Trailblazing refusal of public funds, record-breaking fundraising

That guy sure knows how to raise mountains of money.  Small donors, big votes.  Innovative and successful.  Now that's what I'm talkin' about.  T-minus 18 and counting. 

• Trailblazing refusal of public funds, record-breaking fundraising - Brilliant economic/campaign strategy. sm
  • Get used to broken promises - Kathy
    • Like the 2002 Bush $1.3 trillion tax cut for the wealthy - McC would continue that....sm
      • More like Clinton's broken promise to cut our taxes - me
        • Our country was not in debt with Clinton but it was sm - Christian without the hate
        • Perhaps you could enlighten us on the economic crisis suffered by - the middle class during Clinton years...sm
  • No, that's not where he's getting his money - believe what you want.......nm
    • Care to elaborate? - Careful now, watch your step. nm

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http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-endtimes22jun22,0,7902314.story?page=3&coll=la-home-headlines

'End Times' Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon

'End times' religious groups want apocalypse sooner than later, and they're relying on high tech -- and red heifers -- to hasten its arrival.

By Louis Sahagun, Times Staff Writer
June 22, 2006

For thousands of years, prophets have predicted the end of the world. Today, various religious groups, using the latest technology, are trying to hasten it.

Their endgame is to speed the promised arrival of a messiah.

For some Christians this means laying the groundwork for Armageddon.

With that goal in mind, mega-church pastors recently met in Inglewood to polish strategies for using global communications and aircraft to transport missionaries to fulfill the Great Commission: to make every person on Earth aware of Jesus' message. Doing so, they believe, will bring about the end, perhaps within two decades.

In Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has a far different vision. As mayor of Tehran in 2004, he spent millions on improvements to make the city more welcoming for the return of a Muslim messiah known as the Mahdi, according to a recent report by the American Foreign Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

To the majority of Shiites, the Mahdi was the last of the prophet Muhammad's true heirs, his 12 righteous descendants chosen by God to lead the faithful.

Ahmadinejad hopes to welcome the Mahdi to Tehran within two years.

Conversely, some Jewish groups in Jerusalem hope to clear the path for their own messiah by rebuilding a temple on a site now occupied by one of Islam's holiest shrines.

Artisans have re-created priestly robes of white linen, gem-studded breastplates, silver trumpets and solid-gold menorahs to be used in the Holy Temple —— along with two 6½½-ton marble cornerstones for the building's foundation.

Then there is Clyde Lott, a Mississippi revivalist preacher and cattle rancher. He is trying to raise a unique herd of red heifers to satisfy an obscure injunction in the Book of Numbers: the sacrifice of a blemish-free red heifer for purification rituals needed to pave the way for the messiah.

So far, only one of his cows has been verified by rabbis as worthy, meaning they failed to turn up even three white or black hairs on the animal's body.
Linking these efforts is a belief that modern technologies and global communications have made it possible to induce completion of God's plan within this generation.

Though there are myriad interpretations of how it will play out, the basic Christian apocalyptic countdown —— as described by the Book of Revelation in the New Testament —— is as follows:

Jews return to Israel after 2,000 years, the Holy Temple is rebuilt, billions of people perish during seven years of natural disasters and plagues, the antichrist arises and rules the world, the battle of Armageddon erupts in the vicinity of Israel, Jesus returns to defeat Satan's armies and preside over Judgment Day.

Generations of Christians have hoped for the Second Coming of Jesus, said UCLA historian Eugen Weber, author of the 1999 book Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults and Millennial Beliefs Through the Ages.

And it's always been an ultimately bloody hope, a slaughterhouse hope, he added with a sigh. What we have now in this global age is a vaster and bloodier-than-ever Wagnerian version. But, then, we are a very imaginative race.

Apocalyptic movements are nothing new; even Christopher Columbus hoped to assist in the Great Commission by evangelizing New World inhabitants.

Some religious scholars saw apocalyptic fever rise as the year 2000 approached, and they expected it to subside after the millennium arrived without a hitch.

It didn't. According to various polls, an estimated 40% of Americans believe that a sequence of events presaging the end times is already underway. Among the believers are pastors of some of the largest evangelical churches in America, who converged at Faith Central Bible Church in Inglewood in February to finalize plans to start 5 million new churches worldwide in 10 years.

Jesus Christ commissioned his disciples to go to the ends of the Earth and tell everyone how they could achieve eternal life, said James Davis, president of the Global Pastors Network's Billion Souls Initiative, one of an estimated 2,000 initiatives worldwide designed to boost the Christian population.

As we advance around the world, Davis said, we'll be shortening the time needed to fulfill that Great Commission. Then, the Bible says, the end will come.

An opposing vision, invoked by Ahmadinejad in an address before the United Nations last year, suggests that the Imam Mahdi, a 9th century figure, will soon emerge from a well to conquer the world and convert everyone to Islam.
O mighty Lord, he said, I pray to you to hasten the emergence of your last repository, the promised one, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace.

At the appropriate time, according to Shiite tradition, the Mahdi will reappear and, along with Jesus, lead Muslims in a struggle to rid the world of corruption and establish justice.

For Christians, the future of Israel is the key to any end-times scenario, and various groups are reaching out to Jews —— or proselytizing among them —— to advance the Second Coming.

A growing number of fundamentalist Christians in mostly Southern states are adopting Jewish religious practices to align themselves with prophecies saying that Gentiles will stand as one with Jews when the end is near.

Evangelist John C. Hagee of the 19,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio has helped 12,000 Russian Jews move to Israel, and donated several million dollars to Israeli hospitals and orphanages.

We are the generation that will probably see the rapture of the church, Hagee said, referring to a moment in advance of Jesus' return when the world's true believers will be airlifted into heaven.

In Christian theology, the first thing that happens when Christ returns to Earth is the judgment of nations, said Hagee, who wears a Jewish prayer shawl when he ministers. It will have one criterion: How did you treat the Jewish people? Anyone who understands that will want to be on the right side of that question. Those who are anti-Semitic will go to eternal damnation.

On July 18, Hagee plans to lead a contingent of high-profile evangelists to Washington to make their concerns about Israel's security known to congressional leaders. More than 1,200 evangelists are expected for the gathering.

Twenty-five years ago, I called a meeting of evangelists to discuss such an effort, and the conversation didn't last an hour, he said. This time, I called and they all came and stayed. And when the meeting was over, they all agreed to speak up for Israel.

Underlining the sense of urgency is a belief that the end-times clock started ticking May 15, 1948, when the United Nations formally recognized Israel.

I'll never forget that night, Hagee said. I was 8 years old at the time and in the kitchen with my father listening to the news about Israel's rebirth on the radio. He said, 'Son, this is the most important day in the 20th century.'

Hagee's message is carried on 160 television stations and 50 radio stations and can be seen in Africa, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and most Third World nations.

By contrast, Bill McCartney, a former University of Colorado football coach and co-founder of the evangelical Promise Keepers movement for men, which became huge in the 1990s, has had a devil of a time getting his own apocalyptic campaign off the ground.

It's called The Road to Jerusalem, and its mission is to convert Jews to Christianity —— while there is still time.

Our whole purpose is to hasten the end times, he said. The Bible says Jews will be brought to jealousy when they see Christians and Jewish believers together as one —— they'll want to be a part of that. That's going to signal Jesus' return.

Jews and others who don't accept Jesus, he added matter-of-factly, are toast.

McCartney, who only a decade ago sermonized to stadium-size crowds of Promise Keepers, said finding people to back his sputtering cause has been like plowing cement.

Given end-times scenarios saying that non-believers will die before Jesus returns —— and that the antichrist will rule from Jerusalem's rebuilt Holy Temple —— Jews have mixed feelings about the outpouring of support Israel has been getting from evangelical organizations.

I truly believe John Hagee is at once a daring, beautiful person —— and quite dangerous, said Orthodox Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, vice president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in New York.

I sincerely recognize him as a hero for bringing planeloads of people to Israel at a time when people there were getting blown up by the busloads, Hirschfield said. But he also believes that the only path to the father is through Jesus. That leaves me out.

Meanwhile, in what has become a spectacular annual routine, Jews —— hoping to rebuild the Holy Temple destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 —— attempt to haul the 6 1/2 -ton cornerstones by truck up to the Temple Mount, the site now occupied by the Dome of the Rock shrine. Each year, they are turned back by police.

Among those turned away is Gershon Solomon, spokesman for Jerusalem's Temple Institute. When the temple is built, he said, Islam is over.

I'm grateful for all the wonderful Christian angels wanting to help us, Solomon added, acknowledging the political support from Christians who are now Israel's best lobbyists in the United States.

However, when asked to comment on the fate of non-Christians upon the Second Coming of Jesus, he said, That's a very embarrassing question. What can I tell you? That's a very terrible Christian idea.

What kind of religion is it that expects another religion will be destroyed?

But are all of these efforts to hasten the end of the world a bit like, well, playing God?
Some Christians, such as Roman Catholics and some Protestant denominations, believe in the Second Coming but don't try to advance it. It's important to be ready for the Second Coming, they say, though its timetable cannot be manipulated.

Hirschfield said he prays every day for the coming of the Jewish messiah, but he too believes that God can't be hurried.

For me, he said, the messiah is like the mechanical bunny at a racetrack: It always stays a little ahead of the runners but keeps the pace toward a redeemed world.

Trouble is, there are many people who want to bring a messiah who looks just like them. For me, that kind of messianism is spiritual narcissism.

But some Christian leaders say they aren't playing God; they're just carrying out his will.

Ted Haggard, president of the National Assn. of Evangelicals, says the commitment to fulfilling the Great Commission has naturally intensified along with the technological advances God provided to carry out his plans.

Over in Mississippi, Lott believes that he is doing God's work, and that is why he wants to raise a few head of red heifers for Jewish high priests. Citing Scripture, Lott and others say a pure red heifer must be sacrificed and burned and its ashes used in purification rituals to allow Jews to rebuild the temple.

But Lott's plans have been sidetracked.

Facing a maze of red tape and testing involved in shipping animals overseas —— and rumors of threats from Arabs and Jews alike who say the cows would only bring more trouble to the Middle East —— he has given up on plans to fly planeloads of cows to Israel. For now.

In the meantime, some local ranchers have expressed an interest in raising their own red heifers for Israel, and fears of hoof-and-mouth disease and blue tongue forced Lott to relocate his only verified red heifer —— a female born in 1993 —— to Nebraska.

Cloning is out of the question, he said, because the technique is not approved by the rabbinical council of Israel. Artificial insemination has so far failed to produce another heifer certified by rabbis.

Something deep in my heart says God wants me to be a blessing to Israel, Lott said in a telephone interview. But it's complicated. We're just not ready to send any red heifers over there.

If not now, when?

If there's a sovereign God with his hand in the affairs of men, it'll happen, and it'll be a pivotal event, he said. That time is soon. Very soon.

Why would I ask a Jewish person if he or she were allowed to go to heaven according to someone's Christian beliefs?  Wouldn't that be silly?  And you're right.  It has nothing to do with whether Jews go to heaven.  But it has everything to do with whether you go to heaven or not, right?  Is your undying, unquestioning loyalty to Israel because you love Jews who will never be good enough to go to heaven according to your religion, or is because of the real estate the Jews inhabit in Israel?

You yourself wrote:  Then there is no Biblical alternative to supporting Israel and the Jewish people.

One more time:  DO JEWS GO TO HEAVEN?

If you again refuse to answer that, then my next question is where in the Bible does it say that said hypocrisy and disingenuousness are next to Godliness?

You also wrote:  If you are truly, then, a nonbeliever, it explains much of what I am seeing here.

And:  Are you all nonbelievers here?

How can you square that with your claim that you haven't judged anyone? 

McCain to appear before congress in a cape, Sp in Batgirl suit.  They will swing in on wires and proclaim they are here to save the day.  Not political, of course, just concern for the folks.

to bail out the car companies?  Initially he had refused to do that, but he has been lobbying heavily for Congress to pass the auto bailout.  Will be interesting to watch and see what he does.  Would you consider it waffling on his previous stance or just following "plan B?"

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98174992&ft=1&f=1001

Rick Davis story . . . by Michael Isakoff.  If your statement had a NUGGET of truth, it would be in the press, not just on the kookie people channel.

presidents because they supposedly represent we, the people. It's not just O that is being scrutinized. Past presidents were too, along with movie stars, sports figures, you name it. If you have a big name, are in the public eye, you will have your life spread all over the media.

While I am a supporter of Obama, I want to emphasize that I am not a coldhearted murderer, that I do not advocate watching babies die, that I do not go out and actively support abortions of any kind (early or late). 

I also do not feel that Obama is sitting there right now saying to himself, I wonder how many babies I can let die today.  I think that the relationship he has with God is worked out between him and God and if he has worked this issue out in his own mind and feels comfortable with his decision, then that is his personal decision.  I do not think that he is the be all and end all in the decision making process for the rest of us.  I think that he has just decided that it should be an individual choice for a woman to decide what to do with her own body...

I do not want to see abortions once again be illegal in the United States.  How many young, naive, and stupid girls (children mostly) died when they chose to have an illegal abortion rather than go to their families and admit that they had made mistakes and ask for help?  How many women died or were permanently mutilated and could never have children again because after they were raped and became pregnant, they could not face having that child, and they chose to have an illegal abortion?

I don't believe in abortion, I didn't choose to have an abortion when I got pregnant at 15, but I do believe that every woman should have the right to choose what she does with her own body - if she does not want to carry a child, then she should not be forced to by the government. 

Now, I think we can go on and on about this forever, and we will never agree, or we can remember that abortion will not be outlawed by any president that is elected, and go on to argue the issues that will be on the front burner for the next couple of years and decide who will serve us best there. 

1.  I'm not a Republican, but a conservative who votes for the candidate of either party I think will do the job properly.  This often is a Republican, but not always.

2.  I did not realize board space was rationed, or that any of us was taking more than our share.  Please explain these guidelines. 

3.  When you see a post under a moniker that usually upsets you, feel free to skip reading it.  That way you will not be offended.  And if you don't read it, you will not respond to it and maybe the thread will die out. 

4.  When something is broadcast that I feel will raise my blood pressure, I use one of those little on/off/channel thingies to eliminate the threat.  I don't holler that it has no business on the airwaves.  Try to think of this board in the same way.

5.  However, if you wish to debate an issue, bring it on.  That's my understanding of what this forum is for.

or associate Democrats with christianity.  It's actually down and has been consistently going down.  Of course, I know a lot of Christian Democrats.  None of them seem to post here, but I know many in my private life. They are far to the right, though, like Democrats use to be

I  have heard so much about our education system and I'm sure some of it is true.  However, I would like to relay a recent experience I had......

Living in a small community that is loaded with history, I and a couple of other "older" ladies hosted the local 4th and 5th grades on a field trip regarding the history of a couple of landmarks.......anyone interested can visit my website http://www.ozarkmountainmemories.com and read about them. 

I was to do the historical presentation on the Cane Hill College Building.  My good friend was to do the presentation on the Old Mill.  Before I knew that there were 212 students plus teachers and parents, I opened my big mouth and said I would make cookies and Kool-Aid for the kid's field trip.  I ended up having a lot of help there!!!

Both my friend and I were very apprehensive about this field trip.  Well, I want to tell you that those were the best behaved kids I have seen in a long time.  This field trip was to prepare them to write an essay for the Arkansas Historical Society.  They were attentive and, asked very pertinent and intelligent questions.

One of the teachers called me yesterday and said that she was going to bring me some of the essays the kids had written.  She read one to me and it started out with "You may think the Cane Hill College is just a 2-story brick building...." and the student proceeded to write what  I would consider a very excellent essay.  I will post some of these on my website when I have them in hand.

I might also say that there were a good many parents present for the field trip.  I came away from that field trip with a whole different perspective on the local school, which is reputed to be one of the worst school districts in the state with the highest teen pregnancy rate.  I think if these 4th and 5th graders continue through high school with teachers such as I met and parents who are involved in their education, each and every one of them will be just A-okay.