20081027

Adventist Spies: The CNP, Pro-life to Sunday Laws & the role of Sarah Palin


ZAGREB, Croatia July 15, 2008 (AP)

The Croatian parliament has passed a law forcing shops to close on Sundays in a concession to the Roman Catholic church.

The church has campaigned for years for Sundays to be devoted to family or Mass in Croatia, which is almost 90 percent Roman Catholic. But Croatians have begun spending weekends in shopping malls that have flourished across the country in the past few years and remain open seven days a week.
Not in America, right? This next website actually covers a lot of source material in building the case that this is exactly what the religious-right, Christian Coalition has in mind as they build their "pro-life" base within the Republican party, which fits into the neo-conservative globalist agenda, here outlined by a Seventh-day Adventist writer uncovering the mystery behind the Council on National Policy (CNP), Christian Coalition Highlights By J. Allen Fine reproduced below. By the way, as you read on, remember that the CNP was behind the recent selection of Sarah Palin, as reported by The Nation Magazine. This fits into the Catholic-Protestant agenda for America --Christian by force--as they reach across the divide and find their common ground.

The author of the following comments chooses to remain anonymous. He is a graduate of London University and Lincoln ’s Inn Court of London, England , and was a Barrister-at-law in Britain for 20 years. He has been a Seventh-day Adventist since 1953 and moved to the U.S. in 1975; became a citizen and has since worked in the Corporate and Civil litigation department of a major California corporation. He writes:
“By the early ‘70’s three key men – Richard Viguerie (a Roman Catholic), Howard Phillips, and Paul Weyrich (A Roman Catholic) had laid the foundation for a conservative revolution in the U.S. Weyrich (remember that name) obtained financial backing from a Colorado beer magnate Joseph Coors (a Roman Catholic) to found the Heritage Foundation. This is a right-wing think tank that has exercised great influence on Republican presidential administrations since Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980.…

“In 1974 and 1975 a group of key leaders, including Richard Devos, president of the Amway Corporation, and Bill Bright, president of Campus Crusade for Christ convened a series of secret meetings to plan the development of the religious right. This group published a blueprint for Christians to win elections and a manual designed to persuade evangelical Christians to adopt conservative positions on a whole range of issues.…Organizations arose to mobilize women by appealing to ‘family values’ and anxieties [against] … the emerging feminist movement. In 1972, Phyllis Schlafly (a staunch Roman Catholic) founded the Eagle Forum to organize opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, which she saw as a threat to the traditional family.… Grassroots organizations such as the Moral [M]ajority and eventually the Christian Coalition joined their voices.

“It is not possible within the limits of this [communique] to mention all of the arms of the religious right movement. Suffice it to say that all of the major religious right leaders have united in[to] a single political entity called the Council for National Policy (CNP).”

I gleaned the following information from an ABC news.com release entitled “Meet the Most Powerful Conservative Group You’ve Never Heard Of,” which I will partially quote so you can be privy to another viable source and then I’ll try to pull it all together.

“When Steve Baldwin executive director of the Council for National Policy (CNP) boasts that ‘we control everything in the world,’ he is only half-kidding.… But also half serious because the council has deservedly attained the reputation for conceiving and promoting the ideas of many, who in fact, do want to control everything in the world.…“Clothed in secrecy since its founding in 1981, the Council for National Policy is a virtual ‘Who’s Who’ of the Hard Right. Its membership comprises the Right’s Washington operatives and politicians, its financiers, and its hard-core religious arm.”
I wanted first-hand information about this organization and was able to talk to the executive director, Steve Baldwin, who was a bit upset at first that I had managed to get his number. However, when I told him I was a member of the Christian Coalition and was just a pastor trying to understand a little more about the organization’s relationship to the CC, he opened up somewhat and answered a few of my questions. I found out that the membership list is not suppose to be for publication (although I was able to get a fairly recent membership list through an ABC affiliate just last week). Also, I learned that … membership is open to anyone who wants to request it ‘…even I could apply to become a member for a yearly fee of $1750. BUT I would have to be recommended by another CNP member and voted in by the other members. So they manage to be extremely selective as they meet behind closed doors with no media allowed and no press releases unless all presenters agree upon them, which is next to never! This way they are allowed to say anything, vote anything without fear of being exposed. It’s not directly connected to the government so does not have to answer to ‘the people.’ I asked Mr. Baldwin … ‘Why have an organization like the CNP? His answer: ‘It gives major (right wing) thought leaders a chance to all get together and discuss what is best for America and help carry it out.”

ABC News.com in a May 2 release put this spin on it: “The Hard Right utilizes the CNP’s three-times-a-year-secret meetings to plan its strategy for implementing the radical right agenda. It is here that the organizers and activists meet with the financial backers who put up the money to carry out their agenda.”

Major thought leaders, organizers, financial backers is right! This list of members obtained through ABC.com includes the likes of Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Congressman Tom DeLay, Congressman Dick Armey, Karl Rove (Chief advisor for President Bush), Jerry Falwell, Gary Bauer, Judge Robert Bork, Attorney General John Ashcroft (he’s listed as a former member), theologian John Ankerberg, Pat Robertson, Jeffrey Coors (Coors Brewery money magnate), Richard DeVos (Amway and Orlando Magic entrepreneur), Bill Bright (Campus Crusade), Senator Jesse Helms, Larry Burkett, Rev. Donald Wildman (American Family Assoc.), D. James Kennedy (Save our Sundays and Save our America), Sam Moore (President of Thomas Nelson Bible Publishers), Oliver North, Roberta Combs (President of Christian Coalition), Ralph Reed (former head of Christian Coalition and Bush’s presidential campaign director), Keith Fournier (attorney and Catholic spokesman), Phyllis Schlafly (women’s activist), Tim LaHaye (Author of the deceptive Left Behind series and “a founding father" of the CNP), John Whithead (Rutheford Institute founder), Alan Keyes (Roman Catholic talk show host), Nelson Baker Hunt (son of billionaire H. L. Hunt and connected to the John Birch Society, the Reagan political network and a founding father of the CNP), and the list goes on.

Now, don’t quite reading … you’ll be quite amazed at where this all leads and what the bottom line truly is and who is actually drawing it. I do, however, want to momentarily switch gears here. We have a friend who helps us research issues as these, and in reviewing the CNP, ran across the acronym NSSM. We asked him to see what he could find out about it. It turned out to be shorthand for National Security Study Memorandum. It was defined as “the definitive interagency study of world population growth and its implications for United States and global security.” Among its conclusions was: “World population growth is widely recognized within the Government as a current danger of the highest magnitude calling for urgent measures.…” [Issued by National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger, during the Nixon Administration].

So, what does all of this have to do with our concerns? Just this – one of the solutions to the problem of overpopulation that was promoted vigorously by the NSSM was the wide use of contraception and abortions – a pro-choice platform that totally “flies in the face” of the Catholic church. The NSSM died a very quick and quiet death as did other proposed pro-population control bills. The head of the Center for Research on Population and Security, Dr. Stephen Mumford, decided to research the “Why?” and journaled his findings in a book entitled, The Life and death of NSSM 200, 1996, Research Triangle Park , NC .

His research revealed that at the same time the Christian right wing movements were emerging (in the1970’s), another group had organized in response to the Roe vs. Wade pro-abortion decision … a group called the American Catholic Bishops! The abortion issue was the “sticky” moral issue that provided the glue for Catholics to solicit Protestants to meld together in a common cause giving them a viable springboard into the political arena. The American Catholic bishops organized to formulate a plan that would give them access to the political processes while beating the drum for antiabortion activists to join them to overturn “Roe vs. Wade.” Dr. Mumford wrote the following in his book which has been corroborated by other authors I’ll mention later.

“On November 20, 1975 , the American Catholic bishops issued their ‘Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities.’ … This plan is a superbly detailed blueprint of the bishops’ strategy for infiltrating and manipulating the American democratic process at the national, state, and local levels. It creates a political machine controlled by the bishops. This plan has been called by Timothy Byrnes (Author of Catholic Bishops in American Politics), the most ‘focused and aggressive political leadership’ ever exerted by the Catholic hierarchy. So much for … separation of church and state! (Pg. 137) Mumford includes the entire ‘Bishops’ Pastoral Plan’ as written in his book.
“Jesuit priest Virgil Blum, … proposed this strategy (a strategy to undermine the American political will) in a 1971 ‘American’ magazine article titled, ‘Public Policy Making: Why the churches Strike Out.’ He stated, ‘If a group is to be politically effective, issues rather than institutions must be at stake.’ Abortion was simply the issue created to achieve this effectiveness. Blum’s article set the stage for the creation of the Pastoral Plan, offering the bishops a set of well thought out guidelines which capitalized on centuries of experience of Jesuit manipulation of governments(Pg. 155).

“In another of his guidelines, Blum concluded that if the Catholic leadership is to succeed, it must make their efforts look non-Catholic. Blum also concluded that to accomplish this goal, the bishops must create a strong ecumenical movement.… Blum recognized early on that ‘ecumenism’ would be an essential weapon to counter the criticism certain to come with the blatant involvement of the bishops in making public policy (Pg. 159-60).

“The Pastoral Plan specifically directed the creation of ‘grassroots’ organizations (like the Christian Coalition) for the purposes of advancing the papal agenda. During the period 1976-1980, nearly all of the organizations that became known as the ‘New Right Movement’ or the ‘Religious New right’ were organized, such as ‘The Moral Majority,’ ‘The Heritage Foundation,’ ‘Eagle Forum,’ the ‘National Right to Life Political Action Committee’ and many others.… Catholics were key players in the creation of all of these organizations and in their leadership.

“Vital to the success of the Pastoral Plan has been the creation of first, the Moral Majority, followed by the Christian Coalition.… The evidence shows that both of these organizations, for all practical purposes, were created by the bishops because of the Plan, and these organizations have derived their energy, organization and direction from the Catholic Church.…

“Perhaps the most convincing link between Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition and the activists who are implementing the Bishops’ Pastoral Plan is Robertson’s link with Paul Weyrich (a staunch Roman Catholic and the money and the brains behind the Heritage Foundation). Weyrich (the Catholic activist) recruited Jerry Falwell to become the nominal leader of the Moral Majority. Weyich also claims to have suggested the Moral Majority name.… When Falwell dropped out of politics in the late ‘80’s, Weyrich sought out another Protestant to take his place in order to continue the ecumenical activity called for in the Bishops Pastoral Plan: … Pat Robertson … Weyrich is deeply involved in the Christian Coalition and planned to serve as a faculty member at 70 Christian Coalition ‘leadership schools’ in 1994.… (Pg. 175-177).

“Catholic leadership of Robertson’s so-called Protestant network is clearly established. In an April 1993 article in Church and State magazine, Joseph L. Conn reveals the close connections between Weyrich and other Catholic activists and Robertson.… Marlene Elwell, co-founder of the Catholic Campaign for America, has long been a close ally of Robertson.… and was active in his political campaign. Thomas Monaghan (a staffer on a legal firm sponsored by Catholics United for Life) is senior counsel of Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ). Catholic activist Keith Fournier heads ACLJ and also serves on the Catholic Campaign for America. … (Pg. 178).

“According to Conn ,… ‘Simply put, the emerging alliance between these Protestant and Roman Catholic conservatives links Pat Robertson’s grassroots army – estimated at 350,000 (this year it was reported at 1.7 million) with the Catholic Rights’ wealth, political expertise and high-tech capabilities.’ It also gives that very desirable Protestant look to the movement as sought by the Bishops’ Pastoral Plan. (Pg. 178).

“The evidence continues to mount that the Christian Coalition is fundamentally Catholic – not Protestant.… Political science professor Mary Bendyna told the Religious News Service that she was surprised to find that even before the creation of the Catholic Alliance (a Catholic appendage of the Christian Coalition created in 1995) – even before that – all five staffers in the Christian Coalition’s Washington, D.C., office were Catholic.

“God’s word has given warning of the impending danger; let this be unheeded, and the Protestant world will learn what the purposes of Rome really are, only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing into power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in the hearts of men.…”5

We originally had no clue that we were going to find this deep Catholic connection in the Christian Coalition. Remember, the obvious lack of visible Catholic presence this year, especially in contrast to earlier CC meetings? Now we understand why. It is vital that they continue to be perceived as a Protestant organization in order to ‘stealthily’ promote a Catholic agenda. “Since its (the CC’s) creation, the press (Mumford goes into the extremely important role the vastly networked Catholic media plays in this intricate drama) (Catholic and secular) has given Americans the mistaken impression that the Coalition is a Protestant organization.… By October 1995 it was deemed safe for this ‘Protestant’ organization to more openly identify with Catholics but only as individuals.… Reed told the Associated Press: ‘It was time to at least “peek their heads out of the closet door.” After all, they had signed the “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” in 1994 and we had seen them all clasp hands in solidarity – so why not?’ We came to expect a certain Catholic presence after that.”
The ‘95 meeting did, indeed, have a very Catholic flavor. We were inundated with antiabortion speeches and material and were given badges to wear that had an outline of a baby in the womb and a light that blinked on and off to represent a beating heart. Very impressive! Catholics, Governor Robert Casey and Education Secretary William Bennett were keynote speakers. Catholic presidential candidates Alan Keyes and Patrick Buchanan received standing ovations when they spoke. Several priests in full garb pronounced invocations before the meetings. The Catholic Campaign for America had a booth set up right before you walked into the convention doors. I attended a breakout session with the Catholic Campaign for America and it was there, while sitting between two priests discussing school vouchers when one said, “The American people won’t accept all of these things at once so we’re going to have to accomplish them in increments.” Well, the school vouchers are a “done deal” under “our man in the White House” as several speakers referred to President Bush at the CC meetings in October 2002, and implementation of faith-based organizations headed by a Catholic is now a reality. Incrementalism is alive!

We don’t know how all of this sets with you, but our reaction left us dumbfounded, to say the least. I thought, “Is this guy, Mumford, for real?” I could tell he was greatly upset that his NSSM Bill had been squelched and wondered “Is this just a vendetta against the Catholics in return?” However, his credentials appeared valid and his book seemed quite well-documented. Then logic set in. I asked my friend Bob to scan the internet, and I began to search my library for other sources to confirm what he had written. We ran across several, some that Mumford had quoted in his extensive bibliography, and others in my library and on line that reinforced Mumford’s portrayal of the “Catholic” Right. I will list these books for you at the conclusion of this “treatise.” What “cream” I’m able to skim off the top for you is only a drop in the ole’ proverbial milking bucket. I did find a personal interest story in a book I had, entitled: “The Conservative Revolution” by Lee Edwards, that I’d like to share with you. It confirms and expands on what Mumford had reported.

“Weyrich (the Catholic who sought out Falwell to head up a Right Wing movement) was giving a briefing to Falwell on the current state of American politics when he remarked, ‘Out there is what you might call a moral majority. They are politically and socially conservative. If we could get these people active in politics there is no limit to what we could do.… ‘A moral majority’ Ed McAteer (who had arranged the meeting) mused, ‘that’s a great name.’ Falwell, too, was struck by it, ‘That’s it. That’s the phrase I’ve been looking for.’ And thus the Moral Majority was born.… I want to quote from a couple of other sources to help undergird what Mumford has written.
John Swomley authored a book entitled, Catholic Power vs. American Freedom which brings a lot of this same information from a new viewpoint in a more concise way. He states:

“It seems clear that Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority and Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition would not have been organized if the Vatican through its agents, the American bishops, had not decided it was necessary to involve articulate right-wing Protestant leaders in their anti-abortion campaign. (Pg. 169)

“One of the early successes of the Bishops’ Plan was the passage of the Hyde Amendment (by Congressman and Catholic activist Henry Hyde), which restricted the use of Medicaid money for abortions, limiting poor women’s access to abortion. Although declared unconstitutional by a federal district court judge, an appeals court overturned that decision and it became law.

“The Bishops’ Plan also indicates that their action against abortion must not be thought of as a Catholic movement, but must be seen as ecumenical. This was probably their most important decision because it resulted in the enlistment of much of the Protestant right-wing as both allies and followers of the bishops’ strategy.… (Pg. 168)

“Other developments reveal the success of the bishops’ strategy. The Southern Baptist Convention came under right-wing control and accepted the Catholic position on abortion.” (Pg. 171)

Having been a Southern Baptist, I was most interested in what Mumford also had to say in a more extensive way: “Another major accomplishment of the [Bishops’] Pastoral Plan has been its effect on Protestantism in America . The Plan has taken the protest out of Protestant [emphasis supplied]. No wonder when I asked Ralph Reed why he called himself an Evangelical and not a Protestant he said, “Why should I? I’m no longer protesting anything.”

Back to Mumford: “It is obvious that the victory of the Baptist fundamentalists benefits the Papacy. The bishops can now speak for 14.7 million Baptists on this issue and will wield the additional political power derived from this arrangement.… By 1979, the bishops had identified their man to engineer the Baptist rift.… Judge Pat Pressler! … During an interview by journalist Bill Moyers, Moyers brought to light that Judge Pressler is on the board of directors of the Council on National Policy (he was actually one of the ‘daddy rabbits’ of the organization) along with fanatical Religious right Catholics, Richard Viguerie, Phyllis Schlaftly and Joseph Coors.” This is the secretive CNP organization we spoke of earlier. Mumford continues: “As Meyers pressed the Judge on his relationship with the Council on National Policy (CNP), which promises the adoption of Papal policy, the judge broke off the interview and refused to answer further questions. The Judge had been exposed – as had been the real actors behind the Baptist rift.” (Pg. 312) No wonder W. A. Criswell, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention said without any qualms: “I don’t know anyone more dedicated to great fundamental doctrines of Christianity than the Catholics.” And Billy Graham, another Baptist minister, professed: “I’ve found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of Orthodox Roman Catholics.” I have great respect for my dear Baptist friends, but I’m so grateful that God has called me out of that darkness “into this marvelous light” and I pray they will also be “enlightened.”

20080930

IS AMERICA FINALLY WATCHING BIG BROTHER?


For more than a century ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents such as my encounter with Castro to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure – one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it.
- David Rockefeller of Standard Oil, Chase Manhattan and the Council on Foreign Relations, from his Memoirs in 2002.


Capital must protect itself in every way... Debts must be collected and loans and mortgages foreclosed as soon as possible.  When through a process of law the common people have lost their homes, they will be more tractable and more easily governed by the strong arm of the law applied by the central power of leading financiers. People without homes will not quarrel with their leaders. This is well known among our principle men now engaged in forming an imperialism of capitalism to govern the world. By dividing the people we can get them to expend their energies in fighting over questions of no importance to us except as teachers of the common herd.
- JP Morgan - Questionable quote, reported by John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) Tycoon




The Spirit of the Christ was in the time of Jesus described to be "whatever you have done unto the least of these, you've done it unto me" [Matthew 25].  Even Christian's themselves buy into a Capitalistic ideology that looks at the "least of these," the thirsty, the hungry, the homeless, the rif-raf in prison and say, "let them rot."  

If at any time, the now Christian ideology of "anti-christ" were alive and well--that time is now. As Bush famously stated, “This is an impressive crowd: the Have's and Have-more's.  Some people call you the elites.  I call you my base” (insert the usual Satanic giggle).  The blinded "Christian Nation" has been standing far too long upon the precipice of a high mountain and drooling over the power that the world holds, abandoning those at the bottom for more monetary gain.

The man whom Christians uphold as their God, they abandon, failing to recognize how closely he identified himself with the poor and "criminals," while he consistently reprimanded the power structure Capitalist's are pushing us to bailout, leaving those most cherished by Jesus at the bottom, trampled in debt to the growing legion of masters at the top of the economic food chain. 

Jesus also said, "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24/Luke 6:13).  America is anti-christian as it is largely interested in the welfare of the wealthy, markets, and serving those power structures that take away freedom, in exchange of the sacrifice of the real Spirit of Christ, which is the love of the poor, with whom he identifies, recognizing God in people, and treating them in kind, saying "whatever you've done unto the least of these, you've done it unto me."  At least half of America, on the conservative side and definitely 1% who make up the super-wealthy hate the poor and desire to create a world government where every Constitutional freedom is gone, the banks track our every move, and the commoners are enslaved as the poor and "criminals," not because they/we really are, but because "mammon" say's you're a criminal...you're not being a good consumer, not bowing at the alter of the power structure.

I use Christian theology to point this out because Jesus does not belong to those who simply call his name, but lives in those who actually live the life that values people over a market, the accumulation of money, and the fixation of Christians on "prosperity theology."  Those who claim to be "elite" are really morally bankrupt and will come to nothing, but those who are "the least" will be first in the world because they embody in their forced poverty the power of "being," valuing life even where it's devalued, thrown out, sacrificed, like on a cross.

For the first time in a long time America has it's eye squarely on "Big Brother," the Banks who want to control everything, the money power structure.  I wonder what choice we're going to make as a country?  Can we raise up the "least of these" or will we sacrifice them, and ourselves to "the Beast"?  Can we change the course and fulfillment of Christian prophecy?  I certainly hope we can be wise as serpents, because that's who we're dealing with in the midst of the death-grip upon our lives.

Check out the Christian political movement attempting to live the life, the real life of Christ, hopefully with more than good intentions: Matthew 25 Network