Persecution it´s coming...Military warned The evangelicals NO. 1 Threat

Soldiers in the U.S. military have been told in a training briefing that evangelical Christians are the No. 1 extremist threat to America – ahead of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, KKK, Nation of Islam, al-Qaida, Hamas and others.

“Men and women of faith who have served the Army faithfully for centuries shouldn’t be likened to those who have regularly threatened the peace and security of the United States,” said Col. (Ret.) Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “It is dishonorable for any U.S. military entity to allow this type of wrongheaded characterization. It also appears that some military entities are using definitions of ‘hate’ and ‘extreme’ from the lists of anti-Christian political organizations. That violates the apolitical stance appropriate for the military.”

The briefing, which was given to an Army reserve unit in Pennsylvania, came from a U.S. Army Reserve Equal Opportunity training brief titled “Extremism and Extremist Organizations.”

The material mentions neo-Nazis, the KKK and other white supremacist organizations. Pictures are shown on various slides of people in Klan attire and Nazi flags. The significance of gang tattoos, and racist acronyms and the significance of numbers were also discussed.

While the material on gangs and racist organizations is similar to what one might receive from a local police briefing on gang issues, after teaching on neo-Nazis in the military such as Timothy McVeigh, the material makes an amazing link.

A slide titled “Religious Extremism” lists multiple organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaida, Hamas, the Nation of Islam, the Ku Klux Klan and the Christian Identity movement as examples of extremist groups.

However, the first group on the list is evangelical Christianity. Catholicism and ultra-orthodox Judaism are also on the list of religious extremist organizations.Following the briefing, one of the soldiers who attended the presentation and describes himself as an evangelical told the trainer he was offended at the material and asked for a copy of the briefing. After receiving a copy, he forwarded the material to Crews.

The material describes religious extremism as those having beliefs, attitudes, feelings or actions that are “far removed from the ordinary.” It then elaborates by saying that “every religion has some followers that believe that their beliefs, customs and traditions are the only ‘right way’ and that all others practicing their faith the ‘wrong way.’”

Crews said it is astounding that soldiers were taught that a key foundation of the Christian faith is now considered extreme and compared to those who want to implement Shariah law.

“The idea of salvation being exclusively through Christ is a key doctrine of the Christian faith,” Crews said. “It is amazing that the trainer felt they had the authority and right to list evangelical Christian, Catholics and orthodox Jews alongside groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2013/04/military-warned-evangelicals-no-1-threat/#8sEBT4cyyo8Zwk5w.99

Pentagon to Buy Russian Helicopters Despite Ban

WASHINGTON, April 4 (By Maria Young for RIA Novosti) – The US Department of Defense said Thursday it plans to sidestep a Congressional ban to purchase 30 helicopters from Russian state-owned defense firm Rosoboronexport, despite objections from US lawmakers who allege that the firm has equipped the Syrian government to commit brutal crimes against civilians.

“The Department of Defense (DOD) has notified Congress of its intent to contract with Rosoboronexport for 30 additional Mi-17 rotary-wing aircraft to support the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) Special Mission Wing,” Pentagon spokesman James Gregory told RIA Novosti in emailed comments.

The 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, approved by Congress last year, includes an amendment that prohibits financial contracts between the United States and Rosoboronexport, except when the Secretary of Defense determines that such arrangements are in the interest of national security.

“Given current timelines, the department has determined that Rosoboronexport is the only viable means of meeting ANSF requirements” for the helicopters, Gregory said.

The contract totals $690 million, most of which would go to the Russian arms maker, he added.

In February, US President Barack Obama announced plans to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan from 66,000 to 34,000 over the next year, leaving Afghan forces with an increased role in their nation’s security.

Many of the Afghan forces have already been trained to operate the Russian aircraft. Switching to a new platform would delay the readiness of their rotary wing division by at least three years while crews get training and experience on a new system, Gregory said.

A bipartisan Congressional group wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week in which they objected to the ongoing business relationship between the Russian arms company and the Pentagon.

“What is the national security justification of continuing business with Rosoboronexport?” they asked in the letter.

“Russia continues to transfer weapons through Rosoboronexport to the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria,” they continued. “Since the Syrian uprising began, Russia has continued to serve as the Assad regime’s chief supplier of weapons, enabling the mass murder of Syrian citizens at the hands of their own government.”

Russia, however, has insisted that the deliveries are legal under international law and that it is not supplying Syria with offensive weapons. Moscow has also questioned the composition and goals of the various armed groups fighting the Assad regime.

US Rep. Jim Moran, who co-authored the amendment, said Rosoboronexport had supplied nearly $1 billion in arms to Assad’s government between 2011 and 2012, including high-explosive mortars, sniper rifles, ammunition and refurbished attack helicopters.

Public records show that some of the representatives who signed the letter and sponsored the amendment–including Moran, Rep. Kay Granger and Rep. Rosa DeLauro—have received campaign contributions from US defense contractors.

But Moran’s spokeswoman, Anne Hughes, described any implication that the lawmakers’ concern is more about campaign contributions than arms for Syria as “laughable.” Representatives of the other lawmakers did not respond to requests for comment.

“The objections are understandable, the US defense industry needs contracts. … But from a cost-benefit analysis, Russian helicopters are a better deal,” Simon Saradzhyan, a security expert at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

The Russian helicopters, he said, are generally not as sophisticated or advanced as those made in the United States, making them arguably more suitable for use by Afghan security forces.

“This is the Russian competitive edge,” Saradzhyan said. “They cost less and they are easy to maintain. This is how Russian arms supporters make their sales speech.”

The Russian aircraft “are superbly suited for harsh environments,” said Gregory, the Pentagon spokesman.

In their letter to Hagel, the lawmakers asked what steps the Pentagon had taken to consider alternative helicopter suppliers. They also requested that the department prepare a detailed briefing and present it to Congress before taking any action on the pending contract.

Hagel has received the letter, Gregory said.

“He will of course respond.”

RIA Novosti

Japan's Debt Problem

Ancient Iraq yields fresh finds for returning archaeologists

British archaeologists have discovered a previously unknown palace or temple near the ancient city of Ur in the first foreign excavation at the site in southern Iraq since the 1930s.

A small team of archaeologists working from satellite images hinting at a buried structure have uncovered the corner of a monumental complex with rows of rooms around a large courtyard, believed to be about 4,000 years old.

“The size is breathtaking,” says Jane Moon, a University of Manchester archaeologist who heads the expedition. Ms. Moon says the walls of the structure are almost nine feet thick, indicating that the building was of great importance or indicated great wealth.

The discovery is even more significant because of its location more than 10 miles from Ur, on what would then have been the banks of the Euphrates River – the first major archaeological find that far from the city.

Ur, the last capital of the Sumerian empire, was invaded and collapsed in about 2000 BC before being rebuilt. The city was dedicated to the moon god and is famous for its ziggurat (a stepped temple). Many believe it is the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, known as the father of monotheistic religion.
Modern methods

The last major excavation at Ur was performed by a British-American team led by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley in the 1920s and the 1930s. After the 1950s revolution, which toppled Iraq’s monarchy, a nearby military air base put the area off limits to foreign archaeologists for the next half century.

“What Wooley found were these tremendous monumental buildings, but it’s difficult to tell a coherent story about them because they were restored again and again and again, and what you see is neo-Babylonian, 7th century BC – very much later,” says Moon. “He wasn’t able to see what they were really used for and that’s where I’m hoping our modern methods might be able to say something.”

At Ur, Wooley also discovered a spectacular treasure trove that rivals King Tut’s tomb. At least 16 members of royalty were buried at Ur with elaborate gold jewelry, including a queen’s headdress made of gold leaves and studded with lapis lazuli. Other objects included a gold and lapis lyre, one of the first known musical instruments.

In the 1930s, the treasures were split between the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania, which funded Wooley’s work, and the newly created Iraq museum.

Moon says it’s impossible to tell whether the new site might contain similar finds.

“Ultimately we’re not looking for objects we’re looking for information.… I guess it’s always a possibility. In archaeology you can always be surprised.”
A learning opportunity

She says modern methods, such as examining very thin slices of soil hardened with resin under a microscope, can shed light on details like whether there were carpets on the floor or whether a surface was used for cutting. Putting samples of earth through a wet sieving machine can provide information about climate and agriculture by revealing bone fragments from rodents or lizards.

“You can really look at the ancient economy and that’s the kind of thing they couldn’t do when they last found big buildings like this,” says Moon, who last worked in Iraq in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, documenting archaeological sites in the north before they were submerged by Saddam Hussein’s dam-building projects.

Her team, which has struggled for both funding and visas, consists of six British archaeologists, an Iraqi archaeologist, and two Iraqi trainees. It is funded mostly by a Swiss benefactor, with participation by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, the successor to an organization founded in 1932 in honor of Gertrude Bell. “Miss Bell,” as she is still known in Iraq, was the British administrator of Iraq after World War II and the founder of the Iraq Museum.

A law passed in 1932 bars archaeologists from removing antiquities from the country, but Moon believes making the knowledge about the antiquities available is as important as the objects themselves. "There’s always been a sense of taking the intellectual property away,” she says, adding that all the information, including drawings, was being done electronically to make it easier to compile and to share.

“We want to make this as public as possible so we can give this information to anyone who wants it. We have no reason to hang on to it and we have the means to spread it around, so that’s what we’re doing,” she says.

CSMonitor

North Korea War, Syria and the Global Banking Crisis Will Spread

The Darkness Draws Nearer - Part Three

Joseph Herrin (04-1-2013)




Proverbs 22:7
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave.

I realize it is the habit of some to read only those posts that start out fast, share startling information, and which evoke strong emotional response. There is a bit of the ambulance chaser rooted in the Adamic nature. I entreat those who subscribe to these writings to pay close attention to this post. By the end of this post you will have encountered some truly profound issues that have bearing upon your ability to pass through the coming troublous days successfully, avoiding the snare of the adversary.

I am persuaded that it is not the will of Yahweh for His sons and daughters to be in financial debt. I had this conviction from at least my early twenties. Yet, in disobedience, I transgressed after I got married and began using borrowed money to acquire those things my soul coveted, and which society told me I needed, to live a full and satisfying material life. If you have read my autobiography titled Evidence of Things Unseen, you will know that Yahweh disciplined me severely for my disobedience in this area.

http://www.heart4god.ws/index_htm_files/Evidence%20of%20Things%20Unseen.pdf

When Yahweh scourges His sons, it is so that they might share His holiness. His chastisement results in the peaceful fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12). Yahweh brought correction to this area of my life in 1999. Since that time I have had no financial debt. The liberty I have experienced due to being debt free has been remarkable. I have been free to go wherever the Father would lead me, and to pursue the ministry and activities He has appointed for my life.

Concomitant with being freed from debt, I was also delivered from many material possessions. This is the point at which a great many Christians stumble. They do not want to let go of those material possessions that give them a sense of comfort, pleasure, security, or pride. What will the neighbor’s think? What will family members say? How will the people at church who are living materially focused lives respond? We are living in an age where the spirit of Laodicea rules in the church.

Revelation 3:14-17
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write... You say, ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

The church, particularly in Western nations, equates material success with spiritual life. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yahshua declared:

Luke 12:15
"Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions."

Some time back I posted a blog that consisted largely of images of Christian books promoting material prosperity. Since it is a quick “read,” I will include it here.


The Road to Hell is Paved With...




They say there is a paradise at the end of this road.


Many are the travelers along this way.


Surely so many could not be wrong.


Millions of Christians have made this genre of books bestsellers.


If only a few find the path to life...


If it is an afflicted path...


If Christ's disciples must not love the world, or the things in it...


Then who is walking this road?























Matthew 7:13-14
The gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it.


James 4:2-4
You lust and do not have... You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.


Christ told those who would be His disciples to count the cost of following Him.


Christ went to the cross, not to the bank.


---

Christian books promoting material prosperity represent some of the best selling of all Christian material. This is Laodicea. They say, “We have become rich, and are in need of nothing.” These same ones have traded spiritual riches for temporal possessions. Many have become slaves of this world system as they have incurred debt that they might live a life their soul desires. They are not content with food and covering. Many demand a home of their own, with furnishings, and many possessions. Yet Yahshua told the Scribe who expressed a desire to be His disciple that “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” To the multitudes He declared the following:

Luke 14:33
“So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.”

To follow Christ as His disciple was a radical commitment 2,000 years ago, and it is just as radical today. There are legions of professors of Christ, but only a small remnant of disciples. The apostle Paul wrote the following to the Christians in the materially prosperous Roman city of Corinth.

I Corinthians 7:29-32
But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away. But I want you to be free from concern.

The apostle’s motive in communicating these things was “to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord” (vs. 35). There are a great many Christians who are distracted today. Their focus on material possessions, and the concerns of this world, has prevented them from attaining to spiritual maturity. It has robbed their lives of spiritual fruit.

Luke 8:14
“And the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

I share these things to set the stage for what I write next. I want you to understand Yahweh’s purpose for allowing wicked men to enslave the world through financial domination. Judgment must begin at the house of God. Yahweh must free His people from all covetousness and self-seeking. He must turn them to a focus upon His will, and bring them to embrace the disciple’s cross, apart from which no man can be brought to spiritual maturity.

Matthew 19:21
Yahshua said to him, "If you want to be perfect (mature, lacking in nothing), go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

Only by living an abandoned life, following Yahshua wherever He would lead, can a man or woman be brought to that perfect and mature state that the Father desires for their life. Most Christians today are not living abandoned lives. They are choosing a comfortable life for themselves. They make offerings to God that cost them very little. They are eschewing that afflicted path the leads to life, “and few there be who find it.”

Because Yahshua desires earnestly that His sons and daughters obtain LIFE, He must deliver them from the bondage of this fallen world system. There is no more enslaving aspect of this world than its financial system. In recent weeks the news reports from Cyprus have shown what is coming to mankind everywhere. The events in this small nation serve as a harbinger for people everywhere. Consider the following news report.



Waiting for an A.T.M. in Nicosia, Cyprus, to operate

Cyprus Sets Up Tight Controls as Banks Prepare to Reopen
By LIZ ALDERMAN

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The Cypriot government on Wednesday announced severe restrictions on access to funds held in the country’s banks, hoping to control a rush to withdraw money when the banks open Thursday for the first time in nearly two weeks.

The measures, which are supposed to be in effect for only a week but are widely expected to be extended in some form well into the future, will prohibit electronic transfer of funds from Cyprus to other countries. In addition, individuals will not be allowed to take more than 3,000 euros (about $3,860) in cash outside the country, well below the current ceiling of 10,000 euros.

The cap on withdrawals from automated teller machines will rise to 300 euros a day from 100 euros, but credit and debit card charges will be limited to no more than 5,000 euros a person a month. Banks will not cash checks; they will accept checks as deposits, but many people will no doubt be reluctant to put more money into a bank. Bank clients also will not be able to withdraw money from fixed-term deposits before their maturity date.

“This is a typical set of exchange control measures, more reminiscent of Latin America or Africa,” said Bob Lyddon, the managing director of IBOS, an international banking association. “There is no way these will only last seven days. These are permanent controls until the economy recovers...”

Stress has intensified in recent days in Nicosia, the capital, as Cypriots have grown impatient waiting for the bailout deal to be completed so the banks can reopen and they can get somewhat greater access to their money. Many are also angry at what they see as the inept handling of the situation by Mr. Anastasiades. Others harbor suspicions that the I.M.F. and Germany are punishing Cyprus in part because of its role as a money haven that opened a window for wealthy foreigners to move their funds into the euro zone with few, if any, strictures.

Demonstrations that attracted hundreds here last week have swelled into gatherings of thousands of people who have grown more agitated as they realize that their future under the terms of the bailout will be bleak...

The cost of bailing out the island’s two largest banks, the Bank of Cyprus and Laiki, is to be borne by the banks’ large, uninsured depositors.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Demetriades said he expected big depositors at the Bank of Cyprus to sustain a “haircut,” or loss, of about 40 percent on their 14 billion euros in long-term deposits. In exchange, depositors will receive shares in a recapitalized bank.

But with the economy deteriorating rapidly, major depositors may have to take an even bigger loss so that the Bank of Cyprus can free up cash to protect its rapidly deteriorating loan book.

Laiki, also known as the Cyprus Popular Bank, is even worse off. About four billion euros in deposits there will be transferred to a so-called bad bank, and those assets will most likely be wiped out as the bank is wound down.

Under European Union treaties, restricting the free movement of capital is forbidden. Critics say that what is happening in Cyprus shows that union rules will be flouted when the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and European Union leaders find it convenient to do so...

“It has to be acknowledged that this is something entirely new,” said Nicolas Véron, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a research group in Brussels, and a visiting fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. “This will shape expectations in other countries, and the issue is whether capital controls can be avoided in future episodes.”

Landon Thomas Jr. contributed reporting from Nicosia.
[Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/28/business/global/tensions-escalate-in-cyprus-as-banks-prepare-to-reopen.html]

People of God, if you have been paying attention to what is occurring in Cyprus, you will know that very diabolical actions are being carried out by the international bankers. A free people have had their money confiscated simply because it was on deposit with banks in their nation. The Cypriot government and its banking system had accrued unsustainable debt loads, and required bailing out by other European nations. This situation was itself created by the international bankers who urged nations, banks, and citizens to borrow money in a profligate manner, and then reduced the money supply, collapsing the banking system.

Every part of this was engineered as part of a plan to enslave the people of the world through financial domination. I don’t have the time, or inclination, to go into the details of this plan. There are a myriad of resources available online to those who care to educate themselves on this topic. What I desire to focus upon is what is coming to the rest of Europe, to America, and to all nations. The lives of Christians will be greatly impacted. The degree to which your own life is affected will be commensurate with your level of debt, the amount of money you have in the financial system, and how involved you are with this world system of finance and materialism.

Let me summarize what has occurred in Cyprus. The citizens of that nation, and people from other nations that had money invested in Cypriot banks, have suddenly been robbed of billions of dollars of their savings. The rationale given by the international bankers is that all the people using the banking system bear partial responsibility for the situation there. Therefore, it is required of all those with bank accounts to bear the cost of fixing the situation. People with deposits over 100,000 euros would receive a 40% loss according to the article above, which is several days old. The news yesterday reports that this loss may now be as much as 60% of their deposits.

Wealthy depositors in the Bank of Cyprus could face losses of as much as 60 per cent – far in excess of what had been expected – as the country scrambles to save what is left of its stricken banking sector.

Depositors with more than €100,000 in Bank of Cyprus are set to get shares in the bank in exchange for at least 37.5 per cent of their uninsured deposits, while a further 22.5 per cent of their deposits will be put into a special fund attracting no interest and could see further write-offs...

Large depositors in Laiki Bank, which is being broken into good and bad banks, are likely to see nearly all of their assets written off.
[Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4a1bb1d6-9926-11e2-af84-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2PEIl6hM6]

People of God, let us put a human face on this. Suppose this was your money in the bank. Perhaps you had saved for years for retirement, or to purchase a home, or to start a business. Suddenly, and without warning, the banks close and a crisis is declared. The banks remain closed for two weeks, and you are only able to withdraw a limited amount each day, enough to buy some food, or gasoline.

While the banks are closed, international bankers begin implementing the next step of their long laid plans. For the first time they say that those with deposits in the bank are responsible to bear the burden of the bailout. Bank assets are seized. Politicians and bankers working in collusion determine that the wealthier depositors, will have to forfeit much of their assets. This assures the destruction of the middle class. In some instances people lose everything they had in the bank. In the more “fortunate” instances they may retain 40% of what they had in the bank.

Yet, it doesn’t stop there. You can imagine the anger and fear of people in this situation. Many knowing the banks to be acting in a criminal manner want to withdraw all of their money, but this is not permitted. Financial controls, although illegal, have been implemented and are allowed by the government. After all, the governments are borrowers and are deeply in debt. The borrower is slave to the lender. As Amschel Meyer Rothschild stated, “Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.”

The people of the nation are told that they cannot withdraw more than a few hundred dollars/euros a day. They cannot transfer large sums to other banks, or withdraw THEIR money which is in the bank. In effect, it is no longer considered the people’s money. It is the international bankers’ money. They write the rules. They control your funds. They say how much of your money you will lose, and how much you can use on a daily basis.

Many respond by saying, “I won’t use the banks anymore.” Yet, even here they are stymied for the banks will not cash the people’s paychecks. They require that every person must deposit their paycheck. That way all money has to pass through their hands and they can continue to hold your funds and tell you how much you can use each day. This is the ultimate servitude. It is the enslavement of the masses.

People of God, do not believe the lie that this is a one time event that will not be repeated. Now that the genie is out of the bottle it will not be put back in. This same scenario that is being played out in Cyprus will soon be observed in other European nations, in America, and across the globe.

What can you do?

The answer is radical. To many of you Yahshua would say:

“If you want to be perfect (mature, lacking in nothing), go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."

I can say with confidence that the Lord’s directions to His people will universally include an abandonment of your will to follow Him wherever He leads. Yahweh told me years ago that I was being called forth as a pioneer among His people in this generation to experience things that they would shortly be called to experience in much larger numbers. He testified to me that I would serve as an explorer and guide to show His sons and daughters the way forward.

Yahweh had me extricate myself from the world system of finance and property back in 1999. I was led to relinquish most of my possessions, either selling them, or returning them to the bank. The Father had me to become debt free, and to live within the means of His provision. At the same time I was directed to leave my employment and trust Him for all my supply. I had a wife, two children, and no savings in the bank. I had no church or organization to support me. I was cast wholly upon the Father.

Yahweh will not tell everyone to do exactly what I was directed to do. He won’t tell all to leave their jobs, at least not yet. However, the general principles observed in my life are universal. All who would be disciples of Yahshua must surrender their lives and possessions to the Lord to be disposed of, or utilized, at His direction. There must be an end to the soul’s rule in the life of the Christian. Fears must be faced and overcome. Carnal desires must be cast down. The saints of Christ must commit themselves to go wherever the Father leads, and to do whatever He asks of them.

The things we own in this world can be a great burden. They weigh us down. Having much of the world’s goods tends toward inertia. It is difficult to react quickly to the Lord’s direction when we are carrying around the world’s possessions. Caring for personal property becomes a consuming drive, requiring much of our time, energy, and money. The less personal property you have, the more freedom you will have to spend your thought, time, energy, and money on things of the Lord.

I am confident that the people of God will find the Spirit directing them to lighten their load. They will be instructed to sell, give away, or otherwise dispose of a majority of their worldly goods. This will in a very tangible way set them free from the rule of this world system. The more you own and possess, the more you will be pressured to conform to the dictates of a corrupt and evil financial system and its masters. The man or woman who owns nothing will experience the greatest freedom.

You may ask, “How will I live? In what way will I survive?” If you are following the leading of the Spirit, Yahweh will provide all you need. Even as He fed an entire nation in the wilderness for forty years, He will provide for His sons and daughters who yield their lives to follow Him. From October 1999 until some time in 2001, and during the years 2003-2005, I had no job yet the Father provided daily for my wife, children and I. Since February 2008 I have not been employed. I have followed the Father wherever He has guided me. I have done whatever He has asked me to do. HE has supplied all my need.

An hour is near at hand when the following words of the Lord must become more than a historical speech to the people of God. Christ’s disciples must walk in the substance of Yahshua’s words.

Matthew 6:24-34
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single cubit to his life's span? And why are you anxious about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?' For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.”

People of God, what will you do when that which is occurring today in Cyprus occurs in the nation in which you live? How long will you wait until you surrender your life to Yahshua to do whatever He asks of you? If you cling to a materially focused life in this world as the majority of Christians are doing, you will suffer great loss, both physically and spiritually. You can mitigate the loss you will experience by counting the cost of following Yahshua now. Surrender everything you are, and everything you possess, into His care. Whatever He asks you to do, do it.

Do not deceive yourself and say, “Perhaps trouble will pass me by. Maybe these really aren’t the last days. Maybe peace and prosperity will continue for many more years.” Did not the inhabitants of Israel and Judah say the same. Yet the Assyrians and Babylonians came and took away their homes, their possessions, and enslaved them all.

The best defense you can have against that which is to come is to be as little invested in this world system and its form of finance as possible. The days are short. The writing is on the wall. Satan’s kingdom is rising. Darkness is falling swiftly over the earth. Let us walk in the light, following our Savior and Lord wherever He would lead.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.


Joseph Herrin

North Korea tells embassies in Pyongyang to plan for evacuation

North Korea has asked embassies in Pyongyang that might wish to get staff out if there is a war to submit plans to it by April 10, Britain said on Friday, as it upped the pressure as part of a war of words that has set the Korean peninsula on edge.

Initial reports by Russia’s Foreign Ministry and China’s Xinhua news agency suggested that North Korea had suggested that embassies should consider closing because of the risk of conflict.

The request came amid a military buildup by the United States in South Korea following the North’s warnings that war was inevitable due to U.N. sanctions imposed for a nuclear test and what it terms “hostile” U.S. troop drills with South Korea.

“We believe they have taken this step as part of their continuing rhetoric that the U.S. poses a threat to them,” Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement after the reports from Russia and China.

A British diplomatic official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that European Union embassies in Pyongyang had been summoned to deliver their evacuation plans.

National Post

What same-sex "marriage" has done to Massachusetts

It's far worse than most people realize

by Brian Camenker October 2008 Updated June 2012

Anyone who thinks that same-sex "marriage" is a benign eccentricity which won't affect the average person should consider what it has done to Massachusetts since 2004. It's become a hammer to force the acceptance and normalization of homosexuality on everyone. The slippery slope is real. New radical demands never cease. What has happened in the last several years is truly frightening.

In this article:

•  The public schools •  Public health •  Hospitals •  Domestic violence •  Business & employment •  Legal profession & judicial system •  Adoption & birth certificates

•  Government mandates •  The public square •  Churches being harassed •  The media •  Politics •  Rule of law •  Conclusion

On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court announced its Goodridge opinion, declaring that it was unconstitutional not to allow same-sex "marriage." Six months later, despite public outrage, homosexual "weddings" began to take place. And that was just the beginning . . .

The public schools

The homosexual "marriage" onslaught in public schools across the state started soon after the November 2003 court ruling.

• At my own children's high school there was a school-wide assembly to celebrate same-sex "marriage" in early December 2003. It featured an array of speakers, including teachers at the school who announced that they would be "marrying" their same-sex partners and starting families, either through adoption or artificial insemination. Literature on same-sex marriage - how it is now a normal part of society - was handed out to the students.
• Within months it was brought into the middle schools. In September 2004, an 8th-grade teacher in Brookline, Mass., told National Public Radio that the marriage ruling had opened up the door for teaching homosexuality. "In my mind, I know that, 'OK, this is legal now.' If somebody wants to challenge me, I'll say, 'Give me a break. It's legal now,'" she told NPR. She added that she now discusses gay sex with her students as explicitly as she desires. For example, she said she tells the kids that lesbians can have vaginal intercourse using sex toys.
• By the following year it was in elementary school curricula - with hostility toward parents who disagreed. Kindergartners in Lexington, Mass. were given copies of a picture book, Who's in a Family?, telling them that same-sex couples are just another kind of family, just like their own parents. When David Parker - parent of a kindergartner - calmly refused to leave a school meeting unless officials agreed to notify him when discussing homosexuality or transgenderism with his son, the school had him arrested and jailed overnight.
• The next year, second graders at the same school were read a book,King & King, about two men who fall in love and marry each other, ending with a picture of them kissing. When parents Robb and Robin Wirthlin complained, they were told that the school had no obligation to notify them or allow them to opt their child out.
• In 2007 a federal judge ruled that because of "gay marriage" in Massachusetts, parents have no rights regarding the teaching of homosexual relationships in schools. The previous year the Parkers and Wirthlins had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit to force the schools to notify parents and allow them to opt out their elementary-school children when homosexual-related subjects were taught. The federal judge dismissed the case. The appeals judges later upheld the first judge's ruling that because same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts, the school actually had a duty to normalize homosexual relationships to children; and schools have no obligation to notify parents or let them opt out their children. Acceptance of homosexuality had become a matter of good citizenship!
  
  Think about that: Because same-sex marriage is "legal," federal judges have ruled that the schools now have a duty to portray homosexual relationships as normal to children, despite what parents think or believe!
• The judges also allowed the school to overrule the Massachusetts parental notification law on this issue, with the claim that homosexuality or same-sex marriages are not "human sexuality issues" (to which the law refers).
• School libraries have also radically changed. School libraries across the state, from elementary school to high school, now have expanding shelves of books to normalize homosexual behavior and "lifestyle" in the minds of kids, some of them quite explicit and even pornographic. Parents' complaints are ignored or met with hostility.
• A large, slick hardcover book celebrating Massachusetts homosexual marriages began to appear in many school libraries across the state. Titled Courting Equality, it was supplied to schools by a major homosexual activist organization. Its apparent purpose was to teach kids that "gay marriage" was a great civil rights victory.
• It has become commonplace in Massachusetts schools for teachers to display photos of their same-sex "spouses" and occasionally bring their "spouses" to school functions. At one point, both high schools in my own town had principals who were "married" to their same-sex partners who came to school and were introduced to the students.
• "Gay days" in schools are considered necessary to fight "intolerance" against same-sex relationships. Hundreds of high schools and even middle schools across the state now hold "gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender days." In my own town, a school committee member announced that combating "homophobia" was now a top priority. The schools not only "celebrate" homosexual marriage, but have moved beyond to promote other behaviors such as cross-dressing and transsexuality.
• As a result, many more children in Massachusetts appear to be self-identifying as "gay." According to the Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey, given to students in high schools across the state, between 2005 and 2009 both the percentage of kids "identifying as gay" and who had same-sex contact rose by approximately 50%. Although this bi-annual survey is unscientific and largely unreliable, it still shows a disturbing trend among those students who chose to answer the questions in this way. (At a minimum, it implies that these answers are being encouraged.)
• Once homosexuality is normalized, all boundaries begin to come down. The schools have already moved on to normalizing transgenderism (including cross-dressing and sex changes). The state-funded Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth, which goes into schools with homosexual and transgender programs and activities for children, includes prominent activists who are transsexuals.
• In 2006 a cross-dressing man undergoing a sex-change operation was brought into a third-grade class in Newton to teach the children that there are now "different kinds of families." School officials told a mother that her complaints to the principal were considered "inappropriate behavior"! She ended up removing her child from the school.

Public health

• The Commissioner of the Mass. Dept. of Public Health, who is "married" to another man, told a crowd of kids at the state-sponsored Youth Pride event in 2007 that it's "wonderful being gay" and he wants to make sure there's enough HIV testing available for all of them.
• The STD test required to obtain a marriage license was eliminated five months after same-sex "marriages" began in Massachusetts, by a bill quietly signed by Gov. Mitt Romney. This was despite an increase in syphilis cases and other STDs in homosexual men in Massachusetts at the time (according to the Mass. Dept. of Public Health).
• In recent years state funding for HIV/AIDS programs has gone up considerably in Massachusetts, along with the proportion of homosexual-related cases. According to the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health, even though the total number of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses has declined, the proportion caused by male homosexual behavior rose by over 30% from 2000-2009. Thus, for the last several years the state has budgeted $30-$35 million per year for these programs. This dwarfs spending on any other viral disease that we are aware of.
• A hideously obscene booklet on "gay" practices created by health officials was given out in a high school. Citing "the right to marry" as one of the "important challenges" in a place where "it's a great time to be gay," the Mass. Dept. of Public Health helped the AIDS Action Committee produce The Little Black Book: Queer in the 21st Century.It was given to teens at Brookline High School on April 30, 2005. Among other things, it gives "tips" to boys on how to perform oral sex on other males, masturbate other males, and how to "safely" have someone urinate on you for sexual pleasure. It even included a directory of bars in Boston where young men meet for anonymous sex.

Hospitals

• Because of the purported necessity to cater to "LGBT health" issues, nearly every major Boston hospital has become an active supporter of the radical homosexual movement. This includes marching in the "Gay Pride" parades, holding homosexual events, and putting on numerous"gay health"-related seminars. This is one of the most disturbing things that's happened since "gay marriage" became "legal."
• A major Boston hospital threatened to fire a physician when he objected to its promotion of homosexual behavior. In 2011 a prominent physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston -- a large Harvard-affiliated hospital -- objected to the hospital being involved with "Gay Pride" activities. He also pointed out to his superiors the medical health risks of homosexuality, and said that he and others at the hospital considered homosexual acts to be unnatural and immoral. The hospital then threatened to fire him, telling him that same-sex marriage is "legal" and that his comments constituted "harassment and discrimination." After a "hearing" he was allowed to keep his job, but was told to apologize and to keep his opinions on these matters to himself.
• In 2012 the Boston Medical Center purchased a prominent full-color ad (full page, inside cover) in the Boston Gay Pride guide book. The content? The entire ad promoted the hospital's STD and AIDS clinics for the "pride" participants - particularly its screening services for gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, hepatitis, and HIV.

Domestic violence

• Every year more state money goes to deal with the high incidence of homosexual domestic violence. Since "gay marriage" began, Massachusetts has one of the highest proportions of homosexuals living as couples in the country. Given the extremely dysfunctional nature of homosexual relationships, the Massachusetts Legislature has felt the need to spend more and more money to deal with that problem. "Gay domestic violence programs" have also become a major lobbying push in the State House by the homosexual groupMassEquality. This year it comprises a considerable portion of a $5.5 million state budget item (according to MassEquality). This is up from $100,000 budgeted in 2007.
• "Gay domestic partner violence" literature (funded by the state) is now distributed at virtually every public homosexual event - including to children at "Youth Pride" events, GLSEN conferences, "gay straight alliance" high school clubs - and especially at the various events and parades during "Gay Pride" week.
• It has become such a problem that a public candlelight vigil in downtown Boston is held every year by a coalition of Massachusetts homosexual groups "to remember victims of recent LGBT intimate partner violence, and to raise awareness of this important community issue."

Business and employment

• All insurance in Massachusetts must now recognize same-sex "married" couples in their coverage. This includes auto insurance, health insurance, life insurance, etc.
• Businesses must recognize same-sex "married" couples in all their benefits, activities, etc., regarding both employees and customers.
• People can now get fired from their jobs for expressing religious objections to same-sex "marriage." In 2009, a deputy manager at a Brookstone store in Boston was fired from his job for mentioning his belief to another manager who had kept bringing up the subject with him that day. Brookstone's letter of termination (quoted on local TV news) said his comment was "inappropriate" because "in the State of Massachusetts, same-sex marriage is legal."
• The wedding industry is required to serve the homosexual community if requested. Wedding photographers, halls, caterers, etc., must accept same-sex marriage events or be held liable for discrimination.
• Businesses are often "tested" for tolerance by homosexual activists. Groups of homosexual activists go into restaurants or bars and publicly kiss and fondle each other to test whether the establishment demonstrates sufficient "equality" - now that homosexual marriage is "legal." Then they report "tolerance violators" to authorities, and businesses can be fined and punished. In fact, more and more overt displays of homosexual affection are seen in public places across the state to reinforce "marriage equality."

Legal profession and judicial system

• The Massachusetts Bar Exam now tests lawyers on their knowledge of same-sex marriage "law." In 2007, a Boston man failed the Massachusetts bar exam because he refused to answer a question about homosexual marriage.
• In many firms, lawyers in Massachusetts practicing family law must now attend seminars on homosexual "marriage." Issues regarding homosexual "families" are now firmly entrenched in the Massachusetts legal system. In addition, there are now several homosexual judges overseeing the Massachusetts family courts.
• In 2011 the Governor appointed Barbara Lenk, a "married" lesbian activist, to be a state Supreme Court Justice. She has said that the interpretation of law "evolves and develops" because "minority groups [e.g., homosexuals] see certain things differently based on their own experiences."

Adoption and birth certificates

• In the year after the "gay marriage" ruling, the state's adoption and foster care workers went through a massive indoctrination on "LGBT youth awareness." This included employees and managers at the Mass. Dept. of Social Services. These sessions were run by the radicalNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force (which once awarded a "Leather Leadership Award" to the owner of a pornographic video company). The emphasis was that those working with children must be trained that homosexuality (and transgenderism) are normal. At one session, the trainer announced that the new motto is, "To tolerate is an assault; you have to accept" this behavior.
• Homosexual "married" couples can now demand to be allowed to adopt children - through any agency. In 2006 Catholic Charitiesdecided to abandon handling adoptions rather submit to regulations requiring them to allow homosexuals to adopt the children in their care.
• Adoption agencies have said that 40% of their adoptions are to homosexual couples. Anecdotal reports also indicate that many adoption agencies now favor homosexuals over normal couples.
• In 2006 the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (DSS) honored two men "married" to each other as their "Parents of the Year." The men had adopted a baby through DSS (against the wishes of the baby's birth parents). According to news reports, the day after that adoption was final, DSS approached the men about adopting a second child.
• The state-funded Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) has been pushing "GLBT" family formation and holds "adoption parties" where homosexual couples have been encouraged to attend (along with others) and see "available" children in person. MARE places prominent ads in GLBT publications.
• Birth certificates in Massachusetts have been changed from "mother" and "father" to "mother/parent" and "father/parent." Two men or two women can now be listed as the "parents" on birth certificates! Homosexuals who adopt can revise children's' existing birth certificates.
• A court ruled in 2012 that if a child is "born of a same-sex marriage," there is no need for adoption by a non-biological parent. Thus, they would both be the listed as the "parents" on the child's birth certificate, without any formal proceedings necessary. (The other biological parent is not noted on the official birth certificate.)

Government mandates

• Marriage licenses and certificates in Massachusetts now have "Party A" and "Party B" instead of "husband" and "wife." Imagine having a marriage license like that.
• In 2004, Governor Mitt Romney ordered Justices of the Peace to perform homosexual marriages when requested or be fired. Several Justices of the Peace immediately decided to resign. That order still stands. Also Town Clerks were forced by the Governor's office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
• In 2008 Massachusetts changed the state Medicare laws to include homosexual "married" couples in the coverage.

The public square

• Since gay "marriage" began, public "Gay Pride" events have become more prominent in the public square. There are more politicians and corporations participating, and even police organizations take part. And the envelope gets pushed further and further. For example: the annual profane "Dyke March" through downtown Boston, and the 2008 "transgender" parade in Northampton that included bare-chested women who have had their breasts surgically removed (so they could "become" men). Governor Patrick even marched with his 17-year-old "out lesbian" daughter in the 2008 Boston Pride event, right behind a sadomasochist "leather" group brandishing a black and blue flag, lashes and chains!

Churches being harassed

Churches and religious people have been demonized, harassed and threatened - with no punishment for the perpetrators. Since the "gay marriage" ruling, those who publicly disagree with "gay marriage" or the normalcy of homosexuality - or hold events promoting traditional beliefs - are targets of militant retribution by homosexual activists. Police and public officials have shown no interest in stopping this. We are not aware of a single homosexual activist arrested (or charged with any "hate crime") for disrupting a religious event or threatening and harassing people at a church. For example:

• In 2012 someone threatened to burn down a Catholic Church in Acushnet which posted the words "Two men are friends, not spouses" on its outdoor sign. The church immediately received a flood of profane phone calls. At least one person threatened to burn down the church. An activist nailed a sign to church's fence saying, "Spread love not hate." Activists staged a protest outside of the Sunday Mass to intimidate parishioners with a sign saying, "It is legal for two men or women to be spouses." Neither the police nor the District Attorney pursued the threats as a hate crime or other offense.
• In 2010 a Catholic elementary school balked at letting a lesbian couple enroll their son. As a result, the school was excoriated in the media and even by the local liberal state representative as "discriminatory." The privately-run Catholic Schools Foundation then threatened to withhold funding to the school unless it relented. The Archdiocese eventually backed down and the school reversed its policy.
• In 2009 angry homosexual activists terrorized the Park Street Church in Boston while it was holding an ex-gay religious training session inside. They demonstrated next to the doors and windows with signs, screaming homosexual slogans. One of them held a bullhorn against the window outside the meeting, bellowing at the participants inside. Police did nothing to stop them, even though they were standing inside the historic cemetery adjacent to the church.
• In 2006 dozens of screaming homosexual activists drowned out the speakers at an outdoor pro-marriage rally in Worcester organized byCatholic Vote, yelling "Bigots" and disgusting chants. Police did not stop them, even though the rally had a permit. When one of the rioters rushed the stage and started shouting, a rally organizer tried to lead her to the side. She subsequently sued that organizer for assault! He went through a four-day trial and was acquitted by a jury. But no charges were filed against any of the rioters.
• In 2006 a group of homosexual activists with signs taunted and screamed at people entering and leaving the Tremont Temple Baptist Church in downtown Boston, which was holding a nationally televised pro-marriage event inside.
• In 2005 hundreds of homosexual activists terrorized the Tremont Temple Baptist Church with makeshift coffins, screaming obscenities through loudspeakers as the national pro-family group Focus on the Family held a religious conference inside. The crowd was so threatening that attendees could not leave the church for the lunch break. The Boston riot police stood in front of the church doors, but did nothing to disperse the protesters who were also completely blocking the street.

The media

• The Boston media regularly features articles and news stories using homosexual "married" couples where regular married couples would normally be used. It's "equal," they insist, so there must be no difference in how marriage is portrayed. Also, the newspaper advice columns now deal with homosexual "marriage" issues - and how to properly accept it.
• A number of news reporters and TV anchors are "out" homosexuals (at least one openly "married") who march in the "Gay Pride" parades and publicly participate in other homosexual events.

Politics

• A climate of fear has kept politicians at all levels from disagreeing with or criticizing same-sex marriage since it became "legal." Public officials are afraid of being accused of wanting to "take away rights." Those who support traditional marriage rarely discuss it publicly. And this fear has expanded to suppress any meaningful debate on all homosexual related issues. Additionally, it has brought a feeling of intimidation among pro-family people across the state.
• The Massachusetts Republican establishment has become arguably the most "pro-gay marriage" GOP in America. The state GOP House and Senate leaders now both publicly support "gay marriage," as did the recent Mass. GOP candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor. GOP candidates for office are told not even to discuss it.
• In April 2009, the Chairman of the Mass. Republican Party told a homosexual newspaper that the GOP would no longer oppose "gay marriage." Then Chairman Jennifer Nassour, interviewed on the front page of Bay Windows, assured the gay community that the state GOP would "steer clear of social" issues such as "opposition to same-sex marriage and abortion." The newly elected chairman, Bob Maginn, does not talk about the issue.
• Every Massachusetts state-wide elected official and member of Congress (but one) now publicly supports "gay marriage." The one (apparent) holdout, Republican US Senator Scott Brown, strenuously avoids the issue, saying that it's "settled law" and not worth fighting over.

Rule of law

• Same-sex "marriage" came to Massachusetts through a radical court's narrow ruling. Because of that, there is an often depressing sense of helplessness that pervades this issue. The marriage statute was never changed, and it has been convincingly argued that the whole process was in violation of the state constitution. The Governor simply went along. And the Legislature acted to block popular votes on two separate constitutional amendments protecting marriage, after sufficient signatures had been gathered for each. The rule of law seems further lost with every new outrage imposed on the people.
• Even the Massachusetts Law Library (online) shows no law legalizing same-sex marriage, only a court opinion. It is a dangerous precedent to allow such sweeping judicial activism to stand as law, enabling everything that has followed from it. It should serve as a warning to states across the country.

In conclusion

Same-sex "marriage" hangs over society, hammering citizens with the force of law. Once it gets a foothold, society becomes more oppressive. Unfortunately, it was imposed on the people of Massachusetts through a combination of radical, arrogant judges and pitifully cowardly politicians. The homosexual movement has used that combination to its continued advantage around the country.

It's pretty clear that this radical movement is obsessed with marriage not because large numbers of homosexuals actually want to marry each other. A small percentage actually "marry." (In fact, over the last several months, theSunday Boston Globe's marriage section hasn't had any photos of homosexual marriages; at first it was full of them.) Research shows that homosexuals' relationships are fundamentally dysfunctional on many levels, and real "marriage" as we know it isn't something they can achieve, or even truly desire.

The push for "gay marriage" is really is about putting the legal stamp of approval on homosexuality and forcing its acceptance on (otherwise unwilling) citizens and our social, political, and commercial institutions.

To the rest of America: You've been forewarned.

Copyright (c) 2012 MassResistance