The cup Jesus bore

MATTHEW 27
1 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:
2 And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.
3 Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that.
5 And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
6 And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood.
7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.
8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value;
10 And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me.
11 And Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, Art thou the King of the Jews? And Jesus said unto him, Thou sayest.
12 And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.
13 Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee?
14 And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marveled greatly.
15 Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would.
16 And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas.
17 Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?
18 For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.
19 When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.
20 But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.
21 The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.
22 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.
23 And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.
24 When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.
25 Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.
26 Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers.
28 And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe.
29 And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
30 And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head.
31 And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
33 And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.
35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
36 And sitting down they watched him there;
37 And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
38 Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.
39 And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads,
40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
41 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said,
42 He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
43 He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.
44 The thieves also, which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth.
45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elijah.
48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.
49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.
50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:
56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's children.
57 When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple:
58 He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.
59 And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60 And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher, and departed.
61 And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulcher.
62 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,
63 Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.
64 Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.
65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
66 So they went, and made the sepulcher sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Cassino Capitalism ( Who is stealing your money)

In plain terms the economist tells us how your hard earn cash is being stolen.
Jane D'Arista is an economist with the Financial Markets Center in Philomont, VA. She is a Research Associate with the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and author of the masterful study of U.S. financial regulation, The Evolution of U.S. Finance. For more than thirty years, Jane D'Arista has been one of the country's most insightful analysts of financial markets and regulation.



Banks Gone Wild



JAMES 5
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be ye also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.




Ezekiel 7:19
"They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity."

The momentum towards church and state (The Illegal Union)

Catholic Bishops Help Pass Pelosicare

Written by Cliff Kincaid

Sunday, 08 November 2009 17:47

The AARP and American Medical Association supported H.R. 3692, the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009, but a careful analysis of the media coverage demonstrates that it was the U.S. Catholic Church that provided the winning margin. Yet, the liberal media are failing to raise the issue of the alleged separation of church and state. Contrary to some media reports, the U.S. Catholics Bishops never opposed a national health care scheme. In fact, their main objection was to a provision for federal funding of abortion. Once that provision was eliminated, the Catholic Bishops embraced the bill. On Saturday, after Catholic lobbyists had finalized a deal with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most prominent Catholic in the U.S. Government, the Politico reported that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had "delivered a critical endorsement" to Pelosi "by signing off on late-night agreement to grant a vote on an amendment barring insurance companies that participate in the exchange from covering abortions." The anti-abortion amendment by Rep. Bart Stupak, a Catholic Democrat, passed. Hence, the Bishops are now officially in favor of a bureaucratic plan that could spell the end to freedom of choice in health care and financially bankrupt the U.S. "A half dozen lobbyists for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops joined negotiators in Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to come to terms," reported the Christian Science Monitor. The Hill newspaper reported that Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) had been trying to broker a deal and appealed to the Catholic Bishops. "I would like the [U.S. Conference of Catholic] Bishops, who as I understand it want a bill, to help us work out a plan where we don't have winners and losers," Waxman was quoted as saying. "Because the losers will make us lose the bill and the winners won't have won anything." NBC's Doug Adams reported that the Catholic Bishops were "lobbying hard." The shocking turn of events once again demonstrates the extreme left-wing drift of the Catholic Church, which is the nation's largest religious denomination with 67 million members and run by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. But their role in passing Pelosicare is not the only evidence of such a turn. The Bishops poured more than $7.3 million of parishioners' money into the corrupt left-wing organization ACORN over the last decade before publicity over the organization's scandals forced suspension of the funding. The Bishops were in favor of the health care plan, as long as abortion funding was deleted. In fact, as we noted in an October AIM Report, "On domestic matters, it is frequently reported that the Roman Catholic Bishops in the U.S. oppose the Obama health care plan. In fact, the bishops believe that 'health care is a basic human right,' which is the premise of the Obama plan and it is driving the campaign to have the federal government take over the health care sector. The Bishops disagree with Obama on tax-funding of abortion, but on other matters-such as health care for immigrants and the poor-the Bishops are to the left of the plans introduced by Congressional Democrats." Blogger Steven Waldman of Beliefnet.com made the critical point that while most pro-life groups were either opposed to Democratic-style universal health care plans or neutral, "The Catholic Bishops are the only major pro-life group that wants health care reform." But why? In addition to a socialist philosophy about the role of government, the Catholic Church operates 600 Catholic Hospitals, many of which serve legal and illegal immigrants. A national health care plan is a means by which these costs could be dumped on taxpayers. Another factor could be the influence of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which recently announced a major agreement with the Catholic Bishops to make it easier for workers in Catholic hospitals to join unions. These hospitals have 525,193 full-time employees and 233,934 part-time workers who would normally be entitled to employer-paid health insurance. But under Pelosicare they could be transferred to a government plan offered under a so-called "health insurance exchange." Once again, taxpayers would be stuck with the bill. "Health reform will bring the U.S. closer to a true, coordinated health care system. We need and deserve a solid health care infrastructure that serves everyone and promotes the common good," says the Catholic Health Association. In addition to supporting "provisions in the legislation that will make health care more affordable for low-income people and the uninsured," a November 7 Bishops' letter to Congress cautioned against watering down provisions in the bill covering immigrants. It said, "We remain deeply concerned that immigrants be treated fairly and not lose the health care coverage that [they] have now." The Bishops are so radical on health care reform that in a November 6 letter to Congress they endorsed government health care for illegal aliens. The letter said they "support access for immigrants to the health-insurance exchange, regardless of legal status, and support removal of the five-year ban on legal immigrants accessing Medicaid and other federal health-care programs..." (emphasis added). Kathy Saile, director of domestic social development with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying that illegal aliens should be included in any health care plan because health care is "a basic right" and "you can't start cutting people out."

Pandemic training in Canada based on the Pneumonic outbreak in the Ukraine

Yesterday I posted Videos from Russian news agency of what is happening in the Ukraine as far as the Pneumonic plague happening there.
Today Canada is training to deal with this very possible scenario.
They are telling us something folks look out.

Sentence of whipping , and assaulting an IranianChristian couple

Oct. 11 . 2007- fcnn

A Christian couple were sentenced to be whipped and were announced Mortad by the Justice Court Of Revolution for attending a home based church and having devotional time.

A Christian couple were sentenced to be whipped and were announced Mortad by the Justice Court Of Revolution , for attending a home based church and having devotional time.

We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. ( Acts 14:22)

FCNN_ An Iranian Christian couple ( their names are kept confidential in FCNN ) were arrested along with other believers on Sep. 21.2005 by the Government agents. They had gathered in a

house in a town northwest of Tehran

( Gohar dasht ) for their regular prayer and

devotional time.

After about two years , on July 2007 their case was submitted to the Court of Revolution , brach 3.

According to the report , this Christian couple decided to marry seven years ago , but because of some boundaries in Iranian Churches regarding the rules of Marriage

between ex-Muslims and other ethnics inIran, they were rejected a Christian legal certificated wedding ceremony , so they decided to have their wedding outside the church by the Islamic Law.

The woman was born a Christian in an Assyrian-Iranian family and the man was converted to

Christianity long before they married.

According to the Court of Revolution , wedding of non-muslims by the Islamic Law is equivalent to conversion to Islam. So , the confession of faith in Christ before the Judge by the wife was an indication of turning to christianity again , therefor she was announced a Mortad ( a person who turns away from Islam, in this case the sentence is death).

The same was with the husband.

According to the Court they had to present themselves to the Authorities on a regular basis and sign a paper until the court decides the punishment. The building they had to go to is located on somewhere near the Azadi Square . The only people in that building were civic agents.

The last time the wife was present there to make a signature , one of the agents ( who was called Haj Agha , a clergy man ) sexually abused her . As a result she was so terrified that

she decided not to go back there again , not even for a signature!

After few days , on September 2007 , two female and 4 male agents go to this couple's house and by showing them an official letter from the Court , execute the sentence of whipping right there in their house.

According to the latest news , this couple are under a high mental pressure right now.

We would like to kindly request all Iranians and believers in Christ all over the world to pray for peace , health , and protection of this family.

c0ntact us

info@fcnn.tv

Point to ponder

Luke 21:26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

The beast that speaks like a dragon

“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” Revelation 13:11.
Is America the lamb like beast ? yes ! see here,here and here and the significance of 911

Proof in the news that one national will speak as a dragon. How does a nation speak ?by its laws. Case in point.

Emergency Declaration for H1N1 Flu

Authority
Section 1135 of the Social Security Act [42 USC §1320b–5] permits the Secretary of Health and Human Services to waive certain requirements for healthcare facilities in response to emergencies. Two conditions must be met for the Secretary to be able to issue such “1135 waivers”: first, the Secretary must have declared a Public Health Emergency; second, the President must have declared an emergency or major disaster either through a Stafford Act Declaration or National Emergencies Act Declaration. If these conditions are met, then the Secretary may waive or modify Federal requirements as listed in section 1135. After the Secretary invokes section 1135, healthcare facilities may petition for 1135 waivers in response to particular needs, and only within the geographic and temporal limits of the emergency declarations.

In other words the government knows what best for you and "They " will do what's best weather you like it or not.

Under Section 1135:

The Secretary will issue waivers or modifications under section 1135 for specific requirements to match the specific situational needs. The requirements that may be waived include certain requirements related to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). These requirements provide important protections for patients during normal day-to-day operations, but they may impede the ability of healthcare facilities to fully implement disaster operations plans that enable appropriate care during emergencies. For example, requirements under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) prohibit hospitals from sending an individual to an off-campus location for an appropriate screening.

• Waivers are permitted only to the extent they ensure that sufficient health care items and services are available to meet the needs of Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP beneficiaries in the emergency area during the emergency period. The “emergency area” and the “emergency period” are the geographic area, in which, and the time period, during which, the dual declarations exist. For this event, the emergency area is nationwide and the emergency period begins on October 23, 2009, and will last through duration of the declared Public Health Emergency for 2009 H1N1 influenza. HIPAA waivers are subject to special time limits as discussed below.
• Permitted actions include the waiver or modification of conditions of participation, other certification requirements, and program participation requirements for health care providers, pre-approval requirements; waiver of sanctions for certain directions or relocations and transfers that otherwise would violate EMTALA; waiver of sanctions related to Stark self-referral prohibitions; modifications to deadlines and timetables for the performance of required activities; and waiver of sanctions and penalties arising from noncompliance with certain HIPAA privacy regulations.

In other words "We the Government say when its a go" "We make the rules" We = the government.

The dragon seeks total control. And its coming in stages.Step by step by step.Via laws.
If you keep a frog in a pot and increase the heat slowly he will not jump out.

Its never too late to learn from history.The Spanish Influenza of 1918

Royalblood :Something tells me that we need to revisit the history of epidemics. This one in particular now that we have the Ukraine epidemic New flu strain taking place and not covered by none of the main stream media. Friends take notes of the links posted below this one. It may just be the swine flue is just Smoke of a Fire Storm that is on the Horizon.
Listen to the interview here then read this history below

The Spanish Influenza of 1918 was the greatest, most lethal pandemic the world has ever known. In its 10-month duration between 22 and 40 million people perished worldwide. Estimates place the death toll in the United States at over 675,000 with over 22 million becoming ill. Leading physicians of the time thought the illness a bacterium, but in fact it was something not yet discovered--a virus. American were familiar with the flu; it sent you to bed, made you miserable for 3 or 4 days with fever, muscle aches, and congestion, then left you shaky for about a week. It made millions sick, yet killed only the oldest, youngest, and most feeble.

The 1918 influenza was not the flu Americans were familiar with. It was a horror that turned victims bluish-black then drowned them with their own body fluids. the death toll was highest in the ages 15 to 40, those in the peak of health. The victims would be fine one minute and the next incapacitated, fever-racked, and delirious. Temperatures rose to 104-106 degrees, skin turned blue, purple, or deep brown from lack of oxygen. Massive pneumonia attacked the lungs, filling them with fluid; blood gushed from the nose. Death was quick, savage, and terrifying.

The America of 1918 was in its second year of involvement in World War I, and millions of young Americans were in uniform. Great military camps were established throughout the United States for the training of soldiers and filled to overflowing. Most of these camps were near large cities or well populated areas. Railroads moved these soldiers rapidly across the country toward the East Coast to pack into troopships bound for the battlefields of Europe. Sailors and merchant seamen who crowded port cities had access to all parts of the world.

Civilians flooded cities to work in the expanded war industry, huge rallies and parades were held, all to support the war effort. The country was the perfect breeding ground for the coming pandemic.

The pandemic had three distinct waves, the first coming from the American heartland, most probably Kansas. During March[,] soldiers and civilians around Ft. Riley, KS, rapidly became ill; some of them died, their lungs swollen with bloody fluid. The disease spread to other camps and port cities. Statistics of military and civilian deaths in March and April of 1918 demonstrated a sharp rise between the ages 21 to 29. The illness astounded physicians with its rapid onset, how rapidly it spread, and how quickly it killed those in the most robust of health.

Then, that summer, it subsided, and the United States was virtually free of the flu. However, the disease was on the move, riding the troopships to Europe and turning them into a nightmare of illness and death.

The influenza then arrived in Europe with the 1.5 million soldiers who brought more death with their virus than the weapons they carried. It raged across Europe and into Asia, eventually killing more American soldiers than the war. Approximately 80 percent of Spain's population contracted the flu giving rise to the rumor it started there.

Sometime, late in the summer of 1918, the virus mutated in a response to increasing human antibodies. Now in its most virulent form it returned in the same ships that took it to Europe, making landfall in Boston in September. There, it killed over 2000 people.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia's population in 1918 was 1,700,000 with war industry adding another 300,000 transient workers. The city was teeming with large ghettos representing every oppressed ethnic group from Europe. The city's medical resources, some of the best in the country, were strained. Twenty-six percent of Philadelphia physicians and a much larger percentage of nurses were away serving with the military; 75 percent of Philadelphia's hospitals' medical and surgical staffs were overseas. Although the city's board of health knew the flu had gotten to Europe in July, and had made it to Boston by the third week of September, it still did not make it a reportable disease. The flu was coming to Philadelphia and the city was not prepared.

The disease appeared first at the sprawling naval base and shipyard on 18 September. The next day 600 sailors were ill; at the same time civilian hospitals started receiving patients. The board of health now began to act by instituting a public campaign against coughing, sneezing, and spitting. Philadelphia was about to become the American city with the highest, most rapidly accumulating, death toll in the worst pandemic in recorded history. In a single day, the death toll reached 1,700.

Dr. Paul A. Lewis, director of the Phipps Institute of Philadelphia stated he had isolated the cause of the flu, Pfeiffer's Bacillus. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that this discovery armed the medical profession with the absolute knowledge on which to base its attack on the disease. they both were wrong! Despite the crisis, on 28 September, 200,000 people gathered in the streets to view the kickoff of the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive. The parade stretched 23 blocks through the city; death marched with it.

By 4 October the University of Pennsylvania's newspaper The Daily Pennsylvanian reported 636 new cases and 139 deaths. The paper would continue to give a daily count throughout the epidemic. On that day the board of health closed all schools, churches, theaters, and saloons. All citizens were ordered to wear gauze masks in public, "Obey the laws and wear the gauze protect your jaws from septic paws." Those daring not to wear masks were ridiculed by being called "slackers," the worst epithet of the day, or were physically run off the streets. A sneeze or cough sent people scurrying.

As the death toll mounted, a frantic public stripped medicines from pharmacy shelves. Students from Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Temple University assisted in filling prescriptions, mostly for whiskey, as it was the only place one could get it. As medications disappeared, people turned to folk remedies and ridiculous concoctions sold by charlatans.

On 10 October, 528 died in the city. Thirty-fourth street, in front of Philadelphia General hospital, was crowded with vehicles of every description bringing the sick, the dying, and, in most cases, the dead to the hospital. The scene was repeating itself in front of every hospital in the city. Many of the staff of PGH were sick because this was a disease of necessity (meaning care was provided for the symptoms, not the cure), the majority of work fell to nurses. PGH School of Nursing's chief nurse, Lillian Clayton, worked 48-hour shifts. Sheer exhaustion allowed many of the nurses to become ill; four died. Miss Clayton offered to allow all preliminary (freshman) nursing students to return home rather than face the disease, yet all volunteered to stay. Six eventually died from flu.

Throughout the country the United States Health Department was besieged by calls for more nurses to care for the sick. GEN John J. Pershing, commander of all American troops in Europe sent an urgent appeal for 1,500 more nurses. Philadelphia's trained nurses were not enough; student nurse and lay volunteers were quickly utilized.

The University of Pennsylvania's School of Nursing's 1919 yearbook describes the scene: "Then came the epidemic of influenza, and our plans for service (in the armed forces) were brought to a standstill, for we had all we could manage at home. Ever in our hearts will remain the memory of those classmates, Grace Virginia Fitzgerald and Marie Luise O. Boremann who gave their lives in the influenza epidemic October twelfth and thirteen 1918."

The frustration of Philadelphia nurses can best be illustrated by the 1919 annual report of the Chestnut Hill Hospital's School of Nursing where a passage reads, "most tragic because of the loss by death of so many nurses and because of our inability to meet the needs of the patients who came to us during the epidemic of influenza that swept the city."

Philadelphia's well-organized Society of Visiting Nurses, "had every thought and previous action blotted from their minds," by the great tragedy. Nurses were busy around the clock caring for the thousands of sick who could not reach a hospital. They described entering houses where all members of a family were dead. Some had both parents dead and the children starving. In some neighborhoods they were hailed as saviors. In others they were shunned due to the white gowns and gauze masks they wore.

The Philadelphia Automobile Club volunteered and effectively transported the nurses on their rounds. Care of the sick was made even more difficult by the refusal of some people to assist in the care of neighbors and even relatives for fear of contracting the disease. The Society of Visiting Nurses, in its 1918 report claimed the influenza epidemic gave it purpose and resources it never would have had otherwise. Members cared for thousands during the epidemic and some gave their lives.

A growing problem that threatened the living was the dead. Bodies started piling up in makeshift morgues and in the streets. In a vision not seen since the Black Death of medieval Europe, carts went through the street, their drivers calling for people to bring out the dead for burial. Wagonloads of bodies, some dead over a week, were buried in Potter's Field at Second and Luzerne Streets. Highway workers dug large trenches and filled them to capacity. the provmise that bodies could later be retrieved and reinterred after the epidemic subsided persuaded relatives to give up loved ones. Relatives never recovered most of the bodies.

Aftermath

By October 27th the epidemic began to subside as quickly as it came. Other parts of the country would continue to suffer from the pandemic well into the spring of 1919. The passing of influenza through the city left an estimated 12,191 dead. In but 4 weeks, there were 47,094 reported cases.

As soon as the dying stopped the forgetting began. The 1918 influenza pandemic is seldom mentioned, and most Americans have never heard of it. What is amazing is just how quickly the amnesia began. In researching archives, I was shocked at how little appeared in journals, yearbooks, and annual reports during the pandemic or within a year of its passing. And here was a disease that killed more people in less time than any other event in world history. It was as though it had never happened. It certaily is true that the human mind always trieds to expunge the intolerable from memory.

Medical science remains haunted by the disappearance of the virus. Where did it come from, and where did it go? Virologists are only now slowly unlocking the secrets of the Spanish Flu from recently discovered lung tissue specimens from 1918. Apparently, the virus' savageness was due to a flu strain that had undergone a mutation. Influenza viruses mutate constantly in what is known as antigenic drift, usually in such minimal ways that last year's flu or vaccine offers at least some protection against this year's outbreak. But about every decade or two, such drift may be so dramatic as to be regarded by the human body as an entirely new virus. Then it sweeps through the human population with a vengeance. In 1957 the Asian flu killed 70,000 Americans. In 1968 the Hong Kong flu killed 28,000.

In a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, epidemiologists believe the probability is high that another dangerous new strain of the influenza virus will emerge. Combined with the world's increased population and jet-age travel, the stage could be set for another catastrophe. This pandemic could spread so fast that research laboratories could not isolate, prepare, and distribute an appropriate vaccine in time. Jeffery K. Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the primary researcher of the 1918 virus points out that if the records are any indication, another pandemic is inevitable. The question is when.

The Spanish Influenza's legacy is carved in stone, amid the cemeteries of cities, towns, and villages throughout [the] United States. A walk through any one of them will possibly reveal a mass grave or perhaps a poignant tombstone inscribed with the year of death--1918.

Bibliography

Taubenberger, J; Reid, A. "Initial Genetic Characterization of the 1918 'Spanish' Influenza Virus" Science 1997 275 pp. 1793-1796.

Webster, R., "1918 Spanish Influenza; the Secrets Remain Elusive." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; 1996 (Feb. 16) 116Y.

Influenza; General Information: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 7 January 1999 CDC Web Site.

Brown, D. "It All Started in Kansas" Washington Post, Weekly Edition, Vol. 9, Number 21. March 23-30, 1992.

Iezzoni, Lynette, Influenza 1918: The Worst Epidemic in American History. T.V. Books, LLC, New York, NY, 1999.

Crosby, Alfred, America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 1998.

Collier, Richard, The Plague of the Spanish Lady. Forge Village, MA. Murray Printing Co. 1974.

Lynch, E. "The Flu of 1918." The Pennsylvania Gazette, University of Pennsylvania, 17 February 1999.

Gilbert, M., The First World War: A Complete History. Henry Holt & Co. New York, NY 1994.

"Is Another Influenza Pandemic coming soon?" Infectious Disease News, Slack Inc. 2 June 1997.

Henig, R., "Why Hong Kong's Bird Flu Signals a Serious Threat." The Washington Post. (4 January 1998.)

"Influenza, Could it Happen again?" The American Experience, PBS 20 January 1999.

Stachniewicz, SA, Axelrod, J. The Double Frill: The History of the Philadelphia General Hospital School of Nursing. Geo. F. Stichley Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1978.

The Nursing Record, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, 1919 Year Book.

Chestnut Hill Hospital School of Nursing, Annual Report, 1918.

Philadelphia Society of Visiting Nurses, Annual Report, 1918.

Croskey MD, J.W., History of Blockley: A History of the Philadelphia General Hospital. F.A. Davis Co. Philadelphia 1929.

---

James F. Armstrong, is a flight nurse with the PENNSTAR Flight Program, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA.

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Source: Armstrong, James F. "Philadelphia, Nurses, and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918." Navy Medicine 92, no. 2 (March-April 2001): 16-20.

Deadly Unknown Virus in Ukrain is labeled H1N1 but sources says its not.

A warning was given by this man in the Red beetle name Joseph Moshe but he was captured,then extradited to Israel.
Moshe claimed that Baxter's pharmaceuticals laboratory in the Ukraine out of all places was creating this biological weapon. All of this came out in the beginning of August, which is more than 2 months before the situation that is currently unfolding

Pope signs constitution for Anglicans to join Catholic Church

Why America is in Bible Prophecy

AMERICA'S CRISIS BY URIAH SMITH.
p. 1, Para. 1, [CRISIS].
INTERNATIONAL TRACT SOCIETY PACIFIC PRESS
PUBLISHING CO. 1895.
p. 2, Para. 1, [CRISIS].
THE Government of the United States of America is a
subject of Bible prophecy. Why not? The chief theme of
prophecy, next to the coming, work and second advent, of
our Lord Jesus Christ, to set up His everlasting kingdom,
is the story of the rise and fall of cities, nations and
kingdoms on this earth. Why should not our own nation come
into consideration as well as others?
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, Nineveh
and Jerusalem, the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and Rome, and the ten kingdoms which arose out of
old Rome, all have had their place on the prophetic page.
Their rise, history, decline, and fall, were all plainly
foretold, and every prophetic utterance concerning them has
thus far been fulfilled to the very letter. May we not,
therefore, look for like particulars respecting a
government so prominent and influential as our own? And if
so, ought it not to be a theme of paramount interest to
those who have the opportunity to become acquainted
therewith? .
Scanning the field of prophecy, and noting the character
of the nations which all agree are mentioned in the Bible,
two reasons at once appear why they are thus made prominent
in the prophetic page: First, if they have been nations
which have had a leading influence in the affairs of men;
and, secondly, if they have been so closely connected with
the people of God, and the great events in the development
of the plan of man's redemption through Jesus Christ, that
the history of the true church, and the Lord's work in the
earth, could not be written without making mention of them.

From these facts, as a basis of inquiry, again we ask, Why
should not the United States have a place in prophecy?
Every reason which has ever existed to cause the history of
any nation to be foretold, exists in a tenfold stronger
degree to show that this nation should also receive its
share of testimony from the pen of inspiration. Under the
aegis of a nation guaranteeing perfect civil and religious
liberty, religion has had free course and a large following
in our own land, and intelligence is so widespread that out
of its sixty-five millions of inhabitants over forty-five
millions can read and write. In rapidity of development,
both in territory and population, this nation has never
been equaled by any nation in the world. In the variety and
extent of its resources, the amount and skill of its
agricultural and mechanical productions, it leads the
world; and from the point of view which takes in its power
for self-defense and its resources for the future, it is
the richest and the strongest nation on the face of the
earth to-day. Surely, in the prophetic survey of the great
civil and religious developments in the world's history,
down to the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of the
Son of God, which is the objective point of all prophecy,
such a government cannot be overlooked.
Under the impulse of a probability, which partakes so
largely of the nature of certainty, one can hardly restrain
one's self from an examination of the volume of revelation
to see what nations are noted therein, and to determine
their location and chronology.
In the prophecy of Daniel, chapter 2, under the form of a
great image, the four leading kingdoms of the world, from
B.C. 606, are symbolized, namely, Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece, and Rome, and the divisions of Rome, as represented
by the nationalities of modern Europe. Next follows the
kingdom of God. Dan. 2:44.
In the seventh chapter of the same prophecy the ground is
again essentially covered, with further particulars, which
could not be well represented by the image. Thus, the lion
there represents Babylon; the bear, Medo-Persia; the
leopard, Grecia; and the great and terrible nondescript
beast, Rome. The ten horns of this beast signify the ten
kingdoms that arose out of Rome, and the little horn that
came up among them represents the Papacy, which, in the
sixth century, reached the position described in Dan.
7:24,25; 2 Thess. 2:4. The next link in that chain is again
the kingdom of God. Dan. 7:18,27.
In Daniel 8 we have Medo-Persia and Grecia expressly
named, and a little horn, waxing exceeding great, and
passing through two phases, to represent again the Roman
power, this prophecy also reaching down to the overthrow of
all earthly governments.
Coming to the book of Revelation, the vision of chapter 12
opens with a view of ancient Pagan Rome, under the symbol
of a great red dragon. This dragon gives his seat and power
to the leopard beast of chapter 13, which represents Papal
Rome; and verse 3 brings to view the time when the latter
was wounded to death, which was the temporary overthrow of
the Papacy by the French, in 1798. Then follows another
symbol of a beast with two horns like a lamb, of which we
shall have occasion to speak more fully hereafter.
The reader will, of course, understand that in a work of
the studied brevity of this tract, many propositions will
be simply stated, not proved. Abundant evidence for all the
positions taken is furnished in larger works, issued by the
Religious Liberty Association, Battle Creek, Michigan,
which those who desire to study the subject further, are
earnestly invited to read.
The symbols of Revelation 8 and 9 expositors generally
agree in applying to the Barbarians who overthrew Rome, and
the Saracens and Turks under the rise and progress of
Mohammedanism.
Now, we inquire, what portion of the world's territory is
appropriated by these symbols, or, in other words, was
included in the area of the kingdoms which they
represented? Babylon and Medo-Persia covered all the
civilized portion of Asia in ancient times; Greece took in
all Eastern Europe, including Russia; and Rome, with the
ten kingdoms into which it was finally broken up, between
the middle of the fourth and the close of the fifth century
A.D., embraced all Western Europe and Northern Africa; the
Saracens and Turks appropriated to themselves especially
Western Asia and Northern Africa. In other words, all the
portions of the eastern hemisphere, which have borne any
prominent part in the world's progress and civilization,
from the earliest times to the present, are taken up and
appropriated by the symbols already mentioned, respecting
the application of which there is scarcely any room for
doubt, and no very great difference of opinion among
intelligent expositors.
But the reader should bear in mind that there is one
symbol, the second symbol of Revelation 13, which is not
yet applied, and that there is one mighty nation in this
western hemisphere, worthy, as we have seen, of being noted
in prophecy, which is not yet brought in. That is, all the
symbols but one are applied, and all the available portions
of the earth, with the exception of our own government, are
covered by the nations which these symbols represent. To
state it in other words, of all the symbols presented, one
alone, the two-horned beast of Revelation 13, is so far
unapplied, and of all the countries of the earth respecting
which any reason exists why they should be mentioned in
prophecy at all, one alone, our own government, remains
unidentified.
Do the two-horned beast and the United States belong
together? Does the former symbolize the latter? If they do
thus belong together, all the Biblical symbols find an
application, and the whole ground is covered. If they do
not thus belong to each other, it follows (1) that the
United States is not represented in prophecy at all, by any
of the symbols which represent the nations of the earth,
which is not probable; and, secondly, that the symbol of
Rev. 13:11-17 finds no government to which it can be
applied, which is not possible.
Let us then look a little further at this symbol of Rev.
13:11-17, and see if our government has developed any
features in its past history, or present character, which
answer to the specifications brought to view in the symbol.

1. John calls this "another beast," showing that the
nation was a different one from any which had thus far been
represented by any of the preceding symbols. But those
symbols, as we have seen, cover all the available portions
of the eastern hemisphere; hence we must look for the power
intended by this symbol to the western hemisphere. And when
we turn to this locality, the eye is at once attracted by
our own country, the great American colossus here arising.

2. When the nation intended by this prophecy first came to
the prophet's attention, it was "coming up." And the point
of time is clearly indicated. It was when the preceding, or
papal power, represented by the leopard beast, went into
captivity (Rev. 13:10), or when, as already mentioned, the
Papacy was temporarily over-thrown, in 1798. Was our own
nation then coming up? -- Most emphatically. The
Declaration of Independence was issued only twenty-two
years before, and the war for national freedom reached its
successful termination only fourteen years before. Hence,
in the two important points of chronology and location, are
we held to this country, and no other, for the application
of the symbol of the two-horned beast.

3. It comes up out of the earth. The preceding, or leopard
beast, and the four great beasts of Daniel 7, came up out
of the sea, that is, arose in territory thickly populated;
for waters denote peoples and nations and tongues. Rev.
17:15; Isa. 8:7. Coming up out of the earth would signify,
by contrast with coming up out of the sea, the development
of the power in question in a territory new, and previously
unoccupied by civilized nations. This, again, points
directly to the New World, and to our own country.

4. It had two horns like a lamb. Such horns well symbolize
the innocent, peaceful, and lamblike professions of this
government. The two great principles of civil and religious
liberty, -- "a State without a king, and a church without a
pope," -- have been the great attraction which has drawn
the world to America. And this pertains equally to both
branches of the really dual government, State and national,
which here exists.
5. When first brought to view, it was "coming up". That
is, it was in a state of visible, tangible growth and
expansion. And it was also coming up in a quiet and
peaceful manner, for the words "coming up" (in the Greek,
anabatnon) mean "to grow up like a plant out of the earth."
In just this way the United States has arisen. Expanding as
it has, from less than three millions of people, when its
independence was declared, in 1776, to over three millions
and a half square miles of territory, and over sixty-five
millions of people, in a little over a century, it presents
an instance of national growth that has no parallel in the
annals of the world. It has come up, not by conquering and
subjugating other peoples, but in a quiet and peaceful
manner, so much so that George Alfred Townsend, without any
reference to the prophecy, in trying to describe it could
think of no better figure than that which the prophet
himself used nearly eighteen hundred years before. In his
work entitled "The New World Compared with the Old," page
635, contrasting the rise of this country with that of the
other nationalities in the western hemisphere, Mr. Townsend
says, "Like a silent seed, we grew into empire."

6. "He exerciseth all the power of the first beast before
him." That is, it will be no second-rate power, but as
strong a nation as has ever been seen, since empire began.
Our own country, as already mentioned, answers admirably to
this condition.

7. "He causeth the earth, and them which dwell therein, to
worship the first beast." The first beast, as already
noticed, is the Papacy; and to worship any power is to obey
it in some particulars which are peculiar to itself, and in
opposition to the demands of other powers. In the present
case it is further explained by the words of verse 16, that
(the two-horned beast) causes all to receive a mark, which
is the mark of the beast (Rev. 16:2). The mark of any power
is that by which it asserts its claim to supreme authority,
and by which its followers are distinguished from those of
every other power.
In the case of the Roman Catholic Church, in reference to
which these expressions are used, the worship and the mark
are found in the observance of the first day of the week as
the sabbath, which that church claims as its special badge
of authority. See Roman Catholic catechisms.

This comes into direct conflict with the authority of God,
who, for reasons set forth in his word, demands the
observance of the seventh day. It is impossible for anyone
to obey them both; for they are intentionally placed in
antagonism and opposition. Therefore, by his course with
reference to these two days, as to which he will observe as
the Sabbath, every one, with full intelligence in regard to
the issue before him, decides whether he prefers to obey
God in opposition to the church, or the church in
opposition to God. And it is therefore a striking and
corroborative fact that the Sabbath commandment is the only
one in which the earth -- the land, in contrast with them
(the people) who dwell therein -- as set forth in Rev.
13:12, can be caused to obey (Lev. 26:34,35; 2 Chron.
36:21), and thus worship the beast. And the contest is now
on in this country between these two institutions.

8. The nation represented by the two-horned beast is a
Protestant nation; for it causes its people to worship the
first beast, the Papacy, by religiously regarding some
institution of the Papacy, as noted above. Now, if it were
a papal nation, its citizens would voluntarily render that
worship, or if enforced by the government, it would enforce
the worship of itself. But here it is one power enforcing
the worship of another power, and that other power is the
Papacy; for it is the first beast. Therefore, this power
that enforces the worship is a Protestant power, which is
another feature by which it is shown that the two-horned
beast applies to our own country.

9. "He doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come
down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men." It is
another striking fact that in this country modern
Spiritualism originated, through which many wonders have
already appeared, and others, to the full extent of the
prophecy, may just as easily follow; for Spiritualism is a
masterpiece of evil to deceive; and it, according to the
prophecy, is one of the great factors which is to lead the
nation on in the oppressive work which it is finally to do.
Verse 14.

10. It is, lastly, to cause the people to make an image to
the beast; and to do this, it says to them that dwell on
the earth that they should make an image, etc. By this it
plainly appears that the form of the government in question
is republican, for appeal is made to the people to carry
out whatever measure it is desired to secure, and by their
votes the question is decided.

Let us now group together these features, and note their
significance:--
1. The power in question must be located in the western
hemisphere.
2. It comes into view at the time the first beast goes
into captivity, namely, about the year 1798.
3. It rises in a quiet and peaceable manner, like a plant
out of the earth, and in territory previously unoccupied by
civilized nations.
4. It makes a profession which is perfectly just,
innocent, and lamb-like.
5. Its progress is so rapid as to strike the beholder with
wonder.
6. It is the equal of any other nation in power.
7. It enforces an institution of the Papacy -- the firstday
sabbath -- which, when so enforced, constitutes the
worship and mark of the beast.
8. It is a Protestant power.
9. It is a nation in which appear great and super-human
wonders to deceive the people.
10. It is republican in its form of government. p. 14,
Para. 11, [CRISIS].
And of these ten specifications two things can be said:

First, that they will apply perfectly to our own country,
the Government of the United States; and, secondly, that if
we try to apply them to any other government, they will be
found to be utter failures. The two-horned beast,
therefore, symbolizes the Government of the United States,
and cannot be applied to any other nation. Behind these ten
lines of defense the argument for this position lies
impregnably intrenched.
But a painful sequel follows; for, according to the
conditions of the prophecy, some of them already alluded
to, this same power is to commit itself to ways that are
dark and inscrutable, and, contrary to all its profession
of justice and innocence, enter upon a systematic and legal
course of religious persecution against those who would
obey the truth of God, according to His word. While the
beast has the horns of "a lamb," it speaks "as a dragon."

Into these somber features the whole current of this
prophecy at last resolves itself. If the first beast
represents the Papacy, as is the conviction of all genuine
Protestants, and if that system is utterly subversive of
the word of God, being the anthropological horn of Daniel
7, the man of sin and son of perdition spoken of by Paul in
2 Thess. 2, and the antichrist of John, then to worship
that beast is to apostatize from God; and the two-horned
beast, by enforcing that worship, shows itself to be an
enemy of God and the opposer of true religion. If Sunday,
as a rest day, which Rome claims as a mark of her power to
rule the church, is the antagonist and rival of the Sabbath
of the Lord, as is proved by the Scriptures, then the twohorned
beast, by compelling people to receive such mark,
arrays itself on the side of evil, and forces men into a
position of antagonism with Jehovah.
The image which he causes the people to make is an image
of the beast. We can determine what an image of the Papacy
will be by considering what constituted the Papacy itself
in its days of power. As brought to view in the prophecy,
it may be defined as an ecclesiastical hierarchy,
exercising the self-assumed prerogative of defining heresy,
and having the control of the civil arm to punish the same.
An image of this would be an ecclesiastical organization,
having control of the civil power to carry out its own
decisions and purposes. This would of course be a virtual
union of Church and State. This the founders of our
government intended to guard against, but for just this
thing, by a lamentable oversight, they have left the way
all open. Such an organization in this country would be a
reproduction of the first beast in character, and surely
reenact its tyrannical works. The image is not only an
image of the beast, but it is an image made to the beast,
indicating on the part of those who make the image, an
abject deference to, and collusion with, that beast; which,
to say the least, is most astonishing in a professedly
Protestant country.
When people began, years ago, to study these
specifications of the prophecy, they were able to draw only
one conclusion, and that is that the country represented by
the two-horned beast would, in the end, virtually renounce
its Protestantism, its republicanism, ignore its
professions of lamb-like innocence, and, fired with the
spirit of the Papacy, which is the spirit of the dragon
(Rev. 12:13), which is the spirit of the devil (verse 9),
would enforce the worship of the Papacy, would cause its
people to receive the papal mark, would virtually unite
Church and State, under an image of the Papacy, and give
that image power to enforce the worship of itself under
pain of death (Rev. 13:14,15).

This view of the two-horned beast was adopted by Seventhday
Adventists as far back as the year 1851, and the
conclusion was consequently adopted and taught that Sundaykeeping
would here be enforced by law, contrary to the
requirements of God, that in this land there would be a
virtual return to a union of Church and State, and that
scenes of religious persecution, like those which disgraced
the nations of Christendom in the Dark Ages, would be here
reenacted.
This view of the application of the two-horned beast was
taken, and persecution, as here indicated, was predicted,
in the publications issued by the people above named, as
early as the year 1854. The original articles are found in
the Advent Review, Vol. 5, Nos. 9 and 10, dated March 21
and 28, 1854. These were immediately issued in pamphlet
form, and another edition was called for as early as 1857.
The same views were afterward incorporated into larger
works, and have been constantly before the world in
Seventh-day Adventist publications, and set forth in their
public lectures, from that day to this. But when first
advocated, and for many years thereafter, not the least
indications appeared pointing to any fulfillment; yet there
was the prophecy; its application to the United States
could not be questioned; and it followed as surely as the
prophecy was true, that this country would commit itself to
religious persecution before the end of its career. The
position was consequently boldly assumed, in the face of a
storm of incredulity and apparent commiseration for
believers in so improbable a delusion, that such an
unnatural and seemingly impossible work was yet to be done
in this country.
The whole aspect of the scene has now changed!
Spiritualism has shown itself to be the wonder-working
power brought to view in the prophecy. After a few years an
unwonted interest sprang up on the question of securing a
better observance of the first day of the week by law. Socalled
"sabbath committees" were organized in this country
and Canada; and professed Christians began to think that
they were numerous enough to demand some political
victories in behalf of religious dogmas. Like a clap of
thunder from a clear sky, in February, 1863, an association
was formed having for its purpose the securing of an
amendment to the Constitution of the United States,
acknowledging Christ as the Ruler of the nation, and the
law of God as the law of the land. This is now known as
"The National Reform Association." The avowed aim of this
association is to enforce by law the observance of Sunday
as the Sabbath, and to elect no man to office who is not
one of their kind of Christians. A general clamor for
Sunday reform and Sunday laws is arising from all parts of
this country, and in foreign lands as well. The Woman's
Christian Temperance Union has fallen into line, with the
same idea of securing a reformation by law. A new party,
called the American party, has come into existence to
champion the same idea in the field of politics.
Another organization, called the Sabbath Union, is also in
the field for a like object, and lastly, the great
Christian Endeavor movement has arisen, and formed what is
called "The Christian Citizenship League," through which
the combined strength of all the churches is to be turned
to this one end. At the convention of this organization
held in Boston in July, 1895, W. H. Mcmillan said
"Here is a power that is going to wrest the control of
affairs from the hands of political demagogues, and place
it in the hands of Him who is King over all, and rules the
world in righteousness. Our political leaders have been
counting the saloon vote, the illiterate vote, and the
stay-at-home vote, and all other elements that have
hitherto entered into their canvassings of probabilities;
but they have not yet learned to count the Christian
Endeavor vote. I want to serve notice on them now that the
time is drawing near when they will discover that a
political revolution has occurred, and they will be found
coming home from Washington and our State capitals without
a job."
These sentiments were cheered to the echo in the mighty
convention above referred to. Thus these religiopoliticians
know what weapon to use to secure their ends.
The average office holder, threatened with a loss of votes,
is the most abject sycophant on the face of the earth. For
a vote he will sell himself to any unrighteous decree that
religious bigots may demand, and the political demagogue
will do deference, on all fours, to a religious boycott.

The object which these Christian (?) politicians have ever
kept, and still keep, in view, was well defined in a speech
by a Mr. Havens in New York, some years ago, when he said:-

"For my part I wait to see the day when a Luther shall
spring up in this country who shall found a great American
Catholic Church, instead of a great Roman Catholic Church."

And what would this great American Catholic Church be but
the perfect image of the great Roman Catholic Church, which
the prophecy says will be erected here? p. 21, Para. 1,
[CRISIS].
As long ago as July 30, 1864, the Banner of Light, a
Spiritualist paper, of Boston, Mass., said

"A system will be unfolded sooner or later that will
embrace in its folds Church and State, for the object of
the two should be one and the same."
And now these sinister predictions begin to assume shape
before our eyes. Like blood poisoning in the human system,
this idea is permeating the whole religious world, and the
multitudes who have set their hearts upon it are working
for it, not though the gospel, which, when rightly used, is
the power of God unto salvation, but through the human
instrumentalities of the ballot box and a threatened
boycott of all those who oppose their schemes. "Christ,"
they say, "shall be King of this nation," not simply in a
spiritual sense, but politically and actually; and they
dream of a great theocracy, the control of which shall be
in the hands of the professed ministers of Jesus Christ.

Their great rallying cry, drawn from an expression used by
Justice Brewer, of the Supreme Court, in arguing that
Trinity Church, of New York, had a right to send abroad to
secure a minister for its services, is that "this is a
Christian nation." And their purpose evidently is to keep
this fiction before the eyes of the people till they can
force the issue of making this a "Christian government," by
subjecting the State to the dictation of the Church. p.

To this end the Legislatures of the different States have
been besieged by petitions for more stringent Sunday laws,
or for more severe penalties where they already exist. But
most of all have these religious reactionists clamored at
the doors of Congress for national legislation in their
favor; and Congress has so far yielded to their
importunities as to legislate, in direct violation of the
Constitution of the United States, in reference to the
Sabbath question. This was done in connection with the
appropriation to the World's Fair. Our national legislators
went so far as to publicly interpret the fourth commandment
to mean Sunday; and so subservient did Congress show itself
to be that these religious demagogues now openly boast that
they have Congress in their hands, and can force it to do
their bidding. They seem incapable of drawing any lessons
from the history of the past; and every day their dream of
Christianity triumphant, on political lines, expands, and
their intoxication from the prospect of coming power
increases. They will soon be in the position to fulfill
Rev. 18:7. See Isa. 29:8-10.
What do these things mean? -- They mean that the complete
fulfillment of the prophecy we are examining is at our very
doors. And what are to be the practical results of this
movement, as it progresses? They are already beginning to
be seen in the persecution brought upon observers of the
seventh day. In reference to our application of the
prophecy, showing that persecution would be the result of
this religio-political movement, people have pretended to
scout, in a facetious manner, any such idea. Thus the
Christian Statesman, the organ of the National Reform
Association, as long ago as March, 1874, speaking of
Seventh-day Adventists, said:-
"From the beginning of the National Reform movement they
have regarded it as the first step toward the persecution
which they, as keepers of the seventh day, will endure,
when our sabbath laws are revived and enforced. One can but
smile at their apprehensions of the success of a movement
which would not harm a hair of their heads; but their fears
are sincere enough for all that."
But religious bigotry stops only with the limit of its
power, and these people, now finding on many State statute
books, Sunday laws, the offspring of the old adulterous
union of Church and State, which existed in the darkness of
the Middle Ages, have seized upon these laws, and through
them are beginning to set the machinery of oppression in
operation against Sabbath-keepers. The method of procedure
is usually for some professedly pious church member or
minister to act himself as spy, or procure someone else to
act for him in that capacity, to detect a seventh-daykeeper
at some quiet and useful work on Sunday. Then
follows complaint, indictment, conviction, the prison, and
the chain-gang.
Would the reader believe it? just such scenes as here
described have been acted over and over again within a few
years just past, in this country, which professes to
guarantee to every man the liberty to worship God according
to the dictates of his own conscience. Sabbath-keepers hold
that that law which came from the lips and hand of Jehovah,
saying, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," -- a
law as much higher than any law of man as the heavens are
higher than the earth, -- plainly grants them the right, on
all days but the seventh, to engage in any legitimate
occupation requisite for their own sustenance, which
involves no necessary disturbance, or any infringements
upon the rights of others.
The seventh day being the only day which they can really
keep as the Sabbath, there is no other day than the seventh
which they can even seem to keep without the appearance of
evil. But the law-makers, influenced by the fact they
themselves regard the first day of the week as the Sabbath,
or Lord's day, or by the fact that the majority of people
so regard it, frame the statutes so that all men must act
toward the first day of the week just as if it was the
Sabbath, and that they keep it as such, by refraining from
labor on that day. For the Sabbath-keeper to pay all the
outward regard to the first day that he would to the
Sabbath, would be to indulge in a degree of hypocrisy which
his conscience will not allow; and the State, by enforcing
it, restricts his liberty of conscience, and oppresses him
by depriving him of one-sixth of the time available for his
support. And this is done because another class of people
regard the day as the Sabbath, which he does not. It is
class legislation on religious lines, placing one class at
a disadvantage, to the advantage of another class. This is
contrary to the Constitution of the United States, and the
constitutions, or bills of right, of the different States
of which the nation is composed.
The inconsistency of legislating on religious questions,
in a government which declares that nothing of that kind
can be done, is at once seen, and the treachery of
oppressing people for opinion's sake, in a government
guaranteeing liberty of conscience, is keenly felt. Hence,
every conceivable invention is resorted to, to make it
appear that this is not a question of religion at all, but
only a police regulation, or a civil requirement necessary
for the public good, and so to be enforced upon all alike.
Such sophistry is too transparent to be entitled to a
patient hearing; for Sunday, in its origin and history, in
its very intrinsic nature, in root, fiber, branch, and
blossom, in foundation stone and finial, is a religious
institution, and nothing but a religious institution; hence
any law enacted in reference to it can be nothing else than
a religious law, call it by whatever other name one may. No
responsible jurist ever puts in this plea, that it is
merely a civil institution. That is an invention of the
ministers, who are urging this movement forward, and by
which they hope to blind the eyes of the people; and
whenever they gain anything on this plea, in behalf of
Sunday, they immediately glory over it among themselves, as
a victory for the "sabbath" and "Lord's day"! Shame on such
moral turpitude, and doubly so when practised by a
professed follower of Jesus Christ.
"But," it may be urged, "obey the law until it is
repealed." This would do in matters that did not violate
the conscience. But no man true to God could say to Him,
"Lord, I would obey You, but my fellow-men will not permit
me to do so; therefore I will yield to them and disobey You
until they shall see fit to repeal the law; then I will
return to Your obedience." On this ground there never could
have been a reformer, and the world would to-day be lying
in the darkness and death of paganism. Who will thus plead,
that man should be placed before God, and man's law before
the law of Jehovah? The Lord says, "Thou shalt have no
other gods before Me."
The men who founded this republic did not intend that any
trouble should ever arise in this land over a question of
conscience; but they left the evil principle of a religious
law in the framework of their political structure, which,
though then dormant, was sure to spring to life whenever
the opportunity should occur. Through the late unfolding of
truth it is now found that God has requirements upon men
with which the laws of the land are in conflict. What ought
to be done? -- Man ought to obey God, and no court or any
judge should entertain any case resting on a law which is
found to be invasive of any God-given and unalienable right
of man; and the Legislatures of every State where such laws
exist, should, at the very first possible moment, wipe them
off from the statute books. Then there would be no trouble.
But, as long as they are allowed to remain, religious
bigots, unfeeling judges, and those who have feelings of
personal enmity to gratify, will use them to oppress those
whose convictions of duty run contrary to such laws, and
who will be true to what they consider right.
It will be said again, that, in a country like this,
majorities must rule and the minority submit. The answer
again is, Yes, in all matter except those of conscience.

Questions of that kind are not to be decided by majorities
or human authorities. Christ's rule is, "Render unto Caesar
the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that
are God's."
And now, to repeat, persecution has begun. That it is
persecution, pure and simple, is evident from the fact that
all kinds of work, pleasure, and festivities, even of a
questionable character, on the part of non-Sabbath-keepers,
are passed by without any opposition or protest, while he
who observes the seventh day is detected, by those who are
willing to stoop to the dirty work of spies and informers,
then arrested, convicted, and punished, not for any wrong
against his fellow-men, nor the committing of any nuisance,
or anything calculated to demoralize or corrupt society,
but simply because he believes (and practices accordingly)
that the day of the week which is to be kept as the Sabbath
is a different day from that which the majority of the
people regard as such.
Seventh-day Adventists indulge in no spirit of defiance
against the laws of the land; they will obey them in every
particular wherein they do not conflict with their duty to
God; and they are careful to be no cause of disturbance to
their neighbors. Yet they are treated in a way to show, as
herein alleged, that it is a work of persecution, for every
persecution that has ever been waged against dissenters has
had the plea of the law behind it.
It is certainly a remarkable sight to behold the officers
of the law creeping around houses like thieves, and peering
into windows and doors like spies, to find a complaint
against a Seventh-day Adventist for Sunday work of which
they would not otherwise be aware, while the rush and roar
of business, contrary in much greater degree to the letter
of the Sunday laws, are passed by unheeded. Ninety arrests
have been made, some of them under circumstances of great
oppression and cruelty. The prisoners have served an
aggregate of nearly fifteen hundred days in jail and in the
chain gangs. Two men have lost their lives as the result of
the oppressive measures brought against them, as veritable
martyrs to their convictions of truth as any that have gone
down in death in the dungeons of the Romish Inquisition.

The secular papers of the land have generally spoken out
in loud condemnation of the monstrous injustice and wrong
of these things; but the religious press, with a few noble
exceptions, has treated the matter with indifference and
silence. And, more than this, none of those National
Reformers who smiled at our apprehensions in this
direction, have any word of remonstrance to utter, as they
see the reality beginning to come.
For more than forty years we have been predicting such a
condition of things in this country. Reader, you may
perhaps have failed to be convicted by the logic of the
Scriptures and the statements of history that have been
presented; but will you now yield to the logic of the
facts? If our position is true, which events now
transpiring are demonstrating to be the case, the great
crisis of human history is upon us, and the decisions of
eternity are hanging in the balance. Here and now, in the
movements with which it is the lot of the men of this
generation to be connected, is to be decided the great
controversy which commenced with the defection of the archrebel
before time began. Shall God or Satan, good or evil,
be vindicated, and triumph at last? The power behind truth
and righteousness is grandly symbolized in the book of
Revelation, by One riding forth upon a white horse,
followed by the armies of heaven. The opposing powers are
symbolized by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet,
this last being the same as the two-horned beast, the
symbol of our own government. These three stand for the
three prevailing religions of the world, -- Paganism, the
Papacy, and apostate Protestantism. Rev. 16:13; 19:11-15.

The heavenly Rider prevails; the beast and false prophet
are cast alive into an all-devouring lake of fire, in which
they are consumed, but those who remain loyal to God stand
at last on the crystal sea of heavenly victory (Rev. 15:2,
3), and sing the song of everlasting triumph, called the
song of Moses and the Lamb.
To all who read these pages we earnestly say, These things
are worthy of your careful attention; will you give them
candid and thoughtful study? Where do you stand? Which side
of this controversy will you espouse? What destiny will you
choose?