Vol. 6, No. 3 - 21st Century WATCH - 2003
By Garner Ted Armstrong
While President Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and the Palestinians’ newly installed Prime Minister, Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) delivered sugar- coated speeches of hope and promise at Akaba, tens of thousands of Jewish settlers staged a massive protest in Jerusalem.
Among the signs was one which read, “Bush’s roadmap leads to Auschwitz.” Demonstrators angrily denounced the very man they had previously supported, Ariel Sharon, who promised to abandon some of the “illegal outposts” in territory claimed by the Palestinians.
Also present among the demonstrators were some of the ultra-right Jewish settlers who bitterly oppose the creation of any Palestinian state, saying, in effect, “Bush goes to Afghanistan and Iraq to destroy terrorist states, and now he’s trying to create one right in our backyard!” Obviously, Sharon has his work cut out.
After all, each of the leaders who delivered kind words and fair speeches at Akaba in Jordan are politicians. Each has an uncertain future; one based upon elections, or, in the case of Abbas, whims. It was reported that while Abbas was shaking hands with George Bush in Akaba, Yassir Arafat, watching on television from his office in Palestine, was “furious.” Arafat knows Washington is determined to deal with an “alternative leadership” and is equally determined to prevent this from happening. He was livid over the snub; said to have been “working the telephones” in order to somehow inject himself into the proceedings. While he may have succeeded in putting some pressure on Mahmoud Abbas, he did not succeed in taking part in any of the discussions or photo ops.
Those around him reported that it was the photo op of Abbas shaking hands with Bush that drove Arafat wild.
Abbas was born in Safed in British Mandate Palestine in 1935. Today, he remains as one of the few surviving founder members of Fatah, a major arm of the “Palestinian Liberation Organization,” or the PLO. Abbas was with Arafat when the PLO was exiled first to Jordan, then to Lebanon, and finally to Tunisia, after Israel invaded Lebanon to destroy Arafat’s PLO base there.
Abbas studied in Egypt, and later went to Moscow for a doctorate. He authored several books, among them one which has been attacked by Jewish leaders which they say is “revisionist” when it comes to the holocaust. Abbas spent some time in one of his books delving into claims that “only” about 80,000 Jews died in the holocaust, instead of many millions. He tried to cover himself by saying, “I quoted an argument between historians in which various numbers of casualties were mentioned. One wrote there were 12 million victims and another wrote there were 800,000. I have no desire to argue with the figures. The Holocaust was a terrible, unforgivable crime against the Jewish nation, a crime against humanity that cannot be accepted by humankind.”
So will Abbas get the militants to lay down their arms; the suicide bombers to quit blowing themselves and their victims to bits? The famous British news service Reuters quoted Abdel Aziz Rantisi, an offical of Hamas as saying, “We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine.”
The charter of all such organizations is founded on the principle of the destruction of the State of Israel, and the complete annihilation or removal of all Jews from Palestine. But another Hamas official told ABC's “Nightline” a different story. To Ismail Abu Shanab of Hamas, there was a quid pro quo. He said, when asked if terrorist attacks would cease while the parties negotiated, “Definitely yes ... we are ready to offer it at any time if there is a guarantee that those preliminary steps will be taken as part of a full or wide-scale withdrawal, and not the final steps. We want the United States to guarantee all of these things, an Israeli withdrawal, even if it is step by step.”
Whether the man meant by “withdrawal” the Israeli withdrawal from the so-called “occupied” territories, or withdrawal from all of Palestine was not spelled out. For their part, the militant “Islamic Jihad” group said it would keep up its “resistance” (a term meaning it intends to continue suicide bombings) so long as Israeli forces occupy “Palestinian areas.”
So will the Bush “roadmap” prove to be a guide; a directory on how to go from point A to point B, and eventually to the destination of peace, or will it prove, instead, to be another fruitless gesture; a meaningless exercise like all the other “peace process” initiatives?
Consider what the creation of a “State of Palestine” would mean.
First, it would mean the laying out of a weird, partitioned, gerrymandered series of splotches on a regional map which would somehow try to tie together Gaza, parts of the West Bank, and even an eastern suburb of Jerusalem. Some kind of guaranteed access routes would have to be laid out for roads, rails, and even air corridors, to connect this new patchwork state.
Along each of these, there would be elaborate security measures required, such as high, electrified double fences, surveillance cameras, checkpoints, and hardened military installations so each road could be severed quickly in the case of war, or renewed bombings.
If Sharon succeeds in shutting down some of the more than 150 settlements, he incurs the wrath of hundreds of thousands of Jews from all over the world; many from Russia, who have built substantial “settlements” all over the West Bank, and even in Gaza. I have seen such “settlements.” In the Western United States, the pioneers gathered in “settlements” around forts. They were commonly known as “settlers.” They settled on land which had been won by force of arms from Mexico and Spain; from Britain and Russia; from Mandans, Crows, Arapahos, Comanches, Cherokees and Navahos – along with dozens of other aboriginal tribes, mistakenly labeled “Indians” by Columbus.
The word “settlement” carries a certain temporary connotation with it. Perhaps many westerners view the Jewish “settlements” as nothing more than ramshackle outposts of hopeful Jewish “pioneers” who still depend upon the Army for protection, and whose very presence on the land is temporary. Perhaps they envision these settlers living in tents.
But the settlements in Palestine consist of thousands of solidly built homes, two and three stories high, of quarried stone; of shopping centers, schools, synagogues, fire stations, police stations, hospitals, parks, paved roads and modern infrastructure. Things such as flushing toilets inside the homes, for example. Many of these “settlers” have now lived in their homes, shopped in their stores, and gone to their synagogues for well over thirty years. Their children have grown up, married, and have children of their own who have proceeded to build their own homes, and grow crops or orchards on their lands, reclaimed from the rocky soil.
This new generation has added to the size and scope of each “settlement” which in reality is more like a town or village; in some cases a small city, complete with local city government.
Consider. As the last “wild Indians” were gathered onto reservations toward the end of the 19th century, hundreds of towns and cities were taking shape all over the American west. The former Russian colony of San Francisco became a booming port and trading center; even more so when the gold rush of 1849 occurred. All across the southwest, from Texas to California, hundreds of cities were built; millions of acres of land turned into productive cattle raising or farms.
Millions of immigrants put down roots in these new lands; lands which had been wrested from their former inhabitants and owners by force of arms. But there was no UN; no “international law,” no “world court” in the Hague which told the inhabitants of Tucson, Phoenix, Lordsburg, Deming, El Paso, Midland, Dallas and Houston to “abandon the illegal settlements” and give it all back to the Mexicans. No Kofi Annan showed up to demand that San Francisco be given back to the Russians, or that Portland be given back to the Diggers and Klikitats.
No self-styled “world body” decided that lands won by force of arms did not belong to the victors, but should always be returned to the vanquished, even if the vanquished had launched a series of five abortive wars aimed at annihilating the victors, and had failed.
Not that Mexico didn’t try. But following the massacre at the Alamo, general Sam Houston met Mexico’s famous general Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Houston had cobbled together a rag-tag “army” of some 783 men; mostly farmers, ranchers, hunters, and volunteers. These men were the kind who put meat on their family tables by marksmanship. Gunpowder and lead were expensive. Their fathers had impressed upon them the necessity to “make every shot count” when hunting deer and antelope; wild turkey and bear.
So it was that when those 783 men met Santa Anna’s army of 1,500 well-armed, disciplined Mexican solders, accompanied by a massive supply train, many women and camp followers, that a “war” took place which lasted all of eighteen minutes. When the shooting was over, 630 Mexicans lay dead, and 730 were taken prisoner. Santa Anna was taken prisoner the following day when he was found hiding among the others, pretending to be a peasant. Their obsequious attitude toward their general gave him away.
Only nine Texans had been been killed. It reminds one of the lop-sided wars of the United States against Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Grenada and Panama.
When one studies the outcome of the 1967 Six-Day War, wherein six Arab armies attempted to annihilate the state of Israel, there are some poignant parallels.
One might as well refer to the entire United States as “the occupied territories” if one is bent upon demanding that all territories captured from an enemy by force of arms remain forever the property of the enemy, and can never become the legal property of the victorious force.
Will the “settlements” – all one hundred and fifty or more of them – become the property of Palestinians, who did not build them; who did not develop the infrastructure, quarry the stone, construct the fire stations, the shopping malls, the hospitals and schools?
So it would seem, according to one of the first intersections along the “roadmap to peace.” Aside from the nettlesome, seemingly impossible roadblock along the road of the settlements is the issue of the “return of the refugees.” But the “refugees” as they are called, are probably some four to five times as many today as they were in 1948 and 1967. They consist of millions – yes, millions – of Arab families who fled from present-day Israel, and who were never allowed by Jordan, Egypt, Syria or Lebanon to be assimilated into the local populations, but who have been living in squalid, poverty-stricken “camps” ever since.
Presumably, a major intersection along the “roadmap to peace” has a sign which tells millions of these people to take the right fork to the settlements; dispossess those who built them, and move in. The “resettlement” of the “refugees” is one of the points to be “negotiated.” What do you think the chances are for a solution which leaves all parties satisfied?
The creation of a State means national sovereignty. It means the inherent right to raise an army, a navy and an air force. It means the right to effect pacts and treaties, such as mutual “defense” pacts. It means a seat in the UN. It means sending ambassadors to nations all over the world, and receiving their ambassadors; it means sending an ambassador to the Vatican. It means the right to open and operate international ports and airports. It means the right to purchase or to receive as gifts wholesale shipments of arms; aircraft, ships, tanks, artillery, air defense systems, mortars, machine guns; an entire panoply of weaponry from any nation on earth, including North Korea, Iran, Syria, Russia, France, or any other country willing to provide them, including transshipments of American-made tanks and F-16’s from Saudi Arabia!
Today, the Hizbollah in the Bekaa valley are equipped with missiles, a few tanks, and large numbers of mortars and small arms. Tomorrow, the new Palestinian army could be equipped in the same manner as is the Syrian army or the Egyptian army.
Terrorists must depend on funding, and safe havens. Today, they wear masks in public, and hide out in Haza and Hebron; in Palestinian areas, from whence they go forth in various disguises; men or women; even children, to blow themselves and their victims to bits. Following the talks in Akaba, a terrorist bomber in Gaza told an interviewer, “We all have our (bomb) vests, and are awaiting orders to go out and use them.” How long before militants attempt to sabotage the so-called “roadmap to peace” by huge, bloody bombings?
Once a Palestinian State is established, Arafat and his ilk will be under no pressure from any quarter to “cease the incitement,” or to “crack down on terrorism.” Today, Palestinian TV and radio; Palestinian Arabic newspapers; school texts, imams in the mosques and parents all continually incite, rant and rave against the “evil Jews” who “stole our lands,” and “kill our women and children.”
Is there reason to believe all this venting of hatred will suddenly cease when the Palestinians suddenly become a state?
The Palestinians were offered statehood by the UN in 1948. They turned it down, for it meant “coexisting with the State of Israel.” From that time to this, they have tried, in five wars, to destroy Israel.
Now, perhaps the Palestinians are about to join a select group – a group of the luckiest nations on earth – those nations lucky enough to have been defeated by the United States, such as Germany, Japan, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The US has a history of building up its vanquished enemies into super states.
Though defeated time and time again, the Palestinians apparently are about to have a state handed to them on a silver platter.
And the speeches of the leaders? They are characterized by God’s message to Jeremiah:
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
“They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:13,14).
Watch.
From our correspondent in Germany:
By Michael Burkert
Often when we think of the Great Tribulation, which is soon to be on us, we
think of the Beast Power, the Great False Prophet and the seventh and final
emergence of the Roman Empire. We have all heard sermons regarding the two
witnesses and many other events predicted to happen just prior to the return of
Jesus Christ, and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth. Make no mistake
about it: we are in the end times. More prophecies are coming to pass with
increased frequency.
In Europe, events are in the making that will enable a great dictator or possibly a king to arise to “save” Germany and the rest of Europe. The economies of Europe are in the tank. The various governments, seeing their revenues falling are increasing taxes! This guarantees more businesses to leave Europe and operate out of countries where they can make more money. After all, that’s why companies are in business.
For the past 130 years, the German nation, whether it was under the Kaisers, the Nazis, or more recently the German Federal System, was known as a country that manufactured quality factory goods marketed at reasonable prices. The German work ethic is famous, as are the skills of German workers. Germany thrived mainly due to overseas trade in which she sold vast quantities of quality goods. Everything from precision optics to surgical instruments to electronic goods has dominated the world’s markets in the past. Quality food and food products were also major exports from Germany, except during the war years. As long as trade was good, the factories stayed busy and the Germans had good paying jobs and a prosperous lifestyle. This is no longer the case for many reasons, mostly due to the liberal-socialist governments and attitudes that have become predominate. Germany, the major economic engine of the European Union, is in bad shape. Five million unemployed and unchecked immigration from both Eastern Europe and the Middle East are having quite an impact on the well being of this country.
One of the end time manifestations that Jesus warned us about in the Olivet Prophecy is found in Matthew 24:7, “For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and PESTILENCES, [my emphasis] and earthquakes in diverse places.” Jesus obviously is warning us that in the end time, war will bring on great famines and diseases. We often study and learn about the various and sundry wars going on in this world, and we hear of the famines in Africa but what about disease? Sure, we all know about SARS, (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) but so what? That’s only in China. It won’t affect us—will it? SARS is now in Canada. Can the United States be next?
The fact is that more than likely, the United States will soon be affected again by invasive species in several different forms. Our Armed Forces just won a rapid victory in Iraq. We also did well in Afghanistan. Now, the men and equipment are coming home. Commanders are trying to get their soldiers, marines and airmen out of the Middle East and homeward bound as quickly as possible. That means shipping home dirty equipment. Equipment that is only moderately cleaned. Equipment that is contaminated with soil. Soil, from anywhere, is the best vehicle imaginable for transporting diseases, noxious weeds and insect pests into our nation.
The U.S. Armed Forces in Europe currently has the only active military agriculture preclearance program in the world; a program monitored by a senior representative of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, the commitment by U.S. Forces is on the wane. We all remember the recent Foot and Mouth disease pandemic that swept Europe with a vengeance. During that pandemic, the U.S. military rotated several large ground units and air assets out of the Balkan nations of Bosnia and Kosovo. The tanks, trucks, trailers, tents and everything else was required to be cleaned to USDA Standard and certified as to meeting USDA requirements for re-importation into the USA. We moved massive quantities of equipment and cargo out of Great Britain and Holland. The agriculture preclearance program promoted by the USDA and carried out by American soldiers played a large role in keeping Foot and Mouth Disease out of the United States. Unfortunately, the agriculture preclearance program is being de-emphasized and downgraded, not by reason of the USDA, but because the army leadership in Europe no longer sees the need.
Nobody likes to be slowed down when it’s time to go home. Military commanders especially disdain anything that causes delay (like washing their equipment properly in efforts to keep out invasive pests). They are in too much of a hurry and understandably so. They simply don’t understand the risk of transporting diseases, harmful insects and noxious weeds into the United States. However, many of the countries where our armed forces currently operate are rife with the most virulent diseases imaginable. Little effort is made by our military to avoid transporting those diseases and pests from overseas locations to the continental United States.
Exotic Newcastle’s Disease, Foot and Mouth Disease, Common Swine Fever, Bovine Brucelosis and Anthrax are just a few of the diseases in farm animals that are a threat to our nation’s agriculture. The underlying problem with most of the invasive diseases that are prevalent in many of the areas where our military operates is that these diseases are viruses and they mutate rapidly. Many viruses that affect farm animals today can mutate to become killers of humans tomorrow.
Thanks to the U.S. military our nation is already plagued with insect invaders and noxious weeds as well. The Navy brought the Formosan Termite to our shores around the time of the Korean War. Most recently, the Army in 1995 introduced the European Gypsy Moth to the northeast United States. There are numerous other plants, insect, bacterial and viral pests transported to our nation by way of the military and careless attitudes toward cleaning, packing and stowage aboard ships and aircraft, returning to the USA.
Our nation is wide-open for an invasive species to attack us. It probably won’t be SARS, but remember that the Spanish influenza killed over 20-million people in less than six months during the latter part of 1918. More people died worldwide from the Spanish flu during 1918, than did in all of the previous years fighting in the trenches of France. Young people aged 20-40 woke up in the morning and felt fine. At noontime, they had symptoms of influenza and by nightfall they were dead! The disease was that virulent and that deadly! The Spanish flu traveled around the world rapidly due to the World War I movement of men, horses and equipment by ship. Today we move soldiers in 747s. Any mutated killer disease can be circulated around the world in a matter of days, not months, as was the case in 1918. Can it happen again? You can count on it! There are more than likely a number of diseases out there today that will one day mutate and attack us without mercy.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:21, “For there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor shall ever be.” He meant what He said. Pestilences, means more than one pestilence. During the period just prior to the sounding of the Last Trump, and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, we can expect not only a “holocaust” existence, courtesy of the great dictator and his religious cohort, but massive plagues of PESTILENCES as well. Satan, the author of confusion, hate and disorder will be in his prime during this awful time.
Today, there are a number of serious disease threats in Europe already. Foot and Mouth Disease has not been eradicated and probably never will be. It just lies dormant for a while yet it’s still here. Britain has just recorded their first death from SARS. There will most likely be more. THE BIGGEST THREAT TO EUROPE, REGARDING THE SPREAD OF INVASIVE PESTS, PLANT, INSECT AND DISEASE, IS THE U.S. MILITARY. For now, the USDA standard for cleanliness is applied to most cargo and equipment being shipped from European bases to the United States. However, that standard is not applied for materiel moving from point to point in Europe. Tons of cargo is moving between Turkey and Germany as well as other European locations. Exotic Newcastle’s Disease, a disease that is deadly to poultry, is rampant in Turkey. What happens when a virulent disease breaks out in Europe and devastates the cattle, hog or poultry industry of a EU nation? What happens when the outbreak is traced to the U.S. Armed Forces, and their cavalier attitude toward moving materiel in and around Europe? What if the recent foot and mouth pandemic that just about destroyed the British beef industry had been traced to a contaminated U.S. military shipment? The senior leadership in Germany believes that it’s not a problem, “since the Germans don’t seem to be concerned.” The Germans don’t know, but they’ll soon find out. By that time however, the proverbial “genie” will be out of the bottle.
God has granted the United States and our allies a great victory over evil that was in control of Iraq. Saddam Hussein hasn’t shown up since the first night of the war. His evil regime has been defeated. However, the invasive pests that exist in the Middle East know no religion or political creed. For centuries, armies have spread disease wherever they have marched. With no real effort expended by our overseas forces, to stop the movement of invasive species at the source, there is little doubt that our armed forces will inadvertently contribute to major outbreaks of pest infestation and disease. The movements of cargo, equipment and vehicles without taking the necessary steps to avoid the transportation of diseases into Europe and the United States will only make it possible for the PESTILENCES Jesus warned us about, that will manifest themselves as a part in end time events.
War always brings about destruction. Movements of armies provide a readymade means for invasive pests to move as well. During the Great Tribulation, the world will not only suffer a “holocaust” type existence, as a result of the great dictator better known as the Beast power, but great plagues of disease and vermin will also be upon us. These things will come to pass. We in God’s Church will overcome. We shall endure unto the end and shall be saved. We have the promise of our Savior. We know and enjoy the great love that the Eternal God showers us with every day of our lives. Let’s all show our brethren in God’s Church the same love that our Father in Heaven shows us. That hard times, harder than any of us can imagine, are coming soon is the price we are asked to pay. Continue your prayers and always ask our Father in Heaven, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
By Garner Ted Armstrong
When the World Trade Organization (WTO) was being formed, I wrote an article strongly against US membership, and predicted the time would come when foreigners would gang up against the US, using the charter of the WTO to punish America for perceived infractions.
For decades, I have warned that a global economic collapse will occur, plunging the world into a “great depression” unmatched in history; that this will in turn result in the rise of despotism; dictators in nations such as Germany, to “restore order,” and create a military state.
Ominous conditions are now developing which give credence to that warning.
Here is another example of how that scenario is shaping up.
The European Union has told the United States it has until this fall to change US tax laws or face a fine of 4 billion dollars!
How wonderful this must be for Jacques Chirac and the French, a major player in the WTO, and a country which has been hurting under the boycotting of French- made goods by millions of Americans who were angered by Chirac’s threat to veto a new UN resolution on the war in Iraq!
European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said, “The commission will review the situation in the autumn.” The threat comes as a result of a protracted dispute over alleged “tax benefits” for such large U.S. companies as Microsoft and Boeing, who do multi-billions of dollars in exports all over the world. Boeing aircraft are to be found in virtually every airline in dozens of countries, and Microsoft products are ubiquitous in the world.
How ironic. On the one hand, the US government has hounded Bill Gates’ Microsoft, as if bent on putting it out of business – attacking the company for being successful in exercising the very essence of capitalism and entrepreneurship – and on the other hand, going to bat on behalf of Microsoft in order to prevent the WTO from imposing sanctions which would hurt the company!
The so-called “Trade Regulation Organization,” (not affiliated with the WTO), along with several other liberal and environmental groups has created a parody of the US government’s deck of playing cards listing the most wanted of Saddam’s regime. They have published their own deck of playing cards with the faces of top government officials on them such as Dick Cheney, and showing President Bush as the “Joker,” in the “hopes of a regime change.”
They advocate nothing short of the overthrow of the US government.
The groups claim that the current Bush administration officials are all “war criminals” and urge that they be brought to trial before the world court as such!
They advocate “international law” whereby our top government leaders and military men, such as General Tommy Franks, would be brought before the World Court in the Hague, on trial as “war criminals.” Among their ludicrous charges, they say, “The TRO, estimating that the U.S. governing regime is no longer consistent with world peace or prosperity, hopes that the playing cards will show the way to regime change, and, eventually, large-scale war crimes proceedings.”
The TRO, totally ignoring the incredible amount of brutality, torture and murder carried out by the Saddam regime, says the war was entirely “unprovoked,” and lists a series of totally false and fantastic charges. Among them, “In the 1991 Gulf War, up to 200,000 civilians and up to 150,000 soldiers were killed by ordinary bombs or their effects on infrastructure. The ensuing sanctions [they ignore the fact that the entire UN voted to place the sanctions in effect] led to the deaths of between 200,000 and a million children under 5, depending on source.”
Thus, they try to leave the impression that the sanctions were imposed solely by the United States. They say nothing about the fact that Saddam and his clique, including his two sons, looted the “oil for peace” program of countless millions of dollars (an exception to the sanctions intended to provide humanitarian relief for the Iraqi people) to build palaces and stockpile hundreds of millions in cash against their eventual escape. Nor did they attribute the malnutrition and starvation of Iraqi children to the fact that the humanitarian relief intended under the oil for food program never reached the people themselves. They do not blame Saddam for the plight of Iraqi children. Instead, they blame the United States.
They also charge, “In addition, poisoning from U.S. depleted uranium (DU) weapons – banned by the Geneva Convention, may have led to hundreds of thousands more Iraqi cancers and deaths; the 80,000 cases of ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ among US veterans may also be due to DU exposure.”
None of this is proved. The words “may have led,” or “may also be due” are thrown out so the groups can avoid charges they deliberately exaggerated or lied, but those with an anti-American bias (and they are in the billions around the world) will readily agree with the outrageous charges leveled by such groups.
They also said, “In the 2003 Iraq war, the U.S. once again used massive amounts of DU in its weapons. Iraqi death counts are unknown or unpublicized.” This is patently ridiculous, of course, for they do not mean deaths of soldiers in tanks which were hit by armor piercing weapons, but alleged fallout from depleted uranium. But U.S. troops have worked with and around the ammunition; sat next to it in their tanks and APC’s; handled it as it was loaded aboard aircraft, as well as handling many of the targets destroyed by such weapons. There are no reports whatsoever that depleted (emphasis on depleted) uranium weapons pose a threat to civilian populations.
Another fantastic charge was added by the group – equally as untrue as the others. They said, “Because of U.S. policy giving carte blanche to looters – only the Oil Ministry and the Interior Ministry were protected – the Middle East’s leading archaeological museum lost almost all its unique ancient artifacts, and two libraries full of irreplaceable medieval manuscripts were destroyed [emphasis mine].” There was never such a policy. Far from “giving carte blanche,” US forces did not know of the looting until it was virtually over. Furthermore, it was discovered that museum officials themselves had removed large amounts of the most important artifacts.
US soldiers found many museum glass cases unbroken; their locks had been unlocked, not smashed.
Not in the least shy about stating patent untruths, the anti-American group then praised the WTO, saying, “The U.S. is now considered the primary world criminal by the vast majority of the world’s citizens.”
Unfortunately, this latter charge is true. It is because such groups as quoted above, along with thousands of socialist, leftist organizations (who have infiltrated a major American political party), that the entirety of Islam, most of Europe, and the vast majority of the black and brown races hate America, and would love to see its downfall.
Your Bible says the time is coming when our “lovers” we have bought will turn on us. There will be dancing in the streets of dozens of world capitals when the word is flashed that “America has fallen!” Listen! “All thine enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they hiss and gnash the teeth: they say, We have swallowed her up: certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it” (Lamentations 2:16).
In several earlier commentaries, I have shown the futility of going hat in hand to the so-called “United Nations” for approval. Though the Bush administration proved it was able to stand up to the UN by going it alone, along with a “coalition of the willing,” it now appears they are once again trying to mend fences, kiss and make up with nations such as France, Germany and Russia, along with dozens of others, who openly deride the US, and resist it at every turn.
How delighted Jacques Chirac must be, in the face of a concerted effort by many Americans to boycott French companies and goods, to be at the helm of a group bent upon imposing sanctions against the US for alleged tax violations!
Just what IS the “WTO?” What are its goals? Who are its members? Why was it founded?
There are a number of organizations whose tasks are to monitor the WTO, report on its meetings, hold “teach-ins” and debates among those both pro and con. One such organization is available at the WTOwatch website. Here is a synopsis: “The World Trade Organization (WTO) is among the most powerful, and one of the most secretive international bodies on earth. It is rapidly assuming the role of global government, as 134 nation-states, including the U.S., have ceded to it vast authority and powers.
“The WTO represents the rules-based regime of the policy of economic globalization. The central operating principal of the WTO is that commercial interests should supersede all others. Any obstacles in the path of operations and expansion of global business enterprise must be subordinated. In practice these "obstacles" are usually policies or democratic processes that act on behalf of working people, labor rights, environmental protection, human rights, consumer rights, social justice, local culture, and national sovereignty.
“The International Forum on Globalization (IFG) focused its efforts throughout most of 1999 on the WTO and its relation to the larger issue of economic globalization. We published four new reports, held a debate between leading critics and proponents of the WTO, and held a Teach-In a few days prior to the WTO Ministerial meeting. Archived webcasts of the Teach-In can be viewed on the WTOWatch website.”
Once again, membership in the WTO by the United States is another attempt to participate in GLOBALISM; in the gradual creation of a one-world body wherein all states would surrender their national sovereignty; their culture, language, religion and social structure to the global super state.
But who would rule? Who would set policies? What country, or group of countries would set policies and establish courts for punitive measures for non- compliance?
Such attempts at globalization are nothing short of a Satanic counterfeit of the coming Kingdom of God under Jesus Christ! Hitler, a megalomaniac, thought of himself as a pseudo-Christ; boasted he would set up a “thousand year Reich.” He envisioned a United Europe, with the Germans as a “super race” holding in subjection such “inferior” races as Poles, Serbs and Slavs, who would become the working classes to feed their superior German conquerors.
The United States of America was established by its founding fathers who believed in the God-inspired concepts of liberty, freedom, and personal responsibility. Our nation was born as a result of revolt against tyranny, not submission to it, no matter which form it takes.
Believe it or not, our Constitution and Bill of Rights COULD NOT BE WRITTEN AND PASSED INTO LAW today! Present-day liberals just would not allow it!
And because this is true, God says, “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” The broken cisterns are the UN, the WTO, and even our own judiciary, which has upheld laws which allow the destruction of the family, rampant murder of the unborn, and give government sanction to sodomites!
For this, God Almighty in His High Heaven will PUNISH our country in a coming GREAT TRIBULATION, which, if He did not intervene, would annihilate all life from this planet! Christ said, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved [alive]: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened” (Matthew 24:21,22).
Are you one of the elect? To find out, play the sermon tape labeled “The Elect and the Very Elect [Real Audio]” published on our web site, or call (903 561-7070) and ask for a free copy of the tape.
Now that we have conquered and occupied Iraq, may we please have permission to govern it for one year?”
Signed: the
U.S. and Britain
Can you believe it? According to recent press releases, the United States and the United Kingdom have sent a draft resolution to the UN, asking for permission to govern Iraq for one year!
A leading British newspaper said, “Britain and America yesterday asked the international community to grant them a sweeping mandate to rule Iraq as ‘occupying powers’ for at least a year, effectively relegating the United Nations to an advisory role.”
For some obscure reason, it seems the governments of our two countries are fixated on getting back into a smarmy, loving relationship with the United Nations. It is as if a lover’s quarrel took place; the UN was bitterly hurt and disappointed when the Bush and Blair governments failed to cancel their war plans and acquiesce to UN demands that the likes of Scott Ritter and Hans Blix be sent back into Iraq for some interminable period of time in order to search out any “weapons of mass destruction.”
Unfortunately, perhaps tragically, every day that goes by without a “smoking gun” being found in Iraq, meaning clear evidence not only of the former ability to manufacture WMD, but actual stockpiles and methods of delivery, those who charged that the war was “about settling old scores,” or “all about oil” have their false charges seemingly justified!
Now that shocking information has come to light concerning French President Jacques Chirac’s close relationship with the Saddam regime – that France actually gave Saddam inside information concerning private talks at diplomatic summits – now that the world knows the “French Connection” included not only oil, but close cooperation to the point of providing French passports to Iraqi officials, it is all the more ironic that the US and UK should grovel before Kofi Annan, Chirac, Putin and Schroeder, asking their “permission” to rule Iraq!
Permission? The US and UK have tens of thousands of armed soldiers on the ground in Iraq, do they not? The cities in Iraq feature hundreds of Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles; soldiers at checkpoints; soldiers at intersections; soldiers guarding vital facilities and infrastructure. In the swiftest and most complete victory in the history of warfare, with precision munitions and (comparatively) low casualties on both sides, the US and UK, along with the token contributions from the “coalition of the willing” defeated Saddam’s third-rate army, and either captured or chased into hiding his regime.
So what do Kofi Annan and the UN have to do with it?
Like a bad little boy who knows he did something mother didn’t like, the US and UK now seem bent on “making up” by humbling themselves and creeping back, all apologetic and remorseful, while pretending the UN has some validity; some actual relevancy!
Meanwhile, the UN and its many organizations, among them the “U.N.’s Economic and Social Council’s Commission on Sustainable Development” seeks world rulership! Yes, world rulership! The commission strives to CONTROL THE WATER, ENERGY, HEALTH, AGRICULTURE AND “BIODIVERSITY” IN ALL THE WORLD! And that, folks, is nothing short of WORLD RULE! If some UN agency has control over your drinking, bathing, swimming, and agricultural water; if it has control over your energy sources, whether atomic, steam generated (Ugh! Those nasty coal stacks, devouring up to 100 rail cars of coal each day to provide electricity in the American west) or hydroelectric; if it has control over your food, medicines and drugs; if it controls your agriculture, and advocates “biodiversity,” then it CONTROLS YOUR LIFE IN ALL ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS!
And our two governments want to return to this?
In a recent article by Henry Lamb, posted on May 12 on “World Net Daily” (which I view every day, and highly recommend to all my viewers and readers) the author said, “For 11 years, this collection of delegates has been meeting in exotic places around the world, at taxpayers' expense, egged-on by thousands of representatives of NGOs (non-government organizations) – again, largely at taxpayers' expense – expressly for the purpose of figuring out how to control the lives of everyone on earth. They know how they want to do it, and they are making great strides toward achieving their goal.
Think about it: If this commission can control water, energy, health, agriculture and biodiversity, they control the people who rely on these resources. Can they actually control these resources? They're trying.”
Lamb then proceeds to show how the ESCCSD tried to control the world’s water, along with other vital resources.
Time and time again, I have shown how the “disunited non-nations” are working to promote GLOBALISM, multi-culturalism, socialism, and the surrender of national sovereignty.
Someone once said a camel is a horse designed by committee. While Arabs may point out that camels are far better adapted to their harsh desert sands than a horse, the point is well taken. The UN is founded on the nonsensical principal that vastly different races, cultures, religion, languages, and governmental structures can agree on solutions for the problems of mankind. They can’t. They never have. They never will. The utter failure of the UN is written in the blood of millions of slaughtered humans from Cuba to Cambodia; from Rwanda to Nigeria.
An example of how noble; how far-sighted is the UN in its attempt to solve humanity’s pressing problems is how the UN put nations like Libya and Cuba in charge of “human rights”; while ousting the United States from the human rights commission! Simply unbelievable!
The UN accuses the US of being the worst violator of human rights! They accuse the US of being the foremost polluter of global water and air! They accuse the US of being the “most dangerous regime on earth today,” and many of their leading member states’ populations believe and loudly say, in riotous demonstrations, that “George Bush is more dangerous than Saddam Hussein!”
Of course, the UN does not like the new draft resolution, since it not only calls for the complete cancellation of all sanctions against Iraq, but clearly lays claim to total control of Iraq’s oil revenues as the only logical source for financing the rebuilding of Iraq.
This makes France, Russia, Germany, and many other UN members seethe in rage! It means the cutting off of hugely lucrative contracts they enjoyed under the “oil for food program” and shoulders them aside from control over Iraq’s oil.
Look for a fight. Kofi and his sycophants will not give up easily. They will use every artifice, every attempt to wield world public opinion against the US and UK in order to oust the US and UK from control.
There is another old Arab saying. “If you let the camel put his nose under the tent, he will soon be inside the tent.”
The UN was designed by a committee.
UN And Globalism Condemned In The Bible!
The disunited non-nations, masquerading under the name “United Nations” is made up of every conceivable false religion; repressive, dictatorial governments, single- party governments, theocratic, clerical governments; dozens of hating, warring, viciously opposing groups, and yet seeks nothing short of the dissolution of American and British sovereignty.
Member states believe in everything from ignorant tribal animism to voodoo; from Confucianism to Buddhism; from Judaism to Islam; from nominal Christianity to Hinduism, with a smattering of nationalistic and tribal superstitions. Within each of the major religions, dozens of sects and cults are recognized; each in turn forming the basis of each member’s bias and political tilt. Nominal Christianity takes the prize for the largest number of denominations and sects, closely followed by Islam, Judaism and the polytheism of India.
Like wide-eyed innocent children busily sucking on a pacifier, millions of ignorant idealists, lost in self-induced euphoric dreams of “one world” globalism – people like pacifists, nihilists, anarchists, some environmentalists, gay and animal rights advocates – actually hope this disparate, chaotic, disagreeing, often cynical and sinister grouping of nations can bring this war-torn, sin-sick world PEACE!
For going on fifty years, the farcical UN has proved it has utterly failed to live up to its own charter! The Preamble of the UN states, “WE THE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED
· to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
· to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
· to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
· to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,
AND FOR THESE ENDS
· to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours, and
· to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and
· to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and
· to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,
HAVE RESOLVED TO COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO ACCOMPLISH THESE AIMS
Accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.”
Study each statement of resolve carefully, and ask yourself how successful this hodge-podge of irrelevant, bickering, warring states has been in its vaunted goals.
“Save succeeding generations from the scourge of war?” The ink had hardly dried on that pretentious statement when the Soviet Union clamped down an “iron curtain” over eastern Europe; blockaded Berlin (1946), and tried to take over Greece! In a lengthy commentary some months ago, I detailed the DOZENS of wars fought between member states, and highlighted the fact that the various secretaries-general, each from some irrelevant, non-aligned state, not only failed to halt such wars, but were often representatives of the very states involved.
“Reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights?” To document the incredible, ghastly violations of human rights among member states over more than four decades would require an entire encyclopedia of many volumes! Try to jog your memory about Rwanda, Mozambique, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, the Soviet Union, Libya, Uganda, Nigeria, Chile, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Nicaragua, Iran and Iraq, to name but a few nations where brutal pogroms and mass murder have been carried out, killing millions!
“Social progress and better standards of life?” Instead, many member states are experiencing worse standards of life today than before they joined the UN, and social progress in such states as those mentioned above has become social regress instead.
To “live together in peace with one another as good neighbors?” More than sixty wars have been fought between such “neighbors.” Try Britain and Northern Ireland, Iraq and Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, all the Arab states and Israel as examples. Try Taiwan and China, Albania and Yugoslavia, Pakistan and India.
“Force not to be used except in the common interest?” Based upon its record in the light of history, there is no greater example of failure in the annals of time than the so-called “United Nations.”
Some of its greatest achievements? It has ousted the United States of America from its human rights commission, and put Libya and Cuba at the helm! It strove mightily to leave Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq, and major member states such as France openly supported him. Today, it is working hard to destroy America’s sovereignty; to bring the US to heel, and force the US to abandon all unilateral foreign policy; humbly acquiescing to UN authority.
Like all attempts at the amalgamation of nations, races and religions into a super world-ruling state, the so-called United Nations has utterly failed.
Of such man-made attempts at world government, God says “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries: gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces” (Isaiah 8:9).
Isaiah was God’s prophet to the nations. This warning shows that any attempt by the nations of “far countries” of the earth to form themselves together is foredoomed to destruction! The expression “gird yourselves” means rising up as if ready to take action; as if in preparation for battle; readying to take multilateral action.
He then says, “Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10). A truer prophecy has never been written. The disunited non-nations have taken counsel together thousands of times. They have passed many hundreds of “resolutions.” They have made many laudatory, high-sounding speeches. And it HAS NOT STOOD!
The enigmatic completion of the verse, transliterated from the Hebrew, says “...for IMMANUEL.” One of the divine titles of Jesus Christ is “Immanuel.” In this prophecy, the feeble, failed efforts of man to “associate” himself in man-made organizations bent on world government is contrasted by the coming presence of Jesus Christ Himself at the helm of world government! This is what is meant by “it [man-made “associations”] shall not stand, FOR GOD IS WITH US!” Christ will soon replace all such man-made attempts, including the coming ten-nation coalition in Europe which will become the “BEAST” of prophecy, and fight Christ at His coming (Revelation 17:12-14).
Now, look at the remainder of the prophecy, and see how it leads to the second coming of Christ; the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth, and the rebirth of the saved to rule with Christ for 1,000 years: “For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
“Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid [do not be misled by those who say ‘to confederate’; to ‘associate’; to ‘amalgamate’ is the only salvation of mankind!].
“Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself [to ‘sanctify’ means to acknowledge; to set apart as holy]; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel [read my book: “Europe and America in Prophecy” to learn the identity of the US, Britain, and European nations in prophecy], for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem [the Jews, who have never accepted Christ].
“And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken [see Jeremiah 5:15-19].
“Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples [God’s people “have not denied His name,” and have remained true to His laws, while false teachers have proclaimed the ‘law is done away.’].
“And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
“Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion” (Isaiah 8:11-18).
This prophecy shows Christ speaking of the newborn sons of God at the time of His second coming, who will be BORN OF THE SPIRIT “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” [1 Corinthians 15:50-52] at the resurrection. Paul wrote of this: “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
“To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Hebrews 12:22,23).
To understand the fabulous HUMAN POTENTIAL; to understand what it means to be “born again” read my booklet entitled, “Why You Were Born.”
Comforting those who were brutally expelled from an apostate church, God promises:
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
“A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompense to his enemies.
“Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
“Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:5-8). Zion is metaphor for the church; the Bride of Christ; the re-born saints who will RULE with Christ for 1,000 years. Christ promises: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
“And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father” (Revelation 2:26,27).
Man-made attempts at world government, featuring tribalism, racism, xenophobia, false, heathen religions, along with human nature which is composed of vanity, jealousy, lust and greed will soon be replaced by the glorious world-ruling Kingdom of God! No wonder Christ commands His people to pray each day, “Thy KINGDOM COME – thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven!”
Australian Homosexual Charges: “Jesus Was Gay!”
Remember Salmon Rushdie? The author of the “Satanic Verses” in the Koran became the object of a global search by outraged Islamics who swore to kill him because of alleged “blasphemy against Muhammad and the Holy Koran.” One cannot imagine a single place in the world where a person who writes blasphemy against the Bible receives an international death warrant; a global license to kill.
To this day, Rushdie must live in hiding, wondering if each day will be his last.
To speak disparagingly against Muhammad can get you killed. The same may be said about those in India who would disparage Vishnu; in China who would disparage Buddha, or in Japan who would disparage Shintoism.
But in the “Christian” world, God the Father and Jesus Christ are fair game. No Muslim uses “Muhammad” as a curse word, or in slang, saying “Oh, Muhammad!” or, “Oh, Prophet!” as in an epithet. You never hear an oriental golfer miss a shot and shout out “Oh, Buddha!” or an Arab golfer say “Muhammad dammit!”
In the latest blasphemous outrage, an Australian homosexual, working on an advanced college degree, has allegedly been awarded public funds to proclaim, “Jesus was gay.”
Putting his own perverted twist on Holy Writ, one Rollan McCleary, given a grant from the University of Queensland, is pursuing his “doctoral degree” by submitting a thesis on “gay spirituality” which includes allegations that Jesus Christ, along with “three or four” of his disciples, “were gay.” “The starting point is the matter of John, who always referred to himself as Jesus’ beloved disciple,” McCleary told an Australian newspaper.
McCleary is an Anglican; a member of the “Church of England.”
The man has not long to wait to see Christ’s own opinion of the blasphemous slime which has flowed from the homosexual’s pen. Does the Bible say anything about what would happen to such a person if God’s own government were in charge on this earth?
It certainly does! God explains how ironic it is that His own people curse His name; blaspheme His son Jesus Christ and everything that is holy, while heathen nations who worship non-existent gods remain fiercely faithful to idols: “For pass over the isles of Chittim [Cyprus], and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.
“Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
“Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:8-13).
When Moses was God’s direct representative and Aaron was his spokesman, flagrant blasphemy was punishable by death.
Children were taught to revere their parents; to obey the commandment which says, “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” The father of a family was not only life giver, provider and protector, he was also an authority figure; the loving, kind, forgiving, yet firm ruler of his household. His children were to learn about God from him, and their mother. God’s law told children, “... he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 21:17).
There were no simpering lawyers, attempting to explain that the father was somehow “too authoritarian,” or that the child was in the right. There were no lenient judges who were bent on turning the family into a “social experiment,” or who advocated “children’s rights,” wherein a child could sue his own parents. Just immediate, swift, sure punishment!
AIDS could never have begun had ancient Israel faithfully obeyed God’s laws – nor could it have begun today if African males had obeyed those laws, as set down in Exodus 22:19, “Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.” Bestiality was a filthy, abominable perversion which demanded instant death! It has been repeatedly alleged that African males, committing bestiality with Chimpanzees, gave rise to the HIV virus, which has since spread by leaps and bounds around the world resulting from promiscuous sex, homosexuality, and shared drug syringes.
This is precisely what God foretold in His condemnation of homosexuals through Paul, in the book of Romans; “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [Greek: “kataballo,” meaning to “hold back,” or to “suppress”] the truth in unrighteousness;
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse [The Creation presents millions of powerful proofs of God’s existence, glory and power]:
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Professing themselves to be wise [as in granting “degrees” for such theses as that being submitted by the Australian homosexual], 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 [because their MOTIVES in denying God are to rid themselves of a screaming conscience – allowing themselves to indulge in every perverted appetite]:
“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 recompense of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:18-27). Those final words simply mean that the automatic consequences of homosexuality and bestiality consist of a host of horrible physiological, psychological and spiritual curses, such as AIDS!
Under God’s theocracy, a person could not blaspheme God without the death penalty being imposed: “And the son of an Israelitish woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel: and this son of the Israelitish woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp;
“And the Israelitish woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD, and cursed. And they brought him unto Moses: (and his mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan:)
“And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be showed them.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
“Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.
“And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin.
“And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death” (Leviticus 24:10-16).
The homosexual McCleary knows nothing of the frightful consequences of his blasphemy. He should read Jude 5-8, which says, “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
“And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
“Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.”
The so-called “gay community” in the United States, and for that matter all over the world, seeks nothing short of the “homosexualization” (to coin a word) of all society. They are making great strides. “Same sex” so-called “marriages” are becoming lawful in several states; churches ordain “gay” clergy; the Boy Scouts of America are gradually being forced to admit “gay” leaders. Leading television prime time shows now feature “gay” couples, allegedly “married” as they simper, mince, cavort, chortle and entertain the gay and “straight” world.
Sodom did not become perverted in a day. It took time. How long, now, before your sons and grandsons find themselves with teachers, scout leaders, officials of all sorts advocating the “gay” life style? Today, it is “in your face.” No more “closet queens.” Now, they are marching, demonstrating, suing, influencing legislation and forcing themselves on the public.
As God says, “The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves” (Isaiah 3:9).
That evil will descend upon them in the judgment. May God’s kingdom soon be established on this earth!