Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Benedict XVI and WCC Leader Reaffirm Goals for Visible Church Unity
The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Dr. Olav F. Tveit met in a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican; his first meeting with the Pontiff since assuming office as the general secretary, and his second visit to the Vatican. The two discussed at length about a number of issues such as the Middle East, but primarily on “visible church unity.” The question is church unity under whose teaching?
“We had a very open and friendly conversation,” said Tveit, where he emphasized the “importance of the World Council of Churches’ work,” and what he has been called to do as the general secretary.
Benedict XVI expressed his interest in how the W.C.C. are now developing and planning for the work they are going to do in the future, where Benedict XVI has himself been involved in the W.C.C.’s Commission on Faith and Order since the 1970s, when he was still cardinal Jozef Ratzinger.
Could it be possible that Ratzinger, a Catholic official, was patiently sowing the seeds of ecumenism and Catholic doctrine during his tenure as Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome? Today the fruit of the ecumenical movement is being seen through the increased cooperation of these bodies with the Catholic Church. Benedict XVI is trying to consolidate this ecumenical cooperation.
The mission of the W.C.C., an organization of 349 churches, excluding the Catholic Church seek “unity, a common witness and Christian service.” The W.C.C. is composed of mostly liberal mainline Protestant, Orthodox, Pentecostal and Evangelical denominations, who deny such essential doctrines as the inerrancy of the Scriptures and the literal bodily resurrection of Christ. These principles lead directly to papal authority. The Papacy wants to “sit a queen” (Revelation 18:7).
During the meeting, the Pope was interested in theological issues and how to “strengthen the work of visible unity between the churches.” Benedict spoke of the Bible being the centrepiece as one way (not the only way) of strengthening church unity. Historically however, once the Holy See controls the interpretation of scripture, she also controls the people. Ultimately the Vatican insists that the authority of the pope is the point under which unity centers.
“The Roman Church reserves to the clergy the right to interpret the Scriptures. On the ground that ecclesiastics alone are competent to explain God’s word, it is withheld from the common people.” The Great Controversy, p. 597.
Rome continues to work with the churches of the W.C.C. As the chuches have come closer to each other and to Rome in doctrine and practice, their own distinctive doctrines have diminished or even disappeared, while papal moral and ethical teachings are more and more prominent.
Tveit stated that the Catholic Church becoming a member of the W.C.C. was not a “pressing or urgent issue.” “It [has] a strong cooperation in commissions, but it is also a cooperation that is going on every day.” Rome doesn’t need to join the W.C.C. because they are all looking to her for guidance in their ecumenical development. Rome continues to be the mother church. See Revelation 17:5.
Pope Benedict XVI Calls for Diffusion of Church’s Social Doctrine
Pope Benedict XVI is underlining the need for more centers to study and diffuse the Church’s social doctrine. He stated this in a message sent to Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice in Peace, in a two-day meeting in Rome.
“In order to globalize the social doctrine of the Church,” he said, “it seems opportune to multiply the centres and institutes that are dedicated to its study, diffusion and realization throughout the world.”
Benedict is blunt in that his object is to make Catholic social teaching the foundation of all societies through institutions of influence. Through many different channels, the papacy seeks to reform the United Nations Organization, economic institutions, international finance, social organizations and educaation institutions so that Catholic teaching and principles pervade throughout the world. In Caritas in Veritate Benedict said that there is an “urgent need of a true world political authority.” Obviously, the pope is aiming to be that authority. (See Daniel 7:7, 8, 19, 20 and Revelation 18:7).
Benedict XVI the “construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order…” In plain language; the moral order that the Holy See would define.
The encyclical further advocates for the free movement of migrants. This strategy allows Catholic migrants to influence those host nations with thier Catholic social and moral teaching. With human numbers on her side, the Vatican fast gaining ground for the dissemination of her doctrines.
Caritas in Veritate also speaks about the globalisation crisis, and the encyclical’s solution is to allow for the “large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale.” Benedict, at a World day event for migrants on 26th October, said “All have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal.” Redistribution of wealth takes money from rich countries and gives it to poor countries, and makes rich countries poorer. In the process, the Vatican can influence the process through influence on international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund.
Benedict XVI has called on the Pontifical Council to “dedicate itself…to the search for more adequate ways to convey the contents of the social doctrine.” Benedict is trying to target “the great centres of formation of world thought,” such as the press, universities, economic and social institutions of the world.
“She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men.” “History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, pg. 397; The Great Controversy, pg. 580.
“In order to globalize the social doctrine of the Church,” he said, “it seems opportune to multiply the centres and institutes that are dedicated to its study, diffusion and realization throughout the world.”
Benedict is blunt in that his object is to make Catholic social teaching the foundation of all societies through institutions of influence. Through many different channels, the papacy seeks to reform the United Nations Organization, economic institutions, international finance, social organizations and educaation institutions so that Catholic teaching and principles pervade throughout the world. In Caritas in Veritate Benedict said that there is an “urgent need of a true world political authority.” Obviously, the pope is aiming to be that authority. (See Daniel 7:7, 8, 19, 20 and Revelation 18:7).
Benedict XVI the “construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order…” In plain language; the moral order that the Holy See would define.
The encyclical further advocates for the free movement of migrants. This strategy allows Catholic migrants to influence those host nations with thier Catholic social and moral teaching. With human numbers on her side, the Vatican fast gaining ground for the dissemination of her doctrines.
Caritas in Veritate also speaks about the globalisation crisis, and the encyclical’s solution is to allow for the “large-scale redistribution of wealth on a world-wide scale.” Benedict, at a World day event for migrants on 26th October, said “All have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal.” Redistribution of wealth takes money from rich countries and gives it to poor countries, and makes rich countries poorer. In the process, the Vatican can influence the process through influence on international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund.
Benedict XVI has called on the Pontifical Council to “dedicate itself…to the search for more adequate ways to convey the contents of the social doctrine.” Benedict is trying to target “the great centres of formation of world thought,” such as the press, universities, economic and social institutions of the world.
“She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men.” “History testifies of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people.” Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, pg. 397; The Great Controversy, pg. 580.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wikileaks Reveals Vatican Involvement with Global Politics
“As the uproar increases over Wikileaks publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential U.S. State Department cables online, the latest reports show that 852 of the communications involve the Vatican,” stated Catholic News Agency.
Wikileaks is a website that publishes material leaked by insiders or others in government or business. A low-level U.S. intelligence analyst who is being held at a military base in Virginia allegedly leaked over 250,000 cable messages.
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted the move Nov. 29 as ‘not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests” but an “attack on the international community.’”
“According to Wikileaks, 852 of the documents slated to be published involve correspondence between the U.S. and the Vatican.”
“The Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano stressed that the release of the cables does nothing to change diplomatic relations between the U.S and the Holy See.”
The entire batch of the Vatican-related cables is expected to be published in the upcoming weeks.
While it is no surprise that the Vatican is involved in global politics, it is important to understand that one day there will be revelations that will expose the Vatican’s real intentions in all its “diplomatic” behavior. Perhaps Wikileaks is laying the foundation for the time when the sins of Babylon will be unmasked by God’s faithful servants under the power of the latter rain. Evidence must be available so that God’s messengers can make the links and show the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and expose the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power.
“Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service… The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven.” Great Controversy, p. 606-607.
Wikileaks is a website that publishes material leaked by insiders or others in government or business. A low-level U.S. intelligence analyst who is being held at a military base in Virginia allegedly leaked over 250,000 cable messages.
“Secretary of State Hillary Clinton blasted the move Nov. 29 as ‘not just an attack on America’s foreign policy interests” but an “attack on the international community.’”
“According to Wikileaks, 852 of the documents slated to be published involve correspondence between the U.S. and the Vatican.”
“The Vatican daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano stressed that the release of the cables does nothing to change diplomatic relations between the U.S and the Holy See.”
The entire batch of the Vatican-related cables is expected to be published in the upcoming weeks.
While it is no surprise that the Vatican is involved in global politics, it is important to understand that one day there will be revelations that will expose the Vatican’s real intentions in all its “diplomatic” behavior. Perhaps Wikileaks is laying the foundation for the time when the sins of Babylon will be unmasked by God’s faithful servants under the power of the latter rain. Evidence must be available so that God’s messengers can make the links and show the fulfillment of Bible prophecy, and expose the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power.
“Thus the message of the third angel will be proclaimed. As the time comes for it to be given with greatest power, the Lord will work through humble instruments, leading the minds of those who consecrate themselves to His service… The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The fearful results of enforcing the observances of the church by civil authority, the inroads of spiritualism, the stealthy but rapid progress of the papal power—all will be unmasked. By these solemn warnings the people will be stirred. Thousands upon thousands will listen who have never heard words like these. In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from heaven.” Great Controversy, p. 606-607.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
How the U.S. Government Guaranteed the Coming Food Crisis
By Porter Stansberry with Braden Copeland
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Over the last several years, I've written constantly on the growing likelihood of a global currency collapse.
The governments of Europe and the United States have accumulated debts so large they can't ever hope to repay them, except with currencies whose value will be inflated away by money-printing.
That's led me to recommend inflation hedges like railroads, gold, silver, and various forms of energy. Owning these "real assets" is the single best way to protect yourself from the inflationary crisis. But make sure you don't forget the most important inflation hedge of all: food.
If you've been reading the financial press for the past few months, you know the prices of vital food commodities are soaring. The price of corn is up 47% since this summer. Soybeans are up 30%. Wheat is up 43%.
I expect this trend of higher food prices to continue for years as the U.S government intentionally debases the dollar while lying to you the whole time about wanting a "strong currency." There's also a good supply/demand case to be made for owning agricultural assets. Let's start with the largest crop in the United States, corn...
In 2009, U.S. farmers grew 39% of the world's corn – 307.4 million metric tons. The crop was worth $48 billion. Our corn exports totaled $8.7 billion.
Most harvested corn in the U.S. is used to feed livestock – 43% of 2009 production. Almost as much (41%) was used for food, consumer, and industrial products (toothpaste, adhesives, cosmetics, starches, sweeteners, oils, beverages, industrial alcohol, fuel ethanol, etc.). The remainder was exported. The U.S. sent most of its corn to Japan, Mexico, and South Korea.
The second-largest corn grower, China, produced 165.9 million metric tons, or half the U.S. production. The European Union was a distant third, harvesting 62.7 million metric tons. Brazil checked in fourth, at 51 million metric tons.
In 2009, a severe drought in China killed millions of bushels of corn. Stockpiles dwindled to alarming levels as the government sold corn to keep the price from rocketing higher. Into 2010, the situation hasn't improved. The Chinese have become net importers of corn for the first time in 16 years. Experts predict China will require 6 million to 8 million metric tons of corn this year.
The Chinese corn crunch reminds the world of the food shortages of 2006-2008. Average global prices for wheat, corn, and soybeans spiked more than 100%. Rice prices surged more than 200%.
This chart of the PowerShares Agriculture Fund (DBA) shows the sharp rise in agricultural commodity prices from 2007 to 2008...
This price rise resulted from changing diets in developing countries and the U.S.'s move to use corn as a fuel source (ethanol). From 2006 to 2008, total global grain consumption increased 3% per year, up from 2% per year from 2000 to 2006. People were eating more meat. You need seven pounds of feed grain to produce one pound of beef.
Increasing affluence leads to a desire for greater luxury in everything, including food. Developing and developed countries are now competing for what they want to eat. And that means prices are going up again.
Notice the right edge of the chart. The price of the DBA basket of agricultural commodities is breaking higher. A large component of this fund is the United State's second largest crop, soybeans.
The U.S. produced $31 billion worth of soybeans in 2009. It's our largest agricultural export. Total exports in 2009 exceeded $16 billion, setting a record.
The U.S. produced almost one-third of the world's soybeans in 2009 (91.4 million metric tons). Brazil and Argentina combined for 50% more of the globe's production. China produced 7%, and India produced 4%.
Soybeans are also used for animal feed. They have twice as much protein content as any other major vegetable or grain. Their protein also makes up many common meat and dairy substitutes, including soymilk and tofu. Soybean oil is used for food and industrial applications.
When it comes to soy consumption, the story has changed in recent years. China has overtaken the U.S. as the leader...
In 2005, China was second, consuming 45 million metric tons of soybeans compared with the U.S.'s 51 million metric tons. Last year, China consumed at least 60 million metric tons. The U.S. consumed less than 50 million metric tons.
Unfortunately for China, its domestic production can't begin to satisfy its growing soybean consumption. In 2009, the Chinese imported more than 45 million metric tons of soybeans. Almost half came from the United States. Chinese producers harvested a little more than 15 million metric tons on their own.
The China National Grain and Oils Information Center is projecting total Chinese imports for 2010 will total 60 million metric tons. That would be a 33% increase over 2009. The U.S. will likely supply half of this. This demand is already driving soybean prices back toward their record 2008 levels of $16 per bushel...
The combination of increasing global demand coupled with the Fed's quantitative easing makes a huge move higher in these commodities (and funds like the DBA) likely. Prices could soar high enough to trigger a global crisis.
When you read about this in the next year or two, don't say you weren't warned... and don't say you aren't prepared.
Good investing,
Porter Stansberry and Braden Copeland
Click here to view original source...
Friday, December 10, 2010
Colombia and El Salvator Wonder After..
On October 18, 2010 Benedict XVI met separately with the ambassadors of Colombia and El Salvador. In both cases he emphasized how much the church benefits each country.
He praised the “deep Catholic roots” of Colombia, which are an “inspiration…”
Casting the church as a beneficial influence in Colombia he said, the church “has left indelible imprints in… culture, art, health, social coexistence and the building of peace. It is a spiritual patrimony that has germinated in the course of the years and in all corners of Colombia in innumerable and fruitful human, spiritual and material realizations.” The Pope urged Colombia to safeguard these things as a “valuable heritage and to develop them as a beneficial proposal for the whole nation.”
The pope similarly characterized the services the Church offers to El Salvadore by emphasizing the social programs of the church. He said the Church tries to serve the “common good in all its dimensions,” including housing needs, employment, and other social agendas.
Benedict castigated other churches by saying that they undermine Salvadorian culture. “It would be strange if Christ’s disciples were neutral in the presence of aggressive sects” that appear to offer an “easy and comfortable religious answer” but which in reality undermine Salvadorian culture [meaning Catholic culture], as well as clouding the “beauty of the evangelical message and splitting the unity of the faithful around their pastors [Catholic priests].”
He praised the “deep Catholic roots” of Colombia, which are an “inspiration…”
Casting the church as a beneficial influence in Colombia he said, the church “has left indelible imprints in… culture, art, health, social coexistence and the building of peace. It is a spiritual patrimony that has germinated in the course of the years and in all corners of Colombia in innumerable and fruitful human, spiritual and material realizations.” The Pope urged Colombia to safeguard these things as a “valuable heritage and to develop them as a beneficial proposal for the whole nation.”
The pope similarly characterized the services the Church offers to El Salvadore by emphasizing the social programs of the church. He said the Church tries to serve the “common good in all its dimensions,” including housing needs, employment, and other social agendas.
Benedict castigated other churches by saying that they undermine Salvadorian culture. “It would be strange if Christ’s disciples were neutral in the presence of aggressive sects” that appear to offer an “easy and comfortable religious answer” but which in reality undermine Salvadorian culture [meaning Catholic culture], as well as clouding the “beauty of the evangelical message and splitting the unity of the faithful around their pastors [Catholic priests].”
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Vatican to Promote Sunday Celebration Through World Meeting of Families.
Though the next World Meeting of Families is not till 2012, Benedict XVI sent a letter of exhortation to the Pontifical Council for the Family well in advance of the event. Pope Benedict is asking families and parishes to prepare a year in advance for the Milan meeting.
“Family: Work and Celebration” is the theme for the 7th World Meeting of Families which openly suggests that Sunday rest is a key part of balanced family life.
“Work and celebration are intimately connected in the life of families… the pope said. “Holy Scripture tells us that the family, work and the feast day are gifts and blessings of God to help us to live a fully human existence…”
Benedict XVI also lamented the modern organization of work, “in… maximizing profit,” while the “concept of rest or celebration has become an “occasion for escape and consumption,” which contributes to the breakup of the family.
He also said this contributes to the spreading of an “individualistic lifestyle,” as opposed to a community oriented lifestyle.
The Pope also said it is necessary get balance between “the demands and the periods of work with those of the family and to recover the true meaning of the feast, specially on Sunday, the weekly Easter, the day of the Lord and the day of man, the day of the family, of the community and of solidarity.’”
The popes have consistently argued that Sunday rest is vital to balanced family life and proper cultural formation. The problem is that no matter how cogent the papal arguments are for Sunday observance, the Bible teaches that God’s holy Sabbath day is the day He has set aside for precisely the same reasons. The popes have, therefore, transferred the arguments for the Sabbath rest God gave at creation to Sunday.
“God made the world in six days and rested on the seventh, sanctifying this day, and setting it apart from all others as holy to Himself, to be observed by His people throughout their generations. But the man of sin, exalting himself above God, sitting in the temple of God, and showing himself to be God, thought to change times and laws. This power, thinking to prove that it was not only equal to God, but above God, changed the rest day, placing the first day of the week where the seventh should be. And the Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy to be regarded as sacred. In the Word of God this is called her fornication [Revelation 14:8].” Last Day Events, p. 123.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
UK Ordinariate Will Be Established in January
“Plans are moving ahead for the establishment in January of a personal ordinariate, as outlined in the apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus,” for Anglicans wishing to enter the Catholic Church.
At the end of December five Anglican bishops will resign their positions in the Anglican Church and enter the Catholic Church in January requesting ordination as Catholic Priests under a new ordinariate to be established by papal decree.
All of this is preparation for the ordinary and the former Anglican bishops to “to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week,” said a statement released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
The new ordinariates are Rome’s way of decimating as much of the Anglican Church as possible. Remember it is the Anglican Church with the King James Bible and Protestant teachings that accompanied the British empire as it spread its colonies all over the world. It was single handedly responsible for establishing the English language as the language of business, trade and commerce, and especially laid the foundation for the protestant United States with its republican constitution. It was the Protestant British colonies that laid the foundation for the Remnant Church to grow and flourish and establish its unique and Biblical teachings, and which would carry the final warning to the world and proclaim the second coming of Christ.
The disintegration of the Anglican Church has great significance to those who understand the principles for which it once stood.
Zenit Article
At the end of December five Anglican bishops will resign their positions in the Anglican Church and enter the Catholic Church in January requesting ordination as Catholic Priests under a new ordinariate to be established by papal decree.
All of this is preparation for the ordinary and the former Anglican bishops to “to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week,” said a statement released by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
The new ordinariates are Rome’s way of decimating as much of the Anglican Church as possible. Remember it is the Anglican Church with the King James Bible and Protestant teachings that accompanied the British empire as it spread its colonies all over the world. It was single handedly responsible for establishing the English language as the language of business, trade and commerce, and especially laid the foundation for the protestant United States with its republican constitution. It was the Protestant British colonies that laid the foundation for the Remnant Church to grow and flourish and establish its unique and Biblical teachings, and which would carry the final warning to the world and proclaim the second coming of Christ.
The disintegration of the Anglican Church has great significance to those who understand the principles for which it once stood.
Zenit Article
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Rowan Williams Meets with Pope Benedict XVI
“The head of the Church of England, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury met privately in Rome with Pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 18. The meeting comes at an awkward time in relations between the Church of England and the Catholic Church.
“On Nov. 8, five Anglican bishops announced they were resigning their posts to enter the Catholic Church under special terms outlined last year by Pope Benedict. One of the five, Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham, told the London Times, that he believed thousands, not hundreds, of laity would follow them into the Catholic Church.”
Obviously, the meeting was intended to smooth relations between the two churches over the defection of whole communities of Anglican Churches for the Catholic Church.
The Archbishop, however, is trying to downplay the number of conversions to Rome. “He said he was ‘deeply skeptical’ about the ‘larger claims’ of a massive exodus of Anglicans to Rome,” in an interview. “I don’t see [the papal creation of personal ordinariates] as an aggressive act, meant to destabilize the relations of the churches, and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we’re talking about.”
“The process is just getting underway… By way of these ordinariates Anglicans will be able to “cross over” singly or en masse into the Catholic Church while retaining their liturgical traditions.”
“For the first time, Archbishop Williams suggested that worshipers who join the ordinariate could be allowed to stay in their Anglican churches under a plan to let Roman Catholics share Church of England facilities.”
Not only is Rome attempting to decimate the Anglican Church of its members and even its bishops and priests, it is also attempting to recover its property in the process.
“And all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:3. Which churches are next?
Catholic News Agency [Source]
“On Nov. 8, five Anglican bishops announced they were resigning their posts to enter the Catholic Church under special terms outlined last year by Pope Benedict. One of the five, Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham, told the London Times, that he believed thousands, not hundreds, of laity would follow them into the Catholic Church.”
Obviously, the meeting was intended to smooth relations between the two churches over the defection of whole communities of Anglican Churches for the Catholic Church.
The Archbishop, however, is trying to downplay the number of conversions to Rome. “He said he was ‘deeply skeptical’ about the ‘larger claims’ of a massive exodus of Anglicans to Rome,” in an interview. “I don’t see [the papal creation of personal ordinariates] as an aggressive act, meant to destabilize the relations of the churches, and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we’re talking about.”
“The process is just getting underway… By way of these ordinariates Anglicans will be able to “cross over” singly or en masse into the Catholic Church while retaining their liturgical traditions.”
“For the first time, Archbishop Williams suggested that worshipers who join the ordinariate could be allowed to stay in their Anglican churches under a plan to let Roman Catholics share Church of England facilities.”
Not only is Rome attempting to decimate the Anglican Church of its members and even its bishops and priests, it is also attempting to recover its property in the process.
“And all the world wondered after the beast.” Revelation 13:3. Which churches are next?
Catholic News Agency [Source]
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Brinkmanship in the Koreas
A U.S. aircraft carrier group involving the USS George Washington, which carries 75 warplanes and has a crew of over 6,000, left Tokyo, Japan for “joint exercises” with South Korea in Korean waters one day after North Korea shelled a South Korean island.
Two civilian bodies and two South Korean Marines were found on the island after the artillery attack, which has increased tension between North and South Korea.
President Barack Obama said the U.S. will “stand shoulder to shoulder” with South Korea.
“This exercise is defensive in nature,” U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement. “While planned well before yesterday’s unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates… our commitment to regional stability through deterrence.”
North Korea claims the incident was in self-defense and accused South Korea of firing shells into its own waters, and said that South Korea was driving the peninsula to the “brink of war.”
This is the same area in which the North sunk a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 soldiers. But this is the first time civilians have died since the bombing of a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987.
China, which has long supported Pyongyang as a protection from American dominance in the peninsula, called for “restraint,” while stating a retired Chinese military officer who works in another branch of government now, said that “China will not welcome the U.S. aircraft carrier joining the exercises, because that kind of move can escalate tensions and not relieve them.”
In the attack, houses of people living on the island also destroyed as 170 people were evacuated. “‘We are concerned that a war might break out,’ said Oh Duk-man, who was walking in downtown Seoul.”
“In Young-joo, another pedestrian, called for a strong response. ‘Our government has to react very strongly against North Korea after they invaded us in such a daring way,’ she said.”
Despite the rhetoric, regional powers have made clear they are looking for a diplomatic way to calm things down. Some analysts think that the attack was an attempt by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to strengthen his bargaining position ahead of disarmament talks as he has done in the past.
Jesus predicted that in the last days, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”
Two civilian bodies and two South Korean Marines were found on the island after the artillery attack, which has increased tension between North and South Korea.
President Barack Obama said the U.S. will “stand shoulder to shoulder” with South Korea.
“This exercise is defensive in nature,” U.S. Forces Korea said in a statement. “While planned well before yesterday’s unprovoked artillery attack, it demonstrates… our commitment to regional stability through deterrence.”
North Korea claims the incident was in self-defense and accused South Korea of firing shells into its own waters, and said that South Korea was driving the peninsula to the “brink of war.”
This is the same area in which the North sunk a South Korean warship in March, killing 46 soldiers. But this is the first time civilians have died since the bombing of a Korean Air passenger jet in 1987.
China, which has long supported Pyongyang as a protection from American dominance in the peninsula, called for “restraint,” while stating a retired Chinese military officer who works in another branch of government now, said that “China will not welcome the U.S. aircraft carrier joining the exercises, because that kind of move can escalate tensions and not relieve them.”
In the attack, houses of people living on the island also destroyed as 170 people were evacuated. “‘We are concerned that a war might break out,’ said Oh Duk-man, who was walking in downtown Seoul.”
“In Young-joo, another pedestrian, called for a strong response. ‘Our government has to react very strongly against North Korea after they invaded us in such a daring way,’ she said.”
Despite the rhetoric, regional powers have made clear they are looking for a diplomatic way to calm things down. Some analysts think that the attack was an attempt by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to strengthen his bargaining position ahead of disarmament talks as he has done in the past.
Jesus predicted that in the last days, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…”
US Catholic Bishops Approve Baptism Accord with Churches
By: Denford Ntini
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved an agreement recognizing as valid the baptism of four Reformed Christian churches, during its fall general assembly in Baltimore.
The “Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism,” has been the result of six years of study and discussion between the representatives of the U.S. Catholic bishops and the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Reformed Church in America, the Christian Reformed Church, and the United Church of Christ.
Noting that the approval was a “milesotne in the ecumenical journey,” Archbishop Wilton Gregory, chairman of the U.S.C.C.B. Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said, “Together with our Reformed brothers and sisters…we Catholic bishops can once again affirm baptism as the basis of the real, even if incomplete, unity we share in Christ.”
The four Reformed communities must approve the common agreement, which will then “allow Catholic ministers to presume that baptisms performed in these communities are ‘true baptism’ as understood in Catholic doctrine and law.”
All four so-called Reformed churches practice the unbiblical form of baptism known as sprinkling (mostly of infants). Baptism by sprinkling is the all-important ritual that brings a person into the Catholic Church. A common agreement, means then that those who are baptized by these “Reformed communities” are actually accepted as Roman Catholics, whether they individually want to be or not. For the Reformed churches to make such a grand concession clearly overthrows what little protestantism they may still have.
The Holy See speaks “great words against the Most High” and “magnifies himself,” instead of humbling herself and conforming to the clear testimony of Scripture. Her forms of baptism, the mass and other rituals and teachings are in conflict with Holy Scripture.
Biblical baptism is a public declaration of a personal conscious decision to follow Christ and live according to the doctrines of the Bible, not teachings based on a tradition or consensus with other churches. It is not merely a ritual, but a public testimony of a change of heart and life.
Catholics and Reformed Christians “have moved one step closer to that fullness of communion…” said Archbishop Gregory, “on that day when together we can celebrate in oneness of faith and ministry at the one holy table of the Eucharist.”
The popes have made the ecumenical movement a top priority in their quest to get all the world to worship according to their rules or principles (see Revelation 13:8). The ultimate goal of the ecumenical movement is to bring the churches into full, visible, sacramental unity around the Roman Catholich eucharist.
The fast-paced ecumenical movement is rapidly bringing the world to the place where the Holy See will “sit a queen” (Revelation 18:7). With such concessions as these churches have made to the Holy See, it will not be long.
To find unity with Rome, the protestant churches are making major concessions. This will eventually lead to persecution of those who don’t agree with the ecumenical unity promoted by Rome.
“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Great Controversy, p. 445
The undiluted preaching from God’s Word and an authoritative stand on truth are declining. The gospel is now so broad that it accepts all believes, even contradictory ones. The growing emphasis on inclusion and tolerance means that churches must redefine the principles of faith. Ecumenism has come to mean reducing all elements of faith to the lowest common denominator. God’s Word is neglected, experience is valued above truth, a false and selfish “faith” is promoted, and sound doctrine and correction are despised as “divisive” and “unloving.”
“Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!” Great Controversy, p. 563.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved an agreement recognizing as valid the baptism of four Reformed Christian churches, during its fall general assembly in Baltimore.
The “Common Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Baptism,” has been the result of six years of study and discussion between the representatives of the U.S. Catholic bishops and the Presbyterian Church-USA, the Reformed Church in America, the Christian Reformed Church, and the United Church of Christ.
Noting that the approval was a “milesotne in the ecumenical journey,” Archbishop Wilton Gregory, chairman of the U.S.C.C.B. Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said, “Together with our Reformed brothers and sisters…we Catholic bishops can once again affirm baptism as the basis of the real, even if incomplete, unity we share in Christ.”
The four Reformed communities must approve the common agreement, which will then “allow Catholic ministers to presume that baptisms performed in these communities are ‘true baptism’ as understood in Catholic doctrine and law.”
All four so-called Reformed churches practice the unbiblical form of baptism known as sprinkling (mostly of infants). Baptism by sprinkling is the all-important ritual that brings a person into the Catholic Church. A common agreement, means then that those who are baptized by these “Reformed communities” are actually accepted as Roman Catholics, whether they individually want to be or not. For the Reformed churches to make such a grand concession clearly overthrows what little protestantism they may still have.
The Holy See speaks “great words against the Most High” and “magnifies himself,” instead of humbling herself and conforming to the clear testimony of Scripture. Her forms of baptism, the mass and other rituals and teachings are in conflict with Holy Scripture.
Biblical baptism is a public declaration of a personal conscious decision to follow Christ and live according to the doctrines of the Bible, not teachings based on a tradition or consensus with other churches. It is not merely a ritual, but a public testimony of a change of heart and life.
Catholics and Reformed Christians “have moved one step closer to that fullness of communion…” said Archbishop Gregory, “on that day when together we can celebrate in oneness of faith and ministry at the one holy table of the Eucharist.”
The popes have made the ecumenical movement a top priority in their quest to get all the world to worship according to their rules or principles (see Revelation 13:8). The ultimate goal of the ecumenical movement is to bring the churches into full, visible, sacramental unity around the Roman Catholich eucharist.
The fast-paced ecumenical movement is rapidly bringing the world to the place where the Holy See will “sit a queen” (Revelation 18:7). With such concessions as these churches have made to the Holy See, it will not be long.
To find unity with Rome, the protestant churches are making major concessions. This will eventually lead to persecution of those who don’t agree with the ecumenical unity promoted by Rome.
“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.” Great Controversy, p. 445
The undiluted preaching from God’s Word and an authoritative stand on truth are declining. The gospel is now so broad that it accepts all believes, even contradictory ones. The growing emphasis on inclusion and tolerance means that churches must redefine the principles of faith. Ecumenism has come to mean reducing all elements of faith to the lowest common denominator. God’s Word is neglected, experience is valued above truth, a false and selfish “faith” is promoted, and sound doctrine and correction are despised as “divisive” and “unloving.”
“Romanism is now regarded by Protestants with far greater favor than in former years. In those countries where Catholicism is not in the ascendancy, and the papists are taking a conciliatory course in order to gain influence, there is an increasing indifference concerning the doctrines that separate the reformed churches from the papal hierarchy; the opinion is gaining ground that, after all, we do not differ so widely upon vital points as has been supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into a better understanding with Rome. The time was when Protestants placed a high value upon the liberty of conscience which had been so dearly purchased. They taught their children to abhor popery and held that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how widely different are the sentiments now expressed!” Great Controversy, p. 563.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Vatican Should be Treated as a “Rogue State”
“The Vatican should be treated as a kind of ‘rogue state’ by the rest of the world until it stops using statehood – and the ancient rules of the canon law – to protect pedophile priests,” says UN judge Geoffrey Robertson.
“The Catholic Church is the only religion permitted under international law to claim the privileges of statehood and its leaders immunity from civil or criminal action,” says Robertson.
Mr Robertson makes a “powerful and cogently explained case” for the international community to pressure the Church to “abandoning canon law,” which is the church law that defines discipline for sex crimes.
The Age [Article]
“The Catholic Church is the only religion permitted under international law to claim the privileges of statehood and its leaders immunity from civil or criminal action,” says Robertson.
Mr Robertson makes a “powerful and cogently explained case” for the international community to pressure the Church to “abandoning canon law,” which is the church law that defines discipline for sex crimes.
The Age [Article]
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Electromagnetic Pulse Likely
“The sky erupts. Cities darken, food spoils and homes fall silent. Civilization collapses.” The idea is not as fictional as some may think. USA Today published an article discussing such a catastrophe.
An electromagnetic pulse can be triggered by a supersized solar storm or a terrorist A-bomb, and would be capable of disabling the electric grid that powers modern cities and towns.
“Electromagnetic pulses (EMP) are oversized outbursts of atmospheric electricity. Whether powered by geomagnetic storms or by nuclear blasts, their resultant intense magnetic fields can induce ground currents strong enough to burn out power lines and electrical equipment across state lines.
The threat has even become political fodder, drawing warnings from former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a likely presidential contender. ‘We are not today hardened against this,” he told a Heritage Foundation audience last year. “It is an enormous catastrophic threat.’”
“Meanwhile, in Congress, a ‘Grid Act’ bill aimed at the threat awaits Senate action, having passed in the House of Representatives.
“Fear is evident. With the sun’s 11-year solar cycle ramping up for its stormy maximum in 2012, and nuclear concerns swirling about Iran and North Korea, a drumbeat of reports and blue-ribbon panels center on electromagnetic pulse scenarios.
“More than 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines traverse North America, supplying 1,800 utilities the power for TVs, lights, refrigerators and air conditioners in homes, and for businesses, hospitals and police stations.”
“‘The electric grid’s vulnerability to cyber and to other attacks is one of the single greatest threats to our national security,’ Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in June as he introduced the bill to the House of Representatives.”
“Two historic incidents often figure in the discussion:
“On July 9, 1962…, a 1.4-megaton H-bomb was tested at an altitude of 250 miles, some 900 miles southwest of Hawaii over the Pacific Ocean. The pulse shorted out streetlights in Oahu.
“On March 9, 1989, the sun spat a million-mile-wide blast of high-temperature charged solar gas straight at the Earth. The “coronal mass ejection” struck the planet three days later, triggering a geomagnetic storm that made the northern lights visible in Texas. The storm also induced currents in Quebec’s power grid that knocked out power for 6 million people in Canada and the USA for at least nine hours.”
Imagine what could happen to society if a perfect solar storm would knock out a significant portion of the global electrical grid. Some scientists think such an event is inevitable in the next 100 years. “It has to be the perfect storm,” they say, but also say that they believe it is likely.
“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land…. in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power… These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” Great Controversy, p. 589-590.
USA Today
An electromagnetic pulse can be triggered by a supersized solar storm or a terrorist A-bomb, and would be capable of disabling the electric grid that powers modern cities and towns.
“Electromagnetic pulses (EMP) are oversized outbursts of atmospheric electricity. Whether powered by geomagnetic storms or by nuclear blasts, their resultant intense magnetic fields can induce ground currents strong enough to burn out power lines and electrical equipment across state lines.
The threat has even become political fodder, drawing warnings from former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a likely presidential contender. ‘We are not today hardened against this,” he told a Heritage Foundation audience last year. “It is an enormous catastrophic threat.’”
“Meanwhile, in Congress, a ‘Grid Act’ bill aimed at the threat awaits Senate action, having passed in the House of Representatives.
“Fear is evident. With the sun’s 11-year solar cycle ramping up for its stormy maximum in 2012, and nuclear concerns swirling about Iran and North Korea, a drumbeat of reports and blue-ribbon panels center on electromagnetic pulse scenarios.
“More than 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines traverse North America, supplying 1,800 utilities the power for TVs, lights, refrigerators and air conditioners in homes, and for businesses, hospitals and police stations.”
“‘The electric grid’s vulnerability to cyber and to other attacks is one of the single greatest threats to our national security,’ Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in June as he introduced the bill to the House of Representatives.”
“Two historic incidents often figure in the discussion:
“On July 9, 1962…, a 1.4-megaton H-bomb was tested at an altitude of 250 miles, some 900 miles southwest of Hawaii over the Pacific Ocean. The pulse shorted out streetlights in Oahu.
“On March 9, 1989, the sun spat a million-mile-wide blast of high-temperature charged solar gas straight at the Earth. The “coronal mass ejection” struck the planet three days later, triggering a geomagnetic storm that made the northern lights visible in Texas. The storm also induced currents in Quebec’s power grid that knocked out power for 6 million people in Canada and the USA for at least nine hours.”
Imagine what could happen to society if a perfect solar storm would knock out a significant portion of the global electrical grid. Some scientists think such an event is inevitable in the next 100 years. “It has to be the perfect storm,” they say, but also say that they believe it is likely.
“While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, he will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land…. in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power… These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” Great Controversy, p. 589-590.
USA Today
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
50 Years of Ecumenism to be Celebrated by Vatican
On Wednesday, November 17th, “the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity will hold a public commemoration to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity.”
Archbishop Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, will preside. The commemoration will be attended by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president emeritus, Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury (Anglican), and Metropolitan Pergamo Ioannis (Zizioulas) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
On 5 June 1960, Pope John XXIII established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. 1988 Pope John Paul II changed the name of the Secretariat to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Over the years, the Vatican Papal has guided very successful ecumenical relations with a host of churches around the world.
The theme: “Towards a new stage of ecumenical dialogue,” no doubt reflects on the forward-looking agenda of the Vatican to unite all churches and religious communities ultimately into one visible, sacramental and spiritual unity. This of course would be in opposition to God’s Ten Commandment Law.
Speaking of the United States in particular, the Book Great Controversy (p. 445) says; “When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the state to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result.”
If that is ever going to happen in the United States, there has to be a worldwide effort to promote unity based on Rome’s principles. The United States simply becomes the engine of the Papacy to enforce the vision of the Vatican in creating a single global worship as described in Revelation 13:15-17. “And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
Vatican Information Service
Another interesting thing to read:
THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT: ITS IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS
Another interesting thing to read:
THE SHADOW GOVERNMENT: ITS IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS
I haven't been on this blog in a while..
oh, look, these sites have interesting articles.. :)
http://candidconservatives.com/
http://www.cuttingedge.org/newsletters/index.html
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Hurricane Worsens Change of Cholera Outbreak in Port-au-Prince
“The cholera outbreak in Haiti — the first in 50 years — has layered fresh anxiety atop long-standing misery.” The disease has already sickened more than 8,000 people and killed more than 550, and has reached the capital city of Port-au-Prince.
A recent Hurricane brought fresh worries that there would be a more serious outbreak of Cholera in the capital city because of the lack of sanitation and fresh clean water. Though aid workers are trying to isolate and treat any new cases, their efforts may not be enough.
“More than 1.3 million Haitians were left homeless by the quake, and more than 1.3 million remain homeless today.” Only a fraction of quake rubble has been cleared, and restoration has barely begun, if at all. Now a Hurricane that brushed by the island, has threatened what stability there is. Many of the hundreds of thousands of people who are now living in camps are still quite vulnerable to disease.
“Thanks to the immense foreign intervention, some things have improved this year, like many displaced Haitians’ access to clean water and medicine. That has undoubtedly helped prevent far wider sickness and death in the cholera outbreak. Unless the rebuilding begins in earnest, even that good news may prove transitory.” For now, the Cholera outbreak marches on.
The compounding disasters in Haiti may well be an illustration of what will happen in many parts of the world as the judgments of God are meted out on a rebellious planet just before, and after the close of human probation.
“Troublous times are before us. The judgments of God are abroad in the land. Calamities follow one another in rapid succession. Soon God is to rise out of His place to shake terribly the earth, and to punish the inhabitants for their iniquity. Then He will stand up in behalf of His people, and will give them His protecting care. He will throw His everlasting arms around them to shield them from all harm.” Selected Messages, Vol 2, p 391
While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, [Satan] will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work… [I]n every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power… He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” Great Controversy, p 589-590.
A recent Hurricane brought fresh worries that there would be a more serious outbreak of Cholera in the capital city because of the lack of sanitation and fresh clean water. Though aid workers are trying to isolate and treat any new cases, their efforts may not be enough.
“More than 1.3 million Haitians were left homeless by the quake, and more than 1.3 million remain homeless today.” Only a fraction of quake rubble has been cleared, and restoration has barely begun, if at all. Now a Hurricane that brushed by the island, has threatened what stability there is. Many of the hundreds of thousands of people who are now living in camps are still quite vulnerable to disease.
“Thanks to the immense foreign intervention, some things have improved this year, like many displaced Haitians’ access to clean water and medicine. That has undoubtedly helped prevent far wider sickness and death in the cholera outbreak. Unless the rebuilding begins in earnest, even that good news may prove transitory.” For now, the Cholera outbreak marches on.
The compounding disasters in Haiti may well be an illustration of what will happen in many parts of the world as the judgments of God are meted out on a rebellious planet just before, and after the close of human probation.
“Troublous times are before us. The judgments of God are abroad in the land. Calamities follow one another in rapid succession. Soon God is to rise out of His place to shake terribly the earth, and to punish the inhabitants for their iniquity. Then He will stand up in behalf of His people, and will give them His protecting care. He will throw His everlasting arms around them to shield them from all harm.” Selected Messages, Vol 2, p 391
While appearing to the children of men as a great physician who can heal all their maladies, [Satan] will bring disease and disaster, until populous cities are reduced to ruin and desolation. Even now he is at work… [I]n every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power… He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast.” Great Controversy, p 589-590.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
U.S. Economy a “Fiscal Trainwreck”
“The U.S. economy is a ‘fiscal train wreck’ waiting to happen that risks ushering in a period of stagnation featuring by minimal growth, high unemployment and deflationary pressure, U.S. economist Nouriel Roubini wrote…,” said Reuters.
Roubini was one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States said “fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.”
“But he said that further quantitative easing… will have little effect on U.S. growth in 2011…”
He said the U.S. remains on an “unsustainable fiscal course” and that further quantitative easy (creating billions more dollars and inserting them into the economy) will have “little effect on growth in 2011.”
“The worst of the coming fiscal train wreck will be prevented by the Fed’s easing. But the risk is (Obama) … will then preside over … a Japanese style stagnation, where growth is barely positive, and deflationary pressures and high unemployment linger.”
“There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are unable to solve the problem of poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.” Ministry of Healing, p. 183
MSNBC Article
Roubini was one of the first economists to predict the housing crash in the United States said “fiscal and monetary stimulus had prevented another depression.”
“But he said that further quantitative easing… will have little effect on U.S. growth in 2011…”
He said the U.S. remains on an “unsustainable fiscal course” and that further quantitative easy (creating billions more dollars and inserting them into the economy) will have “little effect on growth in 2011.”
“The worst of the coming fiscal train wreck will be prevented by the Fed’s easing. But the risk is (Obama) … will then preside over … a Japanese style stagnation, where growth is barely positive, and deflationary pressures and high unemployment linger.”
“There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are unable to solve the problem of poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.” Ministry of Healing, p. 183
MSNBC Article
Monday, November 8, 2010
Earthquake, Tsunami & Volcano, all on the same day
“Suddenly trees, houses and all things in the village were sucked into the sea and nothing was left,” said Joni Sageru after a tsunami that slammed into her island off western Indonesia.
More than 430 people were killed, and 88 still missing after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami destroyed villages and towns along the cost of some outlying islands of western Indonesia. Rescue teams “believe many, many of the bodies were swept to sea.”
On the same day Mount Merapi erupted, killing at least 38 and leaving about 70,000 people homeless. The twin disasters. Mount Merapi has erupted three times within two weeks.
Along with the 33 people killed by a volcano that erupted Tuesday more than 800 miles to the east in central Java, the number of dead from the twin disasters has now topped 400. Mount Merapi began rumbling again Thursday after a lull that allowed mourners to hold a mass burial for its victims. There were no reports of new injuries or damage.
The double catastrophes in different parts of the country, has severely testing Indonesia’s emergency response network.
Some still wept for lost loved ones as they lay on straw mats or sat on the floor, waiting for medics to treat injuries such as cuts and broken limbs. Outside, some rescuers wore face masks as they wrapped corpses in black body bags.
Residents from Kinahrejo, Ngrangkah and Kaliadem — villages that were devastated in Tuesday’s blast — crammed into refugee camps. Officials brought cows, buffalo and goats down the mountain so that villagers wouldn’t try to go home to check on their livestock.
Thousands attended a mass burial for 26 of the victims six miles from the base of the volcano. Family and friends wept and hugged one another as the bodies were lowered into the grave in rows.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Pope Attempts History Revision
A recent article challenges the Pope’s account of the historical relationship between the Roman Catholic church and the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.
The pope is at it again. In a speech before the Queen of England last week, Pope Benedict XVI carefully revised the history of what led up to the scourge of Nazism during World War II. He said, “Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live” (emphasis mine throughout).
But was it really a godless society in Germany that led to the Nazi atrocities? Benedict, who was a registered member of Hitler Youth at 14 and served in the Germany Army at 16, said he recalled the regime’s attitude toward religion and Christian pastors “who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that opposition with their lives.” ...
Benedict concluded, “As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society. …”
Of course, it was actually the inclusion of “God” and religious ideology that provided the Nazi regime its greatest source of inspiration. Adolf Hitler himself was a deeply religious man and wanted to be seen as a religious figure.
“We are not a movement—rather we are a religion,” Hitler said about his regime (Robert G.L. Waite, The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler).
“Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews,” Hitler said in 1926. “The work that Christ started but could not finish, I—Adolf Hitler—will conclude” (John Toland, Adolf Hitler). He even said he learned from the Jesuit order “above all.”
While other influences, like social Darwinism, might have contributed to Nazi doctrine, this fact remains: Most Nazis believed in God and claimed to be doing the work of God.
And to suggest that the Vatican stood against Hitler’s psychopathic religion is yet another blatant attempt to revise the historical record.
The Vatican was actually Nazism’s chief enabler (“Benedict Revises the Historical Record," www.thetrumpet.com, Sept. 24, 2010).
Inspired commentary
Inspiration has described the continuing nature of the papacy.
The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. “Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy” (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ? (The Great Controversy, p. 571)
Source
The pope is at it again. In a speech before the Queen of England last week, Pope Benedict XVI carefully revised the history of what led up to the scourge of Nazism during World War II. He said, “Even in our own lifetime, we can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against a Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews, who were thought unfit to live” (emphasis mine throughout).
But was it really a godless society in Germany that led to the Nazi atrocities? Benedict, who was a registered member of Hitler Youth at 14 and served in the Germany Army at 16, said he recalled the regime’s attitude toward religion and Christian pastors “who spoke the truth in love, opposed the Nazis and paid for that opposition with their lives.” ...
Benedict concluded, “As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society. …”
Of course, it was actually the inclusion of “God” and religious ideology that provided the Nazi regime its greatest source of inspiration. Adolf Hitler himself was a deeply religious man and wanted to be seen as a religious figure.
“We are not a movement—rather we are a religion,” Hitler said about his regime (Robert G.L. Waite, The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler).
“Christ was the greatest early fighter in the battle against the world enemy, the Jews,” Hitler said in 1926. “The work that Christ started but could not finish, I—Adolf Hitler—will conclude” (John Toland, Adolf Hitler). He even said he learned from the Jesuit order “above all.”
While other influences, like social Darwinism, might have contributed to Nazi doctrine, this fact remains: Most Nazis believed in God and claimed to be doing the work of God.
And to suggest that the Vatican stood against Hitler’s psychopathic religion is yet another blatant attempt to revise the historical record.
The Vatican was actually Nazism’s chief enabler (“Benedict Revises the Historical Record," www.thetrumpet.com, Sept. 24, 2010).
Inspired commentary
Inspiration has described the continuing nature of the papacy.
The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the latter times. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. It is a part of her policy to assume the character which will best accomplish her purpose; but beneath the variable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the invariable venom of the serpent. “Faith ought not to be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy” (Lenfant, volume 1, page 516), she declares. Shall this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, be now acknowledged as a part of the church of Christ? (The Great Controversy, p. 571)
Source
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Pope Will Speak to 150 Million in Barcelona
“When Benedict XVI dedicates Barcelona’s Church of the Holy Family next month, it’s predicted he will speak not only to the 47,000 people on hand, but to another 150 million via television.
The Pope will be in Barcelona on Nov. 6 to dedicate the Church of the Sagrada Familia…” and “designate the church a basilica.”
Some 7,000 people will pack the basilica for the ceremony which will involve 1,100 priests, while another 40,000 will be accommodated outside the church.
Spain wonders after… Revelation 13:3.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Bernanke: U.S. Debt Load Unsustainable
At the annual meeting for the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, in Providence Rhode Island on October 4, 2010, Ben Bernanke, in a little-reported speech, pointedly indicated that the current trajectory of rapidly growing government debt is unsustainable. In the speech, he said that U.S. national debt in relation to national income “has increased to a level not seen since the aftermath of World War II.”
Congressional Budget Office projections “show future budget deficits and debts rising indefinitely, and at increasing rates,” he said. This means that sooner or later there will be a day of reckoning and the government will have to face painful changes in budgetary practices. And Bernanke acknowledged that. “One way or the other, fiscal adjustments sufficient to stabilize the federal budget will certainly occur at some point. The only real question is whether these adjustments will take place through a careful and deliberative process that weighs priorities and gives people plenty of time to adjust to changes in government programs or tax policies, or whether the needed fiscal adjustments will be a rapid and painful response to a looming or actual fiscal crisis…”
What do you think will be the way it is done? U.S. fiscal policy is driven by politics more than by realities.
Bernanke made multiple references to the cost of the health care, in one case suggesting that the cost of social security is “considerably smaller than the pressures associated with federal health programs…”
Bernanke was not able to give the “day nor the hour” when the economy would implode, but he was clear about the fact that one day it would likely happen if something isn’t done to stem the tide of fiscal red ink. “It would be difficult to identify a specific threshold at which federal debt begins to pose more substantial costs and risks to the nation’s economy. Perhaps no bright line exists; the costs and risks may grow more or less continuously as the federal debt rises. What we do know, however, is that the threat to our economy is real and growing, which should be sufficient reason for fiscal policymakers to put in place a credible plan for bringing deficits down to sustainable levels over the medium term.”
While we hope they will, it isn’t likely. At least the pattern of history does not suggest that the political will to take the necessary steps exists among American leaders.
“There are not many, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are not able to solve the problem of moral corruption, poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.“ Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, 13.
Bernanke is really telling us that there is a looming crisis ahead not only for the United States, but for the rest of the world.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Benedict XVI: “We Are One Family”
“We are all part of one human family, with equal rights to share in the fruits of the earth, and with equal responsibility to be open and hospitable to migrants and refugees,” said Pope Benedict XVI on October 26 in his message for the 97th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
The theme for the day was “One human family,” and he referred to all peoples as “one family of brothers and sisters…where also people of various religions are urged to take part in dialogue, so that a serene and fruitful coexistence with respect for legitimate differences may be found.”
One wonders what Benedict considers as “legitimate differences?” A similar reference was made by Benedict XVI to French Catholics at Castel Gandolfo, August 22, where exhorted them to be more accepting of the Roma gypsies who are predominantly Catholic. French President Nicolas Sarkozy paid the Pope a high-profile visit to support his declining political fortunes after his country expelled the gypsies. He was lectured by Benedict XVI on the church’s social teaching on migration.
The Catholic church does not conceal the fact that migrant adherents to its faith influence the peoples in their host countries, including their moral values and social teaching, which subsequently affects the policies of the nations leading to a New World Order. Therefore Benedict XVI urges that nations must be receptive to migrants.
“The breaking-down of borders is not simply a material fact: it is also a cultural event both in its causes and its effects…” Benedict said in Caritas en Veritate.
“All have the same right to enjoy the goods of the earth whose destination is universal…” continued Benedict XVI at the World Day event. “It is necessary to correct the malfunctions…that cause new divisions between peoples and within peoples, and also to ensure…the redistribution of wealth…”
St Thomas Aquinas, a principal theologian and philosopher of the Catholic church, said “man should not consider his material possessions as his own, but as common to all…to share them without hesitation,” as quoted in Rerum Novarum, encyclical letter of Pope Leo XIII. It is no secret that the Vatican intends to redistribute the wealth of nations, especially of prospering Protestant nations to faltering Roman Catholic ones, so that she alone may “have power over the treasuries…and all the precious things.” Daniel 11:43.
Benedict XVI affirmed “the right to emigrate” proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 2001, on a similar occasion a decade ago. “The Church recognizes this right in every human person, in its dual aspect of the possibility to leave one’s country and the possibility to enter another country to look for better conditions of life,” said the Polish Pope.
The Holy See’s strategy is on course to ensure that the Vatican will “sit a queen” among the nations of the world. (See Rev 17:2, 18:7).
The Vatican “is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men… Stealthily and unsuspectedly she is strengthening her forces… [And] all that she desires is vantage-ground and this is already being given her.” Great Controversy, p. 581.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Pope to Chile: Church and State should respectfully Collaborate
There should be “loyal and respectful collaboration” between the Church and state, Benedict XVI affirmed today with Chile’s new ambassador to the Holy See. Fernando Zegers Santa Cruz presented his credentials to the Pope at the Vatican. The Pope emphasized that both the church and the state are called “to develop a loyal and respectful collaboration.”
“When the Church raises her voice in face of today’s great challenges and problems, such as wars, hunger, the extreme poverty of so many, the defense of human life from its conception until its natural end, or the promotion of the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman and the first [entity] responsible for the education of children, it does not act out of individual interests or for principles that can only be perceived by those who profess a specific religious faith” said the Pope.
Note that the Pope listed almost all areas of social life in which the Vatican wants influence. But especially it should be noted that the Catholic Church claims that it is the “first entity responsible for the education of children.” The bible teaches that it is the parents who are the first entity to teach the children. Rome is claiming control over children’s education. This is in her self-interest. If she can train children to think, she can get them to do what she wants them to do.
Pope Benedict XVI also emphasized the role of the Church in the most important events of the country, “as well as in the consolidation of its own national identity, profoundly marked by the Catholic sentiment.”
The Vatican continues to promote itself as the foundation of society and the family in order to achieve more influence and power. Revelation 17 reaveals that she is positioning herself to govern the nations according to her moral teaching. The slow and steady movements of the Holy See clearly show that the time is near where “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.” Revelation 13:8.
Sarkozy Gets Cozy with the Pope
French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Pope Benedict XVI on October 8, to “confirm constructive collaboration with the Catholic Church, after differences that have arisen in recent months.” A communiqué from the Vatican affirmed their “joint desire to maintain permanent dialogue at various institutional levels, and to continue constructive collaboration on matters of mutual interest.”
But this nice sounding statement is really typical Vatican-speak that obscures what really happened.
The French President, a Roman Catholic himself, and an honorary member of the clergy, met with the Pope for 30 minutes and then as usual for state visits to the Vatican, he met with the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone and other diplomatic leaders.
Sarkozy requested the meeting because, apparently, enough French Catholics who voted for him in 2007 were alienated from his party because of the expulsion of gypsies from France. The bishops had been outspoken on the matter. And on August 22, the Pope exhorted French Catholics gathered at Castel Gandolfo to “accept legitimate human differences.” In other words, he was saying that the French people should be accepting of the gypsies.
The pope slapped Sarkozy’s hand. He used the expulsion of the gypsies to the advantage of the Vatican by exhorting French Catholics to oppose the French government’s actions. This made Sarkozy realize that he needed to make amends and seek a high-profile political visit to the pope in the interest of cooperation with the Vatican – and perhaps reconciliation.
During the meeting the two men discussed “the importance of the ethical and social dimension of economic problems, in light of the encyclical ‘Caritas in Veritate,” the papal encyclical published last year.
In other words, they discussed (or perhaps Sarkozy was lectured on) proper social policy as defined by the Vatican in Caritas in Veritate. The pope used the occasion to instruct Sarkozy on the moral principles of Rome in dealing with social problems such as the gypsies.
The Pope remarked about his affection for France by remembering his visit there in 2008 for the 1500 year anniversy of the baptism of Clovis, the first Catholic king of the Franks, in 508. So in spite of secular legal nature of the French government, Benedict invoked the Catholic soul of France in his remarks seeking to re-affirm the papal supremacy over French social life.
The president and his delegation later prayed in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, before the altar of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and at the altar of the Confession, and the tomb of St. Peter. This may be surprising for the leader of a nation that prides itself in a secular government to do this. But students of Prophecy will recognize this behavior as part of the fulfillment of long-established prophetic principles.
Sarkozy, the head of a secular government, revealed his political preference for Catholicism by this official state visit to the Vatican. It is evident that being caught in a political bind has led Sarkozy to wonder “after the beast” (See Revelation 13:3).
At a luncheon later in the day, the president publically stated that he seeks to promote relations with the Church and to defend its positions. Sarkozy is not hiding his desire to take France back to its Roman Catholic roots and heal the deadly wound inflicted by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798.
“France does not forget that it has a common history of 2,000 years with the Church and that today it shares with her an inestimable treasure of moral values, of culture, of civilization, which have been inscribed in its identity,” said Sarkozy.
Sarkozy doesn’t remember his history very well. French history with the church does not go back 2000 years. It has only been 1502 years. Nevertheless Sarkozy’s remark affirms Rome’s claim to be the cultural and religious center of French social and political life.
France is one of the most powerful and influential countries in the European Union, and as she is being brought more and more under Vatican control, she will have a strong influence on other nations as they follow the beast. Rome is working to resurrect the Holy Roman Empire in Europe and subtly uses politial events to manipulate the nations into her orbit.
Sarkozy needs the Catholic vote to stay in power. His insecurity in light of their lack of support and even defection from his party, is revealing. There is great danger when national leaders think they have to court Rome in order to retain the Catholic vote.
“Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Let history testify of her artful and persistent efforts to insinuate herself into the affairs of nations; and having gained a foothold, to further her own aims, even at the ruin of princes and people. Romanism openly puts forth the claim that the pope“can pronounce sentences and judgments in contradiction to the right of nations, to the law of God and man.” [THE “DECRETALIA.”] Great Controversy, p. 580.
