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March 23, 2000

The Pope, the Vatican, the Trickery

The Vatican has despised Israel in the past, and the present Vatican and Pope put on a facade of change, but it is very clear nothing has really changed.

The colorful reception, with plenty of flags, honor guards and anthems, stood in stark contrast to the last papal visit in 1964, when Pope Paul VI snubbed Israeli leaders in Jerusalem and held only an unofficial audience with Israel's president at the biblical site of Megiddo. During that brief
12-hour tour, the pope never publicly uttered the name of the state of Israel.

Today, we can follow the events of this present Papal visit, and see nothing has really changed.

The Pope was to fly by helicopter from Ben-Gurion to a helipad on the Mount of Olives, adjacent to the Vatican representative's home - where he will stay for the next five nights. Earlier, the Vatican had balked at plans for Jerusalem's Mayor Olmert to attend the ceremony, out of fear of offending
the Palestinians. When Israeli cabinet minister Haim Ramon, who is coordinating the visit on behalf of the government, refused to sideline Olmert, the Vatican requested that the local reception be shortened. Mayor Olmert indeed was there to welcome him to "our eternal capital." The
gesture was later branded by the Palestinians as a show of arrogance.

The papal tour then flew by helicopter to the Palestinian enclave of Bethlehem, where PA chairman Yasser Arafat welcomed him with a military parade, the Palestinian anthem and other trappings of statehood. "Welcome to our land," Arafat beckoned. John Paul II played along, kissing a bowl of Palestinian earth and adopting rhetoric throughout the day-long visit
interpreted by the Palestinians as a powerful endorsement of their hopes for independence.

In his remarks to the gathering, the Pope referred to "legitimate Palestinian aspirations" and the need for peaceful negotiations to realize them. "No one can ignore how much the Palestinian people have had to suffer in recent decades. Your torment is before the eyes of the world. And it has
gone on too long... The Holy See has always recognized that the Palestinian people have a natural right to a homeland," the Pope declared.

Arafat, for his part, called the Pope "an esteemed guest in holy Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine." Arafat's translator, speaking in English, also used the phrase "occupied Jerusalem."

The Pope told the audience that Bethlehem "lay at the heart" of this special pilgrimage he had long dreamed of making. As the Pope finished his homily with an "Amen" around noon, the Muslim call to prayer suddenly blared from the loudspeakers of an imposing grand mosque built on Manger Square. In a compromise worked out with Islamic leaders, the pontiff waited
silently for the wail of Koranic verses to end before continuing with the Mass. A few people fidgeted uncomfortably, and one nun shook her head in apparent disbelief.

The Pope then paid a one-hour visit to the nearby Dheisheh refugee camp, where Palestinians greeted him with a photographic exhibit of the refugees' plight and banners featuring the names of Arab villages purportedly destroyed by Israel. They were hoping he would expressly endorse the right of return, and although the Vatican described the stop as purely humanitarian, the Pope again did not disappoint the Palestinian crowd, speaking of the "memory of what you were forced to leave behind."

The Vatican had already miffed Israeli leaders by suggesting they were balancing Jewish and Palestinian suffering by setting off a visit to Yad Vashem on Thursday with the tour of the refugee camp. Most Palestinians were obviously elated with the political message delivered by John Paul today, although the visit to Dheisheh ended with a brief stone-throwing melee between camp youth and PA police.

Some members of Barak's government dismissed the Pope's speeches as introducing nothing new, but the papal tone likely will make it even harder for him to navigate a number of other disputes and obstacles in his remaining journey to Israel. Many Israelis were hoping he would indeed keep
to a less political script, as promised, but he may be seen as having crossed over the line today, and could encounter a cooler welcome due to his imbalanced orations.

They expect a more specific apology from the Pope for the Vatican's silence during the Holocaust when he visits Yad Vashem tomorrow. Some religious Jews also are demanding that the Pope remove his crucifix Sunday when he goes to Jerusalem's Western Wall. Others are offended that the Star of David has been removed from the Pope's on-call ambulance.

In other developments, the acid-tongued Mufti on the Temple Mount, Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, has refused the Vatican's invitation to an interfaith meeting with the Pope and Israel's two chief rabbis, because the rabbis support Israeli control over all of Jerusalem. While on the Temple Mount on Sunday, PLO officials hope to receive the pontiff with a further symbolic show of
Palestinian control in eastern Jerusalem. Israel and the PA are still bickering over whether Israeli security teams will escort the Pope there. In a cat-and-mouse game, Palestinian flags already are popping up everywhere in east Jerusalem, and Israeli police are quickly taking them down. Eight Palestinians were arrested yesterday for taking down Israeli flags alongside the Vatican colors and putting up Palestinian flags in their place.

http://www.icej.org.il

The Vatican and the Pope can handle all the insults from the Palestinians without remark, and yet put up a great abhorrence at having the Jewish Mayor of Jerusalem in attendance at the Pope's arrival in his (the Jewish Mayor's) own city? The facade is rather thin as seen through my eyes.

...................................................

Next I move on to the politically timed apology of the Vatican and this Pope. Here again I see the same trickery at work.

VAGUE, MEANINGLESS APOLOGIES

All of this has the appearance of a genuine apology from Rome to those she has tormented and wronged, but it is not. In reality, it is a mere facade. There is nothing of real substance to these "apologies." Even by the Catholic Church's own standards for confession of sin, these apologies are without substance. The Catholic sacrament of Confession requires that the sins be stated specifically. The authoritative Addis and Arnold Catholic Dictionary states that the Confession, to be authentic, must have four elements. The first of these is that it must be ENTIRE. The confession
"must include the different kinds of mortal sin committed and the number of sins under each class, so far as it can be ascertained. ONE MORTAL SIN WILFULLY CONCEALED VITIATES THE WHOLE CONFESSION." We are further told that "there is an absolute obligation imposed, not only by the law of the Church, but also by divine institution, upon all Christians, of CONFESSING
ALL MORTAL SINS committed after baptism, so far as the penitent is able to recall them by diligent examination of his conscience."

That there is no specificity whatsoever, though, to the papal "apologies" is even admitted in the document "Memory and Reconciliation." Note the following plain statement: "THE PURPOSE OF THE TEXT IS, THEREFORE, NOT TO EXAMINE PARTICULAR HISTORICAL CASES but rather to clarify the presuppositions that ground repentance for past faults." Even secular
newspaper reporters saw through the Pope's apology. The Associated Press report for March 13, titled "Pope Seeks Pardon for Catholics," observed the lack of specificity, noting that the Pope "SPOKE MOSTLY IN GENERAL TERMS, NOT MENTIONING THE HOLOCAUST, THE INQUISITION OR CRUSADES BY NAME and listing few specific groups."

While the Pope has uttered some regrets of sorts, referring to certain "weaknesses" and "mistakes" and "harmful acts" of the past, he has made no plain confession of sin and error even by the standards of his own "church."

http://wayoflife.org/~dcloud (Beware of KJV blind, bigoted, onlyism at this site. They misrepresent dead scholars such as Dean Burgon, and mock other living scholars who support the majority text as Wilbur Pickering, Hodges and Farstad in their brazen serpent worship of the TR) and KJV)

I greatly doubt the leopard has changed his spots. When the anti-Christ says death to all un- submitting Jews, this Vatican and Pope (if still alive) will be in the forefront of the drunken orgy.

Rev 17:4-6

4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:



5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.



6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

KJV



Jer 13:23

23Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.

KJV

Latest addendum:

The Pope became the instant hero of the Palestinian people yesterday after he plunged into the political cauldron of the Middle East with what amounted to a stinging indictment of Israel's conduct.

But only an hour after uttering his words - at a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem - the place erupted into riots with running street battles between stone-throwing Palestinians youths and baton- wielding Palestinian police, who were also hurling stones........

In words that acquired a new resonance as the fights began, he spoke mumblingly, but graphically of the "degrading conditions" that Palestinians have endured since being driven from their homes during the 1948 Israeli-Arab war, and emphasized their "unalienable right to justice".

"You have been deprived of many things which represent the basic needs of the human person: proper housing, health care, education and work," he told them. He cannot have known that these deprivations - which much surely play a big part in the tensions here - would take violent expression so soon.

"This is very, very bad," said a middle-aged Palestinian man as the fighting raged to and fro. For two hours we were trapped together inside a restaurant while the fighting raged only a few yards away. "I have never seen anything like it in my life," he said, shaking his head. He did not want to be named. For good reason. These were scenes - such an ugly contrast to the flagwaving and joy of their brief moment in the international limelight earlier - the security police did not want to be seen. ........

"You bear the sad memory of what you were forced to leave behind," the pontiff told the refugees, who are a small percentage of the 3.5 million Palestinian refugees scattered around Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. "Not just the material possessions, but your freedom, the closeness of relatives and the familiar surroundings and cultural traditions which nourished your personal and family life." It became clear that John Paul II intended to pull no punches from the moment he arrived in Palestinian-controlled territory, yesterday morning. Addressing Yasser Arafat at the Bethlehem helipad, before going on to the mass, he stressed that "there would be no end to this sad conflict in the Holy Land without stable guarantees for the rights of all people's involved on the basis of international law and the relevant United Nations resolutions and declarations."

These words were aimed squarely at Israel, which has long defied key UN resolutions. Mr Arafat himself was restrained; the case was being made for him. ...........



The Israeli reaction was dismissive. "We see nothing new in the Vatican's position," said Shlomo Ben-Ami, the Public Security Minister. "We will not look at the petty details of the visit through a microscope."




March 19, 2000



Purim and the Gulf War



This is the week of Purim (Book of Esther) when the Jewish people were miraculously delivered from ethnic cleansing by the Persians. The news media does not always cover the real story as we all know. Here is the real story about the Gulf War, and how it relates to Purim.

By the rivers of Babylon, the Children of Israel sat and wept, and remembered Zion. (Psalms 137:1)

In the seventh century BCE, the Babylonians conquered the Asyrian empire in Mesopotamia. Under the regime of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonia became the most powerful nation in the world. Nebuchadnezzar ruthlessly attacked his neighbors, annexing them to his own kingdom.

Early in the sixth century BCE, Nebuchadnezzar's army invaded Israel. It met little resistance and quickly ravaged the country. The Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and defiled and pillaged the holy sites. The Jews were conquered, and atrocities were committed. The population was taken captive and exiled to Babylonia, along with their treasures of gold and precious religious artifacts. The stolen wealth from his many conquered neighbors was used to support Nebuchadnezzar's army and build monuments to his own glory. It was in his capital city that Nebuchadnezzar built the legendary Hanging Garden of Babylon. In testimony to his grandeur, each brick was inscribed with Nebuchadnezzar's name.

North of the ancient city of Ur, also on the Euphrates River, lies the biblical city of Babylon. Years ago, Saddam Hussein commissioned archaeologists to restore the city and its Hanging Gardens. Each new brick that was added was inscribed with Saddam's name. This became a powerful symbol for him. Saddam Hussein believed that he was the reincarnation of the great Nebuchadnezzar, and dreamed of restoring the Babylonian empire to its former size and glory.

During the course of the dig, archaeologists uncovered a plaque on the right-hand side of the ancient city gate. This plaque had been placed there by Nebuchadnezzar and proclaimed the ancient ruler's greatness. Saddam ordered stonemasons to place another plaque on the left-hand side of the gate, glorifying the greatness of Saddam Hussein. With his national symbol in place, Saddam then embarked on a campaign of terror in 1990-91, first in Iran, then in Kuwait. Ultimately, he dreamed of recapturing Jerusalem.

GULF WAR RELIVED

The miracles experienced in Israel during the war are too numerous to mention. The newspapers were filled with images of people buried in rubble, yet walking away without a scratch. In all, 29 missiles fell -- many in heavily populated areas -- causing only one death. By contrast, one scud missile fell on a U.S. Army barrack in Saudi Arabia, killing tens of U.S. soldiers.

http://aish.com/issues/society/Gulf_War_Miracles.asp



The historicity of Purim continues into the news of this very day.



By Amira Hass
Ha'aretz Correspondent and Agencies

Palestinian police said over the weekend they had arrested five Hamas members suspected of plotting bombing attacks in Israel, and also seized 32 kilograms of explosives that had been stashed in a Gaza kindergarten.



How great the hatred that men would store explosives in a kindergarten room to help assure their success in killing Jews?



Ezek 35:4-5

4) I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.



5) Because thou hast had a perpetual hatred, and hast shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:



Est 9:1

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)



Est 9:5

Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.


Purim Coming March 21

Purim is Judaism's most dramatic, fun-filled holiday. When else can you dress up like a bunny rabbit and eat doughy triangles filled with prunes and poppy seeds?

Purim occurs on the 14th of Adar, which this year begins on Monday evening, March 21. (In certain walled cities like Jerusalem, "Shushan Purim" is celebrated on the 15th of Adar.)

The main event is reading the Book of Esther. Set in Persia 2,300 years ago, the "Megillah" (as it is commonly called) recounts how a seemingly unrelated series of events spun together to save the
Jewish people from annihilation. The quickie version is as follows:

When King Achashverosh throws a huge 6-month party and the queen refuses to follow orders, she is replaced by a new queen - Esther the Jewess. Esther's uncle Mordechai, the leader of the Jews,
uncovers a plot to assassinate the king -- putting him also in a favorable position with the king. All this comes in handy when Haman, the king's top advisor, obtains a decree to have all the Jews
destroyed.

In the end, through a complex twist of events, Esther gets the decree reversed, Haman is hung on the gallows, and Mordechai becomes prime minister.

The name Megillat Esther (Scroll of Esther) actually mean "revealing the hidden." Unlike every other book in the Bible, Megillat Esther never mentions God's name even once. The hidden hand of God is revealed through the maze of events. There are no coincidences.

Megillat Esther teaches us that life challenges work out for the best, because what appears as obstacles are really opportunities to develop ourselves for the better. And it all comes from God's invisible hand that guides our fate, every step of the way.

Yes, the Jewish people recognize their uniqueness is far beyond natural causes. The hand of God is clearly stamped on their very existence. Even today, Jewish history cries out for an answer. Why, such a small group of people so hated throughout history for no apparent reason other then they are Jewish, should still be alive today, and in the center of all the international news? The world scoffs at the Bible, but it can't scoff at the reality of the Jewish people. God's hand can't be denied, because it defies all the rules of common sense. God is not finished! A Jewish King will rule this world for 1000 years, and peace - real peace - Godly peace - righteous peace - will be accomplished for the first time in human history since the fall of Adam.

There are no coincidences! The hidden hand of God is revealed! This world shall submit to the pure and holy will of this righteous KING! The Haman's of today who will profane this KING will also find a reversal of their fate.

1 Tim 6:14-16

14) That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:



15) Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;



16) Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

KJV



Rev 17:14

14) These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

KJV



Rev 19:11-21

11) And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

12) His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

13) And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

14) And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

15) And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

16) And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

17) And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18) That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

19) And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

20) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21) And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

KJV




March 14, 2000

Soon Israel must build the Third Jewish Temple. It is inevitable. It is prophesied. It must and will happen. There will also be many unauthorized attempts by well meaning men who can understand enough of the Bible to know the reality of these end time events, but do not understand that God will accomplish these things by His will not that of well meaning men. Here is another attempt by the well meaning. Notice how impossible the task becomes because of "variations." Notice how one group is diametrically opposed to the other group. The task of building the Temple (just like building the tabernacle) will never be accomplished by the Jewish people until God takes full control. I believe the ministry of the Two Witnesses of Revelations 11 is exactly how God will accomplish this task. The opposition will contend with the miraculous powers of these Two Jewish Prophets as they lead in the reconstruction of the Third, and final Jewish Temple here on earth.

Model of the Tabernacle

A small-scale model to be unveiled; a life-size restoration in the works

By Baruch Kra


When retired Israel Aircraft engineer Yaakov Sharvit took on the task of reconstructing the Tabernacle, the temporary temple erected by Moses in the wilderness, he expected the job to be emotional. But he did not anticipate the euphoria that came with realizing a vision of 22 years. Now, night after night, the manager of the Tel Shilo site of the Tabernacle lies awake with excitement, on the brink of unveiling his vision to the public.The Tabernacle in its original dimensions has yet to be rebuilt, but Sharvit recently completed construction on a model with modest dimensions of 1.5 meters by 2.5 meters. "With God's help, on the first day of the month of Nissan - on the day the original Tabernacle was erected in the Sinai desert - we'll have a dignified ceremony," says Sharvit, who plans to invite dignitaries from chief rabbis to the minister of tourism to the opening event at Tel Shilo in the Benjamin region. ......



So the model was in fact built with "variations." A quick glance at the menorah, the most recognized symbol of the Tabernacle, reveals that it has only six branches. Where is the seventh? "A variation." The basin lacks water taps. Where are they? "A variation." Every utensil has an intentional flaw. It is this need for "variation" that makes the two men so critical of Jerusalem's Temple Institute, where the utensils are built as precisely as possible. "There is a total prohibition against this," says Hayyat, citing his rabbi, Rabbi Klein, and Sharvit nods his assent: from the day the ultra-Orthodox rabbi authorized the construction of the Tabernacle in Shilo, his every word has been sacred. "The menorah at the Temple Institute, which is supposedly authentic," Sharvit consoles himself with regard to his competitors, "isn't authentic. It isn't cast from 'one piece of gold,' as is written." For his part, Hayyat is constantly repeating the word "purity." Why? "That's what makes this place special," he explains; "the Tabernacle was never desecrated. The Temple was desecrated by idolatry. This place was never desecrated." The two men assert that their model of the Tabernacle is 10 times better than the model of the Temple. ...

Yes, Hollywood, even Indiana Jones possibly? Men at work here!

So who will pay? The expense could amount to tens of millions of dollars. The materials for the model alone cost over NIS 100,000. As Ha'aretz reported, some groups seized the opportunity to make a contribution: Certain Christian Protestant groups wanted to invest in the Tabernacle as did an American association of Kohanim and Levites, headed by Hollywood producer Daniel Weiss. At the moment, Sharvit reports, the matter is being discussed by lawyers for the American Jews and the Jewish Agency. The Hollywood Jews intend to produce a live show with an operating Tabernacle, and Weiss has promised Sharvit that none other than the director Franco Zeffirelli will create it.......

Now it gets a little fruitcake as always when men are doing it.

Around six months ago, Sharvit relates, Weiss' representatives came to survey the area. Among them was Zeffirelli's personal representative - his healer. "Zeffirelli has aches and pains in his legs," Sharvit explains "and she takes care of him." Sharvit explains that healers sense energies "and so when she walked on the site where the Tabernacle stood, she lost her balance." This, he is certain, helped convince the healer, Weiss and his colleagues that the Tabernacle must be reconstructed at Shilo. "A few days later," reports Sharvit, "we received a phone call saying that Zeffirelli wants to know the Tabernacle's exact dimensions." Although the reconstruction project has received support from various camps, there is an important difference between the Christian Protestants and the Jews, Sharvit explains. "The Jews come here for business reasons; the Protestants don't." Sharvit expects that in the end, everyone will have a role in building the site.

Exodus 25:8-9

8) And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.



9) According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.

KJV


March 6, 2000

Which Christian Report do you believe?

The trust of Christians to tell the truth is no longer reality. Now the news is skewed to meet whatever the agenda might be. Truthfulness can't be assumed from a Christian anymore.



Global: Evangelicals are the world's fastest-growing movement "4000 years ago, God promised Abraham to bless all peoples through him," write mission strategists Ralph Winter and Bruce Koch in their article 'Finishing the Task'. "Today, this promise is being fulfilled before our very eyes, and with an almost unbelievable speed. Biblical faith is spreading as never before." The
magazine 'Missions Frontiers', published by the US Center for World Mission, presented the following new figures, based on their own research and David Barrett and Patrick Johnstone's statistics:

Annual growth
Global population 1.6%
Pentecostal and charismatic churches 7.3%
Evangelical churches 5.6%
Protestant churches 2.9%
Roman Catholic church 1.2% (approx.)
Christianity 2.6%

In comparison: Islam 2.7%

"Evangelical Christianity is growing 3.5 times as fast as the world population," (Pentecostal and Charismatic churches 4.5 times as fast). "That makes Evangelical Christianity, with 645 million members or 11% of the population, the fastest-growing major religious group, and the only movement
growing significantly through conversion," says Johnstone.

Unreached peoples: not so unreached! Of the world's 24,000 people groups, some 10,000, with a total population of around 2.1 billion, are unreached. An 'unreached people group' is a numerically
significant population which shares a language, religion, race, locality, trade, class, caste or other identifying element in which there is no indigenous group of Christians which are able to reach the people group with the gospel (the AD2000 and Beyond movement's definition: less than 2% of the group are evangelical, or less than 5% are active Christians). "Of the world's 6 billion
inhabitants, around one third are Christians, another third lives in people groups which have been reached with the gospel, and the remaining third lives in unreached groups. That is a great step forward from the situation in1974, when around half of the non-Christians lived in unreached people groups; today, it is only one third. For the first time in history, there are fewer non-Christians in unreached people groups than in evangelised groups," the report continues.
Winter and Koch conclude: "We are clearly in the final era of world mission. For the first time in history, we can see that the task of establishing a church-planting movement in the language and social structure of every people group can be completed."
Source:

http://www.missionfrontiers.org/

..........................................................................................

U.S. churches are growing, but not enough to keep pace with the population, says the 2000 edition of the Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches (Abingdon Press). A total of 158.3 million
Americans were members of churches in 1998, an increase of 791,000 over 1997, said the yearbook, compiled by the National Council of Churches.

...Non-Christian faiths are a growing sector of the population, the yearbook said. In addition to data on churches, for the first time it lists organizations for non-Christian faiths, and includes maps showing locations of mosques and Buddhist temples. ...The Southern Baptist Convention, the second largest U.S. denomination behind the Roman Catholic Church, had an annual membership loss of about 1 percent while the Catholic Church grew by 1.3 percent to 62 million.

Of the 2 reports I would guess the last is closer to the truth? There is no way of knowing unless you investigate yourself. The days of trusting someone because they are a Christian is something of the past. Mission Frontiers (US Center for World Missions) also plays lose and fast with statistics when soliciting money to justify it's existence. They have even stacked the deck in their favor in the past, and got caught. I guess they just don't see it as lying and sin?

Prov 8:7

7For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

KJV



Isa 59:4

4None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

KJV



Jer 9:5

5And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

KJV




March 4, 2000

Today is just a good day to be a fundamental Christian!

Saturday March 4 7:25 PM ET

Lift of Dating Ban Stunned Campus

By JIM DAVENPORT Associated Press Writer

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - Bob Jones University's decision to lift its half-century-old ban on interracial dating has stunned students and the fundamentalist Christian school's supporters who learned about it Friday night in a national television interview with President Bob Jones III.

``I don't think even his own secretary knew what he was going to do,'' said school spokesman Jonathan Pait.

Thousands of students and supporters gathered at the university's auditorium to watch Jones' interview on CNN's ``Larry King Live.'' People were surprised, said senior Naion Lundy.

``We didn't expect it at all,'' he said.

Lundy, also a sergeant with the university's public safety department, said Saturday that reporters were not permitted to interview students and faculty on campus. ......



The first black student was not admitted until the 1970s and the school lost its tax exemption in 1983 after a 13-year battle with the Internal Revenue Service, which said the school's policies were discriminatory.

The school had defended the dating ban based on a biblical interpretation that God created people differently for a reason.

Jeff Dayton graduated from Bob Jones last year and now works at a Bible gift shop across the street. He and his wife, who still attends, were surprised and happy about the decision.

``I can tell you they are not Jew-hating, they are not Catholic-hating and they are not racist,'' Dayton said. ``This was just an old rule that needed to be changed.'' ........



Now here are some genuine principals that apply to Bob Jones University!

Prov 31:25-26

25) Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.



26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.



Let me say again, it's a good day to be a fundamental Christian!




February 22, 2000

The actual number of AIDS deaths is difficult to determine. But it appears priests are dying of AIDS at a rate at least four times that of the general U.S. population, according to estimates from medical experts and priests and an analysis of health statistics by The Kansas City Star.

Hundreds of U.S. Catholic priests have died of AIDS since the
1980s, a newspaper's review of death certificates and survey of
priests nationwide indicates. The rate of AIDS-related deaths
among the nation's 46,000 priests is four times that of the
general population, The Kansas City Star said.
...Sixty percent of priests surveyed nationwide said they knew at
least one priest who died of an AIDS-related illness, the Star
said, and 30% said they knew a priest who has AIDS. Confidential
surveys were sent to 3,000 priests and 801, about 27%, responded,
the newspaper said. About 75% said their orientation is
heterosexual, 15% homosexual, and 5% bisexual. Church law
requires priests to be celibate.

February 7, 2000

Black Pentecostals say they can learn from the Roman Catholic
Church. Leaders of 27 denominations, members of the Joint College
of African-American Pentecostal Bishops, will travel to Rome this
week to visit the Vatican and perhaps meet with the pope, the
Chicago Tribune said. The bishops said it is time to recover some
of the ancient traditions practiced by the Catholic Church.
..."I think we can learn from each other," Larry Trotter of the
Sweet Holy Spirit Full Gospel Baptist Church in Chicago said. "We
come with a fervor and fire they may be missing, but they come
with order and structure we may be missing." The bishops will
attend a three-day seminar at the Pontifical North American
College, a seminary for U.S. Catholics, and will attend a general
audience and a healing Mass with the pope, the Tribune said. They
also might have a short personal visit with the pontiff.
...Pentecostalism is one of the fastest-growing segments of
Christianity. Pentecostals believe that God, through the Holy
Spirit, empowers Christians with spiritual gifts, including
prophecy, healing, and speaking in tongues.
..."The shock to me was that these Pentecostals -- these
charismatic, tongue-speaking people -- all wanted to go to the
Vatican," J. Delano Ellis of Cleveland said. He is a friend of
Cleveland Catholic Bishop Anthony Pilla, who helped arrange the
trip. "We are part of the body of Christ, and we want to grow
closer to other parts of the body of Christ. It's time to build
some bridges and tear down some walls," Ellis said.

Need I say more? These black leaders would do well to follow Christ, not the Pope!

Hebrews 3:12-13

12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.



13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

KJV


February 7, 2000

Why the Jew? Why Jerusalem? Why the Hate?

GOOD MORNING! It has been said that the history of
almost all of the Jewish holidays can be summed up succinctly:
"They wanted to kill us; we won. Let's eat." Why has anti-Semitism
been so pervasive in so many countries, in so many time periods
and for so many reasons? (One begins to wonder. Perhaps there
is something wrong with the Jews and Judaism? After all, there is
an old Yiddish saying -- "If one person calls you a donkey, ignore
him; if two people call you a donkey, buy a saddle.")

Between the years 250 CE and 1948 CE - a period of
1,700 years - Jews have experienced more than eighty expulsions
from various countries in Europe - an average of nearly one
expulsion every twenty-one years. Jews were expelled from
England, France, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal,
Bohemia, Moravia and seventy-one other countries.

Historians have classified six explanations as to why
people hate the Jews:

1) Economic -- "We hate Jews because they possess too much
wealth and power."
2) Chosen People -- "We hate Jews because they arrogantly claim
that they are the chosen people."
3) Scapegoat -- "Jews are a convenient group to single out and
blame for our troubles."
4) Deicide -- "We hate Jews because they killed Jesus."
5) Outsiders -- "We hate Jews because they are different than us."
(The dislike of the unlike.)
6) Racial Theory -- "We hate Jews because they are an inferior
race."
As we examine the explanations, we must ask -- Are they
the causes for anti-Semitism or excuses for Anti-Semitism? The
difference? If one takes away the cause, then anti-Semitism should
no longer exist. If one can show a contradiction to the explanation, it
demonstrates that the "cause" is not a reason, it is just an excuse.
Let's look at some contradictions:

1) Economic -- The Jews of 17th- 20th century Poland and Russia
were dirt poor, had no influence and yet they were hated.
2) Chosen People -- a) In the late 19th century, the Jews of
Germany denied "Choseness." And then they worked on
assimilation. Yet, the holocaust started there. b) Christians and
Moslems profess to being the "Chosen people," yet, the world and
the anti-Semites tolerate them.
3) Scapegoat -- Any group must already be hated to be an
effective scapegoat. The Scapegoat Theory does not then cause
anti-Semitism. Rather, anti-Semitism is what makes the Jews a
convenient scapegoat target. Hitler's ranting and ravings would not
be taken seriously if he said, "It's the bicycle riders and the midgets
who are destroying our society."
4) Deicide -- a) the Christian Bible says the Romans killed Jesus,
though Jews are mentioned as accomplices (claims that Jews
killed Jesus came several hundred years later). How come the
accomplices are persecuted and there isn't an anti-Roman
movement through history? b) Jesus himself said, "Forgive them
[i.e., the Jews], for they know not what they do." The Second
Vatican Council in 1963 officially exonerated the Jews as the killers
of Jesus. Neither statement of Christian belief lessened anti-
Semitism.
5) Outsiders -- With the Enlightenment in the late 18th century,
many Jews rushed to assimilate. Anti-Semitism should have
stopped. Instead, for example, with the Nazis came the cry, in
essence: "We hate you, not because you're different, but because
you're trying to become like us! We cannot allow you to infect the
Aryan race with your inferior genes."
6) Racial Theory -- The overriding problem with this theory is that it
is self-contradictory: Jews are not a race. Anyone can become a
Jew - and members of every race, creed and color in the world
have done so at one time or another.

Every other hated group is hated for a relatively defined
reason. We Jews, however, are hated in paradoxes: Jews are
hated for being a lazy and inferior race - but also for dominating the
economy and taking over the world. We are hated for stubbornly
maintaining our separateness - and, when we do assimilate - for
posing a threat to racial purity through intermarriages. We are seen
as pacifists and as warmongers; as capitalist exploiters and as
revolutionary communists; possessed of a Chosen-People
mentality, as well as of an inferiority complex. It seems that we just
can't win.

http://www.aish.edu

No it doesn't make sense, but it's the reality of this world. The Jew is hated! What if God forced the world that hates the Jew to honor the Jew? It would not go down very well would it! What does the Bible say about the future for a Jewish King who will rule the whole world from Jerusalem? What is the fate of the Gentile Nations? A great confrontation is coming soon. Why the Jew? Why Jerusalem? Why the world hates the Jew!

Read: "The Gentile Stranger in a Jewish Dispensation"

Lev 19:34

But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

KJV



February 4, 2000

Dinosaur-bird link smashed in fossil flap

The "missing link" dinosaur-bird featured by National Geographic magazine in November is a fake. Archaeoraptor, the unofficial name of the fossil, is actually two animals pieced together either as an honest mistake made by its discoverers in China or as a breathtaking forgery. The composite, on display at the National Geographic Society in Washington until last week, consists of a birdlike upper torso and the tail and feet of a small raptor. The magazine described it as a "true missing link in the complex chain that connects dinosaurs and birds.

Well, so much for this modern science that wants so hard to believe the lie that they let themselves get snookered by the exploiters. These are the guys who were telling us 15 years ago that the next Ice Age was crashing down on us. Now it's Global Warming. Y2K should have been a wake=up call to this kind of bogus science? I think the Bible sums up this modern science very adequately.

Rom 1:22

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

KJV


January 28, 2000



Year 2000: no problem

Most of the feared computer problems related to the year 2000 rollover did not
occur, frequently because of the significant precautionary efforts made by many
companies and governments. Here are some of the problems which could not be
prevented:

- In London, a child cut the cables to the family computer so that the
'Millennium Bug' could not crawl in;
- In New York, one customer faced a bill of $176,160 for returning a rented
video 100 years late;

- A German businessman discovered that $11.9 million had been credited to his
account due to a computer error;

- Newborn babies in a Copenhagen hospital were registered as 100 years old;

- In Naples, a court was forced to close because a computer added a century to
some sentences, and subtracted it from others;

- In Auckland, New Zealand, the international airport announced that it had
made the transition into the new year without problems. The press release was
dated 1 January 100.
Source: Bob Hall

Let us not so soon forget our victimization by the Y2Ker's. It was billions and billions of dollars absolutely wasted for nothing. It was political blackmail that should never have happened. That amount of money could have taken the burden off Africa, or built a mansion for every homeless family in the world. It should be a crime with jail time and heavy fines when bad science is manipulated into fear tactics for political or financial ends. There are folks who lined their pockets with this scam, and the rest of us were duped.



January 4, 2000

Global Warming = Y2K

The End of the End Is Nigh
by

Declan McCullagh

3:00 a.m. 4.Jan.2000 PST

WASHINGTON -- Now that the world has survived three days with no serious Y2K woes, one might expect all the doomsayers to give up in frustration or shame.

Nope.

Rather than 'fessing up and admitting they were ill-advised to hie themselves to the hills, some Y2K alarmists haven't given up what passes for them as hope.

On Usenet newsgroups and Web discussion forums, the most vocal apocalypticists are insisting that Year 2000-related computer snafus could still bring an end to Western Civilization -- eventually.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Statistically speaking, North thought there should have been at least a few brownouts and blackouts. Clearly, world governments were planning on some kind of trouble. How else do you explain the fact that police officers the world over had to work New Year's Eve?

What's more, North said he still can't figure out why those who did barely anything to prepare for Y2K still managed a trouble-free transition.

"I am indeed perplexed by the fact that those companies, nations, and local governments that spent almost nothing to fix Y2K seem to be performing as well as, say, Microsoft," North wrote.



Ever hear of Chicken Little who told everyone the sky is falling? The fable shows how foolish men can be. The greatest fool is the Christian who knows judgment is coming, but makes God look like a fool through supposed greater knowledge of the Bible, or even first hand communication. The second time around they all laughed at Chicken Little. He lost his credibility. He yelled wolf once too often.

Listen to the doomsayers of global warming, and make the connection!

Lots of public money wasted on nothing! Read Environmental Deception!

(Next item:)


December 10, 1999

Current News Summery
by the Editors of Religion Today

December 8, 1999

Martin Luther is still making news. His challenge to the Roman Catholic Church in 1517, which brought about the Protestant Reformation, is the most important religious event of the second
millennium, according to a poll conducted by the Religion Newswriters Association.

Today the Lutherans are about to compromise with the Roman Catholics for the sake of Christian unity even though Roman Catholicism remains doctrinally the same as it was in Luther's day!

...The invention of movable type, which allowed the mass production of Bibles in various languages, and the Great Schism of 1054, which separated Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism,

were ranked second and third in the poll. About 30 journalists voted on the top 10 religious events of the millennium and the 20th century.



When the Bible got into the hands of the people, they found much of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism was not in the Bible. Today they don't bother to read the book, and just blindly follow their Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy.

...The remaining top events of the millennium include: the Holocaust and the founding of the modern state of Israel; the first Crusade in 1095 to liberate the Holy Land from Muslims; Islam's spread into Africa and Asia; the Second Vatican Council reforms from 1962-1965; the settlement of Plymouth, Mass., and the enshrinement of religious freedoms in the Bill of Rights; the
19th century ideas of Freud, Darwin, Marx, and Nietchze that challenged traditional religious beliefs; and the 1906 Azusa Street revival that launched the Pentecostal movement, which
today is the fastest growing segment of Christianity, The Associated Press said.



The Jews and the Holy Land (the people and land of the Bible) are back in the forefront of human history. The hatred of the Jew is only surpassed by the hatred this world has for the God who has preserved them for the biblical fulfillment of His omnipotent prophecy. Main stream Christianity now has accepted the perverted, mystical, and fanatical Charismatic movement as the standard bearer of "born again" Christianity going into the next century.

...The top events of the 20th century include the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947; the increase of female clergy among Protestants and Jews; the increase of radical Islam in the Middle
East and North Africa; John Paul II becoming the first non-Italian pope in 400 years; the religious-backed civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ghandi's nonviolent
overthrow of British rule in India.

Among the Dead Sea Scroll finds was the entire Scroll of Isaiah. The Bible scholars found it reaffirms again just as it always did that only one man will ever bring peace to this world.

Isa 9:6-7

6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.



7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

KJV

The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah is 1000 years older then the oldest copy that we had up to that time. Yet it reads from the Hebrew exactly the same as what we've become familiarized with every Christmas. 1000 years with no changes or errors. The authority of Scripture is tied to its accuracy which is beyond reproach by all who have investigated. It is all about Jesus Christ, the one and only savior, who can give a personal perfect peace to a lost sinner!




November 17. 1999

Holding hands

Take a good look at this picture. It's one of the most remarkable photographs ever taken. The tiny hand of a foetus reaches out from a mother's womb to clasp a surgeon's healing finger. It is, by the way, 21 weeks old, an age at which it could still be legally aborted. The tiny hand in the picture above belongs to a baby which is due to be born on December 28. It was taken during an operation in America recently. Paul Harris reports on a medical development in the control of the effects of spina bifida ... and on a picture which will reverberate through the on-going abortion debate here

Your first instinct is to recoil in horror. It looks like a close-up of some terrible accident. And then you notice, in the centre of the photograph, the tiny hand clutching a surgeon's finger.

The baby is literally hanging on for life. For this is one of the most remarkable photographs taken in medicine and a record of one of the world's most extraordinary operations.

It shows a 21-week-old foetus in its mother's womb, about to undergo a spine operation designed to save it from serious brain damage.

The surgery was carried out entirely through the tiny slit visible in the wall of the womb and the `patient' is believed to be the youngest to undergo it.

Hitler and all his Nazi cronies will stand before God, and account for the holocaust. So also will all who have taken part in this modern abortion holocaust give account. It is a fearful thing to contemplate judgement by the Almighty God.

Mal 3:5

5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

KJV


November 15, 1999

Benny Hinn and Paul Crouch go loony (or have been loony for a long time); put cadavers in front of TV tuned to TBN.

Benny Hinn:
I'm telling you. People will be - people - I'm telling you, I feel the anointing talking here. People are going to be canceling funeral services and bringing their dead in their caskets, placing them - my God! I feel the anointing here - placing them before a television set, waiting for God's power to come through and touch them. And it's going to happen time and time - so much it's going to spread. You're going to hear it from Kenya to Mexico to Europe to South America, where people will be raised from the - so much so that the word will spread that if some dead person be put in front of this TV screen, they will be raised from the dead and they will be by the thousands. You wait. Now the Lord just told me - and I don't know whether this is true or not - as I'm saying this, the Lord said He gave you that word many, many years ago.

Paul Crouch: I have said that, yes.



If you ever questioned the validity of salvation in the Charismatic movement, let this settle the issue! This is not the God of the Bible talking to these pompous dupes. Their God can't raise anyone from the dead. No Charismatic (no matter how popular) has been able to raise the dead. There have been many claims, but every one has proven false. Cadavers being brought back to life by watching Christian TV will never happen. This is demonic not Biblical. This god who talks to Benny Hinn and Paul Crouch is a liar.



Millions upon millions willingly listen and follow these same demons.



Matt 7:20-23

20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.



21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.



22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?



23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.



BENNY HINN'S 'ANOINTING'--TBN's Paul Crouch interviewed Benny Hinn, Sept. 13 on TBN. In the opening exchanges, Hinn appealed to Kathryn Kuhlman for his "cursing and blessing" pronouncements at a recently held Healing Crusade in Denver. He said: "I place a curse on every man and woman that will stretch his hand against this anointing. I curse that man who dares to speak a word against this ministry. But any man, any woman that raises his or her hand in blessing toward this ministry, I bless that man…." The New Zealand paper, Contending Earnestly for the Faith (9/99) mentioned "a dangerous trend toward Catholic-type worship and ecumenical unity" in recent Hinn programs. It said a number of third wave charismatics were recent guests, and that Hinn is assuming the apostolic father figure of the healing ministry.

BENNY HINN SAYS DEAD IN CASKETS WILL BE RAISED TO LIFE AT TV SETS--Charismatic leader Benny Hinn on Paul & Jan Crouch's TBN said people are going to be raised from the dead watching TBN. He said "People are going to be canceling funeral services and bringing their dead in their caskets, placing them before a TV set, waiting for God's power to…touch them." He said they would be raised from the dead by the thousands (11/22 Chr. News). BDM editor Rick Miesel said the listed speakers for a 12/3 $100/plate Benny Hinn 25th anniversary dinner in Anaheim, CA included Paul Crouch, Jack Hayford, Oral Roberts, E.V. Hill, and Rex Humbard. Hinn mentioned, at the start of his 10/99 Denver Healing Crusade (TBN tape), that Tim LaHaye and Jerry Falwell would also be dinner speakers. In a phone call to Falwell's office, a Mr. Westover told the CC editor that Falwell "may be there, but he's not going to be speaking." Falwell and Hinn were featured speakers at a 4/96 Washington for Jesus rally (6/15/96 CC). Hinn said he recently had a long meeting with Falwell. He has left his Orlando church and moved to Dallas. In Jan. he breaks ground for a $30-$35 million Healing Center in Dallas, which will operate 24 hours a day when opened in 2001.


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Edited by DDSrail