A WordPress Blog-THE CHURCH MILITANT Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse. ALL CONTENT FROM HTTPS://RATHEREXPOSETHEM.BLOGSPOT.COM MOVED TO THIS NEW BLOG, MAY 2020
COMMON CORE CHALLENGE: A U.S. District Court Judge ruled that Gov. Bobby Jindal can proceed with his lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s administration. The Obama administration had tried to get the lawsuit thrown out. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman)
Bobby Jindal at CPAC: Repeal Obamacare; Remove Common Core From Every Classroom; We Are At War With Radical Islam
EXCERPTS: “National Harbor, MD-Gov. Bobby Jindal took aim at the Affordable Care Act, Common Core educational standards and President Barack Obama’s leadership in the fight against Islamic terrorism in a speech Thursday that stuck to familiar ground at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Jindal ticked off his three main targets, saying, “We must repeal every single word of ‘Obamacare,’ ” and “We need to remove Common Core from every classroom in America” and “We are at war with radical Islam.”” _______________________________________________________
Jindal’s federal Common Core case may proceed, judge rules
Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Common Core case against the federal government is going forward. Judge Shelly Dick ruled Thursday (Feb. 26) that the governor does have standing to bring the suit, which charges that the new mathematics and English standards represent federal overreach.
When 12-year junior high school teacher Deborah Vailes posted a criticism she had about the Common Core on her personal Facebook page, school officials immediately retaliated by ordering her to retract her post and threatening disciplinary measures, which could include termination.
Contending that Rapides Parish School District and Pineville Junior High School Principal Dr. Dana Nolan violated Vailes’ free speech rights protected by the United States Constitution, Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) filed a lawsuit with the Federal District Court for the Western District of Louisiana against the school officials Wednesday on the teacher’s behalf.
“Debora Vailes re-posted on her personal Facebook page a photograph of a little girl crying because of the shortcomings of Common Core,” TMLC reported. “Later that day, her school principal, Dr. Dana Nolan, after discovering the post, gave Deborah Vailes her first written reprimand and ordered her to refrain from expressing any opinion about public education on social media and to remove her anti-Common Core post from the social media site — ASAP. (The school district refers to written reprimands as a ‘documented conference.’)”
Jindal appalled
Embarrassed that state officials over education took to a Gestapo-like approach to silence any opposition to the federally created Common Core, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal took immediate action to ensure that such authoritarian control isn’t enforced against concerned teachers in the future.
“After hearing about the Principal’s gag order, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, issued an executive order that teachers were to be afforded the same constitutional guarantees afforded to all citizens,” TMLC reports. “However, his executive order did not deter the Defendant, Dr. Nolan, from continuing her vendetta against Deborah Vailes.”
The Hidden Truth of America’s Black Site Epidemic Exposed Police Deny Torture People Afraid to Talk to Press
Published on Feb 27, 2015
Infowars reporter Joe Biggs touches down in Chicago to investigate the secret domestic torture facility that is being used to illegally detain, beat and even kill US citizens. As soon as Infowars arrives they are immediately swarmed by police, told to leave public property and bizarrely threatened by a plain clothes officer.
Thom Hartmann talks with America’s Lawyer – Mike Papantonio, Host-Ring of Fire Radio / Attorney, Website: www.ringoffireradio.com, about a Guardian report on Homan Square, a black site operated by Chicago Police.
If you liked this clip of The Thom Hartmann Program, please do us a big favor and share it with your friends… and hit that “like” button!
EXCERPT: “Human rights groups have lauded the creation of the position and say it is in line with the Obama administration’s prioritization of LGBT issues. Robert Herman, vice president for regional programs at Freedom House, says Berry will help galvanize support for such issues throughout the State Department.”
Folks, if we’ve learned anything from Barack Obama, it’s that there are no limits to his pandering to the homosexual and transgender activist movement. This latest development described by my Brazilian friend Julio Severo is an insult to the majority of nations around the world that choose not to celebrate the Sin of Sodom like so many liberal Americans–note I did not say all Americans–do.
Where is the Special U.S. Envoy for Adultery? Fornication? Pornography? Abortion? I’d better be careful: I don’t want to give the Obama bureaucracy any ideas. This is neo-imperialism at its worst–rather than being a force for good in the world, America is now using its money and power to advocate for sexual immorality and gender rebellion across the globe–as we re-define “human rights” to accommodate destructive yet changeable behaviors.
If the Democrats are defeated in 2016, I would hope that the next administration will reverse actions like this, but that is far from certain to happen given the Republicans’ craven timidity on this issue. The Shining City on a Hill which Reagan invoked has turned into a Smog-covered Slum spreading moral pollution under Obama. And his shame becomes our shame until we, the citizens of this once-great nation, right the wrongs that are being carried out abroad in our name. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH.org; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera
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US Names First Global Envoy for Homosexual Agenda
By Julio Severo
The United States is naming its first international envoy for homosexual rights. This is a historic event, because no nation, even the United Nations, has ever appointed a homosexual ambassador for global homosexual rights.
Every single major news outlet in the U.S. is covering this historic event.
In a press release, the U.S. State Department said Randy Berry, an openly homosexual diplomat, will be its special envoy to promote homosexual rights. State Department Secretary John Kerry said, “We’re working to overturn laws that criminalize consensual same-sex conduct in countries around the world.”
The U.S. government’s concern is not only the more than 75 countries that criminalize homosexual activity, but also to target nations trying to resist the onslaught of homosexual groups from United States and Europe, especially because of several pro-family laws that have taken effect around the world in recent years. The Washington Postgave some examples, “Russian President Vladimir Putin signed legislation in 2013 banning ‘homosexual propaganda,’ and Nigeria banned same-sex marriage and restricted homosexual behavior, including public displays of affection between gays.”
Putin was named by The Advocate, the largest homosexual magazine in the U.S., as the most prominent opponent of the gay agenda.
Kerry says Randy Berry will help the Obama administration in its global efforts to press foreign countries to eliminate laws that criminalize homosexual activity.
According to “The Advocate,” the idea of appointing a special envoy for LGBT issues was championed by several groups, including the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the largest homosexualist group in the U.S., whose co-founder, Terrance Patrick Bean, was arrested for a pederastic homosexual assault on a child last year.
In a press release, left-wing AJWS applauded the historic State Department appointment of Randy Berry as America’s first special global envoy for LGBT issues around the world.
According to its own website, AJWS is the fourth largest funder of the gay agenda worldwide. Since 2005, AJWS has invested nearly $9.5 million in global LGBT rights. Last year, AJWS provided $2.97 million to 47 organizations promoting the gay agenda in 14 countries.
If you wonder how a leftist group promoting the gay agenda is Jewish, remember that the leftist U.S. president promoting the same agenda is allegedly Protestant.
America Foreign Policy Goes “Gay”: Under the Obama administration, American Embassies worldwide have flown the “rainbow flag” symbolizing homosexual activism, in solidarity with “gay” advocates. This is the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
According to the homosexual newspaper Washington Blade, HRC president Chad Griffin applauded the State Department.
“At a moment when many LGBT people around the world are facing persecution and daily violence, this unprecedented appointment shows a historic commitment to the principle that LGBT rights are human rights,” he said. “President Obama and Secretary Kerry have shown tremendous leadership in championing the rights of LGBT people abroad. Now, working closely with this new envoy, we’ve got to work harder than ever to create new allies, push back on human rights violators, and support the brave leaders and organizations that fight for LGBT rights around the world.”
The appointment of an openly homosexual diplomat as a LGBT envoy sends a message that the United States will remain on the forefront and leadership of promoting the gay agenda around the world. It shows also its determination of pushing back Russia, Nigeria and other nations.
Now the United States will make the world freer to adherents of homosexual acts and ideology and less free for Christians and others who do not accept homosexual depravity, including Russia and Nigeria that are trying to protect their children from homosexual propaganda.
Every single homosexual activist around the world is benefited by the U.S. move.
Every single practicing Christian is threatened by it.
I wonder what will happen to Christians like me. My book “O Movimento Homossexual” (The Homosexual Movement), published originally by the Brazilian branch of Bethany House Publishers in 1998, made Brazilian gay groups furious because I exposed that they were bringing to Brazil the gay ideology from America. In fact, many of their militants had been trained and funded in America. My exposé brought threats against me. But now, with the U.S. government strongly siding with international homosexual activists, they will receive more training and funding to advance and threaten, and Christians like me run the risk of being labeled “human rights violator” and “criminals.”
America, which was founded by men who believed in the Bible, is determined to challenge their Christian convictions, including their belief that God destroyed Sodom because of its homosexual sins. George Washington, for example, saw the homosexual behavior as abominable and detestable. But the current America, a superpower, thinks that she is greater than Washington and the God who punished the homosexual sin of Sodom. And a greater Republican presence in the Senate and House of Representatives has not increased opposition to this national and international threat.
Seeing the relentless advance of the gay agenda in the U.S., several American evangelical leaders are investing in the spread of a resistance in other nations. HRC issued a report entitled “Export of Hate,” denouncing American Christian leaders who, contrary to the official U.S. foreign policy promoting the gay agenda around the world, are promoting a global resistance to this agenda.
Of course, when the Evil itself calls it “Export of Hate,” it is exactly the contrary. The real “Export of Hate” — hate for family, children and Christians — is the U.S. government funding homosexual activism around the world.
I miss the days when the biggest U.S. export was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with the blessing of the U.S. government. Today, it is sodomy…
It is no wonder that Billy Graham said, “America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah.” And often he mentions, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
The number 1 enemy in the HRC report is Rev. Scott Lively, author of “Pink Swastika,” who has distinguished himself by inspiring Russians to take a solid stand against the Western homosexualist policies. The report also points that in addition to Russia, he also travels to Uganda, Eastern Europe and England.
“The homosexualist movement is not simply seeking social tolerance, or acceptance, but political power and control. They want the power to stamp out all disapproval of homosexuality in your society and to compel every citizen (especially the youth) to embrace the view that homosexual conduct is good and normal. They ask for a place at the table, but once they have one all the social ideals they exploited to get there, such as social tolerance, freedom of speech, and respect for cultural diversity, are discarded. In place of those ideals is inserted a new backwards and upside-down morality and world-view that condemns all disapproval of homosexuality as a new fictionalized form of bigotry. I have termed this phenomenon ‘Homo-fascism’ and defined it as a form of extreme left-wing, regressive radicalism which seeks to establish rigid authoritarian controls over all public discourse and government policies regarding sexual norms and proprieties, and to enact punitive measures against conscientious objectors that would punish or suppress all disapproval of homosexuality and related sexual behaviors (that would of course even though they deny it, quickly include a sexual indoctrination and exploitation of children). In the coming months and years Russia and Her people will be increasingly portrayed by emotion laden and abusive hyperbole as bigoted haters, intent on exterminating homosexuals. Indeed, the propaganda campaign on that theme has already been initiated, with video footage purporting to show Russian neo-Nazis beating homosexuals now being circulated on the Internet, along with the false implication that this is the intent of your policy.”
“WASHINGTON: In a ground-breaking move the United States on Monday appointed the first US special envoy for gay and lesbian rights in a bid to help eradicate discrimination around the world.
“Defending and promoting the human rights of LGBT persons is at the core of our commitment to advancing human rights globally – the heart and conscience of our diplomacy,” US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
He named Randy Berry, the current Consul-General in Amsterdam, as the new envoy, saying he believed Berry would “significantly advance efforts under way to move towards a world free from violence and discrimination” against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Berry’s role will be to help coordinate US strategy on rights for gay people, as well as to highlight such issues around the world.” ______________________________________________________________
ATTENDING ALL THE DUTCH GAY PRIDE PARADES & EVENTS,
FLYING THE RAINBOW FLAG:
Published on Aug 9, 2013
Consul General Randy W. Berry just celebrated his 1 year anniversary in Amsterdam. In part 2 of this series of 6 month videos that document his time in the Netherlands, you can follow his work in the local community.
Do you want to learn more about what U.S. Consulate General staff are doing in Amsterdam? Visit our website, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. http://amsterdam.usconsulate.gov/
As promised, President Obama is using executive actions to impose gun control on the nation, targeting the top-selling rifle in the country, the AR-15 style semi-automatic, with a ban on one of the most-used AR bullets by sportsmen and target shooters.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives this month revealed that it is proposing to put the ban on 5.56mm ammo on a fast track, immediately driving up the price of the bullets and prompting retailers, including the huge outdoors company Cabela’s, to urge sportsmen to urge Congress to stop the president.
Wednesday night, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, stepped in with a critical letter to the bureau demanding it explain the surprise and abrupt bullet ban. The letter is shown below.
The National Rifle Association, which is working with Goodlatte to gather co-signers, told Secrets that 30 House members have already co-signed the letter and Goodlatte and the NRA are hoping to get a total of 100 fast.”
In light of the Obama administration’s move to outlaw ammo for one of the nation’s most popular rifles, a look back at the president’s various promises to dismantle the Second Amendment is in order.
Today we learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives would be recategorizing M855 AR-15 ammo as “armor piercing rounds,” despite the ammo containing leadwhich should exempt it from the law’s classification.
The ban would effectively dry up the ammo supply for the embattled, but still popular AR-15, and would be a devastating blow to gun owners and the Second Amendment, but the move isn’t unexpected from the Obama administration, who has consistently shown itself to be an enemy of gun rights.
1. Obama has a name for people who love the Second Amendment
In the run-up to the 2008 election, Obama had choice words regarding gun owners when he made a campaign stop in San Francisco, labeling people who support gun rights “bitter clingers.”
“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
2. ‘With or Without Congress’
During the 2014 State of The Union Address, Obama made it clear that he would “take action without Congress” to pass more strict gun control laws.
“I intend to keep trying, with or without Congress, to help stop more tragedies from visiting innocent Americans in our movie theaters, shopping malls, or schools like Sandy Hook.” Obama said.
“Citizenship means standing up for the lives that gun violence steals from us each day,” he continued. “I have seen the courage of parents, students, pastors, and police officers all over this country who say ‘we are not afraid.’”
3. In wake of Sandy Hook, 23 executive orders were ready to restrict firearms ownership
Less than a month following the December 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, the Obama administration drew up 23 executive orders aiming to restrict firearms ownership, which included plans to have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “research causes and prevention of gun violence,” and which ordered doctors to ask patients about “guns in their homes.”
Among the proposed rules was a stronger data sharing network for the federal background check system, the launch of a national safe and responsible gun ownership propaganda campaign and requirements for the ATF to send rules to gun dealers regarding “how to run background checks for private sales.”
4. Obama Endorsed Australian-style Gun Ban
During a live discussion last June concerning student loan debt, Obama made a swipe at guns, claiming gun violence was “off the charts.”
“Levels of gun violence are off the charts,” he told Tumblr founder Dave Karp. “There is no advanced developed country on Earth that would put up with this.”
“Couple of decades ago, Australia had a mass shooting, similar to Columbine or Newtown,” Obama said. “And Australia just said, well, that’s it, we’re not doing, we’re not seeing that again, and basically imposed very severe, tough gun laws, and they haven’t had a mass shooting since.”
The fact that Australia suffers from other types of violent crime, such as mass stabbings, is ignored.
5. Eric Holder’s “Brainwashing statements”
One need simply look at the man who heads up the Obama Justice Department, Eric Holder, to recognize that the administration’s war on guns is part of a broader top-down, anti-gun propaganda campaign.
Speaking at a Women’s National Democratic Club conference in 1995, Holder expressed that it was important to “really, really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way.”
“What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that’s not cool, that it’s not acceptable, it’s not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we’ve changed our attitudes about cigarettes,” Holder outlined.
Watch for yourself:
Holder, who had previously worked as then-Senator Obama’s senior legal advisor, was nominated for the role of Attorney General after Obama won the 2008 election.
“In a development with massive implications for the Obama administration’s ongoing attempt at nationalizing education with Common Core, a Missouri judge ruled this week that the federally funded testing regime for the controversial standards was unconstitutional. The ruling means that the state of Missouri is officially prohibited from participating in the “Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium” (SBAC), a key element of Common Core enforcement, because it’s an “unconstitutional interstate compact.”
The lawsuit against participation in the scheme was filed late last year by a group of taxpayers seeking to uphold the rule of law, safeguard public funds, and stop Common Core. Judge Daniel R. Green, with the Circuit Court of Cole County, Missouri, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and ordered the state to immediately halt all involvement with the federally funded “multi-state” testing regime. In particular, Judge Green noted that Congress had never approved the interstate compact being foisted on states by the Obama administration’s Department of Education.”
“The Court finds that the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a.k.a. Smarter Balanced, Smarter Balanced at UCLA, SBAC, and SB, is an unlawful interstate compact to which the U.S. Congress has never consented, whose existence and operation violate the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article I, § 10, cl. 3, as well as numerous federal statutes; and that Missouri’s participation in the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium as a member is unlawful under state and federal law.
Accordingly, the Court DECLARES that any putative obligations, including the obligation to pay membership fees, of the State of Missouri to the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, Smarter Balanced at UCLA, Smarter Balanced, SBAC, SB, the University of California, and/or the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards and Student Testing (collectively, “SBAC”) are illegal and void; DECLARES that no Missouri taxpayer funds may be disbursed to SBAC in the form of membership fees, whether directly or indirectly; and PERMANENTLY ENJOINS Defendants, and each of them, and all those in active concert with them, from taking any action to implement or otherwise effectuate any payment of Missouri funds as membership fees to SBAC, whether directly or indirectly.”
“The Chicago police department runs a “black site” detention facility where detainees are “disappeared” and kept out of contact with family and lawyers at a warehouse on the city’s west side called Homan Square, according to a report published Tuesday by the London newspaper The Guardian. Stories of abuse at the “off-the-books” interrogation facility, where people are said to “vanish into inherently coercive police custody,” include:
• allegations of beatings by police, leading to head wounds;
• shackling of detainees for long periods of time;
• holding people for up to 24 hours without access to a lawyer;
EXCERPT: “The secretive warehouse is the latest example of Chicago police practices that echo the much-criticized detention abuses of the US war on terrorism. While those abuses impacted people overseas, Homan Square – said to house military-style vehicles, interrogation cells and even a cage – trains its focus on Americans, most often poor, black and brown.
Unlike a precinct, no one taken to Homan Square is said to be booked. Witnesses, suspects or other Chicagoans who end up inside do not appear to have a public, searchable record entered into a database indicating where they are, as happens when someone is booked at a precinct. Lawyers and relatives insist there is no way of finding their whereabouts. Those lawyers who have attempted to gain access to Homan Square are most often turned away, even as their clients remain in custody inside.”
The Chicago police department operates an off-the-books interrogation compound, rendering Americans unable to be found by family or attorneys while locked inside what lawyers say is the domestic equivalent of a CIA black site.
The facility, a nondescript warehouse on Chicago’s west side known as Homan Square, has long been the scene of secretive work by special police units. Interviews with local attorneys and one protester who spent the better part of a day shackled in Homan Square describe operations that deny access to basic constitutional rights.
Alleged police practices at Homan Square, according to those familiar with the facility who spoke out to the Guardian after its investigation into Chicago police abuse, include:
Keeping arrestees out of official booking databases. Beating by police, resulting in head wounds. Shackling for prolonged periods. Denying attorneys access to the “secure” facility. Holding people without legal counsel for between 12 and 24 hours, including people as young as 15.
ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S PLAN TO REGULATE THE INTERNET
The American people are being misled about President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet.Last week’s carefully stage-managed rollout was designed to downplay the plan’s massive intrusion intothe Internet economy and to shield many critical details from the public. Indeed, Chairman Wheeler hasmade it clear that he will not release the document to the public even though federal law authorizes him todo so. I believe the public has a right to know what its government is doing, particularly when it comesto something as important as Internet regulation. I have studied the 332-page plan in detail, and it isworse than I had imagined. So today, I want to correct the record and explain key aspects of whatPresident Obama’s plan will actually do.
First
, the claim that President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet does not include rate regulation is flat-out false.The plan clearly states that the FCC can regulate the rates that Internet service providers charge for broadband Internet access, for interconnection, for transit—in short, for thecore aspects of Internet services. To be sure, the plan says that the FCC will not engage in what it calls exante rate regulation. But this only means that the FCC won’t set rates ahead of time. The plan repeatedly states that the FCC will apply sections 201 and 202 of the Communications Act, including their rateregulation provisions, to determine whether the prices charged by broadband providers are “unjust orunreasonable.” The plan also repeatedly invites complaints about section 201 and 202 violations fromend-users and edge providers alike. Thus, for the first time, the FCC would claim the power to declarebroadband Internet rates and charges unreasonable after the fact. Indeed, the only limit on the FCC’sdiscretion to regulate rates is its own determination of whether rates are “just and reasonable,” which isn’tmuch of a restriction at all. Lest anyone take comfort in the notion that the FCC will allow the market to set prices throughcompetition, the plan goes out of its way to reiterate its view that competition is limited. And it uses theFCC’s new 25 Mbps yardstick for broadband to claim that competition doesn’t exist for a majority ofAmericans. To think that rate regulation and other utility-style regulation will not happen in the face ofsuch findings is naïve.
Second
, President Obama’s plan targets pro-competitive broadband service offerings, both actual and potential, that benefit consumers.The plan expressly states that usage-based pricing, data allowances—really, any offers other than an unlimited, all-you-can-eat data plan—are now subject to regulation. Indeed, the plan finds that these practices will be subject to case-by-case review under theplan’s new “Internet conduct” standard. That standard evaluates at least seven vaguely defined factors indetermining whether a practice is allowed. The plan makes clear that these practices are now on thechopping block, with those of mobile operators under special scrutiny. This means that consumers whouse less data may end up subsidizing consumers who use more data. Moreover, the President’s plan goes
out of its way to say that sponsored-data plans and zero-rating programs, like T-Mobile’s Music Freedom offering, may violate the new standard for Internet conduct. Preventing companies from differentiatingthemselves from the competition by giving consumers a wide variety of options will mean less choice andless free data for consumers. If you like your current service plan, you should be able to keep yourcurrent service plan. The FCC shouldn’t take it away from you.
Third
, President Obama’s plan gives the FCC broad and unprecedented discretion to
micromanage the Internet. The plan gives a Washington bureaucracy a blank check to decide how Internet service providers deploy and manage their networks, from the last mile all the way through theInternet backbone. Take interconnection as just one example. The plan states that the FCC can determinewhen a broadband provider must establish physical interconnection points, where they must locate thosepoints, how much they can charge for the provision of that infrastructure, and how they will route trafficover those connections. That is anything but light touch regulation. And the plan extends the FCC’sinterventionist gaze well beyond this part of the network. Small wonder that some pro-regulation activistsare already deeming the FCC the “Department of the Internet.”
Fourth
, the President’s plan is a gift to trial lawyers. The plan allows class-action lawsuits—
with attorneys’ fees—should any trial lawyer want to challenge an Internet service provider’s networkmanagement practices or rates. Indeed, the plan expressly declines to forbear from sections 206 and 207of the Act, which authorize such private rights of action. And it adopts a theory of broadband subscriberaccess services—that is, services that broadband providers supply to edge providers—that would allowanyone online to file a complaint or go to court. The end result will be more litigation and lessinnovation.
Fifth
, the President’s plan makes clear that more utility-style regulation is coming. In
discussing additional rate regulation, tariffs, last-mile unbundling, burdensome administrative filingrequirements, accounting standards, and entry and exit regulation, the plan repeatedly states that it is onlyforbearing at this time. The plan is quite clear about the limited duration of its forbearancedeterminations, stating that the FCC will revisit the forbearance determinations in the future and proceedin an incremental manner with respect to additional regulation. In other words, over time, expectregulation to ratchet up and forbearance to fade.
Sixth
, President Obama’s plan to regulate the Internet explicitly opens the door to billions of dollars in new taxes on broadband. The plan repeatedly states that it is only deferring a decision on new broadband taxes (such as Universal Service Fund fees and Telecommunications Relay Service fees,among others)—not prohibiting them. And it takes pains to make clear that nothing in the draft isintended to foreclose future state or federal tax increases. Indeed, the plan engages in the same two-stepwe saw last year with respect to the E-Rate program: Lay the groundwork to increase taxes in the firstorder, and then raise them in the second. One independent estimate puts the price tag of these and otherfees at $11 billion. In the end, when you compare what the American public is being told about President Obama’splan to regulate the Internet with the actual text of that plan, these and other discrepancies becomeapparent. That makes it all the more important for the FCC to let the American public see the plan beforethe FCC makes it the law. We should be able to have an open, transparent debate about the President’splan.
On February 5, 2015, Chairman Wheeler circulated to his fellow Commissioners President Obama’s 332-page plan to regulate the Internet. Here are some key aspects of that plan:
Through broad and vague rules, President Obama’s plan gives the FCC the power to micromanage virtually every aspect of how the Internet works.
o Instead of allowing the American people to choose the broadband service plan that is best for them, the President’s plan places that decision in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy. o The plan curtails the ability of broadband providers to offer innovative service plans. For example, the rules jeopardize the future of T-Mobile’s Music Freedom program. o The plan also explicitly calls into question usage-based pricing. This means that broadband subscribers who use less data could end up subsidizing subscribers who use more data.
President Obama’s plan opens the door to billions of dollars of new taxes on broadband.
o Following a transition period, the plan contemplates adding assorted regulatory taxes to Americans’ broadband bills, including fees to support the multi-billion-dollar Universal Service Fund and the Telecommunications Relay Service Fund. o These taxes will increase the prices American consumers will have to pay for broadband.
President Obama’s plan contains rate regulation.
o All rates charged by broadband providers will be subject to FCC regulation. Specifically, they must be “just and reasonable” pursuant to section 201 of the Communications Act. The plan does not forbear from any aspect of this statutory provision. o This requirement will apply both to retail rates for consumers and interconnection rates for edge providers. It will embroil the Commission in an endless series of disputes that the agency is ill-suited to resolve.
President Obama’s plan will steadily increase regulation over time.
o The plan does not safeguard the Internet from additional regulations. Instead, it takes what it describes as an incremental approach to imposing those new regulations. o Some of the plan’s new Internet regulations will go into effect immediately. Others will not take effect at this time or for now, making clear that the President’s plan contemplates even more rules in the future. This undermines regulatory certainty and will leave consumers poorer, step by step.
President Obama’s plan will be a boon to trial lawyers and will lead to more litigation.
o The plan allows trial lawyers to file everything from individual lawsuits to sprawling class actions against broadband providers for any practices or charges they believe to be unreasonable. o These litigation costs, including attorneys’ fees, will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
President Obama’s plan will reduce competition and decrease consumer choice.
o The plan imposes a host of new regulations on broadband providers. The costs of these regulations will hit smaller broadband providers the hardest and push them out of the market. For example, many of them will face higher pole attachment rates. o The plan implements Title II public-utility regulation that was designed for a monopoly. A one-size-fits-all regulatory framework intended to regulate a monopoly will push the broadband market in that very direction.
President Obama’s plan will slow broadband speeds for American consumers and the deployment of high-speed broadband.
o The plan contains a bevy of new regulations that will depress investment in broadband networks. That will mean slower broadband speeds for American consumers. It will also mean that many rural Americans will have to wait longer for access to quality broadband. o Public-utility regulation has been shown to decrease infrastructure investment. In the United States, where we have embraced a light-touch regulatory framework, there has been far more investment per capita in broadband than there has been in Europe, which has embraced a public utility model.
AJIT PAI OF THE FCC DEMANDS THAT PLANS TO TAKE CONTROL OF THE INTERNET BE MADE PUBLIC & SUBJECTED TO CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW
COMING SOON:
THE FCC DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERNET
Published on Feb 18, 2015
Visit www.ProtectInternetFreedom.com to stop the government takeover of the Internet.
In a world where the web is open and free and innovation spans the globe, one man has a secret plan to seize control of the Internet. He has a phone. He has a pen. And he claims he has the power to do it. It’s not the first secret government plan to take over a sector of the US economy. NANCY PELOSI: We have to pass this bill to find out what’s in this bill. VOICE OVER: But against all odds, one man is fighting back. AJIT PAI: I want a free and open Internet. Most people do. VOICE OVER: One man believes Americans deserve to know more. AJIT PAI: The public has a right to know what its government is doing. VOICE OVER: One man shines light into the darkest corners government. AJIT PAI: If you told the average American that the FCC is going to propose regulations for the Internet economy that are 332 pages longand you’re not going to be able to see it until the FCC adopts it, they would think that’s the wrong way to go. LARRY KING: Wait a minute. You can’t tell me what’s in the document? AJIT PAI: That is correct. VOICE OVER: From the government that brought you , spying on journalists, an abuse of power from the IRS comes, and HealthCare.Gov comes the Department of the Internet. MARTHA MACALLEN: Net neutrality is Obamacare for the Internet. The Internet should not operate at the speed of government “Let the litigation begin.” – Trial Lawyers Daily “We’re not going to work hard, but we’re sure going to bill hard.” – The K Street Journal “You can fool all of the people all of the time.” – The Politicians Insider VOICE OVER: Coming Soon — on February 26th — prepare for the Department of the Internet. But it’s going to take more than one man to stop the government’s takeover of the Internet. Contact Congress today and demand to find out how the FCC plans to change the Internet. Congress should demand that this rule be made public before the FCC votes on it in two weeks. AJIT PAI: Let the American public see this plan.
VIDEO:
FCC’s Commissioner Asks for Transparency for Net Neutrality Bill
Can America survive an exponential, essentially unlimited, increase in the entitlement state? Of course not. But those pushing global governance and multi-national corporations need to collapse western economies that stand in the way of their agenda. “Welcome America” and “Welcoming Cities and Counties” are going the next step beyond amnesty and Sanctuary Cities— showing illegal immigrants how to exploit the entitlement state but couching it as simply compassion and inclusiveness.
“Welcoming America is a national, grassroots-driven collaborative that works to promote mutual respect and cooperation between foreign-born and U.S.-born Americans. The ultimate goal of Welcoming America is to create a welcoming atmosphere – community by community – in which immigrants are more likely to integrate into the social fabric of their adopted hometowns.”
The City of Lake Worth, in Palm Beach County, has taken the position all churches are required to obtain a “business license” to conduct worship services. It is using city employees to covertly attend services and acquire evidence, including video, “for future court presentation.”
City-code enforcement officer, Gerard A. Coscia – wearing a hoodie – was sent to the Common Ground Church on Feb. 9 to clandestinely film the worship service, reported the Examiner.
The following Sunday, Coscia returned to the church, which meets in the Coffee Grounds Coffee Bar, handed his business card to pastor Mike Olive and told him, “This Sunday is your last Sunday.”
Olive said he had never received a notice from the city for any violation of any local law, and only learned a non-compliance affidavit had been issued when a church employee checked the city website.
“I inspected the property and found the following violations: Business-rental property found without a current City of Lake Worth business license, specifically to operate as a church, or a house of worship,” Coscia wrote in his case narrative.
“I walked back to the Coffee Bar and was able to visualize … what appeared to be a ministry in progress,” including: “Someone speaking from a podium.” “A [sic] overhead TV or projection with scripture verse on it.” “Rows of people sitting in chairs on both sides like a gathering setting.” “People holding what appeared to be bibles or religious books as one had a cross on it.” The report stated that a video was captured on the “city phone” to be used “for future court presentation.”
But Common Grounds Coffee Bar does have a business license, Olive told the Lake Worth Tribune. He should know – he owns the business. And the site is not a church – it’s a coffee shop that leases space to a church every Sunday morning in the same manner other city restaurants and businesses rent their back rooms to neighborhood groups for their meetings. The Common Grounds site has also hosted open-mic nights and leased space for English classes for immigrants and to Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous for meetings.
Olive also noted that while the church and business share similar names, they are not identical: Common Ground vs. Common Grounds.
“Our message has been amazingly stable, and it’s: Love God, love people,” he said. Many of the 120-130 who attend weekly are in recovery from substance abuse.
Olive said he had heard that City Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who owns a newsstand and gay-pornography shop in Lake Worth, was telling people Olive and his church were “anti-gay,” a charge Olive denied and attempted to address personally with Amoroso.
Olive said Amoroso told him, “You better not have a church there. That better not be a church,” referring to the coffee bar.
It was after that exchange the code-compliance officer was sent to observe the service – based on an “anonymous complaint,” according to William Waters, who oversees the Code-Compliance Department.
“All I know is they’re a coffee shop that’s holding church services, and they cannot hold church services,” Amoroso told the Tribune.
City officials have circled the wagons on the issue.
The city has threatened Common Ground’s landlord with daily fines up to $500 and foreclosure if the “violation” is not corrected by the landlord making the church get a “business license” to meet for worship.
Mark Woods, the manager of the city’s Code-Compliance Department, insists all houses of worship in the city must have a special business license.
“A duck is a duck,” City Manager Michael Bornstein told the Tribune. “If someone is holding religious services as a church, it’s a church.” He said the city was forced to take action “to protect the community.”
“So, all they have to do is go through the conditional land-use process to make sure the impacts have been assessed … if they’re a small church, it shouldn’t be a big deal.”
But it’s already proving to be a big deal for other churches.
“It’s brand new,” pastor Joan Abell of the First Presbyterian Church told the Tribune. “We’ve been there 99 years, and we’ve never had to have a license.”
A church official, told there would be no fee for the business license if the church produced paperwork showing it has been approved as a tax-exempt organization by the IRS, hit a brick wall when trying to comply. The city employee refused to accept the church’s documentation.
In a follow-up meeting with Commissioner Amoroso about the new license requirement, a church member was told, “Oh, it’s for your own good.”
Pastor Olive isn’t buying it, and he’s prepared to fight it in court with the help of Liberty Counsel, based in Orlando.
“It’s unconstitutional,” said Olive. “They can’t deny us a right to practice our religion in the city.”
“The city’s actions are completely baseless,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.
“Lake Worth’s city ordinances specifically exempt churches and charitable organizations from needing a business license; state and federal law require local land use decisions to give equal treatment to secular and sacred assemblies; and the Free Exercise clause forbids government from prohibiting religious meetings. The coffee shop in which Common Ground Church meets has a business license, just as did the previous secular owner who hosted bands and similar gatherings.
“Government employees are public servants and prohibited by the Constitution from inhibiting religious freedom. That is a far cry from sneaking around and into a church and acting like KGB agents,” said Staver.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/u-s-city-spies-on-churches-demands-licenses/#qTU0c7cPCIuslSmB.99
Amoroso is hardly an impartial observer. The first openly homosexual man elected to the Lake Worth City Council, Amoroso appears aggressive in homosexual activity and activism. He owns a business in the municipality known as “Studio 205,” which he bills as “The Fun Store” and “the only Pride store in Palm Beach County.” Also called an “LGBT store,” the establishment “sells dildos and gay porn” and “padded boxers,” but this is okay because Lake Worth “prides itself on an artsy, hippie way of life,” writes the Broward Palm Beach Times. In addition, Amoroso once opened what has been called his county’s “first gay travel agency,” which, presumably, doesn’t just mean a happy one.
And last year Amoroso organized and led a protest in favor of faux marriage on the steps of Lake Worth City Hall,saying, “It’s really to tell Tallahassee it’s not OK that gay couples can’t get married in Florida.” Of course, in reality they may — form a matrimonial union with a member of the opposite sex — which is what marriage is, by correct definition.
The issue erupted on February 9, 2015 when city code enforcement officer, Gerard A. Coscia, clandestinely filmed the church service in progress and told the pastor that would be his last church service at that location. The violation was sent to the landlord for leasee Coffee Grounds Coffee – the company for which let the church borrow their space for a few hours to hold their services. Mike Olive is both the pastor of the church and the owner of the coffee shop. Libertarians are perplexed why a business owner, if already paying a licensing fee, cannot use his or her facility for a few hours a week for a religious service without having to ask the government’s permission to do so. _______________________________________________________________
“At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies, but the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control,” he told the website SocialistProject in 2009.
“What we want to have in the U.S. and in every society is an Internet that is not private property, but a public utility. We want an Internet where you don’t have to have a password and that you don’t pay a penny to use. It is your right to use the Internet.”
(Media Capitalism, the State and 21st Century Media Democracy Struggles: An Interview with Robert McChesney – The Bullet Socialist Project, August 9, 2009)
FCC REFUSES TO TESTIFY BEFORE CONGRESS AHEAD OF INTERNET TAKEOVER
Agency also refuses to publicly release proposed regulations
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler is refusing to appear before Congress as the FCC prepares a regulatory Internet takeover.
Not only that, but Wheeler has also refused to publicly release the FCC’s 332-page draft of the Internet regulations.
“So long as the chairman continues to insist on secrecy, we will continue calling for more transparency and accountability at the commission,” House Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said in a statement. “Chairman Wheeler and the FCC are not above Congress.”
The FCC is expected to vote on its new regulations Thursday, which would allow the agency to expand government control over the Internet, such as regulating service providers like a public utility.
“Do you trust the federal government to make the Internet ecosystem more vibrant than it is today?” FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai stated, who broke rank to oppose the proposed regulations. “Can you think of any regulated utility like the electric company or water company that is as innovative as the Internet?” _____________________________________________
NO TO NEO-NAZISM; YES TO SOCIALIST “DEMOCRACY”, TO BE A ‘VOICE’ FOR THE “MIDDLE CLASS”, SOUTH AMERICAN STYLE?:
“I BELIEVE THAT ‘SYRIZA’ CAN BE THE SPARK THAT SETS THE FIELD ALIGHT”; INTENDS TO OVERTURN “CASINO CAPITALISM”; “WE BELIEVE THAT AT TIMES OF SUCH BARBARIC EVENTS, WHAT ARE DEMANDED ARE RADICAL SOLUTIONS”
LEARNING FROM THE
MASTERS OF REVOLUTION
A COALITION OF LEFTISTS: POPE FRANCIS, ALEXIS TSIPRAS, BARACK OBAMA, AND PERHAPS HUGO CHAVEZ, PABLO IGLESIAS FOR POINTERS:
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
A MAN HAS COME ON THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE, AND MANY WHO KNOW THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AS THEIR SAVIOR, ARE TAKING A HARD LOOK AT HIM.
“And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”Revelation 13:2 (KJV)
EDITOR’S NOTE:We are looking for Jesus Christ, and not the Antichrist. But when we discovered this new “mystery man” who from nowhere has taken rock-star control of Greece, is backed by George Soros, has formed alliance with Russia and is talking with Pope Francis about a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. We thought you just might want to know about it.
His name is Alexis Tsipras, and it seems that he meets much of the criteria of the prophesied Antichrist. He was just elected as the Prime Minister of Greece. He is an atheist and a far left winger. His party in Greece is called SYRIZA. He has appeared out of nowhere in the last couple of years, almost magically.He has landed himself in a most precarious situation. Greece is broken. Is he the one to fix it, and also the EU which is struggling and groping at almost anything to revive Europe? All eyes are on this man.
On Sept 17, 2014 Mr. Tsipras met with Pope Francis at the Vatican. He was the first leader of a left-wing party that met the head of the Roman-Catholic church–ever. This is not surprising with this Pope, because he is rabidly ecumenical, and very “Green”, always talking about global warming and people harming the earth. It has been said that Tsipras and the Pope get along famously, and are in one accord. No problem that one claims to be the head of the “faithful” on this earth, and the other, a staunch atheist. Could it be that there are unseen circumstances, not being divulged to the public? I would say, assuredly so.
Alexis Tsipras has personally asked Pope Francis, in a meeting at the Vatican, to create a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. Click image for quote from Tsipras official website.
Terry James of Rapture Readywrote a piece on the possibility of this man being the Antichrist, but he made strong point at the beginning of the piece, telling Christians that we should be looking for the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ to Rapture His church from this earth.
Here are two excerpts from Terry James article on “Nearing Midnight”
Antichrist Archetype Emerges
“…There has surfaced, in my view at least, an archetype of the leader to come who will be the first beast of Revelation 13. This generation is not yet in the Tribulation, but is experiencing precursors to that last seven years that makes us know that a time of unprecedented troubles is just ahead. Likewise, a leader has arisen from the area of the reviving Roman Empire, one whose emergence makes the observant Bible prophecy student suspect ever more assuredly that Antichrist is waiting in the shadows of the immediate future.
Any such leader rising suddenly and dramatically out of the very nucleus of what was ancient Rome justifiably raises the eyebrows of Bible prophecy students. The visible, physical reactions of those who have put him on his pedestal are quite interesting…glassy eyes filled with tears of joy, as they looked worshipfully at the man on whom they are hanging their hopes. As a matter of fact, the slogan for his campaign was “Hope is coming!” — Terry James, RaptureReady.com
“I think we are looking at an archetype of the man whose name will add up to six hundred, three score and six.”—Terry” [1] – source
Here is part of a blogpost from christianpost.com:
“One interesting candidate that is clearly different from most of the others is Greek politician Alexis Tsipras He is the nominee for the Party of the European left; he also is the youngest of all the candidates at 39 years of age. He is a total atheist whose political roots are in socialism and communism. He remains un-married, but has cohabitated with his high school girlfriend for twenty years and they have one child.
Not only is he a wildly popular figure in Greece, but was elected unanimously to the SYRIZA a conglomerate of 13 far left radical groups. He has an Obama-like quality of being believed without a long established history of significant accomplishments or well accepted political plans or skills.” [2] – source
Alexis Tsipras sworn into office takes Civil Oath
“Alexis Tsipras, who was sworn in earlier this week as the new Prime Minister of Greece,has become his country’s first openly atheist leader. A survey noted that atheist leaders in Europe are becoming more prominent, with France and Croatia also being led by non-religious figures.
Tsipras was sworn in on Monday after his Syriza party won the elections in Greece, but he chose not to take a religious oath at the ceremony. Reuters noted that Tsipras, whose left-wing party has opposed austerity measures, broke from tradition when he decided to take a civil, rather than a biblical oath.” [3] – source
He is the first leader of Greece to refuse to take a religious oath on the Bible in the history of the country.
Tsipras has met with Pope Francis to discuss a peace treaty with Israel:
Tsipras said: “Even though we started from different points, ideological points, we believe we have common positions in the principles of solidarity, in the principles of justice, peace and cohesion.”
“We agreed on the need to continue the dialogue between the European left and the Christian church,” he said. “There is a need to create an ecumenical alliance against poverty, inequalities, against the logic that markets and profits are above people.”” – Alexis Tsipras in meeting with Pope Francis
The Pope and the new Greek leader also discussed climate change. Pope Francis is open to everyone, well almost everyone. He embraces the Atheist, the Wiccan, really any beliefs are fine with him, as long as social justice is addressed and a common hatred of Capitalism is quite important.
Think of how the bible describes the character and nature of the Antichrist, while you read the following quote from Alexis Tsipras official website:
“We discussed the need for peace to return on earth, for the immediate cease of war interventions…asked him to take an international initiative for the termination of conflicts in the Middle East. Finally, we agreed that the dialogue between the Left and the Christian Church must go on. We may have different ideological starting points; however, we converge on common values, like solidarity, love for the fellow Human being, social justice, and our concern regarding world peace.”Alexis Tsipras in his meeting with Pope Francis
Alexis Tsipras as the Antichrist? Pope Francis as the False Prophet? It certainly is pretty interesting, wouldn’t you say?
George Soros backs Tsipras
“The Guardian featured an article today about George Soros and the opening of his “Solidarity Center” in Thessaloniki, Greece, the first of many he plans to open in order to help Greeks who were hit the worst by the economic crisis.”
Prophecy pastor JD Farag in Hawaii talking about this ground-breaking NTEB original story:
You see, it is a hobby of Mr. Soros to take his billions of dollars and play politics. He groomed Barack Obama for his entrance onto the world stage. He is part of the New World Order (Illuminati). He is probably one of the most evil people who ever walked the earth. Strong statement – I know. But how about Hitler? Of course, Hitler was incredibly evil. But did you know what George Soros did in Germany during the Holocaust? He was a teen and from a billionaire father. He was a Jew, but to save his own life, he turned in his fellow Jews to be loaded on the trains, heading for their deaths. He is unrepentant of these deeds – he says there is nothing to be sorry about.
Isn’t it interesting that the pre-elections took place in Thessaloniki (Thessalonica from the Bible) and now Mr. Soros has established his Solidarity Center in that same city? One thing I find fascinating is that in the Bible, the Antichrist was spoken of in much detail by the Apostle Paul in the book of 2 Thessalonians 2:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.”
There are no coincidences with our God.
“According to the article Aliki Mouriki, a sociologist of the Greek National Center for Social Research said: “Greece, to a great degree, has become a failed state. It is unable to provide basic facilities for its citizens because of budget cuts. In the absence of public welfare, and with around one and a half million officially unemployed, growing numbers are looking for substitutes elsewhere.”
Last year, George Soros had offered Greek institutions 1 million dollars to buy heating oil, after mayors in different Greek municipalities requested help. “It had got to the point where some of the schools had not a drop of oil left. This month we got 20,000 tons from Soros and it has really helped. The government has now promised an extra four million euros but we have yet to see it,” said the mayor of Naoussa in Northern Greece.
George Soros has donated money for heating oil to approximately 190 Greek institutions such as orphanages, schools, nurseries and homes of the elderly and is planning to open “Solidarity Centers” around Greece. The first one opened in Thessaloniki just a few days ago and is already filled with applications.
George Soros’ philanthropy has been the subject of a great controversy. Parents’ associations all over Greece are refusing donations because they are suspicious of his motives. Yiannis Boutaris, mayor of Thessaloniki responded saying “Why Soros gives money to Thessaloniki or other Greek regions, or even to NGOs to help vulnerable groups, should not be the centre of attention. It is the fact that Greek tycoons, shipowners and those from the diaspora don’t follow his example.”[4]
Russia is looking to make an ally within its biggest enemy – Greece
The plot is beginning to thicken.
Greece’s defense minister was invited to Moscow to meet Sergei Shoygu, his Russian counterpart, in the near future. Greece is part of the 28 members of NATO. Russia has always regarded NATO is its biggest threat. Now, Russia appears to have a newfound interest in establishing a relationship with Greece’s defense minister. On Tuesday Kammenos met with both the US and Russian ambassadors to Greece.
The solidarity shown to #Greece by the peoples of Europe is the European “dream” in practice. It is the future of #Europe
“The discussion with the ambassador of Russia, Mr. Maslov, was also about the pending agreements between the Ministries of National Defence of Greece and Russia, the capabilities of a strategic cooperation, the organisation of the year of Greek-Russian friendship in 2016 which will take place in Greece and in Russia. I received an invitation by Russia’s Minister of Defence to visit Moscow within the next period of time,” Kammenos wrote on Greece’s Ministry of National Defense website.” [5] – source
The new Greek government at times has been critical of both the EU and NATO. Tsipras has spoken of withdrawing from NATO.
“On Nato, Syriza describes its approach as a ‘multi-dimensional, pro-peace foreign policy for Greece, with no involvement in wars or military plans.’ It seeks ‘the re-foundation of Europe away from artificial divisions and Cold War alliances such as Nato.’ … Last year on Syriza MP called for Greece to leave Nato altogether, though the comments were rapidly played down by senior officials,” writes BBC.
“The new Greek government is cause for concern, especially because Tsipras has voiced his opposition to NATO membership in the past,” Ian Bremmer told Business Insider last week. “And his early actions — these comments regarding sanctions, as well as his meeting with the Russian ambassador to Greece without hours of taking office — demonstrates that he is willing to engage differently with Moscow.”
It Was Just Like Obama’s First Election Night!”
Already there are comparisons between Tsipras and Obama. The adoring crowds. The rock star status. The people really don’t know much about their new PM. Sound familiar?
They know that Tsipras met his partner, and mother of his kids, in high school, when they both joined Student’s for Communism.
I have been digging into the Internet, attempting to find everything I can about Alexis Tsipras. What I am about to tell you will probably shock you as it did me. I want to stress that I have found this information on different Greek sites (translated of course) and it by no means proves that this is true. But if it is, then I do think that we “may” be looking at the Wicked (as the Bible calls him).
Here is what I have been reading:
“The father of Alexis Cipra, Pavlos Cipra, died in 2012. He was a billionaire with a direct link with the Mossad, he was the father of a slave BHL entrepreneur in Africa where he was trafficking in Africans. He sent dozens of Africans in Greece in order to exploit them, giving them just enough to survive in its construction companies and public travux.
The family business “SKAPANEA” was responsible for all major public works in Greece since the junta until today, construction / restoration of Orthodox churches through broadcasting. Like the Italian Mafia, the other companies have to pay a percentage to the “family” if they want to survive. “ [6] – source
Yes, you read that correctly. I have been finding people in Greece saying that Tsipras is actually “Cipra” and is of Jewish blood.
“Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.” Many End Times scholars have concluded that this passage of Scripture from Daniel 11:37 shows the Antichrist to be atheist, since he no longer regards the God of his fathers.
We as children of God, should be looking for the Blessed Hope of His appearing to catch us away from this wicked planet. But we should also be watchmen on the wall, discerning the times and events. In this way, we will be more informed to share our thoughts and Scripture with others.
And when I look at Tsipras/Cipra – I see someone who may just be the man of sin of which the Bible speaks.
We won’t be here, but this should give us pause, and make us realize that we need to share the Gospel with everyone we know!!
MARANATHA!!!!!
Syriza Leader Alexis Tsipras Receives Rock Star Greeting At Polling Booth
Published on Jan 25, 2015
The radical left Syriza party is poised to win Greece;s general election by promising to rewrite the terms of the country’s international bailout.
Syriza’s leader Alexis Tsipras said the future of Greece was not to follow a path of austerity.
“The strong message of the Greek people will be that Greece will return (to) democracy, Greek people will regain social cohesion and dignity,” he told the media after casting his vote.
The Syriza party has remained firmly ahead of conservative Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ New Democracy party in opinion polls throughout the election campaign.
“So you also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near—at the doors!” (Mark 13:29). “And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37).
Jesus and His prophets told us the signs to look for so we would know when we’re in the times of the signs. While we’re praying and witnessing to others about Christ, we must also be His watchmen. In order to do that, we need to keep abreast of current events.
That said, just what is it about Greece’s new prime minister that has elevated him to idol status by those who elected him, induced fear within the European Union, and perked up the ears of Bible prophecy students and experts?
A few prophecy watchers along with some others began to take notice of him over 2 ½ years ago.
From The Washington Post on June 15, 2012, Greek Election: Candidate Alexis Tsipris Hopes An Earthquake Will Shake The Euro Zone Sunday:
“His student movement was called ‘The Earthquake,’ and that’s what many worry will be felt if he becomes prime minister in a Sunday election…Syriza (Tsipras’ party) leaders say he will effectively nationalize the country’s banks. ‘On Sunday, the old world will die,’ Tsipras said.
Invoking what has become Greece’s modern version of a mythic beast — the ‘memorandum’ that lays out the strict conditions for the country’s bailout loans — he made clear what will happen if Syriza wins enough parliamentary seats to form a government. He said, ‘This will be a historic change for Greece and Europe…The memorandum is coming to an end.’”
‘Tsipras’ rise ‘is a mistake that’s about to become a tragedy,’ said Chrisanthos Lazaridis, a New Democracy candidate.’” — WashingtonPost.com (2012).
From the Greek website TO BHMA, Tsipras, The Hope of Greece, Europe and Rest of World? May 17, 2013:
“Alexis Tsipras’ trip to Croatia for the 6th Subversive Forum…has been deemed a success, as the Greek Opposition leader managed to impress audience and speakers alike… Perhaps the greatest compliments, with the greatest media impact, were made by American director Oliver Stone, who not only declared Mr. Tsipras to be ‘the future Prime Minister of Greece’ but also ‘the hope of Greece, Europe and the rest of the world.’” — TO BHMA, Tovina.gr (2013)
In a google search you’ll find articles claiming Tsipras and his Syriza party are funded by billionaire global elitist, George Soros, who has paid for Tsiparis to travel around to speaking engagements. Soros opened a solidarity center in Thessalonica, Greece a year ago to help those who are in need of charity, and he’s helped schools and orphanages, etc. But there are some who question his motives.
From BBC.com, Greek Radical Left Syriza Prepares for Power Under Tsipras: “Critics see Tsipras as arrogant, inexperienced and power hungry – a maverick politician willing to sacrifice Greece to rise to power.”
If you haven’t read Terry James’ Feb.2, 2015 Nearing Midnight article at Rapture Ready titled Antichrist Archetype Emerges, you should. Here is an excerpt:
“…There has surfaced, in my view at least, an archetype of the leader to come who will be the first beast of Revelation 13. This generation is not yet in the Tribulation, but is experiencing precursors to that last seven years that makes us know that a time of unprecedented troubles is just ahead. Likewise, a leader has arisen from the area of the reviving Roman Empire, one whose emergence makes the observant Bible prophecy student suspect ever more assuredly that Antichrist is waiting in the shadows of the immediate future.
Any such leader rising suddenly and dramatically out of the very nucleus of what was ancient Rome justifiably raises the eyebrows of Bible prophecy students. The visible, physical reactions of those who have put him on his pedestal are quite interesting…glassy eyes filled with tears of joy, as they looked worshipfully at the man on whom they are hanging their hopes. As a matter of fact, the slogan for his campaign was “Hope is coming!” — Terry James, RaptureReady.com
No person, place or thing on Earth should be idolized, yet man has always sought to worship everything but God. There is one false god in particular that seems to have been worshiped in one form or another since time began. Let’s learn about how this “god” transformed through the centuries, and then I’ll get back to my profile of Alexis Tsiparis.
In ancient Greece they worshiped the false god Zaparrus (also called Sarapis or Serapis). In actuality this god was a composite of all the false gods that were worshiped going back to Babylon. This god was referred to as king of the deep, god of the underworld, lord of heaven, one who signified abundance, and even resurrection.
The Babylonian god Ea (Enki) was titled Serapsi, which means king of the deep. Serapis was a combination of deities derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis (Osiris + Apis = Oserapis/Serapis).
In an effort to unify Egyptians and Greeks under his realm, Ptolemy I changed the appearance of the statue of this god. It was depicted as Greek in appearance, but with Egyptian trappings. However, it had combined iconography from a great many cults.
The following is from Macrobius’ early 5th century book Saturnalia.
“In the city on the borders of Egypt which boasts Alexander [the Great] of Macedon as its founder, Sarapis and Isis are worshiped with a reverence that is almost fanatical. Evidence that the sun, under the name of Sarapis, is the object of all this reverence is either the basket set on the head of the god or the figure of a three-headed creature placed by his statue. The middle head of this figure, which is also the largest, represents a lion’s; on the right a dog raises its head with a gentle and fawning air; and on the left the neck ends in the head of a ravening wolf. All three beasts are joined together by the coils of a serpent whose head returns to the god’s right hand, which keeps the monster in check.” —Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius, 5thcentury
A temple of Sarapis (or Roman Serapis) in Egypt is mentioned in 323 BC by Plutarch in Life of Alexander [the Great]. Serapis had a temple (called a serapeium or serapeium) in Babylon where Alexander the Great died. This god was considered of such importance that it alone was consulted on behalf of this dying king who ruled the Greek kingdom of Macedon. He was the conqueror of many lands. Many cities were named after him. He sought to reach the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea” but died a month before the age of 33.
Serapis continued to increase in popularity during the Roman period, often replacing Osiris as the consort of Isis in temples outside Egypt. In 385 AD a Christian mob destroyed the Serapeium of Alexander. But the Serapis cult survived until all forms of pagan religion were banned under the Theodisian decree in 391.
Some have actually tried to draw parallels between worship of this false god and our Messiah, Christ Jesus. Of course this is just another atheistic approach to deny that the God of the Bible is real.
Okay; that’s enough about Serapis, Sarapis, or Zapparus. Let’s get back to Tsipras:
The Italian left is supportive of him. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is also from a left-wing party and whose country is also in debt with high unemployment, said “All of Europe is watching the new Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.”
When Renzi presented Tsipras with a black tie he said, “I promise I will wear it when we find a viable solution for Europe.” He never wears ties during meetings with leaders and won’t until then.
From the website, Italy 24: “Italy should always pay attention to the ‘G’ factor — G as in Greece. This starts with geographic and historic reasons, but is even more relevant today especially for ‘Hurricane’ Tsipras, hitting Europe again and leaning on our door.”
President Obama called to express his support for Tsipras and his government’s controversial drive against austerity in Europe, but not everyone shares the joy. The following excerpt is from Spiegel Online International: Merkel’s Unintended Creation: Could Tsipras’ Win Upset Balance of Power in Europe?
“Alexis Tsipras couldn’t have picked a more symbolic place to show his voters that he is a prime minister like no other Greece has seen before…Alexis Tsipras, 40, the youngest prime minister in Greek (modern) history, also intends to be its most unusual leader — a man of the people who is determined to fundamentally change his country…Tsipras’ fans revere him as a rebel. Many Greeks see him as a man who has what it takes to free them from oppression. At the same time, many Germans see him as a terrifying extremist.
His rise to power cannot be explained without a deep understanding of the frustration that Europe’s policy of austerity has sparked… Europe is gazing with a mixture of fascination and horror at the new strongman in Athens.
‘There is no reason not to like him when you meet him,’ says author Petros Tatsopoulos, who left Syriza early last year following controversial comments he made regarding the party’s stance on terrorism. People in Berlin government circles likewise say that he has ‘charisma’ and handles himself well in public…They (Greeks) describe Tsipras as a clever, good looking champion of the people who is particularly attractive to female voters. ‘Sexy Alexi’ is one of his nicknames in Greece.’” —- Speigel Online International
Within hours of taking office, Tsipras made the Russian ambassador his first foreign visitor, and has openly opposed further economic sanctions against Russia. The very next day he visited the envoy to China. “We are coming in to radically change the way that policies and administration are conducted in this country,” he said.
Tsipras is Europe’s first left-wing leader to be invited to the Vatican. He met with the pope in September 2014, following months of secret negotiations, and he brought the pope an olive branch. They both share in the global warming aka Global Governance agenda. They both saw eye-to-eye on issues such as banks, profits and the need for Europe’s left to expand its dialogue with the church. Tsipras, a self-described atheist, said, “We come from different ideological starting points, but we meet on pan-human values.”
Tsipras says it’s time for the European left to build bridges with the church – a time to form “an ecumenical alliance.”
More About Tsipras
Alexis Tsipras was born in Greece on July 28, 1974. Interestingly, that’s one week after the birth date of Alexander the Great. (July 20 or 21, 356 BC). His family’s roots are in Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, in Southeast Europe. Thrace was part of the ancient kingdom once ruled by Alexander the Great.
As a teen in the late 80s, he joined the Communist Youth of Greece. As a college student he moved over to the Youth of the Coalition of the Left, where he made his presence known.
In 2008 at age 33, Tsipras became the president of The Coalition of Left, of Movements and Ecology, commonly known as Synaspismos, or more simply as SYN. SYN is the largest group in the Coalition of the Radical Left –Syriza. Syriza has been characterized as an anti-establishment party whose success has sent shock-waves across the EU.
In 2012 Tsipras’ Syriza party became the second largest party in the Greek parliament and the main opposition party.
In December 2013 Tsipras was the first candidate nominated by the European Left for the position of President of the Commission of the European Union. He didn’t win that seat, but a facebook page is still up that says “Alexis Tsipras, Candidate for EU Commission President.” Also, there is a facebook group in Italian that says (translated to English), “President of the European Commission.” I guess they’re still hoping.
In 2014 Syriza become the most popular party in Greece.
On January 25, 2015, in a snap election, he became the youngest Prime Minister in modern Greek history and–being an atheist–the first to take a civil instead of a religious oath of office.
Tsiparis views himself as being at the helm of a broader movement against austerity policies that, as he says, “will spread across the entire Continent.”
He has never married (he’s against the institution of marriage) but lives with a woman he’s known since the age of 13. He keeps his private life very private, and rarely is she seen in public with him. They have two children.
Speaking of marriage, he is a strong supporter of same-sex marriage.
From The Huffington Post, What You Need To Know About Alexis Tsipras, The Greek Leader Who Wants To Change Europe:
“Some in politics would say Tsipras is a ‘sprinter,’ since he managed to accomplish in a short period of time what others have worked for their entire lives. While the economic crisis and the indignation of the Greek people have been important factors in Tsipras’ rise and the success of Syriza, the Greek Parliament’s youngest party leader distinguished himself on the political scene early on. Even today, his political opponents belligerently bring up his political actions as a ‘kid.’” — HuffingtonPost.com
From the Jerusalem Post, Analysis: The Victory of Syriza in Greece is Bad News For Israel:
“Syriza’s ranks include an array of leftists ranging from Marxists to Greens.The party has constantly identified itself with the Palestinian cause and its program includes a demand for abolition of Greece’s military cooperation with Israel and the support for the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Last year, Tsipras stated that ‘the world should make every possible effort so that Israel ends its criminal attack and brutality against Palestinians.’ — JPost.com
Tsipras intends to implement his Thessaloniki Programme “to end the humanitarian crisis.” At the European level, this programme demands a “European New Deal” that Tsipras says is non-negotiable. He’s warned the markets that they will have to “dance to the tune” of a Syriza government.
Thessaloniki, also known as Thessalonica, has an interesting history. The city was named for Princess Thessalonike of Macedon, the half sister of Alexander the Great.
It became the capital of one of the four Roman districts of Macedonia. Later it became the capital of all the Greek provinces of the Roman Empire. When the Empire was divided into the tetrarchy, Thessalonica became the administrative capital of one of the four portions of the Empire.
From Wikipedia.org: “Thessalonica was so important to Adolf Hitler that he planned to make it part of Germany. In 1943 the Nazis began brutal, inhumane actions against the historic Jewish population in Thessalonica, forcing them into a ghetto near the railroad lines and beginning deportation to concentration and labor camps where they dehumanized their captives. They deported and exterminated approximately 96% of Thessalonica’s Jews of all ages during the Holocaust.”
Thessalonica was also an important center for the spread of Christianity:
·The apostle Paul started a church there.
·His First Epistle to the Thessalonians is said to be the first written book of the New Testament.
·Paul was pleased that those in this church of Thessalonica had turned from worshiping false gods (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10).
·He preached to them about the Rapture ((1Thessalonians 4:13-18).
·He preached to them about the coming wrath against the ungodly in The Day of the Lord, and explained to the church that they were not destined for wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).
·Paul preached more about the Antichrist in Thessalonians than anywhere (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).
·He told them to stand firm in their Christian faith (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17).
To Greece, to all of Europe, and to the entire world: Our hope isn’t with man, but with our Blessed Hope, Christ Jesus, who came to Earth to die in our place so that we might be saved! Let us pray for the lost to put their trust in Him while there is yet time, for the hour is late.
“Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming; even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).
Yes, Alexis Tsiparis is an antichrist archetype. Even if he didn’t have any other characteristics of an antichrist, the fact that he’s an atheist makes him one according to God’s Word in 1 John 2:22.
The one who is THE Antichrist is surely hiding in plain sight at this point in time, as is The False Prophet. Those who are caught up to meet Jesus in the air in the Rapture don’t plan to be around to know for sure who he is. But we can, as watchmen on the wall, warn those who’ll be left behind what to expect
I’ll close with this excerpt from an article by Brett Gillette, The Nationality of the Antichrist:
“Daniel chapter 8 provides us with further clues in regard to the life and times of the Antichrist. In it, the angel Gabriel explains Daniel’s vision of a ram and a goat as events relating to the Greek empire of Alexander the Great. In a claim verified by history, Gabriel states that following the death of Alexander, the empire will be divided into four parts. From one of those four parts, the Antichrist will arise:
‘The shaggy male goat represents the king of the Greek Empire. The four prominent horns that replaced the one large horn show that the Greek Empire will break into four sections with four kings, none of them as great as the first. At the end of their rule, when their sin is at its height, a fierce king, a master of intrigue, will rise to power. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause a shocking amount of destruction and succeed in everything he does. He will destroy powerful leaders and devastate the holy people’ (Daniel 8:21-24, NLT).
Daniel 11 provides an in-depth examination of the history of the breakup Alexander’s empire, describing historical events relating to the king of the North and the king of the South. The latter part of the chapter describes the Antichrist, identifying him with other historical figures who have held the title “king of the North.” This, along with the passage cited above, clearly links the Antichrist to the northern kingdom of the divided Greek Empire. This kingdom was ruled by one of Alexander’s generals, Seleucus, who ruled the areas of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that the Antichrist will in some way be linked to this geographic area of the Middle East.
It is an absolute certainty that the Antichrist will arrive on the world scene as the ruler of a revived Roman empire. However, it is less certain whether he will be of actual Italian descent or some other ethnic background. Several Scriptures offer the possibility that he could be Assyrian, Greek, or Jewish. But none of them offers us the definitive statement contained in Daniel 9:26.
So how do we rectify these seemingly contradictory prophecies concerning the Antichrist’s nationality? Is he Roman? Italian? Jewish? Assyrian? Greek? He doesn’t necessarily have to be exclusively one or another. He could be an Assyrian who is Jew born and raised in Italy, or any number of possible combinations. We don’t know for certain, but history indicates that each of these prophecies will be harmonized when the Antichrist finally appears.
But no matter how much we speculate on the ultimate meaning of the Scriptures, we won’t know the absolute truth until God’s appointed time. As such, it is wise to study these prophecies and teach them to others, so that Christians of the Antichrist’s generation will be able to positively identify him based on sound scriptural evidence.
May the Lord Jesus Christ, upon His return, find us actively engaged in teaching these truths to others. Until then, live with a patient and enduring faith that His return is soon upon us.” — Britt Gillette, raptureready.com
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).
CARRYING THE INFECTION INTO THE WORLD; COULD THIS BE THE FINAL “RESTING PLACE” FOR SOME, BEFORE THEY GO TO HELL?
“Resting Place is a House of Prayer and Revival Center for the region in Northern New Jersey. We come together to seek His face, believe for encounter, to see heaven come down to earth, and work to hasten/catalyze the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
An ATS Seminarian’s Ecstatic Encounter at the Resting Place: House of Prayer and Revival Center
An ATS Seminarian’s Ecstatic Encounter at the Resting Place: House of Prayer and Revival Center and An ATS Seminarian’s Summer Immersion into Shores of Grace: NAR Ministry
In this article you will meet Maddy, a twenty-seven year old ATS seminarian, who genuinely desires a deeper walk with the Lord. Now, as Maddy goes after these experiences, she describes them in the Nyack “New York’s Christian College” official blog called “Life at Nyack.” It is here one can read her astounding story of her encounter with the man with the piercing sword as well as other stories of her spiritual quests.
Maddy Recruits for ATS
Who is Maddy? Maddy is a third year seminary student who, up to this past summer, was the Admissions Associate for ATS. In “Why ATS?!”, Maddy records just who she is, “I am that enthusiastic face found behind a table, a banner, and a whole lot of ATS and Nyack College material at an event or church. And I am that woman who prays, encourages, and answers the tough questions and lends a listening ear to … prospective students of the Alliance Theological Seminary.”
Maddy further writes, ” … for me recruiting … isn’t something I do out of obligation. I recruit for ATS because I strongly believe in everything the … seminary has to offer.” Maddy continues, “As a student of the Master’s of Divinity program God has literally shaken and is in the process of shaking everything that can be shaken within me.” A bit later, she reveals two of the places where this “shaking” has been going on. She says, “… through lecture after lecture in courses like ‘PPTF’ and in ‘Initiation to Spiritual Formation,’ I truly began to understand who it is that God says I am.” http://life.nyack.edu/why-ats/
Maddy Retreats to the Resting Place
In Maddy’s blog “Fearless” one finds Maddy at the Resting Place: House of Prayer and Revival Center which she writes is, “… a house of prayer where many Nyack and ATS students frequent.” http://life.nyack.edu/fearless/ And just where is this House of Prayer that Maddy frequents, and what is it all about?
For answers I researched this site: http://www.restingplacehop.com/about. Below “About” I read: The Resting Place is a House of Prayer and Revival Center in Northern New Jersey “… where we come together to seek His face, believe for encounter, to see heaven come down to earth, and work to hasten/catalyze the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Its Mission: Its purpose the site says is committed to building a 24/7 prayer room and developing schools of ministry on the place of Night and Day prayer.
Its Friends: Bethel Church, Redding; Bill Johnson; Bob Jones; Che An; John and Carol Arnott; Kansas City IHOP; Lou Engle; Mike Bickle; Heidi Baker; Rick Joyner; Randy Clark; and other NAR stalwarts. Its Teaching and Podcast Suggestions: Bethel Church podcast, YWAM Fire and Fragrance DTS Podcasts, Weekend Teaching KC IHOP, IHOP Atlanta Podcast, IHOP Atlanta Awakening, and Personal Spiritual Formation by Ron Walborn. http://restingplacehop.weebly.com/teaching–podcasts.html
Maddy Tells Her “Pierced by Love” Story
Maddy begins her story by saying she was lying face down on the floor of the Resting Place (And Maddy inserts “lots of Nyack College students and ATS students visit this place.”) crying. She felt as if she wanted to run, sit on God’s lap, and hug him but this was impossible. But, God must have felt the sentiments of her heart, relates Maddy, for she was overwhelmed by a great sense of love and longing. Maddy writes, “I felt this love wrap around me like a tight, strong-passion-filled love.”
And in a mystical St.Teresa-of-Avila-like-moment Maddy sees a man clothed in white garments with a golden belt round His waist, and hanging off his belt was a sword with the words “Love” carved into it. This man had piercing light emanating from his eyes so Maddy could not look. Then this man took “His sword,” says Maddy, and pierced me with it. Seconds later, the leader of the Resting Place, Mr. Ali Ferrell, was at her side, saying, “He (Jesus) wants to pierce you with his Holy love ….” http://life.nyack.edu/pierced-by-love/
Maddy Embraces Dr. Rob Reimer’s Challenge
Now, what had Maddy been doing just prior to this ecstatic encounter? Why Maddy had been reading Dr. Rob Reimer’s book: Pathways to the King. In chapter two “Pursue God,” she had read Reimer’s instructions on how to initiate intimacy with God. As a result Maddy declares, “I took on the challenge of pursuing God.” Then as Reimer instructs, she says, “I have been sacrificing: time, money, hanging out, etc. to seek the face of God.” What a travesty that Maddy drank in Reimer’s prescription for pursuing God.
Maddy Attends a Holy Spirit Conference In “Abuser of God’s Grace” Maddy tells how many ATS friends made the annual trek to “The Holy Spirit Conference” at Dr. Rob Reimer’s CMA’s South Shore Community Church in Brockton, Ma. There she set up her table with materials to sell more potential students on the wonders of ATS. It was Dr. Martin Sander’s night to preach, and the line that stood out to Maddy was: “some of us are abusers of God grace.” Later during prayer a friend said, “God is saying thank you, thank you for acknowledging me.” http://life.nyack.edu/abuser-of-gods-grace/
Maddy Goes to NAR Shores of Grace, Brazil
Maddy’s entitles her next blog: “Taking a Risk.” In it she records her upcoming summer graduate course, second continent experience (ATS MIA IC),where she will be part of God’s rescue mission for the vulnerable at the Randy Clark Global School of Ministry offshoot “Shores of Grace.”
Mandy seems to be reechoing the words of Dr. Ron Walborn’s Nyack: New York Christian College piece “Alliance Theological Seminary” where the dean quoted John Wimber when he said, “‘Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.'” With God’s grace and the Spirit’s empowerment, Alliance Theological Seminary will launch hundreds of leaders … to advance His Kingdom and bring back Christ our Coming King.” http://life.nyack.edu/adventure-into-the-unknown/
Maddy Listens to Mama Heidi Baker Maddy’s piece “Amor Parce com Algo” finds Maddy one week into her Brazilian rescue mission listening to NAR prophetess Heidi Baker and pondering Baker’s words, “Love looks like something.” Maddy, at this point, didn’t know what to expect, and was filled with uncertainties. But, during this time she was about to absorb the words from a book she had ordered that her professor- mentor Dr. Rob Reimer recommended. That book, not the Bible, was going to make a big difference in preparing her for what was to come.http://life.nyack.edu/lovelookslikesomething/
A Look at Maddy’s Shores of Grace NAR Ministry Base
As I researched, it was soon apparent that “Shores of Grace” was not a CMA ministry, but a full-blown New Apostolic Reformation base of which Maddy was to be part of for ten weeks. Reading further, according to its leader Nic Billman, SOG had begun under Randy Clark’s Global School of Supernatural Ministry.
And much like the Resting Place:HOP, Billman lists various NAR endorsements, heroes, friends, churches, and products. Two of several endorsers were Randy Clark, and Patricia King. Three of its many heroes include Heidi Baker, Patricia King, and Kevin Prosch. (Now, it made sense why Maddy was listening to Mama Heidi for even the Billman children, their site says, list Heidi as their hero.) Some friends listed were: “We See Jesus Ministries,” Lubbock IHOP, Philadelphia Tabernacle of David, and a host of others. (“We See Jesus Ministries!”– this made me recall that Maddy had written about her 2013 Christmas vacation ministry in Haiti with NAR’s Adam LiVecchi.) http://shoresofgrace.com/en/about-us/leadership
On top of NAR partners and connections, the Billmans are prolific NAR worship musicians featured on Randy Clark’s Global Awakening Book Store saying, “For years, people have talked about the new sounds coming, the reality is that we ARE the new sound that God is releasing on the earth.” A Billman CD is simply entitled, “A Soaking CD;” while another “Anthem CD” is filled with intimate love songs, prophetic degrees, and intercessory warfare. https://globalawakeningstore.com/Nic-and-Rachael-Billman/
Sad it is that Maddy gains ATS credit by freely serving with these NAR ministries, and that she was allowed to write openly on a blog that is meant to entice new students to Nyack. And even more troubling is how these experiences have so profoundly influenced Maddy herself as she madly chases God at every turn.
Maddy Experiences a “Dark Night of the Soul”
Maddy started her “Sometimes My Time in Brazil Is Like a Dark Night of the Soul” Life at Nyack blog with a NAR musician Rick Pino quote, “Through the dark night of the soul there is still a bride coming forth.”
Again, here was another- new to me NAR celebrity- who I learned is the founder of Fire Rain Ministries whose music is said to be militant, joyful, intimate, and prophetic. He’s cofounder, too, of “Fire on the Altar” a fifty-hour non-stop worship service in the heart of the tabernacle of David And he also leads the “Heart of David (HOD)” School of ministry. HOD is a movement of musicianaries who are raising up day and night worship to transform cities, regions, and nations. Rick Pino also performs with many other NAR celebs as Cindy Jacob, Lou Engle, Jose Diaz, Matt Gilman, Dutch Sheets, Heidi Baker, and others. Sadly, Pino is but one more NARite who has influenced Maddy.
In her blog Maddy spells out, how Dr. Rob Reimer’s recommendation of the book : Mansions of the Heart had prepared her for hard times she had at SOG that she dubbed her own “dark night of the soul.”
The term “dark night of the soul,” is associated with St. John of the Cross, a contemporary of St. Teresa of Avila, who lived during the sixteenth century in Spain. It is in Ashbrook’s book –so filled with its monasteries, monks, and mysticism–that Ashbrook spends considerable time explaining the necessity of the “dark night of the soul.” And after swallowing this teaching, at the end of her SOG time, Maddy shares, “I see a bride coming forth. I see the beauty of the kingdom on the inside of me.” http://life.nyack.edu/author/madelyn-badillo/
Maddy Writes Her last Official “Life at Nyack Blog”
Maddy’s final blog “Get Over Your Self” was written after her return from SOG. In it she shows a picture of the NAR Billmans, and praises their ministry. Maddy goes on to say, that once again, she has finally surrendered her all, and gotten over herself for good. Is Maddy sincere? Yes, I’d say Maddy is totally sincere. Has Maddy been compromised? I’d answer emphatically yes! For she’s been influenced over and over again by the experiences she is having at that very moment. And no one warns her of the deceptiveness of the contemplative, and NAR movements into which her professors, her mentor, and her seminary has thrust her. http://life.nyack.edu/get-over-yourself/
How Many More Maddys Are There?
In conclusion, I would ask how many more Maddys are there being driven about by every wind of doctrine that has entered our Christian colleges? How many more Maddys will be seduced by these unscriptural experiences, and upon exiting college or seminary will spread them even farther? I fear many, much like Maddy, will be led down wrong paths unless passionate believers awaken to stand for truth! May you and I, as Paul wrote to the Colossians, “…continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel …” (Colossians 1:23) And, may we be fervent defenders of the faith!
Learn to Discern Granny Verses: Ephesians 4:14,15
“That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 (KJV)
The vast majority of pastors and elders today are flat out refusing to speak out against the blatant sin present in their congregations. Why? Because it’s not politically correct. Because they don’t want to be viewed as ‘judging.’ They want everyone to feel loved and accepted.
Truth is, they’re terrified they’ll hurt someone’s feelings, causing some to leave the church. After all, we can’t be too controversial. There are buildings to pay for and salaries and bonuses for the staff to cover. If people leave, they take their money with them, so we can’t go around making people feel bad about themselves!
Many churches today literally hire marketing experts, intent on fomenting a false model of ‘success.’ It’s all predicated on attracting as many people as possible which brings in mo’ money, mo’ money, mo’ money! Money to build bigger buildings and basketball courts and coffee bars and game rooms for the ‘youth.’
Success is no longer measured in souls saved. Are you kidding?! Nope, unless the pastor can pack the auditorium full of pew warmers with fat wallets using his sparkling wit, engaging stories, and encouraging doctrine about how Jesus-loves-you-and-has-a-wonderful-plan-for-your-life, he’s usually considered to be a real loser.
It’s as if all these marketing people tell pastors and board members the same thing: the people want to be entertained! They want loud, upbeat music with eye-catching graphics on the overhead screen, and don’t be afraid to throw in some special effects like lasers or fog! Doesn’t matter what the songs are about. There’s plenty of Emergent Church meaningless nonsense out there to choose from. Just make sure people are energized by the time they sit down.
Get some big-name Christian recording artist to appear in concert, and sell tickets to give the whole thing a feel of professionalism and importance. Maybe even a Christian comedian. Yeah, folks love that stuff! The youth group also needs plenty of options to keep them busy. Dispense with the boring Sunday school lessons of yesterday, or at least keep them to a minimum.
Kids are tired of sitting in class by the time the weekend rolls around. They’re ready to have some fun, so get some pinball machines, some air-hockey tables and maybe even a karaoke machine. Build a full size gym and a coffee bar. Oh, you gotta have a coffee bar along with high tables and stools to hang out on! Serve soda and snacks too. You know how kids are–they’re always hungry!
Now, during the main service, for heaven’s sake, do NOT wear a suit! You’ve got to look approachable and relevant; like you can identify with the people’s struggles, and yet you completely approve of them as they are. Wear high-end jeans and a button-up dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Get some Doc Martens or Air Jordan shoes. Very popular with the ‘in’ crowd! Get your teeth whitened too.
Be silly. Don’t be afraid to joke around. Engage your audience. Yeah, you can use the Bible, but most people don’t bring one, so post the scripture above your head on the big screen. However, you really have to use some other translation or paraphrase than that old-fashioned King James Version.
And for God’s sake—oops! Pardon the pun. Whatever you do NEVER, and we mean NEVER talk about the following: the Cross of Jesus, His death and resurrection (unless it’s Easter time) or His blood. Turns people right off! Don’t preach about the need for repentance or salvation or any of that stuff.
Now, the biggest faux pas would be to preach about sin! You don’t want anyone feeling uncomfortable or guilty. And don’t be stupid enough to get into anything political or you’re liable to lose that tax-exempt status.
You want to make those people walk out of that service feeling better than they did when they came in. They’re looking for reassurance that no matter what kind of lifestyle they’re living, God sanctions their behavior and so do you. They must never, EVER get the sense that anyone is judging them.
Drug addicts, gays, couples living together, serial adulterers, alcoholics, marijuana smokers, white-collar thieves, you name it—it doesn’t matter. Just remember that Jesus loves everybody, right? You wanna be successful, pastor? You want a multi-million dollar, mega-church with your face in the newspapers and on billboards? Does your wife expect a mega-church preacher’s lifestyle? Stick with us and do what we say, and you’ll get there within 5 years, tops!
Any of this sound familiar? No matter what the denomination happens to be, this is mostly what our God sees when He looks down at America. If it makes me want to gag, how must He feel? When is the last time YOUR pastor preached against sin? Or the need for repentance and holy, righteous living?
When’s the last time he held an altar call for the lost or needy? Can you remember when he stood before the congregation broken and in tears over the sins of his flock, his country and this world? Has he pleaded for the lost souls in the audience to accept Jesus as their Savior?
Or, is your church a lukewarm, Laodicean country club, beautiful on the outside but full of dead men’s bones? Do the elders anoint the sick with oil and petition God for healing? Do they, along with the pastor, prayerfully, lovingly and privately confront those in the congregation who are living in willful, blatant sin? Have they declared that, until that person turns from their evil ways, they are no longer welcome?
Those actions are terribly uncomfortable and not for the faint of heart. They are the actions of a strong, Godly shepherd who loves and cares for his flock. This kind of shepherd is unfortunately, very rare these days. It seems that most pastors are caught up in the bigger-better rat race and have abandoned their first love.
Are you attending a church where the Word of God is cherry-picked for subjects that aren’t offensive? Does your pastor talk about repenting of sin and striving to be holy as God is holy? Have you ever heard him speak about the reality of hell?
Does he ever marvel over the power and promise of the Cross of Jesus? About the power of His blood? Does he warn you that the Age of Grace is about to conclude, and that Christ is on the verge of snatching His Bride home any second now? Does he explain what it takes to be ready to go, and what will befall those left behind?
If you aren’t hearing these things from your preacher or Bible teachers, you need to get out of that worthless, dead church and seek one that’s alive with the Holy Spirit. Yes, I know that they’re extremely hard to find but they still exist. Pray the Lord will lead you to one and He will guide you.
It’s true that we need to welcome everyone into the church, no matter how tattered or torn or filthy with sin they happen to be. But, we don’t leave them that way just because we don’t want to offend them or hurt their feelings! We’re called to point them to the Cross so they can be made into a new creature in Christ. A mature believer needs to disciple them and hold them accountable in their walk.
The prevailing attitude within the Christian community today is that confronting sin is not ‘loving.’ We shouldn’t ‘judge’ because Jesus loved everyone. Where are you people getting this?! What a load of unmitigated garbage! Refusing to gently confront sin in a person’s life and pointing them to the Savior, is the single most hateful, vile thing you could ever do to another human being!
We don’t have much time left to spread the good news of the Gospel. For heaven’s sake, don’t even bother being associated with a wuss church that ‘loves’ people straight to hell.
ALABAMA’S “CHRISTIAN” GOVERNOR PLACES THE STATE AS A HIGHER POWER THAN GOD;
A REPLAY OF THE NAZI CHURCHES
DEUTERONOMY 16:19-“You shall not pervert justice. You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous.
JAMES 2:9-“But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
DANIEL 7:27-“And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
JOHN 12:43-“for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The governor of Alabama, who also serves as a deacon and Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa, says that he will obey the recent federal court ruling striking down the state’s Sanctity of Marriage Act as being unconstitutional.
Gov. Robert Bentley told Politico on Friday while attending a meeting of the National Governor’s Association in Washington, D.C. that he believes he must obey the courts even if he disagrees with them personally.
“[I would] never do anything to disobey a federal court ruling,” he told the outlet when asked about last month’s same-sex “marriage” decision, which Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has called on others to fight.
“We are a nation under laws,” Bentley said. “We may not always agree with them, but we obey them.”
The governor, who teaches at First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa under the leadership of Gil McKee, additionally told AlabamaNews that while he and Moore have the same convictions, they differ when it comes to compliance with federal court rulings. He said that he would not punish probate judges who decided to issue same-sex “marriage” licenses, nor those who have refused to do so, but will wait to hear from the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue.
“I don’t want Alabama portrayed in a negative light because when it’s portrayed in a negative light, it doesn’t help me to recruit jobs in Alabama,” he said. “So I’m hurting families when I can’t help people get a job in this state.”
“I want to do everything I can to make sure the people across the country, the people across the world, realize that Alabama is a different state,” Bentley stated. “And I will obey the law and that’s what I’m going to do.”
But Matt Trewhella, pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee, Wisc. and author of “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrate,” told Christian News Network that Christians should never place man’s decrees above God’s law.
“What must be realized is that the rule of law in Western civilization was built upon the moral law of God as revealed in Scripture,” he said. “The reason homosexuality was illegal throughout Western civilization for nearly 1,500 years was precisely because the moral law of God declared it a crime.”
“So, when you now have law made by men that is contradicting that, men should not recognize it as true law, and men in positions of authority like Bentley should actually oppose such a court ruling,” Trewhella explained.
He said that it is hypocritical for Christians to place “the law of the land” over God, whether it be court opinions affirming homosexuality or the slaughter of millions of innocent babies through abortion.
“This is a huge problem that Christians have in America as they separate their Christianity from their politics,” the pastor and author stated. “It makes it convenient for them to betray Christ, even in office.”
Trewhella said that if Bentley was handling the matter as a biblical Christian, he would join Moore in defending Alabama’s Constitution and resist the ruling.
“[H]e should be doing exactly what Judge Moore is saying, and that is [declaring] that this federal court ruling is immoral and unjust, and we’re not going to recognize it,” he outlined. “He should be defending Alabama’s Constitution from federal tyranny.”
During an interview earlier this month on CNN, Moore pinned down interviewer Chris Cuomo as to whether or not he would have obeyed the 1896 Supreme Court ruling in favor of racial segregation.
“Would you have followed the order in Dred Scott saying that black people were property? Or would you have followed the order in Plessy versus Ferguson that says separate but equal was the policy of the United States?” Moore asked.
“It’s not my place to answer,” Cuomo replied.
“Well, I’m asking you if you were the Chief Justice of Alabama, would you follow Plessy versus Ferguson and Dred Scott when they were issued. Yes or no?” Moore repeated.
“You follow the law of the land,” Cuomo said. “That is what our nation is based on.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., in his well-known “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” written in Alabama during a time when segregation was considered the law, said that while some may question disobedience to civil law, a law is not a law if it violates the law of God.
“One may well ask, ‘How can you advocate breaking some laws and obeying others?’ The answer lies in the fact that there are two types of laws: just and unjust,” he explained. “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
“How does one determine whether a law is just or unjust? A just law is a man made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law,” King continued. “Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire.”
Christian News Network attempted to reach First Baptist Church Tuscaloosa, but no one could be reached for comment.
RUSSELL MOORE: A FOOL THINKING HE’S DOING THE WORK OF GOD BECOMES INSTEAD A “TOOL IN THE HANDS OF SATAN”; CALLS FOR JUDGES’ RESIGNATIONS; TO LEAVE THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH WOULD HAVE ALL CHRISTIANS BOW TO EVIL LAW UNDER ROMANS 13 MISAPPLIED; DENIES STATES RIGHTS OF ALABAMA SOUTHERN BAPTIST “ETHICIST” RUSSELL MOORE LECTURES JUDGE ROY MOORE OF ALABAMA & ALL ALABAMA JUDGES TO OBEY FEDERAL JUDGE RULING AND PERFORM SAME SEX MARRIAGES, TO SET ASIDE THEIR CONSCIENCES, THE NATURAL LAW, AND STATE LAW
But Moore said that until the high court rules on the matter, last month’s federal court ruling striking down Alabama’s Sanctity of Marriage Amendment must be followed. “As citizens and as Christians, our response should be one of both conviction and of respect for the rule of law,” he remarked. “Our system of government does not allow a state to defy the law of the land.”
“In a Christian ethic, there is a time for civil disobedience in cases of unjust laws,” Moore continued. “That’s why, for instance, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. went to jail. In the case of judges and state Supreme Court justices, though, civil disobedience, even when necessary, cannot happen in their roles as agents of the state.”
He then explained his belief that if one does not wish to follow the law, then they should resign from their position.
“Given the high bar required for civil disobedience, the way to address same-sex marriage in this circumstance is not by defying the rule of law, but by making our case before the legitimate authorities,” Moore stated. “If we lose, our responsibility is to advocate as citizens for our views, even if that project is (as in the case of the pro-life movement) a long-term project, while we work for our constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience and religious liberty.”
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes; not for commercial purposes; in accordance with the fair use terms of copyright law:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Christian Examiner) — The head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm says Alabama judges who in good conscience cannot issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, should resign instead of fighting the law while in office.
Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and no relation to Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, was quoted in the Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news service, as being in conflict with approximately 44 of 67 Alabama probate judges who have refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. These jurists are acting in defiance of an order by U.S. District Court Judge Callie Granade who invalidated an Alabama constitutional amendment, passed by 81 percent of voters, defining marriage in the state as only between one man and one woman.
The issue arose in large part because Judge Roy Moore issued guidance to state judges Sunday night, Feb. 8, ahead of the expiration of a 14-day stay blocking same-sex marriage in Alabama. Citing the Alabama Constitution as appointing him, as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, the administrative head of the state judicial system, he quoted Alabama law authorizing him to “take affirmative and appropriate action to correct or alleviate any condition or situation adversely affecting the administration of justice within the state.”
He then ordered “no Probate Judge of the State of Alabama nor any agent or employee of any Alabama Probate Judge shall issue or recognize a marriage license that is inconsistent” with the Alabama Constitution of state law.
“On principle I did the right thing. But it’s not about the Ten Commandments, and it’s not about my feelings, it’s about the law. And my law, Alabama law, states that I’m the chief administrative officer of the judicial system and I must act when the jurisdiction of the probate court is interfered with by one lone judge who has no power or authority to tell them how to interpret the federal Constitution.”
– Chief Justice Roy Moore
RUSSELL MOORE
Russell Moore, a national official charged with representing Southern Baptists’ beliefs with regard to culture and public policy, told Baptist Press any judge who “could not discharge the duties of his office required by law” because of objections of conscience “would need to resign and protest it as a citizen.”
He said that there is a role for civil disobedience, but not for “judges and state Supreme Court justices … in their roles as agents of the state.”
Russell Moore’s dissent with some Alabama judges was published the same day Judge Roy Moore, also a Southern Baptist, said just the opposite in a heated debate with CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
ROY MOORE & CNN
Cuomo, son of liberal icon Mario Cuomo, recently deceased former New York governor, argued Alabama Chief Justice Moore “did not have to do this” and accused the judge of “acting on principle” instead of the rule of law in this instance as he did in another case in which Moore fought a federal judge’s order and kept a stone monument of the Ten Commandments in the Alabama judicial building — an action which led to his removal from office.
Cuomo raised the specter of segregation “in states like yours” which district courts ended by making rulings states had to follow.
But Roy Moore retorted that the issue is not discrimination but “about sexual preference overcoming an institution which has existed in our state—in our United States—for centuries. And I think it’s wrong.”
Cuomo asked Judge Moore what he would do if the Supreme Court decided in favor of same-sex marriage.
The judge rejoined Cuomo by asking him if he would have followed the order in Dred Scott “that said black people are property” and Plessy vs. Ferguson “which said that separate but equal is the policy of the United States.”
“Can you answer that please?” he asked.
Cuomo dodged the question.
BIBLICAL GUIDANCE
Russell Moore cited familiar biblical passages to justify his position that Chief Justice Roy Moore and the defiant probate judges are wrong.
“As citizens and as Christians, our response should be one of both conviction and of respect for the rule of law (1 Peter 2:13; Romans 13). Our system of government does not allow a state to defy the law of the land,” Russell Moore wrote, according to Baptist Press.
“Religious freedom and conscience objections must be balanced with a state’s obligation to discharge the law,” the Southern Baptists’ ethicist said.
NEW YORK TIMES
But the New York Times’ Emily Bazelon agreed with Chief Justice Roy Moore about the “process” of the law in this case, calling it “peculiar.”
“District-court rulings, even if they’re about important matters of policy, usually affect only the people involved in the case in question,” she wrote. “They don’t typically make law for an entire state; that responsibility falls to a state’s highest court, or a federal appeals court — in this case the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit — or eventually the Supreme Court, which makes law for the country.”
“But in the case of Granade’s ruling on the gay-marriage ban, both the federal appeals court and the Supreme Court have stood aside,” the NYT article continued, “leaving Granade in the highly unusual position of remaking law and policy for the entire state of Alabama.”
“[Judge] Moore is telling state judges not to follow Granade’s order. To contest the statewide application of her ruling is a far more legitimate form of fist-shaking by a state official than contesting an order from a higher federal court would be,” Bazelon concluded.
OTHER VIEWS OF SCRIPTURE
Others have a different take than Russell Moore on the biblical responsibilities of Christian judges facing objections of conscience.
Southern Baptist Rick Burgess, an overwhelmingly popular Christian radio personality throughout the South and an Alabama native, sent a strongly worded tweet to encourage probate judges who “claim to follow Christ” to “make a stand and refuse to sign same-sex marriage licenses.”
He followed up his social media message with a statement to AL.com that he felt Christian judges are “in a Daniel moment.”
“Daniel followed the law of the land until it asked him to go against God and the Bible tells us that Daniel had resolved in his heart that he would not worship the king, even though it was the law,” he said. “If you are a Christian and a probate judge do you condone a version of marriage that goes against God even though it’s the current law of the land? Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from a Birmingham jail covered this when explaining to fellow pastors why he would continue to break ‘unjust’ laws.”
He added that Christians had an equal right to raise their families in a society reflecting their convictions.
The Hiding Place-Decision About Obeying a Higher Law
PASTOR:“You Can’t Keep The (Jewish) Baby;
It’s Against the (NAZI) Law”:
SAVING JEWS EVEN THOUGH IT WAS ILLEGAL (AGAINST THE “GOD ORDAINED” AUTHORITIES): Corrie Ten Boom Her testimony in her own words Full Length:
Uploaded on Feb 1, 2011
Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom (April 15, 1892 — April 15, 1983) was a Dutch Christian Holocaust survivor who helped many Jews escape the Nazis during World War II.
n May 1942, a well-dressed woman came to the Ten Boom door with a suitcase in hand. She told the Ten Booms that she was a Jew and that her husband had been arrested several months before, and her son had gone into hiding. Occupation authorities had recently visited her, and she was too fearful to return home. After hearing about how the Ten Booms had helped their Jewish neighbors, the Weils (while this is the name given in her book, the actual name of the furrier across the street was N Weill & zoon), she asked if she might stay with them, and Corrie ten Boom’s father readily agreed. A devoted reader of the Old Testament, Casper ten Boom believed Jews were indeed “the chosen,” and told the woman, “In this household, God’s people are always welcome.” Thus began “the hiding place”, or “de schuilplaats”, as it was known in Dutch (also known as “de Béjé”, pronounced in Dutch as ‘bayay’, an abbreviation of the name of the street the house was in, the Barteljorisstraat). Ten Boom and her sister began taking in refugees, some of whom were Jews, others members of the resistance movement sought by the Gestapo and its Dutch counterpart. There were several extra rooms in their house, but food was scarce due to wartime shortages. Every non-Jewish Dutch person had received a ration card with which they could procure weekly coupons to buy food. Corrie knew many in Haarlem, thanks to her charitable work, and remembered a couple who had a developmentally disabled daughter. For about twenty years, Corrie Ten Boom had run a special church service program for such children, and knew the family. The father was a civil servant who was by then in charge of the local ration-card office. She went to his house unannounced one evening, and he seemed to know why. When he asked how many ration cards she needed, “I opened my mouth to say, ‘Five,'” Ten Boom wrote in The Hiding Place. “But the number that unexpectedly and astonishingly came out instead was: ‘One hundred.'”
Because of the number of people using their house as a safe place from the Nazis, the Ten Booms were encouraged to build a secret room in case a raid took place. After inspection, it was decided that the room would be built in Corrie’s bedroom, as it was in the highest part of the house, which gave people who were trying to hide the most time to avoid detection (as a search would start on the ground floor). The hidden room was behind a false wall, designed by a member of the Dutch resistance. They were able to sneak bricks and other building supplies into the house by hiding them in briefcases and rolled up newspapers. When finished, the secret room was about 30 inches deep; the size of a medium wardrobe. A ventilation system allowed for breathing. To enter the secret room, a person would have to open a sliding panel in a cupboard, and crawl in on their hands and knees. In addition, an electronic buzzer was installed to give the house’s residents warning of a raid. When the Nazis raided the Ten Boom house in 1944, six people used the hiding place to escape detection.
The Germans arrested the entire Ten Boom family on February 28, 1944 at around 12:30 with the help of a Dutch informant. They were sent first to Scheveningen prison (where her father died ten days after his capture). Corrie’s sister Nollie, brother Willem, and nephew Peter were all released. Later, Corrie and Betsie were sent to the Vught political concentration camp (both in the Netherlands), and finally to the notorious Ravensbrück concentration camp in Germany on December 16, 1944, where Corrie’s sister Betsie died. Before she died she told Corrie, “There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still.” Corrie was released on New Year’s Eve of December 1944.[2] In the movie The Hiding Place, Ten Boom narrates the section on her release from camp, saying that she later learned that her release had been a clerical error. The women prisoners her age in the camp were killed the week following her release. She said, “God does not have problems. Only plans.”
Ravensbrück Concentration Camp:
Published on Oct 29, 2013
Ravensbrück was a women’s concentration camp during World War II, located in northern Germany, 90 km north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). Construction of the camp began in November 1938 by SS leader Heinrich Himmler and was unusual in that it was a camp primarily for women and children. The camp opened in May 1939. In the spring of 1941, the SS authorities established a small men’s camp adjacent to the main camp. Between 1939 and 1945, over 130,000 female prisoners passed through the Ravensbrück camp system; around 40,000 were Polish and 26,000 were Jewish. Between 15,000 and 32,000 of the total survived. Although the inmates came from every country in German-occupied Europe, the largest single national group incarcerated in the camp consisted of Polish women. Siemens & Halske employed many of the slave labor prisoners.
The first prisoners at Ravensbrück were approximately 900 women. The SS had transferred these prisoners from the Lichtenburg women’s concentration camp in Saxony in May 1939. By the end of 1942, the inmate population of Ravensbrück had grown to about 10,000. There were children in the camp as well. At first, they arrived with mothers who were Gypsies or Jews incarcerated in the camp or were born to imprisoned women. There were few of them at the time. There were a few Czech children from Lidice in July 1942. Later the children in the camp represented almost all nations of Europe occupied by Germany. Between April and October 1944 their number increased considerably, consisting of two groups. One group was composed of Roma children with their mothers or sisters brought into the camp after the Roma camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau was closed. The other group included mostly children who were brought with Polish mothers sent to Ravensbrück after the collapse of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. With a few exceptions all these children died of starvation. Ravensbrück had 70 sub-camps used for slave labour that were spread across an area from the Baltic Sea to Bavaria. Among the thousands executed by the Germans at Ravensbrück were four female members of the British World War II organization Special Operations Executive: Denise Bloch, Cecily Lefort, Lilian Rolfe and Violette Szabo. Other victims included the Roman Catholic nun Élise Rivet, Elisabeth de Rothschild (the only member of the Rothschild family to die in the Holocaust), Russian Orthodox nun St. Maria Skobtsova, the 25-year-old French Princess Anne de Bauffremont-Courtenay and Olga Benário, wife of the Brazilian Communist leader Luís Carlos Prestes. The largest group of executed women at the Ravensbrück camp was composed of 200 young Polish patriots who were members of the Home Army. Among the survivors of the Ravensbrück camp was Christian author and speaker Corrie ten Boom. Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested by the Nazis for harbouring Jews in their home in Haarlem, the Netherlands. The ordeal of Corrie and her sister Betsie ten Boom in the camp is documented in her book The Hiding Place which was eventually produced as a motion picture. Countess Karolina Lanckoronska, a Polish art historian and author of Michelangelo in Ravensbruck also was imprisoned in the camp from 1943–1945. Eileen Nearne, a member of the Special Operations Executive was a prisoner in 1944 before being transferred to another work camp and escaping. Additional Ravensbruck survivors include Gemma LaGuardia Gluck – who wrote a memoir about her experiences at the camp and afterward – her daughter Yolande, and Yolande’s baby son. During her imprisonment in Ravensbrück, the anthropologist and member of the French resistance Germaine Tillion secretly wrote a comic operetta about camp life titled Le Verfügbar aux Enfers. In 1975, she published a comprehensive study of the camp, Ravensbruck: An eyewitness account of a women’s concentration camp. In 1945, just prior to liberation, the poet, playwright and author of The Green Goos, Konstanty Ildefons Galczynski, managed to save one of the Ravensbruck inmates from certain death. Her name was Lucyna Wolanowska. They began living together, and in January 1946 their son was born, also named Konstanty Ildefons Gałczyński. Later that same year Lucyana Wolanowska and her son emigrated to Australia.
Breaking News January 2015: Death Camps Corrie Ten Boom “Return to the Hiding Place” Trailer For New Movie
Published on Dec 5, 2014
Breaking News January 2015 Corrie Ten Boom Holocaust survivor her and her family put in death concentration camp for hiding saving Jews first movie called the hiding place – Return to the Hiding Place Trailer in theaters February 2015 PART1 for more info go to http://www.hide-movie.com/
December 2014 Breaking News remembering Jewish Holocaust – Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place is a true story world war 2 Hitler Nazi SS concentration camps millions of Jews killed genocide Nazi Doctors used Jews for human experiments – Last days end times final hour news prophecy update – PART2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIReM…
World War II relocation internment in “War Relocation Camps” of over 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. The USA government ordered the internment in 1942, shortly after Imperial Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans was applied unequally as a geographic matter: all who lived on the West Coast were interned, while in Hawaii, where 150,000-plus Japanese Americans comprised over one-third of the population. Sixty-two percent of the internees were American citizens
This link provides Google GPS mapping on some of the (Relocation Facilities) FEMA Camps to help you if you choose to research further http://www.pakalertpress.com/2013/08/…
A Survival Food Company wondered Is a War Or Disaster Looming? after Urgently Contacted By FEMA
This is extremely disturbing DATA to know.
Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, where Betsie died in the concentration camp.
2014 December remembering Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place WWII concentration camps millions Jews genocide – Corrie Ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who along with her father and other family members helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and was imprisoned for it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidi…
The Hiding Place describes the ordeal in a true story book and movie.
Iran former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks lies stating there was no holocaust.
Egypt Former Pres Morsi states Holocaust a hoax.
Corrie Ten Boom The Hiding Place is a true story it really happened Cornelia “Corrie” ten Boom Amsterdam, The Netherlands Corrie was a Dutch Christian, who with her father and other family members helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II. Her family was arrested due to an informant in 1944, and her father died 10 days later at Scheveningen prison.
Corrie also aided Holocaust survivors in the Netherlands. In 1940, the Nazis invaded the Netherlands. In 1942, Corrie and her family had become very active in the Dutch underground, hiding refugees. They rescued many Jews from the Nazi SS. Corrie and sister Betsie began taking in refugees, some of whom were Jews
Corrie was released from Ravensbruck concentration camp on December 28, 1944. One of Corrie and Betsie’s favorite sayings was, “There is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still.
Concentration Camps Full Listing of Camps estimated Nazis SS established 15,000 concentration camps in the occupied countrieshttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/j…
COMMON CORE’S COMMUNIST PROGRAMMING EXPOSED: CHINESE IMMIGRANT LILY TANG WILLIAMS SPEAKS OUT
Published on Feb 21, 2015
Liberty Activist and Former Libertarian Candidate, Lily Tang Williams, has a dire warning for America; Common Core reminds her of the Communist Core she went through in China.
Hear her powerful testimony describing how parents had zero parental rights, children were forced to keep daily tattle-journals, Chinese children were taught to do well on tests and conform–no critical thinking allowed, and if you were a late bloomer or student with special education needs, forget it, you’d be relegated to a life of poverty. Students were also tracked throughout their school years so their file could be turned over to all government agencies and potential employers.
A big and powerful government always has reasons and excuses for using force to make people do what they want, but in the end, it is always the ruling class and their cronies that benefit from these mandates, not the people.
PROPERTY SEIZURES, & LINING POCKETS, NOT EDUCATION:
WHERE PRINCIPALS ARE PAID OVER $100,000 EACH;
ASK THESE & OTHERS TO TAKE A PAY CUT!
DELAWARE’S KABUKI THEATER OF THE ABSURD
A STATE WHERE “FLAT REVENUES” DESPITE A GROWING SCHOOL ENROLLMENT
JUST AREN’T FAIR?
THE REFERENDUM DECIDED BEFORE IT TAKES PLACE
JILL FLOORE: “we have also talked each and everv year how we knew this day was coming“
SURPRISE COMMON CORE ENABLERS AND JUST SAY “NO”
GIVING DELAWARE’S CITIZENS THE OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE FOR MORE TAXES TO COVER THE COMMON CORE DEBACLE, ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILDREN, & CONTINUE MORE WASTEFUL SPENDING ON SCHOOL POLICE AND DISCIPLINARY INTERVENTIONISTS?
RED CLAY SCHOOL DISTRICT
NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE
“OPERATING TAX REFERENDUM”-FEBRUARY 24, 2015
(WARNING: COMMON CORE MATH COUPLED WITH QUESTIONABLE ACCOUNTING, EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
AND A GOOD DOSE OF FEAR TACTICS)
TEXT OF NOTICE PUBLISHED IN THE “RED CLAY RECORD”:
Facing near flat tax revenues and rising costs, the Red Clay School District is seeking an operating tax increase from its residents on Feb. 24,2015. Polls are open at every Red Clay school (except Central) from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The plan, which was made public in August calls for a 20 cent increase in Year One, a 10 cent increase in Year Two and a 5 cent increase in Year Three. Chief Financial Officer Jill Floore said the increase is needed after seven years without an operating referendum because cost increases have outpaced near flat revenues. Floore said that the nature of local education funding which mandates that operating increases are approved by voters, is a system which results in school districts needing to go to referendum on a regular basis. Although local per pupil expenditures have been limited to an average increase of 1.12% since 2008, set increases in salary, pension funds, and healthcare benefits alone have outpaced the flat revenue stream. The last operating referendum in Red Clay was in 2008 and was projected to last four years. The district was able to stretch the 2008 referendum increase for seven years through sound fiscal management and one-time federal funds. “This is not a district that has been spending greatly since 2008,” said Floore. “We were able to use federal support for school districts through ARRA stimulus funds to stretch out the time needed before another referendum, but we have also talked each and everv year how we knew this day was coming” Floore said. “This is not the result of anything going wrong, or any decisions we’ve made, like the new school, or Pre-K, or academic deans,” she said. “When you have flat revenues, you end up spending down a balance but that balance does not last forever.” The tax rate increase would mean the average Red Clay taxpayer with a house assessed, not valued, at $80,100 would pay an additional $23 a month in school taxes at its highest level. In order to meet payroll and other obligations over the summer months, Red Clay must end the fiscal year in June with a $7 million balance. Floore projected that meeting the year-end balance in 2016 would require $9 million in cuts, with that figure rising each year. “We must do something,”she said, “but it is not a matter of cutting our way out of a referendum.” Throughout the last seven years we have been in cost containment mode so $9M in cuts would result in very, very difficult choices. “Everything in the district would be touched by something of that magnitude” Floore said. Funding allocated in the referendum allows the district to continue a number of high priority initiatives and improvements outlined in the 2013 Strategic Plan. They include increased security measures and school resource officers, reading specialists, after school programs, infrastructure improvements such as playgrounds and technology, curriculum programming such as STEM and International Baccalaureate and alternative placement programs. A successful referendum would also allow the district to make substantial improvements in curriculum and technology, with $1.3 million going to technology and$.2.7 million going to curriculum in the first year alone. Additional funding would allow the district an infusion of technology and devices for students and additional software and training to create a 21st Century Learning environment, said Assistant Superintendent Ted Ammann. On the curriculum side, math textbooks that are nearly 15 years old would be replaced and a number of supports would be added or enhanced, said Deputy Superintendent Hugh Broomall. In addition to textbooks and software, they include full time school interventionists, reading supports, a writing program and Talented and Gifted (TAG) programs in all Red Clay elementary schools. _____________________________________________________ SEE OUR PREVIOUS POST: https://ratherexposethem.org/2015/01/ten-common-core-promoters-laughing-all.html _____________________________________________________
Common Core’s Communist Programming Exposed: Chinese Immigrant Speaks Out
Published on Feb 21, 2015
Liberty Activist and Former Libertarian Candidate, Lily Tang Williams, has a dire warning for America; Common Core reminds her of the Communist Core she went through in China.
Hear her powerful testimony describing how parents had zero parental rights, children were forced to keep daily tattle-journals, Chinese children were taught to do well on tests and conform–no critical thinking allowed, and if you were a late bloomer or student with special education needs, forget it, you’d be relegated to a life of poverty. Students were also tracked throughout their school years so their file could be turned over to all government agencies and potential employers.
A big and powerful government always has reasons and excuses for using force to make people do what they want, but in the end, it is always the ruling class and their cronies that benefit from these mandates, not the people.
Retired teacher faces prison for possession of flintlock pistol
Retired 72-year-old teacher Gordon Van Gilder faces up to 10 years in prison for possession of a 1700s flintlock pistol that may not have been fired since George Washington was alive.
A New Jersey man has spoken out about a traffic stop which led to his arrest the next day, because deputies discovered his car contained an unloaded antique gun.
In November 2014 Gordon Van Gilder was pulled over and stopped for a ‘minor traffic violation’ and a sheriff’s deputy asked to do a search.
Van Gilder, 72, said that he agreed to have the car searched, and when asked by a deputy if there was anything dangerous in the car, told him the glove compartment contained a flintlock pistol.
‘The reason I got the firearm was it goes with my collection of 18th-century objects,’ he explained to NRA News.
He said in the interview ‘One of the undersheriffs said, ‘Well, let him go, it’s 250 years old.’ But his boss, who is the sheriff, said, ‘No, we have to arrest him.’
‘Next morning, I am sleeping and I hear big pounding on the door, and four of them came and took me away with three or four sheriff’s cars – I guess they didn’t have anything better to do with taxpayers’ money, by the way.’
Evan Nappen, who is representing van Gilder, told NRA News ‘It’s a mid-1700s flintlock, bona fide antique pistol, unloaded, and yet he’s facing the same draconian penalty as if he had a .44 Magnum loaded on his person. It doesn’t matter. There’s no distinction.’ Nappen said of his client ‘he’s facing up to ten years in state’s prison with a minimum mandatory three-and-a-half to five years, no chance of parole, because New Jersey’s modern handgun law includes antique handguns.’
TEXT OF ARTICLE FROM ABOVE LINK FROM THE NEW AMERICAN:
A controversy over a firearm old enough to have been used in America’s Revolutionary War is demonstrating how far the nation has departed from the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
Gordon van Gilder (shown), a retired New Jersey public schoolteacher, is facing felony charges which could send him to prison for his possession of an unloaded, 18th-century flintlock pistol. Van Gilder is a collector of 18th-century memorabilia and had the pistol wrapped in cloth his glove compartment when he was pulled over for a minor traffic violation last November. As a courtesy, van Gilder informed the deputy of the presence of the unloaded antique firearm. Although van Gilder was not arrested at that time, four police officers arrived at his home the next day to take him into custody on a charge of “criminal possession of a handgun” — a crime that caries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3.5 years and could land the 72 year old man in prison for as long as 10 years.
Under New Jersey’s restrictive gun laws, “It is unlawful to knowingly possess any handgun, including any antique handgun, without first having obtained a Permit to Carry,” and before a citizen can be issued such a permit, “The applicant must meet the requirements of the Permit to Purchase and FID, be fingerprinted, prove his familiarity with the use of handguns, and have a ‘justifiable need to carry a handgun.’” While the U.S. Constitution recognizes the justifiable need is an inalienable right bestowed by the Creator, the federal government and the governments of the states have pressed time and again to redefine the word “inalienable.”
Under federal law, and the laws of many states, van Gilder’s antique flintlock pistol is not, legally-speaking, a firearm. According to federal law as it was amended by the Gun Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C 921 (a) (16) firearms which were manufactured prior to 1898 are specifically excluded from the legal definition of a “firearm”:
The term “firearm” means (A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon; (C) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; or (D) any destructive device. Such term does not include an antique firearm.
Some states specifically designated that weapons manufactured prior to 1899 are not, legally speaking, even firearms. For example, Texas designates that “an antique or curio firearm manufactured before 1899; or, a replica of an antique or curio firearm manufactured before 1899, but only if the replica does not use rim fire or center fire ammunition” are not classified as “firearms” under state law.
Legal complications regarding the definition of a “firearm” aside, the tragic situation confronting Gordon van Gilder is that his possession of an unloaded 18th-century flintlock may be used by a prosecutor to destroy his life. Van Gilder’s pension for 34 years of teaching will be taken away if he is convicted of a felony. And a felony conviction would also strip him of other rights — in addition to the loss of his rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, van Gilder would not even be able to vote against the politicians who continue to criminalize behavior that is supposedly protected by the Bill of Rights. In van Gilder’s words: “Beware of New Jersey. Don’t come here. Don’t live here. Here I am, a retired teacher coming out of his house in handcuffs, who had a flintlock pistol and now I’m charged as a felon. It’s unbelievable. It’s outrageous. It’s an insult to decent people.”
Meanwhile, according to the Washington Times, the prosecutor in van Gilder’s case has made the pending trial even more of a farce by asking for a ballistics test of van Gilder’s antique flintlock — a test that could easily damage an antique that was manufactured over two and a half centuries ago. And, given the fact that the pistol was manufactured at a time before rifling was common in handgun barrels, the test would be meaningless.
NRA News Ginny Simone Reporting | More Jersey Injustice:
Published on Feb 13, 2015
“Beware of New Jersey,” warns Gordon VanGilder. The retired schoolteacher is the latest to fall victim to the Garden State’s gun laws — the 72-year-old is facing up to 10 years in prison for having an antique flintlock pistol in his car. In this exclusive report, his attorney notes that VanGilder is facing the same felony charge for his unloaded mid-1700s firearm as he would be for a loaded .44 Magnum. “This is overreach, for sure,” says VanGilder.
New Ways Ministry pilgrims pose in St. Peter’s Square
following the papal audience with Pope Francis.
“a gay-positive ministry of advocacy and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics, and reconciliation within the larger Christian and civil communities.
Through research, publication and education about homosexuality, we foster dialogue among groups and individuals, identify and combat personal and structural homophobia, work for changes in attitudes and promote the acceptance of LGBT people as full and equal members of church and society.
New Ways Ministry is a member of Equally Blessed, a coalition of faithful Catholics who support full equality for LGBT people both in the Church and in civil society.”
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – A prominent American Catholic gay rights group was given VIP treatment for the first time at an audience with Pope Francis on Wednesday, a move members saw as a sign of change in the Roman Catholic Church.
“This is a sign of movement that’s due to the Francis effect,” said Sister Jeannine Gramick, co-founder of New Ways Ministry, which ministers to homosexual Catholics and promotes gay rights in the 1.2 billion-member Church.
Gramick and executive director Francis DeBernardo led a pilgrimage of 50 homosexual Catholics to the audience in St. Peter’s Square.
They told Reuters in an interview afterwards that when the group came to Rome on Catholic pilgrimages during the papacies of Francis’s predecessors John Paul and Benedict, “they just ignored us”.
This time, a U.S. bishop and a top Vatican official backed their request and they sat in a front section with dignitaries and special Catholic groups. As the pope passed, they sang “All Are Welcome,” a hymn symbolizing their desire for a more inclusive Church.
Sister Jeannine Gramick and Francis DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry. (Reuters)A list of participants released by the Vatican listed “a group of lay people accompanied by a sister” but did not mention that they were a gay rights organization.
“What this says is that there is movement in our Church, movement to welcome people from the outside closer to the inside,” Gramick said in St. Peter’s Square.
Several months after his election, Francis made his now-famous remark about how he could not judge gay people who are have good will and are seeking God.
But he so far shown no sign the Church will change its teaching that while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are.
Last October, bishops from around the world meeting in Rome to debate questions concerning family issued an interim report calling for greater acceptance of gays in the Church.
That passage was watered down in the final version of the report after conservative bishops complained. A second and final meeting on family issues is scheduled for October.
DeBernardo said Catholic gay and lesbian couples and other non-traditional families should be invited to the meeting, known as a synod, to speak to the bishops about their faith and their sexuality. _____________________________________________________________
In what is surely the most official welcome from Church officials that New Ways Ministry has received in its 38-year history, a pilgrimage group of 48 LGBT Catholics and supporters led by our co-founder, Sister Jeannine Gramick, SL, received VIP seating at the papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2015.
Sister Jeannine had written to Pope Francis in December 2014, asking him to meet personally with the group when they visited Rome as part of their ten-day pilgrimage to Florence, Assisi, and the Eternal City.
Two weeks before departure on February 12th, she received a letter from Archbishop Georg Ganswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, letting her know that he had reserved tickets for the group for the Ash Wednesday audience. She assumed that these were the general seating tickets. On the night of February 17th, when the group picked up the tickets at St. Peter’s, they learned that they were VIP seating.
When the group arrived at St. Peter’s Square in the morning, we were guided by papal ushers to the level of the Square where the pope sits. All were astonished! While we were not able to shake the pope’s hand personally, it is very significant that the Vatican responded so positively to an LGBT group by giving us such a prominent place at the audience.
When the pope passed by our group, we all sang “All Are Welcome,” a popular hymn which calls for an inclusive church. We also called out several times that “We are LGBT Catholics!”
Pope Francis greets pilgrims at the Ash Wednesday audience.
Although Sister Jeannine Gramick has led two other pilgrimages to Rome under the two previous popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, their presence was ignored at the papal audiences.
A Religion News Service story in The Washington Postnoted that it was not just Vatican recognition that was significant, but that several other Church leaders helped the process along the way:
“. . . Archbishop Georg Ganswein, head of the papal household and the top aide to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, responded to New Ways’ request for a papal meet-and-greet by reserving tickets for the group at Francis’ weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square. It’s not a private meeting — which is tough for anyone to get — but it’s not nothing.
“The pope’s ambassador to Washington forwarded a similar request to Rome. Even San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone — point man for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ battle against gay marriage — had written a letter to the Vatican on their behalf.
“Last December, Cordileone had a constructive meeting with Frank DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways, and Sister Jeannine Gramick, a co-founder of New Ways and a longtime advocate for LGBT inclusion in the church. But they were still surprised by the archbishop’s willingness to write a letter for them.”
Sister Jeannine Gramick and Francis DeBernardo in St. Peter’s Square following the Ash Wednesday audience.
Gibson also noted that a British cardinal has given similar prestigious recognition to an LGBT Catholic pilgrimage which is also in Rome this week:
” . . . British Cardinal Vincent Nichols of Westminster sent a warm blessing to a group of LGBT Catholics from London who are joining up with New Ways in Rome. ‘Be assured of my prayers for each and every one of you,’ Nichols wrote. ‘Have a wonderful pilgrimage. God bless you all.’ “
A Reuters story published on Huffington Post captured the response of New Ways Ministry’s leaders just after they left the papal audience:
” ‘What this says is that there is movement in our Church, movement to welcome people from the outside closer to the inside,’ Gramick said in St. Peter’s Square. . . . “DeBernardo said Catholic gay and lesbian couples and other non-traditional families should be invited to the meeting, known as a synod, to speak to the bishops about their faith and their sexuality.”
An Associated Press video also reported their reactions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhM3UMRl830 Several of the LGBT pilgrims were visibly moved by the welcome they received and by the experience of seeing the pope in person. Several noted that they felt this was one more step in the progress–albeit, slow–that LGBT Catholics have been making in the Church for several decades. All agreed that this day will never be forgotten.
The goal of the retreat is to provide a supportive environment in which gay
priests and brothers, their leaders, and formators can explore how to create conversations around issues of gay sexuality and spirituality in their faith
communities. The retreat will include lecture, prayer, quiet time, and dialogue
sessions with the speakers and with one another.
Richard Rohr, OFM, is a Franciscan priest and internationally known inspirational
speaker. He is best known for his writings on spirituality and his audio and video
recordings. Scripture as liberation, the integration of action and contemplation,
community building, peace and justice issues, male spirituality, the Enneagram
and eco-spirituality are themes that he addresses in his writing and preaching.
Fr. Rohr founded the New Jerusalem Community in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1971 and
the Center for Action and Contemplation inAlbuquerque, New Mexico in 1986, where he presently serves as Founding Director. He is a contributing editor and writer for Sojourners magazine.
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
On Monday, LifeSiteNews reported that Detroit’s archbishop Allen Vigneron exercised his authority over his archdiocese by blocking the activist group New Ways Ministry, a nominally Catholic organization that seeks to change the church’s teaching on homosexuality, from speaking at Christ the King Parish in northwestern Detroit.
Despite the headlines, the Catholic church has not changed its teaching on homosexuality or gay marriage, but that didn’t stop Christ the King pastor Father Victor Clore from violating Canon law when he decided his parish would serve host New Ways Ministry leader Francis DeBernardo giving a presentation to Fortunate Families, a group for Catholics whose children are openly homosexual.
New Ways Ministry has already been banned by the Vatican and has also been condemned by several bishops since 1984, including Pope Benedict XVI back in 1999 when he was known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.
Both Father Victor Clore and Francis DeBernardo have protested archbishop Vigneron’s decision, citing Pope Francis as their reason.
“I’ll give you a quote from one of my parishioners, who said, ‘It amazes me how Pope Francis eagerly and happily engages those who openly deny the divinity of Christ, yet DeBernardo is deemed unworthy to enter our church,’” Father Clore said. “That’s pretty much my feeling, too,” the priest continued. “It’s treating people as if they were children.”
DeBernardo told the Detroit Free Press, “The Detroit archdiocese’s actions run counter to Pope Francis’ more sympathetic posture toward gay Catholics.”
A spokesman for Archbishop Vigneron said New Ways Ministry is not an approved organization to address Catholic teachings on homosexuality.
“It was brought to the archdiocese’s attention a few weeks back that New Ways Ministry had been scheduled to speak at Christ the King Church,” Joe Kohn said in a statement. “Because New Ways Ministry had been identified as a group that might cause confusion in regards to Catholic church teaching, the archdiocese did clarify that a presentation by New Ways Ministry should not be hosted on church property.”
The event was moved to clubhouse of a local condominium.
This past Sunday, during an episode of Oprah’s “Super Soul Sunday,” Rob Bell, the former head “pastor” of Michigan’s Mars Hill Bible Church and author of “Love Wins,” a book questioning the orthodox Christian view of Hell, told the talk show host that he believes the Church is “moments away” from embracing same-sex “marriage.”
Bell had appeared on the broadcast with his wife Kristen to discuss their book “The Zimzum of Love: A New Way of Understanding Marriage.”
“I think it’s great that you all made a conscious choice to include gay marriage in [the book],” Oprah states following a clip showing Mrs. Bell reading a selection claiming that same-sex nuptials are a gift to the world. “Why [did you do that]?”
“One of the oldest aches in the bones of humanity is loneliness,” Rob Bell replied. “Loneliness is not good for the world. Whoever you are, gay or straight, it is totally normal, natural and healthy to want someone to go through life with. It’s central to our humanity. We want someone to go on the journey with.”
“When is the Church going to get that?” Oprah asked.
“We’re close,” he responded.
“I think it’s evolving,” Bell’s wife interjected.
“Lots of people are already there,” Bell added. “We think it’s inevitable and we’re moments away from the Church accepting it.”
He asserted that the Church will “continue to be even more irrelevant” if it continues to cite the Bible’s prohibitions on homosexual behavior.
“I think culture is already there, and the Church will continue to be even more irrelevant when it quotes letters from 2,000 years ago as their best defense,” Bell said, “when you have in front of you flesh-and-blood people who are your brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles, and co-workers and neighbors, and they love each other and just want to go through life.”
“There are churches who are moving forward and there are churches who are almost regressing and making it more of a battle,” his wife added.
As previously reported, Bell first publicly came out in support of same-sex “marriage” in 2013.
“I am for marriage. I am for fidelity. I am for love, whether it’s a man and woman, a woman and a woman, a man and a man,” he said. “I think the ship has sailed and I think the church needs—I think this is the world we are living in and we need to affirm people wherever they are.”
Bell likewise opined that many evangelicals can no longer be classified as conservatives because their beliefs have changed with the times.
“I think we are witnessing the death of a particular subculture that doesn’t work. … You sort of die or you adapt,” he asserted. “And we have supported policies and ways of viewing the world that are actually destructive. And we’ve done it in the name of God and we need to repent.”
In light of his controversial views, some have said that Bell is leading many down a dark and destructive path.
“Plain and simple, Rob Bell’s teachings are not true to the words of Scripture,” Eric Ludy, pastor of Church at Ellerslie and president of Ellerslie Mission Society in Windsor, Colorado, told Christian News Network in 2013. “They are a sly attempt at blending the philosophies of our post-modern age with the vernacular of pop-Christianity. The end product is highly dangerous to the human soul because it is the forging of a golden calf god—a god of our culture’s making—and certainly not the God of the Bible.”
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, during a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, stated that illegal immigrants granted work permits under the Obama administration’s amnesty orders will qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). These credits would be paid retroactively for the three-year period before they file for their permits if they have been working that long while in the country illegally.
“If you get a Social Security number, you can then file for this year if you’re working, and if you earned income in the three years before that and filed, you’ll be eligible,” Koskinen told the committee hearing.
Exclusive: This marathon report is anchored by a Feb 2014 Senate Hearing on vaccines, featuring Senator Elizabeth Warren and Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. They use this national platform to continue the hoax that vaccines are perfectly safe and effective.
Infowars.com Nightly News director Rob Dew methodically covers the evidence that vaccines are in fact dangerous, in addition to the fact the vaccine manufacturers are not liable for their toxic products and as a result you will never see credible, impartial studies.
Those who do look at vaccines are attacked and demonized by the media and big pharma.
NOW AN UNDER THE RADAR DINNER & MOVIE “OUTREACH” TO CELEBRATE THE END OF THE 21 DAY “DANIEL FAST”, WITH ALL THE USUAL UNHEALTHY “CHRISTIAN” FOOD: (ONLY MEMBERS ARE TO KNOW IT’S AN OUTREACH, TO PROTECT THE UNSUSPECTING):
SO WHAT’S THE PROBLEM, YOU ASK?
WELL, THE DINNER FOLLOWS ON THE HEELS OF THE WORKS BASED 21 DAY “DANIEL FAST”,
Moms’ Night Out: Patricia Heaton Official Interview:
FROM: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/theater/31gree.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 “In college, and especially during eight subsequent years of hapless struggle in New York, that distance became a kind of no-man’s-land she had to traverse daily, from bad job to binge to church and back again. The churches varied: Catholic, Calvinist, New Age cult.”
Patricia Heaton was born in Bay Village, Ohio, the daughter of Patricia (née Hurd) and Chuck Heaton, who was a sportswriter for the Plain Dealer. She was raised as a devout Roman Catholic.
(QUOTE: “The consistent life ethic, or the consistent ethic of life is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents are opposed, at the very least, to unjust war, while some adherents also profess pacifism, or opposition to all war. The term was coined in 1983 by the Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin to express an ideology based on the premise that all human life is sacred and should be protected by law.Though most prominently professed by people of faith, the consistent life ethic is neither a religious nor a political ideology.”)
“A shrill feature-length sitcom for the faith-based family values crowd, if nowhere near as good as that sounds. There’s nothing wrong with “Moms’ Night Out” that couldn’t be fixed by a massive rewrite, preferably one that involves a lobotomy for the main character.”
“The critics got it right. The movie is awful. Having a popular star like Patricia Heaton in this movie is not enough to save it. The mothers and fathers depicted in this movie are mostly idiots and should never have had children. The script wouldn’t have been approved for an ABC afternoon special because it’s so poor.”
“Depressingly regressive and borderline dangerous, “Moms’ Night Out” peddles archaic notions of gender roles in the name of wacky laughs. But it also wants to be “About Something.” It wants to inspire as well as entertain. It’s “The Hangover” aimed at Christian audiences, and if that sounds like an impossible prospect, well, that’s because it is.
“Moms’ Night Out” is just as afraid to let loose as its characters are. Then again, the people who populate this picture are more like clichéd, cardboard types: the frazzled, stay-at-home mom; the well-meaning, absent dad; the flighty best friend; the snooty restaurant hostess. Why must faith-based offerings be so lame and—worst of all—so out of touch with reality?
Basically, the moral of the story is: Don’t go out. Because if you do, all hell will break loose—or rather, all heck.”
“Mothers deserve a much better break than the hectic, shrill and dismally unpleasant Moms’ Night Out (* out of four; rated PG; opening Friday in select cities). Ads make it look like a wacky outing featuring fun-loving moms and clueless dads. But there’s no fun to be had — and not a drop of originality — in this chaotic and contrived mess. Outlandish high jinks are underscored by an inspirational message that seems out of place in this slapstick misfire. The gently religious message might have come across better if the film had been even remotely subtle. What follows is unadulterated idiocy. The story feels cobbled together from other movies. Its view of harried moms and hapless dads is stereotypical and simplistic. So much of the story is clichéd and derivative. An early scene of the moms walking in slow motion a là Reservoir Dogs is ridiculously played out. Worse, the tone is jarring, careening between raucous physical gags and potential tragedy as if they’re equal on the zany shenanigans scale.”
“In fact, this pic works so well that I’ve got a feeling Moms’ Night Out will make many a real-world date night or girls’ getaway into a chuckle-worthy time … while keeping sweet thoughts of the kids right there at the heart of things.”
“PLUGGED IN” HAS MORE RECENTLY BEEN CRITICIZED/CONDEMNED FOR REVIEWING THE PORNOGRAPHIC/SEX ABUSIVE FILM “FIFTY SHADES OF GREY” http://christiannews.net/2015/02/14/christians-concerned-as-focus-on-the-family-watches-reviews-porn-film-50-shades-of-grey/ “Should Christians visit porn sites so they can examine the content in order to warn others about the dangers of pornography?” wrote evangelist Shane Dodson in a blog post about the matter. “The Scriptures warn us to ‘flee from sexual immorality,’ not run toward it in the name of evangelism. Even the lost knows that this material is trashy, why is it that a supposed mature Christian ministry hasn’t quite figured it out?” “Plugged In—in their unfortunate choice to bring pornographic films into their scope of film criticism—have committed the error of conflating porn as art. I hope and pray that those in control of such things repent of their blasphemy and of causing brothers and sisters to stumble,” Dodson said. “The Lord Jesus Christ warned of a horrible fate for those who would cause a believer to stumble (Mark 9:42). Focus on the Family should heed that warning, because there is more than just their credibility on the line here.”
“I’ve met Christians everywhere I go, I’ve met Christians on every set I’ve been on, in the crew, the cast, everywhere. I’ve met producers who are Christians and are producing secular shows. So much beauty and truth can be found in every, in every different show that’s there. It might not be appropriate for children, for people of all ages, but I do think that, um, that that truth is a beautiful truth that people want, stories people want to tell. I’ve found it everywhere. I have.”
(HINT: THESE ARE THE “CHRISTIANS” IN NAME ONLY, IF EVEN THAT)
Adkins then moved on to playing in honky tonk bars around Nashville, Tennessee, in the early 1990s. It was followed by “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk“, which became a highly successful crossover hit, bringing Adkins into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. “Ladies Love Country Boys” became Adkins’ second Number One single on the country charts and his first since “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing” in 1997. Trace released his first book, entitled A Personal Stand: Observations and Opinions from a Free-Thinking Roughneck. In April 2011, Adkins revealed that he had a crush on the Baylor Lady Bears‘ head coach, Kim Mulkey, while the two were in college at Louisiana Tech, then dedicated his performance of “One in a Million You” to her. In February 2012, Adkins appeared as a guest vocalist on Meat Loaf‘s album Hell in a Handbasket. Adkins has two daughters, Tarah and Sarah, with his ex-wife, and three daughters with current wife. He has also experienced a number of serious injuries as an adult, including being shot by his ex-wife in 1994. In early 2014, Adkins checked into rehab for alcoholism after getting into an altercation on a cruise ship.In March 2014, Trace Adkins and his wife Rhonda filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences.According to Rhonda’s Twitter account, they are still married.
Astin was born Sean Patrick Duke in Santa Monica, California, the son of actress Patty Duke. At the time, it was reported that entertainer Desi Arnaz, Jr. was his biological father. In 1994 Astin discovered that his biological father is actually Michael Tell, a music promoter and writer, and publisher of the newspaper The Las Vegas Israelite; Tell was married to Patty Duke for 13 days in 1970.Astin experienced a career breakthrough with his role as Samwise Gamgee in Peter Jackson‘s The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Astin is currently the voice of Raphael in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series on Nickelodeon. Astin portrays the role of Matthew in The Truth & Life Dramatized audio New Testament Bible, a 22-hour, celebrity-voiced, fully dramatized audio version of the New Testament, which uses the RSV-CE. Astin has a tattoo on his ankle of the word “nine” written with the Tengwar script, commemorating his Lord of the Rings involvement and his character’s membership in the Fellowship of the Ring.
Nichiren Buddhism (Japanese), a branch of MahayanaBuddhism based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monkNichiren (1222–1282) and belongs to the schools of so-called “Kamakura Buddhism“. Nichiren Buddhism is generally noted for its focus on the Lotus Sutra and an attendant belief that all people have an innate Buddha nature and are therefore inherently capable of attaining enlightenment in their current form and present lifetime. It is also noted for its opposition to any other form of Buddhism, which Nichiren saw as deviating from the Buddhist truth he had discovered. Nichiren Buddhism is a comprehensive term covering several major schools and many sub-schools, as well as several of Japan’s new religions. Its many denominations have in common a focus on the chanting and recital of the Lotus Sutra, which is thought to hold “extraordinary power”.
Sean Astin Describes His “Christian Faith”; A Mixture of Catholic, Protestant and Buddhist, Coupled With the “Apocrypha” books:
SEEKS OUT & INTERVIEWS THE CAST & DIRECTOR TO ELICIT THEIR PSEUDO “CHRISTIAN” TESTIMONIES. (HINT: CATHOLICS ARE PSEUDO-CHRISTIANS PRACTICING ADAPTED PAGANISM):
IF ANY OF THE CAST & CREW WERE REAL CHRISTIANS THEY WOULD PREFER NOT TO VALIDATE CATHOLICISM BY BEING INTERVIEWED BY EWTN, WHO IN TURN VALIDATES THEM AS REAL CHRISTIANS.
SO, THE ONLY CONCLUSION WE CAN DRAW IS THAT THE EMERGING CHURCHES, SUCH AS LIBERTY BAPTIST, WANT TO ATTRACT PEOPLE
OF LIKE MIND, THAT IS, IGNORANT, UNDISCERNING, AND COMPLIANT.
LIKE RICK WARREN, THESE CHURCHES HAVE NO PROBLEM IDENTIFYING WITH FALSE CHRISTIANS, CATHOLICS, AND/OR BUDDHISTS; IN THIS CASE, THE CAST AND CREW BEING ROLE MODELS.
THAT IS A PERFECT FIT WITH THE COLLECTIVIST/SOCIALIST STATE BEING CREATED BEFORE OUR VERY EYES, ULTIMATELY UNITING UNDER ROME AND THE POPE.
Despite media talking heads constantly claiming vaccines are 100% “safe and effective,” these videos, and the very package inserts included with the vaccines, reveal that’s not the case at all.
“In our society today, newborns are injected with loads of chemicals nearly as soon as they enter the world,” Elizabeth Renter reported. “In the name of ‘prevention,’ we give them vaccines that we aren’t even sure are safe.”
“As a matter of fact, in many cases, we know them to be unsafe.”
