"I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
(Matthew 28:20)
I Am With You
Dear Friends,
Greetings! If we believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God then we can take great comfort in the above verse. Hebrews 13:5 says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
There are many similar promises of God in the Bible which are meant to be taken literally.
It is becoming more apparent with each passing day that it is not 'business as usual'. Pandemics, financial collapse, increased paranormal phenomenon, etc. The time is fast approaching when trusting in God's Word will be absolutely essential in our daily lives. The following two very familiar Psalms, amongst many other parts of the Bible, can help sustain us through these tough times. Luke 21:26 relates that "men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken".
Psalms 23
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
Psalms 91
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation."
We hope you find the following articles informative. We have included three "You Tube" videos concerning the Swine Flu, but we did want to mention that we do not have the means to research their veracity .We have included them anyway and you can decide what you think.
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China Orders Mandatory H1N1 Vaccinations
Xinhua - September 9, 2009
China has issued its first warrant for mass inoculation with domestic A/H1N1 flu vaccine, the first country in the world to do so, Health Minister Chen Zhu said Tuesday.
Chen said the warrant was issued by the State Food and Drug Administration Monday after the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines had been proved in clinical tests.
The first people to receive the vaccinations will be those attending celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chen said.
The celebration on Oct. 1 consists of a military parade, a mass pageant and a gala. The pageant alone will involve about 200,000 citizens.
Chen said protection would also be given to vulnerable groups, such as carriers of chronic disease, school students and medical staff.
telegraph.co.uk
UN wants new global currency to replace dollar
The dollar should be replaced with a global currency, the United Nations has said, proposing the biggest overhaul of the world's monetary system since the Second World War.
By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor -
07 Sept. 2009
A number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency
In a radical report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said the system of currencies and capital rules which binds the world economy is not working properly, and was largely responsible for the financial and economic crises.
It added that the present system, under which the dollar acts as the world's reserve currency , should be subject to a wholesale reconsideration.
Although a number of countries, including China and Russia, have suggested replacing the dollar as the world's reserve currency, the UNCTAD report is the first time a major multinational institution has posited such a suggestion.
In essence, the report calls for a new Bretton Woods-style system of managed international exchange rates, meaning central banks would be forced to intervene and either support or push down their currencies depending on how the rest of the world economy is behaving.
The proposals would also imply that surplus nations such as China and Germany should stimulate their economies further in order to cut their own imbalances, rather than, as in the present system, deficit nations such as the UK and US having to take the main burden of readjustment.
"Replacing the dollar with an artificial currency would solve some of the problems related to the potential of countries running large deficits and would help stability," said Detlef Kotte, one of the report's authors. "But you will also need a system of managed exchange rates. Countries should keep real exchange rates [adjusted for inflation] stable. Central banks would have to intervene and if not they would have to be told to do so by a multilateral institution such as the International Monetary Fund."
The proposals, included in UNCTAD's annual Trade and Development Report , amount to the most radical suggestions for redesigning the global monetary system.
Although many economists have pointed out that the economic crisis owed more to the malfunctioning of the post-Bretton Woods system, until now no major institution, including the G20, has come up with an alternative.
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MailOnline
Up to two million march to US Capitol to protest against Obama's spending in 'tea-party' demonstration
By Mail Foreign Service -
12th September 2009
Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as "Obamacare makes me sick" as they protested the president's health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending.
The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
People were chanting "enough, enough" and "We the People." Others yelled "You lie, you lie!" and "Pelosi has to go," referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
Tens of thousands of people converged on Capitol Hill on Saturday to protest against government spending
Demonstrators waved U.S. flags and held signs reading "Go Green Recycle Congress" and "I'm Not Your ATM." Men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of "judgment day" - Election Day 2010.
The heated demonstrations were organized by a Conservative group called the Tea Party Patriots
"Republicans, Democrats and independents are stepping up and demanding we put our fiscal house in order," Rep. Mike Pence, chairman of the House Republican Conference, said. "I think the overriding message after years of borrowing, spending and bailouts is enough is enough."
Today's protests imitated the original Boston Tea Party of 1773, when colonists threw three shiploads of taxed tea into Boston Harbour in protest against the British government under the slogan 'No taxation without representation'.
The group first began rising to prominence in April, when the governor of Texas threatened to secede from the union in protest against government spending. Waves of tea party protests have crossed America since.
Today's rally, the largest grouping of fiscal conservatives to march on Washington, comes on the heels of heated town halls held during the congressional August recess when some Democratic lawmakers were confronted, disrupted and shouted down by angry protestors who oppose President Obama's plan to overhaul the health care system.
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guardian.co.uk
1.2bn population of India to be given biometric ID cards
Randeep Ramesh in Delhi
16 September 2009
In India, Big Brother just wants to help. The country's 1.2 billion citizens are to be issued with a biometric identity card in an attempt to improve the delivery of India's inefficient public services - a move civil liberties' activists are condemning as the act of a "surveillance society".
This month, the country began the ambitious scheme of issuing everyone with a unique identity number. Within the first five years of the scheme, giant computer servers will hold the personal details of at least 600 million people. The introduction of what will be one of the world's most ambitious IT projects will cost an estimated £1.5bn.
The scheme is the brainchild of Nandan Nilekani, one of India's best-known software tycoons and now head of the government's Unique Identification Authority. "We are going to have to build something on the scale of Google but it will change the country ... every person for first time [will] be able to prove who he or she was."
The country's red tape is legendary: Indians have dozens of types of identity verification, ranging from electoral rolls to ration cards, yet almost none can be used universally. The new system will be a national proof of identity, effective for everything, from welfare benefits to updating land records.
Nilekani said the scheme would help the poor especially. Moving from one state to another - a regular occurrence for poor villagers in search of work - often meant benefits were withdrawn because proof of residence was lacking. "This will mean maids and labourers ... a hundred or two hundred million people - will be able to access welfare benefits for the first time without any questioning who they are."
Eventually, cards will hold the person's name, age, and birth date, as well as fingerprint or iris scans, though no caste or religious identification. "We are not profiling a billion people. This will provide an ID database which government can access online. There will be checks and balances to protect identities," said Nilekani, who has also been in talks to create a personalized carbon account so that all Indians might buy "green technologies" using a government subsidy.
Doubts have been raised over privacy and the complex security needed to police such the system, as well as concerns that the project is just too ambitious. "We could have a hacking Olympics," said Guru Malladi, a partner at Ernst & Young.
Civil liberty campaigners fear the card could be a tool of repression.
Nandita Haskar, a human rights lawyer, said: "There's already no accountability in regard to violations of human and civil rights. In this atmosphere what are the oversight mechanisms for this kind of surveillance?"
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009
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guardian.co.uk
Brussels lobbyists have £445,000 whip-round to push Irish 'Yes' vote
Brussels lobbyists have organized a 500,00 euro (£445,000) whip-round in a last-ditch effort to boost Ireland's 'Yes' campaign in an attempt to keep the European Union's gravy train rolling.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels -
8 Sept 2009
The lobbyists have been accused of interfering in Ireland's second Lisbon Treaty referendum in order to shore up the EU institutions they make profits from lobbying.
Concern is growing among pro-European groups after recent polling for the Irish Times showed that support for the EU treaty, rejected by Ireland in a referendum last June, has slipped to 46 per cent.
"The future of Europe is at stake," he said. "A second 'No' will lead to uncertainty that will undermine the European project and impact important decision-making in the future.
"If your company believes in a strong EU, then NOW is definitely the time to contribute financially. This is truly an emergency."
Mr Bates moved from a job in the European Parliament to lobbying on behalf of industries concerned about EU environmental, health and safety and consumer protection legislation.
His company Eamonn Bates Europe is a well-known player in Brussels where an estimated 15-20,000 lobbyists are at work trying to influence the EU's institutions.
If Ireland backs the treaty, then governments, officials, diplomats and lobbyists across the EU will breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The Lisbon Treaty extends EU powers in most policy areas meaning that lobbyists will kept busy, and profitable, shaping the expected flood of new legislation.
On the other hand, if Ireland votes No, the EU will be plunged into a fresh crisis that will see new legislation shelved or delayed.
The email appeal prompted an angry response from at least one of Mr Bates' colleagues on the Brussels lobbying scene.
Chris Whitehouse, director of Whitehouse Consultancy, wrote: "The Irish electorate are likely to take a very dim view of commercial lobbyists entering the debate simply to protect their own profits, derived in part from lobbying the very institutions that would benefit most from a 'Yes' vote for the Treaty."
William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said the intervention was astonishing.
He said: "It is extraordinary that Brussels lobbyists are interfering in the Irish referendum. No one should intervene in the Irish Referendum. It must be entirely up to the Irish people how they decide to vote.
"Whatever result comes out of the referendum, again, no one should try to bully them or browbeat them."
But Jim Murray, the spokesman for Europe for Ireland, defended the appeal.
"Eamonn is an Irish man who has asked people to help support an Irish group working for a Yes vote. I don't see anything wrong with that," he said.
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There are many changes going on in the world right now but the Lord does not change. "For I am the LORD, I do not change." (Malachi 3:6) His methods may change, such as getting out His message via the Internet, but His promises and love for us do not change. When all around us is in confusion we can always retreat into our hiding place. "You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah" (Psalms 32:7)
If you do not know where that hiding place is, it is Jesus. If you do not know Him you can receive Him right now by simply praying a little prayer. He is standing at your hearts door right now just waiting for you to invite Him in.
Just pray: Dear Jesus, I know I have done wrong in my life and need forgiveness. I ask you to please come into my heart, forgive me my sins, give me eternal life, and help me to love You and others. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer you now have eternal life. You can find out more about what receiving Jesus and eternal life are, by searching the web site or by writing us via the web site. We do also invite you to contact one of our mystics should you feel the need to do so.
Have a great week ahead.
Almondtree Productions
"Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ."
(Titus 2:13)