Saturday, January 17, 2009

Afghanistan: Canada Must Pursue a More Independent Foreign Policy


Afghanistan: Canada Must Pursue a More Independent Foreign Policy

By Dana Gabriel http://www.opednews.com/articles/Afghanistan-Canada-Must-P-by-Dana-Gabriel-090113-652.html



President Barack Obama has promised to send more troops to where the war on terrorism began as the focus seems to have now shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan. Some have went so far as to dub Afghanistan, Obama’s war. A troop surge could greatly improve security for Canadian soldiers, but it is unlikely to bring any type of lasting peace or stability to the region. There is a NATO summit planned for April which will mark its 60th anniversary, where there is expected to be increased pressure for Canada to further commit beyond 2011. Canada must look past its military combat role in Afghanistan and pursue a more sovereign independent policy, one that will best assist the Afghan people and one which better represents our own values.

Obama has been critical of President George Bush’s policy which focused more on Iraq at the expense of Afghanistan. With all his talk of change, Obama has demonstrated a willingness to further maintain the U.S. as the world’s police force and it is unlikely that his presidency will bring about any radical shift in foreign policy. He will continue and maybe even expand the war on terrorism which could lead to Canada playing a more active role, including possible participation in future American military operations. Whether it be through NORTHCOM, the Civil Assistance Plan signed by the U.S.-Canadian military or the Security and Prosperity Partnership, the further merging of our command structures continues as does the militarization of North America.

According to the Fiscal Impact of the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan, between $7.7-$10.5 billion has been spent in the last six years on costs related to the mission. The total cost could reach as high as $18.1 billion by 2011. This more than doubles what the Conservative government estimated. This is at the expense of Canadian tax payers and money that many feel should and could be better spent elsewhere, especially considering the current economic crisis. More unfortunate is the high price that Canada has paid with the loss of 107 soldiers. December of 2008 became one of the deadliest months with nine deaths. It has been reported by NATO officials that Canadians have suffered more deaths per capita then any other foreign contingent serving in Afghanistan. The number of wounded Canadian soldiers is also on the rise. Canada has about 2.500 troops positioned in southern part of the country in the Kandahar province which is considered one of the most dangerous areas in the region. Despite the best efforts of some, increasingly NATO forces along with Canadian troops are being seen as the enemy.

In spite of billions of dollars in foreign aid that has poured into Afghanistan, anti-western sentiments are growing as well as distrust of foreign troops, while support for the Hamid Karzai government is on the decline. Much of the aid has fallen into the hands of drug and warlords along with corrupt government officials. Many Afghans live in poverty and increased violence as well as the resurgence of the Taliban is being blamed on worsening economic conditions in the country and mounting civilian casualties caused by American and NATO bombings. According to the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) the Taliban now enjoys a permanent presence in up to 70% of the country. A June 2008 poll conducted by the ICOS, formerly known as the Senlis Council, found that six out of every ten Afghans want foreign forces out of the country. There are some who believe that much like Iraq, there has been an almost deliberate ploy to keep Afghanistan unstable in order to further justify American long term military presence in the region. Canada should not be involved in nation building and wars of aggression and should most definitely not be used as an arm of the U.S. military.

It is not difficult to imagine a scenario whereby Obama, along with NATO, call upon Canada to further extend its mission in Afghanistan beyond 2011. Although it would be a hard sell, Prime Minister Stephen Harper could turn it into an issue of patriotism, a sense of duty and one which we would be turning our back on the Afghan people and the promise of democracy, if we were to leave. He has said that under no circumstances will Canada pullout before 2011. The Liberals, along with their new leader Michael Ignatieff voted for and support the current mission. In many aspects, there appears to be little difference between Ignatieff and Harper, except in rhetoric alone. Both the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois voted against extending the mission. The idea of a coalition government might be dead, but the reality is that it might have been the best opportunity to scale back our role in Afghanistan and possibly bring our troops home even sooner.

Why are Canadian troops still in Afghanistan? Is it to prop up a corrupt puppet government? Are we there to hold strategic territory for pipelines or launch pads for future military aggression? Canadian soldiers are being used as cannon fodder to maintain an already declining American empire. History recounts that another world superpower was forced to leave Afghanistan with their tail between their legs. Even with increased troop levels, American and NATO forces could be headed for the same fate. Canada desperately needs a prime minister that does not buckle under U.S. pressure and isn’t afraid to pursue an independent foreign policy. Canada must return to its more traditional role as a peacekeeping nation, one which has garnered praise from the rest of the world.

Globalization: The Long and Winding Road

Globalization: The Long and Winding Road

By Dana Gabriel

It has been widely announced that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is dead, as well as plans for a NAFTA Highway which many assured me never even existed in the first place. Unfortunately, these claims have been greatly exaggerated. In regards to the TTC/NAFTA Highway, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and the North American Union agenda, we have won many battles, but we have not won the war. Deeper North American integration has been exposed on many different levels and has encountered fierce resistance. It is because of this that the globalists have had to somewhat retreat from their agenda. A move to re-negotiate NAFTA could be used as a way to revive and expand upon the agreement. In the midst of all this economic turmoil, more globalization is being offered as the solution to the crisis.

The announcement by the Texas Department of Transportation proclaiming the TTC dead was more of a public relations stunt. It was designed to try and silence critics and appease Texas lawmakers. Let’s be clear, the TTC is dead in name only and has been replaced with the Innovative Connectivity plan. By scaling back the project and breaking it up into smaller segments, it is less intimidating and could make it more difficult to stop in the future. If you don’t succeed try and try again. In the case of the TTC, give it a makeover, change the name and put out a press release saying that it is dead. The original concept of the TTC had a price tag of over $180 billion and called for 4.000 miles of roadways, toll roads and rail lines. Some have referred to it as the first leg of a NAFTA Superhighway that would extend from the Texas-Mexico border to the Oklahoma state line. In whatever form a NAFTA Highway transportation system takes, it would facilitate the flow of foreign goods and be the necessary infrastructure needed for a North American Union, thus further connecting the economies of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

Those who have exposed plans for a NAFTA Superhighway and a North American Union have been ridiculed, branded liars, fearmongers and conspiracy theorists by the corporate controlled media and the establishment. Yet, there has been a House resolution stating congressional opposition to the construction of a superhighway and entry into a North American Union. Many states have also passed similar legislation. During the CNN/You Tube Republican Presidential debates, Ron Paul was asked if he believed in the North American Union conspiracy. Paul did acknowledge that there was a move towards a NAU and a NAFTA Superhighway. He referred to it as a conspiracy of ideas, an ideological battle with some believing in national sovereignty and others globalism.

President-elect Barack Obama recently met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon where he expressed a continued commitment to upgrade NAFTA. Many believe that this proves he will carry through on promises to renegotiate the agreement. It is interesting that the word upgrade was used as opposed to renegotiate. Calderon has publicly stated on many occasions that he is against changes to NAFTA, but more recently he said that he is open to reviewing environmental and labour provisions. He could use his desire for U.S. immigration reform as a bargaining tool to agree to such modifications. At the height of the NAFTA bashing during the Democratic Presidential campaign, Canadian officials threatened to put oil back on the table if the agreement was reopened, along with a list of other concessions. With Obama set to visit Canada after his inauguration, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that he doubts the new president will question the agreement in any fundamental way. NAFTA is so badly flawed and minus a few cosmetic changes that might be made, the reality is that it will remain intact. There are also fears that the agreement could be expanded which might lead to a renewed push for North American integration.

Many are under the illusion that somehow Obama and the Democrats are going to save the American people and even the world. It is becoming increasingly clear that just like Bush, Obama has no intentions of protecting American sovereignty. Globalization has meant sacrificing self-sufficiency, sovereignty and independence for foreign dependency which can only lead to economic enslavement. Obama, like many past presidents, is nothing more then a puppet, a front man controlled by special interest groups, foreign banks and corporate powers who are pushing globalization and world government

It is important that we remain vigilant and conscious of tactics used against us, word semantics and propaganda designed to lull us into a false sense of security. Construction of a NAFTA Highway could become a sort of make work project that employs millions, if jobless rates continue to climb and the current economic crisis worsens. Such an undertaking could be financed by foreign banks and corporations who are increasingly gobbling up much of North America’s key infrastructure and who ultimately control our economic future. A recent report released by the Pentagon warns that globalization and urbanization will further fuel social unrest in Mexico. Political, economic and social instability could be used to usher in a North American Union. We have a short window of opportunity to really turn things around and only an informed educated public will be able to defeat the New World Order.

newworldordermustbestopped@hotmail.com

Humble Men Proclaim the Message


Humble Men Proclaim the Message


We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19.

This message [Rev. 14:6, 7] is declared to be a part of "the everlasting gospel." The work of preaching the gospel has not been committed to angels, but has been entrusted to men. Holy angels have been employed in directing this work, they have in charge the great movements for the salvation of men; but the actual proclamation of the gospel is performed by the servants of Christ upon the earth. {Mar 17.1}

Faithful men, who were obedient to the promptings of God's Spirit and the teachings of His word, were to proclaim this warning to the world. They were those who had taken heed to the "sure word of prophecy," the "light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise." 2 Peter 1:19. They had been seeking the knowledge of God more than all hid treasures, counting it "better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold." Proverbs 3:14. And the Lord revealed to them the great things of the kingdom. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant." Psalm 25:14. {Mar 17.2}

It was not the scholarly theologians who had an understanding of this truth, and engaged in its proclamation. Had these been faithful watchmen, diligently and prayerfully searching the Scriptures, they would have known the time of night; the prophecies would have opened to them the events about to take place. But they did not occupy this position, and the message was given by humbler men. Said Jesus: "Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you." John 12:35. Those who turn away from the light which God has given, or who neglect to seek it when it is within their reach, are left in darkness. But the Saviour declares: "He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12. Whoever is with singleness of purpose seeking to do God's will, earnestly heeding the light already given, will receive greater light; to that soul some star of heavenly radiance will be sent to guide him into all truth. {Mar 17.3}
Maranatha, E. G. White, p.17.

Eternal Gospel Ministry 2009 Schedule


Pastor Perez's 2009 Schedule*

Jan. 17 Lake Placid, FL
Jan. 24 West Palm Beach
Jan. 31 Bronx, NY
Feb. 7 Orlando
Feb. 17 Miami
Feb. 21 Tampa
Feb. 28 West Palm Beach
Mar. 27, 28 Colton, CA
May 2 North Carolina
June 19, 20 Atlanta, GA




Note: *Pastor Rafael Perez of Eternal Gospel Ministry

This Is my Father's World


This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world, the birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world: He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world. O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world: the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

This is my Father’s world, dreaming, I see His face.
I ope my eyes, and in glad surprise cry, “The Lord is in this place.”
This is my Father’s world, from the shining courts above,
The Beloved One, His Only Son,
Came—a pledge of deathless love.

This is my Father’s world, should my heart be ever sad?
The lord is King—let the heavens ring. God reigns—let the earth be glad.
This is my Father’s world. Now closer to Heaven bound,
For dear to God is the earth Christ trod.
No place but is holy ground.

This is my Father’s world. I walk a desert lone.
In a bush ablaze to my wondering gaze God makes His glory known.
This is my Father’s world, a wanderer I may roam
Whate’er my lot, it matters not,
My heart is still at home.




Music: Terra Beata


Aar­ranged by:Frank­lin L. Shep­pard in his Al­le­lu­ia, 1915

(MI­DI, score).


天父世界歌


這是天父世界:我們側耳要聽,宇宙唱歌四圍響應,星辰作樂同聲這是天父世界:我心滿有安甯;樹木花草,蒼天碧海,萬物主手造成.


這是天父世界:小鳥讚美歌聲,清晨明亮,好花美麗,同頌造物功深.這是天父世界:衪愛普及萬千;風吹之草, 將衪表現,天父充滿世間.


這是天父世界:求主叫我不忘,罪惡雖然好像得勝,天父卻仍掌管.這是天父世界:我心不必憂傷;上主是王, 天地同唱,歌聲充滿萬方.

The Kingdom of the "Anti-Christ"


21And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.

22And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.

23And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

24He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

25And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.

26Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain.

27And both of these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

28Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.

29At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

30For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

31And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

32And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

33And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.

34Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries.

35And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

36And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.

37Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.

38But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

39Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

40And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

41He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.

42He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.

43But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

44But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

45And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

Daniel 11: 21-45

Nearer My God, to Thee


1
Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!
E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

2
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
yet in my dreams I'd be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

3
There let the way appear, steps unto heaven;
all that thou sendest me, in mercy given;
angels to beckon me
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

4
Then, with my waking thoughts bright with thy praise,
out of my stony griefs Bethel I'll raise;
so by my woes to be
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!

5
Or if, on joyful wing cleaving the sky,
sun, moon, and stars forgot, upward I fly,
still all my song shall be,
nearer, my God, to thee;
nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee!



COMPOSER
Lowell Mason, 1856


AUTHOR
Sarah F. Adams, 1841


MIDI file



Hymn #473

Adventist Hymnal

.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?


Revelation 5


1And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

2And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

6And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

11And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

14And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

Famous Presidential Quotes on Freedom of Religion



Famous Presidential Quotes

"Every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." George Washington, Letter, United Baptist Chamber of Virginia May 1789

"The Government of the United States is not in any sense founded upon the Christian Religion." 1797 the treaty of Tripoli, signed by President Washington, and approved by the Senate of the United States

" ... I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should `make no law respecting establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state." Thomas Jefferson, Letter, Danbury Baptist Assn. January 1, 1802

"Almighty God hath created the mind free; all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments of burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, who being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, as was in His almighty power to do." Thomas Jefferson, Acts for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia, 1785.

"I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, disciplines or exercises." Jefferson's Letter to Rev. Mr. Millar, Jan. 23,1808 (Words of Thomas Jefferson, Vol 5, pg 236.)

"I am tolerant of all creeds. Yet if any sect suffered itself to be used for political objects I would meet it by political opposition. In my view church and state should be separate, not only in form, but fact. Religion and politics should not be mingled." Millard Fillmore (1809-1865) 13th U.S. President (Millard Fillmore, address during the 1856 presidential election; from Albert Menendez and Edd Doerr, eds., Great Quotations on Religious Freedom, Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2002, p. 70.)

"Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you whave planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. Familiarize yourself with the chains of bondage, and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genious of your own independence and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tryant who rises among you." Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Edwardsville, IL, 1858.

"Thank God, under our Constitution there was no connection between Church and State, and that in my action as President of the United States I recognized no distinction of creeds in my appointments office." James K. Polk

"Declare church and state forever separate and distinct; but each free within their proper spheres." Ulysses S. Grant, Seventh annual message, Congress December 7, 1875

"Let us labor for the security of free thought, free speech, pure morals, unfettered religious sentiments, and equal rights and privileges for all men, irrespective of nationality, color, or religion;.... leave the matter of religious teaching to the family altar, the church, and the private school, supported entirely by private contribution. Keep church and state forever separate." Ulysses S. Grant's Speech to G. A. R. Veterans, at Des Moines, IA 1875.

"When religion is good, it will take care of itself. When it is not able to take care of itself, and God does not see fit to take care of it, so that it has to appeal to the civil power for support, it is evidence to my mind that its cause is a bad one." Benjamin Franklin, Statesman, Inventor, Author, Letter to Dr. Price.

"I could not do otherwise without transcending the limits prescribed by the Constitution for the President and without feeling that I might in some degree disturb the security which religion nowadays enjoys in this county in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government." Andrew Jackson, Statement refusing to proclaim a national day of fasting and prayer.

"there is not a shadow of right on the general goverment to intermeddle with religion. Its least interference with it would be a most flagrant usurpation. I can appeal to my uniform conduct on this subject tha I have warmly supported religious freedom." James Madison - father of the Constitution

"Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither justice nor freedom can be permanently maintained. Its interests are intrusted to the States and the voluntary action of the people. Whatever help the nation can justly afford should be generously given to aid the States in supporting common schools; but it would be unjust to our people and dangerous to our institutions to apply any portion of the revenues of the nation or of the States to the support of sectarian schools. The separation of Church and State in everything relating to taxation should be absolute." James A. Garfield, Letter of Acceptance of Nomination for the Presidency July 12, 1880

"I hold that in this country there must be complete severance of Church and State; that public moneys shall not be used for the purpose of advancing any particular creed; and therefore that the public schools shall be non-sectarian and no public moneys appropriated for sectarian schools." Theodore Roosevelt, Address, New York, October 12, 1915

"Discrimination against the holder of one faith means retaliatory discrimination against men of other faiths. The inevitable result of entering upon such a practise would be an abandonment of our real freedom of conscience and a reversion to the dreadful conditions of religious dissensions which in so many lands have proved fatal to true liberty, to true religion, and to all advance in civilization."

"To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against the liberty of conscience, which is one of the foundations of American life." - Roosevelt's letter on religious liberty.

"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish - where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source -- no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials -- and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all." John F. Kennedy

"As I say, not all of Jefferson's ideas were popular, though most of them were absolutely right.…He was also called an atheist because he didn't believe in a state church, an official church of the government, and in fact made it clear that he didn't much like any church at all, though he did admire many, though not all, of the teachings of religion.…And you'll recall that it was Jefferson, as governor of Virginia, who wrote the Statute of Religious Liberty in 1786, which said that ‘no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship’ but that all people ‘shall be free to profess…their opinion in matters of religion.’ He summed up very bluntly one time his view that no man harmed anyone else in choosing and practicing his own religion, or no religion. ‘It does me no injury,’ he said, ‘for my neighbor to say that there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’" Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) 33rd U.S. President

"Let it be henceforth proclaimed to the world that man's conscience was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God." -- John Tyler, Caroline Thomas Harnsberger, Treasury of Presidential Quotations (1964) p. 38, from Albert J. Menendez and Edd Doerr, The Great Quotations on Religious Freedom

Last year I was on Pat Robertson's show, and we discussed our basic Christian faith - for instance, separation of church and state. It's contrary to my beliefs to try to exalt Christianity as having some sort of preferential status in the United States. That violates the Constitution. I'm not in favor of mandatory prayer in school or of using public funds to finance religious education." Jimmy Carter, Christianity Today, March 2, 1998

Other Important Quotes

"If God himself was not willing to use coercion to force man to accept certain religious views, man, uninspired and liable to error, ought not to use the means that Jehovah would not employ." W. J. Bryan, in introduction to "The Writings of Thomas Jefferson."

"Total separation of church and state was considered the best safeguard for the health of each. As [Andrew] Jackson explained, in refusing to name a fast day, he feared to ‘disturb the security which religion now enjoys in this country, in its complete separation from the political concerns of the General Government.’" Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (Pulitzer Prize Winner) (Arthur M. Schlesinger, The Age of Jackson, Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1945, p. 354. )

"I am ashamed of some christians because they have so much dependence on Parliment and the law of the land. Much good may Parliment ever do to true religion except by mistake! As to getting the law of the land to touch our religion, we earnestly cry, `Hands off! Leave us alone.' Your Sunday bills and all other forms of the act-of-Parliment religion seem to me to be all wrong. Give us a fair field and no favor, and our faith has no cause to fear. Christ wants no help from Caesar." Charles H. Spurgeon, Church in Politics by Charles Longacre.

Condemn no man for not thinking as you think. Let every one enjoy the full and free liberty of thinking for himself. Let every man use his own judgment, since every man must give an account of himself to God. Abhor every approach, in any kind or degree, to the spirit of persecution, if you cannot reason nor persuade a man into the truth, never attempt to force a man into it. If love will not compel him to come, leave him to God, the judge of all." John Wesley, Founder of the Methodist Church Church in Politics by Charles Longacre.

"Religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free excercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience... unpunished and unrestrained by the magistrate." Tyler's "Patrick Henry," pages 183-184

"There is not a precept in the New Testament to compel, by civil law, any man who is not a Christian to pay any regard to the Lord's day, more than to any other day, and is without the authority of the christian religion. The gospel commands no duty which can be performed without faith in God. `Whatsoever is not of faith is sin' but to compel men destitute of faith to observe any Christian institution, such as the Lord's day, is commanding a duty to be performed without faith in God. Therefore, to command unbelievers, or natural men, to observe in any sense the Lord's day, is antievangelical, or contrary to the gospel." Alexander Campbell, Founder of Disciples of Christ Church Memoirs, Vol 1, pg 528.

Declaration of Independence
In that grand old document which our forefathers set forth as their bill of rights—the Declaration of Independence—they declared:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

The United Stated Constitution
The Constitution guarantees, in the most explicit terms, the inviolability of conscience.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

“The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that man’s relation with his God is above human legislation, and his rights of conscience inalienable. . . It is an inborn principle which nothing can eradicate” (Congressional documents {U.S.A.}, serial No. 200, document No. 271).

Not everyone is happy about Freedom of conscience in America
'The absurd and erroneous doctrines or ravings in defense of liberty of conscience, are a most pestilential error--a pest, of all others, most to be dreaded in a State.' Pope Pius IX., in his Encyclical Letter of August 15, 1854

The same pope, in his Encyclical Letter of December 8, 1864, anathematized 'those who assert the liberty of conscience and of religious worship,' also 'all such as maintain that the church may not employ force.'

"The pacific tone of Rome in the United States does not imply a change of heart. She is tolerant where she is helpless. Says Bishop O'Connor: 'Religious liberty is merely endured until the opposite can be carried into effect without peril to the Catholic world.'"

"The archbishop of St. Louis once said: 'Heresy and unbelief are crimes; and in Christian countries, as in Italy and Spain, for instance, where all the people are Catholics, and where the Catholic religion is an essential part of the law of the land, they are punished as other crimes."

"Every cardinal, archbishop, and bishop in the Catholic Church takes an oath of allegiance to the pope, in which occur the following words: 'Heretics, schismatics, and rebels to our said lord the pope, or his aforesaid successors, I will to my utmost persecute and oppose.'"

Please Note: It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic communion. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. They have not been allowed access to his Word, and therefore they do not discern the truth. They have never seen the contrast between a living heart-service and a round of mere forms and ceremonies. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls, educated as they are in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the dense darkness that surrounds them. He will reveal to them the truth, as it is in Jesus, and many will yet take their position with his people.

Please start the Online Bible Prophecy Studies today!


Note: We recommend that you copy the entire contents of this website to your computer. Freedom and liberty in the United States of America is under attack and rapidly erroding and it will soon be very difficult to find the truth.


"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:


And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it." Amos 8:11-12


A word to the wise is sufficient in this matter.



Thursday, January 15, 2009

Transparency?




by Maggie Fox February 13th, 2008


Personally, I harp about authenticity - that if your organization is going to participate in social media, you need to be up front about who you are and communicate in the way that you would if you were speaking face-to-face with your audience (and, again, I’m using that word because it works and has no negative connotations for me). If anything, it’s as much about tone and manner (content) as well as observing the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) ethics code:


Honesty of Relationship: You say who you’re speaking for
Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe
Honesty of Identity: You never obscure your identity

A lot of us in this space also talk about transparency, and I think we use it too much and don’t articulate it well. Transparency doesn’t mean opening your books and executive offices and secret R&D labs and inviting the world in, answering each and every question that is asked of you. Not at all.


Social media is not a truth serumTransparency means simply that if you have a lousy product or lousy customer service, you can no longer hide it. It is not voluntary. Just by using the Google, I can find a thousand different opinions about your products and services, and I weigh those collective voices (some more than others) when deciding where to spend my money. Ultimately, if there are hundreds of people talking about how much you suck as a company, I am going to listen to them when making my own decision.


Social media has meant an end to the isolated incident - now that everyone is a publisher, bad news travels fast (just ask Target). Smart companies understand this power shift and know they can’t stop the bad news, but they have a huge opportunity to learn from it. Disgruntled customers are inevitable, but hearing from them in a consistent and widely observable way provides valuable business intelligence that can help you fix problems before they hit the Wall Street Journal or your stock price.


Negative is the new positive. Do you have the guts to capitalize on it?




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Published by Adam at 3:03 pm


Transparency. This 4 syllable word has become one of the most over used terms by marketers. It’s gotten to the point where I cringe every time I hear the word. Transparency is the new synergy. Yes, folks, I’m serious. The problem isn’t the word transparency, it’s how we use it. It’s become a catch all band-aid for marketing speak.


As I hear it being used, I’m reminded of the scene in the movie, the Princess Bride where Inigo Montoya says “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means,” in reference to the word “inconceivable.”

To illustrate my point, do you really think your customers want to see how hot dogs are made if you are say, Hebrew National? Because, that’s what being transparent means. Tell you what, you watch this video and let me know if you think Hebrew National or any other hot dog company would want to show this to their customers in the spirit of TRANSPARENCY.

If you’ve watched the entire video, I applaud you. I worked on Hebrew National and even I got a little bit squeemish watching the vide. Still think customers want transparency? I didn’t think so


So if they don’t want transparency, what do they want? They want authenticity. That’s different than transparency. They want to know that what they are going to eat (continuing out hot dog example) is real beef and not lips. More specifically:
This graphic, not the video is what the consumer wants. They want authenticity, not transparency. Trust me, no one wants to know how a hot dog is made.


So, please stop using the word transparency incorrectly, I really don’t think it means what you think it means.



Millions set to cheer Obama's inauguration

(Note: Fasces under Linoln's hands on front of chair)



January 11, 2009 - 7:33am.


White House

By VIRGINIE MONTET

In a little over a week's time history will be made in the heart of the capital when Barack Obama is sworn in as the nation's first black president witnessed by millions of jubilant supporters.

Washington will be the proud host of the January 20 inauguration of the 44th president, marking the dawning of a new era ushered in by the wildly popular Obama and drawing the curtain on the controversial reign of George W. Bush.

Initial estimates that up to five million people might descend on the sleepy city -- population normally around 600,000 -- have been revised downwards to between 1.5 million to two million visitors.

The sheer size of the crowds though is posing a logistical challenge to city planners and security agencies who have not seen anything on this scale since the 1965 inauguration of John F. Kennedy's successor Lyndon Johnson, attended by 1.2 million people.

Officials and Obama's transition team have spent months since the November 4 elections pouring over maps and charts aiming to accommodate the crowds while ensuring they, the president-elect and his family are kept safe.

Inaugurations date back more than 200 years to the very first one held for George Washington in New York in 1789. But the realities of the 21st century mean each inauguration poses tough new headaches.

Some nine square kilometers, a huge swathe of the downtown area encompassing the White House, the National Mall and the Washington Monument, is being locked down from Monday afternoon until just after dawn on Wednesday.

And the secret service has said they will boost existing restrictions on the airspace above the White House and the waterways.

Obama and vice president Joe Biden will take the oath of office towards midday on Tuesday. Obama will swear on the bible which once belonged to his avowed hero, assassinated president Abraham Lincoln.

The historic Bible with its gilded edges and burgundy velvet binding is being used for the first time since the 1861 inauguration of Lincoln, the 16th US president who brought about an end to slavery.

"The president-elect is committed to holding an inauguration that celebrates America's unity, and the use of this historic Bible will provide a powerful connection to our common past and common heritage," inaugural committee executive director Emmett Beliveau said last month.

On Saturday, Obama, his wife Michelle and their two daughters Malia and Sasha strode up the marble steps of the Lincoln Memorial -- site of Martin Luther King Jr's inspirational 1963 "I have a dream" speech -- to pay homage to the 16th US president.

Ten huge video screens and 100 loud speakers are being erected for the crowds who will be kept under the watchful eye of some 8,000 police officers -- 1,000 more than for Bush's 2005 swearing in -- and 11,500 troops.

After the inauguration on the steps of Capitol Hill, a military parade will march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where Obama and his family will take up residence.

But while Obama's transition team has said the inauguration is for all Americans, securing a place to witness the event, being staged at a cost of some 75 million dollars, may prove tough for even the hardiest souls.

Inauguration-goers will only be able to enter the parade route through 13 designated check-points. No backpacks, bottles of water, umbrellas or strollers will be allowed. And crowds will have to stand for hours, on what is likely to be a cold winter's day.

The city's hotels and those in the surrounding suburbs in Virginia and Maryland are mostly full, and moving around the city is likely to be a nightmare.

"DC's subway system... is expecting 'crush-level' crowds," inaugural officials said last week.

The festivities are set to continue long into the night as Washington rocks around the clock with a flurry of balls to welcome the new president.

Obama is hosting 10 official balls, but with a galaxy of stars set to light up the day's events some of the unofficial balls may well be the place to be seen.

The Creative Coalition, a non-profit group, has snagged Sting and Elvis Costello to play at their ball set to be attended by such celebrities as Spike Lee, Anne Hathaway, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

Obama also plans to hold a "neighborhood ball" offering cheap tickets to residents in a break with past parties which have usually only catered to a powerful, wealthy elite.

"This is an inauguration for all Americans," Obama said last week. "I wanted to make sure that we had an event that would be open to our new neighborhood here in Washington DC, and also neighborhoods across the country."

Tuesday morning's most keenly watched news item though is likely to be the weather report, amid hopes that nothing will rain on Obama's parade.

Copyright © 2009 Agence France Presse


Construction on World’s Tallest Building Halts in Dubai


Construction on World’s Tallest Building Halts in Dubai

Written by The Media Line Staff
Published Wednesday, January 14, 2009


Construction work on the Nakheel Tower, which is destined to become the world’s tallest high-rise, has been suspended for a period of 12 months, Nakheel announced Wednesday morning, according to the United Arab Emirates’ daily The National.

With 200 floors, the building is expected to soar to more than one kilometer (0.62 miles) high.

The worldwide economic crisis has not skipped the UAE countries and their giant construction companies. Already last year, Nakheel announced it was delaying several of its flagship projects, including the Trump International Hotel and Tower, in addition to shedding 500 jobs.

The company has recently fired more employees as a result of its decision to freeze work on the Nakheel Tower, a senior project manager told The National.

Meanwhile, an average of 1,500 work permits and visas are being cancelled in Dubai each day, as companies lay off employees following the global crisis, the Saudi-based daily ArabNews reports.

Dubai’s Ministry of Labor began seeing a rise in the cancellation of visas late October 2008, an official at the ministry told the paper, adding that on some days, “we cancel more than 2,000 permits.”

The global crisis, which has affected Dubai’s real estate sector, has resulted in an unprecedented number of complaints from foreign workers who have been fired and not been paid.

After their cases are settled, they too will lose their work permits and will be forced to leave Dubai, the ministry official told ArabNews.


Copyright © 2008 The Media Line. All Rights Reserved.


Source: http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=23932

The Masonic Presidents Tour

Photo: http://www.trosch.org/bks/msnc/g-washington-mason-l.jpg

This is a small permanent exhibit in The Masonic Library and Museum of Pennsylvania. It consists of a photographed portrait and the (facsimile) signature of each Masonic President of the United States, and a record of his Masonic career. The material is enhanced by photographs and background information on the Great Seal of The United States and the Flag of the President of the United States. The photographs and signatures are taken from the booklet The Presidents of the United States of America which was published by the White House Historical Association in cooperation with the National Geographic Society.

Until recently, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were included in this gallery of Masonic Presidents, but since their membership cannot be established as a certainty, their inclusion here was based more on speculation than fact. Until their membership can be absolutely proven, they should not be considered "Masonic Presidents."

Lyndon B. Johnson was initiated on October 30, 1937 in Johnson City Lodge No. 561, at Johnson City, Texas, but completed only the Entered Apprentice, or first, of the three Masonic degrees. For this reason, he is not included in the gallery.



Source: http://www.pagrandlodge.org/mlam/presidents/index.html

WMD*


"When Millionaires Deceive"


Mission finally accomplished?


Arsenio.

Historic Church Will Host President-Elect on Big Day

By Jacqueline L. SalmonWashington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 14, 2009; Page B02

President-elect Barack Obama will attend a private prayer service on the morning of his inauguration at the historic St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square, according to the Presidential Inauguration Committee

Kevin Griffis, spokesman for the inauguration committee, said yesterday that the prayer service will not be open to the public.

St. John's, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, is known as the "Church of the Presidents." Since James Madison, every president has worshiped there at some point during his tenure in the Oval Office. The church has kneelers embroidered in tribute to each president, and Pew 54 is traditionally assigned to the chief executives when they visit.
The Rev. Luis León, rector of the church, could not be reached for comment yesterday. But, like other churches in the District, Leon invited Obama after the election to attend his church, sending the president-elect a letter highlighting the historic nature of the house of worship.
"We, of course, would be delighted if he chose to attend here," Leon said in an interview in November.

The church, constructed in 1816, recently underwent an extensive renovation, including repainting its domed ceiling, reguilding the copper cupola and installing a pipe organ. It only recently reopened after the construction.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt started the tradition of attending a worship service before inauguration at St. John's. Since then, four other presidents have worshiped there on Inauguration Day, according to the church's Web site: Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

And since Roosevelt, every president except Richard M. Nixon has attended a worship service on inauguration morning somewhere in the District.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011302730.html?referrer=emailarticle

Protestant Revivalism, Pentecostalism and the Drift Back to Rome



The sixteenth century rediscovery of Paul's objective message of justification by faith invaded the consciousness of men with a tempestuous fury and changed the course of history. The Protestant movement was founded upon a restoration of the primacy, supremacy and all-sufficiency of justification by faith.

No one would want to contend that the Protestant Reformation completely recovered the purity of faith which existed in the apostolic church. The Reformers did not always agree among themselves. They were not always consistent in every area. And it was inevitable that the church did not all at once abandon every error of the Dark Ages. But in spite of differences and inconsistencies, the Reformers were absolutely united on justification by faith — its objective meaning and its absolute centrality in the Christian faith.

We have already observed that there is a tendency in human nature to gravitate from the objective stance of the gospel to religious subjectivism, to shift the central focus from Christ's experience to Christian experience. This is what happened in the great "falling away" in the early church. And the same evolution has taken place within the Protestant movement.

The Error of the Sects

Even before the Reformers had passed off the stage, different sects began to grow up within the Protestant movement and to break from the founding churches. The sects said that Luther made a good start in reviving the doctrine of justification by faith, but they had the feeling that Luther stood only half way and that they must go on, higher. These sects were generally not without some truth. Often they emphasized something that was neglected by the founding churches of the Reformation. But Luther discerned that they erred on the great charter of Protestantism – justification by faith – and, as far as he was concerned, if this was wrong everything was wrong. "Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater," wrote Luther. "For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc." — What Luther Says (St. Louis, Mo.: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), Vol.11, pp.702-704.

These sectarian teachers did not deny justification as an initiating step in the Christian life. Their error was the old one of relegating justification to something whereby the believer can make a start and then go on to higher things. With them, justification by faith was no longer the center. Their focus was away from Christ's experience to their own, from the objective to the subjective. Luther understood their mentality when he said:

"For people say, Why, this man can preach about nothing but baptism, the ten commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and faith – matters which even the children know nowadays. Why is it that he is forever dinning the same sermon into our ears. Who cannot do this? One must not surely stay forever with the same matter but continue and progress (say the sects). Dear people, you have now heard the self same stuff for so long a time; you must rise higher." — Ibid., Vol.III, p.1268.

In the time of the Reformers, the Munzerites and radical Anabaptists gave great prominence to the work and gifts of the Spirit. Their cry was, "The Spirit! the Spirit!" but Luther replied, "I will not follow where their spirit leads." They were the sixteenth century charismatics.

Then there was Osiander. At first a disciple and colaborer with Luther, he broke from the Reformation teaching on justification by an imputed (outside) righteousness and began to teach that the believer is justified by the indwelling of Christ and His essential righteousness. Both Luther and Calvin recognized that Osiander's teaching was a return, in principle, to the Roman Catholic idea of justification. Some of the sects erred from the gospel in that they tried to go beyond righteousness by faith to seeking a state of absolute sinlessness in this mortal life on earth. The Reformers also recognized that this was actually Roman Catholic perfectionism in new garments.

After the time of the Reformers, the Protestant movement went through the period known as Protestant orthodoxy. Heresies were resisted by careful definition and redefinition of the Protestant faith. Faith tended to become intellectualized; and although some good theology was produced in this period, orthodoxy produced a sterile faith and a dead church.

In Germany, Pietism arose as a reaction against the dead orthodoxy of the Lutheran Church. It cannot be denied that many of the Pietist leaders were earnest, godly men; and their witness did accomplish some good. But the definite tendency of Pietism was to distort the objective gospel with an exaggerated emphasis on experience. Much of the German Pietism recaptured the spirit of the great Catholic mystics and resembled it in its sentimental (even effeminate) Christian devotions.

Wesleyanism

Eighteenth century England witnessed a remarkable movement which was also a reaction to the dead formalism of the Church of England. The truth of justification by faith had been largely lost from the church. These were the days of the foxhunting parsons who loved their dogs more than the flock. Moreover, there was a growing working class, unchurched and untouched by an indifferent church. John Wesley was probably the most outstanding man of the eighteenth century in any country in the world. He was one of the most successful itinerant evangelists since Paul. His effect on the whole national life of England (especially on the working class) was so remarkable that some credit his ministry with saving England from a revolution similar to that which engulfed France.

John Wesley believed in justification by faith and taught it with power. His "long suit," however, was sanctification. He had been deeply influenced by Moravian Pietism and certain of the great Catholic mystics. Wesley's emphasis on sanctification was both the strength and weakness of the Methodist movement. It was the strength of Methodism because such an emphasis was sorely needed. Among many, the doctrine of imputed righteousness had become perverted with antinomianism. Many were making the Reformation concept of imputed righteousness an excuse for all sorts of ungodliness. Like a John the Baptist, Wesley laid the ax at the root of the tree and called for fruit that was meet for repentance. Along with justification by the blood of Christ, Wesley emphasized the renewing power of the Holy Spirit in conforming lives to true obedience to the law of God. Apart from sanctified obedience to the law of God, Wesley declared that no soul would retain the blessing of justification.

Wesley's emphasis on sanctification was also the weakness of Methodism. As Niebuhr has pointed out:

". . . [Wesley's] thought is rooted in the New Testament doctrine of forgiveness and justification. However, he regards justification in essentially Augustinian terms, as forgiveness for sins that are past; and he thinks of sanctification as the higher stage of redemption." — Reinhold Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1949), Vol.11, p.180.

Wesley developed a doctrine of entire sanctification, known also as the "second blessing" or "Methodist perfection." He proposed that after justification and a process of sanctification, the believer could receive by faith a sudden second blessing which would completely purge the soul from inbred sin1 enabling the fully sanctified to feel nothing but perfect love. He called this experience ''a still higher salvation," "immensely greater than that wrought when he was justified" (Plain Account, p. 7). Wesley and his preachers urged their hearers to seek this second blessing of perfection with all diligence. They did, and gave proof of it in lives of earnest (and sometimes frantic) piety.

With Paul and Luther, justification by faith was the whole truth of the gospel. But in Wesleyanism, the centrality and all-sufficiency of justification tended to be lost by being subordinated to sanctification.

However, it must be said to the everlasting credit of John Wesley that, although he preached it to others, till his dying day he frankly confessed he had not attained his famous "second blessing." He always sought it but only attained to the hope of it. He was too humble and honest to confess anything but that he still felt sin strong within him — although few men exhibited the mastery over inbred sin as well as he did.

Unfortunately, not all of Wesley's followers were as prudent or as humble as the great evangelist. The trouble began when some of them did profess that they had attained the second blessing of entire sanctification. A few were preachers, and some of these soon fell to the temptation of imagining that they were superior to Wesley. The great Methodist revival was therefore plagued and embarrassed by some fanaticism. The problem did not come to the surface as long as all the Methodists were seeking perfection. It boiled over when some claimed to have attained it.

This also must be said in Wesley's favor: Most of his labors were directed in preaching the gospel to the unsaved. Hence he was obliged to spend most of his time and energy preaching justification by faith to sinners. This was a great providential blessing, for it kept the evangelist in better balance. The same thing cannot be said of all Wesley's spiritual children.

American Revivalism and the Holiness Movement

Eighteenth and early nineteenth century American Protestantism became heir of much of Methodism's religious fervor. America developed its own style and brand of revivalism. It suited the national temper and was unconsciously molded by the frontier spirit.

Frontier life was rude, raw and exciting. Some of the frontier people saw very little of churches or preachers except once a year at a big tent revival meeting. As the growing calves were rounded up once a year for branding, so the growing youth needed to be gathered in and "saved," while the older people felt their need for a good "clean-up" in the yearly revival time. As Vinson Synan has well said:

"Those who attended such camp meetings...generally expected their religious experiences to be as vivid as the frontier life around them. Accustomed to 'braining bears and battling Indians,' they received their religion with great color and excitement." — Vinson Synan, The Holiness-Pentecostal Movement in the United States (Grand Rapids, Mich., Wm B Eerdmans' Publishing Co., 1971), p.25.

Sometimes the religious fervor was accompanied by great emotional excesses such as "godly hysteria," falling, jerking, "the holy laugh," barking like dogs and "such wild dances as David performed before the Ark of the Lord."

In the nineteenth century, Charles Finney was such a successful evangelist that, by 1850, revivalism — Charles Finney style — became like the national religion of America. Finney's Systematic Theology (still one of the most popular manuals on theology in the Pentecostal churches today) is very critical of Luther and Calvin with respect to their teaching of justification by faith through an imputed righteousness. Finney's predominant emphasis is on sanctification and God's work within human experience – an emphasis which is neither Pauline nor Reformation. His preaching led people into a very emotional, crisis experience, and a seeking after a holiness of experience that would be acceptable to God.

In all these revival influences, the predominant emphasis was to find God in a very dramatic, emotional, empirical, inward experience of the heart. There was very little focus on being acceptable to God by faith in an experience and a righteousness not our own but outside of us in the person of Christ. American revivalism was far more subjective than objective, far more experience-centered than gospel-centered.

About the middle of the last century, the Methodist Church (which was then the largest church in the U.S.A.) experienced a remarkable resurgence of interest in the doctrine of the "second blessing." As Synan writes, "The optimistic idea that one could find perfection seemed to match the general optimism that prevailed throughout American society." — Ibid., p.22. "It was a kind of evangelical transcendentalism which thrived in the idealism of a young and growing America." — Ibid., p.30. "The decade of the 1840's, therefore, witnessed a veritable flood of perfectionistic teaching in the Methodist Church. Leading pastors, bishops, and theologians led the movement, giving it institutional and intellectual respectability." —Ibid., p.28.

This development spilled over into other Protestant bodies, and by 1869 it became known as the "holiness movement." Independent "holiness" publications sprang up all over the country. The movement spread to England and found expression in the renowned Keswick Convention.

The emphasis that was popularized in the holiness movement was concerning the victorious, Spirit-filled life. Its focal point was not on justification or conversion but on the attainment of an empirical experience of holiness and entire sanctification subsequent to conversion. Boardman, Inskip, A. B. Simpson, Torrey, and Andrew Murray were some of the best-known writers and leaders of the movement. Hannah W. Smith's The Christian's Secret of a Happy Life (still circulated today) expressed very well the aspirations of the holiness people. Holiness-type books can generally be detected by titles that major on experience rather than on the gospel (The Victorious Life, Keys to Victorious Living, The Spirit-Filled Life, etc.). The punch line of these books is generally on Romans 7 and Romans 8: "Get out of Romans 7 into Romans 8" (which, incidentally, is decidedly contrary to what the Reformers all taught).

One could not disparage the holiness contribution as all bad. But the objective nature and value of justification and forgiveness cease to be the center of its thrust. They are undervalued, even demeaned in the overwhelming preoccupation with religious experience and perfectionism. The holiness movement goes aground on the rocks of subjectivism, and because of this, it is basically more in harmony with Roman Catholicism than with Protestantism.

In the 1890's the Methodist Church finally took an administrative stand against the holiness movement. Consequently, between the years 1890 and 1900, twenty-three holiness denominations were founded.

The Pentecostal Movement

Toward the end of the nineteenth century, many within the holiness movement began to speak about and seek for the "baptism of fire.” One branch of the holiness movement was called the "Fire-Baptized Holiness Church" (originating in Iowa in 1895 and led by Benjamin Irwin). Those receiving "the fire" would often shout, scream, fall in trances or speak in other tongues. This "baptism of fire" was regarded as a miraculous visitation of the Spirit that followed entire sanctification. The more conservative teachers of the holiness movement rejected this "third" blessing of fire, for they regarded the second blessing and the special baptism of the Spirit as synonymous.

But the radical "fire" advocates continued to make an impact within the movement with fiery preaching and publications like Live Coals of Fire (first published in October, 1899). This paper spoke of "the blood that cleans up, the Holy Ghost that fills up, the fire that burns up, and the dynamite that blows up." It is not hard to imagine the eccentric and mind-bending manifestations that accompanied the blowing-up stage of this religious high. The logical outcome of this religious trend was the appearance of the twentieth-century Pentecostal movement, which generally traces its beginnings to the ministry of Charles Parham at Topeka, Kansas in 1900. Says Synan:

"The Pentecostal movement arose as a split in the holiness movement and can be viewed as the logical outcome of the holiness crusade which had vexed American Protestantism for forty years . . . "— Synan, op. cit., p.115.

Dr. Frederick Dale Bruner also says:

"Out of the world-wide holiness movements the Pentecostal movement was born. The Pentecostal historian, Charles Conn, notes 'that the Pentecostal movement is an extension of the holiness revival that occurred during the last half of the nineteenth century.' "— Frederick Dale Bruner, A Theology of the Holy Spirit (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1970), p.44.

Says noted Catholic author and contemporary ecumenist, Kilian McDonnell:

"John Wesley was father to much of the 19th century American religious fervor; one of his children was the Holiness Movement which gave rise to the Pentecostalism of the 20th century." — Kilian McDonnell, "The Classical Pentecostal Movement," New Covenant, Vol. I, No.11 (May, 1972), p.1. (New Covenant is a monthly publication serving the Catholic charismatic renewal.)

The Pentecostal movement came into being directly on the issue of insisting that the physical sign of speaking in tongues was the evidence of the baptism of the Spirit. This issue of tongues caused a split between the holiness and Pentecostal movements; yet the basic emphasis of the two movements remains the same.

Pentecostal ism is the inevitable end of subjective revivalism. It is American revivalism in its final form of development. The kind of revivals that operate in the United States may not be overtly Pentecostal or charismatic, but they tend in that direction because they are supremely orientated toward religious experientialism.

The Trend toward Rome

For more than 400 years, influences have been at work within the Protestant movement to erode the objective emphasis of the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith. It has been a drift back to Romanism. A few years ago, noted Roman Catholic author, Louis Bouyer, made these stunning observations:

"The Protestant Revival . . . recalls the best and most authentic elements of the Catholic tradition . . . — Louis Bouyer, The Spirit and Forms of Protestantism (Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Co., 1964), p.186.

"We see in every Protestant country, Christians who owed their religion to the movement we have called, in general, Revivalism, attain a more or less complete rediscovery of Catholicism." — Ibid., p. 188.

"The contemporary revivals most valuable and lasting in their results all present a striking analogy with this process of rediscovery of Catholicism..." —Ibid., p.189. ". . . the instinctive orientation of the revivals toward the Catholic… would bring in that way a reconciliation between the Protestant Movement and the Church… "— Ibid., p.197.

Bouyer closes with an appeal to his fellow Catholics to prepare for the inevitable return of the "separated brethren" under the influence of contemporary revivals. The fact that many revivalists regard themselves as anti-Catholic makes no difference, for as Bouyer points out, they are simply in the dark about how the heart of their emphasis is in profound harmony with Catholicism. If the reader wants to know what Rome thinks about the most popular U.S. revivalists today, he would be well advised to secure the July, 1972 issue of The Catholic Digest.

Also a few years ago, Protestant scholar Paul Tillich1 observed that we have reached "the end of the Protestant era."

"For the kind of Protestantism which has developed in America is not so much an expression of the Reformation, but has more to do with the so-called Evangelical Radicals. There are the Lutheran and Calvinistic groups, and they are strong, but they have adapted themselves to an astonishing degree to the climate of American Protestantism. This climate has not been made by them, but by the sectarian movements. Thus when I came to America twenty years ago, the theology of the Reformation was almost unknown in Union Theological Seminary [New York] because of the different traditions, and the reduction of the Protestant tradition nearer to the non-Reformation traditions." — Paul Tillich, A History of Christian Thought (London: S.C.M. Press, Ltd., 1968), pp.225-226. (From lectures first given in 1953.)

"Luther's conflict with the evangelical radicals is especially important for American Protestants because the prevailing type of Christianity in America was not produced by the Reformation directly, but by the indirect effect of the Reformation through the movement of evangelical radicalism." — Ibid., p.239.

The last decade has more than justified the observations of Bouyer and Tillich. The drift toward Rome has become like that place in the Niagara River where the boatsman reaches the point of no return as the water rushes on toward the falls. We must now consider this development.

The Neo-Pentecostal/Charismatic Movement

From 1900 to 1960, the Pentecostal movement continued to grow outside the mainstream of Protestantism. Yet by 1960 it had attained a world-wide membership of about eight million. At that time, men like Dr. Henry Van Dusen began to call the movement the "third force" in Christendom.

Then about 1960 a remarkable change took place. Pentecostalism began to jump the denominational boundary lines and to penetrate the mainline Protestant churches. As John Sherrill says in his book, They Speak With Other Tongues, "the walls came tumbling down." Soon there were thousands, and then millions, of Episcopalian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregationalist and other Protestant Pentecostals. This interdenominational phase of the movement became known as the neo-Pentecostal, or charismatic, movement. It was no longer a separate denomination but an experience that transcended all denominational boundary lines. Those sharing the experience in different denominations saw themselves as having more in common with each other than with non-charismatics of the same church. Many confidently predicted that this was the beginning of the greatest revival the world had ever known.

Toward the end of the decade, the neo-Pentecostal movement made two further astounding strides. It entered the new youth culture and became known as the Jesus movement. (It is estimated that ninety per cent of the Jesus People, as they are called, have some form of Pentecostal experience.) Many from the drug culture became "high" on Jesus instead of drugs. Then, to crown its success, the neo-Pentecostal movement entered the Catholic Church in 1967. After a modest beginning in its great centers of learning (Duquesne and Notre Dame), it is now spreading rapidly in the Catholic Church, attracting the support of cardinals, bishops and thousands of priests and nuns.
Since Roman Catholics are now receiving the identical Pentecostal experience as Protestants, the old-line Pentecostals are having to re-evaluate their attitude to Roman Catholicism. Traditionally anti-papal, the classical Pentecostal churches are changing their stance since "Pentecost" has come to Rome.

Although Pentecostalism was introduced to the Catholic Church initially by Protestant Pentecostals, it is meeting even less resistance in Catholic circles than in Protestant circles. In fact, as many Catholic authors are pointing out, Pentecostalism is more at home in the ancient church. It is more at home there because the overwhelming Pentecostal emphasis on the subjective experience is in essential harmony with the tradition of the Roman Church. Says Benedictine monk, Father Edward O'Connor of Notre Dame:

"Although they derive from Protestant backgrounds, the Pentecostal churches are not typically Protestant in their beliefs, attitudes or practices." — Edward O'Connor, The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church (Notre Dame, Ind.: Ave Maria Press, 1971), p.23.

". . . it cannot be assumed that the Pentecostal movement represents an incursion of Protestant influence." — Ibid., p.32.

"…Catholics who have accepted Pentecostal spirituality have found it to be fully in harmony with their traditional faith and life. They experience it, not as a borrowing from an alien religion, but as a connatural development of their own." — Ibid., p.28.

"…the spiritual experience of those who have been touched by the grace of the Holy Spirit in the Pentecostal movement is in profound harmony with the classical spiritual theology of the Church." — Ibid., p.183.

"…the experience of the Pentecostal movement tends to confirm the validity and relevance of our authentic spiritual traditions." —Ibid., p.191.

"Moreover, the doctrine that is developing in the Pentecostal churches today seems to be going through stages very similar to those which occurred in the early Middle Ages when the classical doctrine was taking shape." — Ibid., pp.193-194.

Moreover, neo-Pentecostalism certainly does nothing to unsettle the faith of Catholics in their church and traditions. Says Father O'Connor:

"Similarly, the traditional devotions of the Church have taken on more meaning. Some people have been brought back to a frequent use of the sacrament of Penance through the experience of the baptism in the Spirit. Others have discovered a place for devotion to Mary in their lives, whereas previously they had been indifferent or even antipathetic toward her. One of the most striking effects of the Holy Spirit's action has been to stir up devotion to the Real Presence in the Eucharist." — Edward O'Connor, Pentecost in the Catholic Church (Pecos, N.M.: Dove Publications, 1970), pp.14-15.

The Ecumenical Phase of Pentecostalism

The 1970's have brought us to a great ecumenical phase of revivalism and the charismatic movement. Says Christianity Today of February 1, 1972:

"The force that appears to be making the greatest contribution to the current Christian revival around the globe is Pentecostalism. This movement, which began several decades ago, and which in its early years was very sectarian in character, is now becoming ecumenical in the deepest sense. A neo-Pentecostalism has lately appeared that includes many thousands of Roman Catholics . . . A new era of the Spirit has begun. The charismatic experience moves Christians far beyond glossolalia….There is light on the horizon. An evangelical renaissance is becoming visible along the Christian highway from the frontiers of the sects to the high places of the Roman Catholic' communion. This appears to be one of the most strategic moments in the Church's history."

The May, 1972 issue of New Covenant (Catholic charismatic publication) features Catholics and Protestants uniting in a great charismatic fellowship. It proclaims that the charismatic movement holds the hope of healing the wound of the sixteenth century. Dr. Henry Pitney Van Dusen (Union Theological Seminary) is featured as saying:

"The presence of the charismatic (Pentecostal) movement among us is said to make a new era in the development of Christianity. This new Pentecost will appear to future historians as a 'true reformation' (compared to that of the 16th century) from which will spring a third force in the Christian world (Protestant-Catholic-Pentecostal)." — Henry Pitney Van Dusen, New Covenant, op. cit., p.19.

This union is not based on objective truth but on subjective experience. American Christianity is drowning in a sea of religious subjectivism. Charismatic literature (and with it we include all this subjective revivalism) is infesting the land like the frogs of Egypt (see Rev. 16:13-14). Never has such a mass of literature been so devoid of the gospel of Christ. There is scarcely one extrinsic, objective thought in it. It is all "in and in and in"; a return to sentimental, effeminate, medieval mysticism. No wonder one of the points of dialogue between Pentecostal leaders and the Roman Catholic Church (a dialogue which is now in progress in Rome) is the remarkable similarity between Pentecostalism and Catholic mysticism. The startling fact of the crumbling of Protestant resistance to Pentecostalism illustrates the decadence of the Protestant churches. Even the word Protestant is becoming a dirty word.

A Fulfillment of Prophecy

Multitudes are exulting that the church is being stirred by the fires of revivalism. This is not a passing fad but a remarkable fulfillment of Bible prophecy. If the Protestant movement had not cast away the historical system of prophetic interpretation (which was espoused by the Reformers) in favor of futurism and preterism (developed by the Jesuits),2 it might have escaped the delusion of these last days.

Protestants once generally accepted the fact that the two-horned lamb-like beast of Revelation 13 was a symbol of the papacy. Armed with the objective truth of justification by faith, the Reformation broke the stranglehold of papal thought and set the nations free from papal domination. But the modern Pentecostal movement represents a restoration of the ancient Roman church’s power to dominate the minds and enslave the consciences of men. The prophet declares:

"And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live." Rev. 13:13-14.

"Fire . . . from heaven... in the sight of men" is an astoundingly accurate picture of American Protestantism caught up in the fires of false revivalism and Pentecostalism. Fire is the favorite symbol of the charismatic movement — and it is the symbol God uses to describe that movement because it is a counterfeit outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is not really fire from heaven, but it appears to be fire from heaven. It is "fire….from heaven…in the sight of men." But by its influence it will cause "the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed" (Rev. 13:12).

The last days are to be marked by great religious deceptions. Working in the guise of "fire …from heaven" (the pseudo-baptism of the Holy Spirit), "the spirits of devils" will "go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14; see also 2 Thess. 2:8-12).

Already it is considered as blasphemy to speak against the supernatural workings within the new Pentecostal movement. A spirit of boastful certainty and arrogant intolerance has often been manifested by those who "have the Spirit." The preoccupation with inward experience is leading multitudes back to the religious philosophy of the medieval church. Rome knows the score. She reads what is to be. Some well-meaning men seem to be as paralyzed as Mellanchthon was when he did not know whether or not to speak out against the spiritualistic enthusiasts who came to Wittenberg while Luther was hidden in the Wartburg Castle. It was this issue that led the great Reformer to come out of hiding and to risk his life. Cried the “Spirit-filled” leaders on being granted an interview with Luther, "The Spirit! the Spirit!" The Reformer was decidedly unimpressed, "I slap your spirit on the snout," he thundered. He saw that the great truth of justification by faith was diametrically opposed to these "German prophets," as he styled them.

We have now come to the time when the great issues of the sixteenth century have to be fought out again. This time the conflict will be more severe, and it will be final. Roll up the old denominational boundary lines. There is going to be a regrouping of the religious world. On the one side there will be a grand union of Catholics, pseudo-Protestants, and Pentecostals in what appears to be a movement for the conversion of the whole world. This movement is described in Revelation 13. On the other side there will be a movement to restore the everlasting gospel in its pristine purity and power. This movement is described in Revelation 14. In our concluding study we must consider the features of God's final message.


1 Tillich is not our model as a teacher of the gospel, but he is cited because he does have a keen insight into church history.
2 In a future issue of Present Truth Magazine, the editors will present a full documentation of the historical school versus the futurist school of interpretation of Bible prophecy.