Christians: Let's unite in pandemic to fight injustices

ABC August 27, 2020

VATICAN CITY -- Two authoritative religious bodies on Thursday called on Christians to band together to fight “sins” laid bare or aggravated by the pandemic, including racism and economic injustice.

The Vatican and the World Council of Churches, which is based in Switzerland, issued a joint document noting that the COVID-19 outbreak has drawn attention to "the scandalous gap between the rich and the poor.” The document declared that Christians are compelled to work to heal inequalities, including between men and women.

Christians must “own up to our own complicity and guilt in many systems of oppression” and resist the “temptation” to blame the poor for their poverty, it said.

The inter-religious appeal encourages reflection during the pandemic about the “scourge of religious intolerance, discrimination, racism, economic and ecological injustice and many other sins.”

Preparing the document for the Vatican was the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue. The effort reflects Pope Francis' push for Christians to stress their common values in working to combat environmental degradation and to help those on life's margins, such as migrants.

The World Council of Churches brings together churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories, representing more than a half-billion Christians.

The document cites the New Testament parable of the Good Samaritan as inspiration to “overcome religious prejudice and cultural biases in relation both to those whom we serve, and to those with whom we serve, as we strive to alleviate suffering and to restore healing and wholeness in a pluralistic world.”

Citing the gap between rich and poor, the appeal said the pandemic has “exacerbated racial prejudices and led to increased violence against those who have for long been considered a threat to the dominant body politic that is structured and sustained” by systems of inequality, discrimination and domination. The document named no country, society or political system.

Now is the “time for discovering new forms of solidarity for rethinking the post-COVID-19 world,” the document said. Religions, it said, can contribute to reawakening and guiding humanity “in building a new social order at the local, regional, national and international levels.”

That vision can draw on “a heritage of moral values common to all human beings.” And, the document's authors contended, such a reawakening would benefit from young people, “whose idealism and energy can be an antidote to the temptation of cynicism, in the endeavor to heal the wounded world of which we are part.”

 

Fauci: ‘No doubt’ Trump will face surprise infectious disease outbreak

Archive January 11, 2017

Anthony S. Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said there is “no doubt” Donald J. Trump will be confronted with a surprise infectious disease outbreak during his presidency.

Fauci has led the NIAID for more than 3 decades, advising the past five United States presidents on global health threats from the early days of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s through to the current Zika virus outbreak.

During a forum on pandemic preparedness at Georgetown University, Fauci said the Trump administration will not only be challenged by ongoing global health threats such as influenza and HIV, but also a surprise disease outbreak.

“The history of the last 32 years that I have been the director of the NIAID will tell the next administration that there is no doubt they will be faced with the challenges their predecessors were faced with,” he said.

While observers have speculated since his election about how Trump will respond to such challenges, Fauci and other health experts said Tuesday that preventing disease pandemics often starts overseas and that a proper response means collaboration between not only the U.S. and other countries, but also the public and private health sectors.

“We will definitely get surprised in the next few years,” he said.

Anthony Fauci background: 

Fauci was born December 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York, to Stephen A. Fauci and Eugenia A. Fauci, owners of a pharmacy, where his father worked as the pharmacist, his mother and sister worked the register, and Fauci delivered prescriptions.^[2] The pharmacy was located in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn.

Fauci's paternal grandparents, Antonino Fauci and Calogera Guardino, were from Sciacca, Italy. His maternal grandmother, Raffaella Trematerra, from Naples, Italy, was a seamstress. His maternal grandfather, Giovanni Abys, was born in Switzerland and was an artist, noted for landscape and portrait painting, magazine illustrations (Italy) as well graphic design for commercial labels, including olive oil cans. His great-grandparents emigrated to the US in the late 19th century. Fauci grew up Catholic.^[2][3][4]

Fauci attended Regis High School in New York City where he graduated in 1958. He then enrolled at the College of the Holy Cross where he received a BS in classics in 1962. Fauci then went on to attend Cornell University Medical College where he graduated first in his class with an MD in 1966.^[2] He then completed an internship and residency at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center.^[5]

^{1) Regis High School: is a private Jesuit university-preparatory school for Roman Catholic young men located on Manhattan's Upper East Side.[4] Annual class enrollment is limited to approximately 135 male students from the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut tri-state area. The school is ranked as both the best Catholic high school in the United States and the best all-boys school in New York.}

2) College of the Holy Cross:  is a private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts. Founded in 1843, Holy Cross is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. Opened as a school for boys under the auspices of the Society of Jesus, it was the first Jesuit college in New England. Today, Holy Cross is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) and is part of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium (COWC).

Trump and Francis bulding the one world religion

NTEB  January 25, 2020

VP Mike Pence arrived at the Vatican for what was billed as a 'meet and greet', then stunned everyone by turning into a high-level, closed-door meeting on something so sensitive that neither party was willing to discuss it. And within mere hours of that bombshell, President Trump announced he was finally ready to reveal his 'Deal Of The Century' Middle East Peace Plan, and asked Benjamin Netanyahu to fly to Washington this coming Tuesday, for a meeting on that very subject. Do you see where all this is heading? Trump has the relationship with Israel, Pope Francis has the relationship with the Muslims, put the two together and....peace in the Middle East?

Suddenly, everything begins to makes sense. From one side, I have been watching Donald Trump over the past three and a half years, the man that God placed in power of the world’s strongest and most-prosperous nation, doing amazing things for the nation of Israel. The thing he wants most to do in Israel is his ‘Deal Of The Century‘ Middle East Peace Plan, headed up by his Jewish son in law, Jared Kushner.

“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:14-16 (KJB)

On the other side, I have been watching Pope Francis over the past 7 years, weaving and scheming to build the One World Religion of Chrislam. In 2019, things came to a head as Chrislam, otherwise known as the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative, was finally formalized. The peace covenant document known as ‘Human Fraternity For World Peace‘ was signed by Pope Francis and Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, and sealed by kissing each other on the mouth. Chrislam.

For quite awhile, I viewed both these paradigms as something happening separately from each other, until today. The thing that always nagged at me in the back of my mind was how to combine the two and keep all parties happy at the same time. It was seemingly impossible. Then last week, U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich, held a meeting at her office at the Vatican and declared to Pope Francis that the United States is “fully committed to working with you to advance our shared goals of mutual respect, religious freedom, and peaceful coexistence” in regards to the Abrahamic Faiths Initiative, otherwise known as Chrislam.

Do you see where all this is heading? Trump has the relationship with Israel, Pope Francis has the relationship with the Muslims, put the two together and….peace in the Middle East? Sure seems like it to me. The missing ingredient that no other political leader has had in the past 70 years is Chrislam. Rick Warren started it, handed the baton with full evangelical support to Pope Francis, the pope then signed a covenant with Islam, and the Trump administration has thrown in their full support in the same week as announcing they are finally ready with the Peace Plan. Across the board you have complete and total harmony, everyone gets something, everyone is happy.

'Never accept' separation of faith from political engagement

Catholic Herald 10 July, 2019

Christians are called to win the battle of ideas and values in secular society, Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput said on Tuesday.

In a speech delivered to the Alliance Defending Freedom Summit on Religious Liberty on July 9, the archbishop said authentic religious freedom is essential in shaping a society of love, “the animating spirit of all authentically Christian political action.”

“I mean love in the biblical sense: love with a heart of courage, love determined to build justice in society and focused on the true good of the whole human person, body and soul.”

Chaput told the audience of lawyers from around the world that Christians must work to build an authentic vision of society built around the common good, and that “human progress means more than getting more stuff, more entitlements, and more personal license.”

“Real human progress satisfies the human hunger for solidarity and communion,” Chaput said. 

“When our leaders and their slogans tell us to move ‘forward into the future,’ we need to take a very hard look at the road we’re on, where ‘forward’ leads, and whether it ennobles the human soul or just aggravates our selfishness, our isolation, and our appetite for things.”

True religious freedom is crucial to serving real human progress, the archbishop said, drawing a distinction between it and “the half-starved copy of the real thing called ‘freedom of worship.’”

“We can never accept a separation of our religious faith and moral convictions from our public ministries or our political engagement. It’s impossible. And even trying to do so is evil because it forces us to live two different lives, worshiping God at home and in our churches; and worshiping the latest version of Caesar everywhere else.”

The pontiff calls for Christian Unity

Asian News  09/28/2018

Vatican City  – Pope Francis spoke Friday to participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, whose theme was “Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Evangelicals: Impact on the Concept of Unity”. In his address, the pontiff called for overcoming mistrust and prejudices that exist between the Catholic Church and other Christian movements.

For him, “The constant growth of these new expressions of Christian life is a very significant phenomenon, which cannot be overlooked. [. . .] First of all, we have the duty to discern and recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit in these communities, trying to construct bonds of authentic fraternity with them. This will be possible by multiplying the opportunities for meeting and overcoming mutual distrust, motivated many times by ignorance or lack of understanding. And I would like to offer you a personal experience and declare a mea culpa. When I was provincial [superior], I had forbidden Jesuits to enter into relationships with these people - with the Catholic Renewal - and I said that more than a prayer meeting it seemed like a “samba school”! Then I apologized, and as a bishop I had a good relationship with them, with Mass in the cathedral ... But it takes a journey to understand.

Pope Francis calls for Christian unity

America Magazine June 21, 2018
“The Lord asks us for unity; our world, torn apart by all too many divisions that affect the most vulnerable, begs for unity,” Pope Francis told top representatives of the World Council of Churches during a prayer service at its headquarters in Geneva soon after his arrival on June 21.

This push for unity was the leitmotif of his visit for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the largest ecumenical movement in the world that today represents 348 churches and 560 million Christians from 110 countries. The Catholic Church works with the council in several ways, though not yet as a full member.

On the plane from Rome to Geneva, Francis told reporters that this “was a journey to unity” and “a desire for unity.” On arrival in this country of eight million people, Francis was given a particularly warm welcome by the president of the Swiss Federation and those gathered for a prayer service with which he began his visit.

People of all faiths are unified globally to beat climate change

Two years after Pope Francis launched Laudato Si, the Vatican's plea to save the Earth, Trump rejected its tenets and the Paris Agreement. But people of all faiths are unified globally to beat climate change.

On May 24th, a grim-faced Pope Francis handed a signed copy of Laudato Si to President Donald Trump during his visit to Rome. The United States president, who has called climate change "a hoax," promised to read the papal encyclical, a spiritual and secular plea to save the Earth from environmental destruction.

A week later, Trump announced plans to yank the U.S. out of the 2015 Paris Agreement, whose prologue was influenced by the principles embodied in Laudato Si. In doing so, Trump repudiated 195 nations' pledges to reduce their carbon footprint to mitigate the worst effects of climate change; he repudiated Pope Francis and his encyclical as well.         More

Pope urges leaders to return to roots

Gerard O'Connell March 24, 2017

“What hope is there for the Europe of today and tomorrow?” Pope Francis asked when he addressed the leaders of 27 European Union countries this evening in the Sala Regia (Royal Hall) of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, March 25, 1957, that created the European Economic Community, the forerunner of today’s European Union.

He said the answer to that question is to be found in “the pillars” with which the union’s founding fathers—the leaders of Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Luxembourg—had laid 60 years ago, namely: “the centrality of man, concrete solidarity, openness to the world, the pursuit of peace and development, openness to the future.”   

Francis believes in the E.U., and sees its importance not only for the peoples of this continent but also for peace and development in the world, but he is convinced it must be reformed. He made this clear today, and advocated that on the path to reform E.U.’s leaders should revisit the origins of the union in 1957 when its founding fathers signed the Treaty “after the dark years and bloodshed of the Second World War” because they “had faith in the possibility of a better future.”

He recalled that from the outset, the founding fathers understood that the Treaty would remain a dead letter unless they had “spirit and life” and so they agreed that “the first element of European vitality must be solidarity.” Francis emphasized that this spirit of solidarity “remains as necessary as ever today, in the face of centrifugal impulses and the temptation to reduce the founding ideals of the Union to productive, economic and financial needs.”

American Magazine

 

Pope Francis says spreading fake news is a sin

By Reuters December 7, 201

Media that focus on scandals and spread fake news to smear politicians risk becoming like people who have a morbid fascination with excrement, Pope Francis said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Francis told the Belgian Catholic weekly Tertio that spreading disinformation was “probably the greatest damage that the media can do” and using communications for this rather than to educate the public amounted to a sin.

Using precise psychological terms, he said scandal-mongering media risked falling prey to coprophilia, or arousal from excrement, and consumers of these media risked coprophagia, or eating excrement.

The Argentine-born pontiff excused himself for using such terms in order to get his point across while answering a question about the correct use of the media.

“I think the media have to be very clear, very transparent, and not fall into — no offense intended — the sickness of coprophilia, that is, always wanting to cover scandals, covering nasty things, even if they are true,” he said.

“And since people have a tendency towards the sickness of coprophagia, a lot of damage can be done.”

That section of the interview, all of which was distributed to reporters in an Italian translation of the interview in the pope’s native Spanish, contained some of the most blunt language the pontiff has ever used about the media.

He also spoke of the danger of using the media to slander political rivals.

“The means of communication have their own temptations, they can be tempted by slander, and therefore used to slander people, to smear them, this above all in the world of politics,” he said. “They can be used as means of defamation…”

“No one has a right to do this. It is a sin and it is hurtful,” he said.

He described disinformation as the greatest harm the media can do because “it directs opinion in only one direction and omits the other part of the truth,” he said.

The pope’s comments on disinformation followed widespread debate in the United States over whether fake news on the internet might have swayed voters toward Republican candidate Donald Trump.     NY Post

Fidel Castro was deeply influenced by Catholic teaching

By JEROME SOCOLOVSKY  Nov 28 2016 03:54 pm 

Fidel Castro, the Marxist revolutionary who ruled the Western Hemisphere's only communist state, acknowledged later in life that he was deeply influenced by Catholic teaching and welcomed a succession of popes to Cuba.

Despite carrying out repressive measures against the church in the wake of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, and then being excommunicated, Castro, who died Friday, saw himself as leading a struggle with some of the same noble aims as those of Christianity — including humility and concern for the poor.
"I believe Karl Marx could have subscribed to the Sermon on the Mount," he said in a long interview with a Brazilian priest published decades ago. But he added that the historic Catholic Church had been used "as a tool for domination, exploitation and oppression for centuries.

The following is a timeline of key religious events in Castro's life:
Aug. 13, 1926 • Fidel Castro is born into a moderately affluent family of sugar cane plantation owners and baptized as a Roman Catholic. His father, Angel Castro, was a self-made immigrant from Spain who had married his maid, Lina Ruz, with whom he had seven children.
Fidel Castro attends Catholic elementary school and graduates from Belen, a Mass-every-morning prep school in Havana run by Jesuit priests.
Castro would say later that the faith offered at Belen was "very dogmatic" and describe himself as having been a restless student. Nonetheless, he said, Jesuits "influenced me with their strict organization, their discipline and their values. … They influenced my sense of justice."
1959 • Castro takes power by leading a Marxist revolution. He bans religious celebrations, closes down more than 400 Catholic schools, including Belen, seizes church properties, and jails and expels Catholic priests.
1962 • The Vatican, which had excommunicated all Catholics involved with communist groups in its 1949 Decree Against Communism, adds Fidel Castro to the list of those ejected from the church.
1976 • A decade and a half after the revolution, Cuba adopts a constitution which declares the country to be an atheist state.
1991 • Castro has the constitution amended to redefine Cuba as a secular state. The Communist Party allows religious believers to become members.
1985 • Castro meets a delegation of visiting U.S. bishops and praises Christian values such as sacrifice, austerity and humility.
"I told them that if they organized a state in accord with Christian precepts, they'd create one similar to ours," he would later tell the Brazilian Dominican friar Frei Betto.
1996 • Fidel Castro visits the Vatican. During a 35-minute meeting, the Cuban leader tells St. John Paul II: "Your Holiness, I expect to see you soon in Cuba."
1998 • St. John Paul II visits Havana and meets Castro, who wore a dark suit instead of his standard military uniform. The pope talks about human rights and blasts the lack of basic freedoms in Cuba. Christmas is reinstated as a national holiday.
2012 • Pope Benedict XVI visits Havana and meets Fidel, who had relinquished power to his brother Raul, after celebrating Mass on Revolution Square. Benedict requests that Good Friday also be recognized as an official holiday.
2015 • Castro meets with Pope Francis, who is visiting Cuba on his way to the United States. The retired Cuban leader gives the pontiff a copy of "Fidel and Religion" — a 353-page book based on 23 hours of interviews between him and Betto.
Nov. 25, 2016 • Castro's death is announced on state television by brother Raul. Pope Francis calls the death "sad news."            The Salt Lake Tribune

Leaders of the world’s main religions praying for peace and to renew their commitment to work together for peace.

September 26, 2016 IssueGerard O'Connell

At the height of the Cold War, on Oct. 27, 1986, Pope John Paul II invited the leaders of the world’s main religions to Assisi for “a day of prayer and fasting for peace.” Thirty years later, there is an even greater need to pray for peace because, as Pope Francis says, “a third world war is being fought piecemeal,” and blind violence and hatred are spreading across the globe.

It is therefore significant that leaders of the different religions have agreed to come together again in Assisi on Sept. 20 to pray for peace and to renew their commitment to work together for peace. They do so as bitter conflicts are being fought not only in countries that hit the headlines, like Syria and Libya, but also in others that get little media attention, like Yemen and Sudan; these conflicts are causing a refugee crisis of a dimension not seen since World War II, involving some 60 million people.

Convened under the banner “Thirst for Peace: Religions and Cultures in Dialogue,” this three-day event (Sept. 18 to 20) is organized by the Sant’Egidio Community, together with the Franciscan Families and the Diocese of Assisi. It brings together leading representatives from Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism and traditional religions. They will participate in roundtable discussions regarding peace on the first two days, and on the third they will pray for it.

Pope Francis will come for that final day and join Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby; the Syro-Orthodox patriarch of Antioch, Efrem II; the Israeli chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, Meir Lau; and the head of Japan’s Tendai Buddhism. There will also be a strong Muslim representation from 17 Islamic states, including Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb, the Grand Iman of Al-Azhar, the most authoritative Sunni Muslim center in the world.

On that day, Christians will pray at the tomb of St. Francis, while members of other religions will pray at other sites across the town. In the afternoon, they will come together in a powerful witness to the world of their joint commitment to peace.

As in Assisi in 1986, this event will highlight the vital contributions all religions are called upon to make for the promotion, building and safeguarding of peace. Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, former president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, highlighted this call in his book Religions for Peace (Doubleday), published soon after the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center, by drawing attention to the fact that all religions “with admirable unanimity, teach the Golden Rule: Love your neighbor as yourself.” “This,” he underlined, “is a key foundation for peace.”

Introducing that book, the French cardinal Paul Poupard affirmed that “each of us is either a peace maker or a peace breaker.” But, he added, “fanatics and fundamentalists have no doubt given religion a bad name. Politicians, having their own hidden agendas, at times exploit religion to fan the flames of intolerance and hatred. Such unwholesome propaganda can only boomerang, causing a spiraling effect of violence.”

His words have found strong verification since then not only in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Nigeria, Ethiopia and South Sudan but also in European countries and even the United States, where Islamophobia is being stoked and exploited by politicians in an anti-immigrant key.

The origin of much of the violence, though not all of it, in recent years can be traced back to March 19, 2003, when, rejecting appeals from people across the globe, including John Paul II, President George W. Bush, supported by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, launched the war on Iraq. Immediately after handing over the pope’s appeal to the president on March 5, 2003, Cardinal Pio Laghi, speaking to the press in the name of the Holy See, warned that such a war would bring “grave consequences,” including “the suffering of the people of Iraq and those involved in the military operation, a further instability in the region and a new gulf between Islam and Christianity.” Prophetic words! The world is still reaping the bitter fruits of that war.

Pope Francis is well aware of all this, and by coming to Assisi he is affirming yet again the urgent need for all religions to work together for peace through dialogue and to reject the use of God’s name to justify violence.                        America Magazine

On Saturday, California Governor Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1461which could result in illegal aliens voting.

by William Bigelow12 Oct 2015

Any person who renewed or secured a driver’s license through the DMV may now register to vote, or choose to opt out of doing so. Because illegal immigrants are now eligible for obtaining driver’s licenses, they could be allowed to vote in elections if the Secretary of State’s office fails to verify their eligibility properly.

Brown and the California Democratic party know exactly what they are doing; as a Public Policy Institute survey showed, among unregistered adults, 49% lean toward the Democratic Party and 22% toward the Republican Party. Any bill permitting illegal immigrants to vote would cement the Democratic Party’s hold on California.

True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht stated, “This bill is terrible. It makes an already bad situation much, much worse,” adding that California’s registration databases “lack the necessary safeguards to keep noncitizens off the voter rolls.”

Election Integrity Project of California President Linda Paine echoed that AB 1461 “will effectively change the form of governance in California from a Republic whose elected officials are determined by United States citizens and will guarantee that noncitizens will participate in all California elections going forward.” The Election Integrity Project of California had joined True the Vote to demand that brown veto the bill, calling it a path to “‘state sanctioned’ voter fraud.”

Although noncitizens’ driver’s licenses in California feature the phrases “Federal Limits Apply” and “not valid for official federal purposes,” True the Vote spokesman Logan Churchwell pointed out that state officials “specifically chose not to make noncitizen license holders searchable in their DMV database.”

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla countered that the increase in voters will benefit the state, arguing, “The New Motor Voter Act will make our democracy stronger by removing a key barrier to voting for millions of California citizens. Citizens should not be required to opt in to their fundamental right to vote. We do not have to opt in to other rights, such as free speech or due process.”

California follows Oregon, where Democratic Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill in March allowing the automatic registration of all eligible Oregonians to vote when they obtain or renew a driver’s license or state identification card.

But Stephen Frank of California Political Review bluntly asserted that the bill will reduce voter turnout because voters will sniff fraud in the polls: “AB 1461 assures corruption of our elections–our elections will look like those of Mexico and other corrupt nations–and honest people will stop voting since illegal aliens will out vote them.”     Beitbart

The Pope's Wall And Immigration

ChristmasIsALie.com

 

Published on Feb 20, 2016

The Pope made news recently when he claimed someone interested in a security wall, could not be a Christian, apparently forgetting that the Pope in the 9th Century did precisely that, and his wall was even expanded and fortified in the 12th century. Catholic "Spin doctors" have hit the internet declaring the comparison invalid (because anyone can "buy tickets" to get in). The comparison was much more valid than anyone on TV would ever dare admit in public, not because of the Vatican's wall, but because of what goes on inside them. Anyone who would like to use the Pope as political leverage to get a vote, should have to be confronted with and face, what goes on inside those Vatican walls.(That is a threat to American sovereignty)

The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies

The Fall of Babylon the Great

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

² And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

³ For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

⁴ And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

⁵ For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

⁶ Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

⁷ How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

⁸ Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

⁹ And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,

¹⁰ Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

¹¹ And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

¹² The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

¹³ And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

¹⁴ And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

¹⁵ The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

¹⁶ And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

¹⁷ For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

¹⁸ And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!

¹⁹ And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

²⁰ Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

²¹ And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

²² And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;

²³ And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Revelation 18 

Paris attacks: where is all this global madness leading to?

EvenAtTheDoors

 

Published on Nov 23, 2015

A lot has been said about the terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015, but what where is all this global madness leading to.