End Times Alert: Pope Benedict XVI Calls For ‘World Political Authority’

By LaVrai, 9 July, 2009, 5 Comments

Pope Benedict XVI listens during the holy mass of Pentecost Sunday in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican May 31, 2009. (Giampiero Sposito/Reuters)

It has so many names nowadays — one world government, new global economic order and now “world political authority.” This last phrasing is from Pope Benedict XVI who just recently issued his encyclical, which if you have the patience, can be read here. He, too, says the world “urgently” needs a singular global authority, with a moral code… which I suppose he supposes the Holy See should provide.

In chapter five (#67) of his “Charity in Truth” statement, Pope Benedict writes:

In the face of the unrelenting growth of global interdependence, there is a strongly felt need, even in the midst of a global recession, for a reform of the United Nations Organization, and likewise of economic institutions and international finance, so that the concept of the family of nations can acquire real teeth.

One also senses the urgent need to find innovative ways of implementing the principle of the responsibility to protect[146] and of giving poorer nations an effective voice in shared decision-making. This seems necessary in order to arrive at a political, juridical and economic order which can increase and give direction to international cooperation for the development of all peoples in solidarity. To manage the global economy; to revive economies hit by the crisis; to avoid any deterioration of the present crisis and the greater imbalances that would result; to bring about integral and timely disarmament, food security and peace; to guarantee the protection of the environment and to regulate migration: for all this, there is urgent need of a true world political authority, as my predecessor Blessed John XXIII indicated some years ago.

Such an authority would need to be regulated by law, to observe consistently the principles of subsidiarity and solidarity, to seek to establish the common good[147], and to make a commitment to securing authentic integral human development inspired by the values of charity in truth. Furthermore, such an authority would need to be universally recognized and to be vested with the effective power to ensure security for all, regard for justice, and respect for rights[148]. Obviously it would have to have the authority to ensure compliance with its decisions from all parties, and also with the coordinated measures adopted in various international forums. Without this, despite the great progress accomplished in various sectors, international law would risk being conditioned by the balance of power among the strongest nations. The integral development of peoples and international cooperation require the establishment of a greater degree of international ordering, marked by subsidiarity, for the management of globalization[149]. They also require the construction of a social order that at last conforms to the moral order, to the interconnection between moral and social spheres, and to the link between politics and the economic and civil spheres, as envisaged by the Charter of the United Nations.

I fully recommend reading Pope Endorses “World Political Authority” at Accuracy in Media to understand this “radical document” the pope has penned.

It is rather interesting that not only do we have politicians harping openly for a united world government, we know have the man who thinks he’s some kind of prince or king, the pope, also singing the same tune — openly. It wasn’t long ago that this kind of talk was considered the stuff of conspiracy theorists, now we have governments actively working to facilitate this movement — openly, all thanks to this totally unexpected global economic meltdown. If this is what’s spoken openly, what do they say in secret? Does the pope think the one world government will keep the Roman Catholic Church around for long? Yes, the RCC will be quite helpful in keeping the world deceived by idolatry and false religion, but from what I read in the Book of Revelation, the Holy Roman See, or the harlot that sits upon many waters, will be done away with when the Beast government has tired of her. When the Anti-Christ elevates himself to god-status, the other prince (the pope who sits on the throne who is worshiped adored by a billion people from every nation and tongue) won’t be needed any more .

Holy See:

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic Church. It is also recognized by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. – Wikipedia

Present concerns of the Holy See include religious freedom, international development, the environment, the Middle East, China, the decline of religion in Europe, terrorism, interreligious dialogue and reconciliation, and the application of church doctrine in an era of rapid change and globalization. About one billion people worldwide profess the Catholic faith.

Landlocked; enclave in Rome, Italy; world’s smallest state; beyond the territorial boundary of Vatican City, the Lateran Treaty of 1929 grants the Holy See extraterritorial authority over 23 sites in Rome and five outside of Rome, including the Pontifical Palace at Castel Gandolfo (the Pope’s summer residence) – CIA Factbook

It amazes me that the Holy See positions itself as the only independent state founded on and ruled by ecclesiastical standards. The thing is, though, it is governed by man-made rules cloaked in religion and positions the pope as king, or god. This seems almost a mockery of the Kingdom Jesus the Christ will establish on the new earth.

Revelation 17:

1And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration. 7And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

… 15And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. 16And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. 18And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 18 and Jeremiah 51 should also be considered.

Oprah Winfrey To Launch OWN Network, Will Undoubtedly Feature New Age Nonsense

By LaVrai, 6 July, 2009, 1 Comment

oprah Oprah Winfrey is expected to launch her own network in 2010 (source), called appropriately enough the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). If you’ve been paying the slightest attention to Ms. Winfrey over the years, you may be familiar with the type of self-help, spiritual mumbo jumbo pushers she often has on and endorses. According to a NY Times article published earlier this year: With the Oprah Winfrey Network, “I will have editorial control,” she said. “I have a vision for what we want to accomplish with this network.”

If you take a browse on her Web site, you’ll notice prominent placements for new age authors Eckhart Tolle’s (“A New Earth” without Christians) and Marianne Williamson, who says “hogwash” to a question about Jesus being the being the Son of GOD (source). There’s also a “spirituality” feature with “Some of Oprah’s favorite spiritual teachers … shedding some light on the subject of spirituality.” These teachers included The Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif.; Elizabeth Lesser, co-founder of Omega Institute; Michael Bernard Beckwith, founder and spiritual director of Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles — all of whom you can view here explaining to Ms. Winfrey how “being gay is a gift from GOD.”

Ms. Winfrey states on page four of this spirituality feature:

The terms “spirituality” and “religion” are often confused, but all three spiritual teachers say you can be one without being the other. While Oprah calls the source of her spirituality God, others call it “the source” or “universal energy.” “I think God doesn’t get hung up on the titles,” Oprah says. “It’s the people that get hung up on the titles.”

Oprah’s definition of spirituality revolves around the understanding that we are more than what we can physically see. “When you begin to realize that you are more than your body, that your purpose is greater than your profession or your career—that every life, because you were born you have a right to be here and there is a calling on your life—it means you live your life without fear and you know that no matter what happens, no matter what happens, you are going to be all right. You are going to be all right. That’s what spirituality is for me.”

Last I read, Ms. Winfrey was still claiming to be a Christian.

So imagine how much more nonsense and deception will reach how many more people with this new OWN venture. A recent Newsweek article says it all:

Her audience cannot get enough. After more than two decades on the air, the Oprah franchise continues to expand. Forty million people tune in to watch her television show each week. O magazine, which features her picture on every cover, sells more than 2 million copies each month. She has her own satellite radio channel and a very popular Web site. Forbes puts Oprah’s personal fortune at $2.7 billion. Her empire is about to get bigger. Oprah has made a deal to launch her own cable television channel that will reach 70 million homes. It will be called, of course, the Oprah Winfrey Network and will include Oprah-approved programming on health and living well. In announcing the deal, Oprah said, “I will now have the opportunity to do this 24 hours a day on a platform that goes on forever.”

… Her most ardent fans regard her as an oracle. If she mentions the title of a book, it goes to No. 1. If she says she uses a particular wrinkle cream, it sells out. At Oprah’s retail store in Chicago, women can purchase used shoes and outfits that she wore on the show. Her viewers follow her guidance because they like and admire her, sure. But also because they believe that Oprah, with her billions and her Rolodex of experts, doesn’t have to settle for second best. If she says something is good, it must be.

The article goes on to state the obvious that many of her ardent fans seem to miss: … the truth is, some of what Oprah promotes isn’t good, and a lot of the advice her guests dispense on the show is just bad.

This goes for her and her guests teachings on GOD and Jesus the Chrsit — if it’s not found in the Holy Bible, it’s a lie. When Jesus says “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Light. No one comes to the FATHER but by ME” in John 14:6John 14:6
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

WP-Bible plugin, not much interpretation is needed. But Oprah and her spiritual teachers are known for insisting that Jesus in fact can’t possibly be the only way (here and here).

I don’t know what it’s going to take for folks to wise up and realize that if Oprah Winfrey is not a friend of Jesus the Christ, and there are undoubtedly many professed Christians gladly consuming the garbage that comes across her shows and in her magazines. It appears Ms. Winfrey is deceived, as she seems to be searching for some kind of answer… but the TRUTH is hard to take as it requires us to deny things and people that go against the Word of GOD.

Now, with a new network over which she claims she will have full editorial control, the deception will continue to spread.

By the way, the final page of the Newsweek article sums it all up quite nice… where all this searching and various voices have brought Ms. Winfrey thus far…

Video: Dr. Charles Stanley On GODly Living

By LaVrai, 5 July, 2009, No Comment

This video from InTouch Ministries’ the Rev. Dr. Charles Stanley is a blessing and a great aid to Christians concerned about walking faithfully with Christ Jesus.

“It’s becoming more and more unpopular to be a follower of Jesus Christ in our country. For example, it’s unpopular for you to say that your beliefs are according to the Word of GOD. And that you stand by those beliefs. It’s unpopular to say that this is GOD’s Word and our final authority for the way we ought to live and what we believe. It’s very unpopular to name the name of Jesus Christ in a public prayer, in a class room, often times in an office or wherever it might be. It’s becoming more and more unpopular to say that Jesus Christ is the only way even though that’s what the Bible says crystal clear when Jesus says I AM the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the FATHER but by ME. It’s more and more unpopular for us to refuse to agree with those who are living in sin, living a corrupted life, immoral, absolutely on the road to destruction. It’s becoming very unpopular. So what that says is this: we’re living in a society that desires and is working diligently to get all of us to agree. But to agree with the wrong thing on the wrong side.” – Dr. Charles Stanley

What do you do when you’re confronted with these things? Dr. Stanley offers some Biblical instructions in this two-part playlist (the second part will play automatically after the first), which is about 13 minutes long.

Originally aired on June 21, 2009ne 21, 2009
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin – A Call To GODly Living

Read the sermon outline here, the original full-length video here

The $600,000 A Year Pastor Calls It Quits Or A Great Example Why The Interfaith, Feel-Good False Gospel Never Works

By LaVrai, 2 July, 2009, 2 Comments

UPDATE (07/06/2009): PBS Religion & Ethics Weekly conducted two interviews with the Rev. Braxton — before (which is below) and after he called it quits. The extended exit interview doesn’t really clarify his stance on whether he actually believes that Jesus Christ is the only means of Salvation, although that’s what he’s accused of preaching. There’s also a transcript of the video with some interesting comments.

The June 12 Interview (the July 3 video can be found in the Videos section):

“What I believe we are actually trying to do in our best moments is to suggest that if in fact we are going to be who we are — that is, a Christian congregation — we must take seriously Jesus and Scripture. Those are non-negotiables for Christian congregations.” – the Rev. Brad Braxton

ORIGINAL POST –

I don’t know if you are familiar with the Rev. Brad R. Braxton who was brought in earlier in the year to preside as leading pastor of NYC’s Riverside Church. In the beginning, some congregants were resistant because of what they considered the exorbitant pay Braxton was to get, which appears to be $600,000 and not some of the higher, crazier figures I remember seeing.

Anyhoo, Mr. Braxton has called it quits — and it apparently has nothing to do with resistance to his salary anymore. It seems, the Baptist preacher, might not have been aware of exactly who his congregants are:

The disagreements are described differently by each of the many factions at the church, a nondenominational congregation on Riverside Drive in Manhattan that has traditionally embraced a broad-spectrum interfaith style of Christian theology for all comers, whether Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, gay, lesbian, transgender or none of the above.

Notice that “broad-spectrum interfaith style” of philosophy and recall what Christ Jesus says about the broad road and the narrow road.

The Rev. Braxton sent an e-mail to members informing them of their decision, saying: “The consistent discord has made it virtually impossible to establish a fruitful covenant between the congregation and me,” he said. He also added in an interview that he felt his mandate was: “how to bring an interfaith, interracial, progressive religious institution from the 20th century into the 21st century.”

Do you know what the Rev. Braxton’s great transgression in this so-called Christian church (that has no problem letting the world sit and prosper within its walls)?

According to dissidents, Dr. Braxton went about that by bringing elements of evangelical tradition into church services. They said he called on worshipers to come forward and bear witness to their faith, favored the gospel choir over the church’s traditional choir, and preached at times what they considered a Riverside heresy: that Jesus and only Jesus was the way to salvation.

Some members of the congregation may believe that, said Constance Guice-Mills, a member of the church. “But his focus on personal salvation, on the individual, was diametrically opposed to the tradition of Riverside. Here, we believe you achieve salvation by doing social justice. Out in the world. And we have people from all backgrounds. Buddhists.”

Why didn’t the board/trustees just seek out a Buddhist to lead the church if they’re not concerned with personal testimonies are people bearing witness to the sufficiency of Christ’s death and resurrection and ascension to Heaven? Their resistance to Christ and HIM crucified apparently contradicts the mission statement they have posted on their Web site. Or perhaps it is just for show? Words without meaning as this Wikipedia entry seems to show (sidenote here: if demons know and confess Christ Jesus as LORD, shouldn’t human beings be required to go a little further)?

I suppose the Rev. Braxton really had no clue. I surely hope it wasn’t the money or the reputation of the church (the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. made his Vietnam speech there) that compelled him to walk through those doors and ascend the steps of that filthy pulpit.

Riverside congregation is not actually a church, just a type of club where people believe in doing good works come together. This place has nothing to do with Christianity — which is not good works. Christianity is Salvation in Jesus the Christ and HIM crucified. Only one of those will get us into the Kingdom.

Maybe the LORD was trying to reach out to the congregation, but apparently they want none of it… they’re not interested in hearing the TRUTH – Salvation in Christ Jesus and in HIM alone. GOD didn’t send anyone else into this world to save us.

Source: NY Times

I am assigning this to End Times Alert also since this is the current false Gospel that will apparently pervade the whole world.

Genuine Christians And The Work Of The Holy Spirit

By LaVrai, 2 July, 2009, 2 Comments

A visitor named Yos commented on this article on June 9, 2009ne 9, 2009
English: King James Version (1611) - KJV

WP-Bible plugin, and I’ve been taking my time in order to provide a genuine, Biblical response to the best of my ability. Here’s the question and my response follows after.

How are we to know if the Holy Spirit dwells within us and we’re not in some delusion? I re-call listening to some sermon by a preacher who said something similar to the effect of that it’s possible for someone to go to church, function within it, and believe they are saved, but find out otherwise. By what method can we be sure of of our state?

Another blogger whom I’ve asked about salvation itself told me that the metric isn’t clearly understood,thus leading me to get the idea that no one knows the right way ;we must just strive for it the best we can via what we’re given. At times, it makes me wonder if anyone has a true grounding in what they speak.

How are we to know that what ever impulse we are given that something is right or wrong is exactly so and from G-d? There’s countless people through the history of our religion that may have tarnished the name, but could probably claim some right in their actions.

My response to Yos (and all interested):