Welcome to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  It’s Tuesday, October 24, 2006 and I want to thank everyone out there for taking the time to listen to this broadcast.

We have got a pretty interesting broadcast on tap for today.  There are a handful of news stories I want to talk about.  The first news story deals with American Christianity and concerns an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled, “Was Jesus Rich?”  As you may be guessing… it is about the Prosperity Gospel.  And in a semi-related story… I want too talk a little about a book out there by Becky Garrison, entitled: Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church: Eyewitness Accounts of How American Churches are Hijacking Jesus, Bagging the Beatitudes, and Worshipping the Almighty Dollar.

In line with this I am also going to discuss an old article written by Ray McGovern… way back in December of 2003… which includes a very poignant quote by Peter Storey, former president of the Methodist Church of South Africa… which reveals exactly what American Christians… who actually love the truth… must confront insofar as the evils of the greater so-called Christian culture of the US are concerned.  From there I want to go over some recent remarks made by Right Wing Christian demagogue, James Dobson, which provide an example to the very thing Peter Storey is talking about… I will tell you though… good ole Dr. Dobson is an easy target for me… This guy knows no depth to how far he will sink in his efforts to attach the Church to Right Wing State Power.

Off the subject of American Christianity… I also plan to talk about rising US casualties in Iraq… as the resistance appears to be mounting an offensive.   My purpose in going over this news is two-fold… First I want to shed some light on just how bad things are getting in Iraq… and Second… I want to do so because way back when all of this first started it was the American Evangelical community, which served as the shrillest voice insofar as support for the preemptive invasion of Iraq is concerned.

After covering those news stories I will way in with a bit of commentary myself… and what I plan to discuss is just what we are all about… here at Antipas Ministries… as opposed to the examples of Christianity… terrible examples I must add… revealed intoday’s news section.  After that we’ll have Part 5 of S.R. Shearer’s series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW… and after that I’ll come back to offer some concluding remarks… that will hopefully sort of piece everything together.

Before we jump into any of that stuff though… There are a few Antipas related matters to discuss.  For starters… At this point I want to encourage everyone out there listening to this broadcast to check out S.R. Shearer’s latest main article… which can be found at the top-center of our homepage, www.antipasministries.com. The article is entitled, A Time Comes When Silence is Betrayal… and given the environment we are all in at this moment… these are very true words.  Now more than ever… those who love the truth must speak the truth.  Those who love the Lord… must bear His testimony… And those who believe in His Words… must begin living their lives as if this were the case.

So once again… please do read the article… and/or listen to the audio… and also… do what you can to help us keep this message going.  We all have a responsibility to be witnesses for the Lord… and we also have a responsibility to help equip the saints to bare this testimony.  That is our mission in spreading this message… and putting ourselves on the front-lines… so to speak… and one thing you can do to help equip us… is to support our efforts.  All the info on how to do this is available on our website, www.antipasministries.com by clicking on the Support link… which is on the top menu of our homepage.

With that said there is nothing else to do except jump into our first news story of today… except before we do that… let’s pause so we can listen to a message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was wrapping up the intro for today’s program… and also sharing some thoughts about Steve’s latest article and the help we need from you.  With those things being covered I want to begin discussing the news stories for today… and the story I want to cover first is the last one I mentioned earlier.

This story deals with Rising US Casualties in Iraq… and comes from the San Francisco Independent Media Website.  According to reports one of the largest US bases in Baghdad was recently besieged by huge rocket attacks from insurgents… which resulted in a large number of casualties for US forces.

The report says that:

“Iraqi Resistance forces attacked the largest US weapons arsenal depot in the American General Headquarters in the south of Baghdad late Tuesday evening... the arsenal, located in the as-Saqr Base in the south of Baghdad is the main supplier of equipment to the US forces. At the time of reporting, mountains of American arms and ammunition were continuing to explode in the sky in a huge fire unprecedented in Baghdad’s history...

…Insurgents…blasted the American arsenal, known as Camp Falcon, with Grad and Katyusha rockets. The source admitted that dozens of Americans had been killed or wounded in the blasts that were still ripping the American arsenal apart. The source said that the US forces were unable to do anything to stop the massive inferno of flame and explosions that was lighting up the Baghdad sky like fireworks.”

Later on the article reveals that:

“the US military hospital at the massive American-occupied air base in al-Habbaniyah had begun to receive dead and wounded personnel from the devastating Resistance rocket assault on the US Falcon arsenal in the southern Baghdad suburb of ad-Durah. Just before midnight Tuesday, the Iraqi Resistance fired barrages of Katyusha and Grad rockets into the arsenal, the largest such facility in occupied Iraq, causing the ordnance to begin to explode. Western news reports stated that the blasts continued for hours lighting up the nighttime sky over Baghdad.”

These reports on Indy media line up with mainstream news for October… which is revealing October to be the bloodiest month ever… for US forces in Iraq.  Now… the reason I am talking about this is not out of any sort of glee… or happiness that American Soldiers are being killed or injured.  I have no joy in this… none at all.  The reason I am bringing this up is because… it is appalling to me that the biggest supporters of war are American Evangelicals.  In fact… they are just about the only segment of the population, which is still supportive to any real degree.  These people do not care about the tens of thousands… or maybe even hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties… and they do not even care about the rising number of US dead here.  Human life means nothing to these people… unless you are talking about the unborn.  Those who are already alive… whether they be Iraqis, Afghanis, those languishing in prisons, US soldiers, or anyone else serving as a cog in the machine… mean nothing to them.

I find this appalling… their lack of love for their friends… much less their enemies.  How can those who claim to love Jesus Christ pitch their tent in the camp of those who use violence as a tool to acquire the wealth of the world… and as an instrument of oppression?  The simple truth is that things are unraveling very badly in Iraq… and the only way the US can salvage their imperial ambitions there is to ratchet up the violence even higher.  The only way the US can maintain there hold upon the country is to destroy it all the more… and the fact that the American Church is on board with all of this… is a sure sign that when all is said and done… these guys have no idea about who Jesus Christ actually is.

This leads me to the second news story for today… which is an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article entitled, “Was Jesus Rich?”  Before I start on that subject though… let’s pause so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal.  I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I wrapped up my coverage today’s first story… which was rising US casualties in Iraq… and on a larger scale… the criminal support for the carnage… which the American Church has.

What should we expect though?  The greater part of American Christendom is living for this world… because their actions clearly prove that they certainly are not living for Christ.  In fact… they have revealed themselves to be enemies of the cross on most accounts.  My first example of this is found in the AJC article I mentioned before the break… “Was Jesus Rich?”

It is always interesting when the mainstream press covers matters like this.  Often times the secular nature of the mainstream press leads to some pretty good critical commentary insofar as the excesses of American Evangelicalism are concerned.  I guess what is somewhat alarming in the AJC article is the even-handed approach the subject is given.  While this makes for good and fair journalism… it also gives a certain amount of credibility to what is clearly damnable theology… i.e. the Prosperity Gospel… theology that is at the root of all, which is wrong with the American Church.

The center-piece of the article is our old friend Creflo Dollar… the Rolls Royce driving…Lear Jet flying… Jesus wants you to be rich acolyte.  The article begins as follows:

“Christians gather around the world each Christmas to sing about "poor baby Jesus" asleep in the manger with no crib for his bed.

But the Rev. Creflo Dollar looks inside that manger, and he doesn't see a poor baby at all.

He sees a baby born into wealth because the kings visiting him gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. He sees a messiah with so much money that he needed an accountant to track it. He sees a savior who wore clothes so expensive that the Roman soldiers who crucified him gambled for them.

Dollar sees a rich Jesus.

"He was rich, he was whole, and I use those words interchangeably," says Dollar, senior pastor of World Changers Church International, a 23,000-member College Park church, which broadcasts its services on six continents.”

Later on the articles say:

“Dollar preaches the Prosperity Gospel, where the basic tenet is God rewards the faithful with wealth, spiritual power and debt-free living. And he is joined by a host of other nationally known preachers:

• Bishop T.D. Jakes, one of the most popular televangelist in the United States, a best-selling author and star of MegaFest, one of the largest annual revivals in the country.

• Televangelist Oral Roberts, founder of Oral Roberts University.

• And Atlanta's own Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the city's largest church, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, 25,000 strong.”

To which I would Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch, as well as scores of others.  What is interesting to me is that over the past few decades the Prosperity Gospel has moved from the fringe… to very near the mainstream.  The thing is though… in order to perpetrate this ruse… the leaders of the Green Gospel have had turn the clear meaning of the Bible on its ear.  Check out these quotes from the article:

"It's historically inaccurate to say that Jesus was poor," says Bishop Johnathan Alvarado, senior pastor of Total Grace Christian Center in Decatur. Alvarado's church has 4,000 members who worship at two locations.

Alvarado also disputes the notion that Jesus was homeless — traditionally believed because of the passage in the ninth chapter of the Gospel of Luke where Jesus tells a would-be follower that he has "no place to lay his head."

But Alvarado says Jesus was speaking metaphorically — the world was not his home. "How many carpenters do you know who haven't built themselves a house?" he says.

And Jesus and his followers lived "sacrificially" by helping the poor and not trusting in their riches, Alvarado said. "Sacrifice is contextual," he says…

…(Dollar) also believes that stories about Jesus being prejudiced against the rich have been misinterpreted. For example, he views the tale of the wealthy young ruler that Jesus confronts in the Gospel of Luke through different eyes.

In that encounter, the Gospels say Jesus told the man that it is "harder for a camel to squeeze through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Dollar says, however, Jesus wasn't saying wealth was a barrier to being accepted by God.

He says the "eye of the needle" was an ancient passageway entering Jerusalem that was so small that a camel had to drop to its knees to squeeze through. Jesus meant that a man who trusted in his riches would have similar difficulties adjusting to God's way of handling riches, Dollar says.”

See what I’m saying there?  Insofar as having to turn God’s Word upside down is concerned?  These guys have created an alternative reality where Jesus was rich… His disciples were rich… and the central focus of His teaching was not about loving God and forsaking the things of this world… but was instead God loves you and wants you to have all the things of this world.

This my friends is at the core of what is wrong with the Church in America… and while these guys are obviously way over the top… there is a fundamental element at work here… which truly has infested the whole of the American Church.  We’ll talk about that while relating our next few stories… but before we do so let’s take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was sharing some quotes from an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article about the Prosperity Gospel… and I concluded by making mention of a fundamental element at work here… which has infected the whole of American Christendom.  And here’s a newsflash people… I am not the only one who notices this.  There is a book written by Becky Garrison… which covers this very subject… albeit in a satirical way.

The book is called: Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church: Eyewitness Accounts of How American Churches are Hijacking Jesus, Bagging the Beatitudes, and Worshipping the Almighty Dollar. In the book Garrison argues for renewed separation of church and state, noting Jesus' tendency to serve "as a prophetic voice to proclaim the Word of God without being a pawn of the Roman government." Garrison is especially tough on those who publicly claim to have God on their side. "Given that my last name ain't Falwell, Robertson, or LaHaye, I can't claim to speak for Christ," she states.

Garrison might be looking at things from a slightly different bent than those of us here at Antipas Ministries… but she too clearly sees the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with the American Church… the core of which I believe… is that the Church no longer lives for Christ and the Kingdom to Come… but instead for the things of this world.

Hey… when you are living for this world… you have to have power in this world… you have to have riches in this world… and you have to have a dominant place in the culture of this world.  All these things are a recipe for disaster insofar as real Christianity is concerned… but they are pretty much prerequisites for a religion, which has imperial designs upon the whole world… or one that at a minimum reaps the spoils of said imperial design.

Here is a brilliant quote from Peter Storey, former president of the Methodist Church of South Africa, which encapsulates the whole situation as it relates to the American Church.  I received this quote in an email from a friend… and then tracked it down as included in a superb article on the common dreams website, written in December of 2003 by Ray McGovern:

“American preachers have a task more difficult, perhaps, than those faced by us under South Africa's apartheid, or Christians under Communism.

We had obvious evils to engage; you have to unwrap your culture from years of red, white and blue myth. You have to expose, and confront, the great disconnect between the kindness, compassion and caring of most American people, and the ruthless way American power is experienced, directly and indirectly, by the poor of the earth.

You have to help good people see how they have let their institutions do their sinning for them. This is not easy among people who really believe that their country does nothing but good, but it is necessary, not only for their future, but for us all.”

Storey is right on the mark here… he understands what is really going on.  The thing is though… only a people who refuse to live for Christ and the Kingdom to Come can take things to the degree, which the American Church has.  McGovern too… understands the situation… as evidenced in the following quote from his article:

“Had Jesus allowed himself to be co-opted by the empire and its Quislings, had he chosen to divorce his nonviolent but challenging vision from the politics of the day, he could have died peacefully in his bed—as did the leaders of the institutional church in Nazi Germany.

And we can too. All that is required is a mind-trick to convince ourselves that Jesus did not really mean to say what he said, that he did not really mean to do what he did in exposing the evil of empire. Help is at hand. It is easy to find a pastor preaching a domesticated Jesus—an ahistorical Jesus far more interested in “piety” than justice.”

And to this I would add… that Jesus was not exposing the empire just for the sake of doing it… He had no quarrel with Rome.  In fact… when confronted with this issue in general… specifically as it related to paying taxes… Jesus said “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.”  In other words… the things of this world belong to Caesar… and it is our duty to live within this context.  Here is the thing though… what Christ railed against was the betrayal of His people… insofar as their forsaking of God’s ways for the things of this world was concerned.  His admonition to His followers was to turn away from such things and pick up their cross and follow Him.

Obviously this message doesn’t play too well in the mega-churches and mega-ministries of the US, which have tied their ship to that of American Power and Empire.  And I will get into this aspect a bit more… after we take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was talking about the betrayal the people of God… i.e. the Church… have perpetrated in their alliance with the powers of this world… specifically that of the United States… which they view as God’s vehicle through which Dominion is to be accomplished.

What rubbish this is… and it leads me to my final story of the day… which is that of an example of just the sort of Christianity these people practice… as embodied by the leaders they follow.

The guy I want to focus on is James Dobson… the high-holy priest of Right Wing Political Christianity.  Dobson believes the Church is not only supposed to live for the things of this world… but that it is essentially a sin before God for people to do anything other than support those the imperial agenda of warfare and oppression pushed by the Right Wing.  Courtesy of Media Matters… I have an audio clip to play… which is a radio conversation between Bill Bennet… no friend of the truth himself… and the erstwhile Dr. Dobson.  The clip begins with Dobson speaking… and here it goes:

--- Audio Clip Begin ---

DOBSON: All right, we're right around the corner from an election.

BENNETT: Yup.

DOBSON: And here at Focus on the Family, we're not political. We do care a lot about the issues, but would it not be appropriate to say to our listeners, regardless of what your political affiliation is, and regardless of how you see the candidates that are going to be voted on very shortly, I beg you to think about the security of this nation and ask yourself, "Do the people that I'm putting in power understand this threat, and are they willing to confront it?"

BENNETT: It's a great question. It's a great question and, um, I have a lot of trouble supporting people who want us to take a course of action which is exactly the course of action that Osama bin Laden wants us to take.

[...]

DOBSON: You're a great student of history, Bill, and I'm sure what's taking place now recalls the late '30s and early '40s in Britain, where Neville Chamberlain appeased the Nazis and Hitler. Thought he could negotiate, thought he could somehow make friends with them, somehow impress them, somehow not anger them. And you know what happened -- 50 million people died. I fear that some of our leaders will follow that same pattern and appease those who will destroy us.

--- Audio Clip End ---

Dobson certainly lays it all out there doesn’t he?  He says Focus on the Family is not political… then goes on to rail about the threat to America that is out there and how people need to elect those willing to confront it from the right wing… preemptive violence side… from the wire-tapping, water boarding, dissent is treason perspective.  But hey… Dobson and Focus on the Family are not political right?

The bigger issue here… is the fact that what Dobson represents is an American Church that only cares about God insofar as He can be fit into their lives and agendas in this present world.  It is interesting… recently… those of us here at Antipas Ministries were accused of being terrorists of all things.  It is interesting because if anybody or anything is truly terrorist-like… it would have to be that which calls itself the American Church.

Theirs is agenda, which has nothing to do with Christ… has nothing to do with peace… has nothing to do with loving anyone… much less your enemies.  Instead it is an agenda based upon securing dominion for America… riches for themselves… punishment for their enemies… vengeance upon those who cross them… and judgment for all who see differently.  Yet people like us get denigrated as unloving… and the bad guys.  I suppose we should expect this… as the world moves further away from the truth in Christ.  Yet it is still somewhat remarkable to see.

With that said let’s begin my final segment for today… which is my commentary.  Before I do this though… let’s take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal.  I am your host Sean Mayfield.  At this point I’ll begin my commentary for today… which is essentially a statement of what Antipas Ministries is not about… and also what it is about.  It comes from a resent defense I had to write… based upon some very serious accusations made against our ministry.  I am including it as a rebuttal of sorts… to the false examples of Christianity, which I have exposed today.

It has been brought to my attention that there is a serious misunderstanding insofar as the message and beliefs of Antipas Ministries are concerned.  It has been iterated to me that some people believe that we appear to be a terrorist organization, that we hold terrorist views, that we wish ill for the United States of America, that we advocate violence against the United States of America, and that we believe we are to somehow be involved in some future destruction of the United States of America.

On all accounts such thoughts are grossly and dangerously erroneous.  We do not advocate taking any sort of violent action under any sort of circumstance.  We are pacifists in the truest sense of the word.  I do not wish to make this a religious document, but I do wish to share a passage from the Bible, which encapsulates our beliefs concerning taking violent action of any kind:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.  If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.  You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who would spitefully use you..." MATTHEW 5: 38-44

This is the essence of what we believe and it is the guiding philosophy of each individual member in this ministry.  Along these lines, we do not sympathize with those who wish to do the United States harm.  We do not advocate support, nor do we support any organization or individual who may wish to do the U.S. or any citizen of the U.S. harm.  We do not wish or hope that anything bad would happen to the United States, any individuals within the United States, soldiers serving the United States in foreign lands, or U.S. citizens abroad.

We do not believe that we as individuals or as an organization have any role to play in bringing down the United States, overthrowing the government, resisting the government, or bringing about some sort of destruction to the United States.  As I said above, we are pacifists.  We believe in turning the other cheek.  We believe in praying for our enemies and our loved ones alike.

Were we to encounter an individual or organization, even in correspondence, who advocated or was even marginally supportive of violent action against the U.S., its citizens, or its property; we would immediately end such correspondence or encounter and would never seek to associate with, affiliate with, or even give the appearance of sympathy toward said individual or organization.

As mentioned earlier, we are Christians, in that we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He died for our transgressions and was resurrected from the grave.  Yet we do also believe a great part of that which calls itself Christian within the US is a false representation of real Christianity, specifically as it relates to the Biblical passage I made mention of earlier.  We do see problems in the United States and by and large we believe those problems exist due to the fact that the Religious Right has essentially seized the levers of power within the US.

We do not believe it to in any way be a good thing for the Church and the State to be linked up together.  History is littered with horrific examples of the suffering, loss, and restrictions upon personal freedom, which have come about whenever the Church and the State lose their separation.  This trend within the United States is very alarming to us and we have written about it extensively on our website.  We do not see the power of religious forces within the U.S. waning any time soon and in fact see such power on the rise as represented by the tremendous influence the Religious Right wields within the Republican Party.

Make no mistake though, we are not against the Republican Party; nor are we for the Democratic Party.  We are for truth, we are for compassion, and we are for love.  Once again what we are for is encapsulated in the Biblical passage I referenced earlier.

Our alarm toward the loss of the separation between Church and State within the US has led us to warn others.  It has led us to counsel people, especially Christians not on board with this movement; that they do need to seriously consider getting out of the US.  This idea of getting out was not and is not predicated upon the thought that the U.S. is going to be destroyed.  And it most certainly is not predicated on the idea that we are going to have any part in its destruction.  As I said earlier, we are pacifists and do not believe in violence of any sort on any level.  We believe Christians should consider leaving the U.S. because of the direction the nation is taking; due to fact that the Church is merging with the State.  We believe this because we see a danger in otherwise loving Christians taking part in a movement that we see as narrow-minded, absent of love, devoid of compassion, and a threat to liberty.  In short, we see a danger in Christians becoming swayed by the power being garnered by the Church within the U.S. and as such losing sight of the principles upon which true Christianity is supposed to be based.

Our world view is decidedly from the left.  We are much more apt to quote Alexander Cockburn, Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, or William Greider than any sort of religious authority.  We believe that all people, regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation have the right to exercise their own free will insofar as this present world is concerned.

In other words, what I am saying is that we do not want to control anyone.  We do not want to manipulate anyone.  We do not want to coerce anyone.  We provide information, opinions, and analysis to people based upon our beliefs.  These beliefs are not violent.  They do not call for the destruction of any individual, group, or nation, most especially not the U.S.  We provide encouragement to people who agree with our beliefs and we do advise people to take prudent action based upon the direction current events appear to be taking us.

And with that said… I’ll conclude my commentary… and turn things over to Steve Shearer for Part 5 of his series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW… After that I’ll come back to offer some concluding remarks… that will hopefully sort of piece everything together.

Before we move forward though… let’s take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com

--- Message Break ---

--- Steve’s Segment ---

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Due to the length of today’s broadcast I am going to keep my closing remarks fairly short.  All I want to say is this…

The evidence we offer… the message we preach… is one meant to spur you to action.  If all we are doing is providing you with some sort of interesting… or not so interesting diversion… then we have utterly failed.  Loving the Lord… loving the Truth… is all about taking action.  True faith is characterized by love in action.  Those who love the truth will act on its behalf.  As such… it is my hope that we are accomplishing this.

It is my hope that you are not just taking in what we have to say and filing it away for future reference… but that you are opening your own mouth… as a testimony for the truth.  We here at Antipas Ministries can only do so much.  There are only a handful of us so to speak… and even with the internet we can only get the truth out there so far.  It is going to take whole Body of Christ to stand as a Witness for Him during these days… and it is my prayer that this is indeed what will happen.

With that said I’ll wrap things up for today… and in closing leave you with a presentation of the true Gospel Message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.  So until next time… God Bless you All!

--- Program End ---

Welcome to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  It’s Monday, October 16, 2006 and I do believe we’ve got a fairly good program on tap for everyone today.  What I have decided to do is change the format for these broadcasts up a bit.  I have to be honest… as recently as a month ago I was doing two broadcasts a week... with each transcript running anywhere from 8 to 10 pages.  That was just too much to take on… and I was really losing the ability to make the message as vibrant and effective as it should be.  I began to think I was merely repeating myself over and over again… and truthfully… I was getting a little burned out after essentially writing and recording around 400 pages of scripts over the past 4 months.

Well… with all of that in mind I have decided to change things up a bit… insofar as the format of these broadcasts is concerned.  From here on out… what I’m going to do is open up with an introduction like I always do… where I’ll break down what is going to be covered in that day’s program.  Then for the second segment I’ll discuss whatever in-house matters related to Antipas Ministries that need to be discussed.  For the third segment I’ll do a short breakdown on the major news stories and commentaries that have occurred since the last audio broadcast.  The fourth segment will be a somewhat brief commentary of my own… on whatever is relevant to that day.  The fifth segment will be S.R. Shearer’s… or specifically the next part in the continuing audio series of past articles he has been doing… And finally… the sixth segment will be sort of a recap of everything else covered and during that time we’ll try to piece together everything covered during the day insofar as it fits into the big picture that I am always railing on about.

The plan is for the segments after the introduction to run about seven minutes a piece… with the exception of Steve’s, which usually runs from ten to twelve.  Add in our message breaks and all that other stuff… and these broadcasts should always be right around an hour in length.  That is the plan… but of course… plans are always subject to change.  When I first started doing these audios I was pretty clear that they were going to be a work in progress… and this is just another step along the way to wherever we will eventually end up with these things.

Today’s program is of course a little different.  I have talked about the in-house stuff before going over what we’ll cover on today’s program.  So at this point let’s go ahead and preview what today’s broadcast is going to be all about.

The first thing I want to do is go over the bigger news stories and commentaries that have emerged since the last broadcast.  We will discuss “Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse”… in the context of America’s pending strikes against Iran.  We’ll talk about the allegations made in David Kuo’s recently released book, which charges that the Bush administration may pander to the Christian Right… but secretly holds them in great contempt.  We’ll also talk about the continuing saga of Mark Foley… the gay GOP congressmen who got caught sending terribly inappropriate messages to underage congressional pages… and we’ll also talk about the way the scandal has widened into serious trouble for the entire Republican Party.

After that I’ll provide some commentary and analysis of my own related to how things might unfold insofar as the relationship between the GOP and the Religious Right is concerned.

After my analysis well proceed into Part 4 of S.R. Shearer’s series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW… and after that I will come back for the final segment… in which I’ll attempt to further piece everything together.  So as you can see… we’ve got a lot of ground to cover today… and a new format to boot… so without any further adieu I suppose we ought to get started.  Before we do that though… let’s pause for a message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal. I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I wrapped up the intro for today’s program and now it is time to move on to our news segment.

The first story I want to talk about today is “Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse”… in the context of America’s pending strikes against Iran.  Chris Hedge’s wrote an article on the 9^th of October entitled Bush’s Nuclear Apocalypse… which I read on the Truthdig website.  In the article Hedges reveals that the plan to attack Iran appears to already be in motion when he shares the following information… and I quote:

"The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran.  The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month.  It may be a bluff.  It may be a feint.  It may be a simple show of American power.  But I doubt it.

War with Iran—a war that would unleash an apocalyptic scenario in the Middle East—is probable by the end of the Bush administration.  It could begin in as little as three weeks."

Speaking of the men who want and are planning this war… and how it relates to the apocalyptic vision of the Christian Right… Hedges shares the following:

"These men advocate a doctrine of permanent war, a doctrine which, as William R. Polk points out, is a slight corruption of Leon Trotsky’s doctrine of permanent revolution.  These two revolutionary doctrines serve the same function, to intimidate and destroy all those classified as foreign opponents, to create permanent instability and fear and to silence domestic critics who challenge leaders in a time of national crisis. It works.  The citizens of the United States, slowly being stripped of their civil liberties, are being herded sheep-like, once again, over a cliff.

But this war will be different.  It will be catastrophic.  It will usher in the apocalyptic nightmares spun out in the dark, fantastic visions of the Christian right.  And there are those around the president who see this vision as preordained by God; indeed, the president himself may hold such a vision."

According to Hedges… things are well under way… insofar as strikes against Iran are concerned… in fact it is essentially a foregone conclusion that this is going to happen somewhere between 3 weeks from now and the end of the Bush presidency.  The biggest piece of evidence he offers is something that Steve Shearer, as a former military officer pointed out to me a long time ago.  Order of Battle is what to look for insofar as determining where and when any military is going to attack.

What Order of Battle means is when forces begin accumulating in a specific region one can usually assume an attack is to be launched in that region fairly soon.  [Specifically it means that certain types of forces are sent in a certain order to the region where conflict is anticipated] So Hedges description of US Naval forces arraying themselves of the Strait of Hormuz is very telling.  This news has been confirmed in other reputable stories… so one has to truly consider that an attack upon Iran is already a “go”.

Hedges also covers the apocalyptic vision, which seems to be driving this attack… one embraced by the Religious Right within the US… in which they see it the God-ordained duty of the Christian US to destroy Iran since it is an enemy to Christianity and Israel… an enemy they depict as being bent upon the destruction of both.  Hedges sees all this as part of a larger doctrine of permanent war… embraced by Bush and the ruling Elite… one meant to destroy all of America’s enemies, silent dissent at home, and secure their grip upon the reigns of power as the, “citizens of the United States, slowly being stripped of their civil liberties, are being herded sheep-like, once again, over a cliff.”

I cannot find much of anything to disagree with, insofar as the assertions of Hedges are concerned.  The only thing I see as unsettled is the actual conviction Bush and company may have regarding the corrupt vision held by the Religious Right regarding the need to strike Iran as some sort of apocalyptic-slash-prophetic imperative.  It could very well only be about money and power for these guys… and we’ll talk about this a little more in discussing our next news story.  Before we get into that however… let’s take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was wrapping up our first story of the day… Bush’s Apocalyptic vision… as it relates to attacking Iran… and now I want to move on to our second story… which involves a recently released book, Tempting Faith, which charges that the Bush administration may pander to the Christian Right… but secretly holds them in great contempt.

According to an MSNBC.com story by Jonathan Larsen:

"“Tempting Faith’s” author is David Kuo, who served as special assistant to the president from 2001 to 2003. A self-described conservative Christian, Kuo’s previous experience includes work for prominent conservatives including former Education Secretary and federal drug czar Bill Bennett and former Attorney General John Ashcroft."

The meat of the story as related by Larsen… is as follows:

"(Kuo) says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist Karl Rove as “the nuts.”

“National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as ‘ridiculous,’ ‘out of control,’ and just plain ‘goofy,’” Kuo writes.

More seriously, Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken Mehlman knowingly participated in a scheme to use the office, and taxpayer funds, to mount ostensibly “nonpartisan” events that were, in reality, designed with the intent of mobilizing religious voters in 20 targeted races."

The article then goes on to reveal that 19 of those 20 races were won by the GOP.  And last night on CBS’s 60 Minutes, Kuo explained that the Bush White House has consistently subverted its so-called “values” agenda in favor of unapologetic political gain when he said, “This message that has been sent out to Christians for a long time now: that Jesus came primarily for a political agenda, and recently primarily a right-wing political agenda - as if this culture war is a war for God. And it’s not a war for God, it’s a war for politics.”

There are several things to take away from this story… Number one… we can see who has been totally bought by the US Elites… insofar as their reactions to these charges are concerned.  Big hitters in the Religious Right like James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Charles Colson, and lesser knowns like Jason Christy have been quick to attack Kuo… without even reading his book.  In doing so they reveal something most of us have already known for a long time… these guys have no loyalty to Jesus Christ… no loyalty to the Truth.  Their loyalty is to money… and the Elite… who just happen to be the guys who have most all of the money.

The second thing to take away from this story is that it is highly likely that it is going to rattle a lot of Christians within the US that are already becoming skeptical of the veracity of the Christianity professed within the Bush administration.  Throw this on top of all the torture… the carnage in Iraq… the stripping away of civil liberties… and our next subject… and you have a formula, which may add up to real trouble for Bush and company.

This leads us to our next story… which deals with Mark Foley… and how his scandal is also working to undo the Right Wing within the US.  Before we jump into that one though… let’s pause so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I concluded my coverage of the Kuo book and was getting ready to jump into our next story… which is the continuing saga of Mark Foley… the gay GOP congressmen who got caught sending terribly inappropriate messages to underage congressional pages… and I’ll also want to talk about the way the scandal has widened into serious trouble for the entire Republican Party.

Hopefully everyone knows about the Foley situation… but if you don’t… here is a brief summary… Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida has ignited a huge scandal through his emails and text messages to underage congressional pages.  The messages were of a sexual nature and directed toward boys.  Foley has been at the forefront of Republican anti-homosexual efforts while being a closet homosexual, himself.  The scandal has further widened due to the fact that it appears a great majority of the higher-ups in the Republican leadership… including within higher-ups within the Whitehouse… know what Foley was up to… yet did nothing to stop it.

To get an idea of just how big this scandal might get… check out this bomb-shell of an excerpt from the October 9^th entry by Wayne Madsen on his Wayne Madsen Report website:

"On October 2, WMR was the first media outlet to report on the involvement of Arizona Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe, the only openly gay GOP congressmen, in the Pagegate matter. We reported that Kolbe was a member and chairman of the House Page Board at the time reports of ex-Florida GOP Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate sexual conduct with underage male pages was known to the Republican House leadership. WMR reported:

"From 2000 to 2001, the Page Board Chair was Rep. Sue Kelly (R-NY) and members included Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) (inexplicably replaced as chairman by Kelly), Kildee, Trandahl, and Livingood. Crews was the program coordinator. From 1999 to 2000, the Chairman was Kolbe and members included Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Kildee, Transdahl, and Livingood. The coordinator was Crews. From 1998 (when the allegations first reportedly surfaced about Foley), the Chair was Tillie Fowler (R-FL) and members were Kildee, Kolbe, House Clerk Robin Carle, and Livingood. The page coordinator was Hugh Addington. Foley became a congressman in 1995."

The Washington Post is reporting today, rather belatedly, that Kolbe was aware of Foley's salacious e-mails with an underage page in 2000. One of Foley's Instant Messages sent in January 2002 to a page stated that Kolbe once invited four pages to use his Washington home while Kolbe was in Arizona.

There is also much focus on the relationship between House Speaker Dennis Hastert and his chief of staff, 56-year old Scott Palmer. Hastert and Palmer, Hastert's longtime unmarried adviser, live together in a DC townhouse along with Hastert's Deputy Chief of Staff, Mike Stokke, while Hastert's wife Jean lives in Yorkville, Illinois and stays at a hotel when she visits Washington.

WMR has also learned of additional Senate links to the Pagegate scandal. There is much focus on GOP Sen. George Allen's predominantly white male staff. There is also interest in the activities of a senior GOP Senator from a Rocky Mountain state.

WMR's State Department sources have also reported that the visits of Hastert and other congressional leaders and staff members to certain Southeast Asian nations and the Northern Marianas should come under the scrutiny of the House Ethics Committee, now officially investigating "Pagegate." The Northern Marianas became infamous in the scandals involving Tom DeLay and Jack Abramoff because of the presence in the US slave labor territory of Asian children being used as prostitutes. Conveniently, Foley co-chaired the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which would have had authority to investigate charges of child prostitution in the Northern Marianas.

Our State Department sources report that it is no secret that a number of U.S. Foreign Service officers working out of the U.S. embassies in Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, and Manila have been involved with underage nationals of the host countries where they are assigned. In fact, many have rotated their assignments between countries that look sideways at child prostitution and sex between adults and minors. In fact, John Mark Karr, as previously reported by WMR, was quickly whisked out of Bangkok after his arrest on pedophilia charges. The U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, working with the CIA and Department of Homeland Security, arranged for Karr's quick departure from Bangkok on a business class flight to the United States, where all charges, including those stemming from Karr's "admission" that he killed JonBenet Ramsey and child porn charges, were later dropped. WMR has learned that Karr may have been aware of the identities of top U.S. officials in the child sex trade in Thailand and that he was sprung from Thai authorities to prevent him from testifying in a Thai courtroom.

Hastert visited Vietnam, along with Palmer, in April of this year and spent three days in the country. Hastert, along with Illinois GOP Rep. Ray LaHood, canceled a visit to Thailand and Vietnam in January 2006. Hastert was also in Thailand in January 2002."

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All the news in the mainline press and the incredible evidence Madsen along with others are putting together show pretty clearly that this thing has the potential to erupt into a scandal that could make Monica-gate look like a stroll through the park.  Is it possible that in addition to being responsible for gutting the US economy; spreading warfare, torture and misery throughout the world; and destroying democracy within the US… that the Right Wing is also hypocritically up to its ears in homosexuality and pedophilia?

Well it certainly appears this may be true.  What is also apparent though… is that the GOP may be severely damaged insofar as its status as the moral standard bearer of the United States is concerned.  How will all this play out is the question I guess… and I’ll try to offer something of an answer to that question in my next segment… which is my commentary for today’s audio journal.  Before we get into that though… let’s pause one more time so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host, Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was wrapping up our last news story… which was the Foley scandal… and the larger implications it may hold for America’s Right Wing rulers.  Having wrapped that up… I now want to offer a brief commentary of my own.

What I want to discuss is what the Republicans might do to turn the tide on the allegations in the Kuo book and the Foley scandal… because what we are talking about here is the fact that the overwhelming Republican Machine… one, which was born of the uber-powerful alliance between the Corporate Elite and the Religious Right within the structure of the Republican Party… is now in a certain amount of jeopardy.

As we here at Antipas Ministries have mentioned numerous times… The Elite cannot push ahead with their plans to essentially conquer the world without their foot-soldiers in the religious right.  In the land of reality… the economic measures and imperial ambitions the Elite have on tap are way too destructive to the lives of average Americans for them to ever garner enough support among the population to maintain power… and henceforth stay on course with their plans.

Without the Religious Right their biggest ally insofar as destroying Iran is gone… and they plan to begin their destruction on this front very soon.  Without the Religious Right their staunchest ally insofar as stripping away constitutional rights to privacy, free speech, and dissent are removed… and they are left with a remainder of the populace increasingly at odds with the fascist, dictatorial direction they are moving the US.  Without the Religious Right their foundational support for issues like the further privatization of the government, further repeal of taxes on the rich, and the burial of Social Security are gone as well.

In short… without the Religious Right underfoot… the Elites have no base of support for the continuance of their raping and pillaging.  And make no mistake about it… all but the most hardened and blind zealots within the Christian Right are wavering at the moment.  As Anthony Wade wrote in a recent commentary on the OpEdNews.com website, entitled, Deceived and Used, The GOP Leaves Christian America at the Altar of Corporatism:

“I have spoken with many disappointed evangelicals who finally can see the immense failure the last five years have been. They can take credit for putting a self-proclaimed Christian into the Oval Office and then giving him complete control of Congress in 2002. Given those facts they expected more results. They expected a return to family values. They expected a Christian administration with Christian results. What they got instead was an immoral war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands innocent lives. Instead of taking care of the neediest in society they got the impoverishing of a nation, while the rich got richer. Instead of morality, they got Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff and Mark Foley. On top of the immorality, they got the defense of such behavior, or the minimizing of it, by the party of family values. Suddenly, telling a 16 year old boy that he is making a grown man, our elected representative, "horny", is reduced to "naughty emails." Suddenly a grown man asking a 16 year old boy to send him a picture of himself and commenting on another boy's body, are "vague." Instead of Christian values they got torture as national policy from the morality party. I do not think disappointing quite covers it for Christians.”

And Wade is correct to a certain degree.  While I may disagree with just how serious most American Christians have ever been about taking care of the neediest in society… there can be no doubt the Christian Right base of the GOP is hugely disappointed in the immorality of their own political leaders… the scandals that have erupted from what was supposed to be a Christian Government… and the blatant hypocrisy exhibited by the party that was supposed to hate homosexuality just as much as they do.

So I guess the question is what are the Elites going to do about this?  What are they going to do to hold on to their Evangelical minions?  Well… my guess is that in the face of such adversity they are going to do the only thing that is really available to them.  They are going to ramp up their efforts as standard-bearer for the American Christian cause in the culture war.

They are probably going to viscously purge the Republican Party of anything or anyone that even hints of homosexuality or pedophilia.  Already the news is out there that gay rights groups opposed to GOP hypocrisy have sent lists of all the gay Republicans to several big time evangelical groups.  Expect the Elites to act upon these lists and cull these log-cabin Republicans from the herd.  Expect them to also put on a very strong show of support for even the most radical elements of the moral agenda being pushed by the US Church in an effort to undo some of this damage.

Now… they may not be able to do enough to salvage next month’s election… but… I believe they will still push forward with this… and by the time of the 2008 elections… we ought to expect to see a purified form of the Republican Party… that is even closer in its allegiance to the Religious Right.  I mean… they are the only true ally the Elites have… at least insofar as allies possessing significant numbers are concerned.

While many on the Left and in the Middle see the present troubles for the Right Wing as fatal… I tend to disagree.  I think these things, along with Iraq and other matters could possibly cost them the upcoming elections… but I believe the bad news here is that in the end… the alliance between the Church and the Elite will become even stronger… and the direction of this Right Wing alliance will become all the more severe… after they have weeded out the sacrificial lambs… and sold the evangelical populace on their genuine intentions to fight and win the culture war.

To close out this commentary… I guess I’ll just say… God help us all if what I am saying turns out to be true.

Well… at this point I want to move on to Steve’s segment on today’s audio journal.  After Steve’s portion I’ll come back to put a final spin on things… I’ll build off of everything covered thus far… including Steve’s segment… and try to put some further truthful Christian perspective on all this.  So let’s go ahead and jump into Part 4 of S.R. Shearer’s series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW.  But first… let’s take another break so we can listen to another message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

--- S.R. Shearer Segment ---

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal.  I am your host… Sean Mayfield.  Before the break you were listening to Part 4 of S.R. Shearer’s series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW.  Considering the message offered therein… along with the previous content of today’s audio journal… I have some final thoughts to share.

There can be no doubt that the Elite rulers of the US are planning to extend their dominion upon the whole of the earth.  Their can be no doubt they plan to destroy all opposition within the Middle East and the Muslim World… in order to control the oil wealth therein.  There can be no doubt that they have shredded the US Constitution, and have made life infinitely more difficult for the poor and dispossessed in the US and throughout the World.

And there can also be no doubt that while giving lip service to Jesus Christ and Christian principles… their real motivation has been money and power.

In Steve’s segment he has been talking about how the system is being constructed in such a way as to trap everyone within its grasp.  He has shared how all are at risk to some degree or another… and especially those who refuse to go along to get along.

When looking at all these things combined… there are a few points, which are remarkable to me.  The first is that most American Christians have made themselves so willfully oblivious to the charade being perpetrated around them.  They have closed their eyes to the atrocities their leaders have committed in the name of Christ.  They have blatantly disregarded God Word… the commandments of Jesus Christ… in order to serve the greedy war machine the Elites have constructed.

In fact… taking things one step further… they have not only closed their eyes in blatant disregard… but have even manipulated the teachings and principles of our Savior in order to serve the imperial ambitions of the US Elite.  Their greed runs as deep as that of the Elite… their hypocrisy runs as wide as that of their earthly masters… and it is because of this… that I think the Elite will be able to undo so much of the damage they have been hit with of late.

The simple fact is that American Christians have been programmed to reject Democrats, liberals, and progressive agendas.  They have been brain-washed to believe that unfettered capitalism, gunboat diplomacy, and the destruction of your enemies is the way to victory.  As such… in their hearts they see no alternative except to ultimately fall back in line behind their Elite superiors.

So I guess the question is not so much what can we do to wake them up… because in all honesty… I do not believe that hardly any of them will ever wake up.  Like a drug-dealer who is a user himself… they have become deluded by their own lies… in Biblical terms they have been given over to a reprobate mind… you know… having eyes to see they see not and having ears to hear they hear not… and all that stuff.

Instead… of the question being what can we do to wake them up… I believe the question is when are all of you out there going to wake up?  When are more than a handful of people going to begin testifying against the apostasy in our midst?  When are folks going to start calling a spade a spade?  When are people going to shout the truth from their housetops?

Even if we swing back from the edge of the abyss… things at the root are not going to get any better… at best what we are looking at is a short respite.  At worst… the Elite may get so backed into a corner in this… the short term… that they pull the trigger on the final act of their play… one which turns the US into a dictatorship and begins World War 3.

With this in mind… I want to know what folks are waiting for.  I want to know what it is going to take for people to get serious about God’s Word… serious about the Truth.  He has given us a blueprint… He has given us a plan of action.  He has called us to testify… and He has called us to OBEDIENCE.  Obedience on fleeing the US and all these other matters.  Now is the time to do something… as the title of S.R. Shearer’s earlier piece remarks… and it is time for everyone who claims to truly love the Lord to step up to bat.

In closing… one way you can do so… a small way… is to support us in our efforts.  We are committed to spreading this message until our last breath… but we do need your help.  Just click on the support link found on our homepage for all the details… and on all these matters start taking action now.

So with that said I’ll wrap things up for today… and in closing leave you with a presentation of the True Gospel Message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.  So until next time… God Bless You All!

--- Program End ---

Welcome to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  And once again I want to welcome you to the Monday, October 09, 2006 broadcast.  We have what I think is a pretty good program on tap for everyone today.  We are going to discuss some different topics today… different from what we have been talking about the past couple of weeks anyway.  I want to talk about the situation in the Philippines… surrounding the brutal assassination of Bishop Alberto Ramento of the Philippine Independent Church.  To put this terrible act in perspective… I also want to speak about the history of violence, which has been visited upon Christians in the Third World… who have dared to stand against the oppression and injustice of the American New World Order System.

I also want to talk about North Korea’s apparent nuclear test, which took place over the weekend… and I plan to discuss some of the issues or scenarios surrounding the upcoming congressional elections in the United States.  Plus… we also have Part 3 of S.R. Shearer’s series, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SOMETHING; IT MAY BE TOO LATE TOMORROW.  So as you can see… I have a fair amount of information lined up for today… Before I get started on all of that though… I want to take a few moments to discuss a few things related to Antipas Ministries.

For starters… and I know this is something I have been talking about quite a bit lately… but for starters I want to once again encourage everyone out there to look into signing up for the training program we are offering.  You can get all the info related to this training program by clicking on the Antipas Training link… which can be found on the left hand box near the top of our homepage… www.antipasministries.com.

Additionally…  I also have a notice of sorts for those of you already signed up for the training.  There is a very brief online form that we need you to fill out.  It can also be accessed by clicking on the Antipas Training link… and then clicking on the red-lettered heading entitled, “A Special Note To Trainees”.  I just want to encourage everyone who is involved to go ahead and help us out in this capacity by clicking on the link and filling out the very brief online form.

Also… regarding our finances… Like I said in the last audio journal… we are truly thankful for the help recently sent our way… help, which enabled us to get off the snide… so to speak… concerning our September bills.  Well… as has been the pattern lately… we are once again running on fumes insofar as our financing is concerned.  All the past support sent covered past balances… and we are once again in the position of having bills due… this time October bills… and quite literally have no resources to cover them.  Shoot… today is Canadian Thanksgiving Day… and we do not even have any grocery money to get supplies to make a meal.

I am not trying to resort to histrionics here… just giving you the facts… and also hoping the Lord will touch the hearts of those of you out there who stand with us in this message.  As I always say… I certainly trust the Lord to make a way for us here… yet I also trust that a great portion of that way is going to come from you… the people who benefit spiritually from this message.  Any amount will help… even if you think it is too small to make a difference… I assure you whatever you are capable of sending to help us out will indeed do so.

Well… to wrap things up insofar as these announcements are concerned… I also want to encourage everyone out there to continue giving us your feedback insofar as this message and our efforts to spread it are concerned.  You can send me an email to sean@antipasministries.com... Or you can give us a call at (250) 397-2555.  And with that being said I’ll wrap up my preliminary comments for today’s program and get moving into the heart of the matter for today’s broadcast.

Like I said earlier… the first thing I want to discuss today is the terrible news coming from the Philippines… that Bishop Alberto Ramento, a popular and very prominent church leader, known as long-time advocate for the poor and as a champion of truth and justice… has been brutally assassinated.  This killing comes at a time of increasing violence in the Philippines… as the present US puppet regime expands its efforts to silence any voice of dissent against their efforts to deliver all the riches and resources of that nation into the hands of the US Elite.

This is serious business my friends… and I while I realize many of you have no idea about what is going on in the Philippines… I certainly want to stress to you the significance of this action… along with the historical context in which it has occurred.  However, before I go into all of this… let’s take a quick break so we can listen to a message from those of us here at Antipas Ministries.com.

--- Message Break ---

Welcome back to the Antipas Audio Journal… I am your host Sean Mayfield.  Before the break I was just getting started on our first topic of discussion today… which is the brutal assassination of Bishop Alberto Ramento, of the Philippine Independent Church.  Ramento was known internationally for, “His commitment to justice, his solidarity with the poor and his faith in Christ”.  In a press conference in Manila, activist priest Father Joe Dizon of Kairos spoke in metaphors in agreeing that Ramento was murdered by “thieves.”

“Yes, it was the handiwork of thieves,” he began, “thieves of truth, of electoral votes, of power in government.”

Now before all of you out there think that I am going all ecumenical on you… I want to make a couple of statements.  Number one… We at Antipas Ministries have a dear friend in the Philippines… someone who has been a contributing writer to the website… and someone who has dedicated his life to justice, solidarity with the poor, and faith in Jesus Christ.  My first thought concerning the slaying of Ramento and the additional violence that is unraveling the Philippines is for the safety of our dear friend and brother in the Lord.

So regardless of what some of you may want to say about Ramento’s theology… or the theology of those who have eulogized him… I want you to understand what we are talking about here.  We are talking about a man who understood quite clearly Christ’s first declaration concerning His ministry on the earth… in which He said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4: 18-19

Ramento understood this… and this message served as the core of his efforts on this earth.  So too can these words be spoken for our friend in the Philippines… and I have to say… in the present climate over there… I am really fearful for Him.  Now don’t get me wrong… I have all faith in the Lord to keep his hand upon our friend… but my prayers and thoughts certainly go out to him at this time… as I also hope is true on your behalf as well.

Here is the point… what happened to Ramento was not some isolated instance… it was not coincidental… and it was done for a very specific motive.  Ramento was eliminated because his was a voice in opposition to the present Filipino government… a right-wing dictatorial government firmly