The End Times, Are we there yet?

Doesn't matter where you stick it -- we'll still find it and help you with your fact checking.

This list was entered into the congressional record by Herlong, but it was taken from the book "The Naked Communist," by Cleon Skousen. See quickie-Wiki bio:

Willard Cleon Skousen (January 20, 1913 - January 9, 2006) was an author, political commentator, and religious scholar. He is most known as author of The Naked Communist and the source of the "1963 Communist Goals"[1] list. He later wrote a follow-up, The Naked Capitalist, based on Carroll Quigley's assertions made in his books Tragedy and Hope and The Anglo-American Establishment, which claim that top Western merchant bankers, industrialists and related institutions were behind the rise of Communism and Fascism around the world. The Naked Capitalist has been cited by many conspiracy theorists, including his nephew Joel Skousen, as proof of a "New World Order" strategy to create a One World Government. His ideas are similar to those of Senator Joseph McCarthy of the early 1950s . . . , and he has a loyal following among ultra-conservative conspiracy theorists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleon_Skousen

Naked Communists AND Naked Capitalists -- doesn't seem like he was comfortable with anyone influential on the left or right, does it? Taken as a whole, this list sees, hears and smells Commies under the bed. That era of McCarthy witch-hunters, corresponding nicely with many years at the beginning of Herlong's congressional tenure, destroyed more innocent lives and reputations and invaded more civil liberties than will ever really be known. I would point out that, given their own backgrounds, both Herlong and Skousen would probably agree with you about the religious relevance of this political scare-mongering. That unbridled mix of the religious and the political, however, in terms of actual policy-making, is thankfully still off limits. You benefit from that restraint as much as anyone else, no matter how much confidence you have that you're all snug and safe on the right side of the ideological conflict.

I does sound like he didn't trust anyone on either side. But it doesn't dim the fact that it sure looks like we are very close to the end times. The Book of Revelation said there would be days like these. I've always been taught that scum is on both sides of the pond as well as very good things. I think just because you agree with someone doesn't mean you should trust them fully. Especially someone in an elite or influential position.

I have a friend who believes that the “end times” has nothing to do with Christ’s return, and everything to do with finely learning the truth, about all things. The irony is…his name is Christian.

Ironic is right. But learning of all truths isn't to far off from the end times either but I'll leave it there JC. I'll leave it to Haynes9 to explain it better. He seems to be the expert here. I think that is. Anyway, that is defiantly an interesting observation Christian made. defiantly one for an objective and or intellectual discussion.

i believe I posted somewere before that one of the signs we Catholics look for in the end times is a mass conversion of Jews. With that being said, this article I came across today was interesting. Not so much about the note itself but what the rabbi told them about their meeting the Messiah and his appearance.


http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?...w=item&idx=1347

Hi guys and girls, having read the article about the 108 year old rabbi. Who said that he spoke to the messiah in a vision, and then left a note to be opened after his death, which said that the messiahs name is Jesus, is all very interesting, but. When I saw the ad the end of the article, calling for subscribers for the publication: Israel Today, I couldn’t help but thing. There…you go…business…as…usual.

First of all, Yehoshua or "Joshua" is a pretty common Jewish name. And as a child I once knew asked very innocently -- "If Jesus was a Jew, how come he had a Mexican name?" Secondly -- if some radical Islamist put about that the signs of the victory of the faith would be a mass conversion of the Christians to Islam, and he thought he detected evidence of it, you yourself, RP, would blow a gasket -- either in indignation, or laughing.

I'm sure you're the one laughing at this one.

Interesting article-I wonder how much truth is in this and if this is the spark that sets everything off.

U.N. scheme to make Christians criminals
Sharia-following Islamic nations demanding anti-'defamation' law
12:00 am Eastern
By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Dozens of nations dominated by Islam are pressing the United Nations to adopt an anti-"defamation" plan that would make Christians criminals under international law, according to a United States organization that has launched a campaign to defend freedom of religion worldwide.

"Around the world, Christians are being increasingly targeted, and even persecuted, for their religious beliefs. Now, one of the largest organizations in the United Nations is pushing to make a bad situation even worse by promoting anti-Christian bigotry," the American Center for Law & Justice said yesterday in announcing its petition drive.

The discrimination is "wrapped in the guise of a U.N. resolution called 'Combating Defamation of Religions,'" the announcement said. "We must put an immediate end to this most recent, dangerous attack on faith that attempts to criminalize Christianity."

The "anti-defamation" plan has been submitted to the U.N. repeatedly since about 1999, starting out as a plan to ban "defamation" of Islam and later changed to refer to "religions," officials said. It is being pushed by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference nations, which has adopted the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam, "which states that all rights are subject to sharia law, and makes sharia law the only source of reference for human rights."

The ACLJ petition, which is to be delivered to the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, already had collected more than 23,000 names in just a brief online existence.

The ACLJ's European division, the European Center for Law & Justice, also has launched its work on the issue. It submitted arguments last month to the U.N. in opposition to the proposal to institute sharia-based standards around the globe.

"The position of the ECLJ in regards to the issue of 'defamation of religion' resolutions, as they have been introduced at the U.N. Human Rights Council and General Assembly, is that they are in direct violation of international law concerning the rights to freedom of religion and expression," the organization's brief said.

"The 'defamation of religion' resolutions establish as the primary focus and concern the protection of ideas and religions generally, rather than protecting the rights of individuals to practice their religion, which is the chief purpose of international religious freedom law."

"Furthermore, 'defamation of religion' replaces the existing objective criterion of limitations on speech where there is an intent to incite hatred or violence against religious believers with a subjective criterion that considers whether the religion or its believers feel offended by the speech," the group continued.

Interestingly, in nations following Islam, the present practice is to use such laws to protect Islam and to attack religious minorities with penalties up to and including execution, the brief noted.

"What should be most disconcerting to the international community is that laws based on the concept of 'defamation of religion' actually help to create a climate of violence," the argument explained.

For example, just two months ago an Afghanistan court following Islam sentenced to death a 23-year-old apprentice journalist who had downloaded an article from an Iranian website and brought it to his class, the ECLJ said. Other instances include:

Award-winning author Mark Steyn has been summoned to appear before two Canadian Human Rights Commissions of vague allegations of "subject[ing] Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt" for comments in his book, "America Alone," the group said.


In Pakistan, 15 people were accused of blasphemy against Islam during the first four months of 2008, the organization said.


Another Pakistani man sentenced to life in prison for desecrating the Quran was jailed for six years before being acquitted of the charge.


In Saudi Arabia a teacher was sentenced to three years in prison plus 300 lashes "for expressing his views in a classroom."


In the United Kingdom, police announced plans to arrest a blogger for "anti-Muslim" statements.

In the United States, a plaintiff sued his Internet service provider for refusing "to prevent participants in an online chat room from posting or submitting harassing comments that blasphemed and defamed plaintiff's Islamic religion."
The ECLJ said, "The implementation of domestic laws to combat defamation of religion in many OIC countries reveals a selective and arbitrary enforcement toward religious minorities, who are often Christians. Those violations are frequently punishable by the death penalty."

The newest "anti-defamation" plan was submitted in March. It specifically cites a declaration "adopted by the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers" at a meeting in Islamabad "which condemned the growing trend of Islamophobia and systematic discrimination against adherents of Islam."

It also cites the dictates from the OIC meeting in Dakar, "in which the Organization expressed concern at the systematically negative stereotyping of Muslims and Islam and other divine religions."

It goes on to cite a wide range of other practices that "target" Islam, but does not mention any other religions, and urges all nations to provide "adequate protection against acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from the defamation of any religion."

According to published reports, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' 53 members voted to adopt the resolution earlier this year, with opposition from the United States and the European Union.

At the time, Cuba's delegate, Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez, said: "Islam has been the subject of very deep campaign of defamation."

"They're attempting to pass a sinister resolution that is nothing more than blatant religious bigotry," the ACLJ said in its promotion of its petition. "This is very important to understand. This radical proposal would outlaw Christianity … it would make the proclamation of your faith an international crime."

"In his recent dissent on the Supreme Court's ruling on Guantanamo Bay, Justice Scalia said, 'America is at war with radical Islamists.' Never has this rung more true than today. Never have Christians been more targeted for their religious beliefs. And never have we faced a more dangerous threat than the one posed by the OIC," the ACLJ said.

On the Grizzly Groundswell blog, the author described the situation as, "The United Nations: 160 cannibals and 17 civilized people taking a majority vote on what to have for dinner."

The U.S. State Department also has found the proposal unpalatable.

"This resolution is incomplete inasmuch as it fails to address the situation of all religions," said the statement from Leonard Leo. "We believe that such inclusive language would have furthered the objective of promoting religious freedom. We also believe that any resolution on this topic must include mention of the need to change educational systems that promote hatred of other religions, as well as the problem of state-sponsored media that negatively targets any one religion."

Here is the link for the article:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=...ew&pageId=69163

Scary article, RP, but I am glad you posted it.

Christians all over the world-including the US-are already being martyred for their faith. The UN resolution would just make it "legal".

The book, "Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks" by DC Talk and the voice of the martyrs is an eye opener.

Here is an excerpt from the book from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1577780728..._pt#reader-link

Yes! I believe that we are in the end times. But noone knows when Jesus will return. We all need to be ready. And, I feel such a sense of urgency for my unsaved family & friends to pray them & love them into the Kingdom NOW!

Jesus words in the Gospel of Luke-chapter 17, verses 20-37-say it best:

Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is', or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."

Then he said to his disciplies, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you, 'There he is!', or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

"Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

"It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."

"Where, Lord?" they asked.

He replied, "Where there is a dead body, there the vultures will gather."

I apologize but I must ask. Do you really believe this?

I don't take every Christian at their word. But I've read parts of "Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus, the Ultimate Jesus Freaks" by DC Talk and the voice of the martyrs. I did believe it and yes it is an eye opener.

OK.

I found an old book at my Nova Scotia home this summer. Didn't get a chance to read it. It belonged to my great Grandmother. It was called "Fox's book of martyrs".

Taking another look at this link now -- Israel Today is not a publication of, by or for Jews in Israel; it looks like one of those crypto-evangelical deals published by groups like Jews for Jesus (an annoying bunch if there ever was one). Pretty much renders the source (some little old very pious orthodox "rabbi") very suspect.