Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Thanks to Jack Kinsella for this wonderful article. He has nailed the truth right on the head as to where we are in light of Bible Prophecy. Every Christian I know has a feeling that something is going on in the heavenlies and time is growing short to get our friends and loved ones saved. It is so simple to be ready for the next great event on the Christian calendar, the rapture.
Simply bow your head, ask Jesus to forgive your sins and come into your heart and be your savior. Thats it! Then you are ready for the rapture and the day we will face to face meet our precious Lord. If you have not prayed that prayer, then I plead with you to do so now. He will save you and enter your name in the Lambs Book of Life and all of heaven will rejoice with you on your salvation. I pray you find him today. For those of us who have been saved, I think we are getting close to having to fasten our rapture seat belts. Have a blessed week and may God Bless each and every one of you.

Elaine


Commentary on the News
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Jack Kinsella - Omega Letter Editor

A culture war has been raging in the United States for years. Unlike traditional wars, it cannot be won by military action, but it is a real war, being carried out on US soil by US citizens against one another.


For example, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom defied state law by allowing same-sex marriage licenses, a New York Times profile reported him sporting "a wide grin," "describing his motives as pure and principled," and cited his "business acumen, money, good looks and friends in the right places."

But when Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore also defied the law -- by installing a Ten Commandments display in his public building -- a Times profile said that "civil liberties groups accused Justice Moore of turning a courthouse into a church," while allowing that he had also become "an Alabama folk hero."

On the editorial page, the Times criticized Moore, likening him to George Wallace standing in the schoolhouse door, but supports Newsom's protest and gay marriage.

America's culture war can be defined as conservative vs. liberal, Right vs. Left, rich vs. poor, Democrat vs. Republican but in reality, the war is between believers in Christ and believers in the world system, both inside and outside of mainstream Christian culture.

It isn't really a war between cultures so much as it is a spiritual conflict. For example, while polls show a majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, some of the country's top editorial pages support it.

"Same-sex marriages pose no threat to anyone but rather affirm a commitment of love, an emotion that is universal," says the Boston Globe.

"We believe that extending the benefits and responsibilities of marriage to same-sex couples would be fair and beneficial; we understand that many Americans feel otherwise," says The Washington Post.

"Clearly those who claim that it signals the end of civilization need to get their outrage odometers adjusted," says the Los Angeles Times.

Polls demonstrate the culture war between Christ and the world is taking casualties within mainstrean Christian culture as well: A poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life suggest that opposition to same-sex marriage is widespread among white evangelical Protestants (84 percent) and blacks (65 percent).

Other mainline Protestant Christians showed a 20-point drop in opposition to same-sex marriage (from 64 percent to 44) and a 19-point drop among white Roman Catholics (from 60 percent to 41 percent) but only a 1-point decline among white evangelical Christians and African Americans. Do you see a pattern developing?

Another front in the culture war is the battle raging over Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ." Before it was even released, it had ignited passions across the country.

"Too gory!" exclaimed movie reviewers. The same movie reviewers loved Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" and "Pulp Fiction." Not to mention "A Nightmare on Elm Street" "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Natural Born Killers" all of which have achieved 'cult film status' and are immune to criticism. The same reviewers who criticized "The Passion" for its gore cheered the historical accuracy of the first thirty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan."

The culture war isn't over the movie, but rather the subject material -- namely the Salvation of the human race. The world system doesn't like to think that it needs salvation, and it doesn't like to be reminded of the historical Jesus.

If the Passion of Jesus is real, then hell is real. And if hell is real, then it becomes decision time. And to the world, 'decision time' means giving up all the 'fun stuff' -- something they would rather not do.

So rather than admitting outright that their real objection is to Christianity in general, they fall back on whatever seems safe. Antisemitism, or too much gore, or historical 'inaccuracies' that didn't seem to bother anybody when reviewing "The Last Temptation of Christ" or "Jesus Christ, Superstar".

Abortion is another example -- recently the Los Angeles Times corrected a review about a play that celebrated fertility (a favorite subject of the world) in which the reviewer called the play 'pro-life'. Although the play had NOTHING to do with abortion, the LA Times' editors changed 'pro-life' to 'anti-abortion'.

The words 'pro-life' are forbidden by the Times' editorial board because it might give the impression that if those opposing abortion are 'pro-life' then those who favor it are 'pro-death' or 'anti-life'. 'Anti-abortion' strikes the right semantic 'balance'; who wants to be 'anti' something? Especially since the opposite of pro-life is, by definition, anti-life?

Last week, the UC Student Senate passed a bill to give $2,400 to send 10 buses of students to a pro-abortion rally in Washington. That is considered 'education' but you won't find public universities shelling out funds to send students to a pro-life rally.

Cincinatti's Xavier College ponied up $30,000 to pay lunatic left-winger Michael Moore to address the student body. Some students wanted to hear from conservative columnist Walter Williams. They even put up $10,000 of their own money. Xavier refused to kick in the balance of $3000.00 -- about ten percent of what they paid Moore.

That the world is well aware of the spiritual conflict is easily seen by the automatic assumption that anybody who is pro-life must be a Bible thumping born-again Christian, so financing such a student trip would violate the alleged 'Separation Clause'.

Polls show the majority of Americans are pro-life, but the world system equates being pro-life to Jesus Christ. And hates it.

The spiritual war raging in America is taking place at the same time a larger spiritual conflict has gripped the whole world. Unlike America's war, this one IS being fought using bullets and bombs. That war pits Muslims against Jews and Christians, which is what brought it to America's shores. Because America is rapidly becoming one of the last strongholds of Christianity left in the world.

While there are more Christians in China than there are Americans on earth, no nation on earth has more Christians per capita and no nation on earth exerts more global influence than 'Christian' America.

The culture war raging in America represent the opening skirmishes in the coming War of Armageddon that rages throughout the Tribulation Period.

Consider what would happen to America if suddenly, there were no Christians remaining to continue the spiritual conflict with the world system. What if the only worldview left in America were the one espoused by the liberal left and the God-haters?

What would it mean to America's global status? What if there was nobody to restrain Ted Kennedy or John Kerry or Jay Rockefeller's doctrine of internationalism? What if there were no Christians left for Islam to fight?

One of the spiritual wars taking place in America right now concerns whether or not America is really a Christian country to begin with. In America, pledging allegiance to one nation 'under God' is already illegal. So is displaying the Ten Commandments on public land.

If there were no Christians, America's culture war would be over and the stage would be set for the War of Armageddon to begin in earnest. The Armageddon War isn't against the Church, it is against Israel and the Tribulation saints.

What would happen if, suddenly, Christianity disappeared from the face of the earth is outlined by the Apostle Paul. Paul had taught in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians of the coming Rapture of the Church.

"For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

In his Second Epistle, Paul is specifically addressing a heresy that was being taught in Thessolonica that the Lord had already returned for His Church and that they had been left behind.

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;" (2nd Thessalonians 2:1-3)

Paul outlines the spiritual conflict, saying that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth will let, until He be taken out of the way."

The NIV translates this same verse, "For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the One who now holds it back will continue to do so till He is taken out of the way."

The One Who 'holds it back' is the Holy Spirit of God indwelling the Church. The Holy Spirit is God. God is omnipresent, meaning He is everwhere. The Psalmist wrote; "If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, Thou art there." (Psalms 127:8)

It is only AFTER the restraining influence of the indwelt Church is removed, Paul says, that the Antichrist can come to power. "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of His Mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming:" (2 Thessalonians 2:8)

Note that the text makes 'that Wicked' a proper noun, and that he will be destroyed by the 2nd Coming of Christ at the conclusion of the Tribulation Period. The identification of 'that Wicked' as the antichrist is obvious from the context.

After the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is 'taken out of the way' Paul explains the 'strong delusion' that will cause the secular world to embrace the antichrist.

"And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2nd Thessalonians 2:11-12)

The Rapture would decimate the United States, hand victory to the internationalists, the liberals, the homosexual movement, the God-haters and the abortionists in a war they undoubtedly will think they have won.

It is obvious that the only thing restraining evil today is the believing Church. For those to be left behind, the conditioning process has already begun.

The Rapture is at hand. That means there isn't much time left for us to fulfill our commission as watchmen on the wall.

The King is coming! Tell somebody.

Excerpted from the Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest, Vol: 30 Issue:

For more exciting articles visit Hal Lindsey's
Oracle


ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?



JOHN3:16

Luke 21:25
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;


What an exciting article I have found tonight to share with you. The above scriptures tell us that there will be signs to point us to the truth of the near return of the Lord Jesus Christ! This one thrilled my soul! You can find more of these interesting articles at : Prophecy In The News. Hope you enjoy as much as I did. Have a blessed Lords Day tomorrow.
Elaine






Amazing Discoveries (3/1/2004)

Astronomers have recently discovered an amazing object in the heavens. Some have dubbed it a "celestial cross."

The most majestic and beautiful objects in the universe are the galaxies. Awe-inspiring photographs of them grace the pages of astronomical photo collections, boggling the mind with their endless variation. Around their edges, they usually feature an array of spiral arms, or a gaseous nebulosity that thins into a tenuous curtain that stretches across the vastness of space.

But at the center of virtually every galaxy is a brilliant spheroid of light, made up of hundreds of thousands of stars. At the galaxy’s core, they are so closely spaced that they produce a uniform, powerful light that has the appearance of being solid. In reality, these myriad stars are gathered around an organizing framework. What structures lie within the impenetrable glare?

For many years, astronomers have conjectured that these close congregations of stars may conceal a sort of cosmic whirlpool, which has been dubbed a "black hole." In theory, such a monster would be created when a super-massive star or star cluster collapses of its own weight into a super-dense mass with such enormous gravitational force that nothing — not even light — can escape its gravitational grip. Since the theory was developed, they have been looking for the telltale signs that would mark such an anomaly. But nothing of the sort has been visible.

However, the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope spotted a peculiar formation in the center of the Whirlpool galaxy some 20 million light-years from earth. A startling photo was released during the second week of June 1992 and published in TIME magazine, in the June 22 edition.

The Hubble telescope, taking advantage of the fact that it doesn’t have to peer through a distorting atmosphere, has been able to see farther with more clarity than any optical telescope ever built.

In this photograph a mammoth "X" is seen at the galaxy’s center. According to TIME editors, "The scientists think one arm of the X is a massive, doughnut-shaped cloud of dust swirling around the hole. The doughnut is seen edge on, hiding the black hole from view, but two cone-shaped beams of light emitted by hot gas closer in can be seen escaping out the sides. As for the second arm, no one knows what it is."

According to theory the escaping light is not from the black hole itself, but from energized particles of dust and gas that brighten as they approach the point of maximum acceleration on their spiraling, one-way trip into the maw of the black hole. Their great burst of light is a sort of final farewell to a universe that will never again witness their presence.

What is interesting is that the first time anyone has ever gotten a good, close look at a galactic center, it turns out to hold the sign that is of the greatest possible importance to humanity. In the Latin language, the word "crux" designates the cross. Planet earth came to the crossroads at the foot of the cross. Divine action designated this simple geometric shape as the symbol for decision.

Our words, "crucial," "crucible," and "excruciating," are all derived from the word "crux." These words speak of the fiery forces that lie at the very heart and core of important events. They imply the pain and testing of weighty decisions made under stress and testing.

In the days of our Lord, the cross was reserved for criminals and those thought to be accursed by God. It depicted the suffering, shame and humiliation that Christ endured for the sake of a fallen humanity in need of redemption. The cross symbolizes that mission, voluntarily undertaken in submission to a God whose love reached out to those in need.

The cross is a sign that beams a message of truth into the soul of humanity almost devoid of that commodity. The meaning is as clear as it is convicting. If one has not had an encounter with the cross, one has never dealt with the Truth.

Many refuse to accept that truth, but we are told that one day a "sign" will appear over the earth, signaling that the Lord is coming to make manifest the work that was completed at the cross. Matthew 24, verses 29 and 30 mention the return of the Lord, preceded by the greatest sign in the history of the planet.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light ... then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven ... they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

Surely the sign mentioned here must be a reflection of that horrible instrument so essential in the final the work of Christ. It will hang suspended between heaven and earth, a harbinger of the justice that is about to be fall upon the world. Every man who sees it will instantly be reminded of the finished work of Christ. Guilt and conviction, like flames, will sear the heart and soul of every human being who ever rejected the cross as just another myth.

A curious cross has now been dimly perceived in the heavens. What it is, no one really knows. But like the cross of Christianity, it shines forth for those who will see it — who will still be brought to the point of decision about their eternal destiny. It shines dimly, sending forth a final message of hope — and warning.

It is a statement that there is still a little time — very little. And that is the crux of the matter.


ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?



JOHN3:16

2 Timothy 4
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.






The above scripture tells it like it is. Here is an article from Joseph Farah that many will not dare to discuss. The world will not accept the truth just as they won't accept The Passion of The Christ. It is nice that we still know who wins in the end!

Have a blessed day
Elaine






The Bible And Homosexuality

by Joseph Farah

World Net Daily
Sen. John Kerry suggested to an audience in Mississippi recently that the Bible is ambiguous on the topic of homosexuality.

"Well, I know the deep beliefs, I respect, I'm a Christian, I've read the Bible, and I know you can find the clauses that go both ways," he said. "I'm not here to argue that with you."

Well, I'm here to argue with Kerry. The Bible is clear on homosexuality – Old Testament and New Testament: Homosexuality is an abomination.

Kerry may not believe it. You may not believe it. But the Bible states it clearly and unambiguously. And, despite what Kerry says, there are no "clauses" that suggest anything else.

Here's a brief Bible study for the man who would be president.

It begins in Leviticus 18:22 (KJV): "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination."

That seems pretty clear to me. Maybe Kerry has another interpretation. The chapter goes on to state that people who commit these acts, and others God considers abominations, causes the land itself to be defiled.

Then, in the New Testament, Paul writes in Romans 1:22-27:


Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.


I'm still waiting for any Bible student to show me even one verse that suggests a more "tolerant" view of homosexuality.

Generally speaking, the best they can do is to suggest Jesus Himself never spoke out against homosexuality.

There are two problems with that statement:

First, Christians believe Jesus came not to overturn the law but to fulfill it. They believe He is the Word – its living fulfillment. They believe He is eternal and part of the Godhead that created the Heavens, the Earth and Man. Therefore, Jesus never contradicted any of the law. He quoted from it. He taught from it. He explained it. He affirmed it.

Second, Jesus did speak out, as recorded in Matthew 19:4-6:

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Here Jesus had an opportunity to explain any middle ground in this issue of men and women. As if to underscore the point, he did later provide something of an exemption for eunuchs – men who do not have testicles. But he doesn't suggest God made homosexuals, lesbians, transgendereds, transvestites or bisexuals.

Kerry likes to be on both sides of all the issues. But that's difficult when it comes to God's unambiguous Word on relations between men and women. Maybe Kerry can let the American people in on which "clauses" he's found in the Bible that would justify homosexuality as anything other than an abomination.

You can choose to believe the Bible. You can choose to disbelieve it. But you cannot say it says something it does not say.







ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?



JOHN3:16

I can tell you that my day was made this morning when I opened up the World Net Daily News Site and read the article below. This is something all grassroots Americans can get involved with and we can win. Close your eyes for a minute!!!!!
Now think about this thought. There is no more IRS, no more withholding and no more H&R Block:). How did that feel. Well this article ought to fire everyone up. After reading this, if you agree, go to the website and sign up free for updates and sign the petitions to your elected officials in Congress. Get involved and help end the illegal theft of our pocket books. For the American family to survive financially, this has to end!

God Bless
Elaine





THE POWER TO DESTROY
Effort to dump income tax gains steam
Supporters look to have 100 House co-sponsors by July 4

An effort to do away with federal income tax and replace it with a national consumption tax is gaining steam, as activists strive to get at least 100 members of the House of Representatives on board by Independence Day.

"We think we'll be at 100 co-sponsors by July 4," Tom Wright, executive director of Americans for Fair Taxation, told WND.

Wright noted the House bill, H.R. 25, added its latest co-sponsor this week – Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin of Wyoming – bringing the total to 44.

"We're working with our grass-roots people across the country" to get to the goal, Wright said. H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act, is sponsored by Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., who has sponsored similar legislation for the last several years. The latest version of the bill was introduced Jan. 7, 2003.

"The current federal income tax system is broken. Patching up the existing code is pointless. It's time for a fresh approach, a fair approach. It's time for the FairTax," says the group's website.

"From its humble beginnings, the income tax has grown like a cancer by taxing our hard work and discouraging savings and investment."

H.R. 25 would eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a 23 percent consumption tax paid by the end user. That means business-to-business purchases for the production of goods and services would not be taxed. The organization estimates consumer prices will drop by an estimated 20-30 percent as a result of the change.

The group's website describes how the bill's rebate function works. It assures that those living in poverty would not pay any tax.

"Under the FairTax, no American will pay taxes on necessities. The rebate will be equivalent to the tax paid on essential goods and services. The rebate will be mailed before the tax is actually paid [and] will be paid in equal installments at the beginning of the month. The size of the monthly rebate will be determined by the federal poverty level for a particular household size."

Wright touted the support of the American Farm Bureau. The organization has been educating its membership on the bill, and many state chapters have given the bill legislative priority.

Dumping the income tax has become a campaign issue in many political races this year, Wright says.

"All over Texas, House candidates are supporting it," he said, mentioning races in other states as well.

Wright noted the bill's cause is helped every time Social Security reform is discussed, since, under the plan, the entitlement program would be supported by the consumption tax instead of what he calls the "regressive" Social Security tax.

Americans for Fair Taxation says the first year the plan goes into effect, revenue to the federal government would remain the same. From there, the group claims, revenue will grow due to increased economic activity.

H.R. 25 is pending in the House Ways and Means Committee and has not had a hearing. Once the sponsorship level grows to 100, however, Wright thinks Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., will take action on the bill.

The bill's Senate version is S.1493, sponsored by Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., which was introduced in July.

WND columnist Neal Boortz is a supporter of the plan. In an August column, he addressed the issue of why the idea hasn't been enacted already.

"And just why hasn't it passed?" he wrote. "Because the idea is so bold that many politicians, while personally praising the concept, just assume it can't pass.

"It can pass, my friends. It can pass if the people of America learn the details and then let their elected officials know that they want some action."


Visit the Americans For Fair Taxation Site Today And Get Involved!



ARE YOU READY FOR THE RAPTURE?



JOHN3:16

Want Beautiful Images For Your Website? Visit: http://oneimage.org/


Matthew 20:28
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

John 20
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

When I hear about all the strife and arguments surrounding the movie "The Passion of The Christ" I am amazed at the lack of the knowledge of the truth about our Blessed Savior in this world. Also, I am quickly reminded that this world hates our Jesus.

I am eternally grateful for a Pastor who taught us to love Gods precious Word. If there was one thing we learned it was a genuine love and respect for the Bible. That blessed Book as quoted above tells us who killed our Lord. In fact, it was all of us from Adam til now that crucified the Lord. But you know what? The remarkable, the wonderful and the glorious truth is that he willingly came and died for us with pure love in his heart and he came and gave his life as our ransom. We could not cross that great gulf to a Holy God because sin from Adam on had separated us from Him. But when Jesus came, he made a way through His precious Blood that we could be born again and made alive as sons and daughters of the Living God and Creator of this beautiful universe. That should make every blood bought saint in this world shout!

Are you going to see the movie? I know I am. For some reason I feel that God is about to do some great things in this old world. Yes he still loves the world even though it has become so wicked. I believe that this film may just be a tool to lead many lost souls into His glorious kingdom. Our job will be to to tell them more about him and how to know Him as personal Saviour and Lord.

As I was writing this, an email came from a dear sister in the Lord, Chris Davis. It is the comments of one who has seen the new Movie. I pray that many will be saved as a result of the great film and I pray that it will begin a great ingathering of souls for the Lord Jesus. May God Bless you this week. Thanks Chris for the email.

Elaine

Copied from an email!
(Jody was working on KVIL Radio with Ron Chapman and is now a TV
anchor person on Channel 11-CBS in Dallas.)

From Jody Dean:

There've been a ton of emails and forwards floating around recently from those who've had the privilege of seeing Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" prior to its actual release. I thought I'd give you my reaction after seeing it last night.

The screening was on the first night of "Elevate!", a weekend-long
seminar for young people at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. There were about 2,000 people there, and the movie was shown after several speakers had taken the podium. It started around 9 and finished around 11...so I reckon the film is about two hours in length. Frankly, I lost complete track of time - so I can't be sure.

I want you to know that I started in broadcasting when I was
13-years-old. I've been in the business of writing, performing,
production, and broadcasting for a long time. I've been a part of movies, radio, television, stage and other productions - so I know how things are done. I know about soundtracks and special effects and make-up and screenplays.

I think I've seen just about every kind of movie or TV show ever
made - from extremely inspirational to extremely gory. I read a lot, too - and have covered stories and scenes that still make me wince. I also have a vivid imagination, and have the ability to picture things as they must have happened - or to anticipate things as they will be portrayed. I've also seen an enormous amount of footage from Gibson's film, so I thought I knew what was coming.

But there is nothing in my existence - nothing I could have read,
seen, heard, thought, or known - that could have prepared me for what I saw on screen last night. This is not a movie that anyone will "like". I don't think it's a movie anyone will "love". It certainly doesn't "entertain". There isn't even the sense that one has just watched a movie.

What it is, is an experience - on a level of primary emotion that
is scarcely comprehensible. Every shred of human preconception or
predisposition is utterly stripped away. No one will eat popcorn
during this film. Some may not eat for days after they've seen it. Quite honestly, I wanted to vomit. It hits that hard.

I can see why some people are worried about how the film portrays the Jews. They should be worried. No, it's not anti-Semitic. What
it is, is entirely shattering. There are no "winners". No one comes
off looking "good" - except Jesus. Even His own mother hesitates. As depicted, the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day merely do what any of us would have done - and still do.

They protected their perceived "place" - their sense of safety and
security, and the satisfaction of their own "rightness". But everyone falters. Caiphus judges. Peter denies. Judas betrays. Simon the Cyrene balks. Mark runs away. Pilate equivocates. The crowd mocks. The soldiers laugh. Longinus still stabs with his pilus. The cent urion still carries out his orders. And as Jesus fixes them all with a glance, they still turn away. The Jews, the Romans, Jesus' friends - they all fall. Everyone, except the Principal Figure. Heaven sheds a single, mighty tear - and as blood and water spew from His side, the complacency of all creation is eternally shattered.


The film grabs you in the first five seconds, and never lets go. The brutality, humiliation, and gore is almost inconceivable - and still probably doesn't go far enough. The scourging alone seems to never end, and you cringe at the sound and splatter of every blow - no matter how steely your nerves. Even those who have known combat or prison will have trouble, no matter their experience - because this Man was not conscripted. He went willingly, laying down His entirety for all. It is one thing for a soldier to die for his countrymen. It's something else entirely to think of even a common man dying for those who hate and wish to kill him. But this is no common man. This is t he King of the Universe. The idea that anyone could or would have gone through such punishment is unthinkable - but this Man was completely innocent, completely holy - and paying the price for others. He screams as He is laid upon the cross, "Father, they don't know. They don't know..."

What Gibson has done is to use all of his considerable skill to portray the most dramatic moment of the most dramatic events since the dawn of time. There is no escape. It's a punch to the gut that puts you on the canvas, and you don't get up. You are simply confronted by the horror of what was done - what had to be done - and why. Throughout the entire film, I found myself apologizing.

What you've heard about how audiences have reacted is true. There was no sound after the film's conclusion. No noise at all. No one got up. No one moved. The only sound one could hear was sobbing. In all my years of public life, I have never heard anything like that.

I told many of you that Gibson had reportedly re-shot the ending to include more "hope" through the Resurrection? That's not true. The Resurrection scene is perhaps the shortest in the entire movie - and yet it packs a punch that can't be quantified. It is perfect. There is no way to negotiate the meaning out of it. It simply asks, "Now, what will you do?"

I'll leave the details to you, in the hope that you will see the film - but one thing above all stands out, and I have to tell you
about it. It comes from the end of Jesus' temptations in the wilderness - where the Bible says Satan left him "until a more opportune time".
I imagine Satan never quit tempting Christ, but this film captures
beyond words the most opportune time.

At every step of the way, Satan is there at Jesus' side - imploring Him to quit, reasoning with Him to give up, and seducing Him to surrender.

For the first time, one gets a heart-stopping idea of the sense
of madness that must have enveloped Jesus - a sense of the evil
that was at His very elbow. The physical punishment is relentless - but it's the sense of psychological torture that is most overwhelming. He should have quit. He should have opened His mouth. He should have called 10,000 angels. No one would have blamed Him.

What we deserve is obvious. But He couldn't do that. He wouldn't do that. He didn't do that. He doesn't do that. It was not and is not His character. He was obedient, all the way to the cross - and you feel the real meaning of that phrase in a place the human heart usually doesn't dare to go. You understand that we are called to that same level of obedience. With Jesus' humanity so irresistibly on display, you understand that we have no excuse. There is no place to hide.

The truth is this: Is it just a "movie"? In a way, yes. But it goes far beyond that, in a fashion I've never felt - in any forum.
We may think we "know". We know nothing. We've gone 2,000 years - used to the idea of a pleasant story, and a sanitized Christ. We expect the ending, because we've heard it so many times. God forgive us. This film tears that all away. It's is as close as any of us will ever get to knowing, until we fully know.

Paul understood. "Be urgent, in and out of season."

Luke wrote that Jesus reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread.
Exactly. "The Passion Of The Christ" shows that Bread being
broken.









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I am so proud of Senator Zell Miller ! I just received this email to Zell's website and I am proud to post it here at Let Freedom Ring. This is good day for Georgian's. Now I do not expect this wonderful speech to change things in our nation but at least one more politician has had the guts to speak the truth. If this nation does not repent, we will all perish as a nation. I myself would not want to be living in San Francisco at this time. God's judgement could fall at anytime and it will fall without repentance for the grevious blasphemy going on there.


Genesis 19: 12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place:
13 For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.


God Bless
Elaine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, February 12, 2004

Miller Delivers Floor Speech on
‘Deficit of Decency’ in America

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA) today delivered the following statement on the floor of the United States Senate addressing several social issues facing the country:

“The Old Testament prophet Amos was a sheep herder who lived back in the Judean hills, away from the larger cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Compared to the intellectual urbanites like Isaiah and Jeremiah, he was just an unsophisticated country hick.

“But Amos had a unique grasp of political and social issues and his poetic literary skill was among the best of all the prophets. That familiar quote of Martin Luther King, Jr. about ‘Justice will rush down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream’ are Amos’s words.

“Amos was the first to propose the concept of a universal God and not just some tribal deity. He also wrote that God demanded moral purity, not rituals and sacrifices. This blunt speaking moral conscience of his time warns in Chapter 8, verse 11 of The Book of Amos, as if he were speaking to us today:

That ‘the days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord.
‘And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.’

‘A famine in the land’. Has anyone more accurately described the situation we face in America today? ‘A famine of hearing the words of the Lord.’

“But some will say, Amos was just an Old Testament prophet – a minor one at that – who lived 700 years before Christ. That is true, so how about one of the most influential historians of modern times?

“Arnold Toynbee who wrote the acclaimed 12 volume A Study of History, once declared, ‘Of the 22 civilizations that have appeared in history, 19 of them collapsed when they reached the moral state America is in today.’

“Toynbee died in 1975, before seeing the worst that was yet to come. Yes, Arnold Toynbee saw the famine. The ‘famine of hearing the words of the Lord.’ Whether it is removing a display of the Ten Commandments from a Courthouse or the Nativity Scene from a city square. Whether it is eliminating prayer in schools or eliminating ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance. Whether it is making a mockery of the sacred institution of marriage between a man and woman or, yes, telecasting around the world made-in-the-USA filth masquerading as entertainment.

“The Culture of Far Left America was displayed in a startling way during the Super Bowl’s now infamous half-time show. A show brought to us courtesy of Value-Les Moonves and the pagan temple of Viacom-Babylon.

“I asked the question yesterday, how many of you have ever run over a skunk with your car? I have many times and I can tell you, the stink stays around for a long time. You can take the car through a car wash and it’s still there. So the scent of this event will long linger in the nostrils of America.

“I’m not talking just about an exposed mammary gland with a pull-tab attached to it. Really no one should have been too surprised at that. Wouldn’t one expect a bumping, humping, trashy routine entitled ‘I’m going to get you naked’ to end that way.

“Does any responsible adult ever listen to the words of this rap-crap? I’d quote you some of it, but the Sergeant of Arms would throw me out of here, as well he should. And then there was that prancing, dancing, strutting, rutting guy evidently suffering from jock itch because he kept yelling and grabbing his crotch. But then, maybe there’s a crotch grabbing culture I’ve unaware of.

“But as bad as all this was, the thing that yanked my chain the hardest was seeing that ignoramus with his pointed head stuck up through a hole he had cut in the flag of the United States of America, screaming about having ‘a bottle of scotch and watching lots of crotch.’ Think about that.

“This is the same flag that we pledge allegiance to. This is the flag that is draped over coffins of dead young uniformed warriors killed while protecting Kid Crock’s bony butt. He should be tarred and feathered, and ridden out of this country on a rail. Talk about a good reality show, there’s one for you.

“The desire and will of this Congress to meaningfully do anything about any of these so-called social issues is non existent and embarrassingly disgraceful. The American people are waiting and growing impatient with us. They want something done.

“I am pleased to be a co-sponsor of S.J. Res. 26 along with Senator Allard and others, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to marriage. And S.1558, the Liberties Restoration Act, which declares religious liberty rights in several ways, including the Pledge of Allegiance and the display of the Ten Commandments. And today I join Senator Shelby and others with the Constitution Restoration Act of 2004 that limits the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain ways.

“In doing so, I stand shoulder to shoulder not only with my Senate co-sponsors and Chief Justice Roy Moore of Alabama but, more importantly, with our Founding Fathers in the conception of religious liberty and the terribly wrong direction our modern judiciary has taken us in.

"Everyone today seems to think that the U.S. Constitution expressly provides for separation of church and state. Ask any ten people if that’s not so. And I’ll bet you most of them will say ‘Well, sure.’ And some will point out, ‘it’s in the First Amendment.’

“Wrong! Read it! It says, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’ Where is the word ‘separate’? Where are the words ‘church’ or ‘state.’

“They are not there. Never have been. Never intended to be. Read the Congressional Records during that four-month period in 1789 when the amendment was being framed in Congress. Clearly their intent was to prohibit a single denomination in exclusion of all others, whether it was Anglican or Catholic or some other.

“I highly recommend a great book entitled Original Intent by David Barton. It really gets into how the actual members of Congress, who drafted the First Amendment, expected basic Biblical principles and values to be present throughout public life and society, not separate from it.

“It was Alexander Hamilton who pointed out that ‘judges should be bound down by strict rules and precedents, which serve to define and point out their duty.’ Bound down! That is exactly what is needed to be done. There was not a single precedent cited when school prayer was struck down in 1962.

“These judges who legislate instead of adjudicate, do it without being responsible to one single solitary voter for their actions. Among the signers of the Declaration of Independence was a brilliant young physician from Pennsylvania named Benjamin Rush.

“When Rush was elected to that First Continental Congress, his close friend Benjamin Franklin told him ‘We need you. . . we have a great task before us, assigned to us by Providence.’ Today, 228 years later there is still a great task before us assigned to us by Providence. Our Founding Fathers did not shirk their duty and we can do no less.

“By the way, Benjamin Rush was once asked a question that has long interested this Senator from Georgia in particular. Dr. Rush was asked, are you a democrat or an aristocrat? And the good doctor answered, ‘I am neither’. ‘I am a Christocrat. I believe He, alone, who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.’ That reply of Benjamin Rush is just as true today in the year of our Lord 2004 as it was in the year of our Lord 1776.

“So, if I am asked why – with all the pressing problems this nation faces today – why am I pushing these social issues and taking the Senate’s valuable time? I will answer: Because, it is of the highest importance. Yes, there’s a deficit to be concerned about in this country, a deficit of decency.

“So, as the sand empties through my hourglass at warp speed – and with my time running out in this Senate and on this earth, I feel compelled to speak out. For I truly believe that at times like this, silence is not golden. It is yellow.”


Visit Senator Millers website at: http://miller.senate.gov/press/2004/02-12-04decency.html


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JOHN3:16

Hi everyone,

Today I am posting an article by Joan Veon posted at World Net Daily. This writer is an expert on the New World Order and reports on the meetings of those involved in the movement. Take a long look at this article. I believe it is truly one to think about. Most interesting is the report on those from the Bush Administration and Congressional leaders who participated in the meetings in Davos, Switzerland.

The one world government is going to be set up and the Anti-Christ will be its leader. Keep looking up! I believe the Lord could return for his church at any moment. Are you readY?

Daniel 2:41-44

41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Integrating the world
Posted: January 27, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joan Veon

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND ? Yearly, the powerbrokers of the world meet at the World Economic Forum in the little ski resort of Davos, Switzerland. There for one week among the breathtaking majesty of the Swiss Alps, they come to hear the world's foremost political and economic minds discuss how they see the state of the world.

In the last five years, there has been a new dimension to their deliberations as the CEOs of the world's leading corporations have undertaken to partner with the United Nations in helping to solve the world's problems of education, lack of clean water, HIV-AIDS and improving the lives of poor people around the world.

For the last 34 years, the World Economic Forum has sought to set the agenda and provide ideas for CEOs to ponder. Throughout its existence, the Forum has established itself and its reputation for bringing the right set of people at the right time to discuss the key issues of the day.

As a result, it is considered one of the most important meetings ? one that you don't want to miss. It should be noted that the World Economic Forum is a non-governmental organization with the United Nations and, as such, helps to spread the philosophy of the U.N. as the world's foremost powerbrokers.

Yearly, the WEF provides participants with a book that contains the biography of all those in attendance. I have found ? as I have tallied the various organizations and schools that the participants are part of and have graduated from ? that about 10 percent of those attending form an "inner core" of people who foster world government, which some describe as "an open society" or an "interdependent world."

They are members of the Royal Institute for International Affairs, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Tri-Lateral Commission and other organizations such as the Aspen Institute and the Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum. Furthermore, most of them have been schooled at Oxford, Yale, Harvard, Cambridge and Princeton, as well as the London School of Economics, which upholds socialism and the tenets of communism ? open borders and world government through control.

This year, President Bill Clinton opened the 5-day conference that offers more than 190 workshops and sessions. Vice President Dick Cheney addressed the plenary on Saturday. Five members of the Bush administration, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, are here along with Sens. Saxby Chambliss, Gordon Smith, Orrin Hatch and Richard Shelby. Others include Securities Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson, Iraqi administrator L. Paul Bremer, four Democratic and five Republican congressmen. All total, they will participate 53 times.

What I have found, as I have covered the last six meetings, is that the ideas that flow on this level are totally different from those of Joe Average. On the local level, we are made to feel that the nation-states are divided and that the world is functioning as it did 100 years ago. However, that is not so. On this level, a corporation can be more powerful and have more income than Third World countries. Furthermore, over the last 55 years, the economic, political, trade and communication barriers between countries have been torn down, thus making it possible for the world to integrate.

During this time, international organizations were established: the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the International Criminal Court, to name a few. With the war on terrorism, cooperation between intelligence agencies and police forces worldwide has enhanced integration on that level. These CEOs think in terms of transnational because that is how they operate ? no borders. The concepts and ideas discussed here are not normally found in the local or even national newspapers. In fact, I am sure these concepts are foreign to those reading them.

Even our own government is global in their thinking and policies. When President Clinton addressed the Forum on Wednesday, he said:


All of human history is a story of increasing contact. We move from isolation to interdependence to integration to an environment of shared benefits and responsibilities and values. Right now, globally, we have interdependence. We are struggling to get the integration that most of you want to lead the world in that direction. Our job is to move the world from interdependence to an integrated environment with shared benefits and responsibilities.


In April 2003, Clinton told students at the University of Miami that the "challenge of the current generation would be to move from interdependence to integration" which is what he said in Davos. What is he talking about? He is saying that the walls are down and we are dependent on one another, but we are not yet one, which is integration.

I bumped into Congressman Barney Frank and asked what he wanted to accomplish in Davos, and he said he wanted to get the message to the world's top business leaders and bankers that he is prepared to cooperate with worldwide economic integration under the right terms of trade which includes banning child labor and the right of working people to bargain collectively." He was referring to the WTO trade negotiations that the Bush administration is involved in which call for the total elimination of all trade barriers and export subsidies.

In a workshop on China, led by Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, he pointed out President Bush has been to China twice and he fully supports China's integration into the global market. Corporations are able to make large profits by moving operations there. Several on the panel testified about those opportunities. One Asian businessman said, "Chinese assets in 2004 is good monkey business." This year is their Year of the Monkey.

Now why is China so profitable? It is no secret that their people are being paid slave-labor wages to work in factories. With 1.4 billion people, their slave-labor benefits all the countries of the world, thus undermining economies with higher paid employees that are forced to downsize, outsource, privatize and reduce wages. You see, in a world without borders you can do that. Currently there are 200 million Chinese who need to be absorbed into the global workforce. This equates to finding jobs for the entire U.S. or European workforce! In America, we are confronted with the loss of steel, manufacturing and textiles moving overseas. In January, Levi Strauss announced ? after 150 years of doing business in America ? they were moving their last U.S. plant to China.

Commerce Secretary Don Evans said with excitement that the "U.S. is simply trying to create conditions for long term monetary growth. Those conditions that have made the U.S. the most important economic engine in the world ? that is the key focus in China."

Wednesday U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft met in a closed-door session, and on Thursday he delivered his address to the plenary. He defined terrorism as a "global threat not limited by international or geographic borders." He went on to say, "None of the nations here can defeat terrorism alone. It was difficult for the U.S. to come to the realization that we could not do it alone. We are incapable of having the kind of success alone that we could have working together to preserve a format of exchange and freedom." Furthermore, Mr. Ashcroft said the United States was pleased to "reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the types of shared values the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union, the Group of Eight and a variety of other institutions provide."

What does all of this point out? There is a "looking up," if you will, to international institutions for answers instead of the individual nation-state acting independently as they have in the past.

If we look at the United Nation's charter, it is not based on the U.S. Constitution that lays out what a republic is, but is based on the USSR constitution. As such, the underlying philosophy of a world dominated by international organizations is democracy. Democracy is where the majority rules vs. every individual having a voice.

Even Secretary-General Kofi Annan told CEOs, "Governments are collectively the custodians of our common life on this planet ? a life we all share." The message in Davos is clear: We are moving from interdependency to integration.


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