"And great earthquakes shall be in divers places"

Sunday Sabbath: "There is huge power in numbers"

Notice the consensus forming in favor of the implementation of Sunday as a national day of rest.

Author on the Sunday Sabbath: "It's not just, on the seventh day you shall rest - it's, on the seventh day EVERYONE shall rest!"

Author says Sunday laws are of "greater importance than the religious liberty of Seventh-day Adventists"

Author says she agrees with Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's opinion in the court's 1963 decision to uphold Sunday closing laws, that Sunday laws are of  "greater importance than the religious liberty of Seventh-day Adventists."  She says, "I happen to agree with him."  She goes on to say, "Society has the right to mandate a pause, and it's time."

   Source

The Coming Global Sunday Law

History will be repeated. False religion will be exalted. The first day of the week, a common working day, possessing no sanctity whatever, will be set up as was the image of Babylon. All nations and tongues and peoples will be commanded to worship this spurious sabbath. . . . The decree enforcing the worship of this day is to go forth to all the world. - 7BC 976 (1897).

As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honour the false sabbath, the people of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example. - 6T 18 (1900).

The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part.- 6T 352 (1900).

Foreign nations will follow the example of the United States. Though she leads out, yet the same crisis  will come upon our people in all parts of the world. - 6T 395 (1900).

The substitution of the false for the true is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal God will reveal Himself. When the laws of men are exalted above the laws of God, when the powers of this earth try to force men to keep the first day of the week, know that the time has come for God to work. - 7BC 980 (1901).

The substitution of the laws of men for the law of God, the exaltation, by merely human authority, of Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath, is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal God will reveal Himself. He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth. - 7T 141 (1902).

The wicked . . . declared that they had the truth, that miracles were among them, that angels from heaven talked with them and walked with them, that great power and signs and wonders were performed among them, and that this was the temporal millennium that they had been expecting so long. The whole world was converted and in harmony with the Sunday law. - 3SM 427, 428 (1884).

The whole world is to be stirred with enmity against Seventh-day Adventists because they will not yield homage to the papacy by honoring Sunday, the institution of this antichristian power. - TM 37 (1893).

Those who trample upon God's law make human laws which they will force the people to accept. Men will devise and counsel and plan what they will do. The whole world keeps Sunday, they say, and why should not this people, who are so few in number, do according to the laws of the land? - Ms 163, 1897.

The so-called Christian world is to be the theatre of great and decisive actions. Men in authority will enact laws controlling the conscience, after the example of the papacy. Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Every nation will be involved. Of this time John the Revelator declares: [Rev. 18:3-7 17:13, 14, quoted]. " These have one mind." There will be a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces. " And shall give their power and strength unto the beast." Thus is manifested the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty--freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience--as was manifested by the papacy, when in the past it persecuted those who dared to refuse to conform with the religious rites and ceremonies of Romanism. - 3SM 392 (1891).

In the great conflict between faith and unbelief the whole Christian world will be involved. - RH Feb. 7, 1893.

All Christendom will be divided into two great classes--those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark. - GC 450 (1911).

As the Sabbath has become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom and religious and secular authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration. - GC 615 (1911).

As the decree issued by the various rulers of Christendom against commandment keepers shall withdraw the protection of government, and abandon them to those who desire their destruction, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in companies, dwelling in the most desolate and solitary places. - GC 626 (1911).  

National Sunday law by Popular Demand

The financial state of the United States and other nations is very bleak.  The numbers are horrifying, surely preparing the way for a "Christian" fascism.

At a lecture at San Diego State University Nick Beams of Wall Street Webcasting warned:

"It is now almost seven decades since Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime initiated their program for the mass murder of all European Jews. Our sense of the enormity of this crime has not diminished with the passing of time. On the contrary, the significance of the Holocaust is underscored by events now unfolding-wars of imperialist and colonial aggression in the name of a 'war on terror', deepening rivalries between the major industrial powers and a breakdown of the West's economic order recalling the crises of the 1930s out of which the Nazi regime arose."

Economic conditions promise to become catastrophic, and under such circumstances, the masses will be desperate for solutions, solutions which the papacy and the religious right will be happy to supply and are already urging.  Satan is working to bring about such a state that people will demand the passage of a national Sunday law.

"It will be declared that men are offending God by the violation of the Sunday sabbath; that this sin has brought calamities which will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced; and that those who present the claims of the fourth commandment, thus destroying reverence for Sunday, are troublers of the people, preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity." GC 590.

It will also be claimed that "the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society."  GC 588.  This is occurring as we speak.

Pastor Hal Mayer recently commented:

"Remember that eventually the people, under great fear and pressure of dramatically changed circumstances, will demand a Sunday worship law, and the supreme court will go along with them to defend it." - KTF Ministry.org.

Two prophetic statements by Ellen G. White concur:

"Political corruption is destroying love of justice and regard for truth; and even in free America, rulers and legislators, in order to secure public favor, will yield to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance." - GC 592.

"As the Sabbath has become the special point of controversy throughout Christendom, and religious and secular authorities have combined to enforce the observance of the Sunday, the persistent refusal of a small minority to yield to the popular demand will make them objects of universal execration. It will be urged that the few who stand in opposition to an institution of the church and a law of the state ought not to be tolerated; that it is better for them to suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness."  - GC 616.

An Introduction to the life of E. J. Waggoner.

The Israel of the Alps

Amid the gloom that settled upon the earth during the long period of papal supremacy, the light of truth could not be wholly extinguished. In every age there were witnesses for God, men who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man, who held the Bible as the only rule of life, and who honored the true Sabbath. Among these faithful witnesses for God, the Waldenses stood foremost. Here behind the lofty bulwarks of the mountains they found a refuge and kept the light of truth burning through the darkness of the Middle Ages. - GC 61.

Pope Benedict XVI: "Only those who keep Sunday belong to Christ"

Pope Benedict XVI on the Papal Sabbath

People cannot be sanctified except on Sunday, that Christ transferred Sabbath sacredness to Sunday, that only those who keep Sunday belong to Christ, that only on Sunday does “the risen Lord makes himself present among his followers”, that only these “worship God properly”, and that may Sunday “regain all its importance.” - Letter of Pope Benedict XVI to Card. Francis Arinze on the Occasion of the Study Day in Honour of the 43rd Anniversary of the Promulgation of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, From the Vatican, November 27, 2006.

Sunday “is the identity of the Christian community and the center of his life and mission”, that “we cannot live without joining together on Sunday”, that only those Christians “who lived in accordance with Sunday” have “attained new hope”, and that “the Christians of today will rediscover the crucial importance of the Sunday Celebration”. - Pastoral Visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Bari for the Closing of the 24th Italian National Eucharistic Congress, Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, Esplanade of Marisabella, Sunday, May 29, 2005.

Saturday is “no longer” the worship day of God, only on Sunday can we become part of the body of Christ in the world, only by worshiping on Sunday can we avoid “egoistic isolation” and instead be united “in a great community...a universal community” becoming “related to everyone in the world.” - Meeting with Diocesan Clergy of Aosta, Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Parish Church at Introd (Aosta Valley), Monday, July 25, 2005.

Every Sunday is to be dedicated and given to God. - Mass on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Homily of Pope Benedict XVI, given in Parish Church of Castel Gandolfo, Monday, August 15, 2005.

“Social disorder, war, injustice and violence” can only be countered “ by renewed appreciation and respect for the universal moral law [Sunday observance], that only by recognizing that law can the world have “dignity, life and freedom” with “conditions of justice and peace” in all the communities of the world, and that the promotion and defense of this law is what “must govern relations between nations and peoples in the pursuit of the common good of the human family...within the international community.” - Address of Pope Benedict XVI to H.E. Mr Francis Rooney, New Ambassador of the United States of America to the Holy See, Saturday, November 12, 2005.

Sunday is a day of rest for all workers. -  Address of Pope Benedict XVI to the Italian Christian Workers' Associations (A.C.L.I.), Clementine Hall, Friday, January 27, 2006.

Sunday is an “obligation for all the faithful” which brings “authentic freedom enabling them to live each day”, that it is the Lord’s day, that it is “a day to be sanctified”, and those who do not keep it suffer “the loss of an authentic sense of Christian freedom” and the loss of being “the children of God”, that Sunday is the “primordial holy day” and “is meant to be kept holy”, “a day of rest from work”, which hopefully “will also be recognized by civil society” by law. - Sacramentum Caritatis: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Eucharist as the Source and Summit of the Church's Life and Mission, Given by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome, at Saint Peter's, February 22, 2007, the Feast of the Chair of Peter.

“It is necessary” “to hold Sunday in special high regard” in order “to remain united to Christ”, as “it is the day dedicated to the Lord.” - Message of Pope Benedict XVI to the Participants in the 9th International Youth Forum (Rocca di Papa, 28-31 March 2007), from the Vatican, March 28, 2007.

Only on Sunday can we experience “a personal encounter with Christ.” - Apostolic Journey of Pope Benedict XVI to Brazil on the Occasion of the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Carribbean, Inaugural Session, Address of Pope Benedict XVI, Conference Hall, Shrine of Aparecida, Sunday, May 13, 2007.

“Without the Lord’s day, we cannot live”, that meeting with the Lord only occurs on the “specific day” of Sunday, that life does not flourish without Sunday, and that Sunday is a day of rest, of freedom and equality for all the world. - Eucharistic Celebration Homily of Pope Benedict XVI , Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Sunday, September 9, 2007.

Encouraged America to exercise “its leadership within the international community” based on “the common moral law [Sunday holiness].” - Address of Pope Benedict XVI to H.E. Mrs. Mary Ann Glendon, New Ambassador of the United States of America to the Holy See, Friday, February 29, 2008.

The world has greater need of hope for peace, justice and freedom, which “can never be delivered without obedience to the law of God [Sunday holiness]”. - Video-Message of the Pope Benedict XVI to Catholics and People of the United States of America on the Occasion of the Upcoming Apostolic Journey, April 15-21, 2008.

The RCC “makes its contribution (in the ethical and moral sphere) according to the dispositions of international law, helps to define that law, and makes appeal to it”, that we live in a time when little groups of independent people threaten the unity of the world, and that the only way to combat this problem is by establishing law and then ordering all of society according to this law, thus promoting “peace and good will throughout the earth.” - Apostolic Journey to the United States of America and Visit to the United Nations Organization Headquarters, Meeting with the Members of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization, Address of Pope Benedict XVI, New York, Friday, April 18, 2008.   Source

The test of Every man's Profession

"Here is the test of every man's profession. We cannot accord holiness to any man without bringing him to the measurement of God's only standard of holiness in heaven and in earth. If men feel no weight of the moral law, if they belittle and make light of God's precepts, if they break one of the least of these commandments, and teach men so, they shall be of no esteem in the sight of Heaven, and we may know that their claims are without foundation." - The Signs of the Times, December 15, 1887

"Simmering Anger may Drive Religious Right back to Polls"

(Excerpts) Angry over health care reform and the abortion fight it reinvigorated, worried about the expansion of gay rights and frustrated by President Obama's criticisms of Israel, religious conservatives are eager to play a key role in the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections.

"There certainly seems to be a lot of anecdotal evidence that the Christian right is more energized this year," said Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council in Washington.



"It's almost like we're witnessing a complete mirror image of 2008, when all the passion was among young voters, minorities and first-time voters," said Mr. Bauer. "Now that energy is with conservatives and older voters. ... There's tremendous intensity out there."

It's a game plan that dozens of Democratic and Republican Party candidates across the country are hoping will swing the religious conservatives to their side this fall.

"People in this country are angry to the point that they are motivated to make a change," said the Rev. Luke J. Robinson, one of several black religious leaders who were part of a group of clergy on Capitol Hill last week to criticize the proposed repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

Mr. Robinson said he has a sense that his congregation is energized.

"There's a lot of outrage at this administration," he said.     Source

Non-EnglishVideo: First European Conference on March 24 2010 on the Protection of a Work-free Sunday

'Freedom of Worship' Worries

A must read from Christianity Today magazine: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/article_print.html?id=88148.

Gregory W. Hamilton
President
Northwest Religious Liberty Association (NRLA)
Website: www.nrla.com

New religious freedom rhetoric within the Obama administration draws concern.
Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra | posted 6/22/2010

"Freedom of worship" has recently replaced the phrase "freedom of religion" in public pronouncements from the Obama administration. Experts are concerned that the new rhetoric may signal a policy change.

"Freedom of worship" first appeared in President Obama's November remarks at the memorial service for the victims of the Fort Hood shooting. Days later, he referred to worship rather than religion in speeches in Japan and China.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton echoed the shift in language. In a December speech at Georgetown University, she used "freedom of worship" three times but "freedom of religion" not at all. While addressing senators in January, she referred to "freedom of worship" four times and "freedom of religion" once when quoting an earlier Obama speech.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom noted the shift in its 2010 annual report. "This change in phraseology could well be viewed by human rights defenders and officials in other countries as having concrete policy implications," the report said.

Freedom of worship means the right to pray within the confines of a place of worship or to privately believe, said Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom and member of the commission. "It excludes the right to raise your children in your faith; the right to have religious literature; the right to meet with co-religionists; the right to raise funds; the right to appoint or elect your religious leaders, and to carry out charitable activities, to evangelize, [and] to have religious education or seminary training."

The State Department does acknowledge that worship is just one component of religion, said spokesperson Andy Laine. "However, the terms 'freedom of religion' and 'freedom of worship' have often been used interchangeably through U.S. history, and policymakers in this administration will sometimes do likewise."

While Obama's administration may simply be using different words to say the same thing, the timing of the change is worrisome, said Thomas Farr, religion professor at Georgetown University. Obama just recently announced an ambassador for international religious freedom (Suzan Johnson Cook), but the position has been demoted within the State Department.

"It puts what otherwise might have been passed off as a rhetorical shift under the spotlight a little more," Farr said.

The softened message is probably meant for the Muslim world, said Carl Esbeck, professor of law at the University of Missouri. Obama, seeking to repair relations fractured by 9/11, is telling Islamic countries that America is not interfering with their internal matters, he said.

As with all diplomatic decisions, the move is a gain and a loss, Esbeck said. Other countries may interpret the change as a sign that America is backing down from championing a robust, expansive view of religious freedom, which if true would be a loss, he said.

But the State Department has traditionally ignored religion's impact on foreign affairs, he said. "The Obama administration seems, at least in part, to get that a large part of successful foreign relations is taking religion into account."

If Obama is telling the State Department to be religiously sensitive, that's a gain, Esbeck said.

Not everyone agrees.

"If [Obama is changing language to signal sensitivity], it is terribly shortsighted and self-defeating," Farr said. "It will not work, and it will simply make the situation more difficult … to engage."

Shea said the danger is greater than a mere backfiring. "I'm very fearful that by building bridges, we're actually stepping away from this fundamental principle of religious freedom. … It is so critical for Western, especially American, leaders to articulate strong defense for religious freedom and explain what that means and how it undergirds our entire civilization."

One World Religion

"The world is against us, the popular churches are against us, the laws of the land will soon be against us. God has committed to us the special truths for this time to make known to the world." - Testimonies, vol. 5, p 236.

In 1959, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Special Studies Project published The Mid-Century Challenge to U.S. Foreign Policy, which foretold: “We cannot escape, and indeed should welcome, the task which history has imposed on us. This is the task of helping to shape a new world order in all its dimensions—spiritual, economic, political, social.”

Note that the first dimension listed is “spiritual,” and evidence that this effort continued in the future can be found in Sen. Barry Goldwater’s With No Apologies, in which he explained regarding David Rockefeller’s Trilateral Commission (founded in 1973): “In my view the Trilateral Commission represents a skillful coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power—political, monetary, intellectual and ecclesiastical.” Note that he says that they plan to “seize control” of ecclesiastical power!     Source

Four years before the founding of the Trilateral Commission, Arnold Toynbee's EXPERIENCES (1969) was published. Toynbee was a member of Cecil Rhodes' Association of Helpers, who in June 1931 had written that "We are at present working discreetly with all our might to wrest this mysterious force called sovereignty out of the clutches of the local nation states of the world." And in EXPERIENCES, he forecasted: "I believe that in the twenty-first century human life is going to be a unity in all its aspects and activities. I believe that, in the field of religion, sectarianism is going to be subordinated to ecumenicalism, that in the field of politics, nationalism is going to be subordinated to world government...."   Source

Religion would play an important role in this campaign to alter American opinion in favor of world government. The CHRISTIAN CENTURY (April 16, 1947) expressed concern that the U.N. "cannot hope to survive on any lesser terms than as an actual world government." And in this same magazine's January 14, 1948 issue, the editors opined: "We believe that the crisis of humanity demands that the churches...shall once again declare their faith in a world government...and shall throw themselves with all the resources they can command into the crusade to set up such a government."   Source

On March 26, 1966, Pope Paul VI wrote POPULORUM PROGRESSIO calling for "a new juridical order" and stating: "Who can fail to see the need and importance of thus gradually coming to the establishment of a world authority capable of taking effective action on the juridical and political planes?...Delegates to organizations, public officials, gentlemen of the press, teachers and educators---all of you must realize that you have your part to play in the construction of a new world order."  Source

The Pope and the Papacy by John MacArthur

"Check out Mark Woodman ASAP"

What a tribute!  Received this YouTube message today from a good friend about Mark Woodman:

I'm really sad about Mark Woodman's death. It's on my profile that he was one of the first guys I learned from. He was a family man, humble, and had an incredible amount of faith that I wish I had. When cancer ravaged his body, he still spoke of recovery as an option yrt. He said IF God recovers him, he wants to do more teaching. I'm really happy to say Mark Woodman owns a piece of responsibility for turning me around nearly 2 years ago. God bless him and his family.

Here's a video from 2009 about Mark Woodman who obviously made an impact on many lives around the world: 



An important message re MARK WOODMAN from Ana of the "TheLebasi21" YouTube channel:

I just wanted to share some videos lectures. Maybe you have heard of Mark Woodman before.....if you have not, I highly recommend you watch his lectures and might want to share them with others. This man is powerful and explains the three angles message in the context of the present truth. Mark Woodman was in the New Age movement and become an sda in about 2004. Since then he has done many lectures and travel around the world. Sadly, last September he became ill with tumors.....he passed away last week at the age of 34-35 years old. What is so awesome is how- in such a short time- this person was used by God to spread His Truth. I truly recommend his lectures.

http://markwoodman.blogspot.co­m/

The True State of the American Economy Speaks Volumes About the Nearness of the End

Most Americans know that the U.S. economy is in bad shape, but what most Americans don't know is how truly desperate the financial situation of the United States really is.  The truth is that what we are experiencing is not simply a "downturn" or a "recession".  What we are witnessing is the beginning of the end for the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen.  Our greed and our debt are literally eating our economy alive.  Total government, corporate and personal debt has now reached 360 percent of GDP, which is far higher than it ever reached during the Great Depression era.  We have nearly totally dismantled our once colossal manufacturing base, we have shipped millions upon millions of middle class jobs overseas, we have lived far beyond our means for decades and we have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world.  A great day of financial reckoning is fast approaching, and the vast majority of Americans are totally oblivious.   Source

The Waldenses

by Chad Ward

Located in the valleys of the Alps lived a people who set themselves apart from the world, living out their faith according to the Bible. They were beloved of God but hated by the world. These men and women have since passed but their heroic faith will live on forever.



Most often the Waldenses are traced back to Peter Waldo of the mid-12^th century but it is believed they were around before that; possibly back to the time of the apostles. The name Waldenses means "men of the valleys". But these men, women and children are known by many other names including Chignards meaning dogs, beggars, Turlupins meaning wolves because they were forced to live in the wilderness, sodomites, Carthari meaning pure, and the Israel of the Alps. They could also be called Saints because they were sanctified in Christ to do God’s work and one title that they will attain for all eternity is "good and faithful servants".

The Waldenses are remembered for their great faith, doctrine, and way of living. The Waldensian way of life was simple. Secluded from the influence of the world they could focus on living for God and devote much time to study and missionary work. One great feat of the Waldenses was their ability to memorize the entire New Testament and part of the Old Testament. Not only did they memorize the New Testament but they were instructed in Latin, Romane and Italian. Perhaps learning God’s Word by heart and memory is what gave them their great courage and ability to live under the persecutions they endured. They understood 2 Timothy 2:15 and took it to heart. Without the influences of the world all they had was God and His Word. (p. 3 Israel of the Alps) They also spent much time in copying the Scriptures which they would distribute on their missionary journeys.

The Waldenses had a great burden for missionary work. They bravely went into Southern and Central Europe, scattering the seeds of the gospel in countries such as Germany, Spain, France, Poland, and Austria. They even went into the city of Rome. Their missionaries came up with a great way to present the gospel as they traveled. They would carry with them merchandise for sale and introduce themselves saying, "SIR, will you please to buy any rings, or seals, or trinkets? MADAM, will you look at any handkerchiefs, or pieces or needlework for veils? I can afford them cheap." After they finished with their business transaction the person would ask, "Have you anything more?" and the Waldensian Missionary would reply, "Yes, great rarities; I have one precious stone through which you can see God, and another that kindles love to him in the heart." Then the missionary would bring out a portion of Scripture and say: "The inestimable jewel I spoke of, is the world of God, by which he communicates his mind to men, and which inflames their hearts with love to him." The missionary would then read the scripture and leave it with the person. (p.123-124 History of the Churches)

The majority of the Waldenses rejected the Roman doctrine and held to a more fundamental doctrine. It has been said, "It is not they who separated from Catholicism, but Catholicism which separated from them." (p. 1 Israel of the Alps)

They rejected the Roman Church, the corruption of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, Catholic priest, purgatory, prayers to the dead, and prayers to saints. They believed in the inspiration and authority of the Bible, One God who is triune, the sin nature in man, salvation in Jesus Christ alone, and faith working by charity. They also believed in confession but as stated like this, "Confession, said they, is of two natures; the first should be made to God, from the bottom of the heart; without it, no one can be saved: the second is that made aloud to the priest, in order to obtain counsel from him; and this confession is valid when that of the heart has preceded it; but the second, without the first, will not save men from perdition. (p. 5 Israel of the Alps)

There were many persecutions against the Waldenses throughout the dark ages. On one account Pope Innocent III formed a crusaded against the Waldenses in France in the year 1209. He was able to get thousands in his crusade by promising forgiveness of sins. The crusade went on for twenty years in which hundreds of thousands were brutally murdered and tortured. They were thrown from cliffs, hanged, burned at the stake, disemboweled, pierced through, drowned, torn by dogs, and crucified. In one particular case 400 mothers with their babies took to the mountains and hid in a cave. When the Catholic crusaders discovered them they set a large fire outside the cave which suffocated all the refugees inside. (p.130-131 History of the Churches) No matter what the persecution the Waldenses displayed great courage and faith in their Lord even unto death. One man by the name Geoffrey Varaille whose father led a crusade and himself had become a convert said this when his death sentence was announced to him, "Be assured, messeigneurs, you will sooner want wood wherewith to burn us, than ministers ready to burn in seal of their faith: from day to day they multiply; and the word of God endureth forever." He was then burned on March 29^th 1558. (p.46-48 Israel of the Alps)

Jesus said let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify God (Matt. 5:16). But the world, mainly the Catholics hated the light (John 3:19). The Roman Catholics made many false accusations against the Waldenses and attempted to destroy them all. At the hands of the Roman Catholic crusades many Waldenses died a martyr’s death. Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. By looking at the aggressive spread of Roman Catholicism and its heresies it would appear that the gates of hell did prevail against the church. The Roman Catholics tried to extinguish the light that was shining from the Alps. But God has kept His promise. He did not say there would be large numbers (Matt. 7:13-14). The Waldenses of that time are gone from this world but their light has not been put out, it still shines today.

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter'd saints whose bones
Lie scatter'd on the Alpine mountains cold;
Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipt stocks and stones,
Forget not: in thy book record their groans,
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese that roll'd
Mother with infant down the rocks. Their moans
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they
To heaven. Their martyr'd blood and ashes sow
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway
The triple tyrant; that from these may grow
A hundredfold, who, having learn'd thy way,
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.
- John Milton

Source                

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter's Speech is Prophetic

"Souter Believes Constitution’s Text Causes Bad Decisions"

 by Pastor Hal Mayer, Keep the Faith

Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter recently gave a speech at Harvard University in which he argued that “seeking to resolve difficult constitutional questions based on an honest effort to construe that document’s words (whether broadly or narrowly) ‘has only a tenuous connection to reality’ and leads to bad decisions.”

In other words, he said that the text of the constitution does not reflect real situations today and that using the text to make decisions often leads to bad ones. Instead Souter would rather that justices make decisions based on their own understanding of priorities and personal preferences.

“Souter’s candor is commendable but also genuinely troubling,” wrote a USA today commentator… “Souter… argues that the Constitution is too full of ambiguous language and competing imperatives to sustain a textual approach to its interpretation,” and sometimes competing interests are irreconcilable.  “It is, therefore, the courts (and the Supreme Court especially), that Souter believes must “decide which of our approved desires has the better claim,” and this cannot be done simply by reading the Constitution’s words. Put differently, we all must trust in the judges to find our way through the morass, to make the right choices between competing constitutional imperatives, and we cannot accuse them of making up the law when they make choices we do not like. It is their job, not ours.”

“…Judges are people, not the living embodiment of the law. When a judge makes the choices Souter suggests, without regard to the Constitution’s words and their original meaning, it is the judges who rule and not the law.

“The bottom line is that bad constitutional decisions, far from being the result of the Constitution’s frailty, are caused by the frailties of judges who depart from it.”

To suggest that the text of the U.S. Constitution is not relevant to today’s jurisprudence, is essentially saying that Judges should rule the land. David Souter would not make this comment unless he had some reason to believe that there would be those that would resonate with this idea. He believes that the U.S. Constitution can be re-interpreted in the context of our times, just like some theologians believe that Paul’s writings are not really relevant today, and should be re-interpreted according to the times in which we live.

Souter’s statement is also prophetic. He is testing public opinion to determine if the traditional approach to Constitutional law is still strong enough to resist a fluid interpretation based on changing circumstances and public opinions. Remember that eventually the people, under great fear and pressure of dramatically changed circumstances, will demand a Sunday worship law, and the supreme court will go along with them to defend it. But the strict interpretation of the text will not permit Sunday worship laws. Therefore, there has to be a change in the way the constitution is interpreted. Watch for it. It is near at hand, and indeed is already happening.

The fact that Souter made this statement, tells us that he very likely conducted himself on the Supreme Court in harmony with these views. He is not alone. Other Supreme Court justices have made similar remarks in recent years. Once the foundation is laid for a new approach to the Constitution, it will come. Indeed it already has begun.

Incidentally, these Supreme Court Justices are not the only ones that despise the U.S. Constitution. Many presidents, and members of Congress also have worked to repudiate various provisions of the constitution in recent years.

The U.S. Constitution has been under assault from many different angles for a long time. It is a wonder that it has held up as long as it has, which says a lot about the venerable document and those who framed it.

“When Protestantism shall stretch her hand across the gulf to grasp the hand of the Roman power, when she shall reach over the abyss to clasp hands with spiritualism, when, under the influence of this threefold union, our country shall repudiate every principle of its Constitution as a Protestant and republican government, and shall make provision for the propagation of papal falsehoods and delusions, then we may know that the time has come for the marvelous working of Satan and that the end is near.” Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5. Page 451.     USA Today                          SOURCE:   Keep the Faith

The Richest Caveman - The Doug Batchelor Story

As a teenager, Doug Batchelor had everything money could buy - everything but happiness. His search led him to drugs, fights, and suicidal fantasies, but he still was convinced that life held no purpose. Before his search ended, a cave in the hills above Palm Springs became his home, and he eventually had to scavenge for food in garbage bins.

The happiness Doug wanted eluded him until the day he began reading the dust-covered Bible a fellow "searcher" had left in his cave. What happened next can only be described as a miracle!

His down-to-earth approach to living the Christian life stems from his own experiences. Pastor Doug is now President and Speaker for Amazing Facts Ministries, an international evangelistic organization incorporated as a denominational television ministry within the North American Division territory.

He is an energetic man of vision and deep spirituality with an unusual ability to communicate not only to church oriented people, but also to the millions of secular-minded people of today.

He is the author of five books and has a wife, Karen, and five children. View Doug Batchelor's testimony! "The Richest Caveman: The Doug Batchelor Story"   Source

PART ONE


PART TWO

"The Rise of the New Right"

Many have expressed fear that a theocratic fascism is coming to the United States.  Some say this is the same kind of rage against the Left that gripped German Christians and propelled Hitler into power. The recent MSNBC Chris Matthews documentary, "The Rise of the New Right," does nothing to allay those fears.



In his review of Chris Hedges' American Fascists, Stephen Lendman wrote:

He said he wrote the book out of anger and fear of the fundamentalist Christian Right seeking to establish theocratic dominion over society in America in the name of God and is using the Republican party as their vehicle to do it. He compares the movement's messianic mission to Italian and German fascism of the last century cloaking itself in Christianity and patriotism as their way to gain political power under theocracy's literal meaning from the Greek words "Theos" meaning "God" and "cratein/crasy" meaning to rule...

The movement is on a "crusade" against constitutional government working for now within the political system it wants to destroy and remake in its own image... Beneath the surface, thier doctrine is dark and forboding, posing real dangers. Dominionists are awaiting a fiscal, social or political crisis great enough to end constitutional government replacing it with their vision of a Christian fascist theocratic American. In the meantime, they spent a generation working for this and now have great influence at state, local and federal levels of government.

Forces against American democracy are waiting for a moment to strike, a national crisis that will allow them to shred the Constituion in the name of national security. The Christian Right awaits that time with gleeful anticipation, wanting their adherents to be ready.    Source

"A group of religious utopians . . . are slowly dismantling democratic institutions to establish a religious tyranny, the springboard to an American fascism."  - American Fascists, by Chris Hedges,  p. 36.

"I do believe that the radical Christian Right is a sworn and potent enemy of the open society . . . In the event of another catastrophic terrorist attack [or] an economic meltdown . . . the movement stands poised manipulate fear and chaos ruthlessly and reshape America in ways that have not been seen since the nation's founding." - American Fascists, p. 207.

"They take  seriously the idea of a Christian society and a form of religious politics that will make biblical code the law of the United States...These activists are quite serious about bringing Christian politics into power. Bray said that it is possible, under the right conditions, for a Christian revolution to sweep across the United States and bring in its wake Constitutional changes that would allow for biblical law to be the basis of social legislation."  - The Return of Christian Terrorism, by Mark Juergensmeyer, April 8, 2010.

"All that's lacking [too ignite a conflagration] is a spark; it's only a matter of time." - A special report by Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"The real America, the 'asylum for mankind' that Paine wrote about so eloquently – that America is gone, fading already into myth and legend, gone soon even from living memory as the last citizens who remember America's dying embers wink out from this world, one by one. In their place: a new citizenry, molded by government schooling and control and constant statist propaganda, clamoring now for a strongman to take control...". - Column by Glen Allport, December 31, 2008.

"For all of those Americans who believe that our democracy is safe, you are wrong. Today, the radical Right is winning, and they know it. Sooner rather than later, we may be living in a very different country, a country that had been ours, a country that will be theirs." - CONTEMPT -- How the Right Is Wronging American Justice, by Catherine Crier, Huffington Post.

A Chilling Video from 2008: Brainwashing Children to Support the Religious Right Agenda

"At the end of the clip you can clearly see that worship and idolization of President Bush is the end goal of all this brainwashing."  These efforts to influence children towards the Dominionist's mindset will bear fruit and play a decisive roll in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.  The obvious goal is to seek influence and control over secular civil government through political action. The objective is a nation governed by a conservative Christian understanding of biblical law, under which liberty of conscience will no longer be respected.

A Fearful Record now Stands Registered in Heaven Against our Land

"The greatest and most favored nation upon the earth is the United States. A gracious Providence has shielded this country, and poured upon her the choicest of Heaven's blessings. Here the persecuted and oppressed have found refuge. Here the Christian faith in its purity has been taught. This people have been the recipients of great light and unrivaled mercies. But these gifts have been repaid by ingratitude and forgetfulness of God. The Infinite One keeps a reckoning with the nations, and their guilt is proportioned to the light rejected. A fearful record now stands in the register of Heaven against our land; but the crime which shall fill up the measure of her iniquity is that of making void the law of God." 4SP 398

The Leaders are Concealing the true Issue

  "End-Time Unity"
  

Author: Professor Walter J. Veith, PhD

Religious unity, or ecumenism, is just another movement toward the establishment of Babylon, who will eventually persecute those who do not conform themselves to her.

In 1547, John Knox had wise words of advice regarding the Papacy:

Flee from Babel, if you do not want to partake in the destruction.ⁱ

The Pope is the world’s highest religious authority. However, this status has not been achieved on the basis of truth but on the basis of compromise. Moreover, the religious principles and doctrines of the Papacy constitute what the Bible calls the Babylon of the end times. The Second Vatican Council's Decrees on Ecumenism, given on November 21, 1964, proves that ecumenism is for the purpose of drawing all religions to Roman doctrine and authority:

For [Protestants] who believe in Christ and have been truly baptized are in communion with the Catholic Church even though this communion is imperfect. The differences that exist in varying degrees between them and the Catholic Church-whether in doctrine and sometimes in discipline, or concerning the structure of the Church-do indeed create many obstacles, sometimes serious ones, to full ecclesiastical communion. The ecumenical movement is striving to overcome these obstacles...

This is the way that, when the obstacles to perfect ecclesiastical communion have been gradually overcome, all Christians will at last, in a common celebration of the Eucharist, be gathered into the one and only Church in that unity which Christ bestowed on His Church from the beginning. We believe that this unity subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time (emphasis added).

Protestantism and other world religions, by their own admission, have joined forces with the Roman Catholic Church, thus returning to the “Mother Church.” By submitting to Rome’s authority, these religions have become part of Babylon. By acknowledging the Pope’s leadership, they also acknowledge his doctrines (Romans 6:16).

The Bible warns about the three parts of Babylon: the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet. The False Prophet is the component of Babylon that will produce the false signs and wonders whereby the people will be deceived to follow the Beast and to receive its mark:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).

The Second Angel’s Message

In Revelation 14, three angels give warnings to all the people of the earth. The Second Angel declares, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Revelation 14:8).

Revelation 18 repeats the message of the Second Angel with the added admonition to separate from her:

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen...And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues (Revelation 18:2,4).

Revelation 18 is a message of separation from Babylon. The ecumenical movement contains a message of unity based not on doctrinal truth or the Word, but on social issues, liturgy, and a watering down of fundamental principles of Christianity. Those that want to join together without the Word as their basis become a part of the end-time conglomerate—Babylon.

Compromise may seem like a good way to avoid conflict, but is impossible if we are to follow God’s call to stand for truth. There are only three definitions of truth in the Bible: Jesus is the truth, His Word is the truth, and His law is the truth.

The reformers were willing to die for what they believed. They had studied the prophecies that clearly identify the Papacy as the Antichrist. Let us not reject the prophets and may the following words of Jesus not apply to us, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not" (Matthew 23:37).

The day is not distant, and it may be very near, when we shall all have to fight the battle of the Reformation over again.  ii 

^{Amazing Discoveries} 

---

i. Friedrich H. Brandes, John Knox, der reformator Schottlands (R. L. Friderichs, 1862). (German)

ii. Henry Grattan Guinness, Romanism and the Reformation (Hodder and Stoughton, 1887): 1.

"Because you are Saved"

A Story About Being Saved

"Pope Versus President"

Insight into the Vatican's Efforts to Influence U.S. Elections

The Vatican's recent snub of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is only the latest salvo in the battle between Pope Benedict XVI and President George W. Bush. This tug of war has profound implications for both U.S. foreign policy and the critical Catholic vote in 2008's presidential race.



"The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.

"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."  GC 580, 581

Fear of the rise of an American-style Fascism

Fear Factory (Peter Laarman & Anthea Butler)


BloggingHeadsTv

Nancy Pelosi: Duty to Politically Follow Jesus

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives has said that she has a duty to pursue public policies that are in keeping with the values of Jesus, said Catholic News Service. Peliosi is a Roman Catholic that favors legalized abortion.

Pelosi said her “favorite word is the Word.” Speaking of public policy she said “we have to give voice to what that means… in keeping with the values of the Word.”

Pelosi even referenced the second coming and the final judgment… “‘The Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ And that’s the great mystery of our faith. He will come again. He will come again. So, we have to make sure we’re prepared to answer in this life, or otherwise, as to how we have measured up.”

“Pelosi’s office did not respond to CNSNews.com’s follow-up questions regarding the speaker’s statement that she seeks to make policy in conformance with the values of the Word made flesh.”

Nancy Pelosi is the most powerful woman in America at the moment as Speaker of the House of Representatives. It is easy to see how easy it will be for lawmakers to justify laws designed to align the nation with their views on bible principles. It is equally easy to see that when there is pressure for direct religious laws such as Sunday worship laws, lawmakers will easily find a way to use the bible to support their agendas, particularly when there is a pressure from a large number of citizens. Keep the Faith Ministry



After Pope Benedict XVI met privately with Speaker Pelosi in February 2009, the Vatican issued a statement saying: "His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development."   Source

Columnist John Leonard, in an examiner.com Phoenix article, asks,

Is Nancy Pelosi violating the (mythical) separation of church and state?

Arsenio Lembert Jr., author of the highly successful blog, Endrtimes, responds:

John Leonard: If you think the separation between Church and State is Mythical; You demostrate your lack of knowlege of the pillars, principles (Checks and Balances) that distinguish this Constitutional Republic. The country that once prided itself of having no King or Pope, is now being fooled by experts like you!

If you want this separation to disappear so that catholics and evan-jelly-cals can "bring the country back to God"; Just wait a few years: It's on track to become a theocracy like mid-evil Europe. My Bible predicts this will occur in the home of the brave, and the land of the free. It's changing before our eyes. Just look and see if you have eyes to see. You'll notice that 6 0ut of 9 supreme court justices are Roman Catholics, and soon there will be no Protestants in that body.....
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What has happened to the land of the Pilgrims? They came here escaping the Anglicans, and the Catholics know-it-alls. Now those same people (Oxford) dominate this nation!   Endrtimes

Sunday Enforcement for Creating "the perfect society"

"The Sunday movement is now making its way in darkness. The leaders are concealing the true issue, and many who unite in the movement do not themselves see whither the undercurrent is tending. Its professions are mild and apparently Christian, but when it shall speak it will reveal the spirit of the dragon."  5T 452.

Ecumenical Uniformity: Only a step away from the Resort to Force

Charles Beecher, in a sermon in the year 1846, declared that the ministry of "the evangelical Protestant denominations" is "not only formed all the way up under a tremendous pressure of merely human fear, but they live, and move, and breathe in a state of things radically corrupt, and appealing every hour to every baser element of their nature to hush up the truth, and bow the knee to the power of apostasy. Was not this the way things went with Rome? Are we not living her life over again? And what do we see just ahead?  Another general council! A world's convention! Evangelical alliance, and universal creed!"--Sermon on "The Bible a Sufficient Creed," delivered at Fort Wayne, Indiana, Feb. 22, 1846. When this shall be gained, then, in the effort to secure complete uniformity, it will be only a step to the resort to force.

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.  - The Great Controversy, page 445.

Protestantism shall give the hand of fellowship to the Roman power. Then there will be a law against the Sabbath of God's creation, and then it is that God will do His " strange work" in the earth. - 7BC 910 (1886).

How the Roman church can clear herself from the charge of idolatry we cannot see. . . . And this is the religion which Protestants are beginning to look upon with so much favour, and which will eventually be united with Protestantism. This union will not, however, be effected by a change in Catholicism, for Rome never changes. She claims infallibility. It is Protestantism that will change. The adoption of liberal  ideas on its part will bring it where it can clasp the hand of Catholicism. - RH June 1, 1886.

The professed Protestant world will form a confederacy with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt harmony. - 7BC 975 (1891).

Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honour all the divine precepts. - GC 616 (1911).

Papal Visit to Portugal a Demonstration of raw Papal Spiritualism in its most Blatant Form

"VATICAN CITY, MAY 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI today reviewed his May 11-14 trip to Portugal, affirming that during the four-day journey, he felt spiritually sustained by Venerable Pope John Paul II."   Source

May 13 is the Roman Catholic feast of “Our Lady of Fatima,” and the anniversary the first apparition by a spirit impersonating the Virgin Mary to the three shepherd children in the Portuguese village in 1917. It was also on May 13, 1981 when the assassination attempt was made on Pope John Paul’s life, which greatly enhanced papal devotion to the Virgin Mary.

In his message to the visitors in St. Peter’s Square, Benedict XVI linked devotion to Mary closely to devotion to the pope by suggesting that his pilgrimage to Portugal was “in gratitude ‘to the Virgin Mary, who in Fatima transmitted to her visionaries and to pilgrims an intense love for the Successor of Peter.’”

“Throughout the whole trip… I felt sustained spiritually by my beloved predecessor, the Venerable John Paul II,” Benedict XVI said.

In other words, the pope is also teaching that John Paul II, along with the Virgin Mary, and the deceased children of Fatima are now in heaven working on his behalf.

The pope “reflected on the rosary, saying that ‘this prayer, so dear to the Christian [Catholic] people, has found in Fatima a propelling center for the whole Church and the world.’” “We can say that Fatima and the rosary are almost a synonym.”

In other words, devotion to Mary and praying the Rosary is a propellant that turbo charges Catholic faith.

The visit to Portugal was a demonstration of raw papal spiritualism in its most blatant form. This is one of the two great principles at the end of time. Satan, or his angels masquerade as a departed saint, who then is credited with miracles on behalf of the “faithful.” The pope and other church leaders venerate and worship the saint or, in this case, the Virgin Mary, and lead billions to follow their example.

While protestants, or evangelicals, as they like to be called today, do not worship saints, or even venerate them, they nevertheless continue to interact with Rome in ecumenical dialog, giving Rome greater and greater influence.         Keep the Faith

From the pen of Ellen G. White

"They say, they say, they say." You just put the "They says" right away from you. Watch, saith the Lord, to hear what He will say. You look to the Lord, and don't you look to any human power and get their mind, for they are nothing but human, they are nothing but evil; but you just look to the Lord God of Israel, and He will give you understanding, and He will give you knowledge.  But you are not to lean your helpless soul on any other human being. You have got a character to form for your own individual self, and that character God has given every encouragement should be after God's order.  SpM 171

"The Lord has shown me...just before the close of probation...there will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing"

A most remarkable revelation from the Lord has been strikingly fulfilled to the letter, providing yet further evidence that the close of probation and the coming of Christ are very near.

"It is impossible to estimate too largely the work that the Lord will accomplish through His proposed vessels in carrying out His mind and purpose. The things you have described as taking place in Indiana, the Lord has shown me would take place just before the close of probation. Every uncouth thing will be demonstrated. There will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit." - Selected Messages, vol. 2, page 36. (1900)

One blog author expressed expressed his concern about so many souls building their house upon sand: 

I have been increasingly concerned about what I can only call Christian “trance dancing”. I have been watching many videos on youtube and google video of different worship meetings and there seems to be some very disconcerting common threads. One is that they look a lot like rave parties with many people up front as in a rock concert or mosh pit.

The second common thread to these kinds of meetings is the very pagan or voodoo sounding drum beats and their relationship to bringing people into trance states or altered states of consciousness.

Promotional material for DJ Caleb's Christian Trance music.

Studying the Bible verse by verse is no longer a prerequisite for mature spiritual growth according to many emergent church leaders. Instead, innovative methods are being promoted to get in tune with “God” or get closer to “God” by re-introducing techniques practiced by the pagans. These are methods that bring instant gratification and sensation. Contact with the spirit world is guaranteed for spiritual seekers who want to have an encounter with “Jesus” by experimenting with the mystical and the metaphysical.     Source

There's a preoccupation with feelings, ecstasy, and hypnotic excitement that are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, when in reality it is the working of a power from beneath.  "The highest excitement prevails, yet probation's hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agencies at work that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy be forever shut."  DA 636.

If  men can be led to trust in their own euphoric feelings instead the word of God, their only safety, they will have no defense against the marvelous workings of Satan   "The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of Spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience." - The Great Controversy, p. 588.