The serpent's temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden, that we can be like God, remains with mankind to this very day. It is important to understand that Satan is not simply trying to draw people to the dark side of a good versus evil conflict. Actually, he is trying to eradicate the gap between himself and God, between good and evil, altogether.
When those in the emerging church try to persuade people that we need to bridge the gap between Christians (or Christ-followers as they put it) and non-Christians, they aren't really talking about reaching out to the unsaved in order to share the Gospel with them. They are talking about coming to a consensus, a common ground. Leonard Sweet explains:
“ The key to navigating postmodernity's choppy,
crazy waters is not to seek some balance or ‘safe
middle ground,’ but to ride the waves and bridge the
opposites, especially where they converge in
reconciliation and illumination.”
It takes a little thinking to figure out what Sweet is saying by this statement, but when he talks about bridging the opposites, he's referring to a chasm that exists between good and evil. This tension between the two is called dualism, and at the heart of occultism is the effort to eradicate it. If that gap could truly be closed, then Satan and God would be equal. The Bible clearly states this will never happen.
This misguided effort to unite all things, to give people the option of maintaining their own religious practices, suggesting they do not have to call themselves Christians is a spiritually slippery slope and an undoing of the Christian faith.
Chris Carmichael speaks the truth in his Mission Statement at Christian Unplugged when he says:
It is our belief, therefore, that professing Christians must “unplug” themselves from these postmodern influences of relativism, pluralism and ecumenism, and return to the biblical model of faith. We advocate a return to spiritual discernment that only comes by God's grace through a thorough interaction with the Truth of God's Word. We must study, reflect upon, and understand the theology it represents and the doctrines it teaches; and we should ground this noble pursuit on the confession that God, through His divine power, 'has granted to us EVERYTHING pertaining to LIFE and GODLINESS, through the true knowledge' of Christ” (2 Peter 1:3).
(http://www.christianunplugged.com/mission.htm, caps in original)
Roger Oakland, Understand the Times
(http://www.crossroad.to/Quotes/spirituality/lighthousetrails/08/8-bridging.htm )
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Nigeria fuels global governance agenda with Bakassi precedence
For the first time in the history of nations, according to experts, a sovereign country has voluntarily cedes part of its territory to another country – at the instruction of an international organization. At the same time that Russia was foraging into Georgia, and the US declaring international (UN) agreements not approved by her Congress (e.g. Kyoto protocols) as non-binding and un-implementable, Nigeria released the strategic Bakassi peninsula to Cameroun, at the instructions of the International Court of Justice, overruling Nigeria’s laws and strategic interests
Land squabbles are as old as human society. When humans are not fighting over land as one nation against another nation, they are bound to do it either as one state of a federation versus another state, or at city, village or even individual levels! And the outcome of such squamishes are not any different – they are always bloody and span generations. Watch out, as different interest groups (akin to Nigeria’s Niger Delta militias) arise among the Cameroonians each laying claim to Bakassi!
In the light of this reality, the real big issue to which CA! would want to draw the attention of every reader, is the impetus this action by Nigeria has given to the One World government agenda. Clearly, this action has demonstrated (as we’ve heard repeated ad nauseum in recent times) that international interests and laws are superior to our national ones!
The follow-ups to this development are not hard to imagine. We can expect very soon to hear arguments about how, for instance, the proposed Nigerian law against homosexuality (which had remained a proposal for almost 3 years now, as we warned in Vol 9 No 2 and Vol 10 No 2), is against and inferior to the presumed global opinion on the issue. And, while still on that example, the UN is not leaving anyone in doubts what this supposed ‘global opinion’ is, with the recent granting of “consultative status” to two gay-advocacy NGOs from Spain and the Netherlands. This move has been widely interpreted as designed to weaken the sovereignty of nations, especially with respect to opinions on “sexual rights” issues.
(www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71256).
There are countless other efforts, of course, by which global governance advocates seek to change the face and mind of society. Some of the important ones we have been stressing over the years include environmental issues (such as the obdurate insistence that global warming is caused by man despite concrete evidences to the contrary), and educational issues (where for instance all the paradigm is built on the incredible assumption that man evolved from animals which evolved from inanimate objects which in turn evolved from quantum fluctuation of nothing!)
The concept of using a higher law to override inferior ones by global government advocates (a bastardized version of the law of spirit of life overriding that of death as in Rom 8:2) has long been recognized and used by agents of the antichrist. For instance, the Roe vs Wade precedence in the US in 1973 made abortion legal all over the US, eroding the existing laws in several states opposing abortion. About 50 million babies (including those who initially survived the abortion procedure!) have had their lives legally terminated since, in the same country where to destroy the egg of an eagle would attract a stiff jail term and up to $250,000 fine!
We warned in the last edition that all the spates of the laws from individual states in the US proscribing mandatory implantation of the microchip will also be easily swept away by one federal law (or should we say UN law!) at the appropriate time near the unveiling of the antichrist.
“For the Kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations” - Psalm 22:28
Land squabbles are as old as human society. When humans are not fighting over land as one nation against another nation, they are bound to do it either as one state of a federation versus another state, or at city, village or even individual levels! And the outcome of such squamishes are not any different – they are always bloody and span generations. Watch out, as different interest groups (akin to Nigeria’s Niger Delta militias) arise among the Cameroonians each laying claim to Bakassi!
In the light of this reality, the real big issue to which CA! would want to draw the attention of every reader, is the impetus this action by Nigeria has given to the One World government agenda. Clearly, this action has demonstrated (as we’ve heard repeated ad nauseum in recent times) that international interests and laws are superior to our national ones!
The follow-ups to this development are not hard to imagine. We can expect very soon to hear arguments about how, for instance, the proposed Nigerian law against homosexuality (which had remained a proposal for almost 3 years now, as we warned in Vol 9 No 2 and Vol 10 No 2), is against and inferior to the presumed global opinion on the issue. And, while still on that example, the UN is not leaving anyone in doubts what this supposed ‘global opinion’ is, with the recent granting of “consultative status” to two gay-advocacy NGOs from Spain and the Netherlands. This move has been widely interpreted as designed to weaken the sovereignty of nations, especially with respect to opinions on “sexual rights” issues.
(www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71256).
There are countless other efforts, of course, by which global governance advocates seek to change the face and mind of society. Some of the important ones we have been stressing over the years include environmental issues (such as the obdurate insistence that global warming is caused by man despite concrete evidences to the contrary), and educational issues (where for instance all the paradigm is built on the incredible assumption that man evolved from animals which evolved from inanimate objects which in turn evolved from quantum fluctuation of nothing!)
The concept of using a higher law to override inferior ones by global government advocates (a bastardized version of the law of spirit of life overriding that of death as in Rom 8:2) has long been recognized and used by agents of the antichrist. For instance, the Roe vs Wade precedence in the US in 1973 made abortion legal all over the US, eroding the existing laws in several states opposing abortion. About 50 million babies (including those who initially survived the abortion procedure!) have had their lives legally terminated since, in the same country where to destroy the egg of an eagle would attract a stiff jail term and up to $250,000 fine!
We warned in the last edition that all the spates of the laws from individual states in the US proscribing mandatory implantation of the microchip will also be easily swept away by one federal law (or should we say UN law!) at the appropriate time near the unveiling of the antichrist.
“For the Kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations” - Psalm 22:28
California’s Anti Homeschooling Ruling Reversed
We published in Vol 11 No 2 the ruling by a California appeals court that parents who have no teaching qualifications appropriate for the age è grade of a particular child could not homeschool such a child themselves. Now the good news is that, following a national outrage, that ruling has been reversed by a new ruling pronounced on August 8 by the 2nd Appellate District in Los Angeles. The previous ruling threatened an estimated 166,000 homeschoolers in California – parents who are disillusioned at the evolution-based education offered at public schools with the attendant moral and crime problems. Details at
www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71831.
www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71831.
Homosexuals fight to take over the Western world
A Canadian human rights tribunal has ordered a Christian pastor to renounce his faith and never again express moral opposition to homosexuality. Pastor Stephen Boisson was also ordered to pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the gay activist who complained of being hurt by the pastor’s declaration of the Biblical view of homosexuality as sinful. The same Tribunal, which has mandated all managers and employees in Canada to receive a pro-homosexuality “human rights training program”, has also, in April, slammed a Christian ministry with a whooping fine of $23,000 for rejecting a homosexual employee.
Similar battles to gag the Christian view on homosexuality is raging in other countries as well. In the US, a family-owned photography studio in New Mexico which refused, on religious grounds, to take pictures at a same-sex ceremony was asked to pay $6,600 fine for such uncivil "discrimination"; while a Nigerian-born UK Court Registrar, Lilian Ladele, who opts out of officiating at same-sex marriages on her religious conviction was harassed, victimized and threatened; but she maintained her stand. Her landmark victory at a Tribunal in July was widely celebrated among believers worldwide. (see http://kingdomwatch.blogspot.com/2008/07/lillian-ladele-laughs-last.html).
“This is a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself but for others in a similar position,” Lilian enthused. “Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs.”
Now, the new battle ground is Colorado in the US where a new law, SB200, is set to continue this gay assault on the larger majority in society. Conscientious Christians are not giving in without a fight, though. According to Steve Curtis, president of the "American RTL [Right to Life] Action, a Colorado-based group: “we're not going to hire someone cohabitating outside of marriage, let alone a homosexual." Fuming, he further declared: "SB200 … makes it a crime for us to publish biblical teaching on immorality, so we are prepared to violate this anti-Christian government censorship. The liberals always said what homosexuals do in private could never affect anyone else; of course that was always a lie; they're trying to criminalize traditional Christianity. The fight is on."
Meanwhile, Hallmark, the largest greeting card company in the United States has began to roll out same-sex wedding cards - featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside.(AP Thu Aug 21)
Similar battles to gag the Christian view on homosexuality is raging in other countries as well. In the US, a family-owned photography studio in New Mexico which refused, on religious grounds, to take pictures at a same-sex ceremony was asked to pay $6,600 fine for such uncivil "discrimination"; while a Nigerian-born UK Court Registrar, Lilian Ladele, who opts out of officiating at same-sex marriages on her religious conviction was harassed, victimized and threatened; but she maintained her stand. Her landmark victory at a Tribunal in July was widely celebrated among believers worldwide. (see http://kingdomwatch.blogspot.com/2008/07/lillian-ladele-laughs-last.html).
“This is a victory for religious liberty, not just for myself but for others in a similar position,” Lilian enthused. “Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs.”
Now, the new battle ground is Colorado in the US where a new law, SB200, is set to continue this gay assault on the larger majority in society. Conscientious Christians are not giving in without a fight, though. According to Steve Curtis, president of the "American RTL [Right to Life] Action, a Colorado-based group: “we're not going to hire someone cohabitating outside of marriage, let alone a homosexual." Fuming, he further declared: "SB200 … makes it a crime for us to publish biblical teaching on immorality, so we are prepared to violate this anti-Christian government censorship. The liberals always said what homosexuals do in private could never affect anyone else; of course that was always a lie; they're trying to criminalize traditional Christianity. The fight is on."
Meanwhile, Hallmark, the largest greeting card company in the United States has began to roll out same-sex wedding cards - featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside.(AP Thu Aug 21)
Interfaith, pro-gay, 'cooperation' blossom at Rick Warren’s Church
Recently, Warren was the envy of all journalists as he got one of the biggest scoops of the year, when both presidential candidates of the Republican Party, John McCain, and of the Democratic Party, Barak Obama agreed to have their first joint public appearance in his church - with him as the interviewer. The event no doubt shows the amount of clout Warren is gathering. However, the not-so publicized fact that the appearance was jointly sponsored by Warren’s Church (Saddleback) and a major homosexual advocacy inter-faith group (Faith in Public Life ) is also telling. It is precisely to maintain such clout that Warren is ever chained to his anti-Biblical yoking with groups purveying values that are diametrically opposed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And he tries to justify these with dead “good works”.
Parallel with the Presidential Forum, Warren also convened “an interfaith meeting for 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders "to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans." www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=189618
Both presidential hopefuls have identical unbiblical opinions about gay and abortion, with Obama being slightly more “liberal”.
Parallel with the Presidential Forum, Warren also convened “an interfaith meeting for 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders "to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans." www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=189618
Both presidential hopefuls have identical unbiblical opinions about gay and abortion, with Obama being slightly more “liberal”.
Todd Bentley’s Lakeland ‘Revival’ Crashes – Following Moral lapses, Evangelist asked to withdraw from public ministry
We urgently wrote the article in the last edition on the so-called ‘revival’ at the Ignite Church Lakeland, US, under the auspices of visiting Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley, because despite its clearly unchristian character, the phenomenon nevertheless continued to gather raving reviews and endorsements - not only from throngs of young gullible Christians, but from many respected Christian leaders as well.
The Lord Jesus however, did give clear guidelines by which to judge such events, “By their fruits ye shall know them” saith the Lord in Mathew 7: 15ff.
For those who are unable to discern spiritual fruits, the Lakeland ‘revival’ is now producing physical ‘fruits’ which meanings should no longer by difficult to interpret. First was the news from Bentley’s Fresh Fire ministries on August 15, that following the discovery of “information revealing that Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff”, he “has agreed to step down from his position on the Board of Directors and to refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life”. Furthermore, Bentley had separated from his wife and mother of his 3 children, Shonnah .
Fresh fire Board of Directors were clearly confused, and they are not hiding it. In the same breath, the Board refers, in an August 12 prayer request, to “pressures and the burden of the Outpouring” as possibly exacerbating existing tension among the Bentleys, but hasten to add that the “Outpouring is not ‘to blame.’” Ordinarily, a time of revival, if truly from the Lord, ought to be a time of strengthening, if not physically, but spiritually – and the visible fruits must be in repentance, holiness, righteousness, strengthening of Godly relationships and values, forgiveness, etc!
One of the three pastors in charge of Bentley’s rehabilitation, John Arnott of Toronto Airport Church, further revealed on his website that Bentley had the additional problem of “drinking excessively”. As seen on the video False Anointing by Joseph Chambers (available at our Library), getting drunk is no big deal with these “new wave” ministers, but here, even they find Bentley’s drinking “excessive”!
Unfortunately, while many of the so-called leaders who have been endorsing Bentley and his farce of a revival are now compelled to agree that the bubble has burst, many of his deceived neonate Christians still struggle to find straws to cling at. “Don’t judge others, nobody is perfect, etc” are common phrases emanating from blogsites of Bentley’s devotees. GodTV which had carried the Lakeland meetings live all throughout the over 140 days it lasted, had earlier declared that any criticism of Bentley could only be “demonic”!
The disappointed host pastor at the Ignite Church, Lakeland, Rev. Stephen Strader, while reluctantly divulging that Bentley had actually had a similar marriage-threatening “other-woman” relationship, three years ago, still insists that the developments do not in any way invalidate the revival – which had been based solely on Mr Bentley and his mysterious female ‘angel’, Emma! According to Strader: "Miracles are still happening. God's power is still present in the building."
The Fresh Fire ministries, itself while trying to launder its image with the good humanitarian works they are doing in Uganda and elsewhere, hopes to take the development in its strides and plans to continue with its “major African crusade”
While the ostriches may still continue to hide their heads in the sand, others are highlighting lessons to learn from the entire saga. Lee Grady of Charisma magazine was one level-headed Christian whose constituency/readership was deeply involved and supportive of Bentley. He lamented: "Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs, and wonders than have a quiet Bible study." Adding, "Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It's way past time for us to grow up."
Andrew Strom (www.revivalschool.com), in an open letter addressed alternately to leaders of the controversial prophetic and apostles movement, Rick Joyner and C. Peter Wagner, asked bluntly: “Sir, if your discernment is such that you could get on a stage and openly endorse one of the most deceptive movements in the history of the church, then - with all due respect - should you really be heading up the apostles of the entire Charismatic world? Are you aware that you have greatly endangered God's precious sheep all around the globe?” See more details from Fresh fire website, or at
www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=212520
The Lord Jesus however, did give clear guidelines by which to judge such events, “By their fruits ye shall know them” saith the Lord in Mathew 7: 15ff.
For those who are unable to discern spiritual fruits, the Lakeland ‘revival’ is now producing physical ‘fruits’ which meanings should no longer by difficult to interpret. First was the news from Bentley’s Fresh Fire ministries on August 15, that following the discovery of “information revealing that Todd Bentley has entered into an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff”, he “has agreed to step down from his position on the Board of Directors and to refrain from all public ministry for a season to receive counsel in his personal life”. Furthermore, Bentley had separated from his wife and mother of his 3 children, Shonnah .
Fresh fire Board of Directors were clearly confused, and they are not hiding it. In the same breath, the Board refers, in an August 12 prayer request, to “pressures and the burden of the Outpouring” as possibly exacerbating existing tension among the Bentleys, but hasten to add that the “Outpouring is not ‘to blame.’” Ordinarily, a time of revival, if truly from the Lord, ought to be a time of strengthening, if not physically, but spiritually – and the visible fruits must be in repentance, holiness, righteousness, strengthening of Godly relationships and values, forgiveness, etc!
One of the three pastors in charge of Bentley’s rehabilitation, John Arnott of Toronto Airport Church, further revealed on his website that Bentley had the additional problem of “drinking excessively”. As seen on the video False Anointing by Joseph Chambers (available at our Library), getting drunk is no big deal with these “new wave” ministers, but here, even they find Bentley’s drinking “excessive”!
Unfortunately, while many of the so-called leaders who have been endorsing Bentley and his farce of a revival are now compelled to agree that the bubble has burst, many of his deceived neonate Christians still struggle to find straws to cling at. “Don’t judge others, nobody is perfect, etc” are common phrases emanating from blogsites of Bentley’s devotees. GodTV which had carried the Lakeland meetings live all throughout the over 140 days it lasted, had earlier declared that any criticism of Bentley could only be “demonic”!
The disappointed host pastor at the Ignite Church, Lakeland, Rev. Stephen Strader, while reluctantly divulging that Bentley had actually had a similar marriage-threatening “other-woman” relationship, three years ago, still insists that the developments do not in any way invalidate the revival – which had been based solely on Mr Bentley and his mysterious female ‘angel’, Emma! According to Strader: "Miracles are still happening. God's power is still present in the building."
The Fresh Fire ministries, itself while trying to launder its image with the good humanitarian works they are doing in Uganda and elsewhere, hopes to take the development in its strides and plans to continue with its “major African crusade”
While the ostriches may still continue to hide their heads in the sand, others are highlighting lessons to learn from the entire saga. Lee Grady of Charisma magazine was one level-headed Christian whose constituency/readership was deeply involved and supportive of Bentley. He lamented: "Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs, and wonders than have a quiet Bible study." Adding, "Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It's way past time for us to grow up."
Andrew Strom (www.revivalschool.com), in an open letter addressed alternately to leaders of the controversial prophetic and apostles movement, Rick Joyner and C. Peter Wagner, asked bluntly: “Sir, if your discernment is such that you could get on a stage and openly endorse one of the most deceptive movements in the history of the church, then - with all due respect - should you really be heading up the apostles of the entire Charismatic world? Are you aware that you have greatly endangered God's precious sheep all around the globe?” See more details from Fresh fire website, or at
www.onenewsnow.com/Church/Default.aspx?id=212520
Olympic Games reveal the character of the coming “One World” Dream
For a country notorious for deadly fake products (recent being its toxic toothpastes in the US), China was certainly happy with her new image and role in promoting the “One World One Dream” gospel of the UN with a clinical near-perfect execution of the 2008 Summer Olympics. According to one literature issued by the Organizers of Beijing 2008, “The slogan ‘One World One Dream’ fully reflects the essence and the universal values of the Olympic spirit -- Unity, Friendship, Progress, Harmony, Participation and Dream.'
In pursuing the Olympic spirit, however, the whole world seems to agree to collectively turn blind eye to the hard realities on ground, and bask in the false euphoria of apparent progress towards the achievement of man-made peace on earth.
Even as the spectacular and breathtaking grand opening of the Games was going on, Russia was rolling in her tanks into Georgia,
claiming to want to protect the interests of ethnic Russians who in turn had been earlier harassed and massacred by Georgian forces! Over 2,000 civilians had been killed before the Georgian Parliament quickly approved a declaration of a ‘state of war’ (www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/09/georgia.russia2). Both Georgia and Russia were at the Games.
Back home in China, several house Churches were closed down and .a number of Chinese House Church Pastors were relocated to remote locations, while the Olympic games lasted. So much for the so-called Olympic spirit and values! (www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=212700)
The hypocritical and deceptive spirit behind this surface-level “friendship, unity and brotherhood” of mankind is freely reflected throughout the games. “The dazzling chain of massive fireworks” at the Opening Ceremonies, turned out to be “mostly computer-generated;” while the nine year old girl who sang the amazing solo at the event was actually tucked away in some corner, while “a more beautiful girl (with a less perfect voice)” stood on the public rostrum, miming the words and receiving the applause of 91,000 spectators.
In x-raying the spirit of the Beijing Olympics, other questions raised by Berit Kjos in her website included: “Were the vast Olympic construction projects worth evicting more than a million people? Was winning a gold medal worth lying about the age of a gifted gymnast?” For more in depth analyses of this topic, visit www.newswithviews.com/BeritKjos/kjos93.htm
Unfortunately, this is the true reality behind the entire ‘One World One people’ façade. It is just nice-sounding verbose, backed with sound logic but a spirituality that is straight from the pit of hell. It is the spirit of the anti-christ.
In pursuing the Olympic spirit, however, the whole world seems to agree to collectively turn blind eye to the hard realities on ground, and bask in the false euphoria of apparent progress towards the achievement of man-made peace on earth.
Even as the spectacular and breathtaking grand opening of the Games was going on, Russia was rolling in her tanks into Georgia,
claiming to want to protect the interests of ethnic Russians who in turn had been earlier harassed and massacred by Georgian forces! Over 2,000 civilians had been killed before the Georgian Parliament quickly approved a declaration of a ‘state of war’ (www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/09/georgia.russia2). Both Georgia and Russia were at the Games.
Back home in China, several house Churches were closed down and .a number of Chinese House Church Pastors were relocated to remote locations, while the Olympic games lasted. So much for the so-called Olympic spirit and values! (www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=212700)
The hypocritical and deceptive spirit behind this surface-level “friendship, unity and brotherhood” of mankind is freely reflected throughout the games. “The dazzling chain of massive fireworks” at the Opening Ceremonies, turned out to be “mostly computer-generated;” while the nine year old girl who sang the amazing solo at the event was actually tucked away in some corner, while “a more beautiful girl (with a less perfect voice)” stood on the public rostrum, miming the words and receiving the applause of 91,000 spectators.
In x-raying the spirit of the Beijing Olympics, other questions raised by Berit Kjos in her website included: “Were the vast Olympic construction projects worth evicting more than a million people? Was winning a gold medal worth lying about the age of a gifted gymnast?” For more in depth analyses of this topic, visit www.newswithviews.com/BeritKjos/kjos93.htm
Unfortunately, this is the true reality behind the entire ‘One World One people’ façade. It is just nice-sounding verbose, backed with sound logic but a spirituality that is straight from the pit of hell. It is the spirit of the anti-christ.
False Christs: Another ‘Jesus’ appears at Siberia
One of the signs of the end times given by the Lord in Mathew 24 is the emergence of false christs. Today, there are legions of people going by that title, especially as the new age movement teaches that anyone can create their own realities and live in their own self-made (illusory) world. One of the more well-known false Christs in Nigeria is of course Guru Maharajji, the Ibadan-based self proclaimed “master of the universe”. But at least he doesn’t claim to operate a Church.
However, ABC News (US) has recently reported on another wave-making “messiah”, deep in the heart of Siberia's birch forests. Here dwell 5,000 people who have abandoned their families and homes to form “one of the largest and most remote religious communes of the planet.” Another 5,000 people in other locations of the world (mainly Europe) make up the Church of the Last Testament which is centred on one man, Sergei Torop, a former Traffic Warden. He is now known as Vissarion, meaning "he who gives new life," or simply as the teacher, and he claims that he is Jesus Christ.
Seeing the Vissarions and Todd Bentleys of this world, you would think they are competing to act out in true life drama, some of the characters and scenarios described by Frank Peretti in his classic novel, The Visitation! Clarissa Ward of ABC news described the new-look Sergei Torop: “My first
impression seeing the teacher was that he did actually look how one might imagine Jesus. With his long hair, flowing white robes and kind smile, he looked the part. But as the interview began, my feelings soon changed.”
According to the ABC, “Many of Vissarion's followers are educated people from different European countries. Some of them used to work as doctors, teachers and engineers. One was even the former Belorussian deputy railway minister.” ABC NEWS (US) [Disney] June 23, 2008
However, ABC News (US) has recently reported on another wave-making “messiah”, deep in the heart of Siberia's birch forests. Here dwell 5,000 people who have abandoned their families and homes to form “one of the largest and most remote religious communes of the planet.” Another 5,000 people in other locations of the world (mainly Europe) make up the Church of the Last Testament which is centred on one man, Sergei Torop, a former Traffic Warden. He is now known as Vissarion, meaning "he who gives new life," or simply as the teacher, and he claims that he is Jesus Christ.
Seeing the Vissarions and Todd Bentleys of this world, you would think they are competing to act out in true life drama, some of the characters and scenarios described by Frank Peretti in his classic novel, The Visitation! Clarissa Ward of ABC news described the new-look Sergei Torop: “My first
impression seeing the teacher was that he did actually look how one might imagine Jesus. With his long hair, flowing white robes and kind smile, he looked the part. But as the interview began, my feelings soon changed.”
According to the ABC, “Many of Vissarion's followers are educated people from different European countries. Some of them used to work as doctors, teachers and engineers. One was even the former Belorussian deputy railway minister.” ABC NEWS (US) [Disney] June 23, 2008
DARPA funding Warwick on microchip implant project
Remember Kevin Warwick? He is the Professor of Cyberneutics at Reading University, UK where he is pushing the frontiers in the application of the microchip implant to provide an interface between Man and Machine – the subject matter of Cyberneutics. We described his Cyborg 2 experiments in vol 4 No 6, 2001 showing that his efforts to use the microchip to gain unfettered access to the mind of anyone so implanted easily takes the microchip from the realm of technology into the so-called psychic realm, and with clear-cut spiritual implications. Specifically, he inserted microchips into both his wife and himself to demonstrate communication of thoughts and emotions between people located on two different continents via internet interactions between the implanted chips. It was at that stage that we were convinced that the microchip, (capable of not only reading one’s thoughts and emotions, but actually controlling them), would be “the precursor to the mark of the beast” described in advance in Rev 13.
Prof Kevin Warwick, with quite boisterous character going by his numerous press interviews that litter the internet (you may just google his name for some links), has been relatively ‘quiet’ in the last few years. It is therefore interesting reading the reports by Cutting Edge that Prof Warwick has been collaborating actively with the United States Homeland Security through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (D.A.R.P.A) on the Multi Micro Electrode Array (MMEA) project – a project which extends the results of the Cyborg experiments.
Homeland Security was created immediately after the 9/11 attacks to oversee the general internal security in the United States, particularly in light of the declaration of war against terrorism by the US president. That was an enormous responsibility with an appropriate influence and budget to go with it. Since its inauguration, Cabinet positions, including the CIA, Department of Justice, and Department of Defense, that used to report directly to the President of the US now report to the Director of the DARPA, Mr Tom Ridge, who in turn interacts directly with the President.
The question is, what is such a powerful Organization, with clearly indicated interests in mass surveillance and mass controlling of the public, doing with the MMEA? It is quite clear that compared with the MMEA, the commercially-marketed Verichip is no more than a toy; and it has been suggested that the Verichip is really meant to distract the discerning public from probing too deep into the MMEA. It is taken for granted that the publicly-acknowledged research activities of DARPA are only to provide the starting points for the classified activities. Mark of the Beast or not, are we to believe that all these clandestine ‘advancements’ in these worrisome directions are really for the benefit of mankind?
Visit the website of the Cutting Edge ministries (www.cuttingedge.org/) for more interesting details.
www.angelfire.com/d20/philadelphians/index2.html
Prof Kevin Warwick, with quite boisterous character going by his numerous press interviews that litter the internet (you may just google his name for some links), has been relatively ‘quiet’ in the last few years. It is therefore interesting reading the reports by Cutting Edge that Prof Warwick has been collaborating actively with the United States Homeland Security through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (D.A.R.P.A) on the Multi Micro Electrode Array (MMEA) project – a project which extends the results of the Cyborg experiments.
Homeland Security was created immediately after the 9/11 attacks to oversee the general internal security in the United States, particularly in light of the declaration of war against terrorism by the US president. That was an enormous responsibility with an appropriate influence and budget to go with it. Since its inauguration, Cabinet positions, including the CIA, Department of Justice, and Department of Defense, that used to report directly to the President of the US now report to the Director of the DARPA, Mr Tom Ridge, who in turn interacts directly with the President.
The question is, what is such a powerful Organization, with clearly indicated interests in mass surveillance and mass controlling of the public, doing with the MMEA? It is quite clear that compared with the MMEA, the commercially-marketed Verichip is no more than a toy; and it has been suggested that the Verichip is really meant to distract the discerning public from probing too deep into the MMEA. It is taken for granted that the publicly-acknowledged research activities of DARPA are only to provide the starting points for the classified activities. Mark of the Beast or not, are we to believe that all these clandestine ‘advancements’ in these worrisome directions are really for the benefit of mankind?
Visit the website of the Cutting Edge ministries (www.cuttingedge.org/) for more interesting details.
www.angelfire.com/d20/philadelphians/index2.html
UPDATES ON ROMAN CATHOLICSM
While the on-going feud in the Anglican communion has been providing hope to shore up alarmingly declining figures in the Catholic Church (see e.g,. Vol 11 No 2), via mass conversion from Anglicannism; this over 1 billion strong denomination whose head is seen as the “Vicar of the Son of God” on earth continues its desperate struggles to remain relevant in other arenas.
Her inter-faith agenda seems to be right on course with the recent warm embrace given the Pope by the moslem community in Sydney during the World Youth Day in July. There an Islamic school offered to host part of the catholic visitors and served as ushers in addition to hosting a papal interfaith event during the visit. (ZENIT NEWS AGENCY [Innovative Media] - July 16, 2008).
Also top of the news is the rumour that President Bush, just like Tony Blair before him, is set to convert to catholicism at the end of his presidential term. Bush has recently developed a strong relationship with the Pope and has made known his deep respect for Catholicism, pandering to its demands in several state matters. According to Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator and close confidant of Mr Bush, "I don't think there's any question about it. He's certainly much more Catholic than Kennedy." CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY - June 16, 2008
However, these gains of the catholic church are hardly sufficient to offset the severe impact of declining figures, continued embarrassment from reports of gross immorality among top clergy and religious orders, and perhaps most hard-hitting of all, that a very large percentage of the teeming catholic crowd are merely “catholic” in name, neither believing in the church’s doctrine nor active in its practices. Responding to a survey conducted in the US by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Denver Roman Catholic Arcbishop Charles Chaput said: "The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their church,….It also means that the church ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members." (ASSOCIATED PRESS June 23, 2008).
The call of Christ to anyone who accepts that His leadership and authority are still valid in this world, rather than vested in some other person or institution is clear: Come ye out of her, my people…..” (2 Cor 6:17, Rev 18:4)
Her inter-faith agenda seems to be right on course with the recent warm embrace given the Pope by the moslem community in Sydney during the World Youth Day in July. There an Islamic school offered to host part of the catholic visitors and served as ushers in addition to hosting a papal interfaith event during the visit. (ZENIT NEWS AGENCY [Innovative Media] - July 16, 2008).
Also top of the news is the rumour that President Bush, just like Tony Blair before him, is set to convert to catholicism at the end of his presidential term. Bush has recently developed a strong relationship with the Pope and has made known his deep respect for Catholicism, pandering to its demands in several state matters. According to Rick Santorum, former U.S. senator and close confidant of Mr Bush, "I don't think there's any question about it. He's certainly much more Catholic than Kennedy." CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY - June 16, 2008
However, these gains of the catholic church are hardly sufficient to offset the severe impact of declining figures, continued embarrassment from reports of gross immorality among top clergy and religious orders, and perhaps most hard-hitting of all, that a very large percentage of the teeming catholic crowd are merely “catholic” in name, neither believing in the church’s doctrine nor active in its practices. Responding to a survey conducted in the US by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, Denver Roman Catholic Arcbishop Charles Chaput said: "The statistics show, more than anything else, that many who describe themselves as Catholics do not know or understand the teachings of their church,….It also means that the church ought to work harder at evangelizing its own members." (ASSOCIATED PRESS June 23, 2008).
The call of Christ to anyone who accepts that His leadership and authority are still valid in this world, rather than vested in some other person or institution is clear: Come ye out of her, my people…..” (2 Cor 6:17, Rev 18:4)
And as for the rest of the Anglican Communion….?
Meanwhile, with the traditionalists sorting out their future alliances as reported in the two articles above, the remnant Anglican-by-name Church is digging deep into the emergent doctrine, wooing not just the homosexuals and elements of the inter-faith movement, but also actively reaching out to the no-faith movement as well.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, in urging Christians to treat atheists and agnostics with “deep esteem” argued that believers may in fact be partly responsible for the decline in faith by their insisting on God as a “fact in the world”. According to the learned Anglican clergy, "If Christians really believed in the mystery of God, we would realise that proper talk about God is always difficult, always tentative….I want to encourage people of faith to regard those without faith with deep esteem because the hidden God is active in their lives as well as in the lives of those who believe."
The atheist gang would not be wooed so easily though. British number 1 atheist, Richard Dawkins, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the cardinal's comments carried no weight.
BBC NEWS [PSB operated by BBC Trust] - May 9, 2008
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, in urging Christians to treat atheists and agnostics with “deep esteem” argued that believers may in fact be partly responsible for the decline in faith by their insisting on God as a “fact in the world”. According to the learned Anglican clergy, "If Christians really believed in the mystery of God, we would realise that proper talk about God is always difficult, always tentative….I want to encourage people of faith to regard those without faith with deep esteem because the hidden God is active in their lives as well as in the lives of those who believe."
The atheist gang would not be wooed so easily though. British number 1 atheist, Richard Dawkins, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the cardinal's comments carried no weight.
BBC NEWS [PSB operated by BBC Trust] - May 9, 2008
The other “traditional faction” of the Anglican Communion heads for Rome
Not all those who desire that the Anglican Communion should remain to its traditional doctrines and practices are necessarily taking their stance based on Biblical principles. While one faction of the “traditional wing” of the Anglican communion opted for their own separate spiritual retreat in Jerusalem under the leadership of Dr Peter Akinola of Nigeria, another prominent faction is actively negotiating to be absorbed into the Roman catholic Church. Going by the embarrassing spates of homosexual and often paedophilic practices currently being resolved in the courts in the USA involving top brasses of the Roman Catholic Church, it is clear that the abominableness of homosexuality is a minor point with this other “traditional wing”. In fact the main issue is the ordination of female Bishops.
Reporting on the secret “talks that some believe may presage a mass return of Anglicans to the Catholic fold”, the Sunday Telegraph quoted an Anglican bishop as saying "There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome." In 1992, a large number of Anglican ministers had applied to become Catholics on the condition that Rome would create a provision to retain the traditional Anglican style of worship. Even though some “Anglican Use” catholic parishes were established in the US, the episcopate of the Catholic Church of England and Wales obstructed the solution insisting that “converts would only be accepted individually, not en masse, and there would be no provision made for the retention of 500 year-old Anglican liturgical traditions” (LIFESITENEWS.com,July 7, 2008).
However, Pope Benedict XVI before his election, was known to be a strong supporter of the Anglican traditionalists; and it is expected that things might be different this time around. Reuters reported on July 8 that the Vatican “strongly criticized” the Church of England’s plan to ordain women bishops while The New York Times of the same day wrote that as many as 1,300 Anglican clergy members said they were prepared to leave the church rather than accept women as bishops.
Reporting on the secret “talks that some believe may presage a mass return of Anglicans to the Catholic fold”, the Sunday Telegraph quoted an Anglican bishop as saying "There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome." In 1992, a large number of Anglican ministers had applied to become Catholics on the condition that Rome would create a provision to retain the traditional Anglican style of worship. Even though some “Anglican Use” catholic parishes were established in the US, the episcopate of the Catholic Church of England and Wales obstructed the solution insisting that “converts would only be accepted individually, not en masse, and there would be no provision made for the retention of 500 year-old Anglican liturgical traditions” (LIFESITENEWS.com,July 7, 2008).
However, Pope Benedict XVI before his election, was known to be a strong supporter of the Anglican traditionalists; and it is expected that things might be different this time around. Reuters reported on July 8 that the Vatican “strongly criticized” the Church of England’s plan to ordain women bishops while The New York Times of the same day wrote that as many as 1,300 Anglican clergy members said they were prepared to leave the church rather than accept women as bishops.
Nigeria leads resistance against Emergent doctrine in the Anglican Communion
Archbshop Peter Akinola of Nigeria is often cited as one of the key leaders in the “traditionalist wing” of the Anglican church who, according to the Washington Post on July 26, “condemns homosexuality as an abomination against God’s teaching”. The call that homosexuality should be embraced and allowed to flourish in the church is a key feature in the emergent doctrine where the distinction between the Church and the world is gradually but steadily being eroded in the name of post-modernity. This is actively being marketed by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback and his many other colleagues.
Surely, no true Christian will ask that homosexuals should be hanged as is hyprocritically and publicly done in Islamic countries such as Iran. But no one worthy of the name Christian would contest that this abominable and sinful act should be roundly condemned; and those caught in its deadly web should be lovingly helped. In the case of the Anglican Church, the main issue is not even that homosexuals could freely participate in Church life but that they could function in the office of a bishop - while keeping male sleeping partners with them in the vicarage!
The Lambeth conference held once every ten years at Canterbury, is the major stakeholder’s forum in the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion. The 1998 edition of the meeting produced a resolution that declared “active homosexuality” to be incompatible with the teachings of the Bible – technically providing a leeway for so-called “celibate homosexuals”, i.e. those who profess to be homosexuals but are not currently living with a same-sex partner. However, five years later, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Church, elevated a notorious practicing homosexual, Gene Robinson, to the office of a Bishop leading to the breaking away of over a dozen congregations in Virginia from the Episcopal church. The congregations then chose to put themselves under the spiritual leadership of Archbishop Akinola. Seeing the direction of things within the Anglican Communion, the Nigerian Archbishop together with over 200 others from several countries, decided to boycott this year’s Lambeth conference (held in July), convening an alternate conference in Jerusalem, earlier in June. Though not officially invited to Lambeth, Bishop Robinson, together with his recently wedded “wife”, Mr Mark Andrew, attended and freely interacted with the participants.
Contrary to the posturing of many of the so-called Christian spokesmen for homosexuality, the condition is reversible (mainly in those who accept the truth about its reversibility) and this is confirmed by the myriads of ex-gays and ex-lesbians who now live normal lives. Visit one of their websites at http://www.exodusglobalalliance.org/ to read their stories!
Surely, no true Christian will ask that homosexuals should be hanged as is hyprocritically and publicly done in Islamic countries such as Iran. But no one worthy of the name Christian would contest that this abominable and sinful act should be roundly condemned; and those caught in its deadly web should be lovingly helped. In the case of the Anglican Church, the main issue is not even that homosexuals could freely participate in Church life but that they could function in the office of a bishop - while keeping male sleeping partners with them in the vicarage!
The Lambeth conference held once every ten years at Canterbury, is the major stakeholder’s forum in the 77 million-strong Anglican Communion. The 1998 edition of the meeting produced a resolution that declared “active homosexuality” to be incompatible with the teachings of the Bible – technically providing a leeway for so-called “celibate homosexuals”, i.e. those who profess to be homosexuals but are not currently living with a same-sex partner. However, five years later, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Church, the Episcopal Church, elevated a notorious practicing homosexual, Gene Robinson, to the office of a Bishop leading to the breaking away of over a dozen congregations in Virginia from the Episcopal church. The congregations then chose to put themselves under the spiritual leadership of Archbishop Akinola. Seeing the direction of things within the Anglican Communion, the Nigerian Archbishop together with over 200 others from several countries, decided to boycott this year’s Lambeth conference (held in July), convening an alternate conference in Jerusalem, earlier in June. Though not officially invited to Lambeth, Bishop Robinson, together with his recently wedded “wife”, Mr Mark Andrew, attended and freely interacted with the participants.
Contrary to the posturing of many of the so-called Christian spokesmen for homosexuality, the condition is reversible (mainly in those who accept the truth about its reversibility) and this is confirmed by the myriads of ex-gays and ex-lesbians who now live normal lives. Visit one of their websites at http://www.exodusglobalalliance.org/ to read their stories!
Somali Christian martyred
In Somalia, a 28-year-old Christian, who had converted from Islam and has been “described as extremely successful in evangelizing the community” has paid the ultimate price for his faith. Hussein was confronted by Islamic extremists who demanded to know if he faces Mecca when he prays, as required of Muslims. When he replied that his God is omnipresent and he can therefore face anywhere when praying, "the extremists were very much enraged…. and they killed him.”
www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=201016
www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=201016
Iran unveils painting of...Muhammad
As we reported at various times before, Moslems have been known to deface the Koran so that some innocent Christian with whom they have grudges could be framed up; or even publicly burn the Koran provided these are the copies of their opponents as happened in Sokoto (see Vol. 10 No 4, 2007). In all of these nobody seems to remember to charge the offending moslem for blasphemy!
Now, after all the many innocent lives that have been terminated on the guise that somebody published the cartoon or drawing of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, (e.g. Vol 9 No 2) the Islamic state of Iran is set to unveil a painting of Mohammed. Apparently the idea that “Islam forbids depictions of the prophet Muhammed” applies only to infidels? Details at: www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022299.php or http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8705300937
Now, after all the many innocent lives that have been terminated on the guise that somebody published the cartoon or drawing of the Islamic prophet Mohammed, (e.g. Vol 9 No 2) the Islamic state of Iran is set to unveil a painting of Mohammed. Apparently the idea that “Islam forbids depictions of the prophet Muhammed” applies only to infidels? Details at: www.jihadwatch.org/archives/022299.php or http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8705300937
Saudi Arabia deports Christians for worshipping in their private homes
Fifteen Christians in Saudi Arabia who were accused by government officials of worshipping in their homes have been ordered deported. According to a report from International Christian Concern, the Christians were scheduled for expulsion on Aug 5 “for their part in a home worship service in Taif .”
They were arrested at gun point, Gestapo-style, and ordered to hand over their resident permits and mobile phones. The worshippers initially faced accusations of preaching and singing, but the charges were later changed to holding a 'dance party' and collecting money to support terrorism,"
Details at
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71498
They were arrested at gun point, Gestapo-style, and ordered to hand over their resident permits and mobile phones. The worshippers initially faced accusations of preaching and singing, but the charges were later changed to holding a 'dance party' and collecting money to support terrorism,"
Details at
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71498
Iran – House church raided; Elderly couple beaten to death
An Iranian Christian couple in their 60s have died from injuries sustained when secret police raided a house church service hosted at their house and severely beat them. Compass reported in August that the Police beat and arrested Amiri on July 17, along with seven other men, six women and two minors who were attending the service. Amiri died in a hospital on July 30 from injuries sustained from the beating while his wife Sakineh Rahnama, died on Sunday (Aug. 3) from stress-related causes.
Citing the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN), Compass reported that violence against Amiri was reportedly intensified when the policemen discovered that he had taken a pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam required of all devout Muslims, before he had become a Christian. He was also a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, a strong source of Iranian national pride, so his conversion further infuriated police, according to FCNN. All those arrested at the house meeting are reportedly still in custody, including Amiri’s daughter and the two minors.
Arrests and violence against Iranian Christians have intensified in recent weeks. Twelve Christians traveling to Armenia via Tehran were arrested on July 12 at the Kerman airport in south-central Iran. In February the Iranian parliament proposed a draft penal code that demands the death penalty for leaving Islam. Under current Iranian law, “apostasy” is considered a capital offense, but punishment is left to the discretion of the judge. The draft penal code is scheduled to be reviewed in the next parliamentary session. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=205546
Citing the Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN), Compass reported that violence against Amiri was reportedly intensified when the policemen discovered that he had taken a pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islam required of all devout Muslims, before he had become a Christian. He was also a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, a strong source of Iranian national pride, so his conversion further infuriated police, according to FCNN. All those arrested at the house meeting are reportedly still in custody, including Amiri’s daughter and the two minors.
Arrests and violence against Iranian Christians have intensified in recent weeks. Twelve Christians traveling to Armenia via Tehran were arrested on July 12 at the Kerman airport in south-central Iran. In February the Iranian parliament proposed a draft penal code that demands the death penalty for leaving Islam. Under current Iranian law, “apostasy” is considered a capital offense, but punishment is left to the discretion of the judge. The draft penal code is scheduled to be reviewed in the next parliamentary session. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Persecution/Default.aspx?id=205546
Son of Hamas Leader Embraces Christianity
It is gratifying that despite such intense persecution and efforts of Islamicists to stop men and women trapped in religion to secure liberty through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Truth cannot be bound or trapped. And, as we showed for instance in Vol 11 No 2, multitudes continue to flock out of Islam into a living relationship with their Maker, the Lord Jesus Christ. A recent notable example is the case of Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and raised up in a strict Islamic family. Thirty years old Mosab renounced his Muslim faith about 18 months ago, but has recently, damning the ominous consequences, decided to come open with the decision hoping in particular to use it to draw attention to how Palestinian leadership is “misleading” and exploiting its people. He has had to leave behind in Ramallah, his affluent and influential family, where he is regarded as heir apparent. He is currently seeking asylum in the United States, where he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road, in San Diego, California. His extraordinary story can be found in the Daily Telegraph of 24th August or Barabbas Road church website (www.whoisbarabbas.com/joseph.html)."
"I knew from the beginning my family would face an impossible situation…. They are definitely suffering because of what I've done…They are not a regular family, they are a very famous family, and Muslims around the world praise my family, praise my father. So when I came with a step like this, it was impossible to think about, it was crazy.
His father, Hassan Yousef, a highly respected sheikh born in the West Bank town of al-Ghaniya near Ramallah, is a founding member of Hamas and has spent more than a decade in Israeli jails for his involvement with Hamas. He was actually in prison when he "got the worst news in his life" - that his son had become a Christian and left Ramallah. However, according to Mosab, “at the same time he (his father) sent me a message of love.
"Everybody is asking him to disown me. You understand if he disowns me he will give terrorists a chance to kill me. … He loves me as a son and he believes that what I've done was something I believed in, but at the same time it's very difficult for him to understand and he won't be able to understand."
It was after a chance encounter nine years ago with a British missionary that Yousef began exploring Christianity. He began to secretly study the Bible and was struck by the central tenet "love your enemies". Joseph, as his friends now call hi, does not however advocate the "collapse of Islam", but rather for people to acknowledge that after 1,400 years "it's not working any more". Abdel-Jaber Fuqaha, an Islamist parliamentarian and friend of the family who described Mr Yousef as "a straightforward, observant Muslim" summarized the situation for all parties concerned: “It is the most difficult thing, to convert from one religion to another."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2613399/Mosab-Hassan-Yousef-son-of-Hamas-leader-becomes-a-Christian.html
"I knew from the beginning my family would face an impossible situation…. They are definitely suffering because of what I've done…They are not a regular family, they are a very famous family, and Muslims around the world praise my family, praise my father. So when I came with a step like this, it was impossible to think about, it was crazy.
His father, Hassan Yousef, a highly respected sheikh born in the West Bank town of al-Ghaniya near Ramallah, is a founding member of Hamas and has spent more than a decade in Israeli jails for his involvement with Hamas. He was actually in prison when he "got the worst news in his life" - that his son had become a Christian and left Ramallah. However, according to Mosab, “at the same time he (his father) sent me a message of love.
"Everybody is asking him to disown me. You understand if he disowns me he will give terrorists a chance to kill me. … He loves me as a son and he believes that what I've done was something I believed in, but at the same time it's very difficult for him to understand and he won't be able to understand."
It was after a chance encounter nine years ago with a British missionary that Yousef began exploring Christianity. He began to secretly study the Bible and was struck by the central tenet "love your enemies". Joseph, as his friends now call hi, does not however advocate the "collapse of Islam", but rather for people to acknowledge that after 1,400 years "it's not working any more". Abdel-Jaber Fuqaha, an Islamist parliamentarian and friend of the family who described Mr Yousef as "a straightforward, observant Muslim" summarized the situation for all parties concerned: “It is the most difficult thing, to convert from one religion to another."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/2613399/Mosab-Hassan-Yousef-son-of-Hamas-leader-becomes-a-Christian.html
Muslim father roasts Christian daughter to death in Saudi Arabia
A moslem faithful in Saudi Arabia has been taken into police custody for cutting out the tongue of his own daughter and then burning her alive, unto death. The reason for this outrageous callous and wicked action was simply that the girl decided to become a Christian. According to the Gulf News, the girl came to know about Jesus through the Internet. The killer-dad is a devout moslem who works for the mutaween (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice), an arm of the government that enforces religious purity and is the government’s face of persecution to Christians in Saudi
Arabia.
The state is obviously not keen that this kind of a report should gain much publicity. The name of the man was withheld, as well as the date the hideous crime was committed. However the International Christian Concern, who disseminated the news on the Internet on August 13, learnt that the sad event
“happened recently”.
Amazingly, most pious moslems believe that they are serving the same God as Christians and that the Lord Jesus is a holy prophet of God. What sort of mentality would then make a man to murder his own daughter in a most gruesome manner, not because (at least in his opinion) she had gone against God into immorality for instance, but simply because she is opting for a different way of serving God? This indicates gross confusion indeed and gives the lie to on-going efforts spearheaded by the Saudi monarch at bringing together the so-called three Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) as well as Hinduism, Bhuddism and Taosim. Stopping Christian proselytization seems to be a task the Saudis have committed themselves to doing by all means – violence as well as fake peace both included!
This confused worldview is not peculiar to Saudi Arabian moslems alone. The ICC reported that the United States commission on International Religious Freedom has in a recent press release, indicated that textbooks found at the Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, in the United States, teach that “it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert
from Islam)”. See more details at www.persecution.org.
Arabia.
The state is obviously not keen that this kind of a report should gain much publicity. The name of the man was withheld, as well as the date the hideous crime was committed. However the International Christian Concern, who disseminated the news on the Internet on August 13, learnt that the sad event
“happened recently”.
Amazingly, most pious moslems believe that they are serving the same God as Christians and that the Lord Jesus is a holy prophet of God. What sort of mentality would then make a man to murder his own daughter in a most gruesome manner, not because (at least in his opinion) she had gone against God into immorality for instance, but simply because she is opting for a different way of serving God? This indicates gross confusion indeed and gives the lie to on-going efforts spearheaded by the Saudi monarch at bringing together the so-called three Abrahamic faiths (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) as well as Hinduism, Bhuddism and Taosim. Stopping Christian proselytization seems to be a task the Saudis have committed themselves to doing by all means – violence as well as fake peace both included!
This confused worldview is not peculiar to Saudi Arabian moslems alone. The ICC reported that the United States commission on International Religious Freedom has in a recent press release, indicated that textbooks found at the Saudi government school in Northern Virginia, in the United States, teach that “it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert
from Islam)”. See more details at www.persecution.org.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Now, the world to brace up for Global Cooling!
“The first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years,” Reuters has reported, based on a release by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Wednesday August 20.
This fact is a sharp embarrassment for global warming alarmists, many who have been predicting brimstone and fire, if urgent steps are not made to revisit the world’s political and economy structure, to give more leverage to the UN and its organs, who supposedly hold the key to save mankind from total environmental catastrophe. The truth however, is that there has been no global warming since 1998 when temperatures leveled off; and now they are beginning to plummet in direct correlation with decline in sunspot activity.
Much anecdotal evidence is at hand to announce what might be the onset of a coming global cooling: China reportedly recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels. In Britain, many are reportedly yearning for global warming as the country suffered its coldest April in decades.
However, available hard data are even more compelling. Despite the predictions by man-made global warming advocates that there would be a mass melting of the polar ice caps this summer, conservative analyses of data collated from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Illinois show that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. A similar trend of cooling is also observed at the Antartica, down south.
(Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, Aug. 19, 2008). In fact, a recent release from the prestigious Armagh Observatory in the UK (www.arm.ac.uk/) affirms that global temperatures are actually set to drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down. The Armagh observatory which has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years, believes such cooling could potentially herald the onset of a new ice age.
Contrast all these with the confident predictions of global warming advocates, such as David Barber of the University of Manitoba, who had told the influential National Geographic Magazine in June that “We’re actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history].” Earlier in February, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, had also told Xinhua, “If Norway’s average temperature this year equals that in 2007, the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions.”
Unfortunately, just like the global warming of the past few decades, there is little man can do to influence the more deadly global cooling once it starts! It may not be an unreasonable proposition, turning to the One who put the planet in orbit in the first place, to find out what next to do.
This fact is a sharp embarrassment for global warming alarmists, many who have been predicting brimstone and fire, if urgent steps are not made to revisit the world’s political and economy structure, to give more leverage to the UN and its organs, who supposedly hold the key to save mankind from total environmental catastrophe. The truth however, is that there has been no global warming since 1998 when temperatures leveled off; and now they are beginning to plummet in direct correlation with decline in sunspot activity.
Much anecdotal evidence is at hand to announce what might be the onset of a coming global cooling: China reportedly recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels. In Britain, many are reportedly yearning for global warming as the country suffered its coldest April in decades.
However, available hard data are even more compelling. Despite the predictions by man-made global warming advocates that there would be a mass melting of the polar ice caps this summer, conservative analyses of data collated from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Illinois show that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. A similar trend of cooling is also observed at the Antartica, down south.
(Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, Aug. 19, 2008). In fact, a recent release from the prestigious Armagh Observatory in the UK (www.arm.ac.uk/) affirms that global temperatures are actually set to drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down. The Armagh observatory which has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years, believes such cooling could potentially herald the onset of a new ice age.
Contrast all these with the confident predictions of global warming advocates, such as David Barber of the University of Manitoba, who had told the influential National Geographic Magazine in June that “We’re actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history].” Earlier in February, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, had also told Xinhua, “If Norway’s average temperature this year equals that in 2007, the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions.”
Unfortunately, just like the global warming of the past few decades, there is little man can do to influence the more deadly global cooling once it starts! It may not be an unreasonable proposition, turning to the One who put the planet in orbit in the first place, to find out what next to do.
Now, the world to brace up for Global Cooling!
Now, the world to brace up for Global Cooling!
“The first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years,” Reuters has reported, based on a release by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Wednesday August 20.
This fact is a sharp embarrassment for global warming alarmists, many who have been predicting brimstone and fire, if urgent steps are not made to revisit the world’s political and economy structure, to give more leverage to the UN and its organs, who supposedly hold the key to save mankind from total environmental catastrophe. The truth however, is that there has been no global warming since 1998 when temperatures leveled off; and now they are beginning to plummet in direct correlation with decline in sunspot activity.
Much anecdotal evidence is at hand to announce what might be the onset of a coming global cooling: China reportedly recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels. In Britain, many are reportedly yearning for global warming as the country suffered its coldest April in decades.
However, available hard data are even more compelling. Despite the predictions by man-made global warming advocates that there would be a mass melting of the polar ice caps this summer, conservative analyses of data collated from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Illinois show that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. A similar trend of cooling is also observed at the Antartica, down south.
(Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, Aug. 19, 2008). In fact, a recent release from the prestigious Armagh Observatory in the UK (www.arm.ac.uk/) affirms that global temperatures are actually set to drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down. The Armagh observatory which has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years, believes such cooling could potentially herald the onset of a new ice age.
Contrast all these with the confident predictions of global warming advocates, such as David Barber of the University of Manitoba, who had told the influential National Geographic Magazine in June that “We’re actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history].” Earlier in February, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, had also told Xinhua, “If Norway’s average temperature this year equals that in 2007, the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions.”
Unfortunately, just like the global warming of the past few decades, there is little man can do to influence the more deadly global cooling once it starts! It may not be an unreasonable proposition, turning to the One who put the planet in orbit in the first place, to find out what next to do.
“The first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years,” Reuters has reported, based on a release by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on Wednesday August 20.
This fact is a sharp embarrassment for global warming alarmists, many who have been predicting brimstone and fire, if urgent steps are not made to revisit the world’s political and economy structure, to give more leverage to the UN and its organs, who supposedly hold the key to save mankind from total environmental catastrophe. The truth however, is that there has been no global warming since 1998 when temperatures leveled off; and now they are beginning to plummet in direct correlation with decline in sunspot activity.
Much anecdotal evidence is at hand to announce what might be the onset of a coming global cooling: China reportedly recently experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels. In Britain, many are reportedly yearning for global warming as the country suffered its coldest April in decades.
However, available hard data are even more compelling. Despite the predictions by man-made global warming advocates that there would be a mass melting of the polar ice caps this summer, conservative analyses of data collated from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and the University of Illinois show that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. A similar trend of cooling is also observed at the Antartica, down south.
(Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet, Aug. 19, 2008). In fact, a recent release from the prestigious Armagh Observatory in the UK (www.arm.ac.uk/) affirms that global temperatures are actually set to drop by two degrees over the next 20 years as solar activity grinds to a halt and the planet drastically cools down. The Armagh observatory which has been measuring sun cycles for over 200 years, believes such cooling could potentially herald the onset of a new ice age.
Contrast all these with the confident predictions of global warming advocates, such as David Barber of the University of Manitoba, who had told the influential National Geographic Magazine in June that “We’re actually projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time [in history].” Earlier in February, Dr. Olav Orheim, head of the Norwegian International Polar Year Secretariat, had also told Xinhua, “If Norway’s average temperature this year equals that in 2007, the ice cap in the Arctic will all melt away, which is highly possible judging from current conditions.”
Unfortunately, just like the global warming of the past few decades, there is little man can do to influence the more deadly global cooling once it starts! It may not be an unreasonable proposition, turning to the One who put the planet in orbit in the first place, to find out what next to do.
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