The Spirit of Intolerance is Building

"A special report by Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that -

'All that's lacking [to ignite a conflagration] is a spark; it's only a matter of time.'

And believe me when I say, many, many Christians are going to be burned in this conflagration – swept up in the same kind of rage against the Left that gripped German Christians and propelled Hitler into power." Source

'Jesus only' -- In These Words is Contained the Secret of the life and Power that Marked the History of the Early Church

"Of the disciples after the transfiguration of Christ it is written that at the close of that wonderful scene 'they saw no man, save Jesus only.' Matthew 17:8. 'Jesus only' -- in these words is contained the secret of the life and power that marked the history of the early church. When the disciples first heard the words of Christ, they felt their need of Him. They sought, they found, they followed Him. They were with Him in the temple, at the table, on the mountainside, in the field. They were as pupils with a teacher, daily receiving from Him lessons of eternal truth."

"After the Saviour's ascension, the sense of the divine presence, full of love and light, was still with them. It was a personal presence. Jesus, the Saviour, who had walked and talked and prayed with them, who had spoken hope and comfort to their hearts, had, while the message of peace was upon His lips, been taken from them into heaven. As the chariot of angels received Him, His words had come to them, 'Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end.' Matthew 28:20. He had ascended to heaven in the form of humanity. They knew that He was before the throne of God, their Friend and Saviour still; that His sympathies were unchanged; that He would forever be identified with suffering humanity. They knew that He was presenting before God the merit of His blood, showing His wounded hands and feet as a remembrance of the price He had paid for His redeemed ones; and this thought strengthened them to endure reproach for His sake. Their union with Him was stronger now than when He was with them in person. The light and love and power of an indwelling Christ shone out through them, so that men, beholding, marveled."   AA 64, 65.

In the last Crisis There is no Middle Ground

"In the issue of the contest 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.

"In the great conflict between faith and unbelief the whole Christian world will be involved. All will take sides. Some apparently may not engage in the conflict on either side. They may not appear to take sides against the truth, but they will not come out boldly for Christ through fear of losing property or suffering reproach. All such are numbered with the enemies of Christ."  RH Feb. 7, 1893.

Encouraging Christians to take Dominion over Seven Spheres of Government and Society

Article Warns the Crusade for a Theocratic Tyranny is Strong and Gaining Momentum

"Heads Up: Prayer Warriors and Sarah Palin Are Organizing Spiritual Warfare to Take Over America"

The New Apostolic Reformation, the largest religious movement you've never heard of, aims to take control of communities through 'prayer warriors.'

(Excerpts)  The movement has emerged from the largest single block of Protestant Christianity on the globe -- sometimes called charismatic, neo-charismatic or neo-Pentecostal -- one often overlooked since its adherents do not comprise a single denomination, and often belong to churches characterized as "non-denominational."

Imagine for a moment that a large block of the evangelical world decided to re-organize themselves in a hierarchy somewhat resembling the Roman Catholic Church, with leaders in authority over each nation and region. And additionally imagine that every person -- from the individual congregants to the top leaders -- would have someone to whom they are accountable. It seems unthinkable, but this is exactly what the "apostles" and "prophets" [of the New Apostolic Reformation] are doing.

At the top of the New Apostolic Reformation authority structure is Presiding Apostle C. Peter Wagner, a longtime Christian educator (who recently enjoyed a brief blip of fame when he was revealed as the graduate school mentor of Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life and pastor of Saddleback Church in California). Wagner partnered with Ted Haggard, then pastor of the New Life Christian Church in Colorado Springs, to build the initial nerve center of the movement in that town.

This is not just a church movement. [Those called] market apostles work in business, finance, communications, media and also lead the Reclaiming the Seven Mountains of Culture mandate. Bruce Wilson [a co-founder of Talk2Action] and I have both written about this campaign encouraging Christians to take dominion over seven spheres of government and society.

Church growth is the key concept. Other Christian dominionist movements propose austere biblical law but Wagner explained in his 2008 book that he believes rapid growth of the movement will allow Christians to take dominion inside a democratic framework.

The New Apostolics are now trying to apply shepherding to entire communities and even nations. Sara Diamond, a pioneer in the field of dominion theology, warned in 1989 that charismatic shepherding was becoming a "masterpiece of political strategy." Some of the very same religious right strategists that Diamond wrote about in 1989 are now apostles in the ICA.

Another political area in which New Apostolics are deeply entrenched is John Hagee's Christians United for Israel. Hagee is still teaching that the Rapture may happen any moment, but many of his directors and leadership are New Apostolics who teach that they must take "dominion" over the earth, including Israel, before Jesus can return.

The New Apostolic movement more closely resembles a political campaign than a denomination.

Unsuspecting people are certainly becoming involved in New Apostolic activities without understanding its agenda.

Peter Wagner's ideas have spread widely into mainstream of evangelicalism, to little public notice.

 Read the entire article:  AlterNet

NOTE:  Articles such as this make more apparent what the Spirit of Prophecy means when it says the storm will break "relentless in its fury" and "with blinding force."

"None dare call it Sedition"

"Be very afraid" of the Religious Right

(Excerpts) When the "spiritual warriors" of the Transformations movement proudly announce that they've mapped every town in America -- literally creating target maps of "demonic activity" that pinpoint government offices, non-Evangelical houses of worship, clinics, theaters, Indian mounds and sites; or even just households with Muslims, neo-pagans, Goth-baby teenagers, or Obama stickers on their cars -- they're putting us on notice that they've identified the specific people and places that need to be "cleansed" in order to purify their communities.

At present, they claim that they're only mapping their neighborhoods so they can pray over us all; and their attempts to take over local government are being done by purely democratic means. But, as has often happened before (yes, the Nazis started out just this way), the day may come when they'll decide that mere prayer and organizing is not enough. Like any street gang, they've taken proprietary responsibility for a piece of turf; and they believe God is holding them accountable for everything that happens there. The resulting performance pressure is a perfect setup to justify more aggressive cleansing tactics if they can't convert the town by peaceful means.

And some of these groups have already effectively crossed the line, in spirit if not in prosecutable fact. When the Christian dominionists train up "Joel's Army" by sending their sons to the US armed services so they can get the combat experience they'll need to set up a worldwide theocracy, that's evidence of an active plan to effect an armed government takeover. When senior US military officers put their commitment to Jesus ahead of their commitment to uphold the Constitution and regard the military as God's force in the world, we should be very afraid.

For years now, we've dismissed all of this as crazy talk, the rantings of a loony fringe that will never get enough traction to become a material threat to our democracy. But we're well past the point where it's no longer quaint and funny, or an embarrassing breach of democratic etiquette that polite people should just ignore.
It's time to confront the sobering fact that the entire right wing -- including the GOP establishment, which encourages, endorses, and echoes these sentiments almost every time its officials appear in public -- is now issuing nearly constant invitations to criminal sedition. They're creating a climate and using language that lowers their base's inhibitions around violence -- and irresponsibly eggs on the handful of sociopaths in their midst who are already primed to kill. They've given their newly-expanded corps of flying monkeys permission to brandish their guns in public, empowered their militias, promised them glory, and are now telling them explicitly which targets to hit. Source

The Spirit of the Dragon

"[Our culture]]is based on Judeo-Christian principles whether people like it or they don't!That's who we are! That is who we are! And if you don't like it, don't come here! And if you're here and you don't like it, go home! Go someplace else!"

From the Beginning the Tea Party has Attracted a Large Number of High-profile Conservative Christians

"From the beginning, of course, there's been overlap between the tea parties and the Christian right. Both have their strongholds in the white South, and both arise out of a sense of furious dispossession, a conviction that the country that is rightfully theirs has been usurped by sinister cosmopolitan elites. They have the same favorite politicians -- particularly Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, who is also speaking in Nashville. Glenn Beck, the media figure most associated with the tea-party movement, has a worldview deeply shaped by apocalyptic Mormonism; he is contemptuous of the idea of church-state separation and believes the United States was founded to be a Christian nation."   Source

The Characteristics of the Prophesied Image to the Beast are Clearly in Focus in The Torture Report

The ACLU's Torture Report aims to give a full account of the Bush administration's torture program, from its improvised origins to the systematized, lawyer-rationalized maltreatment of hundreds of prisoners in U.S. custody around the world.

"We are finally beginning to learn the full scope of the Bush administration's torture program. Government documents show that hundreds of prisoners were tortured in the custody of the CIA and Department of Defense, some of them killed in the course of interrogations. Justice Department memos show that the torture policies were devised and developed at the highest levels of the Bush administration."   Source

The Torture Report

Also, see the heart sickening article, Torture by U.S. was Widespread.  These traits and characteristics will once day soon be brought to bear against the followers of Christ.  As the article points out, "As for not taking action against the countless Pentagon operatives who tortured---including doctors and dentists and surgeons, etc.---Obama’s inaction will permit these sadists to be returned one day to practice among the general civilian population. Think about that."

"The Christian exiles who first fled to America, sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance, and they determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. These principles are the secret of our power and prosperity as a nation. Millions from other lands have sought our shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth.

"But the stern tracings of the prophetic pencil reveal a change in this peaceful scene. The beast with lamb-like horns speaks with the voice of a dragon, and "exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him. The spirit of persecution manifested by paganism and the papacy is again to be revealed. Prophecy declares that this power will say 'to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast.' [REV. 13:14.] 

"By this first beast is represented the Roman Church, an ecclesiastical body clothed with civil power, having authority to punish all dissenters. The image to the beast represents another religious body clothed with similar power. The formation of this image is the work of that beast whose peaceful rise and mild professions render it so striking a symbol of the United States. Here is to be found an image of the papacy. When the churches of our land, uniting upon such points of faith as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and sustain their institutions, then will Protestant America have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy. Then the true church will be assailed by persecution, as were God's ancient people... Persecution always follows religious favoritism on the part of secular governments."  4SP 277-279.

The characteristics of the first beast of Revelation 13, are now being manifested also by the image to the beast as it forms and matures, and will result in the persecutions of past ages being visited, to the extent that God permits, upon commandment keepers in the near future.  "But the coming triumph for the men who love and fear God is as sure as that His throne is established in the heavens."  BEcho, August 26, 1895.

"Will we have the strength to defeat the neo-conservatives who are fighting to invite the government into that most sacred place of our lives?"

"By 1962 the consensus embracing separation of church and state had begun to erode"

The culture warriors who contend that the United States is a “Christian nation” gravely endanger freedoms sacred to both Christianity and the nation, Mercer University President Bill Underwood warned supporters of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty June 25.

Balls of Fire: "I was instructed that destruction hath gone forth upon cities"

"A very impressive scene" of what is fast Approaching

Not long ago a very impressive scene passed before me. I saw an immense ball of fire falling among some beautiful mansions, causing their instant destruction. I heard some one say, "We knew that the judgments of God were coming upon the earth, but we did not know that they would come so soon." Others said, "You knew? Why then did you not tell us. We did not know." On every side I heard such words spoken. - Review and Herald, Nov. 24, 1904.

Last Friday morning, just before I awoke, a very impressive scene was presented before me. I seemed to awake from sleep, but was not in my home. From the windows I could behold a terrible conflagration. Great balls of fire were falling upon houses, and from these balls fiery arrows were flying in every direction. It was impossible to check the fires that were kindled, and many places were being destroyed. The terror of the people was indescribable. - Evangelism, p. 29. (1906).

In the night I was, I thought, in a room but not in my own house. I was in a city, where I knew not, and I heard expression after expression. I rose up quickly in bed, and saw from my window large balls of fire. Jetting out were sparks, in the form of arrows, and buildings were being consumed, and in a very few minutes the entire block of buildings was falling and the screeching and mournful groans came distinctly to my ears. I cried out, in my raised position, to learn what was happening: Where am I? And where are our family circle? Then I awoke. But I could not tell where I was for I was in another place than home. I said, Oh Lord, where am I and what shall I do? It was a voice that spoke, "Be not afraid. Nothing shall harm you."

I was instructed that destruction hath gone forth upon cities. The word of the Lord will be fulfilled. Isaiah 29:19-24 was repeated. I dared not move, not knowing where I was. I cried unto the Lord, What does it mean? These representations of destruction were repeated. Where am I?  "In scenes I have represented that which will be; but warn My people to cease from putting their trust in men who are not obedient to my warnings and who despise My reproof, for the day of the Lord is right upon the world when evidence shall be made sure. Those who have followed the voices that would turn things upside down will themselves be turned where they cannot see, but will be as blind men."

These words were given me from Isaiah 30: "Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." [Isaiah 30:8-15 quoted.]...

I was instructed that light had been given me and that I had written under special light the Lord had imparted.- Ms. 126, 1906. (Diary, August 23, 27, 1906.) 11MR 361, 362.

"The Religious Right has lost none of its Political Punch"

(Excerpts)  July 26, 2010 - One of the strangest phenomena in American politics is the persistence of claims, based on scanty or dubious evidence, proclaiming the death of the Religious Right or that the end of the culture wars is at hand. Having written about the ever-evolving Religious Right for more than 25 years I have found myself often perplexed and sometimes gobsmacked by such claims.

Both liberals and conservatives, Republicans and Democrats, often display a lack of appreciation of the seriousness of purpose as well as the considerable resources, ideological rigidity, and ongoing political clout of the Religious Right. Sometimes spectacularly so.

If a religious war is being fought on cultural fronts it stands to reason that the Religious Right, a movement dominated by conservative evangelicals and conservative Catholics, is one of the belligerents. And of course, the precipitous decline or demise of the Religious Right would be decisive in the outcome. But there has, to date, been no credible analysis published anywhere (to my knowledge) to show that such a decline or demise is even remotely in process. Thus it should come as no surprise that every historic element of the culture wars remains hot and that the Religious Right is playing a prominent and active role.

Rob Boston, who has written about the Religious Right for two decades concluded ...“that the Religious Right has lost none of its political punch.”   Frederick Clarkson

Now the Council of European Churches is also Pushing for Sunday Enforcement · July 27, 2010

by Pastor Hal Mayer

On November 22, 2008, the Sofia Echo published an article that noted that joining with the Catholic Church in pressing for the protection of Sunday as the day of rest for Europe, is the Council of European Churches (CEC). The CEC includes about 120 Orthodox Christian, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries of Europe, plus 40 associated organizations.

“The church representatives expressed their wish to see the Sunday rest day being better protected in national legislations as well as in the future EU Working Time Directive which currently is being revised.

“In our societies and in our economies, where efficiency has become the ultimate criterion of valuation, Sunday rest allows the individual to be placed at the centre of society and calls attention to the fact that he is free and not the slave of work,” the church groupings said.”

The CEC gave reasons why Sunday should be protected as a day of rest. One of them is the deteriorating environment. This follows the lead of the Roman Catholic Church, which recently elevated protection of the environment to a moral issue.

Their website says, “Sunday is without doubt the most important element. The relationship of the Sabbath, or Sunday, to God the Creator and His creation should never have been lost. True, the central meaning of Sunday [is] Christ’s resurrection and victory over death. Every Sunday is a sort of  'small Easter'. But this more recent content need not be understood as irreconcilable with the Old Testament meaning of the Sabbath as a day of rest, analogous to God’s rest on the seventh day of creation."

Note the emphasis on Sunday as a “little Easter.” This comes from Roman Catholic teaching about Sunday. But like John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini, the CEC claims that Sunday is now the commemorative rest day for creation, again following the lead of the Roman Catholic Church.

“God’s new world is the fulfillment of the creation. As God’s creatures, we praise the Creator who called this world into being and preserves it, cares for all creatures and gives them their food in due season, and puts an end to death with the in-breaking of the promised reign of God."

Their efforts to protect Sunday were not successful in 2008, but the Working Time Directive is being reviewed in 2010. They have also joined the Catholic Church in a public effort to attract 1,000,000 signatures to petition the European Parliament to enact legislation that would enshrine Sunday as the day of rest for the European communities in European law.   Keep the Faith Ministry
Some members of the CEC:
Sofia Echo Article
CEC Website Document on Easter and Creation

Insight into how Religious Reconstructionists gain Control of the Government

This is a brief introduction that Steven Hotze sent to fundamentalist Christians in Houston in 1990. The introduction clearly discloses Hotze's dominionist and theocratic ideology.

The video that followed this introduction taught viewers how to takeover the Republican party.
 


"Dominionists are patient revolutionaries.  They work through the system to gain control.  Then they work from within the system to change the system.  The changes they are making are incremental. They have little respect for democracy and none for pluralism.  They mean business and they already hold many of the mechanisms of power around the country."  Source

"To a man, Reconstructionists believe that Biblical prophecies assure them that they will ultimately be victorious in the war they wage. This chief thing that distinguishes them from a lot of the conservative Christians who have been influenced by them is that they are not pessimistic about the possibility of men ushering in the millennial reign of Christ. A lot of conservative Christians are pre-millenialists. They think Jesus has to return to usher in the kingdom of God on earth. Reconstructionists are post-millenialists. They think Jesus expects them to usher in the kingdom of God before he returns and they expect to do it by force – by force of law and/or by force of arms."  Source

"Papists, Protestants, and worldlings will alike accept the form of godliness without the power, and they will see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world and the ushering in of the long-expected millennium."  GC 588.

"the opportunities for genuine ecumenical cooperation are extraordinary"

"Much of secular America, and especially the country's mainstream media, is almost wholly unaware of the tide flowing in the American Catholic Church, and would be shocked at rising numbers of Mass attenders in unlikely places....Now that American Protestants and Catholics are both entering eras of growth and confidence -- and they are -- the opportunities for genuine ecumenical cooperation are extraordinary. The 500th anniversary of the Reformation is around the corner. When it arrives, the United States will be a good place to assess how the breach has been, if not filled, then bridged for the benefit of both sides."   Source

The EU is Giving its Citizens more Say, and Citizen Martin Kastler Wants a law "prohibiting shops all across Europe from opening on Sundays"

Martin Kastler & Family

 BRUSSELS — The way Martin Kastler sees it, there ought to be a law prohibiting shops all across Europe from opening on Sundays, much as there has been for generations in his native Bavaria.

He has already begun collecting signatures of support. And soon, courtesy of a little debated clause in the new Lisbon Treaty, the European Union may be obliged to consider drawing up such legislation.

“For me, Sunday is a family day,” said Mr. Kastler, a German member of the European Parliament who is being urged on by his wife, church groups and trade unions.

Long criticized as lacking democratic accountability, the European Union is about to give its 500 million citizens more say — if they can collect one million supporting signatures from a “significant” number of member countries.

But whether the voice of the people will triumph over the bureaucracy remains an open question. Read Full NYT Article

"It's going to take...Christian America to stand up and say, 'You do not speak for us!' "

Trailer:  The Fundamental Transformation of America

Economic Despair and the Christian Right a Frightening Combination

A clip from a 2007 interview, even more timely now.  Chris Hedges examines how Christian dominionists are seeking absolute power and a Christian state. According to Hedges, the movement bears a strong resemblance to the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s. Hedges is the former New York Times Middle East bureau chief and author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning."
 

"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 America. 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

"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.

"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."  Source

"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."   Source

The State of the U.S. Economy Indicates that the National Sunday law can not be far Off

Many economists leave no doubt that the U.S. economy is on the verge of bankruptcy and meltdown.  It was stated well over 100 years a go "that Roman Catholic principles" would "be taken under the care and protection of the state," that "the rulers of the land" would "rank themselves on the side of the man of sin," and that these actions would "speedily be followed by national ruin."  At the beginning of this decade, president Bush declared that the best way to honor the pope as one of the great men "is to take his teaching seriously; is to listen to his words and put his words and teachings into action here in America. This is a challenge we must accept."   For an insightful read on the substantial evidence of Catholic and theocratic influence and efforts to control in the United States under president Bush, see "The Threat of Theology?"

Thus, looking at the looming, catastrophic state of the U.S. economy, while noting that our leaders have clearly ranked themselves on the side of the man of sin, these unmistakable signs strongly indicate that the national Sunday can not be far off.

Truly, "we are on the very verge of the time of trouble, and perplexities that are scarcely dreamed of are before us."   9T 43 (1909).

Further, we are told that it will be declared that national calamities "will not cease until Sunday observance shall be strictly enforced," and that the absence of such a law is "preventing their restoration to divine favor and temporal prosperity."  GC 590.  It would seem from this quote, that the temporal prosperity of the U.S. will have been greatly reduced as the Sunday law is approaching and that the electorate will be convinced that the passage of that law could help bring about an economic recovery.

May we be wise and discern the signs of the world's speedy destruction.  The world at large is asleep, "lulled to a fatal security, to be awakened only by the outpouring of the wrath of God."  GC 561.  While the last message of mercy is preached, the word goes out, "Let none be disturbed by the exciting message of these alarmists."  PP 103.  "Not all, however, would be ensnared by the enemy's devices. As the end of all things earthly should approach, there would be faithful ones able to discern the signs of the times."  PCP 60.

Christ Distinctly States the Suddenness of His Coming

 by Ellen G. White

"Watch, watch, watch. Nearly all have ceased their watching and waiting"

Jesus has left us word: "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly He find you
 sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." We are waiting and watching for the return of the Master, who is to bring the morning, lest coming suddenly He find us sleeping. What time is here referred to? Not to the revelation of Christ in the clouds of heaven to find a people asleep. No; but to His return from His ministration in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, when He lays off His priestly attire and clothes Himself with garments of vengeance, and when the mandate goes forth: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still."

When Jesus ceases to plead for man, the cases of all are forever decided. This is the time of reckoning with His servants. To those who have neglected the preparation of purity and holiness, which fits them to be waiting ones to welcome their Lord, the sun sets in gloom and darkness, and rises not again. Probation closes; Christ's intercessions cease in heaven. This time finally comes suddenly upon all, and those who have neglected to purify their souls by obeying the truth are found sleeping. They became weary of waiting and watching; they became indifferent in regard to the coming of their Master. They longed not for His appearing, and thought there was no need of such continued, persevering watching. They had been disappointed in their expectations and might be again. They concluded that there was time enough yet to arouse. They would be sure not to lose the opportunity of securing an earthly treasure. It would be safe to get all of this world they could. And in securing this object, they lost all anxiety and interest in the appearing of the Master. They became indifferent and careless, as though His coming were yet in the distance. But while their interest was buried up in their worldly gains, the work closed in the heavenly sanctuary, and they were unprepared.

If such had only known that the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary would close so soon, how differently would they have conducted themselves, how earnestly would they have watched! The Master, anticipating all this, gives them timely warning in the command to watch. He distinctly states the suddenness of His coming. He does not measure the time, lest we shall neglect a momentary preparation, and in our indolence look ahead to the time when we think He will come, and defer the preparation. "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not." Yet this foretold uncertainty, and suddenness at last, fails to rouse us from stupidity to earnest wakefulness, and to quicken our watchfulness for our expected Master. Those not found waiting and watching are finally surprised in their unfaithfulness. The Master comes, and instead of their being ready to open unto Him immediately, they are locked in worldly slumber, and are lost at last.

A company was presented before me in contrast to the one described. They were waiting and watching. Their eyes were directed heavenward, and the words of their Master were upon their lips: "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping." The Lord intimates a delay before the morning finally dawns. But He would not have them give way to weariness, nor relax their earnest watchfulness, because the morning does not open upon them as soon as they expected. The waiting ones were represented to me as looking upward. They were encouraging one another by repeating these words: "The first and second watches are past. We are in the third watch, waiting and watching for the Master's return. There remains but a little period of watching now." I saw some becoming weary; their eyes were directed downward, and they were engrossed with earthly things, and were unfaithful in watching. They were saying: "In the first watch we expected our Master, but were disappointed. We thought surely He would come in the second watch, but that passed, and He came not. We may be again disappointed. We need not be so particular. He may not come in the following watch. We are in the third watch, and now we think it best to lay up our treasure on the earth, that we may be secure against want." Many were sleeping, stupefied with the cares of this life and allured by the deceitfulness of riches from their waiting, watching position.

Angels were represented to me as looking on with intense interest to mark the appearance of the weary yet faithful watchers, lest they be too sorely tried, and sink under the toil and hardships made doubly severe because their brethren had been diverted from their watch, and become drunk with worldly cares and beguiled by worldly prosperity. These heavenly angels grieved that those who were once watching should, by their indolence and unfaithfulness, increase the trial and burdens of those who were earnestly and perseveringly endeavoring to maintain their waiting, watching position.

I saw that it was impossible to have the affections and interests engrossed in worldly cares, to be increasing earthly possessions, and yet be in a waiting, watching position, as our Saviour has commanded. Said the angel: "They can secure but one world. In order to acquire the heavenly treasure, they must sacrifice the earthly. They cannot have both worlds." I saw how necessary a continuance of faithfulness in watching was in order to escape the delusive snares of Satan. He leads those who should be waiting and watching, to take an advance step toward the world; they have no intention of going further, but that one step removed them that much further from Jesus, and made it easier to take the next; and thus step after step is taken toward the world, until all the difference between them and the world is a profession, a name only. They have lost their peculiar, holy character, and there is nothing except their profession to distinguish them from the lovers of the world around them.

I saw that watch after watch was in the past. Because of this, should there be a lack of vigilance? Oh, no! There is the greater necessity of unceasing watchfulness, for now the moments are fewer than before the passing of the first watch. Now the period of waiting is necessarily shorter than at first. If we watched with unabated vigilance then, how much more need of double watchfulness in the second watch. The passing of the second watch has brought us to the third, and now it is inexcusable to abate our watchfulness. The third watch calls for threefold earnestness. To become impatient now would be to lose all our earnest, persevering watching heretofore. The long night of gloom is trying; but the morning is deferred in mercy, because if the Master should come, so many would be found unready. God's unwillingness to have His people perish has been the reason for so long delay. But the coming of the morning to the faithful, and of the night to the unfaithful, is right upon us. By waiting and watching, God's people are to manifest their peculiar character, their separation from the world. By our watching position we are to show that we are truly strangers and pilgrims upon the earth. The difference between those who love the world and those who love Christ is so plain as to be unmistakable. While worldlings are all earnestness and ambition to secure earthly treasure, God's people are not conformed to the world, but show by their earnest, watching, waiting position that they are transformed; that their home is not in this world, but that they are seeking a better country, even a heavenly.

 I hope, my dear brethren and sisters, that you will not pass your eye over these words without thoroughly considering their import. As the men of Galilee stood looking steadfastly toward heaven, to catch, if possible, a glimpse of their ascending Saviour, two men in white apparel, heavenly angels commissioned to comfort them for the loss of the presence of their Saviour, stood by them and inquired: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven."

God designs that His people shall fix their eyes heavenward, looking for the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. While the attention of worldlings is turned to various enterprises, ours should be to the heavens; our faith should reach further and further into the glorious mysteries of the heavenly treasure, drawing the precious, divine rays of light from the heavenly sanctuary to shine in our hearts, as they shine upon the face of Jesus. The scoffers mock the waiting, watching ones, and inquire: "Where is the promise of His coming? You have been disappointed. Engage now with us, and you will prosper in worldly things. Get gain, get money, and be honored of the world." The waiting ones look upward and answer: "We are watching." And by turning from earthly pleasure and worldly fame, and from the deceitfulness of riches, they show themselves to be in that position. By watching they become strong; they overcome sloth and selfishness and love of ease. Affliction's fire kindles upon them, and the waiting time seems long. They sometimes grieve, and faith falters; but they rally again, overcome their fears and doubts, and while their eyes are directed heavenward, say to their adversaries: "I am watching, I am waiting the return of my Lord. I will glory in tribulation, in affliction, in necessities."
  

The desire of our Lord is that we should be watching, so that when He cometh and knocketh we may open to Him immediately. A blessing is pronounced upon those servants whom He finds watching. "He shall gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them." Who among us in these last days will be thus specially honored by the Master of assemblies? Are we prepared without delay to open to Him immediately and welcome Him in? Watch, watch, watch. Nearly all have ceased their watching and waiting; we are not ready to open to Him immediately. The love of the world has so occupied our thoughts that our eyes are not turned upward, but downward to the earth. We are hurrying about, engaging with zeal and earnestness in different enterprises, but God is forgotten, and the heavenly treasure is not valued. We are not in a waiting, watching position. The love of the world and the deceitfulness of riches eclipse our faith, and we do not long for, and love, the appearing of our Saviour. We try too hard to take care of self ourselves. We are uneasy and greatly lack a firm trust in God. Many worry and work, contrive and plan, fearing they may suffer need. They cannot afford time to pray or to attend religious meetings and, in their care for themselves, leave no chance for God to care for them. And the Lord does not do much for them, for they give Him no opportunity. They do too much for themselves, and believe and trust in God too little. 2T 190-195.

The Highest Place to Which man can Attain

"Without the cross, man could have no connection with the Father. On it hangs our every hope. In view of it the Christian may advance with the steps of a conqueror; for from it streams the light of the Saviour's love. When the sinner reaches the cross, and looks up to the One who died to save him, he may rejoice with fullness of joy; for his sins are pardoned. Kneeling at the cross, he has reached the highest place to which man can attain. The light of the knowledge of the glory of God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ; and the words of pardon are spoken: Live, O ye guilty sinners live. Your repentance is accepted; for I have found a ransom."  RH, April 29, 1902.

A Historian puts a Timetable on America’s Future

July 20, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com
By Robert Morley

Two years. That is how much time America has to fix its problems—or risk sudden collapse. This is the startling conclusion of Harvard historian Niall Ferguson. The world has seen what happens when investors lose faith in a country’s fiscal policy, he says. Just look at Greece.

Is it possible that the richest, most powerful country in the world could realistically be facing sudden collapse? After all, America isn’t Greece.

That is just the problem. America is not some small country that has overspent a few tens of billions of dollars. America is the world’s largest debtor, and it is addicted to debt. It is an empire now in evident decline—like the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, or Rome just a few years before its fall—and it is borrowing trillions of dollars to maintain an unsustainable standard of living.

This year alone, according to the Congressional Budget Office, America will add $1.5 trillion more to its national debt. And under President Obama’s proposed spending plan, America will run trillion-dollar deficits until 2019.

Annual trillion-dollar deficits? And that is if everything goes according to plan: the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan neatly wrap up; there is no double-dip recession; employers start hiring again; the too-big-to-fail banks don’t need more money; and the Fed avoids accounting for government-owned Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on its balance sheets.

What if things don’t go according to plan?

What if, asks Ferguson, the “Chimerica” relationship breaks down? China owns 10 percent of America’s public debt—that is a lot of leverage, and it is gaining more every day. What if, for political reasons, China stopped lending money to America, or worse, dumped American debt?

That is a question the experts either dismiss as unlikely or don’t like to think about. But even so, they generally agree that it could totally destroy the dollar. Yet, they claim it would never happen. China would be hurt just as bad because it would lose its biggest consumer market, they say.

Maybe that is true today, but what about tomorrow? China is the fastest growing major economy on Earth. In the years ahead, it is on track to overtake America. Its middle class is on the rise, and internal consumption is growing. One day China may not need indebted American consumers and a depreciating U.S. dollar. Then what?

U.S. battle carrier groups won’t be straying into the East or South China seas anymore. And who will protect little Taiwan, or the Philippines, or Australia for that matter?

Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this month, the British historian told business leaders and academics that America doesn’t have much time to reverse course. “I think this is a problem that is going to go live really soon,” he said. “In that sense, I mean within the next two years” (emphasis mine throughout).

“Fiscally and other ways,” America is “very near the edge of chaos,” he warned.

Ferguson said that historically, one indicator of looming collapse was when the cost of servicing a country’s debt became larger than the cost of its defense budget. This has never occurred in America before, he said. But it will be the case in the next five years.

Even if interest rates remain at historic lows, the interest payments alone will soon take up one in every five budget dollars, he noted.

If Ferguson is right, America had better hope that interest rates never—as in never ever again—shoot up to the double digits that America experienced in the 1970s. America would be bankrupted overnight. In other words, America had better keep its Chinese and Japanese lenders happy.

Debt can also lead to a sudden loss of military power and global respect, said the British scholar. History has many precedents. When the economy begins to crumble, military budgets often get slashed first.

America should not take consolation in the fact it has more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined: If this economic crisis continues, they are going to be mothballed.

Living in a world in which America is in decline will not be fun, he said. “[A] world in which the United Sates is no longer predominating is not likely to be a better world.”

However, Ferguson says, there is a way out for America. Here, after a brilliant analysis of America’s financial situation, he falls down flat.

To avoid collapse, he says, America needs to re-energize the two things that made America great: technological innovation and entrepreneurship.

Innovation and entrepreneurship?

Sure: Innovation and entrepreneurship played a role, even an important role, in making America. But they are certainly not the primary drivers of American greatness.

In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, Abraham Lincoln said: “The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.”

Abraham Lincoln knew the source from which America’s greatness came. During an address on March 30, 1863, during which he declared a day of prayer and fasting, he stated:

[I]t is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God … and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord …. We have been the recipients of the choicest blessings of heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in number, wealth and power as no other nation ever has grown: But we have forgotten God! We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Many Americans used to believe as Lincoln did. Many Americans probably even took Lincoln’s admonition to heart.

But today, how many people truly believe that it is God who makes nations great?

The Bible is clear that God makes and breaks nations. He allows kings to rule and puts people on thrones. He blesses and He curses. It was blessings from God that were the most important factor making America great.

Yet now it is evident that those blessings are being taken away. The signs are everywhere. All over the country, paved roads are being ground up and turned into gravel. Some counties are simply letting the roads erode to gravel. Cities and counties can no longer afford the upkeep. Over 1 million homes will be foreclosed upon this year, if trends continue. In Kansas City, 29 of 61 schools will be closed to stave off bankruptcy. Many cities across America are changing ordinances to allow people to raise chickens for food. Other cities are refusing to enforce bylaws. In Michigan, people are resorting to barter and competing currencies are popping up. One chiropractor in that state says he accepts any form of silver, gold, chicken, and apple pie. In a state with so many unemployed people, you have to be creative to stay in business. He is open to all kinds of trades.

America today is radically different from the nation it was just two years ago. And incredibly, if Ferguson is right, it might not be recognizable in another two.

The Bible talks about a time when America, because of its problems, would face sudden destruction. Isaiah 30:13 describes America as a swelling wall that is breached, then suddenly breaks apart and comes collapsing down in an instant. Just like a levee breaking from a flooding river. The danger keeps building and building—until finally the levee bursts and falls in seconds!

And in the aftermath, not much is recognizable. Think New Orleans on a national level.

Admittedly, it is not a pretty picture—and if Ferguson is correct, there is not much time left to prepare.   Source

Doing Away with the Right to be Different: The Assault on Religious Freedom

Signs of the Image to the Beast

According to Revelation 13, the United States of America, under the influence of apostate protestantism and the papacy, will form an image to the beast, becoming like the papacy in character. We can see the image to the beast forming, as our Constitution is repudiated in action after action; as the state takes ever more control of our lives, down to every last detail.

"In order for the United States to form an image of the beast, the religious power must so control the civil government that the authority of the State will also be employed by the church to accomplish her own ends."  GC 443.

No where is this process more apparent that in the rapid dissolution of freedom of the press.  George Seldes was the leading observer and critic of American journalism in the 20th century.  Of his 21 books, seven deal with freedom of the press. Seldes stated, "This pressure [of the Catholic Church on American journalism] is one of the most important forces in American life, and the only one about which secrecy is generally maintained, no newspaper being brave enough to discuss it, although all fear it and believe that the problem should be dragged into the open and made publicly known."

A look at recent developments:

 "Discussions underway at the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission point toward a dangerous new effort to regulate what Americans read and hear. The takeover under discussion would apply across the board to print media, radio and television, and the internet. The result of proposed regulations would be nothing less than an end to free speech in America."  Source

In a groundbreaking new book, Shut Up, America!: The End of Free Speech, Brad O'Leary exposes the agenda and the strategy behind a new plan. "It won't be called 'the Fairness Doctrine' this time. But it will have the same effect -- or worse. Brad O'Leary lays out the plan -- how Congress and the president will rationalize the changes using the language of 'diversity' and 'fairness' and 'tolerance.' He also addresses how the impending legislation and regulations will doubly impact Christian talk radio -- and eventually every other form of communication in America. This is about power and silencing all meaningful opposition."  Source

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch recently told the Wall Street Journal:  "The prospect of the U.S. government becoming directlty involved in commercial journalism ought to be chilling for anyone who cares about freedom if speech."

"The federal government would have 'absolute power' to shut down the Internet under the terms of a new US Senate bill being pushed by Joe Lieberman, legislation which would hand President Obama a figurative 'kill switch' to seize control of the world wide web in response to a Homeland Security directive."  Source 



The Obama administration "shut down the WordPress host of 73,000 blogs this week, citing 'abuses.'  Since when, in a free society, does the government have the authority to shut down the free speech/communication of its citizens?"  Source   "This is causing high anxiety over the possibility it is the beginning of a wider crackdown, since a free blogging platform has been taken down by its hosting provider on orders from the U.S. authorities on grounds of 'a history of abuse'. More than 73,000 blogs are out of action as a result. Some folks are asking why all 73,000 were removed from the Internet.' Their 'testing the waters' worked. Soon they will shut down anyone they deem a problem."  Source

"These examples all point to a deadly disturbing fact--not only is the United States of America headed toward the Orwellian nightmare of tyranny but, in fact, we are already there."   Source 

The foregoing are just a few examples of fast fulfilling prophecy and the emergence of the image of the beast.  "Already preparations are advancing, and movements are in progress, which will result in making an image to the beast. Events will be brought about in the earth's history that will fulfill the predictions of prophecy for these last days." RH April 23, 1889.

Some history on the influence of the papacy on the American press:

"By 1870, the principles of the French Revolution (1848), which included freedom of the press, had brought the Catholic Church to its knees. Newspapers everywhere were conveying the truth about Catholicism. Indeed, unrestricted journalism of the time was a major cause for the drive to adopt the principle of infallibility. According to Hasler, the Infallibilist Party 'wanted to employ the infallible pope to contain the forces of unbridled journalism.'  On May 25, 1870, the newspaper Unita Cattolica, which supported adoption of the principle of infallibility, wrote, 'The infallible pope must counteract and cure the prevailing abuses of unbridled freedom of the press, thanks to which journalists daily spread lies and calumny. Every day the pope can teach, condemn, and define dogma and Catholics will never be permitted to question his decisions.'



With the adoption of the principle of infallibility by Pius IX and freedom of the press branded intrinsically evil by him, the Church immediately set out to 'bridle' the press. In the United States, the Knights of Columbus was created in 1882 to organize the Catholic laity into a tightly controlled and responsive machine. By 1914 the Knights of Columbus had evolved into a national organization capable of intimidating anyone who criticized the Church in any way. During the period from August 1914 to January 17, 1917, the Knights succeeded, according to their own report, in shutting down 60 of the 62 or 63 newspapers in the United States that published news critical of the Catholic Church. And they bragged about it."

Seldes quotes Heywood Broun, "And still more precarious is the position of the New York newspaper man who ventures any criticism of the Catholic Church. There is not a single New York editor who does not live in mortal terror of the power of this group."

In 1949, Paul Blanshard reported on his extensive study of Catholic censorship and boycott in a book, American Freedom and Catholic Power. He found that, "The censorship system of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States is neither a spasmodic nor an intermittent phenomenon. It is a highly organized system of cultural and moral controls that applies not only to books, plays, magazines and motion pictures, but to persons and places....[The Church] holds the power of economic life and death over many authors, publishers and producers who must rely upon American Catholics for patronage and support."

Blanshard concludes, "The machinery that the Church uses in the United States to enforce its boycott of unfriendly literature is quite elaborate....Non-Catholic publishers who print criticism of Catholic policy are threatened with boycotts and flooded with very unpleasant letters of protest. As a result of this type of pressure scarcely any publishers in the United States will even consider any manuscript that might expose them...to Catholic boycott."   Source

Many Americans "do not see that if a Protestant government sacrifices the principles that have made them a free, independent nation, and through legislation brings into the Constitution principles that will propagate papal falsehood and papal delusion, they are plunging into the Roman horrors of the Dark Ages."  RH Extra, Dec. 11, 1888.

All of this is leading right up to the enforcement of Sunday as a national day of rest. "Stealthily and unsuspectedly [the papacy] is strengthening her forces to further her own ends when the time shall come for her to strike."  GC 581.  "Soon the Sunday laws will be enforced, and men in positions of trust will be embittered against the little handful of God's commandment-keeping people."  4MR 278 (1909).  "Protestants will throw their whole influence and strength on the side of the papacy. By a national act enforcing the false sabbath they will give life and vigor to the corrupt faith of Rome, reviving her tyranny and oppression of conscience."  Mar 179 (1893).

"In the events now taking place is seen a rapid advance toward the fulfillment of the prediction."  GC 580.

Why the President's Switch from Using the term "Freedom to Religion" to "Freedom of Worship" is a Really big Deal

NOTE: In this article, one can see the way being prepared for the state to greatly curtail evangelism. We were warned over 100 years a go that this development was approaching: "I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical missionary work." CH 533.  "As religious aggression subverts the liberties of our nation, those who would stand for freedom of conscience will be placed in unfavorable positions."  CH 506.

 by Dr. Tony Beam

(Excerpts)  Is it really a big deal that the President and members of his administration have migrated from freedom of religion to freedom of worship? Yes, it really is a big deal because...words mean things. The freedom to worship is an exclusive term that relates only to the way people express their relationship with God inside the walls of the church. Freedom of religion carries the idea of religious expression beyond the walls of the church into the public arena.

For example, the government can grant me the freedom to worship but without freedom of religion that same government can prohibit me from sharing my faith with my neighbor....

By shifting from freedom of religion to freedom of worship, the administration would be laying the groundwork for censuring religious thought and expression in the public square while sanctioning worship as long as that worship remains tucked away from public view within the confines of the church.

I understand that worship can take place other than the confines of a church but emphasizing the freedom or worship over the freedom of religion protects our ability to express our love for God while leaving open the possibility of the curtailment of our responsibility to express God’s truth in the culture.

Worship is an important part of religious expression but it is only one part. As Christians, we must stand up for our right to express our religious beliefs both inside and outside the walls of the church. If our understanding of religious freedom becomes confined by wordsmiths to nothing more than what takes place inside the church we will soon find that our outside the walls expression of God’s truth has been lost.  Source

"New York Times Takes Aim at the Papacy… Again · July 21, 2010"

 by Pastor Hal Mayer

“The Catholic Church continued to heap insult upon injury,” wrote the New York Times, “when it revealed its long-awaited new rules on clergy sex abuse…”

“The church still believes in its own intrinsic holiness despite all evidence to the contrary. It thinks it’s making huge concessions on the unstoppable abuse scandal when it’s taking baby steps. The casuistic document did not issue a zero-tolerance policy to defrock priests after they are found guilty of pedophilia; it did not order bishops to report every instance of abuse to the police; it did not set up sanctions on bishops who sweep abuse under the rectory rug; it did not eliminate the statute of limitations for abused children; it did not tell bishops to stop lobbying legislatures to prevent child-abuse laws from being toughened.”

“There is no moral awakening here. The cruelty and indecency of child abuse once more inspires tactical contrition. All the penitence of the church is grudging and reactive. Church leaders are merely as penitent as they need to be to protect the institution.”

“After the Belgian police bracingly conducted raids on the church hierarchy, inspired in part by the horrifying case of a boy molested for years by his uncle, the bishop of Bruges, a case that the church ignored and covered up for 25 years, the pope did not applaud the more aggressive tack. He condemned it…”  The author also took aim at the Roman Catholic law of an all male priesthood. But last of all, the article pointed out that by abusing the young, is in effect, abusing Jesus Himself.

“‘Whatever you did to any of my brothers, even the lowliest, you did to me.’ That means that the priests abusing the vulnerable young were doing that to Jesus, raping Jesus. Any clerical functionary who shows more sympathy for the predator priests than for their victims instantly disqualified himself as a follower of Jesus. The cardinals said they must care for their own, going to jail if necessary to protect a priest. We say the same thing, but the ‘our own’ we care for are the victimized, the poor, the violated. They are Jesus.’”

Rome never changes. She does what she has to do to keep her influence if possible. But don’t count the Vatican out of end-time Geopolitics just yet. She is never more wily, never more shrewd, and never more effective than when she is under pressure. The scandal may well be one of the ways the angels are holding back the winds of strife. See Revelation 7:1   Keep the Faith

"The Waldenses"

Three Authors Warn of Potential Threat to Religious Freedom in the U.S.

NOTE:  Why would the president and Secretary of State both begin a policy of being coy and unclear about what they mean by religious liberty?  For whatever reason, the policy of this administration is steadily undermining separation of church and state, so as to have a policy more in accordance with Vatican policies.  When "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."  5T 451

(Excerpts) "End Times" authors Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall say the Obama administration may be killing religious freedom by redefinition.

In a statement posted on their website this past week, the co-authors of the political thriller Edge of Apocalypse claim there is a shadow growing over religious freedom in America.

"We are talking about the Obama Administration’s subtle, but apparently deliberate use of a language-sleight-of-hand, substituting the phrase 'freedom of worship' for 'freedom of religion," they wrote this past Tuesday.

According to the fiction series authors, President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have "consistently" used the new phrase in several speeches in recent months.

They pointed to how the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also noted the shift and raised a flag on it in its 2010 annual report.

“Because of the policy implications of using ‘freedom of worship’ language, USCIRF urges President Obama, Secretary Clinton and other high-ranking U.S. government officials to return to invoking or embracing ‘freedom of religion or belief’ or similar language in all public statements and stress the universal nature of these and other rights,” the bipartisan body stated.

Though some might consider their observations as nit-picking or overanalyzing, LaHaye and Parshall made a case for their warning, explaining that the phrase “freedom of worship” follows an international concept that departs from the United States’ First Amendment understanding of religious freedom.

Under international law, they say, “worship” is a limited right, and connotes activities within a church body, but can exclude public evangelism.

The U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, for example, protects “teaching, practice, worship and observance” but does not protect public preaching. The United Nation’s 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance uses the same approach on matters of religion.

“Article 9 of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms allows evangelism to be banned on the basis of protecting ‘public order,’” note the authors, one of which – Parshall – is a religious rights attorney and the general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters.

“In 1997 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that under Article 9 Christians could be prosecuted for efforts to evangelize,” they added.

Alleging that the Obama administration is edging America closer to a global approach in matters of religion, LaHaye and Parshall recalled the future “Babylon” in the Bible’s book of Revelation, which they say has three aspects, “much like a three-legged stool.”

“Two of them are a global economic system and a global political system. The third? A global unification of religion,” they stated.   Source

 by Chuck Colson

(Excerpts)  Just this clever dissembling of words is an apparent attempt to restrict freedom of religion to freedom of worship only. Do you see the implications? Sure, I am free to attend church, sing hymns, pray over meals, offer thanks to God for my children and grandchildren. That’s my own private affair.

But should the government succeed in redefining freedom of religion, how much longer can I practice my faith in public?

If you read history, you will see that that the first act of a tyrant is to suppress religion, which means of course, religious practice. Our Founders knew this. They knew the first English settlers came to these shores precisely so they could practice their faith.

...make no mistake, if government can redefine or restrict our freedom of religion, our first freedom will be gone.

And, as our Founders understood, when that freedom is gone, we will, in short order, lose the other freedoms as well.   Source