The Divine “Connection” – Part 1
By Elder Lawrence Nelson
The Divine “Connection” – Part 1
Dear Friends,
This month we have a special treat. Our speaker is Elder Lawrence Nelson, the founder of Keep The Faith Ministry. I hope you enjoy this message. It is part one of a two part series that I think will help you in your preparation for the end times. Elder Nelson prepared this sermon shortly after his wife Dean passed to her rest last year. May God bless you as you listen.
Recently, I discovered a word used by Ellen White, under Inspiration, which I had never particularly noticed before. Immediately, I was captivated! This simple word has opened to me a deeper knowledge of the plan of salvation.
I was reading from Vol. 7, BC, p. 929 in which she states, “God created Adam connected with the Father and the Son.” What does the word connected imply?
Needless to say, we all have a somewhat knowledge of this word’s meaning, even our children do. Everyday we actually involve our thoughts and actions in connecting things. We turn the switch to connect the light bulb with the electricity, or we connect the toaster to toast our bread. We connect the washing machine to clean our clothes. We turn the key in our car to connect the battery so that our automobile will have power to operate.
But let us pause here as you join with me in prayer for heavenly guidance that God may spiritually feed us in this message.
Our loving Father, in the precious name of Jesus, we ask for a clear understanding of what actually took place as we read from Thy servant, “God created Adam connected with the Father and the Son.” We need to know, so we too, may have such a connection with Jesus today. Amen.
Let us begin our study with what took place during creation week. On the sixth day of creation God formed a body for man out of the dust of the ground. This body contained an extremely complicated brain when completed. Then God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life. As this life from God entered his body, Adam immediately began to function physically. His brain began to function as his mind. Thus God created man “after His own image.”
God also created a helpmate for Adam, by taking one of Adam’s ribs, from which He created woman. Thus, Eve became Adam’s loving companion. Keep in mind, that both Adam and Eve’s bodies were perfect and their minds were also perfect.
It’s no wonder that David stated in Ps. 139:14, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”
But wonder of wonders! At creation, God also gave Adam and Eve a still greater gift than their perfect bodies. God actually planted in their minds His indwelling presence which Inspiration declares in Vol. 7, BC, p.926, “God created him (Adam) “connected” with the Father and the Son.” And it was God’s plan to give this greater gift to all created beings. “From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator.” DA, p. 161.
This special gift of a connection made it possible for God to share with man His life and nature. Vol. 1, BC, p. 1082, “He made Adam a partaker of His life, — His nature.” How did God do this? GC, p. 467, “In the beginning, man was created in the image of God. He was in perfect harmony with the nature and the law of God; the principles of righteousness were written upon his heart.” Thus the law of God was written in the mind. It was to govern the life. Signs of the Times, April 22, 1886, “When Adam and Eve were created, and placed in their Eden home, they had knowledge of the law that was to govern them. Its precepts were imprinted on their hearts by Jehovah Himself; and they were acquainted with its claims upon them.”
But the connection could be broken for man needed a daily connection with God in order to keep His law. Review & Herald, February 11, 1902, “They were to live in close communion with Heaven, receiving power from the source of all power. Upheld by God, they were to live sinless lives.”
Did you notice how a sinless life is obtained? By communion with God. Adam and Eve help open communion, face to face, with God. But they broke this connection by sinning. So today we can commune with God only by prayer and meditation upon His Word since we have sinned.
Now this brings us to another special gift that God gave man. He gave Adam and Eve the gift of choice. Mankind could choose to remain connected with God or he could choose to break the connection and separate himself from God’s indwelling presence and power.
In the Bible, the indwelling presence of righteousness is likened to a garment or a robe. Let me illustrate. As long as a person is clothed, he and his garment are “one.” However, if he removes his clothing he becomes naked. This illustrates that the indwelling presence of God is not a permanent part of a person. By the power of choice, the connection can be severed and thus God’s presence is removed.
Consider Lucifer when he was in heaven. He exercised his power of choice negatively, thus separating himself from God by sinning. The result – his brilliant mind became evil. He was able to deceive one-third of the angels and God cast him and his rebellious angels out of heaven.
But sorry to say, Satan and his evil angels were cast down to Adam and Eve’s world. Would Adam and Eve choose to retain their connection with God, or would they choose to be joined with Satan? God had clearly warned them of this problem in SP Vol. 1, p. 32. We read that God warned them the second time, “by sending two angels” to inform Adam and Eve that rebellious Satan was getting ready to deceive them. Oh how God loved them! And in Gen. 2:16, 17, we read, “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
Here the sad story beings. One day, Eve strayed near the forbidden tree. Satan used a beautiful glittering serpent to tempt her. After listening to Satan’s presentation of exaltation, she chose to believe the Devil. Gen 3:6 states, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”
Suddenly, changes appeared outside their bodies for Vol. 1, BC, p. 1084 says, “When they sinned against God, the light of the garments of the heavenly innocence departed from them.” Adam and Eve knew they were naked. Now they faced two problems. It was the time for their usual visit with God. But being naked and ashamed they made aprons of fig leaves to hide their nakedness. We read of this in Gen. 3:9-11, “And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?”
A loving God did not leave them hopeless, for Jesus told them in Gen. 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This prophecy revealed that there was to be a war between the woman, the church of God, and those who had accepted Satan as their ruler. And there was no doubt as to the outcome. The church of god was to suffer Satan’s attacks as described by a bruise in the heel, but Satan would be destroyed by a blow to the head, bringing Satan to his final end.
God told them that even before the world was created, the Father and the Son had pledged together, that if a man should sin, a remedy would be provided. Praise the Lord! There was a way out.
Let us see how this prophecy personally affects you and me, and how the plan of salvation can reconnect us with God forever. In P&P p. 59, we read, “Contrary to His command, they had eaten of the forbidden tree, and now they would continue to eat of it – they would have the knowledge of evil – all the days of their life. From that time the race would be afflicted by Satan’s temptations. Instead of the happy labor heretofore appointed them, anxiety and toil were to be their lot. They would be subject to discouragement, grief, and pain, and finally to death.”
By sin man had severed the connection with God. No longer were they filled with the indwelling presence of their creator. Isaiah states it plainly, “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you.” Isaiah 59:2. D.A. p. 203 tells us, “By sin we have been severed from the life of God.” In other words our connection with God has been broken.
What a sad picture! A further description is found in Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893, “When man sinned, all heaven was filled with sorrow; but for through yielding to temptation, man became the enemy of God, a partaker of the satanic nature. The image of God in which he had been created was marred and distorted. The character of man was out of harmony with the character of God; for through sin man became carnal, and the carnal heart is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
Thus man by severing his connection with God became the enemy of God. No longer was he a partaker of God’s nature. The connection was broken. Man became a partaker of Satanic nature. Could anything be more horrible? But praise the Lord!
God’s love provided the way out. John 3:16, 17, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Our precious Jesus was to reconnect man to His Divine power. In order to accomplish such a connection, Christ had to come down to this sinful world to take upon Himself our humanity. This was necessary from Him to show the way out. The Review & Herald, December 15, 1896 describes what Jesus did. “Clothing His divinity with humanity, that He might associate with fallen humanity, he sought to regain for man that which, by disobedience, Adam had lost for himself and for the world.”
Please note that inspiration again used “clothing” to illustrate. For it states He clothed His Divinity with humanity. The word “clothed” helps us to understand Christ’s two natures. As a man clothes his body, so Christ clothed His Divinity with our humanity. The following quote found in Vol. 3, S.M. p. 131 helps us to understand how this took place. “The Godhead was not made human, and the human was not deified by the blending together of the two natures.” This made it possible that Christ’s humanity could work independently of the Godhead. Why? Listen carefully. Vol. 7, B.C. p. 929, “The Lord Jesus came to our world, not to reveal what god could do, but what a man could do, through faith in God’s power.”
Christ was not altogether human. He was also god! Inspiration states it plainly. Vol. 5, B.C. p. 1129, “Christ was not altogether human such as one as ourselves.” Because he had two natures. Did you notice the words “blended with Divinity?” Truly Christ was God and man.
Now a question. Was the human nature of Christ like our human nature? Vol. 3, S.M. p. 128, 129, “Laying aside His royal crown, He condescended to step down, step by step, to the level of fallen humanity… His human nature was created: it did not even possess the angelic powers. It was human, identical with our own.” Nothing could be stated more clearly. Christ’s humanity was identical with our humanity.
Paul in the Scripture teaches the same. Romans 1:3, “Jesus Christ our Lord… was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Again we read in Romans 8:3. For “God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
So, we conclude from the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, that Christ clothed His divinity with fallen humanity. For Paul states He took “sinful flesh” and Ellen White agrees, “He took upon himself sinful nature.” In D.A. p. 49, Ellen White describes what this sinful nature is, “Like every child of Adam, He accepted the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these results were is shown in the history of his earthly ancestors.” Oh, what a sinful nature! His ancestors revealed in history the committing of every sin that has even taken place in this old world. In D.A. p. 117, we read, “For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity. Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his degradation.” So now we can see that if Christ had not taken our sinful heredity, He could not have been our example.
But praise God! In spite of 4,000 years of sinful humanity we read in Review & Herald, December 15, 1896, “In Him was no guile or sinfulness; He was ever pure and undefiled; yet he took upon himself our sinful nature.”
Paul states in Hebrews 4:15, “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Inspiration states it plainly, D.A. p. 117, “Many claim that it was impossible for Christ to be overcome by temptation. Then, He could not have been placed inn Adam’s position; He could not have gained the victory that Adam failed to gain. If we have in any sense a more trying conflict than had Christ, then He would not be able to succor us. But our Savior took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear which he has not endured.”
Now what we really need to know is how did Christ live differently than other men? Unless we know this, how can we follow His example? Praise God! Inspiration gives us this knowledge. Listen carefully, Vol. 7, B.C. p. 926, “Christ came to the earth, taking humanity and standing as man’s representative to show in the controversy with Satan that man as God created him, connected with the Father and the son, could obey every divine requirement.” Again in Signs of the Times, December 15, 1896 we read, “Christ left his heavenly home, and came to this world, to show that only by being ‘connected with divinity’ can man keep the law of God.”
So, we have found the answer. Christ came to earth connected with God His Father. Christ’s mind had the same connection with Divinity as Adam and Eve had at creation. God implanted this gift in Christ’s mind at His birth. This was foretold in prophecy. Psalms 40:7, 8, speaking of Christ, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
Inspiration explains how this took place in Christ’s life. Signs of the Times, October 20, 1894, “He began life, passed through its experiences, and ended its record, with a sanctified human will. He was tempted in all points like as we are, and yet because he kept His will surrendered and sanctified, he never bent in the slightest degree toward the doing of evil, or toward manifesting rebellion against God.” Praise God! A human Christ has shown us the way out. Christ demonstrated that Adam and Eve need not to have sinned. He also proved that sinful man with thousands of years of sinful heredity when connected with God need not sin.
This precious gift of a connection with God His Father, was given to Christ at His birth, and it can be given to each one of us if we will meet God’s requirements. Oh, how we should be constantly filled with praise for providing such salvation.
Let us now bow our heads as we pray together in gratitude. Loving Father, we praise Thee for giving Thy precious Son to die for us, providing a way in which we can be connected with the Divine power of Jesus. As we have listened to Thy Inspired words, our hearts have been filled by Thy Holy Spirit in contemplating such marvelous grace. Help our sinful self to be fully obedient to Thy requirements that we may be connected with our Savior. This we ask in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
In part II of this study of “The Divine Connection”, we will discover the steps we must take so that Christ can connect us with His Divine power.
Music
We hope you have received a great blessing from this month’s message. As you can see Elder Nelson still has a solid message to bear. I hope you have enjoyed the message you heard from him this month. We will send you part two in March. Your prayers and gifts mean much to us. Thank you for your support.
The following is a current events update of interest to those who love the appearing of Jesus Christ and are watching the fulfilling prophecies. We can see the signs of the times telling us that we are nearing the world’s great crisis. May the Lord find us faithful.
Our first item this month: The United States Doesn’t Want Terrorism Suspects to Talk About their Experience in Detention.
The Washington Post reported on November 6, 2006 that the government “has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the “alternative interrogation methods” that their captors used to get them to talk.
“The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nations’ most sensitive national security secrets and that their release – even to the detainees’ own attorneys – “could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage…”
“The government,” said the Post, in trying to block lawyers’ access to the 14 detainees (who were transferred to Guantanamo Bay from secret prisons in September of last year), effectively asserts that detainees’ experiences are a secret that should never shared with the public.”
Of course the government claims that this must be kept secret because then terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques. If they are kept secret, how will the public know if the government has treated them according to the Geneva Conventions or to its own new interrogation laws that have at least some limits on harsh treatment? Accountability is nonexistent in a secretive environment because there is no way to check. Americans are simply being told that they have to trust that the government is not crossing the line on torture and inhuman treatment. The facts are that the government has used these techniques already, and in violation of the Geneva Conventions. It is important though, for God’s people to understand that during the Inquisition, its proceedings were kept so secret that not even families could know what was happening to their loved ones.
Similarly, one of the key issues surrounding the government’s motion in court centers around a Pakistani man named Majid Khan who was detained in March of 2003 and held in one of the CIA’s “black” sites (which means a secret prison) until he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September. Not even his family knew where he was for three and a half years. This striking similarity to the way in which the Inquisition was operated may be God’s way of helping us glimpse what is coming in the future for those who are faithful to Christ and live according to all the Ten Commandments.
“In a separate court document… Khaled Al-Masri, a released detainee… said he was held with Kahn in a dingy CIA prison called “the salt pit” in Afghanistan. There, prisoners slept on the floor, wore diapers and were given tainted water that made them vomit.” Do you think that is how some of God’s people may be treated during the final crisis? When the whole world is reigned up against a few people whom they blame for the enormous calamities that have befallen humanity, will they respect their dignity, or will they treat them in the most inhumane and cruel way? My guess is that they will not respect human dignity. In spite of our world becoming more sophisticated, and technologically advanced, we are at the same time becoming more barbaric.
“Gitanjali Gutierrez, an attorney for Khan’s family, said in a court document that “the executive (that is: President Bush) is attempting to misuse its classification authority… to conceal illegal or embarrassing executive conduct.”
Whether that is true or not, it is apparent to those that have been following the progress of the current legal struggle over the Constitution and torture, that it is very easy for governments to manipulate standard and historical legal definitions and create a strikingly similar environment to the dark ages.
The time will likely come, when the enemy is a new kind of “terrorist,” one that has a loyalty to their God, and will not break His law. But for them to become the target and to be severely repressed, new laws have to be established similar to the Inquisition. The terrorists are providing the perfect reason for creating those laws. It would be impossible for God’s people to be treated in the way these terrorists are being treated without a change in the way America interprets its own laws and indeed its own constitution. We are in the buildup to the final conflict.
The new U.S. law authorizing military commissions to try terrorists has been signed into law by President Bush. This law congressionally approves all but the most brutal forms of coercion during interrogations. But worse, I actually removes the right of Habeas Corpus, which means that a detainee cannot even challenge his detention in court. In the new secrecy environment, the detainee cannot get information about the charges or evidence against him. Not even his lawyer can have access to that information. And now the government wants to prevent the detainee from discussing his treatment while in detention even with his attorney, should he be permitted to have one. This amazing development parallels the Inquisition in almost every detail. While the focus is primarily on foreigners at the moment, the new law does not limit its provisions to foreigners, but can be applied to American citizens as well. All this is now with the approval of the U.S. Congress.
Next: The United States Plans to Screen All Who Enter or Leave the Country.
On November 3, 2006, the Washington Post reported that the federal government disclosed details of a border-security program to “screen all people who enter or leave the United States, create a terrorism risk profile of each individual and retain that information for up to 40 years.
“While long known to scrutinize air travelers, the Department of Homeland Security is seeking to apply new technology to perform similar checks on people who enter or leave the country ‘by automobile or on foot,…’
“‘We have been doing risk assessments of cargo and passengers coming into and out of the U.S.,’ Department of Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen said. ‘We have the authority and the ability to do it for passengers coming by land and sea.’
“Civil libertarians expressed concern that risk profiling on such a scale would be intrusive and would not adequately protect citizens’ privacy rights, issues similar to those that have surrounded systems profiling air passengers.
“‘They are assigning a suspicion level to millions of law-abiding citizens,’ said David Sobel, senior counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“The notice comes as the department is tightening its ability to identify people at the borders. At the end of the year (2006), for example, Homeland Security is expanding its Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program, under which 32 million non-citizens entering the country annually are fingerprinted and photographed at 115 airports, 15 seaports and 154 land ports.
“In a round-the-clock operation, targeters match names against terrorist watch lists and a host of other data to determine whether a person’s background or behavior indicates a terrorist threat, a risk to border security or the potential for illegal activity….
“Each traveler assessed by the center is assigned a numeric score: the higher the score, the higher the risk. A certain number of points send the traveler back for a full interview.’
“The Automated Targeting System relies on government databases that include law enforcement data, shipping manifests, travel itineraries and airline passenger data, such as names, addresses, credit card details and phone numbers.”
Now, I would like you to notice a few important points. First, programs such as this always expand, and become more inclusive. Second, notice that in order to “protect” America, all of its citizens as well as visitors from other countries are now going to be subject to surveillance of their travel across its international borders and information about their comings and goings will be kept for up to 40 years. And the personal data involved is quite comprehensive. Initially, all of this surveillance was controversial, but eventually the dust settled and now it is possible to expand the program with hardly any protest at all.
This represents the next step in surveillance of U.S. citizens as well as foreigners. When the time comes for a change in focus, or an expansion of those defined as America’s enemies, especially those who are not willing to go along with soon coming Sunday laws, the government will already have all the data they need to track down those that qualify for that distinction. And that information will have been willingly provided to the government during a time that did not threaten them.
There will be no escape except for the protection of God. The system is presently being put in place so that God’s remnant law-keeping people will not have any way to continue their lives in this world unless they obey human laws forcing them to disobey the law of God. Details of every interface with the civilized world in which we live, including emails, phone calls, bank transactions, purchases, physical addresses, driver’s licenses, travel records and an endless array of other elements can be easily collected. You can run but you cannot hide, except if hid by an angel.
Next: Only 50 Years Left’ for Sea Fish
The BBC news on November 2, 2006 reported that “there will be virtually nothing left to fish from the seas by the middle of the century if current trends continue, according to a major scientific study. Stocks have collapsed in nearly one-third of the sea fisheries, and the rate of decline is accelerating.
“Writing in the journal Science, the international team of researchers says fishery decline is closely tied to a broader loss of marine biodiversity…
“Steve Palumbi, from Stanford University in California, one of the scientists on the project, added: ‘Unless we fundamentally change the way we manage all the ocean species together, as working ecosystems, then this century is the last century of wild seafood.”
“This is a vast piece of research, incorporating scientists from many institutions in Europe and the Americas…
“In 2003, 29% of open sea fisheries were in a state of collapse, defined as a decline to less than 10% of their original yield.
“Historical records from coastal zones in North America, Europe and Australia also show declining yields, in step with declining species diversity; these are yields not just of fish, but of other kinds of seafood too.
“Zones of biodiversity loss also tended to see more beach closures, more blooms of potentially harmful algae, and more coastal flooding. Experiments performed in small, relatively contained ecosystems show that reductions in diversity tend to bring reductions in the size and robustness of local fish stocks. This implies that loss of biodiversity is driving the declines in fish stocks seen in the large-scale studies.”
Doesn’t the Bible have something to say about this? Isaiah 51:6 says, “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner…”
We are to look at the things taking place on the earth and be reminded that the end is nearing. God’s messenger to the Remnant commented in the Review and Herald, December 1, 1896 that “the whole of the fifty-first chapter of Isaiah is worthy of close, earnest study, and we would do well to commit it to memory. It has a special application to those who are living in the last days.”
So, with that in mind, Isaiah 51 forecasts that the earth will have ecological troubles. And here we are seeing the fulfillment of this verse. But the problem with sea life is merely a symptom of a larger more general problem. The ecosystem is capable of taking only so much abuse and only so much drain on its resources. Note that the verse also says that those that dwell on the earth will also die. My guess is that there is going to be great loss of life by natural disasters, starvation through loss of food production, and other “natural causes.”
Next: Amalgamation
On November 6, 2006 the BBC reported that scientists in the United Kingdom have applied to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority for a three-year license to create embryos by fusing human DNA with cow eggs, thus creating hybrid human-bovine embryos that can be used for stem cell research. The scientists claim that the embryos would not be allowed to develop for more than a few days.
The reason for using cow eggs is because human eggs are in short supply and difficult to get – requiring surgery. The purpose of the research would be for medical purposes, but it would technically be “a chimera – a mixing of two distinct species into one.”
“Calum MacKellar, from the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, said the research undermined the distinction between animals and humans. He said: ‘in the history of humankind, animals and human species have been separated.’”
Ellen White makes this very interesting statement about the antediluvian world in The Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 1; “But if there was one sin above another which called for the destruction of the race by the flood, it was the base crime of amalgamation of man and beast which defaced the image of God, and caused confusion everywhere.”
The scripture says: “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.” Luke 17:26.
Are we nearing the time when amalgamation will again be a great sin that will justify the destruction of the world again? The Son of Man is about to return, my friends. Pay attention to the amazing events that are fulfilling prophecy at an unprecedented pace.
Next: Britain is a “Surviellance Society”
On November 2, 2006 the BBC reported that Britain is a surveillance society.
“Fears that the UK would ‘sleep-walk into a surveillance society’ have become a reality, the government’s information commissioner has said. Richard Thomas, who said he raised concerns two years ago, spoke after research found people’s actions were increasingly being monitored.
“Researchers highlight ‘dataveillance’, [that is,] the use of credit card, mobile phone and loyalty card information, and CCTV [closed circuit television]. Monitoring of work rates, travel and telecommunication is also rising.
“There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain – about one for every 14 people. But surveillance ranges from U.S. security agencies monitoring telecommunications traffic passing through Britain, to key stroke information used to gauge work rates and GPS information tracking company vehicles, the Report on Surveillance Society says.
“It predicts that by 2016 shoppers could be scanned as they enter stores, schools could bring in cards allowing parents to monitor what their children eat, and jobs may be refused to applicants who are seen as a health risk.”
Surveillance in Britain is apparently being done for purposes other than law enforcement. While there are many reasons why private companies may try to do surveillance of their employees or their clients, apparently in Britain, it has become pervasive.
Along with that, the London Evening Standard reported on October 30 that Britons ‘Could be Microchipped like Dogs in a Decade.’
“Human beings may be forced to be ‘microchipped’ like pet dogs, a shocking official report into the rise of the Big Brother state has warned. The microchips – which are implanted under the skin – allow the wearer’s movements to be tracked and store personal information about them.
“They could be used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee’s movements or by Governments who want a foolproof way of identifying their citizens – and storing information about them.
“The prospect of ‘chip-citizens’ – with its terrifying echoes of George Orwell’s ‘Big-Brother’ police state in the book 1984 – was raised in an official report for Britain’s Information commissioner Richard Thomas into the spread of surveillance technology.
“The report, drawn up by a team of respected academics, claims that Britain is a world-leader in the use of surveillance technology and its citizens the most spied-upon in the free world. It paints a frightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten years time unless steps are taken to regulate the use of CCTV and other spy technologies. The report’s editors… claim that by 2016 our almost every movement, purchase and communication could be monitored by a complex network of interlinking surveillance technologies.
“The most contentious prediction is the spread in the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. The RFID chips – which can be detected and read by radio waves – are already used in new UK passports and are also used in the Oyster card system to access the London Transport network. For the past six years European countries have been using RFID chips to identify pet animals.
“However, its use in humans has already been trialed in America, where the chips are implanted in 70 mentally-ill elderly people in order to track their movements. And earlier this year a security company in Ohio chipped two of its employees to allow them to enter a secure area. The glass encased chips were planted in the recipients’ upper right arms and ‘read’ by a device similar to a credit card reader.
“In their Report on the Surveillance Society, the authors now warn: ‘The call for everyone to be implanted is now being seriously debated.’ The Authors also highlight the [British] Government’s huge enthusiasm for CCTV, pointing out that during the 1990s the Home Office spent 78 per cent of its crime prevention budget – a total of £500 million – on installing the cameras. There are now 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the average Briton is caught on camera an astonishing 300 times every day.
“They write: ‘The surveillance society has come about us without us realizing’, adding: ‘some of it is essential for providing the services we need: health, benefits, education. Some of it is more questionable. Some of it may be unjustified, intrusive and oppressive.’”
That is most of the article in the Evening Standard. As you can see, these things tell us that the end is near. Some are concerned that this new RFID technology will be the 666 of Revelation or the mark of the beast. While this technology is not the mark of the Beast, Sunday observance is (when the laws of the land require it), but the technology can aid the implementation of the mark of the beast by preventing those who do not obey these man-made laws when they are imposed, from buying or selling.
Next: One-Third support ‘Some Torture.’
Nearly a third of people worldwide back the use of torture in prisons in some circumstances, a BBC survey suggests, reported the BBC on Oct. 19, 2006.
“Although 59% were opposed to torture, 29% thought it acceptable to use some degree of torture to combat terrorism.
“While most polled in the U.S. are against torture, opposition there is less robust than in Europe and elsewhere.
“More than 27,000 people in 25 countries were asked if torture was acceptable if it could provide information to save innocent lives. Some 36% of those questioned in the U.S. agreed that this use of torture was acceptable, while 58% were unwilling to compromise on human rights. The percentage favoring torture in certain cases makes it one of the highest of all the countries polled.
“The majority of those questioned in the BBC World Service poll – 19 of the 25 countries surveyed – agree that clear rules against torture in prisons should be maintained because it is immoral and its use would weaken human rights standards. ‘The dominant view around the world is that terrorism does not warrant bending the rules against torture,’ said Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, whose organization helped conduct the survey.
“Israel has the largest percentage of those polled endorsing the use of a degree of torture on prisoners, with 43% saying they agreed that some degree of torture should be allowed.” Remember that Israel is a nation that has been the target of terrorism for many, many years.
It is important to recognize that though torture is mostly seen as wrong or immoral, one-third of the world’s population believe that torture is appropriate in some serious cases. As terrorism and violence plays an increasingly aggressive role in world politics, it appears that western countries that have traditionally had strong positions against torture or coercive measures to get prisoners to talk, are more willing now to use the very methods that they once believed to be wrong.
For example, though the new American law signed by President Bush limits the use of coercive measures somewhat, such as banning “waterboarding,” America used this technique in its CIA prisons. And the new law retroactively protects those that have done so.
Waterboarding, a technique that gives the subject the sensation of drowning, was approved by the White House and the Justice Department and briefed to senior congressional officials after September 11, 2001.
But, reported the Washington Post on October 5, 2006, “twenty-one years earlier, in 1947, the United States charged a Japanese officer, Yukio Asano, with war crimes for carrying out [a] form of waterboarding on a U.S. civilian. The subject was strapped on a stretcher that was tilted so that his feet were in the air and head near the floor, and small amounts of water were poured over his face, leaving him gasping for air until he agreed to talk.
“Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor,” Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass) told his colleagues… “We punished people with 15 years of hard labor when waterboarding was used against Americans in World War II,” he said.”
So it seems that the fear factor of terrorism has obviously changed the way Americans, and people in other parts of the world view the use of torture.
Next; Hezbollah Takes Advantage of Porous U.S. – Mexican Border
According to a new report released by the Subcommittee on Investigation of the House committee on Homeland Security, “There is an ever-present threat of terrorist infiltration over the Southwest border.” The report, entitled A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border, confirmed that “aliens were smuggled from the Middle East to staging areas in Central and South America, before being smuggled illegally into the United States” and that “members of Hezbollah have already entered the United States across the Southwest border.”
The report also estimated that “as many as 4 to 10 million illegal aliens [of all kinds] crossed into the United States” in 2005.
Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) observed in an October 17 press release that A Line in the Sand “confirms once again what the American people have known for years – that our porous borders are a welcome mat for terrorists.”
Apparently, while we are trying to win the war on terrorism in Iraq, America is leaving its own borders open and so unprotected that a U.S. congressman is able to describe them accurately as “a welcome mat for terrorists.”
Next: Religious Freedom Analysis
In a recent issue of its monthly magazine, Voice of the Martyrs published a country by country analysis of 39 countries that are either restricted – that is where Christians are officially persecuted, and hostile – where Christians are supposedly protected by the government, but are still subject to violence.
The restricted nations include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Bhutan, Brunei, China, Comoros, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Tibet, Tunisia.
Countries that are hostile to Christianity on VOMs list are: Colombia, India, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka.
In most of these countries, or large areas of these countries, Islam is the controlling religion, or in some cases Marxist ideology, or Marxist guerilla groups.
Our world is getting less tolerant, not more tolerant, even in light of the strong efforts by Rome and by other Christian organizations to become more ecumenical.
Well, that is all we have time for today. Until next time, may God bless and keep you and your family in His loving and protecting care as we near the end. Keep the faith!
From eternal ages it was God’s purpose that every created being, from the bright and holy seraph to man, should be a temple for the indwelling of the Creator.