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END-TIME
CHURCH / PLURALISM
- GREETINGS
- -----
- QUICK VIEW OF UPDATED INDEXES
http://cephas-updates.cephasministry.com
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God's
Message to Israel Acts 2:17-32 |
- Acts 2:17-32
- And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith
God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons
and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see
visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my
servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days
of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders
in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire,
and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and
the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord come:
- And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Ye men of
Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God
did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him,
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and
slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death:
because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
- For David speaketh concerning
Him, I foresaw
the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that
I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my
tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because
thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known
to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy
countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of
the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his
sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet,
and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up
Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the
resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither
his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up,
whereof we all are witnesses. (kjv)
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- Video Documentary of Present Peace Process Geneva
/ Brookings Institute
- NASA Lunar Eclipse Gallery October 27-28 2004
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- :: GREETINGS to all and the newcomers to this list. We'd
like to introduce ourselves. George and Rita Williams, who founded
this ministry, were Mormons (Temple Mormons part of the time)
for 20 years. We prayed to God in 1992 to allow us to do a ministry
speaking out against Scientology. Six months later God led us
to the truth: out of the cult of Mormonism. We did not know at
the time we were in a cult. No-one had witnessed to us in 20
years. [George passed away to heaven in March 2003 and Nicholas
Stivers joined the ministry as Vice President.]
- The Holy Spirit brought us to information about all the cults
and the present development of the New World Order. We began
bringing our research to you. Because all the research was already
done, we decided to build a library within Cephas Ministry.
- We are Bible students and have left all worldly organizations.
- The focus of these newsletters is to prove why we had
to leave the world system. We are called 'Watchmen on the
Wall' which God always had during the Old / New Testament Times.
- To understand what is happening, one has to know the Bible
to compare notes.
- The first section is about the church.
The news about churches is unedited unless indicated by Ednotes.
The church as we knew it, is undergoing disintegration. This
began on a fast track in the early nineteen sixties when the
Catholic Church produced liberal Vatican II to replace Vatican
I.
- The trend since then has been ecumenical which is truly what
the word 'Catholicism' means: a universal religion all
inclusive and multicultural. The Bible calls for a final church
which doesn't resemble what Jesus taught. The Word of God has
undergone many changes to fit the present mode. The Bible calls
for a falling away from the truth before Jesus
comes back for His Bride, the true believers called 'Ekklesia.'
Our newsletters prove this fact and prove that the Bible is true
from beginning to end.
- The second section is about globalism
where we bring your attention to the social, political and global
trend, so called democratizing what is left. One third of the
world still remains to be taken over. It again proves that we
are moving to closure of the times of the Gentiles prophesied
in the Bible.
- The third section compliments End Time
teachings with what is happening in Israel. We describe and watch
for signs of the coming Tribulation to confirm that we are moving
into that space and time.
- Watchmen on the wall do not solicit memberships. We have
an email group that gets information when we upload new information
and a newsletter whenever it is possible time wise. We love the
Lord with all our hearts and minds and we love all people God
has created but especially those who love our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. Our Statement of Faith is at http://www.cephasministry.com/statement_of_faith.html
-
- ::We believe every word in the KJV Bible and believe it is
the Word of God and that Jesus is the Christ, God Himself, who
spilled His blood on the cross for our sins and rose again to
prepare a place for those who repent and accept 'His' righteousness
as their righteousness. They are those who accept Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior, Jews first and then Gentiles. We expect
to be raptured in a pretribulation Rapture to live with God the
Father, God His Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit, who
are ONE GOD in three persons, forever.
We pray the Lord will bless you with a thirst for truth and a
desire to serve Him exclusively, in Christ Jesus, Nicholas A.
Stivers, NicholasScrolls and Rita Williams, Cephas Ministry /
Cephas Library.
- For the updated (red sparkles) main index go to http://www.cephasministry.com/index2.html
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- If you have questions you might check out related websites:
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- http://www.cephasministry.com/index_news.html
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- Apostasy Revealed by
Nicholas Stivers Published 2003 by Mountain View Publishing 213
pp.
- Listen to his outstanding messages "The Hour of
Apostasy Revealed",
- at Cephas Media Website (mp3s): http://www.cephas-live-media.com/id22_m.htm
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- MEMBERS OF THE REESTABLISHED SANHEDRIN ASCEND TEMPLE MOUNT
- Dec 09, '04 / 26 Kislev 5765 - In a dramatic but unpublicized
move, members of the newly established Sanhedrin ascended the
Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, this past Monday.
Close to 50 recently ordained s'muchim, members of the
Sanhedrin, lined up at the foot of the Temple Mount Monday morning.
[The word s'muchim comes from the same root as s'michah,
, rabbinic ordination.] The men, many ascending the Temple
Mount for the first time, had immersed in mikvaot (ritual
baths) that morning, and planned to ascend as a group. Despite
prior approval from the Israeli police who oversee entry to the
Mount, the officers barred the group from entering the Mount
all together, and allowed them to visit only in groups of ten.
Given the newly-mandated restrictive conditions, many of the
s'muchim refused to ascend at all, especially as a group
of over 100 non-Jewish tourists filed past the waiting rabbis
and up towards the holy site. “It is unconscionable that
on the eve of Chanukah, which celebrates the rededication of
the Holy Temple, we should once again be barred from worshipping
– by our own people,” Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem’s
Temple Institute told IsraelNN’s Ezra HaLevi. The Sanhedrin,
a religious-legal assembly of 71 sages that convened during the
Holy Temple period and for several centuries afterwards, was
the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. The
great court used to convene in one of the Temple’s chambers
in Jerusalem.
- Listen to Messianic Jewish Rabbi's reports live on Internet
(free - membership required) http://www.hatikva.org
- Full story: http://www.cephas-library.com/israel/israel_reestablished_sanhedrin_ascent_temple_mount.html
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- POPE JOHN PAUL II IN THE HOSPITAL
- Speculation is that the next Pope will be the last. The leading
candidate is from Jewish ancestry.
- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20050201/ts_nm/pope_health_dc
- -----
- A BRIDGE TO THE VATICAN
©Herald Community by:Beth Wallach January 27, 2005 - Jewish
clergy make historic papal visit.
After back-to-back trans-Atlantic crossings, Rabbi Barry Dov
Schwartz of Temple B'nai Sholom didn't quite know whether he
was coming or going. The rabbi of Rockville Centre's conservative
synagogue was invited, along with the synagogue's cantor, Victor
Beck, to have an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican
in Rome on Jan. 18.
The rabbi and cantor were part of a historic delegation of about
130 Jewish clergy who were invited to Rome with Pave the Way
Foundation, founded by former Rockville Centre resident Gary
Krupp. The visit was the brainchild of Krupp, who, for a long
time, has had an interest in fostering good relations between
Jews and Christians. One of only a handful
of Jews to be knighted by the Vatican, Krupp, who
is still in Europe, has close ties with the Vatican.
"The Jewish community leaders should express appreciation
to this pope," said Schwartz, who has been a friend of Krupp's
for more than 30 years and serves on the foundation's board.
"He's been the only pope to visit Israel and pray at the
Western Wall. He's established diplomatic relations between Israel
and the Vatican and visited a synagogue in Rome." Schwartz
said the pontiff has been cordial, in general, to the Jewish
community and has a "record of beneficence" to the
Jewish people, which was evident even when he was a Polish priest
during World War II. The clergy in attendance at the Tuesday-morning
audience were mostly from the New York area, but there were also
rabbis and dignitaries from Israel, including the former Israeli
ambassador to the Vatican. Besides Jewish clergy, priests, nuns
and Jewish lay leaders were present. Prior to the audience, which
was held in one of the Vatican's cavernous antechambers, the
delegation visited several Vatican museums and libraries, many
of which are generally off-limits to the public.
The first time Schwartz had seen the pope in person was when
John Paul II visited Jerusalem in March 2000...
Wheeled in on a special papal chair, the pope, who Schwartz said
"looked regal," briefly addressed the assembled group,
beginning with the words Sholom Aleichem, a Hebrew greeting of
peace. "He said it in Hebrew, and he said it well,"
said Schwartz. Making reference to the words of Pope John XXIII,
author of the renowned Vatican II encyclical that cleared the
Jews of deicide, John Paul II spoke to the delegation about continuing
to work toward ending global anti-Semitism.
The pope, who has blessed countless faithful followers around
the world, found himself in unfamiliar territory when Schwartz
approached him and blessed him in Hebrew. "His facial expressions,"
said Schwartz, "showed that he was deeply moved." ..
As a rabbi in the heart of the Rockville Centre diocese, Schwartz
said he is deeply committed to shrinking the gap between Jews
and Catholics...
"There's not a divide," said Schwartz, "but there's
not a deep comprehension. We have to have a better understanding
of each other's religions. Jews have to know more about how Catholics
think, and the Catholic community has to have a deeper understanding
on a religious level, not necessarily a political one, about
how Jews feel about the land of Israel and the state of Israel."
The pope, in his remarks, said that in the age of global terrorism,
the two religions have to work together to strengthen democracy,
because terrorists don't discriminate between Jews and Catholics.
"I think it's wonderful," said Kelly, "to see
the beautiful relationship between the rabbinical group and the
Holy Father, that they were able to exchange thoughts and that
there are diplomatic relations between Israel and the Vatican.
It's heartwarming to see the camaraderie that exists." "We
have so much in common. There's a good basis for a great deal
of amity and love between us." rvceditor@liherald.com or
(516) 569-4000 ext. 285.
- -----
- SWEDISH PASTOR SENTENCED TO ONE MONTH'S JAIL FOR OFFENDING
HOMOSEXUALS
- Stockholm (ENI). A Swedish court has sentenced a pastor belonging
to the Pentecostal movement in Sweden, Ake Green, to a month
in prison, under a law against incitement, after he was found
guilty of having offended homosexuals in a sermon. Soren Andersson,
the president of the Swedish federation for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender rights (RFSL), said on hearing the sentence that
religious freedom could never be used as a reason to offend people.
"Therefore," he told journalists, "I cannot regard
the sentence as an act of interference with freedom of religion."
During a sermon in 2003, Green described homosexuality as "abnormal,
a horrible cancerous tumour in the body of society". [ENI-30
June 2004]
- -----
- HAYFORD TO HEAD PENTECOSTAL GROUP AS EVANGELICALS DRAFT GUIDELINES
- Cincinnati, Ohio (ENI). The Rev. Jack Hayford, head of the
biggest US congregation of the International Church of the Foursquare
Gospel, which has seen rapid recent growth in many parts of the
world, particularly in Africa, has been voted in to lead the
denomination. The nationally-known evangelist from Southern California
replaces the Rev. Paul Risser, who resigned in March following
investment decisions in what turned out to be a scam that could
cost the Pentecostal denomination as much as US$15 million. [ENI-28
June 2004]
- -----
- BULGARIAN CHURCH WARNS AGAINST THE SPELL OF HARRY POTTER
- Sofia (ENI). The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has lashed out
against popular fictional boy wizard Harry Potter, warning that
magic spells are both real and dangerous. In a front-page article
in the June edition of the official church newspaper, followed
by an interview by a senior church official with the mass-circulation
daily newspaper 24 Chassa (24 Hours), the church said "magic
is not a children's game". [ENI-28 June 2004]
- -----
- VATICAN SUCCUMBS TO HARRY POTTER'S SPELL
Vatican City - Reuters - Februrary 3, 2003: "Harry Potter
fans, relax. The Vatican says the kid is all right. The question
of whether J.K. Rowling books and the films on the boy wizard
have a positive influence...the Vatican presented a document
on "New Age" spirituality, which contain elements of
the occult. "I don't think that any of us grew up without
the imaginary world of fairies, magicians, angels and witches,
said Father Peter Fleetwood, a Vatican official... "They
are not bad or a banner for anti-Christian ideology. They help
children un- derstand the difference between good and evil,"
.... The fifth book in the series, "Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix", became an instant best-seller less
than 24 hours after the June publication date was announced by
the publishers. (Apostasy Alert, 4th February 2003)
- -----
- ANCIENT ROMAN CATHOLIC RITUAL MAKING COMEBACK IN MINNESOTA
- Associated Press - MAPLE LAKE, Minn. - The ancient Roman
Catholic ritual in which someone continuously adores the Eucharist,
the wafter at the heart of the Catholic Mass, is making a comeback
in St. Timothy's Catholic Church here, and nearly 40 other churches
in the state. Full article: http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/10774219.htm
- -----
- FALSE TEACHERS ARE LIARS
- Updated May 6, 2004 - (first published March 18, 1996) by
David Cloud http://www.wayoflife.org - The Bible says that man
is a liar -- "with their tongues they have used deceit"
(Romans 3:13). Paul proclaimed, "Let God be true, and every
man a liar." Jeremiah says man's heart is "deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked" (Jer. 17:9). It
is no surprise, then, that false teachers are liars. "For
such are false apostles, DECEITFUL workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works"
(2 Cor. 11:13-15). False teachers lie.
- They lie to others; they even lie to themselves. Of these
Paul said, "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and
worse, DECEIVING, and BEING DECEIVED" (2 Tim. 3:13). One
reason God demands that His people separate from false teachers
is because of the deceptive character of their teaching. "Now
I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and
offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and
avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,
but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches DECEIVE
THE HEARTS OF THE SIMPLE" (Romans 16:17,18). I could illustrate
this with hundreds of books from my library. Let me use just
one. It is Who Wrote the Bible? by Washington Gladden, published
by Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1891. In fulfillment of Scripture
this book is literally filled with bald-faced lies. I cite four
of these:
- Lie # 1. "The facts are, that Jesus nowhere testifies
that Moses wrote the whole of the Pentateuch; and that he nowhere
guarantees the infallibility either of Moses or of the book.
On the contrary, he sets aside as inadequate or morally defective
certain laws which in this book are ascribed to Moses" (p.
25). A more blatant lie has never been uttered. The Pentateuch
claims to be the writings of Moses (Exodus 24:4-7; 34:27-28;
Num. 33:2; Deut. 1:1-5; 4:4-5; 31:9,24-26). The Lord Jesus Christ
affirmed the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures as the infallible
Word of God. He cited many parts of the Pentateuch and called
it "the law of Moses" and "the book of Moses"
(Mark 12:26). He divided the Old Testament into "Moses and
the prophets" (Luke 16:29; 24:27). He called the Pentateuch
the writings of Moses (John 5:45-47). He said of the entire Old
Testament, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For
verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled"
(Matthew 5:17,18). A higher view of the Old Testament Scriptures
could not be uttered. Those who mock the verbal, plenary view
of biblical inspiration are mocking the very Son of God.
- Lie # 2. "No man on earth knows or ever will
know what were the precise words that our Lord used in his Sermon
on the Mount, in his conversation with the woman at the well,
in his last discourses with his disciples. ... his very words
we have not, and this fact itself is the most convincing disproof
of the dogma of verbal inspiration" (p. 248). This false
teacher believes the popular modernistic myth that the Gospel
writers were relying on their own defective human memories or
upon fallible documents written by other men. He also believes
they were translating words that Christ spoke in Aramaic. These
are unbelieving assumptions. The Gospel writers were not relying
on their on memories or upon the memories of other men; they
were writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
We have no evidence that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke chiefly
in Aramaic, though it is plain that He did at times use Aramaic
(Mark 5:41; 7:34). The very fact that Mark translated those two
verses into Greek and that ordinarily the Gospel writers quoted
Jesus as speaking directly in Greek is evidence enough for a
Bible believer. We DO have the very words which Christ spoke!
If not, the Gospel writers were liars, because they said they
were writing precisely what Christ said. From the beginning to
the end of the Gospels we read, "And Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying..." If Jesus did not speak the words recorded
in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were liars, and
the Bible is an undependable fairy tale.
- Lie # 3. "[Christ and the apostles] nowhere pronounce
any of these writings free from error; there is not a hint or
suggestion anywhere in the New Testament that any of the writings
of the Old Testament are infallible..." (p. 26). The Bible
exposes this lie. Paul said, "All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness" (2 Tim.
3:16). Jesus said that "the scripture cannot be broken"
(Jn. 10:35). This means that they are absolutely authoritative,
that not even the least thing can be proven to be weak and ineffective.
The Lord Jesus said, "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from
the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matt. 5:18).
- Lie # 4. "Revelation, we shall be able to understand,
is not the dictation by God of words to men that they may be
written down in books; it is rather the disclosure of the truth
and love of God to men in the processes of history, in the development
of the moral order of the world. ... It is by no means confined
to words; its most impressive disclosures are in the field of
action. 'Thus did the Lord,' as Dr. Bruce has said, is a more
perfect formula of revelation than 'Thus said the Lord'"
(p. 43). This is pious-sounding wickedness. If the Bible is not
the very words of God, it is the biggest lie ever recorded, because
from beginning to end it claims to be the very infallible words
of God. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will
of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). This is the apostolic view of biblical
inspiration. Gladden cites a fellow heretic who claims the Lord's
actions are a more perfect formula of revelation than the Lord's
words. A more stupid statement has never been recorded. Without
an infallible "thus saith the Lord" we have no way
of knowing "thus did the Lord"! We can learn certain
things by observing what the Lord has done in creation and history,
but such observations apart from divine Revelation are limited
to man's ability to understand God--which is exceedingly limited
and fallible. I reject false teachers and their lies, and I am
glad to "call a spade a spade." When a Bible-believer
quotes Scripture to them, they smile and look down from their
imagined position of mental and spiritual superiority and think
of you as a weak-minded literalist. That's fine with me. If taking
the Bible literally is a sign of non-intellectualism, I gladly
reject intellectualism. False teachers fill their writings with
pious-sounding language. They claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ.
They claim to honor the Bible. But they are liars. "Let
God be true, and every man a liar"!
- -----
- AG SAYS MONUMENT [10 COMMANDMENTS] NOT ENDORSEMENT OF RELIGION
News Flash - 1/31/2005 - The Associated Press - AUSTIN (AP) —
Attorney General Greg Abbott argued Monday in a brief filed with
the U.S. Supreme Court that a Ten Commandments monument on the
grounds of the Texas Capitol isn't an endorsement of religion.
The Supreme Court agreed in October to hear arguments over whether
the display is an unconstitutional attempt to establish state-sponsored
religion... "The First Amendment was never intended to remove
all religious expression from the public square," Abbott
said in a release. "There is no doubt the Ten Commandments
are a sacred religious text, but neither can we deny their significant
impact on the history, culture and laws of Texas and the rest
of the country." In his filing in the Texas case, Moore
argues that the constitution never intended for public acknowledgment
of God to be unconstitutional... The brief filed by the Center
for Arizona Policy notes Arizona has a monument similar to the
one in Texas and argues that such monuments are constitutional
and that Arizona's is part of "an unbroken history of acknowledging
that religion is important both to its form of government and
to its citizens." Napolitano previously rejected the Arizona
Civil Liberties Union's demand that Arizona remove the Ten Commandments
monument at Wesley Bolin Plaza.
http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1107226382192740.xml&storylist=alabamanews
- -----
 TX: AG TELLS SUPREME COURT MONUMENT
SHOULD THE MONUMENT STAY
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Monday, January 31, 2005 Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott told the U.S. Supreme Court in a brief Monday that
a stone plaque outside the state capitol is not--and was never
intended to be--a state endorsment of religion although it does
display the Ten Commandments. In his brief, Abbott said the display
was one of 17 on the Capitol grounds intended to emphasize or
commemorate broad-based origins of Texas laws and history. "The
reasonable observer is not likely to mistake these commands for
official statements of Texas policy, any more than the reasonable
observer would deem the artistic portrayal of the Last Supper
in the National Gallery as an official command to partake in
Holy Communion," he argues in the brief. The Dallas Morning
News provides a little history of the monument and the court
battle, which came to pass after the Roy Moore saga in Alabama:
.. The six-foot granite display, donated and installed by the
Fraternal Order of Eagles [Freemasons]
in 1961, is one of hundreds of such displays erected by the service
club throughout the nation. Its presence was unchallenged until
2002, when Thomas Van Orden--a nonpracticing lawyer--filed suit
against the state on his own behalf, charging that the presence
of the Old Testament laws on government property amount to a
state endorsement of religion.
In November 2003, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld
a judge's decision against Mr. Van Orden, and late last year,
the high court agreed to hear Mr. Van Orden's complaint. The
Van Orden case, along with a similar case from Kentucky, is scheduled
to be argued before the justices March 2 [which happens to be
Texas Independence Day]. The cases are likely to decide new constitutional
ground rules for such religion-based displays.
http://www.polstate.com/archives/006606.html
- -----
- PRAYER CASE NAMING CHRIST APPEALED IN HIGH COURT BY WICCAN
- Wiccan priestess sued Great Falls over naming Christ. - The
Herald, Jan. 29, 2005 Denyse Clark GREAT FALLS - The town of
Great Falls has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to continue
its fight against a resident who opposes official prayers to
Jesus Christ at town council meetings... A federal court ruling
in August 2003 banned reference to a specific deity in prayers
at the town's meetings, prompting Great Falls to fight back.
A three-judge appellate panel ruled against the town in July.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in November that it would
not hear the town's appeal. But the town again decided to continue
its fight. Legal experts have said the appeal is a waste of time.
Wynne agrees but acknowledges she's a bit concerned about the
future success of her case. "I've got my own paranoia because
of the Bush administration," Wynne said. "During the
presidential inauguration, a prayer was done in the name of Jesus
Christ. That sends a message that if the president can do it,
anyone can do it. That kind of spooked me.".. "There
is a great body of law that says this is not an acceptable prayer,"
Buhl said. "The Supreme Court will rely on previous cases
to decide this case." Read www.heraldonline.com online
- -----
- THE BIBLE LABELED AS "HATE SPEECH"
- Michael Marcavage, director of Repent America, faces up to
15 months in jail and a $2,800 fine for reading from the Bible
at his local borough council meeting. He is a resident of Lansdowne,
Pennsylvania, which is the first community in Delaware County
to have an open homosexual in public office. Michael attended
the July 21st borough council meeting to share from the Bible
his opposition to the council's agenda of attracting more homosexuals
to Lansdowne. During the public comment/question period, Michael
was ordered not to read from the Bible by the president of the
council, who stated that God's Word is "hate speech."
Michael was then physically removed from the room and ordered
out of the building. Prior to this, he was struck by one of the
council members, and further assaulted by the Lansdowne police
chief. After being told he is not being charged with any crime,
Michael was telephoned the next day by the police chief and informed
that he is being charged with "disrupting a public meeting"
and "disorderly conduct." [Source: RepentAmerican.com]
- -----
- EPISCOPALS BLEND PAGAN RITES WITH THEIR EUCHARIST:
The Washington Post reports a druidic "women's eucharist"
and a "divorce rite," were posted on the Episcopal
Church's official Web site. This caused quite a bit of outrage
with Episcopal conservatives. This skewed "eucharist,"
subtitled "A Celebration of the Divine Feminine," was
posted on the Church's Office of Women's Ministries page but
has been removed since the controversy. It invoked a "Mother
God" (Queen of heaven), and used a lighted candle, a vase
of flowers, a chalice of sweet red wine, a cup of milk and money
and a plate of raisin cakes to invoke images of sexuality, fertility
and birth and were probably offerings to a goddess or mother-god.
The rites came about through the efforts of a female pastor-priest
and her husband. These two have held several rituals invoking
pagan deities and goddesses and are listed as practicing Druids,
with Druid names on a Druid web site. (So how does a Druid-witch
get a job running a Christian church? Obviously someone was sleeping
during the interview!) One of their pagan ceremonies called for
the invoking the "earth-mother" and in an erotic ritual
their was a public display of sex between a couple in front of
those gathered as they ended with a "chant of Communion
and Praise" to the tune of the Irish hymn "St. Patrick's
Breastplate." The Babylonian god "Bel," who is
also called the god Baal of the Canaanites, and whose worship
was clearly condemned in the Old Testament, was prayed to as
well! Their new version of the Lord's Prayer that refers to God
as "You who are Mother (prayer to the Queen of heaven) and
Father to us all," was denounced on other Episcopalian Web
sites. Christianity Today declared that the Episcopal Church
is "promoting pagan rites to pagan deities." "And
not just any new pagan deities," wrote Ted Olsen, the magazines'
online managing editor. "The Episcopal Church is actually
promoting the worship of idols specifically condemned in Scripture."
The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania has promising to investigate
the "extremely serious" charges and are investigating
these so-called pastors who are really Druids. Others including
a bishop remarked that these two 'priests' have "contributed
positively" to the diocese for four years, adding, "I
will not allow this situation to turn into a witch hunt of any
sort." I don't think you have to hunt far and wide to find
the witches, they are sitting right up front in the pulpit! [Open
Seal Letter by Hollis Caravetta ]
- -----
- THE PREACHER WHO DIED WITH HEAVEN ON HIS LIPS
- My father died instantly in the pulpit two weeks ago after
uttering his final words: "And when I go to heaven."
I immediately left Chattanooga for Orlando. The story hit the
AP Wire and was listed by Yahoo as the most-read story. A high
school friend who lives in Sweden emailed me after seeing the
report on CNN. Jack Arnold, 69, was preaching in Orlando, Fla.,
on his life verse: "For to me, to live is Christ and to
die is gain." He quoted John Wesley and pointed upward:
"As long as God has work for me to do, I am immortal, but
if my work is done, I'm outa here." Moments later he spoke
his last sentence about heaven, stopped, grabbed the pulpit,
swayed briefly and fell backward. Medics say the heart attack
killed him immediately. "He was just all there, and then
not there at all, like a hand came through the roof and snatched
him out of his body," said Chris Williams who told me he
was sitting in the front row only five feet from where Dad fell.
Full story:
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/10049/The-Preacher-Who-Died-With-Heaven-On-his-Lips
- -----
- FORMER PASTOR ASKING MEN OF GOD TO QUIT BEING PASSIVE AND
TAKE CONTROL OF THEIR FAMILIES - Clovis News & Journal January
28, 2005 Tova Fruchtman:
PORTALES — As they prayed, their hands raised, their eyes
closed and their fists clinched. the eight men —  including
Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics — gathered Saturday
morning at Portales Public Library for the “Men of God Arise”
meeting were passionate about the mission. Some came because
they got a call from Portales resident Shawn Miller. He called
every church listed in the phone book, and spoke to male church
leaders and invited them to attend the meeting.
- The group wants to persuade men to change their roles in
their families, churches and communities. They’re concerned
women are becoming the spiritual leaders and financial supporters
of the family.
- Miller also walked the streets of Portales almost daily for
three weeks carrying a sign that read “Men of God Arise,”
in English and Spanish. Miller, a former pastor who doesn’t
attend church anymore because he says churches are “boring”
and “irrelevant,” said God laid a burden on his heart
to reach out to men, to stop them from being passive members
of their family. “If you’re working all the time, what
about your family? What about your children, your home? You are
never there,” said Miller in an interview after the meeting.
But his passion led to his arrest on Jan. 17. 2005 - The
charge was trespassing, Portales police records show. “We
as men have failed,” Rios said. “God wants a change.”
Miller’s passion and Saturday’s meeting has encouraged
some local pastors to start work on spreading a message of change.
Miller said he has plans to hit the streets again — this
time with a sign that reads, “We need revival.” http://www.clovis-news-nm.com/engine.pl?station=clovis&template=storyfull.html&id=9497
- -----
- CHURCH CHANGES DENOMINATION, PENTECOSTALS NOW EPISCOPALIEANS
The Tennessian, by Brian Lewis - Retired Bishop William Sanders
anoints Hannah Han, 2, with oil and lays hands on her in a confirmation
service at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit. The Rev.
Moon Lee, left, assists him. It's not every day a whole congregation
changes denominations. But that's what happened yesterday morning
as a Pentecostal Korean church joined the Episcopal denomination.
Two bishops laid hands on each member of the congregation, joining
them in a tradition the church teaches goes back to Jesus' apostles.
The service marked the culmination of a four-year journey led
by the church's pastor, the Rev. Moon Lee. The new identity for
the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit means the church's worship
service will have a slightly different structure and it will
celebrate Communion each week instead of once a month. In addition,
the church will be a part of the worldwide Episcopal Church and
have the support and guidance of the church hierarchy. Lee started
the congregation six years ago with services at 2 p.m. Sundays
in an Assembly of God church on Franklin Limestone Road. He began
to learn about the Episcopal denomination when one of his friends,
the pastor of a Korean Presbyterian church in Georgia, become
Episcopalian. Lee said he liked the denomination's ties to early
Christianity, the bishop's role in guiding the churches and the
denomination's work in ecumenism, trying to bridge the gaps between
different denominations. http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/09/22185163.shtml
- -----
- ARCHEOLOGIST UNEARTHS BIBLICAL CONTROVERSY
- Canadian archeologist Russell Adams's interest is in Bronze
Age and Iron Age copper production. He never intended to walk
into archeology's vicious debate over the historical accuracy
of the Old Testament -- a conflict likened by one historian to
a pack of feral canines at each other's throats. Yet by coincidence,
Prof. Adams of Hamilton's McMaster University says, he and an
international team of colleagues fit into place a significant
piece of the puzzle of human history in the Middle East -- unearthing
information that points to the existence of the Bible's vilified
Kingdom of Edom at precisely the time the Bible says it existed,
and contradicting widespread academic belief that it did not
come into being until 200 years later. Their findings mean that
those scholars convinced that the Hebrew Old Testament is at
best a compendium of revisionist, fragmented history, mixed with
folklore and theology, and at worst a piece of outright propaganda,
likely will have to apply the brakes to their thinking. Because,
if the little bit of the Old Testament's narrative that Prof.
Adams and his colleagues have looked at is true, other bits could
be true as well. References to the Kingdom of Edom -- almost
none of them complimentary -- are woven through the Old Testament.
It existed in what is today southern Jordan, next door to Israel,
and the relationship between the biblical Edomites and Israelites
was one of unrelenting hostility and warfare.
- Full Story: http://www.cephasministry.com/water/archeologist_uncover_controversy.html
- -----
- JERRY FALWELL SAYS CHURCH STANDING TALL IN AMERICA.
- Way of Life, December 10, 2004 - Jerry Falwell, pastor of
Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, and head of
Liberty Baptist University, believes America is on the verge
of a spiritual awakening (Religion Today, Dec. 1). He wants to
build on this with the newly formed political action group The
Faith and Values Coalition. Falwell believes "the church
of Jesus Christ is now standing tall" and "if we will
press the battle now--in the next four, eight, or twelve years,
we can bring this nation back to the faith of our fathers."
He said America has been undergoing "a quiet spiritual awakening"
during the past two decades, and points to the popularity of
the Left Behind books, the rise of CCM, and the increase of those
who describe themselves as evangelicals. From where I sit, the
only spiritual awakening discernable in America is one built
upon spiritual compromise, heresy, and idolatry. CCM is not spiritual
revival; it is worldliness. The increase of "evangelicals"
is of no consequence because the definition of evangelical has
become meaningless. Today, "evangelical" describes
a Roman Catholic praying to Mary or a Fuller Seminary president
denying verbal inspiration or Wheaton College inviting a cultic
Mormon professor to talk about heretical C.S. Lewis or Cornerstone
College hosting a rock & roll dance party or someone falling
on the floor and calling it a miracle or muttering nonsense and
calling it tongues or a movie about Jesus based on the visions
of a Catholic mystic. Seeing that this type of thing is not on
the periphery of evangelicalism but at its very heart, on what
biblical authority do we describe today's evangelicalism as spiritual
revival? Independent Baptists, take heed. Jerry Falwell the blind
leading the blind. http://www.wayoflife.org
- -----
- PENTECOSTALISM BENEFICIAL FOR ECUMENISM SAYS KOBIA IN CHILE
- Quito (ENI). Chile, seen as the best scenario to gauge the
impact of Pentecostalism in church and society in Latin America,
was where WCC General Secretary Sam Kobia underscored the importance
of Pentecostalism for the ecumenical movement. "Through
a new openness to ecumenism, the dynamism and energy of Pentecostalism
can significantly enrich the search for unity among Christian
churches," said Kobia in a meeting with representatives
from Pentecostal churches in Santiago, on 20 November. [ENI-11.29.04]
- -----
- JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES REACH OUT TO MUSLIMS
- SCIENTOLOGISTS TARGET KIDS
- CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE "BOYSTOWN SCANDAL"
- CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE DESCRIBED
- -----
- SOME SEE FOOD IN HOLY LAND LOCUST INVASION, OTHERS A BIBLICAL
WARNING
- Jerusalem (ENI). Millions of red locusts have swarmed into
the Holy Land conjuring up Biblical images as they ate palm trees
bare, feasted on crops and even settled on the shores of the
Dead Sea. The locust plague has swept in from North Africa where
the insects devoured fields and even crossed over the pyramids.
It was the worst locust plague to hit the Holy Land since 1959
and the Israeli airforce said it spotted another swarm, 10-kilometres
long, approaching from the Sinai Peninsula. [ENI-11.29.04]
- -----
- CHRISTIAN GROUP PLANS MASS EXODUS TO SOUTH CAROLINA
- Church and state is the age old debate over how much each
should be connected to the other. One man says he has the answer
and his name is Cory Burnell, "The particular reason we've
looked at this strategy is that we've come to the conclusion
that across the nation, Christian conservatives really are having
trouble getting any voice at the national level." Burnell
is the leader of "Christian Exodus ." It's a group
of Christian activists who say the nation is so far off the proper
path, they will move to a place where many already share their
views, set up a Christian government and possibly, split from
the other state. http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9489-Christian_group_plans_mass_exodus.html
- -----
- GETTING THE BIBLE BACK TO ITS ROOTS
- Biblical scholar Robert Alter's major new English translation
of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible -- alternately called
the Five Books of Moses, the Torah or Pentateuch -- has some
critics manning the barricades while others are applauding his
efforts to return the work to its original Hebrew meanings and
majestic repetitions.
- http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9466-Bible_Pentateuch_Translation.html
- -----
- MORMONS ASK COURT TO SILENCE PREACHERS WHO BELIEVES THEIR
CHURCH IS A CULT
- On one night in August Mr Price bombarded Mormons - members
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - with phone
calls. He made 90 in less than four hours. Mr Price also sent
more than 80 evangelical texts from his mobile phone to a handset
belonging to Elder Daniel Pitt over a period of two months. The
court was shown several videos of Mr Price in action. In one
he was preaching in stentorian tones from behind metal railings
at one of the Mormon church's London chapels. http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9518-Andrew_Price.html
- -----
- TRINITY BROADCASTING NETWORK - JUDGE IN TBN CASE TO STEP
ASIDE
- Citing concerns about remarks he made in an earlier hearing,
an Orange County judge removed himself Monday from a case involving
televangelist Paul Crouch. Judge John M. Watson made the decision
during a contempt-of-court hearing for Enoch Lonnie Ford, a former
black TBN employee who says he had a homosexual tryst with televangelist
Paul Crouch. http://www.religionnewsblog.com/9497-Paul_Crouch.html
- -----
- RARE TRAVEL PSYCHOSIS: JERUSALEM SYNDROME
- Next time you stop off in Jerusalem, we suggest that you
might want to take along some contact information for your favorite
shrink back home. The odds are greatly against it, but you may
end up thinking you're John the Baptist or the Virgin Mary. There
is a rare travel psychosis known as Jerusalem Syndrome and in
1999, more than 50 visitors were diagnosed. The Savvy Traveler's
Judie Fein fills us in. The malady called Jerusalem Syndrome
is no joke. Afflicted tourists have been found wandering in the
Judean desert wrapped in hotel bed sheets or crouched at the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, waiting to birth the infant Jesus.
I'm here at Kfar Shaul Hospital in Jerusalem, with Dr. Yair Bar-El,
who gave the strange disorder its name. Dr. Bar-El looks eerily
like Dr. Freud as he leans back in his chair, puffing on a cigar,
with his glasses perched on the tip of his nose. He explains
that there are three categories of tourists who get Jerusalem
syndrome. Dr. Bar El: "We speak first about clearly mentally
ill people in their country. They arrive to Jerusalem with psychotic
ideas. The second, the biggest group, tourists, pilgrims with
deep religious convictions." http://www.cephas-library.com/israel/israel_rare_travel_psychosis_jerusalem_syndrome.html
- -----
- WHAT IS INFILTRATING MILITARY PERSONNEL?
- A Civilian Pastor’s Use of FAITH Force Multiplier -
Dr. Billy Compton, pastor of the Severns Valley Baptist Church
in Elizabethtown, Kentucky explains his churches’ involvement
in the FAITH Force Multiplier program in his article posted on
the church website: “Join a FAITH team and become FAITH
Force Multipliers “September 11, 2001 is a day all of America
will remember. Soon after this terrorist attack, the President
declared war on terrorism. The US Army sent Special Forces to
enter Afghanistan to confront the enemy. The goal of these Special
Forces was not to defeat the enemy alone, but to train and mobilize
the local army against the Taliban enemy.
- “The US Special Forces were placed alongside the local
freedom fighters to equip them to achieve a victory in the war
on terrorism. Their goal was to multiply themselves creating
a larger and more effective force to face the enemy. This strategy
of increasing the forces by multiplication resulted in these
soldiers being known as ‘force multipliers.’
- “….Our goal is to enlist, train, and empower a
great army of believers for the sake of the Kingdom of God. Our
strategy is to use this enlisting, training, and equipping process
called ‘FAITH’ as ‘Faith Force Multipliers.’”[59]
- Force Ministries and the Chaplains
- Recently I found myself searching through the “contacts
page” at the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s web site.[60]
To my surprise, I found links to Navy Seals and to Lt. General
Richard E. Carey of Rockwall, TX and General Richard Shaefer
of Nashville, TN as well as to the Adolph Coors Evangelistic
Association and Tom Cole at Headquarters of the Republican Party
in Oklahoma City.
- In following the link to the Navy Seals I came upon one of
the blackest ministries on the web—literally—it’s
called, “FORCE Ministries.” Their motto: “Equipping
military personnel for Christ-centered duty.” It’s
a secretive paramilitary organization. One can’t print their
material out easily. One can’t print out the photos. But
it’s a startling website.
- The black pages highlight the stealth of men moving in the
night, their eyes fixed on the scopes of their rifles aimed and
ready to fire, they are frozen in a photo crossing a creek, covered
by the water and by a deadly silence. The viewer has no doubt
these men intend to shoot to kill. Suddenly a soldier pops up
on the screen, his eyes flint cold against the blackness, his
rifle ready for firing. There’s the sound of shots fired:
“Mission: Christ Centered Duty” flashes. Another soldier
fires: “Purpose: Impart Faith in Christ” flashes. Drums
beat and music plays. And then silence again.
- Force Ministries takes Matthew 11:12 as their “Defining
passage:” It reads in the version quoted: “From the
days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has
been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”
NIV.
- The web site states, “FORCE skydiving is a ministry
to the military and through the military. The FORCE Ministry
skydiving team is comprised of current and former Navy SEALs
whose lives have been touched through FORCE.” In other words,
FORCE is composed of men from the military’s “Special
Operations” branch.
- The website boasts a worldwide military ministry:
- “Force Ministries will send and maintain military missionaries
in strategic locations throughout the world. Funded through Morning
Star Partnership Development, these workers will locate near
military bases and campuses throughout the world. This effort
will be headed by Lt. Col. Art (Raylee) Smith, USAF (Retired).”
- In addition Force states that it will “provide a discipleship
environment for Christian chaplains to encourage and support
their efforts in the field.” The description continued:
“Military Chaplains are integral to the spiritual condition
of the troops when at sea or on deployment.” We are told
that “Force will provide assistance (speakers, workers)
to the base chaplains for services held on military installations.”
(Emphasis mine.) I immediately wondered whether there was some
lack in chaplains since according to Force, the chaplains need
“discipleship” and apparently need outside speakers
to help them. (It’s been my observation that pastors don’t
like to share their pulpits with anyone—unless of course,
they are not fully qualified as pastors.)
- FORCE, in an astounding inconsistency, considering the deadly
power of its presentation, sums up its role this way: “Our
supreme desire is to know Christ and to be conformed into His
image by the power of the Holy Spirit.” The FORCE home page
is at: http://www.forceministries.com/
- Source Force Ministries Link....this is the force ministries
mentioned in the Yurica Report article i posted earlier ..notice
the pentagram with the long horn as well as morning star which
has been edited to mean Lucifer in the International Bible version
... http://www.forceministries.com/ http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/InfiltratingTheUSMilitaryGenBoykinsWarriors.html
- -----
- AS MANY AS 25,000 BRITISH PILGRIMS TO PERFORM HAJJ
Jeddah, Jan 7, SPA(Saudi Press Agency) -- Britain is sending
25,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj which falls
in the second half of January, officials said. The figure is
3,000 more than the number of pilgrims last year.
The British Hajj mission made up of 40 members would have eight
doctors, including two female physicians, as well as preachers
and social counsel. A staff from the British Consulate in Jeddah
will join them. Mike O'Brien, Under Secretary for Trade and Minister
in-charge of Muslim affairs, praised the contribution of British
Muslims in public life stating it helped enrich British society.
The continuous dialogue and discussions between British officials
and Muslim community leaders have helped create a better understanding
between the two sides. www.spa.gov.sa/newsprint.php?extend.230608
- -----
- EGYPTIAN PROGRESSIVE CRITICIZES MUSLIM INTELLECTUAL DOUBLESPEAK
- "In the past, we used to mention the tradition attributed
to the Prophet of Islam about the [final] battle between good
and evil prior to Judgment Day. [According to this tradition,]
the stone and the tree will talk in this battle, and call to
the Muslim: 'O Muslim, a Jew is [hiding] behind me, come and
kill him. Except for the gharqad tree, which is the tree of the
Jews. "This tradition is studied by the pupils of the great
Arab state [Saudi Arabia] in the Al-Tawhid [school] curriculum,
and the [curriculum] author adds, in his well-known wisdom, that
today the Jews frequently plant their tree, the gharqad, in Israel,
so that it will not give them away to the Muslims on the day
of the great battle.
"Television broadcaster Barbara Walters raised this subject
to the foreign minister of this great Arab country, and read
him the text of the tradition. The minister's response was most
surprising. First, he expressed great amazement, as if he were
hearing about this tradition for the first time. Then, he vehemently
denied that such a prophetic tradition existed, and stressed
that the statements are incorrect from the point of view of Islam,
and that there is some confusion in this matter - doubtless stemming
from a mistake in the school textbooks... Full story:
- http://www.cephas-library.com/islam/islam_egyptian_progressive_criticizes_muslim_intellectuals_with_doublespeak.html
- -----
- READY TO DO BATTLE WITH SCHOOL DISTRICT AGAIN
- By Nicholas A. Stivers February 1, 2005 - Re: Assignment
from School text entitled, Everything's an Argument: Dear
Ms. Julee Longridge, This letter will serve as my official protest
to a very dangerous and questionable assignment administered
by you in your English AP class. As I understand from your policies
and course rubric, any assignment not completed will earn no
credit. You issued an assignment that causes me grave concern
this week on the subject matter of a Christian homosexual. The
material being read was written by a homosexual man by the name
of Ed Madden. The material deals with his personal testimony
and struggle as a gay male who grew up with a Christian background.
As I understand the assignment from my daughter's explanation,
the pupils are asked to put themselves in his position, as if
being homosexual, and write a like letter or similar essay on
what they would do and/or say to the Church with regards to the
obvious struggle and contrasting faith being presented in this
same context.
- The secular Public School system is not the best forum to
be covering such material that is only best handled by leaders
and teachers within the Church. There is an obvious argument
being presented in this material that sharply contrasts with
the fundamental nature and teachings of Scripture and its prescribed
doctrine. Regardless of what we see taking place in today's screwed
up world of religious tolerances and accepted heresies, this
in no way should establish or set the stage for general acceptance
and agreement of that which is un-natural to mankind. I very
strongly object to the nature of this particular assignment given
the gravity of its implications, which I believe to be immoral
and unacceptable to the absolute. My convictions on this subject
matter are as strong as my abhorrence and intolerance for murder,
thievery, blasphemy and hypocrisy. I am a very devout God fearing
man and have as a widowed single parent, raised my children according
to the right and just examples, teachings and doctrines afforded
us in the Bible. My daughter Renee strongly objected to participating
in this assignment for similar reasons to what I've just described.
I support her on that decision and furthermore am compelled to
take this matter to the highest level of authority if necessary
until satisfaction is achieved. I believe that fighting me on
this issue will only mar the good public witness and reputation
that the Federal Way Public School District has enjoyed for years.
The strength and passion of my argument is not solely for my
children alone but for the best interests of all our youth who
are at this stage in their development, most vulnerable to dangerous
and destructive ideologies, precepts and heresies.
- This assignment must be removed and be given no consideration
in regards to assigning credit. Neither should my daughter or
any other child have to suffer grade or credit loss by refusing
to participate in this particular assignment. I beg you to make
exception to your primary rule for incomplete assignments and
cast this one out the window. I am certain that I am not the
only parent that strongly objects or would object to the nature
of the given material. Please, for our children's sakes, amend
this course material and re-consider if this book should even
be allowed for approved classroom instruction. If we are going
to make a difference in this increasingly indifferent world,
it will start by us drawing the line on the unacceptable and
taking stands against that which deteriorates what little moral
fabric remains in society. I have not judged this matter alone
but choose to live by the authority and judgments the Word of
God makes, thereby keeping peace with God. All who are called
Christian should do the same. Accepting the unacceptable makes
oneself an enemy of GOD. Respectfully, Nicholas A. Stivers
- -----
- PARENTS BARRED FROM "PLANNED PARENTHOOD" CONFERENCE
- WACO, Texas, July 19, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Planned Parenthood's
week-long conference for children, Nobody's Fool, opened Thursday,
attracting 350 youngsters, according to a Waco news source.
- The conference, open to children from grades 4 to 9, or 10
to 14 years old, bans parents from attending. American Life League's
STOPP International executive director, Jim Sedlak called the
conference a "thinly veiled attack on parental rights, public
morality and the health and well-being of our children,"
according to a MichNews account.
- For the $5 admission charge, children also receive a free
copy of the book, "It's Perfectly Normal," an 89-page
primer of sexually-explicit illustrations meant to teach children
the tools for engaging in sexual acts...."This so-called
'educational text' is nothing more than pornography in comic
book form," Sedlak said.
- Some examples from the text include, "The ancient Greeks
thought that love between two men was the highest form of love,"
found on page 17, as described by Dr. John Pisciotta, Professor
of Economics at Baylor and Co-Director of Pro-Life Waco. According
to instructions on page 73 of the text, "There are many
reasons why a female or a couple might want or need to end a
pregnancy," The ninth reason is listed as "female did
not intend to become pregnant." (c) Copyright: LifeSite
Daily News, a production of Interim Publishing (LifeSiteNews.com)
- -----
- RESORTING TO DESPARATE ADVERTISING TRYING TO GET THROUGH
TO PARENTS
GLOBAL / LOCAL
POLITICS
- -----
- PRESIDENT BUSH AND HIS FAMILY MAKE CONFUSING SIGNALS
- OSLO, AP Norway Jan 21, 2005 President Bush's
"Hook 'em, 'horns" salute got lost in translation in
Norway, where shocked people interpreted his hand gesture during
his inauguration as a salute to Satan.. Shock greeting from Bush
daughter," a headline in the Norwegian Internet newspaper
Nettavisen said in a photograph of Bush's daughter Jenna, smiling
and showing the sign. That's what it means in the Nordics when
you throw up the right hand with the index and pinky fingers
raised, a gesture popular among heavy metal groups and their
fans in the region. For Texans, the gesture is a sign of love
for the University of Texas Longhorns, whose fans are known to
shout out "Hook 'em, 'horns!" at sporting events. ..
Bush, a former Texas governor, and his family made the sign to
greet the Longhorn marching band as it passed during the inaugural
parade through Washington during Thursday's festivities, explained
Verdens Gang, Norway's largest newspaper.
- http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/WaterCooler/wireStory?id=431141
-----
- PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW CHARLES GIBSON,
ABC NEWS
- GOOD MORNING AMERICA - New York, New York - October 26, 2004
- CG: Do we all worship the same God, Christian and Muslim?
GWB: I think we do.
- CG: Do Christians and non-Christians and Muslims go to heaven
in your mind? GWB: Yes, they do. We have different routes of
getting there..
- -----
- IRAQ'S OIL
- Znet, Linda McQuaig, September 27, 2004 - Excerpt:
Still, the prospect of privatizing Iraq's oil remained of great
 interest to U.S. oil companies,
according to Robert Ebel, from the influential Washington-based
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).Ebel, former
vice-president of a Dallas-based oil exploration company, retains
close ties to the industry. In an interview in his Washington
office, Ebel said it was up to Iraq to make its own decisions,
but he made clear that U.S. oil companies would prefer Iraq abandon
its nationalization."We'd rather not work with national
oil companies," Ebel said bluntly, noting that the major
oil companies are prepared to invest the $35 to $40 billion to
develop Iraq's reserves in the coming years. "We're looking
for places to invest around the world. You know, along comes
Iraq, and I think a lot of oil companies would be disappointed
if Iraq were to say 'we're going to do it ourselves' " Nestled
into the heart of the area of heaviest oil concentration in the
world is Iraq, overflowing with low-hanging fruit. No permafrost,
no deep water. Just giant pools of oil, right beneath the warm
ground. This is fruit sagging so low, as it were, that it practically
touches the ground under the weight of its ripeness. Not only
does Iraq have vast quantities of easily accessible oil, but
its oil is almost untouched. "Think of Iraq as virgin territory
....This is bigger than anything Exxon is involved in currently
.... It is the superstar of the future," says Gheit, "That's
why Iraq becomes the most sought-after real estate on the face
of the earth." For the whole story:
- http://www.cephas-library.com/nwo/nwo_privatizing_iraq.html
- -----
- PRIVATIZING IRAQ
- In These Times by Eric Laursen - May 28, 2003 The Bush administration’s
neoliberal blueprint for the post-Saddam state By now, it’s
no secret that the Bush administration’s plans for its new
satrapy in Iraq are as much economic as military. The most visible
signs of the future it has mapped out for the Middle East’s
second biggest oil storehouse are the huge contracts the White
House has awarded its corporate cronies. Halliburton’s Kellogg
Brown & Root subsidiary received a contract worth up to $7
billion over two years. Bechtel has a contract worth $680 million
the first 18 months and perhaps as much as $100 billion overall.
But the bigger picture of Washington’s Iraqi dreams is forming
more gradually. The most important element to date is a document
titled “Moving the Iraqi Economy from Recovery to Sustainable
Growth,” revealed by the Wall Street Journal in early May.
Created by the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID) as a blueprint for prospective contractors,
it lays out a series of steps the administration wants to achieve
over the next year in Iraq, steps that will launch the country
as a test case for exporting the neoliberal economic model to
the Middle East. Key goals include privatizing state-owned
assets, including oil, creating a “world-class [stock] exchange,”
and instituting a consumption tax and a new Iraqi currency. A
USAID spokesperson says the document is not a definitive statement
of Washington’s intentions, and that not everything it describes
will actually take place. But the scenario it lays out, added
to other moves the Bush administration is known to be making,
indicate that the path ahead for Iraq will probably look much
like the force-fed economic transformations that devastated many
ex-Communist states in the ’90s.
- Overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq’s financial system
is Peter McPherson, head of USAID under Ronald Reagan. USAID
has enthusiastically pushed privatization and marketization in
countries as disparate as Kazakhstan, Hungary, Poland and Macedonia,
often collaborating with the World Bank, which the White House
is now also prodding to play a big role in Iraq. The Bank, in
turn, has been the driving force behind structural adjustment
programs, which are comprised of selling off state-owned enterprises
and turning public services into for-profit businesses, often
owned by foreign contractors, in scores of countries around the
globe. The blueprint is remarkably similar in almost every
case.
- Here’s how it’s supposed to work. State-owned enterprises,
especially those controlling demonstrably valuable natural resources,
are sold off, or their shares distributed to the public. This
is supposed to provide capital to be sold on local stock and
bond markets. To kick-start the markets, state-sponsored retirement
systems are converted into individual accounts, in a way similar
to U.S. citizens’ 401(k) plans, to which workers contribute
to fund their retirements. A consumption-based rather than income-based
tax system is supposed to encourage workers to spend less and
save more, further fueling capital markets. And a stable currency—or,
better yet, a “dollarized” system in which U.S.
currency becomes the coin of the realm—serves to reassure
foreign investors that they can play, too, without significant
risk to the value of their holdings. For the whole story
go to:
- http://www.cephas-library.com/nwo/nwo_privatizing_iraq.html#anchor401
- -----
- COLUMBIAN FLAG IN US CLASS ROOM INITATES FLAP AT FREEDOM
HIGH
- The Tampa Tribune Published: Oct 7, 2004 by Michele Sager
- TAMPA - At the school named in honor of basic American rights,
student Juan Balcazar said his were stripped from him last week
when school administrators told him to put away his Colombian
flag.
The student at Freedom High in New Tampa repeatedly draped the
flag from his backpack. He then refused to give up the flag and
was suspended from school for three days. That incident spurred
other students to protest Tuesday in Freedom's cafeteria.
They taped hand-drawn flags from various mostly Hispanic countries
to their shirts. This incited an altercation between various
groups of students in the cafeteria, according to witnesses.
Five of the students wearing the flags were suspended from school
for five days. Balcazar, who is Colombian, said he doesn't
understand why the school made a big deal out of his flag.
- ``It was just a small flag I had hanging from my backpack,''
he said. ``I have had that flag at school all last year, and
nothing was said. I'm proud of my heritage and my flag, and this
is Hispanic Heritage Month.'' Freshman Sandra Cardenas was one
of the students who decided to stand up for Balcazar's rights.
- ``My friends and I were really upset, so we made flags and
pinned them to our shirts,'' she said. ``But one of the students
told us that if we like our flags so much, we should go back
to our own country.'' Cardenas said that statement upset many
of the students, and shouting matches started between various
groups. ``People were up in each other's faces, but no one was
hitting or punching each other,'' she said. ``I don't understand
why there are U.S. flags all over this school but we can't be
proud of our heritage, too.'' Freedom Principal Richard Bartels
said no student was suspended because he or she possessed a flag.
He said they were suspended for breaking the rules.
- Full Story: http://www.cephas-library.com/nwo/nwo_columbian_flag_in_us_class_room_initiates_flap_at_freedom_high.html
- -----
- SCALAR TECHNOLOGY
As a television weatherman I first met this information with
skepticism, who wouldn't? Almost completely rejecting the concept
that weather modification outside of cloud seeding possible.
Additional clues kept creeping in until I came across examples
of scalar weather engineering on Tom Bearden’s web site.
Soon I began looking for my own examples in my own skies…
Whoa! There they were! And not just occasionally, but all the
time! Examples in highs clouds were the easiest to spot, much
less convective turbulence to round out the edges. Mid level
clouds… the alto cumulus are now frequently gridded and
square. Odd, very odd I thought. Lower clouds, cumulus and stratus,
especially in a marine layer environment seem to be the most
difficult in which to see the active grid… But it is there.
I must also admit living in the desert climate of the Northern
Rockies, which does not afford me much opportunity to get practiced
with that kind of marine air mass.
Spotting activity in clouds is but one aspect of this global
war. Evidence can be gleaned from satellite imagery; weather
service doppler radars frequently give up these scalar secrets
too. Contrails and chemtrails, without question, are a big part
of this game. There must be aspects as yet unknown; that some
curious mind will share with us as this war game develops further
and as more eyes are opened and see. It must be understood by
all that the entirety of this planet's atmospheric weather processes
are now controlled. All of it, completely 24/7/365!
The paradigm shift for all weathermen is now trying to forecast
some organization’s intent, and not the natural meteorological
processes of earth’s atmosphere. This adds yet another element
of unknown to an already challenging field. The premise of this
site is that you have a working understanding of basic meteorological
processes. - http://www.weatherwars.info/
------ http://www.kathleenkeating.com/stevens012505.mp3.
- -----
- PROCTOR SAID TO REACH A DEAL TO BUY GILLETTE IN $55 BILLION
ACCORD
- New York Times, by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Steve Lohr: January
28, 2005 - Procter & Gamble, the consumer products company,
reached an agreement yesterday to acquire the Gillette Company,
the shaving-products and battery maker, for about $57 billion
in stock, the companies said last night... The combined company
would have sales of more than $60 billion a year. The Procter-Gillette
merger would be the largest acquisition in the nation since J.
P. Morgan Chase acquired Bank .. Last month was the busiest December
in history, with a total of $283.7 billion in mergers and acquisitions
worldwide, outpacing the deal volume in December 1999, at the
height of the stock market bubble and merger mania, according
to Thomson Financial. Last month, Sprint agreed to buy Nextel
Communications for $35 billion; Johnson & Johnson made a
deal to acquire Guidant for $25 billion; Symantec agreed to buy
Veritas for $13.5 billion; PeopleSoft finally capitulated to
Oracle's $10.3 billion offer; and I.B.M. sold its personal computer
business to Lenovo of China for $1.75 billion. And this week,
SBC Communications is negotiating to buy AT&T, according
to executives close to the deal. Proctor & Gamble / Gillette
merger will cost 6,000 jobs.
- -----
- NON-INTEGRATED GAP STILL LEFT TO BE CONQUERED TO GET
A GLOBAL ECONOMY
- WILL THE UNITED STATES SINK LIKE THE TITANIC?
- UNITED NATIONS DECLARES WAR ON AMERICA
- FEMA CONCENTRATION CAMPS: LOCATIONS AND EXECUTIVE
ORDERS
- EUROPEAN UNION SIGNS THE EU CONSTITUTION
- -----
- CONGRESS VOTES TO INCREASE DEBT CEILING
- Last week Congress voted to raise the national debt ceiling
to $8.8 trillion dollars because there was no more money to run
the government. (search) Last month, Congressman Paul tried to
warn the American people about another hike in the debt ceiling,
"...once again Congress is poised to authorize an increase
in government borrowing. Between its ever-growing bureaucracies,
expanding entitlements, and overseas military entanglements,
the federal government is borrowing roughly one billion dollars
every day to pay its bills." For full story go to:
- http://www.newswithviews.com/NWVexclusive/exclusive50.htm
- -----
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE OFFICE SHIFTING TO PRIVATE CONTRACTOR
News Leader January 29, 2005 - By Wes Johnson - Springfield bureau
will likely lose 27 full-time employees in transition. Springfield's
Department of Revenue office on Park Central Square has been
targeted for privatization by Gov. Matt Blunt. The office will
likely move and be run by a private contractor... Robinson said
the state already has 171 branch offices run by contractors...
The office is one of 11 Department of Revenue bureaus targeted
for privatization by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt... Blunt believes
the change will save the state $5.2 million in fiscal year 2006,
said Department of Revenue spokeswoman Jessica Robinson. Annual
savings after 2006 could top $8 million, Blunt officials estimate.
http://www.news-leader.com/today/0129-Department-291974.html
- -----
- NEW TOLL PUTS TSUNAMI CASUALTIES AT 272,000 [NUMBERS KEEP
CHANGING]
Nasa Details Earthquake's Earth Effects - Knight Ridder - By
Tim Johnson - January 13, 2005 Banda Aceh, Indonesia — An
official document posted here says that nearly 210,000 people
in Indonesia are dead or missing from the Dec. 26 tsunami, a
death toll that appears to be far higher than officials have
reported publicly. Rescue workers think even that number may
be low.
The Indonesia toll would bring the total of dead and missing
from the tidal surge across the Indian Ocean to nearly 272,000,
ranking the tsunami as the fifth or sixth deadliest natural disaster
in about 250 years. The new death toll came as Indonesian officials
restricted the movements of foreign relief workers, U.N. employees
and journalists in devastated north Sumatra, the Indonesian island
that took the brunt of the tsunami's force, and said foreign
military units would be allowed to work in the country for only
a limited time.
- http://www.cephas-library.com/natural_disasters/natural_disasters_new_toll_puts_tsunami_at_272.000.html
- -----
- THE GOVERNMENT CEASES PROPERTY FOR HOMELAND SECURITY
- The federal government secured a court order in Miami last
February to seize the property, which is in the Cherry Run area
of the forest. But it did not take control of the 43 oil wells,
and the mineral rights for the entire 1,100 acres in the national
forest, until Friday, when it removed Shaboom Oil as owner. The
company had been leasing the wells to a private operator for
about $3,000 to $5,000 a month, federal officials said. The oil
wells are worth about $1 million, federal officials estimated.
The Department of Homeland Security will own and continue leasing
the wells for the time being, but it plans to do a full assessment
of the property's value and then auction it off, officials said.
- As part of its latest actions in the Hindelang case, the
department also seized an additional $5.5 million in assets from
bank accounts and business interests in Monaco and elsewhere,
bringing the total assets recovered in the investigation to $70
million. No criminal charges have been brought in the money laundering
investigation, and officials said that George Basch, a Phoenix
businessman who was chief executive officer of Shaboom Oil, was
cooperating in the investigation. Mr. Basch declined to comment
on the specifics of the case. "How did this information
even get out?" Mr. Basch said when asked about the seizure
of the oil wells and accusations that the property was bought
with laundered drug money. "I have absolutely no information
about any of that. I was removed as the officer of Shaboom, and
I really have no comment beyond that." A lawyer for Mr.
Hindelang in Los Angeles also said he was unaware that the government
had seized the Pennsylvania oil wells and declined further comment.
[Source; Did not make note.]
- -----
- PORT OF CALEXICO TO EMPLOY HIGH-TECH SECURITY EQUIPMENT
- January 21, 2005 - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers
at the Calexico border station soon will employ a new highly
sophisticated radiation detection device to detect any attempts
to smuggle radiological materials used in nuclear weapons into
the U.S., officials announced today. The passive, ground-mounted
devices, called Radiation Portal Monitors (RPM) will enhance
CBP’s already formidable detection capabilities to screen
cars and trucks entering the U.S., said Al Miramontes, assistant
port director at the Calexico border station. Read More >> http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/
- -----
- MEXICO MAY ASK INTERNATIONAL COURTS TO BLOCK ARIZONA LAW
- AZCentral.com Associated Press - Jan. 26, 2005 - MEXICO CITY
- Mexico may turn to international courts in an effort to block
a new Arizona law limiting services to illegal immigrants, Foreign
Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez said Wednesday. He said in a radio
interview that Mexico might take such a step after it has exhausted
all possibilities under U.S. law to halt Proposition 200.
"We are seeking all the legal opportunities that exist,
first using the legal capacities of the United States itself
and ... if that does not work, bringing it to international
tribunals," Derbez said. advertisement In December,
the Foreign Department issued a statement expressing "complete
rejection" of the proposition, calling it "a measure
that could generate actions of discrimination based on ethnic
profile."
- -----
- NEW PRESIDENTIAL COPTER TO BE BUILT PARTLY ABROAD
Lockheed Martin, based in Md., and international partners get
contract [Ednote: Toni Blair Pay Back]
Baltimore Sun- Associated Press - January 29, 2005 - WASHINGTON
- A new fleet of presidential helicopters will be built by Maryland-based
Lockheed Martin and its INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, the Navy announced
yesterday, ending a fierce competition with political and international
implications.
Saying the president "needs a more survivable helicopter
while the nation engages in the global war on terrorism,"
John Young, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development
and acquisition, said Lockheed met all the security and technology
requirements at the best price. The $6.1 billion program to buy
23 high-tech, high-security aircraft is emblematic of the outsourcing
of American jobs and the question of how open the U.S. military
market is to foreign contractors. Some members of Congress criticized
the decision to put the U.S. president in an aircraft made partially
overseas. "It is difficult to understand why we would use
U.S. tax dollars to fund the further development of foreign helicopter
technology," said House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter,
a California Republican. [Ednote some believe this could be a
security issue for the President]
- -----
- IBM-CHINA DEAL RAISES SECURITY ISSUES
- Moscow Times - January 25, 2005 - Bloomberg WASHINGTON --
U.S. regulators are raising national-security concerns over International
Business Machines' pending $1.25 billion sale of its personal-computer
business to China's Lenovo Group, people familiar with the
matter said. Members of the Committee on Foreign Investments
in the United States, including the Justice Department and Department
of Homeland Security, worry that Chinese operatives might use
an IBM facility in North Carolina to engage in industrial espionage,
using stolen technologies for military purposes, said the people,
who spoke on condition of anonymity. IBM and Beijing-based Lenovo
need the approval of the committee, which is chaired by the Treasury
Department and includes 11 other federal agencies, to avoid a
formal investigation and the need for clearance by President
George W. Bush. IBM and the government are negotiating the matter,
which otherwise could scuttle the deal, the people said.
- -----
- THE WAR ON AFFORDABLE HOUSING
- NYT October 16, 2004 - Ideologues in the Bush administration
would like to dismantle Section 8, the most successful public-and-private
housing partnership in the history of the United States. That's
the only way to explain the destructive policies emanating from
the Housing and Urban Development Department.
- -----
- EUROPE AND IRAN'S NUCLEAR FUTURE
Ephraim Asculai - Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies - Tel Aviv
Notes, No. 122 January 16, 2004 On January 12, the European Union
resumed trade talks with Iran following an 18-month suspension. On
the same day, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors
arrived in Iran to investigate suspicions that nuclear weapons-related
experiments had been conducted at Parchin army base, near Tehran. According
to an Iranian official, the scope of the visit was limited, and
not all was open to inspection at the suspect site.
These are the latest developments in the ongoing international
efforts to circumscribe Iran's nuclear program. Negotiations
between the "EU-3" (France, Germany and the United
Kingdom) and Iran are currently at the center of these efforts,
and the issue at stake is whether Iran is willing to abandon
its military nuclear ambitions in return for significant economic
benefits. The outcome, which will depend on the resolve
of the EU-3 in the face of Iran's intention to persist, will
determine the future course of the Middle East and the rest of
the world, as well. ..
By contrast, the EU-3.. the desire to be seen by Iran as an "honest
broker," rather than from any real confidence in Iran's
innocence. But by failing to do so, they expose themselves
to suspicions of acting from ulterior motives...
In the current negotiations, the EU-3 need to focus on three
central aims:
A. Iran must completely abandon its military nuclear ambitions;
B. Iranian activities must be rigorously verified;
C. Any potential for the reconstitution of Iran's military nuclear
program must be eliminated.
Accordingly, Iran should shut down and dismantle its indigenous
fuel-cycle activities, its future reactors must be of proliferation-resistant
types, and all irradiated nuclear fuel must be returned to the
suppliers. Strict verification and a continuous search for
undeclared facilities, materials and activities must be enforced. Although
Iran has signed the IAEA's Additional Protocol, it did not ratify
it, and in any case, the Protocol does not guarantee a comprehensive
and thorough search for undeclared materials, facilities and
activities. Thus a new agreement must be reached on this
issue. In return, nuclear fuel supplies for Iran's nuclear
reactors could be assured at world-market prices. This should
be all. Following the assured implementation of such an
agreement, however, Europe would probably resume comprehensive
economic and trade links with Iran. [Ednote: Condoleeza Rice
went to Europe last week and refused to get involved in negotiations
between Europe and Iran. She still maintains independent foreign
policy strategy as before when dealing with Iraq . Israelis were
very disapointed that she did not wish to participate in the
summit in Egypt.]
- -----
- UNDER INSURANCE A MAJOR ISSUE TODAY
- NYT 8.31.2004 - Homeowners Come Up Short on Insurance by
Jospeh Treaster EL CAJON, Calif. - Karla and Bruce Carroll remember
the sheriff on his bullhorn ordering residents to evacuate and,
minutes later, hearing the roar of monstrous flames arcing toward
their modest home here in the hills above San Diego.
- Mrs. Carroll grabbed a family photo album as they ran to
safety; Mr. Carroll started to gather his fishing rods. But she
hustled him along. "Don't worry about those things,'' she
recalls saying at the time. "We've got insurance."
- But, the Carrolls say, the insurance they bought from State
Farm, the nation's largest property insurer, has left them at
least $100,000 short of the cost of rebuilding their home. Today,
nearly a year later, they are still wrangling with their insurer
and living in a 29-foot-long house trailer on the land where
their three-bedroom home once stood, overlooking a spectacular
sweep of ridges and canyons.
- Their woeful shortfall in insurance coverage, experts say,
is a plight shared unknowingly by millions of American homeowners.
It has been fed largely by a shift in the way property insurance
has been sold in recent years.
- In a move to cut costs from claims, insurance companies began
in the late 1990's to phase out coverage that guaranteed the
replacement of a destroyed home, regardless of the expense to
the insurer. In place of that unlimited coverage, which had become
nearly universal, insurers substituted a similar-sounding policy
with a crucial difference: it pays only the amount stated on
the policy plus, typically, an additional 20 percent to 25 percent.
- For their part, insurers insist that it is the consumer's
responsibility to acquire adequate coverage.
- The old policy was called a guaranteed replacement policy.
The new one, which most Americans now have, is called an extended
replacement policy.
- "People look at this and it says 'replacement' and they
think, 'That's good, I get my house replaced,' " said John
Garamendi, the insurance commissioner in California. "But
they don't get their house replaced. They get money up to the
set limits plus the extended 20 percent or 25 percent."
- Marshall & Swift/Boeckh, a Los Angeles company that most
insurers rely on for help in calculating the value of houses,
estimates that 64 percent of American homes are underinsured
by an average of 27 percent, with some homes underinsured by
60 percent or more.
- Another insurance industry company, AIR Worldwide in Boston,
estimates that many upper-income homes in New England are underinsured
by 30 percent to 40 percent.
- "The underinsurance problem lies just beneath the surface
all across the country,'' said Robert P. Hartwig, the chief economist
for the Insurance Information Institute, a trade group in New
York.
- The insurance gap has been worsened by the nationwide housing
boom that has been rapidly driving up the cost of lumber, bricks,
cement and other construction materials, industry executives
say. And in Southern California, rebuilding costs soared even
higher as the demand for contractors and building supplies suddenly
jumped after the Carrolls' home and several thousand others were
destroyed in wildfires over a few days last October.
- But such explanations do not satisfy the industry's critics,
who say insurers have shifted the burden of such mistakes onto
homeowners.. The problem is everywhere,'' Mr. Hartwig said. "The
disasters simply expose it.''
- [Ed note: I have the same carrier State Farm. Due to the
hurricanes in Florida insurance was raised by 40% $500 annual.
They had been trying to get an increase in rates and couldn't
get there. All they needed was a few hurricanes and that did
it. Since we are mostly retirees we will have to give up our
homes due to these increases. I think I might move to Iraq to
get some attention. How about you?]
ISRAEL
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