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The following articles are compiled by:

Leo Wong

Leo@WatchmenWatching.com

 

 

 

UN chief backs Saudi Plan

Source: www.dailytimes.com

 

March 21, 2007 -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon hailed the Middle East peace initiative by Saudi Arabia during an interview with the Voice of America (VOA).

 

He said, “I think the Arab peace initiative of 2002 by Saudi Arabia is one of the pillars that will facilitate the peace process in the Middle East. We must build upon these good principles.”

 

VOA spoke to Ban ahead of his upcoming trip to the Middle East. Ban also observed that the response from the Palestinian coalition to the proposals by the Middle East Quartet –Saudi Arabia, the US, Russia and the European Union – was “disappointing”, saying that, “Initial reports coming from this national unity government seem to be a little bit disappointing ... they have not clearly stated they will abide by these three principles.”

 

Comments:  On the surface, it appears that support by the leader of the world, the UN chief, would cause the moderate Arabs to loft their guns in the air and let a few rounds of bullets fly with unbridled joy.  But, Ban Ki-Moon is a toothless paper tiger in that the UN Secretary General job is basically a ceremonial post and “moderate” Arabs is an oxymoron.  (Recall that Yasser Arafat was labeled “moderate” toward the end of his life rife with terrorism.)  The present leader of the world is U.S. President George W. Bush whom the New World Order planners placed in that capacity until their Antichrist is ready to be revealed.

 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is a newbie and he’s a consummate bureaucrat.  His support of the Saudi Plan means very little to the other three members of the Quartet who wield the real power.  The Fatah-Hamas unity government has as much chance for success as Victoria Beckham of winning Alex Trebek’s Jeopardy Game.  Fatah gives the appearance of defeating the Israelis at the negotiations table while Hamas prefers the traditional route of guns, rockets and suicide bombers.  Neither really wants to make peace with Israel and Arab unity is a mirage.  The situation in the Middle East remains as muddy as the waters of the Mississippi River.

 

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Christians gather in Washington D.C. to protest war in Iraq

Source: Associated Press

 

March 21, 2007 -- Thousands of Christians prayed for peace at an anti-war service Friday night at the Washington National Cathedral, kicking off a weekend of protests around the country to mark the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq.

 

John Pattison, 29, said he and his wife flew in from Portland, Ore., to attend his first anti-war rally. He said his opposition to the war had developed over time.

 

"Quite literally on the night that shock and awe commenced, my friend and I toasted the military might of the United States," Pattison said. "We were quite proud and thought we were doing the right thing."

 

He said the way the war had progressed and U.S. foreign policy since then had forced him to question his beliefs.

 

"A lot of the rhetoric that we hear coming from Christians has been dominated by the religious right and has been strong advocacy for the war," Pattison said. "That's just not the way I read my Gospel."

 

The ecumenical coalition that organized the event, Christian Peace Witness for Iraq, distributed 3,200 tickets for the service in the cathedral, with two smaller churches hosting overflow crowds. The cathedral appeared to be packed, although sleet and snow prevented some from attending.

 

"This war, from a Christian point of view, is morally wrong - and was from the beginning," the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, one of the event's sponsors, said toward the end of the service to cheers and applause. "This war is ... an offense against God."

 

In his speech, the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, lashed out at Congress for being "too morally inept to intervene" to stop the war, but even more harshly against President Bush.

 

"Mr. Bush, my Christian brother, we do need a surge in troops. We need a surge in the nonviolent army of the Lord," he said. "We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling."

 

Comments:  Ephesians 6:[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Christians going to war is a touchy subject for many believers.  During War Worlds 1 & 2, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, there were Christian conscientious objectors who refused to enter the military.  Many were interned as a result and some crossed the border into neutral Switzerland and Canada (Vietnam example).  Their objection was that they could be confronted with a fellow believer on the other side and may have to shoot or kill him (or they could end the life of an unsaved soldier and thus deny him the chance to be saved).  Being that they’re both soldiers for Christ, that would be against God’s will.  Proponents of war say that suppressers of freedom and liberty need to be eradicated in order for this world to attain a utopian society based on love, respect, individual growth, and universal brotherhood/sisterhood.

 

With the Iraq War, you once again have a polarization of viewpoints depending on whether you’re a fundamental Christian or you’re a liberal thinking pro‑ecumenical believer.  The latter believes that war is immoral in all cases and that our battles are spiritual conflicts against Satan and his demons.  The former hold to the position that all forms of oppression require believers to take action.  They cite the example of Thomas Jefferson who said, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” and “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”  Go to: http://jpetrie.myweb.uga.edu/TJ.html.

 

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Money looms in Episcopalian rift with Anglicans

Source: www.nytimes.com

 

March 21, 2007 -- As leaders of the Anglican Communion hold meeting after meeting to debate severing ties with the Episcopal Church in the United States for consecrating an openly gay bishop, one of the unspoken complications is just who has been paying the bills.

 

The Episcopal Church’s 2.3 million members make up a small fraction of the 77 million members in the Anglican Communion, the world’s third-largest affiliation of Christian churches. Nevertheless, the Episcopal Church finances at least a third of the Communion’s annual operations.

 

Episcopalians give tens of millions more each year to support aid and development programs in the Communion’s poorer provinces in Africa, Asia and Latin America. At least $18 million annually flows from Episcopal Church headquarters in New York, and millions more are sent directly from American dioceses and parishes that support Anglican churches, schools, clinics and missionaries abroad.

 

Bishops in some foreign provinces that benefit from Episcopal money are now leading the charge to punish the Episcopal Church or even evict it from the Communion. Some have declared that they will reject money from the Episcopal Church because of its stand on homosexuality.

 

But church officials say that their donations continue to be accepted in every province but Uganda, and that they do not intend to shut off the spigot.

 

“The American church is not a pariah to everybody — some people still like us,” said the Rev. Lisa Fishbeck of Carrboro, N.C., in the Diocese of North Carolina, which is setting up a program with a diocese in Botswana. “They think we’re nutty, but they still like us.”

 

Episcopalians are now grappling with an ultimatum issued last month by leaders, or primates, of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces demanding that they promise not to ordain any more openly gay bishops, or to approve any more church blessings for gay couples. If the Episcopal Church does not agree by Sept. 30, the primates threatened “consequences” that will affect the Episcopal Church’s participation in the Communion.

 

But whether the Episcopal Church will comply, and whether its decision puts at risk its financial arrangements with the rest of the Anglican Communion remain up in the air.

 

Canon James M. Rosenthal, director of communications for the Anglican Communion Office in London, said no one in the Episcopal Church has threatened to cut off money.

 

Many Episcopalians say they have spent years forming relationships with Anglicans throughout the world and would be loath to cut off support, especially for programs that support the developing world’s poor.

 

“In places the government can’t reach, the church has an infrastructure and delivery system that is second to none,” Mr. Radtke said. “We certainly are in partnership with people who disagree with us, and that’s just fine. We give out our money based on the need, and not on the basis of some theological discussion.”

 

Comments:  Money always seems to be a major point of contention between people these days.  The Lord Jesus cared little for Caesar’s coins; instead, He went about doing His Father’s work.  God will supply all our needs along as we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us.  God’s storehouse of resources is limitless.

 

Anglicans who are opposed to the Episcopalians’ approval of the homosexual agenda are to be commended.  God will shower them with a blessing.  If the Episcopalians do withdraw their monetary support, then who needs the Devil’s filthy lucre anyway?  If mission work is pared back and feeding the poor is lessened, then leave it to the Lord to provide alternative sources of funding.  God is a God of miracles.  He doesn’t need our money which tends to corrupt us.  We’re responsible only for doing His will and obeying His precepts.  Blatant sin and its acceptance are not negotiable.  Let those who promote the Devil’s ways be shunned and let them take their sin laundered money elsewhere.  As with the Salvation Army’s refusal to accept money from government lotteries, true to the Lord Anglicans ought to do likewise.  Philippians 4:[19] But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Revelation 18:[4] And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

 

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Keep watching (Matt 24:42)!

 

Until next time,

Shalom!

 

 

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