The Lion of Judah (Volume VIII, Issue 8)
December 2003
In his prophetic "Lectures on the Book of Revelation" (given about 1858) William Kelly made the statement "Christendom and Judaism will each contribute to the last form of evil – antichristianism."
Antichristianism is now with us. It is all that calls itself Christian in profession and practise, which however, is contrary to true Christianity. It is Christian in name and pretence, but what they call Christianity is antichristianism. It is that which waters down and spoils all that is essential in Christianity and presents instead something which appears like it but is opposed to it. This involves the following deceptions:
1. Deceptions of a mutilated unauthoritative Bible.
2. Deceptions of watered-down aborted doctrines.
3. Deceptions of Devil-orientated spirituality.
4. Deceptions of a gospel which is not the gospel.
"If the foundations be destroyed what can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3). The Devil accordingly has set out to destroy the Bible, so that the righteous will have no foundations for faith or teaching or knowledge of God and His purposes.
The deception of the modern Bibles is that they look like modern versions of the true Bible but they do the Devil's work in two respects:
a) In thousands of small changes they detract from the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the main the changes tend to the support of the views of those who deny the deity of Christ, His virgin birth, bodily resurrection, the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures and other fundamental doctrines.
b) They cannot be read and accepted without the readers also accepting that with all the different versions around, based on different Greek texts etc., that there is no way of knowing what is the true Bible.
The modern splurge of Bibles by this scholar and that proclaims that all these particular scholars admit and accept that there is no true Bible available. If they agreed there was a true text or true Bible, then they would not all produce things different. And the reader who accepts and uses these Bibles is also accepting that there is no true Bible that may be referred to, or he would not bother with anything other than that.
That the Devil has succeeded to produce this position today, is the greatest break-through he has had in his warfare against Christ and His Church since Pentecost.
All the modern variant versions are based on the so-called "Codex Vaticanus" of the Roman Catholic Church and other kindred texts from the stream of texts to which it belongs. The history of these texts has been clearly shown from the research work of godly men in recent years. These texts are the product of erroneous teaching in the second century and they were rejected by the virile Christianity of those stern times.
The true texts were preserved faithfully in another stream of copies and our Authorised Version which has come to us from and through these texts is the true Bible in the English language. The people of God who preserved the true texts over the centuries ever rejected the false texts with Apocrypha upon which the Roman Catholic versions are based. But now, "scholars" have elevated the spurious texts and they are deceiving God's people with them. Modern Christians are not proving as discerning as the people of God were in the early centuries or even in the dark ages. The Waldensians, the Huguenots, the Albigenses and the Reformers of the Reformation period all rejected what is now deceiving the modern Christians.
God made a perfect Book and intended it to be absolutely authoritative even to jots and tittles of its text and of its thought and expressions. It was given "That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. 3:17).
Accordingly the suggestion that God has failed and that it is not now possible to know the actual Scriptures in word or detail – authoritatively – is a slander against the Almighty – and it is a wicked deception of Satan.
God did something extraordinary when the Bible was set up in English, and became settled in the form that is called "The Authorised Version." There had been a period of about one hundred years or more of English translation from the same stream of Greek texts, but in the reign of James the First the Bible came into use in English in a way that was obviously ordered of God Himself. It is not called the "Authorised Version" because King James authorised it, for he did not presume to do such a thing. But because godly Christians everywhere recognised it and accepted it and acted upon it as the only true and authorised version for the Churches of God in English-speaking countries.
In the same way that the canon of Scripture became recognised by godly people after much heart-searching, and over a considerable period of time, so also did the English Bible become settled, accepted and loved and acted upon as the Bible by English-speaking peoples. And for three hundred years the Church has accepted the Authorised Version as the true Bible and has acted boldly upon it in every way. But now modernist scholars are seeking to set it aside, and thus is the work of Satan effected today.
It should be noted that all the modern versions are based on the Roman Catholic stream of Bible texts, in the places where they are at variance with the Authorised Version. Similarly it should be noted that no variant translations in English have been made based on the true texts from which the Authorised Version came to us. This is because the Authorised Version is completely satisfying and is the only true Bible in English which relates with the true Bible in the original Hebrew and Greek.
It should also be noted that the modern "translations" are the work of scholars who do not believe in the inspiration of Scripture and who deny the deity of Christ. Can any Christ-honouring Christian commit himself to and rely on the work of people who do not honour their Lord and whom they know from Scripture that God will not honour? Could God possibly have committed His Holy Word or His Church to the ministrations of such men?
The answer is sometimes given by people who are mystified by the references to this Hebrew or Greek text or that, that this is a realm for scholars only and that only those who are experts in Hebrew and Greek and in textual knowledge, have a right to treat in such matters and that the ordinary common Christian must rely on specialised scholarship for direction in this field.
The answer to this is that God never commits His essential things to worldly scholarship. He does not prize it very highly. The consistent pattern of God's dealings in such matters is "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence" (1 Cor. 1:27-29).
Thus it is that God did not rely on scholars to fix the canon of Scripture, but the common people of His Church, whom the scholars despise, has God used to recognise and give the Bible to the world. Similarly today, God is not using the world of scholarship to give a conflicting maze of different Bibles. Somebody else is doing that. God is still however causing simple true believing souls to recognise correctly what is of Himself. He has done this for English-speaking people since the English Bible became generally accepted by His saints, and He is still doing it. The Almighty laughs at "modern textual scholarship" which sets itself against Him and His Book, and Christ is spurning today the [sic] pedlars of the scholars' products and the scholars likewise. The common believer who understands the English language only, may know His God, God's Christ, and the Holy Bible, as no modernist professor will ever do. He can manage without the Professor's help, because he has illumination spiritually from the Holy Ghost.
Actually the great professors are professing to try to understand the words of simple fishermen and other straight-forward people who are so unlike themselves that they have a lot of trouble with it. The common Christians of the Church are not so inhibited with such an incubus of doubt and they get the truth loud and clear while the professors are stumbling about in the murk, professing their doubt, depression and despondency.
How do we deal with this deception? There is only one thing to do with the deceptive unauthoritative Christ-dishonouring trash Bibles of our age. That is to get them out of our houses. And let us elevate and treasure the only true English Bible. It has been attacked and besmeared, but it is safe and sure under God's own protection. It will be available to the Church until Christ calls the Church away to be with Himself forever.
Those who may require further information on this subject are referred to the following books now available:
God Wrote Only One Bible by J. J. Ray
Believing Bible Study by Dr. E. F. Hills
Which Bible? by Dr. D. O. Fuller
The next deception of antichristianism is related to the scholars' unauthoritative Bibles. If you cannot be sure of the true text or Bible, how can you be sure of any teaching?
Once doubt is suggested about the authority for this or that Scripture, it is an easy further move to doubt what it teaches and the Devil is riding again with the age-long question of the serpent: "Hath God said?"
Every truth falls under suspicion and so is produced the final doubt – Is any truth or teaching or doctrine important at all? – Seeing there can be nothing sure if there is no authoritative Bible to refer to?
And so we have the "Love greater than doctrine" nonsense of the scholarly no-hopers in the pulpits and colleges of the main-line "protestant" Churches today. It will be no loss to the true service of God when they finally trundle off into full association with Rome in the mysteries and abominations of Babylon the Great.
This deception is dealt with by firmly holding the shield of faith and using only the tried and tested sword of the Spirit tuned and tempered to the English language, and marked "A V."
While undermining the authority of the Bible on the one hand, on the other hand the Devil is offering today something else to take its place. The proposition of this deception is that while you may not be sure of any text of Scripture, you can at least be sure of personal subjective spiritual experiences and revelations. And so we have the authority of dreams and imaginings, of alleged interpretations of "Tongues" and of alleged prophecies and healings and spiritual "experiences" and "leadings" of many kinds.
And so we have the modern cults and the occult. The deception is that these experiences are from God when they are really from the wily old serpent himself, and not from above but from below. Readers are referred in this connection to the writer's booklet "The Doctrine of Tongues" for a more detailed study of the working of this deception.
This deception extends from the cults through all branches of Protestantism and in Roman Catholicism. It is a unifying factor in the process of ecumenism.
The Lord does lead His own people, to move rightly in their individually appointed paths of life, but the Word of God is ever enthroned and supreme in relation to such leading.
The modern deception is that Satan leads those who are not obedient to the every commandment and precept of the Written Word. The penalty for side-stepping the clear authority of God's Word and not implicitly acting upon it, is that Satan finds a victim to lead and confuse contrary to the plan and will of God.
How do we deal with this one? We repent of our doubts and we return to the precision and exactitude of the only certain Lamp to our feet and Light to our path.
With this position accepted and acted upon, "The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore" (See Psalm 121:8).
The unauthoritative Bibles with the aborted doctrines and abandoned directions of God, supported by manifestations and eruptions of fake spirituality, produce "novel" and "modern" ways of preaching and teaching. The deception is that these "ways" and "messages" are from God, but Satan has through them completed his full circle of triumph for he has thus misled multitudes of God's people to neutralise their effectiveness in God's service by thinking they are pleasing God when they are not and by making it almost impossible for sinners to be reached with the potency of the true Word of God in Holy Spirit power with the unction of the voice and instrumentality of obedient and trusting servants of God.
Thus it is that we have "Gospel" crusades run by committees of mixed believers and unbelievers.
And thus it is that we have believers claiming that "the end" justifies the means.
And thus it is that Roman Catholics are regarded as "Christians," and their gospel that built their institutions is seen as the same gospel that Billy Graham has on the one hand, and that the apostles had on the other!
Thus it is that Coffee-Bar vaudevillists pass as Christian preachers or teachers.
Thus the Ladies' Coffee-hour sips and socialises, deceiving and being deceived that that form of fellowship is God-approved and Spirit-blessed.
Thus it is that we have antichristianism rampant everywhere today.
Well, if we want to be "with it," and if we want to enjoy popularity, then we carry on with the crowd, and enjoy the prosperity and ease and good fun and comradeship of Laodiceanism.
But if we want to be looking to please our Lord, to really obey Him and do His service in the way He desires and "be ready" when He comes, then "every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3).
1. Use the pure Bible only.
2. Believe it; obey it: act on it.
3. Pray it: meditate it; eat it: live it out.
"The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes" (Ps. 19:8). This eyesalve will deal with all the deceptions of Satan – and more – it will enable the man of God to see clearly how he should redeem the time for God, in these evil days. "With the pure thou wilt show thyself pure;" says the Psalmist, "and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward" (Ps 18:26).
If the "Gay life style" is normal, why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah from the face of the earth because of it, and continue to use this as an example of His wrath? And why does Paul say three times in Romans 1 that "God gave them up"?
[Under Construction, www.swordofthelord.com]
In the wake of the Massachusetts supreme court's decision in Goodridge v MA Department of Health to "legalize" same-sex "marriage," Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) renewed the call for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. "With each passing court decision this country moves closer to rule by judicial fiat," said Pitts on November 18. "This decision is evidence that the courts are being used by activists to redefine marriage completely apart from public debate among those the American people have elected to represent them..... Healthy marriages are the key to the success of our nation, the vitality of our culture, and the renewal of our most at-risk communities. The court's decision has forced our hand. This amendment is the only way we can protect marriage now." [www.HumanEventsOnline.com]
By Terence P. Jeffrey
www.HumanEventsOnline.com
Are marriages made in heaven, or in courtrooms? Are civil laws that define "the family" man's best effort to codify his understanding of God's law, or are they merely artificial constructions conveniently pieced together by legislatures and judges to suit their passing political and ideological interests?
"Simply put," the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts said this week, "the government creates civil marriage." Therefore, the court concluded, same-sex couples have a "right" to marry under the Massachusetts Constitution which "affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals."
The court might have well have said: Simply put, the government creates the right to life. Therefore, we conclude, people can abort babies and clone and kill human embryos for pharmaceutical research.
Three decades ago, American judges did indeed start abolishing the fundamental right to life. Today we stand on the threshold of man usurping God by creating human beings through cloning and using them as tools to be profited from and discarded.
Now, American judges are starting to abolish the fundamental building block of all human society, the family. Where will we stand three decades hence?
Are theses judges laying down fertile soil for further blossoming of liberty – as they would have us believe? Or are we headed for a dimmer place, where true human rights are further imperiled, not protected?
For the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to reconcile its view of human rights with the view espoused by our Founders, the justices would have to argue that the Creator had endowed man with an inalienable right to same-sex marriage.
That, of course, is transparently absurd. So, instead, the judges labored, as so many American judges have in recent years, to divorce the rules of law from the rules of God.
Yet, if God is not the ultimate author of our law, who will be? Whoever has the power to impose their will on others. This week it was four Massachusetts judges – who manhandled marriage, denying the truth that it is a match made in heaven. Americans now have no choice but to answer such judges with a constitutional amendment expressly recognizing that marriage is a sacred union solely comprised of a man and a woman.
PHILIPPINES: "I was a member of a terrorist group that had given me an order to be a suicide bomber. I had several grenades under my coat when I entered a Baptist church. I was to wait for the preacher to begin preaching, then I would walk forward and detonate the grenades. But, praise the Lord, something happened as I heard the preaching. Instead of losing my life, I obtained eternal life in Christ." Today, this brother is a Baptist Pastor!
Rock of Ages Prison Ministry
P O Box 2308
Cleveland TN 37320
...inscriptions that refer to Simon, a devout Jew who
the Bible says cradled the infant Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah
(Luke 2:25)
Jerusalem — A barely legible clue – the name "Simon" carved in Greek letters – beckoned from high up on the weather-beaten facade of an ancient burial monument. Curiosity piqued, two Jerusalem scholars uncovered six previously invisible lines of inscription: a Gospel verse – Luke 2:25.
Archaeological finds confirming biblical narrative or referring to figures from the Bible are rare, and this is believed to be the first discovery of a New Testament verse carved onto an ancient Holy Land shrine, said inscriptions expert Emile Puech, who deciphered the writing.
His co-researcher, physical anthropologist Joe Zias, presented the find Thursday at the annual conference of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Atlanta. The conference is in advance of Saturday's annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, also being held here.
The inscription declares the 60-foot-high monument is the tomb of Simon, a devout Jew who the Bible says cradled the infant Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah.
It's actually unlikely Simon is buried there; the monument is one of several built for Jerusalem's aristocracy at the time of Jesus. However, the inscription backs up what until now were scant references to a Byzantine-era belief that three biblical figures – Simon, Zachariah and James, the brother of Jesus – shared the same tomb.
Earlier this year, an inscription referring to Zachariah was found on the same facade. The two inscriptions were carved around the fourth century, Puech said.
The inscription says the monument is the tomb of "Simeon who was a very just man and a very devoted old [person] and waiting for the consolation of the people." Simeon is a Greek version of Simon.
The passage is identical to Luke 2:25, as it appears in a fourth-century version of the Bible.
[As reported in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/21/03]
The atheist responsible for the legal challenge to the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance says that lawsuit – which the U. S. Supreme Court last month agreed to hear – will be followed by others an effort to rid references to God "from government, its symbols and officials performing government duties." [See www.religionjournal.com 10/19/03].
Already, Michael Newdow, a physician and lawyer, has sued over Franklin Graham's reference to Jesus during inaugural ceremonies for President Bush. He also has targeted the U. S. Senate and the House of Representatives over their official chaplains, United Press International reported. In the future, Newdow says, he may go after the national motto, "In God We Trust," and its inscription on money; and the singing of songs such as "God Bless America" at any event sponsored by the government or held on government property.
"Involvement of religion in government is a bad thing, and I want it all gone just as I would like all racism gone and all the other bad things. .... We have a Constitution that says it shouldn't be part of our government."
Newdow's pledge case, which he will argue himself, may come before the Supreme Court in February. His premise is that "under God," which Congress added to the pledge in 1954, amounts to government establishment of religion in violation of the First Amendment. Although earlier court rulings have made recitation of the pledge in public schools voluntary, the fact that it takes place and that teachers lead their students in saying it "is coercive and damaging to those who do not believe" in God, Newdow told UPI. "The law is clear," he said. "What Congress did was wrong, and somebody had to fit it. I appointed myself." [www.religionjournal.com]
Dr. Don Jasmin
P O Box 489, West Branch, MI 48661
(989) 873-4778
DID YOU KNOW?
THAT when "George W. Bush was sworn into the nation's highest office," his hand was "placed reverently on the KJV of the Bible."
THAT under the newly constituted International Criminal Court [ICC], "a politician who is opposed to legalizing same-sex unions" could be "called to account for depriving an entire group of people of their U. N. specified rights to a ‘family.'"
THAT U. S. Attorney General John W. Ashcroft, who claims to be a Bible-believing Christian, holds daily morning prayer meetings in his office.
THAT 60% of Americans disagree with the Episcopal Church's decision to allow the blessings of same-sex unions. [40% favorable is still a disturbing statistic].
THAT the "9th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals" has had its rulings reversed about 80% of the time; that "more than half of the 9th Circuit Court Judges were appointed by former [Dem.] presidents Carter and Clinton." [This is the same court that issued the ruling to remove the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. The U. S. Supreme Court is now considering this undesirable edict].
THAT "one week after the Supreme Court struck down the Texas anti-sodomy law, a polygamist in Utah petitioned the court, claiming the right to as many wives as he desired," basing his demand on the Supreme Court's edict that the issue supposedly is "all about privacy."
The Faith Action Network [FAN], a division of the American Friends Service Committee [AFSC], commonly known as the Quakers, has purchased time for a six-week TV program that features a "gay friendly interpretation of the Bible." The program purportedly focuses on a "progressive discussion of issues affecting gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people." The series is a supposed "counterpart" to "Christian programs" that "use the Bible to criticize gays and lesbians."
The TV series title "Whosoever" is based on a gross misuse of John 3:16. This verse, when rightly interpreted, expresses the genuine love of God for fallen sinful humanity. This great text, however, does not promote acceptance of a perverted life-style as the TV series distortedly claims. The AFSC has long been noted for its left-wing, pro-Marxist stance and its support of apostate concerns. In II Peter 2 and Jude, the Scripture gives God's divine perspective on such ungodly attitudes and actions. [Quotation source: Detroit Free Press [MI], 9-4-93, 3B]
A new Gallup survey of teens finds 72% believe abortion is morally wrong.
"We're winning the struggle for hearts and minds," said the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission." "The young people are more conservative than their parents."
The survey of youth, aged 13 to 17, indicated just 19% believe abortion should be legal in all circumstances, compared to 26% for adults. About 47% of teens said it should be legal under some circumstances, while 55% of adults agreed.
About 32% of teens thought abortion should never be permitted, while only 17% of adults said the same.
The poll showed teens who do not attend church are more likely to believe abortion is morally acceptable, about 38%, compared to 12% among churchgoers.
About 40% of churchgoing teens believe abortion should be illegal under any circumstance, compared to 26% for non-churchgoers.
The Gallup Youth Survey was done through a scientific methodology via the Internet to ensure a representative sample of the U. S. population. [www.worldnetdaily.com]
By Mary Lou Bevington
The new pastor and his wife came to reopen an old church in Brooklyn. They arrived early October and found the building run down and needing much work. They set a goal to have everything done by Christmas Eve for their first service. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. By December 18 they were ready. On December 19 a terrible, driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for 2 days. When the pastor returned to the church, his heart sank. The roof had leaked causing a large area of plaster to fall off the front wall just behind the pulpit.
The pastor cleaned up the mess and started for home, thinking that they would have to postpone their Christmas Eve service. On his way, he stopped at a flea market and there he bought a beautiful hand-made crocheted tablecloth, a cross embroidered right in the center. He headed back to the church with it. He saw an older woman running to catch a bus but she missed it. Now, it had begun to snow. He invited her into the warm church to wait for the next bus. The pastor got a ladder and hung the tablecloth as a tapestry over the broken plaster. It looked so beautiful, and then he noticed the woman walking down the aisle toward him, her face as white as snow. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" He explained. She looked at the right hand corner of the cloth and there were her initials. She had made the cloth 35 years before in Austria. She explained that during the war, she and her husband lived in Austria. They were a well-to-do and happy family. Then one day, soldiers came and forced them to leave. She was taken prisoner and never saw her husband or home again. She insisted the pastor keep the tablecloth for it was so lovely hanging there, so the pastor drove her to her home on Staten Island.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve! The church was almost full. The music and spirit were great. Everyone had left except one old man who continued to sit and stare at the tablecloth. He then told the pastor and his wife how that his wife had made a tablecloth like that many years ago. He had been imprisoned and had never seen or heard from his wife again. How could there be two tablecloths alike?
The pastor said, "Let me take you for a little drive." They drove to Staten Island. They helped the man climb three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and witnessed the greatest Christmas reunion they had ever seen. [Copied]
Isn't that a beautiful Christmas story? It reminds us that great reunion with the One who gave us our first Christmas. What a day that will be!
In the current issue of Conquest for Christ (the official organ of International Students, Inc.), there is an article by Bakht Singh. This dear Christian leader in India says, "The indigenous churches in India have a great burden for America just now, and are praying that God will visit your country with revival…. You feel sorry for us in India because of our poverty in material things. We who know the Lord in India feel sorry for you in America because of your spiritual poverty. We pray that God may give you gold tried in the fire which He had promised to those who know the power of His resurrection….
In our churches we spend four or five or six hours in prayer and worship, and frequently our people wait on the Lord in prayer all night; but in America after you have been in church for one hour, you begin to look at your watches. We pray that God may open your eyes to the true meaning of worship.... To attract people to meetings, you have a great dependence on posters, on advertising, on promotion, and on the build-up of a human being; in India we have nothing more than the Lord Himself and we find that He is sufficient. Before a Christian meeting in India we never announce who the speaker will be. When the people come, they come to seek the Lord and not a human being or to hear some special favorite speaking to them. We have had as many as 12,000 people come together just to worship the Lord and to have fellowship together. We are praying that the people in America might also come to church with a hunger for God and not merely a hunger to see some form of amusement or hear choirs or the voice of any man."
Do we get huffed at this voice in India crying against the spiritual poverty of rich America? The strength of Bakht Singh is that what he talks of he has done. He has found that Madison-Avenue-advertising methods and campaign costs (needing a Wall Street behind them) are not related in the least way to New Testament Christianity. Have we strayed too far to get back again to New Testament procedure? Have we? Such a question permits no easy answer.
The Shame of Our Nakedness
Pray for Christians in Illinois and Ohio who are standing against vulgarity in their workplaces. While supervisors regularly permit vulgar talk and profanity, unbelievably, religious employees were told they were creating a hostile work environment by placing religious displays in their work cubicles and by holding a daily devotional meeting during their free time. Also pray for another Christian in Illinois who is offended by the music played in his work area. His company has a policy that music will be changed if it offends workers; however, his company is now reluctant to use the policy to change music that is offensive to Christians.
A prison chaplain in California has been accused of religious discrimination for presenting the Gospel to a group of inmates. That group included a Muslim inmate who complained and said he was offended by hearing a teaching that Christ is the only way to Heaven.
A supervisor reprimanded and threatened to fire a Christian employee in Washington for mentioning the name of Jesus on the job and for handing a Gospel tract to a co-worker.
Pray for an employee in Maine where the company has instituted a policy on religious speech that only permits employees to talk about religion in their cars in the parking lot. Religious conversation has been declared to be off limits in all public areas in the workplace.
Praise the Lord that an employee in Florida was able to confront politely an instructor who was conducting an employee sexual harassment workshop when the speaker consistently used profanity and vulgar language during her presentation. The attorney/speaker publicly apologized during the final session and acknowledged that such language in the workplace might constitute a form of harassment. The employee's supervisor, who also attended the workshop, agreed that his own frequent taking of the Lord's name in vain might constitute harassment and agreed to clean up his language at work. [www.christianlaw.org]
By Dr. Larry Spargimino
Israeli Mossad chief Maj.-Gen. Meir Dagan made his appearance at a meeting of the Knesset recently – the first in over 18 years and said: "I am really not happy to be here and to have to tell you all this." He went on to indicate that there are forty terror attack warnings against Jewish and Israeli targets worldwide. He indicated that Iran's nuclear program "poses the greatest existential threat to Israel since the Jewish state's creation in 1948."
The nation of Israel has now become the object of hatred in pretty much the same way that individual Jews were held in contempt in the past. It is the Israeli government, the Jews of Israel, the role of the Israeli state in national affairs, and the alleged connection between Israel and the Jews in the United States that are all becoming objects of derision.
One example of anti-Zionism is seen in the results of an October 2003 survey conducted by the European Commission. Of the 7,500 Europeans polled – 500 from each EU member state – 59 percent said they view the Jewish state as the greatest threat to world peace. They believe that Israel poses a greater threat to the international community than North Korea, Afghanistan, or even Iran.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said the results of this poll shows that the "vilification campaign aimed at Israel by mainstream European media" has evidently been very effective. "Noting the trend, observers in Jerusalem warned it was only a matter of time before a block of gentile nations outnumbering the U. S. would unite in an effort to halt, and eventually roll back, the restoration of Israel to its ancient homeland."
With such an attitude of anti-Zionist hostility it is not surprising that the U. N. has passed more resolutions condemning Israel that it has all other nations combined, including Sudan, Syria and Iraq. "The Arab world blames Israel for the violence," writes one commentator. "The United Nations agrees and has passed literally hundreds of resolutions condemning the Jewish state since 1948."
Some of the anti-Israel resolutions have come in clusters, as on December 1, 2000, when the U. N. passed six resolutions against Israel. One of the resolutions denied Israel the city of Jerusalem and stated: "Israeli control over Jerusalem is illegal and therefore has no validity."
The continuing existence of the Jewish state is a miracle. Never have a people and a nation been so universally despised and hated and never has a nation been surrounded by bellicose states so committed to inflicting death and mayhem on its neighbor. As reported in the Iranian press, one of Iran's most influential clerics, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani, publicly advocated that "Muslims should use nuclear weapons against Israel." The kindly Ayatollah bolstered support for his remarks by observing that while such an attack would annihilate Israel, it would only cost the Muslim world minimal damage.
Humanly speaking, the fate of Israel does not look good. However, Christians are encouraged not to think in human terms, but to.... be energized by the Word of God. Judgment is slow in coming because God is merciful, but it is coming.
Excerpt from The Prophetic Observer,
December 2003
Southwest Radio Church
P O Box 100
Bethany OK 73008
Former president Jimmy Carter spoke sharply against the Bush administration and the Israeli government in his speech at the Geneva Accord ceremony that was held recently. Carter castigated President Bush for what he describes as widespread anti-American sentiment and blamed Bush for the surge in worldwide terrorism. "The present administration in Washington," said Carter, "has been invariably supportive of Israel, and the well-being of the Palestinian people has been ignored or relegated to secondary importance." Carter, a constant critic of Israeli policies both during his presidency and in the 23 years since he left office, described the security fence being built by Israel and Jewish settlements in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip as the main obstacles to peace and called for the return of Palestinian refugees to the territories – something not even stipulated in the Geneva Accord. [The Jewish Press, 338 Third Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11215-1897, 1-800-992-1600]
About 60% of the nation's adoption agencies now accept applications from homosexuals to become adopted parents, according to a new study by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Adam Portman, executive director of the institute, predicted the number would continue to increase as more homosexuals try to become parents. "We started out near zero, and just within the last decade we're up to 60%," he said. "The reality on the ground is way outpacing the policy debate." The institute surveyed 307 adoption agencies – 277 private and 30 public – on their policies, the Associated Press reported. According to the survey, 60% of the agencies accept applications from homosexuals, and 40% have placed children with gay or lesbian parents. Resistance to gay adoptions remains strong among many church-affiliated agencies. Opponents of gay adoption say the best environment for children is a home with a mother and a father; supporters say that gays, whether single or as a couple, can provide a good home for children who otherwise would be in institutions or foster care. The debate has been important in the dispute over gay marriage, with opponents saying that legalizing gay marriage would make it easier for gay couples to adopt, the AP reported. [www.religionjournal.com]
According to an article in the Washington Times by John Zarocostas, "Governments spearheaded by China, Brazil, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia are trying to place the Internet under the control of the United Nations or its member governments." The issue has cropped up in ... talks for world summit on the information society ... with the stated goal of "advancing the management and worldwide use of the Internet, especially in poorer nations."
The internet, at present, is loosely managed by a private organization in California named the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which coordinates such matters as Internet servers and domain names. Many third world countries would like to hand over authority to a U.N. agency, such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
Can you imagine:
...UN control over all email
...UN control over all websites
...UN control over all domain names
...UN control over all e-commerce
So far, the U. S., backed by the European Union, Japan and Canada has been able to turn back [the] third world efforts. However, some participating nations have agreed "to ask UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to set up a working group on Internet governance ‘in an open and inclusive process that ensures a mechanism for the full participant of governments, the private sector and civil society.... to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, by 2005." This means the UN world-government types are going to pressure everyone for over a year to "take the Internet away" from privately-run ICANN and put it under control of the UN.
In a recent CNSNews.com commentary, Tom DeWeese called the internet "the only unregulated source of liberty" in a world "already suffocating under the weight of rules and regulations designed to control, tax and consume every outlet of human expression."
As DeWeese noted, "the greatest threat to personal privacy over the internet today is posed by governments that gather information to profile users, snoop into bank accounts, and track our movements. Should we now put an unaccountable, faceless international bureaucracy in control to compound the situation?" [www.newsmax.com]