CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FOR PREACHING IN NEW ORLEANS AFTER SUNSET: POLICE VOW TO TARGET CHURCHES NEXT [Excerpts]

A pastor and five members of his ministry team were arrested [September 14] in New Orleans, Louisiana for preaching on Bourbon Street after sunset.

Bourbon Street is located in the French Quarter, and is most known for its preponderance of bars and strip clubs. It is the center of night life in the city and also a tourist attraction during events like Mardis Gras and the Southern Decadence Festival, which are known for featuring lewd acts in the streets. Bohn called the area his "mission field" as he has been preaching in the city since 1996. He said that he engages in evangelistic activity in New Orleans at least three times a week. "Jesus saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion for them.... [Similarly], he's given us a love for the city and the people here," [Pastor Troy] Bohn stated. "Would I be willing to go through somebody tossing beer in my face or cursing me out to reach somebody? Yes."

He outlined that last night was typical of most nights as the group began sharing
Christ with the crowds. "We had our cross set up, and one young man that works with us [named Logan] was sharing the Gospel," he explained to Christian News Network. "Some of the girls were talking to others."

Bohn said that as the preaching went forth, a sergeant with the New Orleans Police Department approached, and so Bohn asked him what was the matter.

"[He said,] there's an ordinance against aggressive solicitation and you are under arrest," he recounted. "They began to handcuff Logan and they said, 'We're going to cuff you guys so you can't take off.'"

Bohn said that as the incident unfolded, he heard the sergeant give the order, "Be sure to find out what church they are with because we are going to start going after these churches."

"It kind of chilled me," he stated. "Are we the threat preaching Jesus? No, I kind of like to think that we are holding back the darkness." Bohn explained that one of the women that was arrested, named Kelsey, was saved during their outreach at Voodoo Fest last October, and now goes out with the group to share Christ with others.

"A young lady had come by [one night] who was working at one of the strip clubs,"
he recounted. "Something spoke to her that said, 'Get out of there,' and then she
saw the cross and gave her heart to Jesus that night.... She's just a totally changed person.""There's a lot of Kelseys out there that are just looking for somebody in a dark place," Bohn added. "So many of the girls are hooked on drugs, abusive situations, and backyard prostitution."

After the ministry team was placed under arrest, they were all marched down to the precinct house where they were held for one hour. Bohn and two others were charged with violating the ordinance; the others, including both women, were not processed.

(Clark, "Christians Arrested for Preaching in New Orleans After Sunset; Police Vow to Target Churches Next," Christian News Network, 9/15/12).

EVANGELICALS REJECTING GOD'S WORD

THE KARL PRINCIPLE: EVANGELICALS REJECTING GOD'S WORD [Excerpts]

Recently, I was inadvertently directed to a year-old post [and] I thought I would
offer a few comments. It represents one of those remorseful, head-wagging invectives
against what is perceived as idiocy within evangelical circles. In a nutshell, the
authoress cites from an article last year from the New York Times written by pseudo-evangelical,
Karl Giberson, and [another author], in which they complain bitterly about what
stupid liars 6-day creationists like Ken Ham and Al Mohler Jr. really are and what
a terrible disservice they are to both Jesus and the little lambs of His church.

Karl goes on to mournfully opine how evangelicals like Ham and Mohler have turned
their backs on society, creating a parallel sub-culture that allegedly presents
alternative views of reality with their teaching as well as rejects "science." The
word "science" here is new-speak for the Darwinian evolutionary worldview, btw.
In other words, young earth creationists don't do "science." It's voodoo or something.

What is missed in this blog report is how Karl's materialistic, a-miraculous, naturalistic
Biologos vision of "evangelicalism" is incompatible with biblical Christian theology,
the very concerns Ham and Mohler express from their parallel sub-culture. In fact,
nothing is even stated about Karl and his friends being funded by a foundation set
up by Charles Templeton who became a notorious apostate before his death.

Everything I've read from Karl is that he doesn't really care about the incompatibility
between a Darwinian worldview and biblical Christianity anyway, because he believes
evangelicals take the Bible too seriously. In his mind, we need to abandon the doctrines
of infallibility and inerrancy because they are bogus to begin with.

Four things here: First, [Young Earth Creation (YEC)] is a matter of biblical authority.
The text of Genesis says God created in 6 ordinary days, as does the rest of the
Bible whenever it touches on creation, including our own Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. If you claim to take the Bible seriously as a divinely inspired, infallible
document, you cannot possibly get around this fact. You will only be denying the
meaning of language and the principles of grammar in order to do so. Moreover,
insurmountable exegetical and theological problems are created as well. This is
regrettably the position of many old earth proponents like Hugh Ross and his Reasons
to Believe crew.

Secondly, the writer doesn't tell the readers that old earth proponents like Hugh
Ross are also at odds with even Karl Giberson and the Biologos people. That is because,
as muddled as Hugh's exegesis of the Genesis text may be, he at least attempts to
affirm supernatural creation, albeit in spurts during progressive ages over millions
of years. The Biologos guys reject such a view because of its supernatural implications....
Ultimately, the "age of the earth" really has nothing to do with the disagreement
Giberson and Biologos have with these rogue evangelicals who teach young earth creationism.
It is God's creating just like it says in the Bible that bothers them.

Third. Why is it that Christians have to question everything taught to them by Ken
Ham and Al Mohler when it comes to creation and the age of the earth? Does this
charge equally apply to old earth proponents?

Fourth. I think the idea of hapless, sheltered home schooled fundamentalist kids
losing their faith and going apostate after they bump up against genuine science
is highly exaggerated. How do we explain the opposite phenomenon? That being, public
schooled and strictly secular educated kids who are saturated heavily in old earth,
Darwinian thinking embracing young earth, biblical creationism? Is it because they
caught a bad case of the "stupids?"

I believe fundamentalist defection has more to do with a spiritual heart condition
rather than home schooled kids being unable to defend YEC in college. It wasn't
a matter of bad "science" being challenged by unanswerable evidence. It was a matter
of an unconverted heart.

("The Karl Principle: Evangelicals Rejecting God's Word," Hip and Thigh Blog, Word
Press, October 9, 2012)

Quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant creates just 400 jobs
Battery maker A123 Systems vowed thousands of new jobs when it received a nearly quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant in late 2009, but federal job-tracking figures show only a few hundred positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy. 

Germany makes case for British EU membership
Germany has told the UK it is an important and needed member of the European Union, just days after London spelled out its deep ambivalence about its EU future. "Britain is an important partner in the European Union," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a meeting of her centre-right CDU party on Monday (29 October), adding that she would travel to London next week to meet Prime Minister David Cameron.  

Tony Blair: the EU needs a president
In a move interpreted by some as a job application, the former prime minister said the EU could do with a strong leader approved by the people. "An election for a big post held by one person - this people can understand," he said. "The problem with the European Parliament is that though clearly democratically elected, my experience is people don't feel close to their MEPs."  

Europe wants Obama- Why?
The British, the only European power on which Americans can rely through thick and thin, have been left with the impression that he sees them as the yesterday land, the dreadful old colonialists of his father's Kenya. Sending back the bust of Winston Churchill to the British Embassy in his first week was a symbol so petty it should have been beneath him. 

Facebook Censors Navy SEALs to Protect Obama on Benghazi-Gate
Over the weekend, Facebook took down a message by the Special Operations Speaks PAC (SOS) which highlighted the fact that Obama denied backup to the forces being overrun in Benghazi. 

Tony Blair: the EU needs a president
In a move interpreted by some as a job application, the former prime minister said the EU could do with a strong leader approved by the people. "An election for a big post held by one person - this people can understand," he said. "The problem with the European Parliament is that though clearly democratically elected, my experience is people don't feel close to their MEPs." 

Former British PM Tony Blair Calls for New Momentum in Europe
His speech to the Berggruen Institue on Governance's "Council on the Future of Europe" is Now Available Online-Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair called on European states to make a "grand bargain" to take European unification to a higher level. "In the long run, and in principle, Europe is the right decision," Blair said in his speech before the Berggruen Institute's Council on the Future of Europe on Monday.  

Europe wants Obama- Why?
The British, the only European power on which Americans can rely through thick and thin, have been left with the impression that he sees them as the yesterday land, the dreadful old colonialists of his father's Kenya. Sending back the bust of Winston Churchill to the British Embassy in his first week was a symbol so petty it should have been beneath him. 

Startling Starting Over?

Rumor has it that the politicians and the money powers that be, nationally and globally, have a plan that would eliminate all debt and intend to put it in place and restart up again under a totally changed economic system. Things are so chaotic within the fiscal world that such is the only solution.

Absolutely ludicrous--unthinkable--you say? Well, I thought so, too, until the rumor began taking on more and more legitimacy just this past week.

Rush Limbaugh made a special point of the fact that it came to his attention that the planners of the Obama administration were rumored to be considering such an option immediately, or not long after beginning a second term. All debt would be written off with a stroke of the presidential pen and a new monetary regime, excluding the old dollar, would be put into place.

He didn’t give details, but who could possibly give details on what such a change would take–and would mean? Such rearrangement would have incalculable ramifications and consequences, it seems to me.

So, I pushed that to the back of the cogitations of my gray matter. Then, I began seeing stories appearing talking about such possibilities as wiping out debt and replacing the system with something…exactly what, who knows?

One such article, in particular, I’ve excerpted here.

So there is a magic wand after all. A revolutionary paper by the International Monetary Fund claims that one could eliminate the net public debt of the US at a stroke, and by implication do the same for Britain, Germany, Italy, or Japan. The IMF reports say the conjuring trick is to replace our system of private bank-created money.

One could slash private debt by 100pc of GDP, boost growth, stabilize prices, and dethrone bankers all at the same time. It could be done cleanly and painlessly, by legislative command, far more quickly than anybody imagined.

The conjuring trick is to replace our system of private bank-created money--roughly 97pc of the money supply--with state-created money. We return to the historical norm, before Charles II placed control of the money supply in private hands with the English Free Coinage Act of 1666.

Specifically, it means an assault on "fractional reserve banking." If lenders are forced to put up 100pc reserve backing for deposits, they lose the exorbitant privilege of creating money out of thin air.

The nation regains sovereign control over the money supply. There are no more banks runs, and fewer boom-bust credit cycles. Accounting legerdemain will do the rest. That at least is the argument. (Ambrose Evans Prichard, "IMF's Epic Plan to Conjure away Debt and Dethrone Bankers," Telegraph, 10/22/12)

All one has to do to imagine the upheaval such a thing as writing off all debt and beginning again would bring is to think of one word –China. Imagine that the U.S. says to China, “We are writing off all we owe you. Hope you will understand.”

Now, I’m no economist, and I realize all of the above is so shallow in its pondering as to probably make yours truly appear a simpleton to those with acumen within and great knowledge of global economics. But, I do know that the Chinese leadership would not take kindly to our saying: “We’ve decided to just not pay you back. Now, won’t you please join us in this new monetary experiment?”

And that brings me to the point that such an undertaking as writing off debt and beginning again could never be as simple as a stroke of the pen. We have contemplated often that there is no way out of the economic morass in which this nation and the world are now imprisoned. We have considered often that either something must be done or the U.S. and the world face catastrophic implosion.

Love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, Paul tells us through divine inspiration (1 Timothy 6:10). So, it is fitting that this world of rebels has made its own bed and now must climb into it.

That rebellious world will still be the same in its comportment following this presidential election. No matter who wins, America and virtually all other nations face the prospect of stark change or total implosion. And that is just considering the economic circumstance. Throw into the mix the Middle East rumors of war and the myriad potentially devastating problems on the horizon, and to paraphrase the late Sen. Everett Dirksen regarding billions of dollars in spending the government was already doing, pretty soon you’re talking some real problems.

Whoever is the president after the next inauguration, their task is not to be envied. However, I’m convinced that Christians can continue to look forward to the brightest of all futures, because God’s most devastating judgment is reserved for the time when Jesus intervenes and brings His Bride, the church–all born-again believers—into His presence and takes them to the Father’s house (John 14:1-3).

We are in the end times the Lord described as like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. The same day those men and their families were removed from their judgment-bound environments, judgment fell. That’s why the total implosion of the economy continues to loom rather than occur.

When the Lord calls as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, the crash so feared will cascade upon this doomed world. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Now, that will truly be a startling starting over!

http://raptureready.com/rap16.html

FEMA, W.H. send storm victims to Internet

[Talk about out of touch with reality...]

By: Steve Friess

October 29, 2012 04:48 PM EDT

When President Barack Obama urged Americans under siege from Hurricane Sandy to stay inside and keep watch on ready.gov for the latest, he left out something pretty important — where to turn if the electricity goes out.

Despite the heightened expectation of widespread power and cable television failures, everyone from the president to local newscasters seem to expect the public to rely entirely on the Internet and their TVs for vital news and instructions.

None of the major cable or local news channels put emergency phone numbers or key radio station frequencies on their screens. The only phone-related instructions on the homepage of ready.gov is how to get monthly disaster-prep text messages. The Federal Emergency Management Agency told the public via Twitter to use texts and social media outlets to stay informed.TV and radio are still the primary methods of getting information about Hurricane Sandy to the public, but social media are increasingly important to those efforts, FEMA chief Craig Fugate said Monday.

“With these types of storms, you get a lot of this is going to be carried out through the traditional TV and radio media,” Fugate told reporters on a conference call. “But we’re using a lot more social media, we’re using everything from Facebook to Twitter. I think there’s a higher degree of awareness that people have of the storm is coming and what the impacts are going to be.”

Fugate also talked up battery-operated or hand-cranked radios during interviews on morning news shows.

A call to FEMA’s news desk, however, found even they didn’t have any non-Internet information readily available beyond suggestions that people call 911 in an emergency. When asked where folks should turn for information if they have no power, a FEMA worker said, “Well, those people who have a laptop with a little battery life on it can try that way. Otherwise, you’re right.”

Such blind spots are perilous to the public, experts say. Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell did reference during a news conference Monday two useful phone numbers — 211 for guidance on emergency shelter locations and 511 for traffic information — and D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray told News Channel 8 that people should call 311 in storm-related emergencies.

But that’s about it for public information of this type.

“That’s a problem,” said Matt Thome, spokesman for the Safe America Foundation, a non-profit disaster preparedness advocacy organization based in Marietta, Ga. “As we get further away from a time when people aren’t relying on smartphones to do everything for them, people are going to lose focus that not everyone’s going to connect to the Internet. What happens when it goes down? That basic level of preparedness has been lost.”

To be sure, millions are indeed going online — while they can — to stay informed. More than 155,000 users watched The Weather Channel’s live stream simultaneously on YouTube by mid-afternoon and thousands more watched live-cam coverage from professional and amateur sources via such sites as livestream.com and ustream.tv. By contrast, a peak of 178,000 users watched the YouTube stream of Obama's Democratic National Convention speech in September.

Facebook reports Sandy is being referenced more than Obama and Romney combined and top hashtags on Twitter included #Sandy, staysafe, Fema, New Jersey and East Coast. Sandy’s nickname “Frankenstorm” — so dubbed by NOAA last week — trended earlier Monday but fell out of fashion as the seriousness of the situation became more evident.

Still, in the pre-smartphone era, public officials exhorted people to have a list of emergency phone numbers available and broadcasters displayed them as well as radio frequencies on the screen in the event all else failed.

Ironically, as modern technology becomes more omnipresent, Thome said it's old-fashioned modes of communication that are becoming ever more reliable. People with landlines, for instance, are more likely to continue to have service because the copper phone lines will continue to work even if the electricity goes out — provided telephone poles don’t fall.

“The more basic you get, the technology has fewer areas where breakdown can happen,” Thome said. “It used to be old landlines would get clogged up, but now with so few people having landlines anymore, they’re more likely not to go out.”

National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton said local TV stations were doing impressive work informing the public and reminding them to keep battery-operated radios or TVs on hand.

"In the event of a power outage, it's probably more important for us to have highlighted having access to battery-operated broadcast stations than to direct viewers and listeners to a specific station,” Wharton said.

              

And another expert, Kim Fuller of the disaster preparedness firm James Lee Witt Associates, said Obama may have avoided issuing phone numbers to prevent call centers from being overwhelmed before the storm.

“President Obama is giving out the Web address only is because you normally don’t hear him saying anything before a disaster strikes,” Fuller said. “So they might be getting a little ahead of themselves. What they don’t want to do is give out a phone number and have people start calling if a federal disaster declaration isn’t even declared for their county.”

The problem with that, Thome said, is that it’ll be too late to provide the information once the disaster is under way.

“Before is better than after,” he said.

Alex Guillen contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 4:43 p.m. on October 29, 2012.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story inaccurately described a FEMA worker as a spokeswoman for the agency.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=9AA02838-0E81-4238-A537-30D68B6772A7

Gangs Plan Hurricane Looting Spree Via Twitter

[Excerpts]

New York National Guard to “protect against looting”

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
October 29, 2012

Scores of Twitter users have flooded the social networking site announcing their plans to go on looting sprees once Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, as the New York National Guard announced it would put troops on duty in Long Island to prevent such activity.

1,175 New York National Guard troops have been mobilized to “provide command and control and logistical support” in New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley and the Southern Tier. According to NBC New York, the troops will also be on hand to “protect against looting.”

They might well be needed given the fact that a deluge of Twitter users are using the website to appeal to others to join them in exploiting the chaos generated by the superstorm to ransack stores.

Given the recent phenomenon of “flash mob robberies,” where groups of people arrange to burgle a store en masse in order to overwhelm security and staff, the tweets should be taken seriously. Last year police warned that flash mob robberies, organized mainly through Twitter, were on the rise.

“Of 129 retailers surveyed by the National Retail Federation, nearly 95 percent said they were victimized by organized criminals in the past year and 85 percent said the problem has worsened over the past three years,” reports Fox News.

In addition, much of the rioting and looting which rocked England last year was also incited, organized and coordinated via Twitter. At one point, Prime Minister David Cameron considered slapping a ban on the social network.

Many of the tweets are written in such a way as to suggest that looting under such circumstances is justifiable. None of the tweets express any concern at a law enforcement or National Guard response.

Looters habitually hijack hurricanes and other extreme weather events to carry out their criminal acts. During Hurricane Katrina, the practice became so commonplace that police officers were ordered not to stop citizens from ransacking stores. Police were also caught on camera looting a Wal-Mart store but got away with it by claiming “they had received permission from superiors to take necessities for themselves and other officers.”

Looters also pillaged abandoned houses during Hurricane Irene, despite a threat by New York Mayor Bloomberg that they would be put in internment camps.

Commentators are already expressing fears that widespread looting is almost inevitable when the “Frankenstorm” hits later tonight.

“It’s all anecdotal at this point, but if crime reports following hurricanes Katrina and Irene are any indication, the East Coast is in for a crime wave, post-Sandy,” writes Business Insider’s Abby Rogers.

As we reported last week, supporters of Barack Obama are also flooding Twitter with threats to riot and stoke racial violence if Mitt Romney wins the election.

The threats prompted the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service to announce that they were monitoring the situation. The Secret Service also encouraged other Twitter users to “self police” the social media website and report offensive tweets directly to the agency.

Full article:

http://www.infowars.com/gangs-plan-hurricane-looting-spree-via-twitter/

Marines, police prep for mock zombie invasion

Organizers can also avoid the pitfalls of using a mock enemy who could be identified by nationality, race, culture, or something that could potentially be seen as offensive. [such as American citizens...]

[Don't be distracted by "zombie" terminology, consider what the role of the police and military would be in the event of a massive biological attack, disease outbreak, or hundreds of desperate and starving people...]

By JULIE WATSON 

Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) - Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special ops, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.

"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with."

Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their emergency response training.

In the scenario, a VIP and his personal detail are trapped in a village, surrounded by zombies when a bomb explodes. The VIP is wounded and his team must move through the town while dodging bullets and shooting back at the invading zombies. At one point, some members of the team are bit by zombies and must be taken to a field medical facility for decontamination and treatment.

"No one knows what the zombies will do in our scenario, but quite frankly no one knows what a terrorist will do," Barker said. "If a law enforcement officer sees a zombie and says, `Freeze, get your hands in the air!' What's the zombie going to do? He's going to moan at you. If someone on PCP or some other psychotic drug is told that, the truth is he's not going to react to you."

The keynote speaker beforehand will be a retired top spook _ former CIA Director Michael Hayden.

"No doubt when a zombie apocalypse occurs, it's going to be a federal incident, so we're making it happen," Barker said. Since word got out about the exercise, they've had calls from "every whack job in the world" about whether the U.S. government is really preparing for a zombie event.

Called "Zombie Apocalypse," the exercise follows the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's campaign launched last year that urged Americans to get ready for a zombie apocalypse, as part of a catchy, public health message about the importance of emergency preparedness.

The Homeland Security Department jumped on board last month, telling citizens if they're prepared for a zombie attack, they'll be ready for real-life disasters like a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake or terrorist attack. A few suggestions were similar to a few of the 33 rules for dealing with zombies popularized in the 2009 movie "Zombieland," which included "always carry a change of underwear" and "when in doubt, know your way out."

San Diego-based Halo Corp. founded by former military special ops and intelligence personnel has been hosting the annual counterterrorism summit since 2006.

The five-day Halo counterterrorism summit is an approved training event by the Homeland Security Grant Program and the Urban Areas Security Initiative, which provide funds to pay for the coursework on everything from the battleground tactics to combat wounds to cybersecurity. The summit has a $1,000 registration fee and runs Oct. 29-Nov 2.

Conferences attended by government officials have come under heightened scrutiny following an inspector general's report on waste and abuse at a lavish 2010 Las Vegas conference that led to the resignation of General Services Administrator Martha Johnson. The Las Vegas conference featured a clown, a mind-reader and a rap video by an employee who made fun of the spending.

Joe Newman, spokesman of the watchdog organization Project on Government Oversight, said he does not see the zombie exercise as frivolous.

"We obviously are concerned about any expenditure that might seem frivolous or a waste of money but if they tie things together, there is a lesson there," Newman said. "Obviously we're not expecting a zombie apocalypse in the near future, but the effects of what might happen in a zombie apocalypse are probably similar to the type of things that happen in natural disasters and manmade disasters. They're just having fun with it. We don't have any problems with it as a teaching point."

Defense analyst Loren Thompson agreed.

"The defining characteristics of zombies are that they're unpredictable and resilient. That may be a good way to prepare for what the Pentagon calls asymmetric warfare," Thompson said.

Organizers can also avoid the pitfalls of using a mock enemy who could be identified by nationality, race, culture, or something that could potentially be seen as offensive. [such as American citizens...]

"I can think of a couple of countries where the local leaders are somewhat zombie-like," he joked. "But nobody is going to take this personally."

Full article:

http://www.federalnewsradio.com/407/3096034/Marines-police-prep-for-mock-zombie-invasion-

Secret Service Asks Americans to Report Tweets That ‘Concern You’

(CNSNews.com) - The Secret Service has expanded its operation to Twitter, urging Americans to report on their fellow citizens whose tweets “concern you.”

“To report a tweet that concerns you, call the nearest field office in your state,” the Secret Service tweeted on Oct. 23.  The agency then links to a list of contact numbers for Field Offices in each state.

Bill Clinton told Hillary To Resign, US Arming ‘Syrian Rebels’ With Ties To Al Queda
Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, came forward to “take responsibility overall” for the attacks at Benghazi, but per Ed Klein we now know behind the scenes Bill Clinton advised his wife to resign over the possible criminal fallout of the Benghazi massacre. 

Generation of Convictions

‎"Although this science of mass psychology will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions are generated." Bertrand Russell, THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON SOCIETY (1951)

Regimentation of Opinion

‎"Those who manipulate the organized habits and opinions of the masses constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of the country....The technical means have been invented and developed by which opinion may be regimented." Edward Bernays, PROPAGANDA (1928)

Greece turning to desperate measures as citizens face starvation due to economic collapse
The European nation of Greece appears to be sliding ever so progressively into the abyss of total collapse, as illustrated by a recent government measure aimed at feeding the growing hordes of hungry, unemployed Greeks across the nation. A report translated into English from Voz Populi explains that, under the new law, Greek merchants will now be permitted to sell expired foods at a reduced rate to the nation's poorest citizens, who are becoming increasingly unable to afford basic necessities.

God's Coming Judgment
Something that really struck me this time through the book was the emphasis throughout of God’s creatures who rejoice and acknowledge the righteousness of God’s judgment throughout the tribulation and at the second coming. There is a sense throughout Revelation that God’s judgmental intervention into history is long overdue when it finally arrives.

Cairo demands Israel to halt settlement construction
The Egyptian government demands Israel to stop construction of the Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank of Jordan River, "Al-Jazeera" reports on Saturday. The Egyptian government explains it with the fact that the continued construction of the Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and the West Bank negative affects the peace negotiations between the parties.

Calls to 'Free Al Aqsa' Sounded in Egypt
Egyptian jurists and politicians have issued calls to "liberate" the Al Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, and to restore Egypt's leading role in the Arab world. Participants in a news conference in Cairo on October 25 said that the "liberation" of Jerusalem by Muslims will be accomplished "without a doubt by the present generation

 

Israel rattled by rise in anti-Semitic rhetoric from Egypt
The new tone coming out of Egypt - punctuated by President Mohammed Morsi mouthing "Amen" to an Imam's call for the destruction of Israel - is rattling residents of the Jewish state, who claim the Obama administration isn't taking the ratcheted-up rhetoric seriously.

Al Qaeda's Zawahri calls for kidnap of Westerners
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to kidnap Westerners, join Syria's rebellion and to ensure Egypt implements sharia, SITE Monitoring reported on Saturday, citing a two-part film posted on Islamist websites. The Egypt-born cleric, who became al Qaeda leader last year after the death of Osama bin Laden, spoke in a message that lasted more than two hours.

For DHS, Cybersecurity Education Begins in Kindergarten
In a blog on the Department of Homeland Security website, Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department is working to develop the next generation of leaders in cybersecurity beginning in kindergarten. In a blog titled, “Inspiring the Next Generation of Cyber Professionals,” Napolitano said, “...we are extending the scope of cyber education...through the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, involving students from kindergarten through post-graduate school.”

Update of popular 'NIV' Bible due in 2011

By Cathy Lynn Grossman, USA TODAY

The scholars and publishers behind the world's leading English language evangelical Bible announced Tuesday that they would publish a updated translation in 2011.

"And we'll make sure we get it right this time," says Keith Danby, president and chief executive officer of Biblica, once known as the International Bible Society.

FAITH & REASON: Every word counts in Bible politics

Biblica, the Committee on Bible Translation and evangelical publisher Zondervan jointly announced the newest New International Version Bible — and acknowledged they were still singed by the fire and brimstone cast down on earlier update efforts.

'NIV' BIBLE: Publisher puts it in Americans' handwriting

The NIV, now in pews and homes in 46 countries, was originally published in 1978; it was updated in 1984. A plan to revise it in 1997 died when word got out that it would use "inclusive language" — code for largely eliminating masculine pronouns.

The scholars and publishers tried again, releasing an accessible updated translation in 2005. This Bible had a slightly different name, Today's New International Version, or TNIV It eliminated masculine or feminine usage they said was unsupported by original manuscripts or unclear in modern lingo.

The TNIV was greeted with horror bytraditionalists and scholars. Wayne Grudem, author of The TNIV and the Gender-Neutral Bible Controversy and a professor of the Bible and theology at Phoenix Seminary in Scottsdale, Ariz., spotted 3,000 places where words such as "man," "father," "son," "brother" and "he" vanished.

MORE F&R: Egalitarian or complementarian view of men and women in religion?

Tuesday, Danby said they erred in presenting past updates, failed to convince people revisions were needed and "underestimated" readers' loyalty to the 1984 NIV

Maureen Girkins, president of Zondervan, says the "divisive" TNIV and "cherished" 1984 NIV will not be published after the newest NIV comes out. "We need to undo the damage," she adds.

This time, more than a dozen Bible translation committee scholars will "review every single gender-related decision we have made and make sure we are putting God's unchanging word into English people are actually using," committee chairman Douglas Moo says. Moo also pledged they would not bow to social pressures from any direction: "We are all committed evangelicals who believe in the importance of every word in God's word. … We can't fit the Bible into any cultural mode."

Wheaton (Illinois) College English professor Leland Ryken, however, is unimpressed with the NIV translators' use of a "dynamic equivalency" translation that he says "departs from what the author actually wrote and adds an editorial layer of judgment and commentary."

He and Grudem both worked on a literal word-for-word translation, the English Standard Version, published in 2001.

Grudem said Tuesday, "I'm delighted to see they have realized the TNIV was simply never going to be accepted by the Christian public who value accuracy in translating the word of God. I'm thankful for their honesty."

Military Absentee ballots destroyed in crash

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Federal officials say that absentee ballots being sent to U.S. military serving in Afghanistan may have been burned in a plane crash.
A top official in the Federal Voting Assistance Program this week notified election officials across the nation that a transport plane crashed at Shindad Air Base on Oct. 19.
The crash resulted in the destruction of 4,700 pounds of mail inbound to troops serving in the area.
Federal officials in their email to state election offices said they did not know if any ballots were destroyed. They also said the lost mail was limited to one zip code.
But they recommended that election officials resend a new ballot to anyone who requested one since the first ballot may have been destroyed in the crash and fire.


http://news.yahoo.com/absentee-ballots-may-destroyed-crash-210240583--election.html

Alabama Lawmaker Wants To Ban U.N. Observers

October 24, 2012 by Bob Livingston

Want proof that America has sunk to the level of a Third World banana republic? Four words: United Nations election observers.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a U.N.-affiliated agency, will be observing the Nov. 6 U.S. election for election fraud and voter suppression. It will be on hand at the request of the NAACP, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and other liberal organizations. The observers come from such bastions of free and fair elections as Serbia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. OSCE has assessed elections in the United States since 2002. It somehow missed those Black Panthers guarding the doors in Pennsylvania in 2008.

The States of Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Mexico explicitly allow for international observers. Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard wants to make sure Alabama does not. Hubbard says he will push for future legislation to ban non-U.S. citizens from acting as poll watchers.
U.S. election laws already allow multiple parties — some affiliated with candidates and others who are part of interested groups — to observe the election process. One of those is True the Vote, a conservative, Tea Party-affiliated group. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, ACLU and Leadership Conference could monitor them as well. Of course, when you have a racist and highly partisan U.S. Attorney General like Eric Holder, it doesn’t matter how much fraud is uncovered. It’ll just get ignored when it doesn’t fit his agenda.

Foreign observers are redundant and unnecessary. The George W. Bush/Al Gore election of 2000 showed that the United States is perfectly capable of botching the election process on its own. It doesn’t need U.N. observers bringing their “botching” expertise into the mix.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

RU-486 ABORTION DRUG KILLING WOMEN IN DEVELOPING NATIONS

Excerpt]

(CFAM/LifeNews) - Several new studies have found abortion drugs - touted as a solution to illegal, unsafe abortions -- are linked to increased maternal deaths and suffering.

One study from Sri Lanka found "in developing countries, [medical abortions] widespread misuse has led to partial or septic abortion thereby increasing maternal mortality and morbidity."

A large study from Finland concluded, "Because medical abortion is being used increasingly in several countries, it is likely to result in an elevated incidence of overall morbidity related to termination of pregnancy."

Dr. Donna Harrison, a pre-eminent expert on mifepristone, reported on studies from Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and Finland for the Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change. These studies found that mifepristone, also called RU-486, and misoprostol have high complication rates, with greater medical risks to women in developing countries.

Abortion advocates aggressively promote abortion drugs in developing countries because the lack of medical infrastructure, transportation to emergency centers, water and other supplies make surgical abortions less accessible and more risky. Yet these same obstacles exist for treating the greater risks associated with medical abortion.

One frequent and necessary treatment is surgery. In Vietnam, researchers found one out of four women had to undergo a surgical abortion for an incomplete misoprostol abortion.

The Finland study revealed that under the best conditions medical abortions had 
four times more complications than surgical abortions. Women who took abortion pills hemorrhaged over seven times more often than surgical patients, had more failed abortions that required surgical follow-up, and 20 times greater risk of operative injuries from emergency surgeries as did surgical abortion patients.

This tracks with the U.S. where at least 14 women have died after taking mifepristone.

In 2000, the U.S. approved mifepristone with restrictions, allowing only doctors
to give the drug to patients after an ultrasound and requiring a follow-up medical exam to check for hemorrhaging or infection and to determine if the abortion was complete or if portions of the dead baby were inside the mother.

Within a year, the first maternal death from RU-486 was reported in the U.S. of a previously healthy 18 year-old. Her father subsequently set up a website  AbortionPillRisks.org" warning women of RU-486's potentially deadly risks.

http://www.lifenews.com/2012/09/07/ru-486-abortion-drug-killing-women-in-developing-nations/?pr=1

Battle mars Syria holiday cease-fire
Fighting raged near a military base in Syria's north as a cease-fire in the bloody civil war was supposed to go into effect Friday at dawn, activists said, illustrating the difficulty of enforcing even a limited truce coinciding with a Muslim holiday.  

[They were just being good muslims. Their false prophet Muhammed (wibih) came to power only after he attacked and pillaged caravans on what was a holy day for the pagan religion of his time]

Hedonists and Martyrs

Anton Bosch

While reviewing church history recently I was reminded of some of the things we should learn from history.

But before I share those with you, I want to remind you that what normally passes for church history is the history of the apostate church (lower case “c”).

The history of the true Church is not normally taught in Bible schools and seminaries except for a passing mention to the little groups of true believers that were a thorn in the side of the institutional churches.

The following are the central truths we learn from Church history:

• Even in the darkest hours of the last 2,000 years there have always been true believers and true Churches in this world.
• The real Church has always been small in numbers and poor in political power, finances and popularity.
• True churches and believers have always been persecuted.

It is on this third point I want to dwell for a few minutes.

Persecution has come from many different sources, even though the ultimate source remains Satan and his forces.

The Jews, initially under the leadership of Saul of Tarsus, persecuted and killed believers beginning with Stephen. Of course Jesus was the first “Christian” martyr, and before the New Testament many prophets were also brutally killed by Israel because of their message.

The Roman government persecuted and brutally martyred the believers for almost 300 years until Constantine in 312AD.

Immediately after 312 the Roman church took over from the Roman government and began to persecute believers who did not submit to their authority. Persecution under the Church of Rome continued for the next 1700 years right up to the present, reaching its peak during the inquisition (c. 1200 to c. 1600). It is very difficult to find an accurate estimate of the numbers of people killed by the Roman church but the best studies indicate a number of around 80 million Christians in addition to witches and others killed by Rome![1]

Even while Rome was killing Protestants, the Reformation leaders were torturing and killing Anabaptists and other believers who disagreed with them.

Just one of many to die at the hand of the Reformers was Michael Sattler, a true believer. “He was shamefully mutilated in different parts of the town, then brought to the gate, and what remained of him thrown on the fire, His wife and some other Christian women were drowned, and a number of brethren who were with him in prison were beheaded.”[2] All the Protestant leaders, including Luther, engaged in the most severe and cruel torture and murder of anyone who disagreed with them but the most vicious of all was Calvin. In Geneva he institutionalized torture and death as a legitimate means to change people’s views and purge the “church” of dissenters.

In addition there are the massive persecutions of Christians, many still ongoing, by Muslims, Chinese Governments, Communists and all sorts of other unbelievers right across the world. Just recently I was shocked to hear that a friend, and former colleague, as well as two women, were brutally killed and mutilated by Satanists in South Africa, making them (as far as I know) the first martyrs to die for the faith in South Africa. It is estimated that today[3], more Christians in the world are being persecuted than are free to worship the true God. A comprehensive Pew Forum study last year found that Christians are persecuted in 131 countries containing 70 percent of the world’s population. Other studies indicate that between 100,000 and 200,000 Christians are being martyred for their faith every year[4] and that around 200 million Christians are denied fundamental human rights because of their faith.

All this should not come as a surprise since the New Testament is replete with statements that persecution would be the norm for Christians.

In Jesus’ first mention about the Church he spoke of the war that would be brought against His Church. “…on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). Paul said: “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12). And Peter said “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

In spite of the evidence of history and the plain teaching of the Bible, the vast majority of Christians in the so-called “Free World”, still believe that it is the right of Christians to be popular, fairly treated and respected and that a “happy” life should be the norm for believers.

But as I read again about how most true Christians have been mistreated and how they lived as vagabonds and fugitives throughout the last two centuries, I began to think about my own life and how easily I complain about the relatively minor inconveniences and rejection I experience because of the truth. I felt ashamed that I dare complain when thousands, right now, are experiencing the most extreme physical pain, emotional anguish and death for the sake of the Gospel. Who am I to grumble when I am free to come and go, live in relative comfort and enjoy the company of my wife while others are in prison, being tortured and killed?

But I also thought about how easily many stay away from the gathering of believers because it is too hot, too cold, or they are too tired because of watching TV or partying too late on Saturday night. I struggle to reconcile this picture with the one of men and women being torn apart by dogs, their limbs pulled from their bodies on the rack and the smell of burning human flesh on the fires of the persecutors. I struggle to understand how some are unwilling to give up their sinful pleasures when millions have to give up their very lives.

I struggle to understand how the pleasure-centered and self-centered “Christian” of the West can claim to share a common faith with the martyrs.

I struggle to understand how preachers who preach a gospel of happiness, prosperity and popularity believe that their message is the same message that was preached by the faithful minority of the last 2,000 years, who like the prophets of old: “…had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented – of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.” (Hebrews 11:36-38).

Can the faith that results in persecution, torture, and death be the same faith that promises carnal happiness, a new Mercedes and popularity? Can the faith that pursues pleasure, comfort and earthly happiness be the same faith that counts it a privilege to suffer for His name?  Will the hedonist[5] and the martyr share the same heaven?

© 2012 Anton Bosch
anton@ifcb.net
9070 Sunland Blvd
Sun Valley, CA, 91352
http://www.antonbosch.org

[1] David A Plaisted. Estimates of the Number Killed by the Papacy in the Middle Ages and Later. 2006.

[2] E. H. Broadbent. The Pilgrim Church. Gospel Folio Press. Grand Rapids, MI. 1999. p182.

[3] October 2012

[4] David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing in their 2009 report in the International Bulletin of Missionary Research (Vol. 33, No. 1: 32) say the figure is about 200,000 per year and rising.

[5] Hedonist = a person whose life is devoted to the pursuit of pleasure and self-gratification.

http://globalchristiancenter.com/prophecy-and-the-end-times/hedonists-and-martyrs.html

http://malcolmharris.org/2012/10/19/hedonists-and-martyrs-2/