Sunday, May 30, 2010

When Christ's Visible Presence was Withdrawn, the word of God was to be our Source of Power

The life of Christ that gives life to the world is in His word. It was by His word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His word He stilled the sea, and raised the dead; and the people bore witness that His word was with power. He spoke the word of God, as He had spoken through all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament. The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ, and the Saviour desired to fix the faith of His followers on the word. When His visible presence should be withdrawn, the word must be their source of power. Like their Master, they were to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4. - The Desire of Ages, page 390.

A Response "to the relentless attempts in recent times to legislate, in the European Union, Sunday as an official weekly rest day"

by Brighton G Kavaloh,
A Postgraduate Law Researcher in European Legislative Studies, London, England
(Excerpt)  - In my view, the attempt to enshrine Sunday Law in Europe currently in progress through the Written Declaration procedure still remains unlawful...Whilst it is wholly appreciated to provide legal protection to ensure that every individual has the right to observe any day of their choice for worship it is entirely inappropriate to force a doctrinal position on all Union Citizens.   Read the full article here

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Pope Leo XIII - The Oldest Footage of a Pope

This is the oldest known footage of a Pope in existence. This film of Pope Leo XIII was created in 1896. The audio portion is the oldest known audio recording of a Pope, also of Pope Leo XIII recorded in 1903. The audio is Pope Leo XIII chanting the Ave Maria in Latin.

Pope Leo XIII (2 March 1810 - 20 July 1903), born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903 in succession to Pope Pius IX. Reigning until the age of 93, he was the oldest pope, and had the third longest pontificate, behind his immediate predecessor Pius IX and John Paul II. He is known for intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his encyclical Rerum Novarum and his attempts to define the position of the Church with regard to modern thinking.




Popes Leo XIII's Scheme Comes to Fruition

(Excerpts) - The emergence of the Religious Right in the United States can be seen as the ultimate fulfillment of the vision of Leo XIII...it was Rome's objective to "gain favor among Protestants, and not to be suspected as propaganda."

A letter from the Vatican outlining the plans of Pope Leo XIII respecting the United States was published in the New York Sun, July 11, 1892, and contains the following significant statement:
     "What the church has done in the past for others, she will now do for the United States....He [the pope] hails in the United American States, and in their young and flourishing church the source of new life for Europeans....If the United States succeed in solving the many problems that puzzle us, Europe will follow her example." - "New York Sun," July 11, 1892; quoted in "Liberty," 1907, No. 4, p. 10.

How remarkably this coincides with the prophetic prediction: "His deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." Rev. 13:3. Yes, it is true that "as America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the Papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example." - "Testimonies," Vol. VI, p. 18. This country led the world from despotism to liberty, and it will lead the way back.  Christian Edwardson in  Facts of Faith, (published in 1943) p. 260, emphasis added.

A. T. Jones and Christian Edwardson, whose careful research exposed the master scheme conceived by Pope Leo XIII and followed relentlessly by his successors.  From one of  A. T. Jones' sermons at the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session of 1895 we quote:

The papacy is very impatient of any restraining bonds; in fact, it wants none at all. And the one grand discovery Leo XIII has made, which no pope before him ever made, is that turn which is taken now all the time by Leo and from him by those who are managing affairs in this country--the turn that is taken upon the clause of the Constitution of the United States: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Leo has made the discovery that the papacy can be pushed upon this country in every possible way and by every possible means and that congress is prohibited from ever legislating in any way to stop it. That is a discovery that he made that none before him made and that is how it is that he of late can so fully endorse the United States Constitution.

We all know of course that that was intended to be the expression of the American people always, that religion should have no place in governmental affairs and no connection whatever with it. But the papacy is never satisfied without taking possession of everything in the government and running it in the interests of the church and Leo XIII has found out that this can all be done under the cover of that constitutional statement which was intended to prevent such a thing forever.

Thus the papacy in plain violation of the Constitution will crowd herself upon the government and then hold up that clause as a barrier against anything that any would do to stop it. And every one that speaks against this working of the papacy, behold! He "is violating the Constitution of the United States" in spirit, because the constitution says that nothing shall ever be done in respect to any religion or the establishment of it. When a citizen of the United States would rise up and protest against the papacy and all this that is against the letter and the spirit of the constitution, behold! He does not appreciate "the liberty of the constitution. We are lovers of liberty; we are defenders of the constitution; we are glad that America has such a symbol of liberty" as that.  Indeed they are.
That is why Pope Leo XIII turns all his soul, full of ideality, to what is improperly called his American policy. It should be rightly called his Catholic universal policy. (A. T. Jones in his sermon "The Papacy," Third Angel's Message 3, 1895 General Conference, emphasis added)

A letter from Rome, dated October 14, 1894, says:

"The United States of America, it can be said without exaggeration, are the chief thought of Leo XIII....A few days ago, on receiving an eminent American, Leo XIII said to him: 'But the United States are the future; we think of them incessantly.'...That is why Leo XIII turns all his soul, full of ideality, to what is improperly called his American policy. It should be called his Catholic universal policy." - "Catholic Standard and Times" (Philadelphis), Nov. 3, 1894; quoted in "Protestant Magazine," Oct., 1913, p. 441.

Now the "Catholic Action" is focused on America, not in an antagonistic way, but quietly, in wisely planned, systematically organized, and well directed efforts along numerous lines, so as to gain favor among Protestants, and not to be suspected as propaganda. And, remarkable as it may sound, Protestant leaders and people are totally asleep on the Catholic question, even more so than the Huguenots were in France before the St. Bartholomew's Massacre. 

Guided by the light of prophecy, notable Church leaders like A. T. Jones and Christian Edwardson laid the groundwork for our understanding of current events.   From the Bible these men received the wisdom to discern the conception in the mind of Leo XIII of the original grand design to subvert and destroy the Constitution of the United States of America. They discerned the future workings of papal policy in the politics of this nation.    Source

Which day is the Lord's Day?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Time has Come: OUT OF THE CITIES!

Part 1 of 2: In this study Dave Westbrook looks at the prophetic sign for God's people to get out of the city. This presentation was videotaped live at the "Out of the Cities" rally in Chicago. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Matthew 24:15.




Part 2 of 2: Out of the Cities, covering the six steps to leaving the cities.

Friday, May 21, 2010

As the Crowning act in the Great Drama of Deception, Satan Himself will Personate Christ

"He is going to flood the world with such happenings that the mind can never comprehend it." - Maitreya's associate in Share International, July 1992.

A good friend writes:

I remember when [Benjamin] Creme put full-page advertisements in many of the world’s major newspapers in early 1982 about Maitreya of which I kept a copy. We honestly at that time thought things were about to wrap up. Just think how much closer we are to it now. I just keep thinking about Ellen White telling us that “The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began…” –2 Selected Messages pg 142 (1903). It’s very easy now to see how this could happen.

Anyway, it’s sobering… and it’s sad to see how the devil is marshalling his forces… and preparing a world to accept the ultimate in deception.




Listen to excerpts of the deceptions Satan is urging on men to prepare them to accept him as Christ Himself:

We all are about to witness an event that will bring tears of joy to the masses of all humanity in a very short period of time. The time has come when the World Teacher will once again walk with the sons of men.

…a sweeter atmosphere of hope will enter the affairs of men, a new call for Justice will sound forth from all quarters, and in the midst of that clamour will you find Me. I shall sustain all who call for Peace, for Justice and brotherly Love. I shall call to My side all who love their brothers. From all parties and all nations they will come, gathering around Me. I shall fill their hearts with hope and Love, and in mounting numbers they shall conquer the world. This process has begun.

"The Christ will come on the world's television channels, linked together by satellite. All those with access to television will see His face. He will establish a telepathic rapport with all humanity simultaneously". While the Christ is speaking... everyone will feel far more love than they've ever felt before, that massive outpouring of love will cause hundreds of thousands of 'miracle' cures will take place simultaneously."



Students of Bible prophecy have been warning the world of these very events for over 150 years:

Fearful sights of a supernatural character will soon be revealed in the heavens, in token of the power of miracle-working demons. The spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world, to fasten them in deception, and urge them on to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. By these agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world's Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures.

As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Saviour's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Revelation 1:13-15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: "Christ has come! Christ has come!" The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. Like the Samaritans who were deceived by Simon Magus, the multitudes, from the least to the greatest, give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is "the great power of God." Acts 8:10.

But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible declares that God's unmingled wrath shall be poured out.

And, furthermore, Satan is not permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ's advent. The Saviour has warned His people against deception upon this point, and has clearly foretold the manner of His second coming. "There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. . . . Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matthew 24:24-27, 31; 25:31; Revelation 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. This coming there is no possibility of counterfeiting. It will be universally known--witnessed by the whole world.

Only those who have been diligent students of the Scriptures and who have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful delusion that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony these will detect the deceiver in his disguise. To all the testing time will come.
---- The Great Controversy, p. 624-626.

The Coming Death Decree: "I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them"

Revelation 13 pulls back the curtain on the future, revealing the true character of the coming New World Order.  It's professes to have the best interest of humanity at heart, but when fully developed, it will reveal the spirit of the dragon.  No man will be able to buy or sell unless he conforms to the dictates of this theocratic tyranny unfolding as we speak. Liberty of conscience, which became ours at such a great cost of suffering and blood, is no longer respected.  When global economic sanctions fail to achieve their desired end, a death decree will be issued.  It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to the papal sabbath, choosing rather to obey the word of God and keep the Bible Sabbath, should not to be tolerated; that it is better for them to be eliminated than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness.  To every soul upon the earth the test will come.  This is the last crisis before Jesus returns in great glory.   The contest is between the commandments of God and the commandments of men.

I saw the saints leaving the cities and villages, and associating together in companies, and living in the most solitary places. Angels provided them food and water, while the wicked were suffering from hunger and thirst. Then I saw the leading men of the earth consulting together, and Satan and his angels busy around them.


I saw a writing, copies of which were scattered in different parts of the land, giving orders that unless the saints should yield their peculiar faith, give up the Sabbath, and observe the first day of the week, the people were at liberty after a certain time to put them to death.


But in this hour of trial the saints were calm and composed, trusting in God and leaning upon His promise that a way of escape would be made for them. In some places, before the time for the decree to be executed, the wicked rushed upon the saints to slay them; but angels in the form of men of war fought for them. Satan wished to have the privilege of destroying the saints of the Most High; but Jesus bade His angels watch over them.     Early Writings, p. 282

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Nancy Pelosi Tries to Mobilize the Roman Catholic Church to use Their “clout” to Influence Voters

Nancy is obviously trying to mobilize the Roman Catholic Church to use their “clout” to influence voters in favor of Roman Catholic and her party agenda. Not long ago, the Catholic leaders pressured Nancy and her fellow democratic leaders including President Obama to remove abortion funding provisions from the Health Care Reform bill. Now she wants to use their obvious clout in common cause to get immigration reform passed. This would greatly increase the power of Rome in U.S. politics as well and boost the democratic party.



Keep in mind that “immigration reform” means amnesty, for the mostly Catholic immigrants who would be largely democratic in their political persuasion. In other words, Nancy is trying to use the Bible and find common cause with the Bishops to add to the democratic power base. Perhaps because of a very strong anti-establishment backlash developing in the United States, Speaker Pelosi believes that the democratic party, which has a strong majority in Congress at the moment, doesn’t have long to accomplish immigration reform (amnesty) before the November elections.

Referring to the growing opposition to so many illegal immigrants in the US Speaker Pelosi said she told the Catholic leaders, “I want you to instruct your… people, some of them, [who] oppose immigration reform [and] are sitting in those pews and you have to tell them that this is a manifestation of our living the gospels,” said Pelosi. “Our patron saint of San Francisco, St. Francis of Assisi, he said, preach the gospel —sometimes use words. We need the words to be said because it isn’t being picked up automatically.”  Keep the Faith

Monday, May 17, 2010

"It is simply astounding..."

"It is simply astounding to hear secular people candidly discussing the Sabbath (although they are referring to Sunday). I feel that this is surely a sign that we are nearing the closing events of history." Source



Nicholas of Remnant of God points out:

The Colbert report is mostly a comedic News source, however they do interview real people, especially politicians on the show. It's their way of putting a "positive" spin on politics. The author being interviewed in this segment admits in the interview that she is not only Jewish, but believes "we should probably go back to protecting Sunday" as the Sabbath. Do you realize what this means? This means there is a movement within the Jewish community that is visible enough wherein a Jewish author can come forth declaring it is acceptable to switch their biblical Saturday Sabbath that the Jews have kept for thousands of years to the Roman Catholic Pagan day of Sunday! This is one obstacle many of us that watch Antichrist's movements around the world knew would be a major hurdle for Rome to clear. The Jews now have their very first spokesperson declaring the Jewish people should keep Sunday holy! This is HUGE! If they can get the Jewish nation to go along with this, and prophetically speaking, THEY WILL, the Muslims and all the others religions will easily follow suit. Especially since we see all of them have Roman Catholic dogma running within their churches in the first place. Everything from rosaries in the hand of the Buddhist, to Muslims uplifting Mary. If you never thought the prophecy regarding Sunday laws was true, this has got to be one prophetic development you can no longer deny! Are you ready for what's prophecied to happen next? Are you sure!?

Friday, May 14, 2010

J. Brent Walker: State Funding of Religion will Actually Threaten Religion


As published in the Tallahassee Democrat

April 22, 2010

As someone who was reared, educated, practiced law and lived the first 35 years of my life in Florida before following my calling to be an ordained Baptist minister and constitutional lawyer, I have a special interest in religious liberty developments in my home state. I am deeply concerned at the prospect of the state government gaining the power to deny religious liberty to all its citizens by using tax dollars to subsidize religion.

That is precisely what will occur if some legislators succeed in their attempt to take an ax to the religious freedom guarantee of the Florida Constitution's Declaration of Rights. This guarantee, commonly called the "No Aid Provision," forbids government funding of religious entities. House Joint Resolution 1399 and Senate Joint Resolution 2550 would put an amendment on the November ballot that would change the century-old principle and permit government funding of religion.

Much has been made of the fact that this would allow for the creation of a school voucher program, but the amendment's broad language would open the door for direct government funding of religion in virtually any area.

The current language in the Florida Constitution reflects a recognition by its drafters, like America's Founding Fathers before them, that church-state separation is the best means of protecting religious liberty. Authentic religion should depend on the persuasive power of the truth it proclaims and not on the coercive power of the state. Using the things of Caesar to finance the things of God is averse to true religion and violates the spirit of freedom on which it is based.

Beyond the unfairness of taxing Floridians to support a religion in which they may or may not believe — a proposition that Thomas Jefferson denounced as "sinful and tyrannical" — religious liberty is even further harmed by government funding because the government always controls what it funds.

Moreover, the prophetic voice of religion will, even if only subconsciously, be dampened by state sponsorship. Indeed, religion historically has stood outside of government's control, serving as a critic of government. How can religion continue to raise a prophetic fist against government when it has the other hand open to receive a government handout? It cannot.

Both the state and religious institutions are better off when neither tries to dominate or do the work of the other. The Legislature faces a clear choice: Adopt the proposed amendment and gut the constitution's protection of the vitality and independence of religious entities, or leave intact a constitutional provision that has protected religion from the shifting winds of politics and allowed generations of Floridians to worship — or not — according to the dictates of their own consciences.

I hope the state Legislature will make the right choice and preserve Florida's wise and time-honored protection of religion, guaranteeing that Floridians present and future will continue to enjoy the same religious liberty that has been indispensable and meaningful to me and so many others.

J. Brent Walker is executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of Stetson University College of Law and the University of Florida and was a partner in the Tampa office of Carlton Fields. Source

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Germany's Highest Court "sides with church plea" - Shops will no Longer be open four Sundays in a row Before Christmas

An older story from late 2009, but Reuter's video description is revealing. Some have tried to put a secular or environmental spin on Sunday laws, but here we see again that it's the churches that are originating the push for Sunday enforcement:

"Germany's highest court sides with church plea to overturn Berlin's liberal shopping laws. Shops will no longer open four Sundays in a row before Christmas."

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Judith Shulevitz Plugging for Sunday Rest for Society as a Whole

(Excerpts)  True rest, it turns out, is a group activity, not a solitary one; a restful atmosphere is the distillate of a society at rest, not the creation of a single person. This is a lesson we learn, belatedly, from the American sabbath, even as it vanishes. We rested best when others rested with us, keeping us company and giving us something fun to do as well as moral reinforcement against the fear we'll fall behind. We rest poorly when the world around us hums with activity.

Many religious professionals have preached this message from the pulpit, but the sabbath has had its nonreligious advocates, too. The most eloquent among them was Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, who argued in 1961 that Sunday-closing - or "blue" - laws don't breach the wall between church and state. Rather, he wrote, they protect a scarce public good - "community repose" - that derives from ecclesiastical tradition but is now a "cultural asset of importance." Defending the midcentury American Sunday against those who felt oppressed by it, he said that a commonly kept day of rest promoted the orderliness of a society and the health of its people by providing "a release from the daily grind, a preserve of mental peace ... a time during which the mind and body are released from the demands and distractions of an increasingly mechanized and competition-driven society."

If you want to conjure up the release Frankfurter was talking about, think of Christmas Day or New Year's morning, when even convenience stores are shuttered and streets are silent, and the few passers-by amble or dawdle. Twice a year is about as often as we now manage to achieve the stillness we need to feel OK about being unproductive.

It is objectively harder to stop working now than in Frankfurter's day. The pace and rhythms of work have quickened, and each pause costs more than it used to. Globalization, just-in-time manufacturing and electronic networks, among other things, have made it possible to synchronize production and communication around the globe, but they have also made it necessary to operate on a 24/7 schedule. This creates, in effect, something that Josef Stalin once admiringly called the continuous workweek. Meanwhile, mobile devices have annulled the rules that used to prompt us to stop working at regular times (5 p.m., say) and pushed us into a zone of frictionless activity without temporal boundaries.

You may wonder what the sabbath can do to help us counter these enormous social, technological and economic forces. The answer is, very little - but a little can be a lot. We are not likely to bring back blue laws, and that is, on the whole, a good thing.

But the sabbath is not just a day off. It is also an idea. We can simply think hard about it, trying to puzzle out all that this very old and once-venerable human institution has to teach us about work, rest, time, sanity and the good life. What we might come up with if we figured that out remains a tantalizing mystery.

Judith Shulevitz is the author of "The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time." She wrote this for The Los Angeles Times.

   Source

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

The Ominous Nature of Treaties

On April 9, 2010, Barack Obama, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, and Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus met at Prague Castle and signed a nuclear treaty. While a nuclear treaty may sound like a good thing, we must remember that there are other nations that possess powerful nuclear weapons and that a treaty by definition is just a plan for another war. A treaty is an agreement between nations to come to the aid of each other if any one of them is attacked. This always ensures a much larger war.

Who would have thought that the assassination of Franz-Ferdinand in Sarajevo would trigger World War I? It did so because of the treaties that existed among all the nations to come to each other's aid, creating a domino effect that devastated the world in the early years of the twentieth century. At the end of World War I came the Versailles Treaty in France, which guaranteed that the next war would be global as well. In fact, when British Representative Lloyd-George left the Versailles Treaty and reporters asked him what was accomplished that day, he answered, "War in twenty years." Exactly twenty years later, Germany began activities which were fomented into World War II. Such is the nature of a treaty.   
Last Trumpet Newsletter
"Of the times and the seasons," Paul said, "ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them." AA 259

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sunday Laws as "Machinery for Creating Community" [A Suggested Four Step Program for Bringing About Sunday Enforcement]

A clip from a conversation between Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time and James Carroll, the Boston Globe



"The Sabbath is an extraordinary piece of machinery for creating solidarity and fellow feeling, and it sort of works. There's a four step program for creating community, that the Sabbath does. Imagine that you are a social engineer. Imagine that you wanted to create a particularly cohesive society. How would you do it? Well, one thing you would quickly do is you would put everyone on a common calendar...The first thing you would really do is set aside one day in which everybody could sort of come together, be free from their work and would come together. And the second thing you'd do is make sure that that day is the same for everyone - that everyone could come together, everyone could not work at the same time - and the third thing you would do is make it habitual so that everyone did this regularly. They could forge these bonds of community. And the fourth thing you would do is make it festive, make it something that people wanted to do and that people loved. And then you'd have this sort of setup in which community happened...


I think that Emerson talked about this, uh, Henry Ward Beecher, but a number of people in the 19 century talked about this, that without the Sabbath, without the American Sunday, neighborliness would disappear, serendipitous life would disappear, fellow feelings would disappear, and I think, they think of it, as an element of American exceptionalism."