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Pastimes : Prophecy -- HYPE or HOPE? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: long-gone who wrote (9)	2/21/2000 8:54:00 PM
From: SOROS	Respond to of 5569

CLOSER THAN WE THINK??? How swiftly time passes! Already we're well into the year 2000. The alleged Y2K bug (including billions of embedded chips, which were going to cause havoc) turned out to be the myth of the millennium. The contrast between fearful Christians and a confident world was embarrassing. InterVarsity canceled its huge triennial Urbana conference scheduled for the end of 1999, and Promise Keepers broke its promise to hold the largest combined gathering of Christian men in history on the steps of state capitols January 1, 2000. The world, however, didn't cancel NFL, NBA, bowl games, or millennial festivities, etc. Those who followed Year 2000 celebrations in succeeding time zones across the globe sensed an electrifying exuberance everywhere. None of the anticipated terrorism occurred and crowds were so well behaved that for most police it was quieter than the usual Friday. Worldwide there was an exhilarating camaraderie, the expectancy of great things to come and the feeling that a new age of peace and prosperity had dawned. Far from breaking down, modern technology has created a new electronic world without borders. Antichrist's world government is not only believable but just around some nearby corner. Multinational corporations have united this world in a way that could not have been anticipated a few decades ago. There is now no turning back. The scenario we presented from the Bible 17 years ago in Peace, Prosperity and the Coming Holocaust continues to unfold before our eyes. The billions spent on Y2K fixes have laid the foundation for a new technological explosion beyond imagination. It is not surprising that Christian leaders, too, would be caught up in the euphoria, considering the growing apostasy. With high tech, who needs the Holy Spirit? Who in these times fears God? Man is now in control! We have long warned of the accelerating ecumenism, and that few would believe in the Rapture if it did not occur by the year 2000. One can see the world church, Antichrist's bride, rising like a phoenix from the apostate ashes of professing Christianity. One can almost trace this progression in "Larry King Live" interviews, some of which we have quoted in the past. King's present wife is a Mormon. Probably because of the Mormon belief in eternal marriage, on Christmas night of 1998 King asked his guest, Billy Graham, whether there would be sex in heaven. The great evangelist said indeed there would be if that were important for our happiness. In 1999, the Christmas Eve program was broadcast live from the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Seated with King at a small table was Mormon President Gordon B. Hinckley, who, as King intended, came across as the leader of a mainline Christian denomination. Behind them was the famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir's broad loft, gorgeously festooned in flowers, the massive organ towering above. Commercial breaks contained cuts of the choir singing Christmas songs with obvious sincerity. King's interview with Hinckley was interspersed with frequent live pick-ups of Nobel Peace Prize winner South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, in front of the altar in the Episcopal National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Appearing also was Robert Schuller, telecast from a field overlooking Bethlehem, Israel. To King's delight, both men supported Hinckley and Mormonism as soundly Christian, and all three expressed enthusiastic anticipation of an inevitable agreement among all religions. For those readers who may not be aware or have forgotten, the Mormon "God" is a man with a physical body who was redeemed on another planet by another Jesus and achieved godhood. There are supposedly an infinite number of such gods ruling other planets, and every Mormon male aspires to become a god himself, which would add millions more. Central to Mormonism is the dogma, "As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become." "God" is the literal father of every person on earth through one of his many wives. He had physical sex with Mary to bring forth the Mormon "Jesus," who needed a physical body to become a god. His death for our sins made it possible for Mormons to earn their own salvation, which is exaltation to godhood through good works, secret temple rituals, and further initiations after death. Thus exalted, each will make his own new earth and another Adam and Eve. Another Lucifer will cause another fall, and another Jesus will die on a cross to make possible exaltation for more gods. With that background, here are some excerpts from "Larry King Live," Christmas Eve 1999, with my comments. KING: Tell us, Reverend Schuller...where you are.... SCHULLER: Where I'm sitting right now is probably where the shepherds were when the angels appeared and proclaimed the purpose of the whole faith, and that is to bring peace on earth, good will to men...I'm very interested in...doing what I can to bring peace on earth.... [Schuller seems to be referring to the absence of war for which the secular world hopes. But such peace is not "the purpose of the whole faith." Jesus provides "peace with God" (Rom 5:1) "through the blood of his cross" (Col 1:20). Sadly, King and his vast audience were left without that truth.] KING: And why are you here? SCHULLER: I've had a wonderful past few days,...several meetingsthree in his homewith the leading Muslim thinker and leader in the world, the Grand Mufti of the great mosque in Damascus. [He] invited me.... KING: The idea of bringing religions together, right? SCHULLER: Absolutely. SCHULLER (continuing): I have seldom met with a man [with] whom I felt an immediate kinship of spirit and an agreement of faith and philosophy quite like I have with the Grand Mufti of the faith. [Agreement of faith...Grand Mufti of the faith? Is Islam, then, the faith "once (for all time) delivered to the saints" for which we are to earnestly contend (Jude 3)? Or has the world's leading Muslim become the Grand Mufti of Christianity? Or are Islam and Christianity the same faith? Islam says Allah is not a father and has no son, denies that Jesus is God, denies His death, burial and resurrection for our sins, denies even that He died on the cross (another died in His place), claims He was taken to heaven without dying and must come back to die, etc. The faith taught in the Bible is vigorously opposed by Islam. Yet Schuller has said that if all of his descendants became Muslims, it wouldn't bother him so long as they weren't atheists!] SCHULLER (continuing): I spent a great deal of time with the Chief Rabbi here in Israel,...he wants to meet the Grand Mufti, ...maybe I can get the two together.... KING: That'll be historic. Archbishop Tutu...[what is] the scene...in Washington? TUTU:...the National Cathedral of the Episcopal Church...is filling up for...the midnight Mass...to celebrate the coming of God into a world where God is saying, "I love you...I believe in you." [God believes in mankind? Not according to the Bibleand why should He?] KING: President Hinckley, do you think, really, it's possible that Reverend Schuller's dream and what Archbishop Tutu just said can happen...all peoples, all religions...can come together? HINCKLEY: I would hope so...things are better than they've ever been...there's a new...acceptance of other religions. We must recognize that all...are sons and daughters of God...brothers and sisters ...all of one great family, the family of God. [This is Mormonism: Before we came to earth to acquire bodies, we were all born to the same "Father God" by different goddess mothers, in a spirit world where Lucifer and Jesus were half-brothers to each other and to all of us.] KING: Reverend Schuller...what gives you hope...? SCHULLER: We're in a totally new era. ...television...the internet ...the age of being able to indoctrinate people is finished.... [Schuller equates the gospel with "indoctrination," which he opposes. He has said, "That's what sets me apart from fundamentalists, who are trying to convert everybody to believe how they believe....We try to [avoid] offending those with different viewpoints...."] KING: Bishop Tutu, would you agree? TUTU: That's a very good assessment ...just a week or so ago, there was a meeting of...the World Parliament of Religions in Capetown...all kinds of faiths represented ...there is a greater measure of understanding...there are different ways of...discovering the transcendent, that God is a great deal larger than all of our faiths. [This was a followup to the 1993 Parliament of World Religions held in Chicago with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, snake worshipers, spiritists, animists, witches, shamans, Protestants and Catholics honoring each others' religions. It was cosponsored by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, Chicago's Lutheran School of Theology, the Evangelical Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, and with an official Vatican representative present.] KING: President Hinckley...what gives you hope...? HINCKLEY: We [Mormons] have come from [persecution] to respect all across... the world.... KING: Does Bethlehem, Robert Schuller, give you encouragement...? SCHULLER: Oh, absolutely...When the Chief Rabbi of Israel wants to meet with the top Christian and Muslim leaders...this is marvelous. When the Grand Mufti would invite me...to preach the sermon in his mosque on Holy Day...that he would sit and often hold my hand while I was talking, and here was the Roman Catholic patriarch, the patriarch of the Orthodox church and the patriarch of the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Protestant minister of the townthis is a remarkable thing that's happening. And...the Grand Mufti said...religion is like rain that falls,...then the extremists...pollute the pure water....I'm very excited....I predict we're going to focus in the next millennium as religious leaders to clean up the pollution in religion.... [Obviously "extremist polluters" include Christians who stand firm for the gospeland the cleanup will get rid of them and bring all religions together.] TUTU: We have been given the opportunity of making a new beginning. KING: Have you, Gordon Hinckley, forgiven those who, in the past, tormented your faith? HINCKLEY: Yes, I think we have. KING: Where do you get that from? HINCKLEY: Well, it comes of the gospel. You put your faith in the Lord.... [No hint that the Mormon gospel is anti-Christian, that Joseph Smith was told by "God" and taught his followers that all Christian "creeds were an abomination in his sight"! King helped Hinckley to pawn off Mormonism as biblical Christianity, with Tutu's and Schuller's approval.] KING: President Gordon B. Hinckley... [your] book Standing for Something [is] going to be released in March by Random House....What do you mean [by that title]? HINCKLEY: This book [is] a plea to people...to be honest, to be upright, to be men and women...who have faith, who pray, who return to the virtues that made America great.... Most other problems will take care of themselves if that happens. KING: You agree with that, Reverend Schuller? SCHULLER: Oh, absolutely. I want to thank very much President Hinckley for pointing out that Christianity has been the greatest success possible...what we need to do is return to the faith, the values of this Christ who was born 2,000 years ago.... [Mormonism exemplifies successful Christianity—the faith?] TUTU: Christianity has been responsible for some of the most horrendous atrocities that the world has seen, and we ought to be suitably modest and humble....I do believe ...we need to stand up for what is good,... [but] not in an aggressive way...[as if] we are the ones who have got the truth.... KING: Yes..."I am the Way, and the Light, and the Truthand you're not." We have to all get together.... [Atrocities have been committed by false "Christians," not by true followers of Christ. As for having the truth, Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word...ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Jn 8:31-32). King's misquote of Christ and apparently faulting Him for being too dogmatic would be comical were it not so tragic.] SCHULLER: ...we have lost humility ...we religious leaders [must] begin to say, "I'm...not trying to convert other religious people to my viewpoint".... [Schuller's false humility apologizes for Christ being the only Savior. Didn't Paul say, "I persuade men," and aren't we to "earnestly contend for the faith"? It's the gospel by which alone men can be saved that we preach! (Rom 1:16; Acts 4:12).] KING: ...my little nine-month-old [son] Chance is here. What do you say for his future, Reverend Schuller? SCHULLER: I think it's going to be beautiful because he's got a mother and a father that are going to communicate to him values of positive faith.... [A Mormon mother and atheist father are great because their false faith is "positive"?] How can leaders who ought to know better blindly pervert "the gospel of God" (Rom 1:1), promote false hopes and lead astray the millions hanging on their every word? Do they fear the rejection of men more than they fear God? Where is the fear of God? God in heaven is being mocked! Perversion of truth brings popularity. May God deliver us from desiring that and renew in us a holy reverence for Him and for His Word. The firm commitment to stand faithfully for His truth without compromise is for the eternal welfare of those we influence, and for God's eternal glory. TBC This Page Accessed: times since February 1, 2000 thebereancall.org

To: long-gone who wrote (9)	3/5/2000 6:26:00 PM
From: SOROS	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 5569

Talk about "Year of the Dragon!" Is this true or simply more conspiracy "poo-poo?" insightmag.com CHINA WAR PLAN AGAINST TAIWAN AND U.S. 3/3/00 - By J. Michael Waller The People?s Republic of China is actively planning a military invasion of Taiwan and is preparing to wage war against the United States ? including firing its small arsenal of strategic nuclear missiles on the territory of the United States ? if Washington attempts to defend the island. In an internal document from the Chinese Communist Party?s Central Military Commission to all its regional commanders, Beijing says it hopes to absorb Taiwan through nonviolent means but warns of an ?increased possibility for a military solution,? arguing: ?It is better to fight now than [in the] future ? the earlier, the better.? In the document, (see "China Prepares for War") Beijing envisions a blitzkrieg-like attack on Taiwan, launching a ?first fatal strike? so that ?the Taiwan forces have no way to organize effective resistance.? Under this plan, ?we will be able to control Taiwan before the U.S. intervention and then concentrate our forces to fight the U.S.? The paper, distributed to commanders in August 1999, urges military leaders to ?be well prepared for war? with Taiwan and, if necessary, the United States, following Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui?s ?two-country theory,? in which the Republic of China on Taiwan would seek independent statehood. The Communist Chinese leadership views Lee?s position as a threat to the territorial integrity of the People?s Republic and argues that if allowed to stand would promote mainland China?s disintegration by encouraging independence for Tibet and other occupied areas. The paper says that large-scale coastal and inland military exercises planned for Sept. 1999 were intended not only to intimidate Taiwan but ?to adapt our armed forces to cross-the-Straits operations.? Beijing anticipates the passive support of Russia in a Taiwan invasion. A summit between Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Russian President Boris Yeltsin and others in Kazakhstan that same month was intended on Beijing?s part to help reduce ?the traditional pressure along our northeast and northwest borders, and increase the proportion of forces which can be moved to the southeast coastal regions,? as well as to keep open ?land routes during the war ? in case we are forced to fight a full-scale war against the U.S.? Insight has obtained a copy of this startling document, which has been translated into English. (Click here to read the full document.) The purpose of the document is to make ?high-ranking commanders in non-combat as well as combat positions ? well aware of the following issues so as to better understand the strategic decisions made by the Party?s Central Committee and be well-prepared for the war in their units based on the rapidly-changing relationships with Taiwan.? The document tells commanders to understand the party?s thinking behind its preparations and ?a wave of politically-oriented military exercises? intended ?to raise the political consciousness of all commanders and soldiers up to a level required by war.? Peaceful reunification with Taiwan, according to the Central Military Commission paper, ?is still the best option? for Beijing?s long-term interests, as military options would be disruptive of the Party?s economic development goals. The document says it is very unlikely that European countries would aid in Taiwan?s defense, but anticipates that the U.S. would attempt to defend against an attack. Therefore, prior to an invasion of Taiwan, ?we must take into account the above [diplomatic] factors and use diplomatic leverage to minimize international resistance.? Beijing?s crackdown on the Falun Gong spiritual group, the document says, was aimed at crushing separatist sentiment. ?To outlaw ?Falun Gong? was a preemptive measure aimed at the ultimate resolution of [the] Taiwan issue,? according to the document, ?not only eliminating domestic trouble, but paving the way for reunification as well.? The Party leaders seem pleased with the weakness of international protests: ?Negative international reaction has proven to be limited, and the protest from the U.S. was particularly pale and powerless, fully demonstrating that our Party has the ability and courage to gain advantage in complicated domestic and international struggles.? Senior Chinese military officials, the document says, disclosed ?some information on strategic weaponry so that the U.S. will exercise some caution in decision-making and be aware that it would have to pay a price if it decided to intervene in a military conflict. The purpose is to prevent the U.S. from being deeply involved even if a war becomes unavoidable so that the losses on both sides of the Taiwan straits will be minimized throughout the war. The main point is deterrence, which is the test for a peaceful solution. The test is within the strategic scope of taking initiative and promoting good timing.? Beijing is convinced that, even in its much weaker military state, it can prevail in a war against the United States. ?Taking into account of possible intervention by the U.S. and based on the development strategy of our country, it is better to fight now than [in the] future ? the earlier, the better,? the military document says. ?The reason being that, if worst comes to worst, we will gain control of Taiwan before full deployment of U.S. troops. In this case, the only thing the U.S. can do is fighting a war with the purpose of retaliation, which will be similar to the Gulf War against Iraq or the recent bombing of Yugoslavia as far as its operational objective is considered.? If the above scenario cannot be avoided, an early war will delay the success of our reform whereas a later war will jeopardize the full achievement of the reform.? The document says China has experience in ?fighting the U.S. forces under modern warfare conditions. In that war, the Chinese forces were mainly responsible for air defense [of North Vietnam] and accumulated a whole set of experience in this regard.? Beijing anticipates that the United States will not be able to maintain its forces in combat against China for an extended period. The document reasons that the conflict will not escalate into a nuclear missile exchange, because the U.S. will lose its will to fight and withdraw after suffering serious casualties, while the Chinese side will be able to absorb heavy casualties and prevail. ?Our principle is ?willing to sustain major losses of our armed forces to defend even just one square inch of land,?? the document says. ?If the U.S. forces lose thousands or hundreds of men under our powerful strikes, the anti-war sentiment within their country will force the U.S. government to take the same path as they did in Vietnam.? Even so, Beijing is prepared to use its small strategic nuclear force against the overwhelmingly superior United States: ?In terms of deterrence, there is not any difference in practical value. So far we have built up the capability for the second and the third nuclear strikes and are fairly confident in fighting a nuclear war. The PCC has decided to pass through formal channels this message to the top leaders of the U.S. This is one of the concrete measures that we will take to prevent the escalation of war in the spirit of being responsible. ?However, conceptually we are fully prepared for a prolonged warfare.? Prolonged warfare will work to our advantage and enable us to defeat the enemy, which will be one of our strategic options to win the war under extreme circumstances.?