Constitution clearly allows states, cities to make laws about religion
Charles C. Haynes, a senior scholar at the First Amendment Center, once again relies on "separation of church and state" to tell us school promotion of religion is unconstitutional. (Opinion Page, April 13)
If he wants to talk about the Constitution, let's review what it says about religion. And the only thing it says about religion.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
That is the only thing the law of the land says about religion.
It doesn't say states shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
It doesn't say local school boards shall or shall not make policies regarding religion.
It doesn't say federal judges shall determine school policy or how states, cities, or municipalities set their own rules or regulations or make their own laws about religion.
It does say the United States Congress shall make no laws promoting or prohibiting religion.
That is the beauty of our constitution. It gives the state governments and the people of the states the right to govern themselves according to their beliefs, values, and customs. It's called freedom.
Any judge who says "separation of church and state" is constitutional is wrong and they know they are wrong.
Judges who base their decisions not on the constitution but on the way they think things ought to be do not care about the truth. "Separation of church and state" is their truth.
The only job of a federal judge when it comes to religion is to tell Congress they can't make any laws about religion.
Lord Patten, a Conservative peer who will take control of the BBC Trust next month, is the highest-profile political figure to enter the debate over what is seen as a creeping attempt to remove Christianity from public life.
But his comments angered secularists, who last night expressed concern that his faith could affect his ability to remain objective in making decisions.
In a lecture delivered last week at Our Lady of Grace and St Edward in Chiswick, called 'Personal Faith and Public Service: Christian witness in the wider world', Lord Patten said he was dismayed by the attitude of secularists to the Pope's visit last year.
Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, the atheist campaigners, called for Pope Benedict XVI to be arrested when he came to Britain last year over the Catholic Church's record on child abuse, and demonstrations were held in London to protest at state funding for the papal visit.
"Some of the arguments put forward by secularists against the Pope's visit were lacking in intellectualism and were extraordinarily mean-spirited," said Lord Patten, who oversaw the Government's preparations for the papal trip.
"I'm surprised the atheists didn't have better arguments [against the Pope's visit]."
He claimed those who reject religious belief were hypocritical to portray religious people as being narrow-minded given the level of aggression they have displayed to Christians.
"It is curious that atheists have proved to be so intolerant of those who have a faith," he said.
"Their books would be a lot shorter if they couldn't refer to the Spanish Inquisition, but it is them who tend to have a level of Castillian intolerance about them."
The former governor of Hong Kong and current chancellor of Oxford University, who described himself as a cradle Catholic, said his own experience was that people looked down on him intellectually for having religious belief
He said: "It makes people think I'm peculiar and lack intellectual fibres because I don't have any doubts about my faith, but I'd be terrified to have doubts."
This admission echoes the claim made by Tony Blair in 2007 that people in political life who speak about their faith tend to be viewed by society as "nutters".
A report earlier this year, endorsed by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, warned that the Church faces a battle to prevent faith being seen as "a social problem" and says the next five years are set to be a period of "exceptional challenge".
Fears have been growing that Christians are suffering from an increasing level of discrimination following a series of cases in which they have been punished for sharing their beliefs.
Last week, Colin Atkinson, an electrician, was summoned to a disciplinary hearing by his employers for displaying a small palm cross on the dashboard of his company van - but eventually allowed to keep the symbol of his religion.
However, Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, said he was alarmed by Lord Patten's criticism of secularists and questioned whether he could remain impartial in his role as chairman of the BBC Trust, which is designed to represent the concerns of licence-fee payers.
"Lord Patten's comments don't bode well for his position as chairman of the BBC Trust," he said.
"He is supposed to represent all viewers, not just Catholics or religious people and I am quite concerned that he will not be able to be objective when religion comes into conflict with free expression in programme-making."
Mr Sanderson suggested the Conservative peer's faith could also influence his response to debates over the amount of time the BBC devotes to religion, which has been a recurring source of tension between the corporation and the Church of England.
Over recent years, the BBC has upset Christians by broadcasting the controversial Jerry Springer the Opera, which depicted Jesus in a nappy, and commissioning a cartoon featuring an infantile Pope bouncing on a pogo stick.
Fears have been raised amongst Church leaders that the BBC has become increasingly hostile to Christianity, but last year the corporation rejected calls from secularists for atheists to be included on Radio 4's Thought for the Day.
AP – In this April 21, 2011 photo, Wi-Fi logos are shown on a computer screen search engine in Buffalo, N.Y. …
By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press Carolyn Thompson, Associated Press
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of "pedophile!" and "pornographer!" stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn't need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.
That new wireless router. He'd gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.
"We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night," the man's lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, "Doldrum."
"No, I didn't," he insisted. "Somebody else could have but I didn't do anything like that."
"You're a creep ... just admit it," they said.
Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.
Plenty of others would agree. The Sarasota, Fla. man, for example, who got a similar visit from the FBI last year after someone on a boat docked in a marina outside his building used a potato chip can as an antenna to boost his wireless signal and download an astounding 10 million images of child porn, or the North Syracuse, N.Y., man who in December 2009 opened his door to police who'd been following an electronic trail of illegal videos and images. The man's neighbor pleaded guilty April 12.
For two hours that March morning in Buffalo, agents tapped away at the homeowner's desktop computer, eventually taking it with them, along with his and his wife's iPads and iPhones.
Within three days, investigators determined the homeowner had been telling the truth: If someone was downloading child pornography through his wireless signal, it wasn't him. About a week later, agents arrested a 25-year-old neighbor and charged him with distribution of child pornography. The case is pending in federal court.
It's unknown how often unsecured routers have brought legal trouble for subscribers. Besides the criminal investigations, the Internet is full of anecdotal accounts of people who've had to fight accusations of illegally downloading music or movies.
Whether you're guilty or not, "you look like the suspect," said Orin Kerr, a professor at George Washington University Law School, who said that's just one of many reasons to secure home routers.
Experts say the more savvy hackers can go beyond just connecting to the Internet on the host's dime and monitor Internet activity and steal passwords or other sensitive information.
A study released in February provides a sense of how often computer users rely on the generosity — or technological shortcomings — of their neighbors to gain Internet access.
The poll conducted for the Wi-Fi Alliance, the industry group that promotes wireless technology standards, found that among 1,054 Americans age 18 and older, 32 percent acknowledged trying to access a Wi-Fi network that wasn't theirs. An estimated 201 million households worldwide use Wi-Fi networks, according to the alliance.
The same study, conducted by Wakefield Research, found that 40 percent said they would be more likely to trust someone with their house key than with their Wi-Fi network password.
For some, though, leaving their wireless router open to outside use is a philosophical decision, a way of returning the favor for the times they've hopped on to someone else's network to check e-mail or download directions while away from home .
"I think it's convenient and polite to have an open Wi-Fi network," said Rebecca Jeschke, whose home signal is accessible to anyone within range.
"Public Wi-Fi is for the common good and I'm happy to participate in that — and lots of people are," said Jeschke, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that takes on cyberspace civil liberties issues.
Experts say wireless routers come with encryption software, but setting it up means a trip to the manual.
The government's Computer Emergency Readiness Team recommends home users make their networks invisible to others by disabling the identifier broadcasting function that allows wireless access points to announce their presence. It also advises users to replace any default network names or passwords, since those are widely known, and to keep an eye on the manufacturer's website for security patches or updates.
People who keep an open wireless router won't necessarily know when someone else is piggybacking on the signal, which usually reaches 300-400 feet, though a slower connection may be a clue.
For the Buffalo homeowner, who didn't want to be identified, the tip-off wasn't nearly as subtle.
It was 6:20 a.m. March 7 when he and his wife were awakened by the sound of someone breaking down their rear door. He threw a robe on and walked to the top of the stairs, looking down to see seven armed people with jackets bearing the initials I-C-E, which he didn't immediately know stood for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"They are screaming at him, 'Get down! Get down on the ground!' He's saying, 'Who are you? Who are you?'" Covert said.
"One of the agents runs up and basically throws him down the stairs, and he's got the cuts and bruises to show for it," said Covert, who said the homeowner plans no lawsuit. When he was allowed to get up, agents escorted him and watched as he used the bathroom and dressed.
The homeowner later got an apology from U.S. Attorney William Hochul and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent in Charge Lev Kubiak.
But this wasn't a case of officers rushing into the wrong house. Court filings show exactly what led them there and why.
On Feb. 11, an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees cybersecurity enforcement, signed in to a peer-to-peer file sharing program from his office. After connecting with someone by the name of "Doldrum," the agent browsed through his shared files for videos and images and found images and videos depicting children engaged in sexual acts.
The agent identified the IP address, or unique identification number, of the router, then got the service provider to identify the subscriber.
Investigators could have taken an extra step before going inside the house and used a laptop or other device outside the home to see whether there was an unsecured signal. That alone wouldn't have exonerated the homeowner, but it would have raised the possibility that someone else was responsible for the downloads.
After a search of his devices proved the homeowner's innocence, investigators went back to the peer-to-peer software and looked at logs that showed what other IP addresses Doldrum had connected from. Two were associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo and accessed using a secure token that UB said was assigned to a student living in an apartment adjacent to the homeowner. Agents arrested John Luchetti March 17. He has pleaded not guilty to distribution of child pornography.
Luchetti is not charged with using his neighbor's Wi-Fi without permission. Whether it was illegal is up for debate.
"The question," said Kerr, "is whether it's unauthorized access and so you have to say, 'Is an open wireless point implicitly authorizing users or not?'
"We don't know," Kerr said. "The law prohibits unauthorized access and it's just not clear what's authorized with an open unsecured wireless."
In Germany, the country's top criminal court ruled last year that Internet users must secure their wireless connections to prevent others from illegally downloading data. The court said Internet users could be fined up to $126 if a third party takes advantage of their unprotected line, though it stopped short of holding the users responsible for illegal content downloaded by the third party.
The ruling came after a musician sued an Internet user whose wireless connection was used to download a song, which was then offered on an online file sharing network. The user was on vacation when the song was downloaded.
When the next king of England is crowned, he will go through the same sacred ceremonies as his illustrious predecessors. Like them, just before being crowned, he will be anointed with oil from the Holy Land. This takes place under a canopy that is lowered over the monarch’s head so that the public cannot see the actual moment of anointing. As soon as the oil is poured, according to tradition, the Holy Spirit enters into his or her body, transforming him or her into a divine being. He or she literally becomes another person, and from then on may take whatever titular name they find appropriate.
The next coronation, however, is going to be even more special, because it will take place on top of a mosaic representing the exact center of the cosmos, and the end of time. That mosaic was created in 1268 by the command of King Henry III, but it has not been seen at the coronation for over 150 years. It is called the “Cosmati Pavement,” and it has only recently been rediscovered. It was hiding under a carpet this entire time. Strangely, however, the same traditional spot for the coronation has continued to be used, just with the monarch and everybody else supposedly ignorant about what lay beneath his or her feet. It is now being restored so that the next king to reign will have the honor of standing upon it as the Holy Spirit enters into him.
To some extent, all monarchs typify the archetype of the original “Lord of the Earth” upon which their title and role is based. This primordial figure was viewed by the ancients as King Saturn, and I have already written a great deal about this in my essay series “Regnum in Potentia,” Part 1 and Part 2. The castle and throne of that king was always seen as the symbolic “center of the Earth,” the pole axis upon which the universe rotates. The king was seen as playing a pivotal role in that process as a conduit between Heaven and Earth.
Through him, the pattern on Earth modeled that of Heaven, but the two worlds were also thought to be kept separate by the polar throne, which literally was viewed by ancient man as keeping the sky, and the ethereal realm it represented, from collapsing into, and thus annihilating, the land of the living. But upon his throne, at the seat of his power, both worlds existed simultaneously, as did all moments in time. This is how the primordial King Chronos or Saturn, the god of time, was viewed back then, and this same essential symbolism was adopted by the monarchs of every civilization that came afterward.
It was in this mythical timeless realm, at the center of the world, that the Cosmati Pavement at Westminster Abbey was created to represent. A Latin inscription around the perimeter of the work states: “The spherical globe here shows the archetypal macrocosm.” There is a riddle in the tiles pertaining to the end of time, which helps tocalculate the final date. The Latin inscription gives the clues. Here are those clues, as translated by John Flete (from the official Westminster Abbey website):
In the year of Christ one thousand two hundred and twelve plus sixty minus four, the third King Henry, the city, Odoricus and the abbot put these porphyry stones together.
If the reader wisely considers all that is laid down, he will find here the end of the primum mobile; a hedge (lives for) three years, add dogs and horses and men, stags and ravens, eagles, enormous whales, the world: each one following triples the years of the one before.
The Cosmati Pavement
The meaning of this has already been worked out by Richard Sporley, a monk who resided at Westminster in the Middle Ages. He wrote:
The ‘primum’ mobile means this world, whose age or ending the writer estimates, as he imagines it, by increasing the numbers three-fold.
Sporley had worked it out that a hedge has a lifespan of three years, with nine for a dog, twenty-seven for a horse, eighty for a man, and so on. The most interesting item on the list, here translated “enormous whales,” was actually referred to as “sea serpents” on the archeology program “Time Teams” on British television, with a very mythical lifespan attributed to them.
Sea serpents, also known as “dragons,” were very important to our ancestors. The Leviathan of the Hebrews, and Tiamat of the Sumerians, were viewed as representations of the primordial chaos that had given birth to the universe, and would one day swallow it again (or in the case of Leviathan, be swallowed itself). In the meantime, a monarch must always reign on the throne of the Lord of the Earth. By bearing the weight of the “primum mobile” on his own shoulders, he prevents chaos from overtaking the earth, and postpones the day of judgment. This is the image of St. George subduing the dragon that is now emblematic of England, for whom he is the patron saint. Although George was not one of them, the English frequently canonized their monarchs, attributing saintly and magical qualities to them, including the ability to heal and to protect their kingdom from evil.
St. George and the dragon
When you add up the mythical ages of all the animals given, including the man and the sea serpent, then multiply them by three as the inscription tells you to, you get 19,683. I am not exactly sure what creation date we are supposed to state from. I have heard television presenters say that the code means the world will end at 19, 683 AD. But as far as I can tell, no beginning date is in fact given, and therefore the exact end date is not known.
What is certain, however, is that the crowning of the next king of England will be very interesting indeed, with certain apocalyptic overtones to it. I am also fairly certain that someone somewhere knew where the Cosmati Pavement was all along. They probably know what it means as well. But they aren’t telling.
Note: The official coronation anthem for a British monarch is called “Zadok the Priest” (after the priests of Israel, who anointed their monarchs). It was written by Handel in 1727, as commissioned by King George I as one of his last acts.
The Catholic Church exercised a prominent role in shaping America's labor movement. From the onset of significant immigration in the 1840s, the Church in the United States was predominantly urban, with both its leaders and congregants usually of the laboring classes. Over the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, nativism, anti-Catholicism, and anti-unionism coalesced in Republican politics, and Catholics gravitated toward unions and the Democratic Party.
The Knights of Labor was the earliest labor organization in the United States, and in the 1880s, the was the largest labor union in the United States. and it is estimated that at least half its membership was Catholic (including Terence Powderly, its president from 1881 onward).
Effects of Rerum Novarum This was the context in which Pope Leo XIII wrote an encyclical letter that articulated the teaching of the Church with a view to the “new things” of the modern world. In Rerum Novarum (1891), Leo criticized the concentration of wealth and power, spoke out against the abuses that workers faced and demanded that workers should be granted certain rights and safety regulations.
He upheld the right of voluntary association, specifically commending labor unions. At the same time, he reiterated the Church’s defense of private property, condemned socialism, and emphasized the need for Catholics to form and join unions that were not compromised by secular and revolutionary ideologies.[1]
Rerum Novarum provided new impetus for Catholics to become active in the labor movement, even if its exhortation to form specifically Catholic labor unions was widely interpreted as irrelevant to the pluralist context of the United States. While atheism underpinned many European unions and stimulated Catholic unionists to form separate labor federations, the religious neutrality of unions in the U.S. provided no such impetus. American Catholics seldom dominated unions, but they exerted influence across organized labor. Catholic union members and leaders played important roles in steering American unions away from socialism.
Defining Tyndale as a Roman Catholic without mentioning his role or fate
FRIDAY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
April 8, 2011 Volume 12, Issue 14
USA TODAY SAYS CATHOLIC CHURCH HAD SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE KJV (Friday Church News Notes, April 8, 2011, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)
- A USA Today report on a traveling Bible exhibit makes the amazing claim that the Roman Catholic Church had a significant role in the King James Bible. The exhibit, called Passages, is set to open at the Vatican in October. “The announcement was made at the Vatican Embassy to highlight the Catholic contribution to the best-loved English text, the 1611 KJV, which draws about 80% of its majestic language from an earlier translation by a Catholic priest” (“New Museum to Use Science to Tell Bible’s History,” USA Today, April 8, 2011). What the reporter forgot to mention was Rome’s most significant role in that project, which was burning that “Catholic priest” in a public spectacle in Vilvoorde, Belgium. The “priest” in question was William Tyndale, who published the first printed English Bible and the first English Bible translated directly from Greek and Hebrew. Though he was an ordained Catholic priest, he renounced the Roman Catholic Church and its heresies and called the pope the Antichrist. In The Practice of Prelates, Tyndale likened the pope to an ivy which climbs up a tree and gradually saps the strength of the host and kills it, emphasizing that this is what the pope had done to England and every other nation under the papal thumb. Tyndale called Roman Catholicism “a nest for unclean birds.” Tyndale also brazenly disobeyed Rome’s law that forbade the translation of the Bible into the common languages of the people without ecclesiastical permission. When the Tyndale New Testament was smuggled into England (because the Roman Catholic authorities there forbade its distribution) large quantities were confiscated and burned, beginning in 1526. By 1528, the prisons were filled with those who had committed the “crime” of reading the New Testament in English, and in 1529 Thomas Hitton became the first in a long line of believers who were burned at the stake for possessing the Tyndale Bible. (Others had previously been burned for possessing the Wycliffe Bible.) In May 1535, Tyndale was arrested for his “heresies” and for his audacity at thumbing his nose at papal laws. After being imprisoned for nearly a year and a half in a cold, dreary dungeon in the castle at Vilvoorde, William Tyndale was taken out to the public square, strangled, and his body burned. Roman Catholic authorities also burned John Rogers, the translator of the Matthew’s Bible, another Bible in the lineage of the 1611 King James. Further, the Geneva Bible, which was the most popular English Bible before the KJV, was produced in Geneva, Switzerland, instead of England for the simple reason that the Roman Catholic Queen Mary was pouring out such vicious persecution upon Bible believers that many fled to Geneva for safety. And going back before Tyndale to the first English Bible, let’s not forget that the Roman Catholic Church condemned John Wycliffe of “heresy” for translating the English Bible and so hated his memory that they dug up his bones and burned them nearly 44 years after his death. Yes, the Roman Catholic Church did have a major role in the English Bibles preceding the King James, and let’s not forget it!
His Grace has occasionally turned to this matter, but it is generally not an angle which interests the 'mainstream media'. Today, however, The Guardian reports that two Croatian generals - Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač - have been found guilty of war crimes against the Serbs, and have received lengthy jail terms.
This was, of course, a Roman Catholic Croat majority against an Orthodox Serb minority, but it is rarely reported in those terms. Today, The Guardian boldly refers to a 'recalcitrant and powerful Catholic church'. Usually, only when the report is of the persecution of Bosnian Muslims does a hint of religion enter the equation. We are told:
Judges in The Hague found Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač guilty on eight of nine counts for commanding operations that included the shelling of civilians, the torching of Serbian homes in south-west Croatia, the murder of hundreds of elderly Serbs and the forced exodus of at least 20,000 from the Serbian minority rooted in the Dalmatian hinterland for centuries.
Gotovina was given a 24-year jail sentence; Markač was jailed for 18 years.
This represents a political disaster and profound diplomatic embarassment for Croatia: but it is a triumphant vindication for Serbia. Effectively, the Croats have been told that the decisive victory of the war, which sealed their independent statehood, was a war crime. The judges found:
"Croatian forces committed acts of murder, cruel treatment, inhumane acts, destruction, plunder, persecution and deportation. There was a widespread and systematic attack directed against this Serb civilian population, (creating) an environment in which those present there had no choice but to leave."
His Grace has been sent a letter relating to this, which he is pleased to publish:
Sir
A UN court in the Hague has convicted a key wartime Croatian commander, General Ante Gotovina and another General Mladen Markac of committing atrocities in a campaign of shelling, murder and persecution which drove Serbs out of Croatia's Krajina border region in 1995. Having spoken at a Downing Street demonstration at the time, trying to get the British media to acknowledge those crimes, I am personally pleased.
At last the true horror of the persecutions of Serbs by Croats is acknowledged officially in western media who, throughout the Yugoslav war (begun by Croatia in 1991 when they declared illegal independence and started persecuting Serbs in Croatia) blamed only the Serbs.
The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has also delivered a damning verdict on Croatia's then-president, Franjo Tudjman who declared that independence and whose 1969 book described genocide "as a natural phenomenon commanded by the Almighty in defence of the only true faith (Roman Catholicism)" - Serbs are of course Orthodox Christians. I note that even today the Croatian Roman Catholic Church has defended these convicted Generals.
Tudjman was said by the Court to have led a "joint criminal enterprise" to repopulate the Krajina region with Croats after driving out Serbs. It was Tudjman who had the full support of Germany and Croatia has been invited to join the European Union!
Muslim militants shoot young man dead after learning he had begun to follow Christ.
NAIROBI, Kenya, April 20 (CDN) — Two Muslim extremists in Somalia on Monday (April 18) murdered a member of a secret Christian community in Lower Shabele region as part of a campaign to rid the country of Christianity, sources said.
An area source told Compass two al Shabaab militants shot 21-year-old Hassan Adawe Adan in Shalambod town after entering his house at 7:30 p.m.
“Two al Shabaab members dragged him out of his house, and after 10 minutes they fired several shots on him,” said an area source who requested anonymity. “He then died immediately.”
The militants then shouted “Allahu Akbar [God is greater]” before fleeing, he said.
Adan, single and living with his Muslim family, was said to have converted to Christianity several months ago. Area Christians said they suspected someone had informed the Islamic militants of his conversion. One source said that a relative who belonged to al Shabaab had told Adan’s mother that he suspected her son was a Christian.
“This incident is making other converts live in extreme fear, as the militants always keep an open eye to anyone professing the Christian faith,” the source said.
Two months ago there was heavy fighting between the rebel al Shabaab militants and forces of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), in which the TFG managed to recover some areas controlled by the rebels. Al Shabaab insurgents control much of southern and central Somalia.
With estimates of al Shabaab’s size ranging from 3,000 to 7,000, the insurgents seek to impose a strict version of sharia (Islamic law), but the transitional government in Mogadishu fighting to retain control of the country treats Christians little better than the al Shabaab extremists do. While proclaiming himself a moderate, President Sheikh Sharif Sheik Ahmed has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.
Al Shabaab was among several splinter groups that emerged after Ethiopian forces removed the Islamic Courts Union, a group of sharia courts, from power in Somalia in 2006. Said to have ties with al Qaeda, al Shabaab has been designated a terrorist organization by several western governments.
On Jan. 7, a mother of four was killed for her Christian faith on the outskirts of Mogadishu by al Shabaab militia, according to a relative. The relative, who requested anonymity, said Asha Mberwa, 36, was killed in Warbhigly village when the Islamic extremists cut her throat in front of villagers who came out of their homes as witnesses.
She is survived by her children – ages 12, 8, 6 and 4 – and her husband, who was not home at the time she was apprehended. Her husband and children have fled to an undisclosed location.
"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things" Daniel 7:8
"I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake:"Daniel 7:11
"And he shall speak great words against the most High..."Daniel 7:25
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Revelation 13:5-6
Fulfillment
To learn who the Antichrist is and how this prophecy has already been fulfilled please start our online Bible prophecy lessons today.
Jesus Christ Honors God
"The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." Isaiah 50:4
Fulfillment
"And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?" Luke 4:22
"Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man." John 7:45-46
"Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me."John 8:54
"For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."2 Peter 1:17
In the scriptures below are recorded two instances where Jesus was accused of blasphemy.
"I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God." John 10:31-33
"And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.
9:3 And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth." Matthew 9:2-3
According to the Bible, a man who thinks he can forgive sins or makes himself as God is a blasphemer.
However, was it ok for Jesus to claim to be God and forgive people's sins? Yes.
"For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." Matthew 9:5-6
"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." Matthew 17:5
Never Man Spake Like this Man
Many who were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God were misled by the false reasoning of the priests and rabbis. These teachers had repeated with great effect the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that He would "reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously;" that He would "have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." Isa. 24:23; Ps. 72:8. Then they made contemptuous comparisons between the glory here pictured and the humble appearance of Jesus. The very words of prophecy were so perverted as to sanction error. Had the people in sincerity studied the word for themselves, they would not have been misled. The sixty-first chapter of Isaiah testifies that Christ was to do the very work He did. Chapter fifty-three sets forth His rejection and sufferings in the world, and chapter fifty-nine describes the character of the priests and rabbis.
God does not compel men to give up their unbelief. Before them are light and darkness, truth and error. It is for them to decide which they will accept. The human mind is endowed with power to discriminate between right and wrong. God designs that men shall not decide from impulse, but from weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture. Had the Jews laid by their prejudice and compared written prophecy with the facts characterizing the life of Jesus, they would have perceived a beautiful harmony between the prophecies and their fulfillment in the life and ministry of the lowly Galilean.
Many are deceived today in the same way as were the Jews. Religious teachers read the Bible in the light of their own understanding and traditions; and the people do not search the Scriptures for themselves, and judge for themselves as to what is truth; but they yield up their judgment, and commit their souls to their leaders. The preaching and teaching of His word is one of the means that God has ordained for diffusing light; but we must bring every man's teaching to the test of Scripture. Whoever will prayerfully study the Bible, desiring to know the truth, that he may obey it, will receive divine enlightenment. He will understand the Scriptures. "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." John 7:17, R. V.
On the last day of the feast, the officers sent out by the priests and rulers to arrest Jesus, returned without Him. They were angrily questioned, "Why have ye not brought Him?" With solemn countenance they answered, "Never man spake like this Man."
Hardened as were their hearts, they were melted by His words. While He was speaking in the temple court, they had lingered near, to catch something that might be turned against Him. But as they listened, the purpose for which they had been sent was forgotten. They stood as men entranced. Christ revealed Himself to their souls. They saw that which priests and rulers would not see,--humanity flooded with the glory of divinity. They returned, so filled with this thought, so impressed by His words, that to the inquiry, "Why have ye not brought Him?" they could only reply, "Never man spake like this Man."
The priests and rulers, on first coming into the presence of Christ, had felt the same conviction. Their hearts were deeply moved, and the thought was forced upon them, "Never man spake like this Man." But they had stifled the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Now, enraged that even the instruments of the law should be influenced by the hated Galilean, they cried, "Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed."
Those to whom the message of truth is spoken seldom ask, "Is it true?" but, "By whom is it advocated?" Multitudes estimate it by the numbers who accept it; and the question is still asked, "Have any of the learned men or religious leaders believed?" Men are no more favorable to real godliness now than in the days of Christ. They are just as intently seeking earthly good, to the neglect of eternal riches; and it is not an argument against the truth, that large numbers are not ready to accept it, or that it is not received by the world's great men, or even by the religious leaders.
The Antichrist - A Comparison of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13)
The details of the visions of the little horn of Daniel 7 and the first beast of Revelation 13 reveal the antichrist of Bible prophecy.
Daniel's Vision
"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea."
"And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."
"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it."
"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh."
"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it."
"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns."
"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." Daniel 7:2-8
"I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them" Daniel 7:21
"And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings."
"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." Daniel 7:24-25
John's Vision
"And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." Revelation 13:1-2
"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."
"And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"
"And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months."
"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."
"And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations."
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:3-8
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six." Revelation 13:17-18
Now lets take a closer look at the similarities:
1. The beasts arise 'out of the sea', 'up from the sea'
Through the books of Revelation and Daniel God gives us a thorough description of the antichrist of Bible prophecy. It is important to identify the antichrist because from it will come the sign, or "mark", of it's authority. Against this mark, "the mark of the beast", or the mark of the authority of the antichrist, comes one of the Bible's strongest prohibitions.
"And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:" Revelation 14:9-10
16. 'And he causeth all, to receive a mark', 'think to change times and laws:'
