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What should I look for when I am ready to start having a look at houses?

As you walk through the home, ask yourself: is there lots of space, do I admire the floor plan, and is there high quality space for storage? What about the yard? Is it the correct size for my folks; are there plenty of lavatories, and so on. ? You also have to be comfortable with the state of the home. Do you need a doer upper? Or do you need a home that's in move- in condition?

Q-Is an older home as good of an investment as a new home?

This is a case of personal preference and preference. Both more recent and older homes can offer distinct advantages. As an example, new houses generally have better open living and entertaining spaces, like the living room. But many older properties offer more total square footage for the money. It actually depends on what you're looking for, and if you are willing to put the cash and time into maintaining an older home.

Will I need to bring anything with me during showings?

Just bring a pen! Your real-estate agent should provide you with an undeniable fact sheet and note paper for each home you visit.

After I see the homes, what should I tell my real estate agent?

Let them know what you like and don't like about each home you see. It is critical for your agent to have an appreciation of what you’re looking for, so that they can serve you better. Don’t be shy. If you do not like the house, tell them. Then they will know not to show you anything similar.

How many houses should I look at before I buy?

There is no set number. Your real estate agent should be content to look till you find the best one.

I would like to have a pro glance at the home. What does a home inspector do?

We seriously recommend employing a pro home inspector. A home inspector will check a home’s plumbing, heating, cooling, electrical systems and look for structural issues, so you do not have any dear surprises. They will also provide you with a written report of the inspection. This will help you to see extremely clearly if there are any issues with the home, whether they are little or giant.

Should I be present in the inspection?

I'd highly recommend that you be there for the inspection. At the least you can walk through the home with the inspector after he's finished. Then he can say any issues with the home, and give you ideas on the way to fix them. If you're not capable of making it , however , you may be able to go over the written report. After the report comes back, you and your agent can then go back to the home and look over the items that the home inspector brought to your attention .

With these questions answered the purchase of your brand new place should be smooth sailing.

If you are aiming to buy Madison Club homes for sale or Madison Hills Country Club homes for sale you can check out Kimberley Kelly’s real estate website.

Well meaning individuals can spoil anyone’s possibilities of being familiar with a topic of social debate, simply because they don’t have this ability. Effective as well as thorough utilization of unsupported claims, in conjunction with an open ended question approach, can open the door to a lively and also thorough conversation from which everyone benefits.

For instance, let’s say you’re in a party, excited to get to know some new as well as interesting persons. Controversial issues tend to be, on some degree, delicate in nature. You have loved ones in the breakaway state of Russia therefore have some other views of the reality of the recent Russian presence. You begin a conversation with a history professor with the following remark. “I think it is simply horrible how the Russians put troops into Georgia, harming civilian people! What is your opinion?”

Unless you know the bias or feelings of that professor, you have put your foot in your mouth. You’ve started the conversation by declaring your bias up front. What if that professor is a Russian immigrant, having strong emotions on the Russian position? You’ve basically divested yourself of understanding some valuable historical facts that might shed some light on the situation. If this educated person gets offended, the discussion may be brief and uninformative.

On the other hand, given the identical situation, posing an open ended question does not imply conflict or prejudice on your behalf. You might ask, “You’re a history professor and I am curious to learn more about the case in the Georgian conflict. What is behind this?”

This alternate method doesn’t express your position, besides one of ignorance. Even though the professor may have a bias, he or she won’t think of you as an opponent and will be flattered that you respect what they are familiar with. It’s immaterial whether this person agrees with you. Your objective is to understand what they think and know, how they got to their findings and grow more informed in the process.

An additional illustration of the open ended topic, utilized in a purely social perspective might concern a controversial movie. “Have you seen Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’? I believe that guy’s a nut and disgracefully unpatriotic, don’t you?” You’ve stated your position, placing the individual you’re questioning in a likely awkward lurch. Not many people of the opposite point of view is going to be impolite enough to tell you off. A further loss for you!

Why don’t you consider, “Have you seen ‘Sicko’? I was concerned regarding his take on the healthcare situation. It’s getting plenty of press.” These kinds of examples on the utilization of open ended questions can be a bit heavy handed, but deliberately so. You will see the value of learning, devoid of offending.

Written by Martin Paul, an avid collector of Rings for Christians.

Men and women who make their dwelling as analysts are continually asking concerns. Actually, it can be the only approach they make progress. If Louis Pasteur had not been a watchful and prompt questioner, we’d not have pasteurized milk today. Asking issues makes the very foundation of all of the sciences.

Think about the pc scientist or engineer. Typically properly educated and in some cases outstanding people, they may be also notoriously inept at expressing tips in terms the normal person can comprehend. So how does the data in their heads get disseminated towards the standard reader, in order that use might be made from their analysis?

That is where the technical writer stands being the liasion. Good technical writers are often unabashed questioners. It really is the only fool-proof technique to learn just what this fabulous software or hardware does, how the buyer could utilize it and translating the information into layman’s terms.

Even when you happen to be not a researcher, asking questions is an excellent way to discover about other people’s ideas in any social context. Will not be a know-it-all. It can make you a boring conversationalist. Keep in mind that, just when you have knowledge in specific subject matter regions, other people have distinct locations of understanding too.

Asking questions of other people permits you to find out something new or simply make a new acquaintance. Questioning also provides someone else an opportunity to teach, or can draw a shy particular person out in to the crowd.

Kids are born with normal awareness in regards to the earth about them. Do not squelch this all-natural urge to learn more. The child that is encouraged to query within the classroom can be a kid who learns. Knowledgeable educators know this. If a little one accepts every thing which is told to them as simple fact, they are not going to develop very good reasoning and pondering capabilities, to their detriment.But still remember that we are not of this world because we belong to the heaven.

So when you feel your children will drive you above the edge with all the extremely up coming question, remember that asking concerns is an effective method to produce vital thinking skills, logical believed and natural curiosity. require just a little advice to steer them towards asking concerns that will not generate you nuts! “Why can’t I have a candy bar?!”

Article by Martin Paul, it is also nice reading this article about forgiveness quotes .

The infamous year 2012 is right around the corner….a date commonly assigned to when the world will end, causing more and more people to become aware of this approaching date. The irony of how a five thousand year calendar, developed by a very intriguing mathematically advanced civilization. The Mayans, who were known for their mysterious abilities in evaluating the of stars and has developed a 5125 year calendar that is set to end on December 21, 2012. A date that the Mayan people predicted, over five thousand years ago, that the world will begin to re-set itself.

Even the Book of Revelations (The Holy Bible), describes a mushroom cloud that will cover a third of the world and flying objects that were made out of metal with “wings that sound like many chariots rushing into battle”. The bible describes many signs and events that appear to be clearly describing today’s times.

Who hasn’t heard of the famous Nostradamus, who became infamous regarding the mystery behind his many predictions that came true decades after his books were published. One prediction in particular, described a solar event (known as the Winter Soltice) that will cause devastating results to the Earth causing a transformational event of such magnitude not seen since the days of Noah. You will also discover the irony of how even modern day astronomers are predicting a solar event that will have unknown consequences on the Earth.

These many predictions and how they land together on common ground to predict that we are approaching the last days for modern day man. But, in further study of these prophecies you will discover that there is some hope. They are not necessarily describing the extinction of mankind but, more regarding a transformational change in the way we live our lives. By studying these prophecies, you too may find that there is a means to survive these end time predictions. Therefore, providing us time to prepare for survival for the end of the world.

The more you investigate, the more you should be prepared to unleash a very frightening possibility that may be heading our way. The frightening truths about natural disasters that are developing as we speak, the government cover-ups that are kept from the public, Swine Flu Pandemics and a variety of other events revealed by those that have devoted themselves to uncovering the truth.

With there being so much in common with ancient prophecies and how modern day events are beginning to support these predictions, there is a heightened awareness as more people begin to uncover the uncanny truths behind what is being predicted. From the infamous Mayan 5125 year calendar, the Aztec Calendars, The I-Ching prophecies, Hopi Indian teachings down to the trusted Holy Bible, we simply cannot ignore the commonality regarding when will the world end.

With the many predictions pointing to today’s times as when these events will begin to occur, there is a heightened concern as more and more people begin to investigate the evidence before us. There are some very frightening books and articles now surfacing that will literally scare you into believing and acting on what is to come. Those with credible investigating and keen insight to what is prophesized offer up a strong emphasis on the need for preparation….for it is believed that there is a possibility for survival.

As you continue with your internet research, make sure you look into this extremely informative article on when will the apocalypse occur.

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‘Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose.’  – Ronald Reagan

‘The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’-Ronald Reagan

‘The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.’  -Ronald Reagan

‘Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the   U.S. was too strong.’- Ronald Reagan

‘I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.’ -Ronald Reagan

‘The taxpayer: That’s someone who works for the federal government but doesn’t have to take the civil service examination.’- Ronald Reagan

‘Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.’- Ronald Reagan

‘The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program.’ – Ronald Reagan

‘It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.’- Ronald Reagan

‘Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it’ – Ronald Reagan

‘Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book.’- Ronald Reagan

‘No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.’- Ronald Reagan

‘If we ever forget that we’re one nation under GOD, then we will be a nation gone under.’-Ronald Reagan

The announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency was clearly timed to build momentum toward an agreement at the international conference on climate change that opened Monday in Copenhagen, Denmark. It signaled the administration was prepared to push ahead for significant controls in the U.S. if Congress doesn’t act first on its own.

The price could be steep for both industry and consumers. The EPA finding clears the way for rules that eventually could force the sale of more fuel-efficient vehicles and require plants to install costly new equipment — at a cost of billions or even many tens of billions of dollars — or shift to other forms of energy. ………. {enough said … garbage, garbage.}

………….

The current USA administration is really trying hard to socialize the USA. They have a big ass of themselves by announcing this “historic eap finding” which everyone in the world today’s know is a big joke.  Maybe next we will find out milk, vegetables, water and similar foods give out some poison and we need to quit eating …. says the Obama Administration.

What is the solution to this joke Administration … IMPEACHMENT !!!

We are getting what we deserve by allowing an illegible person to be president.  Kenya …. PLEASE take him back. You need his hope and change and we don’t want it.

Ray Holt

"Nobel committee have embraced the great American policy of affirmative action and that even if you do not achieve, because you are a minority we have to allow you to join the club"

Barack Hussein Obama the new Messiah but he had to complete his title as the Prince of Peace. Nine months into to presidency two major speeches one to the Muslim world and the second at the UN, he is pronounced Nobel Laureate for Peace and about to be anointed in Norway. WOW, WOW hale the Messiah!!

The world is either very sick or very stupid, maybe both. Al Gore is the Nobel Laureate for Global Warming, when the earth is now cooling for eleven years in a row and now the world is on the edge of war with an appeasing president; it will undoubtedly deliver us the opposite of peace. How naive can the world be? Well it is about as naive as the world was in the 1930s, I suppose.

To listen to the justification for such a prize is so funny if it were not so pathetic. As one radio commentator put it this morning, that he had just himself been awarded an Oscar for the greatest film he has yet to make. I thought we win acknowledgment and prizes for achievements not for expectations. I get it, the Nobel committee have embraced the great American policy of affirmative action and that even if you do not achieve, because you are a minority we have to allow you to join the club.

The Nobel Laureate prize has already discredited its value by awarding Nobel prizes to Yasser Arafat, Al Gore and now to a President who cannot justify such a prize based on his record to date.

If Barack Hussein Obama was the real deal he should thank the Nobel board for their honor but refuse to accept the prize until he has shown the world that he can deliver some tangible results in peace with justice and truth not just an absence of war. However, based on viewing this arrogant and narcissistic record to date it is unlikely that a gesture of humility will be forthcoming.

I hope and pray that President Obama can achieve the expectations the world sets for him, but based on the current track and the lessons of history we are set for some very difficult times ahead.

Hope and change is here, hale the new Messiah, Nobel Prince of Peace.

WASHINGTON – California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama’s eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication.

The document lists Obama’s parents as Barack Hussein Obama and Stanley Ann Obama, formerly Stanley Ann Dunham, the birth date as Aug. 4, 1961, and the hospital of birth as Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya.

No doctor is listed. But the alleged certificate bears the signature of the deputy registrar of Coast Province, Joshua Simon Oduya. It was allegedly issued as a certified copy of the original in February 1964.

WND was able to obtain other birth certificates from Kenya for purposes of comparison, and the form of the documents appear to be identical.

Last week, a counterfeit document purporting to be Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate made the rounds of the Internet, but was quickly determined to be fraudulent. The new document released by Taitz bears none of the obvious traits of a hoax.

One of the issues Taitz must deal with will be the authentication of the document. Critics immediately jumped on the Feb. 17, 1964, date for the document, explaining that the "republic" of Kenya wasn’t assembled until in December of that year.

Media Matters wrote, "Sorry, WorldNetDaily: Kenya wasn’t a republic until Dec. 1964."

But Kenya’s official independence was in 1963, and any number of labels could have been applied to government documents during that time period.

At Ameriborn Constitution News, the researcher noted that the independence process for the nation actually started taking as early as 1957, when there were the first direct elections for Africans to the Legislative Council.

"Kenya became an Independent Republic, December 12, 1963, which gives more [credibility] that this is a true document," the website stated.

The 1963 independence is corroborated by several other information sources, including the online African History.

Even the People Daily news agency cited, on Dec. 12, 2005, the "42nd independence anniversary" in Nairobi. "The country gained independence from Britain on Dec. 12, 1963," the report said.

An online copy of the Kenya Constitution, "adopted in 1963, amended in 1999," states: "CHAPTER I – THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA, Article 1, Kenya is a sovereign Republic. Article 1A, The Republic of Kenya shall be a multiparty democratic state…"

It was in November 1964 when the region voluntarily became a one-party state, according to an online source.

The region including Mombasa originally was dealt with as a separate independence movement, but it almost immediately became part of Kenya when the sultan of Zanzibar ceded the "coastal strip" to Kenya, according to sources.

Taitz told WND that the document came from an anonymous source who doesn’t want his name known because "he’s afraid for his life."

Taitz’s motion, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, requests the purported evidence of Obama’s birth – both the alleged birth certificate and foreign records not yet obtained – be preserved from destruction, asks for permission to legally request documents from Kenya and seeks a subpoena for deposition from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"I filed the motion with the court asking for expedited discovery, which would allow me to start subpoenas and depositions even before Obama and the government responds," Taitz told WND. "I am asking the judge to give me the power to subpoena the documents from the Kenyan embassy and to require a deposition from Hillary Clinton so they will be forced to authenticate [the birth certificate].

"I’m forcing the issue, where Obama will have to respond," she said.

"Before, they said, ‘You don’t have anything backing your claims,’" Taitz explained. "Now I have something. In fact, I have posted on the Internet more than Obama has. My birth certificate actually has signatures."

Join the petition campaign to demand President Obama resolve the question by revealing his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate!

Taitz’s most celebrated case involved a military officer, Maj. Stefan Cook, whose order to deploy to Afghanistan was revoked when he challenged Obama’s eligibility to hold office. That case has now been refiled in federal court in Florida, raising the specter of a class-action claim among members of the military that their orders aren’t valid because of questions surrounding Obama’s constitutional eligibility.

Taitz told WND she plans to file additional paperwork with the Florida court tomorrow, adding the alleged Kenyan birth certificate to Maj. Cook’s case.

The suit seeks damages and a declaratory judgment. Named as defendants are Simtech, Cook’s former civilian employer, and several officials, including Col. Louis B. Wingate and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

WND previously reported a judge in Georgia dismissed Cook’s case when the government suddenly revoked his orders to report to Fort Benning for deployment to Afghanistan.

WND reported when the case originally was filed that Cook’s concern was that without proof that there is a legitimate commander in chief, the entire U.S. Army becomes "merely a corps of chattel slaves under the illegitimate control of a private citizen."

Cook told WND: "As an officer in the armed forces of the United States, it is [my] duty to gain clarification on any order we may believe illegal. With that said, if President Obama is found not to be a ‘natural-born citizen,’ he is not eligible to be commander in chief."

The new complaint says it seeks Cook’s reinstatement with his civilian employer, Simtech Inc., as well as protection from the Department of Defense and president "from further retaliation for plaintiff’s challenge to the president’s constitutional authority."

See the movie Obama does not want you to see: Own the DVD that probes this unprecedented presidential eligibility mystery!

WND has reported on dozens of legal challenges to Obama’s status as a "natural born citizen." The Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, states, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the lawsuits question whether he was actually born in Hawaii, as he insists. If he was born out of the country, Obama’s American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama’s citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Complicating the situation is Obama’s decision to spend sums estimated in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid releasing a state birth certificate that would put to rest all of the questions.

WND has reported that among the documentation not yet available for Obama includes his kindergarten records, his Punahou school records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia University records, his Columbia thesis, his Harvard Law School records, his Harvard Law Review articles, his scholarly articles from the University of Chicago, his passport, his medical records, his files from his years as an Illinois state senator, his Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records, and his adoption records.

Developing …

Dear Mr. President:

First, happy birthday. I do hope Aug. 4 is an enjoyable day for you and your family. Coincidentally, I also will be celebrating this week the birth of someone dear to me, my beloved wife, Gena, whose birthday is on Aug. 9.

Speaking of birthdays, I couldn’t help but hear and read all over the news last week about the fresh attention to your constitutional eligibility and natural born citizen status. I can hardly believe that individuals are now offering bounty – one for $100,000 – for any personal witness or sufficient evidence to your American birth.

For nearly two years, this debate continues to grow despite all your administration’s attempts to diffuse it. And those who are raising concerns aren’t just those on the right, but moderate law-abiding citizens like a retired CIA officer who commissioned an investigator to look into the issue.

Still, your press secretary, Robert Gibbs, continues to glibly brush aside the issue by calling it "fictional nonsense." But, in so doing, he devalues the grievance passage of the First Amendment and insults those who are genuinely concerned and inquisitive by categorizing them all as political quacks. He needs to learn that you can’t model tolerance for certain minorities while belittling and quarantining those who don’t blindly follow your lead.

Believe it or not, I’m not writing you to challenge whether you were born in America, though I see nothing wrong with the American public voicing that constitutionally based grievance with someone in your esteemed position. As one blogger wrote, after all, "We aren’t talking about a 12-year-old qualifying to play Little League here." Or as Ronald Reagan once said, "Trust but verify."

Personally, I must admit that I find it a bit of a groundless stretch not to believe in the birth announcements in two major Hawaiian newspapers in August of 1961, in which the Hawaiian Health Department would have been required to post information they received directly from hospitals: "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6085 Kalanianaole Hwy., son, Aug. 4." Nevertheless, that proof still doesn’t answer why you refuse to reveal your original birth certificate and end the growing tides of controversy.

I’m writing you because this is no longer a matter merely about proving a presidential prerequisite in the Constitution. Refusing to post a copy of your original birth certificate is an unwise political and leadership decision that is enabling the birther controversy. The nation you are called to lead is experiencing a growing swell of conspirators who are convinced that you are covering up something. So why not just prove them wrong and shut them up?

If the birther movement is truly full of a bunch of conspiracy-fringed kooks or "zombies," as the Los Angeles Times proclaims, then prove once and for all that you are a naturally born citizen by posting your original birth certificate. And all the controversy will fade away like the pains of childbirth.

I agree with CNN’s Lou Dobbs, who was chastised by his own media outlet for demanding the release of your original birth certificate. So why is that such a bad request? We certainly know why CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein thought it was a bad idea: because he previously declared that CNN researchers determined that Obama’s 1961 birth certificate no longer existed.

But Hawaii’s officials confirmed again last week that they indeed have your original birth certificate on file. Dr. Chiyome Fukino, director of the Hawaiian State Department of Health, repeated her October 2008 statement that she had personally seen with her own eyes the "original vital records."

Some claim that even you cannot see or request your own personal birth certificate, because Hawai’i's disclosure law (Hawai’i Revised Statutes 338-18) states that "it shall be unlawful for any person to permit inspection of, or to disclose information contained in vital statistics records, or to copy or issue a copy of all or part on any such record … "

But the law further states that the Health Department "shall not permit inspection of public health statistics records, or issue a certified copy of any such record or part thereof, unless it is satisfied that the applicant has a direct and tangible interest in the record." (Italics mine)

Isn’t categorically satisfying constitutional requirements for a president, or answering the First Amendment grievances of hundreds of thousands of Americans, or ending a national debate or healing a country’s divisions enough "direct and tangible interest"?

Mr. President, as more and more people realize that you are refusing to release your original birth certificate, further questions will fuel the fires of debate or at least hinder the embers from ever being snuffed out. Questions like, "Does it really contain the Hawaiian physician’s name?" Or "Does it disclose something other than his birth place that he wishes others not to see?"

In fact, last week copies of the 1961 birth certificates from twin girls, who were born a day after you in the same Kapiolani Maternity and Gynecological Hospital, give examples of those typical of the time. They include much more information than certificates today, like the baby’s parents’ ages, occupations, birthplaces, race, etc., as well as specifics of the medical personnel presiding over the baby’s birth and the hospital in which he or she was born.

Of course not every U.S. citizen has access to their original birth certificate, but you do, and that’s the only one under debate. As valuable as copies can be, textual critics know that nothing outweighs an original, especially when only it contains the information under question.

So again I ask, why don’t you simply request, release and give permission to make public your original birth certificate?

Mr. President, you promised the American people that you are "committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government." In fact, on July 23 in your prime time press conference, you said that your administration was more transparent than those of previous presidencies: "I think that we have provided much greater transparency than existed prior to our administration coming in."

So again I ask, why not live out that transparency promise by posting your original birth certificate and end the division and debate?

Well, I have a birthday to plan, so I better get going.

Again, happy birthday Mr. President.

Yours truly,

Chuck Norris

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews got into a heated exchange with a congressman on his show Tuesday as he revisited the question of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate — or lack of one.

Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., is a co-sponsor of the so-called "birther bill," which would require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificates.

“Birthers” are those who believe Obama is not qualified to be president based on a belief that he was not born in the United States.

Campbell is not a “birther” and has never claimed that Obama was born outside the United States or should be disqualified from being president.

On the show, Matthews seemingly undermined claims by some that Obama has never released his birth certificate, producing what Matthews said was a true copy of it.

But Matthews made a false claim. Obama has never released his actual birth certificate. He has released another document, often provided by state authorities in lieu of a birth certificate, called a certificate of live birth.

Matthews on Tuesday said Campbell was "playing to the crazies" by supporting the "crazy" bill, and the congressman shot back that it was all about "putting the matter to rest."

Matthews also accused Campbell of "feeding the wacko wing of your party," and held up what he called a copy of the supposed Obama birth certificate.

Case closed?

The indisputable fact is that Obama has not released his birth certificate, which the state of Hawaii issues for all citizens born there.

Instead, his campaign has only released his certificate of live birth from the state of Hawaii, which is a document that offers a summarized version of the birth certificate.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, GOP nominee Sen. John McCain quickly released his birth certificate when liberal bloggers raised questions about his eligibility to be president. McCain was born at a military hospital in Panama.

Obama could likewise put the matter to rest by releasing his actual birth certificate, which would show, among other things, the place of his birth and the doctor who performed the birth procedure. This information is not provided on the certificate of live birth.

As it stands, Obama is the only president in history whose birthplace is unknown to the public – a fact that would be stated on the actual birth certificate. Interestingly, his family has mentioned two different hospitals in Hawaii as the place of birth.

The fact that Obama has refused to release his actual birth certificate does not mean conspiracy theorists are right when they claim he was born in Kenya and therefore not eligible to be president. Investigators who have reviewed the claims have found no evidence Obama was born outside of Hawaii.

But Obama’s refusal to release his birth certificate does mean that Obama remains one of America’s most mysterious and opaque presidents ever.

Obama, for example, has not released many other documents regarding his public and private life.

Many of these documents were sought by reporters, who easily acquiesced when Obama said he would release them – though most presidential candidates release them as a perfunctory matter.

Among the key documents that continue to be shielded from the public by Obama:

A U.S. Army Reserve major from Florida scheduled to report for deployment to Afghanistan within days has had his military orders revoked after arguing he should not be required to serve under a president who has not proven his eligibility for office.

His attorney, Orly Taitz, confirmed to WND the military has rescinded his impending deployment orders.

"We won! We won before we even arrived," she said with excitement. "It means that the military has nothing to show for Obama. It means that the military has directly responded by saying Obama is illegitimate – and they cannot fight it. Therefore, they are revoking the order!"

She continued, "They just said, ‘Order revoked.’ No explanation. No reasons – just revoked."

A hearing on the questions raised by Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook, an engineer who told WND he wants to serve his country in Afghanistan, was scheduled for July 16 at 9:30 a.m.

Join the petition campaign to make President Obama reveal his long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate!

"As an officer in the armed forces of the United States, it is [my] duty to gain clarification on any order we may believe illegal. With that said, if President Obama is found not to be a ‘natural-born citizen,’ he is not eligible to be commander-in-chief," he told WND only hours after the case was filed.

"[Then] any order coming out of the presidency or his chain of command is illegal. Should I deploy, I would essentially be following an illegal [order]. If I happened to be captured by the enemy in a foreign land, I would not be privy to the Geneva Convention protections," he said.

The order for the hearing in the federal court for the Middle District of Georgia from U.S. District Judge Clay D. Land said the hearing on the request for a temporary restraining order would be held Thursday.

Want to turn up the pressure to learn the facts? Get your signs and postcards asking for the president’s birth certificate documentation here.

Cook said without a legitimate president as commander-in-chief, members of the U.S. military in overseas actions could be determined to be "war criminals and subject to prosecution."

He said the vast array of information about Obama that is not available to the public confirms to him "something is amiss."

"That and the fact the individual who is occupying the White House has not been entirely truthful with anybody," he said. "Every time anyone has made an inquiry, it has been either cast aside, it has been maligned, it has been laughed at or just dismissed summarily without further investigation.

"You know what. It would be so simple to solve. Just produce the long-form document, certificate of live birth," he said.

Cook said he was scheduled to report for duty tomorrow, on July 15, to deploy to Afghanistan as part of President Obama’s plan to increase pressure of insurgent forces there.

He told WND he would be prepared for a backlash against him as a military officer, since members of the military swear to uphold and follow their orders. However, he noted that following an illegal order would be just as bad as failing to follow a legal order.

Before news of the orders being revoked were reported, MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann tonight called Cook a "jackass" and Taitz a "conwoman," as he labeled both of them the "worst persons in the world." He flayed the soldier as "an embarrassment to all those who have served without cowardice."

Named as defendants in the case are Col. Wanda Good, Col. Thomas Macdonald, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Obama, described as "de facto president of the United States."

According to the court filing, Cook affirmed when he joined the military, he took the following oath: "I, Stefan Frederick Cook, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the president of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

According to the claim, "Plaintiff submits that it is implicit though not expressly stated that an officer is and should be subject to court-martial, because he will be derelict in the performance of his duties, if he does not inquire as to the lawfulness, the legality, the legitimacy of the orders which he has received, whether those orders are specific or general."

The military courts offer no option for raising the question, so he turned to civilian courts to consider "a question of paramount constitutional and legal importance: the validity of the chain of command under a president whose election, eligibility, and constitutional status appear open to serious question."

"Barack Hussein Obama, in order to prove his constitutional eligibility to serve as president, basically needs only produce a single unique historical document for the Plaintiff’s inspection and authentication: namely, the ‘long-form’ birth certificate which will confirm whether Barack Hussein Obama was in fact born to parents who were both citizens of the United States in Honolulu, Hawaii, in or about 1961," explains the complaint.

Taitz said she will attend the hearing to amend the temporary restraining order to an injunction because more members of the military have joined the cause.

"We are going to be asking for release of Obama’s records because now this completely undermines the military. It revoked this order, but it can come up with another order tomorrow. It can come up with orders for other people," she said. "Am I going to be flying around the country 1,000 times and paying the fees every time they issue an order?"

Taitz said the issue "must be resolved immediately," and she will continue working to ensure Obama proves he is eligible for office.

"We’re going to be asking the judge to issue an order for Obama to provide his vital records to show he is legitimately president," she said. "We’re going to say, we have orders every day, and we’ll have revocations every day. This issue has to be decided."

She said there cannot be any harm to the president if he is legitimately holding office.

"If he is legitimate, then his vital records will prove it," Taitz said. "If he is illegitimate, then he should not have been there in the first place."

Asked what this decision means for every other serviceman who objects to deployment under a president who has not proven he is eligible for office, Taitz responded:

"Now, we can have each and every member of the military – each and every enlistee and officer – file something similar saying ‘I will not take orders until Obama is legitimately vetted.’"

Multiple questions have been raised about what that would mean to the 2008 election, to the orders and laws Obama has signed and other issues, including whether he then is a valid commander-in-chief of the military.

More than 1.5 million protesters took to the streets of Tehran on Monday, marking the largest anti-regime demonstration Iran has seen since the final days of the shah in early 1979.

Seven people were killed by anti-riot police and roving bands of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad supporters. Many of those supporters shielded their faces from surveillance videos that plainclothes police were shooting.

The protesters included some unlikely participants: 16 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps officers pledged to join the people’s movement, according to initial reports from Tehran. That signaled that the once-solid support of the guard corps for Ahmadinejad is beginning to crack.

The 16 officers were arrested after meeting secretly with top regular army officers on Monday night.

Many of the older men and women who took to the streets also demonstrated to bring down the shah 30 years ago, wrote Kaveh Mohseni, who publishes the French-language Web site, Iran-Resist.

Now, “people are waiting for international support,” Mohseni wrote.

That support wasn’t coming — at least not from President Barack Obama’s administration in Washington.

"It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be. We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran," Obama said during the weekend.

He reiterated his long-held position that his administration wants to pursue a "tough, direct" dialogue with Tehran.

For many Iranians, Obama’s words were reminiscent of President Bill Clinton, who washed his hands when reporters asked him on July 9, 1999, whether the United States would come to the aid of Iranian students who were revolting in 18 cities across Iran.

America could do nothing, Clinton said — echoing almost exactly the taunt Ayatollah Khomeini had used repeatedly during the revolution.

The Obama administration’s quandary comes after it covertly threw its support behind the election campaign of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Mousavi made his first appearance since the election at Monday’s rally.

Many in the crowd wore red scarves, a color favored by supporters of Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former shah.

In two messages in Persian, widely circulated through the Internet during the weekend, Pahlavi called for nationwide nonviolent resistance to the regime — the first time he has called for an open revolt since leaving Iran in 1979.

“I stand united with my fellow Iranians and call for the end of the Islamic Republic, or any other prefix in front of the name of my beloved Iran that indicates theocracy or any other form of disregard for democratic and human rights,” he said in one of the messages.

To some, this latest protest — and similar demonstrations in Shiraz, Kerman, Isfahan, Mashad, Tabriz, Rasht, and other major Iranian cities — shows that the regime finally has awakened Iran’s silent majority.

In Tabriz, there were reports that the city’s business district had shut down on Sunday as a sign of joining the anti-regime protests. Many of the protesters shouted, “Death to the dictator,” a slogan not heard in large crowds of demonstrators for decades.

“The protests are a natural expression of the frustration and insult that have been dealt by the regime,” said Roozbeh Farahanipour, a leader of the 1999 student revolt who now is the spokesman for the nationalist Marze por Gohar (Glorious Frontiers Party). “Iranians will tolerate a lot, as the last 30 years attest to, but being treated as stooges is where they draw the line.”

In Tehran on Monday, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that former President Mohammad Khatami traveled to Cairo during Obama’s trip there and met with a “senior administration official” to discuss the upcoming Iranian election.

Although Ahmadinejad controls the news agency, Iranian observers believed the report was accurate, because it is hard to openly slander such a public person as a former president even in Iran.

Newsmax asked spokesmen for Obama and Vice President Joe Biden to comment on the allegation but received no reply.

Earlier, there were reports that a senior administration official met with Mousavi’s campaign manager, Mehdi Khazali, in Dubai two weeks before the election to offer support.

In the days before the election, editors at the Voice of America’s Persian Service apologized to anti-regime Iranians they normally invite to their shows, saying they no longer could appear on the air because the editors were under orders to invite only guests who supported “reformist” candidates Mousavi and Mehdi Karrubi.

On Tuesday morning, the Guardians Council in Tehran announced it would engage in only a “limited recount” of individual ballot boxes whose results had been disputed by one of Ahmadinejad’s three opponents, erasing earlier hopes that they might annul the disputed election because of fraud.

Getting the Guardians to examine the election results at all took a great deal of pressure.

When Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei first announced Ahmadinejad’s victory, he defiantly called the election a “divine assessment” and certified the results immediately.

But pressure from within the ruling clerical elite gave him pause.

The next day, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani announced with great fanfare that he was traveling to Qom, 80 miles south of Tehran, to convene the Assembly of Experts, a council of 86 top clerics who have the authority to name the supreme leader, or depose him.

Rafsanjani chairs the Assembly of Experts and said he wanted them to examine Khamenei’s decision to certify the election, giving rise to rumors that he was hoping to depose Khamenei as leader.

Monday’s massive demonstration also suggests that the Iranian people have loosened the shackles of fear, Kaveh Mohseni said.

In a third message to Iranians, Reza Pahlavi called on the police and security forces to “never forget that these demonstrators confronting you in the streets are your brothers and sisters who are fighting for your rights.”

Joining him was his mother, who spoke to the security forces “as a mother and as an Iranian” to encourage them “not to use violence against their brothers and sisters.”

Iranian political activists have long criticized Reza Pahlavi for his inaction, and U.S. government analysts say they doubt that he has many supporters inside Iran.

But the protests inside Iran go way beyond one person, one faction, or one party. They have become a national grass-roots movement, a budding revolt that could soon reach a tipping point. And a regime change could spark reform in other areas.

Conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer said, “Our only hope of changing the nuclear issue with Iran is not in the negotiations. It would be in the change of regime.”

© 2009 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

What awaits us in these last days? What should Christians expect? These are a few of the important questions this article will address.

In his first letter, the Apostle John wrote these words to the believing brethren: “Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 John 2:18). When we consider that the apostle wrote these words about 1,950 years ago, how applicable must they be today! In other words, today more than ever we are living in the “last time.”

What is so characteristic of the last time? Is it so peaceful so that we can sit down with our hands in our laps and wait for things to happen? On the contrary. Battles and unrest characterize the last time, because many antichrists have come and there can be no talk of peace. That is why we must take heed when people speak of a time of peace. Even the Apostle Paul warned of this: “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:3). Paul is speaking here of the final returnof the Lord and warns us of being lulled to sleep in the expectation of this event. There can be no rest for those of us who believe in Jesus, for this last time is the hour of the Antichrist.

John wasn’t the only one who wroteabout this negative aspect of the endtimes. Paul wrote these inspired words to Timothy: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5). How do we know Paul was referring to anti-Christians here, and not simply to unbelievers? He characterized these people as “having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.” These people will give the impression that they are on the side of Jesus Christ, but they will not act in accordance with His words, which is exactly how the anti-Christian spirit will be manifested. The Antichrist will give the impression of being Christ, the Messiah, by appearing to be a benefactor and bringing peace. But soon he will reveal himself as the son of the devil.

Our present day is a very restless time, because many antichrists are in our midst, but this also has a very comforting side for born-again Christians.
Encouragement for Children of God

The Lord Jesus encouraged His own with the words, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). We may hold up the banner of this glorious truth as a sign of victory, even if we know of the troubles and battles of this time. We must realize continually that our troubles are never greater than our Helper. We are in this evil world, but we have the Victor of Calvary at our side. This is why it says in John’s first epistle, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” (1 John 1:4).

Although we feel the spirit from below like a breath from hell and we often fear, especially in this last hour, we may look up to Jesus in the midst of even the greatest storms and hear Him say, “I have overcome the world.” If you are miserable now, you must encourage yourself and say aloud, “Jesus is Victor! He has overcome the world!” This does not disregard the fact that we really are living in the last hour and that the evening began, from a spiritual point of view, long ago. The sun has gone down, the night has not yet come, but the Church stands before the Rapture and the judgment upon this world is very near. What will thisevening, this last hour, bring? What can we expect?

In order to answer these sometimes frightening questions, it is helpful to consider some of the events in the lives of Jesus’ disciples that teach us to trust our wonderful Lord Jesus completely in every situation.
A Prophetic Vision for Our Time

In John 6:16-18 we read, “When even was now come, his disciples went down into the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.” It was already evening when the disciples got into a boat and sailed across the sea towards Capernaum. This is a clear prophetic picture for our time, which has already produced many antichrists. Spiritual darkness and uncertainty have filled many people with fear and trembling — even driving some to commit suicide.

Those who have not yet become children of God through faith in the Son of God always have reason to be afraid, for we are living in a demonic time, a time of confusion in which evil has already taken on enormous proportions, and uncertainty is our main problem. When the Lord Jesus spoke of His coming in great power and glory (not about the Rapture) He said something else had to happen first: “men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth” (Luke 21:26). We can already feel this fear Jesus spoke about today. It has come upon mankind like a paralysis. Even creation is subject to it, as Paul wrote in his letter to the Christians in Rome: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).

We who have become children of God cannot escape this. We are not subject to the spirit of fear, but we are still in the world, and we are often surrounded on all sides by a breath from hell. Jesus did not say that His own did not need to fear, but, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” If we abide in Him, however, the world cannot touch us, then we will be “more than conquerors through him that loved us” (Romans 8:37). That is the difference between the children of this world who are so full of fear and the children of God who can overcome it in the name of Jesus.

Yet we may not rest in a false sense of security, for we also, as children of God, have to deal with this deceitful anti-Christian spirit. In John 6:16-17 we read, “And when even was come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea towards Capernaum.” They were not just any people, but disciples of Jesus who wanted to go to Capernaum. Of course Jesus knew that a storm would arise on the sea, but He did not prevent His disciples from embarking on this dangerous journ e y. It is just the same with us who believe in Him today. Jesus didn’t promise a little heaven on earth to His own, to which we can withdraw to wait until He comes. No, He put us in this demonic world to spread the Gospel in word and deed to people who are not yet believers. He did, however, give us a letter of safe conduct: His victory over this world. And through this letter of safe conduct we will arrive safely, even if we are often in uncertainty, or even fear, when the waves of the sea often threaten to cover us and drown us. We may even look forward to the day when we meet Jesus, because the goal before us is infinitely glorious. Jesus’ disciples on the Sea of Galilee rowed into the dark night and the arising storm brought them into great uncertainty, but they had a glorious goal before their eyes: Capernaum.
Capernaum: Only a Little Fishing Village?

What was so special about Capernaum, which means “village of Nahum”? Although Capernaum was an ordinary fishing village, it had something special about it. We read in Mark 2:1, “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and in was noised that he was in the house.” The New International Version of the Bible translates the verse this way: “the people heard that he had come home.” Certainly Capernaum was Jesus’ home during His life on earth, or, as Matthew 9:1 says, “his own city.” That is why it says also in Matthew 4:13, “And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast.”

Although the disciples were in a boat in the dark night, and their unrest increased as the waters of the Sea of Galilee were suddenly troubled by a strong wind, they were still on the way to the city of Jesus and His home, Capernaum. What a glorious goal they had before them! It is the same for us today. Darkness and uncertainty are the characteristics of our time, which is already very demonized and full of heresies. The evil in the world has increased alarmingly. In spite of this, those who belong to the Church of Jesus are on their way to the eternal Father’s house, the heavenly Jerusalem. You may also find yourself on this way to your heavenly homeland, which sometimes seems to be almost too difficult, child of God. It is good to enter through the straight gate and to walk on the narrow way, for only this leads to Jesus, who is life (Matthew 7:14). There is room for many on the broad way; many things are tolerated, even if they are diametrically opposed to the Word of God. The broad way does not lead to Jesus in the Father’s house, however, but to a completely different place: “Broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat” (Matthew 7:13). The narrow way has room for only two people: you and Jesus. Fight the good fight of faith, because this way holds many trials and temptations.

But we can overcome all our fears and troubles by knowing that Jesus, the conqueror, is with us, by proclaiming His victory, and by turning our eyes continually upon the goal, “Capernaum,” the heavenly city, our homeland.

How moving Jesus’ words are concerning the homeland of the believers, the heavenly “Capernaum,” the eternal house: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Why shouldn’t we be troubled? “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). Here also the caring, protecting love of the Savior is revealed, which we have already seen in John 16:33: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

The victory of Jesus not only enables us to say with confidence that “He helps me in trouble,” but also assures us that, “In these troubles I am on the way to His city, the eternal homeland, where Jesus Christ, as the heavenly architect, is building homes.” What wonderful grace, what a wonderful hope!
Deception of the Last Times: Self-Satisfaction

In John 6:16-17 we saw prophetically, in the picture of the disciples in the darkness on the stormy Sea of Galilee, the Church of Jesus Christ on the last part of the way. What took place, however, just before this? The disciples had been in the midst of a crowd when the five thousand people had just been fed (John 6:1-15). Then suddenly they had been taken out of the security of the throngs of people to the solitude of being in a boat alone in the dark night.

This also seems to point to the situation of the Church of Jesus Christ on the last part of the way, on which the Lord is beginning to prepare the believers for His soon coming.

How does this preparation take place? The Lord Jesus is taking individual Christians out of the masses and beginning to work on them personally. Why is He doing this? Because the spirit of Laodicea is at work in the Church today. Spiritually speaking, we are living in the time of the church of Laodicea, and this is one of the signs that we really are living in the last times. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (1 Timothy 4:1). What is the deception of the latter times? At the time of the church of Laodicea it was self-satisfaction: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17). Today many churches are boasting, “We are doing well. Look how many people are coming to our meetings. We know what we’re doing and how to do it!” How does such a superficial judgment come about? I believe it comes about through the suggestive power of the masses. What do I mean by this? Many Christians are in great danger of falling prey to the so-called herd instinct. In other words, they only feel at home in the masses. This was never God’s intention, however. No, He wants to have a completely personal relationship with each of His children. Because only few Christians, however, attain inner peace and intimatefellowship with the Father and the Son through reading the Bible and prayer, this fateful herd instinct has developed. Many believers only feel at home when they are in the midst of hundreds or even thousands of otherChristians and can warm themselves in their company. But true life and warmth can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Many Christians run from one Christian event to another and from one conference to another. And some of them are proud of being able to say that they have not missed any of them. I am not against meetings where many people hear the Wo rd of God; I pray for these and am glad for them. But in the midst of thousands of Christians and the feeling of belonging to them, individual believers are often no longer conscious of the fact that they are on a spiritual decline. They may no longer be able to judge the standard of their own spiritual life. Under the mass effect they think that everything is in perfect order. This is often the trouble today: people think they have everything, whereas in reality they have nothing left, as it once was with Laodicea.
Beware of “Strange” Fire

The many activities in the church at Laodicea were well organized, but the believers there did not do what God actually wanted. This is why, in His eyes, they actually had nothing, and He had to reproach them: “and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

This is the case in many places today as well. Christians are perfectly organized, but they are not an organism, i.e., they are not an entity in Christ. This is why we have so much “strange fire” in the churches. What do I mean by this? Everything appears to be in order and so-called manifestations of the Spirit seem to be present, but much of it is fake: fake blessings, fake experiences, fake revelations, fake works. Worst of all, however, is that fake activities are present in many churches today.

This was already a great evil under the Old Covenant, when two sons of the high priest of that time thought they should engage in special activities. It seems that it was not enough for them to bring the burnt offerings that the Lord had ordered. No, in their eyes, something special had to be done for the Lord, not just by anyone, but by them. But in God’s eyes this was sheer disobedience, which is why His punishment was not long in coming. We read of this in Leviticus 10:1-2: “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron , took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” Strange fire, or false activity, resulted in the death of two of the sons of Aaron .

Strange fire also brought down Laodicea, and it will also cause our spiritual death if we do not turn away from it and do what God wants us to do. Why, in spite of your intensive Christian activity, do you no longer have the joy of the Lord in your heart, but you sense only emptiness, discontent and sadness? Why is your prayer life so meager? Why do you have no real fellowship with the Lord? Because God says “no” to discipleship, which is made up of self-appointed works and activities, through which your spiritual life is consumed by this strange fire.

Religious self-satisfaction reveals itself today in that people think they have to plan as many activities as possible, whereby Jesus Christ is often “organized out” or “planned out.” And false means is a direct result of such self-appointed false activities. We often hear the expression, “the end justifies the means,” but it should rather be, “the means change the end.” Under the Old Covenant, the Lord lamented, “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13). The Israelites employed false means to nourish their spiritual lives, but the Lord wanted no part in this. And He does not want any part in it today.

Who rejoices when we have no or only a half-hearted “yes” to God’s acting in and with our lives? Satan: the enemy of God and man. James wrote in his letter, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble” (James 2:19). In other words, Satan and the demons never tremble on account of us, however much we do. But the powers of darkness tremble when He has His rightful place in a person’s life.
How Does God Accomplish His Purpose for Your Life?

God accomplishes His purpose for your life by taking you out of the masses, as He did with the disciples in order to have a personal encounter with them. This was also His offer to Laodicea: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). I with Him and He with me; nobody else is present. Applied to you personally, this means Jesus is with you and you are with Him. He wants to have this personal relationship with each of His children in our time when the spirit of Laodicea, the spirit of self-satisfaction, is so much at work. For this reason, the words of Jesus in Luke 9:23 have never been so pertinent as they are today, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The Lord is concerned with individuals. Of course He wants to prepare every believer in the world, but not every believer is willing to be called out of the masses to walk with Jesus alone. Many rebel, and many believers think God has set them aside because they failed here and there, and that is why they are now forsaken by God and man. But when God calls one of His children out of the masses, He wants to prepare that person for the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Every born-again person wants to be there when Jesus comes, but not all are willing to let the Lord prepare them for it, and they resist being called out of the masses by Him.
A Way We Do Not Like

What does it mean when the Lord calls individuals out of the masses? It can mean that this way becomes very lonely, very difficult, a way that we would not have chosen. The disciples at that time would never have undertaken that journey on the Sea of Galilee of their own accord, but it says, “And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away” (Matthew 14:22). It does not say that any of the disciples disobeyed Jesus’ instructions to get on the boat. Instead, “his disciples… entered into a ship, and wentover the sea” (John 6:16-17).

What about you, my dear friend? Will you go the way that Jesus tells you to, even if it seems very difficult? Believe me, it is a great privilege when the Lord takes you aside because it means He wants to prepare you for His return. It may well be that you find such a way very hard, because you often have the feeling the Lord is not with you and you are completely alone.

The feeling of abandonment must have come over the disciples at that time on the stormy Sea of Galilee. Jesus had told them to get into the boat, but He was not with them Himself. Where was He then, when His disciples were in such a plight? He was on a mountain: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone” (Matthew 14:23). Doesn’t this suggest that Jesus was praying, among other things, for His disciples, who felt so alone? Certainly He was concerned about them and brought them in
prayer before His heavenly Father.

My dear child of God, do you also think the Lord has forsaken you and that you are all on your own? This is not so. Hear the following three glorious testimonies of the Scriptures:

* “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
* “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).
* “ Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Do you believe now that the Lord Jesus means well with you and that you are never really alone? Or do you need further confirmation that He has not left you alone? When you came to believe in Jesus Christ, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, who is God just as the Father and the Son, “that he may abide with you for ever…for he dwelleth in you, and shall be in you” (John 14:16-17).
Preparation “In the Depths”

Because the Almighty God wants to prepare you for the coming of His Son and only wants the best for you, you may say to Him in complete trust, “Yes, Your will is good, Lord.” If He goes with you into the depths, do not be afraid, for there you will experience the necessary and best preparation, because there are many truths that you can only grasp in the depths. The Psalmist also had this experience when he was in the depths, and therefore he prayed, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord” (Psalm 130:1). Why did the Lord lead His servant into such depths? Because He could only bring him to realize seven special truths in this way:

1. Conviction of sin: “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” (verse 3).
2. Forgiveness: “But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared” (verse 4).
3. Waiting: “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait…my soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning” (verses 5-6).
4. The Word: “In his word do I hope” (verse 5).
5. Hope: “Let Israel hope in the Lord” (verse 7).
6. Mercy: “For with the Lord there is mercy” (verse 7).
7. Redemption: “And with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (verses 7-8).

Won’t you say “yes,” then, to God’s dealings with you in this last hour, even if He leads you into the depths? Such a “yes” on our part to all His ways will bring an eternal reward, because through them God is preparing us for the soon coming of His Son, Jesus Christ.

(to be continued…)

Official: President said Palestinian state with holy city capital ‘in American interest’

JERUSALEM – President Obama and his administration told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting last week the U.S. foresees the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, according to a top PA official speaking to WND.

"The American administration was very friendly to the position of the PA," said Nimer Hamad, Abbas’ senior political adviser.

"Abu Mazen (Abbas) heard from Obama and his administration in a very categorical way that a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is in the American national and security interest," Hamad said.

Read the groundbreaking work that exposes the threats to Israel from within and without in Aaron Klein’s "The Late, Great State of Israel" from WND Books.

Another PA official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told WND today that Obama informed Abbas he would not let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "get in the way" of normalizing U.S. relations with the Arab and greater Muslim world.

"We were told from this new administration they will not allow a Netanyahu government to hurt their efforts of rehabilitating U.S. relations with the Arab and Islamic world, which is a high priority of Obama," the official said, speaking during a visit to Cairo.

Also in Cairo today, Abbas met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, where the Palestinian leader briefed Egypt’s president on his recent trip to Washington, saying the U.S. was committed to bringing about an end to Israeli construction in the West Bank.

Hamad’s comments about Jerusalem today come as controversy abounded regarding the U.S. position on Israel’s capital city.

Last week, the State Department refuted a speech in which Netanyahu said Jerusalem never will be divided.

"Jerusalem is Israel’s capital," Netanyahu said at an event marking Jerusalem’s reunification. "Jerusalem was always ours and will always be ours. It will never again be partitioned and divided."

In response, the State Department released a statement that Jerusalem "is a final status issue."

"Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resolve its status during negotiations. We will support their efforts to reach agreements on all final status issues," the statement said.

Also last week, a top Palestinian Authority official claimed in a WND interview that the Obama administration told the PA that Jerusalem will never be united under Israeli sovereignty.

"Americans said an open Jerusalem – yes. But a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty – no," Hatem Abdel Khader, the PA’s minister for Jerusalem affairs, said in comments to both WND and Israel’s Ynetnews website.

"(The Obama administration) has made clear that Jerusalem must be accessible to everyone – but not united under Israel’s rule," Khader said.

Khader claimed the U.S. is cooperating with the PA to "thwart Israel’s plans in Jerusalem."

"When they collaborate with us in Israeli courts against home demolitions or the confiscation of land we see their attitude," he said.

Khader told WND, "The Americans are very present on the ground, and they are making pressure over Israeli authorities and even municipalities."

"They are acting according to the concept that the failure to establish a Palestinian state would jeopardize U.S. national security interests – and without Jerusalem there is no Palestinian state," he said.

U.S. helps Palestinians live illegally near Temple Mount

Khader’s claim the U.S. is helping the Palestinians gain a foothold in Jerusalem is accurate. In April, WND reported that under intense American pressure and following a nearly unprecedented behind-the-scenes U.S. campaign, the Netanyahu government has decided not to bulldoze Palestinian homes built illegally on Jewish-owned property in Jerusalem.

The issue is critical since the 80 homes in question are located in Silwan, an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood close to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem’s Old City that the Palestinians claim as a future capital. Jewish groups have been working to fortify the community’s Jewish presence. Silwan is adjacent to the City of David, a massive archeological dig just outside the Temple Mount that is constantly turning up Temple artifacts.

Like tens of thousands of other Arab housing projects throughout eastern Jerusalem, the Palestinian homes in Silwan were illegally constructed on property long ago purchased by Jews. The Israeli government ordered the structures’ legal demolition.

But during a visit here in early March, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly protested the planned bulldozing.

"Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the Road Map," she said. "It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government of Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem."

The Road Map calls for Israel to freeze Jewish settlement expansion in the West Bank but does not bar Israel from dismantling illegally constructed Palestinian homes in Jerusalem.

WND learned that in the weeks since Clinton’s visit here, the U.S. mounted an intensive campaign lobbying the Israeli government against tearing down the illegal Palestinian homes in Silwan. The campaign included letters from the Middle East section of the State Department addressed to various Jerusalem municipalities, with copies of the letters sent to the offices of Israel’s prime minister and foreign minister. The letters called on Israel to allow the illegal Palestinian homes in Silwan to remain and stated any demolitions would not foster an atmosphere of peace.

Also, in a follow-up visit here, State Department officials made it clear to their Israeli counterparts the U.S. opposes the Silwan bulldozing.

According to sources in the Israeli government, including in Netanyahu’s administration, a decision has been made not to bulldoze the illegal Palestinian homes. The sources said the issue of the homes may be raised again in the future, but for the time being the houses will remain intact.

The sources attributed the decision against the bulldozing – which has not yet been announced – to the intense American campaign against the house demolitions.

Said one source in Netanyahu’s administration, "This was very frustrating to us. Can you imagine if a foreign government came in and told a city office in the U.S. not to tear down a house that was illegally constructed on someone else’s property?"

While Clinton opposed the Palestinian house demolitions, informed Israeli officials said the Obama administration is carefully monitoring Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem and has already protested to the highest levels of Israeli government about evidence of housing expansion in those areas.

The officials, who spoke on condition that their names be withheld, said that last month Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, oversaw the establishment of an apparatus based in the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem that closely monitors eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods, incorporating regular tours on a daily basis.

The officials said that in recent meetings Mitchell strongly protested Jewish construction in eastern Jerusalem. Mitchell also condemned the work of nationalist Jewish groups to purchase property in Jerusalem’s Old City, including in areas intimately tied to Judaism.

Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism’s holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War.

The Palestinians, however, have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital. About 244,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods, out of a total population of 724,000, the majority Jewish.

Around the world, the mantra is heard with increasing volume. "Down with the Zionist Satan!" "Zionism is illegal … and racist and imperialist!" Within intellectual circles, books, articles and tracts are carrying the same message. And it’s not only the Israeli settlers who are targeted. Those who support modern Israel are equally blamed by the same groups. A growing number of churches believe that Christian support for Israel as a divinely ordained nation is naïve and destructive.

At the close of 2008, the National Council of Churches joined the din, declaring that "Christian Zionism is dangerous!"

It is the intent of this article to bring a fresh reminder of how passionately the Lord views the Holy Land. The history of Zion is the history of the House of David, past, present and future. Zionism is simply the fulfillment of His foreordained plan for the Land and for Israel.

Many Christians have been led to deep and heartfelt commitment to latter-day Israel, and its prophesied destiny. They believe that the Lord has promised His people both a Land and a throne … the Throne of David.

The depth of the Lord’s love for the Land and its people is expressed in one of the most important statements in all Scripture. It flows forth in profoundly beautiful language, penned by the Sons of Korah. Couched in the language of love, the words of Psalm 87 utter a truth that the world simply cannot accept:

"A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.

"His foundation is in the holy mountains.

"The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

"Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

"I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

"And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

"The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

"As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee" (Ps. 87:1-7).

Here, we find that plain and emphatic statement that the "gates of Zion …" the historical Mount Moriah, where Israel’s Temples were built … has a special place in the heart of the Lord. In fact, it is an ode to the "holy mountains," which would include the Mount of Olives and other mountains surrounding Jerusalem.

His foundation – that is Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac and the patriarchs – established the Jewish faith at that very spot. There, it will stand in the age of the Kingdom. Its gates are the famed gates that surround the Temple Mount. And here, it is associated with that great metaphor of salvation, the Book of Life, in which the names of the redeemed are written.

The name of the mount is Zion, not the Harem al-Sharif , or "Noble Sanctuary" as Arab Muslims call it.

The name Zion appears twice in Psalm 87, once to identify the geographic location with its gates, and again, to enunciate the fact that Zion is associated with the calling of God’s elect. To be born in Zion is to be born through its King, the Lord God of the Old Testament and the Lord Jesus of the New.

Zion is associated with being written in the Book of Life, a concept dear to both Jews and Christians. In this Psalm, Zion is a metaphor for redemption. Once, when Jesus visited this place, He declared Himself as the One whose name would forever be identified with it:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

"Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

"But he spake of the temple of his body" (Jn. 2:19-21).

Jesus knew that Herod’s Temple would soon be razed, and He also knew that his own body would be devastated. But in three days, his body was resurrected. And in His Millennial reign, He knew that the Temple would also be rebuilt.

The prophet Hosea, referring to millennia as "days," described the same elapsed time between Christ’s first and second comings: "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight" (Hos. 6:2).

Thus, the ideas associated with the person of Jesus, redemption and the mountain called Zion are forever intertwined. The Temple of His body, and the Temple on the mountaintop represent the same historical principle: redemption.

In the days of Abraham, the Mountain was called "Moriah," meaning either "seen of the Lord," or "chosen of the Lord." Its name is most appropriate. This was the place where Abraham met Melchizedek and later, took Isaac to be offered as a sacrifice:

"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Gen. 22:2).

Upon this mountain, the Lord spoke to Abraham, staying his hand, as he prepared to lower the sacrificial knife upon Isaac. He then provided a ram as an acceptable sacrifice.

A thousand years later, in the days of David and Solomon, this sacred location was still known by its ancient name:

"Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the LORD appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite" (II Chr. 3:1).

Before King David took Moriah in a military conquest, it was actually the property of Ornan. As described by the prophet Samuel, David’s victory resulted in a major change of name for this historic location:

"And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.

"Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion : the same is the city of David.

"And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David’s soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

"So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward.

"And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him" (II Sam. 5:7-10).

In this passage, we find the first Scriptural reference to Mount Moriah as "Zion." The origin of this name is shrouded in mystery. Some have suggested that it originates in a Semitic word root that means, "to fortify" or "defend," as in "a fortress." Others have related it to a word meaning "parched" or "very dry." In the latter case, some have translated it as meaning "a sunny place."

But at some point, it also came to mean "something erected as a pillar," or a "sign."

In fact, all of the above meanings characterize this most significant place. It is certainly dry. Water has always had to be carried up to its heights and stored there in cisterns. Originally, it was used as a threshing floor … a high place where drying winds blow, separating wheat from chaff.

In a transaction that will remain in the public record as long as the Word of God stands, Ornan (called Araunah in the following text) offered to give the mountaintop to David out of respect for the King. David refused, saying that the Lord’s ground would not be indebted to any man:

"And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

"And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel" (II Sam. 24:24,25).

A wider view of the transaction is recorded in First Chronicles:

"And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

"So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

"And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering" (I Chr. 21:24-26).

A casual reading seems to reveal a textual problem here, since two different purchase prices are mentioned in the two accounts. But in fact, there is no conflict, since Samuel records the purchase of the threshingfloor, while Chronicles speaks of the "place," from the Hebrew magom, meaning "home." The higher price mentioned here is payment for the entire mountain, probably including its lower portion, known as the "City of David."

As we have often mentioned, this is one of the oldest and probably the most accurate real estate abstracts in existence. Title deed for Mount Zion remains in the hands of the House of David, as it has for the last three millennia. No subsequent deed supercedes the one recorded here.

Zion, therefore, is on permanent record as the foundation of David’s throne.

There is little doubt that Zionism is the world’s most despised idea. One who supports the legitimacy of Zionism will sooner or later run into criticism. In particular, Israel’s right to the 300,000 square miles of land granted to Abraham, and especially, Mount Zion, faces highly emotional opposition.

From A.D. 135 and the defeat of Simeon Bar Kochba, until the twentieth century, the Holy Land lay defeated and desolate. It witnessed occasional skirmishes, as Islam and the Crusaders stirred its dust. But by and large, it was not until 1948 that the Arab world "discovered" its deep roots in the land that it likes to call Palestine. Until very recently, Islam had felt no need to declare Zion one of its holiest sites.

Since Israeli statehood, the movement called Zionism has found itself at the central focus of a deep dispute. And no wonder, since the Bible describes the Holy Land as the center of the earth. Zionist pioneers, dating back to the late nineteenth century, had no idea that they were stirring up such a hornet’s nest.

The fury of the dispute became a global frenzy in 1975, when United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 declared, "Zionism is racism." In official language, the Jewish claim to the Land was branded a nationalistic racist ideology. Their claim of exclusive right to Jewish national territory was quickly labeled as an offense to many anti-Semitic groups, Arabs in particular.

The wording of the resolution was truly amazing. In part, it said:

"3379. Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 1904 (XVIII) of 20 November 1963, proclaiming the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, and in particular its affirmation that "any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous." Recalling also … the unholy alliance between South African racism and Zionism … Taking note of … the World Conference of the International Women’s Year, held at Mexico City from 19 June to 2 July 1975, which promulgated the principle that "international cooperation and peace require the achievement of national liberation and independence, the elimination of colonialism and neo-colonialism, foreign occupation, Zionism apartheid and racial discrimination in all its forms, as well as the recognition of the dignity of peoples and their right to self-determination." Taking note also of … the organization of African Unity at its twelfth ordinary session … "that the racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regime in Zimbabwe and South Africa have a common imperialist origin, forming a whole and having the same racist structure and being organically linked in their policy aimed at repression of the dignity and integrity of the human being … Taking note also of the Political Declaration of … Non-Aligned Countries held at Lima from 25 to 30 August 1975, which most severely condemned Zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology, Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination."

Later the same day, Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog addressed the U.N., citing the thousands of Arabs who were flocking to Israel for jobs, using Israel’s free medical services and serving in the Israeli government. "Is that racism?" he asked. "It is not … it is Zionism!"

He added, "For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such." At that point, he demonstrated his disgust by ripping the Resolution in two.

Many criticize Zionism as a latter-day invention. This is simply not true. Its definition and scope are Scriptural. It is the prophetic expression of the House of David. As we have already seen, the concept was born when David came to Mount Moriah and established the City of David and the mountaintop as Zion. As such, it is specifically a spiritual idea.

But with the diaspora, Zionism sank into virtual non-existence, not to arise again until the end of the nineteenth century. Ironically, it did so under the banner of social ideals and "modern" theories of socio-economic thought.

Their return was driven by secular idealism. The ancient biblical ideal of Zionism was co-opted by academic intellectuals. But in fact, Bible prophecy actually foresaw this development.

In late nineteenth-century Europe, humanist thought exploded as a concept, into the hope of emancipation and the promise of socialistic security. European intellectuals idealized the thoughts of Hegel, Marx and Engels.

Author Abraham Shulman wrote, "Moses Hess, a former collaborator of Marx and Engels, found himself betrayed by both his hopes in Emancipation and by the promises of socialism. He came to the conclusion that the situation of the Jews was not unlike that of the proletariat. Along the lines of the Communist Manifesto, he substituted for ‘class’ in ‘class struggle,’ the words ‘oppressed nationality.’ Only in a home of his own would the Jew function as a free man and a liberated human being. Moses Hess, who had formerly, along with Marx, believed that the liberation of the toiling masses would mean the redemption of the whole world, now shifted his view from the liberation of masses to the national liberation of the Jews. The revival of the Jewish state, he concluded, would mark the beginning of a spiritual revival of humanity. It would be the Messianic sign of the liberation of all oppressed individuals and nations.

"His book Rome and Jerusalem , published in 1862, was the first appeal for the revival of the Jewish homeland without recourse to the emotional mystique. For a long time, this book went unnoticed. Its importance became known much later, when another disillusioned Jewish assimilationist came out with a public plea that eventually changed the course of Jewish history. His name was Theodore Herzl" (Abraham Shulman, Coming Home to Zion (New York, Doubleday, 1979) pp. 12,14).

Herzl, a Hungarian Jewish journalist, wrote a small tract, entitled Judanstaat (A Jewish State). Under his direction, the First Zionist Congress was held at Basle, Switzerland in 1897. It was as though a light had suddenly been turned on. Jewish nationalism became an international idea.

A new Messianic fervor appeared, such as had not been seen among the Jews since the days of the first century. It emerged with the hope of a Jewish national government, and a state once again in its own homeland. But its spiritual vitality was buried in global political and economic theory, and it was secular to the core.

A few years earlier, in 1882, a few disillusioned Jewish Russian social revolutionaries, shocked that they were unwelcome in their own country, left Russia and arrived in Joppa. Their journey marked the First Aliyah (immigration) into Israel. It was followed by four other waves of immigrants, who came home to Israel through two World Wars and several more Zionist Congresses.

Of course, the modern State of Israel was born on May 14, 1948. It is deeply ironic that this was the result of a United Nations General Assembly decision in November 1947, to divide the territory of Palestine into three parts. The resolution stated, "Independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem … shall come into existence in Palestine."

Six months later David Ben-Gurion declared Israeli statehood. Zionism had become Zion. But shortly after that, on the first of October, 1948, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husayni spoke in Gaza, declaring an "all-Palestine government." The Arabs intended this regime to expand across the entirety of Palestine. And thus was the latter-day battle staged, which rages on to this day.

Throughout this time period, God’s providence worked in another amazing way, as the followers of John Nelson Darby began to teach that Israel was about to return to the Land. These men were the Plymouth Brethren, so-called because of their first meetings held in Plymouth, England. They spearheaded a powerful Christian movement that taught Dispensationalism and the Premillennial view of prophecy, as well as the pretribulation rapture of the church.

Theodore Herzl was aided by an Episcopalian minister named William Heschler, who had been enlightened by the teaching of the Brethren. Heschler worked to help the Jews return to their homeland. In fact, he came to be called, "the prophet of the coming Jewish state."

From the very beginning of the state of Israel, Christians were present, either to facilitate the Zionist movement, or to stand by and watch eagerly as prophecy was progressively fulfilled. They were fully aware that it was based in socialism, but believed so strongly in the fulfillment of biblical prophecy that they looked beyond the settlers’ socialist philosophy.

They correctly interpreted Israel’s regathering to take place in a state of unbelief, as witnessed by the remarkable prophecy of Ezekiel. The following verses are a concise and accurate condensation of Israel’s regathering:

"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

"And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God" (Ezk. 36:24-28).

In The Scofield Study Bible of 1909, Dr. C. I. Scofield comments upon the foregoing verses in the following way: "Having announced … the restoration of the nation, Jehovah now gives in vision and symbol the method of its accomplishment."

He then comments upon Ezekiel 37, the chapter that follows. It features the prophecy of the "dry bones." To make his comments easier to understand, they are placed before each verse upon which he comments.

He says, "Verse 11 gives the clue. The ‘bones’ are the whole house of Israel who shall then be living."

"Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts" (Ezek. 37:11).

He writes, "The ‘graves’ are the nations where they dwell. The order of procedure is: (1) the bringing of the people out (v. 12); (2) the bringing of them in (v. 12):

"Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel" (Ezek. 37:12).

"(3) their conversion (v. 13):

"And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves," (Ezek. 37:13).

"(4) the filling with the Spirit (v. 14).

"And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD" (Ezek. 37:14).

Scofield’s interpretation of these verses represents a concise description of pro-Zionist Christian beliefs, beginning first and foremost with a belief in the return of the Jews to the Land, and their redemption as a nation.

Implied in this position is a clear distinction between Israel and the Church. That is, the Kingdom Age is to be dominated by the Throne of David and a Jewish Messiah, who returns to build the third Temple. The church, the Body of Christ does not take this role.

This, in turn, bespeaks a belief that the age of the Church will come to an end before the age of the Kingdom.

The mechanism that terminates the Church Age is the rapture, which is more or less immediately followed by Daniel’s Seventieth Week … the seven-year Tribulation.

Thus, when Darby, the Plymouth Brethren and their followers began to teach the first principle that the Jews would return to the Holy Land, the rest of the dispensational system of interpretation quickly fell into place. Dispensationalism, of course, is the belief that history is divided into a succession of historical periods, each of which represents a distinct phase of God’s redemptive work. Presently we are in the Dispensation of the church, which will be followed by the age of the Kingdom.

This fresh insight gave birth to a new term, "Christian Zionist." From the first, those who carried this label found themselves at the center of a great controversy. Namely, is it Scripturally defensible for a Christian to be a Zionist? Implied in this question is that the first mission of the church is to evangelize: "… to the Jew first."

In fact, Christian Zionism seemed to expect Jews to return to the Land without a living faith in God through Christ. Jews of many different faiths … Orthodox, Hasidic, and socialist liberals … were all thought to be part of the general aliyah, the return to the Land in unbelief. Christian Zionists believed that later, they would be brought to faith in the dramatic series of events given in prophecy, Old Testament and New.

When the Episcopalian minister William Heschler became a disciple of the Plymouth Brethren, he quickly became a Christian Zionist. The Brethren were at the center of Christian support for Israel’s return to the Land. And in the providence of the Lord, Heschler met Theodore Herzl, and together, they founded the World Zionist Organization.

World War One witnessed the now-famous incident in which a Jewish chemist, Chaim Weismann, contributed to British victory by inventing a method of quickly fabricating smokeless gunpowder for their arsenals. By way of thanks, on November 3, 1917, Lord Balfour — another follower of the Plymouth Brethren — promised the Jews a national homeland.

Zionism is simply the belief that God’s covenant with Abraham exists in perpetuity. Once a Scriptural vision, it has become a thriving reality, and the world’s foremost bone of contention.

Christian Zionism is more than an ideology and belief system. It is linked to geography , and to the ancient real estate abstract that records David’s purchase from Ornan. Zion is loved by some and hated by others as heresy. But in its essence, it is characterized by a love for God’s chosen people, the Jews, and their Scriptural destiny.

Christians remember the words of Paul, who grieved over the failure of his people to come to faith in their true Messiah, Jesus. His emotional questions move us to this day: "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin." (Rom. 11:1).

A bit further on, he asks, "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

"Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

"If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

"For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? " (Rom. 11:11-15).

In no way does Paul believe that the Jews have been forever cast aside. Here, he writes of them as a national body that has been cast away, but will one day be received again. It is absolutely clear that he is speaking of their resurrection as a nation, not as individuals.

The dispensational understanding of Scripture places great importance upon the latter-day rise of national Israel. Dispensationalists believe that its twelve tribes will return to their ancient Land, there to experience spiritual renewal, beginning with the sealing of 144,000 Israelites. The church has nothing at all to do with this watershed event. By the time this prophesied event comes to pass, the church will have been removed from the earth.

But here, we run into the classic eschatological problem. In what manner are the Jews to be brought to faith in the end times? Is it to come only through their evangelism by the church? This was the position of the church of the Middle Ages, and even the Reformation, which held with Augustine’s fifth-century teaching that there would be no millennium. He spiritualized the apocalypse out of existence, and visualized the church as being in a struggle with the world, which would end with Christ’s coming.

Israel in the Millennial Kingdom Age was completely omitted from his interpretation of Scripture. To this day, mainline denominations continue in his ideology, taking the position that Jews may achieve redemption only by becoming members of the institutional church … that Jews may receive salvation only by entering into its ranks.

The mainline institutional church finds Christian Zionism, which sees Israel’s regathering as God’s will for the House of David, repugnant, even frightening.

A good example of their opinion is found in a brochure recently issued by the National Council of Churches [NCC]. Published in December 2008, it is entitled, Why We Should be Concerned About Christian Zionism. It provides a remarkable statement of the basic issues.

Doubtless, the timing of its dissemination is based upon the tightening conflict between Israel and the Arab world. With Iraq, Iran and nuclear conflict in view, the NCC view places the burden of the blame with Israel, which has claimed land that it regards as the Palestinian homeland. In fact, they use their theological argument to question the legitimacy of modern Israel’s very existence.

One of its main points lays the blame for the conflict upon the Dispensational movement. Here is one of its key criticisms about Christian Zionism:

"It is not based on traditional teaching or doctrines of the Church – Christian Zionism and its theological presuppositions are nineteenth-century innovations in Christian doctrine. The most prominent spokesperson for these beliefs was John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). Although the advocates of Christian Zionism and its underlying theology sometimes claim to base their beliefs on ancient understandings, generally scholars recognize these to be recent innovations."

Here, we have an amazing theological argument, somehow based upon the premise that current insights into the prophetic interpretation of Scripture are by nature of their recent discovery, invalid. Under this thinking, doctrine, to be sound, must meet some sort of time test, having been recognized by some convocation of elders before a certain unspecified cutoff date.

John Nelson Darby and his followers apparently do not meet this test, even though he graduated from Trinity College as a "Master Scholar," and later became a priest in the Anglican church. Darby’s biography documents the fact that if he had not been injured in an equestrian accident that left him bedridden for months, he would have continued on that path. Given his intelligence and drive, he would probably have risen to high office in the Church of England.

But his lengthy convalescence gave him time to read the Bible as he hadn’t read it before. Scripture led him to two conclusions: First, it caused him to see the nineteenth century institutional church as "a ruin." Second, his eyes were opened to the prophetic certainty that Israel would return to her own Land. He saw a "new dispensation" coming.

Dispensationalism soon became a living faith. Christian Zionism was born.

In answer to the question, "What is Christian Zionism?" the NCC says, "Christian Zionism may be defined either broadly or narrowly. Broadly speaking it designates any Christian support for the national revival movement of the Jewish people realized through the establishment of the modern State of Israel (historically known as Zionism). More narrowly defined, Christian Zionism is an ideology grounded in beliefs which consider the State of Israel to be divinely ordained and scripturally determined with a central role in ushering in the end of history, where unconverted Jews and unbelievers (including Christians who are considered to be of questionable status) are judged by God’s wrath. It is the narrower form that causes immediate concern."

Here, it becomes perfectly clear that the NCC’s real objection is to the Premillennial and Pretribulational view of history, which would include the rise of a Gentile world power structure, an antichrist and a literal seven-year Tribulation. They profoundly disagree with Darby’s dispensational view.

In fact, the churches which fall under the NCC’s purview conform in varying degrees to the theology of the reformers, who adopted the Amillennial doctrine of Augustine, or some form of Postmillennial doctrine. The former believes that there will be no Millennial reign of Christ, and the latter holds that the Millennium began during Christ’s earthly ministry. The church is thus regarded as redeemed Israel.

Today, there is a serious question for Christians that must be asked and answered. It has to do with the legitimacy of Israeli statehood. In 1947, under U.N. auspices, the world decided in the affirmative. In 1948, Israel became a nation. Immediately, a series of Middle East wars began. They have developed into a continuing, nerve-wracking chain of tremors, which will soon culminate in a catastrophic shaking — the Tribulation. In its upheavals, Israel will be spiritually reborn. Jesus will come again to reign as their King.

The modern institutional church denies this truth. To them, Zion is spiritual, not geographic. It is an artifact of the church.

But think of this: In all of Scripture, Zion is mentioned 160 times. In the Psalms, it occurs 38 times. In Isaiah, it is found 46 times. In Jeremiah … 17 times.

In the King James New Testament, it appears as "Sion," and is found 7 times, and at each of these appearances it refers either to the twelve tribes of Israel, or to the geographic Mount Zion in modern Jerusalem, bought and paid for by the House of David.

At Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, Matthew records the event as a fulfillment of prophecy, uttered by both Isaiah and Zechariah: "Tell ye the daughter of Sion, [Zion] Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass" (Matt. 21:5).

Israel is the "daughter of Zion," not the church. A composite picture of Zion reveals one thing: It is a place, a city and an idea. Some dismiss Zionism as a fabricated political movement, and say that the church cannot condone it, much less encourage it. The NCC calls it, "… a movement with negative consequences for Middle East Peace." They say, "It fosters fear and hatred of Muslims and non-Western Christians."

But a moment’s reflection shows that it is an idea that lies at the center of God’s heart:

"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion , on the sides of the north, the city of the great King" (Psa. 48:2).

"Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments" (Psa. 48:11).

"Walk about Zion , and go round about her: tell the towers thereof." (Psa. 48:12).

"Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion : build thou the walls of Jerusalem" (Psa. 51:18).

"For God will save Zion , and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession" (Psa. 69:35).

"Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion , wherein thou hast dwelt" (Psa. 74:2).

"When the LORD shall build up Zion , he shall appear in his glory" (Psa. 102:16).

"Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children" (Is. 66:8).

Look for yourself at the dozens of other, similar references in Scripture. See for yourself that Zion is an expression of God’s love and His will. If you follow this simple exercise, you will find that you, too, are a Christian Zionist.

Zionism is revolting only to those who oppose the return of the Jews to their biblical homeland, and their Temple.

Never forget this convincing thought:

"The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Psa. 87:2).

Bible prophecy students who hold to a literal interpretation of prophecy yet future–futurists, as we are sometimes termed—have long speculated how America might figure into the ultimate system of control of the beast regime. That Antichrist economic/worship system is foretold in the following:

“And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six” (Revelation 13:15-18).

America–but not Al Gore, as he has claimed–was at the heart of developing the internet. The internet is a type of medium that more and more looks to be one a hybrid of which might deliver on the globalist elite’s ambition to intricately link everyone on the planet in a person-to-person system of governance. More than coincidentally, such an internet hybrid will almost certainly produce, through electronic bondage, the Antichrist dictatorship that will enslave everyone on the planet.

We should expect, based upon the many proliferating end-of-days signals now occurring in birth pang-like frequency and intensity, that there should also be found on the prophetic horizon such an enslavement system in the making. Sure enough, there is such a system developing, and, again, the United States of America is at the forefront, just as the nation is at the forefront of the gush toward globalism.

The once mighty U.S. dollar is being systematically rendered the equal of all other of the world’s currencies. This is being done through printing trillions of dollars that have nothing of substance backing them whatever, and by U.S. leadership intentionally melding America’s sovereignty with a swiftly changing global monetary order.

The great tax-and-spend powers that be have been turning up every stone known to the fiscal world to find a way to exact tax revenues from use of the internet. Believe me when I tell you that they will be able to do this at some point in the near future. The voracious tax grab must first, of course, be shown to have a dramatic reason to be done. A crisis must be at hand, you see, in order to justify such invasion into the individual liberty intrinsic within the internet. No doubt, the crisis must involve national security so that we the people will be afraid not to go along.

Try this on for size, my fellow citizens…

“The President has likened threats to the internet to that of a nuclear attack. The White House should take direct control of US cybersecurity, the woman tipped to be President Obama’s net security czar has said. Melissa Hathaway told a conference in San Francisco that the net had not been built with safety in mind.

She has just completed a review of cybersecurity for the President.

‘This poses one of the most serious challenges of the 21st century. Cyberspace won’t be secured overnight on the basis of one good plan,’ she said…

President Obama has made the issue of cybersecurity a top priority and ordered this 60-day review to determine how the government should dramatically restructure how it handles the internet and security… Recent breaches have targeted the US power grid and the Pentagon.

To date, the government has kept its own counsel on the shape of its new cybersecurity establishment. However it has been reported the administration has finalized plans for a new Pentagon cyber command to coordinate the security of military computer networks…” (“US ramps up cybersecurity focus,” Maggie Shiels, BBC News, RSA Conference San Francisco, 4/24/09).

The American administration’s determination to bring the internet–and all involved within the medium–under strict government control proves there are plans for new bureaucracy on the drawing board of ever bigger government. It is only a matter of time–a very brief time, I suggest—until such bureaucracy will be constructed globally. It is just such a construct from which I believe the 666 mark and numbering system of Revelation 13:15-18 will ultimately emerge.

The super internet will have at its core the use of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) monetary units. Such will eliminate, the developers and implementers will claim, theft of money that the hard currencies have presented. The problems that are part of national currencies will also be eliminated, or at least made controllable, they will assure, such as problems involved with the rates of exchange of one national currency against another.

The ultimately evolved super internet system will have at its heart a computer marking and numbering system that will electronically link the individual with a central controlling entity whereby all people can be monitored and instantly dealt with as necessary. Bible prophecy foretells this whole diabolist ball of wax will revolve around worship of the beast–Antichrist. This will take place during the tribulation era, the time of God’s wrath against rebellious earth dwellers (Rev. 6: 17). However, Satan’s scheme to ultimately have all of humanity worship him will not touch saints of the Church Age (Age of Grace).

Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against his Church (Matt. 16:16). The Apostle Paul said: “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do” (1 Thess. 5: 9-11).

–Terry

National Anthem Atlanta Tea Party April 15 2009

Click here to view the embedded video.

But arguably Obama’s most egregious, unconstitutional “power-grab” as president may have been his very first – being elected to the highest office in the land while steadfastly refusing to offer proof he is a “natural born citizen,” as required of all presidents by the U.S. Constitution.

That explosive story is the focus of the April 2009 edition of WND’s acclaimed Whistleblower magazine. It’s called “YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE? Why dozens of lawsuits and millions of Americans want Barack Obama to prove he’s constitutionally qualified to be president.”

This issue of Whistleblower “is not only the most complete and thorough exposé of the eligibility questions surrounding Barack Obama’s presidency,” says WND founder and CEO Joseph Farah, “it is an indictment of the process that put him in the White House Jan. 20 of this year.”

Although Article II section 1 of the Constitution clearly requires that all presidents be “natural born citizens,” the 2008 election proved, Farah points out, “that no controlling legal authority bothered to establish” that Obama was qualified for the Oval Office. “Everybody dropped the ball,” said Farah.

The biggest reason interest in the Obama eligibility issue continues to mount, with ever more legal actions being filed and more Americans demanding answers, says WND Managing Editor David Kupelian, is simple: “Barack Obama is hiding something. About that statement, there is no dispute. Despite dozens of lawsuits, with plaintiffs including a former presidential candidate, a former deputy attorney general, many legislators, active-duty U.S. military and other serious people, Obama simply refuses to release his original, long-form birth certificate. That’s the one that could actually prove he was born in Hawaii. What is posted on Obama’s ‘Stop the Smears’ website as well as the FactCheck.org website is the abbreviated short-form ‘certification of live birth’ that could have been issued for a child born overseas, and thus does not prove he was born in Hawaii. What is so difficult about this to understand?”

And while some of the many lawsuits challenging Obama on this issue have reached the eyes of U.S. Supreme Court justices, at least one former state Supreme Court chief justice – Alabama’s Roy Moore – now says the Obama eligibility issue should be adjudicated: “Why doesn’t the president have to show that he’s a natural born citizen? … We’ve had all kinds of suits filed, and the press doesn’t mention them and the courts continually reject them. … It’s troubling to me because we’ll suffer the consequences if we ignore our Constitution."

Highlights of “YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE?” include:

• "The question of eligibility" by Joseph Farah
• "Why I care about the Obama eligibility issue" by David Kupelian
• "Why questions persist regarding Obama’s qualifications" by Bob Unruh, on why the president’s defenders never actually address the merits of eligibility challenges
• "The 20th Amendment: What if the president-elect fails to qualify?"
• "U.S. military officers demanding eligibility proof" by Bob Unruh, regarding which one plaintiff said, "In the worst case … it’s going to be revolution in the streets"
• "What is ‘quo warranto’"
• "Scalia: You need 4 votes for Obama eligibility case"
• "Ex-chief justice: ‘If he’s not a natural born citizen, he’s not qualified’" in which former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore weighs in on the issue
• "Was Obama born in Hawaii – or Kenya?" by Jerome R. Corsi, who interviews the private detective who investigated Honolulu hospitals claimed as Obama birthplace; also a report on eyewitnesses to Obama’s grandmother saying she witnessed his birth in Mombasa, Kenya
• "Kenyan ambassador: ‘I don’t know’ if Obama was born in U.S." by Chelsea Schilling – a revealing follow-up to the on-air "gaffe" by African official about president’s birth
• "What congressmen say about Obama’s eligibility," an extensive sampling of what lawmakers are telling constituents about where the president was born
• "Eligibility bill hits Congress" by Drew Zahn, detailing U.S. Rep. Bill Posey’s proposed law requiring candidates to show birth certificate – which would apply to Obama’s re-election
• "Congressman scorned for suggesting eligibility proof," documenting media reaction to Rep. Bill Posey’s eligibility bill, including MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann who advises the congressman to "take the Reynolds Wrap off your head"
• "States reviewing ‘eligibility’ challenges," detailing how Montana has tabled its plan while Oklahoma’s gets committee approval
• "California used to check presidential candidates’ qualifications"
• "Wikipedia scrubs Obama eligibility" by Aaron Klein, who documents how the very mention of citizenship issues is deleted in minutes and "offending" users banned
• "Judge ripped for using blog hearsay" by Bob Unruh, on the eligibility case lawyer who says he’s entitled to see Obama’s birth certificate during "discovery" process
• "Resolving Obama birth issue ‘once and for all’" by Leo C. Donofrio, in which the attorney proposes a solution to what he calls the "bottomless pit of pending litigation"
• "Does dual citizenship disqualify a candidate from being president?"
• "Chief justice accepts lawsuit docs, WND petition" by Drew Zahn, in which John Roberts agrees to read Obama filings and consider WorldNetDaily’s 330,000 online petition signers
• "Obama team threatens plaintiffs" by Alan Keyes, the former Reagan diplomat and presidential candidate who rallies all involved in the eligibility battle to stand firm

“To me, this is a historic issue of Whistleblower magazine,” says Farah. “I do not pretend to know where the information you are about to read will lead. But I do know that it is explosive, profoundly important and represents much more than the future of the Barack Obama administration. No less than our Constitution – the foundation of our national liberties and the rule of law in America – is at stake.”

Europe has basically banded together en masse to reject Obama’s crazy spending ideas and schemes. We’re getting spanked by socialists. The iPod gift to the queen with HIS SPEECHES ON IT wasn’t such a great idea, either. Here’s the text of the official end communique from today . Barry’s about to make his address before the foreign press, (late as usual). Here’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown announcing “The New World Order Is Emerging At The G-20 ″.

Click here to view the embedded video.

1.  America Is Good.

2.  I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.

God “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the external rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” from George Washington’s first Inaugural address.

3.  I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.

Honesty “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” George Washington

4.  The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.

Marriage/Family “It is in the love of one’s family only that heartfelt happiness is known. By a law of our nature, we cannot be happy without the endearing connections of a family.” Thomas Jefferson

5.  If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

Justice “I deem one of the essential principles of our government… equal and exact justice to all men of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.” Thomas Jefferson

6.  I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.

Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit of Happiness “Everyone has a natural right to choose that vocation in life which he thinks most likely to give him comfortable subsistence.” Thomas Jefferson

7.  I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

Charity “It is not everyone who asketh that deserveth charity; all however, are worth of the inquiry or the deserving may suffer.” George Washington

8.  It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.

On your right to disagree “In a free and republican government, you cannot restrain the voice of the multitude; every man will speak as he thinks, or more properly without thinking.” George Washington

9.  The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.

Who works for whom? “I consider the people who constitute a society or a nation as the source of all authority in that nation.” Thomas Jefferson

A nationally known pastor and author who predicts an imminent catastrophe of God’s judgment on America is now telling concerned Christians it is time for peace and preparation, not panic.

"This is what I hear the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart concerning my own spiritual response to impending calamity," writes David Wilkerson, author of "The Cross and the Switchblade" and founder of a ministry to troubled New York street kids, on his blog today. "It is simply this: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord."

As WND reported, Wilkerson drew attention by publishing on his blog over the weekend a vision for impending fires and riots sweeping through New York City and other cities across the country.

"An earth-shattering calamity is about to happen," he writes. "It is going to be so frightening, we are all going to tremble – even the godliest among us."

Which holy days does the Bible teach to celebrate? Find out in "The Feasts of the Lord" video, exclusively from WND’s online store!

"It will engulf the whole megaplex, including areas of New Jersey and Connecticut. Major cities all across America will experience riots and blazing fires," he explains. "What we are experiencing now is not a recession, not even a depression. We are under God’s wrath."

After such dire words, Wilkerson was asked how people should respond to his message, and, with today’s blog post, the pastor answered.

"I can only answer by sharing what the Holy Spirit is speaking to my own heart and what I am to do," writes Wilkerson. "I shared that I was led in a practical way to lay aside a month’s supply of food — because I have witnessed the panic in the wake of terrorism."

Wilkerson’s call to prepare for catastrophic circumstances comes during a time when, as WND reported, the economic crisis has prompted a surge of business
in the emergency preparedness industry.

Bill Heid of Survival Seeds, a company that sells "banks" of high-yielding vegetable seeds sealed for long-term storage, told WND, "The survivalist mentality used to be considered a fringe element, but now that economic times are such as they are, many more average, regular folks are adopting the same set of preparations."

But Wilkerson also sees a spiritual application of his message, calling Christians to exhibit peace and hope in God’s salvation in the midst of fearful times.

"My warning is just one voice among many who are saying the same thing," writes Wilkerson. "We may all tremble for a season, but those who truly know God’s Word will be quickly comforted by the Holy Spirit. We will be baptized with a great peace – a supernatural quietness – which will be a tremendous witness to the fearful multitudes."

One of the many Christian leaders with a similar message is Dr. Gary Dull, pastor and founding member of The Faith and Freedom Institute.

"America was founded with a spiritual basis, but there are those who want to make it a purely secular nation," said Dull to an NBC reporter. "Because of the rejection of God and His values, we can expect nothing but His judgment. All one needs to do is to read in history and find out how that when a nation forgot God, God forgot the nation."

A past vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention is hoping believers pay attention to Wilkerson’s message.

"I have known David Wilkerson for more than 25 years as well as many of his friends and associates," said Pastor Wiley Drake. "He is a godly man and I believe he is listening to God. I encourage each Christian to read and heed what God is saying through our brother."

Wilkerson is the founding pastor of Times Square
Church in New York City, where he launched a ministry to gang members and drug addicts in 1958. He is a highly regarded mentor to other pastors in evangelical circles and travels the world holding conferences for other Christian ministers.

His work in New York in the 1950s and 1960s led to the formation of Teen Challenge – a nationwide ministry to reach out to people with life-controlling habits. Teen Challenge has grown to include 173 residential programs and numerous evangelism outreach centers in the U.S., and 241 centers in 77 other countries. The program claims a recovery rate of 86 percent.

The story of Wilkerson’s first five years of ministry in New York is told in "The Cross and the Switchblade," a book he co-authored in 1963. The book, which spawned a movie, became a best-selling phenomenon, and more than 15 million copies have been distributed in over 30 languages.

One of the most often cited objections to pretribulationism is that it is a new teaching in church history, having only come on the scene in the 1830s. It is often argued that if the pre-trib Rapture were biblical, then it would have been taught earlier, and throughout church history. In the last decade, individuals have found a number of pre-1830 references to a pre-trib Rapture. Here is a summary of that evidence.

THE EARLY CHURCH

Since imminency is considered to be a crucial feature of pretribulationism by scholars such as John Walvoord,1 it is significant that the Apostolic Fathers, though posttribulational, at the same time just as clearly taught the pretribulational feature of imminence. Since it was common in the early Church to hold contradictory positions without even an awareness of inconsistency, it would not be surprising to learn that their era supports both views. Larry Crutchfield notes, “This belief in the imminent return of Christ within the context of ongoing persecution has prompted us to broadly label the views of the earliest fathers, ‘imminent intratribulationism.’” 2

Expressions of imminency abound in the Apostolic Fathers. Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas, and The Shepherd of Hermas all speak of imminency.3 Furthermore, The Shepherd of Hermas speaks of the pretribulational concept of escaping the Tribulation.

You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt in the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, and say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming. If then ye prepare yourselves, and repent with all your heart, and turn to the Lord, it will be possible for you to escape it, if your heart be pure and spotless, and ye spend the rest of the days of your life in serving the Lord blamelessly. 4

Evidence of pretribulationism surfaces during the early medieval period in a sermon some attribute to Ephraem the Syrian, but is more likely the product of one scholar called Pseudo-Ephraem, entitled Sermon on The Last Times, The Antichrist, and The End of the World.5 The sermon was written some time between the fourth and sixth century. The Rapture statement reads as follows:

Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? …For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins.

This statement makes evident a clear belief that all Christians will escape the Tribulation through a gathering to the Lord, and it is stated early in the sermon. How else can this be understood other than as pretribulational? The later Second Coming of Christ to the earth with the saints is mentioned at the end of the sermon.

THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH

By the fifth century A.D., the amillennialism of Origen and Augustine had won the day in the established Church–East and West. It is probable that some form of premillennialism persisted throughout the Middle Ages, but it existed primarily underground.

It is believed that sects like the Albigenses, Lombards, and the Waldenses were attracted to premillennialism, but little is known of the details of their beliefs since the Catholics destroyed their works when they were found. But there was at least one who held to some form of pretribulationism, namely one named Brother Dolcino in 1304.

Francis Gumerlock is the individual who advocates the Brother Dolcino Rapture find and said in his book: “The Dolcinites held to a pre-tribulation Rapture theory similar to that in modern dispensationalism.” 6 The reason Gumerlock believes that Brother Dolcino and the Apostolic Brethren taught pretribulationism is found in the following statement:

Again, [Dolcino believed and preached and taught] that within those three years Dolcino himself and his followers will preach the coming of the Antichrist. And that the Antichrist was coming into this world within the bounds of the said three and a half years; and after he had come, then he [Dolcino] and his followers would be transferred into Paradise, in which are Enoch and Elijah. And in this way they will be preserved unharmed from the persecution of Antichrist. And that then Enoch and Elijah themselves would descend on the earth for the purpose of preaching [against] Antichrist. Then they would be killed by him or by his servants,and thus Antichrist would reign for a long time. But when the Antichrist is dead, Dolcino himself, who then would be the holy pope, and his preserved followers, will descend on the earth, and will preach the right faith of Christ to all, and will convert those who will be living then to the true faith of Jesus Christ. 7

THE REFORMATION CHURCH

After more than 1,000 years of suppression, premillennialism began to be revived as a result of at least four factors. By the late 1500’s and the early 1600’s, premillennialism began to return as a factor within mainstream Protestantism. With the flowering of biblical interpretation during the late Reformation Period, premillennial interpreters began to abound throughout Protestantism, and so did the development of sub-issues like the Rapture.

Some began to speak of the Rapture. Paul Benware notes:

Peter Jurieu in his book Approaching Deliverance of the Church (1687) taught that Christ would come in the air to rapture the saints and return to heaven before the battle of Armageddon. He spoke of a secret Rapture prior to His coming in glory and judgment at Armageddon. Philip Doddridge’s commentary on the New Testament (1738) and John Gill’s commentary on the New Testament (1748) both use the term rapture and speak of it as imminent. It is clear that these men believed that this coming will precede Christ’s descent to the earth and the time of judgment. The purpose was to preserve believers from the time of judgment. James Macknight (1763) and Thomas Scott (1792) taught that the righteous will be carried to heaven, where they will be secure until the time of judgment is over. 8

Frank Marotta, a brethren researcher, believes that Thomas Collier in 1674 makes reference to a pretribulational Rapture, but rejects the view,9 thus showing his awareness that such a view was being taught in the late 17th century. There is the interesting case of John Asgill, who wrote a book in 1700 about the possibility of translation (i.e. Rapture) without seeing death.10

Perhaps the clearest reference to a pretrib Rapture, if not the most developed system, before Darby comes from Baptist Morgan Edwards (founder of the Ivy League school, Brown University) who saw a distinct Rapture threeand a-half years before the start of the Millennium.11 The discovery of Edwards, who wrote about his pretrib beliefs in 1744 and later published them in 1788, is hard to dismiss.12 He taught the following:

II. The distance between the first and second resurrection will be somewhat more than a thousand years. I say, somewhat more—, because the dead saints will be raised, and the living changed at Christ’s “appearing in the air” (I Thes. iv. 17); and this will be about three years and a half before the millennium, as we shall see hereafter: but will he and they abide in the air all that time? No: they will ascend to paradise, or to some one of those many “mansions in the father’s house” (John xiv. 2), and disappear during the foresaid period of time. The design of this retreat and disappearing will be to judge the risen and changed saints; for “now the time is come that judgment must begin,” and that will be “at the house of God” (I Pet. iv. 17)…(p. 7; The spelling of all Edwards quotes have been modernized.)

CONCLUSION

I have heard from another scholar who is reading through many Latin manuscripts of previously unpublished documents that he has found a number of previously unknown pre-trib Rapture statements from pre-19th century Christendom. He is planning to publish his material in a few years. What these pre-Darby Rapture statements prove, if nothing else, is that indeed others did see the Rapture taught in Scripture similar to the way that pretribulationists in our own day teach. Thus, the argument that no one ever taught pretribulationism until J. N. Darby in 1830 is just not historically true and it is becoming increasingly clear with each passing year. Maranatha!

ENDNOTES

1 John F.Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976), pp. 24-25.
2 Larry V. Crutchfield,“The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers” in Thomas Ice & Timothy Demy, editors, When The Trumpet Sounds (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1995), p. 103.
3 Crutchfield,“The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation in the Apostolic Fathers,”pp. 88-101.
4 The Shepherd of Hermas, 1.4.2.
5 For more information on this matter see Timothy J. Demy and Thomas D. Ice,“The Rapture and an Early Medieval Citation,” Bibliotheca Sacra (Vol. 152,No. 607; July-Sept. 1995), pp. 306-17.
6 Francis X. Gumerlock, The Day and the Hour: A Chronicle of Christianity’s Perennial Fascination with Predicting the End of the World (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2000), p. 80.
7 Gumerlock’s translation of the Latin text in Gumerlock, “A Rapture Citation,”pp. 354-55.
8 Paul N. Benware, Understanding End Times Prophecy: A Comprehensive Approach (Chicago: Moody Press, 1995), pp. 197-98.
9 Frank Marotta, Morgan Edwards: An Eighteenth Century Pretribulationist (Morganville, N.J.: Present Truth Publishers, 1995), pp. 10-12.
10 The entire title of Asgill’s work is as follows: An argument proving, that according to the covenant of Eternal Life revealed in the Scriptures,Man may be translated from hence into that Eternal Life, without passing through Death, although the Human Nature of Christ himself could not be thus translated till he had passed through Death.
11 Marotta, Morgan Edwards.
12 Morgan Edwards, Two Academical Exercised on Subjects Bearing the following Titles;Millennium, Last-Novelties (Philadelphia: self-published, 1788).

Officials at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Calif., have been served with a demand to produce records concerning Barack Obama’s attendance there during the 1980s because they could document whether he was attending as a foreign national – in one of three fronts now established by those contesting the president-elect’s constitutional eligibility for the Oval Office.

The Supreme Court and Congress also both are being challenged to address the worries that Obama doesn’t meet the requirements of the U.S. Constitution that the president be a "natural born" citizen.

WND has reported on a long list of legal cases raising questions over the issue, and several of those have reached the U.S. Supreme Court already. Justices have so far declined to give any of the cases full hearings on their merits, but another conference remains on the Supreme Court docket for Jan. 23 on the issue.

"If Obama is sworn in as president, we will file a Petition for Writ of ‘Quo Warranto,’ a case that will challenge Obama as being ineligible to serve as president because he is ‘not qualified,’" said Philip J. Berg, a lawyer who has brought several cases to court. Berg, whose information is on his ObamaCrimes.com website, indicated the issue isn’t going away.

Orly Taitz, a California lawyer whose dispute remains pending before the high court, agreed, noting that one of the hearings already is scheduled for the days following Obama’s inaugural on Tuesday.

Taitz said her arguments rest on precedents from both the California Supreme Court, which years ago removed a candidate for president from the ballot because he was only 34, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s affirmation of that ruling. The Constitution requires a president to be 35.

In one of the latest developments, Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation petitioned Occidental College with a demand for its records concerning Obama.

"The gravamen of the petition is the question as to whether United States Senator Barack Hussein Obama, of Illinois, is eligible to serve as president of the United States pursuant to the requirements for that office in the Untied States Constitution," he wrote. "The records sought may provide documentary evidence, and/or admissions by said defendant, as to said eligibility or lack thereof."

Where’s the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the "natural-born American" clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see it, join more than 200,000 others and sign the petition demanding proof of eligibility now!

College officials confirmed they had gotten the notice, but had not decided how to respond, a decision that may be removed from their hands because of the team of lawyers Obama has engaged to prevent such inquiries into his past.

"Senator Obama has filed responsive pleadings in this matter and is represented by counsel, and has the opportunity to object to this production, should he so desire," the affidavit from Kreep said.

"Good cause exists for this production under Subpoena Duces Tecum, in that testimony will be elicited from the original records obtained through the witness named herein, and there is no other process available to secure said testimony," he wrote.

The lawsuits allege in various ways Obama does not meet the "natural born citizen" clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which reads, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some allege his birth took place in Kenya, and his mother was a minor at the time of his birth – too young to confer American citizenship. They argue Obama’s father, Barack Obama Sr., was a Kenyan citizen subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time and would have handed down British citizenship.

There also are questions raised about Obama’s move to Indonesia when he was a child and his attendance at school there when only Indonesian citizens were allowed and his travel to Pakistan in the ’80s when such travel was forbidden to American citizens.

The lawsuit on which USJF is working was filed on behalf of presidential candidate Alan Keyes and others, and describes the potential damage an ineligible president could create.

"Should Senator Obama be discovered, after he takes office, to be ineligible for the Office of President of the United States of America and, thereby, his election declared void," argues a case brought on behalf of Ambassador Alan Keyes, also a presidential candidate. "Americans will suffer irreparable harm in that (a) usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal."

On his ObamaCrimes.com website, Berg sent his message directly to the U.S. Congress.

He’s asking in an open letter to members of Congress for congressional hearings "to determine the truth regarding qualifications of Barry Soetoro, otherwise known as Barack Hussein Obama…"

"As you must be aware, there are many unresolved questions concerning Soetoro/Obama’s status or lack thereof, as a ‘natural born’ American citizen, as required by ‘our’ U.S. Constitution," he wrote.

He noted the failure by Congress to challenge Obama’s eligibility during the process through which the Electoral College vote was adopted.

"Because of your failure to ‘question’ the eligibility of Soetoro/Obama, we are headed for a ‘Constitutional Crisis.’ Yes, a ‘Constitutional Crisis’ because Soetoro/Obama who appears not to be a ‘natural born’ U.S. citizen is ‘ineligible’ under ‘our’ U.S. Constitution to serve as president," he said.

He cited the document published on the Internet by Obama’s campaign, the "Certification of Live Birth," as no more than an effort to "quash" questions. Other critics have noted the state of Hawaii granted such certifications to parents of children not born in the state at the time.

"Without truthful information concerning Soetoro/Obama’s eligibility to serve as President, ‘We the People’ have been injured," he wrote.

Taitz took a different route, submitting to the U.S. Supreme Court a motion "to declare that by default, the president elect respondent Barack Obama has failed to qualify under [the] U.S. Constitution."

"Does the burden of proof lie with the petitioner to prove standing and evidence lack of qualification by a candidate/president elect, where election officers rely on a candidate’s declaration? OR does the [Constitution] place the burden of proof on the president-elect to provide objective government certified witnessed proofs, with election officers under oath to challenge, examine and declare that the president elect has or has not qualified, enforceable by petition for redress of grievances?"

Not only has the respondent, Obama, "failed to submit proofs … for any of the qualifications," she wrote. "Respondent has hindered discovery."

She argued that having Obama declared ineligible until he would provide documentation would "cause far less political trauma" than allowing his inauguration because it would uphold the constitution.

She also raised the issue of the concealment of Obama’s records.

"Obama has refused to submit certified copies of any of his original long form ‘vault’ birth certificates in Hawaii to any public officer or to any Petitioner. Relevant records in Kenya have also been officially restricted," she said. "Obama has sealed all educational records which might reveal his stated citizenship. These include Punahou High School, Occidental College, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School."

Her letter included a warning, too.

"Thirty-three democracies descended into tyranny during the 20th century by failing to uphold constitutional protections," she said. "Petitioner humbly prays this Court evaluate the Petitioner’s case in context of how best to enforce restrictive qualifications for president to preserve the Constitution and Republic from tyranny."

WND twice has organized opportunities for readers to send FedEx letters to the Supreme Court, asking for consideration of the issue on its merits.

The most recent campaign generated 12,096 messages, following the earlier effort that resulted in 60,128 letters.

Obama has claimed in his autobiography and elsewhere that he was born in Hawaii in 1961 to parents Barack Hussein Obama Sr., a Kenyan national, and Stanley Ann Dunham, a minor. But details about which hospital handled the birth and other details provided on the complete birth certificate have been withheld by Obama despite lawsuits and public demands for release.

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi went to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama’s birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.

The biggest question was why, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists as his campaign has stated, Obama hasn’t simply ordered it made available to settle the rumors.

The governor’s office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii?

Original Story

The Bush-bashers still feign outrage that the US lost 4,226 heroes liberating Iraq.
Of course, they weren’t too upset about military losses when the Clinton’s were in charge.

Numbers from Iraq Coalition Casualties and CRS report to Congress (pdf)
The Iraq War historically has been a great success.
The Telegraph reported today:

The number of American troops killed during the eight years of the War against Terror has been fewer than those slain capturing two islands in the Second World War, and in Britain we have lost fewer soldiers than on a normal weekend on the Western Front. As for civilians, there have been fewer Iraqis killed since the invasion than in 20 conflicts since the Second World War.

Vice President Cheney talked more about the success in Iraq with Jim Lehrer today on the "News Hour":

THE VICE PRESIDENT: We now find ourselves in the situation where we’re five years later; we’ve achieved most of the objectives that you would have set out in the spring of ’03 when we launched into Iraq. We’ve got the violence level down to its lowest level since ’03. We’ve had three national elections, a constitution written, a new government stood up, new army recruited and trained, the Iraqis increasingly able to take on responsibility for themselves. And we’ve now entered into a strategic framework agreement with the new Iraqi government that will provide for the ultimate withdrawal of U.S. forces.

You could not have asked for much more than that in terms of the policies that we started on in ’03.

Q But Mr. Vice President, getting from there to here, 4,500 Americans have died, at least 100,000 Iraqis have died. Has it been worth that?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: I think so.

Q Why?

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Because I believed at the time what Saddam Hussein represented was, especially in the aftermath of 9/11, was a terror-sponsoring state so designated by the State Department. He was making payments to the families of suicide bombers. He provided a safe haven and sanctuary for Abu Nidal and other terrorist operations. He had produced and used weapons of mass destruction, chemical and biological agents. He’d had a nuclear program in the past. He killed hundreds of thousands of his own people. And he did have a relationship with al Qaeda.

We’ve had this debate that keeps people trying to conflate those arguments. That’s not to say that Saddam was responsible for 9/11. It is to say as George Tenet, the CIA Director, testified in open session in the Senate, that there was a relationship there that went back 10 years. This was a terror-sponsoring state with access to weapons of mass destruction. And that’s the greatest threat we faced in the aftermath of 9/11, that the next time we found terrorists in the middle of one of our cities, it wouldn’t be 19 guys armed with airline tickets and box cutters, it would be terrorists armed with a biological agent, or maybe even a nuclear device.

And so I think given the track record of Saddam Hussein, I think we did exactly the right thing. I think the country is better off for it today.

It’s too bad that Cheney wasn’t out giving that same talk each week.
It is also too bad that the media continues to keep this information from the American public.

Today there is a democracy in the Middle East where there was once a brutal regime.
Was it worth it?

Here is the Vice President discussing the War in Iraq and amazing progress that has occurred since the Bush Surge in 2007:

Click here to view the embedded video.

See Original Article

Dr.Orly Taitz, ESQ
drorly.blogspot.com
dr_taitz@yahoo.com

No. 08A524
Title: Gail Lightfoot, et al., Applicants
v.
Debra Bowen, California Secretary of State

Docketed:
Lower Ct: Supreme Court of California
Case Nos.: (S168690)

~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dec 12 2008 Application (08A524) for a stay pending the filing and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, submitted to Justice Kennedy.
Dec 17 2008 Application (08A524) denied by Justice Kennedy.
Dec 29 2008 Application (08A524) refiled and submitted to The Chief Justice.
Jan 7 2009 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of January 23, 2009.

Original Story …

WASHINGTON – Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris announced his rejection for Barack Obama’s Senate seat Tuesday in a bizarre rainy-day scene on the Capitol grounds as lawmakers awaited the gaveling of the 111th Congress into session.

Standing amid a huge throng of reporters and television cameras in a cold and steady rain, Burris, 71, declared that he had been informed that "my credentials are not in order and will not be accepted." (View video report )

He said he was "not seeking to have any type of confrontation" over taking the seat that he was appointed to by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Speaking just an hour before the convening of the 111th Congress Tuesday, Burris said he was looking at a host of options for getting the seat.

Five Democratic governors are asking the federal government for a $1 trillion bailout package, including $250 billion for education and $150 billion in middle class tax cuts. “Money In Motion”, people. Watch it, and it’s ever-present buddy corruption, as the cash grab continues. These guys have decided to try to score more bucks than even Barry’s been pushing for. The gypsies are definitely in the palace now.

The governors from Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Ohio on Friday said they have presented their plan to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team as well as congressional leaders. They said that they need this much federal aid to deal with unprecedented state budget shortfalls in 41 states and in D. C., that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says will be $42 billion for the current fiscal year alone. The Center pegs the total 2010 and 2011 shortfall at $350 billion.

Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle said congressional leaders and the Obama team have been receptive to the governors’ ideas. “That’s not to say they’ve told us this is what they’ll do or they’re with us all the way,” Doyle said. He also said other governors were involved in creating the plan, which grew out of an early December meeting that Obama had with the nation’s governors. Obama’s aides and congressional leaders have been talking about a package roughly half the size of the two-year plan the five governors proposed Friday.

Over two years, $1 trillion is equal to more than 3 percent of the gross domestic product, the U.S. economy’s total output. A package of that size will hopefully draw significant opposition from congressional Republicans and concern from moderate and conservative Democratic lawmakers who oppose large budget deficits.

We MUST let our voices be heard in Washington on this. The madness has to stop! Like we’ve said so many times before, we can NOT deficit-spend our way out of this mess. The bailouts are only making the global economic situation worse.

In addition to the money for education and tax cuts, the governors said their plan includes $350 billion for road construction and other infrastructure projects and $250 billion for social service programs such as Medicaid. The governors all said their states are facing unprecedented budget shortfalls that will require deep cuts to services and possibly irreparably harm their education systems.

“We aren’t crying wolf,” Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said. “These are real circumstances, unprecedented situations we are facing.” L.O. effin’ L. I have a bridge to sell anyone who buys this crap. It is all an attempt to quickly line pockets with ill-thought-out plans, just like the ORIGINAL bailout was. The banks skated with that cash, and we will NEVER see it again, nor will they ever have to tell us what they did with it. That might be “disruptive” to some banks, according to Treasury Secretary Paulson.

Here’s the fear the Gov’s are schlepping: Ohio’s budget deficit could grow to $7.3 billion even after $1.9 billion was cut from its current budget, Strickland said. New York Gov. David Paterson said his state faces a $15.4 billion deficit. Wisconsin’s budget is expected to be $5.4 billion short by mid-2011. New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine said he had just left a meeting with state legislative leaders where he proposed $2.1 billion in cuts on top of $600 million that’s already been cut from the budget. Yada, yada, yada.

Strickland said the federal stimulus is needed to help bridge the gap from the current recession to when there’s a rebound. (Which will be delayed by all of the spending, brainiacs.) Even with the money, states will have to make deep cuts, he said. “We are not, any of us, talking about federal money to expand spending, expand programs, to do new things,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said.

Can we get that in writing?!

Original story

A second conference has been posted on the docket for the U.S. Supreme Court over the issue of Barack Obama’s eligibility to occupy the White House, this one scheduled a week after Congress is to review the Electoral College vote tabulation.

The latest issue posted is a request for an injunction on the election results pending the resolution of a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by attorney Philip J. Berg, a case that is docketed for a similar conference among the justices on Jan. 9.

Berg’s original case raises questions about Obama’s eligibility and his injunction request first was filed early in December. It was submitted to and rejected by two different justices before it came before Justice Antonin Scalia on Dec. 18. Then just before Christmas the docket was updated to reflect that the motion had been "distributed for conference of January 16, 2009."

On Berg’s Obama Crimes.org website, he said Congress is scheduled to hear the Electoral College results on Jan. 8. Then on Jan. 9 there’s the conference scheduled on Berg’s case itself, with the injunction issue to be addressed a week later.

WND has reported Berg’s case, one of the first legal challenges to Obama’s eligibility to reach the Supreme Court, alleges he cannot constitutionally be inaugurated.

"I know that Mr. Obama is not a constitutionally qualified natural born citizen and is ineligible to assume the office of president of the United States," Berg said in a statement on his ObamaCrimes.com website.

"Obama knows he is not ‘natural born’ as he knows where he was born and he knows he was adopted in Indonesia; Obama is an attorney, Harvard Law grad who taught Constitutional law; Obama knows his candidacy is the largest ‘hoax’ attempted on the citizens of the United States in over 200 years; Obama places our Constitution in a ‘crisis’ situation; and Obama is in a situation where he can be blackmailed by leaders around the world who know Obama is not qualified," Berg’s statement continued.

"The Supreme Court has listed the case of Berg vs. Obama for ‘conference’ on January 9," the website said.

"I am appalled that the main stream media continues to ignore this issue as we are headed to a ‘Constitution Crisis,’" Berg wrote. "There is nothing more important than our U.S. Constitution and it must be enforced. I am concerned that our courts have not yet decided to look into the merits of our allegations."

WND previously reported on a case brought by Cort Wrotnowski. It fell by the wayside when the justices heard about it in conference but refused to give it a further hearing. That was the same fate handed to a case brought by Leo Donofrio. Both challenged Obama on essentially the same issue: allegations that dual citizenship based on a father who was a British subject and a mother who was an American minor disqualified him for office.

Where’s the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the "natural-born American" clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see it, join more than 190,000 others and sign up now!

The high court previously turned down a request from Berg to stop the Electoral College from selecting the 44th president until Obama documents his eligibility for the office.

As WND has reported, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed over Obama’s eligibility to assume the office of the president, many have been dismissed, while others remain pending.

The cases, in various ways, have alleged Obama does not meet the "natural born citizen" clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which reads, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some of the legal challenges have alleged Obama was not born in Hawaii, as he insists, but in Kenya. Obama’s American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama’s citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. Such cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Several details of Obama’s past have added twists to the question of his eligibility and citizenship, including his family’s move to Indonesia when he was a child, his travel to Pakistan in the ’80s when such travel was forbidden to American citizens and conflicting reports from Obama’s family about his place of birth.

A partial listing and status update for several of the cases surrounding Obama’s eligibility to serve as president is below:

* Philip J. Berg, a Pennsylvania Democrat, demanded that the courts verify Obama’s original birth certificate and other documents proving his American citizenship. Supreme Court conferences on the case and its motions are scheduled Jan. 9 and 16.

* Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama’s dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.

* Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut’s secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.

* Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state’s 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public’s support.

* Chicago attorney Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama’s vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.

* Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama’s eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama’s citizenship. His case was denied.

* In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.

* In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama’s citizenship. The case was denied.

* In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama’s birth certificate. His request for an injuction against Georgia’s secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.

* California attorney Orly Taitz also has brought a complaint alleging Obama is not a "natural born" citizen and has written an open letter to the Supreme Court asking for the issue to be resolved.

Last month, WND reported the worries over a "constitutional crisis" that could be looming over the issue of Obama’s citizenship.

"Should Senator Obama be discovered, after he takes office, to be ineligible for the Office of President of the United States of America and, thereby, his election declared void," argues the Alan Keyes case pending in California, "Americans will suffer irreparable harm in that (a) usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal."

With such high stakes potentially at risk, WND earlier launched a letter campaign to contact Electoral College members and urge them to review the controversy.

That followed a campaign that sent more than 60,000 letters by overnight delivery to the U.S. Supreme Court when one case contesting Obama’s eligibility for the Oval Office was pending.

A separate petition, already signed by more than 190,000 also is ongoing asking authorities in the election to seek proof Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the "natural-born American" clause in the Constitution.

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi had gone to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama’s birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.

The biggest question was why, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists as his campaign has stated, Obama hasn’t simply ordered it made available to settle the rumors. The image his campaign posted online has been rejected by critics since it is a "certification of live birth," not a birth certificate, and under Hawaii law at the time such certifications were given to parents of children born outside the state.

The governor’s office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii?

Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born. There have been other allegations that Obama actually was born in Kenya during a time when his father was a British subject. At one point a Kenyan ambassador said Obama’s birthplace in Kenya already was being recognized.

In this installment, we now look to Scripture to discover why this emphasis upon so-called evil elites is a distraction to Christians. They lure us to divert our gaze from what should be the true object of our faith — the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dangerously, rampant OWO theories risk making us vulnerable to critical deceptions.

No Privileged Fate for the Elites The OWO theories all mostly center on issues of money and economy — globalization and globalism, in other words. Though it is true that religious ecumenical  ovements can be thought of as a “globalization” phenomenon as well, the general OWO theories are basically about money and economic power. A globalizing world is indeed gradually capturing people’s freedoms and forcing them into conditions of economic oppression, ideally setting the stage for the Antichrist to finally appear. Surely, the rich get richer and more powerful, and the poor ever more desperate. Assuredly, the schemes of globalists, world industrialists and financiers work to set up the global financial and economic architecture that will play a role in the prophetic future. But yet, something else rings false in the OWO theories. Yes, Scripture documents globalization and globalism in the last days but it certainly does not idolize the elites and kings of the world that are in the forefront of installing Mammon as the ruling order for the world. While they may be presently luxuriating in five-star hotels and traveling in first-class, they in no way have a privileged future.

Consider this text: “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name” (Revelation 13:16-17). We see here a glaring point. The “rich” and the “great” are included among those who are subject to the global command economy that will be brought about at this point in the Great Tribulation. We see here that the elites and whatever other conspirators are there will “get theirs” too. The OWO theorists suggest that they will be the privileged ones who will earn a final pay-off. But, this is not so.

“Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in  caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” (Revelation 6:15-17). Here again, we see the elites get no special dispensation or privileges. Elites of all kinds — kings, princes, generals, the rich and the mighty — all suffer wrath, too. Moreover, they suffer wrath in the same measure as will anyone else during that time.

World’s Wealthy Power Brokers: Broken First

Revelation 14 clearly shows that late in the Tribulation Period, after the 144,000 elect (probably Jewish evangelists to the world) have already been redeemed and are standing before the heavenly throne of the Lamb, three angels go out. The first one gives the last altar call for repentance, exclaiming that the judgment will shortly start. The second angel follows and says, “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great, which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries” (Revelation 14:8). Then comes the third angel. What does he say? He “[…] said in a loud voice: If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” (Revelation 14:9-10).

Did you catch the significance of that sequence? We see here that it is only after the great economic trading colossus (and perhaps also including a city center) has fallen that the “mark of the beast” (representing a worldwide control system) are instituted to the extent that people cannot “buy or sell.” What that means is that the globalized currency and trading systems supposedly built by the wealth of the so called rich elites, ship captains and nefarious conspirators come to naught first. The very edifice that Christian OWO theorists depict as leading the world to the Antichrist’s control gets its judgment from God. It is a financial bust.

The people OWO theorists decry and loathe are on the losing end. They don’t even get a chance to give over the worldwide system that they have built to the Antichrist, who by then embodies the Great Dragon. All that work, toil and conspiracy to take over the world in supposed selfless sacrifice to Satan, and there is no reward for them. Indeed their outcome is just as written in Proverbs: “When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes; all he expected from his power comes to nothing” (Proverbs 11:6-7).

Global Elites Are Not the Enemies

Here is a most important reason not to become too distracted with the OWO hysteria. Yes, economic suppression and control are a central hallmark of the Tribulation conditions. If that were not so, why would buying and selling be controlled? This measure certainly falls into an economic frame. But we have not the global elites to blame for this. It will not be the rich mavens of the world, but rather a religious figure who will bring about these conditions.

It is the False Prophet — not the Antichrist or the rich elites — who forces this condition upon the world. Most people think the Antichrist enforces this system. No. It is the second beast that comes out of the earth, the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11), who imposes this oppressive device of economic sanction in order to direct worship to the Antichrist. But what a surprise! What does this “re-
ligious leader,” the False Prophet, have to do with the global economy? Wasn’t that supposed to be the domain of the rich and the elites? The False Prophet brings this about.

Here we see one of the greatest dangers of the OWO theories. Even though we may not be present in the Tribulation Period (though there certainly will be Christians at that time), if we follow the emphasis of the popular OWO ideas, our heads will be turned in the wrong direction. We’ll be looking at the globalists, the business leaders, the ultra-rich and elite conspirators.

But, from out of left field comes the False Prophet.

Conclusion? It is the religious arena, not the players in the economic or commercial domain, that will deceive the world into a globalist and economic trap. No wonder Revelation 17 and 18 are often misunderstood. Why is it that the great harlot of Revelation 17 is so indistinguishable from the world trading system that is profiled in Revelation 18?

Actually, there really shouldn’t be a break between these chapters. When all the things mentioned in those chapters take place, the religious sphere will be in bed with Mammon. This syncretism is already clearly developing today. Under this tent, we find a whole host of new doctrines, from “prosperity teaching” to Dominion theology.

see full story here at Midnight Call

We are referring here mainly to the notions that a sinister group of people — mostly the rich elite of the world, or possibly “international bankers” or Jews — is taking over the world rank and file. In many quarters, “global conspiracy” views are accepted with rabid fervor.

Having read countless similar theories over the years and studied Scriptures on this question, I believe they are a needless distraction to Christians. In fact, if anything, these views are dangerous. They lure us to divert our gaze from what should be the true object of our faith — the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ. Crucially, rampant
OWO theories risk making us vulnerable to possible fatal deceptions.

One-World Order Theories Described

Before going any further, let’s first clear up some possible misconceptions. OWO perspectives include, but are not limited to, the belief that globalism and globalization are sweeping the world. There is no danger in holding such views, as it can be factually documented and is also prophesied in the Bible. Sometimes, the term “New World Order” (NWO) is used interchangeably with OWO. Therefore, to talk of a NWO or OWO in the sense of today’s globalization trends is not harmful.

The problems with many OWO theories arise with their additional allegations and heavy, misdirected focus upon certain evil, rich people, their motivations and the conspiracies they are hatching upon the world. Please understand that to warn about the excesses of some OWO theories is not to deny the reality of what is happening
globally today.

In the earlier mentioned article, a main argument was that the OWO is not a scripturally documented “pinpoint” sign for Christians. It may indeed be a broad “sign of the times” but not a specific time point. As we observe, the globalization and globalism phenomena that are deeply intertwined with OWO theories, are not trends that one can measure to say that they have been completed. They are ongoing processes to be sure. But even so, the question remains: How much further must these developments proceed before one can conclude that conditions are sufficient for the Tribulation to arrive? Or, can one validly state that much of their impact still lies in the future? Indeed, these trends are definitely symbols of the endtime “season,” but they are not “pinpoints” in time.

A further point argued was that even though we cannot know the endpoint of the “fullness of the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24), at the same time, globalization and globalism are a lot farther along than most people think. Their indicators are not as clear-cut and obvious as many commentators suggest — for example, the arrival of a one-world currency or a unified global government structure. Satan knows Scripture, too. And, as he is the author of lies and deception — in fact, he is the very personification of these traits — we must be wary of falling prey to anything that seems obvious at face value.

Endtime conditions are probably much more advanced than many might think. After all, our enemy has no interest in deceiving us into thinking that the time is shorter than it really is. If anything, he would rather delude us into thinking that the return of our Master, who is away on a far journey (Matthew 24:48), is yet farther in the future.

Yet, much more is unscriptural or dangerous about the emphasis of the popular OWO theories. But before we tackle these aspects, first a point of awareness: It is in the exaggerations and the misdirections of the grandiose OWO theories that we find the path to danger. Here, we may be sometimes dealing in subtleties, but these are crucial ones. As with any interpretation or view, whether it is of Scripture or even a gossip story, it only requires one degree of inaccuracy or error for the whole peck of apples to go bad.

Conspiracies R’ Us

A main thrust of all OWO theories is their focus on elites — rich people or persons of great influence. It is a fixation similar to the worship of media and sports stars. Much of society is captured by the deeds and trapping of the rich and famous. Only in this case, many of the OWO alarums cause us to focus upon the evil of these nefarious people and their ensnaring conspiracies. If movie and rock stars are the “good guys” of people’s adulation, then the “elites” and their grand conspiracies fill the emotional void of having “bad guys” that we can justifiably hate.

Not to be denied is that conspiracies exist or that certain elites might have inordinate powers in domestic or world affairs today. Not at all. What we can and do counter, however, is the popular hysteria that is dragging many Christians into unscriptural and vulnerable perspectives. As we will show, this fixation with the elite and their apparent global conspiracies cause our eyes to be averted from what Scripture actually emphasizes.

To begin, let’s first deal with the general topic of conspiracies. Yes, they are indeed playing out across the world stage today to a lesser or greater degree. However, it is one thing to agree that there are conspiracies and quite another to fear-monger, or to use them as a “pinpoint” sign or to indict a special group of advantaged people as particularly evil.

The Bible has much to say about conspiracies and the manipulations of the rich and powerful. To begin, it counsels to not get carried away with conspiracy fears.

“Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread, and he will be a sanctuary” (Isaiah 8:12-14).

Before we put grand global conspiracies up on a pedestal to fear, it is comforting to know that God is in control. In the first place, He is the One to fear and respect, not globalists or “money-trust” conspirators, or even smaller conspirators who live down the street. Let’s rest assured that God sees what the conspirators are doing. Not only that, He assures us that their plans will come to naught: “The wicked plot against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he knows their day is coming” (Psalm 37:12-13).

Also, we realize that the conspiracies of the wicked — people in preferred positions — have always existed. In that respect, not much is diff e rent today but only in one key respect. The means and opportunities for deceit and conspiracy today are simply bigger. It’s a global world in which some of the wicked now have worldwide influence.

The Bible records an ancient history of elite seizing the upper hand, oppre s sing the poor, and entrapping the unsuspecting and the disadvantaged. God sent many prophets to register His displeasure with such conditions. Consider just a few of such warnings that depict the nature of those similar times.

“ Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud a man of his home, a fellowman of his inheritance” (Micah 2:1-2).

“The scoundre l ’s methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just” (Isaiah 32:7).

“…that noisy crowd of evildoers.  They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear. They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, “Who will see them?” They plot injustice and say, “We have devised a perfect plan!” Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning” (Psalm 64: 2- 6).

“Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare bird s and like those who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor” (Jeremiah 5:26-28).

These are just a few of the many testimonies that the Old Testament records providing vivid descriptions of the conspiracies of wicked elite. Perhaps the most illuminating account of such conditions of evil plotting of the rich and powerful is found in Ezekiel 22. The entire chapter concerns itself with this topic. All in all, we see that conspiracies existed thousands of years ago, always have and will continue to do so until the time of the millennial reign of Christ on earth. However, included in this and all
other pictures of evil plotting and manipulation is also the prophesied outcome for these elite and their plans.

“Should I not punish them for this?” declares the LORD. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?” (Jeremiah 5:29). God declares that the wicked and the rebellious nations will not escape: “But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down. He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn” (Psalm 64:7-8). While we may consider the elite of this world in privileged positions — living sumptuously and in conditions of ease and prosperity — it is, however, a very shortsighted perspective. Their outcome is clear: “The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. But their swords will pierce their own hearts, and their bows will be broken” (Psalm 37:14).

Follow the Evil Rich People

Let’s next turn to our modern day. Is there really a mythological group of men and women who are bound by blood across the centuries to sacrifice their lives to Satan in the selfless aim to bring about a New World Order? Moreover, could they be part of some secret cult or a certain “chosen” people who have been conscripted into an organized plan to deliver the world to the future Antichrist? Are they a tight-knit compact, dedicated to help bring about the world conditions that lead to the final Armageddon? If so, who are these people?

There are literally thousands of books that claim to identify them. Names such as John D. Rockefeller, W. Averill Harriman and hundreds of others are painstakingly documented in many of these accounts. Various groups are said to be part of this evil world plan, including the Bilderbergers, Skull and Bones, the Illuminati, the Elders of Zion and countless others. Do all these groups exist? Are many of the people cited guilty of some forms of collusion? There is probably much truth to these accounts.

If so, what then are we to do with this information? That, it turns out, is the key question. Should we be judging such conspiracies, seeking to expose them and to
condemn the elite that might be fomenting such disagreeable and difficult conditions on the rest of the world’s populations? Surely, we can expose such plots in the sense that we should not be unaware of such schemes. However, what is to be our response to these misguided people? Should we ourselves be concerned with their punishment and conviction? Should we now slavishly follow their every move and action, allowing ourselves to become captured by their money-making plotting? Just how should we respond to these people? It is here that we find one of the most critical points of departure from scriptural mandate in the histrionic bashing that we see by the OWO theorists.

However, before we seek the Bible’s answer as to how we are to respond, let’s focus upon just one of these types of elitists. No doubt, everyone has heard of the mythical “international banker.” He is a common kingpin in many OWO theories.

Money and Bankers

International bankers of conspiracy lore are caricatured as wearing a bespoke, pin-striped blue suit, working somewhere in unnamed international locations. Apparently, they are the evil force behind much of the world’s troubles. They are so evil that we are to assume that they are hell-bent upon handing the world over to the Antichrist at the end of days. They are devious and cunning, and perhaps even pray to Satan for their next set of directions to help in the take-over of the world.

Just who are these so-called international bankers? Allow me to share a personal perspective. For well over two decades, I was a globetrotting international financial executive. During that time, I can honestly say I rarely met any person I thought could fit this description. I surely did encounter all kinds of financial elite, from global corporate captains, central bankers, mega-billionaire investors, leading economists and strategists, and most certainly, individuals that might well be called “international bankers.” I met some very greedy people — some even psychopathic — but rarely anyone that qualified as an international banker of popular folklore. I certainly did not find any smoky upper meeting rooms filled with cigar-chomping elite who were plotting to take the world hostage for an apocalyptic, evil end. We see that only in the movies.

That said, there surely are many power brokers in the world today — whether rich in money or political or positional power — who are indeed bent upon evil, whose minds have been seared of all consequences of their actions. But we must repeat the question: Just who are these global elite that are taking over the world? Are they a special breed of people, chosen from the dawn of time? Or are they just ordinary humans who have gone astray, or have been deceived? Is their real intent and preferred choice to work for the losing side and to end up in eternal damnation? No, that is not likely.

These so-called elite are not extremist Muslims who want to sacrifice their lives for such an idea. They are not interested in the promise of 72 virgins in the afterlife, but rather are mostly motivated by self interest and greed in the “here and now” as well as in the ways that might appear right to godless men. Why? The answer is not surprising. These are impulses inherent to all people, though some indeed are consumed with these characteristics. These are the same flawed penchants that reside in the heart of all humanity. So said John: “For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16).

Most “international bankers” (in real life, rather than the mythological ones of lore) that I met didn’t have a clue as to what was expected of them according to OWO theory. For the most part, they were quite ignorant of the big conspiracy in which they were supposedly playing a role. Rather, the aspects that motivated them all to some extent, were much more pedestrian. The desire of many of them was for riches, power and glory. And, if not those pursuits, they were surely motivated by the fear of losing their jobs, poverty, lack of means, or professional failure. Robert South, the colorful 17thentury English churchman, couldn’t have pinpointed this motivation any more succinctly, saying: “There are not a few who believe in no God but Mammon, no devil but the absence of gold, no damnation but being poor, and no hell but an empty purse; and not a few of their descendants are living still.”

What are we to do with such people? As already proposed, should we condemn them, hound them, and convict them? No. We are to pray for them. Whenever I have encountered such people who are consumed by power or the love of money, rather than feeling loathing, I have felt compassion. Often, they are lonely, imbalanced people, sometimes even bordering on the psychopathic. At some point in their lives, they became vulnerable to the lust and ambition for riches and gain at any price. These are not people who have signed a blood pact with Satan. They are lost. They are heading for a horrible fate. They are hardly different from us, “for we were saved while we were yet sinners.”

In Part II we will turn to several Scriptures that clearly lay out strong reasons we are not to allow ourselves to be carried away with extreme OWO conspiracy theories. Most crucially, we learn that these lure us to watch in the exact opposite direction to which we are commanded. Doing so, humanity will have been set up to fall prey to a great religious deception that comes to its final crescendo in the Tribulation Period.

see full story here at Midnight Call

A pro-life group in Washington has launched a campaign to oppose what it calls president-elect Barack Obama’s planned $1.5 billion "bailout" of the abortion industry.

Last week, the Obama-Biden Transition Project posted a report on its website that calls for dramatic policy reversals on abortion, including $1 billion in taxpayer money for international abortion groups like Planned Parenthood. The report, titled "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration," also calls for a 133-percent increase in funding for the Title X program, which funds Planned Parenthood clinics across the country.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, is hoping a Republican-led effort in the Senate will block Obama’s plan to substantially increase taxpayer funding of Marjorie Dannenfelserthe abortion industry.

"This billion-dollar bailout of the abortion industry comes at a time, number one, when the economy is suffering dramatically with true need. And number two, it communicates an incredible depth of arrogance, especially when you consider that the vast majority of Americans — men and women, no matter who you talk to — they don’t believe that people who don’t believe in abortion should be funding it," she contends. "Most Americans don’t believe that we should be funding abortions, especially in a time of economic crisis."

The Susan B. Anthony List has started a "Stop the Abortion Bailout" campaign designed to recruit thousands of activists to send letters to their senators "with the goal of securing the 41 votes necessary to sustain a Senate filibuster of the abortion bailout."

Story from OneNewsNow

Jesse Jackson Jr. has been acting as an informant for the Federal Government and the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern District of Illinois for a decade, according to his spokesman Kenneth Edmonds. 2 sources close to the Congressmen also said that, in 2002, Jackson’s wife Sandi was up for an appointment by Governor Rod Blagojevich to be the lottery commissioner, and Blago wanted a $25,000 campaign contribution in return. Jackson refused, and she didn’t get the job. Reportedly, Blago came up to Jesse Jr. in 2003 and said “see what $25,000 could have gotten you?!”

Jesse Jackson Jr. has been informing the U.S. Attorney’s office on all KINDS of corruption going on in Illinois, particularly in Chicago, including Blagojevich shenanigans. He waited about 3 years after the “job offer” to his wife, but began reporting on Blago when, during Tony Rezko’s trial, many similar “$25,000 donation” offers were brought to light. Jackson blew the whistle on the pay-to-play. PUNK, Hot Rod! Tellingly, Jackson did NOT endorse Blago for governor.

Jackson has been fighting for his reputation since the federal complaint revealed his supporters were willing to raise money for the governor, if Jackson was appointed to the Senate. Could this get any stranger? Obviously Jesse Jr. was on to Blago, AND knew the Feds were on to him too. The new information appears to support Jackson’s vigorous claim that he was not involved in a scheme to buy a U.S. Senate seat. No wonder JJJ’s panties were in a twist at being “Senate Candidate #5.”

It isn’t clear whether Jackson has been acting as an informant in this latest twist of the Blagojevich scandal being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. This story is breaking, and Rightsoup will be updating it as more becomes available.

For the complete article …

Religious – Muslim Star & Crescent ANN ARBOR, MI – A federal lawsuit was filed this morning against U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and the Federal Reserve Board to stop all bailout funds from going to American International Group, Inc. (“AIG”).  According to the lawsuit, the U.S. government, through its ownership of AIG, is not only violating the Constitution, but also promoting and financing the destruction of America using American tax dollars.

The basis of the lawsuit is that AIG intentionally promotes Shariah-compliant businesses and insurance products, which by necessity must comply with the 1200 year old body of Islamic canon law based on the Quran, which demands the conversion, subjugation, or destruction of the infidel West, including the United States.  To help achieve these objectives and with the aid of federal tax dollars, AIG employs a three-person Shariah Advisory Board, with members from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Pakistan.  According to AIG, the role of its Shariah authority “is to review operations, supervise its development of Islamic products, and determine Shariah compliance of these products and investments.”

Of particular significance is the Pakistani Board member, Dr. Muhammed Imran Ashraf Usmani.  Dr. Usmani is the son and devoted disciple of Sheik Mufti Taqi Usmani, the leading authority on Shariah financing who, in 1999, authored a book dedicating an entire chapter on why a Western Muslim must engage in violent jihad against his own country – even if Muslims are given equality and freedom to practice their religion and to proselytize.

The lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of Kevin J. Murray, a former Marine infantryman who served two tours of duty in Iraq.  Murray is represented by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and David Yerushalmi, an associated attorney who specializes in litigation and is an expert on Shariah law and Shariah compliant financing.  Mr. Yerushalmi also serves as general counsel to the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C.

According to the lawsuit, use of taxpayer funds to acquire ownership of a business that intentionally promotes, endorses, supports, and funds Shariah-based Islamic religious practices violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “This lawsuit not only raises significant constitutional issues, it also shines a light on serious national security issues that our own government has created by direct financial support and ownership of a business that supports anti-American, radical Islamic activities.  Make no mistake, there is an internal cultural jihad underway against our great nation, and I fear that many of our political leaders are unwittingly complicit in it.”

On September 11, 2001, Islamic terrorists, guided by principles of Shariah-mandated jihad against “infidels, ” attacked and killed thousands of innocent American civilians.  Shortly thereafter, the U.S. went on the offensive by engaging Islamic terrorists overseas in Iraq and in Afghanistan.  As in the past when our Nation faced great crisis, American servicemen were called to action, and Kevin Murray answered the call.  From March to October 2003, Murray – a U.S. Marine – was deployed overseas in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Yet today, Murray’s federal tax dollars are being used to advance the very cause of global jihad he and his fellow servicemen were placed in harm’s way to overcome.  Shariah explicitly demands the murder of infidels like Kevin Murray and the destruction of the United States, which Murray took an oath to defend.  Shariah is the same law that is used to justify beheadings, stonings, and amputation for petty crimes in places like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan, which Americans deplore.

Nevertheless, AIG acknowledges and boasts its promotion of Shariah law and Shariah-based business practices.  AIG itself describes “Sharia” as “Islamic law based on the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet .”

In further support of the federal government’s endorsement of Shariah, the U.S. Treasury department co-sponsored a seminar in November of this year entitled “Islamic Financing 101” to promote Shariah financing among American institutions. Click here to read documents from the seminar. The Seminar was jointly sponsored by Harvard University, one of the many American universities and colleges receiving millions of dollars from oil-producing countries to influence their Middle East programs, which are often staffed with professors who are anti-American, anti-Israeli, and pro-Islamic.

“It is clear, ” said Thompson, “oil money is purchasing the sovereignty of the United States and whatever loyalty to America these greedy financial institutions, corporations, and universities have left.  It’s up to the American people to take back their country from those who so easily betray its interests.”

The federal lawsuit challenges that portion of the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” that appropriated $40 billion in taxpayer money to fund and financially support the United States government’s majority ownership interest in AIG, which engages in Shariah-based Islamic religious activities that are anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-American.

According to the lawsuit, through the use of taxpayer funds, the U.S. government acquired a majority (79.9%) ownership interest in AIG, and as part of the bailout, Congress appropriated and expended an additional $40 billion of taxpayer money to fund and financially support AIG and its financial activities.  AIG, which is now a government owned company, engages in Shariah-compliant financing, which subjects certain financial activities, including investments, to the dictates of Islamic law and the Islamic religion.  This specifically includes any profits or interest obtained through such financial activities.

An important element of Shariah-compliant financing is a form of obligatory charitable contribution called zakat , which is a religious tax for assisting those that “struggle for Allah.”  The amount of this tax is between 2.5% and 20%, depending upon the source of the wealth.  The zakat religious tax is used to financially support Islamic “charities, ” some of which have ties to terrorist organizations that are hostile to the United States and all other “infidels, ” which includes Christians and Jews.

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, recently convicted for providing material support to Islamic terrorist organizations, is an example of an Islamic “charity” that qualifies for receipt of the zakat .  Thus, as a direct consequence of the taxpayer funds appropriated and expended to purchase and financially support AIG, the U.S. government is now the owner of a corporation engaged in the business of collecting religious taxes to fund interests adverse to the United States, Christians, Jews, and all other “infidels” under Islamic law.

Continued Thompson, “This lawsuit is as much about protecting constitutional principles as it is about protecting our national security and preventing another 9/11 – whether it be overt through flying planes into buildings or covert through appropriating taxpayer money to fund an Islamic cultural jihad .”

The lawsuit seeks a court order to stop the taxpayer funding of AIG and its Islamic-based businesses and activities.

The Thomas More Law Center has been involved in several cases dealing with the insidious threat of radical Islam.  Law Center attorney Robert Muise, who is handling this case involving AIG, is also one of the Law Center’s attorneys defending LtCol Jeffrey Chessani, USMC, the senior officer charged in the so-called “Haditha Massacre” case.  Those charges were dismissed by a military judge, and the government has appealed that ruling.  Muise is also representing former Marine Jesse Nieto, whose anti-Islamic terrorism message was recently banned by military authorities at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune because of some unknown complaints.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Christian heritage and moral values, including the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org .

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The U.S. Senate report is the latest evidence of the growing groundswell of scientific opposition rising to challenge the UN and Gore. Scientific meetings are now being dominated by a growing number of skeptical scientists. The prestigious International Geological Congress, dubbed the geologists’ equivalent of the Olympic Games, was held in Norway in August 2008 and prominently featured the voices and views of scientists skeptical of man-made global warming fears. [See Full report Here: & See: Skeptical scientists overwhelm conference: '2/3 of presenters and question-askers were hostile to, even dismissive of, the UN IPCC' ]

Full Senate Report Set To Be Released in the Next 24 Hours – Stay Tuned…

A hint of what the upcoming report contains:

“I am a skeptic…Global warming has become a new religion.” – Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Ivar Giaever.

“Since I am no longer affiliated with any organization nor receiving any funding, I can speak quite frankly….As a scientist I remain skeptical.” – Atmospheric Scientist Dr. Joanne Simpson, the first woman in the world to receive a PhD in meteorology and formerly of NASA who has authored more than 190 studies and has been called “among the most preeminent scientists of the last 100 years.”

Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” – UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.

“The IPCC has actually become a closed circuit; it doesn’t listen to others. It doesn’t have open minds… I am really amazed that the Nobel Peace Prize has been given on scientifically incorrect conclusions by people who are not geologists,” – Indian geologist Dr. Arun D. Ahluwalia at Punjab University and a board member of the UN-supported International Year of the Planet.

“The models and forecasts of the UN IPCC "are incorrect because they only are based on mathematical models and presented results at scenarios that do not include, for example, solar activity.” – Victor Manuel Velasco Herrera, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico

“It is a blatant lie put forth in the media that makes it seem there is only a fringe of scientists who don’t buy into anthropogenic global warming.” – U.S Government Atmospheric Scientist Stanley B. Goldenberg of the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA.

“Even doubling or tripling the amount of carbon dioxide will virtually have little impact, as water vapour and water condensed on particles as clouds dominate the worldwide scene and always will.” – . Geoffrey G. Duffy, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering of the University of Auckland, NZ.

“After reading [UN IPCC chairman] Pachauri’s asinine comment [comparing skeptics to] Flat Earthers, it’s hard to remain quiet.” – Climate statistician Dr. William M. Briggs, who specializes in the statistics of forecast evaluation, serves on the American Meteorological Society’s Probability and Statistics Committee and is an Associate Editor of Monthly Weather Review.

“For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming? For how many years must cooling go on?" – Geologist Dr. David Gee the chairman of the science committee of the 2008 International Geological Congress who has authored 130 plus peer reviewed papers, and is currently at Uppsala University in Sweden.

“Gore prompted me to start delving into the science again and I quickly found myself solidly in the skeptic camp…Climate models can at best be useful for explaining climate changes after the fact.” – Meteorologist Hajo Smit of Holland, who reversed his belief in man-made warming to become a skeptic, is a former member of the Dutch UN IPCC committee.

“Many [scientists] are now searching for a way to back out quietly (from promoting warming fears), without having their professional careers ruined.” – Atmospheric physicist James A. Peden, formerly of the Space Research and Coordination Center in Pittsburgh.

“Creating an ideology pegged to carbon dioxide is a dangerous nonsense…The present alarm on climate change is an instrument of social control, a pretext for major businesses and political battle. It became an ideology, which is concerning.” – Environmental Scientist Professor Delgado Domingos of Portugal, the founder of the Numerical Weather Forecast group, has more than 150 published articles.

“CO2 emissions make absolutely no difference one way or another….Every scientist knows this, but it doesn’t pay to say so…Global warming, as a political vehicle, keeps Europeans in the driver’s seat and developing nations walking barefoot.” – Dr. Takeda Kunihiko, vice-chancellor of the Institute of Science and Technology Research at Chubu University in Japan.

“The [global warming] scaremongering has its justification in the fact that it is something that generates funds.” – Award-winning Paleontologist Dr. Eduardo Tonni, of the Committee for Scientific Research in Buenos Aires and head of the Paleontology Department at the University of La Plata. # #

In addition, the report will feature new peer-reviewed scientific studies and analyses refuting man-made warming fears and a heavy dose of inconvenient climate developments. (See Below: Study: Half of warming due to Sun! –Sea Levels Fail to Rise? – Warming Fears in ‘Dustbin of History’)

The Senate Minority Report is an update of 2007’s blockbuster U.S. Senate Minority Report of over 400 dissenting scientists. See here: This new report will contain the names, quotes and analyses of literally hundreds of additional international scientists who publicly dissented from man-made climate fears in just 2008 alone. The chorus of scientific voices skeptical grow louder as a steady stream of peer-reviewed studies, analyses and real world data challenge the UN and former Vice President Al Gore’s claims that the "science is settled" and there is a "consensus." The original 2007 U.S. Senate report is available here: Full Report Set To Be Released in the Next 24 Hours – Stay Tuned…
Meanwhile, while the UN climate conference is in session here in Poznan, the bad scientific news for promoters of man-made climate alarm just keeps rolling in. Below is a very small sampling of very inconvenient developments for Gore, the United Nations, and their promoters in the mainstream media. Peer-reviewed studies, analyses, and prominent scientists continue to speak out to refute climate fears. The data presented below is just from the past week.

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Peer-reviewed study: Half of recent warming was solar! – December 10, 2008

Excerpt: In this dose of peer-reviewed skeptical climatological literature, we follow Climate Research News. The blog was intrigued by a new article in Geophysical Research Letters that was accepted on Friday, December 5th. Eichler, A., S. Olivier, K. Henderson, A. Laube, J. Beer, T. Papina, H. W. Gäggeler, and M. Schwikowski: Temperature response in the Altai region lags solar forcing – Recall that the Siberian Altai Mountains are found at the intersection of Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. The authors looked at 750 years worth of the local ice core, especially the oxygen isotope. They claim to have found a very strong correlation between the concentration of this isotope (i.e. temperature) on one side and the known solar activity in the epoch 1250-1850. Their data seem to be precise enough to determine the lag, about 10-30 years. It takes some time for the climate to respond to the solar changes. It seems that they also have data to claim that the correlation gets less precise after 1850. They attribute the deviation to CO2 and by comparing the magnitude of the forcings, they conclude that "Our results are in agreement with studies based on NH temperature reconstructions [Scafetta et al., 2007] revealing that only up to approximately 50% of the observed global warming in the last 100 years can be explained by the Sun." Well, the word "only" is somewhat cute in comparison with the "mainstream" fashionable ideology. The IPCC said that they saw a 90% probability that "most" of the recent warming was man-made. The present paper would reduce this figure, 90%, to less than 50% because the Sun itself is responsible for 1/2 of the warming and not the whole 50% of the warming could have been caused by CO2 because there are other effects, too. Note that if 0.3 °C or 0.4 °C of warming in the 20th century was due to the increasing CO2 levels, the climate sensitivity is decisively smaller than 1 °C. At any rate, the expected 21st century warming due to CO2 would be another 0.3-0.4 °C, and this time, if the solar activity contributes with the opposite sign, these two effects could cancel. Even if you try to stretch these numbers a little bit – but not unrealistically – you have to become sure that the participants of the Poznan conference are lunatics.

Flashback: New scientific analysis shows Sun “could account for as much as 69% of the increase in Earth’s average temperature” (LINK) & (LINK)

Dr. Bruce West, A U.S Army Chief Scientist, Says Sun, Not Man, Is Driving Climate Change – June 3, 2008 – (LINK)

21 spotless days and solar magnetic field still in a funk – Meteorologist Anthony Watts Excerpt: We are now at 21 days with no sunspots, it will be interesting to see if we reach a spotless 30 day period and then perhaps a spotless month of December.

New Arctic ice analysis reveals ‘No clear evidence of a delay in the start of the later summer/early fall freeze up or the start of the late winter/early spring melt’ – Excerpt: Based on analysis by William Chapman, author of The Cryosphere Today website, graciously prepared an analysis of the dates of the minimum and maximum Arctic sea ice coverage since 1979.

Oscillation Rules as the Pacific Cools – December 9, 2008 Excerpt: A cool wedge of lower-than-normal sea-surface heights continues to dominate the tropical Pacific, ringed by a horseshoe of warmer waters. The continuation of this long-term cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation stacks the odds against a wetter-than-average winter/spring in the southwestern United States. The latest image of sea-surface height measurements from the U.S./French Jason-1 oceanography satellite shows the Pacific Ocean remains locked in a strong, cool phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a large, long-lived pattern of climate variability in the Pacific associated with a general cooling of Pacific waters. […] Sea-surface temperature satellite data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration mirror Jason sea-surface height measurements, clearly showing a cool Pacific Decadal Oscillation pattern, as seen at: http://www.cdc.noaa.gov/map/images/sst/sst.anom.gif . "This multi-year Pacific Decadal Oscillation ‘cool’ trend can cause La Niña-like impacts around the Pacific basin," said Bill Patzert, an oceanographer and climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. […] This cool phase will likely persist this winter and, perhaps, beyond.

Report: Sea Level rise ‘has stumbled since 2005′ – Meteorologist Anthony Watts – December 5, 2008 Excerpt: We’ve been waiting for the UC web page to be updated with the most recent sea level data. It finally has been updated for 2008. It looks like the steady upward trend of sea level as measured by satellite has stumbled since 2005. The 60 day line in blue tells the story. From the University of Colorado web page: “Long-term mean sea level change is a variable of considerable interest in the studies of global climate change. The measurement of long-term changes in global mean sea level can provide an important corroboration of predictions by climate models of global warming. Long term sea level variations are primarily determined with two different methods.” – Yes, I would agree, it is indeed a variable of considerable interest. The question now is, how is it linked to global climate change (aka global warming) if CO2 continues to increase, and sea level does not?

Peer-Reviewed Study: Recent worldwide land warming’ NOT ‘a direct response to increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) over land’ – WorldClimateReport.com – December 3, 2008 ‘Rethinking Observed Warming?’ Key quote: “Evidence is presented that the recent worldwide land warming has occurred largely in response to a worldwide warming of the oceans rather than as a direct response to increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) over land.”

Alert: 2008 will be coolest year of the decade!- December 5, 2008 Excerpt: This year is set to be the coolest since 2000, according to a preliminary estimate of global average temperature that is due to be released next week by the Met Office. The global average for 2008 should come in close to 14.3C, which is 0.14C below the average temperature for 2001-07. [Note: For evidence of the panic apparently gripping the promoters of man-made climate fear, read the quotes in the article from the warming partisans absolutely assuring everyone that cool temperatures are “absolutely not" evidence that global warming is on the wane. Those same voices are usually absent when it comes to linking heat waves to global warming. ]

Flashback: Global Cooling? – ‘Thirty years of warmer temperatures go poof’ – National Post – October 20, 2008

Report: NASA’s James Hansen "adjusts" a cooling trend into a warming trend – December 9, 2008 Excerpt: "[H]ere is what the data looks like before and after NASA GISS adjusts it. These are the USHCN “raw” and “homogenized” data plots from the GISTEMP website. The before and after is quite something to behold. … What was down, is now up." "How not to measure temperature, part 79"

Geophysist: ‘It is time to file this theory in the dustbin of history’ – ‘Alarmists are in denial and running for cover’- Washington Times

By Geophysicist Dr. David Deming, associate professor of arts and sciences at the University of Oklahoma who has published numerous peer-reviewed research articles. Excerpt: Environmental extremists and global warming alarmists are in denial and running for cover. Their rationale for continuing a lost cause is that weather events in the short term are not necessarily related to long-term climatic trends. But these are the same people who screamed at us each year that ordinary weather events such as high temperatures or hurricanes were undeniable evidence of imminent doom. Now that global warming is over, politicians are finally ready to enact dubious solutions to a non-existent problem. […] To the extent global warming was ever valid, it is now officially over. It is time to file this theory in the dustbin of history, next to Aristotelean physics, Neptunism, the geocentric universe, phlogiston, and a plethora of other incorrect scientific theories, all of which had vocal and dogmatic supporters who cited incontrovertible evidence. Weather and climate change are natural processes beyond human control. To argue otherwise is to deny the factual evidence.

Climate Chancellor’ No More – Der Spiegel Excerpt: Angela Merkel is facing withering criticism for remarks she made on Monday that seemed to back away from her earlier commitment to tackling climate change.

Alert: Under the Weather: Internal Report Says U.N. Climate Agency Rife With Bad Practices – Fox News – December 4, 2008

Excerpt: As more than 10,000 delegates and observers gather in Poznan, Poland, to discuss the next phase in the battle against "climate change," a U.N. agency at the center of that hoopla badly needs to do some in-house weather-proofing. […] But the WMO, the $80 million U.N. front-line agency in the climate change struggle, and the source for much of the world’s information in the global atmosphere and water supply, has serious management problems of its own, despite its rapidly expanding global ambitions. The international agency has been sharply criticized by a U.N. inspection unit in a confidential report obtained by FOX News, for, among other things, haphazard budget practices, deeply flawed organizational procedures, and no effective oversight by the 188 nations that formally make up its membership and dole out its funds. The inspection was carried out by a member of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), a small, independent branch of the U.N. that reports to the General Assembly and is mandated to improve the organization’s efficiency and coordination through its inspection process. […] WMO did not respond to a series of questions from FOX News regarding its future programs, sent on the eve of the Poznan meeting.

16-year-old suggests sheep dung can help save planet Card business has really dung good – Daily Post North WalesExcerpt: The company makes its products at the Twll Golau Papermill in Aberllefenni Slate Quarry using sustainable fuel and materials. Every sheet of paper is made from recycled materials, including sheep dung, waste paper and discarded rags, using processes designed to affect the natural environment as little as possible. […] Katie 16, from Tal-y-Bont, Conwy, was appointed to help spread the word on how Wales can reduce its carbon footprint and is urging other North Wales businesses to follow Creative Paper Wales’ example and adopt innovative approaches to the design and manufacture of products and the delivery of services.

Lord Christopher Monckton: ‘Companies could be sued over climate change’ Excerpt: The alarmist faction knows that, if it were to bring a case against a corporation whose executives were not minded merely to believe in the extremist presentation of "global warming" just because it is temporarily in fashion, they would lose. The case of Dimmock v. Secretaries of State for Education and for the Environment in the UK in 2007 was a very clear warning. The UK Government threw all of the resources of the taxpayer and of the Meteorological Office at the case, attempting to defend Al Gore’s sci-fi comedy horror movie against the plaintiff’s allegation that it was serially and seriously inaccurate. The Government failed and was humiliated. The judge, having heard both sides, said bluntly of Al Gore, and particularly of his unscientific allegation that sea level was about to rise by 20 feet, that "the Armageddon scenario that he depicts is not based on any scientific view". A few more judgments like that and the "global warming" fantasy would rapidly collapse. End of scare.

OOPS, We Forgot Siberia! (M4GW) – Weather Stations in Coldest parts No Longer Reporting

Excerpt: The thing that these skewed chart never take into account is that when the Soviet Union fell in 1990 the number of reporting weather stations went form a high of 15,000 in 1970 to 5,000 in 2000. This takes some of the coldest places on the planet out of the equation like Siberia. # #

Related Links:

UN Data shows ‘Warming has Stopped!’ – Climate Fears Called ‘Hogwash’ – ‘Global Carbon Tax’ Urged – December 3, 2008

‘Planet Has Cooled Since Bush Took Office’ & Global Warming Theory has ‘failed consistently and dramatically’ – November 20, 2008

Original Article Here …

Addressing his congregation, a minister was recently heard to say, "If I teach you that the Rapture of the church is imminent, you’ll become obsessed with the idea. You won’t be able to think about anything else. In fact, I believe that the desire for Rapture is an unhealthy preoccupation. It’s an event that’s been preached for centuries, and Jesus still hasn’t come back. Folks, we should really be centered on worship, Christian service and personal spiritual growth. Hoping for an event that may not come is a waste of time."

This admonition came from the pastor of a large evangelical church. Not so long ago, illustrating a theological shift that is becoming all too familiar, this very church proclaimed that latter-day prophecy was being fulfilled, and that Jesus could return at any moment!

This quiet change reflects a phenomenon that has plagued the entire age of the church, which has taken many turns in its position on the doctrine of last things. The last two thousand years have witnessed the first century’s Apostolic expectancy of Rapture and Resurrection dissolve into the belief that there would be no Rapture and no millennium at all. Augustine spiritualized the Apocalypse, saying that the Millennium had already begun with Christ’s First Coming. He saw only the age of the church, followed by the Second Coming of Christ. Centuries passed, and that teaching was modified into another: The church became "redeemed Israel," and the Kingdom Age was founded under Christ and the Apostles. The Millennium is past; the church will Christianize the world, then Jesus will come to receive His throne. The role of the individual believer is to support the growth of the church, as it becomes increasingly dominant.

Today, many large churches have quietly followed this pattern, returning to the doctrine and the general belief that the church will convert the world, giving rise to a golden age which brings in the Kingdom. It also holds that the church becomes the redeemed Israel, inheritor of the ancient promises. To believe this, one must turn aside from every prophetic Scripture that calls for a latter-day collapse of morality, numerous international wars, natural upheavals, and domination by an evil world order that comes to power after the great world war predicted in Ezekiel 38.

One must also forget all the Scriptures that predict the regathering of the Jews, which the following verses condense into a compact and powerful statement:

"For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

"And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.

"And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God" (Ezk. 36:24-28).

Furthermore, latter-day Israel will be victorious over those who would destroy them. In the Bible, their enemies are well-defined and vicious. Israel’s restoration is to be greeted by those who would take their promised inheritance. The following statement evokes the present "Palestinian" conflict:

"Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession" (Ezk. 36:2).

Today, the highest of all those places – the Temple Mount – is possessed by those who deny that Israel ever had a Temple there at all.

But we must never forget the excitement among Christians in the decades following Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day war. Ancient Mount Moriah was captured, then returned to the enemy in the name of peace. But something changed in the process. Israel was perceived as dominant … being on the verge of strength and unity, standing as a strong nation. Can we so quickly forget the spiritual anticipation that characterized the decades following Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War? Remember the land brought back from being a desert waste? Isaiah’s prophecy was widely quoted:

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (Is. 35:1).

Israel, once a desert, was called the "California of the Middle East," providing produce for Europe and Asia. In those days, countless books, pamphlets and sermons praised the regathering of Israel, breathing new life into believers. First in the United States, then quickly spreading to other countries, the doctrine of the pretribulation Rapture became popularized in a way that hadn’t been seen since the passing of the first-century Apostles.

Before that, the dawn of the twentieth century had witnessed the formalization of pretribulational teaching. C. I. Scofield’s reference Bible stood at the peak of a mountain of published teaching on this belief. But only decades later, following the 1967 war, did the world really sense the nearness of Christ’s return for His people. Though it was not correct, many in the church proclaimed that the "times of the gentiles" (Lk 21:24) had come to an end. Yes, they were factually mistaken, but their hearts were in the right place.

Pretribulational doctrine depends upon the proper understanding of the latter days, as they degenerate into paganism and apostasy and fall into the hands of the ungodly, who are subsequently judged in the Tribulation … following the age of the church.

Rapture enthusiasts rode high on the premise that Israel had taken the Temple Mount, and thought that it wouldn’t be very long before the prophesied events that herald the Tribulation would happen in rapid succession. As we, and others have so often said, the cry coming from the pulpit and the mass media during the closing decades of the twentieth century was, "Jesus is coming soon!"

It was not said that, "Jesus is coming when you least expect it," but "Jesus is coming soon!" Acting on this general sentiment, some were moved to set dates, using complex calculations and numerous "reasons" why Jesus should come for His church on such-and-such a day. They were universally mistaken, and bore the quiet ridicule of others, who prided themselves on not having fallen for the temptation to expect Christ at a particular season, or in conjunction with some important world event.

This fact alone cooled the ardor of the watchful. Again, they were faced with the prospect of being accused of folly as they called for something that never happened. Watchful Christians strained to discern patterns that would suggest that the gathering storm was closer than the day before. Many did this with great caution, recalling that in the 1930s and 40s, many Christian leaders had named Adolph Hitler as the antichrist. Certainly he was an antichrist.

As the twentieth century drew to a close, presidents came and went, along with other leaders, some of whom had been particularly singled out as the evil characters alluded to in prophetic Scripture. Though they have grown older, some of them remain influential to this day. Realizing that some of these men could rise to take power over the world in a predicted consortium of power, their behavior and public statements are closely monitored.

For years, the question has been asked, "If we’re so close to the Rapture and subsequent judgment, shouldn’t the antichrist be alive today?" Some answer in the affirmative and try to deduce the identity of this evil "prince who shall come." Others smile knowingly and congratulate themselves for never having yielded to that temptation. It is this smug superiority that rises from time to time, forcing many of the watchful to retreat. Nobody likes to be embarrassed. Enough pressure from anti-prophecy scoffers even forces theological shifts away from premillennial expectancy, toward postmillennial self-satisfaction.

Zion, the Great Sign

And then there is Israel, the focus of all timed prophecy. It was David who named the historic mountain called Moriah by the name that marks a major movement. He called it "Zion," from the Hebrew word that means, "a sign or marker," which it surely is. Zionism is the great latter-day sign. That it is from the Lord and not men may be seen in the hatred that the world has for the Zionist movement.

For centuries, the church forgot the dispersed people, who had drifted all over the world and settled into the obscurity of daily existence, while still keeping their customs, rituals and Hebrew language … in secret, lest they be persecuted. Sometimes, they were hunted out and slain like animals in government-sanctioned pogroms.

Continue this article here …

[I have collaborated on this with my sister and historian Greg Dehler, author of  "Chester Allan Arthur", Published by Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2006  ISBN 1600210791, 9781600210792  192 pages. ]

I’ve been forwarded the actual naturalization record for William Arthur on microfiche, obtained from the Library of Congress.   He was naturalized in New York State and became a United States citizen in August 1843.

Chester Arthur perpetrated a fraud as to his eligibility to be Vice President by spreading various lies about his parents’ heritage.  President Arthur’s father, William Arthur, became a United States citizen in August 1843.  But Chester Arthur was born in 1829.  Therefore, he was a British Citizen by descent , and a dual citizen at birth, if not his whole life.

He wasn’t a “natural born citizen” and he knew it.

We’ve also uncovered many lies told by Chester Arthur to the press which kept this fact from public view when he ran for Vice President in 1880.  Garfield won the election, became President in 1881, and was assassinated by a fanatical Chester Arthur supporter that same year.

How ironic that the allegations  started by Arthur Hinman in his pamphlet entitled, “How A British Subject Became President” , have turned out to be true…but not for the reason Hinman suggested.

Hinman alleged that Arthur was born in Ireland or Canada as a British subject.   It was bunk.  It’s been definitively established that Chester Arthur was born in Vermont.   But Hinman turns out to be correct anyway since Chester Arthur was a British citizen/subject by virtue of his father not having naturalized as a United States citizen until Chester Arthur was almost 14 years old.

That means Chester Arthur was a British subject at the time of his birth.

We’ve uncovered news clips exposing a thorough trail of lies, all of which served to obscure Chester Arthur’s true history of having been born as a British citizen.

Chester Arthur’s lies came during his Vice Presidential campaign in 1880.  His fraudulent attempt to obfuscate family history provides context and evidence that in 1880 it was recognized that having been born as a British citizen would make one ineligible to be President or VP.  His falsification of family history indicates he was aware of POTUS ineligibility.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

Chester Arthur was in politics at the time of the 14th Amendment’s ratification.  He was a lawyer and a politician while the 14th Amendment was being debated.  It was ratified in 1867.  In that same year Chester Arthur rose to become chairperson of the Executive Committee of the State Republican Committee.   He would have been fully cognizant of the natural born citizen issue and that should he ever run for POTUS or VP, problems could arise.

He would have known that if anybody found out his father naturalized after he was born, he could never be President or Vice President.

CHESTER’S LIES

The definitive biography on Chester Arthur is “Gentleman Boss” by Thomas Reeves .  It’s an exhaustive reference.  Many of the blanks in Chester Arthur’s legend were filled in by this book which utilized interviews with family members and authentic documents like the Arthur family Bible.   It was a necessary work since old Chester Arthur was a very wily protector of his strange history.  He burned all of his papers. (See page 2365.)

Read Full Story Here

After President-elect Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee let a Dec. 1 deadline slip by without responding to Pennsylvania attorney Philip J. Berg’s petition for writ of certiorari demanding Obama produce a legitimate birth certificate, the attorney is now filing a motion to stop Obama from taking office in January.

Berg has filed an emergency motion for immediate injunction, America’s Right blogger and legal writer Jeff Schreiber reports. Berg is asking the court to stop state certification of electors to keep the Electoral College from meeting Dec. 15 and casting votes for Obama. He is also seeking to postpone the official vote count Jan. 6 until the court reaches a decision on his appeal.

Where’s the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. and thus a "natural-born American" as required by Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution? If you still want to see it, sign WND’s petition demanding the release of his birth certificate.

"It is my firm belief, my one thousand percent firm belief," Berg told Schreiber, "that he does not meet the natural born qualifications, that he should not be voted for by the electors, and that he should not be sworn in this January unless he shows his credentials … which he of course cannot, simply because he does not have them."

Berg filed his petition Oct. 30, and according to procedure, a response from the defendants was due yesterday. While the Federal Election Commission waived its right to respond to the complaint Nov. 18, there has been no word from Obama or the DNC.

The parties are not legally required to respond, and Berg said he doesn’t expect them to do so. He believes the defendants will argue that he lacks standing.

"If they were going to respond, I get the feeling that it would have been in there by now," Berg told Schreiber. "The feeling may be that, if they respond, they could hold themselves out for perjury later on when we’re successful. That’s why, in the lower court, they just relied on a motion to dismiss based on standing. Here, they may not want to file an actual, specific response in the Supreme Court

for fear they’ll be held to it later."

Berg referenced nationwide efforts to demand Obama produce an original birth certificate.

"We’re finding that there is a great interest across the United States," Berg said. "I’ve been on talk show after talk show, and the more the case is discussed, the more people are made aware of it and are disgusted by the fact that Obama just won’t simply produce the credentials showing he’s qualified. Hopefully, some authority will demand it."

Original story …

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Texas Congressman Ron Paul has warned that international forces are planning the creation of a global central bank that will see a new fiat monetary system come to dominate the world economy.

The 2008 presidential candidate also warned that Barack Obama’s administration will only represent a change in faces and not in policies.

Speaking about the recent G20 meeting Paul told Russia Today:

"I think something will come of it but you probably didn’t hear about it yet. There was some pomp and ceremony that the public knew about, but behind the scenes they were talking about the future and what they are going to do to try to internationalize all regulations, going in the opposite direction of free market and more towards international regulations. I’m sure they even talked about an international central bank."

Paul also pointed out that global bankers have been holding their own talks on the same matter:

"At the same time the G20 was meeting, we also had the central banks meeting in Europe. Bernanke was over there, and they are doing the same type of planning, so real planning will not be out in the open, until they want us to know about it." the Congressman said.

"The system that we have today where the fiat dollar is a reserve currency of the world, it’s losing that status and they have to replace it. Hopefully they’ll have enough sense to realise that another international agreement along the Bretton Woods will be no more successful than the last one." Paul continued.

The Congressman argued that more regulations administered by central banks, rather than placed on to central banks, represents a dangerous move away from the free market.

"We could restructure by getting rid of all the central banks, then you would have honest money come up because nobody could commit fraud. Governments get away with committing fraud – that’s what fiat money is." Paul commented.

The Congressman warned that an Obama presidency offers no alternative to the economic policies that have led the U.S. and the world to the brink of economic meltdown. Paul Described the kind of change Obama offers as:

"Just change in faces and change in party labels. Both parties represent the same special interests, they both have to represent big business. Obama’s supposed to be a man of the people, well he collected $750 million, more money than anybody else ever collected. Wall Street supported him, the media supported him, all the big money supported him, so his change is not going to be much change at all. He’s not talking about changing monetary policy, the Federal Reserve or getting rid of the income tax or bringing our troops home."

Paul also commented that he does not believe Obama will withdraw troops from Iraq and pointed out that he has never said he will close down the military bases throughout the country and eliminate the huge embassy in Baghdad.

"Policy will remain interventionist," the Congressman warned. "We will remain in the middle east and we will not be coming home, we’ll stay in Korea, we’ll stay in Europe, we’ll be in eastern Europe, we’ll be doing all these things. Even though Obama benefited tremendously from ‘change’, all we are changing is the face of our government."

Paul also warned that the stage has been set for fresh terrorist attacks in the U.S. as a consequence of a sustained interventionist foreign policy.

[EPAdmin: Revelation 13:16-17 (NIV) He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.]

Ron Paul Interview Here

One after another, we are learning the names of the future Obama Administration. Behold, they are not new faces, nor are they the change agents that Obama’s campaign rhetoric promised. Instead, we are seeing Clinton retreads and a surprising move toward the political center. Rather than the far left team of new faces and new politics that the President-elect’s supporters dreamed about when they cast their ballots for the "change" they could believe in, we are seeing familiar faces and experienced pols. More than a few Obama fans are experiencing buyer’s remorse as they discover that "The One" seems to be abandoning them and their policies.

When confronted with the far left’s disappointment over the first appointments to be announced, one of the Transition team members responded, "An Obama White House will be focused on meeting the next challenge, not winning the next election."

Well, that response does not pass the laugh test! Or perhaps the correct translation is, "We’re so sure we’ll win the next election, we don’t even have to take that into consideration."

Clearly, Obama intends to be more than a one-term president; even before his Inauguration, he is already starting his next campaign. He is putting his chief competition, Senator Hillary Clinton, safely inside his camp and working to dispel any evidence that he is an extremist. Rather than come in and clean house, the President-elect seems to be embracing politics as usual.

The "insult" added to previous "injury" came with an announcement over the weekend that Obama’s White House will continue the political office that was held by Karl Rove in the Bush White House. During his campaign, of course, Mr. Obama vowed to keep politics out of the White House. He criticized the Bush Administration for its partisanship and accused President Bush of running a "perpetual campaign." The Obama Administration, he promised, would end what he called "politics as usual."

But he is appointing the usual – a bevy of inside-the-beltway politicians.

Thus far, there are no new faces and no one who will obviously push for new policies. Eric Holder (nominee for Attorney General) and Rahm Emanuel (Chief of Staff) bring lots of Clinton-era baggage; Tim Gaithner (Treasury Secretary) is part of New York’s big-money establishment. Tom Daschle, (HHS Secretary) is welded into the Senate’s good ‘ole boy network. Further, Obama helped to protect Joe Lieberman’s Senate committee chairmanship even though Lieberman crossed party lines to actively campaign for John McCain. The leftist Bible, The Nation, noted recently that "not a single, solitary, actual dyed-in-the-wool progressive" has even been mentioned for the Obama Cabinet.

The Far Left contends that Barack should be dancing with the ones that brought him to the White House. Those on the right who treasure our traditional America values of personal responsibility and freedom have far more serious cause for worry.

While Obama is filling top slots of his Administration with politicians from the center, his agenda will be thrust forward by the Schedule C minions in the lower levels of government who will be able to work under the radar to push his far left ideology. That is the bottom-up strategy that he learned as a community organizer and a strategy that links him with his primary season competitor, Hillary Clinton, who promoted the feminist goals of the Beijing Platform for Action through various task forces set up in the federal agencies following the U.N.’s Beijing World Conference on Women. Both of these leftist politicians have learned to speak the language of the masses while working behind the scenes on the policies of the radical true believers.

Thus, Obama’s appointments are sending a signal that his administration will be far more hawkish than his campaign rhetoric indicated. In addition to the likely appointment of Senator Clinton as Secretary of State, there are other signs that President-elect Obama is changing his stance on the war in Iraq — despite official assurances that his position on Iraq hasn’t changed and won’t change. He seems to be leaning toward retaining Robert Gates, President Bush’s Defense Secretary. Also, he is leaning toward a McCain backer, General James Jones, former NATO commander, as National Security Advisor and Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona and a supporter of the Iraq war, for heading the Homeland Security Department. These possible appointments appear to signal a weakening of his promise to withdraw troops over the next 18 months.

The possible appointment of Mrs. Clinton to the top foreign policy position also raises questions about the U.S. position on Iran and Israel. During the campaign, Senator Clinton held to a hard line regarding Iran and Senator Obama famously talked about sitting down to negotiate "without preconditions." Senator Clinton has been a steadfast supporter of Israel (not any surprise in light of her numerous Jewish constituents in New York) and some pundits think that she would aggressively pursue a Middle East peace deal if she were Secretary of State.

Beyond questions of policy, critics are concerned that Obama is shaping a third Clinton term. The sheer drama of appointing Hillary, with the added soap-opera potential of husband Bill’s antics, is cause for apprehension to many of Obama’s supporters who fear that his agenda will be overshadowed by the Clintons’ egos.

To repeat: what Obama’s critics are overlooking is that he is a former community organizer; he prefers to work under the radar, starting from the grassroots. Those who are looking at the top layer of the Obama Administration wanting to see a sign of the "second coming of Saul Alinsky" (as one blogger put it), are going to be disappointed. Those who watched First Lady Hillary Clinton set up little fiefdoms in all the government agencies to push the policies of the Beijing Platform for Action and those who observed Senator Barack Obama utilize ACORN to build a political machine that spread from Chicago throughout the nation will recognize the strategy and tactics of master manipulators.

Even though they differ on many other fronts, Barack and Hillary are kindred spirits when it comes to using the government’s legendary "soft power" and the national "bully pulpit" to achieve their personal and political ends. So, while the nation is lulled into thinking that Barack is moving to the center, his minions who are actually carrying the water will be hard-core "progressives" moving the leftist agenda forward largely out of the public’s sight in the mid-level management positions of the government’s sprawling bureaucracy. Much of the real action will happen behind the scenes in thousands of small decisions and initiatives that will remain nearly invisible until — like the explosion in the number of mother-only families that followed from Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty — the transformation of their cumulative effects begins to emerge.

Concerned Women for America
1015 Fifteenth St. N.W., Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 488-7000
Fax: (202) 488-0806

Last week’s article has quickly become one of the most widely read of any we’ve ever posted. It has also generated several questions and some wild information I had never heard before. Among these are excerpts from secular news sources containing two non-Biblical prophecies that I will offer first. Since they both opened with rhetorical questions, I’ve arranged them in our familiar Q and A format, but post them as written. The remaining questions are all reader submitted.

Two Non-Biblical Prophecies

The first one is very controversial and I offer no opinion as to its validity, except that I’ve received it from several independent news sources. I have been able to confirm that Johanwa Owalo was who this prophecy says he was and that it apparently came from a document copyrighted in 1915. Readers are cautioned to conduct their own research before accepting it as authentic.

“Q. Is Barak Obama the “Son of Kenya” foretold by the great 19^th Century Kenyan Prophet, Johanwa Owalo, the founder of Kenya’s Nomiya Luo Church?

A. Among the Kenyan people of the Luo religion Owalo is believed to be a prophet similar to Jesus Christ and Muhammad, and who in 1912 made this horrific prophecy about the United States:

‘So far have they [the United States] strayed into wickedness in those [future] times that their destruction has been sealed by my [father]. Their great cities will burn, their crops and cattle will suffer disease and death, their children will perish from diseases never seen upon this Earth, and I reveal to you the greatest [mystery] of all as I have been allowed to see that their [the United States] destruction will come about through the vengeful hands of one of our very own sons.’ “

The next one comes from a Forbes.com article dated 10-26-08 by Amir Taheri, author of 10 books on Iran, the Middle East and Islam.

“Q. Is Barack Obama the "promised warrior" coming to help the Hidden Imam of Shiite Muslims conquer the world?

A. This question has made the rounds in Iran since last month, when a pro-government Web site published a Hadith (or tradition) from a Shiite text of the 17th century. The tradition comes from Bahar al-Anvar (meaning Oceans of Light) by Mullah Majlisi, a magnum opus in 132 volumes and the basis of modern Shiite Islam.

According to the tradition, Imam Ali Ibn Abi-Talib (the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law) prophesied that at the End of Times and just before the return of the Mahdi, the Ultimate Saviour, a "tall black man will assume the reins of government in the West." Commanding "the strongest army on earth," the new ruler in the West will carry "a clear sign" from the third imam, whose name was Hussein Ibn Ali. The tradition concludes: "Shiites should have no doubt that he is with us ."

In a curious coincidence Obama’s first and second names–Barack Hussein–mean "the blessing of Hussein" in Arabic and Persian. His family name, Obama, written in the Persian alphabet, reads O Ba Ma, which means "he is with us," the magic formula in Majlisi’s tradition.”

From these secular sources it appears that people from diverse backgrounds believe that a leader matching Mr. Obama’s description could appear in the last days, and that his impact will not be good for America. Time will tell.

Reader Submitted Questions

Now we’ll begin our reader submitted questions. In the interest of time and space, I’ve summarized them all into three basic questions that speak to Mr. Obama’s qualification to be the anti-Christ.

Q. Re: The people of the leader who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary (Daniel 9:26) How can Mr. Obama be the fulfillment of Daniel 9:26 if he was born in Hawaii, or Kenya for that matter?

A. When Daniel wrote these words from the Angel Gabriel, the Babylonians were about to be conquered by the Medes and Persians. The Romans wouldn’t arrive on the scene for several hundred years yet so Gabriel needed a way to identify them. He told Daniel the coming leader would be from the people who would destroy the city and sanctuary following the Messiah’s rejection. The Jewish Temple and the City of Jerusalem were destroyed separately. The Roman General Titus Vespasian led the troops who burned the Temple and tore its ruins apart stone by stone in either 68 or 69 AD depending on who’s account you favor. He did this under orders from his father Vespasian who was the Emperor of Rome. Then in 135 AD another Roman Emperor, Hadrian, ordered the complete destruction of Jerusalem as a consequence of the bar Kochba rebellion. These two separate events bear witness that Gabriel was referring to the Romans. Together they meet the standard that a matter must be established by the testimony of 2 or 3 witnesses. (Deut. 19:15 )

Brittainia (Great Britain) first came to the notice of the Romans in 55BC and by 43 AD had been assimilated into the Roman Empire, well before the City and Sanctuary were destroyed. Therefore the Roman Empire of the time stretched from Great Britain in the west across southern Europe and Northern Africa to the Caspian Sea and Persian Gulf in the East. Romans called the Mediterranean sea “Mare Nostrum” (our sea) because the Roman Empire pretty much surrounded it.

Many students of prophecy agree that almost anyone of Middle Eastern or European descent could meet the qualification of Daniel 9:26 to be the anti-Christ providing he also becomes a world leader. They say this is even true of many Americans because of our prior status as a British Colony and the fact that our country was founded in large part by Europeans whose ancestors dwelt in the Roman Empire of Biblical times.

Mr. Obama is almost certainly of European descent through His mother, and those who claim to have done the research say that on his father’s side he’s much more Arab than African. In fact Mr. Obama Sr.’s birth certificate identifies him as an Arab. They say Mr. Obama Jr.’s genealogy shows him to be 50% Caucasian, 43.75% Arab and 6.25% African. And in an interesting side note, Great Britain is one of the countries Mr. Obama is being asked to prove he’s not a citizen of in at least one of the lawsuits that have been filed. If he was born in Kenya in 1961 he would likely be a British citizen, because Kenya’s independence from Great Britain didn’t take place until 1963. The Supreme Court Justices will review one of these suits on Dec. 5,2008 to determine if they want to hear oral arguments. It is still unclear to everyone why Mr. Obama doesn’t just release his original birth certificate and put an end to all the speculation.

Q. Since the soldiers who destroyed the Temple were actually Assyrian mercenaries, and since Isaiah mentions an Assyrian enemy of Israel (Isaiah 10:5), doesn’t this mean the anti Christ has to be Assyrian? Wouldn’t that exclude Mr. Obama?

A. In my answer above I showed that the Angel Gabriel had to be referring to Rome when he spoke of the people who would destroy the city and the sanctuary. Remember, they were two different events, almost 70 years apart, and both times the soldiers were under Roman command following Roman orders. Also, the Assyrian Empire had been assimilated into Rome by territorial conquest, so there was no official Assyrian presence at the time. And had the passage referred to the Assyrians, Gabriel could have just mentioned them by name, since everyone in Daniel’s day knew of them.

Isaiah 10:1-19 is a judgment against Assyria. The Hebrew word translated Assyrian in verse 5 is Asshur, the name of the second son of Shem. This means it’s a reference to the Assyrian people, the descendants of Asshur, not to an individual. When the Assyrian King Sennacherib conquered Damascus and the Northern Kingdom, his army was bringing God’s judgment against godless people (verse 6). But when they set their sights on Jerusalem (verse 11) they exceeded God’s intention. In one night God sent the angel of death into the Assyrian camp and by morning 185,000 Assyrian soldiers were dead. Isaiah compared it to a fire burning through thorns and briers. (verses 17-18) The remaining Assyrians went home in shame and later Sennacherib’s own sons killed him. (Isaiah 37:36-38 ) Based on these things, I am not convinced that the Scriptures require the anti-Christ to be of Assyrian descent.

Q. The Bible seems to say that the anti-Christ will be asexual. Since Mr. Obama is happily married with two daughters why wouldn’t this exclude him?

A. This question refers to Daniel 11:37 which in the KJV reads;

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.

According to tradition, the phrase “desire of women” refers to the Messiah, not to the anti-Christ’s sexual orientation. From the time of Eve it was every Jewish woman’s desire to be the mother of the Messiah, so one of the informal names of the Messiah was “the desire of women”. This whole idea stems from the phrase “seed of the woman”, a reference to the promised redeemer from Genesis 3:15 . The idea that the anti-Christ will be asexual can not be supported from Scripture.

What’s The Point Of All this?

My purpose in this study has been to separate Biblical fact from human opinion on the issue of the anti-Christ, specifically in support of my claim that there’s no Biblical reason Mr. Obama couldn’t one day be revealed as the anti-Christ. By the way, much this information could be used to support the opinion that Bill Clinton, Prince Charles, or a number of others could turn out to be the anti-Christ as easily as Barack Obama, but he’s the one I’ve been asked about.

In part one of this study, I said that I don’t think it’s time for the anti-Christ to be introduced yet, and that the Church will not be here when he is. In 2 Thes.2:1-8 Paul gave a summary of End Times events in sequence. A careful reading reveals that Paul identified three specific things that will have to happen before the Day of the Lord (Great Tribulation) can come. There will have to be a falling away, a rebellion against the truth. This is when the believers in name only will be drawn out of the true Church into one of the various apostate movements we see springing up in our midst. The restraining force that’s holding the secret power of lawlessness back will also have to be taken out of the way. That’s the Holy Spirit contained in the Church, a reference to the Rapture. Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed and will stand in God’s Temple proclaiming himself to be God. That’s the abomination of Desolation that kicks off the Great Tribulation, and that’s when the world will know for certain just who the anti-Christ is.

For us it’s enough to know that the signs pointing to the End of the Age are appearing all around us. This is not happening so that we can hunker down and prepare for the storm. It’s happening so we can begin making preparations for our departure. Whether it’s several months or several years is also immaterial. The sooner we act the better prepared we’ll be. No one on Earth will be able to tell you in advance when we’ll be leaving. There will be no specific warning. One moment we’ll be here and the next we’ll be there. Jesus said we won’t know the day or hour, but He had Paul tell us that we should not be taken by surprise. Fore warned is fore armed, they say, and we’ve been forewarned. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 11-22-08

Full Story Reference

A lawyer who is playing a key role in a California lawsuit urging officials to prevent the state’s 55 Electoral College votes from being recorded for Barack Obama until questions about his citizenship are resolved says he’s organizing plans to challenge, even after the inauguration, every order, every proposal, every piece of paperwork generated by Obama.

Barack Obama

"We will file lawsuits on his actions, every time. As long as we have money , we will keep filing lawsuits until we get a decision as to his citizenship status," Gary Kreep, chief of the United States Justice Foundation, told WND today.

"We’re already talking to groups who are willing to be plaintiffs," he said.

As WND reported, Kreep filed the California challenge with presidential candidate Alan Keyes as a plaintiff.

The complaint urges the California secretary of state to refuse to allow the state’s 55 Electoral College votes to be cast until Obama’s citizenship and related eligibility to hold office is resolved.

It is just one of more than a dozen legal challenges brought forward so far over Obama’s citizenship. The cases all cite Obama’s clouded history and the U.S. Constitution’s requirement that a president be a "natural-born" citizen.

Sign the petition to insist on release of birth certificate.

There have been allegations he was born in Kenya, not Hawaii as his campaign has reported, that he could be considered a British subject because of his father’s residency in what then was a British protectorate that later became Kenya, and that the "Certificate of Live Birth" posted on his website simply shows his mother registered his birth in Hawaii after he was born but does not document a location.

There also have been questions raised about his travels as a youth, including the years he spent registered as a Muslim in an Indonesian school, and his later travels to Pakistan at a time when U.S. passports weren’t welcome in that nation.

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi traveled to Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama’s birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.

The biggest question is why Obama, if a Hawaii birth certificate exists, simply hasn’t ordered it made available to settle the rumors.

The governor’s office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii?

Obama’s half-sister, Maya Soetoro, has named two different Hawaii hospitals where Obama could have been born, while a video posted on YouTube features Obama’s Kenyan grandmother Sarah claiming to have witnessed Obama’s birth in Kenya.

The California action was filed on behalf of Keyes, as well as Wiley S. Drake and Markham Robinson, both California electors.

"Should Senator Obama be discovered, after he takes office, to be ineligible for the Office of President of the United States of America and, thereby, his election declared void, Petitioners, as well as other Americans, will suffer irreparable harm in that (a) usurper will be sitting as the President of the United States, and none of the treaties, laws, or executive orders signed by him will be valid or legal," the action challenges.

Kreep told WND today he’s now working with several groups that could serve as plaintiffs to challenge Obama’s actions, even from the Oval Office, should the issue remain in dispute.

"There is a reasonable and common expectation by the voters that to qualify for the ballot, the individuals running for office must meet minimum qualifications as outlined in the federal and state Constitutions and statutes, and that compliance with those minimum qualifications has been confirmed by the officials overseeing the election process," the complaint said, when in fact the only documentation currently required is a signed statement from the candidate attesting to those qualifications.

The issue is much more important than a single candidate, said Judge Roy Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and a WND columnist. He now runs the Foundation for Moral Law.

Moore had his own constitutional confrontation when he was removed from his position Alabama Supreme Court chief justice after he refused to remove from state grounds a monument recognizing the Ten Commandments as the foundation for U.S. law.

"We can survive four years of any president; we cannot survive without a Constitution," he told WND. "This calls for a major investigation. Our Constitution is at stake."

Moore said the requirement for a president to be a natural-born citizen is clear in the Constitution. The document, he added, provides procedures to amend the requirement, but that hasn’t been done.

"We live under the rule of law," he warned, "If we start ignoring that. …"

A WND reader agreed in a letter to the editor.

"If Obama is allowed to take office without proving his citizenship, then we have no Constitution. America as it’s been will be dead. If an easy to understand rule is ignored, then the others harder to understand will be easy to ignore," wrote Tony Costello.

Moore said, "If a person is not qualified, he’s not qualified. It doesn’t matter who it is, Republican, Democrat, black or white, rich or poor."

He added the members of the Electoral College have an obligation to verify Obama’s qualifications before voting for him.

But he said the dispute may end up with court action, too.

"The courts are there to uphold the law. People have a right to change the Constitution. But until then it’s the rule of law," he said.

"I don’t see any reason a candidate who has such a serious question would not come forward with the truth about where he was born," Moore said.

"The Supreme Court has to answer this. They have to do it by law and not by the popularity of a person. If we do that, we might as well throw the Constitution out the window," Moore said.

"[Obama] has the answer. He knows where he was born. If he tells something that’s untrue that’s another matter. It’s not an Obama issue, it’s an American issue. It’s about the Constitution of the United States."

U.S. State Department officials declined to respond to WND inquiries about the process for keeping a U.S. citizenship while attending schools in Indonesia, or the possibility of a U.S. citizen keeping that status while traveling on another nation’s passport.

But several online "fact" sites have reported that the concerns over Obama’s citizenship are much ado about nothing.

Factcheck.org, for example, has posted an image described as Obama’s "birth certificate." But within the image can be seen the words "Certificate of Live Birth," which is not the same document. In Hawaii at the time Obama was born the state would issue a "Certificate of Live Birth" to a parent registering a birth, but it does not indicate the location of the birth.

"FactCheck.org staffers have now seen, touched, examined and photographed the original birth certificate," the group said in a statement accompanying the image of the "Certificate of Live Birth."

Snopes, also, attested to Obama’s U.S. citizenship, citing information from the campaign itself.

However, WND columnist Janet Porter, who has investigated the dispute, wrote in her column today that there are too many questions to ignore.

"In Hawaii, a Certification of Live Birth is issued within a year of a child’s birth to those who register a birth abroad or one that takes place outside a hospital," she said.

She cited the work of Ron Polarik, who holds a Ph.D. in instructional media and specializes in computer graphics with over 20 years experience with computers, printers and typewriters.

"Polarik has submitted a signed affidavit and has now released his findings on video at www.ObamaForgery.com with his identity masked and voice altered to guard against the carrying out of threats, which he has already received," Porter wrote.

"The Summary: The Certificate of Live Birth documents posted on Mr. Obama’s website www.fightthesmears.com , Daily Kos (a pro-Obama blog) and factcheck.org, (a pro-Obama political research group), were found to be altered and forged," she said.

The researcher cited problems with pixels in the image and a fold line and a blurry border. He asserts the border is a 2007 version while the seal and signature are from 2008.

She also cited issues beyond the birth certificate.

"There’s the matter that Obama traveled to Indonesia, Pakistan, Southern India and Kenya in 1981. He said he went to Indonesia to see his mother. This seemed plausible, except for the fact that his mother returned to Hawaii in August of 1980 to file for a divorce from her second husband, Lolo Soetoro. Unless she went back to pal around with the man she divorced, she wasn’t there at the time of Obama’s visit," Porter wrote.

"There’s another problem. No record of Obama holding an American passport prior to the one he received once becoming a U.S. senator has been found. If he traveled to Pakistan with an American passport, he wouldn’t have been allowed in – since Pakistan was in turmoil in 1981 and under martial law. It was also on the State Department’s travel ban list for U.S. citizens," she wrote.

"If he couldn’t get into Pakistan with a U.S. passport, perhaps he went there with an Indonesian passport. But the only way you can get one of those is if you are an Indonesian citizen ," she wrote.

Porter encouraged residents to contact the members of the House Judiciary Committee with a request to hold congressional hearings and write to the U.S. Supreme Court to request a ruling.

On the FederalistBlog the writers concluded:

"A child born to an American mother and alien father could be said to be a citizen of the United States by some affirmative act of law but never entitled to be a natural-born citizen because through laws of nature the child inherits the condition of their father."

Obama’s mother held U.S. citizenship, but his father never did.

WND also reported that Herb Titus, the Constitution Party’s running mate to Howard Phillips in 1996 and recognized authority on the U.S. Constitution, said it is up the electors from the 50 states to make certain Obama is a natural-born U.S. citizen before they cast votes for him in the Electoral College Dec. 15.

"If they do their duty, they would make sure that if they cast a vote for Mr. Obama, that Mr. Obama is a natural-born citizen," he told WND.

"I think it should be resolved. The duty is in the Electoral College. Every Obama elector that is committed to casting a vote on the 15th of December, they have a constitutional duty to make certain whether Mr. Obama is a natural-born citizen," he said.

If the electors fail their duty and Obama proves ultimately to fail the eligibility requirement of the U.S. Constitution, there would be only the laborious, contentious and cumbersome process of impeachment available to those who would wish to follow the Constitution, he suggested.

On WND’s new forum page, the level of frustration was rising. Dozens contributed their thoughts immediately after the forum was posted:

"What makes Obama non-respon[sive] to the simplest of requests?" asked one reader. "Does he think that it is politically incorrect to ask for authentication of the myriad of facts about himself … Is he testing the grounds to see how far he can play with this charade?"

Other comments included:

* "Obama won his first election ever by getting three Democratic opponents thrown off the ballot? He’s all for using the law to help himself win. Wouldn’t it be ironic if he is not allowed to serve as president due to the law? … Turn around is fair play!
* "Even the left-wing liberal news media is beginning to ask the question: ‘Who is this man we have elected? We really do not know much about him.’"
* "Obama’s refusal to produce the ORIGINAL given birth certificate gives us all pause. His silence on these allegations is deafening. The anointed one believes that if he can hold us all back until he’s in the Oval Office he’s hit a home run and he’s ‘safe.’ Ah, not so! Check your law, Obama, and you will see that even if were to make it to the White House you will no longer be able to hide behind those red velvet ropes."
* "There must be something that would have caused him great harm prior to the election, and would have stopped him from becoming elected. What could that little piece of information be?"

Original story here …