“Jesus saith unto them, did ye never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?”
(Matthew 21:42)

The Head Of The Corner

Dear Friends,

Greetings!

This week we wanted to include a little food for thought about the “stone the builders rejected”!

There is only one structure where the headstone can also be a cornerstone: a pyramid. Jesus is of course “the head of the corner.”

“Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” Ephesians 2:20

It has also been said that the devil can do nothing original but only imitate what he has seen God do. You can today often see this in the symbolism throughout the world. Just starting with the back of the US one dollar bill.

What better way to deceive them than to try to duplicate the truth as close as possible. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14.

What scriptures was Jesus referring to in Matthew 21:42?
“The stone which the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.” Psalm 118:22

“Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.” Isaiah 28:16

“And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin (a noose or a snare) and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Isaiah 8:14

Have a great week ahead, and remember, “I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.” 1 Peter 2:6

***

Fox News

US Army defines Christian ministry as 'domestic hate group'

By Todd StarnesPublished October 14, 2013FoxNews.com

Several dozen U.S. Army active duty and reserve troops were told last week that the American Family Association, a well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate group because the group advocates for traditional family values.

The briefing was held at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and listed the AFA alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.

A soldier who attended the briefing contacted me and sent me a photograph of a slide show presentation that listed AFA as a domestic hate group. Under the AFA headline is a photograph of Westboro Baptist Church preacher Fred Phelps holding a sign reading “No special law for f.”

American Family Association has absolutely no affiliation with the controversial church group known for picketing the funerals of American servicemembers.

It looks like the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people.

“I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” said the soldier who asked not to be identified. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”

The soldier said a chaplain interrupted the briefing and challenged the instructor’s assertion that AFA is a hate group.

“The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,” the soldier told me. “The slide was talking about how AFA refers to gays as sinners and heathens and derogatory terms.”

The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said the chaplain defended the Christian ministry.

“He kept asking the instructor, ‘Are you sure about that, son? Are you sure about that?’” he said, recalling the back and forth.

Later in the briefing, the soldiers were reportedly told that they could face punishment for participating in organizations that are considered hate groups.

That considered, the soldier contacted me because he is a financial contributor to the AFA ministry.

“I donate to AFA as often as I can,” he said. “Am I going to be punished? I listen to American Family Radio all day. If they hear it on my radio, will I be faced with a Uniformed Code of Military Justice charge?”

The soldier said he was “completely taken back by this blatant attack not only on the AFA but Christians and our beliefs.”

It’s not the first time the Army has accused conservative Christian groups of being domestic hate groups.

Earlier this year, I exposed Army briefings that classified evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremism.

Another briefing told officers to pay close attention to troops who supported groups like AFA and the Family Research Council.

One officer said the two Christian ministries did not “share our Army Values.”

“When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem,” the officer wrote in an email to his subordinates.

At the time the military assured me those briefings were isolated incidents and did not reflect official Army policy.

If that’s true, how do they explain what happened at Camp Shelby?

I contacted the Pentagon for an answer but they referred me to Army public affairs. And so far – they haven’t returned my calls.

And their claim that the classifications are “isolated” is not washing with AFA.

“The American Family Association has received numerous accounts of military installations as well as law enforcement agencies using a list compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which wrongfully identifies and defames AFA,” reads a statement they sent me.

Bryan Fischer hosts a talk show on American Family Radio. He called the Army’s allegations “libelous, slanderous and blatantly false.”

“This mischaracterization of AFA is reprehensible and inexcusable,” he told me. “We have many military members who are a part of the AFA network who know these accusations are a tissue of lies.”

Fischer said their views on gay marriage and homosexuality are not hate – it’s simply a disagreement.

“If our military wasn’t headed by a commander-in-chief who is hostile to Christian faith, these allegations would be laughed off every military base in the world,” he said.

Hiram Sasser, of the Liberty Institute, told me the Army’s briefing is a smear.

He recalled what President Obama said last year when Muslim extremists attacked our diplomatic outpost in Libya.

“Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths,” President Obama said. “We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.”

Sasser said he wished the president and the Army would treat the American Family Association with the same deference and respect they show those who mean to harm us.

“Why must the Army under this administration continue to attack Americans of faith and smear them?” Sasser wondered.

I fear the answer to that question.

Because it appears the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people – and planting seeds of doubt about Christians and some of our nation’s most prominent Christian ministries.

WND

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE UNLOADS ON SATAN, DEMONS

Tells interviewer devil's 'getting people not to believe in him or in God'

Published: 10/14/13

By Scott Greer

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made headlines recently when he declared his belief that the devil is a real being who has a presence in the world today.

His interviewer, Jennifer Senior of New York Magazine, was shocked by Scalia’s statements.

But Karl Payne, author of “Spiritual Warfare: Christians, Demonization, and Deliverance,” says the reaction is a sign of how secularized certain segments of American society have become. He believes Scalia is right on the mark.

The exchange:

Senior: You believe in heaven and hell?

Scalia: Oh, of course I do. Don’t you believe in heaven and hell?

Senior: No.

Scalia: Oh, my.

Senior: Does that mean I’m not going?

Scalia: [Laughing.] Unfortunately not!

Senior: Wait, to heaven or hell?

Scalia: It doesn’t mean you’re not going to hell, just because you don’t believe in it. That’s Catholic doctrine! Everyone is going one place or the other.

Senior: But you don’t have to be a Catholic to get into heaven? Or believe in it?

Scalia: Of course not!

Senior: Oh. So you don’t know where I’m going. Thank God.

Scalia: I don’t know where you’re going. I don’t even know whether Judas Iscariot is in hell. I mean, that’s what the pope meant when he said, ‘Who am I to judge?’ He may have recanted and had severe penance just before he died. Who knows?

Senior: Can we talk about your drafting process –

Scalia: [Leans in, stage-whispers.] I even believe in the devil.

Senior: You do?

Scalia: Of course! Yeah, he’s a real person. Hey, c’mon, that’s standard Catholic doctrine! Every Catholic believes that.

Senior: Every Catholic believes this? There’s a wide variety of Catholics out there …

Scalia: If you are faithful to Catholic dogma, that is certainly a large part of it.

Senior: Have you seen evidence of the devil lately?

Scalia: You know, it is curious. In the Gospels, the devil is doing all sorts of things. He’s making pigs run off cliffs, he’s possessing people and whatnot. And that doesn’t happen very much anymore.

Senior: No.

Scalia: It’s because he’s smart.

Senior: So what’s he doing now?

Scalia: What he’s doing now is getting people not to believe in him or in God. He’s much more successful that way.

Senior: That has really painful implications for atheists. Are you sure that’s the – devil’s work?

Scalia: I didn’t say atheists are the devil’s work.

Senior: Well, you’re saying the devil is persuading people to not believe in God. Couldn’t there be other reasons to not believe?

Scalia: Well, there certainly can be other reasons. But it certainly favors the devil’s desires. I mean, c’mon, that’s the explanation for why there’s not demonic possession all over the place. That always puzzled me. What happened to the devil, you know? He used to be all over the place. He used to be all over the New Testament.

Senior: Right.

Scalia: What happened to him?

Senior: He just got wilier.

Scalia: He got wilier.

Senior: Isn’t it terribly frightening to believe in the devil?

Scalia: You’re looking at me as though I’m weird. My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the devil! It’s in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the devil! Most of mankind has believed in the devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the devil.

Senior: I hope you weren’t sensing contempt from me. It wasn’t your belief that surprised me so much as how boldly you expressed it.

Scalia: I was offended by that. I really was.

Commenting on the interview, “Spiritual Warfare” author Payne noted Scalia rejects the tendency in modern society to “compartmentalize” religious beliefs as a personal matter that has no bearing on public life.

“If it makes you feel good, that’s fine as far as your personal life goes, but as far as your professional life, it’s seen as hokey,” he said. “But Scalia had the core conviction to declare that he doesn’t ‘compartmentalize’ his religious beliefs from the rest of his life.”

Payne said America “has been thoroughly secularized” through its educational system, beginning with kindergarten.

“The assumption is that the supernatural is not real, so not only is the devil not real, God isn’t real, demons aren’t real, angels aren’t real, they are all thought to be silly,” Payne said.

He thought it was especially surprising that the reporter would be shocked that a devout Catholic would embrace fundamental teachings of his church.

“As a Catholic, you would believe in that stuff, but as an academic, you can’t. But I thought Scalia’s response was consistent with Catholic teachings,” Payne said.

Payne agreed with Scalia’s assertion that the devil now works covertly in the world, rather than placing himself in situations in which his presence is obvious.

“The devil is not stupid. Why would you, if you were a demon, throw something in somebody’s face if all they’re going to do is ridicule it? It wouldn’t be effective, but what if you could redefine the terms and convince people that the ones who believe in this are silly?” Payne asked.

His views on demonization don’t come largely from books but from 25 years of helping hundreds of people tormented by spiritual oppression.

“I personally believe that demonic deception is increasing, even within the Christian church, and that the worst of this deception is still to come,” he said.

But he said that if God “allows demonic activity to increase until His return, I believe He will also train up and equip a growing number of His children to faithfully and effectively contend with the powers of darkness who oppose His plans and people.”

“Too many North American churches are well on their way to becoming the same spiritually dead museums as Western European churches,” he warned.

***

CP Church & Ministry

Only 1 in 3 Young Born-Again Evangelicals Believe Jesus Is Only Way to Heaven, Apologist Says

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV, CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER

October 12, 2013

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina –Young American born-again believers are moving away from a biblically-centered worldview, with only one in three affirming that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, according to Steve Cable, senior vice president of Probe Ministries.

"We need to admit (that there's a problem)," Cable said on Friday at a session titled "What Do [Young] American Believers Really Believe and How Do We Save Them From Cultural Captivity?" at Southern Evangelical Seminary's 20th annual Christian Apologetics conference in Charlotte, N.C.

"Don't go around with your blinders thinking that everything is fine. We have a lot of people that aren't born again, so there's a lot of work to do. But then you look at the born-agains and see that we have even more work to do."

Cable, who recently published Cultural Captives: The Beliefs and Behavior of American Young Adults, focused the session on what he called "emerging adults," or young believers between 18-29 years old. He disputed arguments that evangelicals are well-positioned and that their numbers in America haven't changed much in the last 35 years, and brought up the work by sociologist Christian Smith, who is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society and the Center for Social Research at the University of Notre Dame.

According to Cable, in books such as Souls in Transition and Lost in Transition, Smith identified five disturbing patterns found in emerging adults. The sociologist argued that most emerging adults are morally adrift – their morals are personal and subjective; they are captive to consumerism; they have little civic and political engagement; they believe that sex is not a moral issue, and they engage in intoxication, or fake feeling of happiness.

"We need to focus on the upcoming generations, saving the lost, saving the captive believers. Don't stop when they leave high school. Most people's brains are not fully formed until they are in their early 20s," Cable said.

Several studies in recent times have tried to analyze the questions young Christians are struggling with, and why many of them are leaving the church. Bestselling author Eric Metaxas shared in an article posted in The Christian Post in July what one student who has left the faith once said: "Christianity is something that if you really believed it, it would change your life and you would want to change [the lives] of others. I haven't seen too much of that."

Metaxas noted that such remarks are "pretty sobering."

"This puts the ball in our court. Are we living lives that show our children that we actually believe what we say we believe?" he asked.

In his presentation on Friday, Cable analyzed a number of charts and graphs, including work done by Barna Research, Christian Smith, the General Social Survey, and the Baylor Religion Survey, which mostly came to the same conclusions about what young Americans and young American Christians believe.

The senior vice president of Probe Ministries said that the survey data showed that only 9 percent of Americans hold a Biblical view, and among emerging adults, that number is even smaller. In general, the statistics showed that in 1990, 11 percent of 18-30 year olds said they have no religion. That number increased to 31 percent in 2012.

"If it continues in that rate, it's not going to be too many years until we have over 50 percent of young adults in America who say they have no religion," he said.

Other notable stats showed that born-agains have decreased in number by 22 percent since 1976, while only one in three of emerging adults who said they have been born-again believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to get into heaven.

"This means that two thirds of them do not believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven," Cable said. "It's pretty hard to have a biblical belief in Jesus Christ and believe there are other ways to heaven."

Similarly, when asked basic questions relating to their faith, only one in three of born-again young evangelicals were found to hold a biblical worldview, and only one in five were actively engaged in practicing their faith.

"The evangelicals who are living out their lives as a witness to Jesus Christ, bringing these non-evangelicals to faith in the Lord – it's 1 out of 25," Cable added.

He offered, however, that those Christians who are going to church or identifying as born-agains but siding with what culture tells them instead of the Bible, called "cultural captives," can still be reached by truth.

"Interact with them, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel does not change," he advised.

"(They) need to be Christ servants. They need to learn to accept objective truth, and be aware of cultural traps."

As a possible solution, Cable offered a new in-depth 7-week church experience called "Once Captive," aimed at young adults, offering them ways to escape "cultural captivity" and embrace a biblical worldview.

abcNEWS

Vatican Misspells Jesus’ Name on Papal Medal

By Russell Goldman

Oct 10, 2013

Someone is going to be saying a “mea culpa.”

A medal issued by the Vatican commemorating Pope Francis’ first year as the Bishop of Rome included a rather glaring spelling error, a typo of Biblical proportions.

Engraved with the Latin phrase that the pope says inspired him to join the priesthood as a young man, Italy’s state mint misspelled the name of Jesus, calling the son of God Lesus instead.

The medals, of which 6,000 were pressed in silver and bronze and another 200 in gold, have now been recalled. The design included a portrait of Pope Francis on the obverse and on the reverse a work by the artist Mariangela Crisciotti.

The medals were to go on sale Tuesday and include the Latin inscription: “Vidit ergo Jesus publicanum et quia miserando atque eligendo vidit, ait illi sequere me,” according to the Vatican press office.

Mistakenly, however, the word “Lesus” was printed instead.

The phrase it the pope’s motto. It means, “Jesus, therefore, saw the publican, and because he saw by having mercy and by choosing, He said to him, ‘Follow me.”'

***

BibleProphecyBlog

Rebuilding the Jewish Temple

By Dr. Ed Hindson 
World Prophetic Ministry 


Q. When is the new Jewish Temple to be built, and how will this be accomplished on the Temple Mount?

A. The people of Israel are anxious to rebuild a new Temple, and many preparations have been made to that end already. Priests' vestments and vessels to be used in Temple services have been prepared, and priests are being trained. The main hindrance is the building site itself. The Temple Mount is home to several Islamic holy places: the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Whether the Temple can be constructed either next to, or in place of, these Islamic shrines awaits a determination of where the previous Jewish Temples stood.

Based on archaeological findings so far, there are three main theories of the location of the previous Temple, destroyed by the Romans in AD 70.

Tel Aviv architect Tuvia Sagiv claims that the Temple was at the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount near where the Al Aqsa Mosque is today. He suggests radar and thermographic scans give evidence of vaults underground, such as would be expected beneath the Temple.

Hebrew University physicist Asher Kaufmann believes the Temple was built at the northwestern corner of the Temple Mount, about 330 feet from the present Dome of the Rock. He bases this on an ancient artifact found at the site, believed to be the Foundation Stone of the Holy of Holies.

Several archaeologists believe the Temple stood at the exact place where the Dome of the Rock is today. This is based on existing remains found on the Temple Mount as well as clues in its eastern wall. It is also derived from the belief that the arrangement of the Temple's courts would be in the central part of the Mount.

The truth to this dilemma will obviously have to await further excavations, which in turn are hampered by the political situation in the area. Islamic excavations have endeavored to destroy evidence of the presence of past Jewish Temples on the Temple Mount. Israeli excavations have been severely limited by the Muslims, who have control of the holy sites on the Mount, being given that privilege by Israel following the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967.

INTERNATIONAL SOLUTION

Even if the placement of the Jewish Temple does not interfere with the existing Islamic holy sites, its construction could prove problematic, given the antipathy between the Jews and the Muslims. In such a case, an international settlement would have to be negotiated, possibly by someone with the skills of the coming Antichrist. In fact, the construction of the new Temple may be a part of the peace treaty the Antichrist signs with Israel in Daniel 9:27.

Regardless of its proper location on the Temple Mount, the Temple could be built without regard for the Islamic shrines if those sites are destroyed in a war (such as that prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39); by an earthquake; or by terrorism. In any case, a new Temple must be constructed no later than the midpoint of the Tribulation, given that it is the location for the Antichrist making his boastful demand for worship as God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

***

The Times Of India

Arafat was poisoned with radioactive polonium, Swiss radiation experts say

Kounteya Sinha, TNN

Oct 14, 2013

LONDON: Nine years after the mysterious death of Yasser Arafat, Swiss toxicologists and radiation experts have revealed that they have found traces of polonium on the Palestinian leader's clothes. This almost confirms that the Palestinian leader was poisoned to death in 2004 while in France.

The case report of the findings, published in the British medical journal Lancet is available with The Times of India.

Polonium as little as a speck of pepper is lethal for the human body. The radioactive substance can enter humans orally through food or drink or through inhaling. Radiation poisoning from polonium looks like the end stage of cancer leading to death in just days.

To investigate whether Arafat who led the Palestine Liberation Organization for 35 years and became the first president of the Palestinian Authority in 1996 died of polonium ingestion, the scientists focused their radio-toxicological analyzes on visible body fluid stains from specific belongings - underwear, toothbrush, hospital cap and sportswear.

A thorough analysis was carried out on 75 different samples, 38 of them taken from Arafat's belongings.

The case report says "The remaining 37 samples were references, which were not artificially contaminated with 21°Po (polonium). These included cotton items that had been kept for 10 years and protected from dust and products of radon decay in an attic".

The report then said about the findings "Several samples containing body fluid stains (blood and urine) contained higher unexplained 21°Po activities than the reference samples. These findings support the possibility of Arafat's poisoning with 21°Po. According to biokinetic modelling, the measured activities of 21°Po of samples are compatible with a lethal ingestion in 2004. Moreover, his clinical presentation could not rule out 21°Po poisoning".

Arafat died in Percy Hospital, France on November 11, 2004 at the age of 75. Doctors were unable to specify the cause of death as no autopsy was carried out in line with his widow's request. Arafat's medical records said he had a stroke resulting from a blood disorder.

Radio analysis was undertaken by the Institute of Radiation Physics and medical analyses by the University Centre of Legal Medicine team. Professor Gerard Waeber from the department of internal medicine, Lausanne University Hospital investigated the medical records of Arafat.

The scientists who published their findings on October 12 said at the time of publication, the remains of Yasser Arafat have been exhumed and are being investigated for cause of death.

He presented with a medical history that began in Ramallah on Oct 12, 2004, with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. Shortly after, his general health deteriorated with continuing gastrointestinal symptoms, thrombocytopenia, apyrexia, but the absence of inflammation.

According to the case report available with TOI, "On Oct 29, he was admitted to Percy Hospital. He had diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and generalized abdominal pain with mild liver and kidney failure that was associated with disseminated intravascular coagulation syndrome. His condition worsened, with acute renal failure, aggravation of a cholestatic jaundice and neurological coma. He was transferred to the intensive care unit, where he died of a cerebral haemorrhage. Despite numerous toxicological and clinical investigations, the cause of his illness remained unknown".

"There was no evidence of infectious, vascular, or cancerous disease and the treatment had been symptomatic only. Poisoning was considered but never confirmed by toxicological analyses. After the death of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, 21°Polonium poisoning was considered as a possible cause of Arafat's death. Although the absence of myelosuppression and hair loss does not favour acute radiation syndrome, symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, diarrhoea, and anorexia, followed by hepatic and renal failures, might suggest radioactive poisoning".

The report added that from a medico-legal perspective, this hypothesis is justified given the absence of a characterised cause of illness and the absence of toxicological evidence, including radiations, as well as the dearth of scientific literature in this topic.

The Swiss scientists said "In February, 2012, Arafat's widow made his medical records and his late belongings available to us. DNA analysis confirmed that the belongings were Arafat's. Toxicological elemental analyses done on his hair were unremarkable. Further investigations on several belongings did not reveal any known poison".

The scientists said that in radionuclide therapy, side-effects include nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and abdominal pain, with hair loss being less common. Toxicity can occur in bone marrow and, to a lesser extent, kidneys and liver.

"In Arafat's case, low marrow cellularity associated with ageing and non-bone-seeking biodistribution of 21°Po might have attenuated myelosuppression. Since ingested 21°Po is eliminated primarily through faeces, the gastrointestinal syndrome, associated with multiple organ failure, could be a predominant cause of death. The fact that around 20 half-lives had elapsed was clearly a challenge for measurement of 21°Po".

At present, three scientific teams are currently analysing body, shrine, and earth samples. Because of legal procedures, the date of publication of the detailed results of the exhumation analyses is unknown. An autopsy would have been useful in this case because although potential polonium poisoning might not have been identified during that procedure, body samples could have been kept and tested afterwards.

***

NaturalNews

Confirmed: Chase bank drops the hammer on capital controls; no money allowed to transfer out of USA starting Nov. 17th

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

by Mike Adams, (NaturalNews) I admit that when I saw today's breaking news on InfoWars.com about Chase Bank limiting cash withdrawals and banning international wire transfers, I was skeptical. Many readers didn't believe it, either. So just to check it out, I called my own accounting team to ask if we had received a similar letter from Chase, announcing that no international wire transfers would be allowed after Nov. 17th.

Sure enough, we were sent the same letter! I've posted a JPG image of the letter below so you can read it for yourself.

Or Click here to see the hi-res scan of this letter. This is the letter that we received directly from Chase. This is not secondhand information.

The letter clearly states that beginning November 17:

• All international wire transfers will be disallowed.

• All cash activity, including cash withdrawals and deposits, will be halted at "$50,000 per statement cycle." How are businesses who deal with a lot of cash (such as restaurants) supposed to function under such restrictions?

Chase Bank representatives told Natural News "everything is fine"

We called and spoke with Chase Bank to ask why these capital controls were being implemented on November 17th.

Their response was that these changes were being implemented "to better serve our customers." They did not explain how blocking all international wire transfers would "better serve" their customers, however.

Chase Bank specifically denied any knowledge of problems with cash on hand, or government debt or any such issue. They basically downplayed the entire issue and had no answers for why capital controls were suddenly being put into place.

Dropping the hammer on capital controls

This is the beginning of the capital controls we've been warning about for years. Throughout history, when governments are on the brink of financial default, they begin limiting capital controls in exactly the way we are seeing here.

Following that, governments typically seize government pension funds, meaning the outright theft of pensions for cops, government workers, etc., is probably just around the corner.

Finally, the last act of desperation by governments facing financial default is to seize private funds from banks, Cyprus-style. The precedent for this has already been set in Cyprus, and when that happened, I was among many who openly predicted it would spread to the United States.

This is happening, folks! The capital controls begin on November 17th. The bank runs may follow soon thereafter. Chase Bank is now admitting that you cannot use your own money that you've deposited there.

This is clearly stemming from a government policy that is requiring banks to prevent cash from leaving the United States. Such policies are only put into place when a huge financial default event is expected.

***

The Voice Of Russia

Fukushima radiation worse than feared - experts

Photo: EPA

IAEA experts are trying on the ground to sort out work to do away with the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. But the situation grows increasingly tense despite all efforts by the government.

Hundreds of tons of radioactive water leaked out of the reservoirs and reached the subterranean waters just days ago. It may have likewise leaked into the ocean, says an expert in nuclear physics and nuclear power generation, Igor Ostretsov, Doctor of Engineering.

“I am absolutely certain that the radioactive water leaks into the ocean have never stopped, because the plant molten corium is continuously cooled. The water used in the cooling is then stored in radioactive water storage tanks. A lot of radioactive water has been accumulated there to date. A lot of water is required for cooling. The tanks are actually non-durable and often overfilled, resulting in overflows. But this is not reported unless a pipe bursts”.

A state of emergency should now be declared throughout the world community. Japan needs international control, Tokyo can’t manage it on its own. Whatever the world nations can offer to cope with the situation should be used, or else the northern part of the Pacific will be contaminated. Discharging radioactive water into tanks and keeping them is pointless. Japan clearly needs an immediate extraordinary solution.

As of today, the radiation levels around the plant are so high that staying there for four hours would be lethal for a person. But the Japanese either failed or chose not to use the experience of Russian liquidators who tackled a similar situation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, says Professor of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, Vladimir Kuznetsov.

“Japan has been unsuccessfully trying to get the situation under control for more than two years now, under the supervision of the IAEA. But the situation is worsening by the week. Neither Japan, nor the International Atomic Energy Agency is capable of controlling the situation. The decisions made are known to be wrong. We had a concrete cover for the crippled Chernobyl reactor in six months after the accident, while in Japan they still have nothing now that two and a half years have passed since March 11th, 2011. Background radiation is 400 times the normal levels in towns just 10 kilometres away from the crippled nuclear plant”.

A complete removal of the plant equipment will take almost 50 years. How long the rehabilitation of radiation-affected residents of the area around the Fukushima plant may take is anyone’s guess. So far, the locals have been facing really grave problems, the vice president of the committee to restore the coastal area of the city of Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture, Toru Yabe, said in an interview with the Voice of Russia.

“Restoration has been very slow. Many people have been living in temporary housing for 2.5 years now; they still have no homes of their own. They may just as well live there for 3 or even 4 years", Toru Yabe said.

Dispelling the myth that building nuclear power plants in seismically active areas is safe has become an important lesson taught by the Fukushima disaster. It has been brought home to the Japanese for dozens of years that the situation is under control and they should have no fears. But it turned out that the elements are unpredictable and that humanity is defenceless against nature despite all of their technological progress.

In short, Professor Streltsov believes that Japan has entered the post-Fukushima period of development, one that will be qualitatively different in all parameters of social being. It would stand to reason to assume that the entire world has entered a new paradigm of development. And yet, there is no alternative to nuclear power production due to natural resource scarcity, ecological problems caused by hydrocarbon burning and the short payoff period of nuclear power-generating units.

Nuclear power plant accidents are, unfortunately, unavoidable. But proper use of technology, due regard for the international experience and close compliance with safety procedures can minimize the consequences and bring fresh hope to humanity.

***

VOA

Under Fire, TEPCO Prepares for Critical Phase of Fukushima Cleanup

Henry Ridgwell

October 15, 2013

TOKYO — Workers at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan are about to embark on one of the most critical aspects of the clean-up: removing the fuel rods from one of the worst-hit reactors. Critics say the plant’s owners, TEPCO, should not be trusted to carry out the operation and warn the consequences of any accident would be unprecedented.

Over 1500 fuel rods sit in a damaged storage pool 30 meters above the ground inside the shell of the reactor 4 building at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Safely removing them is the next big challenge for the plant’s owner, TEPCO.

General Manager Masayuki Ono said the operation has been carefully planned.

He explained that because the entire reactor 4 building was destroyed by a hydrogen explosion, TEPCO had to reinforce the structure. This happened during the first year and that new building is now strong enough to stand another earthquake, he added.

That hydrogen explosion - one of the iconic images of the Fukushima accident - left the inside of the pool littered with debris.

Debris, fuel rod removal

TEPCO’s first task is to remove the debris. And then, one by one, the fuel rods will be removed manually using a crane suspended above the crippled reactor building.

Ono explained that a fuel extraction cover was built over Unit 4 and installed at the fuel handling facility. This structure does not put any weight on the Reactor 4 building, and can be used to remove the fuel without adding any additional weight.

The fuel rods must be kept submerged and must not touch each other or break. Nuclear experts warn any mishaps could cause an explosion many times worse than in March 2011.

Mitsuhei Murata, Japan’s former ambassador to Switzerland and an anti-nuclear campaigner, said a series of incidents over the past 30 months - including radioactive water leaks - have called into question TEPCO’s ability to carry out this critical operation.

“The Unit 4 contains 10 times more Cesium-137 than Chernobyl. So in case the worst occurs, a total withdrawal [from the site] will be imposed, which means this can be considered as the beginning of the ultimate catastrophe of the world and the planet,” said Murata.

International help

Murata said the Fukushima crisis requires the world’s best scientific minds. “The two-and-a-half years of struggling by the state and by TEPCO have proven that nuclear accidents cannot be coped with by electric companies or by a single state. That’s why Japan should ask for international cooperation.”

Hironori Nakanishi, Director-General for Energy Policy at the government's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, said Japan is engaging foreign expertise.

“The sole responsibility in managing the situation safely is still on TEPCO corporation. But still we are in the same boat and we have to support their activity," said Nakanishi. "So in order to achieve that goal we asked specialists from all over the world, which consists of six people, from the United States, the UK, France, Russia and Ukraine.”

Inspectors from Japan’s Nuclear Regulation Authority have approved TEPCO’s planned operation to remove the fuel from Reactor 4. The process is scheduled to begin in November and will take up to 18 months.

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Epoch Times

Reconsidering History: Ancient Greeks Discovered America Thousands of Years Ago

By Vincenzo Cassano, Epoch Times | September 20, 2013

Three depictions of pineapples from the Roman era. The statue is from the third century A.D. and is now in the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire of Geneva. At the top right, a fresco in “Casa dell’Efebo” in Pompeii, and at the bottom right, an Augustan age mosaic, now in the palace “Massimo” of the National Museum of Rome. (Lucio Russo)

CAVALESE, Italy—The year 1492 is one of history’s most famous dates, when America was discovered by Europeans. However that “New World” may have been already known to the ancient Greeks, according to a book by Italian physicist and philologist Lucio Russo.

The translated title for Russo’s book would be “The Forgotten America: The Relationship Among Civilizations and an Error Made by Ptolemy.” But the author told the Epoch Times that the title for the English version, which isn’t ready yet, will probably be “When the World Shrunk.”

Some Clues

Among the many clues of contact between ancient Europeans and Native Americans are the few pre-Columbian texts to have survived the Spanish devastation.

In a book about the origins of the Maya-Quiché people there are many interesting points. The fathers of that civilization, according to the text, were “black people, white people, people of many faces, people of many languages,” and they came from the East. “And it isn’t clear how they crossed over the sea. They crossed over as if there were no sea,” says the text.

However, researchers later decided to translate the Mayan word usually meant for “sea” as “lake.”

There are also many Mayan depictions and texts about men with beards. But Native Americans do not grow beards.

Furthermore, some artworks of the ancient Romans show pineapples, a fruit that originated in South America.

Ways of Thought

Russo, who currently teaches probability at Tor Vergata University of Rome, says the main reason why researchers think America wasn’t known to ancient Greeks is not due to lack of proof, but to scientific dogma.

For years, the theory that civilization evolves according to fixed stages has been dominant. For example, a civilization discovers fire, then invents the wheel, writing, and so on, all the way to modern technology and democracy. All civilizations are supposed to pass through these stages and they can be ranked according to their level of evolution.

But Russo presents a different scenario: inventions, like writing or breeding, didn’t develop independently in every different civilization, but filtered from one to another.

It is also untrue that science becomes better and better with time. There were, in fact, many instances of scientific and cultural decay, like the destruction of Carthage and the fall of Greek civilization, from which the Romans inherited only a small portion of their scientific knowledge.

Importantly, one of the skills they didn’t inherit was how to navigate the oceans.

You can get an idea of this by considering that “the size of the ships in the Hellenistic era was exceeded only in the era of Napoleon” and that Columbus based his trip on a partial recovery of Hellenistic math, according to the book. The Greeks were, among other things, at that time the only civilization that was able to understand that the Earth was round—an understanding that was later lost.

Even today we are in an epoch of “scientific crisis,” Russo told the Epoch Times. But it’s a crisis different from that of Roman times. The modern decay hides itself using technological advancements as a mask and consists in shrinking the availability of knowledge, now the property of a few people.

The Error of Ptolemy

So, how did people come to forget America, if it is true that it was already known to the ancients? The error, according to the author, is mainly due to Ptolemy, who developed a world map finding a midpoint between the claims made by various ancient sources.

The key problem is the identification of the Fortunate Islands, which the ancient Greeks sometimes referred to, as the Canary Islands (near the West coast of Africa). But the Greeks were actually referring to the Antilles, according to Russo. The misunderstanding was due to the Romans and other post-Greek people’s disbelief and incapability of navigating the oceans.

With philological and mathematical reasoning, Russo leads the reader to understand the meaning of all of Ptolemy’s errors—which are generally considered pretty huge—showing how the knowledge of the planet by ancient Greeks was instead very precise. Ptolemy missed the latitude of Canary Islands by 15 degrees latitude, making them to appear on the point of the map were the Antilles would expected to be. Of course America was not on his map.

Reactions

According to Russo, the book prompted two kinds of extreme reactions. Scientists and philologists showed enthusiasm, while negative reactions came from historians and geographers, whom he said were often unable to understand some logical aspects of his works.

Russo thinks we have “a lot to learn” from the ancient Greeks. For example we should “try to limit excessive specialization,” because the most interesting things can be understood only by those who have a grasp of more than one aspect of human knowledge.

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Until next week...keep on believing.
Almondtree Productions

“And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
(Revelation 21:23)