Monday, January 26, 2009

THREE ANGELS' MESSAGES OF Revelation 14 (PART 9)


PART 9

THREE ANGELS' MESSAGES OF REVELATION 14

By condemning the people of God to death, they have as truly incurred the guilt of their blood as if it had been shed by their hands. In like manner Christ declared the Jews of His time guilty of all the blood of holy men which had been shed since the days of Abel; for they possessed the same spirit and were seeking to do the same work with these murderers of the prophets.

"When our nation, in its legislative councils, shall enact laws to bind the consciences of men in regard to their religious privileges, enforcing Sunday observance, and bringing oppressive power to bear against those who keep the seventh-day Sabbath, the law of God will, to all intents and purposes, be made void in our land; and national apostasy will be followed by national ruin.

"The people of the United States have been a favored people; but when they restrict religious liberty, surrender Protestantism, and give countenance to popery, the measure of their guilt will be full, and national apostasy will be registered in the books of heaven.

"When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with Spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and Republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan, and that the end is near.

"Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world, and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium (on earth). [Many interpret scriptures differently than what Jesus taught. Click here to find out the truth about the Millennium - where it would be spent.]

"It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday-sabbath; that this sin had brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity.

"Those who honor the bible Sabbath will be denounced as enemies of law and order, as breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing anarchy and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God upon the earth. Their conscientious scruples will be pronounced obstinacy, stubbornness, and contempt of authority. They will be accused of disaffection toward the government. Ministers who deny the obligation of the divine law will present from the pulpit the duty of yielding obedience to the civil authorities as ordained of God. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment-keepers will be misrepresented and condemned. A false coloring will be given to their words; the worst construction will be placed upon their motives.

"The powers of earth, uniting to war against the commandments of God, will decree that all, 'both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond' (Rev 13:16), shall conform to the customs of the church by the observance of the false sabbath. All who refuse compliance will be visited with civil penalties, and it will finally be declared that they are deserving of death.

"The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of affliction and distress which prophets have described as the time of Jacob's trouble. Jeremiah 30:5-7.


The decree which is to go forth against the people of God will be very similar to that issued by Ahasuerus against the Jews in the time of Esther. As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against commandment-keepers shall withdraw the protection of government, and abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies, dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. God's people will search their hearts to see if there are any sins unconfessed. They lift up their voices in confession and repentance.
"Many will find refuge in the strongholds of the mountains...But many of all nations, and of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will be cast into the most unjust and cruel bondage. The beloved of God pass weary days, bound in chains, shut in by prison bars, sentenced to be slain, some apparently left to die of starvation in dark and loathsome dungeons. No human ear is open to hear their moans; no human hand is ready to lend them help...Though enemies may thrust them into prison, yet dungeon walls cannot cut off the communication between their souls and Christ. One who sees their every weakness, who is acquainted with every trial, is above all earthly powers; and angels will come to them in lonely cells, bringing light and peace from heaven.

"The people of God--some in prison cells, some hidden in solitary retreats in the forests and the mountains--still plead for divine protection, while in every quarter companies of armed men, urged on by hosts of evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. It is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of His chosen.

"With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth...It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. The streams cease to flow. Dark, heavy clouds come up, and clash against each other. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribably glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying, 'It is done.'

"That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, 'such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.' Rev 16:17,18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of the hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way.

"Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness, are swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the Great has come in remembrance before God, 'to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.' Rev 16:19, 21. Great hailstones, every one 'about the weight of a talent,' are doing their work of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world's great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God's people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free." --The Great Controversy.

"At the day of judgment there comes to the lost a full realization of the meaning of the sacrifice made on Calvary. They see what they have lost by refusing to be loyal. They think of the high, pure association it was their privilege to gain. But it is too late. The last call has been made. The wail is heard: 'The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved' (Jer 8:20).'" --Testimonies, vol 7, page 17.

Continuing with The Great Controversy:

"There appears against the sky a hand holding two tables of stone folded together. Says the prophet: 'The heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is judge Himself' (Ps 50:6). That holy law, God's righteousness, that amid thunder and flame was proclaimed from Sinai as the guide of life, is now revealed to men as the rule of judgment. The hand opens the tables, and there are seen the precepts of the Decalogue, traced as with a pen of fire. The words are so plain that all can read them. Memory is aroused, the darkness of superstition and heresy is swept from every mind, and God's ten words, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, are presented to the view of all the inhabitants of the earth." --The Great Controversy.

"Many of the wicked were greatly enraged as they suffered the effects of the plagues. It was a scene of fearful agony. Parents were bitterly reproaching their children, and children their parents, brothers their sisters, and sisters their brothers. Loud, wailing cries were heard in every direction, 'It was you who kept me from receiving the truth which would have saved me from this awful hour'
The people turned upon their ministers with bitter hate and reproached them, saying, 'You have not warned us. You told us that all the world was to be converted, and cried, Peace, peace, to quiet every fear that was aroused. You have not told us of this hour; and those who warned us of it you declared to be fanatics and evil men, who would ruin us.'" --Early Writings, page 282.

Continuing from The Great Controversy:

"The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all united in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. The multitudes are filled with fury. 'We are lost!' they cry, 'and you are the cause of our ruin;' and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most, will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels, will be raise for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people, are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.

"NOTE: Here it is said that at midnight God will deliver His people. It was at midnight that God interposed to deliver Israel from Egypt. (Exo 12:29,30) Immediately after the pronouncement 'It is done' the seventh plague follows. (See Job 34:20).

"After the saints had been delivered by the voice of God, the wicked multitude turned their rage upon one another. The earth seemed to be deluged with blood, and dead bodies were from one end of it to the other (Jer 25:30-38).

"Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud, about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which surrounds the Saviour, and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness.

"The people of God know this to be the sign of the Son of Man. In solemn silence they gaze upon it as it draws nearer the earth, becoming lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant, Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror." --The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan by Ellen G. White.

The issuance of death decrees over worship is nothing new. The first recorded one was when Cain slew his brother Abel. There was a death decree in the time of Esther when Mordecai wouldn't bow down to Haman because he only bowed to Jehovah God. His faithfulness and devotion to God enraged Satan and caused Haman to issue a death decree to exterminate the whole Jewish nation.

There was a death decree over worship in the time of the three Hebrew worthies who wouldn't bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. There was a death decree in the time of Daniel who was thrown into the lions' den. And if you're following the flow of history and biblical prophecy, expect a final death decree to happen soon.

The great controversy between Christ and Satan began in heaven over the Law of God. This battle continues to be waged in the minds and hearts of God's people today who are making decisions daily whom they would serve. If you would like to get the complete book, The Great Controversy, free of charge, please send your request to the following address:
Three Angels' MessagesP. O. Box 9167Fleming Island, FL 32006

In conclusion I like the bring up the story again of Cain and Abel. When we understand what happened with these two brothers, we would understand everything else that happened in the world leading up to the resurrection of persecution in this country when church and state are combined.

Cain and Abel represented two kinds of worshippers--two kinds of characters. They worshipped the same God. They sacrificed to the same God. They talked and listened to the same God. But Cain wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to worship God on his own terms, not God's. He was disobedient to the commandments of God. Abel was obedient and worshipped God on God's terms. Cain slew his brother. This was the first battle of Armageddon. The battle was spirititual in nature--the forces of evil against the forces of good.

During the Dark Ages, religious people (Christians) persecuted other Christians. In Jesus' day, religious people persecuted Him and then had Him killed. The same thing would happen to His followers in the end.

In this letter, the cosmic curtain was drawn aside, and you saw a glimpse of what would transpire upon this world before too long. The prophecy in Dan 12:1 would be fulfilled: "...There shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." See also Matt 24:9, 21.

In the end, there would be two kinds of worshippers and two kinds of characters. One would be obedient to ALL of God's commandments; the other would do their own thing and persecute the true worshippers of Jehovah God thinking they're doing God service (John 16:2).

Get your own personal copy of The Great Controversy and be informed of the history of the Christian Church--Satan's attempts to thwart God's plan of salvation, to demoralize and corrupt God's people, to corrupt God's worship through pagan customs and practices, to stop the Reformation, and to persecute and put to death God's people. But good will triumph over evil. Christ will triumph over Satan. The Seed of the Woman will bruise the head of the serpent.

Here's how The Great Controversy book ends: "And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring richer and still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. As knowledge is progressive, so will love, reverence, and happiness increase. The more men learn of God, the greater will be their admiration of His character. As Jesus opens before them the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, the hearts of the ransomed thrill with more fervent devotion, and with more rapturous joy they sweep the harps of gold, and ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.

"The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all flow life and light and gladness throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love."

I pray with all my heart that the Spirit of God will move upon your heart that you would see the light of truth that had long been shrouded in the thick darkness of errors so popular today. God's truths were not popular in Noah's day. Only eight souls accepted God's message of salvation; the rest were swept away in the flood and died in their sins.

God's truths were not popular in Jesus' day and neither are they in our day, but His truths will lighten the world with the glory of God. The everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ, first preached to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, then to Abraham, and repeated on to the final generation, is the good news of salvation from SIN, the transgression of God's moral law. The plan of salvation is found in the sanctuary services. There we find that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. There we also find God's moral law of ten commandments (His standard in the judgment) in the ark of the covenant beneath the mercy seat. The Gospel is the good news of His love and mercy and of His transforming power that changes the vilest of sinners into the likeness of Christ.

God's glorious truths will help His people make decisions to come out of Babylon and not receive the mark of the Beast but receive instead the Seal of the Living God and a crown upon their heads. I have shown you the big picture, Tom--all that's involved--the relationship between the Gospel and the Law, between Grace and Sin, and who's behind the system that dared to think of altering God's eternal Law, His spiritual mirror, and, finally, what's at stake if you remain in that system. I have given you from Jesus the last life-and-death warning of the three angels' messages of Revelation 14.

In His Service,

I'm now signing off ............Mike


No man cometh unto the Father, but by Jesus


Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.


John 14:6

Saturday, January 24, 2009

A World Union Of Church and State


Chapter XVII


A World Union Of Church and State


Verse 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

In verse 19 of the preceding chapter, we are informed that "great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." The prophet now takes up more particularly the subject of this great Babylon. In order to give a full presentation of it, he goes back to recount some of the facts of her history. That this apostate woman as presented in this chapter is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church, is generally believed by Protestants. Between this church and the kings of the earth there has been illicit connection. With the wine of her fornication, her false doctrines, the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk.

Church and State.--This prophecy is more definite than others applicable to the Roman power in that it distinguishes between church and state. We have here the woman, the church, seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, the civil power, by which she is upheld, and which she controls and guides to her own ends, as a rider controls the animal upon which he is seated.

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The vesture and decorations of this woman, as brought to view in verse 4, are in striking harmony with the application made of this symbol. Purple and scarlet are the chief colors in the robes of popes and cardinals. Among the myriads of precious stones which adorn her service, according to eyewitnesses, silver is scarcely known, and gold itself is less noticeable than are costly gems. From the golden cup in her hand--symbol of purity of doctrine and profession, which should have contained only that which is unadulterated and pure, or only that which is in full accordance with truth--there came forth only abominations, and the wine of her fornication, fit symbol of her abominable doctrines and still more abominable practices.

The symbol of a woman with a cup in her hand is said to have been used at a papal jubilee.

"In 1825, on the occasion of the jubilee, Pope Leo XII struck a medal, bearing on the one side his own image, and on the other, that of the Church of Rome symbolized as a 'Woman,' holding in her left hand a cross and in her right a cup, with the legend around her, Sede super universum, 'The whole world is her seat.' " [1]

This woman is explicitly called Babylon. Is Rome, then, Babylon, to the exclusion of all other religious bodies?--No, she cannot be, from the fact that she is called the mother of harlots as already noticed, which shows that there are other independent religious organizations that constitute the apostate daughters, and belong to the same great family.

Verse 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

A Cause of Wonder.--Why should John "wonder with great wonder," as it reads in the original, when he saw the woman drunken with the blood of saints? Was the persecution of the

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people of God any strange in his day? Had he not seen Rome launch its most fiery anathemas against the church, himself being in banishment under its cruel power at the time he wrote? Why, then, should he be astonished, as he looked forward, and saw Rome still persecuting the saints? The secret of his wonder was this: All the persecution he had witnessed had been from pagan Rome, the open enemy of Christ. It was not strange that pagans should persecute Christ's followers. But when he looked forward and saw a church professedly Christian persecuting the followers of the Lamb, and drunk with their blood, he could but wonder with great amazement.

Verse 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. 9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Rome in Three Phases.--The beast of which the angel here speaks is evidently the scarlet-colored beast. A wild beast, like the one thus introduced, is the symbol of an oppressive and persecuting power. While the Roman power as a nation had a long, interrupted existence, it passed through certain phases during which this symbol would not be applicable to it, and during which time the beast, in such prophecies as the present, might be said not to be, or not to exist. Thus Rome in its pagan form was a persecuting power in its relation to the people of God, during which time it constituted the beast that was. But when the empire was nominally converted to Christianity, there was a transition from paganism to another phase of religion falsely called Christian. During a brief period, while this transition was going on, it lost its ferocious and persecuting character, and then it could be said of the beast that it was not. As time passed, it developed into the papacy, and

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again assumed its bloodthirsty and oppressive character.

The Seven Heads.--The seven heads are explained to be first, seven mountains, and then seven kings. The expression in verse 10, "and there are seven kings," reads in the original, "and are seven kings." This makes the sentence read: "The seven heads are seven mountains . . . and are seven kings," thus identifying heads, mountains, and kings.

The angel says further, "five [kings] are fallen," or passed away. Again he says, "one [king] is"--the sixth was then reigning. "The other is not yet come; and when he cometh he must continue a short space." Last of all, "the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven."

From this account of the seven kings, we understand that when the one that had "not yet come" at the time of which John was writing, appears on the scene, he is here called an eighth, though he is really "of the seven," in the sense that he absorbed and exercised their power. It is this one whose career we are interested to follow. Of this one it is said that his destiny was to go "into perdition," that is, to perish utterly. This repeats the affirmation made in verse 8 concerning "the beast that thou sawest," which in turn is the "scarlet colored beast," on which the woman sat. We have shown that this beast symbolizes civil power, which according to the narrative before us, passes through seven phases represented also in the leopard beast of Revelation 13, until an eighth appears and continues to the end. Since we have already shown that papal Rome grew out of and succeeded pagan Rome, we must conclude that the eighth head, which was of the seven and ultimately exercised their power, represents the papacy, with all its mixture of so-called Christian doctrines with pagan superstitions and observances.

Verse 12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. 13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14 These shall make war

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with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

The Ten Horns.--On this subject see remarks on Daniel 7: 7, where the ten horns are shown to represent the ten kingdoms that rose out of the Roman Empire. They receive power one hour ({GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTED TEXT}, hora, an indefinite space of time) with the beast. That is, they reign a length of time contemporaneously with the beast, during which time they give to it their power and strength.

Croly offers this comment on verse 12: "The prediction defines the epoch of the papacy by the formation of the ten kingdoms of the Western Empire. "They shall receive power one hour with the beast.' The translation should be, 'in the same era ({GREEK CHARACTERS IN PRINTED TEXT}, [mian horan]). The ten kingdoms shall be contemporaneous in contradistinction to the 'seven heads,' which were successive." [2]

This language doubtless refers to the past, when the kingdoms of Europe were unanimous in giving their support to the papacy. The treatment which these kingdoms are finally to give the papacy is expressed in verse 16, where it is said that they shall hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. A part of this work the nations of Europe have been doing for years. The completion of it, burning her with fire, will be accomplished when Revelation 18: 8 is fulfilled.

"These shall make war with the Lamb." Verse 14. Here we are carried into the future, to the time of the great and final battle, for at this time the Lamb bears the title King of kings and Lords of lords, a title which He assumes when He ceases His intercessory priesthood at the close of probation. (Revelation 19: 11-16.)

Verse 15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and

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naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Destiny of the Harlot.--In verse 15 we have a plain definition of the Scripture symbol of waters; they denote peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The angel told John, while calling his attention to this subject, that he would show him the judgment of this great harlot. In verse 16 that judgment is specified. This chapter has naturally more especial referenda to the mother, or Catholic Babylon. The next chapter, if we mistake not, deals with the character and destiny of another great branch of Babylon, the harlot daughters.




[1] Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, p. 6.

[2] George Croly, The Apocalypse of St. John, p. 264, 265.




The Prophecies of Daniel and Revelation

by Uriah Smith


(Copyright 1944, 1972) is owned and published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association


Godlessness in the Last Days


2 Timothy 3


1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.

9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also was.

10But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience,

11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.

12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

14But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some


In his inaugural address, President Barack Obama celebrated America as a "nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers." Some Christians are taking issue with the approach to inclusiveness, saying the president misrepresented America's culture and heritage.


Obama's Nonbeliever Nod Unsettles Some

By MELINDA HENNENBERGER, AOL
posted: 2 HOURS 45 MINUTES AGO

(Jan. 23) - Not everyone was happy with President Barack Obama's nod to nonbelievers and non-Christians in his inaugural address. And some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal.
"For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness," the new president said. "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this earth," he also said. Nothing too controversial, proclaiming that America's strength lies in its diversity.
But between those two statements, the new president got specific: "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and nonbelievers."

By mentioning, for the first time in an inaugural address, the 16.1 percent of Americans who check "no"’ when asked about religion, Obama turned it into the most controversial line in his speech -- praised by The New York Times editorial board and cited by some Christians as evidence that he is a heretic, and in his well-spoken way, a serious threat.
With that one line, the president "seems to be trying to redefine American culture, which is distinctively Christian," said’ Bishop E.W. Jackson of the Exodus Faith Ministries in Chesapeake, Va. "The overwhelming majority of Americans identify as Christians, and what disturbs me is that he seems to be trying to redefine who we are.’"
Earlier this week, Jackson was a guest on the popular conservative Christian radio show 'Janet Parshall's America,' where a succession of callers, many of whom identified themselves as African-American, said they shared the concern, and were perplexed and put off by the president’s shout-out to nonbelievers.

Parshall noted that atheists were celebrating the unexpected mention, and indeed they were: "In his inaugural address … President Barack Obama did what many before him should have done, rightly citing the great diversity of America as part of the nation's great strength, and including 'nonbelievers'’ in that mix,’" said Ed Buckner of American Atheists.
"His mother would have been proud,"’ Buckner said, referring to the fact that Obama’s mother was not a church-goer. "And so are we."
Jackson said he and others have no problem acknowledging that "this country is one in which everybody has the freedom to think what they want.’" Yet Obama crossed the line, in his view, in suggesting that all faiths (and none) were different roads to the same destination: "He made similar remarks in the campaign, and said, 'We are no longer a Christian nation, if we ever were. We are a Jewish, Hindu and non-believing nation.'"
Not so, Jackson says: "Obviously, Jewish heritage is very much a part of Christianity; the Jewish Bible is part of our Bible. But Hindu, Muslim, and nonbelievers? I don't think so. We are not a Muslim nation or a nonbelieving nation."’
With all the focus on Obama as the first African-American president, the succession of black callers to Janet Parshall's show was a reminder that the "community"’ is not a monolith, and that many socially conservative black Americans are at odds with Obama's views, particularly on abortion and gay rights. Nor do they all define civil rights in the same way.
The Rev. Cecil Blye, pastor of More Grace Ministries Church in Louisville, Ky., said the president's reference to nonbelievers also set off major alarm bells for him. "It's important to understand the heritage of our country, and it's a Judeo-Christian tradition,"’ period.

But his even bigger beef with the president, he said, is that a disproportionate number of "black kids are dying each day through abortion. President Obama is supportive of abortion, and that's a genocide on black folks. Nobody wants to talk about that as a civil rights issue."

2009 AOL LLC. All Rights Reserved.
2009-01-23 15:39:18

Israel, the Vatican, and the United States


Israel, the Vatican, and the United States - DVD -
Category: Videos
Sub-Category: Roman Catholicism
Item Number: HW-D-145
Price: $14.99

This video presentation provides specific details regarding a secret agreement reached between the Vatican and Israel. It was negotiated during a several year period when the Oslo Accords were receiving all the public's attention.
This "treaty" gives the Pope control over the Old City of Jerusalem, with the UN taking on the role of enforcer. High level Freemasons, the Vatican, the UN, the King of Jordan, and the US government all played critical parts in facilitating this unprecedented pact between the Catholic Church and Israel's leaders.

Some of the intricate details are still being worked out, but the deal is mostly done. Gary warns, "All the Antichrist has to do is step on the scene at the right moment and claim that he put this plan together, and people would likely give him the credit and worship him as a hero - the one who has finally delivered world peace."

This DVD also examines how America is succumbing to the Vatican's influence as it pressures Israel to go along with Rome, Replacement theology, the goals of the Jesuits, and the increasing domination of America's political structure by Roman Catholic elements are all addressed in this lecture.

How should we as Christians respond to these developments? Be informed so you can take an effective stand for Christ!
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Note: Highlights added for emphasis.............Arsenio.
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..."faces the obelisk" during his inauguration


President Obama proves his dedication to the Global Illuminati as he "faces the obelisk" during his inauguration.

This is the "change" we can expect: no real change in direction, only a change in the Illuminati Plan for the final push into the New World Order.

NEWS BRIEF: "Obama sworn in as 44th president of the United States", Newsday, January 21, 2009

"Barack Hussein Obama declared the start of 'a new era of responsibility' as he was sworn in yesterday to become the 44th president of the United States before more than 1 million cheering Americans who traveled from around the country to witness history. The son of a black Kenyan father and white Kansan mother, Obama characterized his swearing-in as 'a moment that will define a generation'. Standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, multitudes spread out before him on the National Mall, Obama used his inaugural address to offer both a stinging rebuke of 'the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long' and a soaring but sober vision of the challenges, and victories, that lie ahead."

" 'Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions - that time has surely passed', Obama said. 'Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America'."

As I listened to Obama's inauguration speech, I was struck about how fundamental it all sounded. Rather than sounding the favorite Liberal themes of Big Government taking care of the people and of the people being subservient to the government, his themes smacked of the Conservative themes of personal responsibility and action. Might we be seeing the beginning of an era similar to that of President Kennedy, who gave us one of the most memorable of all challenges during his Inaugural speech?

"As not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country".
Lest you think I am changing my opinion of President Obama, let me refer you to the picture, above, of Obama faithfully facing the obelisk (Washington Monument) during his Inaugural speech. Dedicated Illuminati pagans -- Sun worshippers all -- "face the obelisk" as many times per day as possible, usually three times. For this reason, the 555-foot obelisk (Washington Monument) is placed in such a manner that people in the White House can easily turn toward the obelisk every single day, as well as people serving in the Congress. No pagan obelisk has ever been so precisely and correctly located!

We posted two Headline News Articles prior to the Inauguration which we encourage you to read, as it explains the pagan obsession with the filthy obelisk over the past 4,000 years.



"Barack Obama WILL FACE The Obelisk As He Takes His Oath of Office"

President Obama continues the practice begun by Ronald Reagan of "facing the obelisk" - Washington Monument -- during his inauguration as the 44th President. This practice further demonstrates the reality that this President is going to be thoroughly Illuminist pagan.

http://www.cuttingedge.org/news/n2337.cfm




(Excerpt)




St. Francis prayer was modern creation



By ARIEL DAVID, Associated Press Writer Ariel David, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 20 mins agoVATICAN CITY – A simple prayer for peace attributed to St. Francis, widely quoted by leaders and cherished by many Christians, may have nothing to do with the medieval friar.

The Vatican's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reported this week that the prayer that begins with "Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace," first appeared in France at the start of the 20th century and became popular during World War I.

U.S. President Bill Clinton quoted the prayer, attributing it to St. Francis, to greet the arrival of Pope John Paul II in 1995, and captured its appeal for millions of faithful.

"His prayer, carried to this day in the pockets, the purses, the billfolds of many American Catholics and revered by many who are not Catholics, is a simple clarion to unity," Clinton said as he welcomed the pope at Newark International Airport.

Mother Teresa led the audience in the prayer when she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and that same year Margaret Thatcher cited it when she took office as Britain's prime minister.

"I would just like to remember some words of St. Francis of Assisi," she said before quoting: "Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth. Where there is doubt, may we bring faith. And where there is despair, may we bring hope."

But L'Osservatore this week concluded that Thatcher was actually quoting from a French prayer, first printed in a Catholic weekly in 1912.

The "Simple Prayer" — as it also is known_ was then republished on the front page of the Vatican newspaper in 1916 at the request of Pope Benedict XV, who appreciated its message of peace in the midst of World War I.

To Church historians and insiders it was no mystery that the peace-loving St. Francis, who lived a life of poverty and preached love for all creatures in 13th-century Italy, was not the prayer's author.

"Francis spoke the Italian of the 1200s, he didn't use this kind of language," historian Alberto Melloni told The Associated Press. "It's clearly inspired by Franciscan themes, but Francis himself is not the author."

Melloni, who teaches the history of Christianity at the University of Modena, said there was no organized "deception" in attributing the text to the saint, but it was popular tradition that made the connection between the prayer and "a feeling of devotion that recalled Francis' figure."


Note: Bolds added for emphasis. .............Arsenio.

The days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren...


26And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

27And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him.

28But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children.

29For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.

30Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us.

31For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?

Luke 23:26-31.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Three more cops join ranks of B.C.'s police suspects


By Gerry Bellett and Carolynne Burkholder, Vancouver Sun and Canwest News Service

January 22, 2009 7:01 PM


VANCOUVER — The ex-wife of one of the three police officers arrested by Vancouver police says her former husband has told her not to believe media accounts of what is alleged to have happened.


"I know all these guys. They are not the way they are being portrayed in the media right now," said Sheri Klassen, who lives in Kelowna.


Const. Jeffrey Klassen, 38, was suspended without pay by New Westminster police Chief Lorne Zapotichny on Thursday after he and two other police officers — one employed in Delta, the other in West Vancouver — were arrested after a Vancouver newspaper delivery driver was robbed and assaulted


The three off-duty officers have not yet been charged.


The West Vancouver officer has been reassigned to desk duties.


Meanwhile, Delta Police official Sharlene Brooks said Thursday that Police Chief Jim Cessford was still considering his options concerning what to do with the arrested 28-year-old officer who has been on the force for three years.


The officers are the latest in a string of B.C. cops accused of behaving badly.


Wednesday's assault comes after the arrests of four B.C. police officers, all accused of drunk driving, within the last 13 months.


Vancouver police Const. Peter Hodson was charged with drunk driving in November, while New Westminster Const. Tomi Hamner faces the same charges after a crash in October.


Lower Mainland RCMP Cpl. Benjamin Monty Robinson faces charges of impaired driving causing death following a crash that killed a 21-year-old motorcyclist on Oct. 25.


And North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Darren Baker was charged with drunk driving after being pulled over in December 2007.


Former Victoria police chief Paul Battershill resigned in August after admitting to RCMP investigators that he had an affair with a labour lawyer hired by the force to negotiate severance packages for people under his command.


Another Victoria officer, Sgt. George Chong, brother of B.C. cabinet minister Ida Chong, was charged with assault in September in relation to an off-duty incident that happened in August.


Earlier this month, the Victoria Police Department announced the third investigation into the use of excessive force by its officers after a rookie officer allegedly injured two people held in the department's jail cells.


In the earlier cases, teenager Willow Kinloch successfully sued the department last year after she was tethered and restrained while drunk in a police cell in 2005. And the family of Thomas McKay, a college student who suffered permanent head injuries after being thrown to the floor of a jail cell in 2004, has also sued the department.


In November, two senior police officers in West Vancouver, Insp. Bob Fontaine and Staff Sgt. Doug Bruce, resigned just before a disciplinary hearing into a coverup scandal involving officers drinking alcohol at the police station.


As well, Powell River RCMP Const. Paul Foster pleaded guilty to failing to remain at the scene and driving without due care and attention after a crash on April 23.


The victim in the most recent case, a 47-year-old Surrey, B.C., man who is a driver with Dolphin Delivery, is off work recovering from his injuries.


Dolphin manager Dave Breen said the driver, who was delivering copies of the National Post, has been told by police not to speak with the media.


"All I can say is he's been to the doctor. He's banged up pretty badly and I think he'll be off work for a little while," said Breen.


The driver has worked for the company for 12 years delivering early morning newspapers to the downtown area.


Vancouver police spokeswoman Const. Jana McGuinness refused to confirm any of the reported accounts of the driver having his wallet and cellphone stolen by the trio.


"We will not be releasing any of the background information relating to the incident which is still under investigation," she said.


The officers were released without being charged later Wednesday after being arrested by Vancouver police who answered a 911 call, she said.


All three forces have launched Police Act investigations into the conduct of their arrested officers and have taken the matter to the Police Complaints Commissioner's Office.

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service


Van Plows Into Line of Children in Chinatown, Killing 2


Van Plows Into Line of Children in Chinatown, Killing 2

By CHRISTINE HAUSER
Published: January 22, 2009


An unoccupied van that had been left in reverse mounted a sidewalk and rammed into a group of preschool students on a busy street in Chinatown on Thursday, killing two of the children and injuring at least 11 other people, the authorities said.

The crash, on East Broadway between Catherine and Market Streets, transformed the teeming strip of produce stands, restaurants, tenements and shoppers into a scene of chaos as schoolchildren lay bleeding on the sidewalk and witnesses shrieked.

“I heard screaming,” said Katharine Montaldo, 39, from the East Village. “I came running up. All I saw was blood.”

The children had been walking back to their preschool, just around the corner, after a trip to the library. They were linked in a daisy chain intended to keep them together when the van lurched onto the sidewalk and crashed into them.

The police said that a 4-year-old girl, Hayley Ng of Chinatown, died at the scene and that Diego Martinez, a 3-year-old boy from Chelsea, died at New York Downtown Hospital. About 11 other people, children and some adults, had minor injuries, the authorities said.

The driver of the van, identified as Chao Fu, 52, of Brooklyn, was not charged; his license and registration papers were in order and he tested negative for alcohol, said Paul J. Browne, the police spokesman. Mr. Chao had double-parked and entered a store, leaving the van running and in reverse gear, thinking it was in park, Mr. Browne said.

Mr. Chao first realized that the vehicle had moved “when he came out of the store and it had already crashed,” Mr. Browne said.

The silver-colored van, a 2000 Ford, was emblazoned with the name of a downtown restaurant, China Chalet. A woman who answered the phone at the restaurant on Thursday afternoon said in Chinese that “something happened.” The woman said the company’s owner was not available for comment, and then hung up.

The children had just spent an hour at the Chatham Square branch of the New York Public Library at 33 East Broadway, in the same block where the accident occurred. They had listened to a librarian read the children’s books “Snow,” about animals in a winter wonderland, and “Shark in the Park,” about a boy who spots a shark through a telescope. They also browsed in the children’s section, a library spokesman said.

About 11:30 they left, walking up East Broadway in a line, holding on to one another and chaperoned by adults on their way back to their day care program, the Red Apple Child Development Center at 25 Market Street, about two blocks away.

The line of children, 14 in all, had stopped outside a store and had just started to walk again when the accident occurred. The van began moving in reverse, Mr. Browne said, and traveled several car lengths backward. Then the wheel started to turn to the left, the van climbed the curb and plowed into the children, “killing one on the spot,” Mr. Browne said.

Investigators later saw video of the empty van moving, and then striking the children.

Witnesses who were not aware that the van was unoccupied said they thought it was attempting a three-point turn.

“He backed up,” said Alma Torres, 49, who was standing across the street. “He jumped the curb. You heard the bang. People started running.”

And then came “the screaming,” said another witness, Anthony Amoroso, 50, who lives in East New York, Brooklyn.

After the ambulances arrived, the authorities draped white sheets at the back of the van along the sidewalk. The sheets were bloodstained; at moments, the wind briefly blew off one of the sheets, revealing the body of a small child, wearing gray pants.

Around the corner on Market Street, neighborhood residents and workers gathered opposite the entrance to the day care center. At one point a grief-stricken man and woman, clutching each other, were escorted out by the police and into a police van.

“All of us at Red Apple Child Development Center are stunned and deeply saddened by this tragic accident,” the center’s director, Xiaoping Fan, said in a statement. “Our hearts go out to the families of all of the children involved and especially to the two families who suffered the loss of their child. We are doing everything possible to provide support to our students, parents and their loved ones.”

At New York Downtown Hospital, members of the emergency staff sought to save Diego, the 3-year-old boy, said Dr. Warren B. Licht, the hospital’s chief medical officer. “Everything possible was tried to save this child’s life,” he said. The boy died at 12:33 p.m., just over an hour after the accident, the doctor said.

Reporting was contributed by Sewell Chan, David Giambusso, Jennifer 8. Lee, Colin Moynihan and Kirk Semple.


For the New Administration, No Delay in Feather Ruffling


By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA
Published: January 22, 2009

President Obama may or may not get a honeymoon with the news media, but it only took one day for the new relationship to have its first spat.


On Wednesday, as the president spent his first full day at work in the White House, and had a just-in-case second swearing-in ceremony — after he and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. fumbled some of the words in the official oath of office on Tuesday — the White House denied news cameras the access they have traditionally had to capture such moments.

Instead, Mr. Obama’s staff provided official White House photographs of the event.

But the three news services that would ordinarily send those images to news organizations around the world — The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse — refused to distribute the White House photographs. Michael Oreskes, managing editor of The Associated Press for United States News, dismissed them as a “visual press release.”

Robert Gibbs, the new White House press secretary, tried to patch things up on Thursday afternoon, chatting with the three news services on a conference call. But accounts of the meeting left it unclear whether the Obama administration would grant the traditional access of previous presidencies.

“We’re pleased that the White House press team takes this issue seriously, and they seem open to continuing this practice going forward,” said Howard Goller, United States editor for political and general news at Reuters. But he declined to specify what was actually said.

A person briefed on the meeting, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it, said the White House had made no promises and had not explained its reasoning for the omission, but had left the impression that it was simply feeling its way, and had not adopted a new stance.

At Mr. Obama’s second swearing-in on Wednesday, a pool of four reporters from the print news media was present, but no pool still photographer or television camera. The photo released by the White House had been taken by its own photographer.

Mr. Oreskes said it was important that the news media produce their own images, and then choose which ones to use.

“There is a time-honored tradition going back many administrations of providing routine access to news photographers to regular, working areas of the White House,” he said, with the exception of closed areas like the Situation Room.

At a briefing on Thursday, Mr. Gibbs was asked about the exclusion of photographers. But he shed no light on either the reason it happened or on what the practice would be going forward.

“I encourage you to speak to any of the four journalists that were in there,” he said. “I think the pool report accurately reflects the event and the time it was in there.”


Abortion Foes Recall Lincoln's Slavery Stand



By Michelle Boorstein, Jenna Johnson and William Wan
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 23, 2009; Page A02

The inauguration of a president who supports abortion rights fired up the annual March for Life yesterday, with activists warning of new, more liberal legislation and urging President Obama to view abortion as a civil-rights issue akin to slavery.

Signs read: "Yes we can -- eliminate abortion." One speaker took the microphone and called for anti-abortion "community organizers," a job the president held in Chicago. Another taunted Obama with references to one of his heroes.

Looking east at the thousands of marchers gathered from Fourth to Seventh streets on the Mall, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) said Obama needed to be reminded "that the reason we built that monument to president Abraham Lincoln is because he saw the humanity in a slave that the Supreme Court said was not human." Nothing could make Obama less like Lincoln than "forgetting that the unborn are also little children of God," he added.


Police provided no estimate for the size of the crowd gathered on the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade. But anti-abortion leaders said they sensed a new intensity because of Obama and the new, more heavily Democratic Congress.

Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said turnout at the annual Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast on Wednesday night filled the basilica's 16,000-person capacity and spill into two overflow buildings. A morning youth concert and Mass yesterday at Verizon Center also filled up -- there were 20,000-plus seats -- and crowds were sent to nearby churches.

"We are concerned that given the momentum pro-choice members [of Congress] may feel having a pro-abortion president, something as extreme as the Freedom of Choice Act could be proposed again," said McQuade, citing a measure that would codify a woman's right under Roe v. Wade to terminate her pregnancy and would forbid any interference with that right. Democratic leaders say the bill does not have enough support even to clear legislative committees.

The mood on the Mall yesterday was upbeat, with throngs of teenagers chatting, chasing one another and laughing.

McQuade noted that the number of yearly abortions has been down since the 1990s and that a new movement is trying to further reduce abortions through education, better health care and counseling for pregnant women and new parents.

The movement is led by progressive abortion opponents, including the groups Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United, who handed out fliers at yesterday's march and hosted speakers. A sign posted near the Supreme Court building -- the final destination of the march -- read: "Reduce Abortions, Support Sex Education."

For eight years, marchers had been greeted by a message from President George W. Bush, who supported their cause and appointed two Supreme Court justices who voted to uphold federal restrictions on some abortion procedures.

In contrast, Obama issued a statement yesterday reaffirming his support for a woman's right to choose to end her pregnancy. Roe v. Wade, the statement said, "not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters."

Abortion-rights supporters traditionally haven't come out in force at the March for Life, but there were a few at the Supreme Court yesterday.

Alden Woodhull, 16, of the District organized a group of friends from her Catholic high school to stand outside the court with signs supporting the right to have an abortion.

"I just want people to know there's another side," she said. "Personally, I would choose to not have an abortion if I was pregnant. The point is, it would be my choice."


Clinton Takes Over at State Department, Vows to End Divisiveness

Clinton Takes Over at State Department, Vows to End Divisiveness

By David Gollust State Department22 January 2009

Former Senator and U.S. First Lady has officially taken up her duties as secretary of state. Clinton told assembled staff members she will depend on the advice of civil servants and work to end an era of divisiveness in Washington.

Clinton, confirmed by the Senate and sworn into office late Wednesday, was greeted by hundreds of employees packing the main lobby of the State Department as she began her first day on the job.

The new secretary of state said she will rely on the advice and expertise of the department's more than 20,000 foreign service and civil service employees as they jointly pursue the work of advancing U.S. national security, interests and values around the world.

Her remarks included no direct criticism of the previous Bush administration, but she also clearly suggested that President Barack Obama's team will be more welcoming of input from government workers, and less divisive.

"We want to send a clear and unequivocal message," she said. "This is a team and you are the members of that team. There is not anything that I can get done from the seventh floor, or the President can get done from the Oval Office, unless we make clear we are all on the American team. We are not, any longer, going to tolerate the kind of divisiveness that has paralyzed and undermined our ability to get things done for America."

Clinton depicted American foreign policy as having three parts - defense, diplomacy and development - and said the State Department and the affiliated U.S. Agency for International Development are responsible for the latter two.

In Senate testimony before her confirmation, she said she would work to build up the U.S. diplomatic corps as part of an exercise of "smart power" by the United States that leads with diplomacy, rather than the use of military force.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the lone cabinet holdover from the Republican Bush administration, is also a prominent advocate of such an approach.

To underscore the emphasis on diplomacy, President Obama and key aides are to visit the State Department later for a closed-door policy meeting with Clinton - to be followed by a presidential pep talk to staff members.


Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-01-22-voa26.cfm

As it is written, The just shall live by faith


Romans 1

1Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

2(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)

3Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;

4And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

5By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

6Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:

7To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.

9For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers;

10Making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you.

11For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

12That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

13Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

14I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.

15So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

17For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.


Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Straight Testimony Produces a Shaking


The Straight Testimony Produces a Shaking

I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God's people.--1T 181 (1857).

There are those among us who will make confessions, as did Achan, too late to save themselves.. . . They are not in harmony with right. They despise the straight testimony that reaches the heart, and would rejoice to see everyone silenced who gives reproof.--3T 272 (1873).

The Lord calls for a renewal of the straight testimony borne in years past. He calls for a renewal of spiritual life. The spiritual energies of His people have long been torpid, but there is to be a resurrection from apparent death. By prayer and confession of sin we must clear the King's highway.--8T 297 (1904).

Hate crimes on rise in Moscow


Hate crimes on rise in Moscow

21 Jan 2009, 1846 hrs IST, PTI


MOSCOW: The Russian capital registered a 300 per cent surge in racial hate crimes in 2008, which claimed the lives of 47 non-whites, a senior police
official said here.

"In 2008, 47 non-whites were killed and 46 were physically assaulted, which represents 300 per cent rise in crimes against non-whites as compared to 2007," Moscow Police Chief, General Vladimir Pronin was quoted by Interfax news agency.

According to Moscow-based 'Sova' an NGO monitoring hate crimes in the country, Russia could be swept by a new wave of xenophobia due to financial crisis.

Mostly, Caucasians and Central Asians, who come to the Moscow and other major Russian cities in search of jobs, fall victim to racial crimes, they said.



Germany forecasts worst recession since World War II


An activist dressed up as German Chancellor Angela Merkel throws fake Euro currency notes into a fire in Berlin


Germany forecasts worst recession since World War II


56 minutes ago

BERLIN (AFP) — Germany said on Wednesday it would suffer its deepest recession since World War II this year, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's government chewed over a historic rescue package aimed at easing the pain.

Germany's economy, which accounts for about a third of eurozone output, will contract by about 2.25 percent in 2009, the government said, as the sharp global slowdown hits demand for the country's all-important exports.

And by the end of the year there will be another half a million Germans out of work -- something certain to add spice to campaigning ahead of general elections on September 27 when Merkel hopes to secure a second term.

"This economic downturn that we are unfortunately having to predict is without precedent in the postwar period, it is the biggest slump in Germany's recent history," Economy Minister Michael Glos told a news conference.

"The German economy is facing this year the greatest challenges since unification (in 1990). Germany is integrated into the global economy like hardly any other industrialised country."

The new forecast came as Merkel's cabinet discussed on Wednesday Berlin's latest effort to help the world's biggest exporter avoid the worst: a 50-billion-euro (65-billion-dollar) stimulus effort.

The package, the biggest in modern German history, includes a huge increase in spending on roads, railways, hospitals and schools. Other elements include cuts in tax and social security contributions, as well as incentives for consumers to buy new "greener" cars to boost Germany's ailing auto sector.

Glos said that this programmes, together with similar efforts being made around the world, would begin to help the German economy in the second half of 2009.

Germany entered a recession in the third quarter of 2008 with two three-month periods of shrinking economic output in a row.

Preliminary official figures last week showed that the slowdown accelerated sharply at the end of the year, contracting by between 1.5 and two percent in the fourth quarter -- the sharpest fall in two decades.

Unemployment hit three million in December, rising for the first time after almost three years of unbroken decline. Data have shown industrial orders and output falling off a cliff.

In recent years German exports have been its source of strength, but the global downturn has turned them into an Achilles' heel -- Glos forecast they would slump 8.9 percent this year.

Germany "is suffering more than other countries," said Henrik Uterwedde from the Franco-German Institute (DFI). "The real motor of the economy has always been exports while domestic demand has tended to stagnate."

Glos also forecast that the jobless rate would climb to an average of 8.4 percent over 2009 from 7.8 percent in 2008.

The European Commission forecast on Monday that the 27-nation EU economy would shrink 1.8 percent this year, but that it would grow 0.5 percent in 2010. Glos declined to give a forecast for Germany for next year.

Within the 16-nation eurozone, only Ireland was forecast to suffer a steeper slowdown, and in the EU, only Britain, Ireland, Estonia and Lithuania are seen experiencing a sharper drop in output.

Merkel also plans to set up a 100-billion-euro fund to help out firms struggling to secure sufficient credit -- or at least loans without painful interest rates.

Hard-up banks are still proving reluctant to dole out cash despite Berlin's 480-billion-euro banking package rushed through last year, firms have complained.

Commerzbank, the second largest lender, is set to be partially nationalised with Berlin taking a 25 percent plus one share stake in return for 10 billion euro in desperately needed fresh capital.

Stricken property lender Hypo Real Estate, the country's biggest casualty, has so far been given 42 billion euros in state guarantees to keep it afloat and the bank may see the state forced to come on board as part owner.

There are also persistent rumours that Berlin will set up a "bad bank" to take on lenders' toxic debts.


Jesus The True Light



1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2The same was in the beginning with God.

3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

..
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:1-5, 9-14.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Banking problems drain stock market of hope


Banking problems drain stock market of hope

By TIM PARADIS Associated Press
Jan. 20, 2009, 8:11PM


NEW YORK — The dawn of the Obama presidency could not shake the stock market from its dejection over the rapidly deteriorating state of the banking industry.

Financial stocks, many of them falling by double-digit percentages, led a huge drop Tuesday on Wall Street that left the major indexes down more than 4 percent and the Dow Jones industrials down 332 points.

Although traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange paused to watch the inauguration ceremony and Obama’s remarks, the transition of power didn’t erase investors’ intensifying concerns about struggling banks and their effect on the overall economy.

The market’s angst, which began with multibillion-dollar losses reported last week by Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup, intensified after the Royal Bank of Scotland’s forecast that its losses for 2008 could top $41.3 billion.

The collapse in bank stocks was swift Tuesday: State Street Corp. plunged 59 percent, Citigroup fell 20 percent and Bank of America lost 29 percent. Royal Bank of Scotland fell 69 percent in New York trading.

The shrinking value of bank stocks means the financial industry accounts for less than 10 percent of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index for the first time since 1992. At the end of 2006, banks made up 22 percent of the stock market benchmark.

And the market’s retreat Tuesday means Wall Street has eaten through most of the advance it made from Nov. 20 through Jan. 6.

The S&P 500, which had been up as much as 24 percent, is now up only 7 percent from its November low.

Fears about banking eclipsed the shift in Washington. Royal Bank of Scotland’s forecast for what would be the biggest loss ever for a British corporation left investors fearful that governments would have to nationalize banks to keep them from collapsing.

The British government injected more money into the struggling bank Mon- day and announced another round of bailouts for the country’s banks.

State Street and Regions Financial Corp., a bank with branches primarily in the Southeast, both reported big earnings drops Tuesday.

Acknowledging the global economy’s woes, Obama suggested Wall Street would see greater oversight: “Without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control,” he said in his address outside the Capitol.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 332.13, or 4 percent, to 7,949.09, its lowest close since Nov. 20, when the blue chips ended at 7,552.29, their lowest point in more than five years. It was also the blue chips’ biggest drop since Dec. 1. During much of Obama’s address, the average was down about 150 points.

The Dow’s showing was its worst in the postwar era for an Inauguration Day; it has fallen on about three-quarters of Inauguration Days, according to Dow Jones & Co.

Broader stock indicators also fell sharply Tuesday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 44.90, or 5.28 percent, to 805.22, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 88.47, or 5.78 percent, to 1,440.86.

Light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $2.23 to settle at $38.74 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The March contract, where the vast majority of trading took place, fell $1.53 to settle at $40.68.


It was the worst day for stocks...


Tonight on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams; News Correspondent Carl Quintanilla reporting on Wall Street activity stated that it was the worst day for stocks in any Presidential Inaugural in history.

"Unprecedented"


Unprecedented

or The Obama Superbowl

The amount of adulation afforded President Barack Hussein Obama is unprecedented, even unparalleled or unmatched. Never before in my lifetime have I witnessed such pandering, so much patronage to a political aspirant to the U.S. Presidency. The level of continuous media coverage by the major networks ABC, NBC, and CBS, of the Inaugural proceedings is unrivaled. I've witness a few in my lifetime, but, none even comes close to today's. The continuous air-time can only be matched by the coverage of JFK's assassination, and the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. They have further called Barack Obama an Agent of Change; Yes, it's true; I believe this is what they mean when use the term Paradigm Shift; We're in uncharted territory when it comes to all the propaganda and media blitz techniques (spin) being utilized. It's as if Obama is the Savior finally making his triumphant return. So, much idolatry is an abomination.
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From Lyndon B. Johnson, to Richard M. Nixon, to Gerald Ford, to Jimmy Carter, to Ronald Reagan, to George H. Bush, to Bill Clinton, and finally George W. Bush; None of these President's campaigns or eventual inauguration was provided so much coverage, or promotion. Well, the argument is that President Obama is the first African American ever elected to the office. I make a distinction in that the President is the first African-American, not, African American. His father the deceased elder Obama was not an American, but rather a Kenyan. We all know that Obama's mother was white, she's also deceased. So, the assessment that Obama represents the African American people is disingenuous; He is not the descendant of the sons and daughters of people brought to the Americas (North, Central, The Caribbean, and South America) as slaves. His parents met and procreated the President as a matrimony between a Kenyan Student, and an American woman (student) in Hawaii. There is no history shared with the Americans who were brought to the Western Hemisphere in bondage. So, please spare us the propaganda and spin. He's what has become "acceptable" to define as bi-racial; Not African American, just like Tiger Woods.
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What is most enigmatic about the whole propaganda campaign is that President Obama has few living relatives, except for a half sister Maya Setoro-Ng; Whom his mom had when she divorced his Dad, and married an Indonesian man. Yet, Obama's Mother, Father, and all Grand-Parents have passed away. Where are the interviews of his living relatives? Obama does have a number of half-brethren on his Father's side. He has eight half-siblings -- seven of them living -- by four other marriages or relationships of his parents: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/familytree/545462,BSX-News-wotrees09.stng
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It's all unprecedented from the Superbowl ambiance of the Inauguration, to the meteoric rise in the Presidential Campaign, to his rising out of anonymity in the 2004 Democratic Convention to the present. It's all so hard to believe. Who is Barack Hussein Obama?
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Others say that all the celebration is because of the unpopularity of George W. Bush. If that's the case, it is a sad commentary on life in the American Republic; When people have to 'wait' out for a President's term to run out to get rid of him if he has completely governed by whim and not by the people's request. There is a precedent when it comes to the President having lost the favor of the people in recent history; This is the case of Bill Clinton which in spite of being impeached, resisted (unparalleled) and 'rode' out his term. To add to the peculiarity of the Obama (mystique) Administration, Bill Clinton will be back in Washington via his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton who will be the new Secretary of State. Go figure? So, George W. Bush is gone from office, yet, there's no excuse for all the gratuitous promotion for Obama.
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We've acquired a media spun President. Will he have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame? He's a Superstar. This has been an award winning performance. My compliments to the producers and directors. (Also the Anchormen and women, and reporters). Bravo! Orson Wells couldn't have done a better job.

Arsenio
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Are We There Yet?


By Robert J. Shiller
January/February 2009

“I am worried that the collapse of home prices might turn out to be the most severe since the Great Depression.” – Robert J. Shiller, September 2007


Speculative bubbles are ultimately a matter of psychology. People develop extravagant expectations about the wealth their investments will bring them, forgetting the valuable lessons of financial crises long past, and a dangerous bubble builds.

But the psychology of the ride down can be just as perilous. As asset prices now decline, markets might overshoot. Some indicators show that we are already approaching pre-bubble price levels. The price-to-earnings ratio in the U.S. stock market is about at its long-run average. Housing prices are probably more than halfway back down to their late-1990s level, when the bubble began. In some U.S. cities, they are almost completely back down.

No one can say, though, when exactly the market will bottom out. In some sense, the process is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The euphoria ends, and negative expectations lead to plunging asset prices, which in turn seem to justify those expectations. Given the poor outlook on the economy for the next year, housing prices might continue to decline well into 2010, as the futures markets in Chicago suggest.

History tells us there is some precedent for a protracted, weak housing market. After the last housing boom in the United States peaked in 1989, it took a typical city five years to hit bottom. This time, prices have only been going down for two years. We might look with caution to Japan, where urban land prices fell for 15 consecutive years, from 1991 to 2006.

When the market does reach bottom, it may be with a whimper, not a thud. Generally, there are no sharp turning points. Home prices might remain flat for a few years before they start rising again. Along the way, it will be hard to identify the road markers with any certainty until we have spotted them in the rearview mirror.

So far, the measures we’ve taken to resolve this crisis have thrown the rational principles of finance out the window. We are going on a crash diet—contradicting mortgage contracts on an ad hoc basis and giving away handfuls of money—when we should be coming up with an eating regime we can live on indefinitely. Instead of making whatever short-term patches seem necessary, we might take a more systemic, market-based approach, such as stipulating that mortgage values always be linked to housing prices and adjusted each month.

Speculative excesses are an endemic problem of the market system, but capitalism also provides its own self-correcting mechanisms. There’s no reason to abandon those tools now.


Robert J. Shiller is professor of economics at Yale University and chief economist at MacroMarkets LLC. He is the author of The Subprime Solution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008).