From Scott Corrales
Latin America Correspondent
Source: RRP Peru
http://www.rpp.com.pe/2011-01-06-vecinos-de-barrios-altos-aseguran-haber...
Date: 01.07.11
A Mothership Over Lima, Peru?
Residents of Barrios Altos claim having witnessed what could well be the first UFO sighting of 2011. With the video in hand, one expert has already attested to the authenticity of the homemade recording.
The shots were taken on Tuesday, January 4 from Jirón Wari in Barrios Altos, where a group of neighbors equipped themselves with two camcorders and taped -- from different angles -- the oscillating movements of an unidentified flying obect for nearly 30 minutes.
"It's a UFO. You'd have to be somewhat thick to deny it," said Julia Gutierrez, one of the witnesses, who further added that it is common to see such sights in the area, which tend to leave local residents shaken.
"It's definitely a UFO. It's only necessary to corroborate with the Jorge Chavez airport to see if any unidentified radar contacts were picked up at the time," notes UFO expert Mario Zegarra in a statement to ATV.
To know the truth about UFO, watch what Jesse Ventura has found out in this video!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
DON’T BE AFRAID OF A LITTLE SUFFERING
David Wilkerson
Christ’s resurrection was preceded by a short period of suffering. We do die! We do suffer! There is pain and sorrow.
We do not want to suffer or be hurt. We want painless deliverance, supernatural intervention. “Do it, God,” we pray, “because I am weak and always will be. Do it all while I go my way, waiting for a supernatural deliverance.”
We may blame our troubles on demons. We seek out a man of God and hope he can cast out the demon so that we can go on our way with no pain or suffering. All done! Breeze right through to a peaceful life of victory. We want someone to lay hands on us and drive away all the dryness. But victory is not always without suffering and pain. Look at your sin. Face it. Suffer it through, just as Jesus did. Enter into his suffering. Suffering endures for a night, but joy always follows in the morning.
God’s love demands a choice. If God supernaturally lifted us out of every battle without pain or suffering, it would abort all trials and all temptation; there would be no free choice and no testing as by fire. It would be God superimposing his will on mankind. He chooses to meet us in our dryness and show us how it can become the way into a new life of faith.
It is often the will of God that we suffer dryness and even pain. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19).
Thank God, suffering is always the short period before final victory! “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
Christ’s resurrection was preceded by a short period of suffering. We do die! We do suffer! There is pain and sorrow.
We do not want to suffer or be hurt. We want painless deliverance, supernatural intervention. “Do it, God,” we pray, “because I am weak and always will be. Do it all while I go my way, waiting for a supernatural deliverance.”
We may blame our troubles on demons. We seek out a man of God and hope he can cast out the demon so that we can go on our way with no pain or suffering. All done! Breeze right through to a peaceful life of victory. We want someone to lay hands on us and drive away all the dryness. But victory is not always without suffering and pain. Look at your sin. Face it. Suffer it through, just as Jesus did. Enter into his suffering. Suffering endures for a night, but joy always follows in the morning.
God’s love demands a choice. If God supernaturally lifted us out of every battle without pain or suffering, it would abort all trials and all temptation; there would be no free choice and no testing as by fire. It would be God superimposing his will on mankind. He chooses to meet us in our dryness and show us how it can become the way into a new life of faith.
It is often the will of God that we suffer dryness and even pain. “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator” (1 Peter 4:19).
Thank God, suffering is always the short period before final victory! “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
DON’T QUIT – The FRUIT WILL APPEAR!
by J. Lee Grady
During my sixth visit to Guatemala this week the Lord reminded me that He promises to bring results when we minister His Word… Last Sunday I enjoyed lunch in an open courtyard at a modest home in El Rosario, Guatemala, a town I have visited six times since 2002. My friend Adolfo had invited me to eat with his family after the morning service at Iglesia de Nueva Vision, a Pentecostal congregation. Nothing thrills me more during my missionary trips to El Rosario than spending time with members of this church in their homes…
On Monday I traveled with the church’s pastor, Oto, and my four American team members to the mountain village of Saspán, about an hour from El Rosario. We had been invited to minister with Oto’s sister, Gisela, a courageous woman who has built a congregation of 50 or so adults in her tiny farming community.
I was anxious to see Gisela because I had given her a word of prophetic encouragement during my last visit. I told her in November 2009 that I believed God was calling her to increase her outreach to children and to make them a ministry focus. I learned when I arrived in Guatemala this year that Gisela had taken this challenge seriously.
When we arrived in Saspán and climbed the steep mountain path to the church, I could hear the noise of children laughing and singing. The scene I discovered in the crude basement of Gisela’s church warmed my heart: Dozens of kids, ages 3 to 12, were learning Bible verses and songs and doing crafts while Gisela trained teenage teachers conducted a morning class.
This is the fruit of what you said to me last year, Gisela said tome in Spanish. Up to 80 children now participate in her children outreach each week, and there are only 200 children in the entire village. Already some of the children’s parents have come to know Jesus personally as a result of the new ministry…
I realized the Holy Spirit was communicating to me in a very personal way. I remembered what Jesus said in John 15:16a:
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.” I also remembered that before this trip to Guatemala the Lord had given me Galatians 6:9 as a promise: “
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
During this trip to Guatemala my eyes were opened to see the results of our previous visits to the community. I saw the change in the women of El Rosario after they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and healed from the effects of abuse. I saw the maturity in the teenagers after they had been challenged to go deeper with God. I saw how the pastor’s daughter, Ana Ruth, had become an anointed leader, and how his son-in-law, Eric, was now introducing dozens of youth to Christ. Spiritual fruit was everywhere.
The Lord began to speak to me:
When you are faithful to sow the seed of My Word, be assured that I will cause growth and produce a harvest. You are not just spinning your wheels. The work may seem tedious at times, and it may require great patience. You may encounter disappointment and delay for a season. But be certain that when you abide in Me and remain faithful, the words you speak and the work you do will always produce lasting fruit.”
Perhaps you need to be reminded of this simple truth as 2010 ends and you prepare to enter a new year. The fruit will come. Don’t give up. Keep planting and watering. He is still the Lord of the Harvest, and He is the one who causes the growth when His Word is sown.
You may not see any blossoms on the trees yet, but before long something as big and sweet as a pomelo may appear. I pray the Lord will grant you the blessing of not only seeing but enjoying the fruit of your labor for Him.
READ MORE- http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/29706-dont-quitthe-fruit-will-appear
During my sixth visit to Guatemala this week the Lord reminded me that He promises to bring results when we minister His Word… Last Sunday I enjoyed lunch in an open courtyard at a modest home in El Rosario, Guatemala, a town I have visited six times since 2002. My friend Adolfo had invited me to eat with his family after the morning service at Iglesia de Nueva Vision, a Pentecostal congregation. Nothing thrills me more during my missionary trips to El Rosario than spending time with members of this church in their homes…
On Monday I traveled with the church’s pastor, Oto, and my four American team members to the mountain village of Saspán, about an hour from El Rosario. We had been invited to minister with Oto’s sister, Gisela, a courageous woman who has built a congregation of 50 or so adults in her tiny farming community.
I was anxious to see Gisela because I had given her a word of prophetic encouragement during my last visit. I told her in November 2009 that I believed God was calling her to increase her outreach to children and to make them a ministry focus. I learned when I arrived in Guatemala this year that Gisela had taken this challenge seriously.
When we arrived in Saspán and climbed the steep mountain path to the church, I could hear the noise of children laughing and singing. The scene I discovered in the crude basement of Gisela’s church warmed my heart: Dozens of kids, ages 3 to 12, were learning Bible verses and songs and doing crafts while Gisela trained teenage teachers conducted a morning class.
This is the fruit of what you said to me last year, Gisela said tome in Spanish. Up to 80 children now participate in her children outreach each week, and there are only 200 children in the entire village. Already some of the children’s parents have come to know Jesus personally as a result of the new ministry…
I realized the Holy Spirit was communicating to me in a very personal way. I remembered what Jesus said in John 15:16a:
“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.” I also remembered that before this trip to Guatemala the Lord had given me Galatians 6:9 as a promise: “
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.”
During this trip to Guatemala my eyes were opened to see the results of our previous visits to the community. I saw the change in the women of El Rosario after they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit and healed from the effects of abuse. I saw the maturity in the teenagers after they had been challenged to go deeper with God. I saw how the pastor’s daughter, Ana Ruth, had become an anointed leader, and how his son-in-law, Eric, was now introducing dozens of youth to Christ. Spiritual fruit was everywhere.
The Lord began to speak to me:
When you are faithful to sow the seed of My Word, be assured that I will cause growth and produce a harvest. You are not just spinning your wheels. The work may seem tedious at times, and it may require great patience. You may encounter disappointment and delay for a season. But be certain that when you abide in Me and remain faithful, the words you speak and the work you do will always produce lasting fruit.”
Perhaps you need to be reminded of this simple truth as 2010 ends and you prepare to enter a new year. The fruit will come. Don’t give up. Keep planting and watering. He is still the Lord of the Harvest, and He is the one who causes the growth when His Word is sown.
You may not see any blossoms on the trees yet, but before long something as big and sweet as a pomelo may appear. I pray the Lord will grant you the blessing of not only seeing but enjoying the fruit of your labor for Him.
READ MORE- http://www.charismamag.com/index.php/fire-in-my-bones/29706-dont-quitthe-fruit-will-appear
World food prices enter 'danger territory' to reach record high
UN food price index rises for sixth month in a row to highest since records began in 1990
Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011 15.04 GMT
Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world, and prompting warnings of prices being in "danger territory".
An index compiled monthly by the United Nations surpassed its previous monthly high – June 2008 – in December to reach the highest level since records began in 1990. Published by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the index tracks the prices of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, and has risen for six consecutive months.
Abdolreza Abbassian, FAO economist, told the Guardian: "We are entering a danger territory." But he stressed that the situation was not yet as bad as 2008.
Sugar and meat prices are at record levels, while cereal prices are back at the levels last seen in 2008, when riots in Haiti killed four people and riots in Cameroon left 40 dead.
Abbassian warned prices could rise higher still, amid fears of droughts in Argentina and floods in Australia and cold weather killing plants in the northern hemisphere.
"There is still room for prices to go up much higher, if for example the dry conditions in Argentina tend to become a drought, and if we start having problems with winterkill in the northern hemisphere for the wheat crops," Abbassian said.
Prices have been rising steadily but Abbassian said that by now he had been expecting food prices to start to fall because many poorer countries had good harvests last year.
But this has not happened after unpredictable weather caused a poor wheat crop in Russia. Last year European wheat prices doubled, US corn prices rose more than 50% and US soybean prices jumped more than 30%.
The current floods in Australia have the potential to affect prices for commodities such as sugar and cane growers are warning of production problems for up to three years. Wheat supplies are expected to be affected – Australia is the fourth-largest wheat exporter – and the country is also the largest exporter of coking coal, production of which is also being affected by the floods.
At the same time demand from emerging countries such as China and India has been strong.
Abbassian played down concern that the rising food prices could cause fresh riots, as happened two years ago when the price of cereals was largely the cause of the problem, along with a dramatic spike in the price of oil. He noted that another rise in the oil price – currently around $95 a barrel – could exacerbate the problem. While oil is rising in price, and forecasters are suggesting it could hit $100, it is still well below the $145 peak it reached in July 2008 on a wave of buying by international speculators.
The FAO food index hit 215 points last month, up from 206 in November, to break the 213.5 registered in June 2008. It shows a dramatic rise in prices for food in a decade. In 2000 the index stood at 90 and did not break through 100 until 2004.
Economists are on guard for spikes in inflation around the world that might force up interest rates, which in the developed world are at historically low levels as a result of the banking crisis.
Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics, said: "The upward pressure on inflation this year from the recent surge in the cost of agricultural commodities will be much greater than that from the pick-up in oil prices".
Jessop said the price of oil was rising largely as result of demand caused by a rebound in global industrial activity. "In contrast, the surge in agricultural food prices is largely a consequence of supply shocks, such as droughts in major wheat producing countries. These have been compounded by speculative pressures."
Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011 15.04 GMT
Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world, and prompting warnings of prices being in "danger territory".
An index compiled monthly by the United Nations surpassed its previous monthly high – June 2008 – in December to reach the highest level since records began in 1990. Published by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the index tracks the prices of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, and has risen for six consecutive months.
Abdolreza Abbassian, FAO economist, told the Guardian: "We are entering a danger territory." But he stressed that the situation was not yet as bad as 2008.
Sugar and meat prices are at record levels, while cereal prices are back at the levels last seen in 2008, when riots in Haiti killed four people and riots in Cameroon left 40 dead.
Abbassian warned prices could rise higher still, amid fears of droughts in Argentina and floods in Australia and cold weather killing plants in the northern hemisphere.
"There is still room for prices to go up much higher, if for example the dry conditions in Argentina tend to become a drought, and if we start having problems with winterkill in the northern hemisphere for the wheat crops," Abbassian said.
Prices have been rising steadily but Abbassian said that by now he had been expecting food prices to start to fall because many poorer countries had good harvests last year.
But this has not happened after unpredictable weather caused a poor wheat crop in Russia. Last year European wheat prices doubled, US corn prices rose more than 50% and US soybean prices jumped more than 30%.
The current floods in Australia have the potential to affect prices for commodities such as sugar and cane growers are warning of production problems for up to three years. Wheat supplies are expected to be affected – Australia is the fourth-largest wheat exporter – and the country is also the largest exporter of coking coal, production of which is also being affected by the floods.
At the same time demand from emerging countries such as China and India has been strong.
Abbassian played down concern that the rising food prices could cause fresh riots, as happened two years ago when the price of cereals was largely the cause of the problem, along with a dramatic spike in the price of oil. He noted that another rise in the oil price – currently around $95 a barrel – could exacerbate the problem. While oil is rising in price, and forecasters are suggesting it could hit $100, it is still well below the $145 peak it reached in July 2008 on a wave of buying by international speculators.
The FAO food index hit 215 points last month, up from 206 in November, to break the 213.5 registered in June 2008. It shows a dramatic rise in prices for food in a decade. In 2000 the index stood at 90 and did not break through 100 until 2004.
Economists are on guard for spikes in inflation around the world that might force up interest rates, which in the developed world are at historically low levels as a result of the banking crisis.
Julian Jessop, chief international economist at Capital Economics, said: "The upward pressure on inflation this year from the recent surge in the cost of agricultural commodities will be much greater than that from the pick-up in oil prices".
Jessop said the price of oil was rising largely as result of demand caused by a rebound in global industrial activity. "In contrast, the surge in agricultural food prices is largely a consequence of supply shocks, such as droughts in major wheat producing countries. These have been compounded by speculative pressures."
Earth must prepare for close encounter with Aliens, say scientists
UN should co-ordinate plans for dealing with extraterrestrials – and we can't guarantee that aliens will be friendly
by Alok Jha, science correspondent guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 January 2011.
World governments should prepare a co-ordinated action plan in case Earth is contacted by aliens, according to scientists.
They argue that a branch of the UN must be given responsibility for "supra-Earth affairs" and formulate a plan for how to deal with extraterrestrials, should they appear.
The comments are part of an extraterrestrial-themed edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A published today. In it, scientists examine all aspects of the search for extraterrestrial life, from astronomy and biology to the political and religious fallout that would result from alien contact.
"Will a suitable process based on expert advice from proper and responsible scientists arise at all, or will interests of power and opportunism more probably set the scene?" asked Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University and Dr Martin Dominik of the University of St Andrews in the introductory paper. "A lack of co-ordination can be avoided by creating an overarching framework in a truly global effort governed by an international politically legitimated body." The pair argue that the UN has a ready-made mechanism for such a forum in its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Copuos).
Member states of Copuos should put "supra-Earth affairs" on their agenda, say the scientists, and establish structures similar to those proposed for dealing with threats from near-Earth objects, such as asteroids, that might be on a collision course with our planet.
According to Simon Conway Morris, a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University, anyone planning for alien contact should prepare for the worst.
Evolution on alien worlds, he said, is likely to be Darwinian in nature. Morris argues that life anywhere else in the universe will therefore probably have important similarities with life on Earth – especially if it comes from Earth-like worlds that have similar biological molecules to ours. That means ET might resemble us, warts and all, with our tendencies towards violence and exploitation.
"Why should we 'prepare for the worst'? First, if intelligent aliens exist, they will look just like us, and given our far from glorious history, this should give us pause for thought," wrote Morris in the journal's special issue.
Ted Peters, a professor of systematic theology at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in California, considered what might happen to the world's religions in the event of ET making contact. Conventional wisdom suggests that terrestrial religion would collapse if the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) were confirmed, he wrote.
"Because our religious traditions formulated their key beliefs within an ancient world view now out of date, would shocking new knowledge dislodge our pre-modern dogmas? Are religious believers Earth-centric, so that contact with ET would de-centre and marginalise our sense of self-importance? Do our traditional religions rank us human beings on top of life's hierarchy, so if we meet ETI who are smarter than us will we lose our superior rank? If we are created in God's image, as the biblical traditions teach, will we have to share that divine image with our new neighbours?"
His conclusion, however, is that faith in Earth's major religions would survive intact. "Theologians will not find themselves out of a job. In fact, theologians might relish the new challenges to reformulate classical religious commitments in light of the new and wider vision of God's creation."
"Traditional theologians must then become astrotheologians ... What I forecast is this: contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand the existing religious vision that all of creation – including the 13.7bn-year history of the universe replete with all of God's creatures – is the gift of a loving and gracious God," he speculated.
UFO Conspiracy
by Alok Jha, science correspondent guardian.co.uk, Monday 10 January 2011.
They argue that a branch of the UN must be given responsibility for "supra-Earth affairs" and formulate a plan for how to deal with extraterrestrials, should they appear.
The comments are part of an extraterrestrial-themed edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A published today. In it, scientists examine all aspects of the search for extraterrestrial life, from astronomy and biology to the political and religious fallout that would result from alien contact.
"Will a suitable process based on expert advice from proper and responsible scientists arise at all, or will interests of power and opportunism more probably set the scene?" asked Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University and Dr Martin Dominik of the University of St Andrews in the introductory paper. "A lack of co-ordination can be avoided by creating an overarching framework in a truly global effort governed by an international politically legitimated body." The pair argue that the UN has a ready-made mechanism for such a forum in its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Copuos).
Member states of Copuos should put "supra-Earth affairs" on their agenda, say the scientists, and establish structures similar to those proposed for dealing with threats from near-Earth objects, such as asteroids, that might be on a collision course with our planet.
According to Simon Conway Morris, a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University, anyone planning for alien contact should prepare for the worst.
Evolution on alien worlds, he said, is likely to be Darwinian in nature. Morris argues that life anywhere else in the universe will therefore probably have important similarities with life on Earth – especially if it comes from Earth-like worlds that have similar biological molecules to ours. That means ET might resemble us, warts and all, with our tendencies towards violence and exploitation.
"Why should we 'prepare for the worst'? First, if intelligent aliens exist, they will look just like us, and given our far from glorious history, this should give us pause for thought," wrote Morris in the journal's special issue.
Ted Peters, a professor of systematic theology at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in California, considered what might happen to the world's religions in the event of ET making contact. Conventional wisdom suggests that terrestrial religion would collapse if the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) were confirmed, he wrote.
"Because our religious traditions formulated their key beliefs within an ancient world view now out of date, would shocking new knowledge dislodge our pre-modern dogmas? Are religious believers Earth-centric, so that contact with ET would de-centre and marginalise our sense of self-importance? Do our traditional religions rank us human beings on top of life's hierarchy, so if we meet ETI who are smarter than us will we lose our superior rank? If we are created in God's image, as the biblical traditions teach, will we have to share that divine image with our new neighbours?"
His conclusion, however, is that faith in Earth's major religions would survive intact. "Theologians will not find themselves out of a job. In fact, theologians might relish the new challenges to reformulate classical religious commitments in light of the new and wider vision of God's creation."
"Traditional theologians must then become astrotheologians ... What I forecast is this: contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand the existing religious vision that all of creation – including the 13.7bn-year history of the universe replete with all of God's creatures – is the gift of a loving and gracious God," he speculated.
UFO Conspiracy
Switzerland hit by three minor quakes
January 9 2011 at 04:43pm IOL NEWS
Geneva - Three small earthquakes shook the west of Switzerland overnight but there were no reports of damage, Swiss police said on Sunday.
The quakes, which registered between 2.8 and 3.3 on the open-ended Richter scale, were recorded in the Valais canton.
The epicentre of the first quake at 9:48pm (2048 GMT) was the tourist village of Mollens, not far from Sierre.
It was followed by a second quake in the same area at 11:20 pm and then a third further down the valley at 12:30 am, police said.
Switzerland is considered at a low to moderate risk of earthquakes. Experts believe an earthquake of magnitude 6 could be expected around once a century and a destructive powerful quake of magnitude 7 only once every 1,000 years.
The town of Basel was destroyed by a quake in 1356. More recently Sierre was rocked by a magnitude 6 quake in 1946. - Sapa-AFP
Geneva - Three small earthquakes shook the west of Switzerland overnight but there were no reports of damage, Swiss police said on Sunday.
The quakes, which registered between 2.8 and 3.3 on the open-ended Richter scale, were recorded in the Valais canton.
The epicentre of the first quake at 9:48pm (2048 GMT) was the tourist village of Mollens, not far from Sierre.
It was followed by a second quake in the same area at 11:20 pm and then a third further down the valley at 12:30 am, police said.
Switzerland is considered at a low to moderate risk of earthquakes. Experts believe an earthquake of magnitude 6 could be expected around once a century and a destructive powerful quake of magnitude 7 only once every 1,000 years.
The town of Basel was destroyed by a quake in 1356. More recently Sierre was rocked by a magnitude 6 quake in 1946. - Sapa-AFP
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Jesus Is Back, and She's Chinese
By MATTHEW FORNEY Dengfeng - Time Magazine
Sister Hong's brainwashing session began when her Bible class ended. Five peasant women had led the Catholic nun to a house in a distant village in Henan province two years ago so that she could teach the life of Jesus. Suddenly, the women vanished and a man entered. For the next five days he refused to let her leave and forced her to debate the Bible. He said the day of judgment is nigh. Jesus has returned. China�the Great Red Dragon from the Book of Revelations�faces destruction. By the end, "I was dizzy. I was confused. He knew the Bible so well," says Sister Hong. Her pleading, plus promises to return, finally won her release. Lightning had struck again.
A fast-spreading sect named Lightning from the East is alarming Christian communities across China by winning large numbers of converts to its unorthodox tenets, often by abducting potential believers. Its followers, who say they number 300,000 but whom observers measure in the tens of thousands, believe that Jesus has returned as a plain-looking, 30-year-old Chinese woman who lives in hiding and has never been photographed. They credit her with composing a third testament to the Bible, writing enough hymns to fill 10 CDs and teaching that Christians who join her will ascend to heaven in the coming apocalypse. They see signs of doom everywhere, from the perfidy of Communist Party propaganda to anthrax spores in the U.S. postal system. According to one of the group's Chinese leaders who uses the alias "Peter" and moved to New York City last year, "The judgment is ongoing in China and will expand through the world."
The sect�which calls itself "the con-gregation"�operates deep underground. A two-year police campaign against it and other so-called "evil cults," such as Falun Gong, has put 2,000 of its followers in jail, say its spokesmen. Yet by targeting Christian believers it is flourishing�even though its belief that the female Jesus has updated the Bible for China violates core Christian tenets. The appeal seems to be the group's claim to have improved the Christian faith by putting the end of the world into a Chinese context and offering believers a path to immediate salvation. Official Christian churches, by contrast, downplay the Final Judgment, emphasizing instead codes of behavior. That, plus the sect's insistence that China is "disintegrating from within," appeals to peasants, many of whom are poorly grounded in Christian principles and are angry at a government that has failed to raise their incomes or curb corruption.
Fearful for their believers' souls and welfare, leaders of China's roughly 60 million Christians have mobilized. Last year a man claiming to be Lightning's coordinator for north China met secretly with a senior aide to a Catholic bishop in Hebei province to try to convert the Catholic leadership there. He failed, and the bishopric has warned clergies to remain vigilant against Lightning. In Henan, the main church in Dengfeng county called a meeting of 70 lay leaders for a two-day training session on Lightning's "heresies"�but since then five of the leaders have joined the sect. Lightning "is the greatest danger we face today," says a minister named Li who no longer allows strangers to worship in his church in Zhengzhou city, where the sect began a decade ago.
Lightning is the most aggressive Christian sect to emerge in China since the revolution, but it follows a beaten path. In the decades before the communists swept to power in 1949, a Chinese missionary known as Watchman Nee built his congregation, the Little Flock, to 300,000 followers in central China. The sect's emphasis on decentralized congregations launched a home-church movement that helped Christianity survive communist repression. Yet as Little Flock congregations became isolated, they splintered into separate groups. The Shouters, for instance, rewrote the Lord's Prayer to read simply, "Oh, Lord Jesus," and taught followers to holler the phrase while stamping their feet in unison. Other offshoots, like the Disciples, believe that the devil exists in all people�and can be beaten out of them.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,181681,00.html#ixzz1AjLoC2Z2
Sister Hong's brainwashing session began when her Bible class ended. Five peasant women had led the Catholic nun to a house in a distant village in Henan province two years ago so that she could teach the life of Jesus. Suddenly, the women vanished and a man entered. For the next five days he refused to let her leave and forced her to debate the Bible. He said the day of judgment is nigh. Jesus has returned. China�the Great Red Dragon from the Book of Revelations�faces destruction. By the end, "I was dizzy. I was confused. He knew the Bible so well," says Sister Hong. Her pleading, plus promises to return, finally won her release. Lightning had struck again.
A fast-spreading sect named Lightning from the East is alarming Christian communities across China by winning large numbers of converts to its unorthodox tenets, often by abducting potential believers. Its followers, who say they number 300,000 but whom observers measure in the tens of thousands, believe that Jesus has returned as a plain-looking, 30-year-old Chinese woman who lives in hiding and has never been photographed. They credit her with composing a third testament to the Bible, writing enough hymns to fill 10 CDs and teaching that Christians who join her will ascend to heaven in the coming apocalypse. They see signs of doom everywhere, from the perfidy of Communist Party propaganda to anthrax spores in the U.S. postal system. According to one of the group's Chinese leaders who uses the alias "Peter" and moved to New York City last year, "The judgment is ongoing in China and will expand through the world."
The sect�which calls itself "the con-gregation"�operates deep underground. A two-year police campaign against it and other so-called "evil cults," such as Falun Gong, has put 2,000 of its followers in jail, say its spokesmen. Yet by targeting Christian believers it is flourishing�even though its belief that the female Jesus has updated the Bible for China violates core Christian tenets. The appeal seems to be the group's claim to have improved the Christian faith by putting the end of the world into a Chinese context and offering believers a path to immediate salvation. Official Christian churches, by contrast, downplay the Final Judgment, emphasizing instead codes of behavior. That, plus the sect's insistence that China is "disintegrating from within," appeals to peasants, many of whom are poorly grounded in Christian principles and are angry at a government that has failed to raise their incomes or curb corruption.
Fearful for their believers' souls and welfare, leaders of China's roughly 60 million Christians have mobilized. Last year a man claiming to be Lightning's coordinator for north China met secretly with a senior aide to a Catholic bishop in Hebei province to try to convert the Catholic leadership there. He failed, and the bishopric has warned clergies to remain vigilant against Lightning. In Henan, the main church in Dengfeng county called a meeting of 70 lay leaders for a two-day training session on Lightning's "heresies"�but since then five of the leaders have joined the sect. Lightning "is the greatest danger we face today," says a minister named Li who no longer allows strangers to worship in his church in Zhengzhou city, where the sect began a decade ago.
Lightning is the most aggressive Christian sect to emerge in China since the revolution, but it follows a beaten path. In the decades before the communists swept to power in 1949, a Chinese missionary known as Watchman Nee built his congregation, the Little Flock, to 300,000 followers in central China. The sect's emphasis on decentralized congregations launched a home-church movement that helped Christianity survive communist repression. Yet as Little Flock congregations became isolated, they splintered into separate groups. The Shouters, for instance, rewrote the Lord's Prayer to read simply, "Oh, Lord Jesus," and taught followers to holler the phrase while stamping their feet in unison. Other offshoots, like the Disciples, believe that the devil exists in all people�and can be beaten out of them.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,181681,00.html#ixzz1AjLoC2Z2
Update-Mysterious Bird & Fish Die Off - Jan 3, 2011
So far, these are the theories...
1.) CHEMTRAILING? Phosgene (CG) choking agent killing birds worldwide?
2.) NEW MADRID FAULT? Methane Gas killed them? Indiana Earthquake, Dec 30.
3.) HAARP? Deadly high electro-magnetic energy destroyed internal organs?
4.) POLE SHIFT? Poles are shifting (Planet X), lost instinct to navigate/exhaustion?
5.) SUN? Solar particles from a CME penetrated them at higher altitudes?
6.) EMP BLAST? From missile or a secret "black ops" spy satellite in outer space?
7.) COREXIT? The birds had a lot of internal bleeding - similar to ppl in the Gulf?
8.) FIREWORKS? Yes!! Of course!! the mainstream media is pushing this one! :)
Mysterious Bird Die-Off
Date: 01-03-11
Host: George Noory
Guests: Nick Begich and Alex Jones
Researcher Nick Begich and radio host Alex Jones commented on the recent bird die-off in Beebe, Arkansas (over 5,000 blackbirds fell to their deaths over a one-mile area) and the connection to possible secret testing or experiments. The birds' organs were pulverized internally, almost liquefied, and one of the prime suspects as to the cause would be some type of electromagnetic test or energy weapons, said Jones. It's possible that Project HAARP, some type of micro blast, or strange weather manipulation might be the explanation, Begich added. For more, see this article by Jones and Paul Watson.
BIRD deaths reported in 2011...
Arkansas -- 5000 + http://offgridsurvival.com/deadbirdsd...
Louisiana -- 500 + http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01...
Texas, Illinois, Tennessee, & Georgia
New Hampshire & Arizona
Kentucky -- (link) http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/...
North Carolina - hundreds of Pelicans (autopsy have ruled out humans killing birds)
Canada http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/sto...
Japan and Hong Kong, Taiwan http://translate.googleusercontent.co/...
China http://www.sott.net/articles/show/221...
New Zealand, Germany, and UK
Falköping Sweden (link) http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/20...
Italy - 8000+ doves http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...
FISH and SEA LIFE deaths reported in 2011...
Arkansas (100,000 dead fish) washed up in Arkansas river http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/...
Maryland (2 Million dead fish) in Chesapeake Bay http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/0...
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0...
Florida, Texas, and Indiana
Pennsylvania - http://meadvilletribune.com/local/x20...
Michigan - Mass fish death in Lincoln Park (link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3XEJf...
South Carolina - 1000's of dead fish Folly Beach
http://follybeach.live5news.com/conte...
Brazil - 100 tons of dead fish (link) http://www.sott.net/articles/show/220958-Brazil-100-tons-of-dead-fish-wash-up-on-shore
New Zealand (link) http://www.watoday.com.au/environment/hundreds-of-dead-snapper-washed-up-on-new-zealand-beach-20110105-19fdr.html?from=watoday_sb
Canada and Australia, UK/Whales (40,000 dead crab/Bream/Other)
Italy (100,000 dead fish)
Vietnam (150 Tons of dead farm fish)
Philippines, Haiti, and Dominican Republic
Florida Manatee deaths
RECENT WORLD WIDE! DEAD BIRDS AND FISH! THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! http://www.thebigwobble.com/2011/01/w...
Shift of Earth's magnetic north pole impacts Tampa airport
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/...
More birds falling from the sky?
http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpres/...
Bird kill caused by Perfect Ice Storm
http://scarletwhore.com/?p=2595
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura: "HAARP"
STRANGE SIGNS to START THE YEAR 2011 by Karen Burgin
The below list is compiled by Karen Burgin.
"Ponder all this for a moment..."
Several hundred dead birds fell from the sky in TX
Thousands of birds fell from the sky in central ARK
500 birds fell from the sky in Louisiana
100's more birds fell from the sky in KY
2 MILLION fish have washed ashore in the Chesapeake Bay Area
100,000 fish lie dead in the Arkansas River...covering 20 linear miles. 99% of the fish are only one kind called Drum fish.
100 TONS of fish dead in the waters off of Parana`, Argentina
TENS of THOUSANDS of dead birds fell to the ground in Manitoba, Canada.
40,000 crabs are washed ashore in the UK... Jan 6.
10,000 ANTELOPE lie dead in Kazakhstan... these 10,000 represent 1/4 of the total global population of this animal.
The BEES are dying out in unprecedented numbers...
On Fox News it spoke of 8,000 Doves that fell over the skies of Italy, and all had strange blue markings on their beaks.
In Sweden, a mere 100 birds fell to the ground... Jackdaw Crows.
And earthquakes are a dime a dozen over the period of just a month:
Dec. 2... 6.9 earthquake in New Guinea
Dec. 17... 7.2 earthquake on the CA//Mexico border
Dec. 20... 5.6 earthquake in El Salvador
Dec. 21... 6.2 earthquake in Sumatra
Dec. 21... 7.4 earthquake in Japan
Dec. 25... 7.6 earthquake in Fiji
Jan 5....... 6.6 earthquake in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. 10 minutes later, there was another quake that registered 5.5
Jan 2......7.1 earthquake in Chile
Causes for these happenings?... -Toxins?.. Colder weather?..Disease?.. Fireworks?... Hail?.. Thunderstorms?... End Times...?
...but all I"M going to say is: Get right with God!............
"For your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)
"Ponder all this for a moment..."
Several hundred dead birds fell from the sky in TX
Thousands of birds fell from the sky in central ARK
500 birds fell from the sky in Louisiana
100's more birds fell from the sky in KY
2 MILLION fish have washed ashore in the Chesapeake Bay Area
100,000 fish lie dead in the Arkansas River...covering 20 linear miles. 99% of the fish are only one kind called Drum fish.
100 TONS of fish dead in the waters off of Parana`, Argentina
TENS of THOUSANDS of dead birds fell to the ground in Manitoba, Canada.
40,000 crabs are washed ashore in the UK... Jan 6.
10,000 ANTELOPE lie dead in Kazakhstan... these 10,000 represent 1/4 of the total global population of this animal.
The BEES are dying out in unprecedented numbers...
On Fox News it spoke of 8,000 Doves that fell over the skies of Italy, and all had strange blue markings on their beaks.
In Sweden, a mere 100 birds fell to the ground... Jackdaw Crows.
And earthquakes are a dime a dozen over the period of just a month:
Dec. 2... 6.9 earthquake in New Guinea
Dec. 17... 7.2 earthquake on the CA//Mexico border
Dec. 20... 5.6 earthquake in El Salvador
Dec. 21... 6.2 earthquake in Sumatra
Dec. 21... 7.4 earthquake in Japan
Dec. 25... 7.6 earthquake in Fiji
Jan 5....... 6.6 earthquake in Vanuatu in the South Pacific. 10 minutes later, there was another quake that registered 5.5
Jan 2......7.1 earthquake in Chile
Causes for these happenings?... -Toxins?.. Colder weather?..Disease?.. Fireworks?... Hail?.. Thunderstorms?... End Times...?
...but all I"M going to say is: Get right with God!............
"For your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:28)
Monday, January 10, 2011
US Republicans attempt to stifle action on climate change
After first day in Congress, Republicans have outlined three bills aimed at limiting power of the Environmental Protection Agency
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 January 2011
Republicans attempt to stifle action on climate changeAfter first day in Congress, Republicans have outlined three bills aimed at limiting power of the Environmental Protection Agency
Republicans have wasted no time in using their new majority in Congress to try to block the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to act on climate change.
In their first full day in the new Congress, Republicans outlined three different bills – encapsulating three different strategies – aimed at limiting the powers of the EPA. It also shut down a house committee that had tackled energy and climate issues.
The first, introduced by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would declare that greenhouse gas emissions are not subject to the Clean Air Act - even though supreme court ruled in 2007 that they are.
The second, introduced by Ted Poe of Texas, would block funding to any government agency associated with cap-and-trade.
The third, introduced by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, is relatively modest, seeking a two-year delay in EPA regulation of carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
But that could make it the most likely to succeed. In the Senate, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, has been calling for a bill to delay EPA action on climate change.
The EPA began the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions under new rules for major power plants and oil refineries that went into effect this month.
But as last November's mid-term elections made clear, environmental regulations have become a favourite target of the conservative Tea party movement.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who will lead the energy and commerce committee, teamed up with Tim Phillips, who is seen as a driving force behind the Tea Party groups to call the EPA moves towards regulation a job killer and an unconstitutional power-grab.
Republicans have also shut down the select committee for energy independence and global warming, which was created by Nancy Pelosi in 2006. It had tackled issues from politicisation of climate science to the BP oil spill.
Meanwhile, Darrell Issa, who is head of the powerful new house committee on oversight and government reform, has been reaching out to oil company executives, business lobbyists, and conservative thinktanks asking which government regulations they find the most irksome. Most of the companies on Issa's list have been heavy contributors to the Republican party and several reportedly supported overturning environmental regulations.
In a sign of the battles to come, Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who leads the Senate environment committee said on Thursday she would use every power she had to block any action in the house to limit the authority of the EPA.
She told reporters she thought it was highly unlikely the moves to stifle the EPA would pass in the Senate – much less be signed into law by Barack Obama.
But some environmentalists have expressed concern that Obama could be forced to sacrifice the EPA's powers at some point if it helps him to pass legislation.
"There is a thunderous chorus from much of industry demanding that these regulations be blocked," Jonathan Lash, who heads the World Resources Institute thinktank, said Thursday in his annual forecast of the environmental stories that will dominate the news.
Related: Republicans kill global warming committee
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Friday 7 January 2011
Republicans attempt to stifle action on climate changeAfter first day in Congress, Republicans have outlined three bills aimed at limiting power of the Environmental Protection Agency
Republicans have wasted no time in using their new majority in Congress to try to block the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to act on climate change.
In their first full day in the new Congress, Republicans outlined three different bills – encapsulating three different strategies – aimed at limiting the powers of the EPA. It also shut down a house committee that had tackled energy and climate issues.
The first, introduced by Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, would declare that greenhouse gas emissions are not subject to the Clean Air Act - even though supreme court ruled in 2007 that they are.
The second, introduced by Ted Poe of Texas, would block funding to any government agency associated with cap-and-trade.
The third, introduced by Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, is relatively modest, seeking a two-year delay in EPA regulation of carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
But that could make it the most likely to succeed. In the Senate, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia, Jay Rockefeller, has been calling for a bill to delay EPA action on climate change.
The EPA began the process of regulating greenhouse gas emissions under new rules for major power plants and oil refineries that went into effect this month.
But as last November's mid-term elections made clear, environmental regulations have become a favourite target of the conservative Tea party movement.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who will lead the energy and commerce committee, teamed up with Tim Phillips, who is seen as a driving force behind the Tea Party groups to call the EPA moves towards regulation a job killer and an unconstitutional power-grab.
Republicans have also shut down the select committee for energy independence and global warming, which was created by Nancy Pelosi in 2006. It had tackled issues from politicisation of climate science to the BP oil spill.
Meanwhile, Darrell Issa, who is head of the powerful new house committee on oversight and government reform, has been reaching out to oil company executives, business lobbyists, and conservative thinktanks asking which government regulations they find the most irksome. Most of the companies on Issa's list have been heavy contributors to the Republican party and several reportedly supported overturning environmental regulations.
In a sign of the battles to come, Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who leads the Senate environment committee said on Thursday she would use every power she had to block any action in the house to limit the authority of the EPA.
She told reporters she thought it was highly unlikely the moves to stifle the EPA would pass in the Senate – much less be signed into law by Barack Obama.
But some environmentalists have expressed concern that Obama could be forced to sacrifice the EPA's powers at some point if it helps him to pass legislation.
"There is a thunderous chorus from much of industry demanding that these regulations be blocked," Jonathan Lash, who heads the World Resources Institute thinktank, said Thursday in his annual forecast of the environmental stories that will dominate the news.
Related: Republicans kill global warming committee
First Climategate then Wikileaks, Is Global Warming a HOAX?
By Teena Clipston
Last Updated Dec 13, 2010, Published Dec 6, 2010
December 4, 2010. WikiLeaks exposes the United States for manipulating the Copenhagen Climate Accord in order to expedite their climate change agenda.
Obama’s ‘Transparent’ government has finally been deemed a success thanks to WikiLeaks, yet the American people are not the ones accessing the transparency. The Obama administration has made it a crime for federal employees and contractors to view the cable documents exposed by WikiLeaks, although the rest of the world is able to. Certainly they have something to hide from voting Americans.
In the latest release of cables, WikiLeaks reveals how the U.S. used corrupt actions to manipulate other countries into backing Obama’s global warming plans during the controversial Copenhagen Accord.
The tactics used to overwhelm the opposition were enforced by threats and bribes. Officials were encouraged to seek ‘dirt’ on nations opposing them. A secret offensive was created to overwhelm anyone who opposed the Obama Administration.
The Cables
The Wikileaks cables show that the accuracy in science was not of interest to the U.S. government during the Copenhagen Accord.
Two of the cables in question were printed by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK. Those include a cable dated as secret on July 31, 2009 regarding spying on UN diplomats, the request originated from the CIA. The second was dated June 19, 2009 and detailed a computer virus that would take let the hacker have complete control over the recipient’s computer.
Climategate and False Science
In November of 2009 thousands of controversial emails and documents were leaked from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, the Climate Research Unit Email Controversy, dubbed Climategate by the media. The documents revealed misconduct within the climate science community. Approximately 3000 documents from 1996 until 2009 pertaining to climate change research were exposed.
Three investigations were instigated by UK officials, and concluded that they could not find any reason to believe that scientific malpractice had taken place.
However, British Conservative Lord Lawson, a climate change sceptic, has repeatedly accused the climate change science for inconsistencies. He also criticized the Kyoto Protocol, and in 2009 launched the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a prominent UK organization scrutinizing global warming policy.
United States Senator Jim Inhofe also opposes the climate change science calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
In 2003 Inhofe stated, "I have offered compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. That conclusion is supported by the painstaking work of the nation's top climate scientists."
The Latest Climate Talks
The Cancun Climate Change Conference, now underway in Mexico, is the latest conference under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), following the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord .
The talks may already be in jeopardy as Japan reveals that the Kyoto Protocol is unreasonable if the two top polluting countries are not involved, which are China and the United States. Canada, Australia, and Russia also join Japan in agreement.
If the Kyoto Protocol fails it leaves an opportunity for the Copenhagen Accord to flourish, even with disclosures of corruptions revealed by WikiLeaks.
In a recent interview, Pablo Solón, Bolivian UN ambassador, discusses the WikiLeaks cables:
“I hope that we are not going to have to wait one year until we know really what happened here in Cancún, because what happened in Copenhagen is also happening here in Cancún, because there is a lot of pressure put into countries in order to force them to accept, I would say, a new version of the Copenhagen Accord. And we are afraid that we are going to have Copenhagen Accord part two in Cancún. So, for us, it is key to keep a very transparent and open negotiation, where all parties really put their positions on the table and where we negotiate. We have made a very strong critics on Friday—on Saturday, because the papers that are put on the table don’t reflect the positions of the different parties, of the different states. They reflect the positions of the chair, of the facilitators. But we are not still in a negotiation between parties.”
If corruption and manipulation continue to surface the UNFCCC can never truly bring an honest agreement between nations to the table, and as truth is buried for one agenda or another the real face of global warming may never emerge.
(GRAPH under Images: created by climatologist Wiktor Kobylinski - The graph shows that in the past three centuries, contrary to many opinions on this subject, there is no correlation between the quantity of CO2 emitted by human industrial activity and the intensity of global cooling / warming of the Earth's surface. )
Source: http://www.suite101.com/content/first-climategate-then-wikileaks-is-global-warming-a-hoax-a317584
Read more: First Climategate then WikiLeaks, Is Global Warming a Hoax? http://www.suite101.com/content/first-climategate-then-wikileaks-is-global-warming-a-hoax-a317584#ixzz1Aayw45xV
Original documents: http://www.climate-gate.org/cru/documents/
GLOBAL WARMING SCAM with Jesse Ventura
Last Updated Dec 13, 2010, Published Dec 6, 2010
Obama’s ‘Transparent’ government has finally been deemed a success thanks to WikiLeaks, yet the American people are not the ones accessing the transparency. The Obama administration has made it a crime for federal employees and contractors to view the cable documents exposed by WikiLeaks, although the rest of the world is able to. Certainly they have something to hide from voting Americans.
In the latest release of cables, WikiLeaks reveals how the U.S. used corrupt actions to manipulate other countries into backing Obama’s global warming plans during the controversial Copenhagen Accord.
The tactics used to overwhelm the opposition were enforced by threats and bribes. Officials were encouraged to seek ‘dirt’ on nations opposing them. A secret offensive was created to overwhelm anyone who opposed the Obama Administration.
The Cables
The Wikileaks cables show that the accuracy in science was not of interest to the U.S. government during the Copenhagen Accord.
Two of the cables in question were printed by the Guardian Newspaper in the UK. Those include a cable dated as secret on July 31, 2009 regarding spying on UN diplomats, the request originated from the CIA. The second was dated June 19, 2009 and detailed a computer virus that would take let the hacker have complete control over the recipient’s computer.
Climategate and False Science
In November of 2009 thousands of controversial emails and documents were leaked from the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit, the Climate Research Unit Email Controversy, dubbed Climategate by the media. The documents revealed misconduct within the climate science community. Approximately 3000 documents from 1996 until 2009 pertaining to climate change research were exposed.
Three investigations were instigated by UK officials, and concluded that they could not find any reason to believe that scientific malpractice had taken place.
However, British Conservative Lord Lawson, a climate change sceptic, has repeatedly accused the climate change science for inconsistencies. He also criticized the Kyoto Protocol, and in 2009 launched the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a prominent UK organization scrutinizing global warming policy.
United States Senator Jim Inhofe also opposes the climate change science calling global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."
In 2003 Inhofe stated, "I have offered compelling evidence that catastrophic global warming is a hoax. That conclusion is supported by the painstaking work of the nation's top climate scientists."
The Latest Climate Talks
The Cancun Climate Change Conference, now underway in Mexico, is the latest conference under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), following the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord .
The talks may already be in jeopardy as Japan reveals that the Kyoto Protocol is unreasonable if the two top polluting countries are not involved, which are China and the United States. Canada, Australia, and Russia also join Japan in agreement.
If the Kyoto Protocol fails it leaves an opportunity for the Copenhagen Accord to flourish, even with disclosures of corruptions revealed by WikiLeaks.
In a recent interview, Pablo Solón, Bolivian UN ambassador, discusses the WikiLeaks cables:
“I hope that we are not going to have to wait one year until we know really what happened here in Cancún, because what happened in Copenhagen is also happening here in Cancún, because there is a lot of pressure put into countries in order to force them to accept, I would say, a new version of the Copenhagen Accord. And we are afraid that we are going to have Copenhagen Accord part two in Cancún. So, for us, it is key to keep a very transparent and open negotiation, where all parties really put their positions on the table and where we negotiate. We have made a very strong critics on Friday—on Saturday, because the papers that are put on the table don’t reflect the positions of the different parties, of the different states. They reflect the positions of the chair, of the facilitators. But we are not still in a negotiation between parties.”
If corruption and manipulation continue to surface the UNFCCC can never truly bring an honest agreement between nations to the table, and as truth is buried for one agenda or another the real face of global warming may never emerge.
(GRAPH under Images: created by climatologist Wiktor Kobylinski - The graph shows that in the past three centuries, contrary to many opinions on this subject, there is no correlation between the quantity of CO2 emitted by human industrial activity and the intensity of global cooling / warming of the Earth's surface. )
Source: http://www.suite101.com/content/first-climategate-then-wikileaks-is-global-warming-a-hoax-a317584
Read more: First Climategate then WikiLeaks, Is Global Warming a Hoax? http://www.suite101.com/content/first-climategate-then-wikileaks-is-global-warming-a-hoax-a317584#ixzz1Aayw45xV
Original documents: http://www.climate-gate.org/cru/documents/
GLOBAL WARMING SCAM with Jesse Ventura
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura
"The Police State Conspiracy"
"Big Brother"
WORLD.WIDE.WATER CONSPIRACY
"Big Brother"
WORLD.WIDE.WATER CONSPIRACY
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Church Giving - My Personal Observations by Brian Hay
In a small booklet entitled THE LIVING BODY by Dr Roy Halverson, who was the Chaplin to the American Senate for many years, at his retirement he stated somewhat disillusioned The Church is no longer an organism, it has become an organization, a machine. It is no longer a relational body but has degenerated into an institutional body. He made a very impacting statement by saying:
The church of Jesus Christ began in Palestine as a movement.
At the end of the first century those who had the helm of the church steered it into Greece and it became a philosophy.
Later in the third century again those who commandeered the helm steered it into Rome and it became an institution
Then in the middle ages, once more the political controllers steered it into Europe and it became a culture.
Finally the helm was seized by the powers of the church and steered it into America and it became an enterprise.
People do not matter any longer neither do they count in the bigger picture they are just automatic teller vending machines set there to provide the necessaries to enable something God to fulfill his egotistical dream. The western church in many respects is now just like any other respectable secular club with its levied due paying members.
This is not the church I want or will belong to, it is against the very principles of scripture and I believe anathema to the very heart of God. I watch these slick television evangelists with their dyed hair and their Armani suits and white shoes as they tickle the people and sell their snake oil for money. They throw out the crumbs and watch folk flock at their feet, clamoring to get some of the tit bits and whilst doing so, these predators, like cats in the night, come in for the kill.
I sat with the governor general in a nation around five years ago and listened while he begged me to try and stop TBN Christian Television Network beaming into his country. I told him I do not have the power or contacts to do that let alone gain their attention that they should listen to me. Then I heard his reason for that request. He told me that after many of these tele-evangelists had come to his land they raised support for their organizations with devious and fraudulent means by promising the people such things as elderships and formal diplomas in return for sending them a specific amount of money each year. He told me of the millions of US dollars that were flowing out of his country and how many of the national pastors had to leave their churches and go back to work as the support was no longer there in the pulpits for them.
I come back from overseas and watch this pantomime called Christianity being played out on the stages of many churches and feel a sense of shame as this is the church I belong to. We wonder why it is that for all the activity in our fellowships the statistics show the actual Christian religion is retreating and dying in the west. At the self same time these polished orchestras of contempt lull and coerce their congregations to the slaughterhouse with promises of prosperity and power. They lead the sheep to the very edge of the abyss itself and then step back as Judas sheep, allowing the innocent to fall over the edge, destroyed both by them and then ultimately by hell itself.
Not a day goes by now in my travel that I do not confront the deceit and fraudulent lies of slick pickpocket preachers that have made a life of fleecing and greasing people for their own ends and the tragedy is, many of those effected will never darken a church door again. The testimony of Christianity through out the world now is mocked and scoffed at, especially in Muslim countries, and we are so blind and dense we cannot figure out why. This conceited blindness envelopes America almost completely.
The church has become a habitation of devils. At one extreme we have the religious bigots dressed in their gowns and robes who pontificate about their righteousness and tradition irrespective of their denomination, and at the other extreme we have the artful Christian pickpockets and fortune tellers promising success to all and sundry. The Bible reminds us of Gods heart when it states "I sought for a man to stand in the gap but found no man", and further, "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth seeking for someone whom He might show himself strong on behalf of", and still further the cry of the lost themselves, No man cares for my soul. We the church are to busy building our bigger barns and filling our earthly coffers, to be seeking an invisible intangible city not of this world. Our lust for power and finance devours every unrelenting moment here on earth. And why shouldn’t it, we are building Christ’s church here on earth they tell us, that is the nonsense modern Christianity and its salesmen have espoused "Dominion now theology."
As a young preacher I determined never to ask for money and never to take an offering for myself and last but not least in the order of things, never to make my needs known to people to coerce them wherever I went. I also endeavored to go where ever there was an open door and regardless of where that place was, third world or otherwise irrespective of whether I would cover my costs or note. But I have learned this - most rich people do not part with their money easily and if they do they want verified evidence that it goes where it is supposed to and they want to know it is productive and evidenced by a visible return. I am not suggesting we are not to be accountable. I accept that much dishonour has come to the church because of a lack of accountability, but these rich people want a return for their money and to them it is an investment, which is how they think. Well I have news for them, offerings are given to God, not to men and although we must be careful who we support many of the charlatans and preachers that I mention at the beginning of this article have become that way because they resented living on the dregs and struggling to survive on hand me downs and leftovers. They decided there has to be something in it for them. So they turned their ministries into profitable business making ventures, creating a den of thieves by merchandising and franchising the house of God.
When deciding to give your support make sure it is where you are fed and nurtured biblically, give your tithes or as I prefer to call them, gifts of appreciation unreservedly knowing as the scripture states you give unto God and from God you will receive the reward (and it is to the house where you are fed and shepherded, not anywhere else, but let me add here if you are not being fed and shepherded get out and find someone who will, someone who preaches the truth and loves his people) It amazes me the number of folk I meet that complain to me that they feel unwanted and are demeaned in a congregation where no appreciation is shown to them yet they remain there and allow this charade to carry on.
VOTE WITH YOUR FEET GET OUT AND GO SOMEWHERE WHERE YOU ARE FED AND SHEPHERDED. They could not carry on doing this if you no longer supported their agenda and lifestyle. A final thought about the rich. They do not give out of their lack, they give of their abundance. I once heard a foolish preacher say, ‘I have a grievance with God. He tells us to give to the poor, but the poor cannot be trusted with it. Give it to the rich and they will go and invest it and make more’. What blasphemy is this? God states he who gives to the poor lends unto God and God will repay.
Another thing I have learnt, mostly it is not the rich that give and support ministries, it is the poor. I have sat with the richest people on this planet and most have never considered I might have a need even while I have laboured in ministry to serve them, but I have also sat with the poorest of this world and watched their joy as they have tried to exhort me to take the only things of earthly significance they own. I have felt so ashamed and so distressed as I have been unable to persuade them otherwise. DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAVE REALLY LEARNT; I HAVE LEARNED IT IS MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN TO RECEIVE. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
Brian Hay is the Managing Director of the "Omegatimes Ministry", and "Signpost Ministries International". With a background of over 40 years in pastoral ministry they have released their pastoral committments to pursue fulltime their apostolic-prophetic ministry calling.
Jesse Ventura JFK assassination deathbed confession
The President Who Told The TRUTH
President John F. Kennedy
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
New York City, April 27, 1961
This vid contains one of the most awesome, inspiring and truthful speeches ever given by a president. This very speech must have caused a lot of panic among the higher echelons of the elite. Kennedy had been in office for only 3 months and he was already taking unprecedented steps to empower ordinary people. Kennedy did more for civil rights than any other president since Abraham Lincoln. Kennedy was a big supporter of the constitution, he was against the tyranny of big government. He wanted to withdraw US troops from Vietnam. He wanted to abolish the CIA and Federal Reserve, and he warned us of criminal elements within the establishment who wanted to cease an opportunity to restrict peoples freedoms. He urged the press to be more open and to fulfill its obligation to inform the American people about pertinent facts. And on top of that he spoke openly and candidly about the dangers of secret societies and their influence over the way government works. So is it any wonder that he was dramatically silenced only two years after making this epic speech?
Full transcript of the presidential speech:
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03NewspaperPublishers04271961.htm
Why Does Evil Dominate the World?
Watch the complete video here: http://www.gty.org/Resources/Videos/T8290-333a
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Videos/T8290-333b
Why did God allow evil in the world? You could frame the question a number of ways. If the Creator God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world? In fact, the reality of evil in the world is one of the favorite justifications of those who reject the God of the Bible. They're eager to ask those questions in a myriad of different ways...how can God be holy and allow His creation to be dominated by unholiness? How can God be perfectly righteous and ordain the presence of unrighteousness? There are a number of ways that this particular idea is effectively communicated. One is a syllogism, a series of logical steps such as the biblical God is loving...the biblical God is all-knowing, the biblical God is all powerful, yet massive evil exists in the world therefore the biblical God does not exist. That is to say that whoever allows this evil cannot be loving, or cannot be holy, or cannot be all powerful or all knowing and still allow evil.
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Videos/T8290-333b
Why did God allow evil in the world? You could frame the question a number of ways. If the Creator God is so good, why is there so much evil in the world? In fact, the reality of evil in the world is one of the favorite justifications of those who reject the God of the Bible. They're eager to ask those questions in a myriad of different ways...how can God be holy and allow His creation to be dominated by unholiness? How can God be perfectly righteous and ordain the presence of unrighteousness? There are a number of ways that this particular idea is effectively communicated. One is a syllogism, a series of logical steps such as the biblical God is loving...the biblical God is all-knowing, the biblical God is all powerful, yet massive evil exists in the world therefore the biblical God does not exist. That is to say that whoever allows this evil cannot be loving, or cannot be holy, or cannot be all powerful or all knowing and still allow evil.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Why Organic Church Is Not Exactly a Movement - Excellent!
If the driving force of any movement or phenomenon is not Jesus Christ, we are building castles in the air. A response to "Long Live the Organic Church." by Frank Viola
Words are funny things. Sometimes a word can get into the drinking water of a subculture and morph into clay. A word becomes clay when it loses its universal meaning and becomes molded and shaped to mean different things to different people.
Enter the phrase organic church.
Organic church, or "organic expression of the church," or "organic church life" are terms that owe a debt to one man who's rarely mentioned in these discussions—British author and teacher T. Austin Sparks. As far as I know, he is the first person to use this term, and he used it often.
When T. Austin Sparks employed the word organic to refer to church, he was not speaking of a system, a method, a technique, or even a movement. Instead, he was speaking of the particular expression a church takes when she is living according to her God-given nature as a living organism.
Note his words:
God's way and law of fullness is that of organic life. In the Divine order, life produces its own organism, whether it be vegetable, animal, human, or spiritual. This means that everything comes from the inside. Function, order, and fruit issue from this law of life within. It was solely on this principle that what we have in the New Testament came into being. Organized Christianity has entirely reversed this order.
Taking my cue from Sparks, I've been using the terms organic church and organic expression of the church since 1993.
For Sparks, myself, and many others, organic church refers to a body of believers who are learning to live by the indwelling life of Christ together. And out of that living, the church takes on a certain expression. That expression is marked by some of the following features: the every-member functioning of the body, the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ, consensual decision making, open-participatory gatherings, and passing through seasons (meaning the church is not tied down to ritual, but moves according to the season she finds herself in).
Today the phrase organic church is in vogue, but it has been converted to clay.
Some mold it as a method of church to win souls and change the world for Christ, a sentiment that harkens back to D. L. Moody and J. R. Mott. These advocates see the church as a soul-winning station. Its chief mission is the evangelization of the world.
Others mold it as a synonym for house church. A house church is simply a group of Christians that meets in a home for their corporate worship. That can take countless forms and expressions. House churches can range from institutional services in a living room with pews firmly bolted to the floor, to glorified Bible studies, supper-fests, "bless-me" clubs, healthy Christian communities, or first-rate cults.
As I've often said, meeting in a home doesn't make you a church any more than sitting in a donut shop makes you a police officer (no offense to police officers; the better part of my family is in law enforcement!). There's nothing magical about meeting in a home. And the living room, while a great place to gather, should never be the Christian's passion.
Consequently, those who are regarded as voices of what some are calling the organic church movement do not agree on what the church is, nor how she expresses herself on the earth. Nor do they see eye to eye on God's ultimate intention.
That said, organic church is not a monolith, and therefore, it cannot rightly be called a movement.
I believe it would be more accurate to say that there is a phenomenon today where countless Christians are leaving institutional forms of church and exploring non-traditional forms of church in pursuit of authentic, shared-life community.
I've been gathering in organic expressions of the church (as defined above) for the last 21 years. And from my observations, many of the people who are leaving the institutional form of church presently are leaving because they are following a spiritual instinct. They are saying and thinking, "There has got to be more to Jesus Christ and his body than this." Or as Reggie McNeal once put it, "A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith."
Some are calling this a move of God. Others see it as a departure from God's will (for them, leaving the institutional form of church means leaving church itself). And of course others are calling it a movement.
Nevertheless, here are a few observations regarding the drive to experience organic church life. Note that this is how the terrain looks from my hill. I'm looking at the backs of the rocks while others may see their fronts:
1. The return to more organic forms of church (church as organism rather than church as institution) is nothing new. The U.S. has had two such phenomena already. One occurred in the late '60s and early '70s. Many young people in America were coming to Christ and finding authentic community. It was later hijacked by an authoritarian movement that smothered and killed it. The other occurred in the late '80s and early '90s.
2. The impulse to return to organic church life has happened historically in other times and places. You can find it among the Radical Reformers, the Anabaptists in particular. It had a beautiful start in Plymouth, England, with what later became known as the Plymouth Brethren, and still later in China among those who were tagged the Little Flock. (Each ended up in a different place from where they began, but that's another discussion.)
3. All of the above streams of the Christian faith didn't set out to change the world. That wasn't their governing motive. They instead consecrated themselves to please the Lord and to make a home for him on this earth. They sought to return to the centrality of Jesus Christ and the living experience of his body. As a result of that, some of them had a profound influence on their surrounding societies. But that wasn't their goal.
4. Movement mentality always seems to seep into any genuine move of God. I'm defining movement here as the idea that big is better and numbers mean success. Historically, the church of Jesus Christ passes through seasons. Some of those seasons are marked by revivals where many souls are brought into the kingdom of God. At such times, it's almost effortless to lead people to Christ. But while revivals produce numerical growth, they do not produce depth. We are wise to observe that Paul planted approximately 13 churches in his lifetime. The apostle was far more concerned with building quality—"gold, silver, and precious stone"—than he was with amassing big numbers (see 1 Cor. 3).
5. Historically, movements become monuments (or they go off the rails) when Jesus Christ is not front and center, the beating heart and foundation. When some other thing—even a good thing like trying to change the world, saving souls, or multiplying churches—replaces the pursuit of Christ, we lose our way.
All told: There is a phenomenon going on today. Perhaps a move of God's Spirit (?). But it's nothing new. It's simply a repeat of past currents. What will determine its success, longevity, and quality is not any human technique or method. The cutting-edge must be Jesus Christ as the only foundation, the centrality, and the supremacy. I am keenly aware that virtually every Christian bulbously claims that Jesus is the center of what they're doing. But listen to the rhetoric carefully, and you'll discover if it's Christ or some other thing that's being pushed and promoted.
So many things can replace our Lord. But God's eternal purpose—that which has been in his heart since before time—will never be fulfilled if our first rattle out of the box is a new way of doing church, a method for multiplying churches, or a technique to change the world. God's purpose will only be restored if we blindly and singularly make Christ our pursuit, our life, and our motive. Everything else will flow out of that.
Frank Viola is the author of a series of books on radical church restoration, including Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, Finding Organic Church, and Pagan Christianity (co-authored with George Barna).
Related articles here:
Long Live Organic Church!
Long Live the Organic Church: A Response
Enter the phrase organic church.
Organic church, or "organic expression of the church," or "organic church life" are terms that owe a debt to one man who's rarely mentioned in these discussions—British author and teacher T. Austin Sparks. As far as I know, he is the first person to use this term, and he used it often.
When T. Austin Sparks employed the word organic to refer to church, he was not speaking of a system, a method, a technique, or even a movement. Instead, he was speaking of the particular expression a church takes when she is living according to her God-given nature as a living organism.
Note his words:
God's way and law of fullness is that of organic life. In the Divine order, life produces its own organism, whether it be vegetable, animal, human, or spiritual. This means that everything comes from the inside. Function, order, and fruit issue from this law of life within. It was solely on this principle that what we have in the New Testament came into being. Organized Christianity has entirely reversed this order.
Taking my cue from Sparks, I've been using the terms organic church and organic expression of the church since 1993.
For Sparks, myself, and many others, organic church refers to a body of believers who are learning to live by the indwelling life of Christ together. And out of that living, the church takes on a certain expression. That expression is marked by some of the following features: the every-member functioning of the body, the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ, consensual decision making, open-participatory gatherings, and passing through seasons (meaning the church is not tied down to ritual, but moves according to the season she finds herself in).
Today the phrase organic church is in vogue, but it has been converted to clay.
Some mold it as a method of church to win souls and change the world for Christ, a sentiment that harkens back to D. L. Moody and J. R. Mott. These advocates see the church as a soul-winning station. Its chief mission is the evangelization of the world.
Others mold it as a synonym for house church. A house church is simply a group of Christians that meets in a home for their corporate worship. That can take countless forms and expressions. House churches can range from institutional services in a living room with pews firmly bolted to the floor, to glorified Bible studies, supper-fests, "bless-me" clubs, healthy Christian communities, or first-rate cults.
As I've often said, meeting in a home doesn't make you a church any more than sitting in a donut shop makes you a police officer (no offense to police officers; the better part of my family is in law enforcement!). There's nothing magical about meeting in a home. And the living room, while a great place to gather, should never be the Christian's passion.
Consequently, those who are regarded as voices of what some are calling the organic church movement do not agree on what the church is, nor how she expresses herself on the earth. Nor do they see eye to eye on God's ultimate intention.
That said, organic church is not a monolith, and therefore, it cannot rightly be called a movement.
I believe it would be more accurate to say that there is a phenomenon today where countless Christians are leaving institutional forms of church and exploring non-traditional forms of church in pursuit of authentic, shared-life community.
I've been gathering in organic expressions of the church (as defined above) for the last 21 years. And from my observations, many of the people who are leaving the institutional form of church presently are leaving because they are following a spiritual instinct. They are saying and thinking, "There has got to be more to Jesus Christ and his body than this." Or as Reggie McNeal once put it, "A growing number of people are leaving the institutional church for a new reason. They are not leaving because they have lost their faith. They are leaving the church to preserve their faith."
Some are calling this a move of God. Others see it as a departure from God's will (for them, leaving the institutional form of church means leaving church itself). And of course others are calling it a movement.
Nevertheless, here are a few observations regarding the drive to experience organic church life. Note that this is how the terrain looks from my hill. I'm looking at the backs of the rocks while others may see their fronts:
1. The return to more organic forms of church (church as organism rather than church as institution) is nothing new. The U.S. has had two such phenomena already. One occurred in the late '60s and early '70s. Many young people in America were coming to Christ and finding authentic community. It was later hijacked by an authoritarian movement that smothered and killed it. The other occurred in the late '80s and early '90s.
2. The impulse to return to organic church life has happened historically in other times and places. You can find it among the Radical Reformers, the Anabaptists in particular. It had a beautiful start in Plymouth, England, with what later became known as the Plymouth Brethren, and still later in China among those who were tagged the Little Flock. (Each ended up in a different place from where they began, but that's another discussion.)
3. All of the above streams of the Christian faith didn't set out to change the world. That wasn't their governing motive. They instead consecrated themselves to please the Lord and to make a home for him on this earth. They sought to return to the centrality of Jesus Christ and the living experience of his body. As a result of that, some of them had a profound influence on their surrounding societies. But that wasn't their goal.
4. Movement mentality always seems to seep into any genuine move of God. I'm defining movement here as the idea that big is better and numbers mean success. Historically, the church of Jesus Christ passes through seasons. Some of those seasons are marked by revivals where many souls are brought into the kingdom of God. At such times, it's almost effortless to lead people to Christ. But while revivals produce numerical growth, they do not produce depth. We are wise to observe that Paul planted approximately 13 churches in his lifetime. The apostle was far more concerned with building quality—"gold, silver, and precious stone"—than he was with amassing big numbers (see 1 Cor. 3).
5. Historically, movements become monuments (or they go off the rails) when Jesus Christ is not front and center, the beating heart and foundation. When some other thing—even a good thing like trying to change the world, saving souls, or multiplying churches—replaces the pursuit of Christ, we lose our way.
All told: There is a phenomenon going on today. Perhaps a move of God's Spirit (?). But it's nothing new. It's simply a repeat of past currents. What will determine its success, longevity, and quality is not any human technique or method. The cutting-edge must be Jesus Christ as the only foundation, the centrality, and the supremacy. I am keenly aware that virtually every Christian bulbously claims that Jesus is the center of what they're doing. But listen to the rhetoric carefully, and you'll discover if it's Christ or some other thing that's being pushed and promoted.
So many things can replace our Lord. But God's eternal purpose—that which has been in his heart since before time—will never be fulfilled if our first rattle out of the box is a new way of doing church, a method for multiplying churches, or a technique to change the world. God's purpose will only be restored if we blindly and singularly make Christ our pursuit, our life, and our motive. Everything else will flow out of that.
Frank Viola is the author of a series of books on radical church restoration, including Reimagining Church, From Eternity to Here, Finding Organic Church, and Pagan Christianity (co-authored with George Barna).
Related articles here:
Long Live Organic Church!
Long Live the Organic Church: A Response
Long Live the Organic Church: A Response
We can live faithfully in the moment while attempting to transform society.
Neil Cole
My wife is very health conscious and buys groceries at places that sell organic food. I found out quickly that organic groceries go bad more quickly than those that contain artificial preservatives. Is that true for all things organic, even churches? Will our movement eventually die? Is there an expiration date for organic church?
Christianity Today's Mark Galli wrote an article in his online SoulWork column last week titled "Long Live Organic Church!" In it he expresses some admiration but also concern for the wellbeing of some of the thought leaders of the organic church movement. And he worries that the bitter disappointment of seeing the inevitable failure of our movement may cause us to become bitter and fall out of service.
The concerns he expresses are not just valid; they are haunting realizations I have lived with for over a decade. Sustainability, longevity, and the threat of institutionalization are all subjects I have thought about considerably. On the other hand, holding unreal expectations and the disillusionment that can result has not ever been a concern of mine.
What is success?
I do not live for success but to follow Christ every day. If, when my life ends, I have only a handful of followers of Jesus that can carry on his work, I will not be ashamed to meet my Lord. Reading 2 Timothy 4, Paul was in much the same place, but he said he finished the course and kept the faith. He also transformed the world! He planted seeds that bore fruit for generations to come. There were some things put in place that would bring lasting change throughout the centuries. There were other things that lasted only a generation or two. I think that is the way of true awakenings. Some new ideas stick forever, others only for a time.
My mentor, Bob Logan, has said, "Success is finding out what God wants you to do and doing it." I think that is really the truth. As long as there is a living and loving God, this success is available to us all.
I have held firmly to a quote from the late missiologist Ralph Winter: "Risk is not to be evaluated in terms of the probability of success, but in terms of the value of the goal."
Can we change the world?
We are to make disciples of all the nations to the ends of the earth. In doing so, Paul and his associates turned the whole world upside down (Acts 17:6).
Is transformation of society the true mark of a movement? Yes, I think it is. As I have said to many who question our legitimacy, it will not be contemporary experts and critics who will give us our validity, but future historians. I often think of future historians and their perspective when I look at things; it helps to gain a bigger and broader perspective of the here and now.
If we truly saturate our society with vital followers of Christ capable of making disciples, the world will change. I believe that simply connecting God's children to their spiritual Father in such a way that they listen to his voice and courageously follow his lead will transform society in broader, more holistic, and longer lasting ways than anything else we try.
The change, however, will not be for every generation. In fact, it could very well be that our most serious problems are caused by thinking the decisions we make today will be permanent. We end up establishing methods without the people hearing from God themselves and making their own choices. The result is a lifeless religious institution.
Can we change the future?
Homer Simpson once said, "I guess people never really change; or, they quickly change and then quickly change back again." In a real sense, all transformation is only momentary. There is a reason for this: We are called to live in the moment. Love is the fulfillment of all righteousness and it is always a choice. We are to love God with our whole being … every day. Who you are is really a lifetime of decisions made in specific moments, which make up the person you see in the mirror. God wants us to choose him every moment of every day, not just once at a middle-school retreat campfire.
Each generation must face its own tests and make its own choices. Our children do not become Christians because we choose to follow Christ, but because they do. If they are only living out the choices of their parents, their faith is not true and will remain fruitless religious conformity. This is also true for religious organizations.
What can we leave behind for future generations?
An example. I have learned much by studying the lives of people like Paul, Count Zinzendorf, John Wesley, and Watchman Nee. Perhaps our grandchildren can study our lives and learn something to apply to their own generation. Hopefully, they won't mindlessly do what we did any more than selling tickets to a seat in the pew will work for me like it did for Wesley. The process of contextualizing truth for a new generation is dynamic and produces more than better methods. It results in more enlightened leaders as well.
Written enlightenment. Many today cite a book written almost a century ago by Anglican missionary Roland Allen: Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? When I write, I think first about the immediate impact upon a leader today, but I also wonder what relevance the book will have 75 years from now. I probably don't hit the second target very often (the first target is also debatable), but I do aim for it. We all stand on the broad shoulders of previous generations.
Changes in cultural values and laws. Sometimes the work of a few becomes a legacy to the many. Where once slavery was the norm, today it is seen as an abomination because a few people (like Wilberforce and the Quakers) instigated a movement. Some changes in values do shape future culture. Our legacy can be more than a street named after us, or a lecture hall on some college in the Midwest.
All of these changes can be lasting and inform the future, but nonetheless the leaders of the future will have to face their own tests and make their own choices.
Neil Cole is executive director of Church Multiplication Associates and author of Organic Church, Organic Leadership, Search & Rescue, Cultivating a Life for God and the forthcoming Church 3.0.
Related and response articles:
Why Organic Church Is Not Exactly a Movement by Frank Viola
Long Live Organic Church!
Neil Cole
Christianity Today's Mark Galli wrote an article in his online SoulWork column last week titled "Long Live Organic Church!" In it he expresses some admiration but also concern for the wellbeing of some of the thought leaders of the organic church movement. And he worries that the bitter disappointment of seeing the inevitable failure of our movement may cause us to become bitter and fall out of service.
The concerns he expresses are not just valid; they are haunting realizations I have lived with for over a decade. Sustainability, longevity, and the threat of institutionalization are all subjects I have thought about considerably. On the other hand, holding unreal expectations and the disillusionment that can result has not ever been a concern of mine.
What is success?
I do not live for success but to follow Christ every day. If, when my life ends, I have only a handful of followers of Jesus that can carry on his work, I will not be ashamed to meet my Lord. Reading 2 Timothy 4, Paul was in much the same place, but he said he finished the course and kept the faith. He also transformed the world! He planted seeds that bore fruit for generations to come. There were some things put in place that would bring lasting change throughout the centuries. There were other things that lasted only a generation or two. I think that is the way of true awakenings. Some new ideas stick forever, others only for a time.
My mentor, Bob Logan, has said, "Success is finding out what God wants you to do and doing it." I think that is really the truth. As long as there is a living and loving God, this success is available to us all.
I have held firmly to a quote from the late missiologist Ralph Winter: "Risk is not to be evaluated in terms of the probability of success, but in terms of the value of the goal."
Can we change the world?
We are to make disciples of all the nations to the ends of the earth. In doing so, Paul and his associates turned the whole world upside down (Acts 17:6).
Is transformation of society the true mark of a movement? Yes, I think it is. As I have said to many who question our legitimacy, it will not be contemporary experts and critics who will give us our validity, but future historians. I often think of future historians and their perspective when I look at things; it helps to gain a bigger and broader perspective of the here and now.
If we truly saturate our society with vital followers of Christ capable of making disciples, the world will change. I believe that simply connecting God's children to their spiritual Father in such a way that they listen to his voice and courageously follow his lead will transform society in broader, more holistic, and longer lasting ways than anything else we try.
The change, however, will not be for every generation. In fact, it could very well be that our most serious problems are caused by thinking the decisions we make today will be permanent. We end up establishing methods without the people hearing from God themselves and making their own choices. The result is a lifeless religious institution.
Can we change the future?
Homer Simpson once said, "I guess people never really change; or, they quickly change and then quickly change back again." In a real sense, all transformation is only momentary. There is a reason for this: We are called to live in the moment. Love is the fulfillment of all righteousness and it is always a choice. We are to love God with our whole being … every day. Who you are is really a lifetime of decisions made in specific moments, which make up the person you see in the mirror. God wants us to choose him every moment of every day, not just once at a middle-school retreat campfire.
Each generation must face its own tests and make its own choices. Our children do not become Christians because we choose to follow Christ, but because they do. If they are only living out the choices of their parents, their faith is not true and will remain fruitless religious conformity. This is also true for religious organizations.
What can we leave behind for future generations?
An example. I have learned much by studying the lives of people like Paul, Count Zinzendorf, John Wesley, and Watchman Nee. Perhaps our grandchildren can study our lives and learn something to apply to their own generation. Hopefully, they won't mindlessly do what we did any more than selling tickets to a seat in the pew will work for me like it did for Wesley. The process of contextualizing truth for a new generation is dynamic and produces more than better methods. It results in more enlightened leaders as well.
Written enlightenment. Many today cite a book written almost a century ago by Anglican missionary Roland Allen: Missionary Methods: St Paul's or Ours? When I write, I think first about the immediate impact upon a leader today, but I also wonder what relevance the book will have 75 years from now. I probably don't hit the second target very often (the first target is also debatable), but I do aim for it. We all stand on the broad shoulders of previous generations.
Changes in cultural values and laws. Sometimes the work of a few becomes a legacy to the many. Where once slavery was the norm, today it is seen as an abomination because a few people (like Wilberforce and the Quakers) instigated a movement. Some changes in values do shape future culture. Our legacy can be more than a street named after us, or a lecture hall on some college in the Midwest.
All of these changes can be lasting and inform the future, but nonetheless the leaders of the future will have to face their own tests and make their own choices.
Neil Cole is executive director of Church Multiplication Associates and author of Organic Church, Organic Leadership, Search & Rescue, Cultivating a Life for God and the forthcoming Church 3.0.
Related and response articles:
Why Organic Church Is Not Exactly a Movement by Frank Viola
Long Live Organic Church!
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