Monday, December 12, 2011

Call for radical steps to save the euro

Picture 1

By Constant Brand - 08.12.2011 / 18:22 CET

Senior politicians say treaty change should wait until euro crisis is under control; convention needed for democratic legitimacy.

A group of senior European politicians has appealed to EU leaders to take radical steps to tackle the crisis of confidence in the euro.

The Spinelli group, which includes former prime ministers of Belgium, Italy and Greece, called on EU leaders today to take urgent action to address the euro crisis, including launching common eurozone bonds and expanding the role of the European Central Bank.

The call came as EU leaders were about to meet in Brussels to discuss changes to the EU's treaties to restore stability for the euro over the medium-term. Germany and France are pushing strongly for treaty changes, arguing that this is the only way to convince financial markets that eurozone governments are serious about tackling excessive debts and deficits.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the ALDE group in the European Parliament and a former prime minister of Belgium said plans for limited treaty change would do little to solve financial aspects of the crisis.

Verhofstadt said that treaty change “was not the way forward” to ease concerns of financial markets. “We need decisive action to stop the euro crisis,” he said,

He said EU leaders should instead focus their attention on implementing five priority measures to stabilise the euro, leaving treaty change for a later date. Verhofstadt called for full implementation of reinforced economic governance rules, the creation of a European Monetary Fund, project bonds and Eurobonds, and allowing the European Central Bank to take a more active role in fighting the crisis.

Treaty change should be carried out later with the full involvement of national parliaments and the European Parliament, Verhofstadt said.

Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, outlined a number of options for boosting economic discipline in the eurozone in a paper sent to EU leaders on 7 December.

The options include changing a protocol attached to the treaty to tighten rules on reducing debt levels and public deficits. This method would not require ratification by national parliaments and so could be done quickly.

Verhofstadt said that changing a protocol would be a blow to the democratic process within the EU as it would exclude a role for MEPs and national parliaments. He said that treaty change should be agreed by a convention bringing together national MPs, MEPs and national governments.

Verhofstadt said the long-term solution to the crisis was political. A convention should aim “to create a federal union”, he said.

Verhofstadt was speaking after the meeting of the Spinelli group, an association of former ministers and current MEPs calling for greater European unity and a less inter-governmentalist approach to tackling the EU's problems. The group includes Giuliano Amato, a former prime minister of Italy, Costas Simitis, a former prime minister of Greece, and Joschka Fischer, a former foreign minister of Germany. Dany Cohn-Bendit, the joint leader of the Green MEPs, is also a member of the group.


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BUY NOTHING DAY / #OCCUPYXMAS



You’ve been sleeping on the streets for two months pleading peacefully for a new spirit in economics. And just as your camps are raided, your eyes pepper sprayed and your head’s knocked in, another group of people are preparing to camp-out. Only these people aren’t here to support occupy Wall Street, they’re here to secure their spot in line for a Black Friday bargain at Super Target and Macy’s.

Occupy gave the world a new way of thinking about the fat cats and financial pirates on Wall Street. Now lets give them a new way of thinking about the holidays, about our own consumption habits. Lets’ use the coming 20th annual Buy Nothing Day to launch an all-out offensive to unseat the corporate kings on the holiday throne.

This year’s Black Friday will be the first campaign of the holiday season where we set the tone for a new type of holiday culminating with #OCCUPYXMAS. As the global protests of the 99% against corporate greed and casino capitalism continues, lets take the opportunity to hit the empire where it really hurts…the wallet.

On Nov 25/26th we escape the mayhem and unease of the biggest shopping day in North America and put the breaks on rabid consumerism for 24 hours. Flash mobs, consumer fasts, mall sit-ins, community events, credit card-ups, whirly-marts and jams, jams, jams! We don’t camp on the sidewalk for a reduced price tag on a flat screen TV or psycho-killer video game. Instead, we occupy the very paradigm that is fueling our eco, social and political decline.

Historically, Buy Nothing Day has been about fasting from hyper consumerism – a break from the cash register and reflecting on how dependent we really are on conspicuous consumption. On this 20th anniversary of Buy Nothing Day, we take it to the next level, marrying it with the message of #occupy…

We #OCCUPYXMAS.

Shenanigans begin November 25!

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"Human Work, a way out of the Crisis ?"


Conference 8 December 2011 in Brussels

Compostella is a group of Christians from the EESC which was founded in December 2010.

In addition to its monthly prayer dinners, Compostella is branching out and holding round tables on issues related to the social doctrine of the church and other matters of interest.

The Compostella Group invites you to the high-level round table on work, to be held at the European Economic and Social Committee on 8 December 2011, thirty years on from the publication of the social encyclical Laborem exercens.

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The guest speakers will include Michel Camdessus, former managing director of the IMF, and Emilio Gabaglio, former general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation. The invitation and the detailed programme for the round table are attached.

How to register:

Staff of the European institutions: to facilitate organisation, please let us know in advance if you intend to take part in this event.

External visitors: so that we can arrange for you to be given access to the building and for reasons of security, please register for the event by emailing us your surname and first name. You will need to show your identity card at the entrance.

Registration will close at 6 p.m. on Tuesday 6 December.

In view of the capacity of the meeting room, only the first 250 people to arrive can be guaranteed a seat.

For information or to register, please contactcompostellaeurope@gmail.com.



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Sunday, December 11, 2011

Churches and DGB Trade Union urge for better Sunday protection in NRW region

(Below you have a Google Translate version of a German article)

DGB North Rhine-Westphalia

087 AM - 25/11/2011

DGB NRW: Churches and DGB urge for better protection for Sunday NRW

Shop Opening Act

Prior to the advent Sundays are speaking churches in North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Federation of Trade Unions District of North Rhine-Westphalia for a substantial revision of the North Rhine-Westphalia shop opening law. The law has led to a drastic erosion of Sunday and holiday protection. The existing law on Sunday and holidays recognized by the state would not adequately protected, criticizing churches and DGB five years after enactment.

Especially in the larger cities, the law for an accumulation of days open for sale has caused. There can be opened at each different Sundays and public holidays outlets in various parts of the city.Churches and DGB were in favor, refer to the release of four shops are open days a year to the total area of ​​a municipality and not to individual neighborhoods.

"Sunday is a healing break the week and thus the antithesis to the commodification of all life," said the president of the Evangelical Church in Rhineland, Dr. hc Nikolaus Schneider. "The upcoming season of Advent teaches us that life is about more than consumption and the growth of money. On Sundays and public holidays, the man comes to rest and reflection, he may just be human. "

According to Dr. Henry Bishop of Aachen Mussinghoff is on Sundays and public holiday protection is a sign against the culture of commercialization and fragmentation of our society and families as well as the single focus on the human services, production and capital. "Sundays and holidays break through everyday life with its beneficial professionally and socially determined roles and positions," said Mussinghoff.

The chairman of the DGB NRW, Andreas Meyer-Lauber, calls for a stronger regulation of shop opening times in total: "A shop opening 'round the clock' as it is from Monday till Friday, resulting from the union viewpoint to intolerable working conditions and a variety of social, mental and economic problems. Necessary, therefore, a departure from the 24-hour rule, the employee must be protected from these pressures. "

For the protection of Sunday is considered by the churches and the DGB and the limitation of working hours on Saturday. The store opening times on Saturday should be reduced to 18 clock. In addition, a limit which is working on days before holidays stimulated.

As the evaluation submitted by the state government report shows, are reported from many violations of the provisions of the municipalities Lög NRW. There is a need to assess the churches and the DGB clear rules, particularly for Sunday and holiday protection to the excluded points of sale, and to define the allowed range of goods.

Note to editors: This press release is from the participating churches and DGB-time and sent the same text. Potential duplication of delivery, we apologize for.


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Pennsylvania priest arrested, accused of possessing child porn


By Ben Schmitt Reuters – 1 hr 7 mins ago...


PITTSBURGH, Pa (Reuters) - A Roman Catholic priest was arrested on charges he viewed child pornography in the rectory of his Pittsburgh-area church, the diocese said on Sunday.

The Rev. Bartley Sorensen, 62, pastor of St. John Fisher Church in Churchill, Pennsylvania, was arraigned on charges of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony, according to the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

He was being held on Sunday in the Allegheny County Jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, jail officials said.

Sorensen was arrested after a church employee walked into the rectory on Friday and saw Sorensen viewing a computer image of a young boy naked from the waist down, with the words "Hottie Boys" on the screen, police said. She alerted diocesan officials, who immediately contacted police.

Allegheny County detectives found pornographic images of young boys on his computer, police said. During an interview, Sorensen admitted to possessing at least 100 pornographic pictures of children, police said. He has not been charged with abusing children.

Accusations of child abuse and sexual impropriety against Catholic clergy in the United States have rocked the Catholic Church since 2002, and the church has paid out some $2 billion in settlements to abuse victims.

The pornography arrest also comes amid a series of separate scandals that have seen a steady march of men make abuse accusations in recent weeks against coaches at Penn State University, Syracuse University and most recently against a top official at the Amateur Athletic Union.

The Pittsburgh diocese said in a statement that Sorensen had been placed on administrative leave.

"The viewing of pornographic images involving children is a disturbing and criminal act," the statement said. "The Diocese of Pittsburgh is cooperating to the fullest extent in the investigation of this incident."

A priest for 35 years, Sorensen had been a pastor at St. John Fisher only for several weeks, having been previously assigned for nine months to St. Anne Church in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania. His past includes an assignment as chaplain at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh.

The Rev. Ronald Lengwin, diocese spokesman, said the diocese had provided Sorensen with the names of several possible attorneys after his arrest but it was unclear who he had retained for the criminal case.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Cynthia Johnston)


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Library of Congress to receive entire Twitter archive

Wednesday - 12/7/2011, 12:34am ET


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By Michael O'Connell
Web Editor
Federal News Radio


The Library of Congress and Twitter have signed an agreement that will see an archive of every public Tweet ever sent handed over to the library's repository of historical documents.

"We have an agreement with Twitter where they have a bunch of servers with their historic archive of tweets, everything that was sent out and declared to be public," said Bill Lefurgy, the digital initiatives program manager at the library's national digital information infrastructure and preservation program. The archives don't contain tweets that users have protected, but everything else — billions and billions of tweets — are there.

Lefurgy joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris Tuesday morning to talk about the library's digital mission.

Using new technical processes it has developed, Twitter is moving a large quantity of electronic data from one electronic source to another. "They've had to do some pretty nifty experimentation and invention to develop the tools and a process to be able to move all of that data over to us," Lefurgy said.

The Library of Congress has long been the repository of important, historical documents and the Twitter library, as a whole, is something historic in itself.

"We were excited to be involved with acquiring the Twitter archives because it's a unique record of our time," Lefurgy said. "It's also a unique way of communication. It's not so much that people are going to be interested in what you or I had for lunch, which some people like to say on Twitter."

Researchers will be able to look at the Twitter archive as a complete set of data, which they could then data-mine for interesting information.

"There have been studies involved with what are the moods of the public at various times of the day in reaction to certain kinds of news events," Lefurgy said. "There's all these interesting kinds of mixing and matching that can be done using the tweets as a big set of data."

One benefit for the Library of Congress in receiving this large data set is that it's been forced to stretch itself technologically.

"It's been difficult at times," Lefurgy said. "But we firmly believe that we have to do this kind of thing because we anticipate that we'll be bringing in large data sets again into the future. We don't know specifically what, but certainly there's no sign of data getting smaller or less complicated or less interesting."

The library's Twitter partnership comes amid a renewed push by the administration and the National Archives and Records Administration for federal agencies to better archive their own social media postings and emails as potential government records.

"We're basically in the same situation as the National Archives, only on a much larger scale," Lefurgy said. "We tend to have a much larger perspective in terms of what we collect."



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Change For A Dollar



Uploaded by on Sep 7, 2011

Is he asking for Change, or is he asking for CHANGE?
Follow a man as he affects multiple peoples' lives with just one dollar, proving that it doesn't take much to be the change in someone's life.

Written and directed by Sharon Wright
www.imdb.me/sharonwright
www.shesalwayswright.com

Winner - Best Short Film - Maryville Film Festival
Winner - Audience Choice Award - Gateway Film Festival
Winner - Audience Choice Award - Moonlight Film Festival
Nominated - Best Female Filmmaker Award - Action On Film Intl Film Festival
Nominated - Sirrocco Award - Action On Film Intl Film Festival
Nominated - Best Silent Film - BareBones Intl Film Festival

For a copy or permission to screen the film, please contact - shesalwayswright@yahoo.com
.
IF YOU ENJOYED THIS FILM, PLEASE HELP ME MAKE MY NEXT ONE! CLICK THE LINK BELOW AND DONATE A DOLLAR. LET'S KEEP MAKING FILMS THAT INSPIRE THE WORLD!

http://sharonwright.chipin.com/my-next-inspirational-film



Americans: Undecided About God?

Americans: Undecided About God?


THE holidays are upon us again — it sounds vaguely aggressive, as if the holidays were some sort of mugger, or overly enthusiastic lover — and so it’s time to stick a thermometer deep in our souls and take our spiritual temperature (between trips to the mall, of course).

Esther Pearl Watson

For some of us, the season affords an opportunity to reconnect with our religious heritage. For others, myself included, it’s a time to shake our heads over the sad state of our national conversation about God, and wish there were another way.

For a nation of talkers and self-confessors, we are terrible when it comes to talking about God. The discourse has been co-opted by the True Believers, on one hand, and Angry Atheists on the other. What about the rest of us?

The rest of us, it turns out, constitute the nation’s fastest-growing religious demographic. We are the Nones, the roughly 12 percent of people who say they have no religious affiliation at all. The percentage is even higher among young people; at least a quarter are Nones.

Apparently, a growing number of Americans are running from organized religion, but by no means running from God. On average 93 percent of those surveyed say they believe in God or a higher power; this holds true for most Nones — just 7 percent of whom describe themselves as atheists, according to a survey by Trinity College.

Nones are the undecided of the religious world. We drift spiritually and dabble in everything from Sufism to Kabbalah to, yes, Catholicism and Judaism.

Why the rise of the Nones? David Campbell and Robert Putnam, of the University of Notre Dame and the Harvard Kennedy School, respectively, think politics is to blame. Their idea is that we’ve mixed politics and religion so completely that many simply opt out of both; apparently they are reluctant to claim a religious affiliation because they don’t want the political one that comes along with it.

We are more religiously polarized than ever. In my secular, urban and urbane world, God is rarely spoken of, except in mocking, derisive tones. It is acceptable to cite the latest academic study on, say, happiness or, even better, whip out a brain scan, but God? He is for suckers, and Republicans.

I used to be that way, too, until a health scare and the onset of middle age created a crisis of faith, and I ventured to the other side. I quickly discovered that I didn’t fit there, either. I am not a True Believer. I am a rationalist. I believe the Enlightenment was a very good thing, and don’t wish to return to an age of raw superstition.

We Nones may not believe in God, but we hope to one day. We have a dog in this hunt.

Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.” If a certain spiritual practice makes us better people — more loving, less angry — then it is necessarily good, and by extension “true.” (We believe that G. K. Chesterton got it right when he said: “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”)

By that measure, there is very little “good religion” out there. Put bluntly: God is not a lot of fun these days. Many of us don’t view religion so generously. All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well.

Precious few of our religious leaders laugh. They shout. God is not an exclamation point, though. He is, at his best, a semicolon, connecting people, and generating what Aldous Huxley called “human grace.” Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost sight of this.

Religion and politics, though often spoken about in the same breath, are, of course, fundamentally different. Politics is, by definition, a public activity. Though religion contains large public components, it is at core a personal affair. It is the relationship we have with ourselves or, as the British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “What the individual does with his solitariness.” There lies the problem: how to talk about the private nature of religion publicly.

What is the solution? The answer, I think, lies in the sort of entrepreneurial spirit that has long defined America, including religious America.

We need a Steve Jobs of religion. Someone (or ones) who can invent not a new religion but, rather, a new way of being religious. Like Mr. Jobs’s creations, this new way would be straightforward and unencumbered and absolutely intuitive. Most important, it would be highly interactive. I imagine a religious space that celebrates doubt, encourages experimentation and allows one to utter the word God without embarrassment. A religious operating system for the Nones among us. And for all of us.

Eric Weiner is the author, most recently, of “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine.”

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Softly and Tenderly



Uploaded by on May 29, 2009Best Loved Hymns - Softly and Tenderly

Pope Benedict: love and solidarity in an economic world


10/12/2011 12.58.14



In a world that has been battered by the global economic downturn Pope Benedict on Saturday stressed the duty the Church has at this time to proclaim with renewed vigor the message of Christ which is hope. The Holy Father was speaking to members of t
he Confederation of Italian Cooperatives and the Federation of Italian Co-operative Banks in the Clementine Hall in the Vatican.

The Pope recalled how the Church down through the years has encouraged the prolific presence of Catholics in Italian society through the promotion of cooperative institutions, the development of social enterprises and many other works of public interest, characterized by forms of participation and self-management.

What has prompted members to join in a co-operative-type organizations, said Pope Benedict was not only for economic reasons, but also the desire to live an experience of unity and solidarity.

The Pope also noted the fact that these institutions had a valuable role to play in promoting evangelical ideals and the culture of life and family.

Taking inspiration from his encyclical Caritas in Veritate, the Holy Father said that even in the field of economics and finance "right intention, transparency and the search for positive results were mutually compatible and must never be separated.”

Drawing his address to a close the Holy Father urged those present to remain faithful to the Gospel and the teaching of the Church which encourages “social development, experiences of microcredit and an economy driven by a logic of communion and fraternity.”

Even in the world economy, said Pope Benedict, it is necessary to draw on our relationship with God, in order to live in love and solidarity. Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report



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Seventh-Day Adventists/Sign change





Expert: Dennis Wicklund - 5/1/2010

Question
Can you explain why the adventist changed the 3 angels message sign to the flickering flame? God Bless



Get the answer below



Answer
I have read on their website that they say the new trademarked "logo" of the three-banded flames encircling the globe with the Bible as the foundation is the first "official" one. Regretfully, this follows all the other changes which the prophetic gift envisioned:

" 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." {SpTB07 39.3}

We must mark well the fact that this current church is based on "human power", and "nothing would be allowed to stand in the way" of all of it. There is nothing to do but pray and remain faithful ourselves. Call it out to those requiring a thus saith the Lord.

I have seen other websites calling this an Egyptian symbol with the cross and a sphere, and the all seeing eye. I believe they are correct. This is full proof of the wrong people taking over the offices since Christ has left her.

I believe the reason "why" they have done this logo is to deface the purity of the SDA pioneer Church and make any other such naming, etc... illegal thereby empowering protection from the state.

It's been a while since I had initially posted an answer to this question. I did actually stumble upon some additional information regarding this issue.

Apparently, just before the church officially changed their logo, there were many SDA publications showing up with three wavy lines. In the occult a serpent equates to the number six and the three wavy lines had made their appearance on such publications as, Zondervan's NIV Bible, the book: Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (BEM), and other World Council of Churches publications. Isn't it a curious matter that the SDA Church would give heed to the number 666 in their church periodicals?

And since the SDA Church followed suit in their publications it must mean they sought to make a haughty and rebellious show of such matters of apostasy.
This information can be gleaned from the following video:
http://www.adventistonline.com/video/prophecy-countdown-the-jesuit (Video is no longer there.)


Source (Update: the article is no longer there either.)

SDA's subliminally converting members to sunday worship


SDA's subliminally converting members to sunday worship

temcat.com/01-TC%20Letters/jungian.pdf
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
Notice how the world council of churches and the national council of churches and the sda logo all have something in common; wavy lines ~ ~ means: water ...


The little time of trouble



Uploaded by ELIJAHISBACK on Jan 26, 2010


-Everywhere there are men who should be out in active ministry, giving the last message of warning to a fallen world. The work that should long ago have been in active operation to win souls to Christ has not been done. The inhabitants of the ungodly cities so soon to be visited by calamities have been cruelly neglected. The time is near when large cities will be swept away, and all should be warned of these coming judgments. But who is giving to the accomplishment of this work the wholehearted service that God requires? . . . {Ev 29.2}


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Friday, December 09, 2011

Signs of Christ's Soon Return




Our Lord's Great Prophecy

Christ forewarned His disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs to take place prior to the coming of the Son of man. The whole of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is a prophecy concerning the events to precede this event, and the destruction of Jerusalem is used to typify the last great destruction of the world by fire.--Ms 77, 1899.

Christ upon the Mount of Olives rehearsed the fearful judgements that were to precede His second coming: "Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: . . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows" [Matt. 24:6-8]. While these prophecies received a partial fulfilment at the destruction of Jerusalem, they have a more direct application in the last days.--5T 753 (1899).

Signs in the Heavens

At the close of the great papal persecution, Christ declared, the sun should be darkened, and the moon should not give her light. Next, the stars should fall from heaven. And He says, "Learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors" (Matt. 24:32, 33, margin).

Christ has given signs of His coming. He declares that we may know when He is near, even at the doors. He says of those who see these signs, "This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." These signs have appeared.[1.SEE THE GREAT CONTROVERSY, PP. 306-308, 333, 334.] Now we know of a surety that the Lord's coming is at hand.--DA 632 (1898).

Signs on the Earth

Jesus declares: "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations" (Luke 21:25; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Rev. 6:12-17). Those who behold these harbingers of His coming are to "know that it is near, even at the doors" (Matt. 24:33).--GC 37, 38 (1911).

The nations are in unrest. Times of perplexity are upon us. Men's hearts are failing them for fear of the things that are coming upon the earth. But those who believe in God will hear His voice amid the storm, saying, "It is I; be not afraid."--ST Oct. 9, 1901.

Strange and eventful history is being recorded in the books of heaven--events which it was declared should shortly precede the great day of God. Everything in the world is in an unsettled state.--3MR 313 (1908).

False Prophets

As one of the signs of Jerusalem's destruction, Christ had said, "Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many" [Matt. 24:11]. False prophets did rise, deceiving the people and leading great numbers into the desert. Magicians and sorcerers, claiming miraculous power, drew the people after them into the mountain solitudes. But this prophecy was spoken also for the last days. This sign is given as a sign of the second advent.--DA 631 (1898).

We shall encounter false claims, false prophets will arise, there will be false dreams and false visions, but preach the Word; be not drawn away from the voice of God in His Word.--2SM 49 (1894).

I have been shown many who will claim to be especially taught of God, and will attempt to lead others, and from mistaken ideas of duty they will undertake a work that God has never laid upon them. Confusion will be the result. Let everyone seek God most earnestly for himself that he may individually understand His will.--2SM 72 (1893).


An Experience With a False Prophet

Last night a young man, a stranger to us all, but professing to be a brother from Victoria [Australia], called upon us and asked to see Sister White. It was evening and I declined seeing him. We invited him to remain with us during the night, however, and to take breakfast. After our usual morning worship, as we were about to go to our various employments, this young man arose and with a commanding gesture requested us to sit down. He said, "Have you any hymnbooks? We will sing a hymn, then I have a message to give you." I said, "If you have a message, give it without delay, for we are very much pressed to get off the American mail and have no time to lose." He then began to read something he had written, which stated among other things that the judgement has now begun upon the living. . . .

I listened as he went on and finally said, "My brother, you are not exactly in your right mind. State plainly how your message concerns us. Please let us know at once. Your mind is overstrained, you misapprehend your work. Much that you have said is in accordance with the Bible, and we believe every word of that. But you are overexcited. Please state what you have for us."

Well, he said that we must pack up and move at once to Battle Creek. I asked his reasons, and he responded, "To give this message that the judgement has begun upon the living." I answered him, "The work which the Lord has given us to do is not yet finished. When our work here is completed we are sure the Lord will let us know that it is time for us to move to Battle Creek, instead of teaching you our duty." . . . I left him for Brother Starr to talk with further while I resumed my writing.

He told Brother Starr that when Sister White spoke to him so kindly, and yet with such authority, he began to see that he had made a mistake, that the impressions which had moved him so strongly were not consistent or reasonable. Although our family is large, consisting of ten members, besides three visitors, we decided to have this young man stay with us for a time. We dare not have him go with people who will treat him harshly and condemn him, neither do we want him to repeat his "revelations." We will have him remain for a little time where we can associate with him and if possible lead him in safe, sure paths.--Letter 66, 1894.

Gluttony and Intemperance

Gluttony and intemperance lie at the foundation of the great moral depravity in our world. Satan is aware of this and he is constantly tempting men and women to indulge the taste at the expense of health and even life itself. Eating, drinking, and dressing are made the aim of life with the world. Just such a state of things existed before the Flood. And this state of dissipation is one of the marked evidences of the soon close of this earth's history.--Letter 34, 1875.

The picture which Inspiration has given of the antediluvian world represents too truly the condition to which modern society is fast hastening.--PP 102 (1890).

We know that the Lord is coming very soon. The world is fast becoming as it was in the days of Noah. It is given over to selfish indulgence. Eating and drinking are carried to excess. Men are drinking the poisonous liquor that makes them mad.--Letter 308, 1907.


Deeds of Violence

In the days of Noah the overwhelming majority was opposed to the truth, and enamoured with a tissue of falsehoods. The land was filled with violence. War, crime, murder, was the order of the day. Just so will it be before Christ's second coming.--1BC 1090 (1891).

The labour unions are quickly stirred to violence if their demands are not complied with. Plainer and plainer is it becoming that the inhabitants of the world are not in harmony with God. No scientific theory can explain the steady march of evil workers under the generalship of Satan. In every mob wicked angels are at work, rousing men to commit deeds of violence. . . .

The perversity and cruelty of men will reach such a height that God will reveal Himself in His majesty. Very soon the wickedness of the world will have reached its limit and, as in the days of Noah, God will pour out His judgements.--UL 334 (1903).

The terrible reports we hear of murders and robberies, of railway accidents and deeds of violence, tell the story that the end of all things is at hand. Now, just now, we need to be preparing for the Lord's second coming.--Letter 308, 1907.



Wars and Disasters

The tempest is coming and we must get ready for its fury by having repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will arise to shake terribly the earth. We shall see troubles on all sides. Thousands of ships will be hurled into the depths of the sea. Navies will go down, and human lives will be sacrificed by millions. Fires will break out unexpectedly and no human effort will be able to quench them. The palaces of earth will be swept away in the fury of the flames. Disasters by rail will become more and more frequent. Confusion, collision, and death without a moment's warning will occur on the great lines of travel. The end is near, probation is closing. Oh, let us seek God while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near!--MYP 89, 90 (1890).

In the last scenes of this earth's history war will rage. There will be pestilence, plague and famine. The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. We should be preparing for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him.--Mar 174 (1897).



Great Balls of Fire

Last Friday morning, just before I awoke, a very impressive scene was presented before me. I seemed to awake from sleep but was not in my home. From the windows I could behold a terrible conflagration. Great balls of fire were falling upon houses, and from these balls fiery arrows were flying in every direction. It was impossible to check the fires that were kindled, and many places were being destroyed. The terror of the people was indescribable. After a time I awoke and found myself at home.--Ev 29 (1906).

I saw an immense ball of fire fall among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction. I heard someone say: "We knew that the judgements of God were coming upon the earth, but we did not know that they would come so soon." Others, with agonised voices, said: "You knew! Why then did you not tell us? We did not know."--9T 28 (1909).



Earthquakes and Floods

The enemy has worked, and he is working still. He is come down in great power, and the Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the earth. God has withdrawn His hand. We have only to look at Johnstown [Pennsylvania]. He did not prevent the devil from wiping that whole city out of existence.[2. ON MAY 31, 1889, AN ESTIMATED 2,200 PEOPLE LOST THEIR LIVES IN THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD WHEN A DAM BROKE AFTER MANY DAYS OF HEAVY RAINS.] And these very things will increase until the close of this earth's history.--1SAT 109 (1889).

The earth's crust will be rent by the outbursts of the elements concealed in the bowels of the earth. These elements, once broken loose, will sweep away the treasures of those who for years have been adding to their wealth by securing large possessions at starvation prices from those in their employ. And the religious world, too, is to be terribly shaken, for the end of all things is at hand.--3MR 208 (1891).

The time is now come when one moment we may be on solid earth, the next the earth may be heaving beneath our feet. Earthquakes will take place when least expected.--TM 421 (1896).

In fires, in floods, in earthquakes, in the fury of the great deep, in calamities by sea and by land, the warning is given that God's Spirit will not always strive with men.--3MR 315 (1897).

Before the Son of man appears in the clouds of heaven everything in nature will be convulsed. Lightning from heaven uniting with the fire in the earth will cause the mountains to burn like a furnace and pour out their floods of lava over villages and cities. Molten masses of rock thrown into the water by the upheaval of things hidden in the earth will cause the water to boil and send forth rocks and earth. There will be mighty earthquakes and great destruction of human life.--7BC 946 (1907).



Crime, Famines, Pestilence

Satan is working in the atmosphere; he is poisoning the atmosphere, and here we are dependent upon God for our lives--our present and eternal lives. And being in the position that we are, we need to be wide awake, wholly devoted, wholly converted, wholly consecrated to God. But we seem to sit as though we were paralysed. God of heaven, wake us up!--2SM 52 (1890).

God has not restrained the powers of darkness from carrying forward their deadly work of vitiating the air, one of the sources of life and nutrition, with a deadly miasma. Not only is vegetable life affected but man suffers from pestilence. . . . These things are the result of drops from the vials of God's wrath[3. GOD TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT WHICH HE ALLOWS OR DOES NOT PREVENT. SEE EXODUS 7:3; 8:32; 1 CHRONICLES 10:4, 13, 14.] being sprinkled on the earth, and are but faint representations of what will be in the near future.--3SM 391 (1891).

Famines will increase. Pestilences will sweep away thousands. Dangers are all around us from the powers without and satanic workings within, but the restraining power of God is now being exercised.--19MR 382 (1897).

I have been shown that the Spirit of the Lord is being withdrawn from the earth. God's keeping power will soon be refused to all who continue to disregard His commandments. The reports of fraudulent transactions, murders, and crimes of every kind are coming to us daily. Iniquity is becoming so common a thing that it no longer shocks the senses as it once did.--Letter 258, 1907.



God's Purpose in Calamities

What mean the awful calamities by sea--vessels hurled into eternity without a moment's warning? What mean the accidents by land--fire consuming the riches that men have hoarded, much of which has been accumulated by oppression of the poor? The Lord will not interfere to protect the property of those who transgress His law, break His covenant, and trample upon His Sabbath, accepting in its place a spurious rest day.

The plagues of God are already falling upon the earth, sweeping away the most costly structures as if by a breath of fire from heaven. Will not these judgements bring professing Christians to their senses? God permits them to come that the world may take heed, that sinners may be afraid and tremble before Him.--3MR 311 (1902).

God has a purpose in permitting these calamities to occur. They are one of His means of calling men and women to their senses. By unusual workings through nature God will express to doubting human agencies that which He clearly reveals in His Word.--19MR 279 (1902).

How frequently we hear of earthquakes and tornadoes, of destruction by fire and flood, with great loss of life and property! Apparently these calamities are capricious outbreaks of disorganised, unregulated forces of nature, wholly beyond the control of man, but in them all God's purpose may be read. They are among the agencies by which He seeks to arouse men and women to a sense of their danger.--PK 277 (c. 1914).



Coming Events Are in the Hands of the Lord

The world is not without a ruler. The program of coming events is in the hands of the Lord. The Majesty of heaven has the destiny of nations as well as the concerns of His church in His own charge.--5T 753 (1889).

These symbolical representations [the fiery serpents in the wilderness] serve a double purpose. From them God's people learn not only that the physical forces of the earth are under the control of the Creator, but also that under His control are the religious movements of the nations. Especially is this true with reference to the enforcement of Sunday observance.--19MR 281 (1902).

In the great closing work we shall meet with perplexities that we know not how to deal with, but let us not forget that the three great Powers of heaven are working, that a divine hand is on the wheel, and that God will bring His purposes to pass.--Ev 65 (1902).

As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sitteth above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth.[4. SEE EZEKIEL 1:4, 26; 10:8; DANIEL 4:17, 25, 32.]--Ed 178 (1903).

In the annals of human history, the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as if
dependent on the will and prowess of man; the shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by his power, ambition, or caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we behold, above, behind, and through all the play and counterplay of human interest and power and passions, the agencies of the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.--PK 499, 500 (c. 1914).

In sparing the life of the first murderer, God presented before the whole universe a lesson bearing upon the great controversy. . . . It was His purpose, not merely to put down the rebellion, but to demonstrate to all the universe the nature of rebellion. . . .The holy inhabitants of other worlds were watching with the deepest interest the events taking place on the earth. . . .

God carries with Him the sympathy and approval of the whole universe as step by step His great plan advances to its complete fulfilment.--PP 78, 79 (1890).

The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to men, but before all the universe it would justify God and His son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan.--PP 68, 69 (1890).

The whole universe is watching with inexpressible interest the closing scenes of the great controversy between good and evil.--PK 148 (c. 1914).



Our little world is the lesson book of the universe.--DA 19 (1898). [5. ELLEN WHITE STATES THAT THE UNFALLEN WORLDS AND THE HEAVENLY ANGELS WATCHED CHRIST'S STRUGGLE IN GETHSEMANE "WITH INTENSE INTEREST" (DA 693). IN DISCUSSING CHRIST'S FOUR-THOUSAND-YEAR BATTLE WITH SATAN AND HIS ULTIMATE VICTORY ON THE CROSS SHE USES SUCH PHRASES AS "THE HEAVENLY UNIVERSE BEHELD," "ALL HEAVEN AND THE UNFALLEN WORLDS HAD BEEN WITNESSES," "THEY HEARD," "THEY SAW," "HEAVEN VIEWED," "WHAT A SIGHT FOR THE HEAVENLY UNIVERSE!" SEE THE DESIRE OF AGES , PP. 693, 759, 760.]



Last Day Events, p.18-31.