Wednesday, January 08, 2014

Pope Francis' Statements Reported By Media Cause Doctrinal Confusion

Religion News Service | By David Gibson Posted: 01/08/2014 7:15 am EST





(RNS) No doubt about it, Pope Francis is generating the kind of Internet buzz and sky-high Q Scores that brand managers can only dream of. But is the pontiff becoming a victim of his own good press?

The Vatican once again had to dispel media reports that went well beyond what Francis actually said, as his spokesman formally denied that the pope had signaled an openness to same-sex unions in a recently published conversation with leaders of religious orders.

During the November discussion with leaders of the Jesuits, Franciscans and others, Francis said they needed to engage “complex” situations of modern life, such as the prevalence of broken homes and the growth in gay couples rearing children.

He noted in particular the case “of a very sad little girl” he knew of who confessed that her mother’s girlfriend “doesn’t like me.” After citing the example of that lesbian couple he seemed to warn against being quick to condemn: “How can we proclaim Christ to a generation that is changing? We must be careful not to administer a vaccine against faith to them.”

And that was quickly interpreted as a papal blessing of sorts of gay families.

The Vatican’s chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, on Monday issued a statement saying that while Francis certainly wants to “affectionately accompany” people no matter their circumstances, the pontiff had “absolutely not expressed” his opinion on gay unions and that some reports had “forced” such an interpretation.

On Tuesday (Jan. 7), another Jesuit and papal confidante, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, wrote to a leading Italian daily to protest that Francis has no intention of “legitimizing any behavior that’s inconsistent with the doctrine of the church.” Spadaro said any other reading was an effort at “manipulation.”

Still, it’s not the first time this has happened, and it probably won’t be the last. Consider:

* On New Year’s Eve, Lombardi put out a statement to counter a column by a prominent Italian journalist and atheist, Eugenio Scalfari, claiming that Francis “has abolished sin.” Lombardi had to reiterate that those “who really follow the pope daily know how many times he has spoken about sin.”
* After fevered speculation that the pope might break with tradition and name women as cardinals, Francis himself denied the rumors. “I don’t know where this idea sprang from,” he told an Italian journalist in an interview in December. “Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.”
* In early December, the Vatican categorically denied a media report that Pope Francis has been slipping out at night to visit the homeless in Rome. The stories, while appealing and in keeping with Francis’ intense concern for the poor, are “simply not true,” Vatican officials said.
* In September, the Vatican “firmly denied” that Francis had called a gay man in France to assure him that “your homosexuality doesn’t matter.” No way, no how, said Lombardi.
* And last May, the Vatican called the claim that Francis had performed an exorcism on a handicapped man in St. Peter’s Square “absolutely false.” Francis often embraces the sick and disfigured when he mingles with the crowds, and those images often go viral. But that wasn’t enough for some.

Indeed, the exaggerations have become so commonplace that a parody blog post last month claimed Francis had convened a Third Vatican Council (there have been only two) to declare that “all religions are true,” there is no hell and there’s nothing wrong with supporting abortion rights. What’s more, the piece went so viral so fast that Catholic blogs and even the myth-busting website Snopes.com rushed out disclaimers.

So why all these overbaked reports? There are several reasons:

One: The media and the public, especially in Italy, are always hungry for something new and surprising, especially when it comes to a tradition-bound institution such as the Vatican. Just think of the 2010 hubbub over Pope Benedict XVI’s remarks that seemed to indicate condoms could be OK if used to prevent the spread of AIDS.

Two: Francis is actually doing a lot of new and newsworthy things, like driving his own car — a used one at that — and cold-calling strangers and upending all manner of sacred papal customs. He also keeps insisting that the church needs a “new balance” in its approach that emphasizes the poor and suffering rather than just fights over abortion and gay rights.

Three: Because of those novelties, many liberals are ecstatic and expecting more, while many conservatives are picking up on any stray signal and hyping it to show that Francis is in fact a danger to their traditional agenda and must be opposed. As Spadaro wrote in his article, the exaggerated claims about Francis come “from his ‘detractors’ on the right, as well as those who exalt him in order to take advantage of him on the left.”

Four: From the start of his pontificate in March, Francis has said he wants a church that “runs the risk of an accident,” as he put it. In July in Brazil he encouraged millions of young people to go out and “make a mess.” So he’s not one to lose sleep over what people say about him. He’ll just keep talking.

Five: Francis is a Jesuit and a pastor, accustomed to engaging people and dealing with the ambiguities of life, and he likes to talk about that. Most churchmen tend to be theologians and canon lawyers who deploy the kind of clear-cut, “abstract” concepts that Francis disdains. But such concepts don’t lend themselves to misinterpretation so easily.

Finally: Francis has focused so relentlessly on the mercy of God rather than the judgment of the church that the shift in tone and emphasis has led many — like Scalfari — to think that perhaps anything goes under this pope.

But in a follow-up column this week to his earlier piece, Scalfari himself repented of his claim that Francis had abolished sin and instead focused on the pope’s message of mercy despite sin. So maybe, after nearly a year of both genuine changes and overblown expectations, perceptions of Pope Francis are actually catching up to reality.


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Vatican's Cor Unum council travels to Lebanon to coordinate Syria aid





romereports

Published on Jan 4, 2014 The nearly three-year conflict is pushing the people fleeing Syria to a breaking point. As they challenges grow, Card. Robert Sarah, president for the Pontifical Cor Unum Council, and Secretary Giampiero Dal Toso, witnessed them first hand
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CIA Lawyer Kept Sept. 11 In Mind When Debating Waterboarding



January 08, 2014 4:19 AM


Listen to the Story
Morning Edition

7 min 51 sec



Hear The First Part Of This Interview\


CIA Lawyer: Waterboarding Wasn't Torture Then And Isn't Torture Now





In the second part of our interview with the CIA's former top lawyer, John Rizzo says he felt he had the power to stop the agency's waterboarding program before it began. Rizzo explains to Renee Montagne why he decided to let the program continue. Rizzo's new book is Company Man: 30 Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA.

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Democracy Needs Whistleblowers — That's Why I Broke into the FBI in 1971

The Guardian / By Bonnie Raines


Like Snowden, we broke laws to reveal something that was more dangerous, and we wanted to hold J Edgar Hoover accountable.



Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
January 7, 2014 |


I vividly remember the eureka moment. It was the night we broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, in March 1971 and removed about 1,000 documents from the filing cabinets. We had a hunch that there would be incriminating material there, as the FBI under J Edgar Hoover was so bureaucratic that we thought every single thing that went on under him would be recorded. But we could not be sure, and until we found it, we were on tenterhooks.

A shout went up among the group of eight of us. One of us had stumbled on a document from FBI headquarters signed by Hoover himself. It instructed the bureau's agents to set up interviews of anti-war activists as "it will enhance the paranoia endemic in these circles and will further serve to get the point across there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox."

That was the first piece of evidence to emerge. It was a vindication.

Looking back on what we did, there are obvious parallels with what Edward Snowden has done in releasing National Security Agency documents that show the NSA's blanket surveillance of Americans. I think Snowden's a legitimate whistleblower, and I guess we could be called whistleblowers as well.

A look back at what happened

I was 29 when my husband John and I decided to join six other people to carry out the break-in. I was a mother of three children, aged eight, six and two, and I was working on a degree in education at Temple University, where John was a professor of religion.

We had both been heavily involved in the civil rights movement. John had been a freedom rider, and in Philadelphia we participated in anti-war protests against Vientnam. Through that activity we knew that the FBI was actively trying to squelch dissent, illegally and secretly. We knew that they were sending informants into university classrooms, infiltrating meetings, and tapping phones. The problem was that though we knew all this, there was no way to prove it.

A physics professor at Haverford College named Bill Davidon called a few of us together at his home. Bill, who died last November, floated the idea of doing something to obtain evidence. He just came out with it: "What do you think about breaking into an FBI office to remove the files?" If it hadn't been for Bill, who was so smart and strategic, I'm not sure we would have taken it seriously. But we did.

Bill articulated for all of us the frustration over the foment of those times, and the feeling that we all had of being compelled to do something as ordinary citizens because no one in Washington was holding Hoover accountable. We started looking into the feasibility of a break-in. Right away, we found out the main FBI office in Philadelphia was in a high-rise in the center of the city, and that it was impregnable. Then we learned there were other field offices in the suburbs, and that lead us to Media.

John and I lived in a big old house in the Germantown area of Philadelphia, and we set aside a room in the third floor to be our base of operations. We lined the walls with maps of Media. We had to tell our elder children not to talk to anyone about the maps on the walls. Even though they knew nothing of our plans, we worried the detail might give something away.

We cased the FBI office in Media for about three months. Two of us would go and watch activity in and around that building, record people going in and out and the patterns of police patrols.

I was chosen to carry out the last piece of casing, which involved getting into the office during business hours to check out its security systems. I called and made an appointment to interview the head of the office, under the ruse that I was a Swarthmore College student researching opportunities for women in the FBI.

I tried not to arouse suspicions, tucking up my long hippy hair in a hat, wearing glasses and gloves throughout the interview even though I was taking notes. Through that visit I learned there was no security, none at all, in the office – even the filing cabinets were left unlocked.

I think it was Bill Davidon's idea to choose 8 March 1971 as the operation's date. It was the night of Muhammad Ali's fight against Joe Frazier, and we thought people would be listening on their radios and that the police would perhaps be a little less vigilant.

As the day approached, we both grew anxious. We had three children, there was a lot at jeopardy. We knew that if things went wrong and we were convicted, we could go to federal prison for a long time. We talked to my husband's brother and to my parents, without telling them the details, and asked them to take care of our children if the worst happened.

John wasn't sleeping well. I was a little more bold and determined, a little gung-ho I guess. My association with good people in the movement gave me strength, and the idea that citizens have to take responsibility for when our rights are being abused.

Four of us broke into the FBI office. Keith Forsyth had trouble picking the lock, which was daunting. My job that night was to distract any patrolling police cars by pretending my own vehicle had broken down. Luckily, no police drove by.

We spent a week going through the documents and then mailing them out anonymously to congresspeople and some progressive journalists. All the journalists, including the New York Times, returned the documents to the FBI under pressure from the Nixon White House. Everyone was afraid of Hoover, except the Washington Post. After the Post published the documents, everyone else jumped on board.

We were so happy that, finally, the right kind of information was getting out, and that it was accurate information that could stir things up. It had that effect, too – it really did stir things up. Senator Frank Church from Idaho, head of the Senate intelligence committee, called for hearings on the FBI and the intelligence. We felt our work was done.

Democracy needs whistleblowers

Democracy needs whistleblowers. Snowden was in a position to reveal things that nobody could dispute. He has performed a legitimate, necessary service. Unlike us, he revealed his own identity, and as a result, he's sacrificed a lot.

On our part, you could accuse us of being criminals – and Hoover did just that: he was apoplectic and sent 200 agents to try and find us in Philadelphia. "Find me that woman!" he screamed at them.

But to us there didn't seem to be an alternative at that point. No one was going to be hurt. We hoped for the outcomes that we wanted. We knew, of course, that we were breaking law, but I think that sometimes you have to break laws in order to reveal something dangerous, and to put a stop to it.

For five years we lived under the threat of arrest. There was a sketch of me that the FBI circulated from when I impersonated a Swarthmore student, though I didn't know it at the time. And the FBI interviewed John, luckily while I was out of the house. After five years, the statute of limitations fell for the burglary and we knew we were safe. We didn't celebrate on the fifth anniversary, though after that we were more relaxed. We now know they closed the case in 1976 for lack of any physical evidence.

Eventually, we told the children, and the story became part of family lore. We wanted them to know about that chapter in our history, and besides, you can't ask your children to act according to their conscience unless you show them what you have done in your life, too.

I still worry a great deal about the state of our democracy. Back in 1971, the country was so divided, there was so much foment, but there was also much determination to change things, and people felt empowered to do so.

Nowadays, the country is divided once again, but I don't see much concern about the abuses that are happening today, like the surveillance of mosques in America, using agent provocateurs. I hear people say, "I don't care," the government can do what it needs to do as long as it protects me from terrorism …" To me, that's giving the authorities blanket permission to cross the line again.

Dissent and accountability are the lifeblood of democracy, yet people now think they just have to roll over in the name of "anti-terrorism". Members of government thinks it can lie to us about it, and that they can lie to Congress. That concerns me for the future of my children and grandchildren, and that too makes me feel I can talk about, at my age, doing something as drastic as breaking-in to an FBI office in the search for truth.



Bonnie Raines was one of eight Americans who committed burglary on the FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania on March 8, 1971.


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Tuesday, January 07, 2014

WHAT IS THE NEW WORLD ORDER



WHAT IS THE NEW WORLD ORDER



EvenAtTheDoors

Published on Dec 30, 2013

Western entertainment, which is really edutainment, has a more profound influence on people' lives than many people actually realise. When people talk on the New World Order, they usually mention the secret societies, banking cartels, oligarchical families and multi-corporations, but very little is said on the role modern entertainment plays in shaping the thinking and attitudes of modern day societies. As celebrities become more and more deified and commonplace in people' lives, their pagan philosophies (which are all basically the same), will also be readily accepted and embraced by a generation whose intelligence is more and more being dumbed down.
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Missing Canadian Adventist missionary confirmed dead, media reports say






Brian Townsend, a Canadian Seventh-day Adventist missionary living in central Belize who disappeared on December 24, 2013, has been confirmed dead, news reports indicate. 

Brian Townsend went missing in Belize late on December 24, 2013


January 06, 2014 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Author: Adventist Review staff

A Seventh-day Adventist missionary missing in Belize for a week was confirmed deceased on January 2, media reports indicate. Brian Townsend, a missionary living in the Valley of Peace area of Belize, went missing on December 24, 2013. A body found in neighboring Guatemala has been identified as Townsend, who was 64, according to a report by CBC Edmonton.

"We have made formal identification," Belize Commanding Officer Dinsdale Thompson told the CBC in a story posted on their website. "We do know that, for sure, that it is a homicide and we are looking [in] that direction as well of the motive, of why they have killed him." The Canadian news report says police in Belize have identified two suspects and are working with Guatemalan authorities in a search.

Writing on Facebook the morning of January 3, Mark Johnson, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada, said, "Our thoughts and prayers are with Brian's family and the many lives he touched both in Belize and here throughout Canada. He threw all his considerable energy into the project in Belize. He will be sorely missed."

On Christmas Eve, Townsend's cook and neighbor saw his truck drive by with a mattress and rolled-up rug, heading out of town. The following morning when she arrived at the house for work, she discovered Townsend's truck was missing. Upon entering his single room house she discovered the place had been ransacked. Outside, approximately fifty feet from the house, "there was blood, there were two machetes in the place where they struggled" says Juan Arias, Vice Chairman of Valley of Peace who was on the scene soon after Townsend was noticed missing. Arias also stated, "It's like they hailed him to open the door and he did it. Because there was no forcing."

Police had also worked with the Canadian consulate and Kory Townsend, Townsend’s adult son, who traveled from his home in Western Canada to help search for his father.

Townsend moved to Belize from Canada to build the Valley of Peace Seventh-day Adventist High School and ended up staying after it was finished. "He was doing a lot of things, he had a couple projects. He built a school, towards his later years he was doing a vocational school, things like gardening and a wood shop," said Kory Townsend. "There are few people who can live a dream or live a goal, and embrace it with the passion he had." Kory also acknowledged his father's commitment to his Seventh-day Adventist faith and community. "This was a lifestyle for him, it was not just a project or a mission, he lived here."

According to Dennis Slusher, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Belize, “Townsend came to work in the Valley of Peace Community, helping build a school and church which now has about 50 members. He stayed on after the construction was finished, continuing to work for the betterment of the local community."

On December 30, Kory Townsend, accompanied by Patricia St. Jean and the Belize Disaster and Rescue Response Team visited Townsend's house in Belize and joined the search efforts. While at the house, neighbors and local Seventh-day Adventist church members kept dropping by and sharing what Townsend meant to them.

"Brian has been a role model for me, he has shown me a lot about mission work" said Miguel Ico, a local elder. "Through his efforts the Valley of Peace Seventh-day Adventist high school has been built."

Enrique Depaz was also a beneficiary of Townsend's kindness. He lived in Townsend's single-room house, but was out of town when Brian went missing. Enrique describes him as a "very positive man, very intelligent, he was always telling people how to live that Christian lifestyle." He recalls Townsend as a strong man who trusted in his faith completely: "He never showed that had fear of anything, because he always believed in God." Others told similar stories. Kory Townsend shared the story of a neighbor who told him that they had just named their newborn child in Townsend's honor.

On the evening of January 2, Ian Townsend, Brian's son-in-law who organized the family's efforts on Facebook, wrote, "With grieving hearts we inform you that the body found in Guatemala is Brian Townsend. We want you to know how much it meant to us, the support and prayers we received from all of you."

—with additional reporting by Tim Wolfer

Source:  Adventist News Network Copyright © 2014


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Student rallies continue for Catholic high school principal fired over gay marriage

Education



11:06 PM 01/05/2014




Eric OwensEducation Editor



Students and, apparently, other concerned citizens held yet another rally on Saturday in support of Mark Zmuda, a gay vice principal and swim coach at Eastside Catholic High School in the suburbs of Seattle, Wash. who was sacked — or maybe resigned — late last month after school officials discovered that he had married his boyfriend.

Eastside Catholic fired Zmuda, 38, because his same-sex marriage violates church doctrine as well as an employment contract the popular school administrator agreed to abide by. He got married about five months ago.

The personnel decision has become a polarizing one for people who want the Catholic Church to start accepting gay marriage.

About 80 people showed up at Saturday’s demonstration in front of the local archdiocese’s headquarters in Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood, reports The Seattle Times.

“We want to make sure that no more teachers get fired from their job because they got married,” event co-organizer Shaun Knittel told the gathered crowd.

Demonstrators held signs and chanted slogans, of course. The slogans included “Keep Mr. Z,” “God is Love” and “Love always wins.”

Neither Zmuda nor anyone from the archdiocese showed up at the latest protest.

In a video released recently, Zmuda said school officials told him he could keep his job if he got a divorce, the Times notes.

“Apparently the fact that I have a same-sex partner and (am) having a same-sex marriage . . . they are against that,” the principal at a Catholic school said during an interview conducted by a former student, Catrina Crittenden.

“I also thought another teaching they were against was divorce,” he added. “I’m a little shocked that was even on the table to have me keep my job. They also offered for me to have a commitment ceremony if I were willing to get a divorce.”

Zmuda also maintained that he did not quit his job but was instead terminated. School officials insist that he quit.

In a prior statement to local CBS affiliate KIRO, an attorney for Eastside Catholic said same-sex marriage “is something that is clear at every level of the Catholic Church from the Archdiocese level up to the Pope.”

Students from Eastside Catholic and some other local Catholic schools have been persistently protesting the termination of Zmuda and the church’s position on gay marriage ever since Zmuda was fired. There have been other rallies. There have been sit-ins.

“Our fight for change has gone from a local new story to a national sensation,” junior Nicole Costello told The Daily Caller. “We hope to not only get Mr. Zmuda his job back, but to make a positive change on a much larger scale.”


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Review: John Rizzo gets candid in CIA memoir Company Man



By Matt Apuzzo, The Associated Press January 6, 2014




Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA (Scribner), by John Rizzo

This book cover image provided by Scribner shows "Company Man:Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA," by John Rizzo. This CIA memoir reveals what nobody stopped to ask during the interrogation debate. (AP Photo/Scribner)





WASHINGTON - There is a moment in John Rizzo's new memoir when the longtime CIA lawyer has the chance to change history. It is March 2002, and Rizzo has just been briefed on the agency's proposals for interrogating suspected terrorists.

Rizzo walks the grounds of the CIA, smoking a cigar, thinking about waterboarding and other unprecedented tactics that seem "sadistic and terrifying."

Rizzo realizes that, on his own say-so, he can end the discussion right there. With the stroke of a pen, Rizzo, the CIA's acting general counsel, could kill the program before it starts.

"It would have been a relatively easy thing to do, actually," he writes.

Then he thinks about what would happen if terrorists struck again. People would blame the CIA. Rizzo would blame himself. And he couldn't deal with that.

So despite his reservations, Rizzo sends the interrogation proposal to the Justice Department, beginning a process that gave the green light to tactics the United States once considered and prosecuted as torture.

Moments like this occur again and again in the roughly six chapters Rizzo dedicates to the CIA's post-9-11 response: People set aside nagging questions about morality (should we?) and focused instead on the legalistic question (can we?).

Rizzo's portrayal of key meetings offers an unprecedented and sometimes startling look at how uncomfortable the enhanced-interrogation techniques made people.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "didn't want to get his fingerprints anywhere near the EITs." Secretary of State Colin Powell seemed "intensely uncomfortable." National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was disturbed that the detainees were forced to be nude.

Yet there were no discussions about whether this path would damage U.S. relationships with allies, harm U.S. long-term interests or weaken its moral standing.

Even though the interrogation program is more than a decade in the past, the topic remains timely. Since leaked documents showed the U.S. vacuuming up millions of domestic phone records, tracking cellphone locations and eavesdropping on calls, officials have defended the tactics as legal.

Once again, the question of whether the government should do something is getting less attention than the question of whether it can.

Many insiders have written memoirs about the post-9-11 CIA. Often, those who approved the interrogation program are portrayed as two-dimensional heroes willing to make unpopular decisions to help the country.

Rizzo paints a less flattering but more revealing picture, one in which fear hung over important decisions. Fear of another attack, fear of blame, fear of political liability.

Depending on your politics and your views on waterboarding, that may make these figures more relatable and human, their decisions that much more wrenching.

Or it may make them seem cowardly.

Whatever conclusion you draw, Rizzo's book makes an important contribution to history and the debate over interrogation. And it serves as a reminder of how much fear drives decision-making in Washington.

For instance, Rizzo regrets not presenting the interrogation program to more people in Congress. Not because the legislative branch should have been fully aware of this unprecedented step, but because it would have headed off criticism of the CIA years later.

In a few key places, Rizzo skips the opportunity for what would have been important reflection. There is no analysis, for example, of the two psychologists who became the architects of the interrogation program despite limited background and expertise.

"Company Man" is tailor-made for CIA buffs. Rizzo's career as an agency lawyer spanned the decades from Iran-Contra to drones, with Russian turncoat Aldrich Ames, the rise of al-Qaida and some interrogation videos destroyed in between.

Though Rizzo never sheds his role as the company man, his book manages to strike notes that are both earnest and candid. That alone sets "Company Man" apart in the genre.


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Bill vs. Andrew: Dems’ dilemma


Cuomo wants to cut taxes. De Blasio wants to raise them.
The governor's right.

 NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, January 7, 2014, 4:30 AM



Seth Wenig/AP


Competing philosophies.


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It was a Tale of Two Democrats on Monday, as Mayor de Blasio beat the drum for raising taxes and Gov. Cuomo recommitted to cutting them.

Cuomo has the far, far better case.

The mayor who just took office and the governor running for reelection this fall are old friends and colleagues who profess to be simpatico politically.

But the fiscal messages in their dueling press conferences — coming from the two top members of the same party in the same state — could hardly have contrasted more starkly.

At his Harlem event, de Blasio stood shoulder-to-shoulder with labor leaders — many of whom have a direct financial stake in bigger government — to demand that the highest-taxing, highest-spending big city in America should tax and spend even more.

At the Capitol in Albany, meanwhile, Cuomo surrounded himself with business executives to make a full-throated argument that government must get leaner and taxes must come down — as a crucial step to rejuvenating the state’s economy.

“Once we get the high taxes out of the way,” he declared, “the assets of New York can shine.”

Clearly, he and de Blasio have lined up on opposite sides of the Democratic Party’s great divide.


De Blasio’s call for a surcharge on city residents making more than $500,000 — to finance the worthy goal of universal pre-kindergarten — puts him unabashedly in his party’s self-described progressive wing, which makes a passion for taxing the rich the ultimate litmus test.

This pitch won him an impressive victory in the mayor’s race. But it also puts him in much the same liberal bubble as some of the speakers at his inauguration — who ludicrously painted the city, which devotes fully a fifth of its generous $69 billion budget to social services , as a heartless bastion of Darwinian capitalism.

It might have been tempting for Cuomo to jump onto this ideological bandwagon and become an MSNBC darling.

Instead, his call for a $2.2 billion package of business and property tax relief signals strongly that he’s holding his ground as reality-based Democrat. He’s progressive on social issues (think same-sex marriage and gun control), but also has a healthy respect for the value of a tax dollar.

He has held the overall growth of state spending to a tight-fisted 2% for three straight years — a dramatic break from recent New York history. He also recognizes — as he said in his 2011 inauguration speech — “this state has no future if it is going to be the tax capital of the nation.”

Cuomo says he wholeheartedly supports de Blasio’s goal of delivering universal pre-k. He just differs on how to raise the necessary cash.

And as progressive priorities go, where the money comes from should be a distant second. The critically important thing — for both the kids and the progressive cause — is delivering a program that reaches kids with high-quality early education, which will be a hugely difficult task in a city as big and complicated as New York.

De Blasio should be sweating out how to get the right teachers in the right rooms with the right kids — a task that might require concessions from his friends in the United Federation of Teachers. The disastrous rollout of Obamacare should be a wakeup call for progressives about the critical value of competence in government.

Instead, the new mayor seems to be sinking his political capital into the fight for a tax hike that, by any reasonable analysis, isn’t necessary to make pre-k, and the after-school programs de Blasio wants along with it, work.

For one thing, the $530 million it would raise annually amounts to less than 1% of the budget — and could readily be found elsewhere. To cite one example, the Citizens Budget Commission estimates that asking city employees to chip in a fair share of their health-insurance premiums — as virtually all other workers already do — would save $2 billion, enough to finance pre-k four times over.

De Blasio, with Cuomo’s help, could also expect help in the form of extra aid from Albany.

On Monday, however, he insisted that a dedicated tax is crucial to providing a reliable, long-term source of funding.

Even though revenue from high-income surcharges is almost certain to fluctuate wildly, along with the ups and downs of the stock market.

Even though his own proposal calls for the surcharge to expire after only five years.

De Blasio and his fellow progressives need to ask themselves what they really want: a symbolic victory on soaking the rich, or doing the right thing by city kids?

whammond@nydailynews.com


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Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord



1 Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.

2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth for ever.

4 Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.

5 A good man sheweth favour, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion.

6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.

7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.

9 He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness endureth for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honour.

10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

Psalm 112
King James Version (KJV)
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Christians, Atheists Say Keep Capitol a Free Speech Zone



By: Jim Turner News Service of Florida | Posted: January 7, 2014 3:55 AM




Florida Capitol Rotunda




Christians and atheists may have found a little common patch of ground, the rotunda of the Florida Capitol, as a space to express themselves.

The threat of a lawsuit is hovering over the state's rejection of a satanic display, and the rotunda exhibit policy is set to undergo a staff review. But the prevailing view among those who have recently jumped at the chance to use the public floor space to express their beliefs is to simply let everyone have their say.

"They designated a free speech zone for everyone to express their religious and nonreligious beliefs," said Austin Aycock, spokesman for the Tallahassee Atheists. "If they're going to do it, they can't have limits."

The Tallahassee Atheists, The American Atheists Florida Regional Directors and the Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation all put up seasonal banners this year to counter a Christian Nativity scene.

"I hope the state can find a way to make all voices heard and to keep everyone's freedom of speech alive here in the Capitol rotunda," said Randall Smith, Knights of Columbus grand knight of the Good Shepherd Church parish in Tallahassee. "All capitols should be like the state of Florida, and I hope they can find a way to make room for everybody."

Department of Management Services spokesman Ben Wolf said in an email that the department appreciates "the input we receive from all groups across the state" regarding the display policy, but added there is no timetable on the review.

"We will take as much time as needed," Wolf said.

DMS limits the height of displays based on where they are located in the rotunda and prohibits displays from blocking permanent memorials such as the Civil Rights and Veterans halls of fame. Also, the department will allow displays as long as there is available space, but does have rules against noise and impeding official business.

The Knights of Columbus on Monday put up a decorated wooden cross in the Capitol for the group called Reclaim Christmas for Christ to mark Three Kings Day and the Christian feast of the Epiphany.

The cross display follows diverse exhibits that have dotted the rotunda this holiday season, including a pole made of empty beer cans to mark the sitcom-created Festivus holiday and a shredded pile of paper that is supposed to resemble the deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

"When you see a Nativity scene, and right beside it you see a pole with beer cans on it, we think it makes our point," Smith said. "We think it further shows the seriousness of the Nativity scene" versus other presentations that are not as serious.

The free speech issue exploded this year after the Florida Prayer Network put up the first Nativity display in modern history in the Capitol on Dec. 3.

The Nativity scene joined a menorah that has been displayed in prior years. But the Christian display went up with a lot of media fanfare.

The policy review will be undertaken as the ACLU of Florida continues to warn the Department of Management Services that a lawsuit remains an option over the department's rejection of an exhibition proposed by the New York-based Satanic Temple.

“What we hope happens is that the department will realize you can’t pick and choose which messages or organizations get represented if you create an open forum -- or that they make the determination after all that’s happened that maybe creating a venue for religious messages isn’t the best use of a government building in the first place," said ACLU of Florida spokesman Baylor Johnson.

Johnson added that the ACLU is not formally representing the temple.

The Department of Management Services rejected the temple's proposal on grounds that it was "grossly offensive."

Department officials have not defined what they have considered offensive about the temple's proposal that would have bannered the phrase "Happy holidays from the Satanic Temple" atop a diorama of an angel falling into hell. A sign on one side of the display referenced Luke 10:18 including the line, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven."

The temple's display was the only proposal denied by the state agency.

Pam Olsen, president of the Florida Prayer Network, said that while the Satanists' proposal was "amateurish," she didn't think it should have been rejected.

"I would have been OK with it because I'm not afraid of what they're saying," Olsen said.

Olsen added she hoped the Department of Management Services doesn't use the Satanists' application as a reason to keep her and others out in the future.

"That was the whole reason they did this, to shut us down," Olsen said.

Chaz Stevens, a Deerfield Beach resident behind the Festivus pole of beer cans, said when his display went up that the intent of his admittedly "ridiculous" effort was to make a political statement on the need for the separation of church and state.


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Crises in Africa Continue



NewsFrom CNS, Staff and other sources
Ongoing violence in South Sudan and Central African Republic





Women and children stand near their destroyed house in a village in Bossangoa, Central African Republic


United Nations peacekeepers and officials struggled to contain two ongoing crises in Africa as the New Year began. As the world’s newest nation South Sudan sank deeper into a de facto civil war, peace talks to end the sudden conflict began in Ethiopia. Meanwhile in the neighboring Central African Republic tensions continued to simmer between majority Christians and minority Muslims.

In South Sudan, at least 1,000 people have died and 200,000 people have been displaced as a result of weeks of often intense fighting between political supporters of President Salva Kiir and South Sudan’s ousted vice president Riek Machar. The violence, which flared out of a political struggle between the two leaders within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, has ignited ethnic tensions between the supporters of both men. President Kiir is a member of the South Sudan’s Dinka tribe and Machar is a member of the Nuer tribe. President Kiir has declared a state of emergency for the areas that have fallen under rebel control, including the central city, Bor.

Both groups have sent delegations to Ethiopia for peace talks. The leading U.N. official in South Sudan, Hilde Johnson, urged leaders to bring the situation “back from the brink.”

As the violence in South Sudan escalates and tens of thousands of civilians take refuge in U.N. compounds around the country, children are in grave danger, according to a report from UNICEF. “An estimated 81,000 civilians have fled their homes, the majority of them women and children, but we believe that with the situation changing so rapidly the actual numbers are likely to be higher,” UNICEF’s Representative in South Sudan, Iyorlumun Uhaa, said.

“We are especially worried about those in and around Bor, in Jonglei State, where the fighting has recently been heaviest. There are desperate shortages of food and clean water at the U.N. compound there and the lack of sanitation facilities poses a high risk of disease. Children, always among the most vulnerable in conflict, are spending their days without shelter in the intense heat and sun and sleeping in the open during the cold nights,” he said.

Although the intense fighting is making it difficult to reach civilians sheltering in the U.N. compound in Bor, aid is being delivered to the two U.N. compounds in Juba, where an estimated 20,000 people have taken refuge.

The United Nations was also busy attempting to restore the peace in the Central African Republic. Despite the intervention of French and African troops, the situation in the Central African Republic, remains precarious. "The Central African Republic remains on the verge of a war with religious aspects" warned Mgr. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, Archbishop of Bangui, and Omar Kobine Layama, Imam of the Central African capital, in a joint appeal.

"Nearly half the population desperately need aid, and about 40,000 people have taken refuge at Bangui airport where they are living without shelter or toilet facilities," report the two religious leaders said. They called on the United Nations to deploy a peacekeeping force "with the utmost urgency.”

Persistent violence in C.A.R. between Christian militias and the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group that overthrew President François Bozizé in March has forced one-fifth of the population to flee their homes. According to the most recent U.N. estimates, the number of internally displaced people in Bangui alone has risen to some 513,000 people—half the capital city’s residents—since Dec. 5. U.N. sources say the security situation remains tense with serious risks of deterioration in and outside Bangui and serious consequences for humanitarian assessments and response. Armed groups continue to launch targeted attacks, including against international security forces.

UNICEF reports that in the ongoing violence that has gripped Bangui attacks against children have sunk to a vicious new low, with at least two children beheaded, and one of them mutilated. “We are witnessing unprecedented levels of violence against children. More and more children are being recruited into armed groups, and they are also being directly targeted in atrocious revenge attacks,” said Souleymane Diabate, UNICEF Representative in C.A.R.

UNICEF and partners have verified the killings of at least 16 children and injuries among 60. Diabate said that armed elements were accountable for taking specific measures to provide this crucial protection to children. These included: Clear directives by those in positions of authority within armed forces and groups to halt grave violations against children, including that children not be recruited into the fighting, nor targeted; the immediate release of children associated with armed forces and groups and their protection from reprisals; transit centers set up for the release and reintegration of children must also be protected from attacks; prohibiting attacks against health and education personnel, and the use of civilian spaces such as schools and hospitals for military purposes; allowing safe, unhindered passage of impartial humanitarian assistance.

"The situation is very chaotic and worsening all the time," said Msgr. Cyriaque Gbate Doumalo, secretary-general of the Catholic bishops' conference. "All our churches and parishes are inundated with displaced people… Whole districts of Bangui are deserted, while even those in the relative safety of Catholic centers are living in total fear," he said.

Msgr. Doumalo said that 12,000 more displaced civilians had sought refuge in Bangui's major seminary, while the bishops' conference secretariat was sheltering 600 people, half of them children. He said many children had been abandoned when their parents were killed or fled and were now without food and clothing and "at the mercy of armed groups."

Bishop Nestor-Desire Nongo Aziagbia of Bossangoa urged the deployment of more U.N. forces. "We need a bigger peacekeeping mission here; the present force is plainly unable to cope or play an effective role," the bishop said. "Without this, things are certain to get difficult. Unless the huge quantities of guns now in popular circulation are collected, people will continue killing each other."


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Monday, January 06, 2014

Pope celebrates Mass at Jesuit church in Rome



By Carol Glatz on Friday, 3 January 2014

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Pope Francis smiles during Mass at the Church of the Gesu in Rome Below: The Pontiff with Father Adolfo Nicolas outside the church (CNS)


True faith is marked by the daring desire to change the world with the loving heart of Jesus, Pope Francis said today during a visit to the Jesuits’ main church in Rome

The zealous proclamation of the Gospel must never be coupled with “inquisitional clobbering, with condemnation. No, the Gospel is proclaimed with kindness, fraternity and love,” he told more than 300 of his fellow Jesuits.

The Pope celebrated the feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus at the Church of the Gesu. It was the first Jesuit Pope’s third visit as Pontiff to the church where St Ignatius of Loyola and other Jesuit leaders are buried.

The Mass was also a celebration of thanksgiving for the recent canonisation of St Peter Faber, who, with St Ignatius and St Francis Xavier, was a founding member of the Society of Jesus and the first of the Jesuits to be ordained a priest.

In his homily, Pope Francis said that one of things that stood out with St Peter was his desire to “empty himself” and let Christ fill his heart and life.

The 16th-century priest possessed a restlessness for God, an understanding of his dreams and desires, and the ability to act with determination, the Pope said.

An authentic faith always entails a deep desire to change the world. This is the question we must ask ourselves: Do we, too, have a great vision and impulse? Are we audacious? Does our dream soar high? Does our zeal consume us?” the Pope asked.

“Or are we mediocre and we content ourselves with our laboratory of apostolic programmes?”



Instead, people need to remember “the strength of the Church does not reside in itself and its organisational abilities, but hides in the deep waters of God,” the Pope said.

These “deep waters stir up our desires and these yearnings widen the heart,” he added, citing St Augustine, who saw prayer as a way to fuel the desire to widen one’s heart to God.

“St Peter was consumed by the intense desire to convey the Lord” to others and “if we don’t have the same yearning, then we need to stop and pray and, with silent fervour, ask the Lord for the intercession of our brother Peter (the apostle) to return to fascinate us – that appeal of the Lord that led Peter to all that apostolic madness.”

Only with Christ at the centre of one’s life can people go to the ends of the earth for God, he said, adding that Jesuits must be willing to empty themselves and feel, think, love, see and walk like Christ.

Though he did not mention it in his homily, 2014 marks the 200th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus by Pope Pius VII after it had been suppressed for 41 years starting in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV.

To avoid losing his way, the Pope said, a Jesuit must be “a person whose thinking is incomplete, whose thinking is open, so that he always thinks looking at the horizon that is the always greater glory of God who endlessly surprises us.”

At the end of the Mass, Father Adolfo Nicolas, superior general of the Jesuits worldwide, thanked the Pope for celebrating Mass with them and for the canonisation of St Peter, saying “each time a Jesuit becomes a saint is an opportunity for all of us to deepen our vocation.”

Father Nicolas also recalled the joy he felt when Pope Francis called him immediately to say “I just signed the decree” declaring Faber a saint.

The decree, signed on the Pope’s birthday (December 17) was an “equivalent canonisation,” in which the Pope inserts the name of the new saint in the universal calendar of saints without verifying a miracle performed through his intercession and without holding a formal canonisation ceremony.


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Al-Qaida Extremists Fight For Influence In Iraq, Syria

This is from the - No,.. really?, department:




by David Greene and Deborah Amos
January 06, 2014 5:07 AM


Morning Edition

4 min 58 sec


In Syria, militias linked to al-Qaida have taken the lead in the fight against the Assad government. In Iraq, they've caused a wave of violence including bombings against civilians and attacks on government forces.
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Saturday, January 04, 2014

Away from the Cities


When iniquity abounds in a nation there is always to be heard some voice giving warning and instruction, as the voice of Lot was heard in Sodom. Yet Lot could have preserved his family from many evils had he not made his home in this wicked, polluted city. All that Lot and his family did in Sodom could have been done by them even if they had lived in a place some distance away from the city.
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Influence of Social Surroundings


I was shown, December 10, 1872, the state of Brother K’s family. He has been a true believer and lover of the truth, but has been drinking in the spirit of the world. Said Christ: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Brother K, your earthly treasure claims your interest and attention to such an extent that you do not afford time to serve God; yet your wife is dissatisfied that you give Him the meager pittance that you do. A worldly insanity has taken possession of her heart. Neither of you takes sufficient time for meditation and prayer. God is robbed of your daily service, and you yourselves are meeting with a greater loss than that of every earthly treasure. {4T 104.3}
Sister K, you are still farther from God than your husband is. Your conformity to the world has banished your Saviour from your heart; there is no room for Him in your affections. You have but little inclination for prayer and searching your heart. You are yielding yourself to obey the prince of the powers of darkness. “To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” {4T 104.4}
Sister K, you know not what you are doing; you do not realize that you are warring against your Creator in drawing your husband away from the truth. Your attention is on the advantages that the world gives. You have not cultivated a love for devotion, but are better pleased with the stir and bustle of laboring to acquire wealth. You are absorbed in your desire to be like the world, that you may receive the happiness that the world gives. Your earthly ambitions and interests are greater than your desire for righteousness and for a part in the kingdom of God. {4T 105.1}
Your precious probationary time is spent in laboring for your temporal welfare, in dressing, and eating, and drinking after the manner of the world. Oh, how unsatisfying, how meager is the recompense obtained! In your worldly desires and pursuits you are carrying a heavier burden than your Saviour has ever proposed to lay upon you. Your Redeemer invites you: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” My sister, Christ would have you lay down your heavy weight at His feet and submit your stubborn neck to His easy yoke. {4T 105.2}
What if your probation should close at this time? How would you bear the investigation of the Master? How have you employed the talents of means and influence lent you of God for wise improvement to His glory? God has given you life and its blessings, not to be devoted to your own pleasure and selfish gratification merely, but that you may benefit others and do good. The Master has entrusted you with talents that you should put out to the exchangers, that when He requires them again He may receive His own with usury. {4T 105.3}
Your influence and means have been given you to test you, to reveal what is in your heart; you should use them to win souls to Christ and thus advance the cause of your Redeemer. If you fail to do this you are making a terrible mistake. Every day that you devote to serving yourself, and to pleasing your friends by yielding to their influence in loving the world and neglecting your best Friend, who died to give you life, you are losing much. {4T 106.1}
Sister K, you have thought that it was not well for you to be different from those around you. You are in a community that has been tested on the truth and has rejected it, and you have linked your interests and affections with theirs until you are to all intents one of them. You love their society; yet you are not happy, though you flatter yourself that you are. You have said in your heart: “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” {4T 106.2}
It is no small matter for a family to stand as representatives of Jesus, keeping God’s law in an unbelieving community. We are required to be living epistles known and read of all men. This position involves fearful responsibilities. In order to live in the light, you must come where the light shines. Brother K, at any sacrifice, should feel under solemn obligation to attend, with his family, at least the yearly gatherings of those who love the truth. It would strengthen him and them, and fit them for trial and duty. It is not well for them to lose the privilege of associating with those of like faith; for the truth loses its importance in their minds, their hearts cease to be enlightened and vivified by its sanctifying influence, and they lose spirituality. They are not strengthened by the words of the living preacher. Worldly thoughts and worldly enterprises are continually exercising their minds to the exclusion of spiritual subjects. {4T 106.3}
The faith of most Christians will waver if they constantly neglect to meet together for conference and prayer. If it were impossible for them to enjoy such religious privileges, then God would send light direct from heaven by His angels, to animate, cheer, and bless His scattered people. But He does not propose to work a miracle to sustain the faith of His saints. They are required to love the truth enough to take some little pains to secure the privileges and blessings vouchsafed them of God. The least they can do is to devote a few days in the year to a united effort to advance the cause of Christ and to exchange friendly counsel and sympathy. {4T 106.4}
Many devote nearly all their time to their own temporal interests and pleasures, and grudge the few days spent and the expense involved in going a distance from their homes to meet with a company gathered together in the name of the Lord. The word of the Lord defines covetousness as idolatry; then how many idolaters are there, even among those who profess to be the followers of Christ! {4T 107.1}
It is required that we meet together and bear testimony to the truth. The angel of God said: “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” {4T 107.2}
It will pay, then, to improve the privileges within our reach, and, even at some sacrifice, to assemble with those who fear God and speak for Him; for He is represented as hearkening to those testimonies, while angels write them in a book. God will remember those who have met together and thought upon His name, and He will spare them from the great conflagration. They will be as precious jewels in His sight, but His wrath will fall on the shelterless head of the sinner. It is not a vain thing to serve God. There is a priceless reward for those who devote their life to His service. Dear brother and sister, you have been gradually entering the darkness until almost imperceptibly it has grown to appear like the light to you. Occasionally a feeble glimmer penetrates the gloom and arouses the mind; but surrounding influences shut out the ray of light, and the darkness seems denser than before. {4T 107.3}
It would have been better for your spiritual welfare had you changed your place of residence some years ago. The light of truth tested the community in which you live. A few received the message of mercy and warning, while it was rejected by many. Still another class did not accept it because there was a cross to lift. They took a neutral position and thought that if they did not war against the truth they would be doing quite well, but the light they neglected to receive and cherish went out in darkness. They endeavored to quiet conscience by saying to the Spirit of God: “Go Thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for Thee.” That convenient season has never come. They neglected the golden opportunity that has never again returned to them, for the world has shut out the light that they refused. The interests of this life and the charm of exciting pleasures absorb their minds and hearts, while their best Friend, the blessed Saviour, is rejected and forgotten. {4T 108.1}
Sister K, although possessing excellent natural qualities, is being drawn away from God by her unbelieving friends and relatives, who love not the truth and have no sympathy with the sacrifice and self-denial that must be made for the truth’s sake. Sister K has not felt the importance of separation from the world, as the command of God enjoins. The sight of her eyes and the hearing of her ears have perverted her heart. {4T 108.2}
John the Baptist was a man filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth, and if there was anyone who could remain unaffected by the corrupting influences of the age in which he lived, it was surely he. Yet he did not venture to trust his strength; he separated himself from his friends and relatives, that his natural affections might not prove a snare to him. He would not place himself unnecessarily in the way of temptation nor where the luxuries or even the conveniences of life would lead him to indulge in ease or to gratify his appetite, and thus lessen his physical and mental strength. By such a course the important mission upon which he came would have failed of its accomplishment. {4T 108.3}He subjected himself to privation and solitude in the wilderness, where he could preserve the sacred sense of the majesty of God by studying His great book of nature and there becoming acquainted with His character as revealed in His wonderful works. It was an atmosphere calculated to perfect moral culture and to keep the fear of the Lord continually before him. John, the forerunner of Christ, did not expose himself to evil conversation and the corrupting influences of the world. He feared the effect upon his conscience, that sin might not appear to him so exceedingly sinful. He chose rather to have his home in the wilderness, where his senses would not be perverted by his surroundings. Should we not learn something from this example of one whom Christ honored and of whom He said: “Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist”? {4T 109.1}The first thirty years of Christ’s life were passed in retirement. Ministering angels waited upon the Lord of life as He walked side by side with the peasants and laborers among the hills of Nazareth, unrecognized and unhonored. These noble examples should teach us to avoid evil influences and to shun the society of those who do not live aright. We should not flatter ourselves that we are too strong for any such influences to affect us, but we should in humility guard ourselves from danger. {4T 109.2}Ancient Israel were especially directed by God to be and remain a people separate from all nations. They were not to be subjected to witnessing the idolatry of those about them, lest their own hearts should be corrupted, lest familiarity with ungodly practices should make them appear less wicked in their eyes. Few realize their own weakness and that the natural sinfulness of the human heart too often paralyzes their noblest endeavors. {4T 109.3}The baleful influence of sin poisons the life of the soul. Our only safety is in separation from those who live in its darkness. The Lord has enjoined upon us to come out from among them and be separate, and to touch not the unclean thing, and He will receive us and will be a Father unto us, and we shall be His sons and daughters. If we wish to be adopted into the family of God, to become children of the heavenly King, we must comply with His conditions; we must come out from the world and stand as a peculiar people before the Lord, obeying His precepts and serving Him. {4T 109.4}Lot chose Sodom for his home because he saw that there were advantages to be gained there from a worldly point of view. But after he had established himself, and grown rich in earthly treasure, he was convinced that he had made a mistake in not taking into consideration the moral standing of the community in which he was to make his home. {4T 110.1}The dwellers in Sodom were corrupt; vile conversation greeted his ears daily, and his righteous soul was vexed by the violence and crime he was powerless to prevent. His children were becoming like these wicked people, for association with them had perverted their morals. Taking all these things into consideration, the worldly riches he had gained seemed small and not worth the price he had paid for them. His family connections were extensive, his children having married among the Sodomites. {4T 110.2}The Lord’s anger was finally kindled against the wicked inhabitants of the city, and angels of God visited Sodom to bring forth Lot, that he should not perish in the overthrow of the city. They bade Lot bring his family, his wife, and the sons and daughters who married in wicked Sodom, and told him to flee from the place. “For,” said the angels, “we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.” {4T 110.3}And Lot went out and entreated his children. He repeated the words of the angel: “Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.” But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one who mocked; for they had lived so long in Sodom that they had become partakers of the sins of the people. And the daughters were influenced by their husbands to believe that their father was mad. They were well enough off where they were. They were rich and had great possessions; and they could not believe it possible that beautiful Sodom, a rich and fertile country, would be destroyed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God. {4T 110.4}Lot returned sorrowfully to the angels and repeated the story of his failure. Then the angels commanded him to arise, and take his wife and the two daughters who were yet in his house, and leave the city. But Lot was sad; the thought of leaving his children and his wife, for she refused to go without them, almost broke his heart. They would all have perished in the terrible ruin of Sodom, had not the Lord, in His great mercy, sent His angels to the rescue. {4T 111.1}Lot was paralyzed by the great calamity about to occur; he was stupefied with grief at the thought of leaving all he held dear on earth. But as he lingered, the angels of God laid hold upon his hand, and the hands of his wife and two daughters, and brought them out of the city, and charged them to flee for their lives, neither to look behind them nor to stay upon all the plain, but to escape to the mountains. {4T 111.2}How reluctant was Lot to obey the angel and go as far as possible from corrupt Sodom, appointed to utter destruction! He distrusted God and pleaded to remain. Living in the wicked city had weakened his faith and confidence in the justice of the Lord. He pleaded that he could not do as he was required, lest some evil should overtake him, and he should die. Angels were sent on a special mission to save the lives of Lot and his family; but Lot had so long been surrounded by corrupting influences that his sensibilities were blunted, and he could not discern the works of God and His purposes; he could not trust himself in His hands to do His bidding. He was continually pleading for himself, and this unbelief cost him the life of his wife. She looked back to Sodom, and, murmuring against the dealings of God, she was changed to a pillar of salt, that she might stand as a warning to all those who disregard the special mercies and providences of Heaven. After this terrible retribution, Lot no longer dared to linger by the way, but fled into the mountains, according to the direction of the angels. The sinful conduct of his daughters after leaving Sodom was the result of wicked associations while there. The sense of right and wrong was confused in their minds, and sin did not appear as sin to them.{4T 111.3}The case of Lot should be a warning to all those who wish to live godly lives, to separate themselves from all influences calculated to lead them away from God. Lot remained so long among the wicked that he was only able to save himself and two daughters, and even they were corrupted in morals by their sojourn in Sodom. {4T 112.1}

God means what He says, and He will not be trifled with. Oh! how many shortsighted, sinful mortals plead with God to induce Him to come to their terms, while if they would only yield themselves unreservedly into His hands He would compass their salvation and give them precious victories. {4T 112.2}
Sister K, you are in danger of making decisions that will be very injurious to you. God has a work for you to do which none can do for you, and without doing this your soul cannot be saved. God loves you and is unwilling that you should perish in the general ruin. He invites you to leave those things which hinder your spiritual advancement, and to find in Him that strength and consolation which you need. You have cares and burdens to bear in your family that often worry you; but if you do only those things necessary to your temporal comfort and happiness, you will find time to read your Bible with prayerful interest and to perfect a Christian character. {4T 112.3}
Brother K, you have had many discouragements; but you must be earnest, firm, and decided to do your duty in your family, and take them with you if possible. You should spare no effort to prevail upon them to accompany you on your heavenward journey. But if the mother and the children do not choose to accompany you, but rather seek to draw you away from your duties and religious privileges, you must go forward even if you go alone. You must live in the fear of God. You must improve your opportunities of attending the meetings and gaining all the spiritual strength you can, for you will need it in the days to come. Lot’s property was all consumed. If you should meet with loss you should not be discouraged; and if you can save only a part of your family, it is much better than to lose all.{4T 112.4}
Dear brother and sister, as parents you are in a great measure accountable for the souls of your children. You have brought them into existence; and you should, by precept and example, lead them to the Lord and the courts of heaven. You should impress them with the thought that their temporal interests are of little consequence when compared with their eternal welfare. {4T 113.1}
These dear children are living among worldly people, and they are imbibing a love for the vanities of life. Your son L is a kindhearted, fine-spirited boy; but he needs the watchful care of a mother whose daily experience in the Christian life will fit her to counsel and instruct him. He is at just that age when a tender, judicious mother can mold him by her influence; but I fear, Sister K, that you seek rather to mold your children after the fashion of this world, and neglect to teach them that the important work of life is to form characters that will ensure immortality. {4T 113.2}
If L neglects to become acquainted with religious subjects and practical Christianity, his life will be a mistake. He should see that he needs an education in spiritual things, that he may use his abilities wholly for God. The Lord calls for young men to work in His vineyard. Young men should not neglect the essential branches of education. But if they turn their entire attention to secular study, and neglect to become intelligent on the great subject of religion, and do not acquire a Christian experience, they are becoming disqualified for the work of God. However favorable the educational advantage may be, something besides the knowledge of books is necessary to save the soul and lead others to repentance. Devoting a period of years to the acquisition of scientific knowledge alone is not preparing to be an efficient laborer in the service of God. {4T 113.3}
Young men should devote much time to study; but they should also unite physical labor with their mental efforts, and put in practice the knowledge they have gained, that by useful exercise all the faculties of the mind and powers of the body may be equally developed. They should not neglect the things necessary to salvation, nor consider them secondary to anything in this life. {4T 114.1}
Dear brother and sister, God loves your family, and desires to shower His special blessings upon you, that you may become instruments of righteousness in leading others toward heaven. If entirely consecrated to God, Brother K could do a great amount of good in a community where his advice and influence would be better received and appreciated. We have strong hopes that both of you will correct that which is wrong in your lives, and renew your faith and obedience to God, receiving new strength from Him who has promised to help those who call upon His name. {4T 114.2}
Young Brother L, you have made a mistake in your life. In closely pursuing your studies you have neglected the development of all your faculties. The moral growth should never be dwarfed in the effort to acquire an education, but should be cultivated in a far higher degree than is usually deemed necessary. My dear young brother, you have been ambitious to secure knowledge. This ambition is praiseworthy; but in order to gratify it, you have neglected your eternal interests and made them secondary to your studies. God and heaven have occupied a subordinate position in your affections. The claims of God’s holy law have not been sacredly observed in your daily life. You have desecrated the Sabbath by bringing your studies into that holy time which was not yours to occupy for your own purposes. God has said: “In it thou shalt not do any work.” {4T 114.3}
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” You have yielded to inclination rather than duty and made your studies paramount to the expressed command of the Most High. {4T 114.4}
Our camp meetings are arranged and held at great expense. God’s ministers who advocate unpopular truth, labor excessively at these large gatherings to bear the message of mercy from a crucified Redeemer to poor fallen sinners. To neglect or treat these messages with indifference is to slight the mercy of God and His voice of warning and entreaty. Your absence from these meetings has been very detrimental to your spiritual welfare. You have missed the strength that you might have gained there by listening to the preached word of God, and mingling with the believers of the truth. Your mind has been lulled into a fatal apathy in regard to the well-being of your soul. You have exalted your secular education above the knowledge to be gained in the school of Christ. Experience in a true religious life is necessary in order to form a character acceptable to God and to secure the pure virtues that will bear the light of heaven. {4T 115.1}
What anxiety you have manifested to discipline your mind by study, to become properly conversant with your textbooks, that you might pass a creditable examination before instructors, friends, and interested spectators! How ambitious you have been to prove that you have been a diligent student and have faithfully employed your time in storing your mind with useful knowledge! You have been as sincerely anxious to progress in your studies as you have been to secure the commendation of your friends and teachers. You have justly earned the honors you have received for scholarship. But how has your mind been disciplined in religion? Have you not unthinkingly placed the kingdom of God and His righteousness below your advancement in the sciences? True, some of the human faculties were given more especially for the purpose of engaging in temporal matters, but the higher powers of the mind should be wholly consecrated to God. These control the man, these form his life and character. And while you should not neglect your secular studies, you have no right to give them all your attention, but should devote yourself especially to the moral and spiritual requirements of your heavenly Father. {4T 115.2}
How little anxiety you have manifested to improve the religious advantages within your reach to gain a more thorough knowledge of the laws of God, and determination to abide by them! You have made little effort to become a loyal and intelligent Christian. How, then, will you be prepared to pass the grand review, where all your deeds and words, and the inmost thoughts of your heart, will be laid open before the great Judge and the assembled saints and angels? You have had little ambition to obtain a spiritual fitness to bear this close examination in the presence of that exalted throng. What, then, will be the final decision as to your moral and religious attainments, that decision from which there is no appeal? What will be the honors accredited to you because of your faithfulness in preserving the required harmony between religion and the pursuit of the sciences? Will you stand as one possessing unfaltering moral courage, in whom is shown excellence of human knowledge united with a holy zeal for God and the obedience of His law? {4T 116.1}
My brother, you should consider the wisdom of God as all in all. Religion must go hand in hand with science, in order to make your education a sanctified means of doing good and turning others to the truth. The more we learn in the school of Christ, the more eager we are to advance in that knowledge. All our acquirements are of little value unless the character is ennobled by religion. God has special duties for every individual to perform, and a decision will be passed upon every case as to the faithfulness with which these duties have been accomplished. {4T 116.2}
The Lord frequently places us in difficult positions to stimulate us to greater exertion. In His providence special annoyances sometimes occur to test our patience and faith. God gives us lessons of trust. He would teach us where to look for help and strength in time of need. Thus we obtain practical knowledge of His divine will, which we so much need in our life experience. Faith grows strong in earnest conflict with doubt and fear. Brother, you may be a conqueror if you take careful heed to your ways. You should devote your young life to the cause of God and pray for success. You should not close your eyes to your danger, but should resolutely prepare for every difficulty in your Christian advancement. Take time for reflection and for humble, earnest prayer. Your talents are marked, and you are hopeful in regard to your future success; but unless you comprehend the weakness of your natural heart you will be disappointed. {4T 116.3}
You are just starting out in life; you have arrived at an age to bear responsibilities for yourself. This is a critical period in your life. Now, in your youth, you are sowing in the field of life. That which you sow you will also reap; as was the seed, so will be the harvest. If you are neglectful and indifferent concerning eternal things you will sustain a great loss yourself and, through your influence, will prevent others from fulfilling their obligations to God. {4T 117.1}
Both worlds are before you. Which will you choose? Be wise and lay hold of eternal life. Swerve not from your integrity, however unpleasant your duties may appear in the present emergency. It may seem that you are about to make great sacrifices to preserve your purity of soul, but do not hesitate; press forward in the fear of God, and He will bless your efforts and recompense you a thousandfold. Do not yield your religious claims and privileges in order to gratify the wishes of your unconsecrated friends and relatives. You are called to take your position for the truth, even if it should be in direct opposition to those who are closely connected with you. God forbid that this last trial should ever come to you, to test and prove your integrity for the right. {4T 117.2}
Lay the foundation of your Christian character upon the eternal Rock of salvation, and let the structure be firm and sound. {4T 117.3}

We hope that your mother will aid you and your brothers and sisters in your efforts to perfect true characters after the pattern of Christ, that you may have a moral fitness for the society of holy angels in the kingdom of glory.


Testimonies for the Church Volume 4, pp104-117  
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Friday, January 03, 2014

Separation from the World

November 14, 1882


By Mrs. E. G. White


John the Baptist was a man filled with the Holy Ghost from his birth. If any one could remain unaffected by the corrupting influences of the age in which he lived, it was surely he. Yet he did not venture to trust his own strength; he separated himself from his friends and relatives, that his natural affections might not prove a snare to him. He would not place himself unnecessarily in the way of temptation, nor where the luxuries, or even the conveniences of life would lead him to indulge in ease or gratify his appetite, and thus lessen his physical and mental strength. By such a course the important mission which he came to fill would have failed of its accomplishment.
He subjected himself to a life of privation and solitude in the wilds, where he could preserve a sacred sense of the majesty of God by studying his great book of nature, and thus become acquainted with his character as manifested in his wonderful works. It was an atmosphere calculated to perfect moral culture, and keep the fear of the Lord continually before him. John, the forerunner of Christ, did not expose himself to evil conversation and the corrupting influences of the world. He feared its effects upon his conscience, that sin might not appear to him so exceedingly sinful. He chose rather to have his home in the wilderness, where his senses would not be perverted by his surroundings. We should learn a lesson from this example of one whom Christ honored, and of whom he said, Among those born of women there are none greater than John the Baptist.
The first thirty years of our Saviour’s life was passed in retirement. Ministering angels waited upon the Lord of life, as he walked side by side with the peasants and laborers among the hills of Nazareth, unrecognized and unhonored. These high examples should teach us to avoid evil influences, and shun the society of those who do not live aright. We should not flatter ourselves that we are too strong for such influences to affect us, but we should, in humility, guard ourselves from danger.
Lot chose Sodom for his home because he saw advantages to be gained there from a worldly point of view. But after he had established himself, and grown rich in earthly treasure, he was convinced that he had made a mistake in not taking into consideration the moral standing of the community in which he was to make his home.
The dwellers in Sodom were corrupt; vile conversation greeted his ears daily, and his righteous soul was vexed by the violence and crime which he was powerless to prevent. His children were becoming like these wicked people; for association with them had perverted their morals. Taking all these things into consideration, the worldly riches he had gained seemed small, not worth the price he had paid for them. His family connections were extensive, his children having married among the Sodomites.
The Lord’s anger was finally kindled against the wicked inhabitants of the city. The angels of God visited Sodom to bring forth Lot, that he should not perish in the overthrow of the city. They bade him bring his family, his wife, and the sons and daughters who had married in wicked Sodom, and they told him to flee from the place; “for,” said the angels, “we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.”
And Lot went out and warned his children. He repeated the words of the angel, “Up, get thee out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city!” But he seemed to his sons-in-law as one who mocked. And the daughters were influenced by their husbands. They were well enough off where they were. They had great possessions, and could not believe it possible that beautiful Sodom, in a rich and fertile country, would be destroyed by the wrath of a sin-avenging God.
Lot returned sorrowfully to the angels, and repeated the story of his failure. Then the angels commanded him to arise, and take his wife, and the two daughters who were yet in his house and leave the city. But Lot was sad; the thought of leaving his children and his wife, for she refused to go without them, almost broke his heart. They would all have perished in the terrible ruin of Sodom, had not the Lord, in his great mercy, sent his angels to the rescue.
Lot was paralyzed by the great calamity about to occur; he was stupefied with grief at the thought of leaving all that he held dear on earth. But as he lingered, the angels of God laid hold upon his hand, and the hands of his wife and two daughters, and brought them out of the city, and charged them to flee for their lives, neither to look behind them, nor to stay upon all the plain, but to escape to the mountains. How reluctant was Lot to obey the angel, and go as far as possible from corrupt Sodom, appointed to utter destruction.
Lot pleaded to remain; he distrusted God. Living in the wicked city had weakened his faith and confidence in the justice of the Lord. He pleaded that he could not do as he was required, lest some evil should overtake him, and he should die. Angels were sent on a special mission to save the lives of Lot and his family, but he had so long been surrounded by corrupting influences that his sensibilities were blunted, and he could not discern the works of God and his purposes; he could not trust himself in his hands to do his bidding. He was continually pleading for himself, and this unbelief caused the destruction of his wife.
She looked back to Sodom, murmuring against the dealings of God, and was changed to a pillar of salt, that she might stand as a warning to all those who disregard the special mercies and providences of Heaven. After this terrible retribution, Lot no longer dared to linger by the way, but fled into the mountains, according to the directions of the angels. The sinful conduct of his daughters after leaving Sodom was the result of wicked associations while there. The sense of right and wrong was confused in their minds, and sin did not appear as sin to them.
The case of Lot should be a warning to all those who wish to live a godly life, to separate themselves from all influences calculated to lead them away from God.
Ancient Israel was especially directed by God to be and remain a people separate from all other nations. They were not to witness the idolatry of those about them, lest their own hearts should be corrupted, lest familiarity with ungodly practices should make them appear less wicked in their eyes. Few realize their own weakness, and that the natural sinfulness of the human heart often paralyzes our noblest endeavors.
The baleful influence of sin poisons the life of the soul. Our only safety is in separation from those who live in its darkness. The Lord has enjoined upon us to come out from among them and be separate, and to touch not the unclean thing, and he will receive us and will be a Father unto us, and we shall be his sons and daughters. If we wish to be adopted into the family of God, children of the Heavenly King, we must comply with his conditions; we must come out from the world, and stand as a peculiar people before the Lord, obeying his precepts and serving him.
It is no small matter for a family in an unbelieving community to stand as representatives for Jesus, keeping God’s law. We are required to be living epistles, known and read of all men. This position involves fearful responsibilities. In order to live in the light, we must come where the light shines. It is not well for the people of God to lose the privilege of associating with those of like faith with themselves; for the truth loses its importance in their minds, their hearts cease to be enlightened and vivified by its sanctifying influence, and they lose spirituality. They are not strengthened by the words of the living preacher. Worldly thoughts and worldly enterprises are continually exercising their minds to the exclusion of spiritual subjects.
The faith of most Christians will waver if they constantly neglect to meet together for conference and prayer. If it were impossible for them to enjoy such religious privileges, then God would send light direct from Heaven by his angels, to animate, to cheer, and to bless his scattered people. But he does not propose to work a miracle to sustain the faith of his children. They are required to love the truth enough to make some effort to secure the privileges and blessings vouchsafed them of God.
Many devote nearly all their time to their own temporal interests and pleasures, and grudge the time spent and expense involved in going a distance from their homes to meet with a company gathered together in the name of the Lord. The word of God defines covetousness as idolatry; then how many idolaters are there, even among those who profess to be the followers of Christ.
It is required that we meet together and bear testimony to the truth. The angel of God said:
“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.”
It will pay, then, to improve the privileges within our reach, and, even at some sacrifice, to assemble with those who fear God and speak for him. For he is represented as hearkening to those testimonies, while angels write them in a book. God will remember those who have met together and thought upon his name, and he will spare them from the great conflagration. They will be as precious jewels in his sight, when his wrath shall fall on the shelterless head of the sinner.
Said our Saviour, in his last prayer for his disciples, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” And, looking forward to the future life, he prays for these chosen and faithful ones, “that they may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” It is not a vain thing to serve God. There is a priceless reward for those who, keeping themselves “unspotted from the world,” devote their life to the service of their Creator.


E. G. White, The Review and Herald, November 14, 1882
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