No, the Beast is NOT Here: A Response to Celeste Solum

Commentary from E5-11 Ministry: One of the main points I was making in my “What’s Really Coming” series was that the New World Order is NOT the Beast of Revelation 13, and that what the conspiracy community had been talking about and exposing for decades was not the beast kingdom but rather a counterfeit.

The destruction of this counterfeit NWO (if that were possible) would lead to a FALSE peace, a faked renaissance; in actual fact it would be the time of “peace and security” that the apostle Paul said would come just before the “sudden destruction” – falling upon a unsuspecting world that had unwittingly embraced and worshiped the beast (1 Thess. 5:3).

Global Peace Agenda with Rick Warren & Tony Blair

Blair & Warren at Saddleback

Disturbing news has reached me of a meeting held at Saddleback Church this week featuring ex Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair is a Roman Catholic, and was recently in line for the post of President of the European Union.

God had a wife called Asherah?

Unsuprisingly, there is yet more anti-Christian programming from the tax-funded BBC. When you watch this latest bit of garbage, remember that YOU are paying for it.

BBC’s latest religious “expert” is a self-proclaimed atheist who claims God had a wife and Eve suffered from sexism. Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou makes a number of staggering statements in forthcoming BBC2 series “The Bible’s Buried Secrets.”

The presenter, who has a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford, argues that Eve was not the first woman in the Bible, as the story of the Garden of Eden does not belong in the first Book of the Old Testament.

She said: ‘Eve has been unfairly maligned as the troublesome wife who brought about the fall. Don’t forget that the biblical writers were male and it’s a very male-dominated world. Women were second-class citizens.’

And Dr Stavrakopoulou, a senior lecturer in the department of theology and religion at Exeter University, does not believe in God. She said: ‘I’m an atheist with a huge respect for religion’. [however, not with enough respect to get the facts right.]

Dr Stavrakopoulou’s claims that God had a wife appeared to be backed up by her own research speculation into the subject. In a recent article she wrote: ‘Archaeological evidence including inscriptions, figurines and ancient texts as well as details in the Bible, indicate not just that he was one of several worshipped in ancient Israel, but that he was also coupled with a goddess. She was worshipped alongside him in his temple in Jerusalem.

‘…Yahweh… had to see off a number of competitors to achieve his position as the one and only god of the ancient Israelites. The biblical texts name many of them: El, Baal, Molek, Asherah. ‘

‘Far more significant is the Bible’s admission that the goddess Asherah was worshipped in Yahweh’s temple in Jerusalem. In the Book Of Kings, we’re told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the temple…  goddess worship was a thriving feature of high-status religion in Jerusalem. ‘

”But perhaps most significant of all, Asherah was also the wife of El, the high god at Ugarit  –  a god who shares much in common with Yahweh. Given the evidence within the Bible that she was worshipped in the temple in Jerusalem, might she have played the role of a divine wife in ancient Israel too?’

Errrr – NO!!! Read the bible, dummy!

It’s no mystery that these days a liberal feminist atheist can get a degree in theology, in fact you’d probably struggle to get one if you were a genuine Christian. And it’s no surprise that it’s open season on Christians and the Bible again just in time for Easter. We expect nothing more from the BBC.

Source

By Hannah Roberts 8th March 2011

Climate Change – The New Religion?

From This Blog

The first time I began to think of environmentalism as a religion was after reading a speech Michael Crichton delivered back in 2003. Though he was not the first person to make this connection, his speech was widely quoted and widely discussed. And well it should have been. Though it is in many ways anti-religious and though it proceeds from an unbiblical worldview, it is, nevertheless, very interesting.

Crichton begins by saying “The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.” As a Christian I can agree, to some extent, with this statement. Certainly few things are as important to humans as distinguishing was is true (and Who is Truth). From that starting point, Crichton begins to show how environmentalism is spreading untruths and how it is built upon a shaky, unstable foundation.

Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it’s a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

There’s an initial Eden, a paradise, a state of grace and unity with nature, there’s a fall from grace into a state of pollution as a result of eating from the tree of knowledge, and as a result of our actions there is a judgment day coming for us all. We are all energy sinners, doomed to die, unless we seek salvation, which is now called sustainability. Sustainability is salvation in the church of the environment. Just as organic food is its communion, that pesticide-free wafer that the right people with the right beliefs, imbibe.

Eden, the fall of man, the loss of grace, the coming doomsday–these are deeply held mythic structures. They are profoundly conservative beliefs. They may even be hard-wired in the brain, for all I know. I certainly don’t want to talk anybody out of them, as I don’t want to talk anybody out of a belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God who rose from the dead. But the reason I don’t want to talk anybody out of these beliefs is that I know that I can’t talk anybody out of them. These are not facts that can be argued. These are issues of faith.

And so it is, sadly, with environmentalism. Increasingly it seems facts aren’t necessary, because the tenets of environmentalism are all about belief. It’s about whether you are going to be a sinner, or saved. Whether you are going to be one of the people on the side of salvation, or on the side of doom. Whether you are going to be one of us, or one of them.

As Christians we understand that certain truths are imprinted into the human mind. Among these truths is the knowledge that something in this world is not right. We know that we are sinners but that this is an unnatural state for us. And somehow we seem to know that we need redemption. Every religion offers its own understanding of how we can be made right. Environmentalism offers sustainability and offsets, the path to a return to the idyllic state from whence we came.

Crichton denies the existence of an Eden—he denies that humanity once experienced perfection. But his point still stands. Environmentalists have created in their own minds a kind of idealistic world that has never existed since the fall into sin and one that can never exist until the Lord returns. They fall into the myth of the noble savage, somehow believing that technology and industrialization are inherently evil. But history bears out just how wrong and absurd and irrational this is. “What was that Eden of the wonderful mythic past? Is it the time when infant mortality was 80%, when four children in five died of disease before the age of five? When one woman in six died in childbirth? When the average lifespan was 40, as it was in America a century ago. When plagues swept across the planet, killing millions in a stroke. Was it when millions starved to death? Is that when it was Eden? ”

Death and sin have reigned since Adam defied God. Death and sin will continue to mark this world until the day the Lord returns and eradicates them once and for all. Without the Lord we cannot return to the state of perfection, regardless of how well we treat this earth. But the environmentalists would have us believe otherwise. They are calling for us to place our faith in them and in their understanding of what’s happening in the world. They ask us to place our faith in their solution; in their salvation. Al Gore, undoubtedly the world’s foremost environmentalist spokesperson, has gone on record several times saying that we need to have a blind faith—that anyone who would doubt climate change is like a person who still believes in a flat earth. Environmentalism is a religion that is increasingly demanding adherence at the expense of reason. And this despite environmentalism’s long record of getting it all dead wrong (remember acid rain and global cooling and DDT and…?).

In find it interesting that the term “global warming” has now been largely supplanted by “climate change.” This offers at least two advantages to environmentalists: first, it allows scientists to claim either warming or cooling as evidence of their theories and second it makes their theories far easier to prove because the climate is always changing. The climate is never static, but always changing in one direction or another (which is why we speak of historical average temperatures drawn from a long sample). Today any unusual weather patterns—warm weather in January, unusually cold weather in January, a large number of hurricanes, the absence of hurricanes—are all used to prove that climate change is happening. And we are supposed to blindly accept all of this. This does look like a religion—not the religion of the Bible which offers evidence and calls for faith—but the religion of the world which demands faith despite evidence. It is a religion that mimics truth, offering its own concepts of deity, sin, salvation and redemption. It is a religion that masks truth, blinding people to problems of the heart that are far deeper than the environment. It is a religion that creates its own version of truth. It is yet another false religion—another kind of works righteousness in which humans can make themselves right before their god through their own efforts.

Let me conclude with sentiment I’ve expressed here before. I am all for tending to the earth and hence I’m all for our town’s new waste disposal strategy. I know that God entrusted it to us and did not give us a world that is merely habitable, but a world that is stunningly, breathtakingly beautiful and one that was absolutely perfect for us. Sadly, we ruined the perfection and continue to do so. As Christians we should have the highest view of the earth, seeing it as a gracious and generous gift of God. We should be first in line to protect it, to tend to it, and to attempt to reverse whatever damage we have done to it. Yet we must not fool ourselves into believing that we can save it in and of ourselves. The earth is not neutral or inherently good. Not anymore. We ruined it and have to be prepared for it to continue to decay, just as you and I will do. As our bodies rot and decay, so too does the earth. So while we tend to it, we do so from a perspective that realizes that this earth is only our temporary home. When the Lord returns He will redeem it, He will rebuild it, and restore it to its original perfection.

New World Order Called For

Prime Minister Calls for New World Order

Prime Minister Gordon Brown will today set out a five-point plan to create a “stronger and more just” world order in the wake of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

By Nick Allen 10:44AM GMT 10 Nov 2008
Mr Brown wants agreement on a world trade deal and reform of the international financial system

Mr Brown will call on fellow world leaders to use the current worldwide economic downturn as an opportunity to thoroughly reform international financial institutions and create a new “truly global society” with Britain, the US and Europe providing leadership.

His call comes ahead of an emergency summit of world leaders and finance ministers from 20 major countries, the G20, in Washington next weekend.

Mr Brown will say that the Washington meeting must establish a consensus on a new Bretton Woods-style framework for the international financial system, featuring a reformed International Monetary Fund which will act as a global early-warning system for financial problems.

The original Bretton Woods agreements, signed in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire in 1944, established post-war international monetary protocols governing trade, banking and other financial relations among nations, including fixed exchange rates and the IMF.

Mr Brown’s plan for strengthening the global economy 60 years later involves recapitalisation of banks to permit the resumption of normal lending to households and businesses, better international co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policy and a new IMF fund to help struggling economies and stop financial problems spreading between nations.

He also wants agreement on a world trade deal and reform of the international financial system based on principles of “transparency, integrity, responsibility, sound banking practice and global governance with co-ordination across borders”.

As Britain moves into a painful recession Mr Brown has staked his own leadership on helping to find a way out of the global crisis.

In a speech to City financiers at the annual Lord Mayor’s banquet in London he will say: “The British Government will begin to begin a new Bretton Woods with a new IMF that offers, by its surveillance of every economy, an early warning system and a crisis prevention mechanism for the whole world.

“The alliance between Britain and the US, and more broadly between Europe and the US, can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order.

“My message is that we must be internationalist not protectionist, interventionist not neutral, progressive not reactive and forward-looking not frozen by events. We can seize the moment and in doing so build a truly global society.”

Mr Brown has already discussed IMF reforms with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and has called on countries including China and the oil-rich Gulf states to fund the bulk of an increase in the IMF’s bailout pot.

The Prime Minister wants the markets to be subjected to morality and ordinary people’s interests are put first.

He believes that in electing Barack Obama, US voters have showed their belief in a “progressive” agenda of government intervention to help families and businesses through the current crisis.

He will say: “Uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed.”

However, the head of the IMF played down expectations of a new Bretton Woods system ahead of the G20 summit.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF’s managing director, said: “Expectations should not be oversold. Things are not going to change overnight. Bretton Woods took two years to prepare. A lot of people are talking about Bretton Woods II. The words sound nice but we are not going to create a new international treaty.”

The European Union has called for an overhaul of the IMF with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, saying: “We want to change the rules of the game”.

The US, however, has been more lukewarm on the possibility of radical change.

 

Who is the Messiah?

October 5, 2008 at 10:16

On a fascinating and disturbing website: “Forcing Change”:  http://www.forcingchange.org  we can read about globalisation and the New World Order now forming, as much a result of heresy in the churches as economic recession and environmentalism in my opinion. Indeed the Observer newspaper today (Sunday 5th October) has a leading article about the New Order that “the Crash of 2008” will bring about.

However, Christians believe that New Order will require a New Leader, a Messiah figure who will promote and introduce the startling ideas of globalisation to mankind. This article on the above-mentioned website explores some thinking around the concept that should make us sit back and wonder how long it will be before he arrives to head us all in the “right direction”.

The Millennium Messiah and World Change By Carl Teichrib

Allow me to introduce to you the new Jesus. This isn’t the Jesus Christ known to us from the pages of the Holy Bible, rather, this Jesus is a new version cast into the arena of international politics and global social change. Wondering what I’m talking about?

In the fall of 1999, I received a little book titled The Night Jesus Christ Returned To Earth, authored by Captain Tom A. Hudgens. In the late 1990’s, while attending various conferences on international affairs, I had the opportunity of listening to Mr. Hudgens present his views on “world order” and global citizenship. At that time, Mr. Hudgens was President and CEO of the Association to Unite the Democracies – an organization dedicated to the advancement of global government by specifically working towards the unification of leading democratic countries – so his views carried a decidedly internationalist flavor. Not surprisingly, so too does the Jesus character of Hudgens’ book.

In his Foreword, Hudgens writes, “In this book I have intentionally put words into Jesus’ mouth. Whether the words came directly to me from Him or that the words are my own invention is debatable” [1]. Furthermore, Hudgens draws out a challenge, “If what I have Jesus say in this book does not agree with what you think He would say, I challenge you to write down what you think He would endorse today” [2].

As a work of fiction, the author portrays Jesus Christ as returning to Earth during the Millennium Celebrations at Times Square in New York City. The year, 1999, is only seconds away from closing.

“At the very moment that the white ball should start its descent, a loud explosion scatters the ball into a million pieces of confetti. In its place is Jesus Christ, descending and arriving at the bottom for his triumphal return to Earth, not as described in the Book of Revelation, but as He Himself had decided to make His entrance” [3].

At this point in the book, Jesus explains why he appeared first in the United States, and New York City more specifically:

1.       America has the most Christians,

2.       The United Nations is headquartered in New York, and…

3.       The US is the “freest of all nations and the guarantor of freedom and human rights” [4].

Jesus then asks “all citizens of the world to elect ten disciples for me…” [5]. All of this is rather novel, especially given the fact that the Jesus of the Bible always invited His disciples to follow Him – it was not a matter of democracy, but of invitation and personal calling.

Hudgens then goes on to describe what his version of Jesus “would endorse today.”

1. A stabilization of the United Nations and a call to global democracy [6].

2. A uniting of all democratic countries into a limited federal republic; ie, a world government. In fact, this “Millennium Messiah” [my phrase] makes numerous direct references to the Association to Unite the Democracies – Hudgens’ world government lobbying organization – it’s agendas and ideas, and it’s importance in striving for a political, economic, and military unification of like-minded nations [7].

3. That the European Union should become the core group used to unite the democracies, and that other existing international arrangements (such as NATO) be brought into the fold [8].

4. That “total gun control” is necessary. In this regard, the National Rifle Association is mentioned as a negative factor in America’s political system [9].

5. A calling to “sap the strength of the multinational corporations which are ruling the world.” Hudgens’ Jesus explained that these multinational corporations are “ruling the world” to the detriment of the poor [10]. [Author’s note: multinational corporations do exercise a considerable degree of power within national economies, but an enhanced United Nations or some other centralist type world government – which Hudgens suggests – would be akin to opening a Pandora’s Box of political and economic control over all peoples, be they rich, poor, or middle class via another layer of power and political/economic influence.]

6. A calling for population control and the necessity of abortion in order to ensure the safety of the Earth’s environment. Hudgens’ Jesus even tells us when life begins; “when the umbilical cord is severed.” Moreover, Jesus even goes so far as to tell his New York audience that, “I plan to speak with the Pope about this matter” [11].

7. And, among other things, Jesus brings religion into the picture by declaring, “Over time I believe we can show that Christianity is compatible with all other religions. My coming will help to solidify the religions” [12].

I understand that Mr. Hudgens’ name and organization are not recognized house-hold words. Few people outside of World Federalist circles and global citizenship lobby groups will have ever heard of either the individual or his association. And it’s not that his book The Night Jesus Christ Returned To Earth has been an influential top-seller. Odds are, those who have the book are few and far-between.

So why bring all of this up? Simply because these concepts represent a line of thinking found within certain elements of the international community. Of this we need to be aware.

Former United Nations high-official, Robert Muller [not the FBI Robert Muller], readily preached and still advocates a new global order which incorporates a politically internationalist New Age Jesus. In his 1982 book, New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, Muller writes, “If Christ came back to earth, his first visit would be to the United Nations to see if his dream of human oneness and brotherhood had come true” [13].

In a section of New Genesis titled “The Reappearance of Christ” [this chapter is a transcript of a speech he gave at the Arcane School Conference, a New Age body directly connected to Lucis Trust and the occult philosophies of Alice Bailey], Muller spells out a lengthy yet revealing vision of “Christ” within a new world paradigm.

“So everywhere I look – and I am not a theologian or a philosopher, I am just a United Nations official trying to make a little sense out of all this – everywhere I see the Christ’s luminous messages. They are all still among us, they are coming again to the fore ever more potently. In the present global world they have to express themselves in the ecumenism of religions. The world’s major religions in the end all want the same thing, even though they were born in different places and circumstances on this planet. What the world needs today is a convergence of the different religions in the search for and definition of the cosmic or divine laws which out to regulate our behavior on this planet. World-wide spiritual ecumenism, expressed in new forms of religious cooperation and institutions, would probably be closest to the heart of the resurrected Christ. I would wholeheartedly support the creation of an institutional arrangement in the UN or in UNESCO for a dialogue and cooperation between religions. There is a famous painting and poster which shows Christ knocking at the tall United Nations building, wanting to enter it. I often visualize in my mind another even more accurate painting: that of a United Nations which would be the body of Christ” [14].

Muller’s vision didn’t emerge from his own sense of spiritual understanding, it is the result of other peoples work – including the mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Muller devotes a chapter to Chardin in New Genesis) [15], and Alice Bailey, whose writings have heavily influenced the Robert Muller School program [16].

Chardin, a highly controversial Catholic theologian, advocated the complete unification of mankind, including,

1.       The development of a common humanity-wide consciousness [17].

2.       A “new spiritual dimension” based on “universal unification” [18], and the establishment of a universal human creed; “…a new spirit for a new order” [19].

3.       A complete economic, political, and social planetary structure based on group thinking,

“…everything suggests that at the present time we are entering a peculiarly critical phase of super-humanisation. This is what I hope to persuade you of by drawing your atention to an altogether extraordinary and highly suggestive condition of the world round us, one which we all see and are subject to, but without paying attention to it, or at lease without understanding it: I mean the increasingly rapid growth in the human world of the forces of collectivisation.

The phenomenon calls for no detailed description. It takes the form of the all- encompassing ascent of the masses; the constant tightening of economic bonds; the spread of financial and intellectual associations; the totalisation of political regimes; the closer physical contact of individuals as well as nations; the increasing impossibility of being or acting or thinking alone – ” [20] [italics in original].

4.       Global unification through supernatural powers; “Whether we wish it or not, Mankind is becoming collectivised, totalised under the influence of psychic and spiritual forces on a planetary scale” [21].

5.       And an endorsement and longing for the United Nations to flourish, even though it is still imperfect and will remain so until complete social totalization is achieved [22].

Placing the capstone on all of this is the ongoing and incomplete work of the New Age Christ,

“And since Christ was born, and ceased to grow, and died, everything has continued in motion because he has not yet attained the fullness of his form. He has not gathered about Him the last folds of the garment of flesh and love woven for him by his faithful. The mystical Christ has not reached the peak of his growth…and it is the continuation of this engendering that there lies the ultimate driving force behind all created activity…Christ is the term of even the natural evolution of living beings.” [23]

Similar to Chardin, Alice Bailey – a leader in the early Theosophical movement and founder of Lucifer Publishing Company, which later morphed into Lucis Trust and has since spurred on a whole series of New Age subsidiaries – taught that a transformed world was close at hand. And like Chardin’s “new spirit for a new order,” Bailey writes in The Rays and The Initiations, “Some day the minds of men – illuminated by the light of the soul – will formulate the one universal religion, recognizable by all” [24].

Expanding this spiritual collective philosophy further, Bailey reveals that the new world Christ will manifest himself physically, directing his will into the arena of world politics, economics, and religion [25]. Even now, Bailey explains, the apparent contradiction of national and international conflict is geared towards this singular purpose – a “climax,” a “point of tension” that “will eventually prove to be the agent that will bring about a point of emergence” [26].

Muller, Chardin, Bailey…each of these visionaries, and scores more, call out for a restrucutred international political system, global economic change, and a social transformation of the globe – all brought about by a New Age Messiah. Which brings us full circle, coming face-to-face with Hudgens’ Millennium Jesus and Hudgens’ challenge: what would Jesus endorse today?

Actually, this isn’t too hard to figure out. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Knowing this, it’s fairly easy to discern what Jesus Christ would endorse today; it’s the same thing He endorsed 2000 years ago – an exclusive way to the Father (John 14:6) and that man is in need of a Savior because man is a sinful creature (John 3:16-21).

But none of this bodes well in today’s climate of global tolerance and planetary correctness. Instead, a New Age Messiah is desired and anticipated, one that is willing to embrace all religions and unite all nations.

---

Endnotes:

1. Captain Tom A. Hudgens, The Night Jesus Christ Returned To Earth (Denver, CO: BILR Corporation, 1999, ISBN 0-937177-01-6), Forward.
2. Ibid., Forward.
3. Ibid., p.35.
4. Ibid., p.36.
5. Ibid., p.37.
6. Ibid., p.40.
7. Ibid., pp.41-43.
8. Ibid., p.44.
9. Ibid., p.47.
10. Ibid., p.51.
11. Ibid., pp.52, 87.
12. Ibid., p.85.
13. Robert Muller, New Genesis: Shaping A Global Spirituality (Anacortes, WA: World Happiness and Cooperation, 1993/1982, ISBN 1-880455-04-8), p.19.
14. Ibid., pp.126-127.
15. Ibid., pp.159-168.
16. See Gary Kah’s book, The New World Religion (Noblesville, IN: Hope International Publishing, 1999, ISBN 0-9670098-0-4), pp.162-184.
17. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Future of Man (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1959/1964), p.56.
18. Ibid., p.62.
19. Ibid., p.79.
20. Ibid., pp.117-118.
21. Ibid., p.201.
22. Ibid., pp.267-268.
23. Ibid., 320.
24. Alice Bailey, The Rays and The Initiations (New York, NY: Lucis Publishing Company, 1960), p.594.
25. Ibid., see Section Two, pp.556-661.
26. Ibid., p.623.