Sunday, December 20, 2009

Why some Christians will not celebrate Xmas next Friday

Sunday, 20 December 2009 00:00
Nigerian Compass


As Christians brace up across the world for celebration of Christmas next Friday, December 25, some Christian denominations are not going to join in the mood of the occasion.

Those who are not likely to join are the adherents of Jehovah Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists churches. They will not celebrate the festival not because they are sick or that they lack what is required to do so, but because of belief bordering on doctrine and disagreement on the particular birthday of Jesus Christ, the central subject of the celebration.

Though the Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in the birth of Jesus Christ and recognizes Christmas as the celebration of that birth, some Adventists choose a different day of the year to celebrate it (trying to avoid following a pagan holiday) but many celebrate it on December 25 because it is convenient to celebrate it then. Many also consider that it is as good a day as any, and as long as they are not celebrating it as a pagan holiday, it is acceptable to do so on the traditional day, despite the original reasons the Christian church chose that day.

However, not all Adventists celebrate Christmas. Most of them recognize the pagan origin of Christmas, but a portion celebrate it anyway believing that it is a great time of year to witness.

Officially the Seventh-day Adventist church does not observe Christmas as a religious event. This is mostly because of the Pagan and commercial influences on the holiday. Individual churches however may have Christmas themed sermons around this time. After all, they believe, it does celebrate the birth of Christ which Adventists are fine with. Certainly most will offer presents and wish people happy Christmas like most other protestant churches do. Adventists,as a practice, will put more effort into the family and community fellowship aspect over of the drunken partying that usually goes on at this time of the year.

Seventh-day Adventists also do not participate in what they regard as the pagan inspired rituals that make up Christmas day. Things like Christmas trees (a symbol of fertility) and the fact that Christmas day celebrates the equinox of the Sun (that is, sun worship) go completely against their beliefs in there being only one God. This doesn’t mean the good things about Christmas (fellowship, family and goodwill to all) are thrown out too. Adventist churches will often have a sermon devoted to these things (and the birth of Christ) the Sabbath (Saturday) before Christmas day. The day itself is usually full of family fellowship and the opening of presents. A Christmas lunch (usually vegetarian) might be held for family and friends. But the Pagan roots would be avoided altogether. Some Adventists do refuse to even acknowledge Christmas at all for that reason, but they are not the majority.

If Seventh Day Adventists are liberal in their opposition to Christmas, it is not so with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses are controlled by a “Governing Body” which they claim is the “faithful and discreet slave” spoken of at Mathew 24:45. This group consists of 10 to 15 mature men that, Jehovah’s Witnesses are told, have direct guidance from God. The Governing Body in turn instructs followers with this guidance through the pages of the Watchtower and other publications. Jehovah’s Witnesses are told by this “Governing Body” that Scripture alone is insufficient to understand the things of God. One needs the Watchtower Society and the literature it publishes to properly understand the Bible.

The Watchtower Society makes a lot of rules, based on their interpretations of various scriptures, that all Jehovah’s Witnesses must follow. Members are taught that that they must turn each other in for any rule violations.

Members who are found to be unrepentant of violations of Watchtower rules by these elders, are disfellowshipped. Jehovah’s Witnesses can be disfellowshipped for a number of rule violations: premarital or extramarital sex, using alcohol excessively, using tobacco products, celebrating Christmas, reciting the pledge of allegiance, lying, stealing, joining the military, speaking to a disfellowshipped Witness, reading religious material not published by the governing body, or running for political office just to name a few.


By Segun Otokiti
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Adventist leaders comment on Copenhagen climate summit

Caring for environment is "Christian issue," president says

14 Dec 2009, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States
Victor Hulbert/ANN staff


Should Christians be concerned about caring for the environment? The president of the Seventh-day Adventist world church, Jan Paulsen, says "yes," in a video released on YouTube, coinciding with the Copenhagen Summit.



Jan Paulsen, Seventh-day Adventist world church president, comments on the Christian's responsibility to care for the environment in a recent YouTube video. Watch the full video here.






"Quite fundamentally, caring for the environment goes back to our [Adventist] earliest beginnings," Paulsen said.

The archbishop of Canterbury said he thinks Christians should be concerned about climate change. Leaders of the Church of England joined 16 other senior officials from the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey December 6 for a "stop climate chaos" march.

He is one of many Christian leaders around the world watching proceedings at the current Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. In a March lecture he stated that "religious communities are failing profoundly in what is expected of us in energizing a response to climate change in society."

He added that "we are near a tipping point" of global warming "and that the church, and other religious communities, are not doing their part to lead the world against it."

Many Christians do not regard the issue of manmade global warming as a significant issue. A Barna research report indicated that only 33 percent of Evangelicals in the United States consider global warming a major problem. Additionally, Australia's legislature recently struck down a carbon limit and China and India have pulled out of the Copenhagen conference.

"Unfortunately I'm not too optimistic that anything dramatic is going to come out of [the Copenhagen summit]," says Samuel Soret, chair of the Department Environmental & Occupational Health at the Adventist Church's Loma Linda University School of Public Health.

"Hard decisions that are binding should be made on curtailing emissions and sorting out issues between developed and developing nations," Soret says. "Climate change is probably one of the most serious health iniquities in the history of humankind."

Though a climate change skeptic, British Adventist Pastor Paul Lockham says he focuses on being a creationist, whose job is to "tend" to the earth.

"Without being too radical I do seek to do my bit. We are called to be stewards of God's creation, not museum keepers, nor wrekers."

Others take a different view. "I am wondering how much of an impact we can really make as 'Christians' knowing what the end of the world will be," says scientist Peter Walton, a global warming skeptic.

"There are innumerable papers and talks by top scientists that completely demolish the weak science behind the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports and its sponsor the United Nations Environment Program," he adds.

But Walton pushes the argument in a different direction, quoting the sentiments of author Michael Crichton, who spoke at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in 2005, saying we "are not morally justified to spend vast sums -- trillions of dollars -- on this speculative issue when finally, and most importantly, we can't predict the future, but we can know the present."

Walton quotes from Crichton's lecture in which he stated, "A child is orphaned by AIDS every 7 seconds and fifty people die of waterborne disease every minute." Walton argues that this does not have to happen, and calls for a refocusing of priorities.

Whether climate change is a reality or not is the subject for rigorous debate. Miroslav Ostrovljanovic, a media student at London's Kings College, said "God said at the creation that humans are supposed to take care of creation. That isn't changed because we know the world will end."

Victor Pilmoor, treasurer for the Adventist Church in Britain, pondered on the climate summit in the light of Genesis 1 and Colossians 3 in a recent worship talk. "The Adventist position should be clear: Our covenantal responsibility as stewards of creation predates sin and its consequence. We show respect for everything that God has given us, regardless of the science," he said.

Debate on global warming notwithstanding, the world community, represented by some 70 country leaders meeting in Copenhagen, is expressing a concern that global society must consider decisive and different course of action on global warming and related issues.

"It's not only the governments that need to do their part. The issue of improving our stewardship of the environment is a personal, individual responsibility as well," says Rajmund Dabrowski, Communication director for the Adventist world church. "As for respect of creation, as a Christian I should be restrained in the use of the world's resources, and balance my wants and needs."


"Source: Adventist News Network" must appear under the headline or immediately following the article. The words "Source: Adventist News Network" must be given equal prominence to any other source that is also acknowledged.
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Source: http://news.adventist.org/2009/12/adventist-leaders-co.html
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Saturday, December 19, 2009

Chapel program for May 4 featured Campus Hill pastor (2005)

Pastor Marlene Ferreras
associate pastor, Campus Hill Church, Loma Linda

TODAY news for Thursday, May 5, 2005





Note:
At the behest of: Brian J. Weed, BA—Web Content Manager
.........................LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY School of Public Health;

I've removed the article to comply with The Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Please visit the link above to read the article about the event. There you will also see a bio of Pastor Marlene Ferreras; It is no secret that there are several ordained women pastors within the Seventh Day Advenstist Church {Conference}, such as Hyveth Williams, the senior pastor of the Loma Linda Campus Hill Church. http://www.campushillchurch.org/team.htm. On that website, you will also notice that Marlene Ferreras is the Pastor for Youth Ministries; And of course the women pastors at Sligo SDA Church in Takoma Park: Kendra Haloviak, Penny Shell, Norma Osborn [1995 - Ordination of Women Pastors] http://www.sligochurch.org/sligo_story2.htm

1995: Seventh-day Adventists. Sligo Seventh-day Adventist Church in Takoma Park, MD ordained three women in violation of the denomination's rules. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women

Currently at Sligo:
Pastor for DiscipleshipRebecca Brillhart ;Pastor for Congregational Care Debbie Eisele: http://www.sligochurch.org/pastors.htm

. "The winds of change are all around us"

Arsenio.

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The Two Babylons by Alexander Hislop (online)


Table of Contents


The Two Babylons
Alexander Hislop

Introduction

"And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."--Revelation 17:5


There is this great difference between the works of men and the works of God, that the same minute and searching investigation, which displays the defects and imperfections of the one, brings out also the beauties of the other. If the most finely polished needle on which the art of man has been expended be subjected to a microscope, many inequalities, much roughness and clumsiness, will be seen. But if the microscope be brought to bear on the flowers of the field, no such result appears. Instead of their beauty diminishing, new beauties and still more delicate, that have escaped the naked eye, are forthwith discovered; beauties that make us appreciate, in a way which otherwise we could have had little conception of, the full force of the Lord's saying, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these." The same law appears also in comparing the Word of God and the most finished productions of men. There are spots and blemishes in the most admired productions of human genius. But the more the Scriptures are searched, the more minutely they are studied, the more their perfection appears; new beauties are brought into light every day; and the discoveries of science, the researches of the learned, and the labours of infidels, all alike conspire to illustrate the wonderful harmony of all the parts, and the Divine beauty that clothes the whole.

If this be the case with Scripture in general, it is especially the case with prophetic Scripture. As every spoke in the wheel of Providence revolves, the prophetic symbols start into still more bold and beautiful relief. This is very strikingly the case with the prophetic language that forms the groundwork and corner-stone of the present work. There never has been any difficulty in the mind of any enlightened Protestant in identifying the woman "sitting on seven mountains," and having on her forehead the name written, "Mystery, Babylon the Great," with the Roman apostacy. "No other city in the world has ever been celebrated, as the city of Rome has, for its situation on seven hills. Pagan poets and orators, who had not thought of elucidating prophecy, have alike characterised it as 'the seven hilled city.'" Thus Virgil refers to it: "Rome has both become the most beautiful (city) in the world, and alone has surrounded for herself seven heights with a wall." Propertius, in the same strain, speaks of it (only adding another trait, which completes the Apocalyptic picture) as "The lofty city on seven hills, which governs the whole world." Its "governing the whole world" is just the counterpart of the Divine statement--"which reigneth over the kings of the earth" (Rev 17:18). To call Rome the city "of the seven hills" was by its citizens held to be as descriptive as to call it by its own proper name. Hence Horace speaks of it by reference to its seven hills alone, when he addresses, "The gods who have set their affections on the seven hills." Martial, in like manner, speaks of "The seven dominating mountains." In times long subsequent, the same kind of language was in current use; for when Symmachus, the prefect of the city, and the last acting Pagan Pontifex Maximus, as the Imperial substitute, introduces by letter one friend of his to another, he calls him "De septem montibus virum"--"a man from the seven mountains," meaning thereby, as the commentators interpret it, "Civem Romanum, "A Roman Citizen." Now, while this characteristic of Rome has ever been well marked and defined, it has always been easy to show, that the Church which has its seat and headquarters on the seven hills of Rome might most appropriately be called "Babylon," inasmuch as it is the chief seat of idolatry under the New Testament, as the ancient Babylon was the chief seat of idolatry under the Old. But recent discoveries in Assyria, taken in connection with the previously well-known but ill-understood history and mythology of the ancient world, demonstrate that there is a vast deal more significance in the name Babylon the Great than this. It has been known all along that Popery was baptised Paganism; but God is now making it manifest, that the Paganism which Rome has baptised is, in all its essential elements, the very Paganism which prevailed in the ancient literal Babylon, when Jehovah opened before Cyrus the two-leaved gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.

That new and unexpected light, in some way or other, should be cast, about this very period, on the Church of the grand Apostacy, the very language and symbols of the Apocalypse might have prepared us to anticipate. In the Apocalyptic visions, it is just before the judgment upon her that, for the first time, John sees the Apostate Church with the name Babylon the Great "written upon her forehead" (Rev 17:5). What means the writing of that name "on the forehead"? Does it not naturally indicate that, just before judgment overtakes her, her real character was to be so thoroughly developed, that everyone who has eyes to see, who has the least spiritual discernment, would be compelled, as it were, on ocular demonstration, to recognise the wonderful fitness of the title which the Spirit of God had affixed to her. Her judgment is now evidently hastening on; and just as it approaches, the Providence of God, conspiring with the Word of God, by light pouring in from all quarters, makes it more and more evident that Rome is in very deed the Babylon of the Apocalypse; that the essential character of her system, the grand objects of her worship, her festivals, her doctrine and discipline, her rites and ceremonies, her priesthood and their orders, have all been derived from ancient Babylon; and, finally, that the Pope himself is truly and properly the lineal representative of Belshazzar. In the warfare that has been waged against the domineering pretensions of Rome, it has too often been counted enough merely to meet and set aside her presumptuous boast, that she is the mother and mistress of all churches--the one Catholic Church, out of whose pale there is no salvation. If ever there was excuse for such a mode of dealing with her, that excuse will hold no longer. If the position I have laid down can be maintained, she must be stripped of the name of a Christian Church altogether; for if it was a Church of Christ that was convened on that night, when the pontiff-king of Babylon, in the midst of his thousand lords, "praised the gods of gold, and of silver, and of wood, and of stone" (Dan 5:4), then the Church of Rome is entitled to the name of a Christian Church; but not otherwise. This to some, no doubt, will appear a very startling position; but it is one which it is the object of this work to establish; and let the reader judge for himself, whether I do not bring ample evidence to substantiate my position.


Table of Contents




Source: http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/
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Ellen White Visionary for Kids #11 Focuses on Being Green!



Ellen WhiteVisionary for Kids#11 Focuses on Being Green!



Focus on Being a Green Christian

This issue of Ellen White Visionary for Kids (Ve.Z) focuses on Being Green Christians. Why is it important to take care of the earth? What can you do to make a difference? What does the Bible have to say about taking care of creation? There are so many questions you want answered! Take a peek inside and find answers to some of your questions. Next time in Ve.Z we will focus on God's Amazing Creation.

e-Mail us your questions, stories, pictures or drawings and receive $25 for your published pictures or stories. Click here if you would like to: Subscribe to Ve.Z


Source: http://www.whiteestate.org/vez/

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The world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis


That time is at hand. Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour's prophecy of the events to precede His coming: "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." Matthew 24:6, 7.

The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place--that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.

Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture. ......
The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things. Here are revealed the great final scenes in the history of our world, events that already are casting their shadows before, the sound of their approach causing the earth to tremble and men's hearts to fail them for fear.
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"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth." Isaiah 24:1-18.

"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate." "The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men." Joel 1:15-18, 12.

Education, Ellen G. White, pp.179-180.

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If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,..he cannot be my disciple


And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:25-27.
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Friday, December 18, 2009

Philippine volcano evacuees facing 'months away'



Mayon volcano spews ash from its side as seen from Legazpi City, Albay province, southeast of Manila

Philippine volcano evacuees facing 'months away'
(AFP) – 1 hour ago

LEGASPI, Philippines — Tens of thousands of people evacuated from the area around Mayon volcano in the Philippines may have to spend up to four months in temporary shelters, officials said on Saturday.

More than 39,000 of the 50,000 people living in farming communities in the fertile foothills of Mayon have so far been relocated since the mountain began spewing lava, steam and ash Monday.

But with signs that the 2,460 metre (8,070 feet) volcano was preparing for a major explosion, the evacuees have been told to prepare "for an extended stay of up to three months or four months in camps," said Cedric Daep, public safety and emergency chief in Albay province where Mayon is located.

He said a 24-hour curfew has been imposed in an eight kilometre (five mile) radius danger zone amid reports that locals were returning to check on their homes and farms during the day.

"We have to be strict about that. We have to manage people. We cannot control the activity of Mayon volcano and it is better to preserve life than agricultural commodities," Daep said.

Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said tons of relief goods, including food, bottled water, rice and noodles were trucked into the evacuation camps Saturday.

"We have also brought in close to 4,000 face masks for the children in the areas where there is ashfall and particles in the air," she said, adding that more aid would be sent soon.

She noted that when Mayon last erupted in 2006, it oozed lava and vented steam for months.

While no one was killed by the eruption, tons of volcanic debris that had collected on Mayon's slopes were dislodged by a powerful typhoon three months later. The avalanche of mud and boulders crushed entire villages, leaving over 1,000 dead.

Mayon, renowned for its near-perfect cone, has erupted 48 times in recorded history. In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed as lava buried the town of Cagsawa.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it recorded a total of 248 volcanic quakes from Mayon on Friday, including at least 50 caused by minor eruptions.

"These explosions produced dark gray to dark brown ash columns that reached a maximum height of 1,000 metres (3,300 feet) above the summit before drifting towards southwest," the institute said.

The institute has raised a level-three warning on a five-point scale for Mayon, indicating increased activity that may lead to a major eruption.

Volcanologists said two lava domes were spotted in the crater, indicating a build up of pressure.
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Hidden Agendas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qnXysb6HTAhttp://

alydhiends
May 20, 2008

A Revelation Seminar.
Category: News & Politics
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Gospel of John: Urdu (Pakistan)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7aBCN-AGMQhttp://

BereanBeacon
December 30, 2008


From Audio Treasure - http://www.audiotreasure.com

Urdu language - http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

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The secret behind Secret Societies - 1/9 Secretul din spatele Societatilor Secrete

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD4EetPh4_ohttp://

cretulini333
April 13, 2009

see all playlists (9 videos - The secret behind Secret Societies - Secretul din spatele Societatilor Secrete) Apocalipsa , Semnele Sfarsitului , USA in Bible Prophecy , Profetia , Biblia , Dumnezeu , Inchizitia , Globalizare , Noua ordine Mondiala , Ecumenism , Avertizari , Warnings , People , Revelation , The Second Coming , Eden , Lake of Fire , Biblia , Dumnezeu , Sabbath Day , Adventist , ziua a saptea Sabat , Antichrist , 666 and The Mark of the Beast , 666 si semnul fiarei , A doua venire , Isus Hristos , Duhul Sfant , Christianity , Crestin , World , Community , Date , Missionary , Misionar , Evanghelizare

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Wintry storm causing havoc, churns toward Northeast

December 18, 2009 4:50 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- Virginia's governor declared a state of emergency Friday as a winter storm expected to pummel the East Coast this weekend began dumping snow in Virginia and North Carolina.

The storm is forecast to blast a narrow corridor from Richmond, Virginia, to Fredericksville, Pennsylvania, leaving interstates 95, 81, 64 and possibly 80 covered in significant snow, CNN meteorologist Chad Meyers said.

Meyers said areas like Charlottesville, Virginia, may rake in some of the highest snowfall accumulations, depending on how quickly the storm moves and whether it remains on course.
In Lenoir and Caldwell counties in North Carolina, especially heavy snow was causing havoc on the roads, with more than 170 car wrecks reported, according to CNN affiliate WBTV in Charlotte.

Depending on residents' locations along the corridor, residents may see no snowfall or 20 inches, Meyers said, noting that there may be only a 50- or 60-mile difference between the two.

A winter storm warning was in effect for East Coast metropolitan areas including Washington; Baltimore, Maryland; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, according to the National Weather Service. It is expected to cause chaos for weekend travelers and Christmas shoppers.

Weather delay informationFAA: Check air travel delays DOT: Check road travel delays

The storm comes at a pivotal time for Washington, where the Senate is embroiled in a contentious battle over the health care reform bill. Wintry conditions could delay commutes to work over the weekend.

The National Weather Service in Washington increased its projections for the city to between 10 and 20 inches of snow, Meyers said.

In Maryland, state highway officials are spraying a salt brine solution on highways and roads in hopes of keeping the snow from piling up and sticking, CNN affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore reported.

The Baltimore Ravens pushed back the starting time of their Sunday football game from 1 to 4:15 p.m. because of the storm, according to the team's site.



Video: Wintry wonderland in Asheville

In Asheville, North Carolina, snow covered the roads, making for difficult commutes. Some residents, like iReporter Ed Jenest, figured it was better to just stay home.

"It's a great day not to go anywhere," he said, noting that about 4 to 6 inches of snow had fallen in Easy Asheville about 2 p.m. ET. "We're listening to music, and we've got a fire going."

Air travelers en route to holiday destinations may face delays, said Tammy Jones, spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration.

With snow expected to cloak much of the Northeast, the FAA may institute a ground-delay program if air travel conditions warrant. In such a case, the FAA informs the airlines at a certain airport that they will have to stay on the ground for a period of time, Jones said.

"Snow's not so significant if you're in the air, but on the ground, it can be problematic," Jones said.

A storm system developing over the northern Gulf of Mexico will move northeast up the mid-Atlantic on Saturday and "will produce a swath of heavy snowfall," the Weather Service said.

Is snow headed your way? Share photos and video of the wintry scene

Southeastern New York may get 6 to 8 inches of snow, while Manhattan and central and eastern Long Island may get up to a foot. Blizzard conditions are also possible for Long Island, where winds are expected to hit 50 mph Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

Mark Fayer, vice president of Long Island Transit Express bus service, which serves metropolitan New York, said he expected normal operations despite a little snow.

"We will be operating our normal schedules; we don't anticipate any delays that we can't handle," Fayer said.

Winter storm warnings are in effect for eastern Kentucky, western and central North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania.

Journalist Craig Johnson contributed to this report.
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Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/12/18/wintry.weather/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
..mmm

Obama: Full address to climate conference

Page last updated at 12:22 GMT, Friday, 18 December 2009

Visit link below to see the Press Conference on video.

US President Barack Obama has called for world leaders to take action over climate, telling delegates at the Copenhagen summit ''the time for talk is over''.

He said all major economies must put forward action to reduce carbon emissions, and added there had to be a mechanism to review emissions on a global scale.

READ MORE: Uncertainty over Copenhagen deal

SEE ALSO
China's 'special difficulty' on climate(01.50)
Can Obama Save the Planet?(01.56)
US 'has no choice' on climate change(01.06)
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Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8420675.stm
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Press Conference from Kobenhvn announced

President Obama is scheduled to give a press conference from Cop15 at 4:30 pm ET...

It's going to be 10:30 pm in Denmark>>>>>>>>>6 hours difference!
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Where did the democracy go?


The Grinch that stole democracy
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Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Hillary Rodham Clinton;
Where did the democracy in Democrats go?

When you ruthlessly push forward your spend-thrift agenda?
This is still a free country, not an despotic banana republic.

Why all the arrogance, and the flagrant disregard for public opinion?

Who needs, who asked for all your mandates? Forced health insurance or fines?

I.President Obama signed into law Wednesday a $1.1 trillion dollar spending behemoth

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGaF9dpVuGGA1xkfPQQCGklNdyQAD9CKMBF81

II.Harry Reid (D) Senate Majority Leader plans to hold yet, another Sabbath Capitol Hill Session hoping to ram through his health care overhaul bill scheme.


US Conference of Catholic Bishops


Another midnight MASS? A week before the official vatican mid-nite Mass?


www.examiner.com/x-6356-Wichita-Independent-Examiner~y2009m12d18-Healthcare-reform-hurryup-reveals-hypocrisy-of-bills


III.Hillary R. Clinton (D)- U.S. Secretary of State - @ Cop15 has pledged $100, 000, 000, 000 for reparations for America's contribution to 'climate change":

US Pledging $100 Billion for Climate-change Mitigation
CafeSentido.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the United States would help to raise $100 billion annually through 2020 for a fund to help poor countries...

P.S. There are rumors that Wall Street Stock Market traders, the same folks that were trading 'derivatives' that may have lead to the "recession" we are in the middle of; are now trading "Carbon Credits".


Climate change is part of the "Change" agenda that these Democrat change agents are intent on implementing. No democracy, just their change agenda. Total Control of all facets of society is their goal. A.k.a. Ordo ab Chao!


That New World Order is beginning to look a lot like despotism.

What's so new about that?


Arsenio.

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The Mulch: Frustrated, Obama calls for action

Photo (Courtesy)http://news.stv.tv/environment/144937-obama-hopes-presence-at-copenhagen-can-help-deal/

By By Alison Hamm December 18, 2009


President Barack Obama’s much-anticipated arrival in Copenhagen today has turned from a hopeful sign of success into a grim reality check. Immediately after arriving this morning, Obama joined an unscheduled meeting with 18 other world leaders before the most high-profile session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (Cop15) began. The deal depends on the United States and China, the world’s leading emitters of greenhouse gas emissions to reach an agreement on a course of action.

At this morning’s session, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jibao hailed his country’s efforts to curb greenhouse emissions. Wen implied that China would keep its emissions voluntary and unilateral, which was out of step with suggestions that China place its reduction goals within a binding treaty. Then, Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva complained about the Cop15 negotiations’ lack of progress.

A visibly frustrated Obama took the stage immediately after (video), saying he was in Copenhagen “not to talk, but to act.” The question is no longer the nature of the challenge, Obama said, but leaders’ capacity to meet it: “For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, I have to be honest as the world watches us today. I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance. I believe we can act boldly and decisively in the face of a common threat.”

David Corn of Mother Jones wrote that Obama’s speech “signaled a global train wreck… Obama was clearly venting. … If an accord is not reached at this summit, Obama remarked, ‘we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.’”

Although Obama didn’t mention China directly, he “took a dig at the way the country has resisted transparency measures for monitoring emissions cuts,” as Jonathan Hiskes writes for Grist. “Is this a sign that the Copenhagen talks may fail to produce even a weak, tentative accord—a so-called ‘fig leaf’ deal that would provide world leaders the barest of cover? That’s one line of speculation. Of course, that could be out of date within a few hours.”

Obama reminded the delegates of the United State’s commitment to action on climate change, reiterating Hillary Clinton’s statement Thursday that the country plans to mobilize $100 billion in financing for developing nations by 2020, but “if, and only if, it is part of a broader accord.”
But is a broader accord still possible in Copenhagen? Grist reports that in a one-on-one meeting after Obama’s speech, Obama and Prime Minister Wen discussed “three of the most contentious areas blocking the path to a climate deal on the last day of the summit: Verification guarantees, financing to help developing nations deal with climate change, and permitted emission levels.” Afterward, they asked their negotiators to meet to search for an agreement.

Although China and the U.S. are the biggest players in these talks, it would be remiss to ignore the work of the G77 block of poor nations who are “still playing hardball,” as Jacob Wheeler writes for In These Times. “They’re on the front lines, their people are already dying in the hundreds of thousands due to climate change, and they don’t have the infrastructure to greenify their infrastructure.”

It looks like the world will continue to wait for our leaders to determine the course of action in Copenhagen. Check out LinkTV’s live stream for Cop15 news as it unfolds.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about the environment by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Mulch for a complete list of articles on environmental issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, health care and immigration issues, check out The Audit, The Pulse, and The Diaspora. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.
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Jesus Is Coming Again


Jesus Is Coming Again

213


1
Lift up the trumpet, and loud let it ring:
Jesus is coming again!
Cheer up, ye pilgrims, be joyful and sing:
Jesus is coming again!

Refrain
Coming again, coming again,
Jesus is coming again!

2
Echo it, hilltops; proclaim it, ye plains:
Jesus is coming again!
Coming in glory, the Lamb that was slain;
Jesus is coming again!

3
Heavings of earth, tell the vast, wondering throng:
Jesus is coming again!
Tempests and whirlwinds, the anthem prolong;
Jesus is coming again!

4
Nations are angry-by this we do know
Jesus is coming again!
Knowledge increases; men run to and fro;
Jesus is coming again!
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COMPOSER
Frederick C. Maker, 1872
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AUTHOR
Jessie E. Strout
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MIDI FILE
dh213al.mid
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CONTRIBUTOR
Brent Hildebrand

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What is the significance of the New Age Movement?


The so-called “New Age Movement” is a strange religion, or complex of religions, that has come into increasing prominence in recent years. This phenomenon is actually a combination of modern science and mathematical physics along with astrology, occultism, religious mysticism and nature worship. Supposedly offered as a reaction against the materialisms of Western thought, the New-Age Movement appeal both to man's religious nature and his intellectual pride, as well as his physical appetites. It is gaining a host of followers all over the world and aims eventually to become the world's sole religion.

Although “New-Agers” have a form of religion, their “god” is Evolution, not the true God of creation. Many religious sects are involved in this movement to one degree or another. It includes such pseudo-Christian cults as Divine Science, Unity, New Thought, and Religious Science, and also various Eastern and occult religions such as theosophy, spiritualism, Hare Krishna, Rosicrucianism and assorted guru cults.

Many Western New-Age followers regard the controversial evolutionist priest, Teilhard de Chardin, as their spiritual father. He was passionately devoted to Evolution as the "general postulate to which all systems must henceforward bow." He and other leading neo-Darwinians, including John Dewey (the architect of our modern public education system), regarded the evolutionary process as having "come to consciousness in man," who could now guide it into the development of an ideal socialistic world order. Evolution is now viewed by these modern pantheist as the “cosmic mind” which has orchestrated the evolutionary progress of the universe and its many systems over endless ages.

Modern physicists have contributed to this religion with their promotion of what they call the “anthropic principle,” which seeks to show that the constants and processes of the universe are inescapably bound up with the evolution of intelligent man. Sir Julian Huxley, who was the first Director General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and who was also probably the most important evolutionist of the twentieth century, lent his great influence and prestige to the promotion of evolutionary humanism as (eventually) the only allowable world religion, synchronizing all the religions and philosophies of the world into one great man-deifying system of faith and practice under a coming world government.

The younger generation of evolutionists is now promoting a revolutionary type of evolution rather than the old gradualism of evolutionary capitalism as the favored rationale of both past and future evolutionary progress toward this goal. Since all of this if fully consistent with the older ethnic religions of Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism, they are incorporating the ancient pagan notion that sudden upsurges in new order can be achieved through the chaotic disintegration of old orders.

The amalgamation of Eastern evolutionary pantheism into Western evolutionary scientism was greatly facilitated also by the “Aquarian Age” emphasis of the student revolution of the sixties. Although many of the scientific and humanistic advocates of the New Age philosophy are not yet willing to accept all the astrological and occult aspects of this movement, there has been a steady growth in these pagan accompaniments of its revived pantheism.

In the ancient religious, pantheism—the religion of Gaia, the Earth Mother, Mother Nature—on the intellectual level, was commonly associated with polytheism, astrology, spiritism, witchcraft and even Satanism, on the popular level. This is happening again, as all these practices are developing a great following today, especially among the young devotees of rock music and the drug culture.

Furthermore, all this complex synthesis of scientism and paganism is being implemented with the pervasive controls made possible by modern computerized systems technology and networking economics. Suddenly the global goals of evolutionary humanism seem very imminent indeed.

The Bible, of course, also warns of a coming world government that will be based on evolutionary humanism, when a great king "shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods." Instead of acknowledging responsibility to the Creator, he will "honor the God of forces" (Daniel 11:36, 38).

This "man of sin," who considers himself to be greater than God, is called, by God, “the beast” (II Thessalonians 2:3, 4; Revelation 13:2). As the world's representative Man, the highest supposed product of natural forces and a beastly ancestry, he will personify humanism in its full flower. However, it will not really be human science and philosophy through which he and his system gain power over the world. "The dragon (i.e., the Devil) gave him his power, and his (throne), and his great authority."

The ultimate source of evolutionary humanism and all its religious representatives, whether in ancient paganism or modern scientism, is none other than Satan himself, the old Dragon, who has been seeking since the beginning to destroy the God of creation and become the cosmic deity himself. For a brief moment Satanism will finally become the world's religion. "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast: and they worshipped the beast " (Revelation 13:4).

The whole monstrous system will endure very briefly in this eventual apparent triumph of globalism, humanism and evolutionism. "Then shall that Wicked (One) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonder, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (II Thessalonians 2:8-10).

New-Age evolutionism is not so new, after all, and Mother Nature is really nothing but one of the faces of ancient Babylon, "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Revelation 17:5), the age-old religion of God's ancient enemy, "which deceiveth the whole world" (Revelation 12:9).

The real “new age” will come when Christ returns!


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Obama Arrives in Copenhagen to Press for Climate Accord

By JOHN M. BRODER and ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
Published: December 18, 2009

COPENHAGEN — President Obama arrived here on Friday morning bent on applying a combination of muscle and personal charm to secure a climate change agreement involving nearly 200 countries.



Pool photograph by Peter Macdiarmid
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton with Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain during the World Climate Conference in Copenhagen on Thursday.






He injects himself into a multilayered negotiation that has been far more chaotic and contentious than anticipated — frozen by longstanding divisions between rich and poor nations and a legacy of mistrust of the United States, which has long refused to accept any binding limits on its greenhouse gas emissions.

Negotiators here worked through the night, charged with delivering a draft political agreement by 8 a.m. — ahead of the arrival of dozens of heads of state and high-level ministers for the final stretch of deliberations. That draft agreement was reportedly passed off to a group of country representatives and United Nations and European Commission officials who were examining it in a closed meeting.

The world is looking to Mr. Obama to wrest some credible success from this process. And on Thursday, with almost 120 heads of state and government already in attendance, there were some signs that a meaningful political deal might be at hand, including a slight shift in China’s position and a pledge by the United States to help the poorest nations cope financially with global warming.

But top negotiators here said that the talks could also prove a humiliating failure, because China and the United States, the world’s two largest emitters, remain deeply divided over a number of difficult problems.

Mr. Obama is putting a measure of his and the nation’s prestige on the line by entering a debate with so much still unresolved. It was only 11 weeks ago that he left this same city empty-handed after pleading for Chicago to be selected as the site of the 2016 Olympics.

But the maneuvering and brinksmanship that have characterized the final week of the talks are also a sign of their seriousness; never before have global leaders come so close to a meaningful agreement to reduce the greenhouse gases linked to warming the planet.

The administration provided the talks with a palpable boost on Thursday when Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton declared that the United States would contribute its share of $100 billion a year in long-term financing to help poor nations adapt to climate change.

The administration had remained silent for months as other major economic powers came forward with similar or even more generous financial proposals.

A senior Obama administration official said the announcement was carefully timed to resuscitate the talks before Mr. Obama’s arrival.

“It’s a negotiation,” he explained.

But Mrs. Clinton’s offer came with two significant conditions. First, the 192 nations involved in the talks here must reach a comprehensive political agreement that takes effect immediately. Second, and more critically, all nations must agree to some form of verification — she repeatedly used the term “transparency” — to ensure they are meeting their environmental promises.

China, the world’s largest producer of greenhouse gases, has brought the talks to a virtual standstill all week over this issue, which its leaders claim to be an affront to national sovereignty.

But the Chinese balkiness on the issue is matched in large measure by Mr. Obama’s own constraints. The Senate has not yet acted on a climate bill that the president needs to make good on his promises of emissions reductions and on the financial support that he has now promised the rest of the world.

“The president and his team have been doing everything possible to create a deal that is fair to the U.S. and facilitates international agreement,” said Paul Bledsoe of the National Commission on Energy Policy, a bipartisan advisory group. “But if the Chinese will not accept monitoring of emissions, then a deal is not worth doing.”

China appeared to crack the door a bit toward a system of reporting its emissions and its actions to reduce them on Thursday. He Yafei, the vice foreign minister, repeated China’s opposition to any intrusive international monitoring regime in a news conference on Thursday. But he said his country would consider voluntary “international exchanges” of information on its climate programs.

Administration officials here were not ready to publicly declare any breakthroughs in their talks with China and other nations on verification measures.

“We’re making progress on all the outstanding issues with the Chinese,” a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters. “But it’s still a very challenging task. It’s impossible to anticipate where this will end.”

A contingent of Democratic leaders in Congress flew in Thursday to highlight support for the administration’s position at the summit meeting. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a number of House committee chairmen declared that the climate change bill they passed in June would provide a large share of the money needed to redeem the administration’s promises. They met privately with a number of delegations to urge them to encourage China and a number of other nations in the so-called Group of 77 developing countries to drop their objections to the proposed agreement.

“I believe the leaders appreciate the magnitude of the challenge they’re facing and will come to an agreement by the end of the week,” said Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts. “And the $100 billion really does help with the concerns of the G-77. And now we’re left with China.”

Republicans mounted a counteroffensive. Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma and Congress’s most vocal climate change skeptic, showed up in the press area of the Bella Center early on Thursday to deliver what he called a reality check to the proceedings here.

“There is going to be no cap and trade or binding legislation in the United States,” he said. “It’s dead. It’s not going to happen.”

Somewhat more substantively, in Washington, a group of House Republicans said they planned to introduce a resolution formally disapproving of the Environmental Protection Agency’s finding that greenhouse gases endangered public health and safety, a step that could lead to economy-wide regulation of such emissions.

The Republicans said the finding would lead to job losses and take money out of the pockets of consumers “so that radical environmentalists can wage a war against nature.”

The resolution, if it passes, will not have the force of law.

The $100 billion figure proposed by Mrs. Clinton is similar to estimates by the European Union of the needed contributions, although the amount is below the $150 billion or so that experts at the European Union have pushed for.

Mrs. Clinton said the money would be a mix of public and private funds, including “alternative sources of finance,” but declined to explain what that might mean. Nor did she say what the American share of the fund would be, although typically in such multilateral financial efforts the United States contributes about 20 percent. She said the money should contain billions of dollars to slow deforestation, which contributes to concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Some delegates and observers said that Mrs. Clinton’s announcement might weaken the solidarity of the G-77 developing countries with China.

Apparently attempting to appeal to these divisions, the United States Congressional delegation immediately went into a meeting with Indian officials, focusing on verification of emissions reductions programs, Ms. Pelosi said.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, meanwhile, appeared focused on consolidating China’s G-77 ties, meeting with representatives of Brazil, Bangladesh, Trinidad, Ethiopia and Sudan since his arrival on Wednesday night.

The head of Brazil’s delegation, Dilma Rousseff, said her country, too, objected to “intrusive verification,” and felt strongly that the Kyoto track should be maintained, for now anyway.

“No one is going to give up a bird in the hand for a bird that hasn’t been introduced to us yet,” she said.

Fander Falconí, Ecuador’s foreign minister, was skeptical of the American financial offer.

“What we really need are firm mechanisms to reduce emissions from industrialized countries,” he said. “Financial mechanisms are useful, but not central, not a solution.”


Andrew C. Revkin contributed reporting from Copenhagen.
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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/science/earth/19climate.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
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Four Men Dead in Upper West Side Shootings

December 17, 2009, 3:08 pm — Updated: 4:53 pm -->
Four Men Dead in Upper West Side Shootings

By AL BAKER



Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Three men were shot to death inside 492 Amsterdam Avenue, and a fourth man was found dead in the backyard.

Updated, 4:36 p.m. Three men — apparently a grandfather, father and son — were shot to death inside an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, police officials said on Thursday afternoon. Their killer, the authorities said, then tumbled to his death while making his escape.

As a phalanx of uniformed and plainclothes officers from the 20th Precinct descended on the site, at 492 Amsterdam Avenue, between 83rd and 84th Streets, the details of the deaths were not immediately available. The three victims were apparently killed inside Apartment 3-S, a third-floor walkup apartment at that location, officials said.

The two younger men – both named Carlos Rodriguez – were discovered dead in a bedroom, and the older man was found lying in the bathroom, according to a law enforcement official who requested anonymity because the investigation is open.

A fourth man — who is believed to have been responsible for shooting the three others — was dead in the backyard, officials said. He had apparently fallen while trying to leave the apartment through a back window, the official said. The fourth man “may be responsible for the deaths of other three,” said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

A semi-automatic pistol was discovered at the scene.

In addition to the four dead men, a 49-year-old woman was wounded – possibly grazed by a bullet or hit with the butt of a gun – and was taken to St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition.

Anthony Cicalo, 23, was doing roof work at a nearby location when a woman in her 20s ran up to him yelling that several people in her family had been shot, he said.

“Her father, her brother and her mother were shot,” said Mr. Cicalo, who then dialed 911, at about 1:43 p.m., to call for help. (He said the woman who approached him was not wounded.)

The motive for the shooting was uncertain, officials said, though detectives are investigating the possibility it was drug related.

The apartment building where the shooting occurred is embedded amid stores that line the busy stretch of Amsterdam Avenue that is packed with taverns and eateries.

It was 911 calls that initially drew officers to the location, at about 2 p.m.

By 2:45 p.m., “hundreds” of officers were swirling at the location, said Deborah Kujawa, a worker at Darryl’s Boutique, a women’s clothing store at the same address.

Ms. Kujawa said the apartment in question was upstairs, “above us.” But she said she could not shed light on what occurred and said she did not know the people who lived there.

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Source: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/17/three-men-fatally-shot-on-upper-west-side-police-say/

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MTA lowers the boom with doomsday cuts

By TOM NAMAKO, Transit Reporter

Last Updated: 4:02 PM, December 17, 2009

Posted: 3:32 AM, December 17, 2009


Doomsday is here.

The MTA yesterday delivered a crushing blow to straphangers, students and disabled riders, approving a budget riddled with service cuts while blaming unions and lawmakers for the shortfall.

The dire measures include raising all free student fares to half fares for 2010 -- a widely unpopular move the agency blamed on Gov. Paterson, who withheld the state's share of those MetroCard costs, and the city, which kept its contribution the same.

By 2011, students will be paying their own way.

"This agency is in an abusive relationship with two deadbeat dads," MTA board member Doreen Frasca said of the state and city. "One of them has stopped support payments altogether, and the other one says, 'I'm going to go back to 1994 and I'm not going to pay you a nickel more.' "


The cuts include eliminating the W and Z lines, and shortening the G and M. Some bus routes will be cut entirely, and the hours on dozens of routes will be shortened.

Paratransit would be scaled back and there would be about 700 layoffs.

That will make up a $383 million funding gap, caused by Paterson's $192 million cut in direct MTA aid, $91 million in raises, and a $100 million payroll tax shortfall.

"These actions will change lives. They will affect people's well-being. This pain is real," MTA chairman Jay Walder said.

He also decried the high cost of labor at the agency, saying, "We need to take the place apart" -- noting that $500 million is spent each year on overtime.

"We must not be afraid to eliminate work that is no longer necessary," he said, adding that will likely mean "layoffs."

Board member Nancy Shevell set her sights on the transit union, saying this year's fare hikes will end up funding TWU Local 100's "unrealistic" 11 percent raises over the next three years.

"Where did the fare increase go? Where did that money go?" she said. "So much of it is going to our union members and the unrealistic work rules and unrealistic increases they've received.


"It is really unfair that one large group is not going to be affected by the economic downturn and another large group -- for example, our youth and our disabled and working people -- are having to pay the price," she said.

Bronx mom Caprice Corbett said eliminating free student MetroCards means drastic decisions for her household.

"This will impact me greatly," Corbett said. "I'll have to choose between my Con Ed bill, going on a job interview or sending my kids to school."

Paterson repeated a pledge yesterday to restore his $39 million cut to school fares if revenues "come in to the level that would allow me to do that."

Mayor Bloomberg said his four MTA appointees wouldn't vote to approve the cuts after public hearings in early 2010.

Incoming TWU president John Samuelsen shot back at Walder's comments, saying, "It's easy to talk about taking a pay cut when you're making a few hundred thousand a year."

Additional reporting by Laurie Kamens


tom.namako@nypost.com
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Thursday, December 17, 2009

Motorcyclists' generosity a highlight for food bank


By Joe Crocetta Staff Photographer
Scott Snow, left, and Santa, played by Arnold Davis, both members of Washington County’s ABATE chapter, unload pickup trucks filled with clothes and canned food on Sunday for the ACTS 9 food bank on East Washington Street in Hagerstown.


By JULIE E. GREENE
December 13, 2009
julieg@herald-mail.com
HAGERSTOWN — Icy roads didn’t keep the motorcyclists-rights group ABATE of Maryland from delivering its annual donation of food and clothes to the ACTS 9 food bank on Sunday morning.

Santa pulled up to the downtown Hagerstown food bank on a Yamaha Venture, one of two motorcycles escorting three pickup trucks carrying food and clothes.

“Today is just the highlight of our year,” said Sandy Martin, executive director of ACTS 9. “We look forward to this every year.”

This is the 17th year ABATE’s Washington County chapter has brought food to the food bank, said Clarence “Tuck” Koontz Jr., chapter director.

“It’s a way of helping your fellow man out. This is the time of year to do something for everyone, which is what everyone should be doing,” said Koontz, 55, of Hagerstown.

After leaving the food bank, local members of ABATE headed to San Mar Children’s Home, where they were to hold a Christmas party for 31 girls. San Mar, near Boonsboro, runs a shelter care program for girls.

ABATE, which Koontz said stands for Alliance of Bikers Against Totalitarian Enactments, has been holding the Christmas party for 25 years, he said.

The motorcycle group raised money for the food bank donations during the year with raffles, 50/50 drawings and requests for donations.

Johnny Strouth, 51, of Smithsburg, said he went to several places in the Tri-State area with a plastic tube, asking people to donate to the food drive. He said $1,052 was raised.

ACTS 9, or Adventists Caring Through Sharing, is a food and clothing bank supported by five area Seventh-day Adventist churches, Martin said.

The food and clothing bank has seen more customers this year, while donations decreased, Martin said. ACTS 9 helped more than 5,000 people this year, she said.

“But so far, we’ve really been blessed and it seems to come in when we need it,” Martin said. “We add at least five new families a day,” she said.

In order to use ACTS 9 services, families need to have a Washington County food card, which is issued by Community Action Council.

The food bank at 35 E. Washington St. is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. It will be open through Dec. 22 and will reopen Jan. 5.

Usually ABATE arrives on several motorcycles, but only two bikers — Santa and Koontz — braved the icy roads Sunday morning on two wheels. The freezing rain turned into rain by the time the group arrived downtown.

“Even though there’s nasty weather, we try to put a little sunshine into everybody’s lives,” said ABATE member Fritz Sine, 58, of Chewsville.
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Simply Another Church?


Editor’s Note: The following piece was included as additional material for the 2008 Week of Prayer readings in Germany and appeared in German in AdventEcho, November 2008.

any members within the Seventh-day Adventist Church are searching for a truly Adventist identity. Are we just another church denomination? If this is the case, then is another denomination really necessary? If we are not simply another denomination, then what makes us unique? Is it the lifestyle we promote or our doctrines, or both?

A look at three important theses could help us answer these identity questions.

Thesis 1
It is not our lifestyle that makes us unique—although lifestyle does play an important role in our church!

A Christian’s lifestyle is important. In fact, it is so important that Jesus highlighted the features His followers would be recognized by. He said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Could the casual observer of a church member, a reader of our publications, or a visitor in our church service be able to identify us as Jesus’ disciples by observing the way in which we relate to each other? Although loving others is the most important identification mark of the followers of Jesus, this has always been an important marker for Christ’s church throughout the ages and may not be a unique feature of the end-time church.

Others have felt that lifestyle, such as diet, may make 
the end-time church unique. However, orthodox Jews and Muslims abstain from eating pork, being a vegetarian is becoming popular among many health-conscious people, and there are various groups that promote an alcohol-free lifestyle. There are other Christians who pay tithe, and some Christian groups dress even more conservatively than we do. Many Christians are more actively involved in promoting creationism and in fighting to protect unborn children from the threat of abortion.

In short, I do not think that our lifestyle makes us a unique church at this moment in world history, although it does have an important place.

Thesis 2
It is not our theological contribution that makes us a unique church!



Really? On close examination, as a church we have not contributed much in the way of new biblical truth or knowledge. We have rather rediscovered forgotten truths and brought together fragmented biblical knowledge within the framework of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. I cannot think of a better framework for this “puzzle” of biblical knowledge. But no honest Adventist could claim that all of the puzzle pieces of truth have already been discovered or that each piece of the puzzle is in the correct place.

I would not want to belong to a church that did not 
base its teachings firmly upon the Bible or whose teachings contradicted biblical truth. I am a Seventh-day Adventist because I am convinced that at this moment in history no other church comes closer to the plain teaching of the Bible. I am a Seventh-day Adventist because our church matches the description of God’s end-time church (Rev. 14:12; 12:17; 19:10). This church has faith in Jesus Christ as its central focal point, recognizes the importance of God’s law, demon-
strates the working of the Holy Spirit, and profits by the gifts of the Spirit, which include the gift of prophecy.

However, possessing all this Bible knowledge does not make us unique or special. All this knowledge could even lead us to become spiritually proud. Remember Paul’s admonition: “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. . . . We see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Cor. 13:9, 12).

This brings me to my next question: what is the purpose of the Seventh-day Adventist Church?

Thesis 3
We are here to spread the knowledge we have received. This is what gives us as Seventh-day Adventists our raison d’être (reason to exist)!

What made the prophet Elijah unique in his time period? It was not a knowledge of Yahweh. Elijah was not the only one who knew the true God; there were at least 7,000 others who knew God and were faithful to Him. It was also not his courage to stand for God. It was rather 
his mission, which he had received from God, to announce God’s judgment, point to the way of escape, and call people to make a decision.

What made John the Baptist unique? Was it his lifestyle? It was certainly not unimportant, or else such a detailed description of his clothing and diet would not have been given. But, it is very probable that he was not the only one living like this at that time. He was also not the only one expecting the Messiah. His parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth, and other righteous people such as Simeon and Anna were also waiting for the Redeemer. And his knowledge? It was incomplete! For example, he baptized “only” to signify the forgiveness of sins and did not seem to know much about the role of the Holy Spirit.

So in which way was he unique? It was his assignment, which is very similar to ours: “And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

Not Only Called to Salvation . . .
Our lifestyle is important because it underlines our proclamation and shows how seriously we take what we are teaching. But human piety and devotion are not and never were conditional to God choosing a group of people or an individual. Our lifestyle as Seventh-day Adventists has its meaning, but when we are not fulfilling the commission that was entrusted to us, our special lifestyle does not help us or others.

Despite our difficulty in grasping some biblical truths, God does not reject us. Neither prophets nor people in biblical times, church history, or even our Adventist history understood everything that God revealed to them, yet God did not reject them because of this.

. . . But Called to Service
If we do not fulfill the commission entrusted to us, God will be “forced” to look for other instruments. He will not permit that people be lost because those He has commissioned are asleep or too self-involved. Here is a good summary: we are Seventh-day Adventists, not because we have been chosen exclusively for salvation—rather, we have been called for service! This is why our church does not claim to be “the sole means of salvation” or that other Christians will be lost because they are not Adventists.

“Adventist” Is Not a Title
From this some may conclude that we are just another church like all the others. Hang on! We are nothing special as a church, but our commission is special! In other words, if we are silent and not fulfilling our commission, then we have no reason to exist.

The label “Adventist” is not a title but rather a job description. If someone has a degree in medicine, they can be called a medical doctor for the rest of their life, regardless of whether or not they actually practice medicine. “Adventist” is not a title that one earns, rather a job description of Christians who know they have been called to prepare the way for the coming Lord. I can see three important areas.

Translator of the Eternal Gospel: We need to so formulate the truth, explain and live it that others will understand it. Here I believe is where we are lacking. We often do not make the “eternal gospel” understandable for today’s people. We cannot simply repeat verbatim the three angels’ messages in old King James English and then complain that people today seem uninterested in the gospel. Translators look carefully at their language use and do not speak “Adventese” that may be unintelligible to others. Translators also speak relevantly to questions that people living in the twenty-first century ask.

Preparing the Way for the Coming Lord: It is important to keep our soon coming Lord clearly in the center of our message. We should, like John the Baptist, prepare the way for Him. Everything we believe and preach should be seen in the light of Jesus’ second coming. Can we show the world around us the big picture of biblical teachings, linking the Sabbath, the Second Coming, the state of the dead, the sanctuary to the great cosmic battle that is raging around us?
Who Is Equal to the Task?
What a responsibility! Will we be able to fulfill these roles of being translators, preparing the way, and being “pilots” in the end-time? Pride in this special commission would be ill-advised. We do not need arrogance, but rather should be trembling at the enormity and challenge of the task.

We will be able to fulfill God’s commission only when we as a world church and a local congregation get our priorities straight. We need to act like Nehemiah, who refused to be enticed away from his place on the wall. Let’s not waste our energies being sidetracked, but rather use the gifts that God has “loaned us” to “build on the wall” of His kingdom!

We are challenged to truly internalize what we believe and teach. In the introduction to the three angels’ messages it says “to proclaim to those who live on the earth” (Rev. 14:6). In the Greek it literally reads here “those who made their home on earth.” We cannot present the three angels’ messages in a believable way if we are “glued” to our homes, belongings, careers, or hobbies. If we really are to prepare the way for the Lord, then people should notice that we are “packing our suitcases”! 

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Eli Diez-Prida, a native of Spain, lives in Lunenberg, Germany, where he ministers as director of the German Publishing House Adventverlag. This article was printed December 17, 2009.
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