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Connecticut Attacks Religion; Catholic Church. Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Tyranny
This is it, the beginning of the end. It’s not enough that they are brainwashing our kids in school, now they want to tell us how to run our churches. Have they never heard of this thing called the first amendment? Just how stupid do they think we are? The law maker who introduced this bill should be tarred and feathered. I hope to see a lot of people in the state capital Wednesday protesting Connecticut vs. Church. jbranstetter04 A double standard for ‘church and state’ in Connecticut The Roman Catholic church expressed outrage this week — and rightfully so — over proposed legislation that would’ve forced the church to reorganize its infrastructure in Connecticut. According to Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the proposed legislation — Bill 1098 — was drafted in response to incidents in Greenwich and Darien, where two priests allegedly diverted, if not embezzled, parish funds to the tune of $3.5 million. The church was right on this one. The bill doesn’t belong on the books. In fact, Bill 1098 was withdrawn Tuesday before it ever reached the cauldron of a public hearing Wednesday. Even so, hundreds of Roman Catholic protestors are still expected to converge on the state Capitol in Hartford Wednesday in protest. “There are 387 parishes in Connecticut, and there might be a sour apple once in a while,” Bridgeport Bishop William Lori conceded Monday in a conference call with the Hearst Connecticut Newspapers. “You don’t get rid of …
Philadelphia Church of God leads Laodicean era (part 1)
I have proven to myself, most prayerfully, that the Philadelphia
Church of God is the most unique of all the groups who’ve
distanced themselves from the Worldwide Church of God’s
doctrinal changes. Only Mal
achi’s Message clearly speaks with AUTHORITY and not
“like the scribes” (Matt. 7:29). I’ve listened carefully for THE
Voice of the Shepherd, hearing what the Spirit says to God’s
Church today, checking out everything with the Bible and what
Mr. Armstrong faithfully taught us (John 10:3; Rev. 3:22; II
Thess. 2:15).
Of course, there are those who CLAIM to follow the traditions
we’ve been schooled in, yet they’ve refused to humble themselves
and submit to the fact that JESUS CHRIST had already moved HIS
LAMPSTAND by the time they finally saw the light! All that was
necessary for them to do was to go where Christ had already
gone, and support HIS WORK of knocking the errors in the
Worldwide Church of God, while holding on for dear life to God’s
truth! We either GET A GRIP – or we lose it! (Rev. 3:11).
Instead of working with Christ, some have chosen to do their own
thing, contributing to the Church’s state of confusion, rather
than helping to RESTORE ORDER (I Cor. 14:33). Why duplicate
efforts, wasting precious time and money? Why not join ranks
with the PCG so we can present a UNITED FRONT to an increasingly
divided world? This would enable us to effectively share with
others the message GOD would have them to hear (John 12:49). We
ought to come together, in Christ, especially since we’ve all
been taught repeatedly: “There is only one Church. Not a parent
church and many little daughter churches that have split off in
disagreement. Divisions splintering off are NOT STILL IN THE
CHURCH” (Mys
tery of the Ages, pg. 243).
Whether we like it or not, God, in His infinite wisdom, chose
Gerald Flurry to REVEAL to God’s Church what was going on – and
thereby allow us to show our true colors by how we responded to
Malachi’s Message! (That doesn’t mean Mr. Flurry is infallible
or that he doesn’t need to continually apply the principles of
Malachi’s Message to himself and organization, as we all do as
explained in my article “Worldwide All Over Again?”).
Restored to Zion!
If I’m so convinced that Christ is ONLY with the PCG, and that
the others are self-willed, for the most part, resisting God’s
lead, why don’t I attend their services? (Matt. 7:21; I Sam.
15:23). And how can I believe that God is actively working
through me in the Middle East? Because I’ve unjustly been
disfellowshipped (II Thess. 3:2), yet I remain loyal to God’s
truth they teach!
It’s BEWILDERING to see an organization that apparently started
out so good and strong and righteous degenerate into a
personality CULT that rules through intimidation and fear and
borders emperor worship! Yet they have more truth in many
regards than the others, just like Herbert Armstrong saw Sardis
(Church of God, 7th Day) did however impotent! Strange but true!
Perhaps it’s like Saul was still the anointed until he was
punished by death for his sins and then David reigned…..
When Gerald Flurry wasn’t anything in his own sight or mind God
used him and now, unfortunately, it appears to have gone to his
head, all the new revelation [simply a deeper understanding of
some things], and he forgets that all truth is from and belongs
to GOD and that God can use a donkey to deliver it! (I Cor.
4:7). Mr. Flurry has become so swollen in his own imagination
that he fails to see that he is the leader of LAODICEA! He knows
what warning God is giving the Laodiceans, of which he is chief!
He had better heed his own words!
Under Herbert W. Armstrong Pasadena, California was the
headquarters of the Philadelphia era of God’s Church; now
Edmond, Oklahoma is the headquarters of the Laodicean era, and
next in God’s plan is the restoration of His headquarters to
Jerusalem!
God knows my ATTITUDE AND ACTIONS still support the work God’s
given them to do, but I truly believe what Mr. Flurry teaches:
their work’s almost finished! It’ll just slightly overlap the
beginning of GOD’S FINAL WORK as outlined in my book, Beyond Babylon: Europe’s Rise and Fall (John
3:30). Minister Dennis Leap wickedly disfellowshipped me for
believing that GOD has ORDAINED that I should promote its timely
truth (Isa. 61:1), even though I’m NOT from the “school of the
prophets” (Ambassador College), or going about it in the
“conventional” way (I Sam. 17:39)!
I’ve come to better understand that God has already begun the
TRANSITIONAL PROCESS of RESTORING His Menorah – His Lampstand to
JERUSALEM! (I Kgs. 11:36; Amos 9:11). As prophesied, a NATIONAL
MESSENGER would be on active duty in Jerusalem, preparing the
way for Messiah’s imminent return! (Zech. 12:8). God reveals HE
would send this outspoken individual to deliver a BLISTERING
MESSAGE and a SCORCHING CONDEMNATION to the NATIONS – just
before NUCLEAR FIRE AND BRIMSTONE RAINS DOWN upon those who’ve
rejected GOD’S ULTIMATUM! (Isa. 41:27; 30:27; Micah 3:8).
It’s from Jerusalem that we must warn another HOLOCAUST is
coming! That’s the sensitive location where God will spark a
NATIONAL DEBATE and ignite an INTERNATIONAL CONTROVERSY! (Micah
6:1-2). It’ll shock the Jews and anger the Germans! It’ll also,
undoubtedly, offend many holocaust survivors who now live in
Israel, but they ought to understand and lend their voices of
experience to ours, having personally witnesses GERMANY’S BRUTE
FORCE, to help our efforts to ensure “Never Again!”
Regardless, we can expect a maelstrom of protest and a bitter
backlash – but such persecution will only fan the flames of this
BURNING ISSUE! (Isa. 54:15-16). Both Germany and Israel (for
their own reasons), will want to immediately stop such
“incitement” – calling it fear-mongering and racist – but
they’ll fail and God’s Word will prevail! (Jer. 1:19).
God MUST grant “political immunity” to His Two
Witnesses, so they can be free to boldly say and do all
that He commands, even though the world will regard them as
public enemy number one! (Ps. 105:15; Rev. 11:10). Undeterred,
they’ll carry on God’s Work and serve as His official government
spokesmen, even in the hostile face of fierce opposition! (Jer.
1:8). But I’m getting ahead of myself! This is all related in my
book, but let’s go back to the beginning – of the true
Philadelphian era….
Mr. Armstrong’s Experiences
In the words of Mr. Armstrong, referring to his dealings with
certain Sardis ministers, “I Shall Not Hide the FACTS!”
(Autobiography of HWA, Vol. 1, pg. 366). However, lest I be
misunderstood, I’d been most hesitant to say or write anything
about my experiences with certain professing Philadelphian
ministers, but I feel compelled by GOD to state the truth,
without fearing men’s reactions, but trusting in God’s PURPOSE!
Mr. Armstrong relates how he had presented a “dual test” to the
Church of God, Seventh Day, to help him determine whether or not
it truly was the Church of God. His first test involved mailing
an “exposition of 16 TYPEWRITTEN PAGES proving clearly, plainly,
and beyond contradiction that a certain minor point of
doctrine… was in error… to see whether their leaders would
confess error and change.” Their head man admitted what Mr.
Armstrong pointed out was true, but feared it might upset many
of the members and even threaten to divide the Church!
“Naturally, this shook my confidence considerably.”
(Autobiography of HWA, Vol. I, pgs. 360-361, emphasis mine).
I, too, detected “a certain minor point of doctrine” taught by
Mr. Leap (on the 144,000), was in error. I didn’t want to rock
the boat, and it wasn’t something I’d lose sleep over, so I
wanted to just ignore or overlook the matter, but God wouldn’t
let me! Amazingly, a dear friend asked me about the 144,000 out
of the blue, and then somehow it came up again with someone
else; so God succeeded in getting my attention to write Mr. Leap
about it. I sent him my PAGE AND 1/2 LETTER, reproduced here –
and didn’t hear anything.
Finally, around my third try (I don’t give up easily!), Mr. Leap
discussed it with me on the phone. When I mentioned that the
Scriptures clearly state that once you’ve broken your “seal”
you’ve lost your salvation, and to claim we can somehow be
“resealed” amounts to crucifying Christ twice, Mr. Leap
stammered around, unable to justify his position, but remained
determined to stick with it – to my sorrow. Like Mr. Armstrong’s
experience, “Naturally, this shook my confidence considerably.”
Church Rejects New Truth
God used an evangelist in Florida to challenge Mr. Armstrong. He
had written Mr. Armstrong and told him he was ignorant if he
didn’t know where we are mentioned in the Bible. After gleaning
through the surprising amount of information on the subject in
the library, Mr. Armstrong PROVED that the so-called “Lost 10
Tribes” are, in fact, the American, British and Northwest
European peoples. He then sent the “lengthy manuscript of close
to 300 TYPED PAGES” that he had written to support this truth to
the editor and leader of the Church. “Did this Church accept and
proclaim this vital new truth… But this Church refused then to
accept it or preach it or publish it though their leader frankly
confessed it was TRUTH and a revelation from GOD! Yet here was
the Church which appeared to have more truth, and less error
than any other… Truly this was bewildering!” (Pg. 362).
David Ben-Ariel, an American author who has travelled widely and who has lived throughout Israel, shares a special focus on the Middle East and great interest in Jerusalem, reflected in hard-hitting articles that help others improve their understanding of that troubled region. Check out www.benariel.com.
Stop the Intersection of Church and State
Image taken on 2008-11-06 14:05:13 by Caveman 92223 — On the 2010 US Tour.
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How To Make A Church Fail By Satan, Prince Of Darkness.
Don’t Make The Same Mistakes Churches Throughout History Have Made. This Ebooklet Exposes The Tactics Of The Enemy Based On A Thorough Review Of Christian History But It Captures And Fascinates By Telling This Story Through The Devil’s Eyes.
How To Make A Church Fail By Satan, Prince Of Darkness.
Obama Leaves Church
Normal 0
Obama leaves his Church
By Peter Menkin
06/18/08
Considered a man of faith, Barack Obama, the American running for nomination for President of the United States, has left his Church. For reasons of political controversy due to its pastor, The Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama left membership in Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC), Chicago, Illinois after 20 years. (The church website proclaims: “We are a congregation which is unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian…”)
Trinity United Church of Christ occupies a tan brick building on West 95th Street across railroad tracks from a public housing project, reports The Christian Science Monitor.
The Senator said about leaving, “Too much press harassment, people couldn’t’ worship in peace.” That wasn’t his reason for leaving, but a complaint on the news media attention. The reason were politically controversial remarks by Trinity’s pastor, Reverend Wright.
Wright’s comments contradicted one of Obama’s campaign’s central messages — that the candidate can transcend past divisions such as those involving race.
The impediment to the African-American’s campaign is highlighted by Wright’s widely reported sermon remark: “God Damn America” (for its racism}, and blaming the September 11 terrorist attacks on US foreign policy. He has also blamed the U.S. government for the spread of the AIDS virus. Mostly, Wright is seen as anti-white and a racist.
On Bill Moyers Journal, Wright says we are unashamedly Black. His philosophy embodies, “Use the culture of which we are a part.” He preaches there is hope, that life has meaning, and that God is still in control. “We can change. We can do better.” Black Liberation theology is Wright’s UCC message. It is a UCC message he offers, since he is a UCC minister who studied under Martin Marty. Martin E. Marty, distinguished Lutheran Pastor, teacher, and writer who has been on the University of Chicago faculty since 1963.
Grounded in the history of the African-American, Black theology is powerful stuff. He is little sorry about his comments, but in Bill Moyer’s interview, Reverend Wright does appear sorry he made the comment “God damn America” in the Pulpit—if only for a few moments. But it wasn’t one remark, but a string of them that caused the significant distancing between the candidate’s spiritual advisor and candidate.
The press in the United States spends a lot of time and space talking about Senator Obama’s faith, his church, and how he is a Christian—the Senator says he is Christian himself, and that is also news. Religion in the campaign makes news, despite separation of Church and State. Time magazine says more voters see Senator Obama as a strongly religious person than they do every major presidential hopeful but Mitt Romney, the Republican former governor of Massachusetts. Romney’s Mormonism drew extensive news coverage.
U.S. Senator Obama was married in Trinity church. His children were baptized in the church, and also like the wedding, Reverend Wright performed the solemnizations. The Senator said on leaving the church, “Trinity was where I found Jesus Christ, where we were married, where our children were baptized. We have many friends among the 8,000 members…” It is a church where he was moved many times. When Wright preached one Sunday about the sustaining power of hope in the face of poverty and despair, Obama says he found himself in tears.
He says in one speech:
“For one thing, I believed and still believe in the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change… Because of its past, the black church understands in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities. And in its historical struggles for freedom and the rights of man, I was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary or a hedge against death, but rather as an active, palpable agent in the world. As a source of hope.”
It is the claim of Reverend Jeremiah Wright that Trinity is a church of Black theology. The Reverend Doctor John Cone, the Harvard Professor and African-American theologian interviewed on American Public Broadcasting System (PBS) by commentator Bill Moyers says on the PBS website:
“As we examine what contemporary theologians are saying, we find that they are silent about the enslaved condition of black people. Evidently they see no relationship between black slavery and the Christian gospel. Consequently there has been no sharp confrontation of the gospel with white racism. There is, then, a desperate need for a black theology, a
theology whose sole purpose is to apply the freeing power of the gospel to black people under white oppression.”
Cone says:
The Cross is the same as the lynching tree for the Black American in a Harvard Speech. The Christian Reverend Cone wants to start a conversation on this subject. He offers that lynching was terrorism that “worked to a certain degree.” This includes spectacle lynchings where 5,000 would gather to watch.
Religion is one place where you have an imagination that no one can control.” Black Churches are a place of the spirit… (even though you are living under the shadow of the lynching tree).” … There were 246 years of slavery, and 100 years of segregation and lynching.
America does not see itself as “not innocent,” according to Cone. “No human being is innocent.”
Reverend Cone is ordained in the Apostolic Church of God in Chicago. which is one of the city’s largest black churches and not far from Obama’s home in the South Side neighborhood of Hyde Park.
Apparently the Democratic candidate for his party’s nomination is not turning his back on Black theology, per se, since Sunday, June 15, 2008 he spoke from the pulpit at that same mega-church in Chicago, which has 20,000 members and is also considered a Black American church.
It is the history of the African American church in the United States that it is a center of Black community life speaking to the needs of the church and larger community in social and political ways. But not in so partisan a manner as was recently ascribed to the theology and preaching of the Reverend Wright. So the perception became. But he still associates himself with the African American church in general.
Senator Obama spoke of the role of Black fathers and their responsibilities, perhaps more a campaign speech than sermon from a “religious” man whose campaign motto is “Change That Works for You.” After all, he is running for President of the United States—or its Democratic Party nomination more accurately. He gave his talk from the pulpit of the “20,000-member Apostolic Church of God…a short walk from the Obamas’ home. The church’s pastor, Byron Brazier, is an Obama supporter,” reports The New York Times.
It is from the Black Church that Senator Obama learned many things about hope. Can he really take himself out of the African-American church ethos, as he has known it? Perhaps the Reverend Wright thinks not, though he is not saying. His official press release remark on Senator Obama and his family’s leaving was, “…We are saddened by the news …”
END IT
(Appx. 1100 words)
Peter Menkin, an aspiring poet, lives in Mill Valley, CA USA (north of San Francisco).
Church and State Collaboration in Suriname
Today in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the President of Republic of the South American country of Suriname, Runaldo Ronald Venetiaan, was received in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI and later met with Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The cordial talks resulted in a fruitful exchange of opinions on topics relevant to the current international and regional situations. Some issues were particularly addressed, such as the social policies initiated by Suriname’s Government, the preservation of the environment and the areas of collaboration between the Church and State.
The Separation Of Church And State Agenda
Most discussions opposing the role of Christianity in the United States arise from an abyss of ignorance so deep as to be unfathomable. You can endlessly drop boulders into this chasm of intellectual darkness without ever hearing one hit bottom
Speaking with certitude, people insist our Constitution established a separation of church and state. Clueless, they don’t realize their claim, and their obvious self-satisfaction with stating it, simply proves they’ve never read the Constitution and lack any knowledge of what it says.
The media often report on this “fact” of separation-and call it professional journalism. The politically correct engage in long, earnest conversations based on this untruth. How can mature, at least chronologically, people hold so tightly to an opinion so obviously false?
Can you say “agenda?”
The writers of the Constitution clearly intended for Christianity to influence the governing of this nation. For one instance, the Constitution specifically provides for a Christian chaplain for each branch of Congress. The chaplains are paid to open every session with prayer and offer counsel to members of the body. Would the originators of the Constitution include a provision to perpetuate the great importance they attached to the Christian faith, a provision planned to endure throughout the life of this nation, then say religion could have no part in our governance?
A simple reading of the Constitution provides other examples as well. The Constitution isn’t so long that, even with sounding out the words, promoters of the separation canard couldn’t read it. And if they want to know about the First Amendment, from whence they claim to have reaped their separation notion, the Library of Congress has contemporaneous commentaries on the creation of the Bill of Rights, written by Gouverneur Morris, who was present throughout the process. You could look it up.
The “separation of church and state” phrase came from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Baptist Sunday School Association in Danbury Connecticut. However, the letter is not about keeping Christian influence out of government, but about the Federal Government not interfering in the free practice of religion. Jefferson typically didn’t comment on the Bill of Rights because he, in France at the time, didn’t participate in its creation.
To shed light on Thomas Jefferson’s real attitude toward Christianity, consider the three school systems he started in D.C. and Virginia. The required texts for each school system were the Bible, Watt’s book of hymns and a reading primer. Those books, he declared, are the basis of a good education.
So, there’s no separation of church and state, and Thomas Jefferson lived and supported the Christian faith. Oliver Stone not withstanding.
But there’s more! Not content with exposing their lack of Constitutional knowledge, drivers of the agenda loudly parade their ignorance of history. Stroking professorial beards, they pontificate on their delusion that the United States was never intended to be a Christian nation. They must put aside all our founding documents to pull this off, of course, but no matter.
Perhaps they should reconsider the safety of the platform from whence they hold forth since historical records profoundly prove the falsity of their claim.
According to the Congressional Record, the first session of the United States Congress started with several hours of Bible study and prayer. All members participated. The practice of starting each session with prayer and Bible study continued for years. You could look it up.
United States government buildings are chock-a-block full of Bible quotations, architectural detail and statuary. Check, for one instance, the Supreme Court building, finished in 1935, for its many references to the Ten Commandments.
Also, in the early days of the Republic, Christian church services were held in virtually every Federal building in D.C. While President, Thomas Jefferson attended services in the House of Representatives chamber. When he decided the music needed more energy, he ordered the Marine Band to play each Sunday.
And President Jefferson sent missionaries to the Indian tribes, and provided government money to build churches, so the Native Americans might enjoy more fullness of life. History says the missionaries were well received, and the arrangement suited everybody involved. You could look all of this up.
So, the Constitution doesn’t mention a separation of church and state. History proves the United States was founded as a Christian nation. And the real Thomas Jefferson doesn’t work out as a patron saint of those who seek to remove God from this nation’s daily life. Why do the lies continue?
Truth is on the side of angels, not agendas.
Bette Dowdell is a former IBM Systems Engineer, small business consultant and software company owner. She authored How to be a Christian Without Being Annoying, a book about how the Bible describes Christianity and creates Quick Takes on Life. Read about her book and quotes at http://www.ConfidentFaith.com
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