Five Fold Today Free Will - Hope Does Not Disappoint - Catch the Fire of My Joy! - The Hidden State Steps Forward - A Sound of Abundance of Rain! - President Expects to Use Idiot Defense

January 18, 2006

Free Will

Tim Woodall

Most people are socially conditioned, not free thinkers. This is relevant when we come to discuss cults, because it is the oddballs of this world who are least likely to join them and it is the most 'normal' people who succumb.  Cults are led by freethinkers, just as the top people in the world are more independent in their thought processes.  

This explains much of why our world operates the way that it does and why a few people are able to control a mass of people.  Most people are sheep and they follow the herd.  Therefore phrases like 'cult' are simply irrelevant.  Democracy is only true when everyone takes full responsibility for everything and the masses don't - they follow their senses and cheap entertainment.  They can therefore be controlled very, very easily.

The truth that people follow each other can be shown from the history of Israel.  When times were good the people enjoyed themselves and forgot God.  When times were bad they opened to their predicament and cried out to God.  We could see it simply in terms obedience and disobedience, but its more than that.  Its our character to follow the route of least resistance.

In other words people don't go chasing after God.  To turn to him with all our hearts is when God corners us and blocks all the escape routes.  This is why its the poor, weak and despised who fully turn to God.  Perfection comes through suffering and we do everything to avoid that, but the nature of good and evil means that some have to take the evil and Christians are called to bear the curse for the purposes of redemption.

The truth is that before we repent we are in 'bondage to the flesh' and when we turn to God with our hearts we are 'slaves of Christ' There is no in-between position where we stand neither pulled by the flesh or Spirit of God.

I have read cult sites and every one of them is basically an institution of this world, where a cult to them is an organisation which makes extreme demands on its members.  By that definition the very world that we live in is a cult.  I would love to opt out and not be a part of the system of buying and selling, but the world has blocked all the escape routes.  To me this world is a cult.

Tim
Latter Rain Lightship

Hope Does Not Disappoint
Dorothea Montague
     
    My beloved people, I am observing so many of you who are losing hope...hope in the future, hope in receiving My healing touch, hope in your children, hope in your dreams coming into being and hope in Me. Have you searched My Word for My great and precious promises for You? Are you believing that My Word is truth?
     
    Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Rom. 5:5)
     
    O, My people, I see you contemplating the state of the world around you and in far off places and you struggle to keep hope in your hearts.
     
    Be of good courage and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord. (Psa. 31:24)
     
    My people, are you trusting in Me? Are you putting your hope in Me? Have I not told you that I have all things in heaven and on earth under My control? O, yes, there is much in the world to cause you to lose hope but you are not of the world.
     
    Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My fleshh also will rest in hope. You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psa. 16:9,11)
     
    My beloved people, activate your hope in Me by seeking My promises for you which are contained in My Word. I need you, My people, to serve Me in these last days, with all hope in My provision for you as you minister to all whom you meet.
     
    You are indeed living in troubled times, My people, but I have a plan and a purpose for each of you, which shall surely come into being. I have long been preparing you for just such a time as this...a time when I shall bring multitudes unto Me to accept Me as their Lord and Savior. I need you, My people, to walk with these people and to teach them My Word.
     
    I shall impart My strength unto each of you for the tasks I shall set before you. I shall direct your paths as I minister to the people through you.
     
    To some of you I shall give great teaching and preaching ministries. Some will have powerful prophetic ministries, speaking forth My words to the people. Some will receive My power and anointing for healing ministries, ministries to the poor and other ministries. All will be My followers to serve Me as I direct you.
     
    My people, this new year shall bring great changes in your lives and in your ministries. Signs and wonders and miracles shall follow you, as you pray, such as you never thought possible. Be not afraid to call down My miracles as you lay hands on the sick and pray for them, or for any request they may have. You need only believe and it shall be so.
     
    I am calling you, My people, into the ministry of intercession. Learn to pray with My power upon you and see wondrous things take place.
     
    But when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Matt. 6:6)
     
    My beloved ones, the time has come when I am hearing and answering your prayers as never before. Increase your faith as you study My Word and believe that whatever you ask of Me in prayer you shall receive.

montagud@telus.net

Catch the Fire of My Joy!

Mary Lloyd

And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost. Acts 13:52

I send a flame that will burn up your sadness, drive away your tears, deliver you from your disappointments and your past and the memories and reactions that were the old you. I send a flame that will ignite the joy of your heart, can you feel it? Do you see it?

     Let My Spirit blow! Let Me scorch a way for you in the wilderness of your circular thinking, your circular murmuring, the waterless storm cloud forever over your head. The habits of a lifetime and the paths often trod are not the places I want you to be! Forsake them! I have much ahead for you.

    Examine your heart and you will see you have begun to feel safe in the wrong environment, you have begun to like the moaning that comes from your mouth, and the reasons to moan: they are familiar to you. Test yourself here...does another's joy convict you? Does another's zeal and energy in Me make you want to pour on cold water and quench My flame?

     Do not fear the tears that will come, before I revive you. They will pass. They cannot stop revival, they cannot stop My fire. They are just the first manifestation of the joy that is to come. Like a woman in labour has pain, when she is delivered of her child she remembers her pain no more. But yield to this process. The fire down deep in your belly will deliver you of all your pain. There is a bigger picture, and it is My Joy! My Joy that is coming to you and will be upon you to give you strength and to separate you for My work.

      So do not fear the process now beginning. I send you joy as a gift, but you must receive it:  it will sow all the waste places of your heart with blossoms, and they will be watered by the blessings of your God. I am going to burn up the stubble but you must let me! Fear not the tears. Fear not the cleansing flame.

Fear not the unfamiliar, I have called you to that!
    I send you joy. Catch it's fire!
                Let Me be new in you!
                     Mary

mary@latter-rain.com
to the lightship

The Hidden State Steps Forward

by Jonathan Schell
 
The Nation

[from the January 9, 2006 issue]

When the New York Times revealed that George W. Bush had ordered the National Security Agency to wiretap the foreign calls of American citizens without seeking court permission, as is indisputably required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed by Congress in 1978, he faced a decision. Would he deny the practice, or would he admit it? He admitted it. But instead of expressing regret, he took full ownership of the deed, stating that his order had been entirely justified, that he had in fact renewed it thirty times, that he would continue to renew it and--going even more boldly on the offensive--that those who had made his law-breaking known had committed a "shameful act." As justification, he offered two arguments, one derisory, the other deeply alarming. The derisory one was that Congress, by authorizing him to use force after September 11, had authorized him to suspend FISA, although that law is unmentioned in the resolution. Thus has Bush informed the members of a supposedly co-equal branch of government of what, unbeknownst to themselves, they were thinking when they cast their vote. The alarming argument is that as Commander in Chief he possesses "inherent" authority to suspend laws in wartime. But if he can suspend FISA at his whim and in secret, then what law can he not suspend? What need is there, for example, to pass or not pass the Patriot Act if any or all of its provisions can be secretly exceeded by the President?

Bush's choice marks a watershed in the evolution of his Administration. Previously when it was caught engaging in disgraceful, illegal or merely mistaken or incompetent behavior, he would simply deny it. "We have found the weapons of mass destruction!" "We do not torture!" However, further developments in the torture matter revealed a shift. Even as he denied the existence of torture, he and his officials began to defend his right to order it. His Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, refused at his confirmation hearings to state that the torture called waterboarding, in which someone is brought to the edge of drowning, was prohibited. Then when Senator John McCain sponsored a bill prohibiting cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, Bush threatened to veto the legislation to which it was attached. It was only in the face of majority votes in both houses against such treatment that he retreated from his claim.

But in the wiretapping matter, he has so far exhibited no such vacillation. Secret law-breaking has been supplanted by brazen law-breaking. The difference is critical. If abuses of power are kept secret, there is still the possibility that, when exposed, they will be stopped. But if they are exposed and still permitted to continue, then every remedy has failed, and the abuse is permanently ratified. In this case, what will be ratified is a presidency that has risen above the law.

The danger is not abstract or merely symbolic. Bush's abuses of presidential power are the most extensive in American history. He has launched an aggressive war ("war of choice," in today's euphemism) on false grounds. He has presided over a system of torture and sought to legitimize it by specious definitions of the word. He has asserted a wholesale right to lock up American citizens and others indefinitely without any legal showing or the right to see a lawyer or anyone else. He has kidnapped people in foreign countries and sent them to other countries, where they were tortured. In rationalizing these and other acts, his officials have laid claim to the unlimited, uncheckable and unreviewable powers he has asserted in the wiretapping case. He has tried to drop a thick shroud of secrecy over these and other actions.

There is a name for a system of government that wages aggressive war, deceives its citizens, violates their rights, abuses power and breaks the law, rejects judicial and legislative checks on itself, claims power without limit, tortures prisoners and acts in secret. It is dictatorship.

The Administration of George W. Bush is not a dictatorship, but it does manifest the characteristics of one in embryonic form. Until recently, these were developing and growing in the twilight world of secrecy. Even within the executive branch itself, Bush seemed to govern outside the normally constituted channels of the Cabinet and to rely on what Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief of staff has called a "cabal." Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill reported the same thing. Cabinet meetings were for show. Real decisions were made elsewhere, out of sight. Another White House official, John DiIulio, has commented that there was "a complete lack of a policy apparatus" in the White House. "What you've got is everything, and I mean everything, being run by the political arm." As in many Communist states, a highly centralized party, in this case the Republican Party, was beginning to forge a parallel apparatus at the heart of government, a semi-hidden state-within-a-state, by which the real decisions were made.

With Bush's defense of his wiretapping, the hidden state has stepped into the open. The deeper challenge Bush has thrown down, therefore, is whether the country wants to embrace the new form of government he is creating by executive fiat or to continue with the old constitutional form. He is now in effect saying, "Yes, I am above the law--I am the law, which is nothing more than what I and my hired lawyers say it is--and if you don't like it, I dare you to do something about it."

Members of Congress have no choice but to accept the challenge. They did so once before, when Richard Nixon, who said, "When the President does it, that means it's not illegal," posed a similar threat to the Constitution. The only possible answer is to inform Bush forthwith that if he continues in his defiance, he will be impeached.

If Congress accepts his usurpation of its legislative power, they will be no Congress and might as well stop meeting. Either the President must uphold the laws of the United States, which are Congress's laws, or he must leave office.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060109/schell

A Sound of Abundance of Rain!
 
Olufunso J. Omidiran
 
And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. And the hand of the LORD was on Elijah; and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel. (1Kings 18:41-46)
 
 
Undoubtedly, the man Elijah was a force to reckon with in the scheme of things, a mouthpiece for God in his days. He was the one who decreed in the name of the LORD that there should be no rain. When it was time for God to change the tide of things, he was the one who also declared it in the name of the Lord. There is a great mystery of the prophetic that we want to discuss in this study. May the Lord speak very clearly to us in Jesus´ mighty name.

A SOUND
In the spiritual, sound is one of the usual carriageways of information. As God speaks to His servants, they hear His voice. God can also enable His chosen ones to hear the sound of events that go on in the spiritual. God can give us grace to decipher the very intents of the enemy. We can also be enabled to receive spiritual sound or signals of good things to come. Elijah expresses clearly that he could hear the sound of the abundance of rain coming to God´s people. They had been suffering from a serious drought for the past three and a half years, because of their sins. The land knew no peace all those days, the economy was grounded and life was extremely unbearable. No water, no food for all.
When God wants to prove His omnipotence to wayward men, He could choose to withdraw water supply and the staff of bread would be broken. Besides, He would not only make the heavens to close in terms of physical rain but also in terms of spiritual blessings and favour. Nobody will enjoy the fullness of God when they are not willing to be totally surrendered to Him. God is not a cheap factor that men can manipulate for their selfish ends. He must be served without any reservation. This is divine ultimatum.

But in His mercy, He can choose to visit His people with mercy; in this case, the heavens that have been closed hitherto will be opened and the Lord will bless them with showers once again. This same principle applies to individual cases too. When God withdraws favour and help from men, He aims at drawing them closer to Himself, if peradventure they may feel after Him. As soon as they realize their failures and cringe before Him in true repentance, He will show them His mercies once again. Halleluyah!
 
However, in the case of the people of Israel, there seemed to be nothing to prove that they were seeking God in true repentance, but one thing was that there was a prophet-intercessor, the man Elijah who did stand in the gap at this crucial time. He was the one who was praying and so was able to perceive the sound of abundance of rain. Just as he announced the cessation of rain, he also announced its restoration. The ministry of a prophet is still applicable in our days in like manner. Elijah was able to hear a sound that no one else could hear because none of them was in tune with the Spirit. Thus the rain was restored by reason of God´s sovereign mercy and in response to the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man.
 
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:16-18)
 
 First of all, the sovereign mercy of God came because it was the time ordained of God to visit His people with mercy. In other words, God chose to have mercy on His people and to restore rain at this particular time. It was not the righteous deeds of the nation that drew God´s hand of mercy towards them. This truth is unquestionable. On the other hand, God needed a true man, a sincere intercessor who would plead with God on behalf of the land.
 
And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none (Ezek.22: 30)
 
TAKE NOTE OF THIS!
There was an appointed time in divine purpose, in which He would send rain to His people, but nothing ever moves until it is moved. God raised Elijah to work in line with the time the Lord had appointed for showers of blessing, even showers of mercy.
In like manner, today, there are things God will hardly do unless those who are spiritual, men who can hear spiritual sounds and interpret spiritual signals arise and yield themselves to the Holy Spirit. Elijah was well positioned for what God was willing to do and so He became God´s agent for change.

We must be reminded that Elijah became an available vessel or mouthpiece for God in his generation. Although, it became known to him later that there where some further seven thousand in Israel who also consecrated their life onto the Lord´s service, but they were not so involved in making a significant change in the life of the nation. They seemed not as courageous as Elijah was.
Elijah was able to confront the wicked King Ahab as he declared God´s counsel for the hour: “Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees’
He told the king to ‘Get up, eat and drink for there is an abundance of rain’. By this, the prophet was simply telling the king to prepare for a change of gear. Now, he must break his fast and muster strength to prepare for the great harvest. Ahab must have been doing some religious fasting for some mechanical show of piety. But God was with his own prophet
.
“Get up’
 So the King was down. He was both spiritually and psychologically deflated because the anger of God was heavy upon the nation. The man must just have to get up; no matter how many times he had fallen. Can you also hear the voice of the Holy Spirit as He releases the word of command and power for this hour? Get up now or never!
Get up; there is hope for you. Get up, the famine shall not be forever. Get up for abundance of rain is going to catch up with you; the sound thereof is ringing.
Do you know that at times you feel as if your sin will not pardoned, as if the mistakes you made (which you shouldn´t have made) have been so great?
 
GET UP, EAT AND DRINK
But God says you should get up now. He also wants you nourished and refreshed. He is giving you beauty for your ashes, oil of joy instead of mourning and a brand new garment of praise instead of sackcloth. This turn around is a product of His mercy. He says “I will have mercy n whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion’.
 
 
 An Ode for you:
 
A SOUND OF ABUNDANCE OF RAIN!
God restrains His anger and sinners are melted!
Evil grows and thickens in the heart of the rejected
Sorrow multiples in the soul of the guilty
But the King looks down from His holy place on high
In His awesome majesty He beholds the low and the high
Who is sufficient for this mercy from above?
The exalted One, yea the King cometh in His love
O yearn in your heart for His mercy and love!
Seek for His help and be freely blessed!
Do get up, eat and drink from the Father´s love
For increase shall be restored by His mercy
You will laugh again and dance for Joy!
For the eternal One has given the sound from heaven
It is the sound of the abundance of rain
His rain will water your languid ridges
Yea, it will water all your wasted places
You will drink from it and thirst no more
The showers of rain have come in abundance
Truly, the Sowers shall have seed to sow
And the eaters will no more be hungered
For the heavens are opened onto His people
And we have received the abundance of rain

DR. OLUFUNSO J. OMIDIRAN
LIVING SWORD MINISTRIES INT'L
E-mail: info@livingsword.org
Website: www.livingsword.org

President Expects to Use Idiot Defense

by Don Monkerud
   
 With the first calls for impeachment circulating in Congress and across the country, President George W. Bush and his advisors met in Washington over the weekend to map a defense based on the so-called "idiot defense," sometimes referred to as the "I was out of the loop" method of shifting blame to others.

Under this plan, Bush will come clean with the American people and tell them that he didn't have any idea of what was going on; he didn't give orders for spying, doesn't know about where the reports on WMD in Iraq came from, or why FEMA didn't act sooner, or why various unpopular initiatives were put forth by his administration during the past several years.

A key part of the strategy is for Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, the GOP leadership in the House and Senate, and the Republican Over-Centralized Committee to enter plea bargains, which would allow them to get away with fines of $50 and the loss of their privileges to the White House's executive bathroom.

In a feverish attempt to hold off criminal hearings on his performance as president, Bush will make appearances in major cities around Texas, including Houston, Podunk, and El Dunceio. By invoking 9/11, victory in Iraq and claiming that he knew nothing about tax cuts for the wealthy, secret meetings between Cheney and the oil conglomerates, or the funding of the new Medicare drug addiction program for the pharmaceutical industry, Bush hopes to convince born-again fundamentalists that he didn't know a thing.

"Most leaders of countries don't know what's going on in their countries," Bush told cadets at the Soldiers for Christ Academy in Corruption, Wyoming last week. "You can't expect me to take responsibility for crimes that this bunch of neo-con hucksters pulled off; I had no idea what they were doing."

Although legal experts say this as a risky strategy, it's been used successfully by top executives charged with corporate fraud. By claiming to be "ignoramuses," executives made more money. The "I was a dummy" defense, didn't work for Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom or Johnny Rigas of Adelphia, but it did work for Richard Scrushy of HealthSouth, who stole hundreds of millions and claimed that he had no idea the company's stock was worthless.

The president may be able to hold off impeachment proceedings by calling on his best friend, Ken Lay, former CEO of Enron, for advice on how to put off a trial: Lay's trial for siphoning off $220 million from Enron is expected to begin early in 2086. Lay's defense rests partly upon his claim that "they're picking on me and I didn't do anything," but his legal team blames top Enron executives for paying Lay too much money.

While legal experts have been unable to piece together the details of Enron's infractions, they expect Bush to rely upon executive privilege to shield his activities from the public. The Garlic Press recently learned that tapes secretly recorded in the White House reveal Bush claiming, "I'm innocent just like Julius Seizure was back whenever."

"You know how presidential meetings go," said Scotty Whitewash, White House spokesman. "One person says something and then something else. At the end, everything is given to Dick (Cheney), who has connections with some large corporations that know how to get things done."  

Proving that the president knows anything may be impossible. Bush has repeatedly told the media that he doesn't read or watch TV and that his wife, Laura, usually keeps him abreast of Washington's affairs. Her main sources of information is Rush Limbaugh's radio broadcast, "I'm a Big Fat Idiot," and Pat Robertson's TV show, "700 Slights and Arrows." Robertson has come under attack recently for advocating the assassination of Santa Claus and claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was the result of "getting his fat hand caught in the cookie jar."

Foreign policy experts hope to make a coherent statement about the president's policies that will prove that he knew what was going on in the country. "We've been trying to make sense out of statements the president made during his morning briefings, but so far we're flummoxed," said one advisor. "We're not sure some of the words the president uses exist, and if they do, what they mean."

Last week the president invited a group of prominent bankers to the White House to celebrate the third year in a row of record banking profits and promised that he would get to the bottom of any hearings, "because I'm the president." Bankers appeared perplexed and disoriented as they headed for a meeting with the vice president to clarify their meeting with the president.

"The president either said 'I can't hear what anyone is saying when everyone talks at once,' or 'I can't understand anything,'" said one banker after the meeting. "I think Bush's only hope is to blame it on his dog, Scotty, as in, 'my dog ate my homework.' Americans love this type of folksy approach to impeachment."

Don Monkerud is an Aptos, California-based writer who follows politics. He can be reached at: Monkerud@Cruzio.com.

 www.dissidentvoice.org
January 12, 2006
  

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