Friday, May 27, 2011

G-8: Nations, banks to give $40B for Arab Spring


AP – French President Nicolas Sarkozy, right, and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, center, welcome US President

By JAMEY KEATEN and GREG KELLER, Associated Press – Fri May 27, 8:13 am ET


DEAUVILLE, France – Rich countries and international lenders are aiming to provide $40 billion in funding for Arab nations trying to establish free democracies, officials said at a Group of Eight summit Friday.

The officials didn't provide a breakdown of where the money would come from or when, or what it would be for.

But the overall message from President Barack Obama and the other G-8 leaders meeting in this Normandy resort appeared to be warning autocratic regimes in the Arab world that they will be shut out of rich-country aid and investment, while new democracies are encouraged to open their economies.

Tunisia's finance minister said French President Nicolas Sarkozy floated the $40 billion figure at talks Friday, in which the prime ministers of Tunisia and Egypt joined the G-8 leaders and appealed for help after uprisings earlier this year that overthrew longtime autocrats but also scared away tourists and investors.

A French official says $40 billion is the overall goal, but that breakdowns by country and timetables are still under discussion. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to his office policy.

A group statement from the G-8 leaders said that $20 billion from international development banks could go to Egypt and Tunisia over the next three years.

Beyond the institutional funding, the French official said the aim was for another $20 billion from bilateral support from G8 members as well as from rich Persian Gulf states and others.

"We are really very satisfied by the very strong, very clear, very precise declarations that have come from all the G-8 nations and financial institutions — bilateral agencies and development banks," Tunisian Finance Minister Jaloul Ayed told reporters in Deauville. He said foreign ministers and finance ministers from the countries involved were expected to meet between now and early July to flesh out details of the aid package.

Tunisia's government said it was asking the G-8 for $25 billion over the next five years, and Egypt says it will need between $10 to $12 billion for the fiscal year that begins in July to cover its mounting expenses.

"This isn't the end, additional funding will likely come from other sources after the G-8, and I think they'll be satisfied with at least the ball starting to roll," Jenilee Guebert of the G-8 Research Group at the Munk School of Global Affairs in Toronto.

U.S. and European officials had said that they would not announce an aid figure at this summit, thinking it was too early to do so.

"They said their main problem was the economy. They need some support," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters Friday after meeting the Egyptian and Tunisian leaders. "I think they are ready. Let's do everything to support the Arab Spring. I think they can succeed."

Uncertainty lingers, however, about the fragile governments in Egypt and Tunisia as they prepare for elections later this year — and debate over how to handle Libya's war.

The G-8 leaders are also worried that fighting in Libya and violence against protesters in Syria could derail the pro-democracy movement that has swept around the Arab world since Tunisian protesters rose up against an autocratic regime and forced out their longtime president.

In their final statement, the G-8 leaders said Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi "must go" and are pressing Syria's regime to "stop using force and intimidation" against its people.

The G8 leaders say Gadhafi and his government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect Libya's people "and have lost all legitimacy. He has no future in a free, democratic Libya."

The main product of the G-8 summit was a partnership program aimed at supporting the countries' fragile political leadership and fighting corruption and stabilizing the economies.

The G-8 leaders laid out a plan for refocusing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development — created to help eastern European economies after the collapse of communism — to help Arab democracies.

The EBRD was set up 20 years ago, when the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union convinced European leaders of the urgency to provide support to a region emerging from decades of political and economic dictatorship. The idea was to set up a "transition bank" to help lead the way on banking systems reform, price liberalization, privatization and establishing legal property rights in a region just shaking off the effects of almost 50 years of planned economies.

The G-8 leaders also met with African leaders Friday, calling for concerted efforts to settle conflicts on the continent.

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Julie Pace and Sylvie Corbet in Deauville contributed to this report
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Shadow Government

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YBnlDiFRNI&feature=player_embedded


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1yQuAm3-1E&feature=player_embedded

The Teachings of Jack Sequeira


Within the last few months, Jack Sequeira published a doctrinal book through Pacific Press.
Entltled, Beyond Belief, this 192-page book details a sizable range of Sequeira’s teachings. In addition to that book, earlier sermon tapes of his are available.
Since Sequeira is becoming an important theological speaker, on behalf of leadership, it is important that we know what he teaches. In the present study we will survey nine of them:
He ridicules Ellen White's writings, and says we should not use them.
He rejects essential parts of our historic Sanctuary Message.
He teaches errors which Ballenger taught.
He refuses to use the Spirit of Prophecy in his sermons, papers, books, or replies to critics.
He labels those areas, in which he disagrees with the Spirit of Prophecy writings, as ''non-essential'' and “non-fundamental.”
He declares that Christ's atonement was totally finished on the cross, and our salvation was assured and fully completed at that time.
He teaches that we now have unconditional salvation which, received by us just once, guarantees our being taken to heaven.
He says that cooperation with God in working out our salvation is “Galatian legalism.”
He insists that the Final Crisis will be fought over acceptance of the finished atonement, instead of over obedience to the law of God.
There is a very real danger in attending meetings or reading books by one of our people who refuses to use the Spirit of Prophecy or accept its counsels.
To do so is to lay oneself open to hypnotic influences.
Beware of men who come to you with complicated theological reasoning and strange, new words and concepts. But especially so when they refuse to be corrected by the Spirit of Prophecy. Having voluntarily laid down the Spirit of Prophecy in order to hear them out, their deep, complex reasoning can weary the mind, and lead to an attitude of mental surrender to the man’s views. This is dangerous. The mind becomes locked into error.

Church Leaders Say "We're Sorry"

German and Austrian churches apologize for Holocaust actions


BY MARK A. KELLNER, assistant director for news and information of the General Conference Communication Department

oting the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II, Seventh-day Adventist church leaders in Germany and Austria have released a declaration saying they "deeply regret" any participation in or support of Nazi activities during the war. The church bodies "honestly confess" a failure "in following our Lord" by not protecting Jews, and others, from that era's genocide, widely known as the Holocaust. Millions of people perished from war atrocities, including more than 6 million Jews who were exterminated in Nazi persecutions during the 12-year period of 1933 to 1945.

The declaration was initially published in the May 2005 issue of AdventEcho, a monthly German-language church magazine, and also will appear in other German publications, said Günther Machel, president of the South German Union Conference and one of three signatories to the statement.

A copy of the statement has been provided to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel, added Rolf Pöhler, a former North German church area president who is now that region's theological advisor and was involved with the drafting of the declaration.

"We deeply regret that the character of National Socialist dictatorship had not been realized in time and distinctly enough, and the ungodly nature of [Nazi] ideology had not clearly been identified," the statement, as translated from German, reads. The church says it also regrets "that in some of our publications . . . there were found articles glorifying Adolf Hitler and agreeing with the ideology of anti-Semitism in a way that is unbelievable from today's [perspective]."

Church leaders also expressed regret that "our peoples became associated with racial fanaticism destroying the lives and freedom of 6 million Jews and representatives of minorities in all of Europe" and "that many Seventh-day Adventists did not share the need and suffering of their Jewish fellow-citizens."

A paramount regret, the statement indicated, was that German and Austrian Adventist congregations "excluded, separated and left [church members who were] . . . of Jewish origin to themselves so that they were delivered to imprisonment, exile or death."

Under various racial decrees, some Adventist congregations expelled members of Jewish heritage. One, Max-Israel Munk, was placed in two concentration camps by the Nazis and survived and returned to his church after the war. He said he did not wish to act toward his congregation in the way in which he had been treated, according to Daniel Heinz, a church archivist at Friedensau Adventist University who has studied Adventist activities during the National Socialist era.

Along with Machel, the other leaders who signed the statement were Klaus-Juergen van Treeck, North German Union Conference president, and Herbert Brugger, president of the Adventist Church in Austria. Pöhler and Johannes Hartlapp, church historian at Friedensau, drafted the statement on which the declaration is based. All three church geographic areas voted to approve the text, Pöhler said.

In the statement, the three assert that the "obedience we owe to the state authorities does not lead to giving up biblical convictions and values." They said that while only God can judge the actions of prior generations, "in our day, however, we want to take a decided stand for right and justice-towards all people."

Brugger, in a telephone interview, said, "Our church members really appreciated the publishing of this document." No indication of a reaction from Austria's Jewish community has been received, but Brugger said the Adventist Church is not as well known in Austria as some other movements are.

Asked how a church that considers keeping the Sabbath as one of its core beliefs could forsake Jewish Sabbath-keepers during a time of persecution, Brugger suggested that it was political, not theological, considerations that may have led to the strategy.

During World War I a portion of the German Adventist church had split off, opposing any military service. This led the National Socialists in 1936 to ban the so-called "Reform Movement" during their time in power. Brugger said concern over a Nazi closure of the main Adventist churches may have weighed on leaders in that era.

"I think during these times the official leaders of our church were afraid of losing the control over the church and losing the church because the political authorities had already . . . [confused] our church with the Reform movement," he explained. "I think our leaders were afraid to lose the official recognition of our church, so therefore maybe they were not [as faithful] to our beliefs as would have been necessary."


The main Seventh-day Adventist church in Germany was also briefly banned under the Nazis, notes Pöhler. A quick reversal by the regime led to relief among Adventists but also to a level of cooperation with the government that was unhealthy.

"We not only kept silent, but we also published things we never should have published. We published anti-Semitic ideas that, from our perspective, weren't really needed," Pöhler said in a telephone interview.

"We had to realize that one wrong statement, one wrong move by a person meant he could end up in a concentration camp," Pöhler said of that era. "[That was the] reason why we excluded and disfellowshipped Jewish-born Adventists from our midst: If a local church had not done this, [the Nazis] would have closed the church, taken the elder to prison, and it would have meant the whole church would be forbidden."

While some European Adventists took courageous stands to protect Jews, others went along in part because of concern for their families and churches. It would be difficult enough for an individual to reach out to a Jewish person, Pöhler explained, but to risk the lives of those in a congregation was an added burden. Such caution was even reflected in the nomenclature used by German Adventists, he said.

Daniel Heinz, director of church archives at the Adventist university in Friedensau, Germany, said his research into the stories of Adventists who helped Jews during the war led to his discovery of those who acted less honorably.
Resistance to Nazi policies, as well as the compassionate yet brave response of many Christians, among them Seventh-day Adventists, to protect lives of those under Nazi persecution, have been documented throughout Europe, including Poland, Hungary, Holland, and Denmark.

"I found some very impressive stories of Adventists who helped Jews in the Third Reich, risking their lives, and I found the opposite," Heinz said. Among other church members, one Latvian Adventist family took in a Jewish man, hid him during the war, and survived. The refugee became an Adventist believer and church pastor after the war ended.
According to Machel, "Sixty years after World War II is late-but we saw it as the last chance for a declaration."

Young adult church members reacted positively to the statement's expressions of concern and contrition.

"To humbly reveal our sins and failures is the most important thing God wants us to do," said Sara Gehler, 25. "And even though 60 years have already passed, I think it was necessary for us as [the Seventh-day Adventist] Church to take a stand on the Second World War." She added, "It is our duty as Christians to protect and help those who are weak, helpless, and in need."

Said John Graz, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty director for the Adventist world headquarters, "For those who believe in God's love for every member of the human family, against any kind of discrimination based on race, religion, or gender, this declaration written by a generation which had no responsibility in the Holocaust and the war, but endorse the responsibility of their parents, will stand as a positive landmark and great encouragement."

Source

YOU ARE GROWING SLEE-PY, S-L-E-E-P-Y . . .


YOU ARE GROWING SLEE-PY, S-L-E-E-P-Y . . .
NLP / HYPNOTISM
T. Ross

...

We are living in a most exciting and solemn time! A time full of miracles and madness. A time when the common people have never found it easier to acquire an education. But strangely a time God's professed people are dying for a lack of knowledge.

For the last few decades we have become a "fast food" generation and most people in all of Christendom are "fast food" Christians. With our modern conveniences, life has become much easier than in past times and we have become accustomed to getting things quick and easy.

Even though in many ways this day of technology has afforded us more "free" time, what are we doing with it? The scenario as a practical matter is a sad one indeed and the enemy has set us up for the kill. The reason God's people are dying for a lack of knowledge certainly isn't because God hasn't done His part. We have a clearer perception of truth presented by the Lord than in any other generation.

He has warned us that minds would be hypnotized and I believe that is exactly what's happening. Not only through the modern music in all of it's different forms of rock, jazz, country western, "Christian" rock, etc., but also through the medium of television and radio. Our emphasis in this tract however will focus on hypnotism and its' inroads into the Adventist Church!

Read more..
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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Patriot Act vote extends spying tactics














Photo (Courtesy) http://www.caivn.org/article/2010/02/28/president-obama-signs-patriot-act-extension

Congress on Thursday approved a four-year extension to key provisions of the Patriot Act that continue the ability of federal investigators to use aggressive surveillance tactics in connection with suspected terrorists.

By Paul Kane and Felicia Sonmez

The Washington Post


WASHINGTON — Congress on Thursday approved a four-year extension to key provisions of the Patriot Act that continue the ability of federal investigators to use aggressive surveillance tactics in connection with suspected terrorists.

Overcoming objections from a bipartisan clutch of libertarian-minded lawmakers, the legislation passed the Senate, 72-23, and the House, 250-153.

Lawmakers faced a midnight deadline to pass an extension before the provisions expire. President Obama is attending a summit in France, but aides said he would direct aides to have the bill signed by an autopen machine that holds a pen and signs his actual signature.

Some supporters had warned that any interruption in the law could have dire consequences for national security, while opponents demanded more time to debate the need for such provisions almost 10 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We shouldn't be fearful. We shouldn't be fearful of freedom; we shouldn't be fearful of individual liberty," freshman Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the legislation's lead opponent, said Thursday.

Under the provisions extended into 2015, investigators could get court orders to follow terrorism suspects with "roving wiretaps" that cover multiple phone numbers and multiple carriers. It would also extend provisions allowing investigators to seize customer records for suspected terrorists.

The vote on the bill came less than a month after U.S. special-operations forces killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

"The raid that killed Osama bin Laden also yielded an enormous amount of new information that has spurred dozens of investigations yielding new leads every day. Without the Patriot Act, investigators would not have the tools they need to follow these new leads and disrupt terrorist plots, needlessly putting our national security at risk," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

The Senate debate created unusual coalitions on the far left and far right. Paul, considered the most conservative senator, was joined in his opposition by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., among the most liberal.

Paul fought for several days to offer a string of amendments to the legislation, including one that would exempt some gun-record searches from being accessible to federal investigators. That proposal was deemed too much for even the National Rifle Association, as just 10 senators supported it and 85 voted against it.

Two Democratic critics of the Patriot Act, Sen. Ron Wyden, of Oregon, and Sen. Mark Udall, of Colorado, extracted a promise from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she would hold hearings with intelligence and law-enforcement officials on how the law is being carried out.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

Source
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The Third Angel's Message [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBc9sUxWcGA&feature=player_embedded

Generation Change: Ignite Church

Can witch hunts be too far behind?

Correcting Samuele Bacchiocchi's Newsletters on 666


Correcting Samuele Bacchiocchi's ENDTIME ISSUES NEWSLETTER No. 139



In newsletter 139, Dr. Bacchiocchi makes the following assertion:
... "it has been wise for our Adventist church to abandon the traditional numeric interpretation of VICARIUS FILII DEI which lacks both exegetical and historical support."


The Exegetical Support

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Note that this "name of blasphemy" is associated with the heads of the sea beast. The word translated "name" in that verse is onoma:
G3686. onoma, on'-om-ah; from a presumed der. of the base of G1097 (comp. G3685); a "name" (lit. or fig.) [authority, character]:--called, (+ sur-) name (-d).

The same word is translated "name" in the following verse:
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
This "name of blasphemy" of the sea beast is again mentioned in the following verses

Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
So the blasphemous name of the beast from the sea equals 666. A key piece in this mystery is the next verse:
Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

The same Greek word is used in that verse for "name". Note that it refers to a Title of Jesus. So Revelation 13:1, 6, 17 and 18 can refer to a blasphemous title assumed by the heads of the sea beast.

The same wisdom that unlocks the name/number of the sea beast is mentioned in Revelation 17:
Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

That points us directly to the woman (church) seated in Rome, the Roman Catholic Church.

So, now let's let scripture tell us a definition of blasphemy:

John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

John 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

John 10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

VICARIVS FILII DEI (Taking the place of the Son of God) is a blasphemous title that has a long history in Roman Catholic documents (whether it ever appeared on a tiara or not), and it does equal 666 when the Roman numeral value of the letters are added up.

See http://biblelight.net/666.htmfor the historical documentation.

It is also worth noting that Roman Catholics, while denying any "official" standing for VICARIVS FILII DEI, will readily admit that the synonymous VICARIVS CHRISTI is the proper and official papal title (it does not add up to 666). Well, let's notice this next verse:
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

So there are many blasphemous titles assumed by the sea beast, not just the one that adds up to 666. Well, another perfectly valid way of saying VICARIVS CHRISTI is ANTICHRIST, both of which mean "Taking the place of Christ".

So, there is both historical and biblical exegetical support for blasphemous papal titles being the name associated with the sea beast in Revelation 13.

I have corresponded via email with Dr. Bacchiocchi, and asked him to show me any flaw in the above page, and he flatly refuses to do so. He responds with ad hominem. All he wants to do is sell me his material, saying I obviously do not wish to learn if I do not immediately order his study, that I am "afraid of being enlightened", if I do not send him money for his pearls of wisdom. He is obviously running a business, and that is his priority.


Source: http://www.biblelight.info/EI-139+140.htm
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

PROGRESSIVES URGE OBAMA TO DUMP ISRAEL


By Cliff Kincaid
May 24, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

Unofficial Obama adviser Medea Benjamin, founder of Code Pink, organized a small demonstration in Washington, D.C. this week to demand that the U.S. terminate military aid to Israel. “Not one nickel. Not one dime. We won’t pay for Israel’s crimes,” Benjamin led the demonstration in the anti-Israel chants. One protester from the Washington, D.C. Green Party said the U.S. and Israel were terrorist governments.

Benjamin, a member of the International Solidarity Movement which is allied with enemies of the U.S. and Israel, is known for her pink outfits. She announced in 2009 that she was going to deliver a letter to Obama from the deputy foreign minister of Hamas. “In the letter,” reported Benjamin, “Hamas urged Obama to visit ‘our ground Zero’ in Gaza and bring about a ‘paradigm shift’ in the Israel-Palestine conflict based on enlightened world opinion and international law.”

This appears to be what Obama did in his Thursday speech urging Israel to return to its vulnerable 1967 borders with the Arab states.

The occasion of the protest was the launching of an advertising campaign on the Washington, D.C. subway system calling for an end to aid for Israel, a development that would lead to the demise of the Jewish state. The ads are being posted inside Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) Metrorail trains for the next 4 weeks. The demonstration took place on May 16, just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, and attracted several television cameras.

Organizers said the protest was not designed to support the terrorist group Hamas, with Benjamin saying that she has traveled to the Middle East merely to “meet” with leaders of the organization. “Does meeting with somebody mean that you support them?” she said. However, numerous participants in the demonstration refused, under questioning, to directly condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization.

It may sound incredible that a far-left agitator like Benjamin would have clout with the President of the United States, but she is very close to such notables as Jodie Evans, an Obama fundraiser, and Bernardine Dohrn, the former Weather Underground terrorist leader and associate of the President when he was a Chicago politician on the rise. This video shows Benjamin and Dohrn in deep and friendly conversation before Dohrn exploded over allegations from this columnist that she was involved in the bombing murder of a policeman.

Turning their attention to Latin America, Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin have been photographed whooping it up with Venezuela’s Marxist ruler Hugo Chavez, a collaborator with the Iranian and Cuban regimes against U.S. interests around the world.

Benjamin is also a co-founder of Global Exchange, a group that sponsors trips to Venezuela and Cuba and which took out an ad in a memorial service booklet in honor of the Weather Underground and Black Liberation Army (BLA) member Marilyn Buck, a convicted terrorist who died last year. “Marilyn we appreciate your love and your sacrifices” it said. The ad featured a quote from Fidel Castro sidekick Che Guevara about a “true revolutionary” being guided by “feelings of love.”

Global Exchange is also a member of the “Hands Off Assata” campaign, which is designed to discourage the FBI from seeking the return of convicted cop-killer Assata Shakur, a BLA member who fled to Cuba after escaping from prison with the help of the Weather Underground.

Benjamin has used her access to Obama officials to argue against FBI investigations of members of the International Solidarity Movement, who are being called before a grand jury in Chicago because of their work with terrorist groups such as Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). On one occasion, she pressed Obama Attorney General Eric Holder to intervene with the FBI to stop the probes.

“We have people we know that have been appointed or are advisers,” Benjamin said about the Obama Administration. “I mean, we’re excited that some people with some progressive views are going to be in this administration.”

In addition to favoring a policy of abandoning Israel, Code Pink has demanded that Obama withdraw U.S. military forces from Afghanistan, leaving that country to the mercy of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. A video shows Evans and Obama at a fundraiser engaging in friendly conversation, with Obama putting his arm around her.

© 2011 Cliff Kincaid - All Rights Reserved

Source
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Raw Video: Tornado Kills 2 in Suburban OKC



Uploaded by AssociatedPress on May 24, 2011


An emergency official says a tornado has killed two people in suburban Oklahoma City as a line of severe thunderstorms moved across the state during the evening rush hour. (May 24)

Monday, May 23, 2011

Unapologetic Harold Camping gives new Doomsday date

May 23, 2011 9:45 PM EDT


An unrepentant Harold Camping took to the airwaves Monday night reasserting his beliefs in the end of the world and gave yet another prediction for the end of the world.

Speaking on his Open forum radio show from California, Camping, who publically predicted the end of the world was to come this past Saturday, defended his claims despite the events not happening.


(Photo: IBTimes)
Family Radio President Harold Camping is seen at his home in Alameda, California on May 22, 2011


"On May 21 this last weekend...God again brought Judgment on the world...We didn't feel any difference," he says, "but we know that God brought Judgment" on the world. "The whole world is under Judgment."

The preacher said not only was he correct this time, but correct in the past as well.

"Actually there are four days that are very crucial at this point in time. We have talked about all four of these days in the past and we are not making any changes in these four days except for in the emphasis...The first part the end of the world began on May 21, 1988," he asserted.

Camping continues going over dates he deems important in church history. The next year he points out is 1994, which is the year he had previously predicted would bring the world's end.


"It is true, there was judgment in a terrible way and there was salvation in a wonderful way. The salvation came because in the previous 2,300 days...virtually no one could be saved in the entire world. We didn't even know how bad it was. Family Radio was broadcasting in those days and we had no idea what was really going," he says.

Camping clarifies that this "judgment" in 1994 was "spiritual, not physical," and says Jesus Christ did not arrive on Earth.

Originally Camping had said that the when May 21 came around, there would be massive earthquakes and believers would be raptured. The ones who were left would suffer great calamities until October 21.

He reasserted that date.

"It won't be a five-month terrible difficulty...that we have learned," said Camping. Instead, he says, the world will end quickly on Oct. 21 without any build up.


Source
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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Ye know neither the day nor the hour


Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. -Matthew 25:13.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Milk Toast Christianity


Wednesday, December 31, 2008


Milk Toast Christianity




It's the order of the day!


The days of preaching the Eternal Gospel* are over; The stage has been cleared for the Social Gospel to replace the Final Warning. Christianity Light is the mood of the day; Like in Miller-Lite, and it's no coincidence that what is being preached from 'most pulpits' is from the pits of hell, it's the wine of Babylon. That lightness produces a stupor that impairs its hearers from distinguishing truth from error, and virtually prepares them to be duped into the fold of the enemy of souls. Actually, it's the enemy's creation; Who else could have invented a gospel that is less filling (no substance) and low on calories (no lasting spiritual nourishment).


milk-toast 
Pronunciation [milk-tohst]

adjective
1.
easily dominated; extremely mild; ineffectual; namby-pamby; wishy-washy.–noun
2.
milquetoast.

Origin: 1815–25


Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006


Milk Toast Christianity is what I've called this strange phenomenon. It seems as if all the Protestant, Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Catholic Churches are using the same format; As if the Ecumenical goals that were set during the Roman Catholic Church's Vatican II Council, had been achieved: All have followed in the steps of the holy see. None call her the whore of Babylon any longer, or maintain a clear definition of prophecy. The lackadaisical, and the nonchalant has replaced the Protestant convictions of Sola Scriptura, and have opted for the RC doctrines, and traditions. For example they regularly find a new Bible version that seems better than the last one they sanctioned. They are adrift in a sea of confusion without a sail, without a paddle bound for perdition. Oh, that they would come to their senses and return to deliver the Final Warning, to give the trumpet that certain sound?


For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? . 1 Corinthians 14:8.


Milk Toast Christians love to quote John 3:16:


For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.


It provides them a warm-fuzzy feeling. All they have to do is just "believe"; Well, if they read the rest of the Lord's words they would discover that the Lord requires obedience also. Let's read verses 17 through 21, and see if it is so:


17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Brethren, Milk Toast Christians are not what the Lord is coming to redeem someday soon. It will be obedient servants similar to their Master, not foolish virgins, or unfaithful stewards. He will spew those out of His mouth, and say: I never knew thee!


21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
Matthew 7:21-27.


Those that insist on having Milk Toast Christianity; I suggest you prayerfully read Matthew 25. Return to the sound doctrines, feed the sheep.



Arsenio.


Maranatha.


*The Everlasting Gospel
(This article was originally featured on Endrtimes on December 31, 2008)

Before Jehova's Awful Throne



1
Before Jehovah's awful throne,
Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create, and He destroy.

2
His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay, and formed us men;
and when like wandering sheep we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again.

3
We'll crowd His gates with thankful songs,
High as the heavens our voices raise;
And earth, with her ten thousand tongues,
Shall fill His courts with sounding praise.

4
Wide as the world is His command,
Vast as Eternity His love;
Firm as a rock His truth shall stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.


COMPOSER
John Hatton

AUTHOR
Isaac Watts, 1719

SCRIPTURAL ALLUSION
Ps 100:1-5
Musical score (my favorite)
dh082or.mid
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Unique gospel concert aims to bring cultures together


By Michelle Martinelli|Originally Published: 05/19/11 4:45pm

Pastor David Shin was looking for a new method to reach out to the East Lansing community to inspire people and encourage hope.

That is when recording artist Rachel Hyman joined him at University Seventh-Day Adventist Church, and they saw an opportunity to bring people together.

The church, 504 Ann St., will hold a gospel concert at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, with Hyman — a Christian artist who records Jewish music — performing.

Hyman — an East Lansing resident who grew up in a Jewish home — converted to Christianity in 2000 and said she will use the concert to teach people about Jewish culture while sharing her story of converting. She said the themes of the concert will include unity, Jewish culture and the gospel, and her testimony through music describes how she found Jesus as a Jewish woman.

“I share my story on how Jesus saved me and how I became a Christian, and it became my life,” she said. “Even though I’m a Christian, I still like to share knowledge about Jewish culture.”

Reinforcing the idea of unity regardless of heritage or religious beliefs, the Arabic fusion band Wisaal also will perform with Hyman.

Wisaal — an Arabic word which means links, connections and unities — is a Michigan-based band that combines Arabic music with Klezmer, Indian, American and Brazilian sounds.

With both types of music having Middle Eastern origins, the sounds cohesively mesh together, and Shin said he hopes the combination of Hyman and Wisaal will reach to the community through the arts in a different way with music as a universal language.

“People know the history between Jews and Arabs hasn’t been the best, to say the least,” Shin said. “But I think it sends a message — by the fusion of these two working together for a common goal — of building a sense of community (and) coming together. Even with various differences, I think we can have a common bond that brings people together.”

Being so close to MSU, Shin understands the diversity around campus, and he hopes the combination of Jewish and Arabic music and gospel-oriented discussions will bring people together, regardless of their religious or political beliefs.

Serving as a metaphor to apply to worldwide conflicts, Hyman will sing in Hebrew with the Arabic fusion music, demonstrating how the differing religious beliefs can cohesively exist within music and in life.

“As a Jew singing with an Arabic fusion band, we’re trying to give a message of acceptance and love and unity,” Hyman said. “We’re just trying to invite people and let the community know about (us).”

Wisaal’s band leader, Igor Houwat, said the concert also will serve as an education for those who attend, introducing people to unfamiliar music and instruments.

Houwat — a Lansing resident and MSU alumnus — said he believes people in the East Lansing area probably haven’t heard Jewish and Arabic music performed simultaneously, and he’s looking to encourage curiosity about both cultures.

“I hope it’s a different experience,” Houwat said. “Some of the instruments that they are going to hear — even the way that they are played — I think will be a new experience for them.”

The concert is the first of its kind at the church, and Shin said if the community responds positively, the church will continue to organize similar events.

Tickets for the concert are available for $10 at musicforthesoultickets.com and at the door Sunday.

“Music is very emotional,” Shin said. “It’s a part of the arts. … After (Hyman) sings and Wisaal performs, it will provide an environment for people to be inspired.

“That’s the main thing we want — for people’s hearts to be touched through the medium of music and for, ultimately, people to be drawn closer to God.”
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Christian movement preparing for End of Days

Caroline Dennewith, co-owner of Dorky's Arcade in Tacoma, Wash., poses for a photo, Friday, May 20, 2011 with a poster advertising her business' "Rapture Party," which will be held Saturday, May 21, 2011, the day on which a loosely organized Christian movement believes Jesus will return to Earth to gather the faithful. Dennewith says she has received international media attention and some isolated local criticism for what started out as a low-key party in response to predictions of the rapture. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Christian movement preparing for End of Days
(AP) – 7 hours ago

OAKLAND, California (AP) — Some shut themselves inside to pray for mercy as they waited for the world's end.

Others met for tearful last lunches with their children, and prepared to leave behind homes and pets as they were swept up to heaven.

And across the globe, followers of a California preacher's long-publicized message that Judgment Day would arrive Saturday turned to the Bible, the book they believe predicts the beginning of Earth's destruction on May 21.

The doomsday message has been sent far and wide via broadcasts and web sites by Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar nonprofit ministry based on his apocalyptic prediction.

After spending months traveling the country to put up Judgment Day billboards and hand out Bible tracts, Camping follower Michael Garcia planned to spend Friday evening with his family at home in Alameda, near the Christian media empire's Oakland headquarters.

They believe it will likely start as it becomes 6 p.m. in the world's various time zones.

"We know the end will begin in New Zealand and will follow the sun and roll on from there," said Garcia, a 39-year-old father of six. "That's why God raised up all the technology and the satellites so everyone can see it happen at the same time."

The Internet was alive with reaction in the hours past 6 p.m. Saturday in New Zealand.

"Harold Camping's 21st May Doomsday prediction fails; No earthquake in New Zealand," read one posting on Twitter.

"If this whole end-of-the-world thingy is still going on ... it's already past 6.00 in New Zealand and the world hasn't ended," said another.

Camping's radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website are controlled from a humble building on the road to the Oakland International Airport, sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader. Family Radio International's message has been broadcast in 61 languages.

Camping, however, will be awaiting Jesus Christ's return for the second time. He said his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn't come true because of a mathematical error.

"I'm not embarrassed about it. It was just the fact that it was premature," he told The Associated Press last month. But this time, he said, "there is...no possibility that it will not happen."

Skeptics are planning Rapture-themed parties to celebrate what hosts expect will be the failure of the world to come to an end.

Bars and restaurants from Melbourne, Australia to the Florida Keys advertised bashes.

In Oakland, atheists planned a gathering at a local Masonic temple to include group discussions on "The Great Success of Past Apocalypses," followed by dinner and music.

Camping and his followers believe the beginning of the end will come on May 21, exactly 7,000 years since the flood in the biblical story of Noah's Ark.

Some 200 million people will be saved, Camping preaches, and those left behind will die in earthquakes, plagues, and other calamities until Earth is consumed by a fireball on October 21.

In the Philippines, a big billboard of Family Radio ministry in Manila warned of Judgment Day. Earlier this month, group members there distributed leaflets to motorists and carried placards warning of the end of the world.

Christian leaders from across the spectrum have widely dismissed the prophecy, but one local church is concerned that Camping's followers could slip into a deep depression come Sunday.

Pastor Jacob Denys of Milpitas-based Calvary Bible Church plans to wait outside the nonprofit's headquarters on Saturday afternoon, hoping to counsel believers who may be disillusioned if the Rapture does not occur.

"The cold, hard reality is going to hit them that they did this, and it was false and they basically emptied out everything to follow a false teacher," he said. "We're not all about doom and gloom. Our message is a message of salvation and of hope."

On Friday afternoon, a small group of eccentrics, gawkers and media opportunists convened outside Family Radio's closed office building. A sign posted on the front door said "SORRY WE MISSED YOU!"

As May 21 drew nearer, followers say donations grew, allowing Family Radio to spend millions of dollars on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the doomsday message. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.

Marie Exley, who helped put up apocalypse-themed billboards in Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq, said the money helped the nonprofit save as many souls as possible. She said she and her husband, mother and brother planned to stay glued to the television Friday night in Bozeman, Montana for news of an earthquake in New Zealand.

Camping recommended this week that followers surround themselves by their loved ones and not meet publicly, Exley said.

"It's an emotional time and we're kind of nervous and scared about how things will pan out as to who will be here and who will go to heaven," she said. "I'll probably be scared in the fog of it, and crying, because we don't know who is saved and who is not."

Some people wanted to make sure their pets receive good treatment, no matter what happens.

Sharon Moss, who founded AfterTheRapturePetCare.com to provide post-apocalypse animal care, said a new wave of customers has paid $10 to sign up in the last few weeks.

"A lot of people have said you should be out there saving souls not saving pets but my heart says 'why can't you do both?'" said Moss, who identifies herself as Protestant.

Associated Press video journalist Haven Daley in San Francisco contributed to this report.(backslash)

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Heavenly Debate: Kirk Cameron vs Stephen Hawking


Friday, May 20, 2011

At Apocalypse Central, Preparing for What Happens, or Doesn’t

Members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals outside the Family Radio headquarters in Oakland with plans for vegan Last Supper meals.

By JESSE McKINLEY

Published: May 20, 2011


OAKLAND, Calif. — If Harold Camping and his followers are correct, Gertrude Stein’s famous comment about Oakland — that there is no there there — may finally be true. If not, some local churchgoers say they will set up encampments outside the headquarters of Mr. Camping, the self-proclaimed biblical soothsayer who has prophesied the end of the world on Saturday, with an eye toward consoling the disappointed.

In a state where fringe leaders like the Rev. Jim Jones and fringe groups the Heaven’s Gate cult have often found followers, and whose beliefs ended in mass suicide, not everyone is laughing about the prediction.

“They are going to be reeling,” said Pastor Jacob Denys of Calvary Bible Church in nearby Milpitas, so he and about 20 volunteers planned to spend Saturday outside Mr. Camping’s compound to let “them to know that God still loves them.”

On Friday, the only concrete sign of anything out of the ordinary was in the window of Family Radio — Mr. Camping’s radio enterprise, which has helped pay for and promote the May 21 prediction — announcing that the offices were closed.

“Sorry we missed you!” the sign concluded.

Family Radio’s representatives did not return calls and e-mails seeking comment on Friday. But whether or not the shuttered offices indicate Mr. Camping’s own pre-apocalyptic plans, what is certain is that the prediction has gained a life of its own.

And not surprisingly, some of the reactions have been light-hearted, especially considering history’s long list of swing-and-a-miss prophets. A Facebook page devoted to “Post-Rapture Looting” had assembled more than 500,000 promised attendees by Friday afternoon. “When everyone is gone and God’s not looking,” the page reads, “we need to pick up some sweet stereo equipment.”

On Friday, there was little activity at the compound, which includes a two-story suite of offices and a large cinder-block warehouse near the Oakland airport. Between the two buildings is a parking lot surrounded by a chain-link fence, topped with razor wire, containing several vehicles the Family Radio group has used to promote the May 21 prediction.

Inside the offices, a reception desk was unstaffed and the door was locked. Several boxes filled with brochures were visible, showing slogans like “Gay Pride: Planned by God as a Sign of the End.” A calendar on the desk had a red circle around the 21st with a note reading: “Rejoice!”

During a visit on Monday, Mr. Camping told a group at the compound that after Saturday there would be no chance left for anyone else to repent and be saved once the event began. “When the Judgment Day begins, there will be no more salvation, no more possibility of becoming right with God,” he said.

A former civil engineer, Mr. Camping, 89, built a small nonprofit empire in radio, going from a single station in San Francisco to more than 200 radio stations and a pair of television stations, according to The Bay Citizen, which also reported the organization’s most recent I.R.S. financial disclosure filings, showing $34 million in investments, $56 million in assets and $29 million in mortgages.

Mr. Camping has used those resources to buy billboard space across the country and print millions of pamphlets warning of doomsday and explaining his mathematical calculation for picking May 21, 2011: a complex formula involving the biblical flood survived by Noah; a 7,000-year clock ticking from that moment; and the subtraction of a year due to a difference between Old Testament and New Testament calendars.

Mr. Camping’s math has proved to be flawed before. He also predicted the end of the world in 1994. But this time around, Mr. Camping said he was supremely confident. “We’re just a few days away,” he said Monday.

Pastor Dave Nederhood, of Christian Reformed Church in Alameda, said he had met Mr. Camping on several occasions and had followed his radio broadcasts about the apocalypse closely.

“My concern is for the people that have bought into his lie and have sold their belongings, quit their jobs, left their churches and their families and now they are sitting at home listening to Family Radio and waiting for the end,” Mr. Nederhood said. “I’m terribly concerned.”

Although the Family Radio headquarters were mostly abandoned on Friday, the company’s flagship station — KEAR, 610 AM — continued to broadcast religious music, interspersed with sermons and biblically flavored life lessons.

There were also a few curiosity seekers who had made the pilgrimage, including one woman who refused to give her name but peered into the darkened building.

“Is this where,” she asked, “the world is going to end?”


Scott James and Malia Wollan contributed reporting.


A version of this article appeared in print on May 21, 2011, on page A10 of the New York edition with the headline: At Apocalypse Central, Preparing for What Happens, or Doesn’t.
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A masterpiece of Satan's power


The apostle Paul, in his second letter to the Thessalonians, foretold the great apostasy which would result in the establishment of the papal power. He declared that the day of Christ should not come, "except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." And furthermore, the apostle warns his brethren that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work." 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7. Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, "the mystery of iniquity" carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and His apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of Constantine,in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ.

This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in the development of "the man of sin" foretold in prophecy as opposing and exalting himself above God. That gigantic system of false religion is a masterpiece of Satan's power--a monument of his efforts to seat himself upon the throne to rule the earth according to his will.

Satan once endeavored to form a compromise with Christ. He came to the Son of God in the wilderness of temptation, and showing Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, offered to give all into His hands if He would but acknowledge the supremacy of the prince of darkness. Christ rebuked the presumptuous tempter and forced him to depart. But Satan meets with greater success in presenting the same temptations to man. To secure worldly gains and honors, the church was led to seek the favor and support of the great men of earth; and having thus rejected Christ, she was induced to yield allegiance to the representative of Satan--the bishop of Rome.

It is one of the leading doctrines of Romanism that the pope is the visible head of the universal church of Christ, invested with supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all parts of the world. More than this, the pope has been given the very titles of Deity. He has been styled "Lord God the Pope" (see Appendix), and has been declared infallible. He demands the homage of all men. The same claim urged by Satan in the wilderness of temptation is still urged by him through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers are ready to yield him homage.

But those who fear and reverence God meet this heaven-daring assumption as Christ met the solicitations of the wily foe: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Luke 4:8. God has never given a hint in His word that He has appointed any man to be the head of the church. The doctrine of papal supremacy is directly opposed to the teachings of the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ's church except by usurpation.

Romanists have persisted in bringing against Protestants the charge of heresy and willful separation from the true church. But these accusations apply rather to themselves. They are the ones who laid down the banner of Christ and departed from "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Jude 3.

Satan well knew that the Holy Scriptures would enable men to discern his deceptions and withstand his power. It was by the word that even the Saviour of the world had resisted his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, "It is written." To every suggestion of the adversary, He opposed the wisdom and power of the word. In order for Satan to maintain his sway over men, and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them in ignorance of the Scriptures. The Bible would exalt God and place finite men in their true position; therefore its sacred truths must be concealed and suppressed. This logic was adopted by the Roman Church. For hundreds of years the circulation of the Bible was prohibited. The people were forbidden to read it or to have it in their houses, and unprincipled priests and prelates interpreted its teachings to sustain their pretensions. Thus the pope came to be almost universally acknowledged as the vicegerent of God on earth, endowed with authority over church and state.

The detector of error having been removed, Satan worked according to his will. Prophecy had declared that the papacy was to "think to change times and laws." Daniel 7:25. This work it was not slow to attempt. To afford converts from heathenism a substitute for the worship of idols, and thus to promote their nominal acceptance of Christianity, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into the Christian worship. The decree of a general council (see Appendix) finally established this system of idolatry. To complete the sacrilegious work, Rome presumed to expunge from the law of God the second commandment, forbidding image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment, in order to preserve the number.

The spirit of concession to paganism opened the way for a still further disregard of Heaven's authority. Satan, working through unconsecrated leaders of the church, tampered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day which God had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2, 3), and in its stead to exalt the festival observed by the heathen as "the venerable day of the sun." This change was not at first attempted openly. In the first centuries the true Sabbath had been kept by all Christians. They were jealous for the honor of God, and, believing that His law is immutable, they zealously guarded the sacredness of its precepts. But with great subtlety Satan worked through his agents to bring about his object. That the attention of the people might be called to the Sunday, it was made a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held upon it; yet it was regarded as a day of recreation, the Sabbath being still sacredly observed.

The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan, p.49-52.
^

Read more
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Dutch Priest Belonged to Pedophile Club


The head of the Dutch arm of a Catholic religious order said one of his subordinate priests served on the board of an organization that promotes pedophilia. (Getty Images)

AMSTERDAM May 21, 2011 (AP)

The head of a Catholic religious order in the Netherlands has confirmed one of his subordinate priests served on the board of an organization that promotes pedophilia.

Herman Spronck, head of the Dutch arm of the Salesian order, said in a statement Friday the priest served on the board of the "Martijn" organization, which is widely reviled but not illegal.

"Of course we reject this and distance ourselves from this personal initiative" on the part of the priest, Spronck's statement said.

"Membership in such organizations does not fit with the ethos of the Salesian order."

However, RTL Nieuws, which broke the story, published interviews both with Spronck and the priest, identified as 73-year-old "Father Van B.," in which they defend some pedophile relationships.

"Society thinks these relationships are harmful. I disagree," RTL quoted Van B. as saying. He served on Martijn's board from 2008 until 2010, when the organization's founder was arrested for alleged possession of child pornography. That case is ongoing.

RTL quoted Spronck as saying that "formally I always say that everyone must obey the law. But these relationships do not necessarily have to be damaging."

Spronck and his organization could not be reached late Friday for comment.

Thousands of past cases of alleged sexual abuse by priests are under investigation by an independent — but Church-funded — commission in the Netherlands. It is headed by a former government minister, Wim Deetman.

The Dutch church, which has more than 4 million members, first set up a body to deal with abuse allegations in 1995. But the independent commission was formed last year after shocking abuse cases were uncovered here at the same time similar stories were snowballing in neighboring Germany.

Several of the first and most prominent abuse cases that have come to light in the Netherlands have also involved Salesian priests.
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Amazing Facts President and Nationally Recognized Prophecy Speaker Challenges Harold Camping's May 21st Judgment Day

Published: Monday, 16 May 2011 7:35 PM


SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 16, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Family Radio speaker Harold Camping has boldly predicted that the world will end on Saturday, May 21, 2011, at precisely 6:00pm. Promoting it nationally through his extensive radio network, as well as on billboards and websites such as http://www.wecanknow.com, Camping's assertive claims have created a media frenzy around this predicted terrifying Armageddon event that will soon end the world as we know it.

But is Camping's prediction true? And worse, is it dangerous? Those are the questions posed by international speaker Doug Batchelor, a pastor and the president of Amazing Facts, a Christian ministry known globally for its comprehensive Bible prophecy presentations.

In fact, Pastor Batchelor has directly challenged Camping, offering him $100,000 to hand over the deed and rights to the Family Radio network following the May 21 deadline. He explains, "The Bible clearly teaches in Matthew 24:36 that 'No man knows the day and hour' of Jesus' return. Christ also warned that in the last days, there would be many false teachers. It is worth asking then, does Camping's prediction match what the Bible really tells us about Christ's return? I don't believe it does. But if Camping is right, he deserves the money to spread the message; if he's wrong, he should not own a radio network." Batchelor also warns, "Reckless predictions of the second coming of Christ create an artificial excitement among believers followed by a corresponding depression. In addition, it hardens skeptics in their unbelief and provides new fodder for cynics to mock the Christian faith." Across the country, hundreds of Family Radio listeners are quitting their jobs and selling their possessions.

Pastor Batchelor hopes to set the record straight and save millions of believers the devastation, harm, and the embarrassment that will come to them having put their faith in the wild opinions of men and potentially losing everything they have. He says, "Based on Bible prophecy, we'll all still be here May 22. So what can we do to save those caught up in this deception?" Amazing Facts is a Christian media ministry sharing the Bible through radio and television on more than 650 stations around the world. It also operates AFTV, a 24/7-satellite network (http://www.amazingfacts.tv). Each year, more than 300,000 people contact Amazing Facts to receive information about Bible prophecy and other topics. Its many websites also receive more than 4.9 million hits per year.

Pastor Batchelor has frequently taught on the book of Revelation on the Discovery Channel and appeared with Tim LaHaye in the National Geographic documentary The Riddle of Revelation. He is also the author of numerous articles and books on prophecy and hosts the weekly radio program Bible Answers Live.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Pastor Batchelor, contact:Sam GodfreySgodfrey(at)amazingfacts(dot)orgP.O. Box 1058Roseville, CA 95678916-434-3880 SOURCE Amazing Facts www.prnewswire.com Copyright (C) 2011 PR Newswire. All rights reserved -0- KEYWORD: California INDUSTRY KEYWORD: RAD

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Thursday, May 19, 2011

Head-examining After the Osama bin Laden Killing



May 19, 9:45 AM —Publisher's Note

Head-examining After the Osama bin Laden Killing

By John R. MacArthur




John R. MacArthur is publisher of Harper’s Magazine and author of the book You Can’t Be President: The Outrageous Barriers to Democracy in America. This column originally appeared in the April 20, 2011 Providence Journal.

There’s much to criticize about the bloody pageant surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden: the assassination of an unarmed man apparently in front of one of his unarmed wives; the unseemly displays of patriotic fist-pumping by Americans who feel themselves superior to chanting Islamic radicals; the brazen exploitation of the killing by a president already campaigning for re-election, and America’s “alliance” against “terrorism” with Pakistan, a country led by corrupt, double-dealing oligarchs who sell themselves to the highest bidder. (Bin Laden’s “hideout” near the Kakul Military Academy sounds like off-campus housing for a visiting professor.)

But I’m even more disturbed by watching Obama, the supposed anti-Bush, becoming the ex-president — playing the “straight talker” and “decider” on “60 Minutes” better than Bush himself: “Justice was done, and I think anyone who would question that the perpetrator of mass murder on American soil didn’t deserve what he got needs to have their head examined.”

That includes me, since I would have preferred to see bin Laden walked to his arraignment in handcuffs and then placed on trial in a pop-up courtroom in the desert, somewhere between Reno and Las Vegas. Most Americans, including the former constitutional-law professor Obama, believe that our system of justice is better and fairer than, say, Afghanistan’s. So why not demonstrate that equal justice under the law applies to mass murderers, including ones who brag about their crimes? Timothy McVeigh got his day in court, as he should have. Isn’t that what’s supposed to make us more civilized than al-Qaida?

Obama would have been wiser to follow the French government’s example in its treatment of Carlos the Jackal, a notorious terrorist and killer of French intelligence agents who is now mouldering in prison, a largely pathetic and ridiculous figure. Alive but incarcerated for life, Carlos will never be seen as a martyr like bin Laden. But since this is a French idea, it’s clearly crazy, like refusing to invade Iraq. Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin certainly should have had their heads examined.

To be fair, there may also be people in President Obama’s Cabinet who need to have their heads examined. Hillary Clinton best expressed the administration’s increasingly delusional thinking when she suggested that bin Laden’s execution will help the war effort: “In Afghanistan, we will continue taking the fight to al-Qaida and their Taliban allies. . . . Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but today it may have even greater resonance. You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us. But you can make the choice to abandon al-Qaida and participate in a peaceful political process.” [MORE . . .]
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The EU in the face of turmoil in North Africa

#138 - May 2011

Editorial

The wave of change in North Africa is exhilarating in its expression of the desire for authentic political freedom and democracy: it is frightening in provoking fierce military conflict, of which the full consequences can never be fully foreseen. It is a massive challenge to the EU to track and respond to the rapid course of events. How could it be otherwise, unless someone supposed that the EU could predict or even control the course of world events?


Every country’s situation is different - but the different crises also intersect constantly and unpredictably. Libya would not have erupted except for the seemingly successful examples of Egypt and Tunisia. However Colonel Gaddafi has so far proved much more resilient (and brutal) than other leaders: as this editorial is written there is a military stalemate. No one knows when or how the military intervention, led by France and now assumed by NATO, will end.

Within the EU the partnership between France and Germany, so often the motor of EU developments, is strained, as is the Common Foreign and Security Policy, given the contrasting roles of France and Germany, which abstained at the UN Security Council.

Mr Van Rompuy argued passionately at the European Parliament in Strasbourg about the merits of the EU’s contribution: ‘A massive bloodbath has been avoided’: the EU was ‘the first to impose tough sanctions; the first to impose a travel ban on leading figures in the regime; the first to freeze Libyan assets’. It stands ready ‘to help a new Libya, both economically, and in building its new institutions’.

Inevitably tough problems arise. When does protecting civilians (mandated by UNSC 1973) escalate into supporting one side during what could at worst be a protracted civil war? Christians circles debate how far the ‘Just War’ criteria are or are not met, their qualms deepened by the grave doubts expressed by the Pope. Yet Mr Van Rompuy is right to imply that decisions could not await the outcome of prolonged ethical debate.

Europe and the EU ought not, however, to proclaim their virtue too loudly. The regimes now under attack, or forced out relatively bloodlessly, were supported for decades by European states. Secondly, in urgent circumstances, the EU’s asylum and migration policies have been found seriously inadequate.

Europe responds competently when the challenge is external: when refugees and migrants pass in huge numbers from Libya to Egypt or Tunisia (or from Darfur to Chad, or from Afghanistan to Iran), presuming the almost unlimited openness of countries that we may otherwise little respect. But in the face of one inevitable consequence of their own intervention, our governments and the EU bicker, as far smaller (though still formidable) numbers threaten to migrate to Europe.

The EU proclaims its ‘values’, its capacity and duty to influence the world for the better. However one central Christian insight, which secular Europe may overlook, is that authentic goodness is rooted not least in clarity about one’s own failings. It is admirable to relieve hardship elsewhere, for example through humanitarian action: but European leaders sometimes give the impression that they aspire to protect victims while sealing off Europe itself from the world’s suffering.


Frank Turner SJ
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Population explosion: We must wake up from slumber



Photo (Courtesy) http://www.continentaldivide.us/authorArchives.php?articleID=348


By Capt. Mike Mukula

Posted Monday, May 16 2011 at 00:00

Some readers dislike debate on issues, scenarios or phenomena that will unfold when we are long dead. They prefer politics or issues that affect them today. I urge for attitudinal change. Some people in developed countries did moot or enrich ideas that propelled them to economic prosperity. They were fully aware that it was future generations which would reap most from this endeavour.

That said, what does the impending global population explosion mean for Africa? According to the UK’s Royal Society, global population rose from 2 billion in 1930 to 6.8 billion by mid last year. It was projected to swell to 9 billion by 2050.

And according to the UN Population Division (in February), “World population, which is already poised to reach 7 billion later this year, will potentially double to 14 billion by 2100 if action is not taken.” They add: “In the medium scenario, world population peaks 9.4 billion in 2070…

“Even with significant fertility reductions, Africa’s population will likely increase by 150 per cent by 2100 and many of its countries will see their populations increase four-fold or more.”

This means Africa will comprise about 3 billion people at a time when other continents will have lesser numbers. China will comprise less than one billion while India will have about 1.5 billion people. While the fertility rate in most countries hovers between 2 and 2.5 children, in Uganda it is 6 to 7 children. And since our economic development is dismal, how will Africa sustain that huge number in terms of food and employment?

We must therefore stop depending on blue-print solutions from abroad. Leaders and professionals must generate new ideas. Due to industrial and technological development in richer countries, planet earth has taken a huge toll; climate change has become a reality. Food production will not be in tandem with the projected population. There will be lesser water and food!

Unless new solutions emerge, Africa’s future generation will be bedevilled with higher unemployment rates, lack of food, lack of water, higher levels of poverty, higher urbanisation and higher cost of living. The end-result will be instability, which could decimate the population to levels that surpass the era of slave trade.

On the positive side, we could turn the increase into a blessing. Besides encouraging Foreign Direct Investments, we must work toward compulsory universal education-- up to tertiary or university level, expunge tropical diseases, and build stronger regional economic blocs.

The population could be a vibrant market for goods and services generated from intra-African trade. This is what China’s leaders did. Instead of lamenting, they brain-stormed and found a way out. Today, much of its population no longer comprises peasants, they are middle-class urban dwellers who enhance the GDP.

On the latter point, the DR Congo, for example, holds part of the solution to Africa’s economic prosperity. It has a plethora of minerals which are on global demand but which could also be processed within Africa. Globally, it is potentially the 13th richest country.

It has potential to generate 50 per cent of Africa’s hydro-electric power. If our countries enhance regional economic blocs and pool resources, we can mitigate against population problems.

Lastly, we should not limit our discourses to politics and what we can put on our dinner tables today. Just like many of you are harnessing cash from chunks of ancestral land or Mvule trees planted by forefathers, we owe future generations a better Africa. We are duty bound to plan for and awaken the sleeping giant; Africa.


Capt. Mukula is the chairman of the Pan African Movement,
Uganda Chapter

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