complain of severity, and sympathize with those in the wrong. As Ahab inquired of Elijah, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" they are ready to look with suspicion and doubt upon those who bear the plain testimony, and like Ahab overlook the wrong which made it necessary for reproof and rebuke. When the church depart from God they despise the plain testimony, and complain of severity and harshness. It is a sad evidence of the lukewarm state of the church.



Just as long as God has a church, he will have those who will cry aloud and spare not, who will be his instruments to reprove selfishness and sins, and will not shun to declare the whole counsel of God, whether men will hear or forbear. I saw that individuals would rise up against the plain testimonies. It does not suit their natural feelings. They would choose to have smooth things spoken unto them, and have peace cried in their ears. I view the church in a more dangerous condition than they ever have been. Experimental religion is known but by a few. The shaking must soon take place to purify the church.


Preachers should have no scruples to preach the truth as it is found in God's word. Let the truth cut. I have been shown that why ministers have not more success is, they are afraid of hurting feelings, fearful of not being courteous, and they lower the standard of truth, and conceal if possible the peculiarity of our faith. I saw that God could not make such successful. The truth must be made pointed, and the necessity of a decision urged. And as false shepherds are crying, Peace, and are preaching smooth things, the servants of God must cry aloud, and spare not, and leave the result with God.



God has given his servants the present truth so clear and plain that their opponents cannot stand before them. This great blessing, I have seen, has not been realized and prized. Some who are laboring in the cause of God have had so few privations, known so little of want or wearing labor, or burden of soul, that when they have an easy time they know it not, and think their trials great. I saw that unless such have a spirit of self-sacrifice, and are ready to labor cheerfully, not sparing themselves, God will release them.




Spiritual Gifts, Volume II, Ellen G. White, pp. 283-285.

The sacrifices of Saturday Christians



The Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church is off Benton Drive in Godley Station. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Dana Clark Felty Saturday, October 4, 2008 at 12:30 am




Mary Purvis smiles during a Sabbath Day class at the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

The Rev. Mark Piotrowski, Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor, preaches. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Robin Martin prays during Sabbath Day services at the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

The Rev. Mark Piotrowski, at left, Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor, kneels to lead a Sabbath Day prayer. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Children at the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church pastor deliver their collected offerings during a Sabbath Day service. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Members of the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church lunch after the Sabbath Day service. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)

Youngsters at the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church listen closely to a children's story during a Sabbath Day service. (Carl Elmore/Savannah Morning News) (Photo: Carl Elmore)



All dressed up on a Saturday morning, Kent Elmore stopped by a friend's house on his way to his new girlfriend's church.

"To church?" the friend said. "Which church?"

"She's a Seventh-day Adventist," Elmore answered.

Horrified, the friend begged him not to go.

"It's a cult," she said.

Elmore almost took her advice.

Today, Elmore chuckles at the memory of his first encounter with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, an Evangelical Christian denomination known for its recognition of Saturday as the Biblical Sabbath.

In the nearly 20 years since his first Adventist service, Elmore married the girlfriend and joined the church and is raising children in the faith.

And he's come to understand one reason the church is misunderstood.

"People see all these folks pulling up in the parking lot on Saturday while they're going to the beach, and they wonder what's going on," Elmore said.

"When you're doing something or are a part of something that's a little different from the norm, people don't know what to think."

Local Adventists say their core beliefs center on Jesus Christ and the Bible and are relatively similar to that of their Baptist and Methodist friends and family.

But for them, keeping Sabbath on the busiest leisure day of the week comes with a different level of commitment.


Click here to read other stories in the Faith Communities series, as well as Dana Clark Felty's blog and religion articles.



Adventism in Georgia

Adventism stems from a 19th-century movement headed by a New York farmer named William Miller. His followers, known as Millerites, believed Jesus' second coming was imminent and that the date for Christ's return could be prophesied.

After several failed attempts to set a date, Millerites splintered into different groups, including the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Advent Christian Church and the Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists.

Some continued to observe the belief in the Hebrew observance of Saturday as the original day of rest.

Organized in 1860, the Seventh-day Adventists emerged as the largest descendent of the Millerites. Followers consider former Millerite Ellen G. White as a founder and one who possessed the gift of prophesy.

The church circulated literature in Georgia as early as 1872, sent missionaries in 1887 and launched the Georgia Conference in 1901.

In 1910, a man named Walter Thomas became the first known Savannahian baptized into the faith.

The Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church was officially organized in 1914 in an upstairs room at 31st and Bull streets and soon purchased and renovated a former livery stable at 35th and Whitaker streets.

According to church records, one member, "Mr. MaKutchen" was arrested for breaking blue laws after he was caught repairing a bench on Sunday. Shortly after his sentencing, the wife of the judge began inquiring about the religion that met on Saturdays and was later baptized into the church.

In 1925, the denomination's national leaders took on the Savannah congregation as a missionary project and funded the destruction of the old livery and the construction of a new building. The congregation remained there for 41 years, until it purchased land for a church at Abercorn Street and Tibet Avenue.

After another 41 years, the congregation moved again, this time to the growing Godley Station community in west Chatham. Grand opening for the new church and school was October 2001.

Today, the Savannah area is home to more than 1,000 Seventh-day Adventists attending services at one of four congregations.


Misunderstandings

In his 1955 book, "The Rise of the Cults," Baptist minister Walter Martin of the anti-cult Christian Research Institute lumped Adventists with other new movements such as Mormonism, Christian Science, Spiritualism and Jehovah's Witnesses.

After meeting Adventist leaders and reading about its doctrine, Martin changed his mind and accepted the faith as a fellow Christian denomination.

But as anti-cult fervor grew through the late-20th century, the public relations damage had been done.

Adventist Leticia Chaparro said she was turned away from a local Christian thrift store when she asked if she could put up a flyer for a church charity event.

"A lot of people think we're Mormons," she said.

David Smith has encountered quite a few myths in his 25 years as an Adventist pastor.

"Once someone told me they thought in the Seventh-day Adventist Church we had a special kind of Bible we set on the pulpit that no one could use," said Smith, pastor of West Broad Street Seventh-day Adventist Church. "That's not true. I preach from the King James version, the same as anyone else."

Counter to some things he's heard, Smith asserts that Adventists also use the same types of spiritual music as other Protestant faiths, including anthems, hymns, spirituals and gospel.

He has also deflected notions that all Adventists are vegetarian. Some are, but not all, he said.

Unlike most other Christian denominations, Adventists observe Jewish dietary laws forbidding pork and shellfish.

"We teach it as a matter of biblical doctrine and principle," Smith said.

Some members take that further to swear off all meat.

"When you go back to Genesis, you'll find that the original diet did not include flesh," Smith said. "Many of our people believe it is better to take the original diet, even though it's not commanded.

"It is something we do encourage and strongly recommend, because it is the first diet that God recommended."


Seventh-day sacrifices

Adventists don't all agree on how to observe the Sabbath.

Chaparro's family generally agrees on having short Friday evening prayers and family time, going to church Saturday morning, participating in the covered-dish luncheon afterward and praying together Saturday at sunset.

But while Chaparro believes the television should stay off throughout the Sabbath, her husband believes watching some TV is OK.

"It was kind of rough, changing to Saturday," said Chaparro, who was raised in Chicago as a Catholic. "I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons. I was used to shopping on Saturday, partying on Saturday."

Chaparro makes the switch easier by surrounding the family with other Adventists. They home-school their three children and are involved in committees at the Savannah First Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Benny Curl learned about making sacrifices for his faith at an early age.

As a teenager, he left his family's Baptist church to follow Adventism. He soon struggled at first to find a summer job that didn't require working on Saturdays. But Curl considers his sacrifices also a blessing.

"That was a powerful demonstration to me personally that God would take care of me," he said.

On Saturdays, Curl and his wife Kay Curl hang a sign reading "Closed. Day of rest" on the door of their gourmet food store, Byrd Cookie Company.

Some customers have asked if they're Jewish.

"We say 'No, we're not. We're Seventh-day Adventists," Kay Curl said.

Richmond Hill ninth-grade teacher and football coach Chris Scholar occasionally has to bow out of events that fall on Saturday.

A number of non-Adventist friends have told him his faith is "legalistic," or too consumed with the Old Testament.

"People have told me they think that we're trying to get (to heaven) through works rather than by faith, that we're so consumed with keeping the Sabbath that it's something we feel is essential to salvation."

But Scholar doesn't see it that way.

"Because I love God, I want to do what God asks me to do. And it seems pretty clear he's asked me to keep the Sabbath."


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


About Seventh-day Adventism

Numbers

Local: About 1,000

Worldwide: 10 million to 15 million

Religious texts

The Holy Bible, including the Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration through holy men of God who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Deity/who they worship

One God who is the father, son (incarnate in Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit, a unity of three eternal persons.


About Seventh-Day Adventists

Lifestyle

The Jewish Sabbath is observed from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. Church services are held on Saturdays. Believers are encouraged to dress modestly, avoid "outward adornment" such as lavish jewelry, exercise, follow a healthy diet and abstain from the "unclean foods" identified in the Scriptures such as pork and shellfish, as well as alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics.

What happens when people die?

Death is an unconscious sleep-like state. Upon the second coming of Jesus, true believers - both living and dead - will be called to heaven. Satan and his angels will occupy the earth as the unrighteous dead continue sleeping another thousand years. Then Jesus, his saints and heaven will descend to Earth and God will scorch the planet, destroying Satan, sinners and all sin forever.

How the faith began

Adventism stems from a 19th-century apocalyptic movement headed by a New York farmer named William Miller. His followers, known as Millerites, believed Jesus' second coming, or advent, was imminent and that the date for Christ's return could be prophesied. Seventh-day Adventistism was organized as a denomination in 1863 by former Millerites, including Ellen G. White who followers considered a messenger of God having the gift of prophesy.

ABOUT THIS SERIES

Faith Communities is a monthly series exploring the beliefs and lifestyles of local religious groups. The series has included Savannah-area congregations of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Buddhists, Baha'is and Christian Scientists. An archive is available on the Web at savannahnow.com/features/faithforward.

Nominate a local religious group to be featured in "Faith Communities" by sending an e-mail to reporter Dana Clark Felty at dana.felty@savannahnow.com.


Click here to read other stories in the Faith Communities series, as well as Dana Clark Felty's blog and religion articles.



If thou hadst known,... the things which belong unto thy peace!


41And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.

43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,

44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.


Luke 19: 41-44.

There is a time there for every purpose and for every work.


1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

14I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

16And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

17I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

18I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

20All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?


Ecclesiastes 3

Friday, October 24, 2008

Strong Delusion



2 Thessalonians 2:10-12


10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

White Powder Illusions?


White Powder Distractions?


Again, we're lambasted with another white powder in an envelope story;

This time its target is Chase, as in JP Morgan-Chase. Or is the intended target, our attention? If this isn't a ruse or a ploy, I don't know what it is? The last time we heard of elusive White Powder Posts, was just after September 111, 20011. Well, the white powder enigma is back!



  • Greenspan (the salesman) is summoned from retirement to appear before Congress to explain what has happened to the Economy. This is like demanding your money back form the used car salesman after you've driven a vehicle to Florida.


  • Obama raised a record $150 Million in September; Thursday (yesterday), he went to visit his elderly grandma in Hawaii. Just like Little Red Riding Hood.


  • Sarah Palin is now accused of using $150,000 federal funds to buy wardrobes for herself and family. Will the SNL shenanigans skit with Tina Fey continue, or will the real Sarah finally stand up? SNL: Smut Nonsense Liberals; Childish defecation, flatulence, gross humor, etc.


  • McCain is going to Colo-RAD-o on the Joe the Plumber Express, while the polls are constantly show (so the talking heads reiterate) that he's way behind in the race. Which brings to mind, the Bradley Effect. But, Mac keeps chugging along, promising change is coming.

My response to all the white powder, smoke and mirrors is:


Forget Obama;


Where's Osama Bin Laden?


And while we're on the subject; Where is Bin Laden?


Yeah, Joe "the stealth" Biden!

John Hughes (archbishop)


Archbishop John Hughes

Born
24 June 1797County Tyrone, Ireland
Died
3 January 1864New York, New York


For other people with this name, see John Hughes.


Archbishop John Joseph Hughes (June 24, 1797 – January 3, 1864) was the fourth bishop and first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of New York. He was born in County Tyrone, Ireland and followed his parents to the United States in 1817. His family settled in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania where he lived until 1819 when he moved to Mount St. Mary's College. Initially employed as a gardener at Mount St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg, Maryland, he was admitted as a student under Bishop John Dubois and was ordained a priest on October 15, 1826 and ordained a bishop on January 7, 1838 with the titular see of Basileopolis. He succeeded to the bishopric of the diocese of New York on December 20, 1842 and became an archbishop on July 19, 1850, when the diocese was elevated to the status of archdiocese. He campaigned actively on behalf of Irish immigrants, and attempted to secure state support for religious schools. He protested against the United States Government for using the King James Bible in public schools, claiming that it was an attack on Catholic constitutional rights of double taxation, because Catholics would need to pay taxes for public school and also pay for the private school to send their children, to avoid the Protestant translation of the Bible. When he failed to secure state support, he founded an independent Catholic school system which was taken into the Catholic Church's core at the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, 1884, which mandated that all Parishes have a parochial school and that all Catholic children be sent to those schools.



He founded St. John's College (now Fordham University) and began construction of St. Patrick's Cathedral. He served until his death. He was originally buried in old St. Patrick's Cathedral and was exhumed and reinterred in the crypt under the altar of the new cathedral.

External links
Catholic Encyclopedia 1913 biography
Mr. Lincoln and New York: Archbishop John J. Hughes


Preceded byJohn Dubois
Archbishop of New York1842-1864
Succeeded byJohn McCloskey