Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.

The decline of the country’s estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006, when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the catastrophic fall in numbers.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the US government’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops. It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global economy.

Potential causes range from parasites, such as the bloodsucking varroa mite, to viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition stemming from intensive farming methods. The disappearance of so many colonies has also been dubbed “Mary Celeste syndrome” due to the absence of dead bees in many of the empty hives.

US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key problem. “We believe that some subtle interactions between nutrition, pesticide exposure and other stressors are converging to kill colonies,” said Jeffery Pettis, of the ARS’s bee research laboratory.

A global review of honeybee deaths by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) reported last week that there was no one single cause, but pointed the finger at the “irresponsible use” of pesticides that may damage bee health and make them more susceptible to diseases. Bernard Vallat, the OIE’s director-general, warned: “Bees contribute to global food security, and their extinction would represent a terrible biological disaster.”

Dave Hackenberg of Hackenberg Apiaries, the Pennsylvania-based commercial beekeeper who first raised the alarm about CCD, said that last year had been the worst yet for bee losses, with 62% of his 2,600 hives dying between May 2009 and April 2010. “It’s getting worse,” he said. “The AIA survey doesn’t give you the full picture because it is only measuring losses through the winter. In the summer the bees are exposed to lots of pesticides. Farmers mix them together and no one has any idea what the effects might be.”

Pettis agreed that losses in some commercial operations are running at 50% or greater. “Continued losses of this magnitude are not economically sustainable for commercial beekeepers,” he said, adding that a solution may be years away. “Look at Aids, they have billions in research dollars and a causative agent and still no cure. Research takes time and beehives are complex organisms.”

Three months after Israel left Egypt, they arrived at the base of Mt. Sinai and set up camp. Moses climbed that rugged mountain to commune with the Lord and God called to him: “I am going to come to you in the form of a dark cloud, so that the people themselves can hear me when I talk to you. Then they will always believe you. Go down and get the people ready for my visit—sanctify them.

“On the morning of the third day there was an awesome thunder and lightning storm, and a huge cloud came down upon the mountain. Mt. Sinai was completely covered with smoke because Jehovah descended upon it in the form of fire. The whole mountain shook with a violent earthquake and as the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God spoke his reply with a forceful voice (see Exodus 19:9-19).

 God thundered to Moses and his chosen people: “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation…” (Exodus 19:6).

An earthshaking prophecy recorded in Hebrews is about to be revealed at this time. God has promised to speak once more—just as he did at Mt. Sinai.

“Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven” (Hebrews 12:26).

“See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven” (Hebrews 12:25).

Once again God is speaking from heaven with the same message that he spoke in Moses’ day. Our God is even now thundering this awesome command. “Be ye holy—even as I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

How do we stay holy in this wicked age? Who can keep himself from being contaminated by it all? No one—in his own strength, that is. Only God has the power to keep us holy—to present us to himself a holy people without spot or wrinkle.

The God who gives us his holiness has the power to keep us in it! The safest place on earth is at the foot of the cross, humbled before God’s throne. The more wicked the times, the more we need to stay yielded to him!

See here for more on this.

This is what passes for preaching today folks, Biblically illiterate children of apostate parents trying to tell us that Jesus sinned!

And the reason he is trying to pass off this lie? To legitimize things like Homosexuality as being ok for a “christian”

Modern apostates want the ignorant to think that the Bible is not clear and that what it says depends upon your own personal interpretation of the words and passages. And the problem with this is, it is no different than what the Pharisee’s and the Scribes did. They wanted to have power over the people, so they made them think that you have to have “special knowledge” to interpret the scriptures.

Satan today uses the ideology of post modern subjective truth to have power over people using the selfish flesh to blind people to the clear teaching of God’s Word. There is nothing stronger than the fleshly will to justify one’s own sinful behavior, and if your flesh is given a crutch with which to take away the sting and offence of clear words, it will use it!

“And we sit and we go, (in a mocking tone) ”Oh, we’re filthy sinners; we’re filthy rags, we’re horrible sinners in need of grace. Oh, I’m just a sinner saved by grace brother. I’m filthy rags.” (pause) You know; and in some ways it’s like Jesus saying, “No I died for you; no matter who you are, no matter what you did.” All sin, all fall short, but God in His gracious kindness declares us “not guilty.” 

And so [in] a way, you know, you see this with Peter; you see this with Paul; you see this with Jesus, you see this with Jesus and the woman at the well. You see this in all different sorts of areas, where Jesus is, like, being unclean, unceremonially [sic] clean, which I really think would have been considered a sin at that time. 

Ok, people [are] like–I mean, really think about it; He’s breaking religious law. That would be considered–wouldn’t that be considered a sin, Peter? You (speaking to his assistant pastor Reverend Vince Anderson) yes; I mean, you know, you’re the scholar in the house. (laughter) Vince is, like, “Whew.” (more laughter) No; would it be a sin to break the Law? Yeah! Thank you. 

We actually have Peter, from the Bible, right here. (more laughter) (12:35-13:46)”

you can here the complete “sermon” by Jay Bakker here.

The Truth:

2 Corinthians 5:21:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him

Micah 2:11:

If a man should walk in a false spirit  And speak a lie, saying,  ‘ I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ Even he would be the prattler of this people.

from The “Christian” Post:

Very few things take church planter Charles Hill by surprise.

But when a group that agreed to support his new ministry work ingin the middle of a predominantly Mormon community suddenly pulled its financial backing and gave him the boot, he was totally caught off guard.

Hill had just begun to host Bible studies and reach out to the unchurched and those who were seeking something outside of the dominant religious preference in Utah – where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is headquartered – when he got fired.

He was allegedly let go because he drank half a beer in public during the new “Beer and Bible” meeting he started last month.

While he was told that was the main issue, he doesn’t have all the details because he didn’t receive a phone call or e-mail from the decision makers, he said. His boss, whom he respects and who had given him permission to conduct “Beer and Bible,” broke the news to him a couple of weeks ago.

He now has less than 60 days before he and his family – wife and three kids – are cut off from all funding and left “abandoned,” as he put it.

“It’s troubling,” Hill told The Christian Post. “We’re out here trying to reach people as Jesus would.

“It’s still baffling to me that when your boss has given you permission that you can still get terminated for something such as that.”

Hill moved out to South Jordan, Utah, last year, leaving a growing church he founded in Ohio to answer God’s calling in what he says is the most unchurched state in the country. He gained financial support from a denomination – which he declined to name in order to keep things as respectful as he can – after being drawn to and recruited by a dynamic church planter (his boss) in the church body.

In a city where around seven or eight out of 10 people are Mormon, Hill said he prayed a lot and battled with how he was going to reach people.

He determined that bars and coffee shops were the few places that he would be able to meet with unchurched and non-LDS folks. He knew that starting a Bible study in a bar could potentially be an issue with the denomination, so he asked for permission from his boss.

He was given the green light.

But once word about the “Beer and Bible” meeting spread and reached the upper leadership at the denomination, the 36-year-old church planter was cut from the $280,000 support he was being given for his outreach and ministry efforts. He was only five months away from a church launch in a region where not one non-LDS church exists in 25 cities.

One of the leaders, who wished to remain anonymous, in the denomination released a brief statement to The Christian Post on Monday, saying: “It’s not an issue of immorality or improper biblical behavior. We simply discovered there were instances in which we were not able to reconcile our differences as it concerns general Baptist principles.”

Hill, whose father was an alcoholic, said he doesn’t even like drinking and isn’t much of a drinker at all. Though he doesn’t believe it’s a sin, one of the biggest reasons he hasn’t drank alcohol is because as a senior pastor, he didn’t want younger believers to stumble and drink too much.

“In Ohio, we had alcohol problems in our community so I didn’t take that posture there,” he explained. “But out here, there doesn’t seem to be an alcohol issue because seven or eight out of 10 don’t drink at all. . . .

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:18-20)

Elijah, that great prophet of holiness and righteousness, had become disheartened by the moral landslide his nation was experiencing and had fled from the threats of Jezebel, the wicked wife of King Ahab. God found him hiding in a cave on Mount Horeb and asked, “Elijah, what are you doing here, hiding?”

With indignation, Elijah replied, “God, I’ve been jealous for your glory, but your people have forsaken your Word; your altars have been broken down; your ministers have been persecuted. I’m the only one left—and now they’re out to get me, too.”

To all outward appearances, Elijah had a good argument. The government was the most wicked and vile in all history and his society was nearing a collapse. The Bible says, “Ahab made a grove [pagan shrines for pleasure]; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:33). The government was actually forcing the nation into idolatry. Jezebel, the most wicked queen to ever share the throne, was a God-hating woman, bent on killing every follower of Jehovah.

Elijah was determined to “hold out to the end.” If the whole nation forsook God, he would stay true! But God was not about to congratulate this hiding prophet, because at that very moment, the Holy Spirit was moving throughout the land. Elisha, Elijah’s eventual successor, was feeling the first stirrings of God’s hand upon him and Jehu, a powerful young revolutionary, was chomping at the bit, waiting anxiously to declare war on the corruption and godlessness in the land. A great moral awakening was about to happen, and God would soon fling Jezebel to the dogs and overthrow the wicked rulers.

Elijah was most emphatically informed by God, “I have 7,000 who have not compromised and given in to the wickedness around them. They have not been seduced—they are Mine!” God was trying to tell Elijah that he had his people stationed in key positions, all across the nation, believers standing tall and true in spite of the corruption around them.

God has been encouraging me to open my eyes to the great calling out of saints that is now taking place in this, our own time. God said to Elijah, “Thousands have not bowed.” To us, I believe He is saying, “Millions have not bowed!”

Glory be to God, we are not a tiny remnant! We are an army, a blood-washed multitude, in every walk of life, unbending and uncompromising in an age gone crazy. Satan would like God’s people to think their numbers are dwindling fast; he wants true believers to think the majority have already defected to his camp, so that fear would drive them into hiding. Don’t believe the lies of Satan! God is still at work, pouring out his Holy Spirit and drawing hungry hearts to himself.

Christian patriots, when the progressive voice of President Barack Obama is heard in the land, the “uncertain sound of the trumpet” may sound in your ears, but does it sound all that discordant in the ears of our Founding Fathers?

“President Barack Obama stated at a press conference in Turkey last week that we Americans ‘do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Muslim nation, but rather, a nation of citizens who are, uh, bound by a set of values.’

“Obama has made similar statements in the past. In June 2007, he told CBS, ‘Whatever we once were, we are no longer a Christian nation — at least, not just.  We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers.’ Note the progression. In 2007, he said we are no longer ‘just’ a Christian nation. Now, in 2009, he says we ‘do not consider ourselves a Christian nation’ at all.” (Obama, Not a Christian Nation, John Eidsmoe, April, 2009, New American)

There he goes again – calling our beloved Founding Fathers a bunch of Neo-Pagans.  Alas!  Is this not perhaps the most egregious accusation leveled within our hallowed halls?  Certainly, the shed blood of the framers of our Constitution was spilt on behalf of your freedom to express your ramble rousing but let us assure you, cross the line and that’ll be the last time your liberal use of expression is tolerated.  Sooner or later it was inevitable – that sacred company of seven (see below) would be adjudged as naught but enlightened pagans, hardly the stalwart crowd of Christian warriors set about to establish a more perfect union upon a hill – a golden city – a cup in the hand of the Lord – whereby her light would shine into the darkness and her cup held high in celebration of freedom’s fullness.  If the Tribnet were to take this cherished historicity from us by acclaiming our origins stepped in the paganism of the Greeks and Romans – having little but “cultural tolerance” for Moses and Jesus – then this revelation that our forebears were naught but a pack of sophisticated pagans would have a deleterious impact upon the American psyche and cause our decline to all the more descend into hedonism and atrophy into civil confusion.

I dare say the “founders” may have been, at best, impressed with the “moral authority” of the Bible’s overall message – but certainly not its absolutes, aside from propounding moral social norms of civility in society.  They may have taken, again at best, the Bible’s so-called moral persuasions as general norms of emancipating civilization; however, religion (especially the Christian religion) had not generated the enlightenment that inevitably gave birth to these United States; to the contrary, if anything, Judeo-Christian revelation was a supreme impediment to the creation of man’s mutual covenant with humanity. 

The concept that our Founding Fathers had in mind a “Christian Nation” is decidedly a quantum conjecture – at best we are a hybrid, a mixture of deism and natural law wherein some of the Founding Fathers were Christian in name and culture; indeed, the majority of those whose signatures bedeck our Constitution were, as we have so stated, from sundry Christian denominations, but hardly enthralled by any concept that they were giving birth to a “City Set on a Hill.”

But that said, the “influence” upon the founding of this Republic was decisively Deist and, worse yet, was bound to the classic Greeks and Romans in both political and legal frameworks.  It is to this deliberation that I wish to address and to the False Prophet’s attempts to proclaim liberty throughout the land under the guise of Christian parlance – i.e. these United States of America were and always have been an amalgamation of Church and State akin to the apostasy aforementioned in this series.  This mixture of paganism and Christianity constitutes the foundation of overt apostasy – friends, AMERICA WAS BORN IN APOSTASY!  Plain and simple and to the point – this admixture, no matter how contemptuous the sounds thereof to our patriotic brethren, is the wretched truth of the matter…let us illuminate this horrid fact.

Continue…

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.

From The Atlantic:

The above headline might seem like a joke. It isn’t. Senior staffers at the Securities and Exchange Commission were surfing Internet pornography when they should have been policing the financial system. A deeply disturbing SEC memo to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) exposing this problem was reported Thursday night by ABC News. Here are some highlights via the Associated Press:

_A senior attorney at the SEC’s Washington headquarters spent up to eight hours a day looking at and downloading pornography. When he ran out of hard drive space, he burned the files to CDs or DVDs, which he kept in boxes around his office. He agreed to resign, an earlier watchdog report said.

_An accountant was blocked more than 16,000 times in a month from visiting websites classified as “Sex” or “Pornography.” Yet, he still managed to amass a collection of “very graphic” material on his hard drive by using Google images to bypass the SEC’s internal filter, according to an earlier report from the inspector general. The accountant refused to testify in his defense and received a 14-day suspension.

_Seventeen of the employees were “at a senior level,” earning salaries of up to $222,418.

_The number of cases jumped from two in 2007 to 16 in 2008. The cracks in the financial system emerged in mid-2007 and spread into full-blown panic by the fall of 2008.

On one hand, two cases in 2007 means that either it wasn’t that widespread of a problem or it hadn’t yet been detected. On the other hand, the fact that this behavior seems to have been so prevalent among senior level employees is particularly troubling. They’re the ones who should have been closely watching the financial industry and leading the way to help prevent the system from collapsing.

A few things should be concluded from this revelation. First, government computers must need better firewalls to block out this content. Second, this is a pretty grim verdict on the effectiveness of regulators. When on the verge of the most major economic crisis in around 80 years, they were watching porn instead of the financial system.

This certainly isn’t the kind of publicity the SEC needs as it begins to prosecute its high-profile case against Goldman Sachs. This memo damages the credibility of the regulator. Though, it does begin to explain why it took the SEC more than three years to bring the complaint against Goldman: its employees had other things on their minds.

It was an unusual Sunday morning worship at Northwood Church in Keller, Texas. Christians, Muslims and Jews sat together in the megachurch to hear an evangelical pastor preach about Jesus.

The three faith groups had already visited the Islamic Center of Irving the previous day and the Temple Shalom of North Dallas on Friday before congregating inside the Christian house of worship. And they don’t plan to make this a one-time event.

As Northwood Senior Pastor Bob Roberts said Sunday, the three groups are making an attempt to get to know one another, understand the different teachings and worldviews, and become friends.

While such multifaith worship gatherings have raised eyebrows, Roberts said they are not trying to minimize differences or compromise their beliefs. In fact, the evangelical pastor discourages it. He wants all three faith groups to be honest about their differences and hold to their core convictions.

“I want to know you. Why? Because you’re seeking after God,” Roberts said from the Northwood pulpit Sunday as he addressed the multi-faith audience, which included Rabbi Jeremy Schneider and Imam Zia Sheikh.

“If we’re going to get along … I need to understand your core convictions, how it impacts your worldview … and I want you to understand Christianity,” he told them. “I want us to be honest about our differences so that we can build a relationship.”

The multifaith event is the brainchild of Roberts who has observed a growing diversity of faiths in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The number of mosques in the area has grown from two some thirty years ago to 40, Roberts said, according to Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The three services held over the weekend were not interfaith services. They were distinctly Jewish, Muslim and Christian services, respectively.

Shifting from interfaith to multifaith is critical in the 21st century, Roberts said.

“The old conversation of interfaith basically said if we all agree on everything then we can get along. So what we need to do is minimize our differences … and only talk about what we do agree upon,” the Baptist pastor said Sunday. “But there’s a problem with that. That’s great if you’re liberal, if you’re a liberal Muslim or liberal Christian or liberal Jew, that’s fine.”

“But Imam Zia made it very clear yesterday that Muhammad was the prophet for his age. So if you’re going to be a Muslim or go to the next life you have to accept the teaching and the position of the Prophet Muhammad,” he continued.

“As a Christian I also believe the verse where Jesus said ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.’ So if I’m going to be a committed Christian I can’t pick and choose which part of the Bible I would believe.

“If I’m going to be a committed Muslim I can’t pick and choose which parts of the Quran I believe. Or a Jew, for the Torah.”

“Because truth is truth. Truth is not relative,” Roberts said. “Multifaith says ‘we have differences.’”

“What multifaith says is ‘I don’t want to try to be politically correct; I want to be honest about what I believe; I want to hold true to my truth; … I want to build relationship on honesty,” he added. . . . . . .