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Why are Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti Appearing With New Age/new Spirituality Sympathizers?
Nov 20th, 2009
CommentaryFor The Lighthouse
Categories: False Doctrine;Contemporary Issues;Apostasy

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils. (I Corinthians 10:21)

Why are so many Christian leaders continually appearing with personalities who claim to be Christian yet promote the heretical “new spirituality”? In January 2010, in Alberta, Canada, such a situation will take place at the Break Forth conference, bringing together a conglomeration of Christian figures, New Age sympathizers, and mystic/emerging proponents. From Joel Rosenberg (Epicenter), Frank Peretti (This Present Darkness), and Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) to William Paul Young (The Shack), Leonard Sweet (Quantum Spirituality), and contemplative proponents such as Duffy Robbins (Enjoy the Silence) and Brad Jersak, Break Forth will be like drawing gray lines in the sand–blended, indistinguishable lines.

In essence, this merging together, like so many other events now taking place within evangelical Christianity, will help erode the distinction between truth and falsehood and light and dark.

With well-known names like Rosenberg, Peretti, and Strobel as part of the speaking platform, many Christians who otherwise might not attend or pay much attention to this emerging event, could be drawn in just by the mere mention of these men’s names. And with Break Forth boasting that 1000 Canadian churches are represented at this event, tens of thousands of church goers could easily, directly or indirectly, be impacted in a fashion ultimately leading to spiritual deception and apostasy.

As for Lee Strobel, though many have admired his work in the past (such as The Case for Christ), it is really no surprise that he is attending Break Forth. With his sponsorship of his son’s very contemplative/emerging ministry Metamorpha, multiple appearances at Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral over the years, and his ongoing connections with Saddleback and Willow Creek, discernment is not something that Strobel appears to give much attention to.

But most people would not expect Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti to share a platform with those in the contemplative/emerging/new spirituality camp.

In Warren B. Smith’s book, A “Wonderful” Deception, Smith has clearly laid out the New Age sympathies of Leonard Sweet, one of the Break Forth teachers. Smith reveals how Sweet calls the late heretical panentheist New Age leader Pierre Teilhard de Chardin “Twentieth-century Christianity’s major voice.”  But Chardin does not represent biblical Christianity–on the contrary, he falls in a spiritual camp that embraces the “cosmic Christ,” which is the I AM (God) in every creature. Even though this christ-consciousness-in-all-people belief rejects the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, Sweet has openly aligned himself with Chardin. In Sweet’s book, Aqua Church, he favorably quotes Chardin saying: “Christ is in the Church in the same way as the sun is before our eyes. We see the same sun as our fathers saw, and yet we understand it in a much more magnificent way” (p. 39, Aqua Church). This pure arrogance of Sweet’s alignment with Chardin’s New Age views is nothing short of heresy.

It isn’t just Chardin with whom Leonard Sweet resonates. Referring to certain New Age advocates as “New Light” leaders, Sweet calls them his “role models” and “heroes.”   Who are some of those Sweet esteems?–Matthew Fox, Willis Harman, M. Scott Peck. And of pioneering New Age leader David Spangler, Sweet says: “I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this ‘new cell’ understanding of New Light leadership.” Read the following quotes by Teilhard de Chardin (another of Sweet’s New Light role models) from his book, Christianity and Evolution, and decide for yourself if this is someone whom a Christian could consider a role model and a hero.

[T]he Cross still stands … But this in on one condition, and one only: that it expand itself to the dimensions of a New Age, and cease to present itself to us as primarily (or even exclusively) the sign of a victory over sin. (p. 219-220).

I believe that the Messiah whom we await, whom we all without any doubt await, is the universal Christ; that is to say, the Christ of evolution (p. 95).

What I am proposing to do is to narrow that gap between pantheism and Christianity by bringing out what one might call the Christian soul of Pantheism of the pantheist aspect of Christianity (p. 56).

In addition to appearing with Leonard Sweet at Break Forth, Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti will also be appearing with William Paul Young. Young wrote the New York Times best-seller, The Shack, a book that has strong elements of universalism, interspirituality, and panentheism. The story’s emotional appeal has drawn millions in, but its rejection of traditional biblical Christianity is apparent to those who are willing to look past the sensual pull. The book states that “Jesus” does not want to convert anyone to Christianity and that “‘God,’ who is the ground of all being, dwells in, around, and through all things” (p. 112). The book never mentions God’s adversary, Satan, and states: “Evil and darkness . . . do not have any actual existence” (p. 136). The black Madonna (goddess spirituality) is reflected in the story as well.

In A “Wonderful” Deception, Smith lays out the New Age spirituality of Sweet and The Shack, showing how what they believe ties in more with the vision of the New Age than with the God of the Bible. We have placed three of the chapters of Smith’s book (the ones dealing with Sweet and The Shack), online to underline our concern.

Break Forth’s invitation to emerging/new spirituality speakers is not an isolated incident this year. In the past, speakers have included: Erwin McManus, Tony Campolo, Robert Webber, Bill Hybels, and Mike Yaconelli (Youth Specialties). This year, Canadian author Brad Jersak will be teaching at Break Forth in a workshop on prayer. Jersak is a strong proponent of contemplative spirituality. His book, Stricken by God (endorsed by emergent leader Brian McLaren) is a compilation of essays by various authors. Two of those authors are Richard Rohr and Marcus Borg. Borg, a mystic proponent, rejects basic foundational tenets of Christian doctrine (such as the virgin birth of Christ), and Rohr is a panentheist who wrote the foreword to a 2007 book called How Big is Your God? by Jesuit priest (from India) Paul Coutinho. In Coutinho’s book, he describes an interspiritual community where people of all religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity) worship the same God. When Break Forth attendees will sit and listen to Brad Jersak this year, they could be getting, at least in part, the spiritual overtones of Marcus Borg and Richard Rohr.

The spiritualities of Rohr, Borg, Sweet, and Young have a common New Age/New Spirituality theme–the belief that God is IN all things–this panentheistic belief is the bottom line of the coming New Age world religion. Clearly, this is not biblical Christianity. If such a belief were true, then there would be no need for the Cross because all would already be united to God and in no need of atonement or salvation as the Bible describes. Man would not truly be sinful and in need of a Savior. His problem wouldn’t be his sinful nature but would be merely an ignorance of his own divinity. This is classic New Ageism and occultism. And it is the underlying foundation of the new emerging spirituality to which Break Forth is giving a platform.

While seeing Leonard Sweet’s, Brad Jersak’s, and William Paul Young’s names on the schedule makes perfect sense because of Break Forth’s emphasis on the New Age/new spirituality, seeing Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti as scheduled speakers is cause for concern.  Don’t Christian leaders understand that spiritual deception is very real and very tangible? And why don’t they speak up against those who are vehicles for such apostasy? Why do respected Christian authors, like Peretti and Rosenberg, appear with New Age sympathizers like Leonard Sweet and William Paul Young? Will they rationalize–as Kay Arthur did at a past Break Forth conference when she appeared with the liberal mystic proponent Tony Campolo–that they don’t have a problem appearing with anyone as long as they can share their own message?  But such an attitude is not scriptural. Ephesians 5:11 says we are to have no fellowship with  ”the unfruitful works of darkness” but rather expose them.

Sharing a platform with Frank Peretti and Joel Rosenberg gives emerging New Age/new spirituality sympathizers an apparent badge of authenticity and respectability. It implants in the minds of the attendees that if someone like Leonard Sweet is on the same speaking lineup as Frank Peretti, Sweet must be, for the most part, orthodox in his views. But this isn’t just a matter of certain doctrinal differences–this goes much deeper. This has to do with an entirely different spiritual viewpoint, one that does not reflect what biblical Christianity stands for.

It would be well for Joel Rosenberg and Frank Peretti to remember the words of the apostle Paul who said that believers are to warn against those preaching heresy, not stand with them. Leonard Sweet and William Paul Young and the whole emerging/new spirituality movement are what the Bible refers to as “wild grapes.” 

Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. Isaiah 5:1-2

Christian leaders should not, in any way, enable “wild grapes” within God’s vineyard. In This Present Darkness, Frank Peretti’s stalwart and faithful Christian believers would expose rather than appear with New Age/new spirituality sympathizers. The back cover of Peretti’s book reiterates this: “Ashton is just a typical small town. But when a skeptical reporter and a prayerful pastor begin to compare notes, they suddenly find themselves fighting a hideous New Age plot to subjugate the town’s people, and eventually the entire human race.”

Peretti cites Ephesians 6:12 on the back cover as well. That Scripture states: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Is Peretti forgetting his own exhortation to Christian believers to beware of deceptive New Age spirituality? He rode to prominence defending Christianity against this very thing.

In A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen has given a vital plea to believers:

The Bible teaches that man has an inherently rebellious and ungodly nature (which is evident), and his ways are naturally self-centered and evil in the sight of God. The Bible teaches that God is not indifferent to us. The sacrifice of Christ for the ungodly to reconcile us to God reveals the Lord’s love toward Man.

This explains why Christianity must be steadfast on these issues. If a belief system does not teach the preaching of the Cross, then it is not “the power of God” (I Corinthians 1:18). If other ways are correct, “then Christ is dead in vain,” rendering His shed blood unnecessary and immaterial (Galatians 2:21).

Because of this conflict, we can safely assume that Christendom is the most formidable obstacle to the New Age, standing like a bulwark against this tidal wave of meditation teachers and practical mystics. But, incredibly … many of the most successful practical mystics are appearing from within Christendom itself. Ironically, instead of stemming the momentum of New Age spirituality, it is our own churches that may very well be the decisive catalysts to propel this movement into prominence. (chapter 1, ATOD)

When Jesus was asked what would be the sign of His return and the end of the world, He warned, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” Matthew 24:4

White House Tangles With Bishops on Abortion
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsNewsmax.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The White House is on a collision course with Catholic bishops in an intractable dispute over abortion that could blow up the fragile political coalition behind President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

A top Obama administration official on Thursday praised the new Senate health care bill's attempt to find a compromise on abortion coverage _ even as an official of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Sen. Harry Reid's bill is the worst he's seen so far on the divisive issue.

The bishops were instrumental in getting tough anti-abortion language adopted by the House, forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to accept restrictions that outraged liberals as the price for passing the Democratic health care bill. Reid, D-Nev., now faces a similar choice: Ultimately, he will need the votes of Democratic senators who oppose abortion to get his bill through the Senate.

So far, Reid has steered the Senate bill in a direction that abortion rights supporters can live with: allowing coverage for abortion in federally subsidized health care plans, provided that private funds are used to pay for the procedure. But abortion opponents say his compromise would gut current federal restrictions on abortion funding.

GOP senators and governors stepped up their opposition to the bill Thursday, assailing the measure as a collection of tax increases, Medicare cuts and heavy new burdens for states.

Despite criticism, there were growing indications Reid would prevail on an initial Senate showdown set for Saturday night. He needs a 60-vote majority to advance the bill toward full debate, expected to begin after Thanksgiving and last for weeks. It's during that debate that the battle over abortion will be joined in earnest. Reid will need to clear another 60-vote hurdle before senators cast their final vote on the bill.

At the White House on Thursday, health reform director Nancy Ann DeParle praised Reid's effort to find a compromise on abortion.

"It was carefully worked through by the leader, who cares a lot about making sure this maintains the status quo on abortion policy," DeParle told reporters. Obama has said he wants the bill to remain neutral on abortion, and DeParle said Reid struck just the right balance.

But Richard Doerflinger, associate director of the bishops' conference Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, said Reid's "is actually the worst bill we've seen so far on the life issues."

He called it "completely unacceptable," adding that "to say this reflects current law is ridiculous."

Wall Street Tax Must be International: Pelosi
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsReuters - Andy Sullivan
Categories: Today's Headlines;World Government

WASHINGTON  - Any tax imposed on financial transactions would have to take effect internationally to keep Wall Street jobs and related business from moving overseas, U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday.

"It would have to be an international rule, not just a U.S. rule," Pelosi said at a news conference. "We couldn't do it alone, we'd have to do it as an international initiative."

Several House Democrats have proposed a Wall Street tax to pay for job-creating legislation they plan to pass in December. The tax, which could raise $150 billion per year, would tap into widespread public outrage at Wall Street in the wake of the financial crisis.

"There's something really out of kilter in this society," said Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur, noting the gap between wages in her Ohio district and Wall Street bonuses.

Art's Commentary.....World Tax equals World Government.

U.S.aid Helping Facilitate Palestinian Terrorism
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

Billions of dollars of US taxpayers' money have been used to advance the cause of Palestinian terror groups against Israel by raising a new generation of young Arabs ready to be recruited for "martyrdom."

In an interview with Arutz 7 Radio, journalist David Bedein said his recent investigations had revealed that Palestinian school textbooks continue to praise the use of terrorist violence against Jews and to deny the legitimacy of the State of Israel.

Those textbooks and the schoolhouses where they are used have been largely paid for by USAID, an American government-funded international aid program that has pumped $2.4 billion into the Palestinian Authority over the past decade.

According to USAID, those funds have been used to "reduce poverty, improve health and education, create jobs and advance democracy." But a USAID official admitted to Bedein that his agency does not check the PA school curriculum it is funding to make sure it complies with the terms of the US-backed peace process.

Incitement to hatred and the encouragement of violence in school textbooks is a violation of Israel's existing agreements with the Palestinians and the US-authored "Road Map" to peace.

Several high-ranking US congressional leaders as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have chided the Palestinians in the past over the venomous textbooks, but have thus far failed to take any punitive action, or to at least reduce pressure on Israel until the Palestinians comply with their peace commitments.

USAID says it plans to invest another $153 million in US taxpayers' money into the Palestinian education system in 2010.

The 27 member states of the European Union have selected their new president to lead them into the future
Nov 20th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

At a summit meeting of the 27 member states of the European Union, the group selected both the permanent president and the foreign policy chief to lead them into the future, a future that will see this united states of Europe become an even more influential political and economic power on the world stage today. The Prime Minister of Belgium, Herman van Rompuy, was selected by the European Union nations as the President of the Council made up of the 27 member states and from Great Britain, the Baroness Catherine Ashton was elected as the Chief of Foreign Policy for the European Union.

With the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, which is now the law of the European Union, and the election of the two main leaders of this united states of Europe, the world has witnessed a history making event that will have great impact on world affairs in the future.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The European Union has made history with the election of its leaders for the future and has moved closer to a role in Bible prophecy as it relates to the end of days.

On March 25, 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed in the seven hilled city of Rome to form the European Common Market. Now, over 50 years later, the Lisbon Treaty has been ratified and in accordance with the treaty, the member states of the European Union has elected the two most important leaders to take this United States of Europe into the future. History has been made with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty and the election of these two leaders.

However, this history making event is setting the stage for Bible prophecy found in the book of Daniel to be fulfilled. The ancient Jewish prophet Daniel prewrote history about the revival of the Old Roman Empire (Daniel 2:40-45; 7:7 and 24). This prophetic scenario reveals the revival of the Old Roman Empire with a leader to take this political economic entity into the future. With the merger of the 17 member states of the Mediterranean Union to the 27 member states of the European Union, you have the exact same borders as the Old Roman Empire in place.

The European Union may or may not be the fulfillment of Bible prophecy but for sure, the infrastructure for the Revived Roman Empire is in place today - ready to have the world witness the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in a future tomorrow.

Society General - Tells Clients How to Prepare for Potential 'Global Collapse'
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsTelegraph.co.uk
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Société Générale has advised clients to be ready for a possible "global economic collapse" over the next two years, mapping a strategy of defensive investments to avoid wealth destruction.

In a report entitled "Worst-case debt scenario", the bank's asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems.

Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), whether public or private. It must be reduced by the hard slog of "deleveraging", for years.

"As yet, nobody can say with any certainty whether we have in fact escaped the prospect of a global economic collapse," said the 68-page report, headed by asset chief Daniel Fermon. It is an exploration of the dangers, not a forecast.

Under the French bank's "Bear Case" scenario (the gloomiest of three possible outcomes), the dollar would slide further and global equities would retest the March lows. Property prices would tumble again. Oil would fall back to $50 in 2010.

Governments have already shot their fiscal bolts. Even without fresh spending, public debt would explode within two years to 105pc of GDP in the UK, 125pc in the US and the eurozone, and 270pc in Japan. Worldwide state debt would reach $45 trillion, up two-and-a-half times in a decade.

(UK figures look low because debt started from a low base. Mr Ferman said the UK would converge with Europe at 130pc of GDP by 2015 under the bear case).

The underlying debt burden is greater than it was after the Second World War, when nominal levels looked similar. Ageing populations will make it harder to erode debt through growth. "High public debt looks entirely unsustainable in the long run. We have almost reached a point of no return for government debt," it said.

Obama's China Diplomacy Opens a Dangerous Door
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsNewsmax.com - Matt Towery
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

In the late 1960s, actress Doris Day filmed her last major motion picture. It was a comedy about the chaos that ensues when a widow and widower marry, forcing two families and two sets of friends to converge.

The film's title, "With Six You Get Eggroll," probably wouldn't make it past the mandarins of political correctness these days, but back then it was considered all in good fun.

Whatever the case, the 1968 comedy reminds me of the utterly unfunny situation we Americans now find ourselves in with China. When Richard Nixon breached the Great Wall with his visit to the communist dragon a generation ago, who could have imagined that one day the Chinese would hold an almost inconceivable amount of U.S. debt? Or that on the eve of a visit by an American president, Barack Obama, China's top finance officials would be lecturing the U.S. about its unbridled spending and ill-advised monetary policy?

To be sure, Obama didn't create this mess. But he and Congress do appear hellbent on making it worse, what with their plans for gobs of new federal government spending.

Now we're stuck playing happy family with the Chinese, much as Doris Day had to do with her new husband and his brood in the movie. The difference is that on the silver screen, the problems of forced unity were silly, entertaining — and fixable. With the U.S. and China, the situation is confounding and dangerous.

Consider this: On one hand, the Chinese hold massive U.S. debt. At the same time, they are almost surely responsible, either directly or in sympathy with other nations or groups who mean us harm, in spiking the Internet and our computer systems with viruses and spyware. It's believed that these intrusions include taps into top military sites, as well as into private energy company facilities, with the intent of damaging our vital power grids.

And don't be taken in by the talk of Chinese political and economic reforms. Business is indeed taking off in China, but it's still uncompromisingly a communist nation. President Obama learned how far Beijing still goes to control the Chinese population. The broadcast of his "town hall meeting" with students in Shanghai was kept from much of the population. He likely would have reached nearly as many citizens by using two tin cans and some string.

So when Obama said that the Internet shouldn't be censored, his words were, well, mostly censored. Within an hour after he spoke bold words, Web pages were scrubbed. He might as well have spoken to a room of confidants.

Then there's global warming. While Al Gore and his followers agitate for utterly fantastic restrictions on "greenhouse gas" emissions, China keeps on keeping on as increasingly one of the biggest emitters of the naughty gases, especially those from burning coal. While the U.S. wrings it hands over carbon emissions in our country of 300 million or so people, the 1 billion-plus Chinese keep huffing and puffing their way to the kind of sustained economic growth we now dream about. (Maybe they hear about the American "green" elites that sport about in private jets and SUVs on their way to their next environmental sermons.)

Here's the trillion-dollar riddle: Why would the Chinese want to one day cripple our military and our power-transmission capabilities, and generally hamstring the world's remaining superpower, if doing that would destroy our ability to pay them back the money we owe? Perhaps they're just keeping their options open.

A recent New York Times guest editorial praised the U.S. for having admitted throngs of Chinese as students to our universities. The piece exalted the exportation of knowledge to Asia, the new and coming power on the planet. I guess I was supposed to feel good about that, but somehow I didn't

The fact is that the main outcome of President Obama's visit to Asia, and especially China, was to reveal in stark terms that sometimes the joining at the hip of two "families" isn't necessarily a wise thing. Moreover, the U.S.-China situation today isn't so much a merger as an opening for them to one day effectively own us. Or destroy us.

I wonder: With such a transaction, would we get an egg roll?

Obama May Put Americans Under World Judges' Power
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Michael Carl
Categories: Today's Headlines;World Government;Warning

International Criminal Court issues are focus of delegation to The Hague

President Obama has dispatched a delegation this week to The Hague to explore issues involving the United States' possible participation in the International Criminal Court, an organization critics charge could be used to prosecute Americans under international legal standards for actions that are not crimes in the U.S.

Andy Laney of the U.S. State Department confirmed the delegation is comprised of members of the State Department as well as the Defense Department. He said they were dispatched on a week-long trip because of U.S. concerns over how "aggression" is defined internationally.

"There is an inter-agency party, half from the State Department, half from the Defense Department, there to engage other delegations on matters of U.S. interest and specifically over our concerns on the definition of the crime of aggression," he said.

Critics, however, warn that they believe former U.S. war crimes prosecutor Ambassador Stephen Rapp is on a trip that involves more than just the definition of a word.

"The Obama administration would like the U.S. to be a party to the court," said Brett Schaefer, an international regulatory expert with the Heritage Foundation.

"The Obama administration would like to establish closer ties with the ICC if it turns out the U. S. can join the court. The objective here is to address the major objections to the U. S. joining the court," he said.

White House

officials declined to comment.

The court was introduced to the U.S. when President Bill Clinton signed the Rome Statute in 1998. But President George W. Bush pulled the U. S. out in 2003 over concerns that the ICC might prosecute American soldiers for war crime charges coming from the U. S. campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The concern was that the ICC doesn't recognize many of the U.S. Constitution's provisions protecting defendants in criminal trials, such as the right to a trial by jury and protections against double jeopardy.

"The meeting at The Hague is also in preparation for the Rome Statute's review in May of 2010," Schaefer said. "Mr. Rapp is there to find out if (the 108) member states are interested in amending the document to address U.S. concerns. Ambassador Rapp is there to learn how substantial the barriers to the U.S. joining the court actually are."

Laney admitted it was a change in U.S. direction that prompted the trip.

"The decision to send Ambassador Rapp reflects the commitment of this administration to engage the international community on issues that affect our foreign policy interests," Laney said.

"Ambassador Rapp says he wants the U. S. to join the ICC. Since coming into office, President Obama says he wants the U. S. to join and Secretary of State Clinton says it's unfortunate that the U. S. is not a part of the ICC," Schaefer said.

"The previous administration in its early years sought to amend the treaty to alleviate U. S. concerns ... the treaty would intrude on U. S. policy and its obligations overseas," Schaefer said. "That effort failed. So, the Bush Administration in 2003 sent a letter to the Secretary General of the U. N. saying it no longer considered itself bound to the jurisdiction of the ICC."

Schaefer said the process as it now is set up presents dangers.

"Israel took action in Gaza earlier this year to attack Hamas and knock out the Hamas rocket launchers in the Gaza Strip," he said. "Israel took enormous cautionary measures to prevent civilian casualties. Even though Israel and the Palestinian Authority are not signatory members of the ICC, the ICC is still investigating the Israeli military to see if they can prosecute members of the Israeli Army for war crimes."

Mathew Staver, lead attorney for Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University Law School, said U.S. membership in the ICC would be a mistake.

"This administration is globalist and transnationalist and wants to bring this country into the global system. The U.S. stands to have its citizens being prosecuted by the international court in The Hague and have its citizens come under the world court's jurisdiction," he said.

Schaefer confirmed Staver's fears.

"Supposing the U. S. engages in a military action and that action results in civilian casualties. We do an investigation of the matter and find no guilty party. If we are a member of the court, if we are a party to the Rome Statute, the ICC at that point has the opportunity to second-guess us," he said. "They may be able to use evidence and they may be able to pursue routes of trial that would not be portable in the U. S. because of the different standards established in the U. S. legal system and the rules set forth in the Rome Statute."

His warning is that the ICC could, "in essence … come and prosecute U.S. citizens, U.S. soldiers, U.S. officials for actions the U.S. deems entirely lawful."

He believes the Obama White House will begin the push for ratification after the May 2010 review of the treaty.

"After the May review is when I believe the administration will seek to go to Congress to make the changes in our system necessary that will allow us to participate in the ICC," he said.

Staver said Americans should be worried.

"Everything anyone has ever heard about the globalist system is being promoted by this administration," he said. "President Obama definitely wants the U. S. to be a part of a transnational, global system."

Muslim Nations Seeking International Blasphemy Ban
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsAP
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

GENEVA —  Four years after cartoons of the prophet Muhammad set off violent protests across the Muslim world, Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery — essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West.

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that Algeria and Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to eventually bring the proposal to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly.

If ratified in countries that enshrine freedom of expression as a fundamental right, such a treaty would require them to limit free speech if it risks seriously offending religious believers. The process, though, will take years and no showdown is imminent.

The proposal faces stiff resistance from Western countries, including the United States, which in the past has brushed aside other U.N. treaties, such as one on the protection of migrant workers.

Experts say the bid stands some chance of eventual success if Muslim countries persist. And whatever the outcome, the campaign risks reigniting tensions between Muslims and the West that President Barack Obama has pledged to heal, reviving fears of a "clash of civilizations."

Four years ago, a Danish newspaper published cartoons lampooning the prophet Muhammad, prompting angry mobs to attack Western embassies in Muslim countries, including Lebanon, Iran and Indonesia. In a countermovement, several European newspapers reprinted the images.

The countries that form the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference are now lobbying a little-known Geneva-based U.N. committee to agree that a treaty protecting religions is necessary.

The move would be a first step toward drafting an international protocol that would eventually be put before the General Assembly — a process that could take a decade or more.

The proposal may have some support in the General Assembly. For several years the Islamic Conference has successfully passed a nonbinding resolution at the General Assembly condemning "defamation of religions."

If the treaty was approved, any of the U.N.'s 192 member states that ratified it would be bound by its provisions. Other countries could face criticism for refusing to join.

The United States has declared it won't accept international treaties that restrict the First Amendment right to free speech.

More Video Violence Against Women
Nov 20th, 2009
Commentarycnsnews - Commentary by TBC
Categories: Commentary;Warning

TV Violence against Women More Graphic, Frequent than Ever Before [Excerpts]

Violence against women on television is being shown with increasing frequency, more graphically and in ways never before seen in TV history, according to a report by a television watchdog group.
 
The Parents Television Council's report found that violence against women increased 120 percent between 2004 and 2009, with the most frequent type of violence being beating (29 percent), followed by credible threats of violence (18 percent), shooting (11 percent), rape (8 percent), stabbing (6 percent) and torture (2 percent). Also, such violence resulted in death 19 percent of the time.
 
"Our new research points to a disturbing trend: by depicting violence against women with increasing frequency, or as a trivial, even humorous matter, the broadcast networks may ultimately be contributing to a desensitized atmosphere in which people view aggression and violence directed at women as normative, even acceptable," Winter said.
 
The report found that Fox used violence against women as punch lines in its comedies, particularly "Family Guy" and "American Dad," thus "trivializing the gravity of the issue."

[TBC: It is instructive that after decades of cries for equal rights and feminism, a world without God has always resorted to violence and abuse, and devalued human life. In contrast, We have seen how the Lord has used women mightily in unique ways in Old Testament times (Deborah, Abigail, Esther, and Rahab, to name a few); He continues to do so. Though Galatians 3:28 tells us that our position in Christ Jesus is "neither male nor female," for we are all equal in Him, our condition is that God has created different spiritual as well as physical functions for us as human beings.  The role of women is one of great importance and much to be sought after by those who understand its significance and value in the Kingdom (for example, 1 Timothy 3:11, 5:10, 6:1,2).  I like what Paul said about Phebe: that she was a "succourer [help in time of need] of many," including himself (Romans 16:1,2).  What a marvelous tribute!   Many social, family, economic and spiritual problems existing today may be traced to the failure of women to properly understand and carry out their scriptural roles, and sadly, even many Christian women, deceived by the temporal and often illusory status they may gain in the world, have forfeited fulfillment of their special and pivotal place in God's plan.  It's so easy to exchange the truth for a lie.   

None of His promises exclude women; not one of them has failed (1 Kings 8:56).  We are to seek first the Kingdom, and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).  For the man or woman who obeys Christ, trusting only in Him, the Lord of hosts will open the windows of heaven and pour out such a blessing more than we can receive (Malachi 3:10), pressed down, shaken together, overflowing (Lk. 6:38), exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us (Ephesians 3:20).]

Jews Raise Millions to be Ready for Coming of the Messiah
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsThe Sydney morning Herald - Jack Kout Souksis
Categories: The Nation Of Israel;Prophecy

Ready ... Yehuda Glick, the director of the Temple Institute, holds a sacred vessel specially made for the Messiah's coming. Photo: Gali Tibbon

JERUSALEM: Yehuda Glick is a 44-year-old American-born Jew who spends most of every day preparing for the arrival of the Messiah in Jerusalem.

Since he became the executive director of the Temple Institute, Mr Glick's main task has been to supervise the manufacture of the utensils the high priests will need when the day arrives.

Crowns and other instruments made of solid gold fill glass cases in the Temple Institute museum in Jerusalem's Old City.

Other artefacts include an array of copper urns, trumpets made of silver and garments to be worn by the High Priest, woven from golden thread.

Musical instruments, including hand-made harps and lyres, lie ready to be brought to life upon the Messiah's appearance.

So, when can we expect this momentous event?

''That is a very good question,'' Mr Glick told the Herald.

''All that we know is that we are now living in the age of miracles and all of those miracles are predicted in the Book as happening on the eve of the end of days. It could well be tomorrow, but it might be another 100 years, or even 400 years.''

We were in the Quarter Cafe in the Jewish sector of Jerusalem's Old City, high on an embankment that overlooks the most contested religious site on Earth.

Jews call it the Temple Mount, or Mount Moriah, and believe it to be the site of the Foundation Stone, the Holy of Holies from where God gathered the dust to create Adam.

Muslims call it Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, and believe it to be the third-holiest site in Islam, from where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.

To Jews the Temple Mount is also the site of the first temple built by King Solomon. After it was destroyed, a second temple was built about 500BC, and stood for 500 years before the Romans destroyed it. Their religion holds that a third temple will be built upon the arrival of the Messiah.

''That is why we have engaged two architects,'' Mr Glick said. ''It will be a modern building, with car parks and elevators, but it will look very much like the Second Temple.''

The Temple Institute museum contains a large-scale model of what the Third Temple will look like, with its main building set to reach a height of 60 metres.

Today, the Temple Mount is dominated by the al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-topped Dome of the Rock.

''Al-Aqsa can stay,'' Mr Glick said, pointing to the mosque. ''It's not even on the Temple Mount proper. But we intend to just build over the Dome of the Rock. We might be able to find a way to include it in the Third Temple.''

Mr Glick envisages a house of prayer open to all believers in the monotheistic faiths, Christians, Muslims or Jews.

The Temple Institute has become a fixture on American evangelical tours of Israel. Thanks largely to their donations, it has so far spent $US27 million ($29 million) on preparations.

''We started with $US100,'' Mr Glick said. ''There are 70 million evangelical Christians around the world, and most of them have become Israel's strongest supporters.''

Ordinarily, Israel prevents Jews from visiting the Temple Mount. It so sensitive an area that when the then Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited, accompanied by hundreds of Israeli riot police, in 2000, it sparked a wave of violence that came to be known as the second intifada, or uprising.

''This 'Temple Institute' is a right-wing extremist movement interested in nothing more than provocation,'' said Khatem Abdel Kaber, the Palestinian Authority minister in charge of Jerusalem affairs. ''We will vigorously defend our right to manage this site. No amount of insulting behaviour from these people will succeed in removing us.''

Italy's Foreign Minister Says Post - Lisbon EU Needs a European Army
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsTimesonline
Categories: Today's Headlines;Revived Roman Empire

Italy is to push for the creation of a European Army after the "new Europe" takes shape at this week's crucial EU summit following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty.

Franco Frattini, the Italian Foreign Minister, said that the Lisbon Treaty had established "that if some countries want to enter into reinforced co-operation between themselves they can do so". This was already the case with the euro and the Schengen accords on frontier-free travel, and could now be applied to "common European defence".

In an interview with The Times at his office in the monumental marble-halled Foreign Ministry on the banks of the Tiber, Mr Frattini said: "We have finally concluded a never-ending story". The Lisbon Treaty, which comes into force in December, will be sealed on Thursday with an EU summit to choose an EU President and Foreign Minister.

He warned that "if we do not find a common foreign policy, there is the risk that Europe will become irrelevant. We will be bypassed by the G2 of America and China, which is to say the Pacific axis, and the Atlantic axis will be forgotten. We need political will and commitment, otherwise the people of Europe will be disillusioned and disappointed. People expect a great deal of us. After Lisbon we have no more alibis".

It was a "necessary objective to have a European army", Mr Frattini said. "Take Afghanistan: at present President Obama asks Poland, or Italy, or Great Britain for more troops. If there were a European army, he would have a 'toolbox' to draw from. He might need 30 aeroplanes: he would be able to ask if the European army was in a position to provide them."

Mr Frattini said that at present "every country duplicates its forces, each of us puts armoured cars, men, tanks, planes, into Afghanistan. If there were a European army, Italy could send planes, France could send tanks, Britain could send armoured cars, and in this way we would optimise the use of our resources. Perhaps we won't get there immediately, but that is the idea of a European army".

Asked how differing national equipment and systems could be integrated, Mr Frattini said Afghanistan had already shown the way. "There are no problems in current crisis areas. We work well together in Afghanistan. In the province of Herat, we Italians work with the Spanish. Why not form a common force? This would also bring economic benefits, because the countries involved would share the costs of military engagement overseas."

Mr Frattini suggested that "some European countries" such as France were not pulling their weight in Afghanistan. "Italy is already doing quite a lot: we have 3,200 men deployed, plus a contingent of 400 men for the elections who should now be able to return home. We send most officers after the United States to train the Afghan police and army, and we have abolished the caveats limiting the deployment of our troops, in return for more intelligence sharing."

He noted that Britain had suffered greater losses in Afghanistan than Italy, "but then the death of even one soldier is a tragedy. Even in the most difficult moments, such as the recent death of six Italian soldiers in Kabul, Italy has remained united in supporting the mission".

There was also a case for joint naval patrols in the Mediterranean, Mr Frattini said. "Europe could deploy a joint naval fleet or air force in the Mediterranean: why not? We could say, look, one group of nations is ready at once, and leave the door open for others to join, as with the euro."

Mr Frattini predicted that if David Cameron and the Conservatives came to power in Britain next year, they too would understand "that if we pool our forces in Afghanistan that is better than going it alone, that if we want to work for a common market without customs barriers that is better than putting the barriers back again, that if we have a problem with China — and with all due respect to the United Kingdom, China is a little bigger than Britain — it is much better if Europe negotiates with China as a whole. "

Israel: Obama Criticism of Jerusalem Construction is Racist
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Wednesday called US President Barack Obama's strong criticism of the building of additional Jewish homes in a Jewish neighborhood of the Israeli capital a position based on racism.

Said Barkat:

"Israeli law does not discriminate between Jews, Muslims, and Christians or between eastern and western Jerusalem. The demand to halt construction by religion is not legal in the United States or in any other free place in the world. I do not presume that any government would demand to freeze construction in the United States based on race, religion or gender and the attempt to demand it from Jerusalem is a double standard and inconceivable."

The Jerusalem mayor was responding to Obama's remarks to Fox News earlier in the day, in which the president referred to the approval of 900 new apartments in the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo as "settlement activity," and suggested that it justified further Palestinian violence.

Many Israeli lawmakers publicly agreed with Barkat, including opposition leader Tzipi Livni, who told visiting French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that "Gilo is part of the Israeli consensus, and that understanding is important for every discussion on the final borders of any future agreement."

Kouchner took a lighter view of the issue than Obama, and told reporters that he didn't feel the construction of additional Jewish apartments in a neighborhood where so many Jews already live should in any way hinder the peace process.

But the Palestinians took their cue from Obama. Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat was quick to confirm that the Palestinians, too, view the Jewish presence in Gilo as settlement activity, and do not feel they can make peace with Israel so long as it continues.

Built in 1971, Gilo was a barren hilltop when it was liberated by Israel from illegal Jordanian occupation in the 1967 Six Day War. Today it is home to more than 30,000 Israelis, and an integral part of Jerusalem.

China 'steps Up U.S. Cyber - Spying'
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsBBC News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Chinese spies are aggressively stealing secrets to build up China's military and economic power, a US advisory panel on US-China relations has warned.

Its members urged the US Congress to ensure the country was adequately protected against Chinese spying.

The report was published in the same week that US President Barack Obama made his first official visit to China.

A Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington dismissed the allegations as baseless and irresponsible.

Sophistication?

The report - which says China's spying is becoming more intense and sophisticated - was produced by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

"China is changing the way that espionage is being done," said Carolyn Bartholomew, who chaired the commission.

Col Gary McAlum, a senior military officer, told the commission the US defence department had detected 54,640 malicious cyber incidents to its systems in 2008, a 20% rise from a year earlier.

This figure was expected to jump 60% this year, he said.

"Not all these attacks are from China, but China was the largest culprit, the report said.

A large body of both circumstantial and forensic evidence strongly indicates Chinese state involvement in such activities," the commission said in its 367-page report to Congress.

"China's peacetime computer exploitation efforts are primarily focused on intelligence collection against US targets and Chinese dissident groups abroad."

The report also said that Beijing was building a navy that could block the US military from reaching the region if fighting should break out between China and Taiwan.

The 12-member bipartisan commission was set up in 2000 to analyse the implications of growing trade with China.

Belgium Pm to Head Eu, Lady Ashton to Replace Solana
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hana Levi Julian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Revived Roman Empire

 
The European Union has elected Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy as the body's new full-time president after years of rotating the post on a monthly basis. Lady Catherine Ashton was elected to replace Javier Solana as the EU's foreign policy chief.

Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, elected unanimously by the 27-member entity on Thursday, assumes his post on December 1. A Flemish politician, age 62, Van Rompuy has been politically active since his youth, but has only been prime minister since December 2008. He was chairman of the Christian People's Party, a center-right Flemish party, from 1988 to 1993, and Budget Minister from 1993 to 1999. He is seen as a budget hardliner, with little expertise in foreign relations.

Baroness Catherine Ashton, Trade Commissioner to the EU for the United Kingdom, age 53, is a British Labour politician who has served in various lower-echelon government offices over the past decade. She was appointed in June 2007 by Prime Minister Gordon Brown as Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council, and in October 2008, was nominated as the UK's European Commissioner in the European Commission. According to Reuters, she is "virtually unknown in Britain" and has had little foreign affairs experience, but is adept at trade issues. Ashton also has a degree in economics.

Neither of the new leaders has extensive experience in the field of foreign relations, which has raised concern among critics, who content the pair have too low an international profile. There also appears to be no record of either candidate having any specific interactions with the State of Israel.

The leaders of France and Germany both strongly backed the appointments -- and both strongly oppose Turkey's admission to the European Union. French President Nicolas Sarkozy praising the choice as a "very wise decision" to elect a leader from "an important country but not one of the most important countries, so that no one will feel excluded." German Chancellor Angela Merkel adding "We got a candidate who brings consensus and whose political competence has long been tested and tried throughout his political career."

Impact for the Middle East?

Turkish Parliament member Onur Oymen told reporters he was concerned about what the election meant for his nation's hopes of entering the European Union. In an interview with the BBC, Oymen noted that Van Rompuy had "said a few years ago that he was totally against Turkish membership because of religious and cultural reasons."

The Qatar-based Aljazeera news network quoted Van Rompuy as saying during Belgian parliamentary debate five years ago, "Turkey is not a part of Europe and will never be part of Europe... The universal values which are in force in Europe, and which are fundamental values of Christianity, will lose vigor with the entry of a large Islamic country such as Turkey."

Analysts have said that it may be the growing disaffection with the EU and the West that has pushed Turkey towards closer relations with Iran and its more radical Muslim neighbors in the Middle East. As it has continued tightening ties with Syria and Iran, Turkey has increasingly distanced itself from Israel and the United States.

Americans Expect Islamic Terror Strike Within 6 Months
Nov 20th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Survey shows 65% confirm attack somewhat or very likely

Two-thirds of Americans expect an Islamic suicide bomb attack on American soil within six months, according to a new poll that also shows Republicans are significantly more concerned than Democrats.

Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies said one of the most shocking findings of his recent polling on the subject was that 65 percent are expecting an attack within six months.

"Some of the communication between Fort Hood shooter Hasan and al-Qaida figures included discussion of such attacks inside the United States, and it has been a common form of violence in the Middle East for years," he said. "Now, Americans appear resigned to the fact that these attacks will soon come to our shores."

He asked a series of questions in a WorldNetDaily/Wenzel Strategies survey regarding the recent Fort Hood attack, allegedly carried out by Muslim Maj. Nidal Hasan. The survey, Nov. 13-16, used an automated telephone technology calling a random sampling of listed telephone numbers nationwide. The survey has 95 percent confidence interval. It included 806 adult respondents and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

"More than one-third of respondents – 36 percent – said they think it is 'very likely' that such an attack will take place in the next six months, while another 29 percent said it is 'somewhat likely,'" he reported.