An Examination of Biblical Precepts Involved in Issues at Hand |
No doubt, this is one of the most difficult and discussed passages in the New Testament. When I came to understand that Paul identifies the new Israel of God as the redeemed in Christ, Galatians 6:16, I had to settle and so all Israel shall be saved in my own mind. I started wrestling with this passage in the middle 70s, and finally had to deal with it to the best of my understanding.
This section, as well as any section of Scripture, must be understood in the light of Old Testament prophecies, which may be why so many want to dismiss the Old Testament as irrelevant for the church age. The book of Daniel contains especially applicable passages:
Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45 Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Daniel 7:18-22 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 19 Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20 And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
Neither Daniel nor any other prophet offered a fifth kingdom; there is no kingdom identified after the Stone appears at the feet of the Roman kingdom. And according to history, that Stone destroyed the Iron Kingdom, Rome. Daniel clearly presents the everlasting dominion or kingdom of Christ that started in the time or Rome. As the Prince of Peace, his kingdom is a kingdom of peace, not of a sword. His kingdom is spread by the power of the Sword of the Spirit, not with a literal bloody sword.
So let us consider Romans 11 and the logical implications of Paul's words in Galatians 6:16 in the light of the many Old Testament prophecies, especially Daniel.
Because of the great amount of controversy concerning Romans 11, we will consider v. 11 through v. 32.
It is from this section (v. 26) that theologians insist on a national re-gathering of Israel, which they claim started in 1948. According to their theory, 1948 started the end-time generation. (88 reasons the Lord must come in 1988!) Their faith requires a national conversion to take place in the "promised land" of Canaan. However they ignore the fact that Christ is now the Promised Land for his people. (Hebrews 4.)
V. 25. Of this mystery... Paul is explaining this mystery, which throughout Scripture is identified as the mystery of the Gospel Church and Christ in you, the hope of Glory. Then in vv. 33-36, we are told of the impossibility of knowing the mind of God. We cannot know the details of GodÕs workings in the mystery of his call of the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God.
Paul has made it clear that the rejection of the Jews of Paul's day was for a purpose---so that the gospel would go to the Gentiles, and the Jewish manner of worship would be forever abolished. That rejection of the Jews as described in Romans 11 is no longer in effect, for the rejection of the Jews of PaulÕs day had a single purpose, and that purpose was accomplished about 2000 years ago.
We see Paul's words illustrated in Acts 13.
Vv. 45-51, the reception of the gospel by the Gentiles moved the Jews with envy about the multitudes that wanted to hear more of the grace of God. The Jews created so much turmoil among the chief leaders of the city that Paul and Barnabus were expelled from the area. Then in obedience to our LordÕs words, Paul and Barnabus shook off the dust of their feet against those who persecuted them as a testimony against them, left the city, and went to the Gentiles. Acts 13 illustrates what Paul speaks of in Romans 11; that is, the Jews' blindness, and the purpose of that blindness was so the gospel would go to the Gentiles.
Romans 11:11
Albert Barnes:
Is Come unto the Gentiles referring to the non-Jewish world. The rejection and fall of the Jews contributed to the introduction of the Gentiles into the Gospel Church in the following manner:
1. It broke down the barrier which had always existed between the Jews and Gentiles.
2. It made it consistent and proper to send the knowledge of him to others because the Jews rejected the Messiah.
3. It was connected with the destruction of the temple: and the rites of the Mosaic law; and taught them, and all others, that the worship of God was not to be confined to any single place.
4. The calamities that came upon the Jewish nation scattered the inhabitants of Judea, and with the Jews also those who had become Christians, and thus the gospel was carried to other lands.
5. These calamities, and the conduct of the Jews, and the close of the Jewish economy, were the means of giving to apostles, and other Christians, right views of the true design of the Mosaic institutions. If the temple had remained; if the nation had continued to flourish, it would have been [much longer] before [the new church] would have been effectually detached from those rites. Experience showed that even with the clear teaching such as found in Hebrews, the church was slow in learning that the Jewish ceremonies were to cease. Some of the most agitating questions in the early church pertained to this; and if the temple had not been destroyed, the contest would have been much longer and more difficult.
See Acts 21:21, &c.
In other words, the rejection of Christ by the Jews was necessary in GodÕs plan to bring to a close the old Jewish manner of worship. Christ was here. Now those Old Testament Jewish laws, ceremonies, sacrifices, offerings, rites, rituals and ordinances that pointed to Christ, as well as the Temple, had to be destroyed.
Acts 6:14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.
Through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles --- If those things had not been destroyed, the church would have remained not much more than a branch of Old Testament Judaism for many years
Vv. 12-26 brings us to a very difficult passage, particularly v. 26, and so all Israel shall be saved.
When I came to understand that the true circumcision of God, whether in the Old Testament or in the New, was the circumcision the heart and that Galatians 6:16 said that natural Israel had been replaced with spiritual Israel, I had to settle this section for myself.
There are many understandings of this difficult passage. The following is what fits best for me according to the context of the entire Scripture. The following is not new with me, but is the logical implication of what others have said. It is not totally consistent at every point, but is the most consistent with PaulÕs view of the true circumcision and the New Israel of God, Galatians 6:16.
Rather than overload you with a great amount of research, I am going to give you the conclusion of hundreds of hours of research into every source I could lay my hands on. From the early church fathers of the first century after Christ to the late 1900s. This research is found in my book, "Israel's Identity, Israel's Conversion."
V. 11, I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
Israel's blindness was not permanent. In fact, it is compared to stumbling, falling and getting back up. It is not compared to falling and staying down. By the stumbling, salvation was brought to the Gentiles.
V. 14, If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Following Paul's ministry, we find that Paul first went to the natural descendants of Abraham. When he was rejected, Paul went to the Gentiles, who rejoiced that the gospel came to them. Did Paul's going to the Gentiles change the natural Jews attitude toward the gospel? We are not told.
Vv. 15, 16, For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
Paul talks about the blessedness when the natural Jews experience the converting power of God's grace. We know from the book of Acts that the first church, probably till about 100 AD, was primarily made up of natural Jews. Accordingly, not only were the first preachers all Jews, the Apostles, but so was the vast majority of the first Christians. The explosive growth of the Gospel Church in the first 70 years was due to the work of natural Jews, Hebrews.
V. 17, And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; if some...
Paul does not say all. Obviously, some natural Jews came through the period of Christ as honest believers in Christ. Those who refused to believe in the promised Messiah were broken off because because of disobedience to the gospel. Paul says that no one has the assurance of God's grace, and what happened to the Jewish nation proves it. We should, therefore, serve God with fear and trembling, v. 22. He is the holy God and demands holy service.
Vv. 23, 24, And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
The national Jews were not cast off permanently. Acts 2 shows us that even many who crucified Christ were graffed back into the root through the faith in the One they crucified.
V. 25, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
This mystery... The Spirit seems to start a new thought here, and it is a thought that is a mystery, hidden from the natural eye. Throughout Scripture, this mystery is the uniting of the Jews and Gentiles into one body, the body of Christ as found in the Gospel Church.
V. 26, All Israel shall be saved
There are two general views:
First view. Hodge (1797-1878), and many others, hold that Israel means Òthe wholeÓ literal nation yet to be gathered and saved. (Did Christ die for the Church or for national Israel?)
However, upon close examination of GodÕs Word, the only view consistent with Scripture is that the Israel of Romans 11:26 is the Israel of God of Galatians 6:16.
16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.
Calvin and others hold PaulÕs view that the Israel in v. 26, is the Israel of God as identified by Paul. If Calvin is right, and I believe Scripture requires his understanding, then the following understanding of the fullness of the Gentiles is as good as any, and better than most.
11:25, blindness in part is happened to Israel, appears to require that the Israel in v. 26 be descended from the Israel of v. 25. But how can we avoid the fact that Christ removed the distinction between the Jews and Gentiles with his death on the Cross, and that the new circumcision is spiritual, Ephesians 2:14, Galatians 3:28, Colossians 2:13, 3:11, &c.?
Second view. Baptist theologian, A.H. Strong (1836-1921) places Romans 11:25, 26, with Matthew 24:14 and Revelation 20:4-6:
(a) Through the preaching of the gospel in all the world, the kingdom of Christ is steadily to enlarge its boundaries, until Jews and Gentiles alike become possessed of its blessings, and a millennial period is introduced in which Christianity generally prevails throughout the earth.
Daniel's image, 2:44, 45, supports StrongÕs position, but not HodgeÕs.
Col. 1:23 --- "the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven" --- Paul's phrase here and the apparent reference in Mat. 24:14 to A.D. 70 as the time of the end, should restrain theorizers from insisting that the second coming of Christ cannot occur until this text has been fulfilled with literal completeness (Broadus).
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. As fulfilled in Acts 2:5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.
Strong implies that the fulfillment of Romans 11:25, 26, and so all Israel shall be saved came before 70 AD --- all the elect of a literal Israelite nation were saved before the nation was destroyed. (Prophecy is from the time it is written, not from the time it is read, particularly 2,000 years later.)
The following develops the two key statements in a manner consistent with the overall Scripture, for vv. 12-30 must be understood in the light of the entire word of God:
1) the fullness of the Gentiles, and
2) all Israel shall be saved.
This will be hard to follow, but I will try to give a simple summation.
1) fullness of the Gentiles -- Consider:
First, God had given the promise to Abraham that he would inherit the land of Canaan. However, the promise could not be fulfilled for several hundreds of years. We are told why:
Genesis 15:16, But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the (Gentile) Amorites is not yet full.
Only when that fullness came about would God the land to His People.
The pagan Amorites were in possession of the land that had been promised to Abraham. But their wickedness was not yet full, so it would be some years before the land spued them out. They would not be removed until the fullness of their sin came about. The heirs to the promised land, Canaan, had to wait for that time. However, the "law of the land" that required it to spue out its wicked inhabitants was then and is now a universal law. We see in this law that God is no respecter of persons, for it applied not only to the pagans, but applied equally to "God's chosen people," Israel. God warned his people:
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (Lev. 18:24-28. See also Lev. 20 & Ezk. 9:9-10.)
When the Israelite nation became full of perverseness, the Lord also removed it from the land, and gave it back to the pagans for 70 years. Then He returned a small portion of it to the Jews, as recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah.
Consequently, there is a filling of the cup of wickedness that causes God to move against a people to give their national homeland to someone else. Romans chapter one and two also tells of this filling of evil.
In the Old Testament, God removed the uncircumcised Gentile Amorites from the land with Israel's sword. He then removed Israel from the land with the uncircumcised Gentile Assyria's and Babylon's swords. He restored some of the land to Israel with just the word of a king.
Second, For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Rom. 11:25.)
Israel -- who is Israel? Is it a literal pagan nation that fights the cause of and the people of God, or is it the true People of God? Do God's promises revolve around a nation, or do they revolve around Christ and faith in Him? (We have dealt with Genesis 12:1-4 in the past, so we will not detour there at this time.) It is clear that the context of Romans and of the Old Testament prophecies require that Israel be the Israel of God, the Gospel Church.
Furthermore, one will find that Paul, when referring to the mystery, overwhelmingly refers to the mystery of the Church as connected with the gospel of Christ, which makes both Jews and Gentiles one in the body of Christ -- the Israel of God is made up of the called, justified, sanctified and sealed by the blood of the new covenant. (See Mr. 4:11, Rom. 16:25, 1 Cor. 2:7, 15:51, Eph. 1:9, 3:3, 9, 5:32, 6:19, Col. 1:26, 27 -- Gentiles and Jews are on equal footing in Christ.)
Third, blindness... In the context of Romans, this passage through v. 36, refers to the blindness of Israel; that is, the blindness of the Gospel Church. It is blind to its position in Christ. We are assured that the Church of the Firstborn is more than conquerors in Christ (and all that entails), but today it is unable to see that it is on the "winning side" in time and history. It today cowers in its private corner behind closed doors, hoping for a supernatural escape from the troubles it brought upon itself, while the wicked do their own evil thing unhindered (yet according to God's predetermined coucel).
My wife and I heard an interview of a man who did a study of the demography of voters. He found that 60% of professed Christians refuse to vote. Why do we as pastors fail to proclaim the responsibility of Christians to vote for the godliest of candidates? I simply cannot understand how "Bible Belt" Christians have such strong support for open adulterers and fornicators.
Fourth, blindness in part. The Israel of God, at our present time in history, has almost a total defeated attitude toward its place in Christ, yet just as in Old Testament Israel, there is a remnant: God's sovereign electing grace has reserved a remnant that has faith that it can conquer the world for Christ.
Fifth, until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. Who are the Gentiles? The Spirit of God has already identified the Gentiles from both the Old Testament and the New as the uncircumcised of heart -- that is, those who have not the converting, obedient faith of God in Christ. (Romans 11:1-6.)
Sixth, fullness... God has turned the world over to the pagans according to Ezekiel chapters thirty eight and thirty nine. He is leaving it in the hands of the pagans just as he left Canaan in the hands of the Amorites until their wickedness was full. The Gospel Church remains blinded to its place in Christ; therefore, it cannot claim what belongs to it in God's promise to Abraham; that is, the promise, that he should be the heir of the world. (Rom. 4:13.)
The fullness of the pagans will come in, and then the Church will see its truth in Christ. At that time, the stone of Daniel 2:34 will overcome the world's powers, and will fill the earth through the power of His Sword of the Spirit.
2) all Israel shall be saved..
Isaiah 45:17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
The context of Isaiah 47:17 shows this to be reference to the Israel of God, the Christian Church, according to God's sovereign, electing grace. Paul has already made it clear that no matter how much he longed after the natural Israel after the flesh, he knew God's election was not by race, Jew and Gentile, but by God's sovereign grace and purpose. Therefore, all the elect of God shall be saved. See especially Isaiah 11
First, the Deliverer out of Sion. The problem is, however, that though elect and converted by the sovereign grace of God, most (not all, for there is a remnant) of the elect are blinded to their place in Christ. Moreover, they are caught up in sin as their pastors preach for profit and not for the Lord. They preach peace, peace when there is no peace, and the people and funds flow to them. Nevertheless, there is a remnant of pastors also, e.g., Isaiah.
Second, shall turn away. Though the elect are blinded to their possession in Christ, one day, however, the Lord will raise up pastors after His own heart, and they will preach the Word of God. Jer 3:15, 23:4, Ez 34:23, 37:24.
Third, Sion, deliverance comes from the pulpits of the Gospel Church, the true mount Sion, the city of the living God, the true Jerusalem. (Heb. 12:22-24.)
The law of God will go out from the pulpits of God under the power of the Spirit of Grace, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: the wickedness in the Israel of God will be turned away. GodÕs elect, my peope, will repent, turn from their wicked deeds, call upon the Lord, and their land will be healed.
V. 27, For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Isaiah 59:16-27.
[M]y covenant -- No matter from where this covenant is traced, it always speaks one of two things: Covenant to restore National Israel to Canaan, as he did under Ezra and Nehemiah. Or of election and the Abrahamic covenant of forgiveness of sin as found only in Christ as it refers to the Gospel Church. (Isaiah 55:3, Jer. 31:31ff., 32:38ff., Ezk. 36:25_39, Heb. chs 8 & 10.)
The covenant of grace, or of the forgiveness of sin was always made concerning the workings of the sovereign grace of God in calling and turning Israel to himself. Paul made it clear that the covenant of grace does not operate according to nationality, but according to God's sovereign grace as seen in election. (Gal. 3:29.)
V. 28, As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
This refers back to natural Israel who crucified Christ and persecuted the gospel. Their enmity against the gospel can not change the fact that the Lord can and does still call natural Israel to himself. (Who is natural Israel? for all official genealogy records were burned by Rome.) Paul was an excellent example of v. 28 in action.
Vv. 30-32, For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
To prove that the national Jews were not separated from God permanently and that the Lord could still love them as individuals and call them by his converting grace, Paul refers to the Gentiles to whom he writes.
V. 32, For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Paul again reduced all men regardless of natural birth to the same level, unbelief.
Each person must have God's sovereign grace and mercy for him or her self, and, as we have seen, one of the key messages of PaulÕs many letters is that God's mercy is not according to natural birth.
Romans 11:33-36, Paul concludes his message with the Old Testament fact repeated many times: The mercies, wisdom and workings of God are completely beyond manÕs power of reason. We have to accept the Word of God by faith.
If we try to make the Israel of God of the New Testament a literal, carnal, regathered nation, then we must say that Daniel was wrong; we must say that the promise is to a carnal nation and not to Christ, and not to those who have exercised the faith of Abraham. In fact, we must change the clear teaching of the Word of God, and we live in a hopeless age of evil and unbelief.
Romans 11:11-31, tells us that the Lord will one day fulfill his promise that the meek shall inherit the earth. But the time has not yet come, for he has for the present and for his purpose, permitted sin to prevail in his people and the wicked to prevail over them. However, the Scriptures are full of passages promising the world to the righteous through the workings of the GodÕs Spirit of Grace, e.g.,
Daniel 7:18-22, But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
The day is coming when the fullness of the wickedness of the Gentiles will come in, and the new Israel of God will see and claim its victory over the world that is promised to them in Christ.
In 1992, Billy Graham broadcast all over the U.S. his radio show called Embrace America 2000. In the Louisiana area, it came over the KJAM Lafayette Station. During the show, Billy Graham told the American people we need to embrace the New World Order.
Billy Graham is also on record stating that people can have salvation through paganism (another name for witchcraft). For instance, in McCall Magazine (Jan. 1978) Graham stated, ÒI used to believe that pagans in far-off countries were lost--were going to hell. I no longer believe that. I believe that there are other ways of recognizing the existence of God--through nature, for instance.Ó Pagans believe that salvation can be obtained through nature. ...
Entire article at http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/deception_billy_graham.htm
By Jim Rutz
There's a slow poison out there thatÕs severely damaging our children and threatening to tear apart our culture. The ironic part is, it's a "health food," one of our most popular.
Now, I'm a health-food guy, a fanatic who seldom allows anything into his kitchen unless itÕs organic. I state my bias here just so you'll know I'm not anti-health food.
The dangerous food I'm speaking of is soy. Soybean products are feminizing, and theyÕre all over the place. You can hardly escape them anymore.
I have nothing against an occasional soy snack. Soy is nutritious and contains lots of good things. Unfortunately, when you eat or drink a lot of soy stuff, you're also getting substantial quantities of estrogens.
Estrogens are female hormones. If you're a woman, you're flooding your system with a substance it can't handle in surplus. If you're a man, you're suppressing your masculinity and stimulating your "female side," physically and mentally.
In fetal development, the default is being female. All humans (even in old age) tend toward femininity. The main thing that keeps men from diverging into the female pattern is testosterone, and testosterone is suppressed by an excess of estrogen.
If you're a grownup, you're already developed, and you're able to fight off some of the damaging effects of soy. Babies aren't so fortunate. Research is now showing that when you feed your baby soy formula, you're giving him or her the equivalent of five birth control pills a day. A baby's endocrine system just can't cope with that kind of massive assault, so some damage is inevitable. At the extreme, the damage can be fatal.
Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) [All infant formula is soy based. Read the labels.] Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.
Doctors used to hope soy would reduce hot flashes, prevent cancer and heart disease, and save millions in the Third World from starvation. That was before they knew much about long-term soy use. Now we know it's a classic example of a cure that's worse than the disease. For example, if your baby gets colic from cow's milk, do you switch him to soy milk? Don't even think about it. His phytoestrogen level will jump to 20 times normal. If he is a she, brace yourself for watching her reach menarche as young as seven, robbing her of years of childhood. If he is a boy, it's far worse: He may not reach puberty till much later than normal.
Research in 2000 showed that a soy-based diet at any age can lead to a weak thyroid, which commonly produces heart problems and excess fat. Could this explain the dramatic increase in obesity today?
Recent research on rats shows testicular atrophy, infertility and uterus hypertrophy (enlargement). This helps explain the infertility epidemic and the sudden growth in fertility clinics. But alas, by the time a soy-damaged infant has grown to adulthood and wants to marry, it's too late to get fixed by a fertility clinic.
Worse, there's now scientific evidence that estrogen ingredients in soy products may be boosting the rapidly rising incidence of leukemia in children. In the latest year we have numbers for, new cases in the U.S. jumped 27 percent. In one year!
There's also a serious connection between soy and cancer in adults -- especially breast cancer. [True. The doctor did not warn us, and my wife developed breast cancer. After the cancer developed, he said he knew that could be a side effect. We should have sued him for not warning us of what he knew.] ThatÕs why the governments of Israel, the UK, France and New Zealand are already cracking down hard on soy.
In sad contrast, 60 percent of the refined foods in U.S. supermarkets now contain soy [as of 2006]. Worse, soy use may double in the next few years because (last I heard) the out-of-touch medicrats in the FDA hierarchy are considering allowing manufacturers of cereal, energy bars, fake milk, fake yogurt, etc., to claim that "soy prevents cancer." It doesn't.
P.S.: Soy sauce is fine. Unlike soy milk, it's perfectly safe because it's fermented, which changes its molecular structure. Miso, natto and tempeh are also OK, but avoid tofu.
http://www.wnd.com/2006/12/39253/
Pasteurized Milk Linked to Cancer: Infowars Nightly News
A new study out of Harvard University shows that pasteurized milk product from factory farms is linked to causing hormone-dependent cancers.
http://www.infowars.com/pasteurized-milk-linked-to-cancer-infowars-nightly-news/
Subject: WARNING - RFID Chip In your Credit Cards
Credit Card danger--Look at your credit cards!
Watch the YouTube video below.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLAFhTjsQHw&sns=em
"It used to be called illegitimacy. Now it is the new normal"
NEW YORK TIMES lead on trend for more out-of-weblock than in-wedlock births for women under 30.
The Tea Party now supports politicians who favored bailouts and the ObamaCare individual mandate, according to exit polls and major Tea Party organizations, perhaps signaling the death of the movement.
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/10970-tea-party-ripTea%20Party%20RIP?
Wyoming Advances "Doomsday" Bill for Potential U.S. Collapse
Wyoming lawmakers advanced a bill to consider "doomsday" scenarios like an economic or political collapse, a constitutional crisis, or a dollar meltdown.
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/11020-wyoming-advances-doomsday-bill-for-potential-us-collapse
Virginia House Passes NDAA-Nullifying Bill; Other States Join Fight
The Virginia House passed a bill nullifying the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and other states have joined the fight against the NDAA.
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/10916-virginia-house-passes-ndaa-nullifying-bill-other-states-join-fight
Foreclosure Settlement Bails Out the Big Banks
The $26 billion to be paid out by federal agencies to some 2 million homeowners removes the risk of default on second mortgages from the banks, which actually improves the health of the banksÕ financial statements.
http://thenewamerican.com/economy/sectors-mainmenu-46/10843-foreclosure-settlement-bails-out-the-big-banks
Money
(Lindsey Williams was a chaplain on the Alaskan pipelinel. In his book, "The Oil Non-Crisis", he documented that there is enough oil on the North Slope alone to meet our present needs for over 200 years.)
Pastor Lindsey Williams, http://www.prophesyclub.com, inside contact of the global elites, was informed that the U.S. Dollar will be devalued by 40% by December 2012. ALL of his predictions over the past 20 years have been 100% accurate! PREPARE!CHINA is now the #1 Economy in the World and major BRICS player. If you are not familiar with BRICS, here is a link:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BRICS><http://goingglobaleastmeetswest.blogspot.com/2012/03/brave-new-bank-brics-moot-dropping_29.html>
The movie, Harry's War. Don't miss it. It is on NetFlix streaming
Boom-Era Property Speculators to Get Foreclosure Aid
By Prashant Gopal - Mar 5, 2012
The Obama administration will extend mortgage assistance for the first time to investors who bought multiple homes before the market imploded, helping some speculators who drove up prices and inflated the housing bubble. ...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-03-05/boom-era-property-speculators-to-get-foreclosure-aid-mortgages.html
Book Review
by Fr. James Thornton
Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover's Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath, by Herbert Hoover, Stanford, California: Hoover Institution Press, 2011, 957 pages, hardcover.
[The following is a sad and lengthy review, but I feel it is worth publishing for the benefit of those who support"war" at the slightest whim of the"powers that be". As I have scanned over 11,000 images to post on ww2color.com, I am particularly distressed at the massive waste of men and material brought about by Roosevelt's apparent determination to force the US into war, and give the world over to communism. It is obvious that "war" causes the American people to accept things they would not otherwise accept. It is a means of increasing the power of the central government while decreasing the freedom of its citizens. Our present generation is reaping, and how many future generations will reap, the results of the lies of the Roosevelt administration; we are reaping what has been sown with a super abundance of lying politicians now in power. Politicians will go to any length (lies, e.g., "weapons of mass destruction", murders, wars, "Homeland Security", &c.), to accomplish what they desire, and even Christians foolishly go along with the lies to our own destruction. Judicial Blindness--blindness of those who should know better, so God will be justified as he leaves our once great Christian nation in the dust bin of history. The next president, with the "Christian" vote will be just as bad if not worse than our present president, but without my vote. As Christians continue to follow the "pied piper" over the cliff to their own destruction, we will see either Obama reelected or Romney or Santorum, who will continue the same one world policies that have been in effect since Roosevelt. We have been given a choice by the powers that be of either Democrat evil or Repubican evil. Ron Paul is the only one who will not play the evil game, and there is a total blackout of him.]
Freedom Betrayed is a massive volume. Referred to by the former President as his "magnumopus ," it was written during the years following the Second World War, undergoing many revisions throughout the 1950s and early 60s, as the author gained access to new information. By late 1963, the manuscript was complete, and Hoover began preparations for its publication. Had it been published as planned by the author, it would likely have caused a sensation, quite possibly changing the unhappy course of events of that period. Unfortunately, Hoover died before Freedom Betrayed could be published, and his heirs decided not to proceed with its publication. Thus it was consigned to storage for the better part of a half-century. [To be assured that all involved were dead, and no accountability? Ed.]
The book, published last year by Hoover Institution Press, is an astonishing tour de force, heavily researched, and fully documented in all details. Reading this 957-page work, one quickly realizes that the conventional understanding of the history of America's pre-war diplomacy, our entry into World War II, and the policies that shaped the post-war world have been hugely distorted, distorting as well our perception of the events that ensued after the period considered by Hoover. The scope of this book is vast, so much so that it is possible to offer only samples that will serve to give an idea of its tremendous value as a historical document.
It is a fact, noted by the author, that the American people were absolutely opposed to our involvement in the European war that began with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. Many Americans remembered that the United States had been fraudulently maneuvered into the First World War, to a large extent by British propaganda. We may cite, for instance, the lurid stories spread by the British that the "Huns" (as the forces of Kaiser Wilhelm II were described) were roasting and eating Belgian babies, that they were crucifying Canadian POWs, and that the Kaiser aimed to conquer the world. A few years after the war, British writers revealed, and even boasted, that they had lied, and as a result Americans became quite skeptical about such things. Moreover, at the conclusion of the "war to make the world safe for democracy," as Woodrow Wilson called it, dictatorships suddenly popped up everywhere, and vanquished nations were mindlessly carved up in ways that virtually guaranteed future wars of revenge. So, in 1939, few Americans relished the thought of again getting involved in EuropeÕs seemingly endless quarrels. To them, Europe had made a thorough mess of things; therefore, Europe should solve its own problems. Polling between September 1939 and July 1941 indicated that a huge majority of Americans opposed our involvement in the war, those numbers hovering between 96.5 percent and 79 percent. That opposition to our involvement remained extremely high despite President Franklin D. Roosevelt's ceaseless efforts at whipping up war hysteria.
Whipping Up War
For an example of that (and there are numerous examples), let us recall Roosevelt's radio address of October 1941, an address in which he claimed to have in his possession a "secret map" that allegedly showed how Germany was planning to carve up Central and South America after a soon-to-be-launched invasion of that part of the world. That map, and most of the President remarks that evening, were figments of his fertile imagination designed to frighten his listeners and kindle the fires of war. When, after the war, Hoover consulted experts who had combed through captured German archives, he was told that neither the German government nor its military had any plans for an invasion of the Western Hemisphere. If they were unable to cross the English Channel, which is only 21 miles wide at the Strait of Dover, it is obvious they were in no position to cross the Atlantic Ocean and simultaneously face the combined power of the British and American navies. In other words, Roosevelt lied, and lied repeatedly, though, fortunately, the American people remained unconvinced.
One of the most interesting, and disturbing, disclosures in Freedom Betrayed is the story of the Japanese government's intense efforts at reaching a negotiated settlement in 1941 to avoid a Pacific war with the United States, a war that they knew they were unlikely to win given the enormous productive capacity and almost limitless manpower of the United States at that time.
Japan's government, then under Prime Minister Prince Fumimaro Konoye, desperate to avoid war with the United States, proposed, with the blessing of Emperor Hirohito, that he and Roosevelt personally meet somewhere in the Pacific, perhaps Hawaii or Alaska, to settle all differences between the two countries. Japan, Konoye said, was willing to do everything necessary to satisfy the concerns of the American government, including total withdrawal from China. For the Japanese Prime Minister, this was a risky move since, he had been told, he would likely be assassinated by militants were he to give much ground to the Americans. However, he was prepared to take the risk, he said, to avoid war since he wished to prevent the ruin of his country. U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Joseph C. Grew, understanding the Japanese and their mindset, repeatedly cabled Washington urging the administration to take Konoye's offer seriously. However, Roosevelt and his advisors, upon receiving this offer, dismissed it contemptuously. To refuse the opportunity to avoid, or at least to explore the possibility of avoiding, war with Japan can only mean that the Roosevelt administration wanted war, despite the President's promise to the American people during his 1940 campaign:"I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars."
That the President wanted war is additionally proven by his numerous orders designed to provoke war, e.g., the freezing of Japanese assets, the declaration of a trade embargo against Japan, and the issuing of an ultimatum to Japan by Secretary of State Hull on November 26, 1941, an ultimatum that no self-respecting nation could obey, least of all Japan, at that time thoroughly inculcated with the belief that in all cases death was preferable to dishonor. The ultimatum demanded that Japan withdraw from China and French Indo-China and strongly implied that Japan would be required to abrogate the Tripartite Pact into which she had entered with Germany and Italy in September 1940. Those conditions were required before the United States would resume normal trade relations and unfreeze Japanese assets. It must be remembered that in October 1941 the moderate Prince Konoye resigned after his failure to secure a settlement with the United States. He was replaced by General Hideki Tojo, a hardliner. Hull knew quite well what that signified and commented, after issuing the ultimatum: "There is practically no possibility of an agreement being achieved with Japan." Since Japan was being choked by the trade embargo, particularly with respect to oil and gasoline, its options were reduced to two: dishonorable capitulation or war. Thus, the administration knew that its actions were virtually certain to provoke a Japanese attack, which, of course, they did, plunging us into a war that ultimately cost the lives of more than 400,000 Americans. Hoover quotes Admiral Robert A. Theobald, commander of the Destroyer Division at Pearl Harbor: "President Roosevelt's strategy of forcing Japan to war by unremitting and ever-increasing diplomatic-economic pressure, and by simultaneously holding our fleet in Hawaii as an invitation to a surprise attack, was a complete success." Hoover himself comments that, "Ambassador Grew's repeated warning that the Japanese would commit hara-kiri rather than submit to American dictation or starvation came true."
There was much controversy during, and especially after, the war regarding how much Roosevelt and his administration knew in advance of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Evidence shows that there is no question whatever that the President and several members of his Cabinet knew that the attack was forthcoming The author quotes U.S. General Albert Wedemeyer as follows: "When, on December 6, our intercepts told us that the Japanese were going to strike somewhere the next day ... the President of the United States, as Commander in Chief of our military forces ... could have gone on the radio and broadcast to the world that he had irrefutable evidence of an immediate Japanese intention to strike. This would have alerted everybody from Singapore to Pearl Harbor." The author also quotes historian George Morgenstern: "With absolute knowledge of war, they [the Roosevelt administration] refused to communicate that knowledge, clearly, unequivocally, and in time, to the men in the field upon whom the blow would fall."
Both before and during our involvement in the Second World War, Roosevelt continuously spoke of the necessity to save "democracy." Yet, not at all surprisingly, at the end of it all, the only real winner was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who vastly expanded his Soviet empire in Eastern Europe and, additionally, overran large tracts of East Asia, setting the stage for the communist conquest of China. How did all of that happen?
Salutations to the Soviets
Roosevelt's policy of pandering to the USSR began in 1933, when he extended diplomatic recognition to the Soviet government. Prior to that, four American Presidents refused flatly to recognize what was, in actuality, a worldwide criminal conspiracy masquerading as a legitimate government. Even President Wilson Ñ hardly a conservative Ñ refused to dignify the mass murderers in the Kremlin by the recognition of their government, noting that they had achieved power by "force and cunning," and characterizing their rule as "savage." Furthermore, he declared, the Soviets sought "revolutions in all other great civilized nations, including the United States" and were "determined and bound to conspire against our institutions."
Throughout the 1920s, the administrations of Presidents Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover strictly maintained that policy. Although Roosevelt must have been aware of the Soviet involvement in efforts to undermine the American government, he opted for full recognition, inviting the infamous Maxim Litvinov to come to Washington for negotiations. Recognition was extended in November 1933, the Soviets having promised in the bargain never to conspire against the U.S. government, a promise that was violated within hours and which Litvinov later described as "a scrap of paper which will soon be forgotten." So, in that act of recognition, Roosevelt set down a foundation for his later pro-Soviet policies and, the author writes, "touched off an era of uninhibited growth and activity for the Communists in the United States."
The second great boost to the world communist conspiracy was in connection to the German invasion of the USSR on June 22, 1941. Hoover himself remarked that the leaders "of the world's two great aggressor nations were locked in a death struggle. If left alone, these evil spirits were destined, sooner or later, to exhaust each other." Roosevelt ignored this sage counsel and, even before we had entered the war, began shipping millions of dollars in aid to the communist government, a dictatorship that Hoover in a radio address at that time rightly called "one of the bloodiest tyrannies and terrors ever erected in history," aid to which, he added, "makes the whole argument of our joining the war to bring the four freedoms to mankind a gargantuan jest." In the same address, Hoover was remarkably prophetic when he said, "If we go further and join the war and we win, then we have won for Stalin the grip of communism on Russia, the enslavement of nations, and more opportunity for it to extend in the world."
We now leap forward in time to the wartime conferences attended by Roosevelt and various of the principal Allied governmental leaders, usually Churchill, or Churchill and Stalin. For the sake of brevity, I will mention only certain salient aspects of four of these: Casablanca, Tehran, Quebec, and Yalta. Freedom Betrayed systematically considers all of the conferences and provides valuable documentation on all of them.
Immediately after the close of the official meetings of the Casablanca Conference, in January 1943, Roosevelt and Churchill held a press conference at the end of which the President said that he and Churchill "were determined to accept nothing less than the unconditional surrender of Germany, Italy, and Japan." The demand for unconditional surrender was never discussed during the conference, and, therefore, Roosevelt's comment surprised Churchill; but the British Prime Minister nonetheless felt compelled to go along with the President in this public forum, and it became official policy. The consequences of that brash declaration, however, were literally deadly, since it meant that even if the German people, or elements in the German military, were to repudiate and overthrow Hitler and his regime, they would be no better off, since the unconditional surrender requirement would leave Germany wholly at the mercy of the Allied powers, including the Soviets. Many Allied military leaders were appalled since the "demand for unconditional surrender would only weld all of the Germans together," as U.S. General Wedemeyer put it. Hence, virtually the entire German nation united behind the regime, despite the misgivings of many, and steeled itself for a fight to the bitter end, needlessly extending the European war for perhaps another year -- long enough for the Red Army to occupy Eastern Europe and eastern Germany.
At the Tehran Conference of November 28 through December 1, 1943, the author observes, agreements were concluded that "were the greatest blows to human freedom in this century." Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bessarabia, Bukovina, a large portion of eastern Poland, and a slice of Finland, it was agreed by Roosevelt and Churchill, were to be annexed outright by the Soviet Union. Moreover, it was agreed that, for the sake of the security of the Soviet Union, "friendly border states" would be established all along the Soviet frontiers in Europe -- i.e., that communist puppet governments would be installed in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Albania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Romania.
In the case of Poland, it was agreed to compensate her for the loss of her eastern provinces by granting her a huge portion of eastern Germany, all the way to the Rivers Oder and Neisse. From those formerly German territories, the German inhabitants were to be forcibly expelled. In that process of expulsion between 1945 and 1950, approximately 7.5 million men, women, and children were forced from their homes, their property and belongings confiscated. The death toll in that operation was between 500,000 and two million persons. Additionally, 500,000 Germans were transported to the USSR for forced labor, of which roughly half were never heard from again. Curiously, at the Nuremburg Trials it was established that forced deportation of civilian populations was both a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Upon his return to the United States, Roosevelt, in a message to Congress, lied that at Tehran, "there were no secret treaties or political or financial commitments." It was also just after Tehran that the President, in a radio address to the American people, assured his listeners that Stalin was a wonderful man: "I may say that I got along fine" with Marshall Stalin... I believe that we are going to get along very well with him, and the Russian people -- very well indeed." In truth, Roosevelt found it effortless to "get along" with Stalin by simply agreeing to every one of the dictator's demands Some months later, Roosevelt said, "I think the Russians are perfectly friendly. They aren't trying to gobble up all the rest of Europe. They haven't got any idea of conquest. These fears that have been expressed by a lot of people here that the Russians are going to try and dominate Europe, I personally don't think there is anything in it." One can only reflect that naivety of that magnitude exceeds the bounds of credibility.
The Quebec Conference of September 1944 brought another shock. It was agreed by Roosevelt and Churchill to impose what was called the "Morgenthau Plan" on conquered Germany. The Morgenthau Plan, named for Roosevelt's Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and approved by him, was actually authored by a Soviet agent, Harry Dexter White, an official in the U.S. Treasury Department. It was a program for the total de-industrialization of Germany and its reduction to a country "primarily agricultural and pastoral in character." That plan, had it been carried out, would have required the systematic starvation or relocation of at least 25 million Germans. As it happened, the plan was leaked to the press shortly after the conference, published in the Wall Street Journal, and received unfavorably by the American people. Naturally, it was immediately seized upon by German Propaganda Minister Dr. Goebbels as evidence that the Allies planned not only to destroy Germany as an independent nation, but exterminate her people as well, and as proof that the Western Allies were no better than the Soviets, insofar as the future of Germany was concerned. Consequently, further fanatical (albeit hopeless) resistance was engendered, along with more needless deaths, destruction, and suffering.
Finally, let us consider the Yalta Conference of February 1945. Among many other things, it was agreed in a secret pact at Yalta that German war prisoners could be used as slave labor after the war, in violation of the Geneva Convention. The conference formalized the previous agreement for the expulsion of ethnic Germans from those German territories to be annexed by Poland and the USSR, in violation of the Atlantic Charter, which charter declared that there would be no "territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned." Yet, the most noteworthy outcome of the conference, insofar as future history is concerned, involved the agreements regarding the Far East.
It was agreed that after the defeat of Germany, the USSR would enter the Pacific war against Japan. In return, the Soviets would receive the whole of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands, and, most significantly, it was agreed that the Soviets would be given joint control, with China, of the crucial Chinese-Eastern Railroad and the South-Manchurian Railroad, once Manchuria was occupied. Amazingly, those agreements were made without the knowledge and consent of our Nationalist (anti-communist) Chinese allies. In carrying out his half of the bargain, Stalin waited to enter the Pacific war until Japan was effectively prostrate and ready to surrender, her great cities gutted by carpet bombing, an atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and the once mighty Japanese navy and merchant fleet obliterated.
Soviet forces grabbed Manchuria and northern Korea, as well as southern Sakhalin and the Kurils. Huge stores of captured Japanese armaments and other military equipment were eventually turned over to the Chinese communists, and Soviet-occupied Manchuria turned over to the Chinese communists as a base to attack and eventually defeat the forces of the pro-American Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. The northern half of Korea was quickly and brutally communized.
The long-term consequences of Roosevelt's policies are as horrifying as the policies themselves. With Roosevelt's encouragement of Soviet expansionism in both Eastern Europe and the Far East, the United States was forced by the resulting Cold War to spend astronomical sums of money on armaments to protect what was left of the non-communist world. Our atomic bomb secrets were passed to the USSR by the very people Roosevelt allowed to occupy vital posts in the U.S. government. In addition to that, communist expansionism led to further wars, precisely the opposite of what Roosevelt promised. The United Nations was set up ostensibly to prevent future wars, an objective at which it has failed as miserably as the old League of Nations. To make matters worse, that international organization by its very nature undermines the security and sovereignty of this country.
Mistakes Magnified
We must also take cognizance of the wars that the United States has fought trying to contain the virulent communist pestilence let loose on the world by this President. To the approximately 400,000 American deaths in the Second World War, we must add the American deaths in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, which together amount to nearly 100,000. All of these were needless deaths in needless wars brought about by a man who was, at best, criminally incompetent, a man who was apparently more interested in the security of the Soviet Union and the interests of the bloodiest tyrant in modern history than he was in the security and interests of his own nation and people.
Roosevelt died April 12, 1945, his disastrous policies, on the whole, carried on by the Truman administration. The author writes, in fairness to Truman, that he "inherited an undermining, disloyal and traitorous group of American Communists and fellow travelers, who had infiltrated most of the agencies of the government during the Roosevelt Administration" (Freedom Betrayed devotes an entire chapter to a list of communist agents in important U.S. government positions during the Roosevelt years). But Truman's policies vis--vis the USSR were as lamentable as those of his predecessor. Hoover calls this period an "Era of Vacillation." For example, Truman announced in October 1945 that the United States would refuse recognition to communist puppet governments imposed by Soviet force on Eastern European countries. Two months later that policy was reversed and recognition was extended. With regard to the outcome of the policies of the two Presidents, Roosevelt and Truman, the author says that, "before the war, there was one Communist country. By 1946 there were 23 nations or parts of nations dominated by Communism." And, of course, after 1946 China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and other nations fell before the communist juggernaut. In those nations, as a result of communist victories, tens of millions went to their deaths and millions more ended their lives in hellish Gulags, scattered about the communist world.
As I wrote at the beginning of this review, this is a massive tome. The portions that I have reviewed here only touch the surface of President Hoover's superb magnum opus. Suffice it to say that this remarkable book deserves a thorough reading. It will be argued by some that the information presented here is dated and is no longer relevant to the situation that prevails in our contemporary world. To that thesis I would respond that today's world is the child of the world surveyed by Hoover in this work, the world of the 1930s through the early 1950s, and that events of the past are the material out of which the present is fashioned. If at the time these events occurred the whole truth had been revealed to and understood by the American people, it is unlikely that Roosevelt and his administration could have survived the resulting explosion of outrage, and the world of today would be far, far different from the one that we face. That, of course, is now water under the bridge, so to speak, since we cannot alter the past. Nevertheless, by realizing the frequent duplicity of our national leaders, their penchant for fear mongering, and their use of fabricated international crises to direct attention away from failures in domestic policies, the American people still have the power to change the future.
The New American, March 5, 2012
By Joe Wolverton, II, March, 2012.
A bill has just passed the House and the Senate that criminalizes protests anywhere near the presence of a designated government official. On Monday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously (388-3) in favor of H.R. 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011.
As part of this legislation, Congress expressly forbids trespass onto the grounds of the White House. Many likely believe that such a law already existed and they are right. The controversial aspect of this billÕs restatement of that statute is that it expands the scope of the federal governmentÕs authority to bring charges against those deemed trespassers at any location placed provisionally under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service...
Under HR 347, however, the Congress endows itself with the unbounded power to impose federal criminal charges on not only those who enter the White House grounds without prior permission, but on anyone who participates in protests at or near a location falling within the greatly enlarged scope of this new prohibited zone. ...
http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/11043-congress-passes-bill-severely-curtailing-first-amendment-liberties?tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page=
Proverbs 8:15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
Two certainties:
First, all public servants are God's servants.
Charles Bridges' commentary on Proverbs (8:6), which was first published in 1846, reprint by Banner of Truth Trust:
By me kings reign; not only by my permission, but by my appointment. They bear my name. They are stamped with my authority. (Exod. xxii. 28. Ps. lxxxii. 6. John, x. 35.) Proud anarchy disputes the prerogative, and traces the authority to the people; only that they may cast off the yoke of God, and "do that which is right in their own eyes." (Judg. xvii. 6; xix. 1; xxi. 25.1 Hos. viii. 4. 2 Pet. ii. 10.2 Jude. 8.) Scripture polities lay down the offensive truth --"There is no power but of God; the powers that be are ordained of God. They are ministers of God,Ó not servants of the people. (Rom. xiii. 1-6.) Government in all its administrations--kings, princes, nobles, judges--is a Divinely-consecrated ordinances.3 Every kingdom is a province of the universal empire of the "King of kings." men may mix their own pride, folly, and self-will with this appointment. But God's providential counter-working preserves the substantial blessing. Yet, if "the power be exclusively of God," then is Wisdom, by whom kings reign, the very essence and person of God. And here is our rest, our anchor in this world's agitating storm. "The government of the world is on the shoulders" of "the Head of the Church." (Isa. ix. 6.) All things--all power in heaven and in earth--is delivered unto him of his Father. "The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice." (Ps. xcvii. 1.)
Second:
Not only does all authority to rule come from the Lord, but Justice also comes from him through applying his laws into the civil laws. In other words, God's law is codified.
TWOT (Theological Word Book of the Old Testament) gives this important observation for the word, justice, righteousness. Actually, we have two words in Scripture which mean the same thing, justice and righteousness.
The forensic aspect of sedeq applies to the equality of all, rich and poor, before the law. The righteous one, the saddiq, is not to be put to death (Ex 23:7) for the law does not condemn him. The man who has the position of right (the righteousness of the righteous..) in litigation must not be turned aside, (Isa 5:23). It should be emphasized that in Israel's law the judge was not considering a man's innocence with regard to breaking a human law, but a man's righteousness in regard to God's law. Today a man may transgress a statute but be innocent before God. In the OT law, to be innocent and to be righteous were one and the same. The maintenance of righteousness is frequently expressed by the Hiphil stem. This construction refers to making righteous or to declaring righteous. (TWOT, p.753.)
Two conclusions:
Psalms 115:3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
First, fallen man refuses to admit that he does not have total free will. (His will is either in bondage to sin or to God.) He cannot and does not control his own destiny. No matter how much he might hate the fact, only God controls history.
Thus, the natural result of believing that civil rulers are appointed by men and not by God is attributing the ills of society to men's evil conspiracies, rather than to all men's natural sinful actions. Throughout Scripture, God promises to raise up wicked, lawless leaders over wicked, lawless people.
When law departs from the law of God, all legitimacy of law has been lost. Rulers derive their power and authority from the Sovereign God who raises up whom He will and puts down whom He will. Thus our obedience and respect is for God. Our command is to obey God and when the two conflict, the choice is already made for us.
Second, guilt before God is always according to His law, not according to manÕs. Man may have the power to enforce unrighteous decrees, but that power does not make them right. (Might does not make right; GodÕs word makes might.)
Obviously, the higher power of Romans 13 must be God. The decrees by the civil government do not make anything right. Right is always in terms of the precepts of God's word. God only holds man accountable to obey civil authority, when civil authority is in conformity to the terms of His law. When they disagree, we sin before God when we follow anything contrary to His law. Yet the civil authority may hold us as the worse of criminals for obeying God.
Moreover, we may be innocent before civil law, but guilty as sin before GodÕs law. Our standard must always be the law of God.
Fallen man loves conspiracy theories--they allow for a lot of false doctrines as well as provide a good income for the theorist. Moreover, conspiracy theories relive man's conscience of responsibility before God: "It is the conspirators' fault we are in this mess."
End Notes
1 My note: This is not saying that there was no civil authority, but that the civil authority was departed from the law of God. Therefore, every man was doing right according to what he felt was right, and not according to the law of God.
2 My note: This is extremely significant because ISBE places the date of 2 Peter during the reign of Nero, after Rome burned and the fires of Nero's persecution were burning brightly. Notice what Peter defines as a mark of the end of this age in 2:10.
3 His footnote: Ps. lxxv. 7. Jer. xxvii.5-7. Dan. ii. 37, 38; iv. 25; v. 18. Comp. John, xix. 11. It is interesting to trace this acknowledgment even in the darkness of Heathenism. Kings inherited their scepter from Jove; Magistracy was consecrated by Augurs, the Assessors and Counsellors of Jove.
By Alex Newman, March 1, 2012
In the face of escalating sanctions imposed by the European Union and the U.S. government, supposedly related to the Iranian nuclear program, officials in Iran announced that the nation would accept gold and currencies other than the dollar in international trade. China, Russia, India, and other major economies have continued to do business with the Islamic Republic despite the growing Western pressure. ...
Even U.S. states have started to realize -- albeit slowly -- what is going on. Last year, for example, Utah made gold and silver legal tender within the state to prepare for a potential meltdown of the fiat dollar. And lawmakers across the nation are working on similar efforts as the looming currency crisis barrels ever closer.
[In short, the "conflicts" in the oil producing countries are about them desiring to use gold as the standard, rather than the USD. The FED insists on war with any nation that threatens to stop using the USD. No matter how many lives nor how much money is spent, the FED will protect its power over the monetary system of the world. The US military is the FED"s army to force the nations to remain in the USD. http://thenewamerican.com/world-mainmenu-26/asia-mainmenu-33/11045-facing-sanctions-iran-to-sideline-dollar-by-using-gold-in-trade]
A FUTURE-ORIENTED BAPTIST.
"My mind is often deeply impressed with the thought that I am laboring for future generations; and that the principle inculcated and habits introduced in the Baptist Society in this country will last for ages. Under what high and weighty responsibility should every professor, and particularly every preacher, act, who lays the foundation in a new country!" - John Mason Peck, 1789-1858, pioneer Baptist missionary to Illinois and Missouri.
(Then as now, there were preachers obsessed with prophecy speculations who believed themselves to be living in the "Terminal Generation" just prior to the Rapture. Fortunately for all of us, there were men like John Mason Peck who had the foresight to lay foundations for future generations, instead of assuming that the Rapture would come in just a few more years).
By Dave Hodges, 3/19/12
ÒIf you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face-forever.Ó -George Orwell
The descent into total and abject tyranny is almost complete. With President ObamaÕs latest executive order, THE NATIONAL DEFENSE RESOURCES PREPAREDNESS ACT, he has granted himself the authority to declare peacetime martial law. This Executive Order was posted on the WhiteHouse.gov web site on Friday, March 16, 2012. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/2012/03/16/executive_order_national_defense_resources_preparedness)
This executive order is particularly draconian in that it eliminates
the private ownership of everything and Obama has delegated the
complete control of the nation's resources to his cabinet level
department heads (i.e. Czars). The delegation of control of the
nation's resources and people is particularly troubling because
the heads of America's resources shall have this power
under both emergency and non-emergency conditions "to control
every aspect of our lives." And under this executive order,
the President is to the sole decider of what constitutes an emergency
(Section 201, paragraph b).
http://www.newswithviews.com/Hodges/dave118.htm
Establishment GOP leaders in St. Charles County, Missouri, shut down a caucus and had Ron Paul supporters arrested.
http://www.infowars.com/police-used-to-keep-ron-paul-supporters-from-documenting-voter-fraud-in-missouri/
Parents are reluctant to hear it, but college may no longer offer the best path of opportunity for a great many young people.
By Joel Hannahs.
IOWA and ILLINOIS--The conventional wisdom says a 21-year-old should have a college degree to have the best shot at landing a job in a tough job market. But today's unemployment landscape is hardly conventional. It may be that your high-school classmate who tinkered in the garage and became a mechanic might have been on to something. ...
Aaron Haunhorst, one of the owners of Professional Labor Support in Illinois, says the shortage of skilled labor is no myth, yet most recent high-school graduates are not aware of the possibilities. Haunhorst notes that highly skilled welders of alloyed materials, or top industrial electricians at major manufacturing plants, often clear $100,000-plus yearly incomes. ...
Alicia Martin, CEO of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Illinois, represents 325 non-union employers in the state: She says contractors are steadily looking for and hiring qualified people for needed trades. Her association is in the mix, offering its own certification and apprentice program for a journeymanÕs card, and often matching up workers with member contractors. ...
Growing interest in trade fields is not news to Gary Senff, welding instructor at Central Community College in Columbia, Neb. The college added another welding teacher last year, and added classes two more nights a week to accommodate growing interest. Employers call him "all the time," he says: "It's a growing career. I believe the wages are going to go up. People are retiring out, too." Rowe of Dirty Jobs emphasized that changing of the guard in his congressional testimony: Many "baby boomer" tradesmen are getting set to hang up their tools, and not enough young people are stepping into these trades to replace them. ...
WORLD Magazine, 4/7/12
What a wonderful day of opportunity to be a young man with the ability to WORK and willing to get his hands dirty. He can prepare for a very high paying job with very little investment. College loans of hundreds of thousands of dollars can never be repaid in today's market, unless that college education is very specialized, e.g., the various sciences. ("Oh well, the government will bail me out on that loan." The government will certainly see that the banks lose no money on their bad loans.) A welder with his own "rig", i.e., truck and welding equipment, can be self-employed and make an astounding amount of money. Diesel mechanics, electricians, heating and air conditioning, along with many other skilled trades have the same opportunities. The high paying and secure jobs are there for those who are dependable and willing to work.
By Thomas Williamson
In recent months, there has been much discussion of the question of whether or not Mormons should be accepted as true Christians. This is partly due to the fact that two of the current candidates for the Republican nomination for President of the United States are Mormons. (They are not the first Mormons to run for President. Mormon founder Joseph Smith was actively running for President at the time that he was murdered in Carthage, Illinois in 1844).
Also, there has been a big buildup of "Mormons are Christians" propaganda on behalf of radio broadcaster Glenn Beck, a Mormon who appears to be positioning himself to become a leader of the "Christian Right" movement and of Christian Zionists. Prominent figures such as Jimmy Carter and Joel Osteen have said that Mormons are Christians.
In response to the recent pro-Mormon boomlet, a number of prominent Baptists have called Mormonism a cult and have declared that Mormons are not Christians. In response, these anti-Mormon Christians have been denounced as bigots.
If it is true that evangelical Christians are bigots for saying that Mormons are not Christians, then it is equally true that Mormons are bigots for saying that evangelicals are not true Christians. One of the foundational beliefs of Mormonism is that they are the only true Christians, and that the rest of us who do not follow Mormonism are not real Christians.
In 1820 Joseph Smith claimed to receive his First Vision in which he was told that all the supposedly Christian denominations of his day were evil and to be rejected: "I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right - and which, I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that `they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join with any of them."
Thus we see that it was a foundational principle of Mormonism that all true Christianity had died out in the world prior to the year 1820, and for that reason it was necessary to start all over with Mormonism, in order to restore true Christianity.
Mormon prophet Joseph Fielding Smith taught that there is "NO SALVATION WITHOUT ACCEPTING JOSEPH SMITH. . . . No man can reject that testimony without incurring the most dreadful consequences, for he cannot enter the kingdom of God. It is, therefore, the duty of every man to investigate that he may weigh this matter carefully and know the truth." - Doctrines of Salvation, 3:190.
The Mormon publication "What Mormons Think of Christ" states. "Christians speak often of the blood of Christ and its cleansing power. Much is believed and taught on this subject, however, it is utter nonsense and so palpably false that to believe it is to lose one's salvation." Here again, it is clear that Mormons do not accept evangelical believers as true Christians. They are certainly entitled to that opinion, but it seems that if we are "bigots" for saying Mormons are not Christians, then Mormons are equally "bigoted" for saying we are not Christians.
Former Mormon missionary Loren Franck states, on the Mormonism Research Ministry web site, that as a missionary he lied to people by telling them "We're the Only True Christians" and "We're the Only True Church.' He would cite Joseph Smith's 1820 vision in which Smith was forbidden to join any of the Christian churches of his day because their creeds were abominable and their professors all corrupt.
Of course, when it is to their advantage, the Mormons may present a kinder, gentler view of mainstream Christianity. For instance, Mormon President Gordon Hinckley stated that Mormons do not criticize other religions, and that they merely seek to help people out by adding to the truth that they have already found in their own religion.
To the extent that Mormons may say that they now accept non-Mormon believers as true Christians, they would put themselves in a position of repudiating the teaching of their own prophet and founder, Joseph Smith, who taught, allegedly as a revelation from God, that all the Christian denominations of his day were an abomination in the sight of God and all their followers were corrupt.
But of course, in this ecumenical day and age, no one will have a problem if the Mormons undercut the entire basis for their religion by admitting that non-Mormons are true Christians.
After all, no one holds it against the Mormons that they dropped their teaching on polygamy in 1890, or their prohibition on blacks in the priesthood in 1978. In both cases, the Mormons previously claimed that their teachings on these subjects were based on divine revelation and could never be changed.
As fundamentalist Christians, we need to be aware of the fact that historically, Mormons have not accepted us as true Christians. It is their right to feel that way about us if they wish, but if we reject them as Christians, we are no more bigoted or narrow-minded than they are.
In this day and age of loveydovey acceptance and embrace of all religious traditions, it is important to remember that the Mormon Church is officially anti-Trinitarian. Since the time of the Nicene Creed of 325 AD, it has been officially held and declared that belief in the Holy Trinity is an essential element of true Christianity. (Of course, the doctrine of the Trinity goes back to the New Testament, and was expounded by early Church Fathers prior to the time of the Nicene Council).
In recent years, there has been a letting down of the doctrinal standard of opposition to anti-Trinitarian groups. Trinitarian Pentecostals have recently become more accepting of the anti-Trinitarian "Oneness Pentecostals" such as the United Pentecostal Church. Texas preacher T.D. Jokes, who has a Oneness Pentecostal background and does not appear to have clearly repudiated that teaching, was recently allowed to take part in the teaching ministry of the Harvest Bible Chapel, an evangelical church in suburban Chicago. Meanwhile, Christian radio stations are broadcasting large quantities of paid programming from anti-Trinitarian preachers, and Christian music enthusiasts are embracing the music ministry of militantly anti-Trinitarian recording artists such as Joel Hemphill.
As fundamentalists, we need to maintain the doctrinal standard of Trinitarian Christianity. This means we cannot accept Mormons as Christians, even if the world calls us bigots.
(Note: I am not taking the position that Mormons are not fit for public office in the United States. Personally, I would rather vote for a Mormon, Catholic or Jew who is a decent person and holds conservative views, rather than for a Baptist who is liberal and personally immoral, like the one who was elected President in 1992. Nor am I advocating any personal rudeness or disrespect toward Mormons, or support for government persecution against them).
"The promises made to Abraham, including the promise of the land, will be inherited as an everlasting gift only by true, spiritual Israel, not disobedient, unbelieving Israel. Being born Jewish does not make one an heir of the promise - neither the promise of the land nor any other promise." - John Piper, 2004.
(I do not agree with all the teachings of John Piper, but in this case, Piper is only teaching the same thing that was taught by Christ in John 8:37-44, and by Paul in Romans 2:2829, Galatians 3:28-29, etc. Thomas Williamson).
"We are again in the age of Caesars, of political saviors. All over the world, politicians proclaim their plans of salvation, and the cornerstone of their building is man. Look unto me, these false saviors declare to the peoples, vote for me and be saved.
St. Peter faced a hostile nation whose hope of salvation was in freedom from Rome. Thus the Zealots, or revolutionists, had a large popular following. Salvation for them meant their own political order. For the Roman overlords and their followers, salvation meant Caesar's rule and plan.
"St. Peter rules out, not only all other religions, but all the political plans of salvation with his blunt words: Neither is there salvation in any other. Christ is unique, and His salvation is exclusive. He is THE way, the ONLY way, Peter made emphatically clear, of salvation, for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." There are no alternate routes.
"This means that false political saviors will give not salvation but ruin. False religious saviors will only give delusions. Truth is exclusive." -
Rushdoony, in Faith For All Of Life.
Gay flag flies at Afghan Base But the Christian Cross is Banned" (from the "worship" tent).
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/its-an-obama-world-gay-flag-flies-at-afghan-base-but-the-christian-cross-is-banned/
Note that throughout Scripture, when God sent a man to lord over the people, he sent him to punish not to bless the nation. The nations that have forgotten God will have despotic men for generations to come. The new Òdark agesÓ is upon us.
(copied)
Someone asked the other day, "What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?" "We didn't have fast food when I was growing up," I informed him. "All the food was slow." "C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?" "It was a place called at home,'" I explained. ! "Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it."
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table. But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it : Some parents NEVER owned their own house, never wore Levis, never set foot on a golf course, never traveled out of the country or had a credit card. In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card.. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck. Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow) We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a..m.. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people.
I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.
I never had a telephone in my room. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know werenÕt already using the line. Pizzas were not delivered to our home But milk was. All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers --my brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. It cost 7 cents a paper, of which he got to keep 2 cents. He had to get up at 6 AM every morning. On Saturday, he had to collect the 42 cents from his customers. His favorite customers were the ones who gave him 50 cents and told him to keep the change. His least favorite customers were the ones who seemed to never be home on collection day. Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it? MEMORIES from a friend : My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.. How many do you remember? Head lights dimmer switches on the floor. Ignition switches on the dashboard. Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. Real ice boxes. Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards. Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner. Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.
Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about. Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum 2.Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water 3. Candy cigarettes 4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles 5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers 7. Party lines on the telephone 8 Newsreels before the movie 9. P.F. Flyers 10. Butch wax 11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels...[if you were fortunate] 12. Peashooters 13. Howdy Doody 14. 45 RPM records 15. S& H greenstamps 16. Hi-fis 17. Metal ice trays with lever (we had an icebox, no trays) 18. Mimeograph paper 19. Blue flashbulb 20. Packards 21. Roller skate keys 22. Cork popguns 23. Drive-ins 24. Studebakers 25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = YouÕre still young If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older If you remembered 11-15 = DonÕt tell your age, If you remembered 16-25 = YouÕ re older than dirt!
You might be older than dirt but those memories might be some of the best parts ofyour life.
I (Bro Need) got all 25, and added a few.
My brother is a little younger than I, so he remembers these things also.
I easily remember all 25 listed, plus the little brown house behind the house, with the Sears & Roebuck catalog, as well as a real ice box: that is, a box one put ice in to keep the contents cool. We got a real refrigerator a little before we started school.
The "huckster" came around at the farm a couple times a week. He had a truck with all kinds of supplies, kitchen-ware, hard-ware, ice for the icebox, and even food stuff that did not need refrigeration.
Party lines: I remember that my grandmother had such high blood pressure that when she picked up the phone to listen to a conversation, the conversing parties would say her name, and tell her to hang up.
Our grandparents' house was built around a log cabin. We could see the logs as we went up stairs to sleep in the featherbed. We bathed in a large wash tub in front of the wood or coal burning kitchen cook stove that had a tank on its side to provide our hot water.
We lived on our dad's father's Indiana farm in a small house trailer during that time he was on the road, until we reached school age. Then we moved from our grandparents' to a very small house in a very small community when we started school. There was no running water in the house until dad installed the water and a bathroom.
Our dad was a excellent welder. He even had a blacksmith shop after we moved into a very small town for school. I remember cranking the blower on the forge for him. Even today, I remember some of the things he tried to teach me about blacksmithing. After we moved into town, he was ordained, and became a Baptist lay-pastor. We then moved around a lot, so most of the time he commutted at least 100 miles each way to work in Indianapolis or other cities such as Pittsburg where he would go for a week at a time. That was before speed limits. (When I was 15, I started wotking with him during the summers, and drove the 100 miles each way.)
He built the steel mills and oil refineries that are now torn down for scrap. (He worked as a welder in refineries in TX, where the welding was with acetylene, and the acetylene was produced by water dripping into carbide, all on a mule cart.) He and his brother made good money welding on pipelines, oil refineries and steel mills all over the US.
I was maybe 7 when we saw our first TV at a friend's house, and we did not have one until I was maybe 13. "Have Gun Will Travel" was my dad's favorite show. Only the "wealthy" had TVs. We were not wealthy, but dad earned a good living with his skills.
And the sprinkling bottle for ironing, which our mother certainly taught us boys how to use.
Pea shooters and a wagon load of soy beans meant fun, fun, fun, and no one had their eyes put out. You did not want to keep the beans in your mouth too long, or they would swell, and you could not shoot them. Spit wads worked fine in the shooters in the school room.
The switchboard where we lived when were about the 8th grade was in the living room of a friend's house. She had to get up at night, if necessary, to complete a call through the switchboard.
Dad saw to it that my brother and I delivered morning papers, Sunday's included, along with a milking a cow that had to be milked morning and evening. Very early mornings were a way of life for both of us for 3 or so years. (The cow was to "raise"two sons.) Then I started working on a farm.
5 cent sodas in glass were common even up into the late '50s. Removing the silver from the coins in 64 was where the terrible price rise (inflation) started in earnest.
Happy memories of a time not near as complicated as today. (Bro Need)
Dr. Need,
For some reason, as of late I have felt compelled to fill you in on several key developements.
Shortly after Christmas, my music stand partner (Mr. Bearden) for a paid gig invited me to visit his Church: Trinity Free Presbyterian Church in Trinity, AL headed by Pastor Myron Mooney. I had known him (Mr. Bearden) and another homeschooled family (the FrankÕs) well throughout highschool, and even my Father has started going...its a good fit for our family.
At the time, I was completely convinced that Ted WeilandÕs variant of ÒChristian IdentityÓ was true Christianity, and so I accepted many of his false teachings at face value simply because 1) he threw around several well-meaning, apparently biblical terms, and 2) race issues are VERY politically "incorrect" to discuss...and I was under the misperception that many of today's Churches (i.e., non-Identity) were corrupt, infiltrated, and controlled by the Jews.
Because of this, I took what he had to say at face value. Sadly, in consequence, I began to base my self-worth and favour with God on my racial background (including a very expensive genetic ancestry DNA test to confirm/clarify racially pure Northern European descent...which, btw, turned out positive).
Still...my conscience testified against this man-centric fleshly/nationalistic view as contrary to the character and nature of God, contrary to natural law, and a decisive contradiction to science. (i.e., Adam is NOT the father of the White Race only).
I didn't care about my reputation on the line in sheer desperation for the truth, and so I began to ask questions to see if he could help. He did his best to answer every one of my questions, and even "enlisted" other folks in the Church!
My questions were answered, and I am writing to tell you today that:
1) I reject Christian Identity teaching as heresy and
2) My family and I are thoroughly grounded in a bible believing Church and members in good standing.
My Mom, Dad, Sister, and I attend Westminster Presbyterian Church on Sunday mornings (affiliated with the PCA), and Sunday evenings my Father and I attend the MenÕs Bible Study group and Evening Services at Trinity Free Presbyterian with Rev. Myron Mooney.
Everything is okay...and thanks for taking the time to help answer some of my questions in previous emails!
Also, please know that I did indeed follow your advice. Right now, IÕm on the One Year Bible reading plan with no commentary, and I have temporarily put away all other books for further study until after I have a more comprehensive understanding of the Bible.
Thanks for everything,
Prostate
I went to the VA medical center 3/30 to see the new urologist who just came on board. I found him much different than the previous man who was anxious to slash and burn. This older man took the time to explain all the options, what all the symptoms I have might indicate, and how best to deal with them. Though my PSA fluctuates very widely, it has remained under 10. His advice was not to panic at this point (he told me he would tell me when it would be time to panic).
He has me coming in for another PSA test, and then an ultrasound, and then we will talk about it. At this point, there is very little concern about cancer. The problem is a very enlarged prostate, which medication can deal with, rather than surgery.
New
My oldest daughter is expecting their second child. After their first child, the Lord changed their attitude from career no matter what to "I can't imagine a home without a baby in it."
Unusual
Spring is here about 3 weeks early. I had to remove our insurance
against snow (a snow blower) from our lawnmower and mow grass.
And it is time to start thinking seriously about this year's garden.
Bettie has the seeds started. One of our men who has lived in
this area just about all of his life assures us that we must not
hurry about planting. There is still freezing weather ahead.
The fruit trees bloomed, and then we got a hard freeze, but there
were no frost crystals, so I hope the trees survived.
Bettie
My wife is assumed to be having kidney stone problems, along with syaitic nerve problems. The pain is in the 8-9 range. The doctor has given her some medication that we hope will help with pain.
Reunion
Bettie"s first husband, Jeff, taught Larry Kelly to fly a WWII B-25 bomber some years ago. He has a hanger in the county airport just off the end of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The Navy contracts with him to let their "hot shot" fliers fly a real plane that is not flown by a computer. He told us that it quickly humbles even the best pilots. The Navy maintains the plane. He and Jeff also wanted to start a museum. After Jeff died, Bettie gave his aircraft book library to Larry, and we have given what we have found of Jeff's since we were married. He established the Jeff Ethell Library where the airmen from the Naval Air Station can do research.
He had a very successful pharmacy some years ago, but he was
unable to justify paying 1 cent for a pill, and then charging
$5 or $6 for that pill. So he sold the business.
Larry called us a few weeks ago, and told us about the 70th reunion
of the Doolittle Raiders which takes place the 18th of April.
It will be the last reunion, and the biggest and best. He has
arranged for a good number of (17) B-25s to fly in to the Wright
Patterson AFB for the reunion. They are to form up elsewhere and
fly in to WP the morning of the 17th. Then the B-25s will be open
to the public.
Bettie's youngest daughter lives between here and there. She is
about 6 hours away. My daughters then live about 1 hour from WP,
All of that to say this. Lord willing, we will take two young men who love ÒwarbirdsÓ with us to the Reunion. We plan to be there to see the fly-in on the morning of the 17th, and then tour LarryÕs B-25 especially, and meet some of the other pilots. But rather than wait for the flyover the next day, we want to take them to the Creation Museum the 18th before we head back home.
The total trip out there is probably 9 hours each way, which is about as close as Larry's hanger out by PAX River. He did take us out to see the Museum and library, but he picked us up in Front Royal and flew us out (not in his B-25). It was a couple hours flight.
My goal was to get this out before we left on the trip.
By Larry Lilly, 4/12
2 Timothy 3:1 "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come."
For a number of years I have wondered why so many groups of Christians are seriously out of tune with the biblical blueprint for true living. The biblical blueprint is plain, simple, but does require the infusion of the Holy Spirit to implement. Imagine my amazement as I read the following:
ÒNotre Dame Sociologist Christian Smith identifies the fastest growing religion in America and says it is neither Christianity, Islam nor is it some eastern religion. It is what he calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD). In MTD, the most important "truth" about God is that He wants all to be nice, to feel happy, and to be delivered from pain (that's the therapeutic part). Outside of being available when I need him, God will not interfere much with my life (There's the deism). We are drawn to MTD because we want our life to be nice, happy and uninterrupted. Smith says that MTD is in our culture, including our churches like fluoride is in our water.' " (John Ortberg, Fall 2011 Leadership Journal.)
Our current president as well as several past presidents knowingly or otherwise, actually subscribe or subscribed to MTD though not by that name. The concept has been around at least since Cain who just outside the boundary of Eden where he murdered his own brother Abel. The evidence is that Abel pleased God with his sacrifice of faith in God's instruction and Cain adopted a strange form of religious rebellion going by the name, "I did it my way." Cain's Way was not, is not and will not be acceptable to God, thus a jealous hatred for his brother developed subsequently resulting in the death of Abel. Fratricide is the second recorded sin outside the Gates of Eden, rebellion to God's instruction concerning the sacrifice being the first.
Tragically a brother less successful than the other becoming envious is common in any branch of high or low civilization. Fights over girl friends or a wife, a car, and even acceptance on a sports team has set the green eyed monster afire with rage, sometimes hot enough to murder. Failure to receive the most intense love of one or the other parent may set off a murderous rampage against the successful brother who is the favored one.
Why don't we dissect the major tenets of MTD, using the finding as a mirror and see where we stand in relation to revealed religion versus the invention of public opinion, watered down sources of truth, and perhaps the way you "feel" about things.
Professor Smith stated: "The most important 'truth' about Moralistic Therapeutic Deism's God is that He (I add or She LML) wants all to be nice, to feel happy and to be delivered from pain (that's the therapeutic part)." The real truth is that according to biblical history, the Bible; God works more wonders in the human journey via the agency of some rather un-nice events such as Calvary. Paul mentions a thorn in his flesh as essential by God to keep Paul on consistent progress in the Christian life in order for him to remain a man of humility rather than an arrogant jerk. 2 Corinthians 12:7 a
"And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."
MTD rejects such evidence of God's way due to our current level of fancied enlightenment. As the bulk of nationalized Christians seek health, wealth and perpetual happiness under a variety of religious systems, the realization that their form of faith is not delivering as hoped, results in a turning to sour feelings of misery, or hypochondria, even mental illness due to the inner conflict of despair and rage at a god whom they had supposed they were worshiping and who let them down terribly.
Cain's type of religion has always been a corruption of that which is revealed and mixing that which is the idea of man with man's idea gradually pushing God aside and insisting that if He wants back into our life He is welcome as long as He submits His plan to the adjustment of man, as man is the measure of all things. It seems Man shouts at God, "Okay, you can watch if you want, but be assured I am going to do this my way and you may only get involved if I feel I need you. Otherwise please stay outside of my world and my way. I am doing alright without your tweaking, thank you." Ah, a life uninterrupted by Deity.
God, for the most part is relegated to the position of at the max, a grand idea. Thus stripped of love, compassion and concern for His creation, He is regarded if at all as a mere force and we are the captains of our individual and mutual fate.
Followed by this reasoning or more accurately philosophical mental fantasies is the nightmare that if the distinctive aspect of each world religion were to be removed, even gradually and the fanatic adherents forced to understand that "God is God by whatever name" the diluted religions could then be synchronized into one and thus end all war and national dividing issues. Each could believe what he wants to believe because the each would still believe the same thing.
The One major obstacle to achieving the above is Jesus Christ. No other faith on earth has such a miraculous person as Jesus Christ as the center of faith. Thus the usurping engineers of the humanistic future understand that in order for their Utopia to become reality, true Christians must be annihilated thus eliminating Christ along with them. This is why we see the ridicule, marginalization, the intensifying of worldwide hatred, persecution and even martyrdom of the people of Christ.
As we, the people of Christ see this time long plan being cobbled we must make up our minds and hearts to stand true to our savior remembering His words to His confused followers on the night preceding His apparently ignominious death on Calvary in John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
When the storms of life are raging, even storms of pre-tribulation fervency, we now as then must place our faith and hope in Jesus Christ. We will discover anew what our forefathers knew in the ages past; He will keep His word to never leave us nor forsake us as promised in Hebrews 13:5 "Let your conversation (lifestyle) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." LML
****
Old and New Testament meal offering are ordered to be free of leaven, a type of sin. Thus this mixing for a one world church, absent Christ and full of "leaven" is an abomination to God as was Cain's offering of meal mixed with the leaven of rebellion. Paul warns in
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Larry Lilly <BraveLML@aol.com>
Competitive? According to Windustry, the cost of a 1MW-rated, on shore wind turbine is $1.75 million. Assuming a 4-percent, 20-year loan, it costs $2,545.115. Yet if the electricity from the turbine were sold for twice the cost as that from a nuclear power plant, it would only produce $2.1 million of electricity over 20 years --- more years than turbines last.
New American, p. 14, 3/5/2012