
AND THE THIRD ANGEL FOLLOWED THEM, SAYING WITH A LOUD VOICE, IF ANY MAN WORSHIP THE BEAST AND HIS IMAGE, AND RECEIVE HIS MARK IN HIS FOREHEAD, OR IN HIS HAND. *** REVELATION 14:9
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Rome and the Obama Administration

In our January sermon on President Obama, Keep the Faith Ministry explained how that the Catholic Church disagrees with Mr. Obama on social teaching, especially in regard to stem cell research, abortion, and other socially conservative issues. However, we also noted that Rome is not willing to alienate itself from the Obama Administration over them, but may have to put their goals aside for a while, or at least their hopes for progress, while they accomplish other things in the meantime.
Interestingly, the New York Times, on December 18, in an article on the Papal message to Obama essentially said the same thing. “The Vatican doesn’t want to be at loggerheads with Barack Obama,” wrote the Times, “because it sees a range of matters where it’s more in sync with him than it has been with President Bush… A papal spokesman said the Vatican hopes to work with him on Iraq, the Holy Land, Christian minorities in the Middle East and Asia, and the fight against poverty and social inequality.”
“To be clear, the Vatican yields to no one in its pro-life commitments,” said the Times. “In effect, “Dignitas Personae” [a recent strongly worded Vatican document on bioethics] is a reminder that there will be no ‘truce,’ no strategic silence, about the defense of human life from the moment of conception. The question now is whether the Vatican will find an equally effective way to mobilize those Catholics who hope to build bridges [with the Obama Administration on these social issues],” wrote the Times.
The Times also said that “what the Vatican may not fully appreciate, however, is that putting out a hard-nosed pro-life document right now, at least in the United States, may be the political equivalent of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater.”
But those who are watching prophecy unfold should recognize that Rome gains much political clout by its independence on social moral issues when it comes to the other churches. This helps her in her attempt to align the church in an ecumenical alliance against a declining secular society that has all but forgotten God.
Rome is gearing up for a delicate war; one in which she must maintain a delicate balance between her political collaboration with the American Administration on geopolitical issues while strongly opposing its liberal domestic social policies. During the Bush Administration, Rome gained a lot ground on its domestic social agenda, some of which it will likely lose during the Obama Administration. Now Rome is planning on gaining a lot of ground in geopolitical issues during the Obama Administration that it could not achieve during the Bush Administration. Rome is trying to do damage control by her strong opposition to the liberal social policies of the Obama Administration. She knows that if she can mobilize the public to oppose Obama and a liberal U.S. Congress she will be more effective in limiting the damage.
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The Church and World United
The Church and World United
Satan then consulted with his angels, and they there considered what they had gained. It was true that they had kept some timid souls through fear of death, from embracing the truth; but many, even of the most timid, received the truth, and immediately their fears and timidity left them, and as they witnessed the death of their brethren, and saw their firmness and patience, they knew that God and angels assisted them to endure such sufferings, and they grew bold and fearless. And when called to yield their own lives, they maintained their faith with such patience and firmness as caused even their murderers to tremble. Satan and his angels decided that there was a more successful way to destroy souls, and more certain in the end. They saw that although they caused Christians to suffer, their steadfastness, and the bright hope that cheered them, caused the weakest to grow strong, and that the rack and the flames could not daunt them. They imitated the noble bearing of Christ when before his murderers, and many were convinced of the truth by witnessing their constancy, and the glory of God which rested upon them. Satan decided that he must come in a milder form. He had corrupted the doctrines of the Bible; and traditions which were to ruin millions were taking deep root. He restrained his hate, and decided not to urge on his subjects to such bitter persecution; but lead on the church to contend, not for the faith once delivered to the saints, but, for various traditions. As he led on the church to receive favors and honors of the world, under the false pretense of benefiting them, she began to lose favor with God. Gradually the church lost her power, as she shunned to declare the straight truths which shut out the lovers of pleasure and friends of the world.
The church is not the separate and peculiar people she was when the fires of persecution were kindled against her. How is the gold become dim? How is the most fine gold changed?
I saw that if the church had always retained her holy and peculiar character, the power of the Holy Spirit which was imparted to the disciples would be with her. The sick would be healed, devils would be rebuked and cast out, and she would be mighty, and a terror to her enemies.
I saw that a very large company professed the name of Christ, but God does not recognize them as his. He has no pleasure in them. Satan seemed to assume a religious character, and was very willing that the people should think they were Christians. He was very willing that they should believe in Jesus, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Satan and his angels fully believed all this themselves, and trembled. But if this faith does not provoke to good works, and lead those who profess it to imitate the self-denying life of Christ, he is not disturbed; for they merely assume the Christian name, while their hearts are still carnal; and he can use them in his service better than if they made no profession. Under the name of Christian they hide their deformity. They pass along with their unsanctified natures, and their evil passions unsubdued. This gives occasion for the unbeliever to throw their imperfections in the face of Jesus Christ, to reproach him, and to cause those who do possess pure and undefiled religion to be brought into disrepute.
The ministers preach smooth things to suit carnal professors. This is just as Satan would have it. They dare not preach Jesus and the cutting truths of the Bible; for if they should, these carnal professors would not hear them. Many of them are wealthy and must be retained in the church, although they are no more fit to be there than Satan and his angels. The religion of Jesus is made to appear popular and honorable in the eyes of the world. The people are told that those who profess religion will be more honored by the world. Very widely do such teachings differ from the teachings of Christ. His doctrine and the world could not be at peace. Those who followed him had to renounce the world. These smooth things originated with Satan and his angels. They formed the plan, and nominal professors have carried it out. Hypocrites and sinners unite with the church. Pleasing fables are taught, and readily received. But if the truth should be preached in its purity, it would soon shut out hypocrites and sinners. But there is no difference between the professed followers of Christ and the world. I saw that if the false covering could be torn off from the members of the churches, there would be revealed such iniquity, vileness and corruption, that the most diffident child of God would have no hesitancy in calling them by their right name, children of their father, the Devil; for his works they do. Jesus and all the heavenly host looked with disgust upon the scene; yet God had a message for the church that was sacred and important. If received, it would make a thorough reformation in the church, revive the living testimony that would purge out hypocrites and sinners, and bring the church again into favor with God.
See Revelation 3:14-22.
Between
Christ and His Angels
and
Satan and
Eat your heart out Big Three
Monday, December 29, 2008
How to Win Friends and Influence People
This is Dale Carnegie's summary of his book, from 1936
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Six Ways to Make People Like You
How to Win People to Your Way of Thinking
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part One
Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
Give honest and sincere appreciation.
Arouse in the other person an eager want.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Two
Six ways to make people like you
Become genuinely interested in other people.
Smile.
Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Three
Win people to your way of thinking
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
Appeal to the nobler motives.
Dramatize your ideas.
Throw down a challenge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part Four
Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
Let the other person save face.
Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
Active faith at core of Adventist Church president's holiday address

Seventh-day Adventist world church president Jan Paulsen, during his recorded holiday address for the global Protestant denomination's nearly 16-million members. [photo: General Conference Communication Department]
December 15, 2008
Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Elizabeth Lechleitner/ANN
God's creative and restorative power is a "compelling" motive for Christians to impact their communities, Seventh-day Adventist world church president Jan Paulsen said during a holiday address recently recorded for the global Protestant denomination's nearly 16-million members.
Drawing from a Biblical picture of renewal in the Old Testament book of Isaiah, Paulsen said God's power is not limited to the promised "new Earth," but "begins now -- even in incomplete and feeble ways."
That message of hope, Paulsen said, "can create community where there seems only to be divisions, relationships where there is separation, hope where there is fear, peace where there is anger and life where there is destruction and death."
Such "radical" expressions of faith, Paulsen said, depend upon a "shared humanity." In a society where difference and otherness often anchor identity, Paulsen said that the church's message of hope "respects no divisions of nationality, economics, politics, or race."
Paulsen also stressed the importance of a faith "not confined to the intellect, textbooks or just words." To be relevant, faith should "intersect with life" and have "something profound to say about issues in today's headlines."
In practicing such faith, Christians will "inevitably be drawn into positive, constructive engagement with our communities."
"Let's never lose sight of the fact that this message is animated by compassion. It's a message that finds its fullest and most attractive expression not in theological exegesis ... but in active concern for other people," he said. "I want the world to know that our faith inevitably leads us to care for other people."
Paulsen's full message will be broadcast on the church's Hope Channel beginning December 20. For a schedule, see hopetv.org.
"Source: Adventist News Network"
Source: http://news.adventist.org/data/2008/1229378363/index.html.en
..................
P.S. Positivism: These goals could be more appropriate coming from Norman Vincent Peale, or even a page out of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie; But, not from a Minister of God's Remnant Church at such a time as this? Exegis???
Arsenio.
My Response To SDA President Jan Paulsen's Message
Instead shouldn't the first priority be to do the Lord's will and preach the Three Angels's message to prepare a people to stand on the Lord's return?
Pastor Paulsen this is not the time to be preaching peace and safety to God's remnant Church. It's a time for reformation, repentance, and for giving the final warning; Not to conform to the Evangelical Status Quo. That is not, and never was our purpose or mission. We were to be a separate, dictinct people with a distinct message to give to a perishing world. Our message has never been a popular or common one. Like Noah, like Isaiah, like Ezekiel, like Elijah, and John the Baptizer, we were entrusted with solemn truths to reveal to mankind, if they would harken or forbear. Our calling is to prepare a people (which is closer than ever) to stand before a Holy God. All the modern day Churchianity rhetoric is totally unwarranted and unwise.
I pray that you will consider the following scriptures, and search your heart to see if this is not what the Lord expects of his latter day people.
8The Lord GOD, which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
9All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
10His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Isaiah 56: 8-12.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Isaiah 57:21.
16Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
Jeremiah 23:16-18.
1And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;
3Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?
8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.
9And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
10Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.
17Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them,
18And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
19And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.
21Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
22Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 13.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 1 Thessalonians 5:3
Arsenio.
Beware of the scribes
36For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
37David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.
38And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,
39And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:
40Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Disco floor collapses; 50 hurt
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:02:00 12/29/2008
Filed Under: Accidents (general), Police
RELATED STORIES
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Around 200 employees of GTY Trading were celebrating at the Laura Beach Resort and restaurant in Cadiz City when the left wing of the disco hall suddenly collapsed at around 4 p.m. Sunday, said Chief Inspector Rico Santotome, Negros Occidental police spokesman.
Fifty were injured, including one employee who suffered serious injuries because of the incident. All victims were rushed to the nearby hospital for treatment, Santotome said.
Police are now looking into the cause of the accident.
Another Pay Raise For Congress
Amid the nation’s worsening financial crisis and all-time low approval ratings from constituents across the country, members of Congress have increased their salary again.
Not that long ago, lawmakers demanded that high-paid executives work for free to ease the pain of their financially struggling companies. Evidently, legislators are not willing to at least freeze their generous $169,300 annual salary (House Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes $217,400 and minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate make $188,100) for the good of the nation.
Instead U.S. taxpayers will dish out an extra $2.5 million to boost annual congressional salaries by $4,700. This may seem outrageous since polls have consistently revealed historically low approval ratings for Congress in the last year amid a series of bipartisan legal scandals and corruption probes.
Regardless of the low confidence ratings, members of Congress got their second substantial raise—$4,000 a year—in only six months at the start of 2008 making this increase the third in less than two years. If their salary was tied to their performance, like most Americans, lawmakers would have likely seen a substantial pay cut.
At least one well-known politician—Alaska Governor Sarah Palin—refused her pay raise, even though it was recommended by a state compensation commission. The commission wants to increase the Republican governor’s salary from $125,000 to $150,000 and also give raises to the lieutenant governor, department heads and legislators.
God has a Church

It is not the great cathedral,
Neither is it the national establishment
Neither is it the various denominations.
It is the people
who love God
and keep his commandments.
in my name,
There I am in the midst of them.”
[Matthew 18: 20]
Where Christ is among the humble few,
This is Christ’s church,
for the presence of the high and Holy One Who inhabiteth eternity
CAN ALONE CONSTITUTE
A CHURCH
[The Upward Look, Page 315]
They Want More: GOP Eager For Bush Senate Run
Sat Dec 27, 2008 at 07:00:05 PM PST
When your best political strategy is yet another Bush, your party is in serious trouble.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — the son of one president and the brother of another — has been working the phones since Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) announced earlier this month that he won’t seek reelection in 2010. Sources say Bush hasn’t made up his mind about running for Martinez’ seat, but that he’s getting green lights from would-be contributors and blessings from Republican Party leaders.
Strategists and political observers take it as a sign that Bush will run.
"Everything indicates that he's in," said David Johnson, a Republican strategist and the CEO of Strategic Vision. "You're not making calls and laying the ground work for fundraising unless you're clearing the field for your candidacy."
They say that between George and Jeb, Jeb is the "smart one." But that's not exactly a huge compliment, given the competition.
Deutsche Bank rejects church charge
By Ralph Atkins in Frankfurt
Published: December 26 2008 23:16
Deutsche Bank reacted angrily on Friday after Germany’s senior Protestant bishop accused Josef Ackermann, its chief executive, of turning money-making into a form of “idolatry”.
In a rare and testy public exchange between a prominent German financial institution and a religious leader, Deutsche Bank dismissed as “inappropriate” the remarks by Bishop Wolfgang Huber, chairman of Germany’s evangelical church council.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Editorial Comment: Why free markets must be defended - Dec-26
Analysis: Finance and faith – what is it all for? - Dec-23
Criticism of bankers from German politicians and church leaders is far from new but the complaints intensified and became more mainstream after the financial system almost failed in the wake of the mid-September Lehman Brothers collapse.
Swiss-born Mr Ackermann, well known in Germany for setting his bank the goal of earning a pre-tax return on equity of 25 per cent, has long been a popular target as the globally-active Deutsche Bank is often seen as having special, domestic responsibilities. But this attack appears to have taken the bank aback.
Speaking to the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, Bishop Huber argued that bankers had a duty to look beyond the short term and to ensure stability: “Never again should a Deutsche Bank chief executive set a profit goal of 25 per cent.” Such goals drove up profit expectations to unsustainable levels and amounted to “a form of idolatry”, he said. “In the current circumstances, money has become a god.”
The bishop highlighted a widespread view in Germany that the US had largely caused the financial market crisis by encouraging excessive borrowing. He said George W. Bush, US president, and Alan Greenspan, the former US Federal Reserve chairman, had “deluded” ordinary people.
Deutsche Bank may have felt particularly aggrieved by the bishop’s attack because it has not taken advantage of the emergency support made available by Berlin to prop-up the banking system.
Others who have attacked bankers in Germany include Horst Köhler, the country’s president, who in May described global financial markets as “a monster” that “must be put back in its place”. In his Christmas Eve address to Germans, Mr Köhler said the current crisis should be used as a chance to reorder the economy so that capital “serves” society.
Russia braced for unrest

Published: December 26 2008 19:53 Last updated: December 26 2008 19:53
Russia is bracing for further unrest as the rouble on Friday slid to a new low against the euro after a succession of moves to devalue its currency.
A cut on Friday extended six weeks of devaluations by Russia’s central bank designed to offset the impact of the global economic crisis and falling oil prices as the country’s main export commodity approached its lowest level since 2004.
Mikhail Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader, warned Russia faced “unprecedentedly difficult and dangerous circumstances” and could be “heading into a black hole”. “It is not clear what the fate of our rouble will be or if society has sufficient financial and moral resources,” he said.
After the depreciation, which was the eighth so far this month, the rouble declined as much as 1.2 per cent to Rbs29.06 versus the dollar on Friday, a four year low. The rouble has now lost nearly 20 per cent of its value against the US currency since August.
Analysts at Barclays Capital said the best case scenario would see Russian policymakers, facing the mounting evidence of a recession, allowing a one-off depreciation of 10 per cent or more.
The rouble’s slide comes as the government faces scrutiny over its policies. A demonstration earlier this month in the far eastern city of Vladivostok marked the first major challenge to the Kremlin since the onset of the global financial crisis.
Mikhail Sukhodolsky, a deputy interior minister, warned on Christmas Eve that there could be further protests. “The situation may be exacerbated by a growth in frustration of workers over the non-payment of wages or those threatened with dismissal,” he said.
His remarks coincided with criticism of the Kremlin’s rough handling of the protests in Vladivostok. Moscow-based Omon riot police detained about 61 people in the protests against car import duties designed to prop up domestic car producers, but making foreign vehicles prohibitively expensive for ordinary Russians.
Mikhail Kasyanov, the former prime minister who now leads the liberal People’s Democratic Union opposition movement, said that an unspoken social contract between the government and the people, swapping political freedoms for prosperity and consumer goods, had broken down.
“It was a deal,” he told the FT in an interview this week. “But it has fallen apart and that is why people are appearing on the streets. The process has started . . . Things could spin out of control when people wake up and realise their neighbours have lost their jobs and they are at risk of losing theirs.” He added that “the authorities had reacted “cynically and in a very nervous manner for nothing,” against a peaceful demonstration.
Boris Gryzlov, the pro-Kremlin speaker of parliament, on Friday accused the opposition of provoking the demonstration.
Moscow, which has pledged $200bn to mitigate the effects of the economic downturn, late on Thursday published a list of 295 strategic enterprises entitled to preferential government support.
Amid suspicions that the money will not be distributed transparently, the government said the list published on its website was not complete and did not guarantee financial support for those on it.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
CBS Dumbing Down America: "One day at a time"
Caroline Kennedy tells Daily News: I wouldn't be beholden to anybody
DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF
Updated Saturday, December 27th 2008, 5:14 PM
Warga/News
Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy speaks to the Daily News Saturday morning.
A defiant Caroline Kennedy says she "wouldn't be beholden to anybody" - including Mayor Bloomberg - if she's picked to become New York's next U.S. senator.
"I'm really coming into this as somebody who isn't, you know, part of the system, who obviously, you know, stands for the values of, you know, the Democratic Party," Kennedy told the Daily News Saturday during a wide-ranging interview.
"I know how important it is to, you know, to be my own person. And, you know, and that would be obviously true with my relationship with the mayor."
Kennedy, sipping on peppermint tea at an upper East Side diner, was responding to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who said she could be more beholden to Bloomberg than Gov. Paterson, who will make the Senate appointment.
JFK's daughter has been helped behind the scenes by the mayor's top aide, Kevin Sheekey. She has also hired a political consulting firm with ties to Bloomberg.
Despite her closeness with the mayor, Kennedy said she has never voted for him, or any Republican for that matter, and insisted she will support the Democratic candidate for mayor next year.
Kennedy, 51, is one of a number of New Yorkers looking to replace Sen. Hillary Clinton, who will give up the seat to become secretary of state.
Criticized for ignoring reporters after her name surfaced as a possible Clinton replacement, Kennedy sat down with the media this weekend. Displaying her notorious shyness during the 30-minute chat, the mother of three, author and public education advocate was pleasant, but spoke softly and rarely made eye contact. Her speech was often punctuated with extra "you knows" and "ums."
Kennedy said she is excited and up to the challenge of not only serving in the Senate but mounting a run for the seat in 2010 and 2012.
"I'm not as shy as everybody makes me out to be," she said.
Kennedy revealed she has had several recent discussions with her former cousin-in-law, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who is also considered a serious candidate for the Senate seat.
"Andrew is, you know, highly qualified for this job," she said. "He's doing a, you know, a great job as attorney general, and we've spoken throughout this process."
Despite his bitter divorce from Kerry Kennedy, in which her family accused Cuomo of spilling about his wife's extramarital affair, Caroline Kennedy said the recent conversations have been amicable.
"You know, I think, you know, we're sort of, uh, sharing some of this experience. And um, as I've said, he was a friend, a family member, and um so, and uh obviously, he's, you know, he's also had an impressive career in public office."
Although Cuomo has said he is fond of Kennedy, he has refused to say whether he believes she is qualified to be senator.
Bashed as a political novice, Kennedy argued that her ties in Washington, particularly to President-elect Barack Obama, can help her deliver for New York. She denied that her interest in the seat is driven by a desire to ensure the family continues its decades-long presence in the Senate.
"It's really, you know, it's not about just the Kennedy name," she said. "It's about my own work and what I've done with those values."
She refused to discuss details of her personal wealth and again said she would file all legal disclosures publicly only if she is selected for the seat.
Kennedy also said as a senator she would help New York Democrats raise money. The News reported last week that she has done little in the way of donating money to New York politicians over the years.
She also says she realizes campaigning means making sure not to offend locals, by things like rejecting a sausage sandwich at a state fair, the way Republican Rick Lazio, who lost to Clinton in 2000, famously did.
When asked if she would eat the sausage sandwich, she laughed, smiled and said, "I'm starving."
klovett@nydailynews.com
The is no other Lord
Isaiah 45
1Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
4For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
5I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
10Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
11Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
12I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith the LORD of hosts.
14Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God.
15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
16They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me.
22Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Rome Will Regain Her Lost Supremacy
As we approach the last crisis it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist among the Lord's instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head--the papal power--the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses. This union is cemented by the great apostate.--7T 182 (1902).
Laws enforcing the observance of Sunday as the Sabbath will bring about a national apostasy from the principles of republicanism upon which the government has been founded. The religion of the papacy will be accepted by the rulers, and the law of God will be made void.--7MR 192 (1906).
A day of great intellectual darkness has been shown to be favorable to the success of popery. It will yet be demonstrated that a day of great intellectual light is equally favorable for its success.--4SP 390 (1884).
In the movements now in progress in the United States to secure for the institutions and usages of the church the support of the state, Protestants are following in the steps of papists. Nay, more, they are opening the door for the papacy to regain in Protestant America the supremacy which she has lost in the Old World.--GC 573 (1911).
The Church Resurgent
Rather disappointingly, Catholic governance did not last, and in the early 1700’s, royal authority was stripped from the Calvert dynasty and Maryland was erected as a crown colony, with the Church of England established. The new royal governor locked the doors of the Brick Chapel and forbade its use for any religious purpose, moving the capital to Annapolis. The Jesuit fathers who built the church disassembled it, using elements in a new chapel being built within a manor house, as public Catholic churches were no longer allowed under the law. The first permanent Catholic church in Anglo-America was no more.
THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY years after its original construction and three centuries since its demise, the Catholic Chapel at St. Mary’s City is rising again on its original site. Under the auspices of the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission, archaeological research was completed during the 1990s, money was raised for reconstruction, and the Chapel is being rebuilt now in 2007 using the very same methods that would have been used to construct the original in 1667.
Dominican cardinal blasts 5 presidential pardons
Published: December 25, 2008
SANTO DOMINIGO, Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic's top Roman Catholic official is criticizing the president's pre-Christmas pardon of five embezzlers.
Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez says inmates jailed for petty crimes are far more deserving of pardons or commutations.
The cardinal on Thursday said many Dominicans feel "deep indignation" over the pardons, which were issued by President Leonel Fernandez.
One of the men pardoned Monday is Vivian Lubrano de Castillo, a former bank executive convicted for embezzlement and fraud amid the 2003 financial collapse that hobbled the Dominican economy.
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Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/25/news/CB-Dominican-Pardons.php
Protestant and Catholic leaders in Germany warn against materialism
Published: December 26, 2008
Bishop Wolfgang Huber, who represents 25 million Protestants in Germany, criticized the strong profit-driven focus and "culture of greed" of individual bank managers and executives, and even named Josef Ackermann, chief of Deutsche Bank, as an example.
Banks needed to give more priority to "sustainable value-building" rather than to short-term financial gain and hefty bonuses for its managers, Huber said.
"Money has become akin to God in the current situation," Huber told daily Berliner Zeitung.
Referring to Ackermann, one of Germany's most highly-paid bankers who this month said Deutsche Bank's investment banking businesses would generate a return on equity of 20 to 25 percent after the end of the current financial turmoil, Huber was very critical.
Today in Europe
Religious Turks tested by wealth
Germany resists calls to spend its way out of trouble
NATO awaits new leadership
"Never again will a Deutsche Bank CEO set a target of 25 percent on equity returns," warning that it would create expectations that would grow larger and could never be fulfilled. He asked managers to be more prudent and forgo large bonuses."
Cardinal Joachim Meisner, the Catholic Archbishop of Cologne, said a banker was "the custodian for money that doesn't belong to him and with which he has to work said Wednesday .
"It's devastating that this ethos can simply disappear and that people can trade with things that don't exist."
As We Near the End - John Grosboll
Source: http://www.a4t.org/Audio/Grosboll/john_grosboll.html
At Miletus Paul bids farewell & warns the elders of the church
17And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
18And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
19Serving the LORD with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
20And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
22And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
23Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
25And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
26Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
27For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
28Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
33I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
34Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
36And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.
37And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck, and kissed him,
38Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.
Acts 20: 16-38.
Standing on the Promises
Standing on the promises
of Christ my King,
Thru eternal ages
let His praises ring;
Glory in the highest
I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain
Standing on the promises
of God my Savior;
Standing,standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God.
2
Standing on the promises
that cannot fail,
When the howling storms
of doubt and fear assail,
By the living word of
God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
3
Standing on the promises
of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally
by love's strong cord,
Overcoming daily with
the Spirit's sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Composer: Kelso Carter, 1886
MIDI FILE


