Monday, October 26, 2009

Received Up Into Glory


Did you know that the rabbis placed a curse on the reading of the book of Daniel?
Listen— May the bones of the hands and the bones of the fingers decay and decompose, of him who turns the pages of the book of Daniel, to find out the time of Daniel 9:24-27, and may his memory rot from off the face of the earth forever. (Talmudic Law, p.978, Section 2, Line 28)

Why the curse? It is because Daniel said the Messiah would come before the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. And Jesus Christ is the only person who could possibly fulfill that prophecy.
Today I want to share on the cornerstone doctrine of the Christian faith. It has to do with the glorification of Jesus and how the church has her share in that glory.


For your meditation our text is DANIEL 7:13,14.


Your servant in CHRIST,

Brother Buddy k\

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Source: http://www.christianchallenge.org/bulletin/2007year/Bulletin2007-07-08.pdf
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The kingdom of God shall be taken from you


Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof....Matthew 21:43


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Sunday, October 25, 2009

On This Day: Jesus Christ did not return as predicted


October 22, 7:21 AM


Patricia Hysell


October 22, 1844: Jesus Christ does not return to Earth. William Miller was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1782 and had little formal education although he was well-read. His family moved around New England and after marrying, Miller settled in Poultney, Vermont where he held a number of civil offices. He was raised as a Baptist but became a Deist as a young man. After serving in the War of 1812 and wrestling with the meaning of death, he returned to the Baptist church and became a Baptist preacher. He studied the Bible diligently for his own benefit and to gain ammunition for debate with his Deist friends. Miller became convinced the actual date of the Second Coming was to be found in Scripture.

Miller "did the math" and was certain he found the correct date in 1818. His first calculations brought Jesus to Earth in 1843, however he continued his private study. In September 1822 Miller went public with his revelations. In 1832 he sent 16 articles to the Vermont Telegraph, a Baptist paper, for print. By 1840 Miller's following burst out of Vermont and he became a national figure. He was helped in this by publisher Joshua Vaughn Hines who spread his message via print. Miller did not give an exact date for Christ's reappearance, stating it would happen between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. On March 22, 1844 the date was moved to April 18. In August, after much recalculation, the date October 22, 1844 was chosen.

Miller's followers, called Millerites, were deeply saddened on October 23 and many abandoned their beliefs. Some of his followers continued to learn from him and eventually founded the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, based on many of his teachings. Not everyone was sanguine in regards to the failed prophecy. Millerites were taunted, subjected to ridicule and even physically assaulted. One church was burned and a mob armed with clubs and knives attacked a group of Millerites. Another group of believers was tarred and feathered.

The bewildered and disillusioned included even Miller, who died in 1849 while still awaiting his Savior's return. The responses of the believers were of three varieties. By 1845 religious doctrines began to gel. Joseph Turner led the first sect, holding to the "shut door" theology. If a believer did not accept gospel prior to the Second Coming, the door of opportunity would close and the individual was beyond redemption. Joshua Hines refused to accept the shut door philosophy especially after the no-show in 1844. The third group, led by Hiram Edson, said the date was correct but the event itself was misinterpreted. He preached Jesus' return happened on this date. It was given that the return was to heaven and not to this mortal realm.


"I was thus brought… to the solemn conclusion, that in about twenty-five years from that time 1818 all the affairs of our present state would be wound up." – William Miller

"I waited all Tuesday [October 22] and dear Jesus did not come;– I waited all the forenoon of Wednesday, and was well in body as I ever was, but after 12 o’clock I began to feel faint, and before dark I needed someone to help me up to my chamber, as my natural strength was leaving me very fast, and I lay prostrate for 2 days without any pain– sick with disappointment." – Henry Emmons

"Our fondest hopes and expectations were blasted, and such a spirit of weeping came over us as I never experienced before....We wept, and wept, till the day dawn." – Hiram Edson

"Some are tauntingly enquiring, 'Have you not gone up?' Even little children in the streets are shouting continually to passersby, 'Have you a ticket to go up?' The public prints, of the most fashionable and popular kind…are caricaturing in the most shameful manner of the 'white robes of the saints.'" – William Miller, letter dated November 18, 1844

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Our Sanctuary Doctrine

Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Dan. 8:14.

God bids us give our time and strength to the work of preaching to the
people the messages that stirred men and women in 1843 and 1844. . . .

My brethren, take your position where God bids you. Leave alone those
who, after light has been repeatedly given them, have taken a stand on
the opposite side. . . . Take up the work which has been given us. With
the Word of God as your message, stand on the platform of truth and
proclaim the soon coming of Christ. Truth, eternal truth, will prevail.

For more than half a century [i.e., since 1844] the different points of
present truth have been questioned and opposed. New theories have been
advanced as truth, which were not truth, and the Spirit of God revealed
their error. As the great pillars of our faith have been presented, the
Holy Spirit has borne witness to them, and especially is this so
regarding the truths of the sanctuary question. Over and over again the
Holy Spirit has in a marked manner endorsed the preaching of this
doctrine. But today, as in the past, some will be led to form new
theories and to deny the truths upon which the Spirit of God has placed
His approval.

Any man who seeks to present theories which would lead us from the light
that has come to us on the ministration in the heavenly sanctuary should
not be accepted as a teacher. A true understanding of the sanctuary
question means much to us as a people. When we were earnestly seeking
the Lord for light on that question, light came. In vision I was given
such a view of the heavenly sanctuary, and the ministration connected
with the holy place, that for many days I could not speak of it.

I know from the light that God has given me that there should be a
revival of the messages that have been given in the past, because men
will seek to bring in new theories, and will try to prove that these
theories are scriptural, whereas they are error, which, if allowed a
place, will undermine faith in the truth. We are not to accept these
suppositions and pass them along as truth. No, no; we must not move from
the platform of truth on which we have been established.

There will always be those who are seeking for something new, and who
stretch and strain the Word of God to make it support their ideas and
theories. Let us, brethren, take the things that God has given us, and
which His Spirit has taught us is truth, and believe them, leaving alone
those theories which His Spirit has not endorsed.

>From Devotional: Our Father Cares, p. 271.
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Source: http://egwlists.whiteestate.org/pipermail/devotional/2005/000466.html

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October 22, 1844 - 165 years later






Puerto Rico Oil Explosion Prompts White House to Declare State of Emergency



Date Published: Sunday, October 25th, 2009


The White House has declared a stated of emergency in Puerto Rico, following Friday’s massive oil explosion and fire at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. storage facility outside San Juan. According to a CNN report, the fire is still burning out of control, and the FBI is treating the site of the blast as a crime scene.

According to the Washington Post, on Saturday shifting wind threatened to bring plumes of toxic smoke closer to populated areas of the island. However, Puerto Rico’s Gov. Luis Fortuno said he does not believe more evacuations will be necessary. The number of people evacuated because of the disaster now stands at about 1,500.

Eighteen of the facility’s storage tanks have been destroyed. Five are still burning, four have collapse into the flames the Post said. According to CNN, 12 tanks are smoking.

At least 130 firefighters and National Guard troops are working to bring the inferno under control, but it is expected that it will take several days to extinguish the fire. The National Guard took the lead in coordinating management of the disaster yesterday. According to The Washington Post, heavy equipment from the National Guard and island pharmaceutical firms have been moved to the site, and a temporary pipeline from San Juan Bay to supply seawater to fight the fire has been erected. Foam used in putting out oil fires was shipped from the U.S. Virgin Islands.

President Obama’s declaration of a state of emergency frees up federal aid to the island. Gov. Fortuno has said that the blaze has cost Puerto Rico at least $6.4 million.

According to CNN, the FBI’s decision to treat the blast site as a crime scene is “routine.” But as we reported previously, officials have said they were concerned by some graffiti found Friday in two San Juan highway tunnels. The graffiti reportedly included the message: “Boom, fire, RIP, Gulf, Soul, ACNF.” It is not known who or what ACNF refers too, CNN said.

The Caribbean Petroleum Corp. is the owner of the Gulf brand in Puerto Rico. The facility where the explosion occurred is a gasoline warehouse and distribution center where jet fuel, bunker fuel and gasoline are stored. The facility also includes a 48,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) refinery, but according to the company, the refinery was not in operation at the time of the explosion.

The explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. facility occurred around 12:30 a.m. Friday. According to the Puerto Rico Seismic Network, the blast produced a shock wave equivalent to a 2.8 magnitude earthquake. The explosion was so strong that it tore up a nearby highway, and shattered windows on nearby homes.

According to CNN, the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. had been sited with violating the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and was operating under a corrective action plan. The Act is the major U.S. law dealing with the disposal of solid and hazardous wastes.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 7:16 am




Fuente: http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/13562

Global banking body may be needed-FSA

Wed Oct 14, 2009 5:37pm BST


By Huw Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - A global body with legal powers may be needed over time to enforce the world's new financial rules, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said on Wednesday.

The FSA's newly appointed and first director of international affairs, Verena Ross, said the Financial Stability Board (FSB) was key to ensuring all gaps in regulation between securities, insurance and banking sectors were plugged.

Formerly known as the Financial Stability Forum, the FSB was expanded in April to include central bankers and finance ministry and regulatory officials from all Group of 20 (G20) countries.

The G20 has asked the body, chaired by Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi, to coordinate global efforts to introduce new financial rules in light of the sector's worst crisis in 70 years.

"I would advocate to make sure the FSB have a strong secretariat to support their work," Ross told a City and Financial Conference.

"The role of the FSB is crucial. We will need to make sure it is able to play its role forcefully... Success depends on real progress over the next six to 12 months," she said.

But the board has no legal teeth and there are "real questions" about whether the world can continue with such informal arrangements in the longer term, Ross said.

There may be a case for exploring the need for a more formal global regulatory framework, such as a body with legal powers of enforcement like the World Trade Organisation, Ross added.

"Any move in that long-term direction would have the FSB very firmly at the centre of that global regulatory architecture," Ross said.

Regulators need to be better at checking on the enforcement of the new rules and banks have a role in this, she said.

COST OF EXTRA CAPITAL

Banks have urged a coordinated global approach to regulation to stop some countries having an unfair advantage, especially in tougher bank and liquidity rules due to take effect by the end of 2012.

Angela Knight, chief executive of the British Bankers' Association, said it was clear the minimum 8 percent of capital banks must hold under the global Basel II accord would rise.

"The crisis has demonstrated that the Basel international capital rules were wrong. They neither judged correctly the amount of capital that was needed to be in the system nor the amount that banks needed to hold," Knight said.

Basel is being toughened up to include a leverage ratio or cap, minimum liquidity levels, capital charges on trading books and improvements in the quality of capital that must be held.

"Capital, that is the big cost. That will have the greatest consequence on how the industry will be able to perform its business," Knight said.

Banks in Britain have already doubled their capital requirements from the 8 percent Basel minimum, she added.

A proper impact assessment is therefore needed on the effect of tougher capital rules on lending and economy as well as timing of the new rules, Knight said.

FSA Chairman Adair Turner has called some banking services "socially useless," but Knight warned against using "buzzwords and catchphrases" as activities such as securitisation were being maligned even though they provided finance raising.

The securitisation market has just started to reopen after freezing during the credit crunch and must be allowed to continue reviving, she said.

Banks are also concerned about global plans for a cap on leverage, saying it should only be a backstop and not interfere with capital requirement rules for "normal business as usual."

Katharine Seal, a director at the London Investment Banking Association, said: "It's an area where an ability to be flexible is absolutely paramount."

Knight expects the European Union to beef up consumer protection, such as direct product regulation, which UK lawmakers may support.

"There is a case for looking at that issue," said John McFall, chairman of Britain's parliamentary treasury committee.

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Victoria Main)





Bolds and Highlights added.
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Israeli police storm Jerusalem's holiest site



AP – Israeli policemen detain a Palestinian youth during clashes in the Arab neighborhood of Ras Al Amud …

Slideshow:Mideast Conflict
Play Video Mideast Video:Palestinians react to election call Reuters
Play Video Mideast Video:Tony Blair heckled on West Bank tour Reuters


By RAWHI RAZIM, Associated Press Writer Rawhi Razim, Associated Press Writer – 2 mins ago


JERUSALEM – Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem's holiest shrine Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the Holy Land.

A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields closed in on the crowd, sending many protesters — overwhelmingly young men — running for cover into the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque. The mosque is one part of the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

Dozens of protesters remained holed up inside the mosque for several hours, occasionally opening shuttered doors to throw objects at police. The Israeli forces did not enter the building, and the protesters eventually left peacefully and the compound was closed, police said. There were no serious injuries.

Israel's national police chief, David Cohen, accused a small group of Muslim extremists of trying to foment violence — echoing a charge made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago.

"The police will act with a strong hand against anyone who disrupts order on the Temple Mount and against those incite to riot," Cohen said.

Religious and nationalist sentiment connected with the site have made it a flashpoint for violence in the past. A visit in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, then an Israeli opposition leader, helped ignite deadly clashes that escalated into violence that engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories for several years. Sharon was subsequently elected prime minister.

Sunday's clashes were the most intense in the past month of unrest around the compound. Frictions in recent weeks have stemmed largely from rumors among Palestinians about Israeli plans to allows Jews to pray at the site or to dig under the compound and harm the Muslim buildings there.

Israel has carried out numerous archaeological digs in nearby areas, but says the work does not threaten the compound. Two weeks ago, Netanyahu angrily dismissed accusations that Israel is trying to sabotage Muslim holy sites as "baseless" lies.

In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority condemned the Israeli police action.

"Jerusalem is a red line that Israel should not cross," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas.

Muslim leaders had urged their followers to gather at the compound early Sunday in response to what they said was a planned "Jewish conquest."

Israeli police said the protesters hurled a fire bomb and poured oil on the ground to make the forces slip. Around midday, small groups of youths were seen darting in and out of nearby alleyways in Jerusalem's Old City, throwing stones and bottles at police, who responded with more stun grenades. Many protesters masked their faces with white T-shirts or black-and-white checkered keffiyeh headdresses.

A total of 25 protesters suffered light to moderate injuries after being struck by batons or inhaling gas, said Ameen Abu Ghazaleh, head of the Palestinian Red Crescent's ambulance service. In addition, an Australian journalist covering the clash was struck in the face by a rock and lightly wounded, Israeli police said.

Nine police officers were also lightly wounded and 18 protesters were detained, police said. The Palestinian president's adviser on Jerusalem affairs, and a leader from Israel's Islamic Movement were arrested for alleged incitement, police said.

The disputing claims to the hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City lie at the heart of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is revered as the holiest site in Judaism, home to the biblical Temples.

It also is the third-holiest site in Islam, after the Saudi cities of Mecca and Medina, and believed to be the place where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven. At the center of the compound is the famous golden cap of the Dome of the Rock.

The site has been under Israeli control since 1967, but is administered by a Muslim religious body known as the Waqf. The compound is opened for several hours a day to allow tourists and Jews to visit, though only Muslims are allowed to pray there.

The Palestinians seek to make east Jerusalem — including the holy compound — the capital of a future independent state, while Netanyahu says he will never share control of the holy city.

Israel's crackdown drew condemnations from throughout the Muslim world. The head of the 57-nation Islamic Conference warned that any provocative act at Al-Aqsa "would bear grave consequences," while the Arab League called on the U.N. to "stop the Israeli aggressions."

Egypt said it had instructed its ambassador in Israel to urge the government to refrain from actions with "negative repercussions" for the region.

The Islamic militant Hamas movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, called on Palestinians to rise up against Israel and urged Arab countries that have ties to Israel to sever them. "The real battle begins again," spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

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AP correspondents Michael Barajas and Dalia Nammari contributed to this report.




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Those who claim to be children of God become Christlike in character


Righteousness is right doing, and it is by their deeds that all will be judged. Our characters are revealed by what we do. The works show whether the faith is genuine.

It is not enough for us to believe that Jesus is not an impostor, and that the religion of the Bible is no cunningly devised fable. We may believe that the name of Jesus is the only name under heaven whereby man may be saved, and yet we may not through faith make Him our personal Saviour. It is not enough to believe the theory of truth. It is not enough to make a profession of faith in Christ and have our names registered on the church roll. "He that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us." "Hereby we do know that we know Him if we keep His commandments." 1 John 3:24; 2:3. This is the genuine evidence of conversion. Whatever our profession, it amounts to nothing unless Christ is revealed in works of righteousness.

The truth is to be planted in the heart. It is to control the mind and regulate the affections. The whole character must be stamped with the divine utterances. Every jot and tittle of the word of God is to be brought into the daily practice.

He who becomes a partaker of the divine nature will be in harmony with God's great standard of righteousness, His holy law. This is the rule by which God measures the actions of men. This will be the test of character in the judgment.

There are many who claim that by the death of Christ the law was abrogated; but in this they contradict Christ's own words, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. . . . Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matt. 5:17, 18. It was to atone for man's transgression of the law that Christ laid down His life. Could the law have been changed or set aside, then Christ need not have died. By His life on earth He honored the law of God. By His death He established it. He gave His life as a sacrifice, not to destroy God's law, not to create a lower standard, but that justice might be maintained, that the law might be shown to be immutable, that it might stand fast forever.

Satan had claimed that it was impossible for man to obey God's commandments; and in our own strength it is true that we cannot obey them. But Christ came in the form of humanity, and by His perfect obedience He proved that humanity and divinity combined can obey every one of God's precepts.

"As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." John 1:12. This power is not in the human agent. It is the power of God. When a soul receives Christ, he receives power to live the life of Christ.

God requires perfection of His children. His law is a transcript of His own character, and it is the standard of all character. This infinite standard is presented to all that there may be no mistake in regard to the kind of people whom God will have to compose His kingdom. The life of Christ on earth was a perfect expression of God's law, and when those who claim to be children of God become Christlike in character, they will be obedient to God's commandments. Then the Lord can trust them to be of the number who shall compose the family of heaven. Clothed in the glorious apparel of Christ's righteousness, they have a place at the King's feast. They have a right to join the blood-washed throng.


Christ's Object Lessons, E. G. White, pp.312-315.
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Impending Judgment on the Earth


Isaiah 24


1Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

2And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.

3The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.

4The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

5The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

6Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

7The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

8The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

9They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

10The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

11There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

12In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

13When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.

14They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

15Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.

16From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.

17Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

18And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

19The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

21And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

22And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

23Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.


Saturday, October 24, 2009

Strong quake hits eastern Indonesia, causes panic


Map locates magnitude-7.0 earthquake 225 miles south of Ambon, Indonesia, centered in the Banda Sea Saturday


(AP) – 26 minutes ago

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A powerful earthquake struck deep under the sea in eastern Indonesia, causing panic and sending residents running out of their homes, officials and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The earthquake late Saturday night had a magnitude of 7.0, but at a depth of 86 miles (138 kilometers) was too far below the earth's surface to cause a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The quake came as Indonesia is still recovering from a devastating earthquake last month that killed more than 1,000 people on western Sumatra.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the latest quake — the second strong temblor in two days — was located 225 miles (365 kilometers) southeast of Ambon in the Maluku islands in the Banda Sea.

The shaking was strong and people ran to higher ground fearing a tsunami, said Ian Kotualubun, an official with Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency in Saumlaki, the area closest to the epicenter, about 2,700 kilometers (1,700 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta.

Police in Saumlaki said they had received no reports of damage or injuries.

Indonesia sits above a series of fault lines that make the vast island nation one of the most earthquake-prone places in the world. A massive quake off the coast of Indonesia's Aceh province caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people, half of the victims on Sumatra island.




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Obama Declares H1N1 Flu 'National Emergency'

The White House says the declaration allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis.

FOXNews.com

Saturday, October 24, 2009



President Obama declared the H1N1 pandemic a national emergency Friday, allowing extra leeway to medical service centers in combating with the flu virus. (AP)


President Obama signed a proclamation declaring the H1N1 influenza a national emergency, giving doctors and medical facilities greater leeway in responding to the flu pandemic.

Obama signed the declaration late Friday, which the White House said allows medical treatment facilities to better handle a surge in flu patients by waiving federal requirements on a case-by-case basis.

"The foundation of our national approach to the H1N1 flu has been preparedness at all levels -- personal, business, and government -- and this proclamation helps that effort by advancing our overall response capability," the White House said in a statement.

In the proclamation, Obama said the pandemic keeps evolving, the rates of illness are rising rapidly in many areas and there's a potential "to overburden health care resources."

Because of vaccine production delays, the government has backed off initial, optimistic estimates that as many as 120 million doses would be available by mid-October. As of Wednesday, only 11 million doses had been shipped to health departments, doctor's offices and other providers, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The government now hopes to have about 50 million doses of vaccine for the so-called swine flu out by mid-November and 150 million in December.

The flu virus has to be grown in chicken eggs, and the yield hasn't been as high as was initially hoped, officials explained.

H1N1 is more widespread now than it's ever been. Health authorities say almost 100 children have died from the flu, and 46 states now have widespread flu activity.

Worldwide, more than 5,000 people have reportedly died from swine flu since it emerged this year and developed into a global epidemic, the World Health Organization said Friday. Since most countries have stopped counting individual swine flu cases, the figure is considered an underestimate.

The flu has infected millions of Americans and killed nearly 100 children in the U.S. The chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that over a thousand people have died as a result, with 46 states reporting widespread H1N1 activity.

"Since the beginning of the pandemic, we've seen more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. "We expect it to occur in waves, but we can't predict when those waves will happen."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Puerto Rico warns of health risk from fuel fire

(AP Photo/Primera Hora, Vanessa Serra Diaz)


Puerto Rico warns of health risk from fuel fire By DANICA COTO, AP
posted: 23 MINUTES AGO,
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -Thousands of people living on the outskirts of a burning fuel-storage site in Puerto Rico were urged to relocate Saturday to avoid toxic smoke still billowing from the fire.

More than 1,500 people were evacuated after Friday's earthshaking explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. in the suburb of Bayamon, just west of the capital of San Juan.

Only a few people were slightly injured by the blast, which broke windows, tore doors off their hinges and shook the ground. But authorities are now concerned about those downwind of the fire, with breezes pushing smoke toward more populated neighborhoods.

Authorities urged residents — especially those with respiratory problems — who live near the site to temporarily move elsewhere until the fire is extinguished and the smoke brought under control.

"To those people with respiratory problems, our recommendation is that you not wait," Gov. Luis Fortuno said.

Several people have sought medical help for respiratory distress, and one firefighter was treated Saturday for exposure to high temperatures, Fortuno said. Those who were evacuated and an additional 530 people who sought shelter away from home have not returned.

Fortuno said a large stadium has been prepared to accommodate some 30,000 people who live in the area if necessary.

Crews were monitoring the situation and anticipated more evacuations if weather worsened.
"The smoke is extremely toxic," said Jose Bartolomei, a state epidemiologist who monitors asthma. "An asthmatic patient will definitely hyper-react to this."

Adding to the danger is the presence of invisible gases such as carbon monoxide and sulfur, said Luis Antonio Ocasio, spokesman for the island's Environmental Quality Board.

Local officials, along with a New Jersey crew from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, are monitoring the air with handheld devices and probing whether any fuel spilled into the nearby ocean, he said.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation. Fifteen of 40 fuel tanks caught fire, and five were still burning Saturday, the governor said.

Fortuno on Friday declared a state of emergency for five municipalities, including San Juan and Bayamon. He said Saturday that initial estimated damages of $6.4 million were not sufficient to receive federal funds, but the White House later designated Puerto Rico an emergency zone and order federal aid to supplement local efforts.

Gulf spokesman Eric Guzman said Saturday that the company has hired an independent crew to help quell the fire and that it is cooperating with authorities. He said he did not know how much fuel is stored in the tanks.

2009-10-24 22:17:49

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Puerto Rico firefighters work to contain massive fuel blaze

October 24, 2009 -- Updated 1151 GMT (1951 HKT)


Officials have warned residents to stay away from the fuel storage fire blazing in Puerto Rico.


(CNN) -- The massive clouds of black smoke reminded Carlos Salgado of the horrifying television images he'd seen of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

That's how powerful the explosion was at a fuel storage complex in Puerto Rico on Friday. It shook the ground with the force of a 2.8-magnitude earthquake, shattering windows and doors and sending panic through the streets.

Early Saturday morning, 24 hours after the blaze erupted, Salgado stood on the balcony of his San Juan home, about 10 miles from the blast site, and could still see fireballs illuminate the night sky from his home.

"I've never seen anything like this in Puerto Rico," said Salgado, the legal counsel for the emergency corps that manages ambulances on the Caribbean island.

He could still hear explosions, and acrid air burned his nostrils as winds shifted westward, carrying the toxic smoke over populated areas of the island.

Firefighters were working around the clock, battling to contain the raging blaze. A cause for the blast has not been determined. Officials said they plan to investigate.

The scope of environmental damage is also not known.

Officials are concerned that expected precipitation Saturday mixed with the smoke could lead to acid rain. Authorities urged residents not to venture outside and to bring in their animals during the rain.


At least 15 of the 40 tanks at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. facility in the municipality of Catano were still burning, Gov. Luis Fortuno said at a Friday evening news conference. The governor had put the tally at 11 a few hours earlier, indicating that the fire was still spreading.

The blaze erupted shortly after midnight Friday, when at least one fuel tank exploded. Residents described a surreal scene after the blast woke them.

"I was in bed and all of a sudden heard this really horrible sound, so I ran upstairs and thought the whole town had blown up," said Teo Freytes, who filed an iReport for CNN.

Others also woke Friday morning to an extremely unusual sight.

"I didn't expect to see a mushroom cloud from my house," said Justin Gehrke, a U.S. Army civilian employee who also filed an iReport.

Fortuno said he declared a state of emergency for the area so Puerto Rico can get aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The storage and refinery complex sits near San Juan's bay, and Fortuno said officials are working to protect the water from being affected.

"We have serious worries that the bay or other bodies of water could be contaminated," he said.

Caribbean Petroleum's Web site says the complex has storage facilities for gasoline and gasoline-related products.

"We have been monitoring the water visually, and we have installed preventive pads and other material to contain a spill," said Pedro Nieves, chairman of the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board. "No oil has reached the water."

But Nieves said that Caribbean Petroleum has a history of spills and that "there was potential that it had contaminated ground water."

iReport.com: See, share, send images of the explosion

Newspaper and TV reports said a 4-inch pipe from a lagoon on the complex was broken, preventing firefighters from using 2 million gallons of water from the lake to battle the blaze. About 150 area firefighters and 215 National Guard personnel were battling to keep the blaze from spreading.

One person suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to a hospital, Fortuno said. At least 350 people were evacuated to a nearby stadium.

The smoke can be toxic for people with breathing conditions, and officials have asked nearby residents to stay away, the governor said.

"This is a tremendous amount of smoke, and fire contains all kinds of irritants, and this is oil that is burning," said Mary Mears, spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency region that includes Puerto Rico. "It's smoke, so you're going to notice coughing, tearing, maybe a sore throat."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms sent a team of fire investigators but has to determine whether the fire was an accident or set deliberately, said Orlando Felix, ATF resident agent in charge of the office in Puerto Rico. Federal agencies have jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, which is a commonwealth of the United States.

The FBI confirmed it is investigating graffiti found on two San Juan tunnels that referred to a fire. A spray-painted message on the two tunnels, less than 3 miles apart, said: "Boom, fire, RIP, Gulf, Soul, ACNF."

Rodriguez and San Juan police spokeswoman Maria Del Pilar Bon said they did not know what or who ACNF is. But Caribbean Petroleum owns the Gulf Oil brand in Puerto Rico.

"There could be many reasons [for the fire]," Fortuno said. "We're not going to guess. But there has to be an investigation."

Caribbean Petroleum spokeswoman Frances Rios said five employees were at the facility at the time of the explosion but declined to provide more information, El Nuevo Dia newspaper reported on its Web site.

Caribbean Petroleum, which owns 200 gas stations in Puerto Rico and several inland distribution facilities, supplies much of the island's fuel. But the governor said Puerto Rico has enough gas to last 24 days and 20 days' worth of diesel.

Department of Consumer Affairs Secretary Luis Rivera Marin said 16 million gallons of gasoline were in transit to the island. He also froze prices at the level they were at 8:06 a.m.

Officials transferred 295 inmates from a high-security prison in the area to other facilities, which they declined to identify for security purposes. Another 1,600 prisoners were moved from another nearby facility. About 200 extra prison officials were brought in to handle the transfers, Fortuno said.

Schools in Bayamon, San Juan, Toa Baja and Catano were closed, as were several roads.

CNN's Susan Candiotti, Jackie Castillo, Khadijah Rentas and Moni Basu contributed to this report.
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O that they were wise,..understood this,..consider their latter end!


Deuteronomy 32



1Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

2My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:

3Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God.

4He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

5They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.

6Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?

7Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.

8When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

9For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

10He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

11As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:

12So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.

13He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

14Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

15But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

16They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.

17They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

18Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee.

19And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

20And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

22For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.

24They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

25The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.

26I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:

27Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.

28For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.

29O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!

30How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?

31For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.

32For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:

33Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.

34Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

35To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

36For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.

37And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,

38Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.

39See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

40For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.

41If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.

42I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

43Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

44And Moses came and spake all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Hoshea the son of Nun.

45And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel:

46And he said unto them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law.

47For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

48And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

51Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of MeribahKadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

52Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
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Friday, October 23, 2009

Doctrines of men




But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. ,,,,,,,,


Matthew 15:8-10

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; ...


1 Timothy 4:1
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Too Many Catholics on the Court?


Too Many Catholics on the Court?
Posted at: 2009-10-22 07:52:06.0
Author: Michael Sean Winters

It is funny to see conservatives rushing to support Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito who told an Italian-American lawyers’ gathering that he is tired of hearing people question the fact that six of the nine current justices on the Supreme Court are Roman Catholic as if there was something wrong with that fact. Just five minutes ago these same conservatives were extolling the Catholic difference. Alas.

In the AP story linked above, someone whose judgment I value, Notre Dame law prof Rick Garnett, said, "It's not the calling of a Catholic judge to enforce the teachings of the faith. It's the calling of a Catholic judge, as well as he or she can, to interpret and apply the laws of the political community." Garnett is a careful thinker with a careful mind, but others less careful tend to see the estuary where religion and politics meet not as a place to swim carefully but as a place to make a splash. Catholic conservatives are quick to denounce Catholic public officials who do not echo their thoughts about how one does or does not legislate regarding abortion policy. And, yes, there is a difference between making judgments about the morality of abortion and making judgments about how, in this pluralistic society at this historical moment, one should legislate on the subject. And, no that difference is not as wide as some liberals think, but it is not as narrow as some conservatives think either.

But, why should judges get a pass? There is a variety of conservative thought about the role of a judge that sees them essentially as a computer. You put in the Constitution, add the facts of the case, hit "enter" and the decision pops out. But, that is not how Constitutional interpretation works. (It is also not how computers work as I am reminded every time Microsoft Word automatically turns the "e" in episcopal into an upper-case "E" and I have to go back and correct it.) Those who argue that judges must follow "the original intent" of the Founders overlook the historical fact that different Founders read the Constitution differently themselves, as evidenced by the fact that they immediately fell into two different political parties.

But, what about this Catholic difference? It is worth remembering that Justice Scalia, for example, does not say that he opposes Roe v. Wade because it misunderstands the rights of the human person. He objects to the decision because it removed the issue from the jurisdiction of the states. The U.S. Constitution, which has become an idol for people like Princeton Professor Robert George, got many things wrong, including the decision to consider black Americans not as humans but as property. Right or wrong, it clearly states that citizens are "born" or naturalized. Life may begin at conception but citizenship does not and the Court only concerns itself with the rights of citizens. That, at least, is Scalia’s position.

I actually think Catholicism should make a difference, that the difference should be debatable without charges of bigotry flying, and that our entire society would benefit from asking candidates, and judicial nominees, to explain how their faith informs and influences their decision-making. I am tired of the kabuki dance aspect of Senate confirmation hearings for judicial nominees. I do not expect a candidate or a nominee to be a theologian, but it turns out when you consider that all five of the members of the conservative majority on the Court are Catholic, it is hard to attribute that entirely to coincidence. I would hope that a Catholic would see, and see easily, why the view of freedom articulated in Planned Parenthood v. Casey is wrong. I would hope a Catholic would have a different sense of personhood than a non-Catholic.

Being Catholic, however, is no more of a computer program than original intent. The presence of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a Catholic who will probably not always agree with the other RCs on the bench, proves that being Catholic is not the only difference that matters, nor does being Catholic affect all of our decisions in life. I applaud Pope Benedict’s call for Catholics to see their political commitments in an integral fashion. But, I also recall a Far Side cartoon in which a woman has brought her broken vacuum cleaner to the repairman, and she looks frustrated and bewildered when the repairman, instead of fixing it, lays hands on the vacuum and cries, "Demons, come out!" There are times when secularization is a blessing.

Where to draw the line? I can’t tell you in the abstract and, besides, we each have to figure out where we want to draw the line, or better, where our conscience tells us we must draw the line. It is good to recall the remarks of Judge Noonan at Notre Dame, where he gave the address reserved for the winner of the Laetare award, which had been declined by his good friend Mary Ann Glendon. Noonan said, "One friend is not here today, whose absence I regret. By a lonely, courageous, and conscientious choice she declined the honor she deserved. I respect her decision. At the same time, I am here to confirm that all consciences are not the same; that we can recognize great goodness in our nation’s president without defending all of his multitudinous decisions; and that we can rejoice on this wholly happy occasion." I think the key phrase is "all consciences are not the same." Or, perhaps we can say that even well informed Catholic consciences can reach different conclusions.

After all, in his famous sermon at his Mass of Installation, Pope John Paul II read through a litany of places where we should "Be Not Afraid: Open Wide the Doors to Christ!" He said we were to open the doors of culture and the doors of our hearts to Christ. But, he also said, "Open wide the doors of State!" and here we Americans all shifted in our chairs. The First Amendment shut that door, no? We Catholics, qua Catholics, can shut no doors in our life to Christ. But, we Catholics will not all open those doors in the same sequence or at the same time, nor will those doors all lead to the same room. There is diversity within the Church as well as outside it.

So, I disagree with Justice Alito. I am sure that for some, questioning the presence of so many Catholics on the High Court is an instance of anti-Catholic bigotry. But, it is worth asking – it is always worth asking – what difference does it make to us to be Catholic. First Peter says we are always to be prepared to give an account of the hope that is within us. That applies to Judge Alito and Judge Sotomayor. But, they are allowed to have different hopes and, therein, lies the murky, wonderful, human way we must make our way through as disciples.




()

FYI: This America Magazine is a Jesuit (the official organ) Publication; Could anyone expect any obejction to there being 6 Roman Catholics in the Supreme Court which consists of 9 Judges? I think not. It is right up their alley; part of the grand design!

You know that separation of church and state isn't very high on the agenda of Catholics,or Jesuits for that matter. With the papal infallibility issue, and his temporal powers on Earth (vicarius filli dei dogma) which give him empirical authority over men's souls, etc....No need to worry?

Here's info on america magazine:

History of America

America was born in 1909. That year, its first weekly issue was dated April 17. America, a Jesuit magazine, was planned as the American counterpart of The Tablet of London, a respected Catholic weekly review. We are now approaching our 100th year of continuous weekly publication. America is the only national Catholic weekly magazine in the United States.


Read More:http://www.americamagazine.org/content/about-us.cfm
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Alito troubled by concerns over court's Catholics


Alito troubled by concerns over court's Catholics
By MARYCLAIRE DALE (AP) – 3 days ago

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito voiced frustration Tuesday over what he called persistent questions about the court's Roman Catholic majority.

Alito aired the topic in a speech to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia.

"There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court," Alito said in a speech to the Justinian Society. "This is one of those questions that does not die."

Alito complained about "respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these individuals could be trusted to do their jobs."

He said he thought the Constitution settled the question long ago with its guarantee of religious freedom.

Alito, 59, the son of an Italian immigrant, is one of six justices on the nine-member court who were raised Catholic, including new Justice Sonia Sotomayor. A dozen of the 111 jurists in the court's history have been Catholic.

The Roman Catholic Church endorses positions on several high-profile legal issues, including abortion, the death penalty and gay marriage. Some commentators have argued that Catholics in the court's conservative voting bloc — Chief John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Alito — are likely to oppose abortion or otherwise apply Catholic teachings to their rulings.

In a telephone interview, Notre Dame law professor Richard W. Garnett echoed Alito's comment that the religion of qualified justices will not determine their views of pending cases, even if their experiences might shade it.

"It's not the calling of a Catholic judge to enforce the teachings of the faith. It's the calling of a Catholic judge, as well as he or she can, to interpret and apply the laws of the political community," Garnett said.

However, noting Sotomayor's "wise Latina woman" comment, he added: "No one thinks the moral commitments of a judge are irrelevant. I don't think anybody can completely put aside who they are."

Bill Donahue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said he believes the focus on the religious makeup of the court is really a ruse.

"I think it comes down to one issue, it's abortion," he said. "The people who are complaining about Alito and Roberts are the same people who would have nine Nancy Pelosis on the Supreme Court who are pro-choice Catholics."

President George W. Bush nominated Alito to the high court four years ago from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.


Source: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilrSLUqiuo2NLajzD0mitKGNwM3wD9BF40LO0
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P.S. Hey Italo, forget about it!

Justice Alito Concerned by the Catholic Question



Justice Alito Concerned by the Catholic Question

Posted by Tim Drake

Friday, October 23, 2009 7:27 AM

Bothered by the frequent talk about the number of Catholics on the Supreme Court, Justice Samuel Alito voiced his concerns in a recent speech to an Italian-American law group in Philadelphia, reported The Associated Press.

“There has been so much talk lately about the number of Catholics serving on the Supreme Court,” said Alito. “This is one of those questions that does not die.”

Alito voiced his concern about “respectable people who have seriously raised the questions in serious publications about whether these individuals could be trusted to do their jobs.”

According to Alito, the U.S. Constitution settled the question long ago, with its guarantee of religious freedom.

Alito is one of six justices on the nine-member court who were raised Catholic. A dozen of the court’s past 111 jurists have been Catholic.


Source: http://www.ncregister.com/daily/justice_alito_concerned_by_the_catholic_question/



78

P.S. Justice Samuel Alito asks: why is there such a fuss over there being "6" Roman Catholics in the U.S. Supreme Court? What's wrong with that?

My response to him is: If this were Italy or Spain or even Mejico, Brazil or Cuba, it would be no big thing after all these countries are 99 % Roman Catholic (at least 'culturally'), many as a Constitutional fact; But, the United States is not, or has ever been one until all these recent mass over-representations of the political and judicial sphere. This is bewildering, amazing and actually repulsive to any God fearing, Bible student; Can the persecution of those that will refuse to submit to Roman canon Law be far behind?
This is a reminder that the prophesies are being fulfilled to the very last detail.

I don't think the U.S. Constitution implied that there would be 6 out 9 Supreme Court Justices who were Roman Catholics? Or, Quakers, or Southern Baptists, Jewish or Bahai Judges....6 is (of any religion) fundamentally too many for the USA.
If this were Portugal the land of Fatima? It would be understandable; But, not Here!

God bless His Holy Scriptures: Daniel, Revelation, and His end time Prophets.
Maranatha. The King is coming.
Prepare yourselves for His return!


Arsenio.
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Hate crimes legislation passes Senate, heads to Obama





The U.S. Senate passed the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday with the controversial Matthew Shepard Act attached. The act would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes laws. The bill now heads to the desk of President Obama, who at last week’s Human Rights Campaign dinner promised LGBT advocates he’d sign the bill into law.
The bill passed the U.S. House two weeks ago. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken were among the 68 Senators voting for the bill on Thursday. Twenty-nine Senators voted against the bill.

If Obama signs the bill, it will mark the end of 10 years of pressure from LGBT and human rights groups to pass the legislation.

Immediately following passage, LGBT groups hailed the vote.

Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director, Family Equality Council:

“Safety at home, at work, and in our communities is a cornerstone of happy, healthy families. LGBT families live in 99% of counties nationwide. We are neighbors, friends, loved ones, family members, workers and community members. Many of us are also parents who want more than anything to keep our children safe and to raise them in a world that finds strength in difference and celebrates diversity. Bias-motivated violence against any individual hurts our entire community. The protections and resources moved forward by Congress will ensure greater safety not just for LGBT people as individuals, but as parents and caregivers.”

Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force:

“Today’s vote marks a milestone for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. The hate crimes bill now shifts to the president. With his signature, President Obama will usher in a new era — one in which hate-motivated violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people will no longer be tolerated. Our country will finally take an unequivocal stand against the bigotry that too often leads to violence against LGBT people, simply for being who they are.”

Joe Solmonese, Executive Director, Human Rights Campaign:

“We applaud the leadership of our Senate allies, particularly Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senators Patrick Leahy, Carl Levin, and Susan Collins for ensuring that the hate crimes provision remained part of this authorization bill. We also recognize the tireless efforts of Senator Ted Kennedy on this issue; a hero for our entire community.”



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Pray ye...that none of these things...come upon me


5Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them.

6And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

7For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.

8And there was great joy in that city.

9But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

10To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

11And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

12But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.

13Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

14Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

15Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

16(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)

17Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.

18And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

19Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.

20But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

21Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.

22Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

23For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.

24Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the LORD for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.

25And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.


Acts 8:5-25.


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Thursday, October 22, 2009

Who’s in Big Brother’s Database?


Volume 56, Number 17 · November 5, 2009

By James Bamford
The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency
by Matthew M. Aid
Bloomsbury, 423 pp., $30.00

On a remote edge of Utah’s dry and arid high desert, where temperatures often zoom past 100 degrees, hard-hatted construction workers with top-secret clearances are preparing to build what may become America’s equivalent of Jorge Luis Borges’s “Library of Babel,” a place where the collection of information is both infinite and at the same time monstrous, where the entire world’s knowledge is stored, but not a single word is understood. At a million square feet, the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the US Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in Salt Lake City combined.

Unlike Borges’s “labyrinth of letters,” this library expects few visitors. It’s being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency—which is primarily responsible for “signals intelligence,” the collection and analysis of various forms of communication—to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails: Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital “pocket litter.” Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.

Full story


Source: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23231

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Police: Man ran down 'too Westernized' daughter

Story Highlights
Police: Man struck daughter, her friend with vehicle on Tuesday in Arizona

Man thought daughter, 20, wasn't living according to family's Iraqi values, police say

Woman has life-threatening injuries, police say

Police seek Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48

updated 5:06 p.m. EDT, Wed October 21, 2009




Police say they're looking for Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who they say struck two people with a vehicle Tuesday.


(CNN) -- Arizona police are looking for an Iraqi man who they allege ran down his daughter and her friend because he believed his daughter had become "too Westernized."
Peoria, Arizona, police said Wednesday that Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, struck his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, and her friend Amal Edan Khalaf with a vehicle he was driving in a parking lot Tuesday afternoon.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki was angry with his daughter "as she had become too 'Westernized' and was not living according to [the family's] traditional Iraq[i] values," Peoria police said in a statement released Wednesday.

Noor Faleh Almaleki is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, according to the statement. Khalaf, 43, received injuries that are not life-threatening but is still in the hospital, police said.

Noor Faleh Almaleki lives with Khalaf, police said but did not elaborate on how the two women knew each other.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki was last seen in a gray or silver Jeep Grand Cherokee, police said.

No further details were immediately available.

Peoria is about 13 miles northwest of Phoenix.




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The Secularization of the Church


A Revolution Within Adventism in Disguise

“How the Roman church can clear herself from the charge of idolatry we cannot see…And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favor, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism. This union will not, however, be effected by a change in Catholicism, for Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change. The adoption of liberal ideas on its part will bring it where it can clasp the hand of Catholicism.” Last Day Events, p. 130.

Notice how the prophet of the Lord describes accurately the manner in which Protestantism, particularly in America, is going to change and eventually clasp the hand of Catholicism. It is through the adoption of liberal ideas.

Similarly, Sister White shows us how to determine between a false movement and a genuine: “Yet none need be deceived. In the light of God’s word it is not difficult to determine the nature of these movements. Whenever men neglect the testimony of the Bible, turning away from those plain, soul-testing truths [the three angels’ messages] which require self-denial and renunciation of the world, there we may be sure that God’s blessing is not bestowed.” The Great Controversy, p. 464.

We are living in a generation where Seventh-day Adventists are facing a crisis that has never been faced before. We are being bombarded from outside and infiltrated from inside with liberal ideas that are turning us away from those plain, soul-testing truths of God’s inspired writings. One of the main characteristics of this deception is in the subtle, stealthy manner in which liberalism develops. Never do Satan’s deceptions appear to be malevolent or evil; rather, they always present themselves as being highly desirable and so filled with spiritual integrity that if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect [Matt. 24:24]. It is our conviction that the “liberal ideas” of the new theology, ecumenism, and the social gospel fall into just such a category; for it is these very principles that are bringing us back to Rome. Once we have obtained a full grasp of this deception of global proportions, then you will understand the urgent need to expose its developmental roots within Seventh-day Adventism.

Historical Roots of Liberalism

The generations between the late 1700’s through the early 1900’s witnessed a tremendous cultural breakdown that threatened to destroy the very roots of civilization. This period is commonly referred to as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. The leaders of this period considered themselves courageous and elite and regarded their purpose as leading the world toward progress and out of a long period of doubtful tradition, full of irrationality, superstition, and tyranny. This phenomenon is known today as liberalism, and it is expressed in philosophy, theology, education, politics, art, science, society, and culture. Because ideas result in consequences and our beliefs affect our decisions, liberalism has played an important role in shaping twentieth-century history and has almost completely destroyed the church today.

Before this period, people in the Western world, particularly Protestant America, had almost always based their reasoning upon certain unchangeable truths - beginning with such truths as found in God’s Word. However, the Age of Enlightenment’s philosophy of relativism, the view that human beliefs and behaviors have no absolute standards for right and wrong, took away this trust in God’s Word for many people and opened the door to humanistic views of history, education, morality, science, government, and religion. Relativism was the foundational principle of the French Revolution and was the cause for all the chaos and destruction that followed afterwards.

The most devastating effect that liberalism has had during the entire twentieth century has been the secularization of the mainline Protestant churches – including Seventh-day Adventists. This has resulted in secularist heresies coming in among us which continue to pervert the truth of God and destroy the church.

The word liberal comes from the Latin word “liber” with means free. A liberal is someone who desires to be free from something or free to do something. Sometimes it stands for good such as free enterprise, free press, or as in a liberal [free, generous] giver of offerings. Whether this is good or evil depends upon what one wants to be free from or free to do. Historically, in the early decades of the American Republic, libertarianism meant the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, modern liberalism is usually equated with the desire to free man from authority, from moral restraint, and responsibility.

Modern liberalism can be traced to the revolutionary minds of European thinkers such as the French philosophers Voltaire [1694-1778], Rousseau [1712-1778], and Auguste Comte [1798-1857) who stressed the need for the state to “liberate” the masses from traditional, moral, and social authority. Comte aggressively taught that no truth can be known except by observable scientific facts and their relations to each other. This extremely secular and arrogant claim completely destroys the entire concept of faith in God and His Word. German philosophers such as Immanuel Kant [1724-1804] and G. W. F. Hegel [1770-1831] claimed that all truths, facts, and values are dependent upon man’s feelings and man’s reasoning. These philosophers liberated people to think and do as they pleased with little reference to reality or responsibility. They created their own concept of good and evil. This dismissal of absolutes set many modern people to rebel against God and His Word. These so-called educated men attempted to create a “progressive” perfect society built upon “scientific” human knowledge, free from God and His law.

These secular ideas soon gave birth to three new pervasively influential movements that have brought catastrophic consequences to our day: Darwinism [evolution], Marxism [democratic socialism and revolutionary communism], and Freudianism [psychoanalysis]. Their founders, Charles Darwin [1809-1882], Karl Marx [1818-1883], and Sigmund Freud [1856-1939] all expressed contempt for Christianity. At the same time liberal religionists were attacking the very foundations of Christian truths.

Religious Liberalism

Such men as Adolf von Harnack [1851-1930] in Germany, Alfred Loisy [1857-1940] in France, R.J. Campbell [1867-1959] in England, and Walter Rauschenbusch [1861-1918] in America glorified and praised the new advances of liberal sciences while denying the truths of the Bible. These infidels, many of whom studied theology and philosophy said that in the modern age, it was old-fashioned to take the Bible literally and believe in a literal heaven and hell or any of the major themes of the Bible [garden of Eden, Noah’s ark, Jonah and the whale etc.]. Thus, they were called modernists and they introduced religious liberalism to the churches of Europe and America.

In reality, Modernism and Religious Liberalism which has dominated European Protestantism since the 1890’s and American Protestantism since the 1930’s is not a “new” expression of religion, but only unbelief clothed in a modern garb and deceitfully using the language of traditional Christianity in a new sense of doubt.

One core doctrine after another has fallen away through liberal theology - all in the name of salvaging the faith in the modern age. Liberalism denies the literal creation of this world. It denies the fall of man, his sinful human nature, and his need of regeneration by teaching that man is generally good by nature and that the evils of society must change. Karl Marx advocated the same ideal; that man was good but society is bad and when society changed, man would change. Liberalism also denies the absolute standards of good and evil that God has established. Their understanding of right and good is defined simply as whatever furthers liberal ideas. And whatever hinders the cause of liberalism is bad or evil. Liberalism suppresses the concept of Biblical redemption by substituting this work with social or political activism.

1955 – The Beginning of the End for Historic Adventism

There would be no liberalism [new theology, ecumenism, or social gospel] in Adventism today if certain church leaders in the mid-1950’s had not welcomed it in. For the errors of liberal theology were brought in and have taken root. But many in our time do not realize how firmly the errors have been placed within the church. In the Spring of 1955 when Presbyterian minister Donald Grey Barnhouse and Southern Baptist minister Walter Martin asked for a face-to-face contact with representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in order to improve understanding and appreciation for each other and to clear up any doctrinal misunderstandings, immediately our response should have been: “Babylon is fallen” and “Come out of her, My people.” [Rev. 14:8; Rev. 18:1-5].

But unfortunately, LeRoy E. Froom, a scholar and author of Prophetic Faith of our Fathers; W. E. Read, Field-Secretary for the General Conference; T.E. Unruh, a Seventh-day Adventist Pastor; and R. Allan Anderson, a college teacher of religion, evangelist, and author, were authorized by the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference President, R. R. Fugurh, to meet with Walter Martin, Donald Barnhouse, and George Cannon, some of the most influential men among American Sunday-keeping Protestant circles. These men, through a series of doctrinal discussions, opened the door for doctrinal heresies to come into the SDA church. No one has been able to get those errors out once they got in. All these men are now dead, and we’re still living with the problems they left us with.

It is an interesting fact that we know of not one instance in which either of these Evangelical Protestant ministers ever gave up any of their errors or changed any of their positions on a single doctrinal point throughout the entire affair. All the compromises were for us to make. From start to finish, Evangelical Protestantism did not change one bit or budge one inch as a result of these conferences. Tragically, Seventh-day Adventists were the ones who made all the compromises! Consequently, we find that the nature of Christ, the nature of His atonement, attacks on Ellen White’s prophetic role, the law of God, the 2,300 day prophecy, 1844 and the investigative judgment, the sanctuary message, our views on the papacy, the mark of the beast, and other distinctive doctrinal beliefs have been changed, discarded, or hidden under a bushel in order to come into line and harmony with Evangelical Protestantism. [For the complete story of this dark chapter of SDA history, please read “Letters to the Churches,” by Elder M.L. Andreasen.]

Today we are seeing an obsession of ecumenical fellowship and dialog with the world. This is not the time for Adventist to haul down our banner, for the third angel’s message is inscribed upon it. God has placed each one of us in this world at this time in history for a purpose. We must stand true to that purpose, no matter what the cost may be. The Bible/Spirit of Prophecy teachings given to us are to be cherished. Our pioneers had to deal with some of these same liberal ideas in their days, and in doing so, they gave up nothing of the historical doctrines of the Adventist faith.

Charles Darwin and the Biological Origins of Liberalism

The concept of evolution, that rejects the Biblical record of creation and advocates the ideal that man evolved through natural processes, was not new to Charles Darwin. Many pagan people and ancient Greeks had expressed similar ideas. However, Darwin thought he had “scientific evidence” for this idea. Because Darwin the naturalist was called a “scientist” and because science was so highly respected and esteemed in the nineteenth century, many people began to accept his views. Evolution basically says that God is dead, at least as far as science is concerned. Evolution teaches that man is autonomous, that man is responsible to no one but himself, and that man must attempt to continue to survive without reference to God or to His Law. Darwin said that the God of the Bible was a cruel tyrant because he allowed people to suffer. Even though he knew that this was not true, for he had studied at Cambridge University to prepare for the Anglican ministry, that was Darwin’s thinking. Evolution has slowly but steadily progressed into the theology of many churches.

Sigmund Freud and the Psychological Drives of Liberalism

Sigmund Freud, a behavioral psychiatrist, believed that there is no such thing as sin, guilt for sin, or repentance from sin because people really have no control over their own actions. He taught that every action is determined by “unconscious drives,” especially sex drives, which we have no control over. In order to alleviate one’s guilt and remorse for the wrongs done, Freud advocated psychoanalysis, the process of finding unconscious components of a person’s mind. He believed that children and adults should not be punished for their crimes, but rather they should be allowed to express themselves freely and to play out their “unconscious drives” [sins]. These ideas of “unconscious drives” have been politically influential in today’s society, particularly in our schools and educational systems, our prison systems, and has also affected the theology of many of our churches [new theology]. This is the reason why many churches are beginning to ordain homosexuals into the ministry.

By denying that crime is the result of a sinful heart, and by denying man’s personal responsibility for his or her actions, liberalism has robbed many people of the true freedom and dignity that comes from God and have made men the object of “social engineering” at the hands of scientific “experts.” Because of Freud, the treatment of criminal/wrongdoers is being changed from punishment for wrongs done to psychiatric treatment by helping them cope with their so called “unconscious drives.”

Karl Marx and the Social Theories of Liberalism

It is important to know some background of Karl Marx in order to understand the hidden agenda of the Social Gospel, because today, the churches are preaching “Liberation Theology” – a mixture of leftist politics and social action programs masquerading as a Gospel-inspired, Christ-promoting mission.

Left-wing politics and socialism trace their origins to Karl Marx, a Jew who was reared as a nominal Christian in the Protestant state church in Germany. He was the chief founder of two of the most powerful liberal movements in history – democratic socialism and revolutionary communism. He very early came to despise both Judaism and Christianity, and throughout his life he exhibited a violent hatred for God and humanity. As a student at the University of Berlin, Marx came under the spell of the liberal German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. Marx accepted and applied Hegel’s reasoning by rejecting God’s revelation of beginning, end, and history.

In his book, Das Kapital [Capital], he claimed that history is a record of class struggle between the “haves” [rich] and the “have nots” [poor]. His goal was to usher in a perfect society by eliminating poverty, unemployment, and all the classes [the rulers, nobles, rich, middle class, and peasants] and thereby eliminate all the struggles. Socialism claims to seek equality and liberty for the people by helping to alleviate the poor by eliminating the greedy middle class and the oppression of the poor by the wealthy “capitalists” who owned the nation’s businesses and industries.

Socialism starts with the nationalization/confiscation/stealing of every means of production, the plants, factories, businesses, corporations, industries, farms, private property, natural resources, money, and banks—which all supposedly come under public ownership, that is, under the collective ownership of the nation. Socialism ends when all the wealth is redistributed evenly among society.

Poverty would be immediately ended because the vast recourses that are wasted by the rich and by private corporate/business profits would be redistributed to the poor by law. Karl Marx theorized that with capitalism gone, crime will also begin to disappear, for it is the vicious profit system that corrupts people, breeds crime, exploits the poor for profit, and oppresses the working class. Socialism claims to offer everyone a life free from exploitation, job insecurity, poverty, unemployment, hunger, and homelessness. How? The goal is by seizing complete control over everything, eliminating private ownership, and through redistribution of wealth.

The major problem and flaw of this system is that socialism/communism does not bring equality to the people; it is really the concentration of power among a small, elite group of bureaucrats who control the wealth and resources of the nation while the majority of the population work like slaves to support the state. It brings not liberty but bondage under an all-powerful state that dominates the body and soul of the people. Between 1917 and 1991, over 100 million people in the former Soviet Union alone were murdered by means of forced starvation and wholesale execution by the brutal Communist regime. And ever since Communism overthrew the Nationalist government of China in 1949, they have executed over 40 million Chinese citizens. And these figures say nothing of the millions more who have died at the hands of the Communists in Vietnam, North Korea, Cambodia, Laos, Cuba, and numerous African nations.

The Origins of the Social Gospel

The Social Gospel is the idea that the preaching of the Gospel can be better fulfilled through social activism and the promotion of societal change rather than the historical, God-appointed method of preaching Biblical doctrines.

Albrecht Ritschl [1822-1889] was an avid liberal German theologian who promulgated the false teaching that the work of the church is to attack social inequalities and to work toward the establishment of complete democracy, as opposed to bringing individuals to personal salvation through Christ. This is by definition the meaning of the Social Gospel.

According to Ritschel and to American “Social Gospellers” Harry Emerson Fosdick [1878-1969], Washington Gladden [1836-1918] and Shailer Matthews [1863-1941], Jesus had proclaimed a “Social Gospel.” And the task of the church was to implement the social gospel by social reform and political action. They preached the importance of persuading government to intervene in order to bring in perfect economic conditions. They spoke passionately of a new order [1000 years of peace on the earth before Christ comes] that would rest on the Christian principles of equal rights and democratic distribution of economic power. The Social Gospellers were all advocates of big government and became enthusiastic supporters of the programs of the social democrats in Europe and other liberals in America. Many turned to communism and socialism as the “Christian” solution to economic ills and social problems. Such prominent churchmen as Archbishop William Temple [1881-1944] of the Church of England were ardent socialists who worked to establish a perfect social order.

It is not surprising that religious liberals made common cause with political liberals and social revolutionaries. Liberal Christianity today, as represented by the National and World Councils of Churches, continues to actively support the worldwide socialist revolution both philosophically and financially, calling it “Liberation Theology” or “Social Justice.”

Doctrine Divides / Social Gospel Unites

When the ecumenical movement, as expressed in the World Council of Churches or the National Council of Churches, begins to discard and undermine the doctrinal truths of the faith as a basis for unity, something else is substituted in place of Bible truth so there can be a basis on which to unite. And what the ecumenical movement has substituted in place of the truth as a basis of unity has been charity. But their understanding of charity is to take up a wide variety of social, secular, political, and revolutionary causes. Whenever the church opts for social/political activism instead of preaching its historical/fundamental truths, the end result always lead to the secularization, the “de-Christianization,” and the “de-Adventization” of the church. Satan wins when the church replaces its original, historical work of preaching the truth of the three angels’ messages and decides on advocating political, material, secular, liberal, human interests. These new ideas within Adventism are heresies disguised as an angel of light [2 Cor. 11:14].

The Gospel of Christ verses the Social Gospel

In fact, the Social Gospel is really a no-gospel as far as doctrine is concerned. It is not primarily about God, His law, His work of redemption, nor His promises. It is actually freedom from the true Gospel. The true Gospel and true liberation is a spiritual liberation of individuals, groups, nations, races, and all human beings, regardless of social status. The true Gospel liberates us from sin— its power and its consequences. “Whoseover committeth sin is a servant of sin...If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” John 8:34, 36.

The Social Gospel, on the other hand, is specifically a freeing from political oppression, economic want, misery here on earth, and a freeing from political domination by the so-called “evil” American capitalism.

In summary, the liberal Protestant’s Social Gospel and the Roman Catholic’s Liberation Theology are both in essence, Karl Marx’s class struggle. Sadly, we have seen Seventh-day Adventists following in these similar deceptions. The challenges of these ideas teach that we are to fight and win – not the battle of Christ against sin, but the battle of a worldwide class of
men and women, the poor working class, who are being exploited by the rich and powerful.

Yet we know that Christ never singled out the “poor working class” with a preferential favor with His Gospel. Christ acted on no sociological theory about economics or political opposition between classes. He aimed at no armed revolution, and no political liberation. Christ was for godliness, purity, humility, and fidelity to God’s law, wherever he found it, poor man or rich, child or elderly, in his rich friends like Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus and his two sisters, and Zacchaeus, or in his poor friends – notably the twelve apostles.

For Christ was the Savior of sinners, not a secular leader. It was not poverty nor riches that made or makes you desirable in Christ’s eyes. It was what you did in your poverty or your riches, what sort of morality you practiced, and what beliefs you cherished that counted.

“The Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the earth and then the end will come.” Matt. 21:14. This meant that all the nations are to be evangelized by the Gospel, Christ’s true spiritual Gospel; the Gospel that He announced when he declared “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15.

In reality, the Social Gospel/Liberation Theology is a complete metamorphous—from a spiritual warfare into a social-political struggle, and if necessary, armed revolutionary warfare.

1963 Communist Goals and the Social Gospel

On January 10, 1963 in the House of Representatives, Florida Congressman A. S. Herlong, Jr. was alerting the U.S. Congress of the public dangers of communism in America. Under unanimous consent by his colleagues, he entered into the Congressional Record the “Current Communist Goals,” a list of forty-five goals of communism, taken from the book ‘The Naked Communist,’ [1961] by Cleon Skousen.

Many of their goals have been fulfilled already. Goal #27 reads:

“Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with ‘social’ religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a ‘religious crutch.’” Communist Goals 1963, U.S. Congressional Record, 1/10/1963, Appendix, pp. A34, A35.

This certainly has been done already. What becomes of the real Gospel when it is submerged under liberal aims and political maneuverings? When has the “permanent establishment” of the kingdom of God on earth taken precedence over the preaching of the Word of God, or in our case the preaching of the three angels’ messages? Why do we bend scriptures to support merging the teachings of Marxism and Christianity? Roman Catholicism has been spearheading Marxism/Christianity through its Liberation Theology. However, many Protestant organizations have also been propagating and supporting the use of revolutionary protest and even uprisings against the authority of the state in the cause of social change.

Liberation Theology of Vatican II

Roman Catholic theologians in Latin America, principally the Jesuits of the post-World War II, post-Vatican II era, had been developing a new theology. They called it the Theology of Liberation, and based it on the liberal/social theories of the French Revolution – Liberty! Equality! Fraternity! It is often cited as a form of Christian socialism. This is a movement that attempts to unite theology [Roman Catholic] and socio-political concerns [Marxism], particularly in areas of social justice and human rights.

Within five years of Vatican II, the whole of Latin America was being flooded with this new theology, in which basic, fundamental, orthodox Marxist teachings were cunningly combined with traditional Christian themes. By 1973, a Peruvian Jesuit Priest, Gustavo Gutierrez, codified these teachings in a book called “A Theology of Liberation.” Liberation Theology was a carefully worked out system whose purpose, they claimed, was to liberate men and women from the economic, social, and political slavery imposed on them by the greedy, exploitations of Latin American countries by the evil U.S. capitalist corporations and government that were stealing their wealth, manipulating their economies, and controlling their policies. Liberation Theology was followed by the establishment of “Democratic Socialism” which incorporated the very goals and principles of Marxism.

For example, the Marxist revolutionaries called the Sandinista National Liberation Front of Nicaragua enlisted the efforts of the influential Roman Catholic Jesuits such as Fernando Cardenal to work together, cooperate, and help promote the installation of a socialist society. Today, after years of civil war, the Sandinistas form the largest political party in Nicaragua and Fernando Cardenal, the Jesuit Priest, became the first Minister of Education in the Sandinista government.

Similarly, in El Salvador, the Marxist coalition of revolutionaries called the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front [FMLN] launched a series of military offences against the Salvadorian government from 1980-1992. The Salvadorian government’s military officers claimed that the Marxist revolutionary planning was being orchestrated from the Jesuit University UCA [Uneversidad Centroamerica San Jose Canas] in the capital city of San Salvador. After a series of high level assassinations against the government by the FMLN, on November 16, 1989 at 1:00 a.m., a Salvadorian military unit entered the campus of UCA and six Jesuit priests [Ignacio Ellacuria, Ignacio Baro, Segundo Montes, Joaquin Lopez, Amando Lopez, and Juan Moreno] who resided at the school were executed for their alleged participation in guerilla warfare.

Similar campaigns were carried out in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Granada, Cuba, and other Latin American countries. Fidel Castro attended Colegio Belen [Bethlehem College] in Havana, Cuba, a Jesuit Boarding School.

Jesuits Call for Redistribution of Wealth and the End of Poverty

On July 1, 2005, twelve high ranking Jesuits delivered a letter to the heads of state gathered for the annual G8 economic and political summit. The G8 group consists of the heads of governments for the top 8 industrialized nations of the world: USA, Japan, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, Italy, France, and Canada.

In the letter, the Jesuits call for the immediate “redistribution of global resources” and for the “control of profits” and “monetary systems.” The letter was carefully written and was echoing the critical social thinking of Karl Marx from his book Das Kapital. They were in essence calling for the end of the free-market economy of capitalism.

The letter was signed by: Fernando Franco SJ, Social Justice Secretary of the Society of Jesus; Andreas Gösele SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for Central Europe; Antoine Berilengar SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for Africa and Madagascar; Javier Arellano Yanguas SJ, Social Apostolate Coordiantor for Southern Europe; Jim Stormes SJ, Coordinator for Social and International Ministries of US Jesuit Conference; Jorge Julio Mejía SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for Latin America; Rafael Moreno SJ, Assitant to the Social Apostolate Coordinator for Latin America; Paulo Sergio Vaillant SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for Brasil; Antoine Kerhuel SJ, On behalf of the Social Apostolate in Western Europe; Jakub Cebula SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for Eastern Europe; Paul Dass SJ, Social Apostolate Coordinator for East Asia - Oceania; Joe Xavier SJ, Secretary of Jesuits in Social Action [JESA] – Southern Asia.

Adventists Unite with the Ecumenical Movement to End Poverty

More than 30 leaders of Christian denominations worldwide gathered at the Washington National Cathedral for an ecumenical Sunday worship service on Sept. 11, 2005, to affirm and advance the United Nation's Millennial Development Goal—to end extreme poverty by 2015. The event was called “Consultation of Religious Leaders on Global Poverty.”

Roman Catholic Archbishop from Nairobi, Raphael Ndingi Nzeki; Jesuit Priest John Foley of St. Louis University; Rajmund Dabrowski, Director of Communication of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists— along with 30 plus high-ranking faith leaders from the Northern and Southern hemispheres representing Anglican, Roman Catholic, Reformed, Methodist, Evangelical, Lutheran, Greek Orthodox, and Seventh-day Adventist denominations were among the participants. For a list of participants and program schedule of this historic event, please go to: http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/pdfs/050911poverty.pdf

An article appeared in Adventist News Network which covered the event. In the article, notice the following observation made by Adventists regarding the United Nations’ call to end poverty by 2015: “‘This is an urgent call and one that responds to the cry of the least among us—the voiceless,’ said Pastor Rajmund Dabrowski, communication director of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, and a participant in the consultation. ‘It’s a cry for justice to be done, and for equitable redistribution and accountability for the wealth the world has. As Christians, we know this cry, but we also know that much more must be done and that intentions must turn into actions.’” Christians Call Against Poverty, Adventist News Network, Sept. 14, 2005, Rajmund Dabrowsky.

Here we see the politicking, ecumenical, Marxist idea of “redistribution of the wealth” being promoted by the General Conference Communication Director. This is the same liberal/social ideas of the Jesuit’s Liberation theology. Should we suppose that Pastor Dabrowski was in this conference to bring the third angel’s message to the poor people, or maybe to these Babylonian leaders? Seventh-day Adventists were never called to end global poverty, form political action committees, or create a utopian society.

Jesus reminds us that poverty will never be removed in this present world when He said, “For ye have the poor always with you.” Matt. 26:11. If fact, Ellen White states this same truth in her writings:

“There are two classes of poor whom we have always within our borders—those who ruin themselves by their own independent course of action and continue in their transgression, and those who for the truth’s sake have been brought into straitened circumstances.” Welfare Ministry, pg. 178.

We wonder if these ecumenical, politicking, social gospel churches will come to the aid of those who are giving the final warning message of Revelation 14 when they are “brought into straitened circumstances” “for the truth’s sake.”

“Those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law in obedience to earthly powers they will be forbidden to buy or sell.” Last Day Events, p. 148.

Will these religious leaders who are combating global poverty come to the aid of the faithful SDA people, who refuse to break the law of God during the Sunday law crisis? Will they help and alleviate the self-supporting ministries who are preaching the three angels’ message? How about the rest of the small faithful SDA minority? Apparently not! Because the prophet of the Lord says that “those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off.” Ibid.

We can only conclude that the present SDA involvement in “eradicating global poverty” by 2015 is either being done for publicity or for the simple desire of wanting to join up with Roman Catholics, Jesuits, Anglicans, and other members of the Babylonian family. The inspired writings say that poverty will not be eliminated:

“In the providence of God events have been so ordered that the poor are always with us, in order that there may be a constant exercise in the human heart of the attributes of mercy and love.” Welfare Ministry, p. 17.

So if poverty will not be eliminated, who or what will these religious leaders eradicate by 2015? Maybe those who refuse the mark of the beast? We can only speculate.

The True Christian Service

There is no doubt that being attentive to human rights, feeding and clothing the poor, and nurturing and loving people is part of the work of the Gospel. Of course, Christians should be in the forefront of work which cares for people. But let us not be disingenuous in our work for helping others.

What would be the purpose of liberating people from structural oppression, starvation, and poverty if we do not give them the real “Bread of Life.” If fact, Jesus Himself rebuked those who came to Him solely for the purpose of material bread.

“Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.” John 6:26, 27.

Christ always gave people more that just physical sustenance or physical healing. And secondly, when Jesus performed the miraculous feeding of five thousand and four thousand, he was providing a living parable about what He does for the human soul, which is actually more important than the temporal state of their physical bodies.

“And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.” Mark 6:34. It was only after He taught them many things that Christ fed them [Mark 6:37-44].

Furthermore, when He performed a miracle, He was not simply doing a good work, He was signaling to the world, especially the Jewish people, that the Messiah had arrived! He performed these “signs” as proof of His Divine authority and majesty, and not just to create a more healthy and just people, but to save their souls.

“Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, [he saith to the sick of the palsy] I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.” Mark 2:9-11.

Here again, Jesus did not simply go about doing good works. He proclaimed His Messiahship, the right to forgive sins, to all those to whom He helped.

Again, in John 9, after healing the blind man, Christ said unto him: “Doest thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou has both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.” John 9:35-38.

Here we see clearly Christ’s intention of helping the poor and afflicted. He wants to restore the burden of despair upon all, both physical and spiritual. He offers forgiveness and complete transformation of the whole being.

Lastly, the healing of the lame man in Acts 2 was for the benefit of the entire Jewish temple. Notice Peter’s address:

“Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this…as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk...Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate…but ye denied the Holy One and the Just…And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead…And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know…Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.” Acts 3:12-19. Here Peter “pricked the hearts” of his listeners by preaching to them the present truth inside the Jewish temple. And what provided the occasion for this great accomplishment of preaching the truth to thousands of people? – the healing of the lame man. And today, we are called to do the same.

“Christ is coming the second time, with power unto salvation. To prepare human beings for this event, He has sent the first, second, and third angels’ messages. These angels represent those who receive the truth, and with power open the gospel to the world.” Letter 79, 1900.

This of course is in complete contrast to the twisted theories of the Social Gospel – which persistently interprets the scriptures of helping the downtrodden while at the same time drop out of view the fundamental doctrines of the historic Christian faith. Satan’s victory is complete if he could distract the church from its necessary, primary, spiritual mission and service, while at the same time allowing opportunity to the intrusion into the church of ideologies which are completely opposed to the Word of God and to the cause of the three angels’ messages. Seventh-day Adventists were never called to just become social workers, welfare centers, or political activists.

Not to be misunderstood, God did give manna to His people. While the physical/material work should be a natural outgrowth of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. However, as Seventh-day Adventist, we must remain true to our task, to our single abiding mission; that of sharing with all men, whatever their race, background, outlook, politics, social or moral standing—our all-encompassing, all-sufficient, authorative, and necessary message of the three angels of Revelation 14.

Let us never in exchange for the true “Living Bread” of truth offer a stone; for the Gospel is to be given in its purest form, in accordance with the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy, and unmixed with extraneous or cultural elements.

Liberalism Leads to Secularization

Liberalism opts for man, to serve man, to meet man’s needs, and to help him build his home on this earth. Liberalism is based on man’s ideas, man’s aims, man’s hopes, man’s fears, man’s suffering, and man’s difficulties. “We must give man what he wants and needs,” is the centerpiece of this message since it has entered into the churches. So pointedly and elaborate has this theme been accepted in the mainline churches that Karl Marx himself could not have written a better plan for the secularization of the religious institutions. What has happened ever since these ideals are accepted in whole or in part, is that true prayer, true faith, and the true mission of the church is replaced by human solidarity, ecumenism, and political alliances; which eventually become the new aim and focus of the church.

Secularization teaches that all the meaning of human life and the answer to every human hope are to be attained within the boundaries of this visible, tangible, material world of the here and now. “The whole world is moving,” the liberal preachers proclaim, “toward the concept that the whole society of nations should be formed into a unity, into one great peaceful society, without all the old religious divisiveness and based on one common goal—charity, solidarity, and ecumenism.”

Isn’t this what the Bible describes as the great Babylonian system, which portrays a mixing of the merchants of the earth [economy and wealth] and the great harlot with her daughters [religious institutions] and the kings of the earth [earthly governments]? Here is another section of Pastor Rajmund Dabrowski’s formula for achieving success in combating the social ills of society:

“As Christian leaders we challenge our own churches to pursue partnerships with governments, international organizations, civil society, and across confessional lines.” Christians Call Against Poverty, Adventist News Network, Sept. 14, 2005, Rajmund Dabrowsky.

Friends, who did Jesus, His disciples, or the early Adventist pioneers partner up with when fulfilling their work? Governments? Across confessional lines? Ecumenism? Secular Liberal Organizations? Obviously, they depended and received help from God alone.

No Other Gospel

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel...let him be accursed.” Gal. 1:8-9. Let us not be ignorant of the Devil’s devices lest Satan get the advantage [II Cor. 2:11]. The existence of these liberal, secular developments within Adventism are designed to destroy or neutralize the unique messages of our faith. Let us rejoice that in spite of all these forces of evil that have attempted to eradicate our historical Adventist message, God has reminded us that His message will triumph in the end.

“The bulwarks of Satan will never triumph. Victory will attend the third angel's message. As the Captain of the Lord's host tore down the walls of Jericho, so will the Lord's commandment-keeping people triumph, and all opposing elements be defeated.” Testimonies to Minister, p. 410.

Notice, only those who hold fast to the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, the three angels’ messages, in context to the everlasting gospel, will in the end triumph under the power of the latter rain.

“I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” Isa. 45:6-7.

- The Editors



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