Tuesday, March 15, 2011

How would Crystal River nuclear reactor hold up in a disaster?

How would Crystal River nuclear reactor hold up in a disaster?
Times staff and wires
Wednesday, March 16, 2011

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Photo by DAVID A. BROWN]

The nuclear reactor at the Crystal River power plant has been offline for 18 months due to cracks in its containment wall.

Of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors, five are in Florida, at three sites, including one at Progress Energy's site in Crystal River. The good news for Florida is none of the reactors are the same design as the ones in trouble in Japan.
Still, the specter of massive radiation leaks in Japan raises questions about our local reactor. Just how safe is it?

Could what happened to Japan's reactors happen at Crystal River?

Unlikely at any time, and even less so right now, since the only reactor at the Crystal River site has been offline for 18 months. Progress Energy announced Tuesday that additional cracks were found in the containment wall, which will keep the reactor offline past the planned April startup.


Presuming it comes back online, is the Crystal River plant able to withstand natural disasters?

Like the other nuclear power plants in the state, it is designed to take into account the most severe natural phenomena historically reported for the site and surrounding area, according to the state Division of Emergency Management. That includes earthquakes, tsunamis and the most powerful hurricanes


The Crystal River plant's close to the Gulf of Mexico. Does that make it more vulnerable?

The plant is built 30 feet above sea level. That would keep it safe from most storm surges. It also has other safety features to help protect it against a Category 5 storm surge, including watertight doors, said Progress spokeswoman Jessica Lambert.

And what about earthquakes and tsunamis?

The geology of our state makes an earthquake highly unlikely, though the plant is built to withstand some seismic activity. Tsunamis in the gulf are unlikely. Even if one occurred, it would likely start far enough away that the plant would have enough warning to shut down before it hit.

If seawater knocked power to the plant offline, could we experience the same problem as the Japanese currently face?

Unlikely. The plants affected in Japan are a different design. They use pumps to draw water up to cool the reactor. The Crystal River plant uses a closed loop cooling system that would not suffer the same problem. Emergency power sources would provide power to safety equipment if the plant lost power from the electrical grid.


Other than diesel generators, what does Progress have in place as backups?

There is more than one diesel generator serving as backup, as well as battery backups. Among other things, they can operate pumps to help remove water from flooding if necessary.


The Japanese sites had some of those backups, too. Why would they work here?

One big difference, Progress Energy officials said, between the Japan plants and Crystal River is that Japan's plants housed their fuel supplies for backup generators above the ground. Those supplies were apparently swept away at some point. Crystal River's backup fuel supplies are buried underground in sealed tanks and would be less vulnerable.

What is the biggest worry when it comes to natural disasters and the nuke plant?

Based on the Florida coastal location of the Crystal River plant and the area's geology, hurricanes are the most likely natural threat. Progress Energy would consider taking an operating nuclear plant offline in the event of a Category 5 hurricane, but that decision would depend on a variety of factors, including the storm's geographic cone of uncertainty. The company monitors weather and coordinates with state emergency preparedness officials to determine if the plant should be shut down.

What about the Levy County nuclear plant that Progress wants to build? Will that be a different design than the Japanese plants?

Yes. It will be a Westinghouse AP1000 reactor. It holds cooling water above the reactor core so that a gravity-fed stream of water can cool the fuel rods even if there is no electricity at the site. In Japan, the cores are overheating because the plants use power to pump cooling water into the reactors. That power was knocked out and the backup systems have failed, so the water isn't able to do its job.

In Japan, areas near the sites were evacuated and some of the people were told to shelter in place. What is the plan if one of Florida's sites has a potential leak?

Florida uses a 10-mile circle around each of Florida's nuclear power plants for emergency planning for evacuations, according to emergency management officials. For the Crystal River plant, that would directly affect about 25,000 people. (At nuclear plants operated in South Florida by Florida Power & Light, about 225,000 people would be affected at the St. Lucie site; at the Turkey Point site south of Miami, about 150,000 would be affected.)

Depending on the severity of the leak, the population would either be sheltered-in-place, or evacuated and sheltered outside of the 10-mile zone.

Has Progress Energy learned anything from what has happened in Japan that it will now apply to the Crystal River plant?

It's still very early looking at the situation in Japan and premature to speculate on lessons learned, Progress officials said. Both the national and international nuclear industry will glean and share any information about safety measures as this unfolds.

Fast facts

Plant information

The Crystal River nuclear plant was built in 1977 for about $400 million and includes one Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor. It shares the 4,700-acre site with four coal-fired plants.

[Last modified: Mar 15, 2011 09:30 PM]

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No-fly zone over damaged Japanese nuclear plant

Slideshow:Japan hit by huge earthquake, tsunami


AP – Soldiers of Japan Self-Defense Force and firefighters search for the victims in the rubbles Monday, March

Tue Mar 15, 12:41 pm ET

TOKYO – Japan's transport ministry says it has imposed a no-fly zone over a 20-mile (30-kilometer) radius around the stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

Ministry spokesman Hiroaki Katsuma said the decision was made Tuesday because of fears that radioactive particles leaking from the complex into the atmosphere could enter passing aircraft.

The no-fly zone does not apply to helicopters that may be deployed to spray water over a reactor where a spent fuel storage pool is feared to be overheating.

Officials are struggling to address the failure of safety systems at several of the plant's reactors after Friday's earthquake and tsunami.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SOMA, Japan (AP) — Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned by a deadly tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan's northeastern coast. The region was shattered by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged millions into misery and pummeled the world's third-largest economy.

Japanese officials told the International Atomic Energy Agency that the reactor fire was in a fuel storage pond — an area where used nuclear fuel is kept cool — and that "radioactivity is being released directly into the atmosphere." Long after the fire was extinguished, a Japanese official said the pool might still be boiling, though the reported levels of radiation had dropped dramatically by the end of the day.

Late Tuesday, officials at the plant said they were considering asking for help from the U.S. and Japanese militaries to spray water from helicopters into the pool.

That reactor, Unit 4, had been shut down before the quake for maintenance.

If the water boils, it could evaporate, exposing the rods. The fuel rods are encased in safety containers meant to prevent them from resuming nuclear reactions, nuclear officials said. But they acknowledged that there could have been damage to the containers. They also confirmed that the walls of the storage pool building were damaged.

Experts noted that much of the leaking radiation was apparently in steam from boiling water. It had not been emitted directly by fuel rods, which would be far more virulent, they said.

"It's not good, but I don't think it's a disaster," said Steve Crossley, an Australia-based radiation physicist.

Even the highest detected rates were not automatically harmful for brief periods, he said. "If you were to spend a significant amount of time — in the order of hours — that could be significant," Crossley said.

Less clear were the results of the blast in Unit 2, near a suppression pool, which removes heat under a reactor vessel, said plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. The nuclear core was not damaged but the bottom of the surrounding container may have been, said Shigekazu Omukai, a spokesman for Japan's nuclear safety agency.

Though Kan and other officials urged calm, Tuesday's developments fueled a growing panic in Japan and around the world amid widespread uncertainty over what would happen next.

In the worst case scenario, one or more of the reactor cores would completely melt down, a disaster that could spew large amounts of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

"I worry a lot about fallout," said Yuta Tadano, a 20-year-old pump technician at the Fukushima plant, who said he was in the complex when the quake hit.

"If we could see it, we could escape, but we can't," he said, cradling his 4-month-old baby, Shoma, at an evacuation center.

The radiation fears added to the catastrophe that has been unfolding in Japan, where at least 10,000 people are believed to have been killed and millions of people were facing a fifth night with little food, water or heating in near-freezing temperatures and snow as they dealt with the loss of homes and loved ones. Up to 450,000 people are in temporary shelters.

Hundreds of aftershocks have shaken Japan's northeast and Tokyo since the original offshore quake, including one Tuesday night whose epicenter was hundreds of miles (kilometers) southwest and inland.

Officials have only been able to confirm a far lower toll — about 3,300 killed — but those who were involved in the 2004 Asian tsunami said there was no question more people died and warned that, like the earlier disaster, many thousands may never be found.

Asia's richest country hasn't seen such hardship since World War II. The stock market plunged for a second day and a spate of panic buying saw stores running out of necessities, raising government fears that hoarding may hurt the delivery of emergency food aid to those who really need it.

In a rare bit of good news, rescuers found two survivors Tuesday in the rubble left by the tsunami that hit the northeast, including a 70-year-old woman whose house was tossed off its foundation.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, along that battered coastline, has been the focus of the worries. Workers there have been desperately trying to use seawater to cool the fuel rods in the complex's three reactors, all of which lost their cooling ability after Friday's quake and tsunami.

On Tuesday, the complex was hit by its third explosion since Friday, and then a fire in a separate reactor.

Afterward, officials in Ibaraki, a neighboring prefecture just south of the area, said up to 100 times the normal levels of radiation were detected Tuesday. While those figures are worrying if there is prolonged exposure, they are far from fatal.

Tokyo reported slightly elevated radiation levels, but officials said the increase was too small to threaten the 39 million people in and around the capital, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) away.

Amid concerns about radiation, Austria moved its embassy from Tokyo to Osaka.

Meanwhile, Air China and China Eastern Airlines canceled flights to Tokyo and two cities in the disaster area. Germany's Lufthansa airlines is also diverting its two daily flights to Tokyo to other Japanese cities. None mentioned radiation concerns, instead giving no explanation or citing the airports' limited capacities.

Closer to the stricken nuclear complex, the streets in the coastal city of Soma were empty as the few residents who remained there heeded the government's warning to stay indoors.

Kan and other officials warned there is a danger of more leaks and told people living within 19 miles (30 kilometers) of the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex to stay indoors to avoid exposure that could make people sick.

"Please do not go outside. Please stay indoors. Please close windows and make your homes airtight," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano told residents in the danger zone.

"These are figures that potentially affect health. There is no mistake about that," he said.

Weather forecasts for Fukushima were for snow and wind Tuesday evening, blowing southwest toward Tokyo, then shifting and blowing east out to sea. That's important because it shows which direction a possible nuclear cloud might blow.

The U.S. Navy said several helicopter crews involved in relief efforts were exposed to low levels of radiation Tuesday. Like 17 crew members exposed the previous day, the personnel had to go through a decontamination process, which can involve a simple scrubdown with soap and water.

The Navy also said it was sending some of its ships to operate off the country's west coast instead of the east to avoid hazards from debris dragged into the sea by the tsunami and to be further away from any radiation.

Some 70,000 people had already been evacuated from a 12-mile (20-kilometer) radius from the Dai-ichi complex. About 140,000 remain in the new danger zone.

Officials said 70 workers were at the complex, struggling with its myriad problems. The workers, all of them wearing protective gear, are being rotated in and out of the danger zone quickly to reduce their radiation exposure.

Another 800 staff were evacuated. The fires and explosions at the reactors have injured 15 workers and military personnel and exposed up to 190 people to elevated radiation.

Temperatures in at least two of the complex's reactors, units 5 and 6, were also slightly elevated, Edano said.

"The power for cooling is not working well and the temperature is gradually rising, so it is necessary to control it," he said.

Fourteen pumps have been brought in to get seawater into the other reactors. They are not yet pumping water into Unit 4 but are trying to figure out how to do that.

In Tokyo, slightly higher-than-normal radiation levels were detected Tuesday but officials insisted there are no health dangers.

"The amount is extremely small, and it does not raise health concerns. It will not affect us," Takayuki Fujiki, a Tokyo government official said.

Edano said the radiation readings had fallen significantly by the evening.

Japanese government officials are being rightly cautious, said Donald Olander, professor emeritus of nuclear engineering at University of California at Berkeley. He believed even the heavily elevated levels of radiation around Dai-ichi are "not a health hazard." But without knowing specific dose levels, he said it was hard to make judgments.

"Right now it's worse than Three Mile Island," Olander said. But it's nowhere near the levels released during Chernobyl.

On Three Mile Island, the radiation leak was held inside the containment shell — thick concrete armor around the reactor. The Chernobyl reactor had no shell and was also operational when the disaster struck. The Japanese reactors automatically shut down when the quake hit and are encased in containment shells.

The impact of the earthquake and tsunami dragged down stock markets. The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average plunged for a second day Tuesday, nose-diving more than 10 percent to close at 8,605.15 while the broader Topix lost more than 8 percent.

To lessen the damage, Japan's central bank made two cash injections totaling 8 trillion yen ($98 billion) Tuesday into the money markets after pumping in $184 billion on Monday.

Initial estimates put repair costs in the tens of billions of dollars, costs that would likely add to a massive public debt that, at 200 percent of gross domestic product, is the biggest among industrialized nations.

The Dai-ichi plant is the most severely affected of three nuclear complexes that were declared emergencies after suffering damage in Friday's quake and tsunami, raising questions about the safety of such plants in coastal areas near fault lines and adding to global jitters over the industry.

___

Yuasa reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report

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Things that make you say: What?

Valentine banquet a success

By Community Submission - Nelson Star
Published: March 03, 2011 2:00 PM
Updated: March 03, 2011 2:30 PM

The evening of February 14 saw the True North Pathfinders in full uniform serving tables for guests at the Nelson Adventist Church’s Valentine banquet.

John Papineau, former instructor of waiters, had coached the Pathfinders in proper serving etiquette at one of their previous meetings and now they put it to good use.

Guests were delighted by the wonderful three-course vegetarian meal in an Italian theme, including his ‘n’ her soup (a bowl of half white, half red soup), lasagna, salad, garlic bread and berry pie with sherbet for dessert. (It was decided by popular vote that the white half was the “hers” and the red half was the “his” part of the soup.)

Michael Mayrhofer of Vogue Portraiture in Nelson was on hand to accommodate couples wishing to memorialize the occasion.

Lyle Wozinca was the emcee for the program.

The club raised $250 for camping equipment.

By the way, according to chief cook Marilyn Pond, the trick for the his ‘n’ hers soup is to pour simultaneously a cup of white-coloured soup, such as potato soup in one hand and a cup of red-coloured soup, such as tomato soup in the other, into a rather flattish serving bowl. If both soups are not too thin and of about the same consistency, then they will remain separate.

Add a little swirl with a serving spoon (makes an interesting design between the two colours) and it’s ready to serve.

Source: http://www.bclocalnews.com/community/117358833.html



Evangelist’s wife enlarges male sex organs
By TIMOTHY SIMELANE on March 12,2011






TIMBUTINI – Lungile Mabuza, the herbalist who says she elongates male sex organs, is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

She attends church at Timbutini branch with her husband who is an Evangelist in the church.

When asked if her business trade did not raise eyebrows in church, Mabuza said her husband and church, the Seventh Day Adventist, had no qualms with her business.

This followed rumours that her church was now divided, as others allegedly felt that her business was against their doctrine.

"People should learn to differentiate between a witch (umtsakatsi) and a herbalist. There is no reason that I could have issues with my church because the doctrine we use also speaks on the use of herbs," she said.

Efforts to get comments from church elders proved futile at the time of compiling this report. Mabuza also refused to allow the reporter to interview her husband, as she said he did not want to speak to the media.

Herbs

In another development, the female herbalist who has made a name for herself by claiming to use herbs to enlarge male sex organs says she is now under attack.

As a result, Mabuza is on high alert after some people made attempts on her life at her Timbutini home recently. She has since resorted to locking the gate to her home such that no one comes in without her consent.

Though her homestead is a typical rural home, she keeps it locked day and night in a bid to tighten security.

However, Mabuza said she does not think that her attackers were her clients.

"Those are well behaved. Even when there is something they do not understand, they politely ask me to assist them. They do not attack me," she said.

Mabuza said her attackers were known to her but said she would not divulge their names.

The herbalist was also not willing to relate how the attackers had harassed her, but insisted; "I trust no one now."

When Swazi News visited her home, the gate was locked and she sent a messenger to tell the news team that she would only allow one person to come in.

Mabuza said she would rather communicate to the news team with the use of a note. The messenger was then forced to go to and from the gate taking notes from Mabuza who was in her house to the journalists at the gate.

She recently told our sister newspaper, the Times Sunday that she charges a cow or E2 000 to enlarge a male sex organ. Her catch phrase is: "I will make it sweet and strong."

Options

Mabuza said there were two options, that of enlarging the sex organ, which takes time and that of making it ‘strong and sweet’.

Unlike some herbalists who claim to give their clients muti to drink and also to rub on the organ to enlarge it, Mabuza said her process was quite different because it was like that of planting a tree. "We plant the sex organ using a tree. As the tree grows, the sex organ also grows," she said.

On the second option of making the sex organ strong and sweet, Mabuza said it cost E500. She said with this option all she does is give her clients herbs which they use.

Source: http://www.times.co.sz/News/26627.html
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Robert Garza, 16-yr-old baskeball player, becomes 3rd high school athlete in month to die after game

BY Lukas I. Alpert
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, March 14th 2011, 11:33 AM



Martinez/AP

Roma High School's Robert Garza collapsed during a Texas tournament game and died an hour later



For the third time this month, a high school athlete has died during or immediately after a game.

The latest was Robert Garza, 16, a basketball player at Roma High School in Texas who collapsed during a timeout at a tournament in Austin.

"It's unexplainable," Arnold Martinez, coach of the Hoospters, a South Texas club team, told the Monitor of McAllen newspaper. "He got a glass of water. He high-fived \[a teammate\] and then it just happened. He collapsed."

Paramedics rushed to give Garza CPR, but he died at a nearby hospital just over an hour later.

"Robert was a great, great human being," said Abelardo Escobar, another coach. "I'm very, very sad. The Lord asked for an angel to come to Him today. He took care of his body. He ate all the right things. I don't know how to explain it."

Garza's death comes after 16-year-old Michigan basketball player, Wes Leonard, died on March 3 of cardiac arrest after nailing the winning shot in overtime.

Two days later, 17-year-old Colorado rugby player, Matthew Hammerdorfer, who had a heart condition, died after going into cardiac arrest during a match


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Monday, March 14, 2011

Spiritualism asserts that men are unfallen demigods


Spiritualism asserts that men are unfallen demigods;
that "each mind will judge itself;" that "true knowledge places men above all law;" that "all sins committed are innocent;" for "whatever is, is right," and "God doth not condemn." The basest of human beings it represents as in heaven, and highly exalted there. Thus it declares to all men, "It matters not what you do; live as you please, heaven is your home." Multitudes are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law, that license is liberty, and that man is accountable only to himself. {Ed 227.6}

With such teaching given at the very outset of life, when impulse is strongest, and the demand for self-restraint and purity is most urgent, where are the safeguards of virtue? what is to prevent the world from becoming a second Sodom? {Ed 228.1}

At the same time anarchy is seeking to sweep away all law, not only divine, but human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for the enriching of the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed; the world-wide dissemination of the same teachings that led to the French Revolution--all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France. {Ed 228.2}

Education, pp. 257, 228.

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'Natural Law, An Elusive Tradition

For a time, the hearing on Clarence Thomas last week promised to provide a mini-course on the elusive concept of "natural law." But it never happened. In his opening statement, Sen. Joseph Biden offered three interpretations of natural-law doctrine, none of which was accurate, and demanded to know which version Thomas subscribed to. In his clearest response, Thomas said only that he regards natural law as a "philosophical background" to the Constitution.

In essence, natural law is a broad philosophical tradition which holds that there are certain principles of right and ,wrong which human beings, through the diligent use of reason, can discover and apply in the creation of a just society. Some natural-law exponents are religious thinkers who ground their philosophy in a divine creator; others are secular philosophers who regard certain moral principles and rights as beyond doubt or compromise. Applied to jurisprudence, natural-law precepts have acted as a cheek on those in power-medieval popes no less than democratic majorities. Historically, campaigns of civil disobedience against unjust but validly enacted laws have been mounted on the supposition that universal moral principles do exist.

Had Thomas been allowed to summon the dead as witnesses for natural law's defense, the Senate would have surely been impressed. Confucius, Aristotle and Cicero believed that human nature is bound by moral laws. Thomas Aquinas and other Christian thinkers, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, elaborated natural-law philosophies. In the 17th and 18th centuries, John Locke, Montesquieu and Thomas Jefferson espoused a related form of natural law in the guise of "natural rights." Both Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. appealed to natural law and rights in their efforts to overcome slavery and American apartheid. Indeed, the very words of the Declaration of Independence--"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"-owe their force to the naturallaw tradition.

Why, then, was Thomas put on the defensive? In part, rays Michael McConnell, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School, the attack on natural law "is connected to the anti-Catholic reaction to Thomas's nomination."Thomas was schooled in the Roman Catholic tradition which holds that abortion is the unjust taking of an innocent life. But Thomas is now an Episcopalian, and most of his public comments on natural law have more to do with Locke's secular version of natural rights than with the tradition of Aquinas and the popes. As McConnell points out, natural-rights principles have been invoked on either side of the abortion issue within the realm of constitutional law: rights of the unborn versus the right to privacy.

As last week's debate made clear, some critics assume that natural law allows a justice to base decisions on his personal moral convictions. On the contrary, argues Prof Robert George, who teaches the philosophy of law at Princeton University, respect for the rule of law is central to the natural-law tradition as it unfolds from Aristotle and Aquinas down through British-American common law. "This includes regard for precedent, procedure and statutory interpretation," says George. "These things are, in themselves, necessary to a justly ordered society."

But what is a Supreme Court justice to do when the nation's highest legal authority, the Constitution, is mute on an issue before him? Time and again, Supreme Court justices have overturned laws by appealing to high-sounding notions that reflect their own presuppositions about human nature. Benjamin Cardozo cited "ordered liberty," Felix Frankfurter appealed to "the standards of decency of English-speaking peoples" and-vaguest of all--William O. Douglas found a right to privacy in "the penumbras formed by emanations from the ... Bill of Rights." "Whatever the verbal locution," says legal scholar and federal appeals court Judge John T. Noonan Jr., "the underlying sense has been an appeal to human nature and what that nature demands." Despite the barrage of questions on natural law, Clarence Thomas never revealed how he might make the same appeal if he joins those predecessors on the nation's highest court.

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Related:

Dwell on Major Matters


Dwell upon questions that concern our eternal welfare. Anything that the enemy can devise to divert the mind from God's Word, anything new and strange that he can originate to create a diversity of sentiment, he will introduce as something wonderfully important. . . .


The enemy will strive to cause believers to search out matters of minor importance, and to dwell at length upon these matters in committee meetings and council meetings. But by turning their attention to questions of so little consequence, the brethren hinder the work instead of advancing it.

We are to proclaim the third angel's message to a perishing world, and we are not to permit our minds to become diverted by minutiae that practically amount to nothing. If our brethren would consider the important matters pertaining to eternal life and eternal death, many of the smaller matters that they desire so much to adjust, would adjust themselves. Letter 16, 1903, pp. 5-7. (To Elder and Mrs. S. N. Haskell, January 1, 1903.)


Manuscript Releases Vol. 1, pp. 58,59.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Arab League said what?



Early this morning I heard that the Arab League has recommended the use of a No-Fly-Zone over Lybia.


My immediate reaction was: What Arab League is this?


Are these the same Arab countries that have supposedly fired upon protesters in the recent upheavals (pandemic unrest) throughout the Muslim Crescent? What irony? What hypocrisy?

This is as peculiar (an oxymoron) as having China and Russia on the U.N.'s Security Council...

I still wonder - Who is the Arab League?



Members of the Arab League
Algeria

Bahrain

Comoros

Djibouti
Egypt

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait
Lebanon

Libya

Mauritania

Morocco
Oman

Palestine

Qatar

Saudi Arabia
Somalia

Sudan

Syria

Tunisia
United Arab Emirates

Yemen

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The Three Angels Messages




sevensealsofgod

Saturday, March 12, 2011

GOP presidential hopefuls push moral code at Iowa forum

Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer speaks at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, Monday, March 7, 2011, at the Point of Grace Church in Waukee, Iowa.
AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall

1:17 AM, Mar. 8, 2011

Written by
THOMAS BEAUMONT and REID FORGRAVE

Five Republican presidential prospects Monday professed before an influential audience of Iowa evangelical conservatives how religious faith ought to blend with public life.

But some of the five potential candidates who spoke to the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition's spring kickoff event in Waukee balanced their calls for a more conservative moral code with appeals for unity across the conservative spectrum in trying to solve the nation's vexing economic problems.

It was the first group appearance of the developing campaign for the Iowa caucuses and an opportunity for a first impression with an active and loyal segment of the Republican caucus electorate. Iowa polls have shown that about 45 percent of Iowa's caucus and primary voting base consider themselves evangelical Christians.

However, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty also used their speeches to the audience of about 1,500 at a Waukee church to remind the audience it will take a unified conservative front to retake the White House next year.

"We're all going to have to be on the same team when this is over," Gingrich said. "It's going to take all of us to defeat the left."

Gingrich, who last week began raising money to explore seeking the 2012 nomination, proposed a series of executive orders that he argued could quickly set a more socially conservative tone in the federal government.

They include issues that resonated with the audience at the evangelical, theater-style suburban church: reinstating policies banning federal spending on international organizations that provide abortions and allowing doctors and nurses to refuse as a matter of conscience to perform abortions.

They also include eliminating the high-level White House advisers known by their opponents as czars and requiring the U.S. State Department to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Gingrich said in a Des Moines Register interview earlier Monday that the array of presidential orders would appeal to the entire spectrum of conservatives.

Gingrich and Pawlenty drew on the Declaration of Independence to support their arguments that government service and religious faith have been intertwined since the nation's inception.

"It means that power comes from God to each one of you personally," Gingrich said. "You loan power to the government. The government does not loan power to you."

Pawlenty also hit the themes of opposing abortion rights and gay marriage, a particularly hot issue among conservatives in Iowa, where the state supreme court struck down a statutory gay-marriage ban in 2009.

"We have people in Washington, D.C., who say marriage will be defined however we feel like defining it," Pawlenty said. "No, it won't. It should be defined as between a man and a woman."

But he also said Americans would have to come together to solve the nation's biggest challenges, as they did during pivotal moments in history.

"This ain't about easy," he said. "This is about rolling up our sleeves, plowing ahead and getting the job done."

Rounding out the presidential prospects who attended the event were former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain, former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

About 150 state, national and international media representatives covered the event.

Of the five, Gingrich, Pawlenty and Santorum have visited Iowa most often and signaled plans to run all-out for the caucuses. Pawlenty said Monday he was at most weeks away from an announcement about his presidential plans.

The balance between social and economic issues is one that has been an early topic of debate in the developing Republican contest.

National Faith & Freedom Coalition founder Ralph Reed, a featured guest at the event, jabbed at potential presidential candidate Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, though not by name, for his comment suggesting social issues take a back seat to the economy and federal debt.

Daniels was not at the event, nor were other GOP prospects including former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Reed said social conservatives helped turn the midterm elections for Republicans last year, and would again for the White House in 2012.

"In spite of all the talk of it being about the economy and jobs - and clearly economy and jobs were critical - they found that 32 percent of the entire electorate on Nov. 2 was made up of conservative and evangelical Christians, who voted 78-to-21 Republican," Reed said. "And they were the booster rocket that drove the biggest off-year landslide in a century, and they will be key to victory in 2012 again."

The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll taken the week before the 2008 Republican caucuses showed 46 percent of likely GOP caucusgoers considered themselves born-again or fundamentalist Christians. The same poll showed 41 percent of Republican caucusgoers said they preferred a fiscal conservative; 26 percent said a social conservative.

Santorum said that he had played key roles as a member of the U.S. House on domestic policy, such as health care and welfare reform. But he spent most of his time on his reputation as an abortion opponent.

Santorum recalled that during his Senate career he offered the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, signed by President George W. Bush in 2002.

"If a child is born as a result of a quote 'botched' abortion, then that child is entitled to medical protection and entitled to treatment," Santorum said. "To my knowledge in this country it was only one person on the floor of any state legislature who stood up and opposed it. That happens to be the current president of the United States, who stood up and said he opposed this bill because it would impinge on a woman's right on Roe v. Wade."
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Faded Blessings And Perilous Times!

Volume XXX Issue III March 2011
Last Trumpet Ministries, PO Box 806, Beaver Dam, WI 53916
Fax: 920-887-2626 Internet: http://www.lasttrumpetministries.org/







Faded Blessings And Perilous Times!

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away."

II Timothy 3:1-5

"See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

In this issue of the Last Trumpet Newsletter, we will once again examine the current events of our time and carefully consider what we see happening all around us in light of a Biblical perspective. The world as we know it is changing in dramatic ways which would have seemed unimaginable only a few generations ago. My father so often told us, "This is not the country I was born into," and truthfully, I used to feel he was being a little overdramatic with that statement. However, as I look around at the world and read the news, I can confidently say that he was right.

Even Barack Obama acknowledged that the world has drastically changed when he gave his State of the Union Address on January 25, 2011. "The world has changed. And for many, the change has been painful. I've seen it in the shuttered windows of once booming factories, and the vacant storefronts on once busy Main Streets. I've heard it in the frustrations of Americans who've seen their paychecks dwindle or their jobs disappear -- proud men and women who feel like the rules have changed in the middle of the game," said Obama in his speech. (1)

The United States of America was once the most prosperous and blessed country in the world. However, we live in a time when the quality of life in this country is continually degrading as people struggle to find work, food costs continue to rise, the housing market remains unstable, and a plethora of other threats and problems abound. The level of debt in the United States is growing so quickly that even Obama admits it is "not sustainable." When we carefully consider the circumstances of our time, one might wonder, "Has America lost her blessing?"

The Bible tells us time and time again that those who honor and respect God and obey his commandments will be blessed and prosperous. While many people in the United States still claim to be Christian, the number of men and women professing Christianity has been declining for many years. In fact, a Newsweek article published in April 2009 reported that the number of self-identified Christians in America has fallen by ten percentage points since 1990, while the percentage of those claiming no religious affiliation has nearly doubled in the same time period. (2) These facts do not seem to bother President Obama who stated in a 2006 speech, "Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation - at least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers." (3) Despite the fact that Obama claims to be a Christian, he rarely attends church services and is quite friendly towards other religions, particularly Islam. Obama's proclamation that the United States is "a nation of nonbelievers" is certainly nothing to be proud of. Perhaps Obama has never read II Corinthians 6:14 which tells us, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?"

When we consider the lack of spiritual integrity amongst those in positions of authority over the United States, it is no surprise that this erstwhile great nation is in so much trouble. Thankfully, even if the country as a whole is not receiving the blessings of God, you as an individual can still be blessed. When the Lord poured out ten plagues in Egypt, the Israelites dwelling in the land of Goshen were protected and safe. They even had light in their dwellings while the rest of Egypt was covered in a darkness so thick that it could be felt. If you love and honor God, He will be with you, He will strengthen you, He will guide you, and He will bless you. If you have not yet repented of your sins and given your heart to God, I encourage you to do so now.

Persistent Unemployment And A Frozen Job Market!

When Barack Obama gave the State of the Union Address, he was sure to tell us that the recovery was going smoothly, that the country was rebounding, and that they had broken the back of the recession. He was quite confident that there would soon be many jobs available, but from where these jobs would come, he couldn't tell us. Obama stated, "None of us can predict with certainty what the next big industry will be or where the new jobs will come from. Thirty years ago, we couldn't know that something called the Internet would lead to an economic revolution. What we can do -- what America does better than anyone else -- is spark the creativity and imagination of our people." (4) In other words, Obama is relying on some new big idea or some new technology to create jobs. Yet, it is technological innovation itself that often ends up causing a large loss of employment. I'm sure the United States Postal Service is unhappy that innovations such as email and online billing were ever invented.

Economists had expected the United States to see an increase of 145,000 jobs in the month of January 2011. Reality was far more brutal as the country only saw the creation of 36,000 jobs in that time period. (5) Oddly enough, the official unemployment rate mysteriously dropped from 9.4% to 9.0%. (6) David Stockman, the former federal budget director under President Reagan, attributed the decrease in unemployment to a reduction in the participation rate of the labor force. "If we had the same participation rate this January that we had a year ago, the unemployment rate reported this morning would've been 9.9 percent or 10 percent rounded, not 9," Stockman said. (7) In other words, fewer people are looking for work, so they are therefore no longer considered "unemployed" by the government despite the fact that they do not have jobs.

We also need to remember that just because jobs are created, it doesn't necessarily mean they are good decent paying jobs. Stockman stated in another report, "When we look below the surface and the job outlook and the trend that we've been in, it's a lot worse than people think. The jobs that they count every month and people get excited about are really part-time jobs." (8) Yes, it's a sad time in America. Approximately seven million jobs were lost during the "Great Recession." Reports indicate that about one million of those jobs have now been replaced, but the new jobs are greatly inferior to the old ones, and because of that we are seeing an ever-shrinking middle class.

America - An Indebted Nation!

What if the recovery we are now supposedly experiencing really did take hold? What if there were plentiful jobs, a surging stock market, and fast-paced economic growth? None of those improvements would change the fact that the United States has an astronomical level of debt, which is on the verge of completely spiraling out of control. The United States government can no longer function without borrowing money, and because of that the national debt has now exceeded 14 trillion dollars. (9) The size of the national debt has nearly doubled in size since January 2005. (10)

The United States will be forced to raise its "debt ceiling" yet again in order to meet its financial obligations. In a letter written by Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Geithner stated, "Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the debt limit when necessary. Failure to raise the limit would precipitate a default by the United States." (11) In other words, the United States must borrow money to pay its debts. Failure to do so would quickly put this country in default, or in other words, bankruptcy. In a somewhat ironic twist, President Obama greatly protested the Bush Administration raising the debt ceiling when he was a senator. On March 16, 2006, Obama stated on the Senate floor, "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government's reckless fiscal policies... increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." (12) For once, Obama said something that I actually agree with! It's amazing how accurately he described his own situation while attempting to levy criticism at his predecessor.

There are various factors contributing to the debt problem in America today. One of those factors is the trade deficit with Red China, which occurs because the United States imports massive amounts of goods while it exports only a small amount of American goods to China. The trade deficit for the month of December 2010 alone was a whopping 40.5 billion dollars. (13)

Of course, we know that President Obama has been very friendly towards the Chinese government lately, and recently he held an extravagant dinner for the Chinese President. Since that time, news reports claim there have been calls for greater commercial ties between China and the United States. There is also an expectation that we will see a number of new business deals in the near future.

One such deal is an agreement that Industrial & Commercial Bank of China signed to acquire a majority stake in the Bank of East Asia's U.S. subsidiary. If regulators approve the deal, it will mean that retail bank branches in the United States will be controlled by China for the very first time. (14) This acquisition will likely only be the beginning of an onslaught of many others if it goes through.

China is the United States' biggest trade partner. It also seems to be the first place the United States looks when it needs a loan. I find it sad and disgraceful that America has such extensive dealings with an oppressive Communist government that hates God, loves to kill babies by the millions, and persecutes Christians on a regular basis. It's interesting to note that Ed Lezear, a Stanford University economics professor, has stated that unless the United States and Chinese economies unexpectedly change course, the average Chinese citizen could be wealthier than the average American citizen in less than three decades. (15)

Yes, it has become quite apparent that United States is living on borrowed time. In fact, the U.S. government is borrowing 41 cents for every dollar that it spends. (16) It would take extreme changes to turn things around, and these steps are unlikely to be taken any time soon because they would be unpopular with American citizens. Unfortunately, our incompetent government, which is particularly inept at managing a budget, has put the American people in an impossible situation. Obama's recent decision to extend the Bush era tax cuts while providing a small amount of short-term relief to the average American family, will only exacerbate the debt crisis in the coming years. In the meantime, the United States will likely keep overspending, keep raising the debt ceiling, and keep making trade deals that are bad for the country.

I personally believe that this is all by design. There are very evil men in high places who are serving Satan and want the United States' economy, the European economies, and indeed, every other economy in the world to collapse. The eventual goal is a new one-world global beast system in which every man, woman, and child would be required to receive a mark in his right hand or forehead if he should wish to buy or sell. I know that sounds scary to many people, but we can take comfort in knowing that when such a system comes forth, it won't be long until we see our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, coming in glory. I have no doubt in my mind that our Almighty God will sustain us through any trials and tribulations that we may have to endure. For as God said in his Holy Scriptures, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Global Food Shortages!

As many of you have probably already noticed, the cost of food has been rising sharply in recent months. In fact, the food price index, published by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, or FAO, has risen seven months in a row as of January 2011, and experts say the trend is likely to continue. FAO economist Abdolreza Abbsassian issued a statement saying, "The new figures clearly show that the upward pressure on world food prices is not abating. These high prices are likely to persist in the months to come." (17) Weather has been a big factor in the rising cost of food as there have been floods, droughts, and storms in several countries all over the world. Many countries are also suffering from surging inflation, which makes it increasingly difficult for families to put food on the table.

The ongoing global food crisis is so widespread that it is almost mind boggling. Some of the recent headlines from around the world include the following: "Pakistan Suffering Famine-like Child Malnutrition" (18), "Poverty Line Rises For Families in Zimbabwe" (19), "Crop Warning Over China Drought" (20), "UN: Drought Endangers Chinese Winter Wheat Harvest" (21), "U.S. Corn Reserves Hit Lowest Level in 15 Years" (22), "Severe Drought Threatens Millions in Somalia" (23), "Puerto Rican Farmers Warn of Coming Food Shortages" (24), "UK Report Warns of Global Food Shortages, Price Increases" (25), and "Food Shortage Looms In North Queensland" (26).

So what is the scientific community proposing we do about worldwide hunger? The chief scientific adviser to the UK Government, Professor Sir Charles Beddington, has gone on record saying that the solution to feeding the world may be genetically modified crops. "If there are genetically modified (GM) organisms that actually solve problems that we can't solve in other ways, and are shown to be safe from a human health point of view, and safe from an environmental point of view, and they can solve problems we can't solve otherwise, then we should use them," Beddington said. (27) Meanwhile, Dutch scientists are suggesting that we all eat bugs. "There will come a day when a Big Mac costs 120 euros ($163) and a Bug Mac 12 euros, when more people will eat insects than other meat," said head researcher Arnold van Huis. (28) Honestly, I'm not too fond of the solutions that scientists are presenting. Is there a time coming when ordinary meat will be so cost prohibitive to the average family that many people will be forced to eat bugs instead?

Social Distemper And Riots!

In last month's issue of the Last Trumpet, I covered the riot that broke out in Algeria over food prices, unemployment and other problems plaguing the country. Since that time there was also a major protest in Tunisia, which resulted in the ouster of the now former Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled to Saudi Arabia. (29) It was the success of the mob in Tunisia that inspired the Egyptian people to rise up against their leader, President Hosni Mubarek. There were marches, protests, riots, violence, and all sorts of acts of civil disobedience as the Egyptian people demanded that Mubarek step down. At least three hundred people were killed and over three thousand more injured. (30)

Oddly enough, it was a Google executive known as Wael Ghonim who helped foment the unrest by utilizing Facebook to organize the protests in Egypt. (31) His actions then prompted the Egyptian government to turn off the Internet for several days. There was a time when no one would have believed that executives from a technology company would be stirring up anti-government protests, and I'm sure many never would have believed that Facebook would be the instrument used to get it all started. Times have certainly changed.

Although the Egyptians have suffered under the poor leadership of Mubarek, the government which replaces him could be even worse. The potential for a hard-line Islamic government to rise up in Egypt has delighted Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The awakening of the Islamic Egyptian people is an Islamic liberation movement and I, in the name of the Iranian government, salute the Egyptian people and the Tunisian people," said Khamenei while addressing Islamic worshippers. (32)

On February 11, 2011, Hosni Mubarek resigned as president of Egypt. It's interesting to note that Mubarek resigned after eighteen days of protests. (33) As many of you know from reading my father's past newsletters, the number eighteen is equivalent to three-sixes in the occult practice of numerology.

Mubarek's resignation has caused a ripple effect throughout the Middle East and inspired numerous other nations to rise up as well. Only God knows for sure what will happen, but the unrest in that area of the world could certainly fit into the Biblical end time scenario. There have been reports of turmoil in Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and various other countries in that area of the world. As we hear about thousands upon thousands marching in protest, riots breaking out, people being killed, and governments being toppled, it should serve as a reminder that there has never been a more important time to watch and pray.

The Blood Of The Poor Innocents!

On February 18, 2010, the office of an abortionist in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was raided by the FBI and detectives from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office. The warrants were executed to search for evidence of illegal prescription drug activity, but what they actually found was far far worse. Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams described the gruesome details as follows: "Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses were scattered throughout the building. A row of jars containing severed feet lined a shelf. Furniture and equipment was dusty, broken, [and] urine and blood stained. Untrained, unsupervised workers injected dangerous drugs into women undergoing illegal late-term abortions." Williams went on to say, "In case after case, Dr. Gosnell and his assistants induced labor; forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh and eighth month of pregnancy; and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of their necks with scissors and severing their spinal cords." (34)

I cannot even read the news stories regarding Dr. Gosnell without feeling sick to my stomach. Thankfully, this human devil is now facing seven murder charges for the deaths of the innocent babies he killed. Gosnell is unremorseful, however, having issued a statement saying, "I know that I have done my very best to provide the very best care to my patients." (35)

We live in a wicked and depraved society where the government actually sanctions the mass murder of helpless innocent babies. When I hear of all the baby killing happening in America, I cannot help but think of Jeremiah 2:34, which reads, "Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these." Every time a doctor performs an abortion, God sees it. Both the women who request them and the doctors who perform them will have to answer to God someday, and they will be judged harshly.

Some efforts to restrict abortions are being made by conservative politicians. However, Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi has vowed to do everything in her power to stop them. "They're advancing extreme legislation. It's dangerous to women's health, disrespects the judgment of American women - I don't know if they even gave that a thought - and it's the most comprehensive and radical assault on women's health in our lifetime. It's that bad," Pelosi told reporters. (36) Nancy Pelosi may be the most wicked woman in the United States. Any woman who would fight so hard for the modern day equivalent of child sacrifice known as abortion is clearly under the influence of the devil.

Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that abortion will ever be completely stopped in the United States, and as long as it continues, I don't believe God will bless this country. Yes, He will bless those who stand up and oppose it on an individual basis, but the country as a whole is in deep trouble.

Baby killing is not an uniquely American problem. We know that China kills more babies than any other country, and India is quite fond of the practice as well. Meanwhile, abortion is illegal in the country of Pakistan, but infanticide is common and growing worse every year. According to a report by AFP, 1,210 babies were discarded in 2010, 999 in 2009, and 890 in 2008. (37) We are now living in those perilous times which the Apostle Paul spoke of in II Timothy 3. Considering how many parents kill their babies, it has become quite clear than they are "without natural affection."

More Threats Of Terror!

A radical Islamic cleric from Yemen known as Anwar al-Awlaqi has issued a renewed call for Muslims to target Americans. "Both the (US) government and private citizens should be targeted. America and Americans are the imams of kufr (leaders of disbelief) in this day and age. The American people who vote for war-mongering governments are intent on no good. Anyone who inflicts harm on them in any form is doing a favour to the ummah (Islamic nation)," al-Awlaqi said in a recent Islamic magazine article. (38) In response, Michael Leiter, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has called al-Awlaqi the top security threat for the United States. "I actually consider Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with Awlaqi as a leader within that organization, probably the most significant risk to the US homeland," Leiter said.

It was also reported in January 2010 that a U.S. Border Patrol Agent found a book celebrating Islamic suicide bombers in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S./Mexican border. The book, which is entitled In Memory Of Our Martyrs, contains biographical sections for various suicide attackers, including their names, date of death, and how they died. This seems to fit with the statement issued in 2005 by FBI director Robert Mueller who said, "There are individuals from countries with known Al Qaeda connections who are changing their Islamic surnames to Hispanic-sounding names and obtaining false Hispanic identities, learning to speak Spanish, and pretending to be Hispanic." (40)

In closing, I know there is so much more that could be said. As we move through time, we are seeing famine, pestilence, earthquakes, volcanoes, flooding, drought, civil unrest, threats of terror, threats of war, and many other indicators of the perilous times we now live in. Even now, Poland is calling for the development of a cashless society within three years, (41) while companies such as the PositiveID corporation continue to create new implantable microchips. (42) When I see all the trouble and strife befalling this world, I find myself longing for that great appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is my sincere hope that this newsletter will not make you fearful, but rather that it will inspire you to draw closer to God. Thank you to all who graciously support this ministry. I deeply appreciate all the kind letters of encouragement, the news articles, and clippings that are sent to us. If you have any prayer requests, we will gladly petition the Almighty on your behalf, and our teams of intercessors will give each request individual attention. Grace and peace be unto you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Samuel David Meyer

Acknowledgments
01. State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011, By Barack Obama.
02. Newsweek, April 4, 2009, By Jon Meachem, http://newsweek.com.
03. Factcheck.org, August 28, 2008.
04. State of the Union Address, January 25, 2011, By Barack Obama.
05. Reuters News Service, February 4, 2011, By Reuters.
06. CNNMoney, February 4, 2011, By Annalyn Censky, New York, NY.
07. CNBC, February 4, 2011, By Gennine Kelly, http://cnbc.com.
08. CNBC, December 3, 2010, By Gennine Kelly, http://cnbc.com.
09. Associated Press, January 15, 2011, By Tom Raum, Washington, D.C.
10. Ibid.
11. Department of the Treasury, January 6, 2011, By Timothy F. Geithner, Washington, D.C.
12. Fox News, February 8, 2011, By Karl Rove, http://foxnews.com.
13. Finfacts Ireland Business News, February 10, 2011, By Professor Peter Morici.
14. The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2011, By Lingling Wei, Chicago, IL.
15. CNBC, December 30, 2010, By Michelle Lodge, http://cnbc.com.
16. Associated Press, January 15, 2011, By Tom Raum, Washington, D.C.
17. Reuters News Service, February 3, 2011, By Svetlana Kovalyova and John Mair, Manila, Philippines, Milan, Italy.
18. Associated Press, January 27, 2011, By Sebastian Abbot, Islamabad, Pakistan.
19. Associated Press, January 31, 2011, By Angus Shaw, Harare, Zimbabwe.
20. BBC News, January 24, 2011, By BBC News, http://bbc.co.uk.
21. Associated Press, February 8, 2011, By Nicole Winfield, Rome, Italy.
22. Associated Press, February 9, 2011, By Associated Press, St. Louis, MO.
23. Associated Press, February 3, 2011, By Associated Press, Garowe, Somalia.
24. Fox News Latino, February 3, 2011, By Fox News Latino, http://latino.foxnews.com.
25. Bloomberg News, January 24, 2011, By Gonzalo Vina, http://bloomberg.com.
26. Brisbane Times, February 4, 2011, By Brisbane Times, http://brisbanetimes.com.au.
27. The Telegraph, January 24, 2011, By The Telegraph, http://telegraph.co.uk.
28. AFP, January 23, 2011, By AFP, http://breitbart.com.
29. The Telegraph, January 15, 2011, By Colin Freeman, http://telegraph.co.uk.
30. The Arabia Times, February 8, 2011, By News Agencies, Cairo, Egypt.
31. Ibid.
32. Reuters News Service, February 4, 2011, By Robin Pomeroy and Ramin Mostafavi, Tehran, Iran.
33. Associated Press, February 11, 2011, By Paul Schemm and Maggie Michael, Cairo, Egypt.
34. AOL News, January 19, 2011, By David Lohr, http://aolnews.com.
35. Ibid.
36. Huffington Post, February 10, 2011, By Amanda Terkel, Washington, D.C.
37. AFP, January 17, 2011, By Hasan Mansoor, Karachi, Pakistan.
38. AFP, January 16, 2011, By AFP, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
39. AFP, February 10, 2011, By AFP, Washington, D.C.
40. Fox News, January 27, 2011, By William La Jeunesse, http://foxnews.com.
41. Warsaw Business Journal, January 18, 2011, http://wbj.pl.
42. Globe Newswire, January 18, 2011, By Globe Newswire, Delray Beach, FL.

Special Note: A new tribute website for Pastor David J. Meyer can now be accessed at http://pastormeyer.org.

If you have a comment on this newsletter or would like to suggest future topics, you may send email to editor@lasttrumpetnewsletter.org.
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Another Reformation?



"The enemy of souls has sought to bring in the supposition that a great reformation was to take place among Seventh-day Adventists, and that this reformation would consist in giving up the doctrines which stand as the pillars of our faith, and engaging in a process of reorganization. Were this reformation to take place, what would result? The principles of truth that God in His wisdom has given to the remnant church, would be discarded. Our religion would be changed. The fundamental principles that have sustained the work for the last fifty years would be accounted as error. A new organization would be established. Books of a new order would be written. A system of intellectual philosophy would be introduced. The founders of this system would go into the cities, and do a wonderful work. The Sabbath of course, would be lightly regarded, as also the God who created it. Nothing would be allowed to stand in the way of the new movement. The leaders would teach that virtue is better than vice, but God being removed, they would place their dependence on human power, which, without God, is worthless. Their foundation would be built on the sand, and storm and tempest would sweep away the structure."

Selected Messages Book 1, pp. 204-205.
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Officials: 13 Dead in NYC Tour Bus Accident


Mar 12, 2011 – 7:05 AM

Officials say 13 people died when a tour bus flipped onto its side and skidded into a sign post on Interstate 95 south in the Bronx borough of New York early on Saturday morning.


The World Wide Tour bus skidded on its side into a sign pole on the southbound side of Interstate 95 at Exit 14 for the Hutchinson Parkway. The sign post sheared off the top of the bus along the window line, nearly two-thirds the length of the vehicle.

The spokesman says the bus was carrying 31 to 33 passengers. He says in addition to the fatalities, six passengers were critically injured and four have been transported to hospitals.

The spokesman says 11 others sustained minor injuries.
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The Ecumenical Movement Just what is it?

Copyright © The Master's Table


Note: You can find sermons on this subject on the Master's table web site. Just click this link... A Call to Arms


Just what is the Ecumenical Movement?
Have you ever heard of the Ecumenical movement? It's the term used to describe the search for fuller unity in bringing all Churches back under the main control of the Universal Church. The Greek word oikumene, from which ecumenical is derived, originally meant "the inhabited world" which suggests the Universal Church. To Protestant leaders who have advanced the modern ecumenical movement with the Catholic Church the term has applied not only to Christian unity but also more broadly, to the worldwide mission of Christianity! Information from Grolier publishing, Inc

"The Council of Trent"
Let's look at some more information that will help us understand more clearly why this movement was formed and where it came from. The Council of Trent, the 19th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, was held at Trent in northern Italy between 1545 and 1563. It marked a major turning point in the efforts of the Catholic Church to respond to the challenge of the Protestant REFORMATION and formed a key part of the COUNTER-REFORMATION. The council eventually met during three separate periods (1545-47, 1551-52, 1562-63) under the leadership of three different popes (PAUL III, Julius III, PIUS IV). All of its decrees were formally confirmed by Pope Pius IV in 1564. Tradition was declared coequal to Scripture as a source of spiritual knowledge, and the sole right of the Catholic Church to interpret the Bible was asserted. At the same time, the council took steps to reform many of the major abuses within the Church that had partly incited the Reformation: decrees were issued requiring Episcopal residence and a limitation on the plurality of benefices, (a position or post granted to an ecclesiastic that guarantees a fixed amount of property or income.) and movements were instigated to reform certain monastic (monasteries) orders and to provide for the education of the clergy through the creation of a seminary in every diocese."

"The World Missionary Conference of 1910, held in Edinburgh marked the beginning of modern ecumenism. From it flowed three streams of ecumenical endeavor: evangelistic, service, and doctrinal. Today, these three aspects are furthered through the World Council of Churches, constituted in 1948; in the early 1980s it included more than 295 Churches in more than 90 countries. The evangelical concern of modern ecumenism brought about the formation, in 1921, of the International Missionary Council, comprising 17 national mission organizations. It coordinated mission strategy and aided new churches. The efforts made by Christians across denominational and national boundaries came to fruition in 1925, in Stockholm, when the Universal Christian Conference on Life and Work was convened to study the application of the gospel to industrial, social, political, and international affairs. This movement also proceeded under the slogan "service unites but doctrine divides." (*) This slogan is very important to note as it is becoming a powerful vehicle for the WCC to bring all Churches together. "Service" meaning helping, serving, and cooperating for the purpose of unity. "Doctrine divides" meaning that we should accept and respect all religions. This means when we denounce anything that they consider doctrine we are being separatist which will put us in the same category as religious extremist.

"Change came to the ecumenical movement in 1959, when Pope John XXIII proposed the calling of a second Vatican Council to complete the work of the first Vatican Council of 1870. Renewal and reunion were high on the agenda, and the world followed the proceedings closely. The pontiff created a Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. Breaking precedent, in 1961 he permitted Roman Catholic observers officially to attend the third assembly of the World Council of Churches. Also through his influence, when Vatican II opened in Saint Peter's Basilica in 1962, Protestant and Orthodox observers were accorded places of honor and included in all working sessions. The 2500 Roman Catholic bishops who attended the four council sessions (1962-65) dealt with Christian unity. Their decree on ecumenism, promulgated in 1964, spoke not of "schismatics" but of "separated brethren," and it deplored sins against unity committed over the years by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike."

Information from T. Tackett Bibliography: Jedin, Hubert, A History of the Council of Trent, trans. by Ernest Graf, 2 vols. (1957-61); McNally, Robert E., Council of Trent, The Spiritual Exercises and the Catholic Reform (1970); O'Donohoe, J. A., Tridentine Seminary Legislation (1957); Schroeder, H. J., Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent (1950) Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996

Another Organization:
There's another organization of the Catholic Church that is greatly involved in the Ecumenical movement. They go so far as to infiltrate Christian Churches, from the top, for the purpose of taking them over and bring them into the Ecumenical movement. They have set up many Christian Colleges all over the world for hundreds of years, so they could change the minds of the young early on. These colleges have been accepted by most people, mainly because they have been around so long, but the doctrines they teach is not from the Word of God found in the Holy Bible. This powerful organization is the Jesuits. The true intent of the Society of Jesuits is to use ambiguous or unclear expressions in order to be misleading and unclear about issues.The main roll of the Jesuits is to undo all that the Protestant reformation accomplished and they will not quit until they have done just that. The Jesuits attention focuses on churches with hierarchical, juridical, and institutional type government structures. Unification is seen as proceeding from the top to the bottom. Without the hierarchical government structure in the church it would be impossible to infiltrate and control it. As you will find on into this book that God hates the hierarchical government structure in the church and I will prove to you that it is of man and not of God.

Short History of Jesuits:
"A religious order of men in the Roman Catholic Church, founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1534, and confirmed by Pope Paul III in 1540. The motto of the order is Ad majorem Dei gloriam (Latin, "to the greater glory of God"), and its object is the spread of the church by preaching and teaching or the fulfillment of whatever else is judged the most urgent need of the church at the time. Education has been its chief activity almost from the outset. It has made notable contributions to scholarship in both theology and the secular disciplines. The preparation required of a candidate, especially for membership as a priest rather than as a brother (temporal coadjutor), is considerably longer than that required for the secular priesthood or for membership in other religious orders. After two years in seclusion and prayer as a novice, the candidate takes simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and becomes a scholastic. He then typically spends two years of study in review of classical subjects and three years studying philosophy, mathematics, and the physical sciences. He then spend some years of teaching succeeded by three years' study of theology, after which ordination to the priesthood takes place.

Following a fourth year of theological study and a year of retirement and prayer, the candidate is awarded his final grade, becoming either a coadjutor or a professed. The coadjutors take final simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but the professed take these vows as solemn vows and add an additional solemn vow to go wherever the pope may send them; furthermore, the professed take five simple vows, among them the renunciation of ecclesiastical office beyond their order unless by directive of the order. The order is governed by a superior general, residing in Rome, (called the black pope) who is elected for life by the general congregation of the order, consisting of representatives of the various provinces; there are now some 65 regional provinces in the world, each under its own father provincial. (See The complete Oath of Extreme Induction:)


The first aim of Ignatius of Loyola in forming his band was to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to convert the Muslims; all access to the Holy Land was barred, however, by the outbreak of war with the Ottoman Turks, and the members of the order submitted to the pope a constitution that bound them to go as missionaries to any place the pope might direct. After the constitution was approved, Loyola was elected the first superior general of the order. The development of the order was rapid, and its members took leading parts in the Counter Reformation, establishing schools and colleges throughout Europe.

For 150 years they were the leaders in European education; by 1640 they had more than 500 colleges throughout Europe; by about a century later the number of colleges had increased to more than 650 and, in addition, the order had total or partial charge of two dozen universities. More than 200 seminaries and houses of study for Jesuits had also been established. The education of Jesuits in the period of the Counter Reformation was designed to strengthen Roman Catholicism against Protestant expansion. Among the laity the Jesuits were concerned chiefly with the education of the nobility and those of wealth, although they did conduct trade schools and, in mission countries, schools for the poor.

In the mission field the expansion of the order was equally great. Missions were established by St. Francis Xavier in India and Japan, and the order spread to the interior of China and the coast of Africa. Letters from the Jesuit missionaries in Canada, containing ethnological, historical, and scientific information, were published as the Jesuit Relations and form a unique and valuable source of information about the native tribes of that country. The most famous work of the Jesuit missionaries in the New World, however, was the establishment, in the order's South American provinces, of reductions, or village communities of native peoples under the spiritual and temporal direction of the priests. The most successful were the reductions of Paraguay. In that country for almost 200 years the Jesuits governed a communal nation of Native Americans, founding 32 villages with a total population of about 160,000; they taught the Native Americans agriculture, mechanical arts, and commerce and trained a small army for defense of the settlements." Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996.

(*) Below is the ecumenical layout to focus the masses on service and not doctrine by the Confessing Christian Faith in a Pluralistic Society. The Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research.



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Friday, March 11, 2011

Massive Tsunami Devastates Japan; Hawaii Braces for Huge Wave

Mar 11, 2011 – 6:37 AM


Theunis Bates
Contributor


The biggest earthquake to hit Japan since records began almost 150 years ago smashed into the country's northeast coast today, triggering a 32-foot tsunami that swept away boats, cars and homes. Large waves are now rolling into Hawaii, where thousands of people have been evacuated from the islands' coastline.

The 8.9-magnitude quake's epicenter was 231 miles northeast of Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey reported. But the destruction caused by the natural disaster is expected to spread far beyond Japan, as the Red Cross in Geneva reported the swell moving across the Pacific was higher than some islands.

In preparation, authorities in Hawaii ordered the evacuation of all coastal areas. The first waves -- measuring at least 3 feet high -- barrelled into Oahu and Kauai at around 6 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, and officials warned that the waves would continue and could become larger. In the tourist district of Waikiki, visitors were moved to higher floors of their hotels. Elsewhere, residents queued at stores selling emergency supplies, including gas, bottled water, canned food and generators.

"We're preparing for the worst and we're praying for the best," John Cummings III, spokesman for the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management, told the Associated Press.

Tsunami warnings have also been issued for the whole of the Pacific Basin, including the U.S. West Coast, the Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan and Russia.

So far, at least 32 people in Japan have been killed, and an unknown number injured, by the 8.9-magnitude quake and tsunami, the Kyodo news agency reported. But the sheer scale of the devastation suggests that the final death toll will be much higher.

Dozens of cities and villages in Japan's northern Miyagi, Aomori and Iwate prefectures were devastated by the tsunami. Towering waves tossed around fishing boats, cars and trucks like toys and sent them crashing into bridges and apartment blocks. The overwhelming power of the wave could be seen in the port of Hachinohe in Miyagi, where two huge cargo vessels were ripped from their moorings and thrown onto their sides.

Fires have erupted across the quake zone. Storage tanks exploded at a 220,000 barrel-a-day oil refinery in the city of Chiba, near Tokyo, and flames ripped through the turbine building of the Onagawa nuclear plant in Miyagi Prefecture. A state of emergency was also declared at a nuclear power station in Fukushima after its cooling system failed following the quake.

However, Prime Minister Naoto Kan told a press conference that no radiation leaks had been detected at Japan's nuclear power stations. The International Atomic Energy Agency echoed Kan's assurances in a statement Friday, reporting that "the four Japanese nuclear power plants closest to the quake have been safely shut down."


Residents and workers in Tokyo have gathered in parks and open spaces as aftershocks continue to rock the city. There were reports of about 20 people injured in the capital after the roof of a hall collapsed onto a graduation ceremony.

Many residents said they had never experienced such a powerful quake. "I was terrified, and I'm still frightened," Hidekatsu Hata, manager of a noodle restaurant in Tokyo's Akasaka area, told Reuters. "I've never experienced such a big quake before."

Office worker Jeffrey Balanag told the BBC that he was stuck in the Shiodome Sumitomo skyscraper in the center of the capital, because elevators had stopped working. "There's no panic, but we're almost seasick from the constant rolling of the building," he said.


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Thursday, March 10, 2011

Sheila Jackson Lee’s Theatrics

March 10, 2011 12:02 P.M.
By Robert Costa

Washington — Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas) took the spotlight at the Homeland Security Committee’s hearing today, railing against Rep. Peter King, the GOP chairman, and describing his effort to investigate radical Muslims as “playing into al-Qaeda” and “going the same route as Arizona.”



In a bit of political theater, she held up a copy of the Constitution and continued to speak, even as King banged his gavel. “I will tell you today that this breathing document is in pain,” she said. The ruckus caused light laughs throughout the hearing room, as onlookers wondered whether Jackson Lee would yield the floor.

“There is no redeeming or factual information that we can receive today,” Jackson Lee said, her voice rising. “We don’t disrespect the witnesses, but it has already been tainted.” She asked the committee to look into those who oppose the “Jewish community” and complained that Muslim Americans are now “scared,” thanks to King. “This is an outrage,” she concluded.

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