Signs of the times

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December

Devaluation of life: "Wait until you hear of a cloned baby that has been aborted – it will happen. How about a science experiment gone wrong and a cloned human must be euthanized? It will eventually happen. What about the future of these cloned babies? They will be subject to tests, experiments and observation from one side, and publicity, stardom and a circus show from the other." See Brave New World and Romans 1:22-32

repeat Human clones in gestation: "Several pregnancies are in progress in which cloned test-tube embryos were implanted in host mothers, but there have been miscarriages, according to the head of a human cloning firm run by the Raelian movement. .... Several specialists in the field, including biologist Rudolf Jaenisch of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute, say such experiments are not only doomed to failure, but are 'irresponsible and repugnant.' ... Mr. Jaenisch and others have long spoken out against human cloning, a technique that has had a high failure rate in animals and resulted in 'a veritable gallery of horrors' among aborted fetuses and live births." See Genesis 11:4-9

repeat Woman pursues human cloning: "...if her views are seen as being on the fringe of a science already outside the mainstream, Boisselier has been able to get the ear of Congress -- and people willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for the technology. Cloning is more than sound science, it's a human right, Boisselier argues. 'It is a fundamental right to reproduce any way you want,' she said during testimony in Washington, D.C., last month....
      "Boisselier oversees Clonaid, a company funded by private investors that runs hidden labs scattered around the world. She... founded the company under the auspices of the Raelians with the religion's leader, Claude Vorilhon...." 1 Timothy 4:1

Report slams Israel on sex slavery: "About 3,000 women, mainly from the former Soviet Union, are sold each year into Israel's sex industry, which takes in about $1-billion (U.S.) annually." Could this be considered a form of [economic] slavery -- with the worst kind of master? Psalm 12:7-8

Europe's new face of anti-Semitism: "One of the first steps in Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic drive in the creation of his Third Reich was instituting a ban on the kosher slaughter of animals. Today, as a new wave of ugly, and sometimes violent, anti-Semitism sweeps through the European continent, at least five countries have banned kosher food production, and one of them is considering halting all import of kosher meat." See Persecution

Today's girls displaying a sexual bravado: "'The girls are way more aggressive than the boys... They have more attitude. They have more power. And they overpower guys more. I mean, it's scary.'

      "Dr. Linda Carter, a psychologist in Manhattan, said that it is as if the habits of 'Sex and the City''-style dating have trickled down to teenagers....'The popular culture saturates their mentality,' she said. 'Watching Britney Spears... empowers them to be more aggressive....

    "Marty Beckerman, 19, a student at American University in Washington, said that girls' sexual bravado is a response to the cold transactional nature sex has taken on for some. 'There is a kind of machismo among girls now,' he said. 'They have the male-conquest attitude.'" Isaiah 3:5-12

Syphilis outbreak in Los Angeles County: "Fighting the spread of syphilis is proving difficult because gay men may be tuning out after having heard safe sex messages for years.... In places like West Hollywood, where alcohol and sex are primary industries, those communities have a responsibility." Deut 28:15

November

Creating Living Things: "It is not the creation of a new life form, exactly.... A panel of clergy and bioethicists convened especially to discuss it found nothing to be alarmed about -- and yet the project launched this week at the Institute for Biological Energy Alternatives in Rockville should cause both scientists and policymakers to pause and think.....

         "If they succeed in inserting a simple string of genetic code, scientists could eventually insert a more complex string. ...They could also create a new virus or bacteria that could become a biological weapon...." Genesis 11

Sour economy can't stop tide of immigrants: "More than 3.3 million legal and illegal immigrants entered the United States between January 2000 and March 2002.... 'The fact is that even if it's harder to get into the United States, legally or illegally, life is still better here,' said Steven Camarota, director of research for the private Center for Immigration Studies....

     "California's 9 million-plus immigrants dominate its population in some pressing ways. For instance, 57 percent of the state's uninsured are immigrants or their U.S.-born children." John 16:33

'What would Jesus drive?' gas-guzzling Americans are asked: "...the Christian group behind the ads believes the answer would not include sports utility vehicles, the fuel-inefficient, environmentally unfriendly monsters that rule America's roads.... The campaign's slogan is inspired by What Would Jesus Do?, a phrase ubiquitous among young Christians in the US who sport it on bracelets, clothing and customised Bible covers."

     This slogan from the EEN trivializes both God and His truth. Only those who are filled with His Spirit and led by His Word can discern His will, and statistics show that many who call themselves Christians neither know nor follow His word. Imagining our holy and majestic Lord in the driver's seat certainly won't help. See 1 Cor 2:9-10, Statistics for the Changing Church

Tech magazine covers feature perennial favorite: Jesus: "Condé Nast's Wired, circulation 509,000, commissioned artist Kenn Brown to illustrate its special report on religion, science and technology. He fashioned a silver man on a cross decorated with gears, a microscope, a double helix, and other symbols....
     "'The Real Face of Jesus,' blares the cover of Hearst-owned Popular Mechanics, a 1.2-million circulation monthly. The lead story is about how forensic anthropology determines what a long-dead person looked like....
      "No matter how you portray him, though, Jesus sells. That's why religion is 'one of the favorite cover subjects' of Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. It's why Time gave us 'What Jesus Saw' last year and 'Jesus at 2000' in 1999, why Newsweek said 'Jesus Rocks' in 2001 and asked 'What Would Jesus Do?'' in April...." See Psalm 50:16-21

Pastors Pessimistic Over Faith's Future: "A large majority of pastors predict that alternative religions and New Age spirituality will become more influential in the next decade. According to the latest study by Ellison Research of Phoenix, 82 percent of ministers expect a growing influence of non-Christian faiths and 55 percent think New Age spirituality will increase in impact in the next 10 years....
       The 567 pastors polled by the Arizona organization were at their most pessimistic when asked about 'overall freedom of religion in the U.S.,' with 44 percent anticipating declining freedom of religion." Matthew 24:12 and Deuteronomy 11
'Godless Americans' March on Washington: "The atheists say there's too much of God in our society today and now they want equal time. The rally is an attempt to focus on their needs." Chart: Paradigm Shift

Christianity No Longer the Focus of Christian Group: "Even though the initials YWCA stand for the Young Women's Christian Association, a spokeswoman said it's been a 'very, very long time' since the organization focused on promoting Christian values. ... 'For years, people have known that the focus of the YWCA has been on empowering women....' [It] has lobbied for 'the repeal of all laws restricting or prohibiting abortions performed by a duly licensed physician...'

       "[Wendy] Wright said the YWCA is just one example of the many Christian organizations that have been taken over by people who disdain Christianity. The true empowerment, dignity and respect that women receive today can be attributed to the way Jesus is depicted as treating women in the Bible, Wright said. 'That was the beginning in history of women being treated with respect and dignity,' Wright said. "That's why you find that it's in Western culture that women are treated the best; Western cultures are based on a Judeo-Christian ethic." A Twist of Faith

October

Teen's Halloween prank lands him in jail: "The youth jumped on a cafeteria table at Marana High School, opened his jacket, displayed a belt with fake bombs, pulled out a broken BB pistol and said he would kill his fellow students." 2 Timothy 3:1-14

Old enough to kill, too young to pay: "Nothing on Halloween should chill you more than Supreme Court justices claiming the power to regulate our culture using nothing but their own 'evolving standards of decency.'...

     "To retain any freedom, we the people must be able to govern ourselves, at least a little bit. We have only as much power to govern ourselves, however, as judges give us.

     "In Bellotti, the court struck down a statute requiring parental consent before minors can get an abortion. A 17-year-old is not mature enough to kill an adult, but a 14-year-old is mature enough to kill a baby. That standard of decency has mutated, not evolved." See Reinventing the World

Burial Box May Be That of Jesus's Brother, Expert Says: "Researchers may have uncovered the first archaeological evidence that refers to Jesus as an actual person and identifies James, the first leader of the Christian church, as his brother. The 2,000-year-old ossuary—a box that held bones—bears the inscription 'James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.'" That sounds exciting, but we don't need "archeological evidence" in order to believe in Jesus. He has been demonstrating the reality of His presence through changed lives and the testimony of His followers for about 2000 years. 1 Cor 1:18

Muzzling conservative pastors: "...under these false pretenses, pastors, whose business is to lead on moral issues, are precluded from doing so to the extent they are muzzled on politics, because government and politics have an enormous impact on the moral fabric of our society. That is, if you silence a pastor on political issues, you are limiting his ability to influence society morally -- as well as his freedom of expression and religion...." See The UN Plan for Your Mental Health and 2 Cor 2:14

Human clones in gestation: "Several pregnancies are in progress in which cloned test-tube embryos were implanted in host mothers, but there have been miscarriages, according to the head of a human cloning firm run by the Raelian movement. .... Several specialists in the field, including biologist Rudolf Jaenisch of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute, say such experiments are not only doomed to failure, but are 'irresponsible and repugnant.' ... Mr. Jaenisch and others have long spoken out against human cloning, a technique that has had a high failure rate in animals and resulted in 'a veritable gallery of horrors' among aborted fetuses and live births." See Genesis 11:4-9

Woman pursues human cloning: "...if her views are seen as being on the fringe of a science already outside the mainstream, Boisselier has been able to get the ear of Congress -- and people willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for the technology. Cloning is more than sound science, it's a human right, Boisselier argues. 'It is a fundamental right to reproduce any way you want,' she said during testimony in Washington, D.C., last month....
      "Boisselier oversees Clonaid, a company funded by private investors that runs hidden labs scattered around the world. She... founded the company under the auspices of the Raelians with the religion's leader, Claude Vorilhon...." 1 Timothy 4:1

Termites in the foundation: "The greatest threat to America has always been from within. While we focused on the enemies from without, (can you say cold war) a subversion below the radar screen was eating away at the foundations of the nation like the termites in an oak tree. The gnawing upon the foundation was within plain view, but we were told that the termites were actually strengthening the foundation...." See Chart: America's Spiritual Slide & Postmodernity

September

Harvard Magazine: Abolish the White Race: "Professor at Harvard's W. E. B. Dubois' Institute for African-American Research Founds Journal Dedicated to Abolishing the White Race: 'Make no mistake about it: we intend to keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and the females too, until the social construct known as 'the white race' is destroyed—not 'deconstructed' but destroyed.' ...As hard as it is to stand out among the left-liberal throngs of academia, professor Noel Ignatiev has done just that." Romans 1:22-32

School-sponsored 9-11 Day: "The 'Star Spangled Banner' is too patriotic, divisive and political, so organizers of UC Berkeley's day-long tribute to the victims and heroes of 9-11 are excluding it. 'God Bless America' is doubly excluded. Not only is it patriotic, but it also mentions God, something else that is taboo....

       "The Sept. 11 Day of Remembrance, sponsored by the Chancellor's office, the student body government and the Graduate Assembly, will also feature student leaders distributing white ribbons, instead of the red, white and blue ones they had originally planned. 'We thought that may be just too political, too patriotic,' said Hazel Wong, chief organizer for the Associated Students of the University of California....

       "''We don't want to isolate people on this campus who disagree with the reaction to Sept. 11.' Quindel, a self avowed hater of the American Flag, the federal government, and the 'Star Spangled Banner,' said she is still patriotic. 'It depends on your definition of patriotism. Everyone has a different definition,' she said. Patriotic songs may exclude and offend people, Quindel said, 'because there are so many people who don't agree with the songs.'"

        Apparently, it's okay to exclude old-fashioned folk like us. What counts is solidarity among those who despise God and this nation. But America's problems will not be solved by banning the foundational beliefs that originally made her great. See Charts: Paradigm Shift

Plastic reigns over cashless society: "Imagine paying for your groceries with a wave of your hand, then driving to the gas station and flashing your wristwatch at the gas pump to 'beep' your purchase right out of your bank account. And if you don't like wearing a watch, there's always the key-chain transponder, which works at the pump, the convenience store, and even some McDonald's. A burger and fries at the wave of your keys. Welcome to a wallet-less world -- almost." Rev. 13

Britain 'leads way' in eroding privacy: "The erosion of privacy in Britain was not a new trend. 'Crime and public order laws passed in recent years have placed substantial limitations on numerous rights, including freedom of assembly, privacy, freedom of movement, the right of silence, and freedom of speech,' the report states. It cites a number of illegal spying and surveillance activities by government agencies, often in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, and estimates that 1.5 million CCTV cameras are now monitoring public spaces." Psalm 32:7

Horseback 'Jesus' gathers his flock: "Thousands of pilgrims have converged on the hamlet of Petropavlovka, deep in the Siberian tundra, to hear the annual sermon by a 41-year-old former traffic policeman whom they believe to be Jesus." Matthew 24:24

August

The Man Who Would Be King: "He was born in an out-of-the-way place, the son of a poor mother and father whom the world would one day call blessed. He arrived challenging the establishment and literally shook the world with things that eyes and ears had never before witnessed.... Early in his career he amassed an enormous following that hung on his every word as if their king had finally come.... He died in anguish and humiliation.... Am I referring to Elvis Presley or Jesus Christ?"

Coveting a clone: "When Katherine Gordon’s teenage daughter died in a car accident five years ago, she became obsessed with the idea of cloning her child’s genes. Cristina and Vince Revert are both infertile and see cloning as the only way they can have a child who is genetically related to them. And Liz Catalan, who suffers from premature ovarian failure, wants to bear her own child but refuses to use another woman’s egg — preferring to raise her own later-born identical twin.... [but] some scientists and ethicists warn that the results of reproductive cloning would be disastrous for humankind." Gen 11

Religious Language Sparks Boys & Girls Clubs Controversy: "'It's time for the government to simply move away from promoting monotheism or God,' said Mitch Kahle, head of Hawaii's Citizens for the Separation of State and Church. The Boys & Girls Clubs, which serves over three million children through 3,103 club locations nationwide, according to its Web site, has a code that violates the Constitution, said Kahle." 2 Cor 2:14 and The Pledge of Allegiance
How to stop giant grasshoppers? "Monstrous grasshoppers -- too nasty-tempered and toxic to be eaten by natural predators and too big to be bothered by conventional pesticides -- are on the rampage in Central Florida this summer." 1 Kings 8:35-40

CNN interview - Couple Wants to Have Baby Using Human Cloning (8/12/02): "KATHY: I think that God really wants us to do this, that it is the next step. I can't imagine any other reason why we haven't had a child, other than this is what we were meant to do. ... [Isaiah 55:8]

      "DR. ROSENWAKS: I worry about its safety primarily... meaning that in almost all animal studies, almost all animals, the miscarriage rate has been extraordinarily high, 80 to 90 percent, even in the easiest species to perform cloning. There have been many abnormalities reported, including various organ problems like liver enlargement, respiratory problems, even immune deficiencies."

Why are Christians losing America? "Christians have stood on the sidelines during the breathtaking transformation of their once-great Judeo-Christian culture into today's neo-pagan, Sodom-and-Gomorrah-style freak show. Christians have lost the 30-year war to protect the unborn.... Christians have lost the war for America's schools.... And now, Christians are losing the war for their very own institutions – their churches... Both the Catholic Church and most of the major Protestant denominations are literally being ripped apart – from within – by double agents who pretend to be 'faithful' but actually loathe Christianity's historical precepts and values....
     "One reason for the multitude of attacks on Christianity is that evil always attacks good – because it is good – because good shines a bright and painful light on the works of darkness... However, there is another, and far more decisive, reason for the spectacular decline of Christianity....
     "...it's this compartmentalization and trivialization of Christianity... separated from basic honesty, integrity, love of truth and true repentance, that has ushered in a generation of shallow and ineffectual Christians." Deut 28:15
God dwells in 'The Simpsons', authors say: "Now the cartoon family is heading for a church near you, thanks to a 10-lesson study guide to The Gospel According to The Simpsons.... The pious might feel the show has too many brushes with blasphemy to be suitable for church treatment.... But Rowan Williams, the newly appointed archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, calls the program 'one of the most subtle pieces of propaganda around in the cause of sense, humility and virtue.'" The Global Church

Campaigners Warn Promotion Of Death Kits Could Affect Vulnerable Youths: "Pro-euthanasia activists in Australia have manufactured more than 100 special plastic-bag suicide aids, but they are considering potential legal hurdles before distributing them to those who want to take their own lives.

      "Critics attacked the plans... to facilitate death in a country where campaigners have for years been battling the scourge of suicide, especially among youngsters.... In Australia, an average of 14 in every 100,000 people commit suicide annually, according to World Health Organization figures for the late 1990s. This compares to 11.3 in every 100,000 in the United States and 7.4 in Britain. The rate among young males is considerably higher." Matthew 24:12

Microchips: The New Surrogate Parents? "From little ones prone to running off in crowds to big kids hitting the road for the first time, a bunch of new devices claim to help parents keep an 'eye' on their children — even when they're not around. The most controversial of these gadgets is an under-the-skin personal location device from Applied Digital Solutions. Using Global Positioning Satellite technology, a microchip surgically implanted in the body finds children and notifies parents of their whereabouts." Revelation 13

July

Chances of going to prison in the US are 7 times higher: "Every single day, I receive several unsolicitated letters and emails from people around the country, imploring me to take on their case. Usually, they are just plain folks who have been caught up in this mind-numbing morass of government regulation, usually the victims of some out-of-control bureaucrat or rogue agency on a power trip.... Events are accelerating. America will not survive the coming unpleasantries in anything like the form it enjoys today." This Scripture is worth repeating: Isaiah 3:5-12

New head for Anglican Church: "Britain announced Tuesday that Rowan Williams, a Welsh churchman outspokenly in favor of gay clergy and women priests and opposed to Western militarism, would be the new spiritual leader of the world's 70 million Anglicans....A self-described youthful 'peacenik... the bearded cleric has more recently castigated the United States for withdrawing from environmental treaties....
    [In spite of all his contrary notions, he got this next point right:] "He also reiterated his overriding concern for children and fears of their exploitation by rampant consumerism. In his upcoming book, 'Lost Icons,' which is being serialized in the Times of London starting Tuesday, he attacks what he calls the corruption and premature sexualizing of children and singles out the Disney Corp. as one of the worst offenders. 'What can we say about a marketing culture that so openly feeds and colludes with obsession,' he writes. 'The Disney empire has developed this to an unprecedented degree of professionalism.' ...
     "For the first time lesbian and gay Anglicans can feel they have a real friend,'' said the Rev. Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement." The first link on the Religion page shows his delight in Druid rituals. See also Conforming the Church to the New Millennium
Cannabis cafe chains to open in Britain: "Two Dutch cannabis cafe chains plan to open up to 50 ventures in Britain in a full-frontal assault on the police's ability to enforce drug laws. ...The cafes would be illegal even under the new classification. The owners point out, however, that their businesses are also technically illegal in Amsterdam, but their success has forced a change in policy which allows them to operate freely." Chart: Paradigm Shift

Surgeon halts operation over foreign nurses' poor English: "A surgeon at a leading hospital has said he had to stop halfway through an operation because foreign nurses could not follow his instructions. As a result, he said he has been threatened with disciplinary action for racism." Clinton's War on Hate Bans Christian Values
Giant hailstones kill 15 in central China: "A downpour of giant hailstones, some the size of eggs, killed 15 people and left hospitals overflowing with head-wound victims in central China, state media and local officials said on Saturday. The hailstorm, with winds of up to Force Eight, struck northern parts of Henan province on Friday evening, uprooting trees, smashing car windscreens, cutting off electricity and destroying buildings, they said." A sobering glimpse of Biblical prophecy: Rev 16:21
Barcodes get smart:"...the big problem with barcodes is that they have to be scanned with a reader to find out the information they contain..... By contrast smart tags that can be interrogated by radio can be read from a distance vastly speeding up the process of checking for almost anything." Rev 13

Grasshopper Infestation Plagues West: Their numbers swelled by the drought, grasshoppers and Mormon crickets are ravaging crops and pastures across the West in what could be the biggest such infestation since World War II. "They're even eating the paint off some of the houses," said Nebraska farmer Robert Larsen, who raises alfalfa, corn, soybeans and cattle on 1,600 acres where thousands upon thousands grasshoppers jump out of the way as he walks by in what looks like the parting of the sea." Leviticus 26

Israel takes first step to restrict immigration of Christians: "Israel has sparked a heated debate in the Jewish world by taking the first step to restricting immigration, following claims that many of those now moving here are Christians. The issue came to the fore last week when the law committee of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, supported a bill that would end the so-called ‘grandfather clause’ in the Law of Return that enables non-Jews to immigrate. The bill is being sponsored by ultra-orthodox Jewish political groups in the wake of claims that hundreds of soldiers in the Israeli army have sworn allegiance to the state on the New Testament." See comment from Shawn

June

12 receive presidential medals: "President Bush yesterday announced the recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a list that includes two writers, three entertainers, an athlete and a former first lady. ... all of whom will receive their medals in a White House ceremony in July, [include]: ...

• Nelson Mandela, who led the fight to end apartheid in South Africa over the course of his 57-year public life....

• Peter Drucker, a prominent pioneer of management theory....

• Dr. D.A. Henderson, best known for his leadership of the World Health Organization's global smallpox-eradication campaign from 1966 to 1977. 'He was also instrumental in initiating the World WHO's global program of immunization..."

       Mandela was [and is] a Communist whose leadership eroded both moral values and the economy in South Africa. Drucker has led the worldwide shift to total quality management, including the transformation of churches. To see the guiding values behind the WHO, read The Re-establishment of Peacetime Society

Pedophile priests (Thomas Sowell): "The appalling story of the pedophile priests deserves all the negative press it has been getting. But is the press critical of them because they are pedophiles or because they are priests? After all, there are many other pedophiles, some of them with their own organization, and they are welcomed on our leading academic campuses, as well as getting a free pass in the mainstream media....

      "With all the justifiable criticism of the Catholic hierarchy for covering up priests' pedophilia -- and, worse yet, sending offending priests off to other parishes to prey on more unsuspecting children -- no one seems to want to reconsider the widespread denunciation of the Boy Scouts for refusing to hire homosexual adults to be in charge of boys....

      "The "non-judgmental" dogmas of our schools have already produced people incapable of exercising judgment and ready to follow any pied piper who plays a fashionable tune. When gay activists have come into schools to propagandize children, in the name of 'AIDS education' or 'diversity,' and left cards with addresses of local homosexual hangouts, supposedly "responsible" officials have been more concerned with keeping these facts from the children's parents than with protecting the children themselves." Jer 6:13-15

Atheists protest Ground Zero cross: "The organization American Atheists is protesting a proposal to use a large steel cross found in the rubble of the World Trade Center in a memorial to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. ... According to the New York Daily News, construction workers, firefighters, police officers and family members have held weekly Sunday services at the site of the cross since Sept. 11." Isaiah 5:20

Mexicans say Southwest belongs to them: "Many of the U.S. ranchers along the 4,000-mile southern border have been trying to warn federal officials about the growing problem dealing with the daily flood of illegal immigrants.... Some have taken action to protect their property and lives, but lawyers anxious to collect a fee have zeroed in and are fighting to protect the illegal aliens who invade private homes, rob, steal, commit rape, and damage property.... With a million or more illegals coming across the border each year into the back yards of so many ranchers it is a wonder there haven't been more shootings....

      "Ranchers who attempt to stop them often pay a heavy price when law enforcement officials take action against them for defending their property. 'The County Attorneys in these border counties have granted blanket immunity from prosecution to criminal aliens for all property crimes. Simply put, the border County Attorneys are turning a blind eye to the felony criminal offenses committed en masse within their counties by the criminal aliens, where the border county landowners are the victims." Matt 24:12

Less than 1 million Jews died in Holocaust? "The secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, discussed in a 1982 paper 'the secret ties between the Nazis and the Zionist movement leadership.' In a separate paper written two years later, Mazen 'raised doubts that gas chambers were used for extermination of Jews and claimed that the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust might be 'even less than a million,'' ...He also accused the Western nations of skewering the truth about the Holocaust because they won the war and were able to 'sketch the final picture' of the war's outcome and define 'the crimes committed.'" Accusing your opposition of doing the very thing you do yourself is a well-used strategy in social engineering and government control. Be alert to how liberals use this tactic against those who resist the new world order. The Mainstream Media

May

ABC Censors Thanks to Jesus: "On that particular show, Joy Behar of 'The View' was talking about ending her diet: 'Yes, and thank you, thank you, Jesus, is all I have to say! ... 'For the West Coast, they took it out. They would not allow me to say 'thank you Jesus.' I think that's wrong," she said, adding that the program had received about a hundred letters of complaint." 2 Cor 4:7

At Harvard, a word sparks a battle: "Harvard University senior Zayed Yasin says his upcoming graduation-day speech, titled 'The American Jihad,' will be a call to action, not a call to war. But Yasin's planned use of the term jihad - one of the most controversial words in any language - has triggered a dispute over the limits of free speech even within a bastion of intellectual freedom. The biomedical engineering major and former president of the Harvard Islamic Society has already received at least one death threat.... 'People are targeting me as some kind of monstrous anti-Semite,' Yasin said. 'It's all based on misunderstandings that are part of the tragedy of miscommunications in these times.''' True, for in today's pluralistic world, we all define our terms and view reality from very diverse perspectives. That's why there can't be any true unity or peace -- apart from Christ or from totalitarian controls. See Jer 6:13-15 and Four Faces of Islam

Jesus of Siberia: "It's all very complicated,' he starts quietly. 'But to keep things simple, yes, I am Jesus Christ. That which was promised must come to pass.'

      "Meet the Messiah of Siberia, Vissarion Christ - the Teacher, as he is known to his thousands of disciples, who are convinced that he is the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, come back to earth to save the world. 'He radiates incredible love,' sighs Hermann, 57, a Bavarian engineer who is now selling his home in Germany to join the self-proclaimed messiah....

       "Thousands of people, the majority of them educated professionals from cities in European Russia, abandoned wives, husbands and children to flock to the Church of the Last Testament.... The schismatics' descendants now share some of the same villages with the Vissarionites, who have assimilated many elements of Orthodox ritual but whose belief system also embraces an eclectic, some say incoherent, mish-mash of Buddhist, Taoist and green values....

       "At 7am, the menfolk and a few women emerge from their cabins to stream towards the "city" centre, marked by a mud circle ringed by stones, at the centre of which stands a carved wooden angel, wings outstretched, and capped by the Vissarionites' symbol - a cross inside a circle. See Quartered Circle and Matt 24:24

(link obsolete) We’re not a nation of Pagans: "A survey... has found that only 12 per cent of Scots regularly attend church, and that the Church has lost its place in the nation’s consciousness....

      "'We have become obsessive about not offending other cultures and religions to the extent that Christianity gets ignored,' [says Helen Blackburn. But]... James MacCallum reckons the Church can only survive if it, 'moves in to the 21st Century, gets rid of the hellfire and brimstone, the doom and gloom and brings life in to the hymns and the sermons. Jazzes things up a bit.'” MacCallum's solution shows the marketing schemes of the post-modern church: just conform the church to the world's "felt needs." See The Global Church.

Japanese threatened with extinction, minister says: "According to a United Nations report in 2000, Japan is graying so quickly that it will need to import around 600,000 workers annually until 2050 to keep its working population stable. By then, if Japan follows the U.N.'s suggestion, nearly one-third of the population would be of foreign descent." This social phenomenon fits the UN plan for "diversity" everywhere. See Reinventing the World

Innocent man charged for 10-year jail lodgings: "A man who spent 10 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder has been charged £37,000 for his lodgings while in jail. The amount has been deducted from £650,000 compensation.... 'They don't charge guilty people for bed and board, they only charge innocent people. My daughter and my father died while I was in prison and my whole life was turned upside down." To be expected when the collective (or greater whole) becomes more important than the individual person. Chart: Paradigm Shift (last 3 points)

Saudis deport men for owning Bible: "...the two men were taken to prison in Abqaiq and were spared the lashes, but were told they would be deported instead, reports Assist News Service. ....The public expression of religious belief other than Islam is forbidden in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Matt 24:9

Religion-based firing is upheld: "In a duel over religious freedom, the California Supreme Court came down on the side of a Sacramento medical provider Thursday, ruling that the Catholic organization had the right to fire an evangelical Christian who proselytized at the workplace. The decision spawned dueling reactions, with one constitutional law expert hailing it as victory for the separation of church and state -- and another decrying it as a blow to individual rights....

     "Propelled by his newfound faith, Silo [had shared] his religious views with co-workers. Some of them complained, and his supervisors counseled him 'not to use the word 'God' unless it's off the clock.'" 2 Cor 2:14

A City Combats AIDS Complacency As Rates of Sexual Diseases Climb: "On the streets of the Castro district, news of funerals for gay men who had AIDS is scarce. Cafes are no longer filled with gaunt, sickly customers. And some days, when the city sends a van out to offer free tests for sexually transmitted diseases, it finds few takers. The worst of the plague has passed. But health officials here say that as new drugs continue to tame, if not solve, the AIDS crisis, they are struggling with another predicament: More gay men are engaging in risky sex. Cases of venereal disease and HIV infection are soaring. And pleas for caution are being ignored.... 'Everybody around here looks so good now,' Lazarou said, 'that nobody thinks they're going to catch anything bad.'" Matt 24:7

U.N. Sex Book Encourages Pedophilia and Bestiality: "A pro-abortion book distributed at the current United Nations Child Summit endorses sexual gratification with children and other non-consenting persons, and even suggests that animals and inanimate objects are appropriate subjects for human 'sexual response.'" Jer 6:13-15 and Sex Ed and Global Values

School Bans Mother's Day

No Room for Moms At the United Nations (9/18/2000): "The Millennium Summit at the United Nations is history, and 147 posturing world leaders have finally left town — vowing to deliver billions from war, ignorance, destitution and global suffering. But here's what's really going on at the UN — and it's got nothing to do with world salvation: Nations are being ordered to 'downplay' motherhood and 'phase out' accompanying traditions like Mother's Day because a team of international civil servants views 'the mother image' as a 'harmful stereotype.'

     "Member states are also being directed to stop viewing women in the 'noble roles' of wife, mother and caregiver. Never mind that women are being mutilated in Cameroon, slave-trafficked in Kyrgyzstan and banned from the outdoors in Afghanistan. What's gotten into the vichyssoise at Turtle Bay?" Psalm 27:1-4

Pipe Bomber: 'Precious Earth Is Heating': (A six-page, typed letter sent by pipe bomber Lucas Helder to the Badger Herald, a student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.) "Understand life to eliminate greed. Plants, Animals and Humans are the levels of consciousness contained on Earth. By design, each is specialized and amazing! In comprehending this scenario, take it a step further. What do you suppose would logically proceed humans? I'm happy because I know, I often wonder why anyone would be content with believing when they could know. I often wonder why so many people spend their entire lives consuming what is fed to them, without knowing if they are consuming anything at all...." Interesting question from someone who obviously consumed all kinds of esoteric spiritual notions.

     "Accurate spiritual understanding eliminates greed.... The sooner we all understand, the sooner the fear of death and greed is erased.... Notice the cause and affect. Notice the stimulus, and response. Notice how veering away from your true spirituality lead to world hardship. Treat others how you want to be treated ... this mentality can only produce more positive emotion/love. Like I said I'm here to help you, to expose you, and to inform you, how to discover an accurate spiritual understanding. ....How do you know this one thing is true, you ask? Well you must experience it personally of course!" 2 Tim 3:1-14 & Col 2:8

Kids demand action from world leaders: "As the three-day meeting approached its end on Friday, children from around the world spoke out about AIDS and other diseases, the 120 million children who don't go to school, and governments that fail to respect children's rights. ...Norway's Minister for International Development Hilde Johnsson said there was reason to be optimistic. `The tide is there. The countries that are not increasing aid feel a bit awkward and feel they should deliver more,' she said. `That is very good pressure that has been built.''' See the last two sections of The State of the World according to Gorbachev

Plan to ban smacking is 'impractical': "A plan to make smacking toddlers illegal was criticised by MSPs from all four main political parties yesterday. The ban on physical punishment of under-threes, which could result in parents being jailed for up to six months, was attacked by members of Holyrood's Justice 2 committee." The EU would outlaw the loving and wise spanking that has been part of training a child to do what is right rather than wrong, to be safe rather than sorry. Meanwhile, today's entertainment-driven culture normalizes violence, profanity and disrespect for parents. No wonder parenting has become a frustrating and heart-breaking task for many. Proverbs 22:6

SS veterans in Britain hold secret reunions: "Hundreds of SS veterans who fought for Germany during the Second World War are living quietly in Britain and attending secret reunions to celebrate their time under the Third Reich.... SS veterans sing old Nazi songs at the gatherings, which have also been attended by members of the British National Party. At least one BNP member has been given honorary membership.... The SS - short for Schutzstaffel, or Protection Force - was formed in 1925 to guard Hitler, and was regarded as the most ruthless and loyal fighting force in the Third Reich." Preparing for Persecution

U.S. Regains U.N. Human Rights Seat: "A year after the humiliating loss of a seat it held for over 50 years, the United States won election Monday to the U.N. Human Rights Commission — but so did Zimbabwe, Ukraine and China, which have poor human rights records.... 'The number of governments on the commission with poor human rights records has increased, and this is the major worry,' said Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch. 'Abusive governments are fighting to prevent the commission from monitoring and criticizing the abusers.'... There is now 'a pretty powerful bloc' of countries that abuse human rights and that operate as a bloc, she said, citing Algeria, Bahrain, Congo, Libya, Sudan, Russia, Syria, Togo, Uganda and Vietnam." Trading U.S. Rights for UN Rules

New Book Reveals Truth of Church Sex Scandal: "...veteran investigative reporter Michael S. Rose examines the root causes of the so-called pedophile priest scandal. Rose lays bare the astonishing story of the deliberate infiltration of the seminaries by what has been called the 'Lavender Mafia,' a clique of militant gays, along with an underground of liberal faculty members determined to change the basic doctrines of the Catholic Church....

     "Young men who were perfect candidates for the priesthood were subjected to such ordeals as psychological evaluations by health professionals with anti-Catholic views. In one instance, a candidate was interviewed - and rejected - by a fallen-away Catholic who was a local Grand Master of the anti-Catholic Masonic Order.... 'Orthodox candidates are still being turned away in droves, heterosexual seminarians are still being sent to psychological counseling and booted from school, while liberal-minded and pro-gay seminarians are given deferential treatment, put in charge of others, advanced and ordained.'" Lev 18:21-22

Prince calls for respect between faiths: "Prince Charles, surrounded by 23 religious figures, called on members of different religious faiths to help each other in launching the plan, called Respect, during a visit to Birmingham. But he seemed taken aback when Zaki Badawi, principal of the Muslim College, described him as 'the most popular world leader in the Muslim community throughout the world'.... "The prince eight years ago said that he would like one day to be known as defender of faith rather than the traditional title of defender of the faith - the Protestant religion....
     "Indarjit Singh, chairman of the Sikh Network, said: 'God is not the least bit interested in our different religious stables. He is interested in our contribution to society.'" Deut 8:10-2

April

'German Shooter Played Violent Games: "The teen-age gun enthusiast who killed 16 people and himself at his former school enjoyed violent computer games and kept his parents in the dark about his humiliating expulsion from school, police said Sunday.... In a search of Steinhaeuser's home, police found comics filled with scenes of violence as well as a number of computer games that featured 'intensive weapons usage.'" (4/28) 2 Tim 3:1-14

'Little Angels' rescue victims of baby rape (South Africa): "Baby rape and HIV/AIDS. These two terms conjure images of the very worst fears South Africans of all races and political persuasions have about the latest and perhaps darkest impulses being unleashed in this long-troubled country. Today in South Africa, babies are being raped, infected and then dumped at garbage disposal sites around the nation at an alarming rate. ...

        "Why is baby rape endemic in South Africa? It is fueled by a bizarre belief among many African black men that sex with a virgin – even a child or baby – can cure HIV/AIDS. One brave white South African couple has stood in the gap to care for these abandoned and ill children...." Chart: Paradigm Shift

The Death of Common Sense: "For decades, petty rules, silly laws and frivolous lawsuits held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivating such valued lessons as: to know when to come in out of the rain, the early bird gets the worm, and life isn't always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn), reliable parenting strategies (adults are in charge, not kids), and adages such as 'it's okay to come in second.' ...Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by three stepbrothers: Rights, Tolerance and Whiner. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone." Jer 6:10

75-year-old man charged with impregnating 10-year-old: "The girl, now 11 and six months pregnant, has been removed from her home and taken into the custody by the state Department of Children and Families. ... Her mother, who reported the assault to police, said her daughter met Kave through an 'Adopt-a-Godfather' program."

Is pedophilia going mainstream (new emphasis on an earlier article): "...the pro-pedophilia (or anti-anti-pedophilia) rationalizations of the early 1980s are still in play. Among them are these: Children are sexual beings with the right to pick their own partners; the quality of relationships, not age, determines the value of sex; most pedophiles are gentle and harmless; the damage of pedophilia comes mostly from the shocked horror communicated by parents, not from the sex itself....

         "The study 'Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children From Sex' also called for a sweeping change in the language used to discuss child sexual abuse (a term the study rejected as judgmental). This delighted the pedophile movement, which favors terms like 'intergenerational intimacy.' One critic of Rind mockingly asked whether the word 'rape' should now be changed to 'unilaterally consenting adult-adult sex.'" Redefining terms is key to the planned social and spiritual transformation. See these charts Three Sets of Meanings and Paradigm Shift

Pre-teen offenders face being locked up: "Child tearaways aged 10 and 11 could be held in a new type of secure foster home under plans being formulated by David Blunkett. The Home Secretary is also considering expanding the use of local authority-run homes to hold persistent troublemakers of that age who are beyond the law at present. But critics say the plans are unworkable and likely to contravene human rights legislation.... Other proposed measures include the extension of orders requiring parents and guardians to keep problem children out of trouble, even if they have not been convicted of an offence, and greater use of electronic tags for night-time curfews." No wonder - after half a century of tearing down Biblical values. See Chronology and Matt 24:12

High Court Strikes Down Child Pornography Law: "The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down a federal pornography law that makes it a crime to have computer-generated pictures that look like real children engaged in sexual acts, ruling the law violates free-speech rights." Transformation of America, Sensuality and The Power of Suggestion

The Middle East Word War: "The conflict is as old as Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, patriarchs of the two peoples. The modern chapter began in the late 19th Century, with the rise of Zionism....

     "Two key historical events in the story marked the early 20th Century. First, during World War I the British under General Edmund Allenby captured Jerusalem from the Ottoman Turks in 1917. Until that time, Jerusalem and Palestine were backwater regions of the Ottoman Empire, with its capital in Istanbul." Zech 12:2

Dutch court acquits Muslim cleric of discrimination charges after anti-gay statement: "A Dutch court Monday ruled that a Muslim cleric who denounced homosexuality as a contagious disease could not be convicted of discrimination charges because he has a constitutional right to religious freedom.... 'The court finds that the suspect could base his comments on texts of the Quran and on remarks by the prophet,' the presiding judge said in his ruling." Wonder if the Dutch court would consider the Bible equally valid as a moral guide. John 15:20-21

Survey finds rudeness is getting worse and people are getting sick of it: "They walk around bleating into cell phones as if they're the only person for blocks. They curse often, their kids think the world is their personal playground and they drive like maniacs. That's what respondents to a national survey had to say about America's manners." 2 Tim 3:1-14

NYC to Require Abortion Training: "Beginning in July, obstetrics and gynecology residents in the city's public hospitals will be routinely trained to perform abortions under a program backed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Abortion training, which previously was an elective in the four-year OB-GYN residency program, will be mandatory for residents, except those who opt out for moral or religious reasons....The city's program was initiated by the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, which met last year with Bloomberg...." Isaiah 5:20

Measuring gender bias at M.I.T. not scientific: "The sad truth is that MIT, one of the world's great centers of scientific education, has now produced and accepted two astonishingly unscientific studies of its own administrative behavior. In response to these studies, nobody on campus has spoken out. ... Gender equity has replaced scientific merit as the value administrators will be judged by. As always in affirmative action schemes, women on the faculty will now come under suspicion as people who wouldn't be there except for politics. And all without any real discussion or open debate. Amazing." Or is it? Perhaps history is repeating itself. Isaiah 3:5-12

What Happens to the World's Largest Debtor Nation (the US) when the World's Largest Creditor Nation Faces Disaster? "...What happens to our economy when and if the world's largest creditor nation, Japan, 'goes under?' .... Should economic conditions worsen in Japan, it's likely that some $300 billion in US Treasuries the Japanese hold would have to be sold. This would lead to a string of terrible consequences." Another crisis that would justify global management? Deut 28:15

"University of Minnesota Press book challenges anxiety about pedophilia: "Sex between adults and children has been a societal taboo so strong that it's considered one of our few unquestioned moral principles. But arguments have emerged in academic journals, books and online that at least some such sex should be acceptable, especially when children consent to it. .... Members of this school of thought stress that they don't condone coercing children into sex.... But several contend that minors are capable of agreeing to and even initiating sex with adults. These academics seek to change the language, moving away from 'pedophilia'... In its place would be more neutral terms such as 'intergenerational sex' or "adult-child sex."' 2 Chron 20:12

March

"The Ark of Hope... was created as a place of refuge for the Earth Charter document, an international peoples treaty for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.... The five painted panels that form the sides and top of the Ark each represent... a season, a direction, an element, and a universal symbol. ...The Ark of Hope was created for a celebration of the Earth Charter that was held at Shelburne Farms, Vermont on September 9, 2001. The event, for love of Earth, featured keynote speaker Jane Goodall, global peace walker Satish Kumar, musician Paul Winter, and Dr. Steven C. Rockefeller, a member of the Earth Charter Commission." This occult Ark of Hope bears a strange resemblance to the Biblical Ark of the Covenant. Notice the pictures of the ark. Psalm 2
How the Earth Charter could be utilized by local communities: "The process is a broad one as it defines the vision of a city toward its future, the quality of life that is commonly sought, the relationship of the city to those it serves and will serve in the future, and the impact of the city's actions beyond its borders. ...There are three broad areas that must be balanced in the process of sustainability visioning: that of economic development, community and human development, and ecological resources including the concept of regeneration. For this balancing to occur in a fair and participatory fashion, a partnership process is mandated." The U.N. Plan for Your Community

The Interfaith Center of New York: Scroll down to the "Ark of Hope." This unholy imitation of God's sacred Old Testament ark of the covenant is designed to unify the hearts and hopes of people around the world. But this crusade for a global, earth-centered spirituality has zero tolerance for Biblical Christianity.

Highlights from a celebration of the Earth Charter: "Each flag contained one of the principles from the Earth Charter and signatures endorsing it. ...One of the main forces behind the Earth Charter [is] Dr. Steven Rockefeller."

Prostitutes Get Contracts, Profit-Sharing: "Prostitutes working in a Berlin brothel have been offered employment contracts with a 40-hour working week and a profit-sharing scheme, a German newspaper reported..." No wonder, when UNESCO-led government schools push children into early sexual experiences that stir a growing lust that demands satisfaction inside our outside marriage. See Sex Ed and Global Values

Italy exposes magicians' dirty tricks: "The arrest of a self-styled magician in Italy accused of cheating a woman out of £27,000 after promising to rid her of 'evil' has deepened fears that occultist charlatans have become a national problem. Franca Policicchio, 41, who called herself the magician of Cleto, was arrested in Calabria with two alleged collaborators. She was reported to police by relatives of a woman, 23, who said she was often tied to a chair so that she could be "exorcised" of the evil that had confounded her search for a husband. She said she was insulted, hit, pierced with pins and burnt with candles. The incident is the sixth report in the past month of people alleged to have been swindled by quack "magicians" in Italy, a country where there is a lingering weakness for superstition." See 1 Tim 4:1

February

I, Chip? "You may not know where your child is, but the chip does. The chip will also know if your child has fallen and needs immediate help. Once paramedics arrive, the chip will also be able to tell the rescue workers which drugs little Johnny or Janie is allergic to. At the hospital, the chip will tell doctors his or her complete medical history. And of course, when you arrive to pick up your child, settling the hospital bill with your health insurance policy will be a simple matter of waving your own chip — the one embedded in your hand." Rev 13

Judge Orders End to Bible Class in Tennessee County's Elementary Schools: "The classes have been held for 51 years in Rhea County — the same county where the Scopes 'monkey trial' was held in 1925. In banning the classes, U.S. District Judge Allan Edgar wrote that the government 'may not teach, or allow the teaching of a distinct religious viewpoint.' The challenge was brought by a couple with two children who attended the schools and joined by a nonprofit advocacy group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation....'It has never been held that there is a ban on all religious activity in public schools,' Edgar wrote. 'For example, a student may voluntarily pray at school." That's true--especially if they pray to gods other than the God of the Bible during classes on environmental or multicultural education." See Matt 24-9 and Establishing a Global Spirituality

Finding The Bad Guys by Andy Rooney (CBS, 2/10): "I got to the airport at 5:20 Monday morning and had to beg them to get me checked out so I could catch the 7:30 flight.... I've been going through security checks all my life but nothing like this..... We need some system for permanently identifying safe people. Most of us are never going to blow anything up and there's got to be something better than one of these photo IDs - a tattoo somewhere maybe. The Saudis used an American devise to scan the eyes of travelers. I wouldn't mind having something planted permanently in my arm that would identify me." Revelation 13

Terror Tots: "You'd never know by looking at him that 10 year-old Daryl could cause so much trouble. But by the age of five the pint-sized boy with a dreamy stare had already been expelled from his primary school. Regular bouts of punching children and teachers, biting dinner ladies and swearing at all and sundry had seen to that.

       "Five years on, despite on-going doses of medication, things aren't much better. Young Daryl frequently fights with other children, has threatened to stab his younger sister with a pair of scissors and is well known to local police. Perhaps fortunately for Daryl he lives in Dudley near Birmingham, had it been London he might soon have found his name on a controversial new police database for children. This week the Metropolitan Police in London are finalising plans for the new database which may include the names of toddlers as young as three years old." 2 Tim 3:1-14

January

Buying Like There’s No Tomorrow - Apocalyptic Science Fiction Series Becomes a Smash Hit:"Left Behind... has become a runaway hit since the first volume was published in 1995. ...a new comic-book serialization of the original Left Behind book is selling as well as such hits as X-Men. ...Many agree the books have hit on a powerful formula for success: an entertaining, suspenseful story about events and conflicts on the grandest scale, that also promises to educate readers about the fate of the world. ... they provide an easy way to learn about Biblical prophecy. 'You're living in the age — the end of time. They're curious to know what's going to happen...'"

      But this prophecy is fiction, not truth. [Gal 1:6-10] Its association with Biblical prophecy adds a sense of certainty about prophetic details that God has neither revealed nor fully clarified. Readers who imagine and absorb Biblical "truth" through popular fiction are likely to end up with an "understanding" that distorts God's actual message. Psalm 119:11 and Left Behind

Beasts attack - Critters behaving like a bunch of wild animals: "Not only do wild animals wreak havoc on the roads, in the fields and on each other, they're downright dangerous to humans, according to a study done by the General Accounting Office for a congressional subcommittee overseeing Department of Agriculture appropriations. ...27,000 people each year are injured by rodents. Another 8,000 are bitten by venomous snakes; 15 of them die. Skunks wound 750 humans a year, foxes get 500, bears 30, sharks 28, alligators 18, and coyotes and cougars two each. In Indiana, swarms of starlings spread the threat of histoplasmosis; in Utah and elsewhere, skunks, raccoons, urban waterfowl and pigeons pose such dangers to human health as rabies, roundworm, salmonella and plague.

      "Animals pose a danger for each other as well: In Louisiana, beavers are threatening the existence of the Louisiana pearlshell; in Georgia, armadillos and other predators are endangering the bobwhite quail; and in Hawaii, feral goats and pigs endanger waterbirds and plants, and tree frogs imperil parrots and Axiss deer." And the migrating wolves and bears were not even mentioned. Ezekiel 14:15-16 See next item:

repeat Environmental News. Grizzlies gone, black bears spill into new areas -- Critters beginning to explore outlying counties of [San Francisco] Bay Area: "Get used to bears galumphing into town. Recent sightings of black bears in Salinas and Carmel are no fluke, biologists believe. Over the past five years, the animals have rapidly expanded their territory around California, moving from the deeply wooded, mountainous areas into parts of Monterey, Napa and Sonoma counties." The return of bears and wolves to national parks and non-park neighborhoods may soon erect a natural barrier that shuts people out of God's most beautiful wilderness areas. That's part of the plan. See Local Agenda 21, Part 2 -Santa Cruz -- the UN agenda being implemented in Monterey County. Some excerpts:

"The only fundamental way to preserve life's biological diversity is to make sure all species have appropriate habitat. For many species that means true wilderness."

"Promote National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program" to encourage everyone to plan their landscaping with the needs of wildlife in mind. [Ezekiel 14:15-16]

"Utilize all media...."

Papers reveal Nazi aim: End Christianity: "The fragile, typewritten documents from the 1940s lay out the Nazi plan in grim detail: Take over the churches from within, using party sympathizers. Discredit, jail or kill Christian leaders. And re-indoctrinate the congregants. Give them a new faith - in Germany's Third Reich. ...

     "When people think about the Holocaust, they think about the crimes against Jews, but here's a different perspective," said Julie Seltzer Mandel, a third-year law student who is editor of the Nuremberg Project for the Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion. "A lot of people will say, 'I didn't realize that they were trying to convert Christians to a Nazi philosophy.' . . . They wanted to eliminate the Jews altogether, but they were also looking to eliminate Christianity." Matt 24:9

How Should We Then Live? The Church In A Post-Christian Age: "The title of Dr. Schaeffer’s book on the decline of Christian thought was taken from Ezekiel 33:10, How Should We Then Live? Ezekiel 33 is, of course, the great 'watchman' passage in which the Prophet Ezekiel is warned of God’s impending judgment if Israel does not repent of its sin. The culmination of the passage comes in verse 10 where Israel declares, “If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?”

       "...The Israelites were wondering, if everything Ezekiel had said was true, how could they possibly survive the impending judgment of God. In the end, Israel did not survive. She did not repent. Judgment fell, the nation was taken into captivity by the Babylonians and Jerusalem was destroyed." 2 Chron 20:6-12 and America's Spiritual Slide

New Driver's Licenses Pit Privacy Against Security: "A new generation of driver's licenses that the federal government is developing with the states would contain electronically stored information such as fingerprints and could allow authorities to easily track citizens nationwide. Supporters claim that with careful use, these new licenses could alert authorities to an attempt by a suspected terrorist to board an airliner, withdraw cash or enter the country — all in-demand precautions after Sept. 11 But privacy experts argue that the plan is simply a way to bystep widespread public opposition to federal ID cards. ...

        "Already, 37 states store information on licenses electronically, often using bar codes or magnetic stripes, but few are known to have included fingerprints or imprints of retinal- or facial-scans." Revelation 13 and No Place to Hide?

December

At Bethlehem's Peace Center, Muslim children belted out Lennon's 'Imagine': "... when a band of Japanese volunteers, poised against the backdrop of a Christmas tree and neatly wrapped gifts, played the opening notes of John Lennon's 'Imagine' in Bethlehem's Peace Center on Friday, the Muslim kids of Azza joined in boisterously. ... The 60 Muslim youngsters knew some of the words, and some, though not all, had an idea of their meaning. 'Imagine all the people, sharing all the world,' they sang....

       "Thirteen-year-old Izzat, whose friend Kifah was killed recently in the nearby Dehaishe Refugee Camp as he threw stones at Israeli soldiers, was tapping on a drum and singing, a smile on his face: 'You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday, you'll join us. And the world will live as one.' In Manger Square, a few days before Christmas, those words seemed like a figment of even the most optimistic imagination. But Rika Fujiya, a guitar playing Catholic volunteer who helped introduce Azza's kids to 'Imagine' and 'Give Peace a Chance,' is sure that the smiles, and the children's demand to play the songs again are reason for hope...."

       But this pie-in-the-sky hope is nothing like Biblical hope -- the certain confidence that God will fulfill all He has promised. To see John Lennon's vision, click on Imagine, then on "lyrics" in the index. (You may want to compare Lennon's vision to the global vision in Reinventing the World.) Then see the hope we have in Christ.

Undecking the Halls: "...the war over the poinsettias has come to an end in St. Paul, Minn. Someone touched off hostilities by smuggling a few forbidden red poinsettias into the religion-free, perfectly neutral, non-Christmas decorations at Ramsey County Courthouse-St. Paul City Hall.... Red poinsettias had been banned because they offended somebody who understood the flowers to be a Christian symbol. After much bitterness, an uneasy compromise was reached: Red poinsettias are still banned, but white ones are allowed, since nobody in St. Paul seems to regard them as overly Christian. ...Instead of just broadening Christmas displays to accommodate other traditions, the emphasis now is on trying to erase and disparage all mention of Christmas in the public square....

       "In 1999, two 13-year-old girls at a middle school in Rochester, Minn., were suspended for wearing red and green scarves and saying 'Merry Christmas' in a school video presentation. In Seattle, King County Executive Ron Sims recommended that employees avoid saying 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Hanukkah' while on the job.

        "....the word 'inclusion' comes up all the time as a term used by those who wish to obliterate rather than include. This is certainly so in Plainfield, Ill.... Because of diversity concerns, students will no longer be allowed to celebrate any holidays at all... because the school needs to "respect each individual's uniqueness but also to help us look for and celebrate those things that we have in common." Matt 24:9 and Establishing a Global Spirituality

Is Arafat provoking full-scale war? "Israeli security sources say there is growing evidence that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is plotting to lead the Middle East into a major new conflict...." Matthew 24:7

Apostasy. Words on Jesus (by Rev. Sun Myung Moon): "Why has Christianity spread all over the world? Because Jesus' sacrificial spirit is the mind of the providence, and that is the basic spirit of God's providence-that is, to make oneself a sacrifice for other people. Christianity has received much persecution, but the more it received persecution, the more it prospered.... True Christians must be willing to sacrifice their own lives for the salvation of the world and all humankind. Many Christians are seeking for their own personal salvation; they are crying out for "my salvation" and "my heaven." This is contrary to God's truth and contrary to God's ideal."
       "Jesus said, 'Love your enemies' - but Jesus also said, 'Love your neighbor.' Who is a Christian's nearest neighbor? Certainly, it is another Christian. But are they doing it? Do Catholics love Mormons? Do Jehovah's Witnesses love Methodists? It doesn't matter who calls us heretics: whoever practices this principle of loving one's enemy is closer to God and is the orthodox Christian.... If Christians practice true love then Christians can unite among themselves, and Christians can unite all the religions of the world." Like the serpents message in the garden, this statement is full of twisted truths and outright lies. Yes, we are called to love each other, but not at the cost of compromising truth. Matt 10:34 Yet this interfaith message from the Moonies has spread through churches and deceived God's people around the world. Matt 7:13-14

November

Smallpox plan grants sweeping power: "Public health officials want to shut down roads and airports, herd people into sports stadiums and, if needed, quarantine entire cities in the event of a smallpox attack, according to a plan being forwarded to all 50 governors this week. The plan, drafted at the request of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, could give states sweeping new powers. `In tough times you have to make tough decisions,' said Paul Jacobsen, assistant commissioner for the state Department of Public Health, who said he received a copy of the 50-page plan last week.

       "'There are times when you may have to evacuate, control facilities and roads (and) the distribution of health supplies, and force people to submit to examinations or be quarantined,' he said. 'If the alternative is to allow the spread of infectious diseases, it's a no-brainer.'" Matt 24:7

October

How pupils drive teachers away: "Teacher David Lucas believes one of the main reasons why graduates do not want to join the profession is the bad behaviour of pupils. ... If any young graduate attended a school where they saw the bad behaviour of a minority of pupils, they would say to themselves: 'I am not going to put myself into that situation, where I cannot teach my subject properly without being constantly interrupted by bad behaviour and rudeness.'" 2 Tim 3:1-14

Anthrax Primer -- a summary of the symptoms, treatment and prognosis.

3rd anthrax case surfaces in Florida: "Probe of source of infections now a criminal investigation."

Spiritual Delusion: "Since the mid-seventies, the number of Americans believing in astrology, reincarnation, fortune telling, and talking to the dead has sky rocketed. Almost all of these “New Age” beliefs are embraced by about a third to a half of the population. This social acceptance of pagan occult “spiritual experiences” over biblical revelation is prophesied in several places (I Timothy 4:1-2; II Thessalonians 2:11-12; II Peter 2; and Galatians 5:16-21). The immense popularity of the Harry Potter occult fantasies is but another cultural indicator of the world’s spiritual delusion. It is this modern cultural acceptance of false spirituality that is leading to the fulfillment of end-time prophecy. Where are the evangelical Christians in all of this?"

       Afraid to offend the "consumers" (potential members) with God's truth? See The Global Church

Prophetic Views Behind the News: This particular issue of the Olive Tree Newsletter was sent to the press less than two weeks before the September 11 assault. It quotes Osama bin Laden telling his terrorist followers to “Slay the United States and Israel.” and "your brothers in Palestine are waiting for you …it’s time to penetrate America and Israel and hit them where it hurts the most.”
       It also includes this reminder: "The church is likewise exhorted: 'But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober…Therefore, let us encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing.'” I Thessalonians 5:4-11

Ebola-style killer virus sweeps Afghan border: "The largest outbreak in history of a highly contagious disease that causes patients to bleed to death from every orifice was confirmed yesterday on Pakistan's frontier with Afghanistan." Matt 24:7

September

Website calls for killing Jews: "Two Internet sites maintained by supporters of Islamic terrorist groups to raise money, recruit members, and promote violence are being run out of Canada.... The site — qudscall.com — glorifies Palestinian suicide bombers as martyrs, and posts letters from Islamic Jihad claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks in Israel." Matt 24:7

Bush Appoints Homosexual to Federal Arts Commission Post: "Several months ago, President Bush outraged his conservative supporters when he appointed homosexual Scott Evertz to be director of the White House National AIDS Policy Office. At the time, many said it appeared Bush was behaving no differently than former President Clinton when it came to making appointments aimed at courting the homosexual vote. Now comes word by way of the homosexual publication The Washington Blade that Bush has named Donald A. Capoccia to the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts." Rom 1:22-32

August

Israeli intelligence projects war in 2002: "... the military report said that in an Israeli-Palestinian war, Egypt and Jordan could sever diplomatic links with Israel and come under great pressure from their people to declare war against the Jewish state, Middle East Newsline reported." Matthew 24:7

Moderate' Saudis now talking war: "What could be better than a repetition of what happened in 1973?" asks Ghazi Al-Quseibi, the Saudi ambassador to the UK. "What we need is Egyptian-Syrian cooperation, with the back up of the oil states with their oil, and the rest of the Arab states, each according to its ability. Such a military confrontation, especially while the Intifada is going on, and at a time when the possibility of the Arab community within Israel to take action, will turn all the tables and all of the facts upside down.... I am not a supporter of war, but I warn you that entirely ruling out the option of war from the agenda, is the surest guarantee for the continuation of Israel’s superiority – and with it the arrogance, the bloodshed, and the rampage – forever!" Prov 16:18

July

Plagues of Locusts Spread: "Plagues of locusts are devastating crops from Central Asia to the American Midwest, sending farmers to the book of Exodus for salvation. Not since the Egyptians incurred the wrath of God have so many locusts had their day. A billion-strong army is on the move, stretching far beyond the more normal swarming grounds of Africa and the Middle East and threatening central Eurasia’s arable land in a pincer movement from each end of the Caspian Sea. In China, hundreds of thousands of ducks are being flown to the northwest where locusts are taking over...." Deut 28:15

May

Arafat regime near collapse as radical states press for war

Poll: 61% of Israelis fear all-out war to break out soon. Matt 24-7

China's Execution, INC.: "Dr. Thomas Diflo's moral nightmare walked into his examination room: a patient freshly implanted with a kidney bought from China's death row, where prisoners are killed—sometimes for minor offenses—and their organs harvested.... Political dissidents [including uncompromising Christians?] have also been sentenced to death. Chinese embassy officials did not respond to requests for comment, but in the past the government has denied promoting the for-profit organ trade." 2 Timothy 3:1-14

Syria rejects Arab plan, favors escalation of violence: Syria has rejected the Jordanian-Egyptian initiative to put a stop to the violence in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza and return Israel and the Palestinians to the negotiating table." Matt 24:7

April

Corpus Christi Stirs Controversy at Florida College: "The same stage production was at the center of controversy on another college campus in the fall of 1999." A student was handcuffed and taken to a state mental hospital after discussing his plans for a Christian outreach in response to this outrageous play. Wonder how school officials would react if the play had targeted a more politically correct group. Ps 1:1-6

Death Toll in Congo War May Approach 3 Million: "Some groups are simply homicidal. The men with wild hair and bushy beards who kicked in the door of Jean Pierre Mushobozi's hut in the village of Buguli one night in November were Hutu extremists from Rwanda, who are associated with the group that carried out the 1994 genocide that killed more than a half-million Rwandan Tutsis.... They slashed to death the two youngest children, slashed the leg of another and carried away the family's goats, hens, money and clothes -- even the spoons." Matt 24:7

Tuberculosis hits UK: A "particularly virulent strain" has "struck at least 27 students" and 60 more may be infected. Matt 24:7

Mad 'Cows' and Englishmen

This link now leads to a new article posted on the same headline news page. Since it wasn't broken, we can't fix it: Corpus Christi Stirs Controversy at Florida College: "The same stage production was at the center of controversy on another college campus in the fall of 1999." A student was handcuffed and taken to a state mental hospital after discussing his plans for a Christian outreach in response to this outrageous play. Wonder how school officials would react if the play had targeted a more politically correct group. Ps 1:1-6

Posted in March

Youth meditations: "Tony and Emily are among a handful of Silicon Valley students who practice qi gong to develop deeper concentration, reduce anxiety and harness creativity. The Chinese have used qi gong, the ancient Eastern art of tapping life-force energy through movement and visualization, for thousand of years as a way to cultivate self-healing, rejuvenation and longevity." 1 Tim 4:1 See also America's Spiritual Slide

The Revelation of Nihilism: "...her chilling words, said it all: It wasn't that she hated her friend's prospective victims or had some special urge to see them killed; it was that she didn't care if they were killed, and she wasn't embarrassed to let the world know it."    Matt 24:10-12

Hostility Toward Religion: Can the Lions Be Far Behind? "In San Francisco, the government officially pronounced the Truth in Love campaign, which shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with homosexuals, [to be] hateful rhetoric." See Clinton's War on Hate Bans Christian Values ["...you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake." Matt 24:9

Willow Creek Forum unites diverse religions: "...organizers of the forum... encouraged the representatives of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism to revel in their diversity. "All pathways to heaven and God are not the same; that's the reality," said David Staal, a spokesman for Willow Creek." Matt 24:11

Worldwide threat of TB Matthew 24-7

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