CLOSING THE TRAP: THE DRAFT
[Catching Those Christians Who
Think Prophecy Is Just A Game]

INTRODUCTION

Eric Rosenberg of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reports that there is pending legislation reinstating the draft in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) in order "to provide for the common defense by requiring that ALL young persons in the United States ... perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." These active bills currently sit in the committee on armed services.

Though the draft (i.e., conscription) is an unpopular election year topic, the reality is that there simply are not enough Americans in uniform - either in our active duty or our reserve components - to handle a "long, hard slog" (Rumsfield's words) in Iraq and Afghanistan, let alone carry on a permanent state of war against "terrorism" all over the world. Charles Pena, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Cato Institute, a libertarian group, says:

"When you crunch the numbers, you understand why you hear talk about a draft. You only have to look at troop levels to realize we don't have the numbers to do the job."

And that's putting it mildly; the Denver Post reports that -

"Retention officers (in the army) say they have a memo stating that the Army is trying to fill 80,000 spots."

80,000 empty slots to fill! - that's breath-taking!

THE ARMY IS BEING STRETCHED
TO THE BREAKING POINT

Indeed, in a sign of the Iraq war's increasing strain on the U.S. Army, the Pentagon is planning an extraordinary shift of troops to Iraq from their garrisons in South Korea, where they have stood guard for decades against a feared invasion from the North. Robert Burns says,

"The move reflects ... the Army's difficulty in finding enough soldiers for the next rotation of forces into Iraq later this year."

When the U.S. fought the first Persian Gulf War in 1991, it had 10 army divisions at home ready to deploy as reinforcements for the troops it had already dispatched to Kuwait and Iraq. Today there is only one single division remaining in the U.S. that could be deployed to Iraq (or for that matter, anywhere else in the world) as reinforcements. John Sutherland writes,

"On how many fronts can America fight its global war on terror with a "professional" (i.e., volunteer) army of only a half a million? Half a million and shrinking fast. Reservists are not re-enlisting."

That's very bad, especially in light of the fact that almost half the troops in Iraq are Reservists - and they don't want to be there! What they had bargained for when they first signed up was something far less than what they are getting now. The fact is, most of them had signed up for the occasional weekend playing soldiers and acquiring some useful income, not death or glory. Most want no part of that! No sane person does.

DECEIT IN FILLING RESERVE SLOTS

Indeed, the re-enlistment situation for the Army Reserve has grown so bad that U.S. Army recruiters have resorted to blatant deceit in order to meet their quotas. For example, take what happened recently when recruiting and retention officers fell short of meeting their quotas for the Army Reserve. They turned to the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) to make up their shortfall.

The Individual Ready Reserve is a sub-component of the Reserves where thousands of soldiers who have already completed their "active duty" service are placed to fill out their "remaining service obligation." The IRR is a distinctly different animal than the "drilling reserves" or the National Guard. As we just indicated, those in the IRR are soldiers who have already completed their active-duty obligation (usually three years or more) and are "parked" in the Individual Ready Reserve" to await final discharge; there's no duty involved, there's no pay, no uniforms to wear, no weekend drills; they are free to become civilians again with - historically speaking - no real chance for being called-up.

These soldiers received phone calls several weeks ago from recruiting and retention officers telling them that they had a week to pick a Reserve unit of their choice and join it. If they did not, one would be assigned to them. Suzie Griffin of Fort Collins, Colorado, says,

"My husband just received this call, and they are trying to push for him to come back or they say he will be put in a unit that will most likely go to Iraq."

Jeremy Ferranti who left active duty recently after a stint as an Army Ranger says,

"I don't want any part of it. I am not the same person I was. I fought for my country, and I've got my aches and pains that I wake up with each day to prove it."

SCAMING SOLDIERS WHO HAVE ALREADY SERVED

But Sgt. 1st Class Allen Campbell who works out of an Aurora, Colorado, army retention office said he told Ferranti that he is taking a risk by not "volunteering" to sign up by the deadline.

There is a twofold purpose in the scam that Campbell and others like him are trying to pull: (1) to fill out the vacant slots in Reserve Army units which are no longer being filled through recruitment by young people off the streets, and (2) to provide grist (and already trained grist at that) for the regular army. And how is that? - through a program called "Stop / Loss" where active duty personnel already assigned to regular or reserve army units can be prevented from leaving the service. Pretty nifty, uh? Technically speaking members of the IRR (the Individual Ready Reserve) are not subject to "Stop / Loss."

This scam has already yielded 23,000 troops from the IRR to regular army and reserve army units, and another 60,000 are scheduled to be transferred in the next few months.

GETTING THE IRS INTO THE SCAM

So successful has this scam been in yielding up human flesh for the Army, that the Army has turned to the IRS to help ferret out more of these "bodies" who - for one reason or another - have not stayed in touch with the IRR over the years. Technically, it's illegal for the IRS to pass on the addresses of these people, but what the heck, the "green machine" needs bodies, and it needs them NOW. This kind of scaming and blatant illegality has led Lieutenant General James Helmly to say that the military's manpower situation "... is becoming untenable," and this type of illegality and callous, cold-hearted scaming of people who have already served their country proves the point. Helmly goes on to say that -

"The Army is facing a severe manpower crisis, and it is growing more severe by the day."

As a result, military experts and influential members of congress are suggesting that the U.S. may have no choice but to draft.

WE NEED THE DRAFT, AND
WE ARE GOING TO GET IT

In a letter to President Bush by Reps. Heather Wilson (R-NM) and Jim Cooper (D-TN) and signed by most members of the House Armed Services Committee, including Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and ranking member Ike Skelton (D-M), the committee members warned the president:

"Repeated, long-term deployments (of current forces) will clearly take a toll on spouses and children of our men and women in the military here at home. Military service always entails time away from home, but we think that the services - and particularly the army - must find a way to better balance the demands of overseas deployments with the needs of troops' families back home. Otherwise, we may face a mid-grade retention problem in the coming years that will be devastating to our forces."

Obviously, that will never do! It would wreak havoc on Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz's plans and the plans of the other folks at the Project for a New American Century who have already decided that America's "core mission" is to -

"... fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theater wars, while using our troops as the cavalry on the new American frontier."

This has led Wolfowitz to exclaim,

"We need the draft!"

And to threaten menacingly that one way or another -

"WE ARE GOING TO GET IT!"

The fact is, as Douglas Valentine, author of the book, The Phoenix Program, writes:

"Worldwide, the Bush Regime has a blacklist of SIXTY nations it intends to invade, conquer and convert into quisling quasi-democracies through a series of 'shock and awe' military campaigns, followed by endless, illegal dirty wars designed to eradicate the Bush Regime's ideological opposition from the face of the earth."

And it needs a massive army to do that.

A draft, of course, would be extremely unpopular with the American public. Even those voters who currently support U.S. actions abroad may object to this move; after all, it's one thing to have someone else's kid shipped off to Iraq, especially if he "volunteered for it," but it's quite another thing to have one's own children or grandchildren shipped off without a say so on whether he or she really wants to fight or not.

But one's concern for his sons and daughters, grandchildren, nephews and nieces, brothers and sisters, etc. cannot mitigate the military's need for human flesh to throw at the enemy if the guerrilla wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and, once again, not just there, but elsewhere in the American New World Order System (for instance, in Colombia, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc.) - spread and continue to get worse. If that happens - and it's happening right now - the country will be forced to resort to a national call-up or see its empire crumble and fall apart. As David Lindorff writes in Counterpunch Magazine, the country will have no other choice but to reinstate the draft:

"According to Charles Pena (quoted above) ... the closest model to the current Iraq occupation is Northern Ireland. There, he says, British 'pacification' efforts required a force ratio of 10 soldiers to every 1,000 citizens, and at the height of the Northern Ireland conflict, a ratio of 20 soldiers to every 1,000 people. 'If you transfer that to Iraq, it would mean you'd need at least 240,000 troops and maybe as many as 480,000', says Pena. The U.S. military ... would have to strip every fighting unit domestically and around the globe to come up with such numbers - an impossible move that would leave the U.S. and many of its overseas strategic interests completely unguarded. CLEARLY, IF THE WAR KEEPS GETTING WORSE, THERE IS A DRAFT IN THE FORECAST."

WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS

What is all this? What does it all portend? Surely what's happening here is the fulfillment of Matthew 24:6-7:

"And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars ...

"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom ..." (Matt. 24:6-7)

And it's only just beginning. These are wars that are being instigated by the unbridled greed and avarice of the elites; wars of "profit and domination" (Chris Floyd's words) meant to line the pockets of the rich using YOUR sons and daughters as CANNON FODDER. And make no mistake about it, that's all your sons and daughters are to the elites: cannon fodder, despite the honeyed words of praise for "our magnificent troops" offered by Bush and his elite lackeys, as if the CEOs of Viacom, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, Bechtel Corp., General Electric, etc. give even one whit whether your son or daughter lives or dies, or - God forbid - is horribly mutilated and maimed. They don't care. All they care about is money! It's not without reason that the Bible says:

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare ... which DROWN MEN IN DESTRUCTION AND PERDITION.

"For the love of money is the root of ALL evil ..." (1 Tim. 6:9-10)

And how these men love their money! These are men about whom the late Professor C. Wright Mills of Columbia University writes,

"The pursuit of the moneyed-life is ... (the elite's) commanding value, in relation to which the influence of other values has declined, so ... (that they have) easily become MORALLY RUTHLESS in its pursuit ..."

"(They have) narrowed the meaning of 'success' to big money and in these terms condemn failure as the chief vice, raising money to the plane of absolute value."

And the fact that the rhetoric that these men spew forth from time to time about "our magnificent troops" is just rhetoric and nothing more is evidenced by the reality of their increasingly callous treatment - or rather, lack of treatment - for the nation's aging military veterans. Floyd says that this -

"... indicates a profound disrespect for the essential worth of each individual soldier. They were not regarded as human beings, but as just so much biological material to be manipulated at the whim of their leaders, and then discarded." [More about this in upcoming articles.]

THE DRAFT IS ABOUT CONTROL:
CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE

Rosenberg says that he was astonished by the degree of planning that has gone into this legislation. There is nothing haphazard about it. He reports that the impending legislation -

"HIGHLIGHTS THE EXTENT TO WHICH ... OFFICIALS HAVE BEEN PLANNING FOR ... THE DRAFT ... "

Moreover, Rosenberg says that it's not just men who are being targeted for the draft, but women as well. Furthermore, Rosenberg reports that the Selective Service is proposing that registration for the draft be extended from its current upper limit of 25 years to 34 years. This would make EVERYONE in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34 eligible for the draft. Finally, all registrants would be required to register any critical skill they have: medical (doctors, nurses, etc.), computer skills, language skills, etc.

Think about that: EVERYONE in the United States between the ages of 18 and 34 is now eligible for the draft. And remember here, we're not talking about a military draft alone, but a draft into "... civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes." And that's all the way up to age 34. Not only is that almost one-quarter of a person's life, but these years represent just about the best years of one's life - the time most people get a college education, start out on a career, fall in love and start a family, etc.

What the government is doing here is establishing ABSOLUTE control over those years of your life! And even if you discharge your duty - probably three to four years early on - you will be subject to a "call-up" at any time, like those in the Individual Ready Reserve whom the Army has now sicced the IRS on to monitor them and control their every move. And I must remind you here that we are not just talking about a call-up (or a call-back) to active duty in the military, but to "... civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes."

Now, what does that mean? What does "civilian service" mean? - it could mean just about anything in the civilian sector, from work on government construction jobs at minimum wage to working in defense related industries - again, all at minimum-wage.

And then you might ask yourself, what does the phrase "other purposes" mean? That sounds pretty ominous! Not something one would want to involve himself in. It could mean manning check points at roadblocks, guarding prisoners, handling dangerous material, etc.

Moreover, does it mean that husband and wives could be separated from each other? - one sent off to the military, and the other sent off to a minimum wage job at a defense-contractor? Yes! - no doubt; after all, the military does that already when both spouses are in the military. And what about the children? - they will have to be left with anyone who will take them - or maybe left in the "tender care" of some kind of government agency that will institutionalize them for the duration of your absence. And who knows what that kind of "care" will mean? Poisoning them with ideas you do not agree with? Subjecting them to harsh, uncaring treatment in a "Lord of the Flies"-kind of environment where the "tough rise to the top and the weak sink to the bottom."

And remember here, we are talking not just about an initial period of service and then you're free, but an initial period of service with a potential of multiple call-ups thereafter. Wow! You wouldn't want to - to put it in the vernacular - "piss anyone off" who has that kind of power over you. You would just want to shut up and stay as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. Make waves, and back you go into the army or into a "defense-related industry" as a virtual slave-laborer with about as much right to come and go as the slave-laborers had at the I.G. Farben facilities at Auschwitz-Birkenau during the Nazi era in Germany.

And all this is a lot closer than you might think! It's coming, and it's coming soon - straight at you! The fact is, according to Rosenberg, the draft is scheduled to begin as early as the Spring of 2005 - just after the 2004 presidential election. That's about a year from now.

EVERYTHING IS BEING DONE IN
SECRET AND UNDERNEATH THE TABLE

So secret and "under the table" has the planning for all this been that Rosenberg had to obtain his information using the Freedom of Information Act. Moreover, it's not just Bush who is trying to keep this legislation off the American public's radar screen, but Kerry as well. One must remember that Kerry - an "establishment" Democrat and a member of the DLC - is as much committed to the Iraqi incursion and, ipso facto, securing the oil wealth of the Middle East in the interest of the American New World Order System as Bush is. The differences between the two (i.e., Bush and Kerry) have to do with tactics, not strategy.

The fact is, Kerry is very much aware that if he becomes president, he may need the draft every bit as much as Bush needs it now - and that's precisely why he is staying quiet about it; he does not want to say something that may come back to haunt him if as president he is forced to support legislation to re-institute the draft. He is no more willing than Bush is to see the unraveling of the American Empire.

In the meantime, $28 million has been added to the 2004 Selective Service System (SSS) budget to prepare for the pending draft. Selective Service must report to Bush (or Kerry if he wins) on March 31, 2005 that the system is ready for activation. In addition, the Pentagon has quietly begun a campaign to fill all 10,350 draft board positions and 11,070 appeals board slots nationwide.

FAILURE TO REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT

Young men have long been required under federal law to register with selective service when they turned 18. Though failure to register has always been considered a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000, the government has rarely prosecuted offenders, but opted instead to permanently ban them from government perks such as student loan eligibility and federal employment.

But now there is a move afoot across the country - instigated by the feds - to strip those who fail to register for the draft of their driving licenses. Delaware was the first state in May, 2000, to enact legislation linking driver's license applications to Selective Service registration. Now 32 states, two U.S. territories, and the District of Colombia have followed suit - and it is having a big effect. After all, YOU try to get around in the country today without being able to drive. You can't do it; you can't even hold a job if you don't have a driver's license. And if you drive without one, and you are caught, you could go to jail!

Uncle Sam's increasing control over one's ability to drive has become another enormous and very oppressive means of control over the population, and very few people are objecting to it - after all, they don't want to lose their driver's licenses too. Lose your driver's license and you risk becoming a NON-PERSON: it's the first thing a potential employer wants to see; you can't open a bank account without one (which means you can't participate in the "open economy"); it's your means of identification if you want medical attention, access to credit, a telephone, get utilities, etc. - the list goes on and on.

And now the feds are stripping those who fail to register for the draft of all this! That's what the feds are doing to people when they strip them of their driver's licenses. This is "Big Brother" writ large! Comply or become a NON-PERSON, and that's precisely what you will become if you fail to "volunteer" to register for the draft.

DODGING THE DRAFT

Finally, you should know that dodging the draft will be much more difficult than it was during the Vietnam era. College will not get one out of the draft. Reforms to the Selective Service Act eliminate higher education as a shelter. Underclassmen will only be able to postpone service until the end of their current semester. Seniors will have until the end of the academic year.

Moreover, it is becoming much more difficult than it was in Vietnam to flee to Canada to escape the draft. In December, 2001, Canada and the United States signed a "Smart Border Declaration" which - in addition to keeping terrorists out of America - could also be used to keep would-be-draft dodgers in.

Signed by Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs John Manley and U.S. Homeland Security director Gov. Tom Ridge, the declaration involves a 30-point plan which implements, among other things, a "pre-clearance agreement" of people entering and departing each country. Designed to identify and manage security risks, this plan calls for the sharing of "advance passenger information" and the development of a jointly held immigration database and programs for "joint removals of deportees" (meaning draft-dodgers). All this does not bode well for people trying to escape the draft, so if one is planning to go to Canada and secure "permanent resident status," the sooner the better - before there is an "official draft" and you and you children are unable to cross the border.

THE DANGER THAT IS COMING

How ironic it is, however, that just as these kinds of dangers, and much more besides, begin to gather all around us - dangers that the ministry has long predicted - and just as the moment arrives when it is becoming increasingly clear that we must "put legs to our convictions," it seems that people (even those who have previously been associated with the ministry) are coming out of the woodwork to council "moderation" - like the brother who recently wrote me the following letter (quoted in our last article, "The Horror of John Dimitri Negroponte and Everything He Represents"):

"There is a pernicious tendency in the minds of some (meaning those of us at Antipas) to posit the idea that spiritual utopia can be achieved through physicality - i.e., by escaping Babylon, spiritually AND physically, one can suffice the divine edict to "flee Babylon."

What kind of a dream world does this brother live in? He speaks as if there is no "physicality" to the Prophetic Scriptures" - and the reason that he does so is that, plainly speaking, he doesn't have the courage of his own convictions when it comes to "putting legs" to his past rhetoric. And the sad fact of it all is, he is counseling others to do nothing as well, although he doesn't quite put it that way. Instead, he claims that he is going to "stay and fight" (I've heard that before from others who have now gone the way of the dodo bird into extinction), and in the meantime - and just to show us up - he says he is going to buy a house and put down permanent roots.

STANDING FOR GOD DEMANDS MORE THAN JUST WORDS

Stay and fight? That's what he is going to do? Oh, really? - I'll believe that when I see it. More likely than not, he and those with him will retreat into a sullen silence and do nothing other than write more tomes that are so airy that they have no real connection to the "here and now." And when it gets too dangerous to do even that, they will retreat further into their silence, never to be heard of again. Of course, right now, they will deny all this. But wait! Just wait!

Unfortunately, however, when all this manifests itself, it will be too late for you to do anything about it. YOU will have become - together with them - just another cog in America's war machine, obediently doing the will of the state and keeping your mouth shut about everything else, just as those "good" German Christians did so many years ago with regard to Hitler.

TELLING THE TRUTH IS WHAT COUNTS TODAY,
NOT HOW MANY FRIENDS ONE HAS

Saying all of this, of course, cannot help but elicit rage - but this is not a game that we are involved with here where differences can be compromised and divisions healed as one dear brother from India very naively - and I must say, very foolishly - thinks. The fact is, truth divides! The Bible says,

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the DIVIDING ASUNDER of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb. 4:12)

And Jesus goes on to say:

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

"For I am come to set a man at VARIANCE against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

"He that loveth father or mother more than me IS NOT WORTHY OF ME: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me." (Matt. 10:34-35, 37)

NOTHING COMES AHEAD OF THE TRUTH

Brothers and sisters, nothing comes ahead of the truth! NOTHING! No relationships - however precious, however long or however endearing - can come ahead of one's loyalty to the Truth, and those brothers who think otherwise will someday live to regret it. It's better to offend people now by confronting them with the hard truth, and in the process earning their enmity, then never to tell them the truth and face them on THAT DAY. The Bible says:

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

Listen to me, dear saints of God: What we are talking about here is for real, and if it costs us the animosity of all our loved ones, so be it. That's certainly what's happened to us, i.e., to those of us who have continued on with the ministry and - in compliance with God's holy dictate to "Come out of her" (Rev. 18:4) - have (or are) making plans to depart from this wicked land before it's too late and we are CORRUPTED by our association with it. [We URGE you to please read our article, "The Aliya Foundation;" please also see our article, "I Am Amazed."]

The "Scriptural gymnastics" that these erstwhile coworkers have used to make something so simple as Rev. 18:4 a complex matter that no "ordinary Christian" could ever figure out is beyond anything that I would have ever expected from them. Of course, what it really is, is an exercise in deceit meant to cover the shame of their own paralysis in the face of Rev. 18:4's clear unction toward radical action. What can I say about such people? Ultimately nothing! - except what John the Apostle wrote:

"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (1 John 2:19)

DILETTANTES IN RADICALISM

By this I do not mean to question their standing as Christians - I AM NOT DOING THAT! I simply mean that although they claimed to be "radicals" when they first joined us, they were discovered to be mere DILETTANTES - dabblers in "radicalism;" people who were, in fact, nothing more than "posers" masquerading as something they really weren't! And so when it came time to "put legs to their convictions," they drew back in fear; and - in order to draw attention away from their spiritual cowardice - they began labeling us a "Jim Jones Sect," a bunch of "Branch Davidians" (i.e., Waco weirdos), "Ruby Ridge cultists," etc.

Indeed, so far back have they shrunk from the original message of Antipas - specifically, that the alliance the church has made with the elites of the United States is a detestation and an abomination to God - that they now claim that we are engaged in "class warfare" against the rich. My-o-my, "class warfare?" That's exactly what I would expect from the Tim LaHayes, the D. James Kennedys, the Pat Rorbertsons, the Charles Stanleys, and the C. Peter Wagners of this world, not from them. My heart is broken for them, and so much so that I cannot help but weep for them as David did for Jonathan -

"How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!" (2 Sam. 1:27)

SHRINKING BACK FROM THE MESSAGE

How long have these brothers been with us? Years! They were there when I wrote "Capitalism and Christianity," the "Marxist Paradigm," and "The Jesus Revolution." Was I engaging in "class warfare" then? They didn't say so at the time - and all these articles were written more than three years ago. And more than that, what would they say Jesus meant when He said,

"Verily I say unto you, THAT A RICH MAN SHALL HARDLY ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

"Again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a (sewing) needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matt. 19:23-24) ?

And what would they say about James the Apostle who cautioned the early disciples about the rich, saying -

"Do not rich men oppress you ... ?

"Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?" (James 2:6-7)

And who prefaced it all by saying,

"Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" (James 2:5)

Does this mean that Jesus and James engaged in "class warfare?" I suppose so!

And what would all these brothers say about Acts 2:44-45:

"And all that believed were together, and had all things common;

"And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." (Acts 2:44-45) ?

And what about Acts 4:32:

"And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; BUT THEY HAD ALL THINGS IN COMMON." (Acts 4:32) ?

What about that? - especially in light of the fact that all this occurred immediately after they had been filled with the Holy Spirit:

"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; AND THEY WERE ALL FILLED WITH THE HOLY GHOST, and they spake the word of God with boldness." (Acts 4:31)

Acts 4:32 follows immediately Acts 4:31, i.e., first came the "infilling of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:31) and then came the words that they "had all things in common" (Acts 4:32).

I guess that makes the Holy Spirit a Marxist, and the early church a "commune." If that's called "engaging in class warfare," so be it!

HOW THESE BROTHERS HAVE FALLEN

How these brothers have fallen! But let that be a lesson to anyone who thinks he can defy the Scriptures and "play with God" insofar as Rev. 18:4 is concerned - i.e., that he can stay in Babylon, escape the leaven of the devil, and remain uncompromised. The Lord wasn't kidding around when He said -

"... Come out of her, my people, THAT YE BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

One should take particular note of the second part of Rev. 18:4 - " THAT YE BE NOT PARTAKERS OF HER SINS." What the Bible is saying here is that if you fail to obey the Holy Command (i.e., the holy dictate), you may very well end up compromising your faith. That's what concerns the Lord; not that you will be martyred, but that you will be polluted beyond remedy.

There is no standing still with God; one is either going forward with Him, or backwards. In this case, these brothers have gone backwards - and APPALLINGLY so; and, indeed, so much so that one of them has involved himself in peddling internet "get rich quick schemes" of the worst kind (provided you "buy into" the plan he is peddling at the moment) - while at the same time condemning us for asking those of you who benefit spiritually from the ministry to help us out financially - which is the Scriptural thing to do. [Please see my article, "A Letter From S.R. Shearer" for the Scriptural justification behind our requests to you for financial assistance insofar as the work of the ministry is concerned; please also see our article, "Ponzi Schemes, the Investment Craze, and the End of Days" for our attitude as a ministry insofar as ponzi schemes and "multi-level marketing (so-called) are concerned.]

It's not without reason that the Bible says,

"They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." (1 Tim. 6:9)

And that's precisely what's happened with this particular brother. The fact is, he has been driven "nuts" (drawn into "hurtful lusts") by his passion to make money in these hideous, contemptible schemes; and how "foolish" they all are!

As for the other brother, he is the one who now condemns us for involving ourselves in "class warfare" - i.e., a war against the rich - and has labeled us a bunch of "Waco wackos" and "Ruby Ridge cultists."

It's not that they disagree with Antipas per se - indeed, they insist that they agree with most of what we stand for. They simply disagree with our fervent belief that one's deeds (i.e., one's conduct or behavior) should match one's rhetoric (i.e., one's bravado); in other words, that "RADICAL TIMES DEMAND RADICAL ACTION."

WHEN PROPHECY IS A DREAM

Although they would never admit it, prophecy was really nothing more than a game to them. These are precisely the kind of people about whom I wrote in my article, "Re-Thinking Our Mission: How Shall We Organize To Resist?" -

"When prophecy is a dream - when it is nothing more than a mental image, a kind of fantasy or "furtive meditation" - it's sort of fun; it's like a secret GAME we can play on a cold night in the safety and comfort of our own living rooms with good friends, good food, a warm cup of chocolate, and a crackling fire in the fireplace - the kind of GAME that Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" series of books casually and vacuously promotes. It lifts us out of the "ordinary" and elevates us into a whimsical world where we are no longer nameless cogs in a giant, uncaring socio-economic machine that doesn't give a whit for us, but are instead heroes and heroines ("Knight-Templars") of our Lord and Savior immersed in great feats of "daring-do." And the wonder (indeed, the pleasure) of it all is that this GAME doesn't cost us much to play. Maybe a little, but not much. No real sacrifices are demanded of us; we don't have to "pay to play;" no relationships are threatened beyond those we don't care that much about anyway; no jobs are put at risk.

"But when prophecy transmutes itself into reality, when it is no longer played as a game, when actual relationships are threatened, when money is really put at risk, when jobs are actually lost, and when lives are in fact jeopardized, then prophecy becomes something else altogether, AND NOT TOO MANY PEOPLE WANT TO BE A PART OF THAT."

A CALL TO ACTION

These kinds of people cannot help but be a hindrance to those who wish to embrace the real radicalism of the early church. Indeed, they act as a brake on those who are striving to translate their beliefs into action. While they will claim to be as radical as you are, they council "moderation" and act as a drag on everything you say and do.

But, brothers and sisters, let me tell you something here: Moderation in the service of God in these tumultuous times is no virtue, and radicalism is no vice. And so it is concerning the "moderation" these people counsel. These are precisely the people about whom I warned you in the Antipas Papers, a book to which almost all of them claim they subscribe (or at least a book they used to subscribe):

"The ANTIPAS PAPERS are first and foremost A CALL TO ACTION to ... (radicals); the kind of people ... who possess vision and the capacity for self-sacrifice. It's a call for them to get involved! And to do it NOW! - before it's too late. To wait is to make prophecy of no effect - after all, prophecy is meaningless to those who refuse to do anything about it. Prophecy is nothing more than a roadsign telling us of the danger that's ahead and warning us to take ... action BEFORE we get to the danger. If we do nothing until we finally get there, it will be too late. Thus, if the only reaction the ANTIPAS PAPERS can elicit from someone who has read the book is 'Wow! - what a wonderful book' - then we have utterly failed in what we set out to do, and that person has missed the point of the book altogether. Knowledge which does not produce action is worthless! It is to those persons who possess the willingness to get involved that we now turn and to whom we now direct the following remarks: first, there are many things which will hinder you from getting involved - AND, SADLY, YOUR GREATEST HINDRANCE WILL PROBABLY BE THOSE DEAR CHRISTIANS WHO CLAIM TO SEE WHAT YOU SEE, BUT WHO CAUTION 'MODERATION'. ...

"Mostly, those who caution 'moderation' are people who - while they might see objectively what you're talking about and who might even find it stimulating to sit in the safety of their living rooms for hours on end discussing this or that 'end-times scenario' - will go ballistic if you actually suggest doing something about it. That's when the 'moderates' panic! That's when people get labeled a 'Jim Jones', a 'Branch Davidian', a reckless and irresponsible radical, an 'Unloving Person'. But look beyond the labels and you might see something else at work here! - a selfish effort by the 'moderates' to shame you into silence and inaction. Why? - because if such thinking were to really catch on, they will be shown to be what they really are - spiritual cowards who have too much at stake in this world ... (to really get involved) - and in order to hide that fact, they are willing to stop at nothing to put the 'radicals' to an open shame.

"'Moderates' are the people who are given to writing time-consuming (tomes, manuscripts and) memoranda, holding 'bigwig' conferences, 'reasoning' with the opposition, discussing things endlessly - and not for the purpose of finding out the truth, but of 'buying time' and 'confusing the issue' - 'Did so and so really say such and such? - I don't care whether a thousand witnesses heard him - let's find out what really happened'. The object here, of course, is not to get to the bottom of what happened - after all, if a thousand witnesses won't suffice, nothing will - the real object is to get everything so tied up in red tape that by the time it's 'sorted out', the main issues have been forgotten about and the whole thing has blown over.

"To the 'moderates', we would simply say this, What does one do with people who purposefully are leading the church into apostasy ...? Reason with them? What's there to reason about? These people know what they're doing! - and you are not the first to question them on these matters. They've heard all the arguments before. What value is there in meeting with such people? What does one say to ... (such people)? ... There is nothing to negotiate about! And if those you love in the church refuse to go along, and you think to stay for their sake, be assured, you'll accomplish nothing - you're 'going' will accomplish more than your 'staying' ever could by showing them by deeds rather than words how serious matters really are. Remember, what's at stake here is eternity! - your eternity!"

THIS IS NOT A GAME

Brothers and sisters, this is not a game that we are engaged in here where points are given for being courteous, and approval is gained by being respectful of the opinions of others, even if those opinions are wrong. Neither is it a game where success is counted by the number of friends we have made "on the way" or the number of people we have not offended. Jesus didn't give a whit about any of these things. What concerned Jesus was the truth. To compromise the truth would have been unthinkable to Him Who said of Himself:

"I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

Of course, people say that Jesus was being pompous in saying that - but it actually was the truth, and if that offends, so be it! People say we are pompous too - but I really don't care anymore. I am now 63 years old - so it doesn't make a lot of difference to me what anyone says about me. It only matters whether I please Jesus or not. I will pay any price, and do anything in order to please Him! God forbid that at this late date in my life, I should be called a "man-pleaser." As Paul said,

"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10)

Finally, those who condemn us for not being "polite" - THEY SHOULD PROBABLY LEAVE US AND GO ANOTHER WAY. Maybe they should join up with our critics who have left the ministry because we are too "uncaring," too "impolite" and too "unloving." Believe me when I say that I am NOT going to change. I refuse to be "polite" insofar as the leadership of today's church is concerned. Those HYPOCRITES! Those "snakes in the grass" who twist the Word of God to justify the crimes of the elite. Well did Jesus say of them:

"Woe unto you ... HYPOCRITES! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres (tombs), which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

"Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity ...

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers (poisonous SNAKES) ..." (Matt. 23:27-28, 33)

Wow! - pretty heavy! Jesus calls them people who are "full of iniquity," "poisonous snakes," "whited tombs full of dead men's bones." This is what Jesus had to say about the religious establishment of His day. And people tell us to be careful of what we say about the religious establishment of our day? The most we've said of them is that they are "DOLTS," "IDIOTS," "BIRDBRAINS," and "NINCOMPOOPS." What's worse, to call someone a "nincompoop" (my words) or a "poisonous snake" (the words of Jesus)? What would you rather be called, a "dolt" or a "poisonous snake?" Much better to be called a "dolt." But Jesus was not as polite as we are. He called them "poisonous snakes." And He meant it! Why? - because they were leading God's people astray! They were counseling "moderation" at a time when only radical solutions would suffice. This is precisely what our critics are calling for. Why do they attack us? Their real target should be Jesus.

More next time!

Until then, God bless you,

S.R. Shearer,
Antipas Ministries