Monday, June 02, 2014

Did Bowe Bergdahl go AWOL in Afghanistan?




After five years as a POW, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is headed home. But the circumstances of his capture by the Taliban in Afghanistan remain unclear, indicating he may have walked away from his base.

By Brad Knickerbocker, Staff writer / June 1, 2014





Jani and Bob Bergdahl speak during a news conference at the White House Saturday about the release of their son, U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, held prisoner by the Taliban since 2009. He was handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban in exchange for the release of five Afghan detainees held by the United States.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

For now, the story for US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is one of physical and mental recovery and reunion with his family.


Related stories




In Pictures Far from home: US soldiers serving in Afghanistan

Obama's Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap: Was it illegal?

Bowe Bergdahl's first hours of freedom: Now the questions begin (+video)

Five years a POW, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl released by Afghan Taliban (+video)





The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

But very soon it will involve debriefings about the nearly five years of his captivity by Taliban fighters, who apparently held him in Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, where his infantry unit had been engaged in combat.

Military and intelligence experts will want to know how he was treated, anything he can tell them about his captors, and what he learned about insurgent capabilities.

But for the young soldier – 23 when he became a prisoner of war, now 28 – those debriefings also will include difficult questions about how and why he happened to be in a position where he fell into the hands of Taliban fighters.

RECOMMENDED: Far from home: US soldiers serving in Afghanistan

There have been no reports that he was captured during direct combat, that the “fog of war” had put him involuntarily in a vulnerable location.

At this point in the developing narrative, Sgt. Bergdahl seems to have grown disillusioned with the mission, bitter about the Army and especially higher ranking enlisted men and officers, and simply walked off – gone “outside the wire” or protective base limits – and disappeared.

That could indicate that he had gone AWOL (Absence Without Leave), also referred to as “Unauthorized Absence” (UA), which could bring charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).

This scenario – it’s important to note that it has not been confirmed – is based on detailed reporting in 2012 by Rolling Stone magazine, which included interviews with Bergdahl’s fellow soldiers as well as apparently lengthy conversations with his parents in Idaho, who shared e-mails they had exchanged with him up until his disappearance.

“The US army is the biggest joke the world has to laugh at,” he wrote from Afghanistan. “It is the army of liars, backstabbers, fools, and bullies. The few good SGTs are getting out as soon as they can, and they are telling us privates to do the same."

"I am sorry for everything here," Bergdahl wrote at another point "These people need help, yet what they get is the most conceited country in the world telling them that they are nothing and that they are stupid, that they have no idea how to live."

In his final message, Bergdahl refers to having mailed home boxes with his uniforms and books.

“Feel free to open them, and use them,” he wrote.

Later that night, Bowe Bergdahl’s father Bob Bergdahl, a UPS truck driver, sent his son an email from their home in Hailey, Idaho, with the subject line: OBEY YOUR CONSCIENCE!

"Dear Bowe," he wrote. "In matters of life and death, and especially at war, it is never safe to ignore ones' conscience. Ethics demands obedience to our conscience. It is best to also have a systematic oral defense of what our conscience demands. Stand with like minded men when possible. dad."

“Ordinary soldiers, especially raw recruits facing combat for the first time, respond to the horror of war in all sorts of ways,” Rolling Stone observed. Bowe Bergdahl “decided to walk away.”

“In the early-morning hours of June 30th, according to soldiers in the unit, Bowe approached his team leader not long after he got off guard duty and asked his superior a simple question: If I were to leave the base, would it cause problems if I took my sensitive equipment?

“Yes, his team leader responded – if you took your rifle and night-vision goggles, that would cause problems.

“Bowe returned to his barracks, a roughly built bunker of plywood and sandbags. He gathered up water, a knife, his digital camera and his diary. Then he slipped off the outpost.”

When his absence was discovered, Bergdahl was listed as “DUSTWUN” – Duty Status: Whereabouts Unknown.

Search parties were sent out. The search included drone aircraft as well as F-18 and F-15 fighter jets.

Reports from Afghan intelligence sources indicated that Bergdahl had been captured by the Taliban, later confirmed by intercepted radio conversations and the first videos of him being held.

Speaking at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan Sunday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said the US had to move quickly to rescue Bergdahl as part of a prisoner transfer involving five mid- to high- level Taliban being sent to Qatar from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Bergdahl's "safety and health were both in jeopardy, and in particular his health was deteriorating,” Secretary Hagel said.

"Our first priority is assuring his well-being and his health and getting him reunited with his family," Hagel said. "Other circumstances that may develop and questions — those will be dealt with later."

Those “other circumstances” and “questions” involve how the young and apparently disillusioned soldier came to be taken a prisoner of war.

Not surprisingly, the issue has stirred considerable discussion and debate.

“Though Americans may be celebrating the release of the only American soldier held prisoner in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the reaction of the military community has been mixed at best,” Army Times reports.

“Within an hour of the announcement that Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special forces by the Taliban Saturday evening, Army Times’ Facebook page lit up with hundreds of comments reacting to the news,” the publication reported. “Most centered on the circumstances surrounding Bergdahl's capture, which remain something of a mystery. There has been some speculation that he willingly walked away from his unit, raising the question of whether he could be charged with being absent without leave (AWOL) or desertion.”

“I'm happy for the Bergdahl family and friends to have their loved one home, but I am angered deeply at Bowe…. It disgusts me greatly that a man that turned his back on his brothers, unit, and country is going to be hailed as a hero/saint,” wrote one Army Times Facebook visitor.

But another post summed up the situation this way:

“This guy may have made a tremendously bad decision, but I'm willing to bet that what he's endured since then has been far worse than anything the US or military judicial system would have imposed. Have some heart.”


RECOMMENDED: Far from home: US soldiers serving in Afghanistan

Related stories
In Pictures Far from home: US soldiers serving in Afghanistan
Obama's Bowe Bergdahl prisoner swap: Was it illegal?
Bowe Bergdahl's first hours of freedom: Now the questions begin (+video)
Five years a POW, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl released by Afghan Taliban (+video)


Source
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Report Says NSA Pretends to Be Facebook


Report Says NSA Pretends to Be Facebook by WSJ_Live

 


by WSJ Live official



The NSA has been disguising itself as Facebook servers in order to gain access to the computers of intelligence targets, creator of the 80s anthem “She Blinded Me With Science” discusses his new role as a professor, and more. Photo: Getty.


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Spain's King Juan Carlos abdicates to revive monarchy





BY RODRIGO DE MIGUEL AND ELISABETH O'LEARY

MADRID
Mon Jun 2, 2014 11:01am EDT





Spain's King Juan Carlos delivers his statement at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid June 2, 2014.

CREDIT: REUTERS/SPANISH ROYAL HOUSE




RELATED VIDEO

Spain's king to abdicate throne to son


Spain's King Juan Carlos abdicates

RELATED NEWS
Juan Carlos guided Spain to democracy, recent years clouded by graft scandalKing-to-be Felipe, a new face for Spain's beleaguered monarchySpain's king abdicates for political reasons: palace source


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(Reuters) - Spain's King Juan Carlos said on Monday he would abdicate in favor of his son Prince Felipe, aiming to revive the scandal-hit monarchy at a time of economic hardship and growing discontent with the wider political elite.

"A new generation is quite rightly demanding to take the lead role," Juan Carlos, 76, said on television, hours after a surprise announcement from Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that the monarch would step down after almost 40 years on the throne.

The once popular Juan Carlos, who helped smooth Spain's transition to democracy in the 1970s after the Francisco Franco dictatorship, seemed increasingly out of touch in recent years.

He took a secret luxury elephant-hunting trip to Botswana in 2012, a time when one in four Spanish workers was jobless and the government teetered on the brink of default.

A corruption scandal in the family and his visible infirmity after repeated surgery in recent years have also eroded public support. Polls show greater support for the low-key Felipe, 46, who has not been tarnished by the corruption allegations.

The king's younger daughter, Princess Cristina, and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin, are under investigation and a judge is expected to decide soon whether to put Urdangarin on trial on charges of embezzling 6 million euros in public funds through his charity. He and Cristina deny wrongdoing.

The king, who walks with a cane after multiple hip operations and struggled to speak clearly during an important speech earlier this year, is stepping down for personal reasons, Rajoy said.

But a source at the royal palace told Reuters the abdication was for political reasons. The source said the king decided in January to step down, but delayed the announcement until after the European Union election on May 25.

Political analysts said the ruling conservative People's Party (PP) was eager to put the more popular Felipe on the throne to try to combat increasingly anti-monarchist sentiment, after small leftist and anti-establishment parties did surprisingly well in the election.

The country is just pulling out of a long recession that dented faith in politicians, the royal family and other institutions. The PP and the Socialists, which have dominated politics since the return to democracy, are committed to the monarchy, but they polled less than 50 percent between them in the recent election.

Smaller leftist parties Podemos, United Left and Equo green party, which together took 20 percent in the European vote, all called on Monday for a referendum on the monarchy.

"People are calling for political regeneration, a change in the institutional functioning of the state after around 40 years of democracy, and they've started with the royals," said Jordi Rodriguez Virgili, professor of political communication at Navarra University.

Spain does not have a precise law regulating abdication and succession. Rajoy's cabinet was scheduled to have an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday to set out the steps for Prince Felipe to take over as Felipe VI. The transition will likely be accomplished by passing a law through parliament, where the PP has an absolute majority.

"We've been hearing continuously over the last few months on the necessity for deep change. The feeling is that the European elections have been a turning point and I believe the decision has been made in this context," said Rafael Rubio, constitutional expert at Madrid's Complutense University.

A PRINCE FOR NEW TIMES

There has been media speculation over an abdication since last year.

Sixty-two percent of Spaniards were in favor of the king stepping down, according to a January poll by Sigma Dos. That compared with 45 percent a year earlier. Only 41 percent of those polled had a good or very good opinion of the king. Felipe has a positive rating of 66 percent and most Spaniards believe the monarchy could recover its prestige if he took the throne, according to the poll.

"Felipe has a lot more energy to do the job," said Alfonso Romero, 36, a student.

Political analysts speculated Felipe may try to seek dialogue between Rajoy and Catalan President Artur Mas, who is leading a movement to break away from Spain. But Mas said on Monday that Felipe's taking the throne would not dissuade him from trying to hold a referendum on independence in November.

The prince, who has had a growing role in ceremonial events in the past year, is seen as more practical and in tune with current affairs than Juan Carlos, a jovial skier and sailor once beloved for his common touch and seen as much more accessible than the older generations of British royals.

Juan Carlos will be the second European monarch to abdicate in just over a year. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands stepped down in April 2013 to make way for her son Willem-Alexander.

Felipe married divorced journalist Leticia Ortiz in 2004 and they have two daughters. The royal family began a Twitter feed (@CasaReal) on their tenth wedding anniversary, May 21, with tweets on both Juan Carlos and Felipe's weekend visit to El Salvador for the swearing in of President Salvador Sanchez Ceren.

The prince was in Spain on Monday but had no official events planned until Tuesday when he is scheduled to appear with the king at the El Escorial monastery and former royal palace.

As king, Felipe will be Spain's head of state, representing the country at summits, official visits and in meetings with business leaders.

Even if he can win Spaniards over, he will continue to face a sense that the country does not need a king.

"I'm not a monarchist and don't have a high opinion of them," said Maria Luisa Villaseca, a retired public employee visiting the medieval city of Toledo. "I think they should call a referendum and ask citizens what they want."


(Additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski, Sarah Morris, Adres Gonzalez, Paul Day and Blanca Rodriguez; Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)


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Sunday, June 01, 2014

Cardinal Marx congratulates Herman Van Rompuy on being awarded the Charlemagne Prize

COMECE Press 29/05/2014

‘An exemplary passion for Europe’

The President of the German Bishops' Conference and President of COMECE, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, has congratulated the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy on being awarded this year's Charlemagne Prize. Mr Van Rompuy received the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen today.



In a letter to Mr Van Rompuy, Cardinal Marx called the winner of the 2014 Charlemagne Prize as a true mediator of the European Union : "Your commitment to the Union and your passion for Europe are exemplary and encourage in particular young people to participate in the construction of Europe. With your strong integrative power, you motivate us over and over again in keeping up our commitment to Europe, "said Cardinal Marx. Wherever Mr. Van Rompuy comes across "Europe fatigue," he convinces through words and deeds for Europe.

Cardinal Marx stressed in his congratulations the commitment of the President of the European Council to resolving international conflicts. " Europe has a responsibility in the world. Therefore, I support your claim that conflicts in neighbouring regions of the European Union or conflicts in other trouble spots of the world should always be perceived as a pan-European task . They require European solidarity with the international community. I want to personally support this particular claim. "

Europe is a reality and not just a vision, according to Cardinal Marx : "Nevertheless, every day we must continue building this Europe. To this you have committed yourself tirelessly". The German Bishops' Conference and COMECE will continue supporting President Van Rompuy to achieve this aim.


Contact: Johanna Touzel, COMECE Spokesperson and Press Officer

johanna.touzel@comece.eu Tel+32 (0)2 235 05 15


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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Pope & U.N. Share Goals: World & Church Ripe For N.S.L





ProphesyAgainTV

Published on May 30, 2014

Follow Us On LiveStream. Download Sermon Notes:http://prophesyagain.com/Prophesy_Aga...

Website: http://prophesyagain.com/Prophesy_Aga...
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Adventist Spiritualism - Pastor Bill Hughes





Michael Nicholas

Published on Apr 20, 2014

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The Jesuit Agenda




AdventMessage

Published on May 19, 2014

http://AdventMessage.com - The Jesuit Agenda. Jesuit tentacles reach into the halls of power everywhere, including US Presidents, the military, corporate banking and power brokers worldwide.

To have the first Jesuit Pope ever as the head of the Catholic empire at this time in history, is no accident.

It is startling how the Jesuit organization has insinuated itself in every level of government, banking, and religious bodies.

Over the last 400 years the Jesuits have succeeded in establishing the largest worldwide network of schools and universities to prepare young minds for one goal and one goal alone, the world dominance of the Catholic religion.

The Jesuits have been able to shape and mold the thinking of many famous world leaders, and produce generations of political and religious leaders who were favorable to the Roman Catholic Church, and her doctrinal agenda.

When you read the list of who's who that are graduates of Georgetown University, you'll start to see a picture emerging of world leaders who are Jesuit trained.

The Obama Catholic administration is a virtual who's who of well known American Catholics and Jesuits, or at least Jesuit trained people.

They include Roman Catholic congressmen and women, educators at Jesuit universities, governors, senators, representatives, and others who were chosen partly because of their close connections to Rome.

They include Senator Bob Casey, Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia, Representative Patrick Murphy, Senator Ted and and his wife Victoria Kennedy, Senator Richard Durbin, Senator John Kerry, Senator Patrick Leahy, Representative Xavier Becerra, Representative Mike Capuano, Representative Lacy Clay, and a list of authors, educators and others.

The vast majority of them were trained at Catholic schools, and many of them at Jesuit institutions.

The list of institutions where they were trained or where they teach includes Catholic and Jesuit schools like Georgetown University, Boston College, Loyola University, College of the Holy Cross, King's College, Marquette Law, University of Notre Dame, Trinity Washington University, Loyola Marymount University, Xavier University and Catholic University of America.

The list is long.

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Jesuit Pope Unites Apostate (Spiritualist) Protestants w/ Rome : Tony Mecozzi





TheVillageLighthouse

Published on Apr 4, 2014

Jesuit Pope Unites Apostate (Spiritualist) Protestants w/ Rome : Tony Mecozzi

The Village Lighthouse
http://www.preparingfortheend.org
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THE TWO KINGDOMS: THE STRUGGLE FOR TRUTH






EvenAtTheDoors

Published on May 28, 2014

No description available.
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First Things First



Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
 
 Matthew 6:31.


The Lord would not have any one of us be presumptuous, care not for health, and make no provision whatever for a sustenance; but when He sees the world taking all the thoughts and absorbing all the affections, He sees that eternal realities are lost sight of. He would correct this evil, which is the work of Satan. The mind, which should be trained to high, elevated contemplation of eternal realities, becomes common, bearing the image of the earthly. Jesus comes to present the advantages and beautiful imagery of the heavenly, that the attractions of heaven shall become familiar to the thoughts, and memory’s hall be hung with pictures of celestial and eternal loveliness.

He sees the chambers of the mind filled with those things which defile. He places God before them as the center.... He passes through the market places, where everything is full of activity and bustle, and the voice of the traders is heard. The lessons He gives in the dense crowd that gathers to listen to His words are a warning from heaven like the trump of God to break the spell of infatuation. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall he give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:36, 37.

The great Teacher gives man a view of the future world. He brings it, with its attractive possessions, within the range of his vision.... He presents the actual claims of God and heaven. If He can fasten the mind upon the future life and its blessedness, in comparison with the temporal concerns of this world, the striking contrast is deeply impressed upon the mind, absorbing the heart and soul and the whole being. He thus removes the things of time and sense from the affections where they have had the supremacy, and gives them their place as subordinate to the higher and eternal realities. He invests life with the highest responsibilities. He shows man that he must live to a purpose, separating from all life’s vanities.


Our High Calling, p.286
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Happy Sabbath


Thursday, May 29, 2014

Hillary Clinton meets Obama for lunch at the White House


JACQUELYN MARTIN | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton listens in November 2012 as President Barack Obama speaks in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington. The White House confirmed that Hillary Clinton had lunch with President Obama on Thursday.


POLITICS NEWS

May 29
BY LINDSAY WISE
McClatchy Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON Hillary Clinton had lunch with President Barack Obama on Thursday in a stealthy visit that the White House only acknowledged after People Magazine tweeted about it.

The lunch wasn’t on the president’s public schedule. It became public knowledge after People tweeted a photo of one of its reporters who was with the former Secretary of State, then deleted the tweet. The tweet was posted again minutes later.

“PEOPLE's @ sswestfall chats w/ @HillaryClinton before her @WhiteHouse lunch. Hope she wasn't late for @ barackobama!” the tweet reads.

In response to an inquiry from a reporter, a White House official confirmed that Obama “enjoyed an informal, private lunch with Clinton.”

The official did not give any further details, or reveal what the two discussed over lunch.


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Cognitive Dissonance


COGNITIVE DISSONANCE



General Experimental Psychology Cognitive Dissonance Lab

The theory of cognitive dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance Theory, developed by Leon Festinger (1957), is concerned with the relationships among cognitions. A cognition, for the purpose of this theory, may be thought of as a ³piece of knowledge.² The knowledge may be about an attitude, an emotion, a behavior, a value, and so on. For example, the knowledge that you like the color red is a cognition; the knowledge that you caught a touchdown pass is a cognition; the knowledge that the Supreme Court outlawed school segregation is a cognition. People hold a multitude of cognitions simultaneously, and these cognitions form irrelevant, consonant or dissonant relationships with one another.

Cognitive Irrelevance probably describes the bulk of the relationships among a person¹s cognitions. Irrelevance simply means that the two cognitions have nothing to do with each other. Two cognitions are consonant if one cognition follows from, or fits with, the other. People like consonance among their cognitions. We do not know whether this stems from the nature of the human organism or whether it is learned during the process of socialization, but people appear to prefer cognitions that fit together to those that do not. It is this simple observation that gives the theory of cognitive dissonance its interesting form.

Two cognitions are said to be dissonant if one cognition follows from the opposite of another. What happens to people when they discover dissonant cognitions? The answer to this question forms the basic postulate of Festinger¹s theory. A person who has dissonant or discrepant cognitions is said to be in a state of psychological dissonance, which is experienced as unpleasant psychological tension. This tension state has drivelike properties that are much like those of hunger and thirst. When a person has been deprived of food for several hours, he/she experiences unpleasant tension and is driven to reduce the unpleasant tension state that results. Reducing the psychological sate of dissonance is not as simple as eating or drinking however.

To understand the alternatives open to an individual in a state of dissonance, we must first understand the factors that affect the magnitude of dissonance arousal. First, in its simplest form, dissonance increases as the degree of discrepancy among cognitions increases. Second, dissonance increases as the number of discrepant cognitions increases. Third, dissonance is inversely proportional to the number of consonant cognitions held by an individual. Fourth, the relative weights given to the consonant and dissonant cognitions may be adjusted by their importance in the mind of the individual.

If dissonance is experienced as an unpleasant drive state,the individual is motivated to reduce it. Now that the factors that affect the magnitude of this unpleasantness have been identified, it should be possible to predict what we can do to reduce it:

Changing Cognitions
If two cognitions ar discrepant, we can simply change one to make it consistent with the other. Or we can change each cognition in the direction of the other.

Adding Cognitions
If two cognitions cause a certain magnitude of dissonance, that magnitude can be reduced by adding one or more consonant cognitions.

Altering importance
Since the discrepant and consonant cognitions must be weighed by importance, it may be advantageous to alter the importance of the various cognitions.
The material above is the background reading for the Cognitive Dissonance Lab. These are excerpts from Frederick M. Rudolph¹s page on Social Psychology. For a more detailed discussion on cognitive dissonance and related theories, visit http://www.mindspring.com/~frudolph/lectuires/SOC/soc1.htm

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Wednesday, May 28, 2014

The Truth About The Roman Catholic Church



The Great Hocus Pocus Exposed



"And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. " Matthew 23:9


The church and it's true beginnings. The Roman Catholic Church claims to have started in Matthew 16:18 when Christ supposedly appointed Peter as the first Pope. However, the honest and objective student of the Scriptures and history soon discovers that the foundation of the Roman church is none other than the pagan mystery religion of ancient Babylon.



The multi-billion dollar Vatican City has more in common with ancient Babylon than with the homeless Carpenter of Nazareth

While enduring the early persecutions of the Roman government (65-300 A.D.), most of professing Christianity went through a gradual departure from New Testament doctrine concerning church government, worship and practice. Local churches ceased to be autonomous by giving way to the control of "bishops" ruling over hierarchies. The simple form of worship from the heart was replaced with the rituals and splendor of paganism. Ministers became "priests," and pagans became "Christians" by simply being sprinkled with water. This tolerance of an unregenerate membership only made things worse. SPRINKLED PAGANISM is about the best definition for Roman Catholicism.

The Roman Emperor Constantine established himself as the head of the church around 313 A.D., which made this new "Christianity" the official religion of the Roman Empire. The first actual Pope in Rome was probably Leo I (440-461 A.D.), although some claim that Gregory I was the first (590-604 A.D.). This ungodly system eventually ushered in the darkest period of history known to man, properly known as the "Dark Ages" (500-1500 A.D.). Through popes, bishops, and priests, Satan ruled Europe, and Biblical Christianity became illegal.

Throughout all of this, however, there remained individual groups of true Christians, such as the Waldensens and the Anabaptists who would not conform to the Roman system.

The Worship of Mary

"The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead [their] dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." Jeremiah 7:18

Roman Catholics believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus and was sinless all of her life. She is worshiped in the Catholic church as the "Mother of God" and the "Queen of Heaven." St. Bernard stated that she was crowned "Queen of Heaven" by God the Father, and that she currently sits upon a throne in Heaven making intercession for Christians.

No where in the entire Bible does it even hint at, in any way at all, that Mary should receive the worship that only God alone has the right to receive.

The Bible teaches otherwise. In the Bible, Mary was a sinner just like the rest of us. She said herself that she needed a "Saviour" (Lk. 1:47), and she even had to offer a sacrifice for her sins in Luke 2:24. Jesus was only her "firstborn" son, according to Matthew 1:25, because she later had other children as well (Mt. 13:55; Gal. 1:19; Psa. 69:8). There's only ONE mediator between God and men, and it isn't Mary (I Tim. 2:5). The last time we hear from Mary in the Bible she is praying WITH the disciples, not being prayed to BY the disciples (Acts 1:14). The Bible never exalts Mary above anyone else. Neither should we.

Purgatory

The Catholic Church teaches that a Christian’s soul must burn in purgatory after death until all of their sins have been purged. To speed up the purging process, money may be paid to a priest so he can pray and have special masses for an earlier release.

This heresy began creeping into the Roman Church during the reign of Pope Gregory around the end of the sixth century, and it has no scriptural support. In fact, Jesus warned us about this pagan practice in Matthew 23:14 when He spoke of those who devoured widows houses and made long prayers for a pretence. Psalm 49:6-7 tells us that a person couldn't redeem a loved one, even if such a place did exist: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:"

Peter addresses this issue in Acts 8:20 when he says, "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." God's word is clearly against the doctrine of purgatory.

The Mass

By perverting the Christian practice of the Lord's Supper (Mat. 26:26-28; I Cor. 11:23-27), the Catholic Church has created the Mass, which they believe to be a continual sacrifice of Jesus Christ:

"Christ...commanded that his bloody sacrifice on the Cross should be daily renewed by an unbloody sacrifice of his body and blood in the Mass under the simple elements of bread and wine." (The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, Pg. 13, Article: "Mass, Sacrifice of")

Jesus never made such a command. If you'll check the above references in Matthew 26 and I Corinthians 11, you'll see for yourself that the Lord's Supper is a MEMORIAL and a SHOWING of Christ's death until He comes again. It is not a sacrifice. The Catholic Encyclopedia states the following:

In the celebration of the Holy Mass, the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. It is called transubstantiation, for in the Sacrament of the Eucharist the substance of bread and wine do not remain, but the entire substance of bread is changed into the body of Christ, and the entire substance of wine is changed into his blood, the species or outward semblence of bread and wine alone remaining." (Vol. 4, pg. 277, Article: "Consecration")

The Catholic Church teaches that the "Holy Mass" is a LITERAL EATING AND DRINKING OF THE LITERAL FLESH AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. The priest supposedly has the power to change the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

Now, what does God's word say about such practices? If you'll read Genesis 9:4, Leviticus 17:11-12, and Acts 15:29, you will find that God absolutely FORBIDS the drinking of blood all through the Bible.

Rome teaches that the Mass is a continual "sacrifice" of Jesus Christ, but God's word states that Jesus made the FINAL sacrifice on Calvary! This is made perfectly clear in Hebrews 10:10-12:

"By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God."

The mass is unnecessary and unscriptural.

Salvation by Works


Through infant baptism, keeping sacraments, church membership, going to mass, praying to Mary, and confession (just to mention a few), the Catholic church has developed a system of salvation through WORKS. God’s word says that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not through works:

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:8-9)

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Romans 4:5)

Jesus Christ came into this world to lay down His sinless life for YOU--to pay for your sins, because you couldn't. Jesus is your only hope for salvation. Only by receiving Him as your Saviour can you enter the gates of Heaven. There is no other way.

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6)

The Lord Jesus Christ has come and PAID for your sins by shedding His own Blood on Calvary. By receiving Him as your Saviour, you can be WASHED from all your sins in His precious Blood (Rev. 1:5; Col. 1:14; Acts 20:28; I Pet. 1:18-19). Notice these important words from Romans 5:8-9:

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him."

Jesus PAID your way to Heaven for you! By receiving Him as your Saviour, you will be receiving God's ONLY means of Salvation for you. Are you willing to forsake YOUR righteousness and receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour, your ONLY HOPE for Salvation? Romans 10:13 says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Romans 10:9 says, "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Are you willing to forsake your own righteousness, and trust Jesus Christ alone? He will save you just as He promised. Why not receive Him today and trust Him to give you a better way of life?  source - James Melton




Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Two Visions in Conflict Today: Friedrich Nietzsche's Suprahuman Person vs. St. Ignatius Loyola's Jesuit (Pope Francis)



Life Arts 5/26/2014 at 18:59:13



Headlined to H4 5/26/14

Duluth, Minnesota (OpEdNews) May 26, 2014: I propose to compare apples and oranges:

(1) the Suprahuman Person envisioned by Friedrich Nietzsche (1884-1900) in his puzzling book Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for Everybody and Nobody and

(2) the Jesuit envisioned by St. Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), the founder of the Jesuits, in his book of instructions for meditation known as theSpiritual Exercises.

These two envisioned types of persons are apples and oranges because the Suprahuman Person is presumably an atheist and the Jesuit is presumably an orthodox Roman Catholic believer. (But anybody who wants to can read an English translation of the Spiritual Exercises.)

However, if you are not a Roman Catholic, you probably are understandably not interested in the Jesuits. But Pope Francis is the first ever Jesuit pope. He's widely known today in the United States.

In effect, in describing Ignatius Loyola's vision of the Jesuit, I will be describing how Pope Francis saw himself when he was a young man in the Jesuit novitiate making his first (of two) 30-day retreats in silence (except for the conferences with the retreat director) following theSpiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. (Many years later in Jesuit training, usually after being ordained to the all-male priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church, Jesuits make a second 30-day retreat. Disclosure: From 1979 to 1987, I trained with the Jesuits.)

ST. IGNATIUS LOYOLA'S VISION OF THE JESUIT

So what type of person does St. Ignatius Loyola envision the Jesuit as being?

In a word, a superior type person. Naturally he is not so indelicate as to say this as I have just summed it up. But check out the Meditation on the Three Classes of Persons (standardized paragraph numbers 149-156). St. Ignatius Loyola envisions the Jesuit as being in, or at least as aspiring to be in, the Third Class of person types.

In addition, he envisions the Jesuit as enlisting in the great cosmic battle on this earth between the mythic Christ and the mythic Lucifer See the Meditation on Two Standards: of Christ and Lucifer (paragraph numbers 136-147).

Robert L. Moore, the Jungian theorist at the Chicago Theological Seminary, says that Jesuit training is Warrior training (i.e., training in learning how to access the energies of the Warrior archetype in the human psyche).

No doubt that all people today need to learn how to access the energies of the Warrior archetype in their psyches, because without Warrior energies they are going to be in big trouble.

Thus by virtue of his lengthy Jesuit training, Pope Francis has been cultivating the Warrior archetype in his psyche. By virtue of being elected pope, he is now the warrior-king of Roman Catholics today, as King David was the warrior-king of ancient Jews in his day.

Concerning Jesuit spirituality, see James Martin's accessible book The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life (2010).

FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE'S VISION OF THE SUPRAHUMAN PERSON

Surprise, surprise, Friedrich Nietzsche envisions the Suprahuman Person as a superior type person. So I may not be comparing apples and oranges after all, eh?


Read more
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CTM - Episode 65 Command Sergeant Major Danny Page



CTM - Episode 65 Command Sergeant Major Danny Page



Midnight Coming

Published on May 28, 2014


"Memorial Weekend Special" John B. is joined by Command Sergeant Major Danny Page for a riveting conversation about current events and global policy. For those that paid the ultimate price for our freedom, we remember you, we honor you, and your sacrifice shall not be in vain.
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Babylon is fallen: revelation of the false prophet




friendofYahushua

Published on May 25, 2014


FAIR USE NOTICE: This video may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes only. This constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law.

Full credits to pastor Craig, my faithful brother in Christ, for producing this video. His YouTube channel is SDRMinistries.org; his website is theseventhdayremnantchurch.org.

Revelation 16:13 - And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Just as the beast is not a literal beast but a symbol for the antichrist pope, the false prophet is a symbol for false Christian Protestant preachers who do not teach the law of God. They preach smooth sounding false gospels to make their followers happy. They are led by satan by hating the law of God, His holy and eternal ten commandments of God which define His love (Exodus 20:3-17; 1 John 5:3). They say that God's law is done away with, when in fact, Revelation 14:12 and Revelation 22:14 tell us that the commandments are God are eternal.

Isaiah 8:20 says, To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

Since they don't preach the law of God, there is no light in today's Protestant preachers.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 - Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

The Most High calls us to get out of Babylon (Revelation 18:4-5). Get out of these false Protestant church which are fallen (Revelation 14:8) and are leading the masses to their eternal death.

For more information and videos on Christian beliefs and prophecy, please visit www.remnantofgod.org, www.john1429.org, www.theseventhdayremnantchurch.org; cregen124 and NicholasPoGM's YouTube's channel.
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BREAKING NEWS: BLACK POPE TO RESIGN IN 2016



*Note: You may want to turn down the volume between 0:13 - 0:40 to avoid listening to loud electronic music;  Other than that the video is highly informative! 



kytekutter

Published on May 25, 2014

Adolfo Nicolás is the Superior General of the Society of Jesus and he has announced that at end of this year he will convoke General Congregation 36 which will be held in 2016 where he will also retire. These meetings are huge deals, there have been only had 35 in the over 450 year history of the Society of Jesus. This points at the Vatican making rapid moves toward their New World Order and ecumenical plan of global domination. I'm also wondering why this has failed to reach the media and even alternate news media.
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World's Richest People Meet, Muse On How To Spread The Wealth



by ARI SHAPIRO
May 27, 2014 2:38 PM ET




Prince Charles talks to Lynn Forester de Rothschild (left), organizer of the Conference on Inclusive Capitalism, and Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, before Tuesday's conference. The 250 corporate and financial leaders who attended control some $30 trillion, about a third of the world's investable assets.WPA Pool/Getty Images

Talk of economic mobility and the wealth gap is hardly new. From the Occupy movement to President Obama's re-election campaign, income inequality has been in the spotlight for years.

Even so, the "inclusive capitalism" conference in London on Tuesday broke new ground. Not because of the conversation, but because of the people having it.

The 250 people from around the world invited to attend this one-day conference do not represent "the 99 percent," or even the 1 percent. It's more like a tiny fraction of the 1 percent.

"We have $30 trillion of assets under management in the room," says conference organizer Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who runs E.L. Rothschild, a major investment firm she and her husband, of the storied Rothschild banking family, founded in 2003.

That amount — $30 trillion — is roughly one-third of the total investable wealth in the world. If money is power, then this is the most powerful group of people ever to focus on income inequality.

"If this bulk of capital decides that they are going to invest in companies that aren't only thinking about the short-term profit," says Rothschild, "then we will see corporate behavior change."

The titans of commerce and finance didn't necessarily fly to this meeting in London out of a sense of ethics or moral duty, though that may be a motivation for some. For many, says Rothschild, it's a sense of self-preservation. Capitalism appears to be under siege.

"It's true that the business of business is not to solve society's problems," she says. "But it is really dangerous for business when business is viewed as one of society's problems. And that is where we are today."

Prince Charles kicked off the morning's proceedings.

"What is so impressive about today's gathering is that every one of you, ladies and gentlemen, is so well placed to take the kind of action needed to create a new form of inclusive capitalism," he told the conference.

Defining Inclusive Capitalism

That phrase, "inclusive capitalism," is deliberately broad. People talked about it as valuing long-term investment over short-term profits. Some mentioned environmental stewardship; others focused on treating workers well.

Christine Lagarde, who runs the International Monetary Fund, said it is a way to rebuild trust in the financial system.

"So the big question is how can we restore and sustain trust?" she asked in her keynote speech. "First and foremost, by making sure that growth is more inclusive and that the rules of the road favor the many and not just the few."

She said this will be a hard slog, because there will be winners and losers, "and the likely losers are those who have the biggest voice, because they have the largest means."

Later in the day, the group heard speeches from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Bank of England chief Mark Carney.

Critics suggest this may all be optics. The conference delegates didn't sign on to a specific action plan, or even publicly endorse a set of values.

"I suspect the return on investment in this conference is astonishingly low," says Scott Winship of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank. "It sort of surprises me that you have a bunch of people in the investment community who view this as having a significant return on investment in some way, whether the return is in people patting them on the back and saying 'Thanks for caring about us,' or in actual changes to policies."

Conference organizer Rothschild says there will be follow-up with all of the delegates, but she made a conscious decision not to ask for any commitments up front.

"Even for me," she says laughing, "I thought that would be a little pushy."


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Jesuit Order - United States Under Siege - Vatican Nazis





ReligiousMatrix

Published on Jan 11, 2014

http://religiousmatrix.com/https://www.facebook.com/Metro.Angels...
The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ or SI) is a Christian male religious congregation of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits. The society is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 nations on six continents. Jesuits work in education (founding schools, colleges, universities and seminaries), intellectual research, and cultural pursuits. Jesuits also give retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes and promote social justice and ecumenical dialogue.

Ignatius of Loyola founded the society after being wounded in battle and experiencing a religious conversion. He composed the Spiritual Exercises to help others follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. In 1534, Ignatius and six other young men, including Francis Xavier and Peter Faber, gathered and professed vows of poverty, chastity, and later obedience, including a special vow of obedience to the Pope. Rule 13 of Ignatius's Rules for Thinking with the Church said: "That we may be altogether of the same mind and in conformity ... if [the Church] shall have defined anything to be black which to our eyes appears to be white, we ought in like manner to pronounce it to be black."[2] Ignatius's plan of the order's organization was approved by Pope Paul III in 1540 by the bull containing the "Formula of the Institute".

Because of the military background of Ignatius and the members' willingness to accept orders anywhere in the world and to live in extreme conditions where required, the opening lines of this founding document would declare that the Society of Jesus was founded for "whoever desires to serve as a soldier of God"[3] (Spanish: "todo el que quiera militar para Dios"),[4] "to strive especially for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine."[5] Therefore Jesuits are sometimes referred to colloquially as "God's Soldiers"[6] or "God's Marines".[7] The Society participated in the Counter-Reformation and later in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council in the Catholic Church.
The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns shall cause "the earth and them which dwell therein" to worship the papacy—there symbolized by the beast "like unto a leopard." The beast with two horns is also to say "to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast;" and, furthermore, it is to command all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond," to receive the mark of the beast. Revelation 13:11-16. It has been shown that the United States is the power represented by the beast with lamblike horns, and that this prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States shall enforce Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy. But in this homage to the papacy the United States will not be alone.

The influence of Rome in the countries that once acknowledged her dominion is still far from being destroyed. And prophecy foretells a restoration of her power. "I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Verse 3. The infliction of the deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, "his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Paul states plainly that the "man of sin" will continue until the second advent. 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8. To the very close of time he will carry forward the work of deception. And the revelator declares, also referring to the papacy: "All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life." Revelation 13:8. In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive homage in the honor paid to the Sunday institution, that rests solely upon the authority of the Roman Church. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy in the United States have presented this testimony to the world. In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction.

With Protestant teachers there is the same claim of divine authority for Sunday keeping, and the same lack of Scriptural evidence, as with the papal leaders who fabricated miracles to supply the place of a command from God. The assertion that God's judgments are visited upon men for their violation of the Sunday-Sabbath, will be repeated; already it is beginning to be urged. And a movement to enforce Sunday observance is fast gaining ground. Mark of the Beast Sunday Law
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Military Plans To Test Brain Implants To Fight Mental Disorders




by JON HAMILTON
May 27, 2014 2:07 AM ET


Listen to the StoryMorning Edition3 min 47 sec
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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, is launching a $26 million program to help military personnel with psychiatric disorders using electronic devices implanted in the brain.

The goal of the five-year program is to develop new ways of treating problems including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, all of which are common among service members who fought in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"We've seen far too many times where military personnel have neuropsychiatric disorders and there's very few options," says Justin Sanchez, a program manager at DARPA.

DARPA is known for taking on big technological challenges, from missile defense to creating a business plan for interstellar travel. In 2013, the agency announced it would play a big role in President Obama's initiative to explore the human brain.

The new program will fund development of high-tech implanted devices able to both monitor and electrically stimulate specific brain circuits. The effort will be led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco and Massachusetts General Hospital.

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Simple brain stimulation devices are already used to help patients with problems including Parkinson's disease. But DARPA wants something much more sophisticated, Sanchez says.

"While those devices have been shown to be effective, they are very much built on concepts from the cardiac pacemaker industry," he says. "And we know that the brain is very different than the heart."

Working With Epilepsy, Parkinson's Patients

The UCSF team will begin its work by studying volunteers who already have probes in their brains as part of treatment for epilepsy or Parkinson's disease.

That will allow researchers to "record directly from the brain at a level of resolution that's never (been) done before," says Eddie Chang, a neurosurgeon at UCSF.

By monitoring the electrical activity of brain cells, the researchers will be able to study how brain circuits behave in real time, Chang says. And because many of the volunteers also have depression, anxiety and other problems, it should be possible to figure out how these conditions have changed specific circuits in the brain, Chang says.

"If we are able to understand how the circuit has gone awry, that may give us some very critical clues as to how we may be able to reverse that," he says.

Once the scientists have those clues, they hope to design tiny electronic implants that can stimulate the cells in faulty brain circuits. "We know that once you start putting stimulation into the brain, the brain will change in response," Chang says.

That sort of change, known as plasticity, is what allows the brain to learn and adapt throughout our lives. And a device that can deliver the right kind of stimulation to the right brain cells should be able to "heal" malfunctioning brain circuits, Chang says.

At first, the DARPA program will focus on patients with depression, anxiety, and symptoms of PTSD. Later, the plan calls for treating conditions including chronic pain and even traumatic brain injury.


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Sunday, May 25, 2014

Pope Francis calls Israeli-Palestinian stalemate "unacceptable"



Pope also chose to arrive in West Bank from Jordan rather than via Israel in a symbolic nod towards Palestinian statehood


Associated Press in Bethlehem

theguardian.com, Sunday 25 May 2014 05.12 EDT



Pope Francis visits Israel's separation barrier in Bethlehem. Photograph: AP


Pope Francis has called the stalemate between Israel and the Palestinians unacceptable, as he landed in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in a symbolic nod to Palestinian aspirations for their own state.

Jubilant, flag-waving crowds greeted the pope on the second day of his Middle East pilgrimage, which featured a mass in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity. Giant Palestinian flags in red, white, green and black hung alongside the yellow and white of the Vatican's.

Previous popes have always visited Tel Aviv on their way to the West Bank, but Francis arrived by helicopter directly from Jordan to an official welcoming ceremony and a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.

Standing alongside Abbas, the pope said: "The time has come to put an end to this situation, which has become increasingly unacceptable." He said both sides needed to make sacrifices to create two states with internationally recognised borders, based on mutual security and rights for everyone.

"The time has come for everyone to find the courage to be generous and creative in the service of the common good," he said.

Abbas voiced his concern about the recent breakdown of US-backed talks and lamented the difficult conditions facing the Palestinians. He also expressed hope for peace.

"Your visit is loaded with symbolic meaning as a defender of the poor and the marginalised," he said.

Abbas listed a series of complaints against Israel, including continued settlement construction, the plight of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, its control of east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' would-be capital, and the construction of the "ugly wall" that encircles Bethlehem.

"We welcome any initiative from you to make peace a reality in the Holy Land," Abbas said. "I am addressing our neighbours, the Israelis. We are looking for the same thing that you are looking for, which is safety, security and stability."

Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by Israel's separation barrier, which Tel Aviv says is a necessary security measure. The Palestinians say it has engulfed land across the West Bank and stifled life in Bethlehem. After meeting Abbas, Francis stepped out of his vehicle to inspect the barrier.

He spent a few minutes at the wall, surrounded by Palestinians waving Vatican flags and taking pictures with their mobile phones.

Security was lax by papal standards, even for a pope who has shunned the armoured popemobile that his predecessors used on foreign trips.

Palestinian officials welcomed Francis's decision to come directly to Bethlehem and to refer to the "state of Palestine".

"The fact that he is coming straight from Jordan to Bethlehem without going through Israel" is a tacit recognition of a Palestinian state, said Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Christian who is a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

In November 2012, the UN general assembly overwhelmingly recognised a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, land Israel captured in the 1967 war, as a non-member observer.

The recognition has little meaning on the ground, with Israel in full control of east Jerusalem and the West Bank, but it has enabled the Palestinians to start seeking membership of UN agencies and accede to international conventions. Israel objects to the Palestinian campaign, saying it is an attempt to bypass negotiations.

Francis is expected to press the Vatican's call for a two-state solution when he arrives in Israel. He is also expected to offer a word of encouragement to Palestinian Christians, whose numbers have been dwindling as the conflict drags on.

Christians make up around 2% of the population of the Holy Land, down from about 10% when the state of Israel was established. In Bethlehem, they make up less than a third of the population, down from 75% a few decades ago.

Police arrested 26 Israelis on Sunday for throwing stones at officers and causing disturbances at a holy site in Jerusalem where the pope will celebrate mass at the end of his trip, spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said.

Rosenfeld said 150 people demonstrated in response to rumours that Israel would give the Vatican control of the site, which according to Catholic tradition marks the Last Supper of Jesus.

Devout Jews believe the biblical King David is buried there, and disapprove of Christian prayer at the site. Israeli officials said there were no plans to turn the site over to the Vatican, but that they may reach a deal to allow more Christian prayer.

The pope's day will see him celebrate mass in Manger Square, where many in the waiting crowd wore black-and-white chequered scarves around their heads or necks, a symbol of the Palestinian cause, and held clusters of balloons in the colours of the two flags.

He is then due to have lunch with Palestinian families and visit a refugee camp before arriving at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport for a welcome ceremony.

His final event of the day will be a prayer service with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected.

Francis has said the encounter marking the 50th anniversary of a landmark meeting between Pope Paul VI and the ecumenical patriarch, Athenagoras, which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement, was the primary reason for his three-day pilgrimage.





Note:
unacceptable?
Unacceptable to whom?
His highness?
His excellency?
His majesty?

These Roman Pontiff guys really are dangerous,

Have never read Romans 12:3:
... not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,..

They actually believe that they run the world?

Say it ain't so!
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In pointed moves, Pope prays at Bethlehem wall, invites leaders to Vatican


BY PHILIP PULLELLA AND NOAH BROWNING

BETHLEHEM,
West Bank Sun May 25, 2014 2:52pm EDT






Pope Francis visits the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem May 25, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/OSSERVATORE ROMANO


RELATED VIDEO




Pope Francis prays at Bethlehem wall




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World »Israel »Papacy in Transition »




(Reuters) - Pope Francis made a surprise stop on Sunday at the wall Palestinians abhor as a symbol of Israeli oppression, and later invited presidents from both sides of the divide to the Vatican to pray for peace.

In an image likely to become the most emblematic of his trip to the holy land, Francis rested his forehead against the concrete structure that separates Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and prayed silently.

He stood at a spot where someone had sprayed in red paint "Free Palestine". Above his head was graffiti in broken English reading: "Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto", comparing the Palestinians' plight with that of the Jews under the Nazis.

Such imagery seemed likely to cause unease among Israel's leaders, who say the barrier, erected 10 years ago during a spate of Palestinian suicide bombings, is needed to secure its security. Palestinians see it as a bid by Israel to partition off territory and grab land.

On the second leg of a three-day trip to the Middle East, Francis delighted his Palestinian hosts by referring to the "state of Palestine", giving support for their bid for full statehood recognition in the face of a paralyzed peace process.

But, speaking at the birthplace of Jesus in the Palestinian-run city of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, he made clear that a negotiated accord was needed, calling on leaders from both sides to overcome their myriad divisions.

Francis invited the Israeli and Palestinian presidents to come to the Vatican to pray for an end to the enduring conflict, just a month after the collapse of U.S.-backed peace talks.

"In this, the birthplace of the Prince of Peace, I wish to invite you, President Mahmoud Abbas, together with President Shimon Peres, to join me in heartfelt prayer to God for the gift of peace," the Pope said at an open-air Mass in Bethlehem.

Both accepted, their respective staff said. Palestinian official Hana Amira said the meeting would take place on June 6, just under two months before the veteran Israeli leader leaves office.

But it seemed unlikely that Peres would receive any mandate from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to negotiate with Abbas on renewing direct talks.

Netanyahu has said Israel would not consider resuming negotiations unless Abbas reneged on a unity pact with Hamas, one of its most bitter enemies which rules in Gaza. Abbas has said a new government envisaged by the accord would be committed to peace.

ISRAELI ARRIVAL

From Bethlehem, where the Pope also visited a Palestinian refugee camp, he flew by helicopter to Tel Aviv airport where he was welcomed by Peres and Netanyahu, before flying back over the Judean hills to Jerusalem.

In a speech at the ceremony, Francis invoked "the right of the State of Israel to exist and to flourish in peace and security within internationally recognized boundaries".

At the same time, he said there must be "recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to a sovereign homeland and their right to live with dignity and with freedom of movement".

The Pope also recalled the Holocaust, using the Hebrew word for the term, Shoah, and said that "ever mindful of the past" there can be "no place for anti-Semitism".

"A particularly moving part of my stay will be my visit to the Yad Vashem Memorial to the six million Jews who were victims of the Shoah," the Argentinian pontiff said. "I beg God that there will never be another such crime, which also counted among its victims many Christians and others."

Peres, welcoming the Pope in blustery winds but warm sunshine, said: "We are grateful to you for assuming your sensitive and resolute stand against all expressions of anti-Semitism, against all manifestations of racism."

Francis started the day in Jordan and had flown straight to Bethlehem, becoming the first pontiff to travel directly to the West Bank rather than to enter via Israel - another nod to Palestinian statehood aspirations.

He later met refugees from camps set up after the 1948 creation of Israel, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to abandon their homes. Children held up printed signs in English and Arabic saying "the right of return is our sacred right" and "injustice and oppression must end".

In the evening, Francis prayed for Christian unity with Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

It was first time various branches of Christianity prayed together inside the centuries-old structure where Christians believe Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. They usually are governed by strict rules of separation dating back to the Ottoman Empire.

The meeting was the main religious purpose of the trip, timed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of Catholic and Orthodox leaders, whose Churches split in 1054.



(Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Peter Graff, David Stamp, Jeremy Gaunt)


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