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Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's speech. Please send this out to everyone you can!!!

An extraordinary event occurred this week in Washington during the final days of the 106^th Congress, an event that did not receive comment in either the media or the halls of Congress, save for my office. This event had been termed "unthinkable" only a few months earlier. It occurred despite clear constitutional prohibitions and at the expense of our precious national sovereignty. For the first time in the history of our country, Congress voted to change our domestic laws because an international body told us to do so. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has begun to dictate American laws.

More specifically, Congress voted to change our tax laws relating to Foreign Sales Corporations (FSCs), solely because the WTO appellate panel deemed that our FSC tax rules constituted a "subsidy" - the EU contingent in the WTO had brought a complaint to the panel. Our FSC rules simply allow U.S. corporations to exempt a small portion of income earned abroad from taxes. No "subsidy" is involved; no tax dollars are given to FSCs. Moreover, most EU countries do not tax their corporations on any income earned abroad. Still, the appellate panel agreed with the EU and gave the U.S and October 1^st deadline to change our tax laws.

I have opposed our membership in the WTO throughout my tenure in Congress. I strongly support true free trade, which occurs in the absence of government tariffs. The WTO, however, represents the worst form of government-managed trade.

More importantly, however, our involvement in the WTO threatens national sovereignty. The Constitution clearly vests the power to regulate trade solely with Congress, and Congress cannot cede with mandates in areas such as environmental protections, worker rights, and trade policy. Congress either blindly or willfully chose to ignore this very serious constitutional conflict when it voted in favor of WTO membership. However, a Congressional Research Service report was quite clear about the consequences of our membership: "As a member of the WTO, the United States does commit to act in accordance with the rules of the multi-lateral body. It is legally obligated to insure that national laws do not conflict with WTO rules," (emphasis added).

Earlier this year I sought to address this terrible threat to our sovereignty by introducing a resolution withdrawing us from the WTO. I explained my concerns in a brief to the House Ways and Means trade subcommittee, pointing out the unconstitutionality of our involvement. I warned that the WTO could begin dictating our environmental, labor and tax laws. These arguments were met with hostility and condescension. Subcommittee members stated that we need the WTO to avoid "trade wars," and that the U.S. Congress would never change our domestic laws to satisfy the WTO. "Unthinkable" was how one member put it. Judging by this week's vote, the "unthinkable" has become reality.

We should never change our national laws at the behest of any international organization. Congress simply has ceded it legislative authority to the WTO, and it is shameful that this action likely will go unnoticed by the American people. If we want to help American businesses, we should simply stop taxing their foreign income. The FSC measure will not appease the Europeans; the EU already has indicated that the changes are unsatisfactory to them. We stand on the brink of a retaliatory trade war with the EU, even though we were told that the WTO was needed to avoid such conflicts. So the WTO has given us the worst of all worlds.

Rest assured that the WTO assault on American sovereignty will not end here. What will happen when the Europeans object to another area of our tax laws? Will we change the way we tax individuals also? Perhaps the Europeans will object to our relatively liberal immigration laws, because they resent losing their talented citizens to America. Whatever the issue, the threat remains the same. Americans who care about sovereignty have every reason to be outraged.

Russia and EU Vow 'Strategic Dialogue'

But Chechnya Intrudes on Putin Agenda

PARIS - Russia and the European Union vowed Monday to step up their ''strategic dialogue'' on security, defense and economic ties at a summit meeting that also stressed the need for a political solution in Moscow's clampdown in Chechnya.

President Vladimir Putin, on his first visit to France since being elected in March, also appeared to patch up ties with Paris that have been soured by French criticism of Moscow's yearlong military campaign in the breakaway region.

A joint EU-Russia statement said an agreement had been reached to start discussions on how Russia might contribute to the EU's new common security and foreign policy, which includes the creation of a military rapid reaction force.

The leaders also issued a fresh call for an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence, with both sides seeking a greater role in the search for Middle East peace.

Mr. Putin said he welcomed EU plans to admit new members from formerly Communist Central and Eastern Europe, saying that enlargement would bring trade and other benefits to Russia too.

''Both historically in the cultural sense and increasingly in the economic sense, too, Russia is very much part of Europe, the greater Europe,'' Mr. Putin said at a news conference with the French president, Jacques Chirac, and the European Commission's president, Romano Prodi.

Mr. Putin said that the European Union accounted for 35 percent of Russian trade and that this would rise to more than 50 percent after the European Union had absorbed members from the former Soviet bloc.

Mr. Chirac said at the news conference that the meeting, held at Elysee Palace and led by France as the current president of the European Union, had agreed that a political solution had to be sought for Chechnya. A carefully worded statement, reflecting efforts to overcome past differences, said any solution had to respect Russian territorial integrity and condemned ''all forms of terrorism.''

Mr. Putin said Russia was ready to extend political dialogue to ''all forces in Chechnya'' but ruled out any contact with ''people up to their elbows in blood.'' Russia, hit by bomb attacks in its cities in September 1999, says its actions have been justified by the threat of terrorism and violence from what Mr. Putin called ''religious fanatics and fundamentalists'' among the mainly Muslim Chechen population.

Despite Mr. Chirac's attempts to patch up bilateral relations with Russia, French intellectuals have made several protests against Moscow's human rights record in Chechnya. Several hundred demonstrated in central Paris on Monday.

But after their talks, the two leaders played down differences over Chechnya and stressed historic ties between Russia and France and common views on many issues, including international security and the Middle East.

''Cooperation between Russia and France,'' Mr. Putin said, ''really is in the interests of both states. I'm not even so sure today that there has been a cooling in our relations.''

On Tuesday, he is to meet with French executives and have lunch with Prime Minister Lionel Jospin before visiting the Louvre, then return to Moscow on Wednesday.

EU-Russia summit meeting on Monday, the sixth of its kind, gave Mr. Putin a chance to brief his hosts on efforts to speed Russia's market reforms and to attract badly needed foreign investment.

Mr. Prodi spelled out his proposal for a sharp increase in EU energy imports from Russia over the next 20 years to avoid the kind of fuel price crisis faced by Western Europe this year. He said a working group would study boosting energy imports from Russia while investing in Russian infrastructure.

''We have been involved in energy discussions in the framework of our strategic partnership,'' he said.

''It will be necessary to mobilize big economic resources'' for possible investment projects in Russia, he said.

Mr. Prodi said he was also heartened by Russia's more positive approach to EU enlargement, which could resume by 2003. He added: ''Russia was very clear and very positive on EU enlargement. It is in complete contrast to their view of NATO enlargement.''

BERLIN (AP) -- Ten eastern and southern European countries could join the European Union by 2005, a German magazine reported Saturday.

The EU commissioner for expansion, Guenter Verheugen, has outlined a proposed timetable in talks with EU leaders, Der Spiegel reported. The plan would be slower than some aspirants, notably Poland, want.

Verheugen sees front-runners Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus becoming members on Jan. 1, 2005 -- along with Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta, the news report said.

At a December summit of the existing 15 EU members, Verheugen will propose that the economic bloc set the end of 2002 as formal target date for completing membership talks, with another two years for national parliaments to ratify the accession accords, the report said.

Concern has been growing among the first-wave candidates that the European Union is slowing down its enlargement process after holding out the promise of quicker progress in the 1990s.

But EU leaders have stressed that it's up to the Eastern European countries -- particularly Poland -- to reform their economies and inefficient agriculture and meet other EU standards, such as environmental protection.

Poland has set a 2003 target, and its leaders were stung by a recent report by a German business group saying it might not be ready to join before 2005.

The EU began membership talks with the six front-runners two years ago. Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Malta began entry negotiations on Feb. 15.

On the heels of ex-president Jimmy carters withdrawal from the Southern Baptist Church (article following this one), the Texas Baptists withdraw $5 million from Southern Baptist Convention support: citing "Jesus took his stand against religious authoritarianism, moral judgmentalism and dogmatic fundamentalism", "At issue: How strictly to interpret the Bible"

Texas Baptists withdraw $5 million from national group

CORPUS CHRISTI -- Texas Baptists, in a historic vote Monday, elected to withhold $5 million that it normally would give to the Southern Baptist Convention.

The vote at the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas moves the moderate state group further away from the conservative-controlled national Southern Baptist Convention.

It strips $4.2 million from six Southern Baptist seminaries deemed too conservative by the Texas group. A companion cut of $1 million would virtually end support for denominational headquarters and the social-issues agency in Nashville, Tenn.

Delegates from 6,000 Texas Baptist churches voted by an overwhelming show of hands to uphold their state leaders' proposal on the funding change.

The change will cap state funding to the six seminaries at $1 million, the bulk of which will go to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth because it has the most students from Texas.

The Rev. Robert Campbell, pastor of Houston's Westbury Baptist Church, said last week that the six seminaries no longer hew to traditional Baptist principles but follow a rigid conservative agenda that precludes freedom of biblical interpretation.

The $4.2 million will now go to three moderate campuses in Texas -- Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary in Waco, Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology in Abilene and Hispanic Baptist Theological School in San Antonio.

The vote is considered a watershed by both sides in the doctrinal conflict that has long roiled the nation's largest Protestant denomination, with 15.8 million members.

Texas accounts for 17 percent of the members and 13 percent of the money that supports Southern Baptist Convention programs.

"Texas Baptists are at a crossroads," Kenneth Camp, the state convention's news director, said Sunday. "This meeting is the decisive turning point for the next century."

Earlier this month, former President Carter severed ties to the Southern Baptist Convention because of its "increasingly rigid" creed.

In recent years, the Southern Baptists have barred women pastors, declared that wives should "submit graciously" to their husbands, boycotted Disney and issued resolutions condemning homosexuality. Many moderate congregations have reacted by breaking away from the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Texans will still send some $19 million to the denomination, mostly for missionary work in the United States and abroad.

The Rev. Bob Campbell of Houston charged that professors at the Southern Baptist seminaries are being required to uphold the denomination's increasingly conservative doctrinal platform.

The Rev. Charles Wade, executive director of the Texas convention, told the meeting: "Jesus took his stand against religious authoritarianism, moral judgmentalism and dogmatic fundamentalism."

The Texas Baptists will decide later on at the meeting whether to allow full participation for Baptists from outside Texas. Observers say that opens the way for the Texas convention to become a regional body that could rival the national denomination.

The national leadership insists on the the Bible's "inerrancy," or literal accuracy, interpreting Scripture in conservative terms.

Chronicle Religion Editor Richard Vara and the Associated Press contributed to this story.

Friday, 20 October 2000 21:17 (ET)
United Press International

NEW YORK, OCT. 20 (UPI) -- Former President Jimmy Carter, whose Sunday
school classes regularly attract hundreds of visitors, has broken with his
conservative denomination, the largest in U.S. Protestantism.

"I can no longer be associated with the Southern Baptist convention"
(SBC), he wrote in a statement that was mailed to 75,000 Baptists across the
nation. Church leaders see Carter's move as a defining moment in the turmoil
that has been plaguing the 16-million member SBC for a decade. In this
conflict between a conservative majority and a moderate minority, the
76-year old Carter has now associated himself with the latter.

The former President protested against what he termed "an increasingly
rigid creed, called a Baptist Faith and Message." Carter, a deacon in the
80-member Maranatha Baptist church in Plains, GA, said that some provisions
of this creed "violate the basic tenets of my Christian faith." "Most
disturbing has been the Convention's recent decision to remove Jesus Christ,
through his words, deeds and personal inspiration, as the ultimate
interpreter of the Holy Scriptures. This leaves open making the pastors or
executives of the SBC."

The most vocal exponent of SBC conservatism retorted that this statement
has been replaced by another one that is very much in line with traditional
Reformation theology.

"It says that all Scripture is testimony to Jesus Christ who is himself
the pinnacle of divine revelation," Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of
the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, told United Press International.
"I wish this were a classical law-and-gospel issue," said Mohler referring
to Protestantism's longest-running theological debate over the Apostle
Paul's testimony that "Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has
faith may be justified" (Romans 10,4). However, what might look like
hair-splitting, actually addresses the question whether "the Gospel
invalidates certain sections of Scripture," explained Mohler, meaning
chiefly the Old Testament and some of its commandments.

Jimmy Carter's has thus pointed to the deep chasm between conservative
evangelicals and mainline liberals with whom, in Mohler's view, the "SBC's
moderate fringe" is aligning itself.

"The point is, do you believe, as we do, that all Scripture is
authoritative, all inspired, or don't you?"

Mohler, 41, sees a direct connection between the mainline pick-and-choose
approach to Scripture and the phenomenon that "while they have all the big
buildings, they are empty."

The ordination of women to the ministry is a case in point. In June, the
SBC reaffirmed its opposition to it. "While both men and women are gifted
for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as
qualified by Scripture."

Jimmy Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper he believed
biblical passages have been taken out of context by Southern Baptist
leaders.

Opponents of women's ordinations most frequently quote Paul's harsh
words,

".... women should keep silence in the church, for they are not permitted
to peak, but should keep subordinate .... For it is a shame for a woman to
speak in church"
( 1 Corinthians 14:34).

Mohler replied, "On this issue, there has been a consensus between the
churches of the West and the East, between Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy
for the last 2,000 years, and we are in line with them. Then, all of a
sudden liberal Protestants came up with the idea that since Paul and the
Apostles, the church somehow missed the point until only 30 years ago." The
SBC's news service, Baptist2Baptist, reported that of the denomination's
40,000 congregations only 30 have female ministers.

Jimmy Carter has been an SBC Sunday school teacher since he was 18 years
old, following his father's and grandfather's footsteps. Now he wrote, " I
will continue my work as a Baptist deacon and Sunday school teacher in
Maranatha Baptist Church and will support the education and mission programs
of Georgia Baptists and foreign missions through the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship."

This organization representing much of the SBC's moderate wing has 1,800
congregations with a total of 250,000 members. Mohler does not think its
numbers will increase. "However, we are growing," he added, "last year, for
example, we lost two churches in Kentucky but gained 99."

In the end, though, theologians wonder if this conflict does not point to
a deeper crisis in much of Christianity - a need for a confessional
structure in times of global bewilderment.

Baptists have so far seen themselves as a freewheeling denomination
without creeds of the kind that proved useful to other denominations, such
as Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism.

Although the SBC denies it, opponents of Faith and Message call it a creed
that is taught by the denomination's six seminaries and six national
agencies. Carter bemoans precisely this development, and at its meeting on
October 30 and 31 in Corpus Christi, TX, the Baptists General Convention of
Texas intends on lob $4.3 million off subsidies earmarked for these
institutions.

The turbulence in the Southern Baptist Convention is not just a
denominational issue, however. Rather, it seems to reflect the strife among
theologians of most denominations about how to cope with post-modernity's
most daunting problem: its disastrous loss of absolute values.

Russia Offering to sell ICBM's on world market to be retrofitted "To Launch New Satellites"

Let's not forget that there are at least a half of a dozen countries that currently possess Nuclear/Biological warfare capabilities but lack rocket technology to deliver their payloads from one continent to another - hence ICBM - InterContinental Ballistic Missiles.

MOSCOW (Oct. 31) - Russia's nuclear missile chief seized the marketing moment on Tuesday by announcing -- on the day the first International Space Station crew blasted off -- that he can offer hundreds of rockets to launch satellites.

There is nothing new in using the odd decommissioned missile to lift civilian or military satellites into orbit, but General Vladimir Yakovlev made clear he planned a pile-them-high, sell-them-cheap campaign to raise cash for the armed forces.

"The needs of many countries for launching satellites are constantly growing," he said in a statement distributed by the Strategic Rocket Forces press service. "Forecasts show some 1,500 satellites need to be placed in low orbit alone by 2010."

Two Russians and an American blasted off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Tuesday and headed for the International Space Station to prepare a potential springboard for interplanetary travel.

"We are going to be in space with people circling the earth forever," NASA head Daniel Goldin told reporters after the launch. "Instead of pointing missiles at each other or competing with each other, we learn from each other."

It was a point evidently not lost on Yakovlev, who said about 250 Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles were scheduled to be removed from service by 2009, in part because of U.S.-Russian disarmament accords. The Russian rockets would be available for conversion to take commercial payloads.

"The proceeds from fully using all the ICBMs could reach up to 20 billion roubles," he said.

That is about $700 million, or a 10th of the entire defense budget for next year, a sum the armed forces could certainly use. Yakovlev said the money could help improve living conditions for those in the military.

A spokesman at the Strategic Rocket Forces noted five satellites including firsts for Malaysia and Saudi Arabia had been launched in September atop a converted SS-18, known as Satan in Western military circles.

"Now other missiles will become available," he told Reuters. "They are being removed from combat readiness and rather than scrapping them, cutting them up, they will be used as boosters."

He said the missiles likely to be removed from service included the RS-18, code named Stiletto in the West.

Russia cannot afford to maintain the huge nuclear arsenal it inherited from the Soviet Union. There is an intense debate going on in the military and the Kremlin about how to reshape Russia's defenses to match its meager finances.

The Kremlin's influential Security Council is expected to meet some time in November to discuss military reform.

The Strategic Rocket Forces, which look after Russia's land-based nuclear deterrent, are set to come under air force control. By speaking now, Yakovlev has made a strong pitch not just at would-be satellite customers but also at the Kremlin that his outfit can be useful even in decline.

"It is six times cheaper than a conventional purpose-built launch rocket. For a specific launch you need to prepare a rocket," said the missile spokesman. "These are ready and waiting."

I've been quiet since Israel erupted in fighting spurred by disputes over the Temple Mount.

Until now, I haven't even bothered to say, "See, I told you so." But I can't resist any longer. I feel compelled to remind you of the column I wrote just a couple weeks before the latest uprising. Yeah, folks, I predicted it. That's OK. Hold your applause.

After all, I wish I had been wrong. More than 80 people have been killed since the current fighting in and around Jerusalem began. And for what?

If you believe what you read in most news sources, Palestinians want a homeland and Muslims want control over sites they consider holy. Simple, right?

Well, as an Arab-American journalist who has spent some time in the Middle East dodging more than my share of rocks and mortar shells, I've got to tell you that these are just phony excuses for the rioting, trouble-making and land-grabbing.

Isn't it interesting that prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, there was no serious movement for a Palestinian homeland?

"Well, Farah," you might say, "that was before the Israelis seized the West Bank and Old Jerusalem."

That's true. In the Six-Day War, Israel captured Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem. But they didn't capture these territories from Yasser Arafat. They captured them from Jordan's King Hussein. I can't help but wonder why all these Palestinians suddenly discovered their national identity after Israel won the war.

The truth is that Palestine is no more real than Never-Never Land. The first time the name was used was in 70 A.D. when the Romans committed genocide against the Jews, smashed the Temple and declared the land of Israel would be no more. From then on, the Romans promised, it would be known as Palestine. The name was derived from the Philistines, a Goliathian people conquered by the Jews centuries earlier. It was a way for the Romans to add insult to injury. They also tried to change the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, but that had even less staying power.

Palestine has never existed -- before or since -- as an autonomous entity. It was ruled alternately by Rome, by Islamic and Christian crusaders, by the Ottoman Empire and, briefly, by the British after World War I. The British agreed to restore at least part of the land to the Jewish people as their homeland.

There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of 1 percent of the landmass.

But that's too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today. Greed. Pride. Envy. Covetousness. No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough.

Shocked? You should be. I don't expect you will ever hear this brutal truth from anyone else in the international media. It's just not politically correct.

I know what you're going to say: "Farah, the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem represent Islam's third most holy sites."

Not true. In fact, the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca hundreds of times. It mentions Medina countless times. It never mentions Jerusalem. With good reason. There is no historical evidence to suggest Mohammed ever visited Jerusalem.

So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs. ..." In the seventh century, some Muslims identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem. And that's as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets -- myth, fantasy, wishful thinking. Meanwhile, Jews can trace their roots in Jerusalem back to the days of Abraham.

The latest round of violence in Israel erupted when Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon tried to visit the Temple Mount, the foundation of the Temple built by Solomon. It is the holiest site for Jews. Sharon and his entourage were met with stones and threats. I know what it's like. I've been there. Can you imagine what it is like for Jews to be threatened, stoned and physically kept out of the holiest site in Judaism?

So what's the solution to the Middle East mayhem? Well, frankly, I don't think there is a man-made solution to the violence. But, if there is one, it needs to begin with truth. Pretending will only lead to more chaos. Treating a 5,000-year-old birthright backed by overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence equally with illegitimate claims, wishes and wants gives diplomacy and peacekeeping a bad name.

A daily radio broadcast adaptation of Joseph Farah's commentaries can be heard on TalkNetDaily.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A congressional report has warned that
Russia and China have grown closer recently in order to pursue a joint goal
of reducing U.S. power and influence around the world, the Washington Times
said Saturday.

The report, drafted by a group of House Republican analysts that blamed
the growing alliance on the Clinton administration's "mismanagement" of U.S.
policy toward Russia, has had the effect of turning Moscow toward China in a
partnership on arms sales that dovetails with desires to increase military
capabilities.

"The sale of increasingly sophisticated Russian weaponry and technology to
(China), and the establishment of close security cooperation between Beijing
and Moscow, calls into question the fundamental prediction under-girding
much of the Clinton administration's security planning: that the United
States will face no peer competitor in the military field during the next
two decades," the report said.

Russia and China have also been cooperating recently in areas such as
intelligence, and apparently desire to reduce U.S. influence in the Pacific.

Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., a member of the House GOP panel that received
the report, said the White House muffed a chance in 1992 to create a formal
security alliance with Russia, and that Moscow decided to go elsewhere for
such a partnership.

The alliance between Moscow and Beijing was cemented, the newspaper said,
when a U.S. bomb struck the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo
air campaign, and when NATO expanded its membership over Moscow's
objections.

"We drive Russia and China together," Weldon told the Times. "The level of
high-technology weapons transfers has never been higher."

The Vatican will Tuesday try to revamp the image of Satan, arguing that it needs a "more subtle and sophisticated" definition of evil for the millennium, the London Times reports. (Emphasis added)

A new formula, formed by a Vatican panel of experts, substitutes "psychological disturbance" for references to the Devil as the embodiment of evil.

"In revising the form of words for exorcism, we have re-thought the nature of the evil we are trying to root out," one member of the commission tells the Times.

Officials say the Church isn't revising "scriptural references" to the Devil or suggesting that people should cease believing in "the Evil One." But priests conducting exorcisms should deal with evil as a force "lurking within all individuals" instead of one that threatens people from without.

Definitions of "demonic possession" and the rituals for dealing with it have remained little changed since Pope Paul V issued the Rituale Romanum in 1614.

Monsignor Corrado Balducci, the Vatican's chief exorcist, says the Church has to adapt to modern thinking and "be more careful in distinguishing between possession by evil spirits and what are more commonly called psychiatric disturbances."

According to Vatican officials, priests will be encouraged not to refer any longer to the Prince of Darkness, the Accursed Dragon, the Foul Spirit, the Satanic Power or the Master of Deceit. Instead the formulas refer to "the cause of evil."

Both Old and New Testaments refer to Beelzebub, the Evil One, or Satan, with the Devil often depicted as Lucifer, a rebel angel expelled from Heaven. The Revelation of St. John (xii.7) describes "war in Heaven between the angels," and "the Dragon, that ancient serpent who led the whole world astray whose name is the Devil, or Satan."

Jesus cast out demons in several famous New Testament passages; St. Mark and St. Matthew both record that Jesus was "tempted by Satan" during his 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.

But some modern theologians regard the depiction of Satan as a reptilian beast with cloven hooves, wings and a tail, as a medieval invention, and prefer St. Augustine's definition of evil as "the absence of good."

German bishops of the Roman Catholic Church agree to pay 10 million Deutschmarks (U.S. $4.70 million) for church use of forced laborers during WWII:

Bonn (ENI). The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has agreed to pay five million Deutschmarks (US$2.35 million) to forced labourers who were brought to Germany from abroad during the Second World War and worked in Catholic institutions.

The church will spend a further five million DM on promoting reconciliation. The decision, by the council of the German Bishops' Conference, was announced in a statement issued on 29 August in which the church officially acknowledged that it had used forced labourers during the war.

Photographs showing development of the secret reactor at Dimona give an insight into more than 30 years of weapons development

The Guardian
Brian Whitaker and Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday August 23, 2000

New photographs of the secret Israeli reactor at Dimona, published on the internet, confirm that Israel could have made 100-200 nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

The high-resolution pictures, taken last month by Space Imaging Corporation's Ikonos satellite, are likely to settle arguments about how much plutonium the reactor can produce - from which the size of Israel's weapons stockpile can be calculated.

"Based on plausible upper and lower bounds of the operating practices at the reactor, Israel could have produced enough plutonium for at least 100 nuclear weapons, but probably not significantly more than 200 weapons," says the FAS.

It says the pictures support claims that Israel could be using highly enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons, or to increase the yield of plutonium weapons.

Buildings can be seen which may be associated with two techniques for uranium production: gas centrifuge and laser separation. But the size of the buildings suggests that uranium enrichment at Dimona is carried out on a relatively small scale.

The pictures show that dozens of small buildings have been added to the 14 square mile site in the Negev desert over the last 30 years. There are two extra medium-sized buildings measuring 26,500 and 30,100 sq ft, and a large building of 84,000 sq ft has been expanded to 103,700 sq ft (9,569 square metres).

The FAS, a Washington-based organization which lobbies on scientific issues and includes 51 Nobel laureates among its sponsors, says there are several "interesting terrain features" at Dimona whose purpose has not been identified.

Pictures taken in the 1960s revealed a large excavation area, from which the Israelis removed an estimated 66,000 to 81,000 cubic yards of earth. The latest pictures show efforts to landscape the same area. The FAS suggests this may conceal a large underground reprocessing facility.

Just over half a mile from the main site, the pictures show what is believed to be a burial area for low-level radioactive waste.

Israel, the only nuclear power which does not admit to possessing nuclear weapons, has always refused to allow international inspection of the site.

In 1986, Mordechai Vanunu, who was a technician at Dimona, was abducted by Mossad agents in London and sentenced to 18 years in prison for providing information about Dimona, including pictures, to the Sunday Times.

The latest pictures have been shown on Israeli television and published in a newspaper, under a rule allowing material available on the internet to escape the military censor, as long as the source is mentioned.

Israel is one of a handful of countries which have refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Israel was singled out at the NPT review conference in New York in May for not placing its nuclear materials under "comprehensive" international safeguards.

Israel's nuclear weapons programme was debated for the first time in the Knesset, the country's parliament, in February this year.

Israel was said to have stockpiled up to 300 bombs, developed with the help of the South African apartheid regime, and it was planning to adapt submarines recently bought from Germany to carry nuclear missiles.

Though Shimon Peres, the father of the country's nuclear programme, has admitted that Dimona was built as a deterrent, Israel maintains an official policy of ambiguity, saying only that it will not be the first to "introduce" nuclear weapons in the Middle East.

Boy’s Family Says Group Incited Murder, ACLU Cites First Amendment Rights

By Bryan Robinson
ABC News; September 1, 2000

Citing the First Amendment, the American Civil Liberties Union is defending a group that supports pedophilia against a civil suit filed by the family of a molested and slain Massachusetts boy.

The parents of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking damages from the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) for the 1997 rape and murder of their son. Another defendant in the suit is the Web provider, Verio Inc., for hosting the NAMBLA Web site.

The suit accuses NAMBLA of inciting Jeffrey's murder and rape at the hands of Charles Jaynes and Salvatore Sicari through its literature and Web site — which is now offline. Both men were convicted of killing Jeffrey in separate trials and are serving life sentences.
According to the Curley’s suit, Jaynes was a member of NAMBLA under an alias at the time of the slaying. Jaynes, the plaintiffs say, had viewed the NAMBLA Web site shortly before the murder. NAMBLA literature showing members how to gain children’s trust, gain access to children nationwide, and avoid police investigating pedophilia cases were also found in Jaynes’’ car and apartment, the lawsuit alleges.

Targeted For Beliefs
ACLU officials say NAMBLA denies encouraging the rape and murder of anyone.
According to the ACLU, the suit is designed to stifle the dissemination of the group's unpopular beliefs: advocating consensual sexual relationships between adult men and boys and abolishing age-of-consent-laws that classify adult sex with children as rape. Plus, NAMBLA should not be punished for the crimes of two men and their beliefs should be protected, despite their unpopularity.
"There was nothing in those publications or Web site which advocated or incited the commission of any illegal acts, including murder or rape," said John Roberts, executive director of the ACLU’s Massachusetts chapter. "NAMBLA’s publications advocate for changes in society's views about consensual sex between adults and minors. This advocacy is political speech protected by the First Amendment."
"We urge the public to not jump to conclusions about NAMBLA based on the allegations appearing in the press and the Curley complaint," Roberts added in his statement. "We also urge consideration of the consequences to freedom of speech by holding authors, musicians, or filmmakers liable in damages for crimes committed by individuals who have read, heard or seen their work."

National Pedophilia Conspiracy?
But Lawrence Frisoli, the attorney representing the Curleys, says the ACLU is "missing the point" of the lawsuit. Frisoli claims the Curleys are not trying to deprive NAMBLA leaders of their rights to share their beliefs. Instead, he says, they are trying to bring down the organizational structure that set the stage for Jeffrey’s molestation and murder. "No one alleges that they shouldn’t be allowed to share their beliefs. That is their right," Frisoli said, adding that the lawsuit is focusing on NAMBLA’s activities. "NAMBLA’’s principal leaders were the ones who wrote the brochures and sent them out. We allege that because of that, NAMBLA has been part of a national ongoing criminal conspiracy to rape children, and we intend to hold them accountable."

Frisoli claims investigators uncovered Jaynes’ diary where he admits having problems dealing with a desire to have sex with children. Jaynes later reveals that he felt NAMBLA’s teachings validated his feelings. Besides the diary, Frisoli says he has depositions from an ex-girlfriend and several close friends who testify that Jaynes was a heterosexual male who became obsessed with having sex with minors only after joining NAMBLA.

NAMBLA Leaders in Hiding
NAMBLA has not revealed whether Jaynes was ever one of its members. Since the Curleys filed their suit in May, the group has not responded to any pretrial discovery motions. Frisoli says he is happy that the ACLU is representing NAMBLA so that the case can go forward. He has had trouble finding the group’s members.
Still, the ACLU attorneys, citing U.S. Supreme Court cases from the 1960s that protected the NAACP’s civil rights activities in the South, say they will try to block any attempt by the plaintiffs to get NAMBLA’s membership lists, or other materials identifying members. The ACLU also will act as a surrogate for NAMBLA, allowing its members to defend themselves in court while remaining anonymous.

Prosecutors said Jaynes and Sicari lured Jeffrey Curley into Jaynes’ Cadillac with the promise of $50 and a bicycle on Oct. 1, 1997. They convinced two juries that the men suffocated, killed and then molested the child after he resisted sexual advances and then stuffed him a concrete-filled container. Jaynes and Sicari dumped the container in the Maine River.

Last week, the Curleys won a civil suit against Jaynes and Sicari when a jury awarded them $328 million.

The following conversation took place when a Roman Catholic priest called Chick publications to dispute the claim that Roman Catholics are encouraged to worship the Virgin Mary.

At this point the phone line clicked and went dead. We can only pray that, in the dark of night, that this precious lost soul will lay awake and ponder this Popish lie. Just maybe, like Charles Chiniquy, he will realize he is part of a pagan religion that perverts the glorious truths of the Bible into a system of religious bondage.

In Chapter 40 of 50 Years in the "Church" of Rome, Chiniquy relates how he preached a sermon on praying to Mary, then found that he had contradicted the Bible. He had presented Rome's lie that Jesus is harsh and judgmental and Mary was loving and caring. If we go to Mary with our needs, she can always persuade Jesus to help us.

Then he discovered that nowhere in the Gospels did Mary request anything of Jesus without getting some form of loving rebuke. Mary had no power of persuasion over Jesus, as the popes taught. Chiniquy realized that Jesus knew ahead of time that a pagan-based religious harlot would rise up and use Mary to take man's trust away from Him. He knew that Mary would be made into a goddess for them to worship instead of Jesus.

Chiniquy discovered that this was only one of the ways Roman Catholicism contradicted the Bible. Eventually he had to choose between his false "church" and the Bible. No sincere Roman Catholic can read Chiniquy's life story and continue to sleep well in their trust in the pope.

Issue Date: September/October 2000
The battle Cry; Chick Publications
Excerpted from "Collapse of Evolution" by Scott Huse.
©1997 Reproduced by permission

Evidence that the earth-sun system was designed by God far outweighs any possibility that it all just happened to come together by mere chance. We will now consider a few features of the earth-sun system which appear to be specially and very carefully designed for the unique purpose of supporting life:

... Surely, the honest and objective observer has no other recourse than to conclude that the earth-sun system has been carefully and intelligently designed by God for man. As it is written: "The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men" (Ps. 115:16).

Every high school and college student should read "Collapse of Evolution" to protect them from the false teachings of evolution. Huse gives evidence, in easily understood form, from biology, geology, astronomy, physics, mathematics, archeology, anthropology, etc. showing that the world had to be created! Available from Chick Publications.

Satan's forces are working on several fronts to unify all the world's false religions and push Bible believers out of the game. Organizations such as the Parliament of World's Religions, the Millennium World Peace Summit and the United Religions Initiative are promoting worldwide ecumenical movements.

They hope to unite all the religions of the world to "build cultures of peace and justice." But written into their charters are subtle statements forbidding witnessing and soul winning.

Last year, 7000 delegates attended the Parliament of World's Religions conference in Cape Town, South Africa. In a mission statement posted on the cpwr.org web site, one of their goals was to "cultivate a spirit of harmony and to celebrate, with openness and mutual respect, the rich diversity of religious and spiritual traditions."

This fall, the United Nations will host the Millennium World Peace Summit, gathering about 1000 religious leaders in New York to discuss the influence of religion in world conflicts. Recognizing that war is often motivated by religion, organizers hope that a permanent council of religious leaders can be formed to advise the United Nations on preventing and resolving religiously motivated political conflicts.

In June of this year the United Religions Initiative was birthed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Delegates from 44 countries and 39 religions signed a charter pledging to "respect the uniqueness of each tradition, and differences of practice or belief."

The 21 principles of the charter encourages members to "deepen their roots in their own tradition," and a promise that "Members of the URI shall not be coerced to participate in any ritual or be proselytized."

The Parliament of World Religions says that they plan to "cultivate mutual respect" which the URI carefully defines as not being "proselytized." This shows that this global movement is not going to be friendly to Bible-believing soul winners.

To illustrate this, the URI organization plan is to establish local "Cooperation Circles (CC)." These will be self-organizing groups working to bring together members of the community in religious unity. In order to start one of these "circles" it is required that there be at least 7 members from no less than 3 different religions.

To be a member of a CC one must encourage the other members to "deepen their roots in their own tradition," and promise not to "proselytize." This closes the door to any form of soul winning. No Bible believer can participate in one of their CC's. We are forbidden to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. "For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness..." (2 Cor 6:14)

It is sad that, as the world panics over the increasing "wars and rumors of wars" they are carefully eliminating the one Source of true peace. Instead, they are valiantly trying to unite all of Satan's counterfeit religions.

The Bible predicted that there would be a political "beast" and religious "false prophet" in the last days. As we see the stage being set for their entry, we must redouble our "proselytizing" (soul winning) while there is time.

DURING the summer the EU has introduced sweeping new secrecy laws that will restrict the public's right to know details of discussions of security, military and foreign policy matters.

Immigration and drugs could also be covered by the restriction, according to freedom of information campaigners, and even the fact that certain documents exist will not be disclosed to inquirers. The new code of access to documents, which became law last week, was rushed through while the European political establishment was on holiday under the so-called "written procedure", which prevents debate by MEPs.

It was agreed by EU ambassadors - including Britain - at the behest of Javier Solana, formerly Nato secretary-general and now first EU foreign policy supremo. Four of the 15 EU member states voted against.

Information may be withheld on "public security, the security and defense of the Union or one of its member states, military or non-military crisis management, international relations, monetary stability, court proceedings, inspections and investigations".

New rules run counter to a commitment in the Amsterdam Treaty to enshrine the public's right of access to EU documents and counter to repeated promises of greater "transparency" in decision-making. Newspapers were accused by Keith Vaz, minister for Europe, last week of "xenophobia" and failing to report "positive" news about the EU even as the Government joined others in curtailing the availability of information.

The EU secretariat said the new rules were needed to back the moves towards a common foreign and defence policy. The rules will also cover proposals to set up a 5,000-strong EU paramilitary police force and plans for a rapid reaction force, which could be used to quell "violence, armed conflicts and massive population movements".

The controls were rushed through despite opposition from Jacob Soderman, the European ombudsman, who said they could be applied to areas now open to public scrutiny. Statewatch, the British civil liberties group, said the rules would "impinge in a major way on the EU civil as distinct from the military practices. The decision was rushed through when the institutions in Brussels were half-empty."

The rules have caused consternation in EU countries, especially in Scandinavia, which have more liberal freedom of information laws than Britain.

* NOTE : While we do not in any way represent another Ministry on TV with Pastor (A fine Christian Minister) , it is where we at Watchmen Bible Study Group enjoy to study. If you would like to check it out, "The Shepherds Chapel" is on over 250 television stations in the United States, and can be found by that name in any TV guide. It is also on satellite: Galaxy 6 Trans 16. On Direct TV on channel #373 (The Word channel). Also on short wave radio: WHRI & KWHR from Indiana (17.780 MHz @ 0500-0600Hrs, 5.745 MHz @ 0700-0800 Hrs, 13.760 MHz @ 1700-1800Hrs. (All times Universal Time). They also have a website @: www.shepherdschapel.com. Introductory Offer: (another Ministry on TV) has a free introductory package which includes the Mark of the Beast tape which is available to all new students - from the United States, Canada and Mexico call (800) 643-4645 or (501) 787-6026 or write to: The (another Ministry on TV); P.O. Box 416, Gravette, AR 72736 USA.

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