Only 52 weeks and a day are left before Dec. 21, 2012, when some believe the Maya predicted the end of the world.

False Prophets

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
—Hebrews 12:2

Unlike enthusiasts of other doomsday theories who suggest putting together survival kits, southeastern Mexico, the heart of Maya territory, plans a yearlong celebration.

Mexico’s tourism agency expects to draw 52 million visitors by next year only to the regions of Chiapas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Campeche. All of Mexico usually lures about 22 million foreigners in a year.

It’s selling the date, the Winter Solstice in the coming year, as a time of renewal. Many archeologists argue that the 2012 reference on a 1,300-year-old stone tablet only marks the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar.

“The world will not end. It is an era,” said Yeanet Zaldo, a tourism spokeswoman for the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, home to Cancun. “For us, it is a message of hope.”

Cities and towns in the Mayan region on Wednesday will start the yearlong countdown. In Chiapas the town of Tapachula on the Guatemalan border will start a countdown on an 8-foot digital clock in the main park exactly a year before the mysterious date.

In the nearby archaeological site of Izapa, Maya priests will burn incense, chant and offer prayers.

In the tropical jungle of Quintana Roo, between the resorts of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, people are putting messages and photos in a time capsule that will be buried for 50 years. Maya priests and Indian dancers will perform a ritual at the time capsule ceremony.

Yucatan state has announced plans to complete the Maya Museum of Merida by next summer.

“People who still live in Mayan villages will host rites and burn incense for us to go back in time and try to understand the Mayan wisdom,” Zaldo said.

The Maya reputation for wisdom has people taking the alleged prediction seriously.

The Mayan civilization, which reached its height from 300 A.D. to 900 A.D., had a talent for astronomy

Its Long Count calendar begins in 3,114 B.C., marking time in roughly 394-year periods known as Baktuns. Thirteen was a significant, sacred number for the Mayas, and they wrote that the 13th Baktun ends on Dec. 21, 2012.

The doomsday theories stem from a stone tablet discovered in the 1960s at the archaeological site of Tortuguero in the Gulf of Mexico state of Tabasco that describes the return of a Mayan god at the end of a 13th period.

Believers have taken the end-of-the world fears to the Internet with hundreds of thousands of websites and blogs.

“The Maya are viewed by many westerners as exotic folks that were supposed to have had some special, secret knowledge,” said Mayan scholar Sven Gronemeyer. “What happens is that our expectations and fears get projected on the Maya calendar.”

Gronemeyer of La Trobe University in Australia compares the supposed Mayan prophecies to the “Y2K” hype, when people feared all computer systems would crash when the new millennium began on Jan. 1, 2000.

For some reason, Gronemeyer says, people have ignored evidence that dates beyond 2012 were recorded.

The blogosphere exploded with more speculation when Mexico’s archaeology institute acknowledged on Nov. 24 a second reference to Dec. 21, 2012, on a brick found at other ruins.

“Human beings seem to be attracted by apocalyptic ideas and always assume the worst,” Gronemeyer said.

It’s all a bit frustrating for serious Mayan researchers whose field has made huge strides in recent years.

“This new historical and archaeological knowledge is so much more interesting and mind-blowing than the fantastical claims about Maya prophecies one sees on TV, books or on the Internet,” David Stuart, a specialist in Mayan epigraphy at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email to The Associated Press. “We’re dealing with thousands of newly deciphered texts and trying to weave together a coherent picture of Maya history and culture, which to me is as exciting as it gets.”

While the 2012 hype might increase interest in the Maya, “that will probably be offset by the long and difficult effort ahead to correct the ubiquitous lies and misconceptions, even after 2012 has come and gone,” he wrote.

Jonnie Channell of Albuquerque, New Mexico, says that 2012 “is going to be one of those things where people are definitely going to have to plan,” not because of impending apocalypse, but because hotel rooms in the Maya region are probably going to be full.

Channell, who owns Maya Sites Travel Services, is surprised that she already has 24 reservations for three tour packages she is offering to major Mayan ruin sites in the week leading up to the solstice.

She named one “Beginning the New Calendar Era Under the Yucatan Stars.”

“We put together these tours, and we’ve got lots of signups, and people are excited about it,” she said. “If anybody think it’s going to be the end of the world, then they better stay home.”

—

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report

Ynetnews special: Italian journalist examines Vatican’s submission to political Islam

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The Falling Away

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away•Strongs 646: apostasia, ap-os-tas-ee´-ah; feminine of the same as 647; defection from truth (properly, the state) (“apostasy”):—falling away, forsake. first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;”
—2 Thessalonians 2:3

“For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted•Strongs 7725: shuwb, shoob; a primitive root; to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point); generally to retreat; often adverbial, again:—((break, build, circumcise, dig, do anything, do evil, feed, lay down, lie down, lodge, make, rejoice, send, take, weep)) x again, (cause to) answer (+ again), x in any case (wise), x at all, averse, bring (again, back, home again), call (to mind), carry again (back), cease, x certainly, come again (back), x consider, + continually, convert, deliver (again), + deny, draw back, fetch home again, x fro, get (oneself) (back) again, x give (again), go again (back, home), (go) out, hinder, let, (see) more, x needs, be past, x pay, pervert, pull in again, put (again, up again), recall, recompense, recover, refresh, relieve, render (again), requite, rescue, restore, retrieve, (cause to, make to) return, reverse, reward, + say nay, send back, set again, slide back, still, x surely, take back (off), (cause to, make to) turn (again, self again, away, back, back again, backward, from, off), withdraw. thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.”
—Isaiah 47:10

False Prophets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

It has been five years since gave his controversial lectio about Islam at the German University of Regensburg. On September 12th, 2006, Joseph Ratzinger claimed that the god of the Muslims is both transcendental and unreasonable and he severely condemned jihad and the use of violence in the name of Koran. It was the only public event in which a Pope told the truth about some aspects of Islamic religion.

Benedict XVI made himself a central player in the post-9/11 era: His speech against the link between religion and violence, typical of Islam today, was not a mistake or a false step, as some observers wrote at that time. It was, rather, a vigorous attack against certain aspects of Islamic fanaticism.

The reaction to the Pope’s speech was a familiar spectacle: Threats, riots, and violence. From the religious leaders in Muslim majority countries to the New York Times, all demanded the Pope’s apologies. In the Palestinian areas, churches were attacked and Christians targeted. In the Somali capital, Mogadishu, an Italian nun was executed. In Iraq, Amer Iskander, a Syrian Orthodox priest, was beheaded and his arms mutilated.

In Islamic forums, Ratzinger was depicted like Dracula. He received many death threats: “Slaughter him”, “pig servant of the cross”, “odious evil”, “Allah curse him”, “vampire who sucks blood” and so on. The highest Islamic representative in Turkey, Ali Bardakoglu, declared that Ratzinger’s speech was “full of enmity and hatred.” The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood pledged “reactions worst of those against the Danish cartoons”

Iran’s Supreme Ayatollah, Ali Khamenei, accused the Pope of being part of “the conspiracy of the Crusaders.” Under pressure, and aiming to stop any further violence, the Pope apologized.

Benedict XVI recently visited again his native Germany, but this time with a different agenda. Five years later, the Vatican adopted a pro-Islam course and has capitulated to fundamentalists. In a recent book written by German journalist Peter Sewald, Pope Ratzinger expressed “regrets” about the Regensburg lecture. The Vatican’s Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone, buried the Pope’s lesson about Islam as “an archaeological relic.”

“The default positions vis-à-vis militant Islam are now unhappily reminiscent of Vatican diplomacy’s default positions vis-à-vis communism during the last 25 years of the Cold War,” writes George Weigel, a leading US writer about the Vatican. The Vatican’s new agenda seeks “to reach political accommodations with Islamic states and foreswear forceful public condemnation of Islamist and jihadist ideology.”

Appeasement agenda
After Regensburg, the Vatican adopted an appeasement agenda. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is known for having a pro-Islam position, was appointed by the Pope as the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.

Indeed, Dialogue with Iran’s mullahs is pivotal in the new Vatican agenda. Recently, a delegation of clergy members of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly visited the Vatican, meeting with top Catholic officials.

In June, the Vatican sent Archbishop Edmond Farhat, who is the official representative of Vatican politics, to Tehran to attend an “international conference on the global campaign against terrorism.” Last autumn, Vatican representatives met with Muslim leaders from around the world in Tehran for “a three-day interreligious dialogue.” In Tehran Cardinal Tauran praised Iran’s “spirit of cordiality” and “the friendly Ahmadinejad.”

Last month, the Vatican published a letter written by Tauran, addressing his “Dear Muslim friends.” In the letter, Tauran asked for Islamic help to form an alliance against atheism.

In 2008, the Vatican promoted “Love of God, Love of Neighbor,” the first three-day forum with Islamic leaders. The Pope agreed to meet one the most dangerous Islamist in the Western world, the grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, Tariq Ramadan – the Swiss scholar who denies Israel’s right to life and who has been banned from entering the US because of his alleged association with extremists.

Pope meets Saudi King Abdullah (Photo: AP)

Last May, Bishop Mariano Crociata, secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference, announced that the Vatican is in favor of building new mosques in Europe. A month later the European Bishops met with European Muslims in Turin (Cardinal Tauran was also present) to proclaim the need for the “progressive enculturation of Islam in Europe.”

In Rimini, a seaside resort on the Adriatic coast, the Comunione e Liberazione movement, one of the most powerful in the Catholic Church, holds its massive annual “meeting” that usually draws some 700,000 people. The Catholic movement last month hosted the president of Al Azhar, the most important Islamic university in Cairo, and a senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, despite the fact that for the first time the US Commission on Religious Freedom recommended that Egypt be placed on a list of the “worst of the worst” countries for persecution of Christians.

Targeting Israel
The State of Israel is easily expendable in the new pro-Islam policy. In January 2009, thousands of Muslims marched in front of Milan’s Duomo to protest against Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. They burned Israeli flags and chanted anti-Jewish slogans. Joaquin Navarro-Valls, John Paul II’s spokesman for 22 years, defended the “freedom of expression” of the Muslims who burned the Star of David.

Months later, Pope Benedict visited Bethlehem, where the Christian population has dropped from a majority to less than 20%. Benedict delivered a message of solidarity to the 1.4 million Palestinians isolated in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. He said nothing of the suffering of Gaza’s 3,000 Christians since Hamas took over that territory in 2007.

Benedict could have decried the bombings, shootings and other Islamist attacks against Gaza Christian establishments, the brutal murder of the only Bible-store owner of Gaza, or the regular intimidation and persecution of Christians there. Instead, the Pope stood beside Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian leader deceptively pointed to a concrete separation barrier in Bethlehem and blamed that barrier, as well as Israeli “occupation,” for the plight of Christians.

A few weeks later, the United Nations ran “Durban II” and on the first day of the conference, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the only head of state to attend, made a speech condemning Israel as “totally racist” and referred to the Holocaust as an “ambiguous and dubious question.” When Ahmadinejad began to speak against the Jews, all European Union delegates left the conference room. The Vatican delegation didn’t say a word.

To understand the new Vatican’s approach toward Islam, one should also read what happened in the historical synod on the Middle East hosted by the Pope last autumn. Nothing was said about Islamist persecution of Christians; indeed, every effort was made to show the Catholic Church’s sympathy to Muslim grievances, especially against “Zionism” – a word evoked as a symbol of evil.

Aside from Iraq, the only country singled out for criticism in the Middle East was Israel. Patriarch Antonios Naguib of the Egyptian Coptic church, who was the “relator,” or secretary, of the synod, expressed “solidarity with the Palestinian people, whose situation today is particularly conducive to the rise of fundamentalism.” The lesson was simple: Islamism is the consequence of Israeli policies. The synod was carefully prepared for a year, and it produced a rash of radical anti-Jewish statements on both political and theological issues.

Ethnic cleansing silenced
The rightful concern of the Vatican for co-religionists has also been silenced. Intimidation, thuggery and violence have succeeded in turning away criticism not only of Islam, but of violence committed in the name of Islam against Christians.

Over the past several years, Christians have endured bombings, murders, assassinations, torture, imprisonment and expulsions. The very roots of the Christian heritage in the Middle East are being extirpated. When last winter Christians were killed in Egypt, Cardinal Tauran and the Vatican foreign office requested to “avoid anger” and downplayed the Islamist role in the butchering.

In the summer of 2010, Bishop Luigi Padovese, Vatican vicar for Anatolia and president of the Catholic Episcopal conference of Turkey, was slaughtered by Islamic fanatics in Iskenderun on the eve of the Pope’s trip to Cyprus. Vatican diplomacy did its part to convince the Pope to immediately and preemptively rule out the idea that this was a “political or religious” murder.

Elsewhere, the number of Christians in Turkey declined from two million to 85,000; in Syria, from half the population they have been reduced to 4%; in Jordan, from 18% to 2%; nearly two-thirds of the 500,000 Christians in Baghdad have fled or been killed; in Lebanon, Christians have dwindled to a sectarian rump, menaced by surging Shiite and Sunni populations, and in Saudi Arabia Christians have been beaten or tortured by religious police.

It’s an ethnic cleansing of monumental proportions that makes it clear why the Vatican’s submission to political Islam, along with its religious anti-Israel stance, will be remembered as one of the greatest moral failings of the 21st Century.

Giulio Meotti, a journalist with Il Foglio, is the author of the book A New Shoah: The Untold Story of Israel’s Victims of Terrorism

While Harold Camping’s doomsday prediction hasn’t panned out, there is one associated with him that is. Camping is the President of California-based Family Radio, a religious broadcasting network that spans more than 150 outlets in the United States.

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False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned•Strongs 4112: plastos, plas-tos´; from 4111; moulded, i.e. (by implication) artificial or (figuratively) fictitious (false): — feigned.
•Strongs 4111: plasso, plas´-so; a primary verb; to mould, i.e. shape or fabricate: — form. words make merchandise•Strongs 1710: emporeuomai, em-por-yoo´-om-ahee; from 1722 and 4198; to travel in (a country as a pedlar), i.e. (by implication) to trade: — buy and sell, make merchandise. of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
—2Peter 2:3

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

The non-profit organization received $80 million in contributions between 2005 and 2009.

Their latest IRS filings shows almost all funds are from donations, with $18 million in total in 2009. Based on their financial documents, accountants put the total worth of Family Radio at $72 million. Numerous groups have accused the Family Radio of scamming people to get donations.

However, almost entire group’s net worth is tied up in FCC broadcasting licenses, valued at $56 million. Family Radio said it only has $1.5 million in cash on its books at the end of 2009.

Many of Camping’s followers have quit their job, given up their houses and their savings to support Camping’s prediction.

The nonprofit employed about 350 people and paid them a collective $8.3 million — or roughly $23,000 per person — in 2009. Camping previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994.

He could not be reached for comment. The Family Radio’s website is still up and running.

OAKLAND, Calif. – They spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away earthly belongings or draining their savings accounts. And so they waited, vigilantly, on Saturday for the appointed hour to arrive.

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False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“And through covetousness shall they with feigned•Strongs 4112: plastos, plas-tos´; from 4111; moulded, i.e. (by implication) artificial or (figuratively) fictitious (false): — feigned.
•Strongs 4111: plasso, plas´-so; a primary verb; to mould, i.e. shape or fabricate: — form. words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
—2Peter 2:3

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

When 6 p.m. came and went across the United States and various spots around the globe, and no extraordinary cataclysm occurred, some believers expressed confusion, while others reassured each of their faith. Still, some others took it in stride.
“I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God,” said Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the Rapture.
He started his day in the bright morning sun outside the gated Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been broadcasting the apocalyptic prediction for years.
“I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth,” said Bauer, a tractor-trailer driver who began the voyage west last week, figuring that if he “worked last week, I wouldn’t have gotten paid anyway, if the Rapture did happen.”
The May 21 doomsday message was sent far and wide via broadcasts and websites by Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar Christian media empire that publicizes his apocalyptic prediction. According to Camping, the destruction was likely to have begun its worldwide march as it became 6 p.m. in the various time zones, although some believers said Saturday the exact timing was never written in stone.
In New York’s Times Square, Robert Fitzpatrick, of Staten Island, said he was surprised when the six o’clock hour simply came and went. He had spent his own money to put up advertising about the end of the world.
“I can’t tell you what I feel right now,” he said, surrounded by tourists. “Obviously, I haven’t understood it correctly because we’re still here.”
Many followers said the delay was a further test from God to persevere in their faith.
“It’s still May 21 and God’s going to bring it,” said Family Radio’s special projects coordinator Michael Garcia, who spent Saturday morning praying and drinking two last cups of coffee with his wife at home in Alameda. “When you say something and it doesn’t happen, your pride is what’s hurt. But who needs pride? God said he resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.”
The Internet was alive with discussion, humorous or not, about the end of the world and its apparent failure to occur on cue. Many tweets declared Camping’s prediction a dud or shared, tongue-in-cheek, their relief at not having to do weekend chores or take a shower.
The top trends on Twitter at midday included, at No. 1, “endofworldconfessions,” followed by “myraptureplaylist.”
As 6 p.m. approached in California, some 100 people gathered outside Family Radio International headquarters in Oakland, although it appeared none of the believers of the prophecy were among them. Camping’s radio stations, TV channels, satellite broadcasts and website are controlled from a modest building sandwiched between an auto shop and a palm reader’s business.
Christian leaders from across the spectrum widely dismissed the prophecy, and members of a local church concerned followers could slip into a deep depression come Sunday were part of the crowd outside Family Radio International. They held signs declaring Camping a false prophet as motorists drove by.
“The cold, hard reality is going to hit them that they did this, and it was false and they basically emptied out everything to follow a false teacher,” the Rev. Jacob Denys, of the Milpitas-based Calvary Bible Church, said earlier. “We’re not all about doom and gloom. Our message is a message of salvation and of hope.”
About a dozen people in a partying mood were also outside Family Radio International, creating a carnival-like atmosphere as they strolled in a variety costumes that portrayed monks, Jesus Christ and other figures.
“Am I relieved? Yeah. I’ve got a lot going on,” Peter Erwin, a student from Oakland, said, with a hint of sarcasm. “Trying to get specific about the end of the world is crazy.”
Revelers counted down the seconds before the anticipated hour, and people began dancing to music as the clock struck 6 p.m. Some released shoe-shaped helium balloons into the sky in an apparent reference to the Rapture.
Camping has preached that some 200 million people would be saved, and that those left behind would die in a series of scourges visiting Earth until the globe is consumed by a fireball on Oct. 21.
Family Radio International’s message has been broadcast in 61 languages. He has said that his earlier apocalyptic prediction in 1994 didn’t come true because of a mathematical error.
“I’m not embarrassed about it. It was just the fact that it was premature,” he told The Associated Press last month. But this time, he said, “there is … no possibility that it will not happen.”
As Saturday drew nearer, followers reported that donations grew, allowing Family Radio to spend millions on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the doomsday message. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.
Marie Exley, who helped put up apocalypse-themed billboards in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, said the money allowed the nonprofit to reach as many souls as possible.
She said she and her husband, mother and brother read the Bible and stayed close to the television news on Friday night awaiting word of an earthquake in the southern hemisphere. When that did not happen, she said fellow believers began reaching out to reassure one another of their faith.
“Some people were saying it was going to be an earthquake at that specific time in New Zealand and be a rolling judgment, but God is keeping us in our place and saying you may know the day but you don’t know the hour,” she said Saturday, speaking from Bozeman, Mont. “The day is not over, it’s just the morning, and we have to endure until the end.”
On Sunday, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near a group of South Pacific islands about 600 miles off New Zealand, but there were no reports of damage or risk of tsunami. The temblor struck under the Kermadec Islands, which has no permanent population.
New Zealand, shaken by a series of quakes and aftershocks since a Feb. 22 temblor devastated the city of Christchurch and killed 181 people, sits in an area where two tectonic plates collide. More than 14,000 earthquakes are recorded in New Zealand each year.
A much smaller earthquake also was recorded at 7:05 p.m. Saturday in the San Francisco Bay Area, a seismically active region of California that includes Oakland. There were no reports that the minor magnitude 3.6 temblor, centered 8 miles north of Berkeley, caused damages or injuries.
Camping, who lives few miles from his radio station, was not home late morning Saturday, and an additional attempt to seek comment from him late in the evening also was unsuccessful, with no one answering his front door.
Earlier in the day, Sheila Doan, 65, Camping’s next-door-neighbor of 40 years, was outside gardening and said the worldwide spotlight on his May 21 forecast has attracted far more attention than the 1994 prediction.
Doan said she is a Christian and while she respects her neighbor, she doesn’t share his views.
“I wouldn’t consider Mr. Camping a close friend and wouldn’t have him over for dinner or anything, but if he needs anything, we are there for him,” Doan said.
___
Associated Press reporters Terry Chea in Oakland, Don Babwin in Chicago, Mike Householder in Detroit, Janet McConnaughey in New Orleans, David R. Martin in New York and video journalist Haven Daley in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Is The Shack the third part of an unholy entertainment trinity?

False Prophets

“And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.”
—Matthew 24:11

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
—2Peter 2:1-3

According to a promotional piece for the onstage show, Stories From The Shack, “The Shack is now one of the 70 bestselling books of all time, and has become a cultural phenomenon in the same realm as the Twilight novels and the Harry Potter series.” [1] (Bold mine)

There is much spiritual truth in this statement, however unintentional. The false church is mixing with the Body of Christ, and much of this is being done through our love of entertainment. A grieved missionary recently reported how a missions group from a Christian college brought Harry Potter movies as gifts for orphans in Africa.

We now see numerous Christians defending Twilight, Harry Potter and yes, The Shack. One pastor made Paul Young his guest of honor, and devoted three full services to The Shack. Despite understanding the novel is theologically errant, he nevertheless allowed Paul Young to share his “theology of healing.” That was two years ago. Although informed after the service of Paul Young’s rejection of the penal substitutionary atonement–and provided documentation–the church bookstore is still selling copies of The Shack today.

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.” (John 21:17)

Do we love Christ enough to defend Him? Enough to protect His people?

Paul Young has had a rough life. But so have many of us. My dad died of AIDS. My wife and I have both repented of homosexual sin. I have been a homeless heroin addict and alcoholic in a number of cities. I have had skin cancer, and heart failure, struggle with the sin of gluttony, and Christ is my Salvation. Should I have chosen to align with a re-made “god” because that is easier and more pleasing?

I am sorry, but this is what is being offered to hurting people. Paul Young in 2004 wrote a paper advocating “Christian Universalism,” the belief that all go to heaven, whether they accept Jesus as Savior or not. [2] This is why The Shack refers to Jesus as the “best way” but not the only way. [3] This is why the Father-goddess character states she does not punish sin–that it is its own punishment. [4]

The spirit behind The Shack no longer needs to fight for entrance into the Body of Christ. That is a done deal. In fact, according to the promotional for Stories From The Shack, “Paul Young is setting up his own pulpit–not in a church but in a show that takes The Shack live. It’s called Stories From The Shack: a theatrical presentation that combines elements of Cirque de Soleil and Charlie Rose-like interviews.” [5]

The Shack is “higher power” theology meets goddess worship meets universalism. The Shack brings the rising false gospel–and it is settling into our chuches with silken, sibilant smoothness.

The Catholic Church in Rome made the extraordinary admission yesterday that it is aware priests from at least 23 countries have been sexually abusing nuns.

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False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences•Strongs 4625: skandalon, skan´-dal-on; (“scandal;” probably from a derivative of 2578; a trap-stick (bent sapling), i.e. snare (figuratively, cause of displeasure or sin): — occasion to fall (of stumbling), offence, thing that offends, stumblingblock. will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
—Luke 17:1

Jesus said, “It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend•Strongs 4624: skandalizo, skan-dal-id´-zo; from 4625; to entrap, i.e. trip up (figuratively, stumble (transitively) or entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure): — (make to) offend. one of these little ones.”
—Luke 17:2

Most of the abuse has occurred in Africa, where priests vowed to celibacy, who previously sought out prostitutes, have preyed on nuns to avoid contracting the Aids virus.

Confidential Vatican reports obtained by the National Catholic Reporter, a weekly magazine in the US, have revealed that members of the Catholic clergy have been exploiting their financial and spiritual authority to gain sexual favours from nuns, particularly those from the Third World who are more likely to be culturally conditioned to be subservient to men.

The reports, some of which are recent and some of which have been in circulation for at least seven years, said that such priests had demanded sex in exchange for favours, such as certification to work in a given diocese.

In extreme instances, the priests had made nuns pregnant and then encouraged them to have abortions.

The US article was based on five documents, which senior women from religious orders and priests have presented to the Vatican over the past decade. They describe a particularly bad situation in Africa. In a continent devastated by Aids, nuns, along with early adolescent girls, are perceived by some as safe sexual targets. The reports said that the church authorities had done little to tackle the problem.

The Vatican reports cited countless cases of nuns forced to have sex with priests. Some were obliged to take the pill, others became pregnant and were encouraged to have abortions. In one case in which an African sister was forced to have an abortion, she died during the operation and her aggressor led the funeral mass. Another case involved 29 sisters from the same congregation who all became pregnant to priests in the diocese.

The reports said that the cultures in some African countries made it almost impossible for a young woman to disobey an older man, especially one seen as spiritually superior. There were cases of novices who applied to their local priest or bishop for certificates of good Catholic practice that were required for them to pursue their vocation. In return they were made to have sex. Some incidents of sexual abuse allegedly took place almost within the Vatican walls.

Certain unscrupulous clerics took advantage of young nuns who were having trouble finding accommodation, writing their essays and funding their theological studies.

Forced to acknowledge the problem, the Vatican has tried to play down its gravity. In a statement issued yesterday the Pope’s official spokesman, Joaquin Navarro Valls, said: “The problem is known and involves a restricted geographical area. Certain negative situations must not overshadow the often heroic faith of the overwhelming majority of religious, nuns and priests”.

One of the most comprehensive documents was compiled by Sister Maura O’Donohue, an Aids co-ordinator for Cafod, the London-based Catholic Fund for Overseas Development.

She noted that religious sisters had been identified as “safe” targets for sexual activity. She quotes a case in 1991 of a community superior being approached by priests requesting that the nuns be made available to them for sexual favours.

“When the superior refused the priests explained they would otherwise be obliged to go to the village to find women and might thus get Aids.”Sister O’Donohue said her initial reaction to what she was told by her fellow religious “was one of shock and disbelief at the magnitude of the problem”.

While most of the abuse happened in African countries, Sister O’Donohue reported incidents in 23 countries including India, Ireland, Italy, the Philippines and the United States.

She heard cases of priests encouraging the nuns to take the pill telling them it would prevent HIV. Others “actually encouraged abortion for the sisters” and Catholic hospitals and medical staff reported pressure from priests to carry out terminations for nuns and other young women.

O’Donohue wrote in her report how a vicar in one African diocese had talked “quite openly” about sex, saying that “celibacy in the African context means a priest does not get married, but does not mean he does not have children.”

The head of the Vatican congregation for Religious Life, Cardinal Martinez Somalo, has set up a committee to look into the problem. But it seems to have done little beyond “awareness raising” among bishops.

More recently, in 1998, Sister Marie McDonald, mother superior of the Missionaries of Our Lady of Africa, put together a paper entitled The Problem of the Sexual Buse of African Religious in Africa and Rome.

She tabled the document to the Council of 16, made up of delegates of the international association of women’s and men’s religious communities and the Vatican office responsible for religious life. She noted that a contributing cause was the “conspiracy of silence”.

When she addressed bishops on the problem, many of them felt it was disloyal of the sisters to send reports.

“However, the sisters claim they have done so time and time again. Sometimes they were not well received. In some instances they are blamed for what happened. Even when they are listened to sympathetically nothing much seems to be done” One of the most tragic elements that emerges is the fate of the victims. While the offending priests are usually moved or sent away for studies, the women are normally chased out of their religious orders, they are then either to scared to return to their families or are rejected by them. they often finished up as outcasts, or, in a cruel twist of irony, as prostitutes, making a meagre living from an act they had vowed never to do.

One of the few religious in Rome willing to talk about the report was Father Giulio Albanese, of MISNA, the missionary news agency. “Missionaries are human beings, who are often living under immense psychological pressure in situations of war and ongoing violence. On one hand it’s important to condemn this horror and it’s important tell the truth, but we must not emphasise this at the expense of the work done by the majority, many of whom have laid down lives for witness” said Fr Albanese “The press only talks about missionaries when they are killed, kidnapped or are involved in something scandalous” he added.

As the Vatican digests the unpalatable evidence of how their own priests are ruining the lives of their sisters, many Catholics hope a strong message may come from on high. With the American bishops, the Pope spoke in clear terms about paedophile priests, telling them this was a scourge that had to be faced. Some now hope that he may be equally courageous in denouncing an evil which has been covered by silence and shame for too long.

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Editors note about the 2nd Commandment stated above•The correct second commandment is stated in Exodus: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments Exodus 20:4-6.
•Guess they should check the third box also!

Are you a sinner? Don’t worry, there’s an app for that. The Roman Catholic Church has approved a recent iTunes addition called Confession, a $1.99 app that bills itself as “the perfect aid for every penitent.”

False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

“Having a form•Strongs 3446: morphosis, mor´-fo-sis; from 3445; formation, i.e. (by implication), appearance (semblance or (concretely) formula): — form. of godliness•Strongs 2150: eusebeia, yoo-seb´-i-ah; from 2152; piety; specially, the gospel scheme: — godliness, holiness., but denying the power•Strongs 1411: dunamis, doo´-nam-is; from 1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself): — ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. thereof: from such turn away.”
—2 Timothy 3:5

Editors note about the word power• The Greek word “dunamis” is the word Jesus used to describe the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. See, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8 and Acts 2:1-4.
•This is the promise that Jesus shed upon His church in Acts 2:33. It is also the power that is delivered to everyone that is called afar off, even to you in this generation.
•However, we are warned to be aware of the counterfeits.

As you can see above, it lets you pick a commandment and tick off all your sins, keeping a running tally to bring into the confessional with you — a sort of anti-tasklist, if you will. Can’t find your particular misstep? No problem! You’re able to add your own, custom dastardly deeds, filling in those gaps the app’s authors didn’t think anyone would fill. Now all it needs is a random sin selector: shake the phone to instantly get a wicked suggestion. That certainly could make boring Thursday nights at the dormitory a little more exciting.

WARSAW, Poland — A vial containing blood drawn from Pope John Paul II shortly before he died will be installed as a relic in a Polish church soon after his beatification later this year, an official said Monday.

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False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

Idols

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”
—1 John 5:21

Piotr Sionko, the spokesman for the John Paul II Center, said the vial will be encased in crystal and built into the altar of a church in the southern city of Krakow that is opening in May.

The exact date of the opening is not yet known, but it should be shortly after John Paul’s beatification at the Vatican on May 1.

Sionko said the idea came from Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow and the longtime friend and secretary of the late Polish-born pontiff. The blood was drawn for medical tests at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic shortly before John Paul’s death on April 2, 2005, and is now in Dziwisz’s possession, he said.

“It was the cardinal’s proposal,” Sionko said. “He is of the opinion that this is the most precious relic of John Paul II and should be the focal point of the church.”

The church in the Lagiewniki district is part of a center that will be devoted to cultivating the memory and the teaching of the late pope – who was born Karol Wojtyla in Wadowice, southern Poland, and spent decades in Krakow.

Many Catholics in the world are rejoicing over Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement last week that he will beatify John Paul on May 1. Beatification is the last major step before possible sainthood.

The idea of displaying the pope’s relics has met with some reservations, even inside the Catholic Church.

“The tradition of relics comes from medieval practices of teaching the Bible through images and symbols,” said the Rev. Krzysztof Madel, a Jesuit priest in Nowy Sacz who has publicly questioned the usefulness of displaying John Paul’s blood. “But in today’s rationalized world the message should rather come through teaching about someone’s life.”

After John Paul’s death, some Polish officials said they hoped John Paul’s heart would be removed from his body and returned to his homeland for burial. However, church officials dismissed any possibility of dismembering the body, saying the age had passed for that practice.

Dziwisz said Friday that he has always been against dividing of the body, but that “relics have always existed and will always exist.”

“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference.

Anti-Semitism

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue words

Moving Towards Ezekiel 38-39

“Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations•Strongs 1471: gowy, go´-ee; rarely (shortened) y…Og goy, go´-ee; apparently from the same root as 1465 (in the sense of massing); a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts:—Gentile, heathen, nation, people. whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.”
—Jeremiah 46:28

False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

“Having a form•Strongs 3446: morphosis, mor´-fo-sis; from 3445; formation, i.e. (by implication), appearance (semblance or (concretely) formula): — form. of godliness•Strongs 2150: eusebeia, yoo-seb´-i-ah; from 2152; piety; specially, the gospel scheme: — godliness, holiness., but denying the power•Strongs 1411: dunamis, doo´-nam-is; from 1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself): — ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. thereof: from such turn away.”
—2 Timothy 3:5

Editors note about the word power• The Greek word “dunamis” is the word Jesus used to describe the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. See, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8 and Acts 2:1-4.
•This is the promise that Jesus shed upon His church in Acts 2:33. It is also the power that is delivered to everyone that is called afar off, even to you in this generation.
•However, we are warned to be aware of the counterfeits.

t conference on Christians in the Middle East, US Melkite archbishop says: “There is no longer a chosen people.”

ROME – Bishops from the Middle East who were summoned to Rome by the pope demanded on Saturday that Israel accept UN resolutions calling for an end to its “occupation” of Arab lands.

In a final joint communique, the bishops also told Israel it shouldn’t use the Bible to justify “injustices” against the Palestinians.

The bishops issued the statement at the close of their two-week meeting, called by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the plight of Christians in the Middle East amid a major exodus of the faithful from the region.

The Catholic Church has long been a minority in the largely Muslim region but its presence is shrinking further as a result of war, conflict, discrimination and economic problems.

“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference.

“We Christians cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people – all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.

“Even if the head of the Israeli state is Jewish, the future is based on democracy.

The Palestinian refugees will eventually come back and this problem will have to be solved,” the Lebanese-born Bustros said.

Mordechay Lewy, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, told The Jerusalem Post that Bustros, in saying that Jesus nullified God’s covenant with the Jewish people, was “returning to successionist theology, contradicting Second Vatican Council teaching and Pope Benedict himself – who has welcomed the return of Jews to their ancient homeland.”

“Also,” added the ambassador, “by inviting all Palestinian refugees to return and denying Israel’s right to define itself a Jewish state – the only such in the world – he is regressing to hard-line positions that deny Israel’s right to exist.”

During the meeting, several bishops blamed the Israeli- Palestinian conflict for spurring the flight of Christians from the Middle East – a position echoed in their final paper. While the bishops condemned terrorism and anti-Semitism, they laid much of the blame for the conflict squarely on Israel.

They listed the “occupation” of Palestinian lands, Israel’s West Bank security barrier, its military checkpoints, “political prisoners,” demolition of homes and disturbance of Palestinians’ social and economic activities for making life increasingly difficult for Palestinians.

They said they had “reflected” on the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live and on the status of Jerusalem, a city holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims.

“We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance,” the bishops said in a joint statement.

They called on the international community to apply UN Security Council resolutions adopted in 1967, which called on Israel to withdraw from Arab land conquered in the Six Day War that year.

“The Palestinian people will thus have an independent and sovereign homeland where they can live with dignity and security, while Israel will be able to enjoy peace and security,” they said.

In their “Appeal to the International Community” the bishops expressed “hopes that the two-state solution becomes a reality and not only a dream.”

The document calls for “taking the necessary legal steps to put an end to the occupation of the different Arab territories” as well as “an end to the consequences of the deadly war in Iraq” and promotion of “basic public freedoms” and “sovereignty” in Lebanon.

Violence, terrorism, religious extremism, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Christianism and Islamophobia are all condemned, while “the religions” are called upon “to assume their responsibility to promote dialogue between cultures and civilizations in our region and in the entire world.”

To view dictionary popup window put your cursor on the blue words.

False Proplets

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”
—Matthew 7:15

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try•Strongs 1381: dokimazo, dok-im-ad´-zo; from 1384 ;to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve: — allow, discern, examine, x like, (ap-)prove,
•Strongs 1384: dokimos, dok´-ee-mos; from 1380; properly, acceptable (current after assayal), i.e. approved: — approved, tried. the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
—1 John 4:1

“Having a form•Strongs 3446: morphosis, mor´-fo-sis; from 3445; formation, i.e. (by implication), appearance (semblance or (concretely) formula): — form. of godliness•Strongs 2150: eusebeia, yoo-seb´-i-ah; from 2152; piety; specially, the gospel scheme: — godliness, holiness., but denying the power•Strongs 1411: dunamis, doo´-nam-is; from 1410; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself): — ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work. thereof: from such turn away.”
—2 Timothy 3:5

Editors note about the word power• The Greek word “dunamis” is the word Jesus used to describe the miracle power of the Holy Spirit. See, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:8 and Acts 2:1-4.
•This is the promise that Jesus shed upon His church in Acts 2:33. It is also the power that is delivered to everyone that is called afar off, even to you in this generation.
•However, we are warned to be aware of the counterfeits.

But even on its first day of existence, the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization ran into an all-too-typical Vatican snag: The four-page decree instituting the office was issued in only Latin and Italian

Asked how the pope expected to bring the church’s message to the world in such relatively unknown languages, the head of the new office, Monsignor Rino Fisichella said he hadn’t been in charge until Tuesday and wasn’t responsible for how the decree was issued.
He stressed that he planned to have language sections in his department to deal with the faithful in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German and Slavic languages.
Fisichella denied the creation of the office was a mere bureaucratic attempt to fix a complex cultural phenomenon, saying Benedict had made an astute, pastoral decision to focus attention on a growing problem that had preoccupied popes for decades.
Benedict has made reviving Europe’s Christian roots a priority. While the decree listed no specific geographical areas of concentration, the evangelization office is expected to also pay attention to Latin America, where evangelical movements are making inroads in traditionally Catholic countries such as Brazil.
In the decree, Benedict lamented that with tremendous scientific, social and cultural progress over the past century, parts of the world that once had strong Christian roots had grown to believe that they can exist without God.
“While some greeted this as a freedom, they soon realized the interior desert that is born when man — thinking himself the architect of his own nature and destiny — finds himself lacking that which is fundamental to everything,” Benedict wrote