Oldest Biblical Manuscripts Ketef Hinnom dating from around 600 BCE.

Oldest Biblical Manuscripts Ketef Hinnom dating from around 600 BCE.

The two paleo-Hebrew Ketef Hinnom inscriptions are famous for being our oldest biblical manuscripts. (Yet they contain even more readings than the famous priestly blessing of Numbers 6.) The present analysis provides the most reliable readings to date. They clarify two points of dispute: the date and nature of the artifacts. The authors support the thesis that these inscriptions constitute amulets with apotropaic functions and date them to the end of the seventh or the beginning of the sixth century BCE. Just as important, readers will find here an inside look at how epigraphers use state of the art technology to bring new readings to light.

The scrolls found in Ketef Hinom, as displayed in the Israel Museum

Ketef Hinnom (Hebrew: כָּתֵף הִינוֹם katef hinom, "shoulder of Hinnom") is an archaeological site southwest of the Old City ofJerusalem, adjacent to St. Andrew's Church, now on the grounds of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

The site consists of a series of rock-hewn burial chambers based on natural caverns. In 1979 two tiny silver scrolls, inscribed with portions of the well-known apotropaic Priestly Blessing of the Book of Numbers and apparently once used as amulets, were found in one of the burial chambers. The delicate process of unrolling the scrolls while developing a method that would prevent them from disintegrating took three years. They contain what may be the oldest surviving texts from the Hebrew Bible, dating from around 600 BCE.

Source:

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Emerging Church Leader Tony Jones Discusses ‘A Better Atonement’ | Christian Research Network

Emerging Church Leader Tony Jones Discusses ‘A Better Atonement’ | Christian Research Network:

Note: CRN doesn’t play by the rules (yes, there are rules).  Among those rules are, if you’re a blogger, you should allow comments, especially if you comment on others’ posts.

"EMERGING CHURCH LEADER TONY JONES DISCUSSES ‘A BETTER ATONEMENT’
BY ERIN BENZIGER

The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement is made quite clear in Scripture and has been affirmed by Christians throughout church history. In a recent interview with Drew Sumrall of The Harvest Show, emerging church leader and author Tony Jones, in typical postmodern fashion, seeks to question and redefine this core tenet of the Christian faith.

During the interview, Jones and Sumrall discuss Jones’ newest ebook, A Better Atonement: Beyond the Depraved Doctrine of Original Sin. Jones claims that the idea of the penal substitutionary atonement is a modern one that “began with Anselm in the Middle Ages” and that the first 1,000 years of church history knew nothing of the doctrine of the atonement as most Christians understand it today.

Below, Christian apologist and host of Fighting for the Faith, Chris Rosebrough, addresses the bold and erroneous claims of Jones:"

Tony Jones is not the first to deny or question the atonement of Jesus Christ. Most recently, gay-affirming “evangelical punk preacher” Jay Bakker acknowledged in an interview with the Christian Post that he is “definitely questioning the atonement and trying to discover how we can see it in a different way.”

Note: You are free to comment on our blogs anytime. EOAN

I Think Your Atonement Might Be Wrong [VIDEO]

Source: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tonyjones/

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Vatican Works To Stop Sunday Shopping In Italy

Vatican Works To Stop Sunday Shopping In Italy

Johanna Touzel, the alliance's spokeswoman, said that setting Sunday aside is not necessarily a religious issue, and not discriminatory towards Jews and Muslims. "We need one day when everyone can rest -- this is the origin of Shabbat. And in fact, even Muslim organizations support us."

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Roman Catholic Church, trade unions and small business associations have joined forces in a bid to save Sundays.

In a bid to spur economic growth, outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti backed a new law that allows shops to stay open on the Sabbath.

But Sunday traditions are strong in the European nation, and the change provoked strong resistance from religious and secular groups.

Last month, an Italian shop owners association and the country's Catholic bishops' conference launched a campaign to "free up Sundays." They aim to gather the 50,000 signatures needed to try to repeal the liberalizing shop law.

Confesercenti, the shop owners association, fears that mom-and-pop stores -- the backbone of the Italian retail sector -- will be squeezed by large retailers and American-style malls.

The issue extends beyond Italy. In Brussels, dozens of religious groups -- including the Catholic Church -- unions and business associations from 27 countries have formed the "European Sunday Alliance" to lobby the European Union to keep Sunday as a continentwide day of rest, at least in principle.

Johanna Touzel, the alliance's spokeswoman, said that setting Sunday aside is not necessarily a religious issue, and not discriminatory towards Jews and Muslims. "We need one day when everyone can rest -- this is the origin of Shabbat. And in fact, even Muslim organizations support us."

For the Catholic Church, keeping Sundays free from shopping and work concerns is of larger consequence than the economy.

The Rev. Marco Scattolon of Camposampiero, Italy, became an instant celebrity when he labeled Sunday shopping a sin and called on his parishioners to do penance for it. Sundays, he told the Corriere del Veneto newspaper, are important "not just in the religious sense." "They are one of the few occasions left for families to be together."

Bishop Antonio Mattiazzo of Padua sided with Scattolon while other bishops publicly signed the Confesercenti campaign.

"The broad consensus in opposing Sunday openings shows that having a common weekly day for rest is something that benefits everyone, not just believers," says Luca Diotallevi, a Catholic sociologist who advises Italy's bishops on social issues. "Sunday has not just a social value but a theological one too: Man needs to have a holy day."

Others go even further in arguing for work-free Sundays.

Mimmo Muolo, a journalist for Italy's official Catholic newspaper Avvenire, in his recent book, "Le feste scippate" ("The Stolen Holidays"), argues that "the 24/7 retail cycle has reintroduced a system of slaves and masters." He said that employees who have no choice but to work on Sundays -- and thus have no time for family and other social activities -- are "Sunday slaves."

At least in Italy, there are signs that few businesses have taken advantage of the reform.

Before the usual Christmas shopping rush kicked in, it was difficult to find many open shops on Sundays outside the tourist areas of the city centers.

"It is pointless because people don't have enough money to spend," says Anna Lucentini, 35, a saleswoman on one of Rome's busiest commercial streets.

She says that the only result of the Sunday-opening reform is that employees will have to work more at their bosses' request. "In Italy, those who still have a job are afraid to lose it and so let themselves be exploited without complaining."

Still, opposing the liberalization of store opening schedules is winning the church some unexpected sympathy. Lorena Vargas, 21, just learned about the bishops-backed campaign. "For once, the church is doing a good thing," she says. "I could even start going to Mass."[1]

What’s really ironic…..these laws were created by an antichrist Antiochus, and are the same things Constantine would later repeat in 325CE and this is what people want to live by today. Totally going against God’s Word. People today are living under laws created by Antiochus and Constantine; an antichrist. [a]

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

8 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;

9 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the LORD thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates;

10 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

The importance and sanctity of Shabbat can not be over stated. Shabbat is not a man made holy day based on the determination of some counsel of priests. Shabbat was set apart for special observance by God Himself! As we read in the Torah:

Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, along with everything in them.

2 On the seventh day God was finished with his work which he had made, so he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 God blessed the seventh day and separated it as holy; because on that day God rested from all his work which he had created, so that it itself could produce.

Shabbat, the Sabbath or seventh day, stands unique among the days of the week. Shabbat was specifically set apart as holy (kodesh in the Hebrew) by God Himself. Of this word kodesh we read:

A primitive root; to be (causatively make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally): - appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, (be, keep) holy (-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify (-ied one, self), X wholly (Strong's: H6942).

This could not be any more clear. Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in biblical religion. Observing Shabbat is the sign that one is in a covenant relationship with HaShem. As our Messianic Siddur (prayer book) translates Exodus 31:13: "Above all, my Sabbaths you shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you (page 12).

"Above all." This allows for no exceptions. There is not a single verse anywhere in the 66 books of the Bible that nullifies this direct command, nor a single verse sanctifying any other week day, including Sunday, as being kodesh (holy).[2]

Source:
[1]  http://www.huffingtonpost.com

[2] The importance of Shabbat. http://yeshivabethhashem.org/

[a] http://natzrim.blogspot.com/2011/04/constantine-creed.html


POPE Benedict XVI SUNDAY LAW SPEECH

Cardinal Ravasi: 'the most interesting man in the church'

Cardinal Ravasi: 'the most interesting man in the church'

Ravasi's profiled as a figure to watch: "Stay thirsty, my friends!"

"Openly campaigning for the papacy? Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi?"

Openly campaigning for the papacy is not only taboo, it's usually fatal. Most cardinals are of the belief that if someone actually wants the job, they have no idea what it's about, writes John Allen inNCR Online.

On the other hand, sometimes circumstances align to thrust someone into the spotlight, creating an opportunity to either boost or diminish his electoral prospects, even if that's not officially the purpose of what's going on.

Today one such papabile steps onto the stage in Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a 70-year-old biblical scholar, essayist and intellectual omnivore.

From Sunday evening to Saturday morning, Ravasi will preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia, an annual retreat during which the Vatican more or less goes into lockdown while its personnel gather in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace.

Ravasi is the son of an anti-fascist tax official who was lost to the young Ravasi for 18 months after deserting the army during World War II. In a typically reflective flourish, Ravasi later said his lifelong search for permanence is probably related to that early sense of loss.

While working on his doctorate at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Ravasi spent time in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Jordan on archeological digs, and later served as prefect of the prestigious Ambrosian Library in Milan.

Among those who know Ravasi, his penchant for literary allusion is legendary; rarely can he talk for more than five minutes without citing wildly diverse sources such as St. Augustine, Isaac Newton, Vladimir Nabakov and the Russian Orthodox liturgy.

Despite his prodigious learning, Ravasi has a strong popular touch. On Friday night in Rome, he delivered some reflections on Albert Camus at the Jesuit-run Church of Gesù, which struggled to contain an overflow crowd.

FULL STORY 'The most interesting man in the church' (NCR)

Cardinal Peter Turkson links gays with abuse

The cardinal who is favourite to be the first black pope has linked clerical sex abuse with homosexuality, according to a report by The Times in The Australian.

The cardinal who is favourite to be the first black pope has linked clerical sex abuse with homosexuality, according to a report by The Times in The Australian.

Cardinal Peter Turkson claimed the sort of abuse that has shaken catholicism to its roots in Europe was unlikely to ravage the church in Africa because its culture condemned gays.

Cardinal Turkson, from Ghana, who is president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, is the second-favourite after Cardinal Angelo Scola of Milan to succeed Benedict XVI, but he became the target of anger from sex-abuse victims after he told a television interviewer that Africa's hostility to homosexuality would protect it from sex abuse.

When asked whether the sex-abuse scandal could spread to Africa, the 64-year-old cardinal said it was unlikely to be in the same proportion as in Europe.

"African traditional systems kind of protect or have protected its population against this tendency," he said, "because in several communities, in several cultures in Africa, homosexuality or for that matter any affair between two sexes of the same kind, are not countenanced ... so that cultural taboo, that tradition, has been there. It has served to keep it out."

Cardinal Turkson also acknowledged in the interview that many Catholic nuns had been driven out of the church because they were prevented from joining its top levels, but he defended the ban on women's ordination as part of tradition.

"It is just how the church has understood this order of ministry to be," he said.

FULL STORY Cardinal Turkson links gays with abuse (Australian)

Birth of One World Religion: Update

Birth of One World Religion: Update

"Interfaith Meeting Gives Birth to United Religions"

United Religions Initiative - Youth Global Network Symbol For New Global Religion

"Nearly 200 delegates wrapped up a week-long interfaith meeting at Stanford on Friday, predicting they had given birth to a movement as well as a spiritual institution: the United Religions. The 'spiritual United Nations', as some have referred to it, would be a world assembly for humanity's myriad spiritual traditions. The international 'summit conference' brought together delegates from every continent to inaugurate formal efforts to figure out the organization's structure and mission and launch a charter-writing process. After several years of talking, the initiative's planners had finally gotten down to business."
" 'You are deputized!', the Rev. William E. Swing, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California, told delegates as they prepared to go home. 'Tell the people that there is a United Religions, and that somewhere in the world, it is beginning to happen: that the religions are going to have an oasis where they can talk about peace.'[This conference was held June 23-27, 1997] "

Fast forward to - 2013

February 15, 2013, 1:39 PM

Bali’s Speech Proves Highlight of U.N. Interfaith Event

Of course, those who do not believe in God, nor in a revelation from God to man, nor in any superhuman prediction of future events, will reject alike the predictions of Daniel, Jesus, Paul, and John. 

NEW WORLD(ONE)RELIGION

GPFFoundation introduce video

February 15, 2013, 1:39 PM

Bali’s Speech Proves Highlight of U.N. Interfaith Event

Dear Friends,

Greetings of love and peace from New York City, where I sit in my hotel room looking out on the United Nations, the East River and a firmament of lights as the city settles deeper and deeper into the night.

I journeyed here for a major event in the UN’s General Assembly Hall -- United For A Culture of Peace Through Interfaith Harmony, composed of three parts: The Role of Interfaith Harmony in the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes; Symphony of Peace Prayers and the World Peace Flag Ceremony.

The event was presented by His Excellency Mr. Vuk Jermic, President of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, UNESCO, and the Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN. The event was co-sponsored or formally supported by the missions of ten different nations, and by the World Peace Prayer Society and the Goi Peace Foundation.

I attended at the request of dear friends colleagues Monica Willard, who is URI’s lead UN Representative and the President of the Committee of Religious NGOs, and Deborah Moldow, founding leader of URI and the UN Representative of the World Peace Prayer Society. Monica and Deborah were the lead organizers of this inspiring event.

I was also urged to attend by dear friends Masami and Hiroo Saionji, Chair and President respectively of the World Peace Prayer Society. And I came to support URI’s esteemed Global Council Chair, Kiran Bali, who was one of seven speakers in the first part of the day.

Before the formal opening of the day, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Jermic, who is from Serbia, with the Saionjis. He spoke movingly about coming from an interfaith family – Muslim, Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian -- and explained how honored he felt to be hosting this event. I give many speeches, he said, but this one I wrote myself and it comes from my heart.

His remarks, which stressed the important role of interfaith dialogue in building a more peaceful and just world, set the tone for a heartful day. Here are some highlights.

Philippe Kridelka, of UNESCO, asserted that a strong web of relationships among faith traditions was an indispensable foundation for peace. Her Excellency Ambassador Byrganym Aitimova of Kazakhstan acknowledged the importance of high-level religious leaders but stressed that peace is created and kindled at the grassroots level. The Rev. Father Mark Arey of the Greek Orthodox Church noted that any serious discussion of dispute resolution must involve religions. His Excellency Ambassador Libran Cabactulan of the Philippines spoke of the hopes for an end to forty years of conflict in Mindanao, and stressed that critical to this effort was uniting the strengths of the Philippines’ diverse peoples.

Following these remarks, Kiran spoke, in what many declared afterwards to be the most compelling speech of the day. Acknowledging the challenge of religious extremism, she paid tribute to Irfan Ali, and then stressed that diversity does not have to divide us but that we can nurture the flame of unity. She used several examples from URI’s work, including a section of her speech that focused on the importance of the protection, participation and promotion of women. At the end of the program, Kiran was surrounded for quite a while by people who wanted to speak with her.

Kiran was followed by His Excellency Ambassador Hamid Al-Bayati. Though he represents Iraq, Mr. Al-Bayati was mistakenly introduced as representing Iran, which brought first a gasp from the audience, and then laughter as the mistake was corrected and the Ambassador used it as a source of humor. He spoke about his interfaith background – a Muslim who began attending a Christian school and church at age four and whose father spoke positively to him about the Jewish men he did business with. Mr. Al-Bayati said he has gone on to read the holy books of many traditions and believes we are all one family.

The final speaker was Dr. Patrick Ho from China. Speaking from a Confucianist perspective, he said that the pinnacle of this life is to be one with heaven, which means having an attitude of benevolence for all others. By the way, it’s worth noting that many of the speakers referred to the importance and centrality of the Golden Rule. I could see our esteemed colleague Mussie Hailu smiling each time that was said.

Following this section of the program, Masami Saionji spoke of the vision and importance of the Symphony of Peace Prayers, and of the historic nature of having this event in the General Assembly Hall. Prayer helps awaken the spark of divinity within each human being, she stressed. Following her introduction, prayers were offered from the following traditions by women and men, younger and older, from many different countries – Indigenous, Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Humanist, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and Zoroastrian. The prayers were brief. Each one was moving. Together they offered a powerful experience of the luminous, numinous best of interfaith respect and sharing.

The final major section of the day saw the flags of 193 UN Member States and two Observer Missions carried into the General Assembly Hall and up onto the dais as all present prayed that the people of each country live in peace. I have experienced this ceremony many times over the years and have always been deeply moved by the power of people praying that everyone on Earth live in peace. There was something particularly moving about today’s ceremony, in part because it was in the General Assembly Hall – the scene of so much political debate and division seeking a common path forward; and in part because so many of the flags were carried by a people from that country, people beaming with joy and pride as they waved their flag and heard the hall resound with a prayer that all the people of their country live in peace.

These three sections of the day were woven together with beautiful music – a choir from the Sri Chinmoy community; an extraordinary Korean soprano; the Junior Four Chorus of the United Nations International School (These children from all over the world stole the show!); and the Unity Made Visible Interfaith Choir (a URI CC that brought the house down with “This Little Light of Mine” and “Let There Be Peace On Earth”).

 After Monica’s closing remarks, I sat in my chair for a while soaking in the overflowing joy as people embraced, talked and laughed at the wonder at having spent three timeless hours together living not in the world we experience in the news every day, but in the world as we imagine it. The world we work so hard to create. For these hours, at least, this world was real and URI leaders played a central role in creating it.

Wherever you are in the world, I pray you too have the opportunity, for at least a few hours, to live in the world we imagine, pray and work for.

May peace prevail on Earth.

Blessings,

Charles

The Rev Canon Charles P. Gibbs

Executive Director, United Religions Initiative

source: http://www.uri.org/the_latest/2013/02/balis_speech_proves_highlight_of_un_interfaith_event

We could not find these flags but we did find a grouping of thirteen religions around the world that are involved in this global Ecumenical effort that has finally produced the United Religions. We have shown these religions, below:

 1) Ancient Religions
 2) BaHaiFaith
 3) Buddha30
4) Christianity
 5) EastReligion
6) Hinduism
7) Islam Religion
8) Judaism
9) Magic Religions
10) Pantheism
11) Sikh30
12) Tao30
13) Zoroaster Religion

Pope Immunity: Vatican Will Protect Benedict From Sexual Abuse Prosecution

(Reuters) - Pope Benedict's decision to live in the Vatican after he resigns will provide him with security and privacy. It will also offer legal protection from any attempt to prosecute him in connection with sexual abuse cases around the world, Church sources and legal experts say.

"His continued presence in the Vatican is necessary, otherwise he might be defenseless. He wouldn't have his immunity, his prerogatives, his security, if he is anywhere else," said one Vatican official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"It is absolutely necessary" that he stays in the Vatican, said the source, adding that Benedict should have a "dignified existence" in his remaining years.

Vatican sources said officials had three main considerations in deciding that Benedict should live in a convent in the Vatican after he resigns on February 28.

Vatican police, who already know the pope and his habits, will be able to guarantee his privacy and security and not have to entrust it to a foreign police force, which would be necessary if he moved to another country.

"I see a big problem if he would go anywhere else. I'm thinking in terms of his personal security, his safety. We don't have a secret service that can devote huge resources (like they do) to ex-presidents," the official said.

Another consideration was that if the pope did move permanently to another country, living in seclusion in a monastery in his native Germany, for example, the location might become a place of pilgrimage.

POTENTIAL EXPOSURE

This could be complicated for the Church, particularly in the unlikely event that the next pope makes decisions that may displease conservatives, who could then go to Benedict's place of residence to pay tribute to him.

"That would be very problematic," another Vatican official said.

The final key consideration is the pope's potential exposure to legal claims over the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals.

In 2010, for example, Benedict was named as a defendant in a law suit alleging that he failed to take action as a cardinal in 1995 when he was allegedly told about a priest who had abused boys at a U.S. school for the deaf decades earlier. The lawyers withdrew the case last year and the Vatican said it was a major victory that proved the pope could not be held liable for the actions of abusive priests.

Benedict is currently not named specifically in any other case. The Vatican does not expect any more but is not ruling out the possibility.

"(If he lived anywhere else) then we might have those crazies who are filing lawsuits, or some magistrate might arrest him like other (former) heads of state have been for alleged acts while he was head of state," one source said.

Another official said: "While this was not the main consideration, it certainly is a corollary, a natural result."

After he resigns, Benedict will no longer be the sovereign monarch of the State of Vatican City, which is surrounded by Rome, but will retain Vatican citizenship and residency.

LATERAN PACTS

That would continue to provide him immunity under the provisions of the Lateran Pacts while he is in the Vatican and even if he makes jaunts into Italy as a Vatican citizen.

The 1929 Lateran Pacts between Italy and the Holy See, which established Vatican City as a sovereign state, said Vatican City would be "invariably and in every event considered as neutral and inviolable territory".

There have been repeated calls for Benedict's arrest over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

When Benedict went to Britain in 2010, British author and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins asked authorities to arrest the pope to face questions over the Church's child abuse scandal.

Dawkins and the late British-American journalist Christopher Hitchens commissioned lawyers to explore ways of taking legal action against the pope. Their efforts came to nothing because the pope was a head of state and so enjoyed diplomatic immunity.

In 2011, victims of sexual abuse by the clergy asked the International Criminal Court to investigate the pope and three Vatican officials over sexual abuse.

The New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and another group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials committed crimes against humanity because they tolerated and enabled sex crimes.

The ICC has not taken up the case but has never said why. It generally does not comment on why it does not take up cases.

NOT LIKE A CEO

The Vatican has consistently said that a pope cannot be held accountable for cases of abuse committed by others because priests are employees of individual dioceses around the world and not direct employees of the Vatican. It says the head of the church cannot be compared to the CEO of a company.

Victims groups have said Benedict, particularly in his previous job at the head of the Vatican's doctrinal department, turned a blind eye to the overall policies of local Churches, which moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them and handing them over to authorities.

The Vatican has denied this. The pope has apologized for abuse in the Church, has met with abuse victims on many of his trips, and ordered a major investigation into abuse in Ireland.

But groups representing some of the victims say the Pope will leave office with a stain on his legacy because he was in positions of power in the Vatican for more than three decades, first as a cardinal and then as pope, and should have done more.

The scandals began years before the then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005 but the issue has overshadowed his papacy from the beginning, as more and more cases came to light in dioceses across the world.

As recently as last month, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony, was stripped by his successor of all public and administrative duties after a thousands of pages of files detailing abuse in the 1980s were made public.

Mahony, who was archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985 until 2011, has apologized for "mistakes" he made as archbishop, saying he had not been equipped to deal with the problem of sexual misconduct involving children. The pope was not named in that case.

In 2007, the Los Angeles archdiocese, which serves 4 million Catholics, reached a $660 million civil settlement with more than 500 victims of child molestation, the biggest agreement of its kind in the United States.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said the pope "gave the fight against sexual abuse a new impulse, ensuring that new rules were put in place to prevent future abuse and to listen to victims. That was a great merit of his papacy and for that we will be grateful".

Source:

End Time Jewish Prophecies

End Time Jewish Prophecies

Jesus is not coming back to Nashville!

the Jewish Messiah is coming back to 

Israel to restore the Jewish People

 Jeremiah 29:14 "'And I will be found by you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will restore your fortunes and will gather ISRAEL from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.'"

 Isaiah 30:19 "O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you."

 Isaiah 54:8 ""In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment; But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you, ISRAEL," Says the LORD your Redeemer."

  Jeremiah 32:44 "'Men shall buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the Negev; for I will restore ISRAEL'S fortunes,' declares the LORD.""

 Ezekiel 36:35-36 ""And they will say, 'This desolate land of ISRAEL has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.' 36 "Then the nations that are left round about you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken and will do it."

 Jeremiah 32:42 ""For thus says the LORD, 'Just as I brought all this great disaster on THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them."

source:

Pope resigns, no longer has strength to fulfill ministry. St. Malachy Prophecy Fulfilled?

Pope resigns, saying no longer has strength to fulfill ministry

WILL HE BE THE LAST POPE?

"In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven- hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End." 

"The time is right for one who will appear to be the global savior Joh 5:43  I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if ANOTHER shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 

He will be accepted as the Second Coming of Jesus, by Israel as Moshiach, by Islam as al Madhi, by Hindus as Kalki, the Buddhists as Maitreya. He will unite the world, bring global peace, security..." "And the great dragon which deceiveth the whole world" Time may be right to check your faith!!!

Reuters/Reuters - Pope Benedict XVI waves during a mass conducted by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, for the 900th anniversary of the Order of the Knights of Malta at the St. Peter Basilica in Vatican February 9, 2013. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi 

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said on Monday he will resign on Feb 28 because he no longer has the strength to fulfill the duties of his office, becoming the first pontiff since the Middle Ages to take such a step.

The 85-year-old pope said he had noticed that his strength had deteriorated over recent months "to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me".

"For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter," he said according to a statement from the Vatican.

A Vatican spokesman said the pontiff would step down from 1900 GMT on February 28, leaving the office vacant until a successor is chosen.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer; editing by Janet McBride)

source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-benedict-step-down-february-28-110422132.html

 According to The Prophecy of the Popes, attributed to Saint Malachy, we are at the last one!

The "Prophecies" of Saint Malachy

— (This article is presented as a matter of record and interest only, and NOT as fact) —

The most famous and best known prophecies about the popes are those attributed to St. Malachy, a medieval Irish priest and Kabbalist. In 1139 he went to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the metropolitan Sees of Armagh and Cashel. While at Rome, he received (according to the Abbot Cucherat) the strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs who were to rule the Church until the end of time. The same author tells us that St. Malachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II to console him in the midst of his tribulations, and that the document remained unknown in the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590 (Cucherat, "Proph. de la succession des papes", ch. xv). They were first published by Arnold de Wyon, and ever since there has been much discussion as to whether they are genuine predictions of St. Malachy or forgeries. The silence of 400 years on the part of so many learned authors who had written about the popes, and the silence of St. Bernard especially, who wrote the "Life of St. Malachy", is a strong argument against their authenticity, but it is not conclusive if we adopt Cucherat's theory that they were hidden in the Archives during those 400 years.

These short prophetical announcements, in number 112, indicate some noticeable trait of all future popes from Celestine II, who was elected in the year 1130, until the end of the world. They are enunciated under mystical titles. Those who have undertaken to interpret and explain these symbolical prophecies have succeeded in discovering some trait, allusion, point, or similitude in their application to the individual popes, either as to their country, their name, their coat of arms or insignia, their birth-place, their talent or learning, the title of their cardinalate, the dignities which they held etc. For example, the prophecy concerning Urban VIII is Lilium et Rosa (the lily and the rose); he was a native of Florence and on the arms of Florence figured a fleur-de-lis; he had three bees emblazoned on his escutcheon, and the bees gather honey from the lilies and roses. Again, the name accords often with some remarkable and rare circumstance in the pope's career; thus Peregrinus apostolicus (pilgrim pope), which designates Pius VI, appears to be verified by his journey when pope into Germany, by his long career as pope, and by his expatriation from Rome at the end of his pontificate. Those who have lived and followed the course of events in an intelligent manner during the pontificates of Pius IX, Leo XIII, and Pius X cannot fail to be impressed with the titles given to each by the prophecies of St. Malachy and their wonderful appropriateness: Crux de Cruce (Cross from a Cross) Pius IX; Lumen in caelo (Light in the Sky) Leo XIII; Ignis ardens (Burning Fire) Pius X. There is something more than coincidence in the designations given to these three popes so many hundred years before their time. We need not have recourse either to the family names, armorial bearings or cardinalatial titles, to see the fitness of their designations as given in the prophecies. The afflictions and crosses of Pius IX were more than fell to the lot of his predecessors; and the more aggravating of these crosses were brought on by the House of Savoy whose emblem was a cross. Leo XIII was a veritable luminary of the papacy. The present pope is truly a burning fire of zeal for the restoration of all things to Christ.

The last of these prophecies concerns the end of the world and is as follows: "In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church there will reign Peter the Roman, who will feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the seven- hilled city will be destroyed and the dreadful Judge will judge the people. The End." It has been noticed concerning Petrus Romanus, who according to St. Malachy's list is to be the last pope, that the prophecy does not say that no popes will intervene between him and his predecessor designated Gloria olivoe. It merely says that he is to be the last, so that we may suppose as many popes as we please before "Peter the Roman". Cornelius a Lapide refers to this prophecy in his commentary "On the Gospel of St. John" (C. xvi) and "On the Apocalypse" (cc. xvii-xx), and he endeavours to calculate according to it the remaining years of time (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913).

Pastor: the government should kill homosexuals

We don't teach hate, says church where anti-homosexual song filmed

 

We don't teach hate, says church where anti-homosexual song filmed

By Ismael Estrada, CNN

Greensburg, Indiana (CNN) – About 20 protesters gathered on Sunday outside the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle here to voice opposition to a viral online video that was taped in the church and shows a young child singing song with lyrics that offer a harsh message for homosexuals.

The video, which surfaced on YouTube last week, shows a child in front of the congregation, singing "I know that God is right, and somebody's wrong... ain't no homo going to make it to heaven."

The congregation erupts in applause at those lines, which the unidentified boy repeats as the pastor looks on.

At another point in the video a voice is heard shouting,"That’s my boy."

In the first Sunday service since the video surfaced, congregants arrived to the church as protesters jeered them over the video.

A church leader, who would not give his name, told CNN that journalists were not allowed inside the church and declined to offer anyone from church leadership to comment on the video.

The leader said that he needed to be cautious about letting outsiders into the church because it had received threats over the video and asked CNN to leave the premises.

The local sheriff's office said the church had not reported any verifiable threats.

No one answered the door at the home of Jeff Sangl, the church's pastor.

The video of the singing boy was the latest in a string of viral anti-gay videos that have surfaced from independent churches.  Those videos have been resoundingly condemned by religious leaders, even by conservatives who believe homosexual sex is a sin.

The Apostolic Truth Tabernacle posted a statement on its website that says in part: "The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason.”

The pastor's son, Josh Sangl, told CNN his father was away on vacation and that there was much more to the video than we were being told, though he wouldn’t elaborate.

The majority of the church members wouldn’t comment about the controversy or respond to questions about the parents of the young boy.

"I think it's blown out of proportion, you know," said Robert Kirby, who is not a church member but was attending Sunday's church service in support of his daughter, who teaches Sunday School there. "They love everybody.

"They don't love sin though," he said. "It's all in the Bible."

Source: http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/

CNN VIDEO

Pastor: the government should kill homosexuals

 

Killing Gay People: a True Christian™ Tradition

By Richard Allen Greene and Dan Gilgoff, CNN

First it was a Christian pastor in North Carolina who told his congregation on Mother's Day that the way "to get rid of all the lesbians and queers" was to put them behind an electric fence and wait for them to die out.

That video went viral, fetching more than a million views on YouTube.

On Sunday, Pastor Curtis Knapp of Kansas preached that the government should kill homosexuals, in another videotaped sermon that drew lots of online attention.

"They won't, but they should," Knapp said, according to a recording of his sermon posted online.

Since that sermon, another church video with harsh words for gays has caught fire online. This one shows a young boy singing an anti-gay song while the congregation cheers him on in what appears to be a church in Indiana.

"I know the Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong,” the boy sings near the pulpit of a church. “Ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven."

As the boy repeats the line “Ain't no homos gonna make it to heaven," congregants from the pews rise and cheer.

The video, which was anonymously posted online and has received more than 300,000 views on YouTube, appears to show a service at the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle Church in Greensburg, Indiana.

Calls to the church this week went to voicemail, with an automatic message saying the mailbox is full. But a message posted on the church’s website on Wednesday appears to address the controversy, offering no apology for the video.

“The Pastor and members of Apostolic Truth Tabernacle do not condone, teach, or practice hate of any person for any reason. We believe and hope that every person can find true Bible salvation and the mercy and grace of God in their lives,” the statement says.

“We are a strong advocate of the family unit according to the teachings and precepts found in the Holy Bible,” said the statement, which did not explicitly refer to the video or mention homosexuality. “We believe the Holy Bible is the Divinely-inspired Word of God and we will continue to uphold and preach that which is found in scripture.”

The viral videos have drawn criticism from gay and lesbian groups and their allies.

Charles Worley’s sermon at Providence Road Baptist Church in Maiden, North Carolina, sparked a protest that drew more than 1,500 people last weekend.

In Kansas, Knapp's voicemail at the New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca was filled with messages saying "things you don't want your kids to hear," he told CNN affiliate KTKA.

An official with the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists issued a statement to CNN on Thursday saying that Knapp’s church had left the Southern Baptist fold in 2010.

“Obviously, he has taken a radical and unbiblical stand in regards to homosexuality,” said Tim Boyd, communications director for the convention.

“We look at homosexuals as we look at all sinners,” his statement said. “God loves them. Christ died for them. The Gospel calls them to repentance and salvation. Therefore, we as Christ-followers should hate the sin and love the sinner.”

But Knapp is not backing away from his comments.

"We punish pedophilia. We punish incest. We punish polygamy and various things. It's only homosexuality that is lifted out as an exemption," he said.

He cited the Biblical verse Leviticus 20:13: "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act. They shall surely be put to death."

But he said gay people had nothing to worry about from the government or from him.

"I don't believe I should lay a finger against them," said Knapp, of New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas. "My hope is for their salvation, not for their death."

Preaching against homosexuality the same day, another pastor appeared to wrestle with how conservative Christians should respond to proposals that people should literally mete out biblical punishments.

"What about this guy down in North Carolina said build a big prison, a big fence and put them all in there and let them die out?" Dennis Leatherman asked in a sermon at the Mountain Lake Independent Baptist Church in Maryland.

"Listen, I don't know that fellow. As far as I can tell, he seems like a decent guy, but he is dead wrong on that. That is not the scriptural response," Leatherman said in his sermon "Homosexuality & the Bible," according to a cached version of the transcript posted online.

The audio of the sermon does not appear on his church's website.

In the sermon, he floats the idea of killing homosexuals, whom he refers to as sodomites, then backs away from it.

"There is a danger of reacting in the flesh, of responding not in a scriptural, spiritual way, but in a fleshly way. Kill them all. Right? I will be very honest with you. My flesh kind of likes that idea," Leatherman said.

"But it grieves the Holy Spirit. It violates Scripture. It is wrong," he added immediately.

The Southern Baptist Convention distanced itself from Worley's remarks.

The nation's largest Baptist group said Providence Road Baptist in Maiden is not affiliated with its 16 million-member denomination and condemned the comments.

But the influential head of the giant movement's seminary does argue that homosexuality "is the most pressing moral question of our times."

In a comment piece for the Belief Blog in the wake of Worley's sermon, R. Albert Mohler Jr. dismissed critics who say conservative Christians focus on homosexuality while ignoring other things the Bible prohibits.

He contends that laws about keeping kosher, for example, do not apply to Christians, while commandments about homosexuality do.

"When it comes to homosexuality, the Bible's teaching is consistent, pervasive, uniform and set within a larger context of law and Gospel," he wrote.

"Christians who are seriously committed to the authority of the Bible have no choice but to affirm all that the Bible teaches, including its condemnation of homosexuality," he said.

A member of Worley's 300-member church defended him in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.

"Of course he would never want that to be done," Stacey Pritchard said of the proposal to put homosexuals behind a fence and leave them there to die out. "But I agree with what the sermon was and what it was about."

CNN Belief Blog co-editor Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report.
source


How shall Conservative Judaism relate to gay and lesbian couples? 

"Lesbianism is never mentioned in the Torah."

The light of the Messiah, when it blazes in the heart, teaches one to dignify all people: “It shall be on that day that the root of Jesse will stand as a sign to the nations, and peoples will seek him, and his consolation shall be dignity (Isaiah 11:10).”

People who identify as gay or lesbian are not able to become heterosexual. While some people of ambivalent sexual orientation are capable of functioning as heterosexuals, those for whom homosexual orientation has become an integral feature of their personal identity are not able to transform into heterosexuals.

The following 2005 statement by the American Psychological Association summarizes the current scientific consensus about sexual orientation and individual volition: Human beings cannot choose their sexual orientation. Sexual orientation emerges for most people in early adolescence or late childhood without any prior sexual experience. The experience of sexual attraction and falling in love is one that individuals experience as outside their conscious control. Although we can choose whether to act on our feelings, psychologists do not consider sexual orientation to be a conscious choice.

The near total failure of advocates of “cure” to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals obviates the halakhic significance of tracing the source of homosexuality. Gay and lesbian people are homosexual and will remain so. Even those who have attempted a “cure” have been unable – in the vast majority of cases – to change their orientation. For the halakhist, therefore, the issue of significance is not the origin of homosexual orientation, but rather the permanence of such an orientation by the time sexuality reaches consciousness.

Whether sexual orientation is determined by nature or nurture or some combination of both does not alter the resultant orientation, whether that orientation is heterosexual, homosexual, or something in between. 

Read more: HOMOSEXUALITY, HUMAN DIGNITY & HALAKHAH  http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/halakhah/teshuvot/20052010/dorff_nevins_reisner_dignity.pdf



Apostolic Truth Tabernacle™

Are True Christians™ showing the love of Jesus once again?

"The video was reportedly recorded at the Apostolic Truth Tabernacle in Greensburg, Indiana --  featuring a young boy on the altar, barely old enough to walk, singing a song he was obviously spoon fed.

It's pretty hard to make out the words -- so here are the lyrics ... 

"The Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong. 
The Bible’s right, somebody’s wrong. 
Romans one, twenty six and twenty seven; 
Ain’t no homos gonna make it to Heaven."

The congregation erupts in thunderous applause after the song."


They're filled with 'The Holy Ghost'...or so they say.

  

We don't teach hate, says church where anti-homosexual song filmed

Read more: http://truetwistianity.blogspot.com/2013/02/apostolic-truth-aint-no-homos-gonna.html#rSIBhqCfHwxilPiu.99