News for October 14, 2005

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Church on the Web (Reposted - just in case you missed it before) (October 14, 2005) - Taking advantage of the latest Internet technology, a Christian website is spreading the Word to a growing Web-based audience by offering the audio of tens of thousands of sermons for free online. SermonAudio.com has almost 70,000 sermons on its website, all of which are available to listen to immediately or download to a computer of MP3 player for use at a later time. Over 80,000 sermons are downloaded by listeners each week. The sermons are supplied by member churches that pay a monthly fee to upload an unlimited number of MP3 sermons to the site. Participating churches then receive reports that let them know which sermons were downloaded and the general geographic location of each listener. According to SermonAudio.com, since its inception over five years ago, over 8 million sermons have been downloaded. Site visitors can search for sermons by pastor, topic, church, keyword, Bible reference or date preached. more...

US mulls troops for bird flu quarantine (October 14, 2005) - The Pentagon is looking at the possibility of using federal troops to enforce a quarantine in the event of an outbreak of pandemic bird flu in the United States, a senior official said. President George W Bush said last week he would consider using the military to “effect a quarantine” in response to any outbreak of avian influenza, but provided few details. Bush at the time also suggested he might place National Guard troops, normally commanded by state governors, under federal control as part of the government’s response to the “catastrophe” of such a flu pandemic. Paul McHale, assistant defense secretary for homeland defense, said quarantine law historically has been under the primary jurisdiction of states, not the federal government. “And my expectation is that any quarantine measures that would be put in place would involve a substantial employment of the National Guard, probably under control of the governor of an affected state,” McHale told a group of reporters. “However, we are looking at a wide range of contingencies, potentially involving federal troops if a pandemic outbreak of a biological threat were to occur,” McHale added. The H5N1 avian influenza virus has killed or forced the destruction of tens of millions of birds and infected more than 100 people, killing at least 60 in four Asian nations since late 2003. Experts fear that the virus, known to pass to humans from birds, could mutate and spread easily from person to person, potentially killing millions worldwide. Experts have questioned America’s preparedness. more...

Test case for Quran as hate speech (October 14, 2005) - An evangelical Christian activist group is warning it will attempt to use the British government’s new racial and religious hatred law to prosecute for inciting religious hatred book stores selling the Quran. Christian Voice, a group that earlier campaigned against the BBC's broadcasting of “Jerry Springer The Opera,” was part of a demonstration against the bill outside parliament as the House of Lords held a second reading of the legislation. Its director, Stephen Green, said the organization would consider taking out prosecutions against shops selling the Islamic holy book, the London Guardian reported. He said: “If the Quran is not hate speech, I don’t know what is. We will report staff who sell it. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that unbelievers must be killed.” “It is not just Islam which is the problem,” said the group’s website. “If a preacher is explaining the horrors of Hinduism ... a charge of stirring up religious hatred would be almost inevitable. Preaching against sin in general, or adultery or homosexuality in particular, may also land a preacher in court.” During yesterday’s debate, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, said the law “threatens civil liberties”. “I am troubled by the bill before us and feel that rather than strengthening the social fabric of our society it would weaken it. It has the potential to drive a wedge between the Muslim community and the rest of us,” he said.

Apocalyptic anxiety runs high in disasters’ wake (October 14, 2005) - Every morning, the Rev. Micheal Mitchell prays that if today is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it, he will be ready. “Ever since the terrorist attacks four years ago, I try to live every day as if it will be the last day,” said Mitchell, 46, senior pastor of New Life Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in East Flatbush. Mitchell’s belief that he is watching biblical prophecy unfold in the form of modern day famines, floods and earthquakes has grown increasingly urgent. What with a cataclysmic earthquake swallowing whole villages in South Asia, coming on the heels of a killer tsunami and hurricanes that flooded the Gulf Coast and brought lethal mud slides to Guatemala, apocalyptic anxiety is running extraordinarily high -- among believers and nonbelievers alike. Set against a backdrop of terror threats and worries that avian flu may morph into a pandemic, it’s no wonder that talk of a biblical-scale reckoning is cropping up in all sorts of conversations. “A lot of people are watching the harpazo Index very carefully right now,” said Stephen O’Leary, an expert on apocalypticism at the University of Southern California, referring to a Web site that purports to offer a statistical gauge of the approach of the moment that Christians believe Jesus will remove the faithful from Earth. The Web site Rapture Ready currently registers 161. Anything higher than 145 means “fasten your seatbelts,” according to the legend. Apocalyptic beliefs have long been an American staple. A June 2001 survey by the Barna Research Group, for instance, found that 40 percent of adults in the United States believe the physical world will end as a result of supernatural intervention. Fifty percent disagreed, and 10 percent didn’t know. Mitchell, like many Pentecostals and Charismatics, believes the seven years of calamities leading to Armageddon -- the battle in which Jesus will defeat the Anti-Christ -- may already have begun. Now, he said, he gets almost daily questions from congregants about how current events may reflect those prophecies. more...

At Least 85 Killed in Attacks in Russia (October 14, 2005) - Militants attacked police and government buildings in Russia’s volatile Caucasus region Thursday, taking hostages and turning a provincial capital into a war zone wracked by gunfire and explosions that left at least 85 people dead, mostly insurgents. Chechen rebels claimed responsibility for the offensive in Nalchik, the capital of the mostly Muslim republic of Kabardino-Balkariya, as a new front opened in the Kremlin’s decade-old battle against Islamic insurgents. The rebels’ struggle against Russia, originally a separatist movement, increasingly has melded with Islamic extremism in the past decade and fanned out beyond Chechnya’s borders to encompass the entire Caucusus region. The insurgent strategy of simultaneous attacks on facilities in Nalchik, a city of 235,000, was similar to a rebel siege last year in another Caucasus republic, Ingushetia, in what appears to be an attempt to target areas outside Chechnya and keep Moscow off-balance. Kabardino-Balkariya is the fifth of seven republics in the mountainous region to be hit by the spillover of violence from the struggle in Chechnya. The insurgents are trying to exploit tensions among a variety of ethnic groups in the impoverished region as well as native Muslims and the ethnic Russians, who are Christian. President Vladimir Putin, beleaguered by attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians and underscored his failure to bring the southern area under control, ordered a total blockade of Nalchik to prevent militants from slipping out. He told security forces to shoot any armed resisters. Thursday’s fighting began about 8:30 a.m. Thursday after police launched an operation to capture about 10 militants in a Nalchik suburb. All 10 suspected militants were killed, Russian Deputy Interior Minister Alexander Chekalin said. Gunmen staged simultaneous attacks against three police stations, the city’s airport and the regional headquarters of the Interior Ministry and Federal Security Service in what appeared what appeared to be an effort to divert police. The attack at the airport was repelled, the facility was placed under military control and all flights were canceled, news reports said. The militants also attacked the regional headquarters of the Russian prison system, the Emergency Situation Ministry’s press office said. Interfax said a border guards’ office also came under attack. more...

Feds fund religious promotion of evolution (October 13, 2005) - In a turning of tables, two defenders of evolution in academia are being sued for spending more than $500,000 of federal money on a website that encourages teachers to use religion to promote Darwin’s theory. California parent Jeanne Caldwell filed the suit yesterday against the National Science Foundation and the Uiversity of California at Berkeley. “In this stunning example of hypocrisy, the same people who so loudly proclaim that they oppose discussion of religion in science classes are clamoring for public school teachers to expressly use theology in order to convince students to support evolution,” said Larry Caldwell, president of Quality Science Education for All, who is co-counsel in the suit with the Pacific Justice Institute. As WorldNetDaily reported, Caldwell also has filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court against the Roseville Joint Union High School District and school officials in Sacramento, Calif., alleging his constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and religious freedom were violated when he was prevented from introducing a curriculum that includes some of the scientific weaknesses of Darwin’s theory of evolution in biology classes, without introducing religious content. In April, Caldwell sued the Oakland, Calif.-based National Center for Science Education claiming an article by director Eugenie Scott contained numerous factual misstatements and libeled him in an effort to discredit efforts to promote his curriculum. The website at the center of the current lawsuit, called “Understanding Evolution,” directs teachers to doctrinal statements by 17 religious denominations and groups endorsing evolutionary theory. A statement by the United Church of Christ, for example, declares that evolution is consistent with “the revelation and presence of ... God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.” The website further suggests classroom activities that explicitly use religion to promote evolution, the lawsuit asserts. In one suggested activity, teachers are to share with students statements by religious leaders on evolution, but only those “stress[ing] the compatibility of theology with the science of evolution.” In another activity, students are assigned to interview ministers about their views on evolution, with the purpose of showing students “Evolution is OK!” Teachers are cautioned, however, that this particular activity may not work if they live in a community that is “conservative Christian.” more...

Chechnya under large-scale al Qaeda-Chechen terrorist assault, First reports of hostages taken and estimates of 60 deaths. (October 13, 2005) - Russian federal and special troops supported by combat helicopters and armored vehicles are engaged in ongoing clashes at several points across the city. The assault began early Thursday with simultaneous attacks on 3 police headquarters, federal military bases, a gun store and the regional airport. Police HQ caught fire, another police building is under siege, reportedly with hostages. All schools are being evacuated. Gunfire and explosions ring through the city. Special forces are sealed off the city by blocking highways. Regular flights to and from Nalchik regional airport are suspended. DEBKAfile adds: The assault was mounted by terrorist contingents under the name of the “Yarmouk Brigades” (for the big battle Muslims waged in the seventh century to capture buildings and barricade themselves inside.) Nalchik, a town of half a million inhabitants, was the jumping off base for the raiders who besieged the Beslan school a year ago, leaving 332 dead, most children.

Catholic Church No Longer Trusts the Bible (October 14, 2005) - Catholic bishops declare that the story of the beginning of the world told in the Bible is full of contradictions. The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church in Britain has published a teaching document instructing the faithful not to trust the Bible too much. The declaration of the Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland is called The Gift of Scripture. The document has come out right at the time when conservative religious figures are getting particularly active in the West, the USA first of all. Many faithful insist that the creation stories told in Genesis must be taught at schools together with Darwin’s evolution theory. They believe that the world appeared according to God’s conception. Right at this moment, British bishops declare that the story of the beginning of the world told in the Bible is full of contradictions, resembles the legends of other Ancient East people and cannot be considered historical. At best, it contains just few “elements of historical truth.” They also deny the doomsday prophesies in the Book of Revelation. The authors of the document are sure the symbolic language of the Book should not be interpreted literally. The declaration of British bishops shows that the Catholic Church is headily giving up its past conservatism. In the past, Copernicus and Galiley were sentenced to death for their scientific views. A hundred years ago, Pope Pius X declared Catholic scholars heretics for their attempts to apply critical historical methods developed by philologists studying ancient literature to the Bible. Today, the church hierarchy openly recognizes the importance of critical approach to Scripture. They say that “the Word of God is expressed with the help of the human language” which is truly imperfect for this purpose. They add that the church must preach the Gospel as adapted to the changing time and to understanding of the contemporaries. more...

Refco Sends Tremor Through Financial World (October 13, 2005) - Refco’s position as the largest independent derivative dealer with billions of dollars in customers’ money, declared a moratorium on withdrawing assets or funds today. That’s analogous to a run on the bank with your once friendly banker slamming the front door in your face. This is a very serious situation, not so much because of the run but rather because the missing money has been replaced. What makes this aspect of the situation so serious - and why Refco must be rescued - is because it is the principle of many over-the-counter, unregulated, unfunded, unlisted and non-Clearing House guaranteed derivatives. If Refco folds up its tent, then the financial world folds. You can take that to a real bank. Every time you rescue a financial entity, you pour more fuel on the fire that will ultimately consume the dollar. We are so battered by economic misconduct and flagrant abuses in the business world these days that there are few if any rescue options for what is approaching in the financial world. Even with “stabilization” activities in world dollar markets today, the US dollar did not make the desired technical breakout but in fact closed on its low portending perhaps what’s in store for tomorrow. more...

Refco Ex-Chief Bennett Arrested for Securities Fraud (October 13, 2005) - Refco Inc.’s former chairman and chief executive officer, Phillip R. Bennett, was arrested by U.S. authorities and charged with securities fraud just two days after the company said he concealed $430 million in unpaid debts. U.S. prosecutors opposed bail for Bennett at a hearing in Manhattan federal court this afternoon, telling a judge that he posed a “flight risk” because he faces life in prison if he’s convicted. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Esseks said Bennett “has an enormous incentive to go.” Bennett’s lawyer, Gary Naftalis, claimed there was “no justification” for his arrest. Esseks replied that Bennett, 57, was heard on tape Monday telling a colleague “he was going to Europe in 48 hours, and that’s what prompted us to act as quickly as we did.” Late in the day. U.S. Magistrate Douglas Eaton freed Bennett on home detention, ordering him to wear an electronic bracelet and post a $50 million bond, plus $5 million in cash. Bennett and unnamed accomplices “hid from investors and regulators hundreds of millions of dollars that one of Bennett’s companies owed to Refco,” U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said. Hiding the transactions may have helped Refco, the largest independent U.S. futures broker, appear more financially sound as it and underwriters including Credit Suisse First Boston prepared for a $583 million initial public offering in August. Since Refco’s disclosure Oct. 10, the shares have plummeted more than 60 percent to less than half the IPO price as the Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation and shareholders filed lawsuits. more...

Norma McCorvey, “Roe” of Roe V. Wade, now Pro-Life Will Challenge Her Former Attorney (October 14, 2005) - According to Christine Melchor, Executive Director of the Houston Coalition for Life, Norma McCorvey, the now Pro-Life “Roe” of Roe v. Wade, will give her testimony and will publicly challenge her former lawyer, Sarah Weddington to address her unanswered questions regarding the landmark case. This challenge will be issued during a press conference at 6:30 PM on Saturday, October 15, 2005 on the public property outside of the Hilton Post Oak (formerly the Doubletree) 2001 S. Post Oak Blvd in the Galleria during the Planned Parenthood Annual Fundraiser at which Weddington is the keynote speaker. Norma McCorvey said, “In 1972, Sarah Weddington argued in the courts, presumptuously on my behalf, that women should be allowed to obtain a legal abortion. The courts did not ask whether I knew what I was asking for. The abortion decision that destroyed every state law protecting the rights of women and their unborn babies was based on a fundamental misrepresentation. I had never read the affidavit and I did not know what an abortion was. Weddington and the other supporters of abortion used me and my circumstance to urge the courts to legalize abortion without any meaningful trial which addressed the humanity of the baby, and what abortion would do to women… My real interests were not their concern.” McCorvey added, “As the class action plaintiff in the most controversial U.S. Supreme Court case of the twentieth century, I only met with the attorneys twice. Once over pizza and beer, when I was told that my baby was only ‘tissue.’ The other time at Coffee’s office to sign the affidavit. No other personal contacts. I was never invited into court. I never testified…. The entire case was an abstraction.” Christine Melchor, Executive Director of the Houston Coalition for Life, stated, “I urge any woman considering abortion to be skeptical of whether the abortion industry is really looking out for her best interests. Norma McCorvey knows from her experience being used by supporters of abortion and through working in the industry herself that these people continue to exploit women to further their financial and personal agendas.” more...

Diagnostic Breakthrough for Cancer Could Revolutionize the Medical Field (October 13, 2005) - The field of nanotechnology has been long on hype and short on real products -- with the possible exception of stain-free pants. Likewise, the emergence of personalized medicine -- that utopian vision of detecting a disease at the doctor’s office before symptoms have hit, and then treating it at the molecular level -- has long been foretold, but still hasn’t arrived. But a product that should appear next year could fulfill both visions. Northbrook, Illinois-based Nanosphere is preparing to launch a diagnostic system that uses nanoparticles to detect various proteins at a level of sensitivity never before seen. Scientists know that a protein called prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, is linked with some forms of breast and ovarian cancer. But levels of PSA are so low in women that they’re impossible to detect with existing technology. Nanosphere researchers say their technology can do the trick. “In the end, molecular biology is about amplification,” said Northwestern University nanotechnologist Chad Mirkin, who is a co-founder of the company and sits on its board of directors. “If you can amplify a signal that’s happening on the cellular level to the point where you can detect it at the human level, you can do great science.” The Nanosphere system increases the sensitivity for detecting recognized proteins by six orders of magnitude. “Nobody else can get close to that,” Mirkin said. Nanosphere hopes to have a PSA screen ready by next year for breast and ovarian cancer as well as prostate cancer. Doctors now test for PSA in men using the ELISA protein assay, which costs hundreds of dollars per test and requires high concentrations of the protein to be successful. more...

Former Israeli Commander: God Protected Us in Battle (October 13, 2005) - Like most Israelis just before the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, then-Israeli commander Effie Eitam did not expect an Arab attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year. Eitam was leading a routine reconnaissance patrol on the Golan Heights. Moments later, he was facing the might of the Syrian army. “I saw hundreds of Syrian tanks moving forward, and they were painted in a camouflage of green and yellow,” Eitam recalled. “And I remember, I thought to myself that they’re kind of prehistoric lizards, you know, who just came out of a cave, because they came out of nowhere. I didn’t see them before.” For days, the surprise attack dealt a serious and nearly fatal blow to Israel. The men on the front lines bore the brunt of the battle. Eitam said, “The first three days were hell, you know. We didn't have any anti-tank weapons, and we had to shoot them with American World War II-made bazookas. You know, a very primitive anti-tank rocket launcher, and we had to shoot them from a distance of 50-60 meters. People just got killed. Some of them were smashed by the tanks… from such a short distance.” The Israelis paid a high price in lives lost during the first few days of the war. But they held on, and contained one of the most fearsome attacks ever made against the nation. When Israel counter-attacked, Eitam received orders for a daring mission: go miles behind enemy lines and take the Syrian division headquarters. Like many commando raids, this assault meant close- quarters face-to-face, sometimes hand-to-hand combat. Eitam was a highly trained soldier, but he was not prepared for what faced him when he went around a corner in the Syrian bunkers. “We came there and we started to ‘clean’--in other words, to kill--the generals that were there, and their guards. I was throwing hand grenades, shooting, you know, in the broad concrete corridors. And then when I turned, behind one of the corners of the corridors that was full of smoke and dust, I saw a silhouette--a kind of something coming out of the dust, and smoke towards me. I was very sure it was a Syrian soldier, and I took my rifle, and I was aiming the rifle and was ready to pull the trigger, and then I saw a bird coming out of the smoke. She just flew behind my head and she stood on my right shoulder,” Eitam said. At first, Eitam thought the bird was actually a bat, living in the cool, dark corridors of the bunker. So in the midst of an intense firefight, Eitam found himself trying to shoo away a bird. “So I just whipped her out,” Eitam remembers. “[But] she turned again and stood on my left shoulder. I didn’t have time to have all kind of argument with a bird: What are you doing here, who are you? It was in the middle of a shooting battle. So I completed the assault and hand grenades and everything. And when I went out of the corridor of the bunker, I saw a dove, a pigeon, standing on my left shoulder. I just tried to let her [off] of my shoulder. She turned and was very determined not to leave me. I put my hand just like that, and she stood on my hand.” Despite Eitam’s attempt to get rid of the dove, she stayed with him and his unit for the next 10 days, in some of the most intense battles of the Yom Kippur War. During that time, Eitam’s unit appeared to have supernatural protection. Eitam declares, “Since we had that angel protecting us, none of my company’s soldiers was killed or wounded, and we were involved in very intensive battles. It’s not that we stood in the rear or we sat there. We were involved in the middle of the most bitter battles, but she was there. What was unnatural and very interesting was that, even in the night, when we had night operations and night battles, where usually these birds, pigeons, do not move at night--they don’t have a very good night sight--she was with us patrolling, a little bit forward, looking what’s going on around, sitting here [on my shoulder].” more...

Jordan’s King Urges Muslim Nations to Unite Against Extremist Muslim Terrorists (October 12, 2005) - This month’s suicide bombings on Indonesia’s island are a reminder that Muslim nations must unite against extremists “who are distorting the teachings of Islam,” Jordan’s King Abdullah II said Wednesday. Islamic militants have launched several attacks in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, and in Jordan in recent years. Abdullah made his remarks after meeting with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Both leaders are heralded in the West for being champions of religious moderation. “We reaffirmed the importance of working together to defeat the scourge of terrorism that Indonesia and Jordan have suffered,” Abdullah told reporters at a news conference. “The malicious attacks in Bali are a reminder that we need to unite in the struggle to defeat ignorant extremists who distort the teaching of Islam.” The Oct. 1 bombings on three crowded restaurants on the resort island killed 23 people, including the three attackers. They have been blamed on the Al Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror network, which is also accused in three other attacks in Indonesia since 2002. Yudhoyono said that Indonesia was working to empower liberal Islamic leaders to deprive militants of support, as well as stepping up police and intelligence efforts to smash their networks. “We want to maintain the moderate forces of our social life,” Yudhoyono said. “We are doing this, but it is an unfinished agenda.” More than 80 percent of Indonesia’s 220 million people are Muslims. Most practice a broadly tolerant version of the faith tinged with remnants of Hindu and animist rituals, which predate Islam in the archipelago. more...

ISRAELIS SEEK THE LORD By Rebecca Brimmer (October 14, 2005) - The State of Israel was almost completely shut down on October 12–13 for the biblically mandated Day of Atonement, known as Yom Kippur in Hebrew. Most of the country’s Jewish residents join in a 25–hour period of fasting, prayer, and introspection. Traffic came to a standstill, as all public and virtually all private transportation was stopped. No flights were allowed in or out of the country. Israeli radio and television services were halted. Yom Kippur is a day of afflicting oneself. During the twenty-five hours (sundown to sundown) of the day, no food or water is ingested; no entertainment is enjoyed; no one bathes; husbands and wives refrain from intimacy; and all attention is turned to spiritual matters. The synagogues were full as the people joined together to seek the Lord in an attitude of repentance. All this activity is in accordance with the Lord’s command that the Children of Israel set aside the tenth day of the seventh month (on the Hebrew Calendar) for a day of divine atonement. “It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:27–28). The ten days leading up to Yom Kippur are known to Jews as the Ten Days of Awe, a period of slichot (prayers for forgiveness). During this time, Jews endeavor to make things right between themselves and God and also with their fellow man. In fact, one is obligated to grant forgiveness when requested by another. Most Bridges for Peace staff members fasted from food and joined the Jewish people in prayer on Yom Kippur. We prayed for God to hear the cries of the people and to bring redemption. Immediately after Yom Kippur, everyone starts to build their sukkah, a temporary dwelling biblically mandated for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot), which begins five days after the end of Yom Kippur. In contrast to Yom Kippur, Sukkot is a joyous festival that forbids mourning. Thousands of Christians come to Jerusalem each year to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles Celebration sponsored by the International Christian Embassy. The Bridges for Peace staff will join many of the activities and also have our own joyous party this week. We have much to celebrate–25,000 immigrants have been assisted in entering the Land of Israel through our Project Rescue program.

THE NEW PAGANISM: How Christianity is being replaced by ‘green’ religion, goddess worship, globalism (October 14, 2005) - Relentless attacks on America’s Christian churches – not just from without, but from within – which are steadily remolding institutionalized Christianity to serve a new, non-Christian, globalist agenda, are the focus of August’s eye-opening edition of Whistleblower.

For years, Christians have stood by helplessly as their once-dominant religion has been increasingly scoffed at, marginalized and demonized. They have watched a dizzying succession of outrageous court decisions – outlawing the 10 Commandments in schools and courtrooms, forbidding acknowledgement of God in graduation speeches, and most recently, declaring public recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional. And they have reeled at prosecutions that criminalize conscientious Christians, such as that of the Canadian printer fined $5,000 for refusing to print materials for a “gay rights” group. Or the shocking revelation that the Swedish parliament is pushing to amend that country’s constitution to ban speech or writing opposing homosexuality – even within churches themselves – violations of which could result in prison sentences.

But while these are the conflict’s familiar flashpoints, the real fight lies elsewhere. Indeed, the biggest war of all is that raging within the churches themselves. The Catholic Church’s devastating clergy sex scandal – with its seemingly endless revelations of predatory homosexual priests molesting boys, and the stunning failure of their superiors to put a stop to it – is the tip of the iceberg.

As August’s Whistleblower shows, the fierce battle for control, not only of the Catholic Church, but of many of the mainline Protestant denominations as well, is the real story. The combatants range from the familiar front-line storm troopers – homosexual activists, ACLU lawyers, atheists – to the exotic – environmentalists, the United Nations, globalists, New Agers, witches and occultists, and many others almost too strange to believe. But all are engaged in an ultimate fight – a battle to the death, winner takes all – for control of the major institutions of the Christian religion.

“America is rapidly changing from the jewel of Judeo-Christian Western Civilization to a screaming babel of wild religious movements, each more wacky than the next, and all animated by rebellion against the religion and values upon which America was founded, and which made it the greatest nation in world history,” said WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah. And just what, exactly, is attempting to replace Christianity as the dominant religion in America?

Superficially, it appears to be just a freak show, ranging from the seemingly harmless “Entertainment Paganism” (“Dungeons and Dragons,” “white witchcraft,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Witchblade”) to “Teen Cult Paganism” (teens in Gothic drag, freaky hair colors, tattoos, body piercing, “body art,” black garb, studs and chains) to “Ecology Theology” (free-form sexual morality, “gaia” worship, native spirituality rituals) to the wide-ranging “New Age Movement” (believes humankind is on the cusp of a new dawn, beginning new phase in evolutionary history) to “Dark Paganism” (believes there’s no such thing as “evil,” and for whom destruction and death are forms of beauty) to “Wicca” (witchcraft is reportedly the fastest growing religion in Australia) and “Satanism” (consciously acknowledges Satan as master, and seeks power to corrupt all things, especially Christianity). But that’s only the surface.

As WND reveals in this issue of Whistleblower, the paganization of America’s churches – already well under way – is consciously intended to usher in a “new age” of global government, with the United Nations as the global “brain” of a new world order. And no, this is not conspiracy stuff. It’s real – and it’s happening now. This “new” religious worldview is sugar-coated with high-minded and universal ideals of environmental protection and species preservation, but the ultimate agenda behind the movement is much darker.

The ultimate purpose of “green religion” is to convince the people of the world to embrace world governance – which for a free nation like America represents a massive loss of national sovereignty and personal freedom – for the supposed sake of Mother Earth (“gaia”) and the environment. After all, it is a lot easier to administer world government if all people believe it represents their salvation, rather than tyranny. How is this to be accomplished?

To begin with, assign new names to old demons. What once was called “paganism” has been renamed and assigned a new respectability as the “gaia hypothesis.” The once-hated idea of world government has been renamed “global governance.” The concept of national sovereignty is eroding and transmuting into the concept of “sovereign equality.” “The vanguard of this movement,” explains Henry Lamb in “The rise of global green religion,” “people like James Parks Morton, James Lovelock, Robert Muller, Al Gore, Timothy Wirth and many, many others, have been ‘enlightened’ through their biocentric belief in gaia” – the belief that the earth itself is a conscious, living organism – “and therefore they know what is best for the planet.

They also know that the only way to protect the sacred gaia is to control the people who are degrading her. The only way to control the people is through an omnipotent government that is, at this moment, consolidating its power into an ever-growing bureaucracy, now stretching around the globe, extending its tentacles into every corner of human life, creating de facto global governance.” And guess what? Not only has this new “enlightened” worldview permeated Western schools and governments, but America’s Christian churches themselves also are rapidly being converted to this new religious paradigm. Most Americans have no idea this is happening.

Many don’t want to know. And yet, Americans are the only power on earth strong enough to prevent global governance from taking control of the entire planet. The August Whistleblower shows the way back.