Weed Breezes

Comparison Notes

2011-11-27T21:21:00.001-08:00

Comparison Notes

New and Better Methods of Doing things

2011-11-27T21:20:00.001-08:00

Ways in which others have solved complex problems,

Suggestions for new experiments

2011-11-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

Suggestions

Results Todate

2011-11-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

All the results of all the experiments posted here daily

My we have come a long wAY hAVE We not

2009-11-25T23:44:00.000-08:00

Folks there is not one thing on this list that points any one in the write direction with regards to the truth, even the history list revels that no one knows the truth about cannabis and its trials and tribulations, no other plant on this planet has had to suffer as much as that plant has, it is the only plant with such a prohibition against it that even the bible tells about this one, Yea right what makes you think that the bible would not talk about this plant, after all it is the only plant world wide that can do what it does, and we on our list of events that have taken place over the time line of this plant do not talk about what the plant is really for, nor could they even care. But I am telling you had better care, for the thing that you feared most has come to roost. And the people though out history, you mean to tell me they have never even found the real purpose of this plant I do not believe this I believe that there was a cover up of epic purportions that no one could comprehend that was not allowed to both experiment with the plant and to understand what its real use was for. Then may be you could craps the meaning of it purposes and why it is so concealed.

From Crimes of War

2009-07-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely deplorable
Preface to the First Edition
By Roy Gutman and David Rieff

In the early 1990s, while Western leaders were still congratulating themselves over the end of communism and the fall of the Soviet empire, the security structure that helped bring about those events began to come apart. The American-led North Atlantic Alliance that had for four decades effectively counterbalanced the Russian domination of eastern Europe proved incapable of dealing with a single Yugoslav despot, Slobodan Milosevic. The alliance that had confronted the prospect of nuclear apocalypse could not develop a coherent response to a small conventional conflict in southeastern Europe.

War had returned to the European continent. First in Croatia and then in Bosnia, it was being fought seemingly without respect for the rules of warfare that had been drafted in the wake of World War II and the Holocaust. These codes of conduct in war were a lesser-known element in the architecture of international security put into place after 1945. They were an effort to prevent a repetition of the worst of the abuses of World War II: the concentration camps, the mass deportations, the terror bombing. They enabled postwar governments in Europe and North America to at least assure their publics that the lessons had been learned and standards set.

It is no exaggeration to say that these codes were intended to establish even in war, a firebreak between civilization and barbarism. The Nuremberg Tribunals of 1945 set down the principle that there were such things as crimes against humanity, systematic crimes against civilians that can occur inside a country but that might be tried anywhere else. The Genocide Convention of 1948 gave legal meaning and force to the worst crime in the lexicon. The 1949 Geneva Conventions codified and advanced the rules governing wars between States, differentiating legal conduct from illegal and criminal acts in war. Together with the two Additional Protocols of 1977, the Geneva Conventions are the central summation of the agreed rules governing the conduct of war. Scholars and humanitarian organizations, hoping to emphasize the protections under law for noncombatants, call this field international humanitarian law. Militaries prefer to speak of the laws of war, and include in that definition the issues connected with the causes of war.

In well-off Western countries, the canons of international humanitarian law took hold—once the sometimes savage colonial wars had ended. Contrast, say, the American military's conduct in Vietnam, where many of the standards of international humanitarian law were violated, with its attempt to adhere scrupulously to these norms in the Gulf War. Unfortunately, the locus of conflict shifted to the poor world, where governments and insurgent groups routinely have disregarded the legal regime. And in the immediate post–Cold War era, no major Western power felt it had any stake in Third World conflicts unless oil was involved.

Small wonder, then, that less than two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the structure of international humanitarian law seemed on the brink of collapse. It took a war in Europe—Croatia in 1991—to stir public interest. The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992), the Rwandan genocide (1994), and Chechnya (1995) amplified the alarm bell, though it should have been sounded a good deal earlier.

Bosnia was the trigger. In the heart of "civilized" Europe, Serbian forces had set up concentration camps, deported non-Serbs in cattle cars, destroyed towns and villages, organized the systematic rape of Croat and Muslim women, and targeted civilians in the name of ethnic cleansing. The great Western alliance watched passively, and were it not for the glare of media attention as had occurred more than two decades earlier in Vietnam, and the public outcry in western Europe and North America, the savagery might have had no bounds.

In response to the public outcry, major powers sent in food and medicine and UN forces to monitor the distribution of aid, but more as an excuse to deflect public opinion than a policy response that squarely addressed the cause of a man-made disaster. Belatedly, and well after the worst crimes had occurred, major powers set up the first war crimes tribunals since Nuremberg, first for Bosnia and then in Rwanda. They did so, at least in part, in response to pressure from human rights, relief, religious, and other nongovernmental organizations and from the news media.

This, in itself, was a singular departure. Nongovernmental organizations and committed individuals can rightly claim credit for the conception, drafting, and adoption in 1948 of the UN Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the Genocide Convention, but the public historically have been bit players in curbing crimes of war. The implementation of international standards had always been up to governments, the militaries, and the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, which for over a century has helped in the drafting, oversight, and implementation of the Geneva Conventions.

No one yet knows whether the rise to prominence of nongovernmental organizations will help shift the responsibility toward a world order based on collaboration between governments, intergovernmental organizations like the United Nations, and private groups. Perhaps, on the other hand, the talk entering an era of international law and ending the old hard edged conception of State sovereignty is overstated. Whatever structures of world politics emerge in the next century, the editors and writers of this book—lawyers, journalists, and scholars—contend that the laws of war belong to everyone. They are among the great achievements of civilization, and in this era of uncertainty and disorder, more relevant than ever.

For the time being, accountability is not the rule, but the exception, in conflict. And realistically, international humanitarian law will not take hold without the support of governments. But as public interest grows in international humanitarian law, and this once esoteric field begins to generate news, a sense of change is in the air. Whether the story concerns the sentencing for genocide of a Rwandan mayor—the first such sentence handed down since Nuremberg—the effort to send war crimes investigators to Kosovo, a Spanish prosecutor's attempt to put the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on trial for crimes against his people, or the U.S.

government decision to award a bounty of up to $5 million for the capture of indicted Bosnian war criminals, the pattern represents a radical shift.

The question now is whether the new paradigm will prove enduring, and whether the rule of law set out in international treaties can truly be made to apply to conflict. There is ample reason for skepticism. What is certain is that it will not happen without public awareness and public engagement. And without a command of the most basic facts about the laws of war, there can be neither.

The need is pressing. Wars today increasingly are fought not between armies where officers are bound by notions of honor but by fighters, many of them children, who are not soldiers in any conventional sense of the word. The goal of these conflicts is often ethnic cleansing—the forcible expulsion of the civilian population of one's enemy—not the victory of one army over another.

The principal victims of this kind of war—slaughter is often the better term for it—are civilians. As horrible as the death toll was in World War I, the millions who died were, by and large, killed on the battlefield—soldiers killed by soldiers, not civilians killed by lawless or random or planned savagery. The rough proportion of military to civilian casualties was ninety to ten. In World War II, the proportions were roughly even. Today, for every ten military casualties there are on the order of ninety civilian deaths. The reality of our era, as demonstrated in Angola, Somalia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Chechnya, is that torture is rampant, murdering civilians commonplace, and driving the survivors from their homes often the main goal of a particular military offensive.

This book is published on the eve of the fiftieth anniversary—in August 1999—of the Geneva Conventions, with the aim of encouraging public knowledge of the principles of conduct in war. It consists of three types of articles. The heart of the law, and of this book, are the grave breaches, or serious war crimes, delineated in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the First Additional Protocol of 1977. The editors sought to find a clear example of each breach, irrespective of countries or adversaries, and then asked working reporters who had been at the scene to provide a graphic case study of what they had seen. These articles are labeled, crime. Leading scholars in the United States and abroad contributed shorter articles on technical topics, most labeled the law. There are also essay-length articles by journalists or scholars on major themes, labeled key terms. To provide a broader overview of contemporary conflict, the editors asked reporters and one historian to take a fresh and critical look at recent conflicts and examine them in the light of the crimes of war. These ten case studies offer insights into the dynamics of crimes in nine wars (Rwanda is addressed twice from different perspectives) and can be read as a book within a book. Complementing the case studies are three experts’ overviews of the applicable law: “Categories of War Crimes” by Steven Ratner, “Crimes against Humanity” by Cherif Bassiouni, and “Genocide” by Diane Orentlicher. Every article was vetted by our legal editor, Kenneth Anderson, his colleagues at American University’s Washington College of Law, and by leading military law experts in the United States and Britain.

The A-to-Z format, the use of bold-face type to indicate cross-references, and the graphic design are intended to make the book easy to use, and the photographs to provide visual bookmarks, while documenting the reality behind the words. The texts recount some of the most compelling reportage of contemporary journalism. Sydney Schanberg's case study of Cambodia, Roger Cohen's article on ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, Gwynne Roberts's account of the gassing of Kurdish civilians in Halabja and the aftermath, Frank Smyth's tale of arrest in Iraq, Ed Vulliamy's account on concentration camps, and Corinne Dufka's account of child soldiers in Liberia are a few of the articles that provide the raison d’être for this book.

Some contributions offer unique insights into military issues for the nonmilitary. For example, Wayne Elliott’s article on POWs tells reporters or anyone visiting or inspecting a POW camp what to look for. Elliott demonstrates how merely asking questions can put the spotlight on the observance or infraction of the rules, reminding commanders that the world is watching them. Hamilton DeSaussure's essay on military objectives will alert readers to the moral debate the military officer should go through before deciding what to attack and what to spare.

Crimes of War was conceived as a handbook for reporters. But just as war is too important to be left to the generals, war coverage is too important to be left uncritically to the news media. The general public, too, should know the moral and legal benchmarks contained in the law. One reason for a commonality of interest is that coverage of contemporary conflicts increasingly is available to the public without a filter or a framework or context. A second is that every close observer has a restricted field of vision.

Journalists who cover wars and humanitarian emergencies of the post- Cold War world know far better than their audiences or their critics how much they are operating in uncharted territory. Understanding what is going on in the midst of all the havoc, confusion, and disinformation is anything but simple. And almost nothing in their training prepares reporters to be able make the necessary distinctions between legal, illegal, and criminal acts. Is it a war crime under international law or a horrible, destructive, but legal act of war when one sees a hospital being shelled in Sarajevo, a humanitarian aid convoy blocked at a checkpoint on the Dagestan-Chechen border, or combat in which no prisoners are taken in Sri Lanka? Is it a legitimate sanction on the part of a State when the homes of alleged terrorists are reduced to rubble, as happens regularly in Israel, or is it a war crime? When combatants insert themselves amongst the civilian population, as was the case in Vietnam and more recently in Rwanda, does this violate the international conventions?

The best single indicator of a major war crime often is a massive displacement of civilians. But people may be fleeing for their lives from the scene of crime or the immediate threat of crimes, as in South Sudan at many points during the civil war there; or because their leaders ordered them out, but are intending to return militarily to destroy the other side, as the Serbs fleeing Croatian Slavonia did in 1991. They may be fleeing at the insistence of their political leaders, who intend to depict them as the victims of crime, as in the case of the Tajiks who fled into Afghanistan in 1993; or because they and their leaders have committed massive crimes and fear justice or retribution, as in the case of the Rwandan Hutus who fled into eastern Zaire in 1994 in the wake of the genocide. Determinations as these are hard to make in the best of circumstances, but all the more so under deadline pressure.

Sometimes the laws of war are frustratingly counterintuitive. International humanitarian law, as the contents of this book exemplify, does not address the causes or origins of a particular war, or which side was right and which side was wrong, only the method by which it is fought. So it is entirely possible, for example, for an aggressor to stage a war of conquest in accordance with the Geneva Conventions or for a defender to commit war crimes in a legitimate war of self-defense. But the fact that the law cannot answer every question, or shield us from every moral dilemma that war occasions, does not mean it has no answers or provides no bulwark against barbarism and crime.

In any case, understanding, while always difficult, is never more so than in war when the lure of easy explanations may be hard to resist. The British journalist Lindsey Hilsum maintains that when a journalist reports that the situation on the ground is one of anarchy, or resorts to such reductive clichés as describing a particular conflict as the product of ancient ethnic or tribal hatreds, the chances are that he or she has not fully understood what was going on.

Obviously, journalists have a primary role, but they are not the only people focused on the brutality of contemporary conflict. Groups such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the German Society for Threatened Peoples increasingly have turned their focus to violations of humanitarian law; but they cannot take on the entire responsibility of uncovering crimes of war. Watch groups have exceptional expertise and devoted staffers, but they also have finite resources and may arrive late at the scene, have limited access, and are sometimes slow to produce their reports. And like many private groups, dependent on external fund raising, each has its separate mandate and agenda.

Relief and aid workers in the field have become the eyes and ears of the world in conflict zones. Usually, they are the first on the scene and the last to leave. But their mandate and their training usually does not encompass trying to stop or even report on war crimes, and they are at risk of expulsion, with all that this entails for the endangered populations they are trying to serve, if they publicly cross that line. Yet knowledge of what is legal, illegal, and criminal in warfare will permit them or any other observers to alert those who do have the mandate and the means to inform the world or to act.

For the general public, Crimes of War should make it possible to become better informed consumers of the news by laying out the benchmarks for monitoring the watchdogs and governments. Just what steps governments should take to counter wholesale violations of the codes of war is not the subject of this book. Sometimes merely turning the spotlight on gross violations of humanitarian law can affect behavior in a small theater of war; other times, as in the Balkans, only military intervention or the threat of it can do any good. Our hope is that if the principles of law are widely understood, and if the news media and other observers present the relevant facts to the public, informed debate will provide the answers.

Joseph Pulitzer put it most succinctly when he wrote, "There is not a crime which does not live in secrecy. Get these things out in the open, describe them, attack them, ridicule them in the press, and sooner or later, public opinion will sweep them away." That, at least, is the hope of those who have contributed to this book.

The False Prophet

2009-06-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

The False Prophet
1. Introduction
The scriptures contain many warnings about false prophets and their miracle-working powers. Miracles are inexplicable wonders attributed to the supernatural. Because men and women are fascinated with miracles, the agents of darkness use them to bolster error and to lead people away from obeying the Almighty's commandments. The fact is, falsehood cannot stand up on its own: it needs spectacular demonstrations and gimmicks to impress the fickle human mind. Truth, on the other hand, is found in the scriptures, particularly in the commandments of God which specify how we humans should live. The prophets of the Almighty always teach Yahweh's law and warn of punishment to those who disobey it. Here are some Bible verses which mention false prophets.
2. False Prophets
Old Testament
The aim of all false prophets is to turn people away from obeying the commandments of Yahweh the Almighty God of Israel. False prophets will do numerous and stunning signs and wonders to achieve this aim.
Deut.13: 1: If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder,
2: And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them;
3: Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4: Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
5: And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

New Testament
It is unlikely that a false prophet will openly admit to being false. Instead he will pose as a true minister of the Almighty. He will come as a 'wolf in sheep's clothing:' and will do many miracles in order to deceive the human race - even 'the very elect - if possible'
Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

3. Who is the False Prophet?
In the book of the Revelation we read about an end-time 'False Prophet' who is in a class of his own. This False Prophet will arise in the last days when the Beast comes on the stage of time. He will do amazing miracles in the presence of the Beast and, like Elijah of old, will even bring fire down from heaven in the sight of men. He will deceive virtually the whole human race into receiving the Mark of the Beast . All the world's scientists, who pride themselves on not being taken-in by the supernatural, will stand aghast at the miracles performed by this demon wonder-worker. Only the 'very elect' will not be deceived by his breath-taking powers. For they will know - from the Scriptures - that the teachings of this Prophet are against the commandments of God: and that he is no last-day Elijah, but an demon who uses miracles to further his falsehood and cause mankind to worship the Beast and receive his Mark - the Mark of Disobedience!
Rev.13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14: And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15: And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16: And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev.16:13: And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the False Prophet.
14: For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev. 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the False Prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Who are these unclean frog-like spirits? The answer is: the Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet. These evil beings are not men. The dragon we are told is Satan the Devil. (Rev.12.12) The Beast, the Antichrist, we have discovered, is Abaddon the Destroyer from the Bottomless Pit. But who is the False Prophet that has power enough to deceive virtually the whole world into worshipping the Beast? Who is this master of deception?

The answer is: the False Prophet is the same Lying Spirit who in ancient days sent King Ahab of Israel to his death. In 1 Kings chapter 22 we read of how the Almighty was angry with the wickedness of King Ahab and determined to kill him. Yahweh allowed evil angels to carry out His plan. One by one they put forward proposals as to how they would trick Ahab to his death. But each plan in turn was turned down. The Almighty knew that Ahab was too cunning to fall for them. At last the Lying Spirit came before the Almighty with a masterful plan to speak through the mouth of Ahab's prophets: the prophets who never condemned the king's sinful ways. Surely Ahab would believe them! Yahweh agreed; the plan was a veritable masterpiece of deception. It would succeed where all others would fail. Here is the story in full.
1 Kings 22: 1: And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel.
2: And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel.
3: And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
4: And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
5: And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Enquire, I pray thee, at the word of the LORD to day.
6: Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
7: And Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
8: And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
9: Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
10: And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
11: And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them.
12: And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king's hand.
13: And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spake unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
14: And Micaiah said, As the LORD liveth, what the LORD saith unto me, that will I speak.
15: So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
16: And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
17: And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
18: And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
19: And he said, Hear thou therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
20: And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
21: And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
22: And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a LYING SPIRIT in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
23: Now therefore, behold, the LORD hath put a LYING SPIRIT in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.
24: But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto thee?
25: And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into an inner chamber to hide thyself.
26: And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king's son;
27: And say, Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
28: And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, the LORD hath not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you. 29: So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
30: And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.
31: But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel.
32: And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 33: And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him.
34: And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
35: And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
36: And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country.
37: So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.
38: And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.
39: Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 40: So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

4. The End-Time
No student of Bible prophecy will doubt but that we are living in the last days, the end-time just prior to the Saviour's return. Soon the events portrayed under the 6th Seal of Revelation will burst upon mankind. The sealing of the 144,000 will then take place and after that event the Beast will ascend from the Abyss. At that time, and it is near, the False Prophet will make his appearance. Hitherto he has worked from behind the scenes speaking his monstrous lies through the mouths of human beings, the many false prophets (tongue-speakers) who do miracles but strongly oppose the commandments of the Almighty God. But in the future the False Prophet, the supreme master of deception, will actually appear before mankind and perform breath-taking miracles to support his lies. Only those who have the true Spirit of the Almighty will not be taken in by him. Remember that the False Prophet has perfected the art of lying over and above every other spirit in the heavens. Indeed that is why he is called the Lying Spirit: that is his title. Others excel in different kinds of evil: but the Lying Spirit, is the Master of Falsehood: and he is most successful when he speaks through the mouths of the self-styled prophets of God - false prophets in the Christian Church!
5. Beware
Now to answer the twin question: How can we recognise the false prophet: and how does one avoid being deceived by him? The answer is as follows:

False prophets always turn people away from the commandments of God. This is: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (Rom:8:7)

The False Prophet is not a human being: though he uses human agents to pass on his lies. The False Prophet is a spirit being, an evil angel in the same category as Satan and the Antichrist. In my opinion the False Prophet is the same Lying Spirit of old: the masterful demon who sent king Ahab to his death so long ago.

To avoid being deceived by this wonder-working liar a believer must stand firm on the writings of the true prophets of God as recorded in the Holy Bible. King Jehoshaphat's advice still applies:
2 Chron.20:20 "Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper."

In matters of behaviour we must obey the commandments of God. The church which escapes the deception of the False Prophet is described as follows:
Rev.12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rev.14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

In other words "Fear God and keep His commandments." This is your whole duty and this is your best safeguard against the miracle-backed deceptions of the False Prophet, the Lying Spirit of old.

ARE YOU A NICOLAITANE?

2009-06-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

ARE YOU A NICOLAITANE?

Are you a Nicolaitane? Don't say "no" before you investigate, or you may have to change your mind. He that judgeth a matter before he investigates is not wise.

The Savior said that He hated the Nicolaitanes, even though they were members of His congregation in Ephesus, Pergamos, the Church of Rome, the Church of England, the Church of God, or any other church, regardless of the name it goes by. I am sure you would not want to be numbered among them, nor to fellowship with them if you knew who they were. When these Nicolaitanes were in the minority, the Savior said to the congregation, "Put them out from among you," (1 Corinthians 5:13). But now, when these Nicolaitanes (idolaters) had taken over the congregation, the Savior said to the believers, "Come out from among them," (Revelation 18:4).

These Nicolaitanes have been masquerading amongst us for a long time and have made converts of us all, whether we admit it or not. We have all been made to drink from their milk bottles; milk which has been drawn from Mother Babylon's breast. It is no wonder that Isaiah was told to inquire, "To whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?" Then, to make sure we would understand the right answer, he continued to explain that those who would receive knowledge would be, "...those that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast" (Isaiah 28:9). Have we really left the milk stage? Or have we left Mother Babylon's breast only to feed on the milk bottles drawn from the same sources and given to us by her nursing daughters, the Protestant Churches?

Sunday worship, Christmas with its Saturnalian excesses, New Year's with its night-watch and attendant debaucheries, Easter with its eggs, bunnies, hot cross buns and sunrise worship, May Day with its May-poles and lawn festivals, and Halloween, with its attending misrule, are not the feasts of Yahweh as commanded in the Bible. They are all perpetuations of the old pagan Babylonian feasts, belonging to the pagan deities, Lord, God, Jesus Christ (i.e. Zeous-Xristos of the Greeks), and Ma-Rhea, or Maria, the English Mary.

The doctrines of an ever-burning hell, Purgatory, going to heaven when you die, immediate transition, infant baptism, sprinkling, and the conscious state of the dead are not Apostolic, but purely and simply Babylonian. Their presence in the Christian Church identifies Christianity as the product of Babylon's fornications as evangelized by the Nicolaitanes. The 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation are prophetic of the history of the church, or assembly, and depict its transformation from the Apostolic faith to Babylonian apostasy.

For a long time, we have heard of the despicable Nicolaitanes in the book of Revelation, but we have never really understood the meaning of their condemnation, because we have never really known who, or what, the Nicolaitanes were. The Schofield School, or shall we say the editors of the Schofield Reference Bible, say that the Nicolaitanes are, and I quote,

"From Nakao, to conquer, and Laos, the people or laity. There is, however, no ancient authority for a sect of Nicolaitanes. If the word is symbolic, it refers to the earliest form of the notion of a priestly order, or clergy, which later divided an equal brotherhood into priests and laity. What in Ephesus were deeds (Revelation 2:6) had become in Pergamos a doctrine (Revelation 2:15)."

The above quotation is taken from the comment at the bottom of page 1332 of the Schofield Reference Bible. Please note that these wise theologians, who edited the Schofield Reference Bible, admit, "There is no ancient authority for a sect of Nicolaitanes." As for the other explanations, notice that it is based on an "IF the word is SYMBOLIC." That is the best explanation Christian clergy can give, because they are blind and "cannot see the forest for the trees." The truth of the matter is that the more orthodox they are, the nearer they identify themselves with the Nicolaitanes, whom the Savior said He hated. They themselves are blind, having been made so by their teachers.

The teaching that the New Testament was originally written in the Greek language is not only false but deceptive. The Hellenization of the Church not only produced a corrupted New Testament, but caused a Greek deity to displace the true Messiah. This was the work, or deeds, done by the Nicolaitanes in the early days. This is now perpetuated by the Christians in these latter days, since they are the offspring of the sect the Savior condemned (Revelation 1:6 and 15).

Many people think that we are just trying to establish another cult, but let us examine the facts. It is admitted that the Savior never heard Himself addressed as "Jesus Christ," not even when Greeks went to Philip and said, "We would see the Messiah" (Holy Name Bible). The Greek proselytes knew Him as "Yahshua," and as the Messiah: "Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other NAME under heaven, given unto men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). The name "Jesus" was never applied to the Savior during His lifetime, nor for nearly 300 years after His death and resurrection, but was substituted for Yahshua the Messiah after the Greeks took over the Church and killed off the faithful followers of the Lamb of Yahweh. They displaced Yahshua the Messiah with their Greek deity, Zeus the Kristos and called him Ie-Zeus (Jesus).

The Nicolaitanes infiltrated the early assembly and finally took over the policy-making. They had overcome the resistance of the saints, who were contending for the faith. They had opened the way for Jezebel, the ancient symbol for seductiveness, to come in and seduce the servants of Yahweh by saying that the Ie-sus Kris-tos (Jesus Christ) was the Greek translation of Yahshua the Messiah. This ruse was so successful that it has now deceived all the nations of the earth. It is not to be wondered, therefore, that the Scriptures charge Babylon, the Mother of Harlots, with committing fornications (embracing the different religions and deities of the various nations) and mixing their doctrines, which is "the wine of her fornications." She has made all nations of the earth drink and has made drunk all the people.
Who were the Nicolaitanes?

The Nicolaitanes were the evangelists of Zeus (Jupiter) who overcame and conquered the chosen people! They had no leader, but were Niko-Laos themselves. The word "Nicolaitanes" is a compound of the words "Nike" and "Laos" (Nike-Laos). Nike is the name of the Goddess of Victory, or the Winged Victory, and Laos is the Greek word for laity, devotees or followers. Therefore, without any guesswork or speculation, we can identify the Nicolaitanes of the King James Bible as the Nike-laity or Nike-Laos of the original manuscript of John the Revelator. Without any stretch of the imagination, we can identify the same old fellow--Saint Nike-Laos--or Santa Claus, who appears every year in the month of December to remind us that, when we keep Christmas, we are memorializing Zeus, Jupiter, Mithra, Nimrod, Baal, Adon, Apollo, Tammuz, and Bacchus, whose birthday is on the 25th day of December. He seduces the minds of the young, who, in turn, play upon the heartstrings of their parents, forcing them to celebrate even against their will. The independent churches who, when they originally came out from the worldly churches, had repudiated Christmas and Easter as pagan holidays, have been forced to compromise and take notice of these days. Why? Because it is part of the Satanic deception. You cannot divorce the worship of Je-Zeus from the Christmas Saturnalia, with its tree worship, laurel, holy, mistletoe, cakes and wine, nor from Easter with its hot cross buns (cakes to the Queen of Heaven, Astoreth) and bunnies. All these were, and still are, part and parcel of the Babylonian doctrine perpetuated in the Christian churches today.

In Greek mythology, Nike is represented as the Goddess of Victory whose function was to proselytize or evangelize for Zeus--the Greek deity--and ascribe to him all the honor and glory of all the other gods, thus displacing them, so that he might be worshipped in their stead. If you look in Webster's International Dictionary under the heading "Zeus," you will find a picture showing Zeus sitting on a throne with Nike in back of him, in the act of putting a crown of laurel upon his head. This was the symbol that he had won the victory over the other deities. Even our institutions of learning have been contaminated with this pagan idolatry, for when the students of schools, colleges and universities win distinction in a course of study, they are made to don the cap and gown. A Christian minister or priest is then called upon to "do the honors" by pronouncing upon them the Baccalaureate, or the Laurel of the Bacchus. And who is Bacchus? He is Barchus, the meaning of which is "son of Cush"--Nimrod, the personification of Satan, the enemy of Yahweh (see Genesis 10:8-9).

Returning to Zeus in Webster's International Dictionary, you will find that he is the same as the Latin Jupiter, the Spanish Dios, the French Diu, and the Hindu Dayus. He is known as the Father of gods and men (Pope--Poppa of gods and men.) No wonder John the Revelator calls the martyrs the "anti-pas." They were against the father of gods and men! Among the many characteristics ascribed to him, he is know as Zeus-Soter, which means Zeus the Savior. Whose Savior is he? Is he yours?

Of course, this is all mythology; but remember that mythology was, and is, the religion of the pagans. The devotees, or laity of the mythological goddess, Nike, do the work that she was supposed to do. In other words, the deeds of the Nicolaitanes exalted the Greek deity Zeus above the Messiah Yahshua. What they started in the Ephesian Assembly and failed to do, they finally succeeded in making a doctrine in the Assembly of Pergamos. Melchisedek's royal priesthood was superseded by the Babylonian priesthood. The seventh-day Sabbath was overshadowed by the introduction of the venerable day of the SUN (god). Yahweh's feasts, as ordained in the Scriptures, were set aside as having ended, only to be replaced by the new version of the Egypto-Babylonian feast. The clean food laws, ordained for better health, were cast aside for disease-breeding animals, so that the medicine men might reap a harvest. Also, confession of sins to Yahweh was replaced by confession to the priest as in the Babylonian mysteries. The Deuteronomic injunction not to make any baldness on their heads (Deuteronomy 14:1) was scrapped for the shaved crown on the head of the priests as a sign that they are priests to the SUN-GOD, and not to Yahweh.

Some may say that these charges are true only of the Roman Catholic Church, but does not the Bible say that the other churches are daughters (Revelation 17:5)? Surely, if the Roman Catholic Church is the Mother of Harlots, then the Harlots are her daughters. Inasmuch as they are guilty of the same apostasy, is it not the duty of every sincere believer to come out, not only from her (the mother) but also from them (the daughters)? Is it not our duty to leave all these paganisms behind, and return to the Law and the Testimony (Isaiah 8;20); to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and the Testimony of Yahshua the Messiah (Revelation 12:17)?

The great impact of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at PENTECOST (Acts 2), launched a great evangelistic campaign to bring the people back to Yahweh and His righteousness, through His Heaven-sent Redeemer, Yahshua the Messiah. This occurrence caused the leaders of the then-existing religions to tremble. In order to uphold these false religions, the leaders resorted to the persecution of the Apostles (see Acts 19:19, 20; Acts 16:17, 24; Acts 19:17, 35--Fox's Book of Martyrs). But persecutions could not quench the fire of the Holy Spirit in those who had received it. Under persecution, the Assembly of Believers increased, since, for every one of the faithful martyrs of the Lamb of Yahweh who went down, five would spring up to join their ranks. The blood of the martyrs was the true seed of the congregation of the Messiah. When, after three centuries, these measures of persecution failed in the suppression of the "FAITH once delivered to the saints," the Babylonian clergy, in conjunction with their governments, resorted to tactics of infiltration. They professed conversion and joined the Assembly of Believers. Then they tried to influence the government to cease persecution and give the assemblies rest and security. The stopping of persecution among the saints had a bad effect on them as it took away their ardor and zeal and made them soft. They no longer felt as much need of prayer as they had under persecution. In their apparent ease and security, they began to lose their first love. Following this, the false teachers began to cast stumbling blocks in the way of believers, as the Savior diagnosed their condition in Revelation 2:14-15. When speaking to the congregation of Pergamos, He says, "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold to the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to IDOLS and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold to the doctrine of the Nike-laitanes WHICH THING I HATE. REPENT OR ELSE...!"

So you see, dear believers, whoever you are, that the doctrine of Balaam was just as active in the New Testament congregation as it had been in the Old Testament at the time of Moses. The eating of things sacrificed to IDOLS, which was PAGAN back then, is CHRISTIAN today. The eating of the Christmas goose and the delightful roast SWINE was a delicacy to be eaten on the memorial of the birthday of Baal, Mithra, Jupiter, Je-Zeus (See 1 Maccabees 1:54-59). The month of Chisleu is the equivalent of the modern December. The tree worship of Jeremiah 10 was also connected with the worship of Jupiter. The Easter eggs, bunnies and hot cross buns were things sacrificed to the Goddess Astoreth, Astarte, Easter or Oastre (see Jeremiah 44:19 and Jeremiah 7:18.). Yahweh has repudiated such practices (see Amos 5:25-26; Zephaniah 1:4-5; Hosea 2:5-8; Isaiah 65:11; Ezekiel 23:38-44; 1 Corinthians 10:20-22; Numbers 25:4-9; and John 4:22).

The time has now come that Yahweh is calling on His people, whom He has favored with His grace, to seek Him and His SACRED NAME, by purging the pagan names of the deities from their lips. Through the prophet Hosea, He says, "Thou shalt call Me no more Baali (LORD). For I will take away the names of Baalim (Lords) out of their (the Church's) mouth, and they (the lords) shall no more be remembered by their name" (Hosea 2:16-17).

Of these days the prophet Micah says, "The voice of Yahweh crieth unto the city and the man of wisdom will see THY name" (Micah 6:9). Isaiah saw the Holy One of Israel looking down on the condition of His people as they were going through tribulation and said, "Therefore My people shall know My name; therefore, they shall know in that day that I am HE that doth speak: behold it is I" (Isaiah 52:6). And the Psalmist saith, "And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee, for Thou, O Yahweh, has not forsaken them that seek Thee" (Psalm 9:10). "For some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we will remember the name of Yahweh our Elohim" (Psalm 20:7).

Worshipping the Creator-Redeemer by the names of pagan deities is not honoring Him. It is ascribing to another the glory that ought to be ascribed to Him. Yahweh makes an awesome revelation through Isaiah, "I am Yahweh: that is My name and My glory I will not give to another, neither My praise to graven images" (Isaiah 42:8). Jeremiah is hopeful of the people coming to the light of the true name of Yahweh, for he, speaking for Yahweh says, "Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no mighty ones? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know. I will cause them to know Mine hand and My might: and they shall know that My name is Yahweh" (Jeremiah 16:21).

Let us take the advice of the prophet Hosea when he says, "Come, let us return unto Yahweh; for He hath torn, and He will heal us: for He hath smitten and He will bind us up" (Hosea 6:1). In closing, let me say with Micah that, while all the people (Christian-Nicolaitanes) will walk every one in the name of his Elohim (gods), we will walk in the Name of Yahweh our Elohim forever and ever (Micah 4:5).

The Church Nicolaitanes will have the Babylonian names of Blasphemy upon their foreheads (Revelation 17:5). But the congregation of the Redeemed will have the Name of the Lamb and the Name of His Father upon their foreheads (Revelation 14:1).

Which will you have? Choose you this day whom you will serve--Yahweh or Baal, Yahshua or Ie-Zeus, Messiah or Kristos?

Acts 2:38--Repent and be baptized every one of you in the NAME of Yahshua for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.