By John Roberts, July 17, 2007

In a recent Presidential debate the sister of a soldier killed in Iraq posed a question to all the candidates.  She wanted to know, "did her brother die in vain?"

It has been said that there is no greater sacrifice a man or woman can make than to lay down their life for someone else.  But there are two sides to this.  It is also true that there is no greater waist of a human life than to throw it away fighting for the wrong cause.

So this was a very appropriate question.  Are our troops fighting and dying in Iraq for the right cause?  Is the sacrifice we are all making for this war worth the price?

The Presidential candidates gave answers with little to differentiate between them on this question.  They all expressed their condolences to this poor woman, but then gave basically the same rational as justification for the war.

However, Senator McCain, hoping to get some political mileage out of this seized the moment.  He stepped away from his podium and the other candidates and quickly moved to the front of the stage.  He got as close to the women as possible and said, "Your brother did not die in vain because Iraqis are now free, free to worship as they choose."

The audience applauded and McCain grinned from ear to ear.  You could tell the Senator was pleased with himself.  It was a very emotional moment in an otherwise predictable debate.

Now, there are many arguments both for and against the war.  But I have never heard someone use religious freedom for all Iraqis to justify the war and the sacrifice of our soldiers.  This was a first.  I am amazed that the Senator would make such a grievous mistake and even more amazed that he got away with it.  I expected one of the other candidates to raise a challenge.

McCain and all the other candidates well know Iraq is now under Shia Law.

Under Shia Law converting to Christianity is a capital crime punishable by death.  So publicly worshiping Christ in Iraq today will get you killed.

Considering Iraq's history this is a real travesty.  Babylon was the birth place of mystery cults after the flood which eventually spread all over the globe.  But Iraq also had one of the oldest Jewish and Christian communities anywhere in the world.

There were about 150,000 Jews living in Iraq.  But in 1948 the Jews were driven out of the country.

The Christian community was thriving in Iraq up until this administration's invasion.  In fact many of Saddam's top officials were Christian.  Prior to the war there were over a million Iraqi Christians.

Today there are less than 500,000 Iraqi Christians and most of these are trying to get out of the country.  Church services are non existent because all of the churches have been burnt to the ground by the U.S. funded and supported government.

Few people know that the first and only action taken by the newly formed Iraqi government was to place their judicial system in the hands of Islamic courts.

So prior to the war there was freedom of religion in Iraq.  Now there is none.  The little known consequence of Bush's war is that he has turned Iraq into an Islamic state and actually helped radical fundamental Muslims kill or drive away hundreds of thousands of Iraqi Christians.  So destroying Christianity in Iraq is one mission Bush actually has accomplished.

The point is Senator McCain lied when he said the sacrifice of American lives in Iraq is not being made in vain because Iraqis are now free.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Imagine that, a politician lying!

Iraqis are not free because they do not have one of the most basic of all human rights, freedom to worship.  So why does this administration, and presidential candidates like McCain continue to say that Iraqis enjoy freedom when they know that is not true?

People continue to lie about freedom in Iraq because they know they can get away with it.  No one challenges them because very few people know the history of religion in Iraq much less the real consequences of toppling the old regime.

The hard truth is that our supposed "one nation under God" is sending our mostly Christian troops to fight and die for an Iraq that has now criminalized Christianity.

And this Bush and Cheney call "Operation Iraqi Freedom," the key component of the "Freedom Agenda."  Ah yes freedom, there is that word again.

Masking evil activity with nice sounding words is one of the oldest political propaganda tricks in the book.  Remember the term "protective custody?"  That is the term Hitler and the Nazis used for rounding up Jews and shipping them off to Concentration Camps to be gassed! 

Our Commander In Chief has authorized the CIA to arrest, hold and torture people just like the German Secret Police did during WWII under Hitler's orders.  The only difference is that today everyone is a potential target.  And they don't call it protective custody anymore.  The new term is "Rendering." 

Today they are hunting down suspected terrorists.  According to scripture the day will come when Chritians will be their target.  Speaking out against homosexuality has already been classified as a "hate crime."  And contrary to all the misinformation about Bible studies in the White House, the truth is top White House advisors and our intelligences agencies already refer to Christians as "nut cases."

Under the title Commander In Chief this President and Vice-President have subverted and destroyed our constitutional checks and balances.  We now live under the control of a totalitarian regime.  The America I grew up in does not exist any more.

Our troops are being used by these people for their own personal agenda which has absolutely nothing to do with fighting a war against terrorism.  Why do the troops go to Iraq?  You would think our young men and woman would refuse to get involved in a situation where they are helping Muslims stomp out Christianity.  But they go because they are trained to obey orders and not think or ask questions.

Napoleon Bonaparte once snickered, "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon."  Bush and Cheney know that Americans will fight long and hard for liberty and freedom.  So they use these words as often as possible.  And they get plenty of help from radio and TV personalities.  Say something often enough and a certain amount of people will believe it.

The latest slogan is, "The poor handling of the war and the justification for going to war in the first place are inconsequential because Iraq is now free."

But freedom in Iraq does not exist outside of this administrations marketing campaign.  But give them credit.  They have successfully branded a free Iraq on the American consciousness. We have freedom concerts, freedom pins, freedom books, and so on and so on.  No one cares if it is true or not, because Americans love that word freedom.

By the way, what's happened to our freedoms?  This administration now opens our mail, eaves drops on our phone calls and e-mail, rendering, torture, criminal trials without representation or knowledge of the charges brought against you, all part of the "Patriot Act."  Sounds real American and patriotic doesn't it?  Do you think George Washington would approve?  Forget Iraq, are we still free?

Do you remember after 9/11 how the whole world was on our side?  My how fast things have soured.  And remember all that tough talk about bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice?  We're still waiting, but no one is even talking about it anymore.

What happened?  How did we get so far off track?  Three out of four 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia.  The master mind is from Saudi Arabia.  He is still free as a bird.  How did the whole focus of the "war on terror" become Iraq?

Before I get into this mess I want to get back to the original question.  Senator McCain was asked if our troops are dying in vain in Iraq.

Without a doubt the answer it a resounding yes, our troops are dying in vain.

Americans and our allies are being sent to die in Iraq so that the price of a barrel of oil can stay artificially high and some people can make excessive profits.  That is the real reason why Bush and Cheney invaded Iraq and why they refuse to get out.

So there is no question that the President and Vice-President lied about their reason for invading Iraq.  We did not go to war to fight terrorism.  Bush and Cheney took this county to war to shut down Iraqi oil production.

Believe it or not Bush and Cheney are in bed with the nation that attacked us on 9/11 which just happens to be the same nation that controls OPEC, Saudi Arabia.

This is no conspiracy theory, its recorded history for anyone that cares to check it out.

At the time the war started Saddam was less than two months from having UN sanctions lifted.  Iraq was not under the control of OPEC and they had no OPEC quotas levied on them.  Saddam had already signed up the Russians to rebuild his oil infrastructure.  With the sanctions lifted and the Russian's help Saddam planned to dump millions of barrels of oil a day on the market.  This would have brought oil prices down.

Bush and Cheney rushed to invade Iraq before U.N. inspectors could clear Iraq of WMD's and the Russian's could get into the country to start repairing Iraq's oil infrastructure.

The U.S. has been in Iraq for over four years and Iraqi oil production has dropped every year.  Iraq under U.S. control is now pumping fewer barrels a day than they were before the war during UN sanctions!  This has nothing to do with terrorists attacks.  It was the plan from the very beginning.

What's going unreported in Iraq is the fact that after four years of U.S. occupation the energy shortage is so bad that cities like Baghdad go without power for a least half the day.  Prior to the war they had 24 hours of electricity a day.

And things are getting worse over there as the next Presidential elections get closer.  Cheney knows he has less than two years left to muck up Iraqi oil production.  So now they are implementing policies that will bring long term damage to the Iraqi oil fields.

Cheney is getting this accomplished by re-injecting residual fuel oil back into the northern wells of Kirkuk.  That's right, they claim there is no where to put all the oil that is being produced, so the "excess oil" is re-injected into the well for later pumping.  But anyone in the oil industry will tell you this will cause long term damage to the oil fields. 

Their goal is to keep energy prices high by making sure countries like Iraq do not gear up and meet demand.

The war in Iraq has nothing to do with fighting terrorism and everything to do with oil.  And this agenda is not some secret conspiracy.  No, these people are right out in the open with their plans.

Those that are interested can find the agenda for invading Iraq clearly laid out in publications on the Internet on the homepage of The Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative think tank based in Washington.

Understand that I am not a "bleeding heart."  I am a life long conservative Republican Christian and I supported Bush in 2000.  But the truth is the truth.  I haven't changed, the Republican Party has, and I can no longer reconcile my Christian values with that party or these scoundrels running our country.

It is because I am a Christian, a conservative, and I value the lives of our troops more than the Bush/Cheney/Saudi oil agenda that I can no longer support the Republicans.  I can't support the Democrats either.  They have control of both houses and yet they have done nothing to stop the war or bring back our constitutional rights.  This doesn't leave many choices for getting our country back from these millionaire politicians.

The downfall of this country and most others around the world started when corporations were granted the same rights as individual citizens.  When our Constitution was written corporations did not exist.  Consequently it does not contain the checks and balances we need to protect us from multinational entities.  These corporations are nothing more than front organizations for the individuals that run them, sit on the board, or control the majority of stock.

We are trying to run a country on a set of laws and governing principles established during the days of the horse and buggy.  And our Constitution is simply out of date and unable to govern or protect us from corporations like Exxon and Wal-Mart.  The corporate run world is fueled and protected by legions of lawyers, billionaires, and our greedy corrupt politicians.  The law-abiding citizen doesn't stand a chance against those odds. And those committing crimes against humanity have all the rights these days.

For example, over seventy percent of all the corporations doing business in American pay no taxes because they are incorporated out of country.  The vast majority of our politicians are from the corporate world.  That is where there loyalty lies.  Not with us little people.

And they meet all the time to discuss and plan how to get richer and how to consolidate their power.  Sometimes they meet in secret in places like Bohemian Grove.  And sometimes they meet right out in the open through organizations like the PNAC.

Few people have heard of the PNAC, but they are very powerful.  Most of the current administration are members or supporters of the PNAC.  As far back as 1999 this organization published their plan to remake the Middle East, citing the need for a "new Pearl Harbor" to generate public support for their agenda.  And that plan included the invasion of Iraq, removal of Saddam from power, moving U.S. bases from Saudi Arabia to Iraq, and staying in Iraq for the next forty years!

The PNAC wrote the playbook for foreign policy that Bush has used ever since he first took office.  So the plan to invade Iraq actually started before Bush and Cheney were elected to office.

Energy, oil in particular, is the center plank of the PNAC agenda.  And Operation Iraqi Freedom is in reality Operation Shutdown Iraqi Oil.  If you don't understand the importance of oil today then you will never figure out what is going on around the world.

In the past those that controlled whale oil then coal had all the power.  Today our modern society is fueled by oil and gas.  Without this everything would come to a grinding halt.  So who is in control of the world's supply of oil and gas?

That's an easy question to answer.  And it's no surprise to anyone that the current administration is from the oil industry with close ties to Saudi Arabia and the major energy corporations.

Ms. Rice sat on the board of an oil corporation.  She even had an oil tanker named after her.  Cheney was the head of Halliburton.  And the Bush family connection to oil and the Saudis is well documented.

Understand, there are only about a dozen major oil companies from various nations that do most of the exploration, development, and maintenance of the world's major oil and gas fields.  And these companies work primarily on contracts granted to them by OPEC.  And OPEC is controlled by only one country, Saudi Arabia.

So in reality the Saudis control the world's supply of oil and therefore have a disproportionate amount of power and control over everything that goes on in the world.  The Saudis set pumping quotas for each OPEC member state.  This allows them to control the supply of oil, which in return controls the price.  When member states pump more than they are allowed the Saudis take action.

But about seven years ago the Saudis faced the first real challenge to their position.  New energy sources were discovered outside the control of the eleven OPEC member states.  As it turns out many former Soviet states have vast untapped reserves of oil and gas.  Consequently, new oil contracts and construction projects sprung up everywhere, outside the control of the Saudis.

Coinciding with the discovery of new supplies of energy rose up a new and ever increasing demand for energy from nations like China and India.  This created a new energy boom in these third world developing nations sitting on undeveloped natural resources.

The British and the U.S. frequently found themselves on the losing side of contract bids for this new work.  These countries are more comfortable with the French and Russians.

Understandably, the British and American and Saudi governments were upset.  Things really came to a head when the Taliban in Afghanistan refused to give the U.S. unlimited access to the new LGN (liquefied natural gas) pipeline that runs across their country.  At the same time Iran charged ahead with new pipeline systems connecting their LNG and oil fields to a newly constructed distribution facility in India.

The last straw came when Cheney realized the UN was about to give Saddam a clean bill of health on WMDs and lift all UN sanctions within two months.

When Saddam signed deals with the Russians to modernize Iraq's run down oil infrastructure it left the U.S. and British oil companies out of the Iraqi market.  To make things worse for the U.S. it was no secret that Saddam was selling oil in Euros instead of dollars.

When asked, Cheney and Bush deny the war in Iraq has anything to do with oil.  The truth, it has always been about oil, specifically keeping Iraqi oil off the market, thus artificially inflating the price of oil.

The proof of this is in the record high price of oil we see today and an Iraqi oil production that is less than before the war.  British Special Forces have even been caught by Iraqis in disguise around Basra with explosives on their way to blow of oil facilities which they then blame on the terrorists.

Iraq does not actually have a quota from OPEC because the oil for food program essentially reduced the flow of Iraqi oil to a dribble, exactly what Bush, Cheney and the Saudis wanted.

The war and high price of oil has added untold millions to the pockets of Bush and Cheney and their "friends in the neighborhood."

Dick Cheney still owns over half a million shares of oil stock.  A clear conflict of interest, yet Dick is the first Vice President in history to refuse to sell this kind of stock before taking office.

In early 2001 Vice President Cheney started holding meetings with the Saudis and oil executives in his office.  We now know they were going over detailed maps of the Iraq's oil fields.

Cheney claimed executive privilege to keep records of these meetings from the public.  It would have been very damaging at the time if it got out that the Saudis and big oil actually wrote our U.S. energy policy.

Some very smart people have realized that the visitor records to Cheney's office will provide the same information.  So now Cheney is trying to block this attempt at getting the truth out by refusing to turn over the visitor logs, because he says "I am not part of the executive branch."

Few know that the Iraqi Ministry of Oil building was the first Iraqi government building U.S forces secured during the drive into Baghdad.  And all the seismic and geological records on Iraq's oil fields and reserves were immediately removed.

Does this administration lie?  Fact, more people in this administration have been found guilty of lying, obstructing justice and sentenced to jail than any other administration in our history.

The latest is I. Lewis Libby Jr., former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, sentenced to two and a half years in prison for lying to a grand jury and F.B.I. agents and obstructing justice.

You may recall Libby was convicted of four felonies regarding the investigation into the unmasking of C.I.A. operative Valerie Plame.  The trial revealed that top members of the White House administration tried to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, because he found evidence that this administration was doctoring prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify an invasion.

The jury was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this administration tried to derail an investigation that was exposing how Bush and Cheney doctored prewar intelligence to justify going into Iraq.  Of course Bush has now granted Libby a pardon.

So there is no doubt that President Bush and Vice President Cheney lied to the American public about the reason they invaded Iraq.  And if they lied about the war then what else are they lying about?

This has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with proper Christian behavior.  Torturing people is wrong.  Illegally snooping on U.S. citizens is wrong.  Holding people in secret and not letting them defend themselves or even know the charges brought against them is wrong.  Helping Islam murder Christians is wrong.  Helping a nation like Afghanistan that ships 80 percent of the world's opium is wrong.  Turning Iraq into a radical Islamic state bent on the destruction of Israel and Christianity is a mistake with far reaching consequences.

These policies by the current administration hinder the spread of freedom, reason and the gospel and helps the spread of Islamic terrorism makeing the world less safe.  No wonder Bush is welcomed like a rock star in Muslim countries like Albania.

John's Take

If you want to know the real reason why Bush and Cheney invaded Iraq look no further than your local gas station.

True, Saddam was evil and Iraq was a mess before the war.  But at least the Iraqis had freedom of religion and the gospel was being preached.

Today Iraq is under Shia law and conversion to Christianity is a crime punishable by death and the Church in Iraq is being stomped out by Islam.  Iraq under this new U.S. puppet government is even more radical, unstable, and bent on the total annihilation of the west and Israel.

Christ warned us to watch, test all things and don't be deceived.

Are our troops dying in vain in Iraq?  Is the war in Iraq about fighting terrorism or oil?  It doesn't take a genius to figure this one out:

• More Iraqi oil was reaching the market during U.N. sanctions than today, four years into the so called Iraqi reconstruction.

• The U.S. Iraqi oil ministry is actually pumping oil back into the ground.

• Before the war we were paying less than a $1.70 for a gallon of gas.  This summer we were paying over $3.00.

• Before the war Iraq had one of the largest Christian communities in the Middle East.  Today in Iraq Christianity has been outlawed, all the Churches have been destroyed, and Iraqi Christians are being forced to leave the country, live in hiding, or convert to Islam.

At issue here is getting people to stand up and hold our elected officials accountable for what they have done.  My recommendation is above all else think for yourself.  Don't let anyone tell you how to think.  Don't take my words for granted.  Don't take what other people say for granted.  Read your Bible, do some research, and check out the facts.

I am not surprised that the U.S. is once again involved in a war we have no business waging.  I am not surprised that those waving the banner of freedom, patriotism and Christianity are unknowingly helping those working to destroy these things.  But what I can't understand is how people in this day and age with news and information at our fingertips can be so closed minded.

It is a frightening thought that almost one third of the American public still blindly supports politicians and a political party that has strayed so far from Christian morals and values.  But this is the reality that history will record about our time.  We are moving into the last days. 

If so many can be so easily deceived by people that frankly are not too bright, what is going to happen when the Antichrist and False Prophet are in power?

At a recent dinner I attended I overheard someone say people are really depressed about the situation today.  So they don't watch the news but they still listen to Rush.

And that partly explains why we are still in this mess.  Many in the Church today are getting their morals, values and perspective on how to think from these worldly, ignorant and unchristian radio personalities instead of the Holy Bible.

If you want to know what is going on in our country and with our foreign policy don't listen to college dropouts with absolutely no real world experience or qualifications.

Both Hannity and Rush flunked out of college.  It's not that they didn't go to college, they flunked out.

And what real-world experience do they have that qualifies them to tell people to support this administration and the war in Iraq?  Sean was a construction worker in Santa Barbara, California, before he went to TV and radio.  Rush's only work experience outside of radio was selling tickets for a baseball team. 

Why believe what these people say?  Jeff Cristy (the radio name Rush used in his early days) lied about his drug abuse and his hearing lose until he was exposed on air.  He is not a Christian and is not a parent.  And he has been married three times but has not fathered any children.  Very interesting!  Rush was recently caught by authorities leaving the country with erection pills prescribed to someone else.

There was a time when Conservative Christians in America followed Christ and His teachings and looked to scripture for guidance.  I guess this is just another sign of the times.

By John Roberts, February 1, 2006

1 Timothy 4:1-7

  1     Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
  2     Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
  3     Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
  4     For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
  5     For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
  6     If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.
  7     But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

People often ask me, "What is going on in the world today?"  It appears that everything has been turned upside down.  We are experiencing horrific earthquakes, a tsunami, three level 5 hurricanes in one season, flooding, terrorism, lawlessness, wars, pandemic warnings and an assault upon personal freedom and liberty in the name of democracy.  The news is so concerning that many people are searching for somewhere to relocate that might keep them isolated and protected from these things.

I can understand why people think that way.  And frankly, it is sometimes necessary to take the initiative and proactively get out of the way of pending destruction.  There are several examples in scripture, Noah and Lot specifically, where God Himself sounded the warning.  But God also provided the righteous with a way to safety.  Why?  God's judgment was not meant for the saved but for the wicked.

"Hold on there, what's all this talk of judgment?"  Yes, I am fully aware of the many scoffers today.  Some say the current natural disasters are normal and not out of the ordinary.  Others believe we are in a time of spiritual revival.  And there are those that preach against a Rapture and Tribulation and those that say God is finished with the Jews.

For a reality check I recommend you flip through the channels on your TV for about fifteen minutes.  What do you see?  Could you imagine what an Old Testament prophet or one of the Apostles would say about our world today?  Well, actually there is no need to imagine.  Through the power of God the Prophets and Apostles saw our day and they wrote about it often in scripture.

Without a doubt there is nothing normal or natural about our time.  So when people ask me what's going on with the world I reply that we are now living in the last days before the Rapture and Second Coming of Christ.  Things are not going to get better.  They are going to get worse.

Christ said, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.  And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened."

How do I know this prophecy is speaking about this time in history?  Well, there are many end time signs given in scripture.  But there are a few in particular that really differentiate our generation from those of the past as meeting all prerequisites for the start of the Seventieth Week of Daniel.

First Sign - The gospel has been preached in all the world.

Matthew 24:14 says the gospel must be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.  Prior to our day that prophecy lay unfulfilled.  There was always some part of the globe where missionaries had not taken the gospel.  But today with the advent of radio, TV and now the Internet the gospel has gone out to every nation across the whole face of the earth.

Second Sign - God has gathered Israel into their own land.

In Ezekiel 37:21 GOD says, "I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land."  Micah 2:12 says, "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel."  In 1948, after almost two thousand years of exile, Israel became a nation again.  And in 1967 Jerusalem was taken back from Jordan.  The Church is not Israel, God is not finished with the Jews.  Israel is the prodigal son that is returning home, the natural branches that God will graft back into their own olive tree (Christ).

Third Sign - Jerusalem has become a burdensome stone for all people.

Zechariah 12:2-3 says Jerusalem will become a burdensome stone for all people.  That prerequisite for the last days has certainly been fulfilled in our time.  The world hates Israel and the Jews and they openly speak of driving them into the sea.  World leaders are under the impression that a peace treaty between Israel and their Arab neighbors would bring about a lasting peace.  Prophecy says a treaty will be broken and bring war and tribulation, prompting the return of Christ to defend Jerusalem.

Fourth Sign - Jews are starting to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

According to prophecy after the gospel has been preached among the Gentiles it must then go back to the lost sheep of Israel.  That is happening today.  Isaiah 46:13 says, "I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory." 

Zechariah 12:10 says, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 

And Zechariah 13:9 says, "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Fifth Sign - RFID technology has made the Mark of the Beast possible.

The Seventh-day Adventists believe that the Mark of the Beast is a law requiring Christians to attend Sunday worship.  Such doctrine is pure silliness.  In Revelation 13:16-17 we are told that the False Prophet "causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." 

The advent of computers, the Internet, and now Radio Frequency Identification makes it possible for this prophecy to be fulfilled.  Last year the Bush administration authorized the insertion of RFID chips under our skin.  Once this gains acceptance world-wide it wouldn't take much to replace all currency with electronic transactions.

Sixth Sign - The EU (European Union) has emerged as the last days revived Roman Empire with "Ten Kings."

Prophecy speaks of a seven-headed red dragon with ten horns.  The dragon is Satan and the heads are the kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the kingdom of the Antichrist and False Prophet.  Revelation 17:12-13 says, "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." 

The Western Roman Empire fell in the fifth century.  The Eastern fell around the fifteenth century.  The EU with its many member nations covers the same geographic area and has much in common with the old Roman Empire.   

Daniel 2:44 says, "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever."

Seventh Sign - Church goers are behaving badly and have become lukewarm, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

In Revelations 3:14-22 God draws an analogy between the first century church of the Laodiceans and Christianity in the last days.  The Laodiceans were known throughout the ancient world for their fine black wool, eye salve, and wealth.  Consequently the Laodicean church thought they had it all and were in need of nothing.  Sure, they had things the world values, but they lacked Christ.  They were playing church and compromising the gospel to please the world and leaving Christ outside knocking on their door.  God compared their condition to the unpleasant lukewarm drinking water that ran throughout the city.  He said, "Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth." 

God then says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My thrown, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His thrown.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

All of these signs of the times are important.  But it is this last one concerning the lukewarm Laodicean Church that rarely gets addressed from the pulpit.  When was the last time you heard a pastor repent and confess that he is wretched and blind?  Most likely never.  Why is that?  Well, its not good business.

Professing Christians Are Behaving Badly

For the first time in history we now have a whole class of millionaire celebrity church leaders, that is outside of Rome.  Some put on their special robes to look different from the rest of us and others just wear sandals and a Hawaiian shirt to be "one of the the guys."  But they all pontificate, they pretent to heal, they sell anointing oil and trinkets, they prophesy, they sell books, they are on TV and radio, they make appearance in football stadiums, and some get rich in the process. 

Here are just a few examples of what I mean:

Joel Osteen is Senior Pastor of the Lakewood church in Houston, Texas.  Lakewood is the largest and fastest growing congregation in America with over 28,000 in attendance each weekend.  What's wrong with Pastor Osteen?  In a recent Larry King interview Joel was asked why he refuses to preach that Christ is the only way to salvation.  Joel's response was he could not do that because then he would be judging other people's beliefs.  Joel teaches feel-good Christ-less religion instead of the Biblical Christ centered gospel.

The verse I John 2:22 comes to mind, "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?  He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son."

Bill Bennett is called the "Morality Czar" by some.  A Roman Catholic, he is well known for his conservative politics and books like "The Book of Virtues."  As it turns out Bennett has a gambling addiction.  He has lost over eight million dollars gambling in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.  When confronted with this apparent hypocritical behavior Mr. Bennett justified his actions by saying, "I don't play the milk money."  Okay, but Mr. Bennett does gamble the money he makes from preaching morality to others. 

Mr. Bennett still refuses to admit that he has a problem.  The greater sin here is not his gambling.  It is the denial.  He fails to realize that his bad behavior reflects poorly upon the whole church in the eyes of the rest of the world. 

And Bill's excuses for his bad behavior are just pathetic and inexcusable.  Are we to believe that the Roman soldiers that cast lots for Christ's garments did nothing wrong because they did not gamble with their milk money? 

Rick Warren the founding pastor of Saddleback church in Lake Forest, California.  Rick has perpetuated the "Seeker Driven" doctrine which says just get people in Church, let them sing and dance and have a good time, and relegate any substantive teaching of doctrine to Bible Studies.  This practice has created a generation of church-goers that are virtually ignorant of even the basic doctrines in scripture. 

In his best seller, "The Purpose Driven Life," Rick says the number one purpose of a Christian's life is to "go to church."  That's interesting, because according to scripture our top priority and purpose is to spread the gospel.  Rick also boasts how he is an 80 percent tither.  But what he doesn't mention is that he still pockets millions of dollars from selling his books.  Could you image Apostle Paul selling the Book of Romans for profit, amassing a personal fortune, and then bragging about how much money he gives to the church?

The point is you don't need to look at all the freak natural disasters or sad condition of the world to understand that we are in the last days.  Just look at your local church.  The pulpit is full of hypocrisy and false doctrine.  That is a key sign that the Rapture is near.

Don't get me wrong.  I am not talking about God's true Chruch, what scripture calls the body of Christ.  The body of Christ is doing just fine.  Its man's religion that is in trouble. 

By that I mean most Christians do not fully understand the meaning of the Church and the role of each member.  The Church is defined in scripture as the collective body of Christ, all believers from all over the world that are born again in Christ.  Consequently, it is incorrect to define the Church as a place you go to on Sunday or Saturday.  The Church is not a building or a service or a religious denomination, it's not a man made organization, although it has a God given structure.  We are the Church.  And God is adding to his Church every day.

It is organized religion that is a mess.  The Catholic church still teaches false doctrines like purgatory and indulgences.  The Protestant denominations are obsessed with charismatic kingdom now, TULIP and Israel replacement doctrines.  The Orthodox still pray to their icons.  And then you have a plethora of cults all claiming to be the one and only Christian church.  It is no wonder people are so distressed and confused.

Church Of Convenience And Compromise

Institutionalized Christian religions today reminds me of the TV dinner fad that was so popular when I was growing up.  As a child I thought it was just great.  It was a complete frozen meal in a tin.  It was convenient and there was a meal to please everyone's taste.  My favorites were the Turkey and Mexican dinners.  We would pop it in the oven, set up the TV trays, use the pliers to change the channel on the black and white TV to the Outer Limits, it was all so fun and easy.  Or so we thought.  Little did we know that the TV dinner was about as nutritious as the cardboard packaging it came in and we probably digested enough metal off the trays to cause the senior moments I am now experiencing at forty-nine.

How is "going to a local Church" like a TV dinner or like Church in a Box?  Well, this whole "seeker driven" movement has watered down and compromised the simple gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.   They do this by adding something to the gospel to please everyone and removing anything that might appear unpleasant.   They then market God's gospel as "going to their church," religion for everyone in a convenient little package suitable for mass consumption.

In one compartment you have a music program.  In another is the youth group.  Then there is the breakfast club, religious retreat, singles, basketball league, it's all such a seeker driven happy fun time for all.

As a main course you can get a praise service, worship service, healing service, prophesying service, guilt service, feel good service, or the always popular prosperity and tithing service.

Church in a Box comes with everything you need to fit the Christian experience in with this world.  Just pick the one that fits your own private interpretation of scripture and you are in business.

• The Adventists box is vegetarian and only sold on Saturdays.

• The Jehovah Witnesses box was produced in a limited run of 144,000 in 1925.

• The Roman Catholic box contains fish and includes a candle for ambience.

• The Orthodox box comes in a special icon shaped tin that can actually be hung on the wall for display and worshiped after it's been cleaned and polished.

• The Messianic Jewish box comes with instructions in Hebrew giving this new offering a feeling of superiority over the established Gentile Christian boxes.

• The Lutheran box is almost identical to the Catholic but minus the side of Mary fries.

• The Charismatic box comes with a little bottle of anointing oil for the included emotional salad and a special healing napkin with the letters TBN inscribed on it.

• The Baptist box contents are freeze-dried and must be fully dunked in water for reconstitution.

• The Calvinists box is more of a snack than a meal.  It comes with only a small French pastry in the shape of a TULIP.  The manufacture claims you play no part in choosing it, the box actually chooses you and for no apparent reason.

• The Mormon box comes with a lot of extras.  They throw in a top hat and old spectacles for decoding secret messages from the ancient Palestine Indians that once ruled America.  This box also includes a very comfortable and stylish set of magic underwear.

Silly and offensive you say, perhaps.  But it sure makes a valid point.  The Church started in the first century with one God, one Savior, one Bible, and one Gospel.  And now look at where we are.  This mess and disunity shows just how far the organized Christian religion has strayed from the gospel of salvation through Christ found in all the books of the Holy Bible.

Frankly, the responsibility for this problem falls squarely on the clergy.  They have created this situation to ward off what they see as a threat to their own job security.  And this comes from a complete misunderstanding as to the roles and responsibilities God established for the Body of Christ.  Let me explain.

The Holy Spirit Is Our Teacher Now

When Christ died on the cross He gave His life as propitiation for all sin.  This removed the barrier that separated us from God since the time of Adam.  A physical sign of this can be seen when Christ died and the curtain in the Temple that kept everyone but the High Priest out of the Holy of Holies was rent in two.  This was done to show that we as individuals now have direct access to God.  We no longer need a priesthood to rule over us and act as intermediaries between us and God.

The message that individuals can bypass the religious hierarchy and power structure and go directly to God was for obvious reasons not well received by those that held all the authority and power at the time.  And that is still true today.

In fact I was watching a well known televangelist this morning giving a sermon on this very same topic.  The televangelist had his nose all out of joint because an individual had confronted him and said the Holy Spirit was his teacher, not the televangelist.  And he backed up this truth with 1 John 2:27:

"But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him."

To his credit the pastor acknowledged that the Holy Spirit is our teacher.  But then he just couldn't let it alone.  He went on to say, "but we (clergy) are God's mouthpiece."  That only illustrates my point of what is wrong with institutionalized religion today.  And this error is often compounded by pastors like Rick Warran that twist Matthew 10:10 into saying that these "mouthpieces" should also be paid.

God will use us for His purpose but He certainly doesn't need a set of human lips to be His mouthpiece.  God used a donkey to speak to Saul!  God also spoke to Moses through a burning bush.

When Adam and Eve sinned mankind lost that personal walk with God.  Being Holy, God could not deal directly with us because of our sin.  Consequently, in ancient times God often used a mouthpiece or mediator in the form of judges, prophets, a King, High Priest or the priesthood.

All that changed when Christ made Himself a sacrifice for sin on the cross.  We now have a new covenant.  The veil of separation is gone and God deals directly with each and every believer.

I heard a woman televangelist pushing this false doctrine a few weeks ago.  It is a way for pastors to set themselves up above their congregations.  She said God miraculously puts something in her sermons for everyone, the thousands of people in attendance and those watching on TV.  She even said that at times she doesn't even understand what she is preaching, but that's okay because God is speaking through her to everyone.  Right!  This is nothing more than the old "follow me, and I will follow God" heresy.

When I hear a women speak like this from the pulpit 1 Corrinthians 14:34-35 comes to mind:

"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church."

If you hear a pastor preaching false doctrine or making silly statements like, "Rapture ready Christians should vote Republican, or Bush and Cheney are great examples of Christian leadership," you know that did not come from God.

The truth is pastors have a sermon playbook from which they draw their 52 sermons a year.  When you deduct the obligatory tithing, prosperity, feel good and guilt trip sermons you are left with perhaps ten or twenty hours a year of actually biblical teaching.  Joining a Bible Study group can help, depending upon who is teaching the study.  Nevertheless, this is simply not enough spiritual food to stimulate any kind of real growth.

This is a real problem.  To grow and stay healthy you need to eat right.  Pastors today serve up little more than spiritual baby food, year in and year out.  After you learn the basics you should be ready for something more substantial and appropriate to maturing in the Word.

Sadly, you probably will not find what you need sitting there listening to a sermon in church.  This is partly by design.  Remember, the clergy believes "we the little people" can't handle a direct and personal relationship with God.  Besides, when people get educated in scripture they start questioning what they hear from the pulpit.

You can not mature in your knowledge of Christ without studying prophecy.  The Bible says Christ is the spirit of prophecy.  And Revelation is the only book in the Bible that offers a blessing for those that read it.  Yet Revelation is the most ignored book of the Bible.

Have you checked out your local Christian book store lately?  I did and I found it had only 1.5 shelves dedicated to prophecy study books.  Yet I counted over 55 shelves on Christian fiction, 20 shelves on self-help, 15 shelves dedicated to studies for women only, and 10 shelves dedicated to Charismatic topics.  And there were at least another 50 shelves dedicated to Christian trinkets of various kinds.  I asked the store manager why he carried so few prophecy books in these end times.  His response was their home office tells them what to carry, and they do so based on what sells.  Ah, now I understand.

The Rise Of State Religion

When and how did our local churches get off message of the pure gospel of Jesus Christ?  Well, divisions within the Church started almost immediately.  But the twelve Apostles were always there to get the local congregations back on track.  When the Apostles and first century disciples passed away their leadership roles were grabbed by men of lesser qualities, spiritual abilities, morality and integrity.

And it was this second, third, fourth, and fifth generation of church leaders from pagan backgrounds that first introduced the practice of mixing bits of Mystery Babylon heresies with Christianity.  They did this knowingly and openly to make our religion more palatable for mass consumption in a primarily pagan Roman World.

So it would be fair to say that the Church got off track when Christianity was turned into a state religion under the control of the Roman Emperor.  Popery and Roman Catholicism brought the abominations of Mystery Babylon into the Church and redefined them as Christian sacraments and doctrines.  And now this spiritual fornication could be practiced openly and under the complete protection of the Roman Emperor.

Drunk with their new power and authority a new clergy class quickly used the Christian religion as a way to rule over the common man, whom they believed too stupid and ignorant to have direct access to God.  So they made it illegal and punishable by death for the laity to own, read, or interpret the Holy Bible.  Eventually, Kings and Queens fell under their control.

Search the scriptures and history books and you will find that what I am telling you is true.  No sooner had the veil been rent than a new clergy class arose that attempted to stitch the veil back together again and they set themselves up as the gatekeepers.  And they did this independent from and in spite of the guidance given them by the Apostles, Disciples, and the Holy Spirit.

This point is worth repeating.  God hand picked the twelve Apostles, Paul being God's replacement for Judas, for a unique role in laying the foundation of the Church.  There were others that played great roles, such as John Mark, Luke, and Christ's brother James.  But the twelve Apostles were given a unique role in the Church.  Meaning, there were no more Apostles after these twelve.

What about Apostolic succession?  It doesn't exist.  In Revelation 21:14 it says, "And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."  Notice that it doesn't mention the names of the Bishops of Rome, or the King of England, or Billy Graham, just the twelve Apostles.

The Apostles and disciples of the first century A.D. performed miracles, wrote the inspired Book of the New Testament, and they had the gifts of prophecy and tongues (they were heard spreading the gospel in multiple foreign dialects at the same time).  Some even saw Christ in His glory during the transfiguration.  And in a vision John saw Christ coming in the clouds to set up His kingdom.  No one of our generation can claim these things.  And anyone that says they have the gift of prophesy, miracles or tongues is either delusional or a bold face liar.

The twelve Apostles and their companions had the tough job of bringing the gospel to the Roman Empire.  And they were up to the task.  Everywhere they went they established local churches.  After some time they would check back with these congregations to see how they were doing.  They did it in person when possible.  Otherwise they would send letters.  Many but not all survived and have been passed down to us in the New Testament.

And when you study these letters you see the seeds of dissention and power struggles had already arisen in some local churches.  History is clear on this subject.  From the very beginning of the Church, way back in the first century when the Apostles lived, ungodly, egotistical, power hungry men used local churches for their own personal gain.

In 3 John we find an individual named Diotrephes that took control of a local church in Asia and then tried to usurp Apostle John's authority.  This arrogant man refused a letter from John for the church, not wanting the authority of an Apostle to supersede his own.  He accused John of evil words, turned away John's missionaries, and expelled those in his church who wanted to receive them.

In another example we find a story concerning the troublemaker Demetrius the silversmith.  Demetrius had a thriving occupation making silver idols for pagan worshipers of the goddess Diana.  The gospel was cutting into his idol making business so he riled up the people against Christian missionaries.  This hostility between paganism and Christianity lasted for the next three hundred years.

But by the forth century Christians nearly outnumbered pagans in the Roman Empire.  So in an effort to gain the support of the majority of Romans the Emperor created a new state religion with something to please everyone, basically Mystery Babylon in a Christian wrapper.  This strategy worked.  Under Roman Catholicism the idol business flourished so the silversmiths were happy and Rome stayed in contol.  And today Diotrephes sits in the Vatican in Rome, on the throne of England, and in the ruling clergy of local churches everywhere.

Most people do not understand that it was actually a major setback for the Church when the Roman Emperor Constantine made Christianity the religion of the state.

You see, up until that time the persecution Christians suffered only served to spread the gospel. The harder Rome squeezed the faster the Church grew.  The Roman Army was losing their war to exterminate Christianity.  And despite the dangers and hardships that was a time when Christians enjoyed a direct relationship with God with the Holy Spirit as their teacher and free access to the Word of God.

All that changed when the Emperor gained preeminence over all Christendom.  Rome managed to do from within the Church what they could not do as an opponent.  Like his predecessor Diotrephes the Emperor usurped the gospel.  Popery was substituted for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  All threats to Rome's authority over matters of Church and state were silenced.  It became illegal for the common man to own, read or discuss scripture.  And slowly over the next seventeen hundred years one false doctrine after another was brought into the Church.

And one factor that really distinguished the Apostles of the first century Church from this later generation of state church leaders was their background.  The Apostles were Jewish and as such were part of the only nation on earth that believed in God.  They had the Old Testament.  Many, like Paul, were very knowledgeable of scripture before they were converted.  And most were disciples of John the Baptist before Christ called them to be His Apostles.   So when the Apostles came to Christ they did so with a background that helped prepare them for leadership roles within the newly establish Church.

The Apostles taught the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.   They did not stray too far into divisive doctrinal issues.  In fact they spoke against division in the Church.

After the Apostles local church leadership fell into the hands of men that came from a totally different background.  These men were Gentiles and they came from primarily pagan families.  They spent much of their time dabbling in various false religions worshipping a pantheon of false gods.  What set them apart from the common man of their day was that they had a classic education.

I am not just talking about the ability to read and write.  These men studied at some of the finest learning institutions of the ancient world.  They were taught how to debate, discuss worldly issues intelligently, they studied Roman and Greek mythology.  You might say they were the high society and intellectuals of their day.  They felt above the little people that lacked their education.  And they knew how to use their education to gain advantage.

The problem is their fine education consisted of a pagan curriculum in total conflict with scripture and the gospel.  So when they converted to Christianity many did so with excess pagan baggage which they refused to throw away.

For example, Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo, fathered a child out of wedlock.  And after he converted to Christianity he lived with a woman and refused to marry her.  So there he was a Bishop and high ranking leader in the Church openly living in sin.  What example did that set for others?

Well, history tells us the example Augustine set.  The Roman Catholic Church eventually followed Augustine's lead in this matter.  Up until the Reformation it was a common and open practice for priests to keep concubines and father children out of wedlock just like their mentor Augustine.  In fact, the practice was so widespread that Rome actually collected taxes to support these illegitimate extended families of their Priests.  And this was one factor that helped start the Reformation.  The situation got so bad that European kingdoms one by one refused to fund the sins and indulgences of Priests with their money.

And so it was that little by little this post-Apostle generation of Church leaders introduced divisions, false doctrines and bad Christian behavior which became institutionalized with the rise of state churches.

History Of The Church?

A common perception is that the history of the Christian Church from the second century to the present has been accurately and comprehensively documented.  And no wonder, thousands of books have been published on this subject with great attention given to state churches of Rome, England, and others born during the reformation. 

However, I propose that this is a clear case of mistaken identity.  The state churches and many early "church fathers" discussed in great detail in history books in fact had nothing to do with the body of Christ because their works were evil. 

Under pagan Rome Christianity was outlawed.  Christians were rounded up and executed for sport in the Coliseum.  That was followed in the fourth century by a very brief period of time when the Roman Emperors allowed freedom of worship.  But this soon changed when Rome establish Popery as their state religion.

Any objection to Roman Catholicism brought torture, banishment, or public execution.   And that lasted for the next fourteen hundred years.  The new Protestant churches acted just as badly.  Even after the Reformation it was still not possible to worship God in freedom anywhere throughout Europe.  That is the initial reason why so many Europeans immigrated to America. 

So how can historians call murderers the Church?  That is one reason why I say these books are a fraud and no more document the true history of Christianity than the theory of evolution describes the origin of man.

Check it out for yourself.  Pick up any book on Church history and it will invariably lay out a timeline of Christianity that starts in the first century A.D. with Christ and the Apostles and Disciples and then goes to a list of supposed "church fathers."  Next they go on to the founding of the Church of Rome, onward to Orthodoxy and the Protestant Reformation, the Catholicism's Counter Reformation, and so on and so on.

This timeline is absolutely incorrect because it is based on false assumptions.  Diotrephes had preeminence in his local church but that did not make him a true church leader.  The same is true of the so called Popes and "church fathers."  First of all it is wrong to even associate a man with the title "church father."  The Bible specifically forbids calling anyone "Father."  God alone is our Father.

Secondly, Christ and His Apostles had already completed the foundation, structure, and finishing work of the Church and books of the New Testament long before these others arrived.  When something is complete there is no need to add anything to it.

Simply put these so called early church leaders brought nothing to the true Church that wasn't already there in the first place.  That is why the works of these men are not canonized in the New Testament.

To the contrary, they were responsible for either introducing or lending credibility to the many false doctrines that have now gained wide spread acceptance.  Augustine of Hippo was one of the first to suggest the doctrine of Purgatory.  Luther, with his famous Ninety-Five Thesis, only objected to parts of the doctrine of indulgences while at the same time he accepted much of the rest of Popery.  John Calvin put Christians to death for not accepting the doctrine of infant baptism. These are the men most Christians put up on pedestals.  In reality they quickly strayed from the truth and in many cases did not even posses a level of understand equal to that of many Christians today.

For example, the common man does not need a Synod (church council) to tell us if Jesus Christ is divine or just a good man.  Scripture clearly says Jesus is God, without sin, and everything in the universe was created by Jesus.  What's to discuss?  The very fact that this topic was debated by the early church shows just how fast and far church leadership slipped away from the teachings of the Apostles.

We also do not need Ignatius, Justin, Irenaeus, or the "infallible" Council of Trent to tell us that in the Eucharist the Body and Blood of Christ are literally present for our consumption by reason of the "transubstantiation" of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ.  Because its not.  Literally eating flesh and blood is cannibalism.

And that practice has its roots in ancient paganism and satanic rituals and has absolutely nothing to do with the gospel.  Granted, most of the early church leaders were educated scholars.  But they lack the common sense to figure out that Christ was speaking "figuratively" when He referred to bread and wine as His body.

We do not need a clergy class of child molesters and fornicators to administer the sacraments to us in order to obtain salvation and be in God's church.  The thief on the cross was saved without any of these rituals and traditions.  These things were institutionalized as ritual prerequisites for salvation by organized religion so that the clergy could gain power over the laity.

These very same clergy engaged in denominational wars, inquisitions, immorality and other bad behavior.  That is not the work of real Christians.  And it stands in stark contrast with what we know about the Apostles and Disciples of the New Testament.  Once those men and women were born again they were changed.  They put off the old man and put on Christ.  They put their faith to work and they produced fruit that was consistent with their faith.

Examine the New Testament and you will not find any mention of denominations, creeds, or articles of faith, just the pure gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ.  When scripture is used to interpret scripture you find that every book is consistent with every other book of the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament.

The Holy Bible has a consistent message because every book was inspired by God.  So in fact God is the true author of all scripture.  But now take a look at Christianity today.  It has been differentiated into hundreds of mutually exclusive denominations and doctrines, each claiming to be the only true one.

They can't all be right!  So how can anyone even suggest that the author of the Holy Bible would also be the architect of such division and confusion?

People defend this mess by saying, "We can't just ignore or throw out what is now documented as Church history."  Who wants to ignore it?  I certainly don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater.  But I think we have a responsibility to at least get it right.  To do that you must go back to scripture.

A Harlot And Her Daughters

At this point in this study I need to address a very common false doctrine that has been around since the dark ages.  The Pope is not the Antichrist and he is not the False Prophet either.

However, Popery and the Vatican can be positively identified as the last days incarnation of Mystery Babylon, The Mother Of Harlots, mentioned in the seventeenth chapter of Revelation.

And that means the Pope and Vatican will not play any major role in the kingdom of the Beast because they will be destroyed and their power taken away by the Beast and False Prophet.

Rome has controlled Europe in one way or another for two thousand years.  The Beast will attempt to rid the world of anything associated with Jews and Christians. 

God punished Israel when they went astray.  Likewise, God is going to use the Beast to punish Rome for all the evil Roman Catholicism has done over the past seventeen centuries.  The Vatican has killed more Christians than pagan Rome ever did, some estimate as many as fifty million have been put to death by a Pope and his clergy.

Now, I am not saying that Roman Catholics are lost as some do.  What I am saying is that the institution of Roman Catholicism and its leadership are very wicked and will be judged by God.

Keep in mind, the city and empire of Babylon is long gone.  Babylon is used in last days prophecy as a metaphor.  Babylon is the original home of all Mystery Religions that came into existence after the flood.  From Babylon these cults spread all over the known world.  Mystery Babylon existed in some form in each of the Gentile kingdoms mentioned in prophecy, from Egypt to Rome.  So Popery is just another form of the old pagan Mystery Babylon cults in a Christian wrapper.

If you don't believe me just look at who sits in Rome today, the city on seven hills, and controls over a billion people from almost every nation on earth.  He takes the title Pontifex Maximus and claims to be the infallible mouthpiece of God on earth.  Check out his background and you will find that he was a member of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany.  A former Nazi is now the head of the Roman Catholic leadership.

The term Pontifex Maximus literally means head and high priest of the Roman pagan religion.  This was the title the Roman Emperors took when they elevated themselves to godhood and demanded to be worshiped as gods on earth.

But this is not just a rebuke of the false doctrines and bad behavior of the Vatican.  Many Protestant denominations born to Rome during the reformation are just as wicked.  Calvinism, with its TULIP doctrine based on a meaningless soul lottery of salvation by pure chance, has not even a trace of the Biblical gospel left in it.  That is why Rome is called the Mother of Harlots, because she gave birth to a lot of little daughter harlots, that continue to robe Heaven of souls.

Yet through all these problems in the Church the gospel goes out and people get saved.  Some might ask, "If things are so bad in the Church how is it possible that so many people today profess to be Christians?"  The answer is simple and not that complicated or hard to understand.  God is still in control, its His Gospel and His Church after all.

But let's not shut our eyes and pretend everything is fine.  God has warned us in scripture that in these last days the church as an organization would close their doors to Christ.  And clearly these are those days.  And not everyone that professes to be a Christian acts like one or has been born again into the Body of Christ.

You will notice that in Revelation 3:20-22 God ends His letters to seven churches and the last days church of Laodicea by sending out an invitation to individuals within the collective body of a local church.  "If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."

John's Take

In the book of Hebrews it says, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."

And in Matthew we are told, " For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Whether you attend a local church or Home Church as I do the message is clear, it is extremely important for Christians to gather in these last days and don't forget the time and season in which we live.

According to the word of God the primary purpose of a Christian is to serve Christ, specifically to spread the gospel and help other Christians mature in the Word.  And in order to serve you must go through some training and preparation.

Preparing and giving you opportunities to serve is the primary purpose of a local church.  But if you have been attending a church for over ten years and you still need a pastor to preach to you and tell you what the Bible says then something is wrong.

If you are not getting what you need to mature in Christ at your local church then take matters into your own hands.  Get a good concordance, commentaries, reference material and a Bible, pray for guidance, and get to work studying the scriptures.  God has promised to give you the only teacher you need, the Holy Spirit.

If you are one of those that find it difficult to study scripture then find a good local church and Bible Study to join.  But in truth you will always get more out of it if you try to study on your own.   Limiting your Christian training to listening to someone else preach is like copying someone else's homework in school.  Then when a real test comes you are totally unprepared.

The 13th chapter of Zechariah speaks of a time in the future when Christ is ruling from Jerusalem.  It says that it will be a day when every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies.  What that is saying is that Christ is the fulfillment of all prophecy.  Consequently there will not be a need for prophets when Christ returns.

Likewise, the day will come with Christ when we will not need pastors anymore, because everyone will already understand the gospel.  And there are no excuses.  We should thank God every day for the printing press and freedom many of us enjoy to gather and read the Holy Bible.  Many people gave their lives to translate scripture into a language we can understand.  The least we can do is read it, often and with conviction.

And one final thought.  At this appointed time in history there is one very important question for the Church, "Are you ready for the Rapture?"

I often take the Metro when I am in Washington.  And just before the train arrives lights will start to blink on the waiting platform to let people know its time to get ready to board the train because it will be arriving in seconds. I have studied Eschatology (last days prophecy) my whole life.  Believe me, the signs are everywhere, the lights are blinking and it is almost time to go.

Don't get so caught up in denominational disputes and playing church that you forget what is really important, specifically being prepared for the Rapture.  And don't be deceived.   Scoffers will say the word "Rapture" is not even mentioned in scripture.  Well, neither is the word "Trinity."

The Rapture is sure, you need to be ready.  It could come any time now.

By John Roberts, March 12, 2003

How a person treats Israel and the Jews in last days prophecy reveals exactly where that person stands with God and their own salvation.  The lost say God is finished with the Jews and the nation of Israel.  The wise know God has established Israel back on the Promised Land in these last days in fulfillment of prophecy.

The story of how Israel became a nation again after almost 2,000 years is something that should inspire every Christian.

In 70 A.D. a Roman Army destroyed Jerusalem and put down the Jewish revolt.  Those Jews that survived were eventually removed from the Promised Land and sold into slavery throughout the Roman Empire. 

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  It allowed a remnant of Jews to live and thrive among the gentiles until God was prepared to return them to the Promised Land.

Many historic events transpired in the Middle East from the time the Romans conquered Jerusalem in the first century until 1918.  But believe it or not nothing very relative to the rebirth of the nation of Israel.  This period of time will be remembered most as the age when the gosple of Jesus Christ was spread around the globe to the gentile nations.

It was with the defeat of Turkey in WWI that the dead bones of the nation of Israel started to rattle.  At that time the Western powers arbitrarily fixed the boundaries of Middle East countries.  The French took over the area now known as Lebanon and Syria.  The British took control of Palestine and Iraq.  And the Zionists started to dream again of a Jewish homeland.

But the reality was the West had no intentions of giving land back to the Jews.  Instead they started handing over independent states to the Arabs Royal families in exchange for their favors.

Some people are shocked when they learn that none of the countries that border Israel became independent until the 20th century.  Egypt didn't achieve independence until 1922; Lebanon, 1946; Jordan, 1946; and Syria, 1946. Many of the Gulf States became independent after Israel: Kuwait, 1961; Bahrain, 1970; the United Arab Emirates, 1971; and Qatar, 1971.

It is a good thing that the French and British had no idea they were sitting on black gold just beneath all that useless sand.  If they had you can bet the Middle East would still be under French and British control, and so would all that oil.

Nevertheless, Britan was willing to deal away most of the Middle East but they wanted to hang on to "Palestine" for as long as possible.  And it is important to understand the origin of the term Palestine and why Israel's enemies prefer to use that name instead of the Biblical and historical proper name of Israel.

Palestine is a derivative of the word "Philistia."  The Philistines were "sea people" that invaded the southern seacoast of Israel now known as the Gaza Strip.  The Philistines were a pagan race that corrupted the land with their idols.  Their role as Israel's archenemy is well documented in scripture.

The Philistines killed Saul, Israel's first king.  The Philistines also made the mistake of capturing the ark of God and putting it into their pagan temple of Dagon.  Most people grow up hearing the stories of how Samson once killed a thousand Philistines at one time with the jawbone of a donkey and how David slew the Philistine giant Goliath.

The term "Palestine" is an anti-Semitic term for the region of land in the Middle East promised by God to the Jews.  It is a term invented by the Romans and used by Israel's enemies to erase the historical birthright of Jews to the land of Israel, Galilee, Samaria, and Judea.  So when you hear people use the term Palestine instead of Israel you now know that they are pro-Arab and anti-Semitic.

The world has always been anti-Semitic because the world is evil.  There was a time when almost everyone on Earth worshiped a pantheon of false gods.  Israel became the first nation entrusted with the knowledge of the true God and the gospel.  So it stands to reason that nations that hate God also hate His chosen people.  And this hatred has been passed down through the centuries to modern times. 

It took the death of millions of Jews at the hands of Hitler and the Nazis to soften the hearts of the West.  The civilized and compassionate nations of the world then realized that Jews needed somewhere to go to build new lives. 

In reality Jewish immigration was becoming an international problem.  Hitler's "final solution" left the Jews with nothing to return to after the war.  The Jews were knocking on every door looking for someone to take them in. But no one wanted them. Boat loads of immigrants were being shuttled back and forth between countries refused entry at every port.

The idea of finding somewhere else to dump the Jews, like Palestine, was becoming more acceptable to everyone; everyone that is except the Arabs and British.

The Arabs were becoming vocal over Jewish immigration into Palestine.  They had a strategic plan to remove all Jews from the Middle East and claim it all for Islam.  So every Jew that arrived was another Jew they might have to fight.  European Jews had no where else to go so they kept on coming.  Arabs and Jews started fighting.  The Jews fought to get into Palestine and the Arabs to keep the Jews out.

The British could care less about the Arabs and Jews.  They were occupying the region to secure British strategic interests.  But when the fighting between the locals started to interfere with British rule they thought the solution would be to side with the Arabs and restrict Jewish but not Arab immigration.

So now the Jews had to fight both the Arabs and the British if they wanted to return to the land of their forefathers.  The Jews organized and did whatever it took to encourage the British to lift their restrictions on immigration.  The British finally realized the Jews meant business.  They were not going to submit to British authority on their historic homeland. 

It became clear that the Arabs and Jews were headed for a collision course.  The British threw up their hands and declared they were getting out.  Someone else could deal with the problem.

That someone became the United Nations.  They set a deadline of the end of the British Mandate to come up with a solution.  If nothing could be done then the U.N. promised the Arabs they would stay out of the Middle East and let the two parties settle it on their on.  In other words the U.N. gave the Arab nations the green light to attack the Jews if U.N. peace efforts failed before the British Mandate ran out.

By their actions the United Nations guaranteed a war.  The Arabs had no incentive to come to any agreement with the Jews.  Islam outnumbered the Palestinian Jews a hundred to one.  They had standing armies and the Jews had next to nothing in which to defend themselves.  The only thing now that stood between the Arabs and total annihilation of the Jews were the British.  Islam prepared for war and waited for 6:01 PM, May 14, 1948, the minute the British and the U.N. would be officially out of the way.

In the mean time a U.N. Special Committee on Palestine recommended partitioning Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab State when the British Mandate ended.

Great Britain had ruled Palestine for three decades.  Now the Brits went about disarming the Jews and giving weapons to the Arabs.  In their minds the Arabs would crush the Jews so it was good politics and of strategic value to support the winner in the conflict.

The Arabs would not even discuss the issue of partition with the UN committee.  The Arab leadership believed that if a partition was imposed they could reverse it by force.  So five Arab nations mobilized to the Palestine border and prepared to attack when the British left.  They said, "we will throw them (Jews) into the sea."

Now the United Nations knew they had until 6:00 PM, May 14, 1948, the day the British Mandate was to end, to come up with a solution in the Middle East.  If nothing could be resolved by that time then the UN would be forced to follow the British lead and end it's role in Palestine.

As circumstances would have it the U.N. was unable to resolve anything by their deadline.  The Jews were happy because they wanted to get on with establishing their state without being accused of impinging upon an international decision.

So the British formally announced to the UN assembly the end of their Mandate.  At the same time back in Palestine David Ben Gurion seized the opportunity to declare a Jewish State on the ancient land of Israel.  Ben Gurion pronounced, "It will be called the State of Israel."

Mean while back at the UN at precisely 6:02 the Iraqi UN delegate stood up to the microphone and asked that the UN uphold its promise to stay out of the Palestinian issue.  The Arabs were happy.  They wanted the freedom to attack Israel without UN intervention.

The US delegate to the UN then went to the podium.  With the words of the Iraqi delegate still ringing in everyone's ears Jessop announced that the newly formed State of Israel was asking for recognition.

Although not totally unexpected, Jessop's announcement took everyone by surprise.  The entire assembly was in shock.  They did not realize that Ben Gurion had declared independence.

Even more shocking was what Mr. Jessop said next.  Jessop continues with, "The United States formally recognizes the State of Israel."  Not to be outdone by the U.S. the Soviet delegate then recognized Israel.

So in only a matter of minutes the situation in the Middle East had forever changed. 2000 years of exile had ended and the Jews now had a homeland.

The following day, on May 15, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria invaded Israel under the command of playboy King Farouk of Egypt.  The outcome seemed certain.  Over 40 million Arabs attacked 500 thousand Jews.  The Arab regular armies converged on Palestine vastly superior in equipment and numbers.  The Arabs had tanks, aircraft, ships, and guns.

The Jews had no airforce, navy, or standing army when the war started.  But soon weapons started to flow in from of all places the Soviet block, especially Czechoslovakia.

Egypt's army attacking from the south headed towards the main Jewish center of Tel Aviv.  After three weeks they were halted to a standstill only 20 miles from the city.

Jordan's Arab Legion attacked from the East and took the West Bank and the old city of Jerusalem.  The Lebanese attacked from the north. The Syrians moved towards Nazareth.  Arab Palestinians joined the fight against Israel.  They set off car bombs and blocked supplies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In response to the internal Palestinian attacks the Israelis established the Palmach Brigade.  This special Brigade was given the task of clearing the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, which they successfully accomplished.

Another unit, the Irgun unit, which had fought the British, was given the town of Deir Yassin to attack.  The Arab Palestinians put up stiff resistance, shooting at the Jews from the windows of their houses.  Out of 132 men the Israelis lost 7 with 42 wounded.  It was a hard fought battle.  The leader of the Arab Palestinians was one of the causalities of the battle.

Arab politicians and media decided to make the most of Deir Yassin.  They fabricated false press releases accusing the Israelis of raping Arab women and killing children in the village.

The false reports had a traumatic, immediate, and unexpected impact.  In the next few months three quarters of a million Arabs fled Palestine.  They fully expected to return when the Arab armies finished pushing the Jews into the sea.

Early in the war the Arabs had a number of victories.  When they advanced through Jewish villages the inhabitants were either killed or expelled.  But things soon changed.  The Israelis pulled off one miracle after another and the Arab advance was halted.

On February 24, 1949, Israel signed a cease-fire with the Arabs.  The Arabs still refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist so Israel refused to let Arab Palestinian refugees back into the country.  Gaza came under the rule of Egypt and Jordan annexed the West Bank, which left the Arab Palestinians with nothing.

But the battles were not over.  Humiliated by their defeat at the hands of the tiny new nation of Israel the Egyptian "Free Officers Movement" plotted a coup d'etat. On July 23, 1952, the army dethroned the king and took control of Egypt. Gamal Abdel Nasser took over.

Nasser's platform was to "end colonialism, feudalism, and corrupt exploitation by capitalism."  Since Israel represents the only bulkhead of democracy and capitalism in the Middle East the Arab world viewed Israel as "the cancer in the midst of the Arab world."

So Nasser instigated another war in 1956 which he subsequently lost.   War came again in 1967 and also in 1973.   These declared wars were followed by decades of terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians and Syrians against the Israeli population.

But here we are in 2003 and Israel is still standing.   And should all the nations of the world and all the powers of hell gather against tiny Israel they will not prevail.   The salvation of the Jews and Israel are a sign of God's ability to keep His promises.   Now that Israel has been physically reborn on their land the day will soon follow when the Jews as a people are born again spiritually, and Jesus Christ will reign over the whole earth from Jerusalem.

"Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you."     Zechariah 8:23

John's Take

The 1800s gave rise to many false religions.  People could not see how the Jews and Israel could fit into last days prophecy after being absent for nearly two millenniums.  False prophecy teachers invented Israel-replacement theories to interject their Gentile cults into prophecy specifically meant for Jews and Israel.

But God is very patient and able to keep His word.  These imposters with their Israel and Jewish replacement theories were dealt a fatal blow in 1948 when the nation of Israel was reborn on the Promised Land.  Israel will never cease to be a nation again.  The Lord will physically return to fight for the Jews and defeat all invading nations, establishing His literal kingdom for 1,000 years on Earth and for eternity on a new earth thereafter.

No, God is not through with the Jews.  There is much more to come.  Israel was reborn as a nation in 1948 but the day of its spiritual rebirth is still in the future.  That day will come when all Jews will call upon the name of the Lord.

God promises eternal life to those that are born-again in Christ.  God promises to rule the world for a thousand years from Jerusalem.  God keeps his promises.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

By John Roberts, February 4, 2002

It is an act of treason subject to the penalty of death for any American citizen to take up arms and fight against the U.S. military.

Twenty year old U.S. citizen John Philip Walker Lindh, a.k.a. John Walker, John Lihnd, Sulayman al Faris, Abdul Hamid, was captured fighting for the enemy in Afghanistan.

Did Walker willingly betray his allegiance to his country? According to his own words John volunteered to fight in the frontlines against the West for bin Ladin's Islamic jihad.

Did John knowingly fight against U.S. soldiers? Walker had forehand knowledge that Laden had sent terrorists to the U.S. to kill Americans. After learning of the WTC attacks and America's declared response to get Laden and remove the Taliban terrorists from Afghanistan Walker volunteered to fight for Laden and the Taliban. Without question Walker chose to side with our enemy and fight against his own country.

Following his capture a CNN correspondent asked John if he had been fighting on the right side. "Definitely" Walker replied. And how about fighting in the jihad? "It's exactly what I thought it would be," he said. In response to how he felt about the attacks on the WTC Walker just shrugged his shoulders.

Walker told CNN that he had been in Afghanistan for six months. Prior to this Walker had spent time in Yamen and Pakistan. Walker went to Yamen to study Arabic and the Koran. In Pakistan John attended a Taliban religious school. Eventually John took up the call to fight the West volunteering for Islamic terrorist training.

It was June, 2001, when Walker took seven weeks of weapons, explosives and battlefield combat training at several bin Laden camps in Afghanistan. John was trained in how to shoot and blow up "infidels," Christians and Jews, with a Kalashnikov (AK-47) and rocket-propelled grenades.

While in the terrorist training camps John Walker met several times with the most wanted man in the world, Osama bin Laden. Following graduation, which believe it or not required passing a written terrorist test with true false, multiple choice, and fill-in questions, John asked to join the fight in the front lines of Northern Afghanistan.

I can assure you that nothing prepared Walker for what he was about to encounter on the front lines. Muslim terrorists are trained to attack defenseless citizens, women and children, and unprotected infrastructure. Now they would be facing the might of American airpower.

For weeks the front was little more than a war of words. Both sides sat in their trenches just looking at each other. The Northern Alliance refused to risk their meager resources in combat. The U.S. decided it was time to take action.

A week of carpet bombing with B-52s and GPS aided munitions dropped from B-1Bs and B-2s decimated the Taliban forces. When Walker and his comrades tried to regroup the U.S. dropped a few air-fuel bombs on their concentrated forces. These bombs literally burn up all the air in a 600-yard radius creating a vacuum and killing everything for miles around.

Less than seven days of intensive U.S. bombing and Johnny Terrorist and the Taliban turned tail and ran. The Northern Alliance soldiers woke up one day to find nothing but empty trenches and bunkers between them and Kabul.

The Taliban forces were scurrying like rats to any hole they could find. Walker's unit made its way to the Taliban held city of Kunduz. John was captured during fighting around the city and eventually sent a few miles west of Mazari-i-Sharif to the Qala-i-Jangi prison fortress.

Along the way John and his comrades attempted to escape. They had somehow kept possession of some weapons. They threw a grenade and made a break for it. The escape failed and soon all were recaptured and sent packing again.

At the Qala-i-Jangi prison fortress "Sulayman" was easily recognized as a foreigner fighting with the Arab and Pakistany al-Qaeda terrorists. This was brought to the attention of Johnny "Mike" Spann, a CIA officer sent to Mazari-i-Sharif to interrogate potential al-Qaeda members. A film crew recorded his meeting with Sulayman. Kneeling on the ground, hands tied behind his back, wild long hair and beard, Sulayan looked a mess. Sulayman refused to answer Spann.

A few hours later Spann was the first American casualty in Afghanistan. Hundreds of Taliban detainees started an uprising using smuggled weapons. Once again the Northern Alliance soldiers had improperly searched their prisoners. A grenade was thrown and the guards were overwhelmed. The al-Qaeda forces headed straight for a weapons storehouse in the fort. Mike was shot and then beaten to death by Sulayman's comrades.

After three days of heavy fighting the revolt was put down. It took a week to recapture all the terrorists. Walker and 85 comrades retreated to a basement deep below the prison. They were flushed out, literally, when the basement was flooded.

Sulayman was captured for the third time. He was involved in three armed escapes. And this is very relative and important. Walker and his comrades, Arab and Pakistani al-Qaeda terrorists, knew they were easily recognizable by their captors as foreign terrorists in Afghanistan. And they knew they would be held accountable for the atrocities they have committed. That is why al-Qaeda terrorists have been the only detainees instigating armed revolts after capture, be it from a hospital, back of a truck, detention camp, or prison fortress.

Taliban soldiers offer no resistance after arrest. Consequently they have been questioned and released by the tens of thousands.

Walker may have refused to answer when questioned but his actions tell us all we need to know. Twice he was standing right next to captured terrorists that started a revolt by lobbing a hidden grenade at their captors. Walker may have had something to do with the death of his interrogator Mike Spann as well. But we will never know.

Following his final capture Sulayman signed a waiver giving us his Miranda right and proudfully confessed to siding with the enemy. Yes, he trained in Osama bin Laden's terrorists camps. And yes, he volunteered to fight for Osama after hearing of the attacks on the WTC and innocent Americans. All these arrogant yet incriminating statements came to a halt after "John Lindh" received letters from his father.

Was there any doubt that the defense lawyers have already started their propaganda campaign? Walker's father gave a press conference and said John was a bad boy for not asking daddy's permission to go to Afghanistan.

As expected John showed up in court looking more like a prep student returning from a summer vacation than a religious Muslim and a bin Laden trained terrorist. Sulayman requested that his beard and head be shaved right before his court appearance. Strangely, Sulayman's request violates his religious beliefs. Could it be that John's defense lawyers told him the "Taliban look" doesn't play well in front of American jurors still living with the horrific images of the WTC attack?

Walker is in a heap of trouble now. The choices we make in life do have consequences.

According to Attorney General John Ashcroft Walker knew Osama bin Laden had ordered the attacks on the United States. Ashcroft has decided to try John in a civil court. More charges may be brought later but for now he faces:

Engaging in a conspiracy, outside the United States, to kill U.S. nationals, specifically American forces fighting in Afghanistan. This carries a term of life in prison.

Providing or attempting to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations, specifically Harakat ul-Mujahedeen and Al-Qaida. This brings a term of 10 years and life. The newly signed Patriot Act raises the penalties for "providing material support to a terrorist organization from 10 to 15 years but no one is sure yet if it applies to this case.

Engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taliban. This can bring a term of 10 years and a $50,000 fine.

Politics aside, John could have and should have been tried by the Military for treason.

Aiding the enemy is a crime under the U.S. Military Code of Justice for which he could be executed.

Enemy belligerent can be tried with a death penalty without facing the "two witnesses" step evidentiary requirements imposed by the U.S. Constitution.

However, the crime that will go unpunished is the one committed by John's parents. Their ungodly liberal parenting created this Muslim traitor. Liberalism is what brought John Walker to take up arms against his own country.

How Does Liberalism Breed Treason?

Walker's life is a perfect case study for the evils of ungodly liberalism.

John was born in 1981 in Washington, D.C., the second child of three to Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker. He was baptized a Roman Catholic and raised in a "Birkenstock Family" in the suburbs of Maryland.

His parents were liberals that came of age in the counterculture of the 60s. They believe nothing was as important as development through self-experimentation. This is of course the big lie at the foundation of the ancient Babylonian mystery religions. "Eat the forbidden fruit, it will make you wise," and "don't worry there are no consequences for your actions."

Frank Lindh, John's father, earned a Master's degree in social work, worked as a clerk in the solicitor general's office of the Justice department by day and attended Georgetown law school at night. He graduated and worked in a Washington Law firm.

Marilyn Walker was a stay at home liberal activist. You know the type. She took their 9-year-old daughter, Naomi, to a small local demonstration denouncing U.S. bombing raids over Iraq. I wonder where John got his anti-American views?

In 1991 Frank accepted a job at his firm's San Francisco office and bought a multi-floor modern home in San Anselmo, Marin County, California. Marin County is arguably the most liberal county on earth.

Marin County is the hot-tub capital of the world. It is a place where self-discovery is the most important quest in life. Don't expect pickup trucks with Rush Limbaugh blaring from the radio. This is a place where graying lefties go to stroll down the sidewalks reading the Communist Manifesto sipping on a Cafe'Latte. We are not talking about peasant comrades here. Marin is one of the wealthiest counties in California.

If you have bucks, view yourself as a scholar and intellectual, and are looking for experimentation and openness to non-traditional lifestyes then Marin is the place for you.

To fully understand Marin County you must "experience it." And that is what Frank and his family did.

Frank changed jobs again taking a position as a staff attorney for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

After a semester at a local high school, John's parents transferred him to Tamiscal High, an alternative school with only 100 students and self-directed study. This is a school with no classes and no teaching.

Tamiscal High School, opened in 1991. The "education experience" as it is called at Tamiscal, included meeting with a "guide" once a week for a one-on-one meeting that lasted one hour. Instructors at Tamiscal do not lecture, teach, or instruct. They assess students self directed educational experiences. What teenager would not like going to this school?

The same liberals that brought us Tamiscal sit on most of our nation's public school boards. According to them schools are not for teaching. Therefore you can not blame the school when a student fails.

At 15, as part of his self directed Tamiscal educational John started reading "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," the story of an aimless petty criminal whose life is transformed by his conversion to Islam.

John started spending time in Internet chat rooms asking questions about Islam. He talked about peace-loving Islam, then showed striking intolerance for non-believers. He derided non-Muslims as kaffirs, infidels, and called Zionists "devils."

John decided he wanted to take on a Muslim name. His family and school now called him Sulayman al Faris. Sulayman walked around town, home, and school in a long ankle length white robe.

At 16, in 1997, John Walker dropped out of Tamiscal. He took a state proficiency exam to earn his high school diploma. He announced that he was changing his name and converting to Islam. John asked that the name on his diploma be changed to Sulayman Al-Lindh.

John frequently went to the Islamic Center of Mill Valley and announced a commitment to memorize every verse of the Koran and every tenet of Islamic law. He now sported a robe, sandals, full beard, and pretended to speak broken English with an Arabic accent.

John's parents thought his conversion to Islam was okay. However, they were busy with their own experimentation, so I imagined they barely noticed little Sulayman.

Frank and Marilyn separated in 1998. She moved into a nearby apartment. Marilyn, once an avid Catholic, explored Native American religions before becoming a practicing Buddhist. Frank rented a room from friend Bill Jones. The word "friend" has a well-known swishy connotation in the Bay Area, if you know what I mean.

Considering the views of Islam toward women this is amazing that Marilyn, a stanch liberal, thought this was okay. To me it sounds a bit hypocritical to say you are for woman's rights and support your sons conversion to Islam. Islam treats women like property, like the family beast of burden.

All Muslims believe heaven is a place where virgins are chained to couches just waiting to be of service. And it gets theologically deeper. According to the teaching of Islam the women magically turn back into virgins every 15 minutes. Gee, I wonder why so many young men are attracted to Islam? Muslim martyrs are told they get 70 virgins, chained to celestial couches.

Frank's reaction to John's conversion is just as puzzling. Frank said his son's new religious fervor reminded him of a "Catholic seminarian."

At 17, in the summer of 1998, John's parents backed his solo trip to the country of Yemen to study Arabic and the Koran. He bumbled his way through this first trip to the Middle East, unwittingly insulting other Muslims and repeatedly getting into trouble with authorities, say those who encountered him over there.

He objected to having women in his classes. Other foreign students mockingly nicknamed him "Yusuf Islam" because he was so clueless, "adopting all these ridiculous stereotypes."

Police caught Walker trying to go to restricted parts of the country. He had overstayed his visa and failed to get an exit visa.

John returned to the U.S. for eight months in 1999. But soon Walker was back in Yemen. He left Yemen for Bannu, a village in Pakistan's northwest, to attend a religious school. While in Pakistan John volunteered to join Islam's war against the West.

In an e-mail John told his father that the U.S. ship attacked by terrorists in Yemen should not have been docked in an Islamic country.

John trained in Pakistan to mount terrorist attacks against Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region. John had not been home in more than a year yet he wired home asking for money.

In April, of 2001, Walker went to terrorist school in bin Laden's Afghan camps. John chose to side with the enemy. He callously shrugged off the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans killed in the WTC and Pentagon terrorist attacks. He took up arms against U.S. soldiers. He was captured, wounded in a prison escape, and is now sitting in a U.S. jail.

John's Take

The facts show that John Walker committed acts of treason. If we are to preserve this nation and it's great freedoms for future generations we must not let traitors go unpunished.

Clearly Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker and their liberalism share some responsibility for their son's actions. Perhaps it would be justice if they shared his sentence.

Looking back at the horrific events of September 11 can be a very painful. I will certainly never forget that day. The images of innocent people dying and suffering from such brutal acts of Islamic terrorism are too painful to look at anymore.

But it is times like this that we need to keep perspective of what is going on, specifically why the United States and other civilized nations went into Afghanistan to flush out and capture terrorist rats like Osama bin Laden and John Philip Walker Lindh. When you peal away the false religious image these people are pure darkness and evil in human form.

But when Walker's trial starts you are going to be presented with "John Lindh," a clean-shaven preppie dressed to appear as a youthful and innocent all-American teenager.

All of this is important to remember. In the coming months the defense lawyers for John Walker are going to create a very different image of their client. Mark my words, you will not see "Sulayman al Faris" enter the courtroom. There will be no mention of the Muslim convert that joined the Taliban, met with bin Laden, trained in Laden's terrorist camps, and then fought against U.S. soldiers.

Don't be fooled. This is an open and shut case. Reports are now coming back from Afghanistan of the unspeakable brutality committed against the Afghani people during the foreign Taliban occupation. The Taliban joined the fight only after it was clear the Russians would be leaving. Then these Arab and Pakistani terrorists took over the country.

The Taliban's major prize was the Afghan Opium trade. The proceeds from selling 80% of the worlds opium would be used to finance terrorist attacks around the globe.

The majority of the Taliban leaders are Saudi Arabian nationals. They turned the country into one big terrorist training camp and imposed their own brand of Islam upon the Afghan nationals. People were tortured for things as frivolous as owning a kite, listening to music, or having a beard too short.

The Taliban also took away all rights for women. Women were refused education and jobs. Under the Taliban the majority of doctors, which were women, were forced to quit practicing. And because the Taliban refused to let a woman be seen by a male doctor this resulted in denying Afghan women access to healthcare.

The Taliban forced women to cover their bodies from head to toe when outside their homes. The idiocy of this is beyond belief. The "Burka" has no roots in Islam. The Burka was actually invented in India!

John Walker is a perfect example of the fruit of liberalism and Islam. He freely chose to join the enemy of the United States. He chose to experience the life of a Muslim terrorist. Let justice be done. Let John Walker now "experience" the consequences of his actions, a life sentence behind bars.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

By John Roberts, October 18, 2001

In the wake of the terrorist attacks Americans are being bombarded with propaganda and misinformation.

How many times have you heard someone say the atrocities of September 11 had nothing to do with Islam? That is like saying extermination camps in WWII had nothing to do Nazism.

Terrorist attacks are carried out by Islamic militants under the control of Islamic religious leaders with the sole purpose of using terror to further the cause of Islam. Not all Muslims are terrorists but most Muslims support the spread of Islam through every means possible, including terrorism. If this were not true then why is it the Arab countries have not taken up arms to defeat terrorism?

The truth is the recent terrorist attacks have everything to do with Islam and its teachings.

However, to deceive the American public we are being told that "tolerance is the greatest virtue," meaning we should have tolerance for Muslims and the Islamic movement within our own country.

This is an abuse of the term "tolerance." The Holy Bible does not teach tolerance of false religions and false prophets. And it is not wise to tolerate something that is trying to kill you.

Yes, it is a God given right for people to believe what they want. But when beliefs sanction and even direct terror and murder against your family and way of life you must take action.

It was tolerance of the Nazi movement and Adolf Hitler that led to WWII and the death of tens of millions.

We respect religious freedom in America. Does Islam respect Christians? Individuals that exercise religious freedom in an Islamic country will most likely be arrested and executed.

If you want to know about Islamic tolerance go talk to the people arrested in Saudi Arabia for reading a Holy Bible. Talk to the Christians in Afghanistan executed by the Taliban in a soccer stadium. Talk to the Christians sold into slavery in the Sudan. That is one of the key differences between America and Arab countries. We have religious freedom.

Islam is like a cancer that if tolerated and left unchecked will spread and eventually kill its host.

America is in denial. We are being attacked by a deadly parasite and our leaders refuse to take appropriate action to remedy the situation.

How should America react to the terrorist attacks? Well, look at it this way. What if you invite several foreigners into your house and you fed them, clothed them, educated them and treated them just like your own children. Then one day one of the guests murders your child right in front of your eyes. Then the killer says, "turn the other cheek," as he starts walking towards you with the knife still in his hand.

You realize the killer is a liar that uses words to disarm you and make his evil work easier. This was not an act of rage but a well-planned act of murder. The other guests refuse to come to your aid. Instead they say you brought this on yourself, and you need to understand the reason why their friend is killing your family.

It would be stupid to allow these guests to continue staying in your home, let alone continue inviting more of their friends over as well.

Muslim terrorists enter the U.S. legally by taking full advantage of our liberal university admission policies. Even today a Muslim terrorist can apply for admission to any U.S. school, and upon acceptance our Embassy in their Arab country will grant them a Visa without so much as a simple background check. Once in the country the terrorist drops out of school and goes into hiding.

This practice needs to be stopped. American Universities and their scholarships should be for Americans, not foreign terrorists. If it is not possible to keep out just the terrorists then all foreigners should be kept out of our schools. That is not prejudice if that is what it takes to keep us free of terrorists. That is good security.