Monday, June 16, 2008

Our future hangs in the balance...

The Revolution: A Manifesto, by Ron Paul
{"According to the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, all powers not delegated to the federal government by the states (in Article 1, Section 8) and not prohibited to the states in the Constitution (in Article 1, Section 10) are reserved to the states or to the people. Thomas Jefferson held that this principle formed the very foundation of our Constitution. It was a guarantee that the experience Americans endured under the British would not be repeated and that political decisions would be made by their own government rather than a distant central government that would be much more difficult, if not impossible, for them to control."}
The above statement is from Ron Paul's book and is for all intensive purposes why they don't want you reading the constitution in public school any more. Most of the power the feds have ceased shouldn't have been there's to begin with. Most of the power belongs with the state which we the people have more say in. It is sad in our day and time that this is a revolutionary idea when it was in fact the original intent of our founding fathers. The biggest federalist from yesteryear would have been appauled at the size and abuse of our current government...
{ In 2002, as war with Iraq loomed, I proposed that Congress officially declare war against Iraq, making clear taht I intended to oppose my own measure. The point was to underscore our constitutional responsibility to declare war before commencing majormilitary operations, rather than leaving the decision to the president or passing resolutions that delegate to the president the decision making power over war. The chairman of he International Relations Committee responded by saying, "There are things in the Constitution that have been overtaken by events, by time. Declaration of war is one of them. There are things no longer relevant to a modern society. We are saying to the president, use your judgment. What you have proposed is inappropriate, anachonistic; it sin't done any more."}
When I read that it blew me away.... The chairman of the International Relations Committee just told Ron Paul that the Constitutional provision that congress declares war is no longer used. Congradulations everyone you now live in a very dangerous time. Were becoming a police state. It's time for us all to wake up before we lost our country....
In this book Ron Paul tackles the major issues of our country. Everything from healthcare, social security, and the loss of our freedom piece by piece... The section that unvails the federal reserve might be the most chilling. Our money is quickly becoming worthless and historical evidence backs this up (Ron Paul uses Germany as an example). Germany prior to world war 2 kept printing money to the point people spent it as quickly as they could due to its rapid devaluing property's. This eventually collapsed Germany and made way for Hitler. An argument can be made that were doing the same thing with our dollar.
If you want a real look at the federal government and some real solutions to our current impending financial collapse you should read this book NOW... Seriously, please don't walk RUN to obtain a copy. Our national sovreinty depends on it.
"when all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another, and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated." Thomas Jefferson

Sunday, June 15, 2008

What is hell?

What is Hell?

a post from www.truthortradition.com

FAQ: I live in the USA, and it seems that our language is riddled with references to “hell.” I constantly hear that extremely versatile word used in conversations of all kinds. People say: “What the hell?” or “The hell with it,” or “Hell, yes / no,” etc. On occasion, some people, though not travel agents, have encouraged me to “go to hell.” I don’t think I want to, because I’ve heard that the Devil lives there, but if I did want to just drive by, where exactly is it located? Based on what people are saying, I assume that “hell” is a word used in the Bible, and if so, what is “hell”?
Actually, at this time, there is no such place, other than the small town of Hell, Michigan, which, by the way, has, on occasion, frozen over. But it hardly meets the description of the “Hell” that is propounded by so many Christians who erroneously believe that it is a place of everlasting fire where the “living dead” (???) are tormented forever in flames.
Also, the word “hell” is not found anywhere in the original text of Scripture. In the King James Version, you will find it as the translation of the Greek words hades and gehenna, but most modern translations recognize that “hell” is an incorrect translation for hades, and more correctly render it as “grave.” Even modern translations, however, do sometimes mistakenly translate the Greek word gehenna as “hell.”
So how did the word “hell” so permeate our culture? In this relatively brief answer, we refer you to two excellent books that will clearly show you, in detail, just what the Word of God says about this most significant issue. Our book, Is There Death After Life?, sets forth what the Word says about death and its aftermath, while The Fire That Consumes, by Edward Fudge (211 pp), is a very thorough exposition of “conditional immortality,” including the origin of the idea of “hell” as a place of everlasting torment for the wicked.
One of Satan’s ploys to make Christianity look foolish is to introduce ridiculous ideas (that is, ideas that can legitimately be ridiculed because they make no sense) into its theology. In regard to this overall subject, here are two such errors that came into Christianity from Hellenistic (Greek) thought:
There is no such thing as actual “death” (defined in just about any dictionary as “the end, or absence, of life”).
When one “dies,” he then lives on in some conscious, incorporeal form called the “soul” or “spirit.”
The lie that man is deathless (introduced by the Devil in Genesis 3:4 and later believed by the Greeks) spawned the corresponding notion that there must be an eternal residence for good people and another address for bad people. Thus arose the following falsehoods:
A dead person goes either to “heaven” or “hell” and stays there forever.
“Hell” is a place of everlasting torment in flames.
Fire is a preservative (who else believes this?).
It is ironic that most Christians believe that Adolph Hitler will have everlasting life. You might be thinking: “What?! No they don’t.” But think again—if Hitler is being tormented forever in fire, does he or does he not have everlasting life? It’s a crummy life, but it is everlasting life, right? On the contrary, Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God never says that the wages of sin is eternal torment. No, He says that the penalty for sin is an end to one’s life.
It is important to realize that no verse in the Bible says that the “soul” or “spirit” lives on by itself. No verse says that “hell” is a place of everlasting torment in fire. These falsehoods originated with God’s archenemy, and infiltrated Christianity via mistranslation and the mixing of Greek culture and beliefs with the truths presented in the Word of God.
Thinking logically, does it seem fair to you that God, who the Bible says is love, would forever inflict upon wicked people the excruciating agony of constantly burning? Think about it—if “forever” were likened to a feast, 50 million years of torment is a small hors d’oeuvre. Wouldn’t most rational thinkers conclude that, even for quintessential bad boys like Hitler or Bin Laden, that is simply not fair? Sure they would. Justice would not be served by such an egregious atrocity, and how sad it is that this erroneous belief has contributed to many people turning away from the God whom they were told would do such a thing.
The late Sidney Hatch well expressed how twisted is the idea of a just God forever tormenting by fire those who refused to believe in Him:
“A civilized society looks with horror upon the abuse and torture of children or adults. Even where capital punishment is practiced, the aim is to implement it as mercifully as possible. Are we to believe then that a holy God—our heavenly Father—is less just than the courts of men? Of course not.”
And the late Swedish Lutheran Bishop John Persone wrote:
“For me it is inexplainable how a person who holds the orthodox view [of eternal torment] can at any time have a glad moment in this life. He is constantly mingling with people whose final destiny will be to be tormented eternally without end…To me it is even more inexplainable that such an ‘orthodox’ person can expect even a happy moment in eternity, when he knows that contemporaneously with his blessed estate continues the endless torment and agony of innumerable millions of the accursed. Can he, if he loves his neighbors as himself, yes, even if he has just a little bit of human love and is not solely a selfish wretch, have even a single happy moment?”
Well said, wouldn’t you agree?
Think for a moment about fire. What does it do to things it touches? What do you do if you come home and discover that your house is on fire? Do you feel any sense of urgency? Or do you say, “Hey, let’s go to a movie, and when we get back, we’ll call the Fire Department. There’s no hurry, because we know that our home will burn forever.” Nothing burns forever, and a simple word study of “fire” in Scripture shows that its primary purpose is to destroy useless things, like chaff, and evil things, like wicked people, evil spirits, and Satan (Malachi 4:1 is a classic example).
This article about “hell” is not the place to exposit the biblical truth that death is the end of life, and that one who dies no longer exists anywhere in any form. That by itself renders fallacious the notion that “hell” is a place where “dead” people are alive and conscious. In His Word, God artfully chose the metaphor of “sleep” to figuratively describe death. Why? Because sleep is a temporary condition of unconsciousness that ends with an awakening. Ditto for death, for one who believes in Jesus Christ.
Where there is no consciousness, there is no awareness of time passing. Therefore, the Apostle Paul’s next conscious thought will be when he sees the face of the Lord Jesus at his appearing. Until that glorious moment, Paul, like all who have died and “returned to dust,” no longer exists. Nor will he ever exist again unless Jesus Christ actually died, rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and comes again to raise Christians who have died. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 says that this truth is the only basis for genuine comfort for the bereaved. How important is this subject? It’s a matter of life and death.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word sheol means “the state, or place, of the dead,” and is usually translated as “grave” (see Ps. 6:5, 16:10, 49:15, 89:48, et al). Because there is not literally any such place, it could also be translated as “gravedom.” The Hebrews recognized that man is an integrated being who is either alive or dead (to us, this is obvious). They understood that man does not have a soul, but rather that, as per Genesis 2:7, man is a living “soul” (nephesh), that is, a living person. When he dies, he is then a dead soul (e.g., Lev. 19:28, 21:1; Num. 5:2, 6:6, 11), that is, a dead person.
In contrast to the teaching of the Old Testament, most Greeks believed that man has “an immortal soul,” which they saw as the non-corporeal essence of his being that was trapped in the temporal, fleshly prison of his body until the wonderful moment when his body “died” and his “soul” could freely wing its way to Mt. Olympus, the land of Shades, or somewhere else.
Because of this belief, the Greeks had no word that corresponded with the idea expressed by the Hebrew word sheol. The closest thing they could find was hades, and that is what those who produced the Septuagint (a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek) chose as the counterpart to sheol. As they do with sheol in the Old Testament, some English versions of the Bible erroneously translate the Greek word hades as “hell” in the New Testament [For a thorough examination of the meaning of sheol and hades, see the word “hell” in E.W. Bullinger’s A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (Zondervan Pub. Co., Grand Rapids MI)].
The impact of translating sheol as hades cannot be overstated. In sheol, everyone is dead, but in the Greek language and culture, everyone in Hades is alive. Thus, by the stroke of the pen of the Septuagint’s translators, all the dead (in sheol) were granted life after death in hades. The Greek-speaking Hebrews, reading their Greek Bible, would naturally come to believe that “the dead are alive” (it was, after all, in their Bible). This explains why, at the time of Jesus, many Jews believed that the souls of the dead lived on after the person died, and why Jesus would speak a parable springboarding off that belief (Lazarus in “Abraham’s bosom” – Luke 16. For a full explanation of this, see “Difficult Scriptures Explained.”
We should note that the English word “hell” comes from an Old English word meaning “to conceal.” The first definition in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary is “a place or state of the dead or of the damned; usually under the ground” (hence, the idea of “concealed”). The second definition is “a place or state of misery, torment, or wickedness.”
The idea that “hell” is a place of eternal torment came about because the word hades carried with it all the connotation of Greek mythology, in which Hades was the god of the underworld, a place where the souls of dead people went to be tormented. As Bullinger writes in Appendix 131 of The Companion Bible:
“The Old Testament is the fountainhead of the Hebrew language. It has no literature behind it. But the case is entirely different with the Greek language. The Hebrew sheol is divine in its origin and usage. The Greek hades is human in its origin and comes down to us laden with centuries of development, in which it has acquired new senses, meanings, and usages.”
Scripture most certainly does speak of a place of fire where wicked people will be “punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thess. 1:9). This is gehenna, a Greek word that the Gospel writers used in reference to what is elsewhere called “the lake of fire.” It is significant that not only wicked people will be destroyed there, but also “death and the grave” will be forever exterminated (see Rev. 20:12-15).
Gehenna is the Greek word for the Hebrew “valley of Hinnom,” which was the city dump outside of Jerusalem. When Jesus used this word to refer to the place of the future destruction of the wicked (e.g., Matt. 10:28—still erroneously translated as “hell” even in modern Bible versions), all who heard him knew exactly what he meant. As the note on Matthew 5:22 in the NIV Study Bible says:
“The Greek word is gehenna, which derives its name from a deep ravine south of Jerusalem, the ‘valley of Hinnom.’ During the reigns of the wicked Ahaz and Manasseh, human sacrifices to the Ammonite god Molech were offered there. Josiah desecrated the valley because of the pagan worship there (2 Kings 23:10; Jer. 7:31, 32; 19:6). It became a sort of perpetually burning city dump and later a figure for the place of final punishment.”
As Edward Fudge points out in The Fire That Consumes:
“New Testament writers chose the word gehenna to describe the fate of the lost only in the Gospels, speaking only to Jews, and only when addressing people familiar with the geography of Jerusalem.”
The lake of fire is also called “the second death” (Rev. 21:8). What does that mean? God’s Word clearly states that the Lord Jesus Christ will raise from the dead everyone who has ever lived, and that “those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned” (John 5:29). Pending that Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein had no “deathbed conversion,” they will one day face the Lord Jesus to account for their evil ways, and after that be cast into the lake of fire to be annihilated. They died once physically, and they will “die” again—forever out of existence.
Do you think that those listening to Jesus speak of the wicked burning in gehenna thought he meant they would burn forever? Of course not, because they knew that the garbage they took to the city dump did not continue to exist in the fire without being consumed. Rather, it burned up, and was gone. Jesus used the word gehenna to illustrate that the wicked were like the garbage, refuse worthy only of destruction. The only reason the fire continued to burn was because the whole city kept throwing their garbage there. Likewise, when it has done its job, the lake of fire will be no more.
If Revelation 20:10 is coming to your mind as an apparent contradiction to what you have read thus far, that’s great—it should. It speaks of the Devil and a couple of his henchman being thrown in the lake of fire and being “tormented day and night forever and ever.” However, the Bible was not written in English, and when we dig a bit deeper, we see that “forever and ever” in the Greek is more accurately “for ages unto ages.” In keeping with God’s decree in Genesis 3:15 that Jesus would eventually “crush the head” of the Devil (that is, destroy him), Ezekiel 28:18 declares that the Devil will be “brought to ashes.” Apparently, as a fitting recompense for his monstrous evil, this will take a long time.
Some Christians argue that annihilation is not a sufficient threat to stop people, and that the threat of burning forever is a more effective deterrent to sin. However, this is looking at Scripture the wrong way. God says that it is His “kindness” that leads people to repentance (Rom. 2:4), not His threats of death, although that might work, because it is programmed within mankind to do whatever it takes to stay alive. Apparently, the thought of not existing is more terrifying to most people than the thought of living even under horrible conditions. What God does do is set forth His great love in giving His Son, and encourage people to believe in him and have everlasting life.
If God were trying to use the threat of eternal torment as a deterrent to sin, John 3:16 might read: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not burn forever, but have everlasting life.” And God could have made that plain in many other verses as well. The fact that the Bible simply says “perish” indicates that the unsaved will die, and thus exist no more. What faces those who refuse God’s gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is annihilation. They will be terminated, gone—history. And the rest of us, because of the grace of God and the work of Jesus Christ, will live happily ever after.
For those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he has paid the price for their sin, and he will give them the gift of life in the age to come. Those who refuse to believe in him will pay the penalty for sin themselves. How? By dying forever in the lake of fire. Everlasting life is just that—life without end, and everlasting death is destruction without hope of recall—permanent extermination. This is God’s perfect justice, and it is definitely a matter of life and death.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Liberty

Liberty
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Benjamin Franklin
The Naked Capitalist By W. Cleon Skousen, June 3, 2008

A Christian Review of, "The Naked Capitalist" By W. Cleon Skousen


"A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech, winks with his eyes, scrapes with his feet, points with his finger, with perverted heart devises evil, continually sowing discord; therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things the Lord hates, seven of which are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. A heart that devices wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and a man who sows discord among brothers." Proverbs 6:12-19 RSV

The above verse if the first thing that came to my mind once I finished reading this fine book. Skousen in "The Naked Capitalist" is really describing the events from 1913 through the 1960's that will someday lead to The New World Order. There have been so many great reviews on this book on Amazon.com that I would encourage the reader to not only read this review but the others as well. Skousen's book is a summary of Dr. Caroll Quigley's (a professor of Bill Clinton, and an insider to the New World Order boys) Book "Tragedy and Hope" in which Quigley being an insider and allowed to review the CFR's (Council On Foreign Relations) documents for two years in which he decided to write a book since he felt that there was no way we could stop this socialist empire now. Here are some of the highlights from this book that stuck out to me:

We were actually making post war plans to World War 2 a whole two years prior to entering the war (this is where we got the United Nations from).

The international bankers financed two conservative candidates to split the vote so Woodrow Wilson would be elected to office. Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve which is actually a private banking system. This took the power of making money away from congress and gave it to a private bank. (Does anyone recall the bible verse that says, "The borrower is slave to the lender.")

The international bankers are in Europe, the United States and setting up shop everywhere. Since they came into power they have set up communist government after communist government because it's easier to work with a dictator and get rich than it is with a free society.

These bankers will usually finance both sides of a war, and have been linked to just about every war since they took power. They also make a lot of profit, and as Skousen points out their oil plants and businesses are conveniently not hurt even though thousands upon thousands may die for their gain.

I enjoyed Skousen's ability to break down the Korean War and show how (with facts that are documented from sources in the back) Communists within the United States working in high positions of power were playing both sides. The plan was for the U.S. to fight for South Korea, oh but wait, we were supposed to lose. When our military was TOO good there were 100,000 Red Chinese waiting for them. Our military was not allowed to take out Chinese supply lines or to go in and take territory (so communists within our government made sure we couldn't win). I mean the communists in Washington had it all set up and we were supposed to lose. What right did our military have actually being good.

The CFR (Council On Foreign Relations) is a front group by the international bankers (like the Royal Institute Of International Affairs is in Europe) . This council works for the international bankers and supports socialist causes.

The builderberg group is a small group of elites that meet once a year and plan the direction of the world and it's propaganda for the next year. It is very secretive and if someone finds out your invited your invite is automatically revoked. It's a Group made up of large corporate heads, political leaders, media elite, and the international bankers.

Tax exempt foundations are influencing public policy and directly influencing our schools. They are pushing propaganda and dumbing down our society. These foundations oddly enough are places the big corporate big wigs and international bankers can stash their money and not get taxed.

Bottom Line: I could go on and on.... Read the book it's only about 125 pages, but it is loaded with some of the most important information you could want or know about our government and the New World Order.

Would you like your microchip in you forehead or hand???

America: Freedom to Fascism a documentary by Aaron Russo

I began the night fairly relaxed. I love almost any politically based documentary good or bad. I have a pretty relaxed affect to most issues in life, and I just tend to never let anything get under my skin (I'm not saying that I'm indifferent or apathetic. I just understand that I can only do so much). However, this documentary has something very different from the others; it reveals the real players behind our government and what their real intentions are.

I grew up in the 1980's. My parents were good democrats who voted for Carter and Mondale, and they tried to install their belief system in me. I entered early adulthood as left of center as you can get. I was a Bill Clinton supporter to the bone, and did everything I could to convince everyone around me not to vote for the corporate sell outs known as Republicans. After I watched my choice in President make a mockery of our country and pass horrible "Free Trade" (which is anything but free) agreements I thought I would give those Republicans another look. Well I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 (Guess I didn't learn from Bill Clinton) just to watch him destroy our budget, fight a fantom enemy called the war on terror, and try to convince me that it was imperative that we invade a country that NEVER attacked us (good to note I didn't vote for W. or Kerry in 2004). This of course was for national security. We must invade Iraq so they won't fight us over here?? Of course we won't do anything about our southern border in the process because were so serious about national security??? Something just didn't fit....

If the Demacans and Republicrats have lost your trust this is the documentary for you. Mr. Russo will tell you who really runs the country (the federal reserve and private bankers). You will learn all about their grand vision for a world government. Not to mention where your income taxes really go (no they don't go to the goods and services you think they pay for). Learn all about the IRS... Have you ever seen the law that says you have to pay federal income taxes??? Do you know why you've never seen it??? The second half of the documentary is probably the most revealing. As one national reviewer stated, "If 10% of this movie is true were in big trouble." Well significantly more than 10% of it is true. There is technology out there to microchip the public. There is a plan to merge Mexico, U.S.A., and Canada with no borders and one currency. The Federal Reserve is not a government agency, and yes they have a lot of power. With every turn this film makes you see how the real players behind the government are stealing your freedom one strand at a time, and in the end their objectives will leave you as their financial and physical slave.

Bottom Line: This is a film that could scare the living daylights out of you. But it is also one you must see if you care about the your freedom or the freedom of our children.

Proverbs 29:2 "When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan."

Original Intent, By David Barton

Original Intent By David Barton

This book has meticulous foot notes and references to it's sources. Barton uses the words of the founding fathers themselves to make his points. He uses actual court cases, and even puts the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence in the back of the book for your reference. The author presents the material in a clear and precise manner, and the reader can easily look up, reference, and test his conclusions themselves (his footnotes and index make it that easy) ..... Better yet, Barton actually invites the reader to read the federalist and anti-federalist (the words of the founding fathers themselves) papers after reading this book . If Barton's conclusions are false as some have concluded he's definitely a horrible revisionist since he gives the reader all the ammunition in the world to check his sources and refute him.

This book has done more for my understanding our founding fathers than the many secular based history texts I've pawned through. The author is thorough, complete, and as I said earlier he gives the reader all the power by giving him/her the power to reference the original documents. The truth is many of our founding fathers were Christians, did read the bible, and most wouldn't approve of the course of action taken against religious expression in our country today. This is a worthy read for the Christian and secular skeptic alike. Truly, this is a must read!!!!

Postscript: There have been many attacks on this book and those on those who give favorable reviews to it (as of this date the reviews are 44 five star reviews and 30 some one star reviews on Amazon.com). Hey, I have a thought.... Instead of believing what any man says I urge the reader to do what I'm doing.... Look up the material yourself... Read the book, check it's sources, and make your own conclusion... Don't let the many individuals who leave nasty comments under these reviews steal from you your right to make your own conclusion....

Sunday, June 1, 2008

The New World Order

Well I finished reading "The Naked Capitalist" a week ago, and just finished watching Aaron Russo's Documentary, "America: Freedom or Fascism." I have to say both were top notch... Some of the information I had before and some of it was brand new. However, the result (The New World Order) is something I'm very familiar with.

Both the book and the documentary stage the year 1913 where the globalist New World Order boys got Woodrow Wilson elected to office by supporting two conservative candidates which either would have won had it been a two man race. Either way Wilson was elected, the Federal Reserve was created (a private bank not the government by the way), and a vortex of corruption has come into being ever since. Incidentally this set the stage for the globalists to run our country (they print and run the money so they run the country). Since that time we have had countless wars on their behalf, set up communist dictators (it's easier for the globalists to get their money if it's a dictatorship), and watch our freedoms slowly but surely get flushed down the toilet. This is stuff that I have no doubt will lead to the book of Revelation in the bible. One world government which can dictate everything you do (big brother)...

This brings me to my next point. How can anyone doubt biblical veracity given that the book predicted such a scenario over 2,000 years ago??? If one looks at this honestly (read the book and watch the movie if you think I'm crazy) there will be absolutely no doubt. To me pin pointing this information and knowing that the bible speaks of such things and still telling yourself, ("The bible isn't real this can all be explained by -----") should be enough sufficeint evidence to prove that individual is insane... If I show someone a picture of a duck and they keep calling it a cow no matter how much evidence there is that it's a duck, what does that say???? If you are reading this and you have never met me try reading and watching the two above items before you call me a nut job...

God Bless,
Mousie Marc