SELLING OUR SOULS IN THE NAME OF SERVICE
By Berit Kjos
February 11, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
"Faith-Based Partnerships" BAN TRUTH & Freedom
"Barack Obama will establish a new President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships within the White House. The Council will work to engage faith-based organizations and help them abide by the principles that federal funds cannot be used to proselytize..."[1]
"If you get a federal grant, you can’t use that grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against... the people you hire on the basis of their religion.”[2] Barack Obama
"...we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” Acts 4:18-19 [The disciples' response when commanded not to share their faith.
Why is our government so hostile to the Christian message? What kinds of social and political goals are fueling this war on God's Truth?
One clue may be found in Barack Obama's "Call to Renewal" speech on June 28, 2006. He said,
"Democracy demands that the religiously motivated translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific values. "[3]
Obama hired Pastor Joshua DuBois to head up his Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Considering their diverse backgrounds, the two seem surprisingly compatible. Notice how Pastor DuBois echoes the words of President Obama:
"Our democracy demands that when people are religiously motivated you have to translate your concerns into universal rather than religion-specific values."[4]
Apparently, our new president wants us to trade our Biblical values for evolving illusions! We would be fools to follow such a devious demand!
This paradigm shift began decades ago! Progressive education and compromising churches have paved the way. Trying to please man rather than God, they willingly embraced the enticing "universals" that ban His guidelines.
No plan will undermine those old truths more effectively than Obama's system of "service learning." Through a top-down hierarchy of partnerships -- government, churches and community groups -- trained facilitators at every level will guide group dialogue everywhere until all participants embrace the evolving consensus. [See The Dialectic Process]
While gathering data on each participant, the leaders of this Washington-based communitarian system will--
"...launch a program to 'Train the Trainers' by empowering hundreds of intermediary nonprofits and larger faith-based organizations to train thousands of local faith-based and community-based organizations on best practices, grant-making procedures, service delivery and limitations.
"The Office will host regular training sessions for selected community training partners. These partners... would be supported to travel to Washington and learn how to train local faith-based and community organizations on... remaining in compliance, avoiding proselytizing, understanding hiring rules, and reporting outcomes. These organizations would return to their communities as certified providers of advice...."[1]
Sounds like total government control, doesn't it? Since our president calls each of us to "serve," the participation could be vast. And with next year's National Census (2010) controlled by the White House, not Congress, Obama may request whatever information his plan requires.
Obama's adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski would probably be pleased. This former National Security Advisor -- who founded the Trilateral Commission with David Rockefeller -- seems to support Marxist totalitarianism. In his book, Between Two Ages, he wrote:
"Marxism is simultaneously a victory of the external, active man over the inner, passive man and a victory of reason over belief."
"Marxism, disseminated on the popular level in the form of Communism, represented a major advance in man’s ability to conceptualize his relationship to his world."
"The technetronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite, unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most important information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities."[5]
"I’ve learned an immense amount from Dr. Brzezinski," said Obama. (See video)
TWISTING THE FIRST AMENDMENT
On February 5, 2009, President Obama signed an Executive Order amending EO 13199 signed by George W. Bush and establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. In Section 1 on Policy, it states:
"The American people are key drivers of fundamental change in our country, and few institutions are closer to the people than our faith-based and other neighborhood organizations. It is critical that the Federal Government strengthen the ability of such organizations ... to deliver services effectively in partnership with Federal, State, and local governments and with other private organizations, while ... forbidding the establishment of religion....
"Through rigorous evaluation, and by offering technical assistance, the Federal Government must ensure that organizations receiving Federal funds achieve measurable results in furtherance of valid public purposes."
Last summer, Obama gave us a specific outline of his planned "partnerships between government and faith-based and other nonprofit community groups." Much of it was based on the new interpretation of the First Amendment. To our nation's founders -- and to all who came to America seeking religious freedom -- it meant the wonderful promise of the "free exercise of religion" and "free speech."
Since that foundational promise clashed with the socialist vision of solidarity [one of Obama's "universals"], those words have been reinterpreted. Now they are used to silence Christian expressions in schools, public places and public "partnerships." Obama's section on "guiding principles" includes the following:
"Barack Obama believes that our problems require an 'all hands on deck' approach.... Obama also respects the First Amendment.... Obama’s initiative will be governed by a set of core principles for federal grant recipients. In order to receive federal funds to provide social services, faith-based organizations:
Cannot use federal funds to proselytize or provide religious sectarian instruction. Must comply with federal anti-discrimination laws. ...cannot discriminate with respect to hiring.... Can only use taxpayer dollars on secular programs and initiatives...."[1]
In other words, participating Christians who long to comfort the needy can no longer share God's encouraging truths. If their church receives government funds to help pay the cost of food for the poor, they cannot pray with a hurting child or sick mother.
Nor can their church refuse to hire leaders whose beliefs and values clash with Biblical values. For example,
"A Baptist agency in Kentucky provides shelter and love to abused and neglected children. But it has also accepted public funds. Since the government regulations tied to federal funding forbid discrimination in hiring practices, the agency has been sued by an openly gay woman who claims she was fired because of her sexual preference."[6]
When President Obama announced the new Executive Order that established this program, he included this warning. Notice how it defines "faith":
"As the priorities of this Office are carried out, it will be done in a way that upholds the Constitution.... The separation of church and state is a principle President Obama supports firmly.... There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own..."[7]
In our troubled times, how many churches will resist the temptation to compromise?
GLOBAL CHANGE
Remember, the First Amendment assures us that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech..." Though intended to protect faithful believers, that assurance has been turned upside down.
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No organization has done more to twist that promise into a ban on faith-based expressions than the ACLU. Small wonder, since its founder, Roger Baldwin, despised Christianity. "Communism is the goal,"[8] he wrote in 1935, aligning its ideology with Karl Marx' war on Biblical Truth.
Hilmar Von Campe, a former Hitler Youth and repentant German soldier, is now spreading the warning of totalitarianism through his book, Defeating the Totalitarian Lie. He wrote,
"The Nazis knew that a commitment to God and His absolute moral standards before government would be a great obstacle to exercising their power based on immorality and contempt for life and other people’s rights.... Just as the Nazis did, [the ACLU] strives to cut the connection of the American people to God....
"When I point out that Nazi stands for National Socialist and the ACLU has a Communist/Socialist background, it demonstrates the ideological similarities in the two groups."[9]
Obama's vision of church-and-state partnerships fits into a global government scheme that extends far beyond any visible service. His offer of federal funding to help the poor is intended to sound compassionate, but that's a PLANNED DELUSION! Instead it will speed the implementation of the massive global management system envisioned by previous administrations.
It is all part of the UN plan for worldwide transformation! Its implementation follows the guidelines of Agenda 21 -- a UN treaty ratified by nations around the world. Its strategic steps for America are detailed in its huge manual titled Sustainable America: A New Consensus. Here's just a tiny piece of the huge puzzle:
"Partnerships and collaborative decision making must be encouraged and must involve all levels of government, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, community groups and the public at large."[10]
This system has been called The Third Way, Communitarianism, Consensus Democracy, and neo-socialism -- and all the labels fit. They all point to a network of global control. Local community groups (the social sector) -- partnering with business (the private sector) -- are manipulated like puppets on strings by governments (public sector), which pull those strings through financial incentives and global standards.
According to Sustainable America, new indicators must be developed to measure:
SOCIAL CAPITAL. Increase in citizen engagement and public trust....
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION. Increase in community participation in such civic activities as professional and service organizations.... and volunteer work.
COLLABORATIONS. Increased use of successful civic collaborations such as public-private partnerships, community-based planning, goal-setting projects, and consensus-building efforts.[11]
The worth of the individuals in the community -- HUMAN CAPITAL -- must be measured as well. Obama's offer of " technical assistanc e" will help make sure every detail is included. In the facilitated group setting, a person's views would be documented, their ideas challenged, their values compromised, and their minds molded to fit group consensus. Those who refuse to conform to the new standards for cooperation and mental health would face the consequences. (See The UN Plan for your Mental Health)
The standards for 21st Century spirituality [SPIRITUAL CAPITAL] are outlined in UNESCO’s 1994 “Declaration on the role of religion in the promotion of a culture of peace.” Notice that it begins by focusing on a crisis:
1. We live in a world in which isolation is no longer possible….
2. We face a crisis which could bring about the suicide of the human species or bring us a new awakening and a new hope..
6. Religions have… led to division, hatred, and war...
“Peace entails that we understand that we are all interdependent. ...collectively responsible for the common good.”
“We
will promote dialogue and harmony between and within religions…."
"We call upon the different religious and cultural traditions to
join hands… and to cooperate with us….”[12]
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"Cooperate" points to consensus. To make sure everyone cooperates, the UN and its globalist partners are fast connecting links in this Communitarian system [Agenda 21] designed to force everyone into groups where they can learn to "participate" in their community -- on their rulers' terms. Obama's plan fits right in.
THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
Obama's "faith-based partnerships" are not based on faith in our God! The phrase is designed to deceive Americans, eradicate "offensive" truths, replace Christian ministries with secular service, and silence the gospel among those who most need it. As Hilmar Von Campe warns us, it will instead "cut the connection of the American people to God..."[9]
"We must obey God rather than man," said the apostle Peter two thousand years ago. Committed Christians cannot yield to rules that would quench our freedom to share God's Word. [See God's guidelines for Christian service]
Meanwhile, we must prepare to face the kind of hostility that would have been unthinkable in this "land of the free" six decades ago -- even when it seemed normal in totalitarian parts of Europe. The pressure to compromise is spreading fast. How can we resist?
We can learn a lesson from ancient Rome. In his book, How Should We Then Live?, Francis Schaeffer points to the heart of today's battle:
"Let us not forget why the Christians were killed. They were not killed because they worshiped Jesus.... Nobody cared who worshiped whom so long as the worshiper did not disrupt the unity of the state, centered in the formal worship of Caesar. The reason the Christians were killed was because they were rebels....
"If they had worshiped Jesus and Caesar, they would have gone unharmed, but they rejected all forms of syncretism. They worshiped the God who had revealed himself in the Old Testament, through Christ.... And they worshiped him as the only God. They allowed no mixture: All other Gods were seen as false gods....
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"No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state.... Because the Christians had an absolute... standard by which to judge not only personal morals but the state, they were counted as enemies of totalitarian Rome and were thrown to the beasts."[13]
Endnotes:
1,
Partnering
With Communities of Faith
2,
Leaders
Say Obama Has Tapped Pastor for Outreach Office
3,
Call
to Renewal Keynote Address
4,
The
Megachurch Primaries
5,
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Between Two Ages: Americas Role in the Techtronic
Era, (Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1982), pps. 72, 83.
6,
Julia Campbell, "Faithful Giving: Will Bush Plan to Support Faith
Charities Work?" www.abcNEWS.com, February 6, 2001.
7,
Obama
Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
8,
American
Communist Lawyers Union
9,
Hilmar Von Campe, Defeating the Totalitarian Lie (Crane, Missouri: HighWay,
2008), p.3.
10,
Sustainable America: A New Consensus (President's Council on Sustainable
Development, 1996), pps. 29, 67.
11,
Ibid., p. 20.
12,
“Declaration
on the Role of Religion in the Promotion of a Culture of Peace”
13,
Francis Schaeffer, "How
Should We then Live?" (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell,
1976), pps. 24, 26, 29.
� 2009 Berit Kjos - All Rights Reserved
