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Title: HARDENING OUR HEARTS AGAINST GOD: BECOMING PRISONERS OF A PATHOLOGY OF HATE
Source:
Antipas Ministies
URL Source: http://www.antipasministries.com/html/file0000219.htm
Published: Aug 17, 2005
Author: S. R. Shearer
Post Date: 2005-08-20 12:03:19 by Red Jones
Keywords: HARDENING, PRISONERS, PATHOLOGY
Views: 138
Comments: 7
HARDENING OUR HEARTS AGAINST GOD: BECOMING PRISONERS OF A PATHOLOGY OF HATE August 17, 2005 by: S.R. Shearer It is easier to justify the control of a region when you DEMONIZE and DEHUMANIZE its people and culture. Rayan El-Amine "I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed ... without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government." Martin Luther King Riverside, CA, 1967 INTRODUCTION The other day I witnessed something that was truly horrifying; an incident that cannot help but augur badly for the future; AN EVENT THAT INDICATES THAT THERE IS A PATHOLOGY OF HATE THAT HAS BEEN LET LOOSE IN OUR MIDST, A PATHOLOGY THAT IS BEGINNING TO CONSUME US - AND IT IS ALREADY FAR ADVANCED. This pathology has snaked its way into the American psyche largely as a result of George Bush's euphemistically labeled "War on Terrorism" - a cover for the American oil elites to steal the "black gold" of the Middle East and Central Asia from its rightful owners, the people of that area. As I was waiting for my dear wife in a hospital waiting room here in the United States, a Muslim family (two fully-bearded men and three women with head-coverings) entered seeking information as to the whereabouts of a loved one. The room - which had been abuzz with conversation and laughter - suddenly became quiet, and an ominous chill swept through the waiting area. Then a thick voice pierced the silence: "Why don't you dirty 'ragheads' go back where you belong. You're not wanted here." The ugly words were directed at the three women, who quickly retreated to a corner. Their two male companions - one a very old man who limped about on a cane, and a younger man with a shriveled arm - stepped in between the surly crowd and the women and tried to calm the situation. They told those who were gathering ominously about them that all they wanted was to get some information on a family member who had been injured in a car crash. But the crowd - which now numbered about twenty men and women of all ages (even some little children mimicking their parents) - would have none of it. They chanted, "'Ragheads' go home! 'Ragheads' go home!" Just then, the police, who had been alerted by the hospital staff, arrived; but instead of arresting the "cat-callers," they handcuffed the Muslim men and took them away, leaving their female companions to escape as best they could. It was all over in a flash. The members of the crowd - who moments before had had blood in their eyes - returned to their easy laughter and casual conversation as if nothing had happened. ISLAMOPHOBIA Islamophobia (hatred of Muslims) is growing in this country, despite the courageous efforts by some - mostly left-wing secularists (which doesn't say much for the courage of Christians) - to tamp down the rage. Slowly but surely it is becoming a part of the cultural landscape in the United States. The green (i.e., "Islamic") menace has now replaced the red menace, and the "evil empire" of the cold war has become the less eloquent, but just as deadly, "evil-doers" of the Arab and Muslim world. The fact is, the carping being directed against Muslims in the United States is beginning to reach the vitriolic level of the rhetoric that was leveled against American citizens of Japanese ancestry in the first months of the Second World War - just before they were all rounded up and sent off to concentration camps "for their own protection." For example, take the hate-filled rhetoric of Bill O'Reilly of Fox News who has said about the Afghani victims of America's foray into Central Asia: "Life-expectancy in Afghanistan is a little over 40 years; killing someone there is not like killing people here." Then there are the comments by Rush Limbaugh concerning the horror at Abu Ghraib: "I'm talking about people [i.e., the American guards and interrogators at Abu Ghraib] having a good time ... you ever hear of emotional release? You ever hear of the need to blow some steam off." Is that what the Americans are doing at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere in America's gulag of "concentration camps" that now girdles the globe in countries like Egypt, Thailand, Jordan, Korea, Guatemala, Argentina, the various "stans" of Central Asia, etc.? Is that what the SS was doing at Treblinka and Sobibor? - just "blowing off a little steam." "EMOTIONAL RELEASE" IN AMERICA'S GULAG OF TERROR Herbert Bix, a professor of history and sociology at Binghamton University and the author of the Pulitzer prize-winning Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan, lists the kinds of torture that are now "common place" in the American gulag: Beating, kicking, and stomping on bodies. Sleep deprivation and forced injection of drugs. Rape and sodomy. Water torture, a traditional U.S. Army practice since at least the Indian wars and the Philippines insurrection at the end of the 19th century. Hanging prisoners whose arms are bound behind their back by shackles or handcuffs until their limbs pop from their sockets - a new U.S. form of lynching. Tight handcuffing, close-shackling, and blindfolding or "hooding" for extended periods; sometimes the hoods are marked in order to alert the U.S. torturers to the particular crime that the prisoner is suspected of having committed. Forced stripping of Muslim prisoners and keeping them naked for long periods. Religious humiliation. Sexual humiliation, insult, and debasement, including smearing with feces, urine, and what appears to be menstrual blood. Screaming racial insults before, during, and after unleashing violence against captives. Shocking with electrical instruments, another method of torture commonly used by U.S. troops in Vietnam. Exposure for prolonged periods to extremes of light and dark, heat and cold, and noise so deafening as to rupture the eardrums. Extraction of nails, burning skin with cigarettes, stabbing or cutting the bodies of prisoners. Threatening prisoners or their relatives with death or by having them watch other victims being tortured. Threatening with dogs or allowing dogs to actually assault prisoners during or before interrogation. Forcing prisoners to stand or to remain in painful positions for extended periods. Isolation in cells, cages, wooden boxes, and barbed wire-enclosed trailers for prolonged periods. Depriving prisoners of food, water, drink, and toilet facilities. Extreme or enforced rendition, i.e., torture by proxy in foreign countries (i.e., in America's worldwide system of "concentration camps.") Is this what Limbaugh calls having fun? Is this what he calls "letting a little steam off?" DON IMUS, JACK CAFFERTY, MARK WILLIAMS, AND DANIEL PIPES And as if all this wasn't enough, take the comments of Don Imus concerning the Muslims who attended the funeral of Yasser Arafat: "He is a stinky ... rat ... ALL Palestinians [and by extension, all Muslims] look like him, and the people attending his funeral are a BUNCH OF ANIMALS." Then there are the comments of Jack Cafferty on CNN's American Morning Show; Cafferty said of some Iraqi women prisoners who had been mistreated by their American captors: "Given the way these MUTANTS [i.e., Muslim men] treat women in their societies, the women are probably better off in U.S. custody." Finally, consider the comments of radio-talk show host Mark Williams who called Muslims a group of "blood-soaked, SUBHUMAN, vile, reprehensible, MURDEROUS ANIMALS." Clearly, the BLOOD-LUST evidenced by this abhorrent language corroborates the fact that a disease of hate has been let loose on Americans, a disease, the pathology of which - once it has run its course - will turn us all into MONSTERS: Beasts capable of MURDER and SLAUGHTER on a massive basis; the kind the Bible says are good only "to be taken and destroyed" (2Peter 2:12); "... raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." (Jude 1:13) Blood-lust against Muslims; that's what it surely is! - or how else can one explain the words of Daniel Pipes, one of George Bush's closest advisors: "We must MASH the ... [Muslims] because the only way to peace in the Middle East is to militarily CRUSH the ... [Muslim's] will to fight." This kind of brutish talk has become part and parcel of George Bush's so-called "War on Terrorism," which - as we indicated previously - is nothing more than disingenuous double-speak to hide the effort by the American oil elites to filch the oil of the Middle East and Central Asia from its legitimate owners. [Please see our article, "The Coming War in Iraq: What It Is Really All About."] Some people, of course, would protest, saying that there is an undeniable reality to the so-called "Islamic Menace." BUT IF THAT'S THE CASE, IT'S A REALITY THAT THE CIA CREATED ITSELF. TO CALL THE CREATION OF ONE'S OWN HAND A "MENACE" THAT DESERVES TO BE CRUSHED, AND THEN PIN RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS "MENACE" ON ONE'S ENEMY IN ORDER TO JUSTIFY STEALING HIM BLIND AND THEN KILLING HIM IS SURELY A WICKED AND DECEITFUL CONTRIVANCE - though one must give credit where credit is due: it's certainly an artful one. [We URGE those of you who have not read our article, "Radical Islam" to do so; it plainly lays out the REAL origins of the "Islamic Menace;" please also see our article, "The Coming War in the Middle East."] DEHUMANIZING THE PEOPLE YOU INTEND TO KILL What's going on here? What's the real reason behind the effort to demonize Muslims? Rayan El-Amine explains: "It is easier to justify control of a region when you DEMONIZE and DEHUMANIZE its people and culture" And that's EXACTLY what George Bush and his allies among America's oil elites are doing: Creating a "BLOOD-LUST" in Americans which they can then harness to annihilate the population of the Middle East. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, THAT'S WHERE ALL THIS IS HEADING. [Please see our article, "Sowing the Seeds of the Gog / Magog War."] HARDENING ONE'S HEART Of course, the creation of such a BLOOD-LUST requires hardening the hearts of those in whom this BLOOD-LUST is going to be placed, making the recipients of this pathology resistant to compassion and understanding, and hardened to the HORROR they are visiting on the people they intend to subjugate or kill off. The goal of this "hardening process" is to produce in those people who are the subjects of this "hardening process" (specifically, the American people) a condition where it's not as if they are ignorant of the horror they are visiting on other people, it's that THEY JUST DON'T CARE. These are those people about whom the Bible says - "... in the LATTER TIMES ... shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; "... having their conscience SEARED with a hot iron ..." (I Timothy 4:1-2) And one would be wise to take note of the fact that the Bible is referencing Christians here, for how can it be said that "unbelievers" can "depart from the faith?" - they were never there to begin with! THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES THAT ACCRUE TO THOSE WHO ALLOW THEIR HEARTS TO BE HARDENED Christians should know, however, that those who allow their hearts to be hardened in this way will pay a very terrible price someday because THOSE WHOM THE LORD INTENDS TO DESTROY, HE FIRST HARDENS so that the evil that is resident in their hearts can have opportunity to run its full course. This is what God did to Pharaoh before He destroyed him. (cf. Exodus 4:21) What's that say, then, about the fate that awaits those Americans - Christian or otherwise - who have allowed their hearts to be hardened to what their country is up to throughout the world - to the HORROR that is "part and parcel" of George Bush's American New World Order System? THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOT KNOWING AND NOT CARING Ward Churchill, the embattled author of The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice, and Roosting Chickens and a professor at the University of Colorado (Boulder), writes: "Being ignorant [of the pain and suffering that the American New World Order System and the church with which it has partnered have inflicted on the world] is not synonymous with being not uninformed. THERE IS A VAST DIFFERENCE BETWEEN NOT KNOWING AND NOT CARING ..." [Please see our article, "Inside the American New World Order System."] Churchill has reference here to the way most Americans - including most American Christians - are indifferent to the manner in which murder, assassination, torture, and mistreatment of prisoners have been all but embedded into the American system of global domination; the systematic way that the American New World Order System applies terror against those who resist its domination, a system of HORROR that Pat Robertson rashly calls - "... A MOVEMENT IN THE HEAVENLIES to break the power of deception so that people everywhere can be exposed to the gospel." . [Please see our article, "The Horror of John Dimitri Negroponte and Everything He Represents;" please also see our article, "The Death Squads: Bringing in the Kingdom of God through Terror, Torture and Death."] What's Robertson saying here? - that terror and slaughter are necessary ingredients of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, what's there to differentiate between his rhetoric and the rhetoric of the Islamic jihadists? Not much, that's for sure. But there's something more that we should pay close attention to here: To say such things reveals the extent to which Robertson's heart and the hearts of other Christians just like him have already been HARDENED to the HORROR of the American New World Order System - just as Germans were HARDENED to the crimes of the Nazi state between the years 1933 and 1941, which set them up to "accept" the horror of Hitler's extermination camps where over two-thirds of Europe's Jews were murdered between 1941 and 1945. It's not as if "good Germans" didn't know about these camps, but it's the fact that by then they just didn't care. The "hardening process" that had been at work in their hearts for almost ten years had run its full course: The German people had become a nation of MONSTERS. This pathology of horror is now at work in our hearts as we become ever more inured to the frightful impact of the American New World Order System on the poor and dispossessed of the world. As with the German people 60 years ago, it's not that Americans don't know (or have not at the very least heard rumors about what's been occurring in the slave states of the American empire), it's that they don't really care - and this gives us some idea of how close we are to JUDGMENT and DESTRUCTION. Listen, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, this is nothing to be trifled with: It is not without reason that the Bible warns us, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7) Churchill continues: "... if good Americans have difficulty appreciating the vast difference [between not knowing and not caring about these things], it must be borne in mind that there are others in the world [i.e., the poor and dispossessed] who are quite able to make this distinction. They, beginning with those most directly targeted at any given moment for subjugation or eradication at the hands of American 'peacekeepers', know above all else that professions of ignorance [by Americans] inherently preclude claims of innocence in such circumstances." CHRIST'S NAME IS MALIGNED IN THE EARTH BECAUSE OF THE AMERICAN CHURCH Indeed, it's precisely because the poor of the earth who suffer under American rule are able to make this distinction and have come to realize as a result that Americans (supposedly a Christian people) don't really give a damn about what's happening to them - that coupled with the fact that they plainly recognize the way the American church has partnered with the American New World Order System to make their lives an unremitting hell - that Christ is so evilly spoken of in the world today. It also gives us some idea why many in the American system of client-states have been turning to Islam as a counterweight to the Christianity being peddled by the false apostles of the American System. The Bible says: "The name of God is BLASPHEMED among the ... [unbelievers] because of you [who call yourselves Christian] ..." (Romans 2:24) And there certainly can be no doubt as to the "tight relationship" between the American church and George Bush's American New World Order System. The fact is, the leaders of today's church have been organizing for years to "create" just such a partnership between church and state. For example, D. James Kennedy - the senior pastor at Ft. Lauderdale's mega-church, the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, and president of the Washington D.C.-based D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship - calls church-state separation "diabolical," a "false doctrine" and "a lie propagated by Thomas Jefferson." Kennedy writes: "This phrase does not appear in the United States Constitution at all, but in Article 52 of the Constitution of the Soviet Union - now the Soviet disUnion. Defunct, because they tried to get rid of God." Plainly, Kennedy and his ilk approve the way George Bush and his cohorts have partnered with the church in recent years to "rid the world of evil" - by which Bush means, all those who defy American domination: That partnership is plain enough for all to see - and so much so that the poor of the earth would have no trouble agreeing with Ted Haggard of the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado when he calls the American New World Order System the "... vehicle for the spread of Christianity." But they see the kind of Christianity that Haggard is pushing on the world as an unmitigated HORROR. Churchill goes on to say: "There was a time, oddly enough, when it could be said that the U.S. stood at the forefront of those endorsing the principle ... [that citizens should be held accountable for the actions of their government]. How else to explain its solemn invocation at the time of the Nuremberg Trials of a COLLECTIVE GUILT inhering to the German population itself? One would do well to recall that the crimes attributed by Americans to good Germans were that they had celebrated a New World Order of their own, looking away while the Nazi crimes were committed, never attempting to meet the legal/moral obligation of holding their government to even the most rudimentary standards of human decency. For these sins, it was said, they, the Germans, civilians as well as military personnel, richly deserved the death and devastation that had been rained down upon them ... In sum, they'd 'BROUGH IT ON THEMSELVES'." ONE FEELS OBLIGED TO DENY CHRISTIANS THE OPTION OF SAYING THEY DON'T KNOW The fact is, the kind of innocence that Americans want to claim for "not knowing" about the crimes of the American New World Order System is the same kind of "not knowing" that "good Germans" claimed when - upon hearing the approach of the "death trains" carrying Jews to concentration camps "in the east" - purposefully looked away, and then claimed they never saw such trains, though the trains had passed by only a few feet from where they were standing. The truth is, the pathetic effort by some Americans, mostly Christians, to claim ignorance of the evil that their country is perpetrating on the poor and dispossessed of the world is so shameful that, as Ward Churchill has said, "One feels obliged to try to deny them the option of such a pretense." For example, how is it possible for the American people - and American Christians - to be unaware of the fact that over 500,000 Iraqi children, all of them under twelve, were starved to death or killed for lack of basic sanitation and/or medical treatment during the past ten years. These children suffered and died because the U.S. SYSTEMATICALLY bombed their country's water purification, sewage treatment and pharmaceutical plants out of existence in the First Gulf War, and then imposed a decade-long embargo to ensure that Iraq would be unable to repair or replace what had been destroyed. The point of this fully calculated MASS MURDER - as was explained at the outset by then-President George Walker Bush, father of the current Oval Office occupant - was to impress upon the Iraqi government, and the rest of the world as well, that "what we say, goes." In other words, as Churchill explains, "Do as you're told or WE WILL KILL YOUR BABIES." And be clear here, this is the kind of mindset that undergirds those in charge of America's New World Order System today - again, the system that Ted Haggard calls "God's vehicle for the spread of Christianity." Eee gads, this cold indifference to the suffering of other people rivals any of the pronouncements of the Nazi state in furtherance of its own DEMONIC goals. WE DECIDED IT WAS WORTH THE COST Asked in 1996 whether this was not mass murder, Madeleine Albright, then ambassador to the United Nations and soon to be U.S. secretary of state, did not contest the fact that it was mass murder; neither did she dispute the fact that 500,000 Iraqi children had died directly as a result of this carefully thought-out American stratagem to cower the Iraqi population into submission by killing their children. Instead, she stated ON NATIONAL TELEVISION that "WE" (i.e., the American people) had decided it was "WORTH THE COST." "We had decided that it was worth the cost?" Is that what she said? - that WE had decided that bringing Iraq to its knees was worth the cost of 500,000 Iraqi children? My heavens! - and there wasn't so much as a murmur of protest in the American press or anywhere else for that matter - except maybe some lonely voices on the Left? Is that what happened? - the Left spoke out, and the church remained silent. What kind of testimony is that? And make no mistake about it, the America church includes itself in this "WE," or how else does one explain Pat Robertson's COLD-HEARTED statement that America's BLOODY war in Iraq - a war that the British medical journal Lancet says has led to the "collateral" deaths of over 100,000 Iraqis (as opposed to 1,800 Americans killed) during American bombing raids on their towns and villages since the onset of the Second Gulf War in 2003 - is "... a movement in the heavenlies ..." And this nincompoop is a leader in today's American church? It's the blind leading the blind. (Matthew 15:14) HOW DOES ONE SQUARE SUCH STATEMENTS WITH THE NEW TESTAMENT? How can Robertson justify such a statement in light of the New Testament? Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. "But I say unto you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; "THAT YE MAY BE THE CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN ..." (Matt. 5:43-45) What's that mean? - it means if you do otherwise YOU ARE NOT A CHILD OF GOD! Plainly that's what Christ is saying here. What's that say, then, about Pat Robertson? - regardless of his so-called "born-again" credentials. Come on now! - be honest. And what about Christ's words when He said: "And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. "Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. "And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. "And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. "But LOVE YOUR ENEMIES, AND DO GOOD, AND LEND, HOPING FOR NOTHING AGAIN; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." (Luke 6:29-35) That's what TRUE Christianity is all about. Obviously, then, whatever else Robertson and his ilk are preaching, it's certainly not REAL Christianity, or at the very least, it's a very shallow form of it. THE HOLLOW AT THE CORE OF TODAY'S AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY And just how hollow is today's Christianity?" Pretty hollow indeed; it's a Christianity where - as Bill McKibben, a scholar-in-residence at Middlebury College discovered recently - 40 percent of Christians can name no more than four of the Ten Commandments, where a scant half of them cannot cite the name of even one of the four authors of the Gospels, and where 12 percent of them believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife? [Apparently they link the "arc" in "Joan of Arc" to Noah's arc.] McKibben writes: "Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that 'God helps those who help themselves'. That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scriptures. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical, it's COUNTER-BIBLICAL. "Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its RADICAL SUMMMONS TO LOVE OF NEIGHBOR [both Christian and non-Christian, both friend and enemy]. On this essential matter, most American Christians are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly." What all this seems to indicate, according to McKibben, is that - "America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. "That paradox - more important, perhaps, than the much touted ability of French women to stay thin on a diet of chocolate and cheese - illuminates the HOLLOW at the core of our boastful, careening culture." IS THE CHRISTIANITY OF TODAY'S CHURCH REAL CHRISTIANITY? McKibben says that about 85 percent of Americans call themselves Christian; that's opposed to only 77 percent of Israelis who call themselves Jewish. McKibben believes that while this may overstate the real picture in the United States, it "clearly represents aspiration." McKibben goes on to say that - "... America is A PLACE SATURATED IN CHRISTIAN IDENTITY. But is it Christian? This is not a matter of angels dancing on the heads of pins. Christ was pretty specific about what he had in mind for his followers. What if we chose some simple criterion - say, giving aid to the poorest people - as a reasonable proxy for Christian behavior? After all, in the days before His crucifixion, when Jesus summed up his message for His disciples, He said the way you could tell the righteous from the damned was by whether they'd fed the hungry, slaked the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the prisoner. What would we find then?" McKibben explains: "In 2004, as a share of our economy, we ranked second to last, after Italy, among developed countries in government foreign aid. Per capita we each provide fifteen cents a day in official development assistance to poor countries. [And that's including the kind of phony "development assistance" that we give to underdeveloped countries like the Congo (please see our article, "The Congo and American Greed)."] "And it's not because we were giving to private charities for relief work instead. Such funding increases our average daily donation by just six pennies, to twenty-one cents. It's also not because Americans were too busy taking care of their own: nearly 18 percent of American children lived in poverty (compared, with, say, 8 percent in Sweden - an avowedly secular nation). In fact, by pretty much any measure of caring for the least among us you want to propose - childhood nutrition, infant mortality, access to preschool - we come in nearly last among rich nations, and often by a wide margin. The point is not just that (as everyone already knows) the American nation trails badly in all these categories; it's that the overwhelmingly CHRISTIAN American nation trails badly in all these categories, categories to which Jesus paid particular attention. And it's not that these numbers are getting better [under the avowedly Christian leadership of George Bush]: the U.S. department of Agriculture reported last year that the number of households that were 'food insecure with hunger' had climbed more than 26 percent between 1999 and 2003." And this is the nation that Ted Haggard calls "God's vehicle for the spread of Christianity in the world today?" What kind of Christianity is that? - the kind that is spread through the barrel of a gun? All this gives one some kind of idea of how far estranged Christians are from any form of genuine Christianity, and IT REVEALS THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE HEARTS OF MOST CHRISTIANS IN THE UNITED STATES HAVE BEEN HARDENED TO THE PLIGHT OF THOSE CHRIST CALLED US TO LOVE. IT ALSO GIVES US SOME IDEA OF WHY MOST CHRISTIANS DON'T SEEM TO CARE ABOUT WHAT GEORGE BUSH AND HIS NEO-CON CRONIES ARE UP TO IN THE MIDDLE EAST. WE ARE BEING LED STEP BY STEP TO AN ACT OF UNSPEAKABLE HORROR This will have consequences for us! Make no mistake about it. This will have BIBLICAL consequences for us. WE ARE BEING HARDENED SO THAT WE CAN BE USED AS THE DEVIL'S TOOL; so that we - as Christians - can participate with the moneyed elites of George Bush's American New World Order System in an act of UNSPEAKABLE VIOLENCE: specifically, the annihilation of the Muslim community in the Middle East and Central Asia. And we are almost there! Some Christians, of course, might object, saying that by allying themselves with George Bush's American New World Order System they have allied themselves with Israel against the "Islamic Menace" and ultimately against the forces of Gog, and isn't this a good thing?" - the destruction of Israel's arch-enemy. [We URGE those of you who have not already read our article, "Sowing the Seeds of the Gog / Magog War" to please do so; please also read Chapter VI of the Antipas Papers, "The Gog / Magog War."] But those who think so, should think again. One should understand that the alliance that Israel makes with Babylon the Great (i.e., the United States) to defend itself against the forces of Gog (i.e., the forces of Radical Islam) is not something which the Bible approves. [Please see our article, "In Search of Babylon: What Does the Bible Say?"] The Bible calls this alliance your (i.e., Israel's) - "COVENANT WITH DEATH" and your - "AGREEMENT WITH HELL." Pretty harsh words! But then THE UNITED STATES IS NOT REALLY ISRAEL'S FRIEND! The fact is, the Bible calls the country with which Israel covenants here (i.e., the United States) an "OVERFLOWING SCOURGE." Pretty intense! - and it warns Israel that this "overflowing scourge" will eventually betray it: "... your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand, when the OVERFLOWING SCOURGE shall pass through, THEN SHALL YE BE TRODDEN DOWN BY IT." (Is. 28:18) ["Overflowing scourge?" - this is certainly a pretty good description of the United States: just ask the peoples and nations of the world that the U.S. has reduced to "client-state" status - for example, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brazil, Ecuador, the Congo, etc. - the list is endless.] SO ISRAEL IS WARNED: "You have covenanted with death, and you have made an agreement with hell, and you will be betrayed by those with whom you have covenanted." And in a back-handed way, the American church is also warned: "You too have made a "COVENANT WITH DEATH" and you have made an "AGREEMENT WITH HELL." What are we talking about here? - very obviously, we're talking about the Gog / Magog War and the BEGINNING OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD. [Again, we URGE those of you who have not already read our article, "Sowing the Seeds of the Gog / Magog War" to please do so; please also read Chapter VI of the Antipas Papers, "The Gog / Magog War."] THE GOG / MAGOG WAR The events of the Gog / Magog War are described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, Daniel 11:40-45, Matthew 24:4-21 and Revelation 12. NOTE: The verses in Revelation 20 that refer to "Gog" are references to a "Second Gog / Magog War" that will take place AFTER the Millennium, namely: "And WHEN THE THOUSAND YEARS [i.e., THE MILLENNIUM] ARE EXPIRED, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, "And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, GOG and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. (Revelation 20:7-8) Finally, it should be noted that "Gog" is a great, angelic prince similar to the "Prince of Persia" and the "Prince of Grecia" (Greece) referenced in Daniel 10:20. He is the angel that leads the war against Israel in the Gog / Magog War; he will also be loosed with Satan AFTER the Millennium, and will gather the forces of the east against God (Rev. 20:8). [Again, we URGE you to see the first part of Chapter VI in the Antipas Papers.] A clear understanding of this great struggle can only emerge after all these verses (Ezekiel 38 and 39, Daniel 11:40-45, Matthew 24:4-21 and Revelation 12) are pieced together. The examination of merely Ezekiel 38 and 39 will yield only an incomplete picture of the great events of this period. EVIL MUST COME; BUT WOE TO HIM BY WHOM IT COMES Yes! - the Bible says that God will fight for Israel, but that doesn't mean that He approves what's happening. God doesn't need Babylon's help to defend Israel; but evidently the Israelis and the church think so! This is an affront to God! What it means is that the church and Israel really don't trust God - hence the alliance both have made with George Bush's American New World Order System. But, again, the fact is, Bush and his cronies have no interest in Israel per se, and anyone who thinks so is an IDIOT. [Please see our article, "The Republican Party and the Jews."] They are laying a trap for the Muslims of the Middle East; they intend to PROVOKE the Muslim community of the Middle East into a one-sided struggle against the U.S., GIVING AMERICA THE EXCUSE TO ANNIHILATE THEM UP TO FIVE-SIXTHS OF THEIR ENTIRE POPULATION IN ORDER TO CLEAR THE WAY ONCE AND FOR ALL FOR EXXON-MOBIL, PHILIPPS, TEXACO, ETC. TO POUNCE ON THE OIL RICHES OF THE AREA IN THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM. (Ezek. 39:2) THE EXTENT OF THE SLAUGHTER The Bible says: "And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog. "AND SEVEN MONTHS SHALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL BE BURYING OF THEM, that they may cleanse the land ... "And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search. "And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man's bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog. "And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land. (Ezek. 39:11-12, 14-16) A CURSE UPON ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE IN THE SLAUGHTER OF THE MUSLIM PEOPLE Obviously, what we're talking about here is a NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST! - the butchery of an entire people and culture on a scale that will dwarf the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews. And in the end, for what? FILTHY LUCRE! - or does anyone really believe that the United States is in the Middle East for anything else but oil? If so, I have some swampland I would like to sell them in Florida! The fact is, if George Bush and his neo-con allies were really interested in "spreading democracy" throughout the world - if one thinks that's the real reason the American military is in Iraq - why isn't the U.S. military involved in overthrowing the dictatorships in the Sudan, or in Mali, or in Upper Volta, or in Niger? The reason is, there's no oil to be plundered in these countries! - and anyone who thinks otherwise is an IMBECILE. Yes! - this evil will come - i.e., the Gog / Magog War - but woe unto them by whom this evil comes: Jesus said: "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but WOE TO THAT MAN BY WHOM THE OFFENCE COMETH!" (Matthew 18:7) What's that say about those who participate in this slaughter - AT LEAST THOSE WHO PARTICIPATE IN IT ON THE SIDE OF BABYLON AND IN THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM? It says that they are CURSED - and that's precisely what will happen to you if you get involved in this pathology of hate against Muslims that George Bush and his cronies are stirring up in the American people. And don't make the mistake in thinking that it will be an easy thing from which to escape - i.e., this hatred. The last time such a pathology of hate was let loose on a population - the German population - it eventually contaminated everything it touched - including the German church. Of course, maybe you think you are immune to this pathology? - but if you do, you had better think again because it is IRRESISTIBLE if once it takes hold on you. BEING HERDED LIKE A PACK OF ANIMALS TOWARDS A PATHOLOGY OF HATE The fact is, the entire American population is being herded like a pack of animals towards this hatred, and the full apparatus of government is involved in this process. Daily we are being fed lies and half-truths concerning the "Islamic Menace" that is "out to get us" - and who knows anymore what's true and what's false about the information that we are being fed? - what's real and what's "made up?" This is especially true in light of the Bush administration's serial lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq! And what about 9/11 itself? How does one explain how four giant airplanes could fly around the east coast for well over four hours without being once challenged - especially after the first airliner had crashed into the World Trade Center? These lies and half truths go on and on and on. The Bush White House lives on lies. For example, in mid-February, Bush's CIA Director Porter Goss, backed up by several leading intelligence officials, told a Senate Intelligence Committee that terrorists were planning another attack on U.S. soil. Goss bluntly claimed that Al-Qaida or other groups might attempt to "use chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear weapons." Goss, however, didn't bother to provide evidence for his grim prediction because the real purpose of his statement was to further instill ISLAMOPHOBIA into the hearts of Americans. LYNNE STEWART AND WARD CHURCHILL And anyone who dares to challenge the attempt by the government to turn us all into a nation of ISLAMOPHOBES had better watch out or they might end up doing time in a jail cell with Lynne Stewart, a prominent New York civil rights lawyer who has defended the poor and marginalized as well as high profile cases such as the one involving the Weather Underground thirty years ago. Stewart was recently convicted of conspiracy, providing "material support" to terrorism and defrauding the U.S. government during her representation of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman. Stewart, who is 65 years old, now faces spending the rest of her life in prison. The fact is, however, Stewart never engaged in or planned any terrorist activity and no act of terrorism was ever alleged to have resulted from her actions. However, the government claimed Stewart abetted terrorism by making Rahman's words available to the outside world when she provided a press release to Reuters News Service. Allowing the words of her client to be heard in public was deemed a terrorist act by the government. During the trial Stewart was DEMONIZED as a traitor by the government, and her political views were attacked. She was threatened, harassed and intimidated, and when none of that worked, she was jailed. Clearly, these are the actions of a Police-State. Then there's the case of Ward Churchill, quoted earlier in this article. Churchill, who had made a series of controversial comments concerning the motives behind the 9/11 hijackers more than two years earlier, was invited to speak at Hamilton College in New York. Some Hamilton College professors seized the opportunity to initiate a national attack on Churchill. Local AM DJs and Fox's Bill O'Reilly (also quoted earlier) eagerly joined the stampede and were soon joined by Governor Owens of Colorado who wanted to drive Churchill out of the state. Churchill was forced to resign as chairman of the Ethics Studies Department at the University of Colorado, but as a tenured professor, he continues to speak out against the growing ISLAMOPHOBIA that is currently sweeping the nation. GOING AFTER JOURNALISTS WHO REFUSE TO SUCCUMB TO THE ISLAMOHOBIA BEING PUSHED BY FEORGE BUSH AND HIS PAEONS. Finally, there are chilling indications that journalists who refused to toe the "party-line" with regard to the ISLAMOPHOBIA the military has unleashed in Iraq - journalists who have attempted to portray the "rebels" in Iraq as something less than the monsters the Bush administration wants them portrayed as - have been deliberately targeted and killed. For example, at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, CNN news executive Eason Jordan allegedly claimed U.S. troops targeted and killed more than a dozen journalists. This caused an uproar, and Jordan quickly backpedaled from the statement - but not enough to prevent his ouster at CNN. While the mainstream media effectively dismissed and minimized these accusations, there is certainly a lot of other evidence that supports the statements made by Jordan that some journalists have been threatened, targeted and killed. In March of 2003, then Pentagon "PR-flack" Victoria Clark, declared that journalists not properly embedded with the military were "at risk." The risks were made clear when the military fired at a hotel serving as the main residence for non-embedded journalists, killing two of them. Another journalist was killed when the U.S. bombed Al-Jazeera headquarters in Iraq. The Al-Jazeera office in Afghanistan was also bombed. Shortly before the invasion, a BBC correspondent reported that Pentagon officials told her that any satellite uplinks would be fired on. ITN's Terry Lloyd and his team were killed by U.S. soldiers despite driving in a clearly marked TV vehicle. The embed process is part of a military strategy to keep the media in line. Those journalists not sufficiently under control by the Pentagon are "at risk" - and a few have paid with their lives. EXPANDING STATE-SANCTIONED HATRED TO INCLUDE ALL THOSE WHO OPPOSE THE AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM Moreover, one should be cognizant of the fact that the elites and their boot-licking allies in the American church won't let up on their campaign of HATE by limiting it simply to the Muslim community. They intend to unleash HATE - STATE-SANCTIONED HATE - like some great machine against ALL their enemies; the kind of HATE which, because it is state-sanctioned, can land a person in jail or worse. And one should be aware that both church and state are prone to see enemies behind every tree and every bush. All this lends an ominous credence to the words of Christ when He said to His disciples: "They shall put you out of the ... [churches]: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever KILLETH you will think that he doeth God service." "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. (John 16:2-3) And Jesus went on to say: "... brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. "And ye shall be HATED of all men for my name's sake ..." (Matthew 10:21-22) ALL of these verses were spoken of in specific reference to the "Latter Days." THE EXPANSION OF THE TERM "MATERIAL SUPPORT" And already the groundwork is being laid for a campaign of HATE directed against ALL those who oppose the American New World Order System and the church that supports that system: Using precedents already established in the war against the Muslim community, the government is expanding on these precedents to go after first, U.S. citizens of Muslim ancestry, and from there they intend to expand the war against ALL citizens who oppose them. For example, the United States government is now engaged in a deliberate effort to expand the meaning of "material support" in their war against so-called "Muslim-terrorists." "Material support" is a term for a legal device which targets those who knowingly aid criminals "MATERIALLY" before or after the commission of their crimes: For instance, knowingly housing and feeding a gang of bank robbers before they rob a bank, or aiding them after the bank robbery by offering them a place to hide out. The key word here is "material:" The support offered has to be "material" in nature. In other words, it has to involve support that goes beyond an "encouraging word" or an attempt to justify what the criminals have done: For example, defending the gang because they "took from the rich and gave to the poor." THE LACKAWANNA SEVEN What the government is attempting to do is nullify the word "material" and expand the use of this device in an effort to silence American citizens who criticize the "imperial policies" of the American New World Order System. This is precisely the device used by the government to jail the so-called "Lackawanna Seven" whose only real crime was being stupid and very, very naïve: In the winter of 2000 a group of young men from Lackawanna, New York - ALL American citizens - began meeting in the evenings for religious instruction at their place of worship. All of these men considered themselves to be "sinners in need of redemption." Yasein Taher, for example, had had a child out of wedlock; he drank, he smoked and he had married a girl "outside the faith" - all of which, he was told, were things that no one who took his religion seriously should do! Shafel Mosed, Yahya Goba, and Faysal Galeb were rowdies with sketchy employment histories. The others had similar backgrounds. Their instructor was Kamal Derwish, also an American citizen. All these men were Muslims and the faith that they embraced was Islam, a faith which - Derwish related to them - was under attack by the West. This was something that most of them were all too ready to believe as a result of the intolerance of their "Christian" neighbors in "upstate New York" - the kind of intolerance that breeds religious bigots like Randall Terry. As the meetings progressed, they became ever more intense; many participants stopped coming as a result; but a number - the most devout - remained: seven of them. Derwish advised them that they should continue their education at a "school" in Pakistan where they could "earn their salvation." The training at the school would last from six months to a year. Derwish described the school as "exceptionally attractive" in a "land of milk and honey, a green place with waterfalls." In late April and early May of 2001, the seven students from Lackawanna journeyed to Pakistan in search of "salvation." But surprisingly, their journey didn't end there; they were taken on to an al-Qaida training facility in Afghanistan known as Al Farooq. RETURNING HOME TO BE USED AS A PRECEDENT IN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S WAR OF ALL AGAINST ALL They were shocked by what they found there: It was, in the words of one of the "Lackawanna Seven," "a nasty place out in the middle of the desert" - and rather than religious training, they were to receive training in jihad. Six of them wanted to leave immediately, and within days four of them bailed out and returned home. The other two also wanted to leave, but they were told "one more day, one more day." After two weeks they were let go as well. All returned seriously chastened by their experience and desperately wanting to return to their everyday lives in Lackawanna. But that was not to be; the FBI field office in Buffalo received an anonymous tip that the men from Lackawanna who had just returned from Pakistan had really attended an al-Qaida training facility in Afghanistan. [Ah, those "anonymous tips" from people whom you think are your friends; people who want to ingratiate themselves with the government; "false friends" who don't want to step out of the shadows to identify themselves.] A single FBI agent paid a visit to Lackawanna to question the men. The men explained what had happened: that they had gone to Pakistan for "religious training" that had turned out to be something more than they had bargained for. The agent noted all this down and left. That was the end of it - UNTIL THE CASE RESURFACED AFTER 9/11 AS A MEANS (PRECEDENT) FOR THE FBI TO USE IN ORDER TO EXPAND THE MEANING OF "MATERIAL SUPPORT." It was a perfect precedent for that purpose, a means whereby the government could expand the meaning of "abetting terrorism" to include any act - stupid or otherwise - that identified one with "terrorists." And - much more importantly - it could be used as a device TO TARGET AMERICAN CITIZENS. And this is precisely what happened. Today the Lackawanna Seven (now the Lackawanna Six) are doing time in a federal super-max prison, and the precedent gained by this case is now being used to target all American citizens who oppose government policy. For instance, this is PRECISELY the precedent that was used against Lynne Stewart. It is also the precedent that Tony Blankley of the Washington Times [a slavish mouthpiece for the Bush administration which - despite being owned by the Moonies (who say Christ failed in his mission to save mankind and had sex with the women who followed Him) - is considered a reliable source of information by most Christians today] is clamoring for the government to use this precedent against investigative reporter Seymour Hersh for publishing an expose of the Bush administration's covert (and illegal) operations in Iran and detailing plans and possible preparations for war with that country. He is calling for Hersh to be jailed and executed. PREPARED LIKE LAMBS FOR THE SLAUGHTER Clearly, the MALEVOLENCE connoted by all this gives evidence to the extent that a plague of hate has taken hold of Americans, a disease, the pathology of which - once it has run its course - will turn us all into MONSTERS, again, the kind of monsters the Bible says are good only "to be taken and destroyed" (2Peter 2:12). Indeed, the Bible warns all those who dwell in Babylon that it - "... shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for lizards, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant." (Jer. 51:37) But first, the Bible says, "... I will make them DRUNKEN, that they may ... sleep ... and not wake, saith the LORD." (Jer. 51:39) Then the Lord says, after they are good and drunk - "I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he goats." (Jer. 51:40) What's the Lord saying here? - He's saying that He will make the inhabitants of Babylon drunk with hate, and that this hate will desensitize them to the MONSTERS they have become; and then He will draw them down to destruction like "Lambs to the slaughter." AND ALL THIS HAS SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO BABYLON - i.e., the United States. [Again, we urge you to see our article, "In Search of Babylon: What Does the Bible Say?"] CAUGHT BY AN IRRESISTIBLE FORCE Brothers and sisters, let me solemnly warn you again, the force of this pathology of hate is IRRESTIBLE, once it has taken hold of you. You will be forced either by persuasion or government sanction to open yourself up to this pathology. You will either be enticed to imbibe this wine, or it will be FORCED down your throat at gunpoint; either way, you will drink it; and you will be intoxicated by it. Like a woman who has been administered the so-called "date-rape drug," GHB, you will find that you have been raped and you don't even remember when and by whom it happened; and more than that, you will find that you have been impregnated with a MONSTER that cannot be aborted. COME OUT OF HER The Bible says that we are to "Come out of her," specifically, it says: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4) That's the ultimate answer the Bible gives to those living in the midst of Babylon; that is the answer the Lord gives to those who want to avoid being turned into "Beasts made to be taken and destroyed"(2 Peter 2:12) - "... raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." (Jude 1:13) [And one should take note of the fact that Jude is talking about Christians here.] HURTFUL REMARKS AND AD HOMONYM ATTACKS Some act as if these are my words; that the demand of Revelation 18:4 is MY demand rather than what it really is: the Lord's demand. For instance, one brother writes: "The insistence by Antipas ... that all Christians leave America ... is a false teaching ... Christians are expected to overcome wherever they are. Geographic location has absolutely nothing to do with it." But how else does one explain the words "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues?" (Revelation 18:4) He goes on to say, "Without going into detail [what a "cop out"]... it is clear that the tripartite judgment of Babylon ... occurs AFTER the Rapture ..." What "tripartite judgment" is he talking about? - it's all so much gobbledygook. Moreover if there are no Christians left in the world as a result of the rapture, Why does the Lord address this command to "MY PEOPLE?" He goes on to say, "It is my humble contention that tribulation produces the overcoming church. Saints in every church have an opportunity to overcome. Whether they do or not is between them and the Lord. This is an inward work. As I said many times before, Daniel was not told to flee [ancient] Babylon, but to overcome where he was. Nor is the Laodicean church told to flee America but to repent and our Lord is waiting with open arms to fellowship with them." To which I would reply with the words of my dear friend, Constance Cumby when she upbraided me many years ago for the same kind of undisciplined and sloppy thinking: "Steve, Tribulation itself does not produce courage; it only strengthens that which is already there. For example, if a married worker in an office building sees a beautiful co-worker on the other side of the room and cannot resist 'bumping into her' at the drinking fountain; and if that leads to regular meetings at the coffee machine, which then leads to lunches, and then to dinners - while all the time the Lord is whispering in his ear, 'Don't do it; don't do it' - what makes you think that he will suddenly be able to answer the Lord's entreaties when he is lying naked in bed with her in some seedy motel on the wrong side of town? If he couldn't stop at the drinking fountain, and he couldn't stop at the coffee machine, and he couldn't stop at lunch or at dinner, what makes you think he will stop then?" NOTE: It should also be noted that we're NOT talking about ancient Babylon here, but "Prophetic Babylon," and we're not talking about the Laodicean church, which existed two thousand years ago in the Middle East. The assumption that today's American church is a "type" of the ancient Laodicean church is just that: An assumption; moreover, the assumption that the Laodicean church repented is just that: An assumption - and that's a pretty dangerous thing to do: To hang your fate on an assumption. So I repeat Connie's words to you: Tribulation itself does not produce courage; it only strengthens that which is already there. If we don't have the courage to obey God now, if we can't give up the good things of life now - our good medical careers, our nice homes, our security, etc. - what makes us think that somehow or other we will be able to obey God when we will be called to give up EVERYTHING? It's IDIOTIC to think so! This brother ends by saying, "We pray for SR [meaning me] and can only imagine that the extra 200 pounds he carries doesn't lead to toxic thinking." IF YOU FIGHT, THEN FIGHT OPENLY Well, what can I say to those very hurtful remarks? Not much, that's for sure. But leaving aside this brother's cruel ad homonym attacks (which he calls "prayer"), let's imagine that there is no "geographical meaning" - i.e., no LITERAL meaning - to Revelation 18:4. Let's imagine that this brother is truly serious about "... not being a 'draft dodger' and fleeing north to Canada" as he accuses us of doing; that he is going to stay in the United States and "raise up a standard for the Lord" - not only this brother, but the thirteen others on his list. And how are they going to do this? Are they going to "raise up a standard for the Lord" behind the anonymity of their computer screens? - as electronic blips in the ether? Is that what they are going to do? OR are they going to go out into the streets with flyers and coral everyone who will listen to them concerning the message of Antipas - after all, none of them says he disagrees with the "essential" message of Antipas. Indeed, one brother - who seems to act as if I know him (which I do not) - writes: "The only thing I want to say here, is that when I look at the distribution list of this email [the thirteen brothers and sisters noted above], I can see that we have all had this conversation before. And so I want to say exactly what I said last time, because I think it is important ... When success is gained by God's servants, and the enemy's schemes are being exposed and people are being victoriously ushered away from his deceptions, he has to react. I bet my bottom 'Babylonian' dollar that he looked and looked and waited for an opportunity, and a 'way in' so to speak, and in the 'come out of her' scripture he found a vulnerability and exploited it. "All Satan wanted to do was ... discredit [the ministry] to as many people as possible, and I think we will all agree with one thing, and that is that he was somewhat successful at this. Steve was 'the man' [not my words, his; there is no one man in this last age (SR Shearer)] for a long time, and when folks disagreed with what he put forth on that ONE scripture, rather than rethinking it, he became belligerent ..." What this brother is saying in a kind of back-handed way is that he and those with him (i.e., the thirteen brothers and sisters noted above) agree with the message of Antipas, and they disagree only on this one point: The necessity to "Come out of her." Okay, then let them stay and FIGHT. They don't want to be "draft dodgers" like us. They want to fight! All right! And how is it that they propose to fight? - by clickity-clacking on their computer keyboards? - is that how they propose to fight? OR are they going to go out into the streets and SHOUT the message of Antipas (which they say they agree with) from the rooftops? Are they going to form house-churches and raise up a corporate standard for the Lord, OR are they going to retreat into splendid isolation behind their computer screens or continue to attend churches that are now fully engaged as a partner with George Bush's American New World Order System, pretending that there is a chance that the Apostate church will eventually turn from its apostasy and repent. But that's NOT what the Bible says. The Bible - speaking concerning the woman (the church) who rides the beast (the American New World Order System) - that the beast will eventually turn on the woman and kill her. It doesn't say that she will repent, only that she - and all those associated with her - will be destroyed. (Revelation 17:16) WE IN ANTIPAS INTEND TO FIGHT IN THE OPEN We in Antipas have many who - while they intend to "Come out of her" - cannot now do so for a variety of different reasons; but while they remain, they are going to FIGHT! - and not behind the anonymity of their computers, but in the highways and byways of our nation by passing out leaflets and collaring people in the streets with the Antipas message in obedience to Christ's Word when He said: "What I tell you in darkness, that SPEAK YE IN THE LIGHT: and what ye hear in the ear, that PREACH YE UPON THE HOUSETOPS." (Matthew 10:27 Indeed, we already have one family that has purchased a motor home (he is currently taking "hospitality" with his entire family at Fred Palmquist's home in Sacramento) and intends to go from city to city passing out flyers with the message of Antipas - to church congregations, in labor halls, on college campuses, etc. And there are more families who have volunteered to involve themselves also in this effort. In addition, we have a very large number of families all over the country who have volunteered to host these "pamphleteers" as they go from city to city. These hosts have also volunteered to form Aliya groups - that's what we call "house-churches" in the United States - who will act as churches for those who respond to the message of Antipas. We also intend to reinforce these Aliya groups with people who want to return to the U.S. for the "fight" after being trained in Canada [Most, however will move on in due time to other countries throughout the world; for example, we have gathered together a good number of people who intend to migrate to Mexico City - a brother there has given us the use of his home.] NOTE: We call "house churches" in the United States "Aliya Groups" because these churches - as opposed to the churches Antipas is presently raising up in countries like Ghana, Mexico, and elsewhere - must be ready to "get out" at any moment in answer to the call of God in Revelation 18:4. Aliya means to "go up;" to journey by faith to a place where He will show us just as Abraham did when he was called out of Ur of the Chaldees; to act as "pilgrims" and "sojourners" in this life. And that's exactly what we are in Antipas: "pilgrims" and "sojourners." (Hebrews 11:13). Brothers and sisters, we must continually bear in mind that this world is NOT our home! We have no permanent abode here; in the words of that old Baptist hymn, God's people sing: This world is not my home I'm just a'passing through My treasures are laid up Somewhere beyond the blue The angels beckon me From heaven's open door And I can't feel at home In this world anymore! The Bible says that - "... they that say such things declare plainly that they seek ... [another] country. "And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. "BUT NOW THEY DESIRE A BETTER COUNTRY, THAT IS, AN HEAVENLY [ONE]: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for HE HATH PREPARED FOR THEM A CITY." (Hebrews 11:14-16) MAY GOD BLESS OUR DETRACTORS Now, if this is the attitude of our detractors, if they, like us, are prepared to shout the message of Antipas from the rooftops; if they, like us, take an UNCOMPROMING and PUBLIC stand against the American New World Order System and the church that has partnered with it; if they, like us, count their home the heavenly kingdom of Jesus Christ; if they, like us, give themselves over to form "house-churches" in their homes PUBLICALLY, and in OPEN opposition to the "established church," then I say to them all, God bless you! - whether they call me "fat" or not. They will save themselves whether they call themselves "Antipas" or whether they choose some other name if only because they will be kicked out of the country eventually. They will be forced to flee in obedience to God's command: "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." (Mathew 10:23) They will be forced out before they can imbibe the poison of HATE that is now being administered to the American public as a result of the Bush administration's ISLAMOPHOBIA, and before they can participate by their silent acquiesce in the vicious slaughter of the Muslim people - and not for the sake of Israel, but for the sake of the good things of life that are theirs in Babylon. But, if instead what they really intend to do is to retreat into sullen isolation and continue muttering to themselves about the "failure" of Antipas, they then will be revealed to be COWARDS who don't possess the courage of their convictions - all their protestations to the contrary notwithstanding; and eventually, they will succumb by force or persuasion - no matter - to the poison of Babylon. After all, it's not what a person says, but what he does that reveals his true character. I WARN YOU ALL And so I warn you all: your actions will reveal who and what you are. If by staying in Babylon, you open your home up to the outcasts of this world, if you open your home up to others as an Aliya group, if you preach the message of Antipas in season and out, in your workplace, to your friends and loved ones, to your neighbors; if you FORTIFY yourself against the "course of this age" (Eph. 2:2) by gathering about yourself "saints of like-mind," if you host our "traveling teams" as they pass through your city, then you will stand! But if you do otherwise, if you meet with others who do not CLEARLY see what you see - then you are headed like "sheep to the slaughter:" To stand with others who have partnered with George Bush's American new World Order System - directly or even indirectly - is tantamount to lining up for the destruction of your souls. When one partners with those who have made this world their home - which those who have allied themselves with today's American church plainly declare they have done by their actions if not their words - it means, whether one wants to admit it or not, that HE IS NO CHILD OF GOD. The Bible says: "... know ye not that FRIENDSHIP WITH THE WORLD IS ENMITY WITH GOD? WHOSOEVER THEREFORE WILL BE A FRIEND OF THE WORLD IS THE ENEMY OF GOD." (James 4:4) DON'T PARTNER WITH THE ENEMIES OF GOD What's that say, then, about the leaders of today's American church who have allied themselves with George Bush's American New World Order System? - PLAINLY IT SAYS THAT ALL THESE MEN ARE THE ENEMIES OF GOD - leaders like James Dobson, Rick Warren, C. Peter Wagner, Tim LaHaye, Beverley LaHaye, Ern Baxter, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Chuck Colson, Robert Stearns, Mike Bickle, Reuven Doron, Che Ahn, Frank Hammond, Cindy Jacobs, Bill Hamon, John Eckhardt, Bobbie Byerly, Dutch Sheets, Jim Goll, John Paul Jackson, Francis Frangipane, James Ryle, Frank Damazio, Ed Silvoso, Carlos Annacondia, Claudio Freidzon, Roger Mitchell, Ted Haggard, Paul Cain, Chuck Pierce, Rick Joyner, Kingsley Fletcher, Jim Laffoon, Barbara Wentroble, ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Are you allied with any of these means - directly or indirectly? If you are, you are an enemy of God, because that's what they are: The enemies of God. That's what ALL these people are; these are those about whom Jesus said: "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. (Matthew 15:7-8) JESUS SAID Jesus said: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father [knowing about it]. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. "Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:28-31) And He went on to say: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. "But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. "And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." (Matthew 10:32-39) God bless you all! S.R. Shearer Antipas Ministries P.S. Brothers and sisters, we ask you to remember the word of Scripture when it says - "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?" (1Cor. 9:11) If you have benefited from this ministry, then we ask that you return the favor by ministering to us of your carnal (material) things. We need your continued financial support for this ministry - which is moment by moment under very heavy spiritual and physical attack - if we are to go forward.
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#1. To: Red Jones, Zipporah, BTP Holdings, Starwind, christine, RefinersFire (#0)
The hospital waiting room account, at the top of this article, is very disturbing.
I guess this fellow Shearer is telling us that he himself witnessed this incredible event in the story at the very top of this article. I think that is a very unusual occurrence. But if it did occur, then that really is a bad thing for the people who caused it, including the police officer. I say shame on them, except that I think Starwind said christians don't deserve shame and I'm sure this police officer is a baptist or at least a catholic, so no shame should fall on his head I guess (Starwind would say). But the arrest of this 'stewart' woman and the circumstances of that mentioned above is more troubling than the story at the top. If that is true, she was basically arrested for merely exercising freedom of speech, and will spend the rest of her life in jail for this offense. Shearer continues in every article to admonish americans to leave the US. This is his interpretation, based on the verse he names above. They live in Canada now, they used to live in California. Who knows, maybe the verse in revelation that shearer continually tells us of and admonishes us to leave the US, is really a rapture description, this powerful call for his people to come out of her, to come out of her at time of destruction. I think the parable in daniel about throwing 3 men into furnace tells the americans that even when the abomination does come (that shearer will speak of) we serve a god who is powerful enough to protect us, and that if he wishes to do so, then he will. But we shouldn't focus on this rapture. that is the business of god, we should pay no attention. We should instead not give our loyalties to the beast that is babylon (new world order). Did the 3 men in the parable of the furnace give their loyalty to babylon? No they did not, but they did not oppose babylon violently. We should be the same, not give our loyalty, but we may also see that this beast is powerful enough that we will not prevail until after the abomination, when god will return and set up his kingdom here on earth. Then 'we' will prevail, not before. So, I like Shearer, but I don't know about absolutely everything he says.
This is true...this is also what they can do to any of us under all the "Patriot Acts." Thanks for your good analysis and distillation of a rather lengthy article. Cheers.
Thanks for the ping robin. I find the hospital waiting room account difficult to believe as presented. While I believe it could have happened, a few things strike me as questionable: Shearer would have us believe he witnessed and was part of an event about which he himself did nothing but that it is the rest of American Christians who are indifferent.
(The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true good news)
I read it .. disgusting. Americanized Christianity has become basically apostasy and is growing. Here's an interesting link: You know I said no such thing. No where did I say "christians don't deserve shame", nor did I say participants in an event are excused from shame for being baptist or catholic. But then you can't very well make your stand on the facts of what I did say, can you. Is this your witness to the world of christian accountablility? Make false claims about others so as to have something to argue? Shearer especially (being a christian and present in the room) deserves some shame for not defending the muslim family, as does the hospital staff likewise deserve some shame. The police deserve some shame for (seemingly) not following proceedures and (seemingly) arresting innocent people. All I have ever said is shame attaches to a person for their actions or choices associated with an event. Shame is a feeling of guilt. To have guilt, one must have responsibiity or accountability. To have guilt and shame one must have been a participant, silent or otherwise. The actions (or inactions) of those who call themselves Christians reflect on me (a Christian) in that observers may well assume what some have in fact done falsely, I will likewise falsely do as well. Observers may make assumptions about me because of what others have done in the same "name of Christ", but they can not impute guilt or shame to me for what someone else did. I bear the shame (guilt) for what I do, not for what someone else does. For example, you bear the shame for your making false statements about me, no one else.
(The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only true good news)
They live in Canada now, they used to live in California. Who knows, maybe the verse in revelation that shearer continually tells us of and admonishes us to leave the US, is really a rapture description, this powerful call for his people to come out of her, to come out of her at time of destruction. "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Revelation 18:4) Red, I was skeptical of reading the whole article because of it's length, but you've never pinged me for trivial reason so I did. Pretty profound! Yes, I do plan on "Rapturing" myself out of this mess of a country shortly, and I'm almost ready to leave Maybe God will help me wrap up a few last details?
THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES THAT ACCRUE TO THOSE WHO ALLOW THEIR HEARTS TO BE HARDENED
One if by land, two if by sea...how many if they are already here?
#2. To: robin, Flintlock (#1)
#3. To: Red Jones (#2)
If that is true, she was basically arrested for merely exercising freedom of speech, and will spend the rest of her life in jail for this offense.
#4. To: robin (#1)
But even accepting the account at face value, ostensibly Shearer himself was in that crowd (presumably the only one not chanting) but Shearer said nothing to either the crowd or to the police in defense of the muslim family, yet Shearer weaves a blog around the event castigating American Christians for being indifferent.
#5. To: robin (#1)
And that's EXACTLY what George Bush and his allies among America's oil elites are doing: Creating a "BLOOD-LUST" in Americans which they can then harness to annihilate the population of the Middle East. AND MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, THAT'S WHERE ALL THIS IS HEADING.
#6. To: Red Jones (#2)
except that I think Starwind said christians don't deserve shame and I'm sure this police officer is a baptist or at least a catholic, so no shame should fall on his head I guess (Starwind would say).
#7. To: Red Jones (#2)
Hey, Meester,wanna meet my seester?
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