Can You Trust the Bible Historically? - Is it a Game of Telephone? - What about the Gnostic Gospels?

From Chris White http://chriswhiteministries.com
The questions Im going to look at today are:

Can we trust the New Testament as a historical document?
Hasn't the Bible been rewritten so many times that it can't be trusted?
Wasn't the New Testament written hundreds of years after Christ?
*Was the bible changed?
Clip from http://www.100huntley.com/ used with written permission

On The Path of the Immortals - Part 2

by Tom Horn

 

PART TWO: On the third generation medicine man, giants, and the deceiving reptilian that came down from heaven

COMING IN MAY AS A BOOK AND SKYWATCH TV SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

 

We had been told of the more than four thousand archaeological sites and six hundred cliff dwellings ascribed to the Anasazi—a mysterious people that had kept no written records yet who built mesa-top villages and absolutely astonishing cliff dwellings within caves and under outcroppings in the sides of these canyons, but nothing could have prepared us for how breathtaking what they had accomplished really was.

Our Cherokee guide had obviously seen this before, as he waited for us to take it all in. Just ahead of us stood an outstanding complex that some archaeologists say was built long before the time of Christ and that had been suddenly and mysteriously abandoned at least eight hundred years ago (but keep in mind most everything about the Anasazi is anybody’s best guess). Clothing, tools, and even food items were included in the materials they had quickly left behind. This one location alone was a small city, three stories high and built right inside a sheer mountain wall, yet more than six hundred other such cliff dwellings lay ahead.

Among the many Anasazi settlements we would visit during this expedition (and equally as grandiose as the best we had seen) is a place called the Spruce Tree House. It is the third-largest cliff dwelling in the area, and I mentioned this one in particular because it is a site that YOU can visit at the Mesa Verde National Park! If you want to catch a glimpse of what we were investigating throughout this ancient and mysterious region, I recommend that you do go there (or perhaps we should all get together and take a SkyWatch TV tour?) The Spruce Tree House is an amazing, 216-foot-long, 89-foot-deep,120-room structure, with ten gathering rooms, eight ceremonial kivas, and two towers, all built into the side of a cliff from stones cut and hauled from a river several miles away.

Anasazi ruins the public can visit at Mesa Verde National Park

 

These compounds built into the high rock ledges along the Mesa Verde valley are constructed from very accurately cut stones that were set in mortar. Even after eight hundred-plus years of abandonment, the walls remain remarkably strong. You can also see the hand and footholds cut into the cliff faces that served as the frightening climbing apparatus, which the inhabitants would scale along these sheer mountain walls in order to tend their gardens on the top of the mesa, where they grew beans, squash, and corn.

Read the rest of this article at - http://skywatchtv.com/2015/03/19/part-2-on-the-path-of-the-immortals/

Malaysia Air 370 And The Other Disappearing Flight in the Pacific: Flying Tiger Flight 739, 1962: Eleven Points of Convergence

If you checked some of the cases of disappeared folks back down a few posts by David Paulides, you will see the other "coincidence" between these missing flights and the missing people.  That is nearly identical incidents happening in the same places by often decades apart.  Strange stuff....

by Joseph P. Farrell

As most readers here know, I am fascinated with the problematical disappearance of Malaysia Air Flight 370, which disappeared for causes still unknown, last year, on March 8, 2014. As such events inevitably do, the disappearance has spawned a number of theories, most of them in the conspiracy-theory venue, and most of them crazy and unsastifactory, not the least of which is the craziest theory of them all, my own "it just went 'poof'" theory.
Well, a regular reader here, Mr. V.T., came across a bit of information which he emailed me, and this information caused me to go internet surfing for more information.
It seems that in 1962, another flight over the Pacific ocean went mysteriously missing, and the attempts to explain the disappearance have, to this day, been somewhat wanting. Here's the Wikipedia summary of the event:

Flying Tiger Line Flight 739

And another article:

Malaysia 370 is not the first: Flying Tigers 739 was

Now, you'll notice there are some very odd parallels of a rather detailed nature between the two flights and their disappearances:

1. Both flights disappeared during calm weather during routine flights;
2. There was no communication from the flight crew or pilot indicating anything untoward or threatening nature prior to the disappearance; communications, in the main, appeared to be more or less normal;
3. Both flights are alleged to have had a passenger manifest of people connected, in some way, to the military(in the case of Flight 370 in 2014, there are persistent stories that approximately 20 of the passengers were connected with an American semiconductor firm);
4. In the case of both flights, a few witnesses on a ship reported seeing an explosion(and notably, in both cases, the explosion was "sited" after the flights' initial disappearance;
5. Yet, in both cases, no debris was ever found incontestably belonging to either flight;
6. Both flights disappeared in the month of March (flight 739 on March 14, 1962, and flight 370 on March 8, 2014, exactly 52 years and 6 days of each other);
7. Both flights' disappearances spawned a number of conspiracy theories;
8. Both flights' disappearances sparked enormous international air and sea searches, which failed to turn up any debris;
9. Neither flights' disappearance has been adequately explained along conventional lines, for all attempts to do so have some flaw and are, in the final analysis, inadequate;
10. Both flights disappeared in the Western Pacific.

There are, of course, as many if not much more dissimilarities between the two flights and their disappearances, but it is the parallels that disturb, for ten points of specific convergence seems to be stretching the laws of random coincidence a bit too far.

Read the rest of this article at - http://gizadeathstar.com/2015/03/malaysia-air-370-and-the-other-disappearing-flight-in-the-pacific-flying-tiger-flight-739-1962-eleven-points-of-convergence/

ISS captures Huge Atmosphere Anomaly | Cuts Live Earth Feed

Mysterious moment from ISS. This 'anomaly' appears to be pretty good size, and, as seen before from the ISS, it does not appear to be the moon. Unusual enough for them to immediately cut the camera feed or cut it off from public view declaring a infamous "technical difficulty".
http://spacestationlive.nasa.gov/time...

Boston Globe: Don’t Invite Extraterrestrials (The “Ancient Enemy” That Wiped Out The Anasazi?) — They’ll Destroy Earth

by SkyWatch Editor

A group of scientists in California recently unveiled plans to advertise Earth’s existence to space aliens, and invite them to visit. This prospect should terrify anyone familiar with the history of imperialism and conquest. On our planet, when a civilization that considers itself superior encounters a “lower” one, the result has usually been enslavement or massacre. Aliens would probably treat us just as pitilessly.

Reaching out to extraterrestrial intelligence is the worst idea ever. It transcends follies committed by individual nations because it exposes all humanity to destruction. “Fatal embrace!” Herman Melville cried when he saw Pacific Islanders welcoming Europeans. “They fold to their bosom the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys.

” Human history must guide any debate about whether we should trumpet our presence to aliens. It tells of many who suffered and died because they attracted the attention of powerful predators. Spain sought gold in the New World, so entire civilizations were crushed. Belgium wanted rubber from the Congo and did not mind killing half of the 16 million Congolese to get it. Other examples fill many books.

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/03/11/don-invite-extraterrestrials-they-destroy-earth/1AU2P0TBaN9bZ9kgx3FxuL/story.html

Catherine of Genoa Discovered God's Love

Catherine of Genoa was desperately unhappy. As a girl she had wanted to become a nun, but was told she was too young. At sixteen, her parents forced her to marry a young nobleman. Giuliano Adorno proved to be an ill-suited match. Not only did he neglect the things of God, he squandered their funds so that the pair were ruined financially.

Catherine drifted into small diversions to take her mind off her unhappy marriage. If she attended church it was more out of habit and duty than out of adoration for her Creator. Nonetheless she prayed desperately for relief. Her sister, who was a nun, urged her to go to confession at her convent. Catherine agreed, although she didn't really want to do so. Her sister said, "At least go to obtain the blessing of our confessor," reputed to be a holy man.

On this day, March 20, 1473, miserable, twenty-six-year-old Catherine knelt in the confessional. At that moment she experienced an overpowering sense of her faults and of the world's misery owing to its sin against the goodness of God. She believed that she saw her soul as God sees it. This sensation was so overwhelming that she all but swooned. Transported by love for God, she repeated to herself again and again, "No more world, no more sin." The confessor, unaware of the experience she was undergoing, excused himself to take care of another matter. When he returned, Catherine said, "With your consent, Father, I will leave my confession till another time."

From that day forward to the end of her life, Catherine lived in an unusually heightened spiritual state, which she expressed as including a sense of God's holiness burning away her dross. She partook of the sacraments almost daily. Her condition has been described in terms of pathological psychology. But if her transformation amounted to no more than this, its effects are hard to explain, for she succeeded in converting her playboy husband. Giuliano died a penitent, having served beside her in caring for the sick at a hospital in Genoa.

Catherine wrote about her experiences. She likened them to Purgatory, which she claimed was actually a happy state, for there the rust of sin that covers a soul is burned away so that it can more and more see the sight which above all others it desires: the sight of God. Catherine also wrote a dialogue of her soul with the world, in which she showed the dangers faced by a person caught up in worldliness. These works became popular, although her account of purgatory is without scriptural warrant.

Bibliography:

1. Butler, Alban. Lives of the Saints. Westminster, Maryland: Christian Classics, 1981, 1956.
2. Capes, F. M. "St. Catherine of Genoa." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
3. "Catherine, St. of Genoa." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
4. Staley, Edgcumbe. Heroines of Genoa. New York: Scribner's, 1911.
5. Various encyclopedia and internet articles

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/catherine-of-genoa-discovered-gods-love-11629889.html

David Paulides Strange Disappearances 2015 new documentary

It's a long video so if you don't have time to listen to it all, just give it a few minutes.  Paulides has compiled hundreds of disappearances of children and adults, often in national parks but sometimes in other areas that have vanished under extremely strange circumstances.  I mean extremely strange.  Paulides isn't putting forward a theory, but just sharing the facts he's discovered.  Fascinating stuff...
 

 

Peckham's Gift of Science

It is sad to see the mind of a great man disintegrate with age. In the case of John of Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, it was the more regrettable because in his prime cardinals and bishops had risen and removed their hats in his honor when he entered the lecture hall.

Born in the Surrey region early in the thirteenth century, his early education came in the priory of Lewes. While young he studied in Paris, where he defended the innovative theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. A Franciscan he lectured on theology, was provincial minister of the Franciscans, and acted as an instructor to the papal curia in Rome. Unlike many who breathed the air of Rome, Peckham ate common foods and dressed in the poorest clothes. Even as Archbishop he insisted on following the strictest Franciscan rules, such as walking rather than taking horse. Humble and sincere, he prayed and fasted assiduously.

From Canterbury he exerted his authority for reform measures, battling the practice, called plurality, of allowing churchmen to hold more than one living at a time. Plurality usually meant neglect: churchmen collected revenues while the people's needs went unmet. Non-residence also elicited his rebuke. A bishop living in Italy might draw his living from an English church he had never visited. Opposed to heretical ideas creeping into the church through the revival of ancient philosophy, John of Peckham resisted them. Twice he called local reform councils.

Peckham's efforts at reform roused strong opposition. Devout and kind, he managed somehow to rub people the wrong way, being somewhat pompous and overzealous. Although he had strenuously resisted his appointment as Archbishop, he asserted the authority of the position once he obtained it, encroaching even upon the King's rights and aggravating discontent with unannounced inspections of those under his charge.

What makes Peckham so significant? He was one of those Englishmen who were inspired by the newly translated Arabic writings of Alhazen to study the nature of light and optics. With more than average skill, he applied mathematics to the problem. He also devoted considerable thought to numbers. He was, in short, a science popularizer, who set out to unify and clarify all that was known of science. His elementary textbooks were successful in achieving his stated goal, for through them many contemporaries learned the rudiments of past thought. Even Leonardo da Vinci would read Peckham, and his books were reprinted into the 17th century.

He exemplifies those many churchmen who laid the foundation of ideas upon which modern science would be constructed. In old age Peckham's mind failed. On this day, March 20th, 1292 the Bishop of Hereford received permission to replace the grand old scholar.

Bibliography:

1. Hook, Walter Farquhar, 1798-1875. Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London, R. Bentley, 1865-1884.
2. Kingsford, Charles Lethbridge. "John Peckham," in Dictionary of National Biography. London: Oxford University, 1968.
3. Leff, Gordon. "Prophecy in the Middle Ages," in Dictionary of the History of Ideas, Vol. III, ed. by Philip P. Weiner. New York: Scribners, 1973; p. 668.
4. Lindberg, David C. "John Pecham," in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Edited by Charles Coulston Gillespie. New York: Scribner's, 1970.
5. McKilliam, Annie E. A Chronicle of the Archbishops of Canterbury. London: J. Clarke, 1913.
6. Singer, Charles. A Short History of Scientific Ideas to 1900. London: Oxford University, 1959, p. 170.

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/peckhams-gift-of-science-11629848.html

Why Did They Kill Jesus?

It is sometimes stated, and at other times implied, that Jesus was killed for opening the doors of God’s mercy to prostitutes and tax collectors. This is sort of true, but mostly misleading. It’s true to say, and needs to be said (as I will in my sermon this upcoming Sunday), that Jesus upset some of the Jewish leaders because he extended fellowship and mercy beyond their constricted boundaries. But it is misleading to suggest that Jesus was killed for just loving too much, as if inclusive tolerance were the chief cause of his enemies’ implacable intolerance. 

Take Mark’s Gospel, for example. By my reckoning, Jesus is opposed once for eating with sinners (2:16), once for upsetting stereotypes about him in his hometown (6:3), a few times for violating Jewish scruples about the law (2:24; 3:6; 7:5); and several times for “blaspheming” or for claiming too much authority for himself (2:7; 3:22; 11:27-28; 14:53-64; 15:29-32, 39). As Mark’s Gospel unfolds, we see the Jewish leaders increasingly hostile toward Jesus. Although the fear of the crowds stays their hand for awhile, they still try to trap Jesus and plot his destruction (8:11; 11:18; 12:12; 12:13; 14:1: 15:3, 11). There is a lot the Jewish leaders don’t like about Jesus, but their most intense, murderous fury is directed toward him because he believes “I am [the Christ, the Son of the Blessed], and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven” (14:62). 

The four gospels, as we might expect, emphasize different aspects of their opposition. Luke, for instance, makes more of Jesus’ identification with the society’s cast-offs as an issue for the Jewish leaders, while John makes more of Jesus’ unique status as God’s equal. But the basic outline is consistent in all four accounts. As Jesus reputation as a healer and miracle worker spreads the crowds come to him in larger and larger numbers and the elite despise him more and more. As a general rule, Jesus was popular with the masses (the exception being in his hometown of Nazareth). And as a general rule, as his popularity (but not necessarily success) increased with the crowds, so did the opposition from the Jewish leaders. 

The Jewish leaders disliked, and eventually grew to hate, Jesus for many reasons. They accused him of many things (Mark 15:3). They were angry with him for upsetting their traditions and some of their scruples about the law. They looked down on him for eating with sinners and associating with those the culture often despised. Most of all, they hated him because he claimed to be from God and, in fact, equal with God himself. They could not recognize his divine authority and identity. 

In a nutshell that’s why the Jewish leaders (religious and political), and later some of the crowd they incited, hated Jesus. Jealousy was no doubt part of it. But deeper than that, they simply did not have the eyes to see or the faith to believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. That’s why in all four gospels, when the opposition against him reaches its climax, Jesus is not charged with being too welcoming to outsiders (though they faulted him for that too), but with being a false king, a false prophet, and a false Messiah (Matt. 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; Luke 22:66-71; and less clearly in John 18:19-24). In short, they killed Jesus because they thought he was a blasphemer. 

In the end, it was the implicit and explicit claims Jesus made to authority, Messiahship, and God-ness, not his expansive love, that ultimately did him in. This is certainly not an excuse for our own hard-heartedness. Conservative religious people are often prone to distancing themselves from “sinners and tax collectors.” We need Jesus’ example to set us straight. But we must put to rest the half-truth (more like a quarter-truth really) that Jesus was killed for being too inclusive and too nice. True, the Jewish leaders objected to Jesus’ far-reaching compassion, but they wanted him dead because he thought himself the Christ, the Son of the living God. If Jesus simply loved people too much he might have been ridiculed by some. But without his claims of deity, authority, and Old Testament fulfillment, he would not have been murdered. 

So as we tell people about Jesus, let’s certainly talk about his compassion and love (how could we not!). But if we don’t talk about his identity as the Son of God, we have not explained the reason for his death, and, just as crucially, we have not given people reason enough to worship him.

Is Obama a Clone?

I wouldn't necessarily agree with Freeman's conclusions, but if you take the time to listen to his facts, it's mindblowing stuff....

The evidence is in but, can you believe it? A mummy has been cloned! Currently, animal/human hybrid creations are not illegal. Learn more and take the Queen Tiye Challenge! http://freemantv.com/obama-clone-of-a...

Catholic News Site Sees The Coming Of The Leathery Winged/Horned Alien Devils Of “Childhood’s End” En Route To Carry Out Their Mission Of Replacing Mankind

by SkyWatch Editor

In Sir Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel Childhood’s End (1953), a mysterious alien race known as the Overlords land on Earth. Swiftly establishing a benevolent dictatorship, the Overlords put an end to war and want and transform the world into a tranquil, rationalist utopia.

They do this not for the sake of mankind per se, however, but to pave the way for the next leap in human evolution—a leap which occurs years later, when human parents mysteriously beget superhuman children. With the watchful Overlords as their guardians, these children eventually abandon human form and merge into a disembodied collective supermind which roves the galaxy at the speed of thought. Meanwhile and for reasons not entirely clear, the human race loses its will to live, which is just as well since the transformation of the mutant children into a new collective life form unleashes terrible cosmic forces. Said forces destroy the Earth.

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/3753/to_be_or_not_to_be_human.aspx

A Nation Running from Pain: What Can Be Done About It

By Dr. Mercola

According to the most recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), lethal heroin overdoses nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2013 in the US, escalating from 0.7 to 2.7 deaths per 100,000 during this timeframe.
Heroin-related deaths were nearly four times more prevalent among men than women in 2013, and lethal overdoses were highest among Caucasians between the ages of 25 and 44. The greatest increase in heroin-related deaths was seen after 2010.
As noted by Medical News Today:¹

"During the period investigated, the researchers found an average increase in heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths of six percent per year from 2000 through to 2010.
From 2010 through 2013, the average increase was a staggering 37 percent per year..."

Prescription Painkillers Are the New Gateway Drugs

What many fail to realize is that this trend is actually fueled by legal drug addiction. The reason for the resurgence of heroin is in large part due to it being less expensive than its prescription counterparts.
Addictive prescription drugs such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet, codeine, and Fentora, all of which are opioids (derivatives of opium) are widely overprescribed for pain.
Many painkiller addicts also turn to heroin when their tolerance level surpasses their allotted prescription dosage, or when they're no longer allowed to refill their prescription.
According to previous statistics, prescriptions for opioid painkillers have risen by a staggering 300 percent over the past decade.² As of 2012, 259 million prescriptions for opioids and other narcotic painkillers were written³ in the US, and these drugs actually claim far more lives than heroin does.
In 2010, prescription painkillers were responsible for 16,600 deaths; heroin was involved in about 3,000.⁴ By 2013, the number of heroin deaths had increased to 8,257,⁵ but as noted in the featured article:⁶

"Although heroin-related drug-poisoning deaths have increased sharply in recent years, the overall rate is still considerably lower than that for opioid analgesics.
In addition, NIDA [National Institute on Drug Abuse] suggest that the abuse of prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and Vicodin could be the first step toward heroin abuse for many people."

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, chief medical officer at a drug treatment center called Phoenix House has also previously spoken out on this issue, noting that:⁷

"Heroin use is increasing because we have an epidemic of opioid addiction (caused by overexposure of our population to painkillers) and not enough has been done to expand access to treatment in communities hit hardest."

Financial Conflicts of Interest Fuel Narcotic Prescription Rates

Despite dramatic increases in prescriptions, two recent papers assert that no solid evidence can be found in the medical literature supporting the long-term safety and effectiveness of narcotic painkillers.
Many suffering from chronic pain end up using painkillers for years on end, yet there are no studies longer than one year on record. Most trials do not go past six weeks.

Read the rest of this article here 

Hugh of St. Cher's Concordance

Trying to find a passage of scripture in your study Bible? Chances are you will flip to the concordance in the back. There you can search for your topic in an alphabetical list of words. The word you are looking for appears in a cropped sentence--a little additional text being given to help you identify which passage you are looking for. The concordance points you to chapters and verses. It is one of the most powerful scripture tools at our command.

Hugh of St. Cher, a Dominican, made the first significant concordance of the Bible. This was for the Latin Bible, the Vulgate. He is said to have had the help of 500 Dominican friars. The only other person known to have attempted to compile a Bible concordance before him was St. Anthony of Padua. Hugh's concordance only gave the Latin word but did not give any of the text around it. This made it crude by modern standards. All the same, it served as a basis for the work of men who soon came after him.

Bible chapters had not yet been broken into verses. In order to help scholars find words, Hugh broke each chapter into seven parts to which he gave letters of the alphabet.

The concordance was only one of three tools that Hugh gave the Dominicans. Each of them was needed to assist the order to meet their goal of preaching the Gospel. One of his other efforts was an attempt to correct the errors of the Vulgate. However, he did not know that Jerome had made the original translation and often turned down Jerome's comments in favor of the ideas of other writers. When the church learned that Jerome had actually made the Vulgate translation, Hugh's work lost all credibility.

Hugh also wrote a commentary on the whole Bible. It was still in demand five hundred years later! This included the opinions of many notable theologians of his own era.

In addition to his scholarly work, Hugh was serious about preaching. He once wrote, "if a man is known to be without the grace for it he ought not to be sent out on any job of public preaching."
He was also deeply engaged in the church politics of the day. At various times, popes employed him on important missions. Once he was sent to Constantinople, no easy journey in those days. When the pope needed someone to reform one of the Catholic orders, the Carmelite rule and liturgy (order of service), it was the Bible scholar Hugh that he chose to do the job. Hugh became the first Dominican raised to the rank of Cardinal.

But it is as a Bible scholar that we remember him. When he died on this day, March 19, 1263, he left behind him a solid body of work that greatly helped future students of the Scriptures.

Bibliography:

1. "Concordance." Encyclopedia Americana. Chicago: American Corp., 1956.
2. Gigot, Francis E. "Hugh of St. Cher." Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1910.
3. Smith, A. "Hugh of St. Cher." New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967.
4. Sullivan, Fr. J. M. "The Preacher Hugh of Saint Cher: Scripture Study and the Salvation of Souls." http://www.wordofgodinstitute.org/ Old/Old_hughcher.htm

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/hugh-of-st-chers-concordance-11629840.html

“The Coming Technocalypse: CERN, Quantum Computing, And Particle Teleportation”

by SkyWatch Editor

As we rapidly approach the scientifically-prophesied year of singularity in 2045, we look at our modern technology and wonder where it is headed? The scientific discoveries made today will become the norm and lead to commonplace devices tomorrow. What might these devices look like? Where will they lead humanity? Can we trust in our own human innovations to save us; or in believing that, are we already doomed?

Science and technology are heading into unknown realms. Even though the ones in charge admittedly don’t understand the full consequences of their research, they still continue in their pursuits. They are on the ultimate quest of discovery and no one will stand in their way. In a strange way, we as Christians might be able to understand their passion, at least to a certain extent. We are on the quest of the Great Commission, and nothing, be it torture nor death, will stand in our way. Our mission is set forth by Jesus Christ for the betterment of mankind and eternal salvation of their souls. Therein lies the difference. The goals of innovation outside of God are the physical betterment of mankind, as determined by man himself, and the extension of physical life with no regard to the human soul and spirit. At times we can benefit from these innovations, at other times they bring in a moral dilemma: where is the line?

Read the rest of this article at - http://joshpeckdisclosure.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-coming-technocalypse-cern-quantum.html

George Washington Bethune

When France suppressed its Protestant Huguenots, they scattered around the world. Many wound up in the young United States. Several presidents, the first chief justice of the United States (John Jay) and many other famous men boasted Huguenot blood. George Washington Bethune, born on this day, March 18, 1805 in New York City, was also of Huguenot descent. He became a notable Dutch Reformed pastor.

Apart from a brief stint in South Carolina as a missionary to seamen while he was still associated with the Presbyterian church, George spent all of his pastoral life in Dutch Reform churches in New York and Pennsylvania until illness forced his retirement in 1859. He authored several books, including a study of British female writers, a collection of his own poems, and five editions of Izaac Walton's Complete Angler.

Because of his extraordinary literary background, he was offered high leadership positions at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania. However, he declined both because he preferred to be a preacher of the Gospel. In fact, he once urged his sons and sons-in-law: "My sons, preach the Gospel. Tell dying sinners of a Savior. All the rest is folly."

It was as a preacher and orator that he shone. In one of his sermons, he gave this advice: "While, therefore, we grow in the Christian life by divine grace, it is our duty to grow in grace. Besides, the quality of grace is such that, though it is strength from God, we must use it. Grace gives no new faculty, but strengthens the faculties which we have . . . "

Bethune penned the words to the hymn, "There Is No Name So Sweet on Earth."

There is no name so sweet on earth,
No name so sweet in Heaven,
The Name, before His wondrous birth
To Christ the Savior given.
And when He hung upon the tree,
They wrote this Name above Him;
That all might see the reason we
Forevermore must love Him.

He died suddenly of a stroke in April 1862. The morning of his death, he preached in the Scottish church in Florence. He had gone to sunny Italy that year for his health and his wife's. George Bethune was just 56. At his funeral, the congregation sang one of his hymns:

It is not death to die,
To leave this weary road,
And, midst the brotherhood on high,
To be at home with God.

Bibliography:

1. "Bethune, George Washington." http://www.bartleby.com
2. "George Washington Bethune." http://www.cyberhymnal.com
3. "George Washington Bethune." http://chronicles.dickinson.edu/ encyclo/b/ed_bethuneGW.htm
4. Reynolds, William J. Companion to Baptist Hymnal. Broadmas Press.
5. Various internet and encyclopedia articles.

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1801-1900/george-washington-bethune-11630349.html

March 3, 2015: US Military Satellite Explodes in a Strange Context

by Joseph P. Farrell

This one happened a couple of weeks ago, but in the context of some other stories, and rising tensions between the US and its satrapies, and the BRICSA bloc, especially Russia (and China), this story may be hugely important.

US military satellite explodes above Earth

Now, curiously, the Daily Telegraph is silent about exactly where the satellite was above the surface of the Earth when it had its sudden "heat spike," and that omission, to my mind, raises some red flags. Of course, sudden heat spikes in satellites, especially old ones, might occur if there was some sort of equipment malfunction, and for the moment, that is more or less what we're being carefully guided to believe. But then there was this article that was shared with me by a number of readers here:

New Chinese electromagnetic weapon may paralyze US air defense: expert
China achieves breakthrough in pulse weapons technology

Now, note that the date of the explosion of the satellite was March 3, and that the dates of the articles concerning China's x-ray pulse weapon were Feb 14th and Feb 4th respectively. Now, set that aside for the moment, and ponder this article:

Britain cites option of cutting Russia from SWIFT banking

(I guess we now know who's really calling the shots at SWIFT).
And finally, this:

ECB Warns UK: Excluding Russia From SWIFT "Could Undermine Confidence In The Whole System"

Those last two articles were dated Feb 25thm and 26th respectively.

Let us also recall, in this context, Mr. Xi Jinping's recent statements that China backs Russia solidly in its position on the Ukraine crisis. Now add it all up, and an intriguing, and to my mind highly suggestive, sequence of events emerges:

1. There is an article on China's new x-ray pulse weapon on Feb 4th;
2. This is followed by another, more in depth article in Feb 14th;
3. On February 25th, Great Britain warns Russia that it might press to remove Russian access from the SWIFT system of international financial clearing;
4. On February 26th, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt-am-Main warns Britain that that removing Russian access to SWIFT could "undermine confidence in the whole system" (raising questions as to why that should even be the case); and then, finally,
5. On March 3, 2015, an obsolescent US military weather satellite mysteriously "heats up" and then explodes.

Read the rest of this article at - http://gizadeathstar.com/2015/03/march-3-2015-us-military-satellite-explodes-in-a-strange-context/

Immortal Fra Angelico Died

When Guido di Pietro became a Dominican friar at Fiesole, he changed his name to Giovanni and was known thereafter as Fra Giovanni da Fiesole. Italians called him Beato, "Blessed One." But the name by which we know him was given him as a tribute fourteen years after his death. Fra Angelico he became: "angelic brother." Unlike many friars, he took his vows seriously. Purity of form and space characterize his art; purity of soul, his life.

His first efforts in art were as an illuminator. Later he moved to larger forms. The landscapes in his backgrounds are said to capture depth and perspective as well as any from the early Renaissance. Supposedly Angelico never painted without first praying and wept whenever he painted Christ. "To paint Christ one must know him," he said. His Lamentation Over the Dead Christ is too tranquil for realism but creates an illusion of timeless rapture. Nonetheless his paintings are not so much mystic as educational, in keeping with the intent of the Dominicans who were a teaching order. While retaining traditional elements such as haloes, his work moved firmly into the Renaissance. It is rich in color and groups figures elaborately.

Wherever he resided -- Cortona, Fiesole, San Marco -- he left frescoes and paintings. When the decayed monastery at San Marco in Florence was restored by the Dominicans, he and his pupils painted fifty frescoes in its rooms as aids to contemplation. His most famous works are there. The figures are lyrical, tender even, as in the The Annunciation. The angel is gracious, feminine, not at all fearsome, the center of light in the room. Mary's face is peaked, a study in consternation.

Painting altarpieces, he created the form known as Sacra Conversazione, a grouping of saints in conversation around Mary, the Mother of Jesus. As his fame as an artist spread, he was called to Rome to decorate the Vatican. Most of the frescoes he created in the eternal city have perished with their buildings. Among those which remain are scenes from the lives of St. Lawrence and St. Stephen. Thanks to Fra Angelico the Vatican possesses portraits of some of his contemporaries, as well as renditions of famous churchmen such as Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus.

The Pope, it is said, wanted to make Angelico archbishop of Florence, but the unworldly priest declined the offer. According to an account which may be apocryphal, he was elected prior of Fiesole in 1449 and served three years, after which he returned to Rome to paint more pictures. It was in Rome on this day he died March 18, 1455. He and Fra Filippo Lippi are considered the two greatest artists of their generation.

The Nazarenes and Pre-Raphaelites, 19th century art schools, imitated Angelico but over-sentimentalized his ideas. As long as works of art are remembered, Fra Angelico's Christian paintings will live with them.

Bibliography:

1. "Angelico, Bl Fra." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
2. "Angelico, Frate Giovanni da Fiesole." New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Art. New York, Greystone Press, 1967 - 71.
3. Argan, Giulio Carlo. Fra Angelico; biographical and critical study. Skira, 1955.
4. Cleef, Augustus Van. "Angelico, Fra." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
5. Grove Dictionary of Art. New York: Grove, 1996.
6. Janson, H. W. with Dora Jane Janson. History of Art; a survey of the major visual arts from the dawn of history to the present day. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall; New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1969.
7. Murray, Peter and Linda. Dictionary of Art and Artists. Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin, 1959.
8. Nigg, Walter. Great Saints. Hinsdale, Ill.: H. Regnery Co., 1948 pp. 272 - 274.
9. Various encyclopedia articles.

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1201-1500/immortal-fra-angelico-died-11629884.html

Left Behind or Led Astray?: The Church Fathers [Excerpt]

A sneak peak preview from our DVD, "Left Behind or Led Astray?: Examining the Origins of the Secret Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory."

Despite the fact that some pre-trib proponents claim that the pre-trib rapture goes back to the early church fathers, even pre-trib leaders often admit that this is false, and that the early church understood Jesus’ and the apostle’s teaching that the church would go through the tribulation. A close look at what the church father's taught verifies what many pre-trib leaders admit...

To learn more about our DVD, "Left Behind or Led Astray?" visit:
http://www.leftbehindorledastray.com
To learn more about our ministry, please visit:
http://www.goodfight.org

A Time Before The Moon - How Did The Moon Get Here?

 Fascinating stuff about the moon and how it's been seen and remembered through history.  Also, for those wondering what the Bible says about this, the moon is first mentioned in Joseph's dream in Genesis 37:9, which would normally be dated between 1600 to 1800 B.C.  Before that?  Lesser lights are mentioned, but our moon is not singled out before that.  Interesting stuff!

There is a lot of evidence that shows the moon is not what we have been told it is. There is a lot of evidence that shows there was a time on Earth when there was no moon. NASA has no workable explanation for how our moon came to be in our sky – literally, yet they can explain most other moons in our solar system. The moon is not what you think it is – the cat is out of the bag.

Viewer requested T-shirts: http://www.cafepress.com/crrow777
If you would like to support the Crrow Discovery Project, please use the link below. All proceeds are applied to gear to improve filming abilities.
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The Hindu Shiva ‘Dance Of Destruction’ Filmed Inside CERN Collider

Geoffrey Grider

The LHC is the largest machine in the world. It took thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians decades to plan and build, and it continues to operate at the very boundaries of scientific knowledge.

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Job 1:7 (KJV)

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator. It first started up on 10 September 2008, and remains the latest addition to CERN’s accelerator complex. The LHC consists of a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India, Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have observer status. CERN Council is the body in which the representatives of the 20 Member States of the Organization decide on scientific programmes and financial resources.

Why was a statue dedicated to the Hindu Lord Nataraja, also known as the “dark one”, at the CERN collider? Because the New World Order is sending you a message.

 

So why, one might ask, has a very bizarre movie been filmed on location there featuring the Shiva ‘Dance Of Destruction‘? Yes, in fact, a statue of Nataraja depicting the Hindu god Shiva was dedicated there on-site back in 2004 when CERN was first constructed.

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/blog/?p=31668 

The Vaccine Culture War in America: Are You Ready?

 

By Barbara Loe Fisher

More than 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV¹ but government officials do not ban HIV infected children and adults from attending school, receiving medical care, being employed, or otherwise participating in society.
In fact, there are anti-discrimination laws that guarantee civil rights protections for Americans infected with HIV or living with AIDS.²

No Discrimination or Societal Sanctions for Infected Citizens

In 2012, public health officials reported that about two million people in America are infected with chlamydia, tuberculosis, syphilis, and gonorrhea,³ and they estimate another three million people are infected with hepatitis C.⁴
Like those with HIV or AIDS, these citizens are not targeted for discrimination and blocked from getting a public education, being employed, or moving freely in society.

Live Polio Vaccinated Children Could Still Attend School

Between 1963 and 1999, doctors gave live oral polio vaccine to millions of healthy American children, who became infected with vaccine strain polioviruses they shed in their body fluids and transmitted, sometimes causing other children and adults to contract vaccine strain polio paralysis and die.^5,6
Those with compromised immune systems were at special risk for getting vaccine strain polio and shedding vaccine strain poliovirus for longer periods of time than healthy persons. Yet, children recently given live oral polio vaccine were not excluded from attending school.

Read this article here 

Petrus Romanus Accepts That He May Be Assassinated As ‘God’s Will’: Does He Believe In The Prophecy Of Fatima?

by SkyWatch Editor

He said: ‘Life is in God’s hands. I have said to the Lord, “You take care of me. But if it is your will that I die or something happens to me, I ask you only one favour: that it doesn’t hurt.” The pope made the comments in an interview with Buenos Aires favela tabloid La Carcova News in which inhabitants of the shantytown Villa La Carcova collectively came up with the questions.

The parish priest of the extremely poor area is Jose Maria Di Paola, or Father Pepe, described as ‘the spiritual son of Francis’. For months, there have been threats against Pope Francis by the ISIS militants, who call him the ‘bearer of false truth.’

In January an assassination plot to kill Francis by detonating a bomb in Manila was reportedly thwarted by the Philippines military, although this was denied by the Vatican. Former Special Action Force (SAF) commander Getulio Napeñas testified before the Philippine senate that the Philippines National Police had received information that Southeast Asian Jihadist terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiya, planned to set off a bomb near the papal convoy.

Read more of this article at - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2988299/Pope-Francis-says-accepts-assassinated-asks-God-make-sure-doesn-t-hurt-real-wimp.html

Minority Report (2002) Esoteric Analysis – Pre-Crime is Now Here!

“Everybody Runs”

By: Jay

Spielberg’s Minority Report is now an important film to revisit.  Based on the short story by visionary science fiction author Phillip K. Dick, Spielberg’s film version implements an important number of predictive programming elements not found in Dick.  Both are worth a look, but the film is important for JaysAnalysis, since now 13 years later, we are actually seeing the implementation of the total technocratic takeover, including pre-crime tracking systems.

Although the film and the short story present the precognition as a metaphysical mystery by telepathic individuals who can see into the aether, the real pre-crime systems are based on A.I. and the digitizing of all records under total information awareness.  And as I’ve said, this was DARPA’s plan for the Internet all along.

In fact, a good friend of mine worked for a few years digitizing mass medical records, and while most are aware of Google’s attempts to digitize all books, most do not know why.  I’ve warned for several years now the end goal of all this digitization is not for “efficiency” and trendy techy cool iWatches to monitor heart rates and location.  The ultimate goal is total mind control, loss of free will and the complete rewrite of all past reality.

Consider, for example, the power the system will wield with the ability to “delete” all past versions of literature – religious texts, Shakespeare, 1984, nothing will be sacred and unable to be “revised.”  Remember that in 2009 Amazon erased Orwell’s 1984.  Your own past may even be deleted, subject to revision or altered to make you the next villain!  All this is revealed in detail in Minority Report.  Thus, while the public adopts “Kindles,” print itself is assigned the doom of the kindled fire – like Farenheit 451, as Richard Grove has said.

Minority Report’s setting is a 2055 dystopic D.C., where Agent John Anderton (Tom Cruise) is framed for two murders from within his own PreCrime Corporation ranks by the CEO, Lamar Burgess (Max Von Sydow). (Note: The existing system appears to be a merger of private and government sectors.)   I’m sure most readers have seen the film, so I’ll spare you detailed plot recaps and hit the highlights for the sake of our purposes.

“The Temple” – the new god for a new aeon, the predictive A.I. system.

 

The film’s PreCrime alerts a private corporation to a predetermined murder event ahead of time, giving the Agents of the corporation time to save victims.  Hailed as a perfect system, the infallibility of PreCrime has made D.C. the safest city in the world, with no murders for several years.  As a result, the PreCrime test requires a total surveillance society, something akin to complete panopticism.  In fact, the advertising in D.C. is user specific, targeting pedestrian’s personal desires based on retina scans – and all travel requires retinal scanning and mass microchipping.

Read the rest of this article at - http://jaysanalysis.com/2015/03/15/minority-report-2002-esoteric-analysis-pre-crime-is-now-here/

Mary Pryor and the Sinking Ship

When the Quaker girl Mary Bray was asked by a rich merchant to become his wife, she refused. Her nurse complained: "You might have eaten gold!"

"But I could not have digested it," retorted Mary. She had determined to live a godly life and found deep peace in this decision. She married John Pryor in 1760, instead; he was a fellow Quaker who worked wool. Their home was called Waterside.

She was a well-educated woman and full of generosity, especially to those who were sick. Like many other Quaker women, she "prophesied," that is, instructed and comforted others from the wisdom she gained from God in her times of private meditation and prayer. Because she was cheerful and loving, her community looked up to her. She accompanied an evangelistic tour in England and Wales. Letters to her young children showed that she was concerned for their spiritual welfare: "I intreat thee, my dear child, be faithful to that precious gift that is committed to thy trust, remembering that they that are faithful in little will be made rulers over more. A glorious crown of immortality awaits the faithful follower of Jesus..."

After her last child married, Mary felt called to preach the Gospel in America. She did not look forward to separation from her husband, but felt God had the right to ask it. She felt God was telling her to take passage on a boat named the Fame which was in such bad shape that it was considered a serious risk. Her son, who worked for the insurance company Lloyds, pleaded with her not to sail in the leaky ship. Again she asked the Lord, and felt convinced he wanted her on that boat. She was over sixty.

God's purpose soon was clear. The ship sprang a serious leak. The sailors and passengers had to work the pumps night and day to keep it afloat. This effort continued for several weeks as the ship made slow sailing. All became exhausted. The Captain drowned himself in drink. But Mary's constant prayers and words of assurance put heart in the men.

Finally, they felt they could drive the pumps no longer. At that point Mary came from her cabin, promising them that God had shown her that all would be rescued that very day if only they worked the pumps. She even named the ship that would rescue them: the Archibald. However, water was now entering faster than they could pump it out. The ship began to sink under them. Mary urged them to work for just two more hours. Rescue would come within that time, she said.

The crew threw overboard all that they could. Within the two hours, the Archibald was spotted as Mary had promised. It was just a sixty-ton fishing boat and short of water. The coast of America was still 600 miles away. But the fishermen agreed to reduce their own water rations and they crammed the Fame's entire crew and passengers aboard.

Mary landed in Philadelphia on this day March 15, 1798. Immediately, she fell to the ground. A friend who had met her at the ship, thought she had stumbled and he leaned over to help her up. But a passenger, recognizing that she was kneeling to pray stopped him from pulling her to her feet. The Captain, the crew and the passengers gathered around her, removing their hats as she poured out her heart in thanks to God.

Bibliography:

1. Hack, Mary Pryor. Mary Pryor; A life story of a hundred years ago. Philadelphia: H. Longstreth, 1888

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/mary-pryor-and-the-sinking-ship-11630330.html

Intelligence Services, Lobbies and Advertisers Dictate Mainstream Media Content, Journalists Admit

By Julie Lévesque

There are many reasons not to trust the mainstream media (MSM). Most, if not all those reasons, have been analyzed by independent news outlets. The MSM is owned by private companies and financed by advertising, both of which have a clear influence on its editorial content and the overall agenda setting. It has also been proven in the past, during the Church Committee, that the CIA, like other intelligence agencies, uses the mainstream media for propaganda purposes by planting stories and using journalism as a cover for agents. The mainstream media’s complaisance towards governments has also been exposed, namely with the New York Times’ yearlong silence on wiretapping under the Bush administration.

 

Recently, however, several stories from mainstream journalists have emerged, exposing the corrupt nature of the MSM, thus weighing in on the growing mistrust it inspires. We hope the following will inspire you to support independent media like Global Research!

The influence of money and politics on editorial content

Former chief political commentator of the Telegraph Peter Oborne resigned from the newspaper because it would not publish articles on HSBC for fear of losing advertising revenues. The bank is well-known for its money-laundering for Mexican drug cartels as well as its involvement in tax evasion schemes.

In an opinion piece called “Why I resigned from the Telegraph” he wrote:

“The coverage of HSBC in Britain’s Telegraph is a fraud on its readers. If major newspapers allow corporations to influence their content for fear of losing advertising revenue, democracy itself is in peril…
From the start of 2013 onwards stories critical of HSBC were discouraged. HSBC suspended its advertising with the Telegraph. Its account, I have been told by an extremely well informed insider, was extremely valuable. HSBC, as one former Telegraph executive told me, is “the advertiser you literally cannot afford to offend”… 

Winning back the HSBC advertising account became an urgent priority. It was eventually restored after approximately 12 months. Executives say that Murdoch MacLennan [the chief executive] was determined not to allow any criticism of the international bank. “He would express concern about headlines even on minor stories,” says one former Telegraph journalist. “Anything that mentioned money-laundering was just banned, even though the bank was on a final warning from the US authorities. This interference was happening on an industrial scale.” Peter Oborne, Why I have resigned from the Telegraph, Open Democracy, February 17, 2015)

Read the rest of this article at -  http://www.globalresearch.ca/intelligence-services-lobbies-and-advertisers-dictate-mainstream-media-content-journalists-admit/5436256

August Francke: Unto Us a Son Is Given

If August H. Francke is not exactly a household word, that is probably as he would want it. Yet he was a man of extraordinary accomplishments who dusted off faith and put it into practice. His desire was "a life changed, a church revived, a nation reformed, a world evangelized." The orphanage he built served as a model to George Müller's more famous work in Bristol. The Bible school he founded awakened university students and Leipzig's inhabitants alike to a deeper spirituality. To take religion out of the heart and express it in action, he opened a poor school, ran a dispensary, provided shelter for unmarried women, operated a book depot, and edited a Church magazine. A stream of missionaries went out under Francke's influence. Zinzendorf was among his famous pupils.

Francke had not always been spiritually minded. Born on this day, March 12, 1663, he grew up intending to become a minister. But although he professed to be a Christian, and even filled pulpits, he was unchanged within. He became a professor of Hebrew at the University of Leipzig in Germany. However, his soul was dry. With the saved he behaved piously. With his worldly friends he sinned freely. He had nothing of the joy of Christ but only a deep uneasiness that he was missing the mark. This misery ended when he was twenty-four.

Asked to preach on John 20:31: "this is written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, you may have life in his name," he felt ashamed, for he had not himself experienced any such certainty. His condition was surely not unusual. The State-run Lutheran churches of Germany were largely formalist. The ministry was treated as a civil service job. Many who had no heart for Christ occupied pulpits.

Francke, however, determined not to preach the sermon unless he could do it honestly. In deep dread he fell to his knees pleading with God for salvation from his miserable state. "I arose a completely different person from the one who had knelt down." He finally understood Luther's words. "Faith is a divine word in us that changes us and gives us new birth from God." He saw that the Christian life is one in which the Holy Spirit operates.

He accepted a pastorate at Halle. There he taught the Word, preaching five sermons a week, catechized the youth, and holding Bible studies. Aware that many who attended church were not born of God, he pleaded with them to test themselves by the test of loving one's brother. "...if you are not His child it is better that you know it and pray to God because of it and say, 'Dear God I know it, I am not yet your child.' See thus God will give you his adoption so that you will find the proper indicators of this. Thereafter you will have joy and pleasure from it when your certainty has a firm basis." That Francke himself loved both brother and neighbor was shown by the works he did and kind attention he gave all who approached him.

Bibliography:

1. "Francke, August Hermann." Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. Timothy Larsen, editor. Downers-Grove, Illinois: Intevarsity Press, 2003.
2. "Francke, August Hermann." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
3. "Francke, August Hermann." The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
4. Pietists: selected writings. Edited by Peter C. Erb. New York: Paulist Press, 1983.
5. Stoeffler, F. Ernest. The Rise of Evangelical Pietism. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965.
6. Various encyclopedia and internet articles.

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/mary-pryor-and-the-sinking-ship-11630330.html

For The Third And Final Temple The Jewish Altar Has Been Rebuilt And Is Ready To Begin Service

by SkyWatch Editor

The Temple Institute in Jerusalem has announced that it has finished building an altar suitable for the Temple service. The altar, which took several years to build, can be operational at little more than a moment’s notice, reported Matzav Haruach magazine.

The Temple Institute is committed to preparing all the necessary clothing and tools for the rebuilt Holy Temple in Jerusalem. In addition, the institute operates an educational center for visitors and a preparatory training program for members of the priestly family who wish to be ready to serve as soon as the Temple is rebuilt.

The altar is a central component to the Biblical sacrificial service. In fact, there were separate altars for the incense and for other sacrifices.

The larger altar sat in the outer courtyard of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple. It was approximately five meters (16 feet) tall and 16 meters (52.5 feet) wide, with four “horns”, or raised corners, and a ramp.

According to the Bible, the altar may not be made out of stones hewn by metal implements. The altar prepared by the Temple Institute, under the direction of architect Rabbi Shmuel Balsam, follows this requirement.

Read the rest of this article at - http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/32009/altar-jewish-holy-temple-rebuilt-jewish-world/#FZ4UrMk3ri3rvxQ5.97

Back from Captivity, Jews Completed New Temple

In 539 BC, Babylon fell to a coalition of Medes and Persians. The new rulers of the Mid East made it their policy to restore captive nations to their respective homelands. Among those captives were the Jews. They returned to Judah with authority to rebuild their temple. Seventeen years later, construction still languished, and God raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to rebuke the neglect of his house.  In 520 Haggai preached "Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruin?" Through Haggai, the Lord asked the Jews how they had fared since their return. "You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put them into a bag with holes" (Haggai 1:6, Revised Standard Version). Haggai said God wanted them to bring wood and rebuild His house.

Judah's political and religious leaders listened. Under their leadership, the remnant of exiles who had returned to Israel rebuilt God's house, which was completed on this day, March 12, 515 BC But it wasn't much to look at.

"Is it not in your sight as nothing?" the Lord asked them. Well, they should not think that way. God's Spirit was with them. And a day was coming when the Lord would shake Heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land. "I will fill this house with splendor," God promised. "The latter splendor of this house shall be greater than the former," said the Lord. "From this day on, I will bless you," he promised.

The temple, rebuilt in 515 BC, was rebuilt yet again by Herod the Great, who restored it in stone and covered it with gold. It was that temple that Christ visited in his life, bringing it glory. A generation after Christ's death and resurrection, Herod's temple was cast down by the Romans. A mosque now stands on its platform.

Haggai also prophesied that all the nations would bring their treasures to the temple. That event has not been fulfilled. It awaits yet another temple when Christ returns to rule the earth from Zion.

Bibliography:

1. Bible. O.T. Haggai. Revised Standard Version.
2. Finegan, Jack. Handbook of Biblical Chronology. Hendrickson, 1998.
3. Tenney, Merrill C., editor. "Haggai" and "Temple." Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Nashville, Tennessee: Southwestern, 1972.
4. Wiseman, D. J. "Haggai

Read this article at - http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/6000-1-bc/back-from-captivity-jews-completed-new-temple-11629548.html

Altered Genes, Twisted Truth—How GMOs Took Over the Food Supply, Part 2

By Dr. Mercola

Genetically engineered (GE) foods are a serious threat to our environment and our health.
In this article, Steven Druker, author of Altered Genes, Twisted Truth, continues the fascinating story of how GMOs came into being and have been allowed to permeate our food supply through illegal means and without legally required safety testing.
If you missed the first installment of this interview, you may want to read through Part 1 first.
The subtitle of his book, How the Venture to Genetically Engineer Our Food Has Subverted Science, Corrupted Government, and Systematically Deceived the Public, is quite descriptive, and Steven has done a wonderful job of exposing this extraordinary fraud.
Not only has he exposed it, but he’s also taken an activist role and actually sued the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1998 for their 1992 ruling in which they declared genetically modified organisms (GMOs) Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).
That ’92 ruling serves as the foundation by which the biotechnology industry has been able to get away with this fraud. There’s so much information here, I strongly encourage you to get a copy of his book if you have any interest in this topic.
It will give you a clear understanding of what the problems are and how we got to the point where we are now.

Facts Overlooked by Federal Judge

In part one of this interview, we reviewed his lawsuit against the FDA, and how the federal judge appointed to the case failed to rule in accordance to the law.

“She actually ignored some very important evidence that was in the FDA files and that the attorneys and I presented,” Steven says.
"We know that Congress certainly is not immune to special interest and to the money that can be thrown around. But the federal judiciary is supposed to be free of that.
I cannot speculate as to the judge’s motivations other than when I read the opinion, I find it difficult to understand how such an opinion came out because there are some serious facts that were overlooked.”  

One of the main pieces of evidence that came straight from the FDA’s own files was a letter written by the FDA’s biotechnology coordinator, sent to a Canadian health official less than six months before the FDA announced its policy on GE foods.

Read the rest of this article here

Infamous Indulgence Led to Reformation

Indulgences are among the greatest embarrassments in the history of the Roman Church.  A shameful money grab directed at relatives who were fearful of the destination of the spirits of their loved ones, it so angered Martin Luther that we ended up with the Reformation.  Of course, once a church has been corrupted from within, it can never be "reformed". 


Warlike Pope Julius II died in 1513, and his successor, Giovanni de' Medici, took the name Pope Leo X. If Julius loved to fight, Leo preferred amusement. His self-indulgence destroyed the unity of the western church when he bartered sin for money in the most infamous indulgence of church history.
From birth Leo had been earmarked for the church. At the age of seven he was made a monk. By thirteen he was a cardinal. In between, the boy had been abbot. He became pope before turning forty.
His tastes were costly. He was only too happy to spend lavishly on himself and voluptuous entertainment. Humanists with few morals swarmed at a papal court where wit mattered more than witness. Plays and shows, ballets and games abounded. No chance for a hunt was turned down. The papal treasury funded preeminent artists such as Raphael. Julius left a full treasury. Leo drained it in eight short years.

St. Peter's basilica was being rebuilt, but there was no money. Leo decided to solve the problem in time-honored fashion. On this day March 15, 1517 he declared that anyone who contributed to the cathedral would be granted an indulgence. Although in theory an indulgence was only a remission of penalties meted out in this world by the church, in practice it was hawked as if it covered the actual guilt of sins and could release souls from Purgatory. The gist of the indulgence was as follows:

"...[I] absolve you ...from all thy sins, transgressions, and excesses, how enormous soever they be...and remit to you all punishment which you deserve in purgatory on their account and I restore you...to the innocence and purity which you possessed at baptism; so that when you die the gates of punishment shall be shut... and if you shall not die at present, this grace shall remain in full force when you are at the point of death."

Sent to preach the indulgence in Germany was a Dominican named Tetzel. Tetzel got above himself in his promises, implying that the indulgence even covered the future sins which the buyer was now harboring in his heart. Frederick the Wise refused to allow the indulgence to be preached in his territory of Saxony, mostly because he was reluctant to allow Saxon coin to leave his financially-depleted realm. Tetzel came as near the border of Saxony as he could. Folk from Wittenberg crossed over and bought the prized papers.

Afterwards a few doubted the efficacy of the writs. They solicited the opinion to a middle aged monk named Martin Luther. Luther refused to confirm their value. Instead, in an accepted tradition, he posted theses for debate on the door of Wittenberg castle church where a large crowd was expected. The sequel is well known. From those ninety-five theses the Reformation was born when Leo refused to see a problem with the disgraceful sales.

Bibliography:

1. Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand. New York: Mentor, 1950.
2. Begni, Ernesto. Vatican; Its history--its treasures. New York: Letters and Arts, 1914.
3. Brusher, J. Popes Through the Ages. Princeton, New Jersey: Van Nostrand, 1964.
4. Durant, Will. The Reformation. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.
5. Eerdman's Handbook to the History of Christianity. Editor Tim Dowley. Berkhamsted, Herts, England: Lion Publishing, 1977.
6. "Indulgences" and "Leo X." New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1954.
7. "Indulgences" and "Leo X." The Oxford encyclopedia of the Reformation. Editor in chief Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.
8. Kent, W. H. "Indugences." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
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10. Loffler, Klemens. "Leo X." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton, 1914.
11. Mee, Charles L., jr. White Robe, Black Robe. New York, Putnam, 1972.
12. Montor, Artaud de. The Lives and Times of the Popes. New York: The Catholic publication society of America, 1910 - 11.
13. Various encyclopedia articles.

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