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Wednesday, June 3, 2015

THE PERFECT STORM OF APOSTASY~THE KANSAS CITY PROPHETS

THE PERFECT STORM OF APOSTASY
THE KANSAS CITY PROPHETS
SEE: http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2015/newsletter20150603.htmrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

The Perfect Storm of Apostasy – An Introduction to The Kansas City Prophets and Other Latter-Day Prognosticators
By Mary Danielsen
When speaking of spiritual things, what goes around comes around. This is true of every false movement within Christianity, especially in the last days, because the enemy is not going to let a perfectly good deception go to waste but rather will redesign anything to appeal to a subsequent generation. If a particular aberrant teaching is not rejected by the church when it first appears on the horizon by those who perceived it with spiritual eyes, then this movement or aberrant teaching will continue to lead people astray into a future generation.
Add to that the current social media technology wherein deception can attain an unprecedented level of exposure through multi-media, blogs, and conferences, and you have the recipe for a perfect storm of apostasy containing every unbiblical element imaginable. The latter-rain prophet movement is a perfect example of how this works. Regardless of the teaching, or how absurd it is, there will always be a following due to the church’s death of discernment today. With that in mind, I present to you some information of the current crop of “prophets” and “apostles” within the evangelical church. You can file this subject under “Last Days Deception,” along with everything else in Satan’s bag of tricks.
I’m goin’ to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.—Fats Domino
Back in the mid 1980s, a modest tremblor rattled many churches in the midwest when Kansas City Fellowship registered on the Christian Richter scale. The buzz we experienced here in Wisconsin was that there was a “great move of the Lord” going on there, and the movers and shakers were prophesying and prognosticating the path or direction of people’s lives and the church as a whole. Enter a strange form of spiritual peer pressure, which proposed that if you wanted to follow the Spirit, you needed to go there because, well, you never know where it might lead and you don’t want to miss out “on what God is doing.”
People began to flock to Kansas and return to their hometown churches with dramatic tales of miracles, signs, wonders, and forthtelling. While this move was preceded by the Latter Rain movement of the 1940s, along with the Manifest Sons of God, Kingdom Now theology, the Word/Faith behemoth, and the five-fold ministry, the Kansas City Prophet movement seemed to catalyze it all, taking previous Pentecostal excesses, spinning them in some sort of spiritual centrifuge, and spewing it all forward for a new generation. Those who embraced a “more is better” version of Christianity found themselves prone to seeking out an experiential spirituality.
The core team of Mike Bickle, Bob Jones, John Paul Jackson, Rick Joyner, and Paul Cain became the primary prophetic celebrities. The very first aberration, that continues to this day in this and offspring movements, is the emphasis on raising up personalities who claim to have certain prophetic or apostolic authority. The instruction and prophecy of the Bible takes a back seat while through the elevation of man and the emphasis on experience, Scripture is no longer considered the final authority. In this storm of apostasy, the cult of church celebrity takes a back seat to no one here, to the great peril of the church. This is a foundational problem, and so you can expect everything to skew from that point, and skew it does.
Regarding the forthtelling by Kansas City Fellowship, a couple questions need to be asked. First, is God revealing new and shiny future revelations to mortals, and second, is this additional information meant for more than just a few select? If so, it is a big deal. A very big deal. Now, if He is not doing this and these people are deceived deceivers, that is very big deal #2. Which is it, and is the church sufficiently concerned about either premise? When all this started out, the church was not concerned at all; if it had been, we wouldn’t have half the mess we have today. I hope that by providing some background and history of the KC prophets, you may be able to come up with some answers.
Mike Bickle and John Wimber
Back in 1982, Mike Bickle claimed to receive a prophecy in Egypt, which started The Mess. According to the IHOP (International House of Prayer) website,

While visiting Cairo, Egypt, Mike Bickle heard the audible voice of the Lord say, “I will change the understanding and expression of Christianity in one generation.”1
“God” told Bickle to move to Kansas City and begin a global work. Thus the Kansas City Fellowship was born; it is worth noting that this has been the formula for the genesis of nearly every major cult in the 19th and 20th centuries. A young man (or woman) receives a prophecy or sees an angel telling him he is chosen to do A,B,C or D, which usually involves starting a church or movement. See Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, William Branham (founder of the Divine Healing Movement), and so forth.
Around the same time Bickle was entertaining voices and angels, a man named John Wimber was bringing his version of church-growth mathematics into the evangelical church. The paths of Wimber and Bickle intersect significantly later on. But starting back in the ’70s, after leaving the Quaker church, Bickle moved on to Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California to study church growth. He came to believe that the Pentecostals and charismatics were leading the way in church-growth models, so he sought to incorporate signs and wonders, believing “that the Gospel is largely ineffective without signs and wonders.”2
During his time at Fuller, Bickle was greatly influenced by C. Peter Wagner, who is considered by most to be the father of church-growth methodology. This methodology spread across state lines to Illinois, home of Bill Hybels’ mega-growth model, Willow Creek. Wagner, also father of all things related to the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), brought the church another gift in the ’80s and ’90s—the “territorial spiritual warfare” falsehood, which taught a generation that we can “take cities for God” and rid the planet of demons so Jesus can return. This strange “warfare theology” and bad eschatology has been around long enough for any sane person to see that our cities and byways are no more “Christian” than they were before and in fact are rapidly degenerating; thus, the fruit of that movement is non-existent. But that too does not keep an entire generation from believing in and giving their hard-earned money to false prophets and wolves in sheep’s clothing.
C. Peter Wagner himself will say that John Wimber was his mentor and parrots Wimber’s view that the only way churches will grow and produce revival is if they are accompanied by signs and wonders.3 So regardless of what cart came before which horse, what happened to Wimber? Let’s pick up there so we can move forward to our KC prophets.
The Vineyard churches actually began in 1977 when Wimber resigned from Fuller and began to pastor. He requested that Calvary Chapel (a fast-growing group of evangelical churches under the leadership of founder and pastor, the late Chuck Smith) be his covering. However, Wimber sought increasing spiritual power through a combination of psychology and charismatic practices, looking for signs and wonders to explain every imaginable problem known to humans. His church began heading in a direction that was not compatible with Calvary Chapel (according to Chuck Smith’s “distinctives”) as Wimber was drawn to practices that emphasized being “slain in the Spirit,” aura reading, visualization, and other Eastern mystical practices.4 As he shifted completely to an experiential approach to ministry, with nothing off limits including everything from name-it-and-claim-it prosperity teachings to Catholic validity of miracles, Chuck Smith challenged him on his low view of Scriptures and increasingly bizarre practices. Seeing two possible directions for the church under his care to go, one being to stress the systematic teaching of Scripture, the other, to rely on signs and wonders to extrapolate and confirm subjective truth, Chuck Smith offered other Calvarys the choice to stay or go, but he maintained a stand to protect the flock from hyper-charismaticism.
Wimber went on to start the Vineyard churches, which went global. Incidentally, the “Toronto Blessing” was birthed at a Vineyard church—Toronto Airport Vineyard—which not only is proof of the fruit of their deeds but highlights the danger of emphasizing what is perceived as the Holy Spirit’s work over the atoning work of Christ. After founding the Vineyard movement, Wimber left to continue his studies at Fuller, further validating his spiritual worldview in a class he taught called “Signs and Wonders and Church Growth.”
Joel’s Army
The “Day of the Lord” is re-interpreted by the false prophets to mean that Christ will come to His Church and incarnate (become God in flesh) an army of believers—thus giving them supernatural qualities to execute judgment on the Church.5—Jewel Grewe, Discernment Ministries
According to Ernest Gruen, a Kansas City pastor and “contemporary” (for lack of a better word) of the KC pastors:
Bickle was already convinced early on then, that this was a special movement and the beginning of a “new order” of things. He believed that this “worldwide movement” would see over a billion conversions, headed up by 12 different key churches in America. Kansas City would “cross-pollinate” with Vineyard and become a training center for end-time prophets and apostles. He believed that the KC movement had been established by the “two resurrection angels” which were present at Jesus’ tomb.6
In addition to such a mindset, Bickle believed that in the last days, God would raise up 300,000 to be leaders in “Joel’s Army”; hundreds of apostles would be trained there, and an “authority structure” would be put into place to oversee the end-time church and handle all the prophecies and signs and wonders.7
“Prophet” Jack Deere, who served with John Wimber at Vineyard Christian Fellowship, explains their view of this end-time army of God:
How is God going to bring judgment upon His Church and then judgment upon the land after His Church? He’s going to do it with a large and mighty army.8
Hey, if you are going to dream, dream big or go home, I say. Who has time for just studying the Word, praying, serving the flock, and worshiping the King? Small potatoes if you have a mind so puffed up you cease to even make sense at some point.
Bob Jones’ Visions
Enter Bob Jones at this point. Bob’s is an interesting story. The fact that he was a major influence and mentor to Lakeland, Florida’s hyper-charismatic Todd Bentley should be enough information for those who follow such antics to make a decision to change course. Bob’s bizarre visions could fill a book, but back in the KC day, he was said to have had between three to five visions and bodily translations every night.

Jones’ visions began when he was only nine years old when the angel Gabriel supposedly appeared to him and presented a bull skin mantle, signifying his future office of a “seer.” He describes his young adult life as being one continuous alcohol binge, getting into trouble, and ending up in a mental institution for a brief stay. At that low point, he says that when he cried out to Jesus, “a voice spoke to me,” saying, ‘I can’t help you Bob, until you forgive them [people in his past]. Go kill them or forgive them.”9 His visions and interpretations of bizarre spiritual experiences, which are far too numerous to recount here, were foundational to the KC movement, and this is important to understand. Nevertheless, that did not prevent Bickle and his prophesying cohort Jones from laying hands on people and throwing “thus sayeth the Lord” around like softballs—believe me, it affected the personal lives of many.
Ernest Gruen, a Kansas City pastor and “contemporary” (for lack of a better word) of the KC pastors, wrote a very extensive exposé of the KC mess titled “What’s the Problem?” He also authored a 250-page indictment titled, “Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship.” In this document, he outlines numerous power abuses, false prophecies, Scripture manipulation, and outright heresies that were engaged in by the leadership there.
From that report, Gruen explains how one Kansas City psychologist, who counseled with well over a hundred persons who attended KC fellowship, gives a glimpse into the harm that was done in the name of advancing the interests of Kansas City Fellowship (later renamed Grace Ministries). Over a short span of time, he heard of many personal prophecies predicting sudden deaths, illness, financial ruin, and other impending physical issues, which all proved to be false. Needless to say, there appeared to be zero regard for the spiritual safety of the flock.10
Another brave soul who came out with a well-done exposé was Albert Dager, author of the newsletter, “Media Spotlight.” Dager was one of the first in a line of discerning believers who began to see heresy and apostasy being birthed in the church back in the 80s. His article, “Latter Day Prophets—the Kansas City Connection” is a thorough treatment of the excesses and abuses that many suffered at the hands of supposedly “godly men.”
Children were also led into the fray as these men taught that God was raising up a “super generation” of powerful humans who would usher in the end times. Children in their charge were taught to have out-of-body experiences, see angels, be slain in the Spirit, or be drunk in the Spirit.11
As if this weren’t bad enough (again, barely a surface scratch here), we also have exponential false teaching through Paul Cain, Rick Joyner, Francis Frangipane, John Paul Jackson, Jim Goll, and David Parker, all ready to oversee and manipulate a congregation that went from a handful of people, to over 3000 in a very short period of time, in six congregations.
Paul Cain
Paul Cain, a Scotsman and contemporary of Latter Rain guru William Branham, believes he was visited by Jesus Himself at age eight and again at eighteen years old and called to hold healing services. He held all the same convictions of Jones and Bickle when it came to manifestations of spiritual power. As researcher Mike Oppenheimer points out, Cain said William Branham was, “[t]he greatest prophet that ever lived in any of my generations or any of the generations of revival I’ve lived through.”12

Cain was referred to by Bob Jones as a prophet’s prophet of sorts, and Cain’s prophetic record is as abysmal as the rest. At least one of his prophecies revolved around a time when he said all sporting events would be canceled and stadiums used for revivals, displaying resurrections and healings on a global scale.13 He claimed to have regular visitations from the Lord and that every hypocritical TV preacher would be exposed by the end of the ’80s.
Rick Joyner
Rick Joyner, founder of Morningstar Publications and Ministries, has been and remains an enigma on the Christian scene. In addition to Joyner’s significant role with this gang of prophets, he is a Supreme Council member of an organization called “The Knights of Malta” (an ecumenical—Orthodox, Evangelical, Catholic and Protestant—order). His own website confirms this to be true.14 According to an article by author and lecturer Roger Oakland,

The [Knights of Malta] order is sanctioned and “blessed” by the Vatican. . . . Pope Benedict XVI “invokes . . . the continued protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” Each “Knight” . . . is required to take a vow. In this vow, the Knight pledges himself to “be guided by the ideas of the Sovereign Order of St John of Jerusalem (started in 1090 and is the predecessor of the Knights of Malta).15
Joyner believes he is one of the warriors who will come against the Islamic horde on American soil. He is yet another self-proclaimed new breed of “super prophet” and “super-apostle,” all who intend to set up their earthly “kingdom of God” while redefining Christianity.
Where Are They today?
According to a 2005 Charisma Magazine article, Paul Cain admitted to being “involved in long-term homosexual activity and often got drunk, sometimes in public.”16 Bob Jones was discredited in 1991 when he was caught in a sexual misconduct scandal.17 He passed away in February of 2014 to glowing eulogies from his former contemporaries. John Paul Jackson has his own ministry today involving visions and dream interpretation. Mike Bickle, perhaps the highest profile prophet of them all, developed IHOP in 1999 (International House of Prayer) and continues on in his “prophetic” ways to this day. In addition to his heretical “prophetic ministry,” he has come out as a strong advocate for contemplative prayer (a prayer practice that involves eastern religion practices).18

John Wimber’s health began to spiral down in 1993 after being diagnosed with cancer. He suffered a stroke some time later, followed by bypass surgery. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1997 after a fall at age 63.
Following all the prophet and apostle mayhem of the ’80s and ’90s, the “Seven Mountains (or Spheres) of Culture” is the latest deceptive fiasco by the NAR to rally evangelicals around their latter-day dominion-promoting theology with a mandate to “take back” the culture. Personalities like Bob Buford, C Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs (head prophetess of the movement), and Chuck Pierce continue to press their bizarre spiritual schemes. Included in this Seven Mountain teaching is legislating a form of morality in which all peoples will follow the Mosaic Law. Given the right political and cultural scenario, things could become remarkably dark and evil as we approach the consummation of this present age.
This assigns a different meaning to “go and make disciples of all nations.” By coercion? Through political channels? The church should reject the dominionism of these false prophets outright in favor of waiting for the return of Jesus Christ for His church, in a world completely ripe for judgment and mass deception.
This booklet is just the tip of the iceberg in exposing the Kansas City Prophets and other “prophetic” voices speaking to the church today. I hope this is enough information to show that this prophets and apostles movement is out-of-control and unbiblical. I encourage you to examine this more closely and weigh these things against Scripture. I have listed some helpful resources on the last page of this booklet.
The Bible warns that in the last days, there will be much deception and delusion.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist stedfast in the faith. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
To order copies of The Perfect Storm of Apostasy – An Introduction to The Kansas City Prophets and Other Latter-Day Prognosticatorsclick here.
Endnotes – see below
Resources to learn more about the Kansas City Prophets, IHOP, and the NAR
Let Us Reason Ministries with Mike Oppenheimer: www.letusreason.org.
Herescope Blog: http://herescope.blogspot.com.
Believers in Grace with Pastor Bill Randles: http://www.believersingrace.com.
Media Spotlight with Al Dager: http://mediaspotlight.org.
Deception in the Church with Sandy Simpson: www.deceptioninthechurch.com.

Other Related Booklet Tracts by Lighthouse Trails
What You Need to Know About Jim Wallis and the Social-Justice Gospel by Mary Danielsen
I Just Had a Vision!” by Kevin Reeves
False Revival Coming? – Holy Laugher or Strong Delusion? by Warren B. Smith
The New Age Propensities of Bethel Church’s Bill Johnson by John Lanagan
10 Questions for those who claim The “Supreme Beings” of the Nations Are the True God by Sandy Simpson

Endnotes
1. http://www.ihopkc.org/anniversary.
2. Albert Dager, “The Vineyard: History, Teachings, and Practices” (Media Spotlight, 1996,http://www.mediaspotlight.org/pdfs/The%20Vineyard.pdf), p. 6.
3. http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/5/28/19033/8502.
4. Albert Dager, “The Vineyard: History, Teachings, and Practices,” op. cit., p. 11.
5. Jewel Grewe (Discernment Ministries), “Joel’s Army” (http://herescope.blogspot.com/2006/02/joels-army-day-of-lord.html).
6. Pastor Ernest Gruen and staff, “Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship,” Section II: The Movement; Part B. (http://www.banner.org.uk/kcp/Abberent%20Practises.pdf).
7. Ibid.
8. Jack Deere, “It Sounds Like the Mother of All Battles “Joel’s Army” (Vineyard Ministries International. 1990, audiocassette message); as quoted in “Joel’s Army” by Mike Oppenheimer: http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain10.htm.
9. Mike Bickle with Bob Jones, “Visions and Revelations” transcript, series of five tapes (http://www.ihopnetwork.com/ihop/BobIHOP/FullText.pdf, 1988).
10. Pastor Ernest Gruen, “Documentation of the Aberrant Practices and Teachings of Kansas City Fellowship,” op. cit.
11. Ibid.
12. Paul Cain, “Selections from Kansas City Prophets,” taken from Mike Oppenheimer’s article “Prophet Paul Cain” (http://letusreason.org/Latrain5.htm).
13. A talk given by Paul Cain at Christ Chapel in Florence, Alabama on August 30, 1995 (evening session); see: “The Significance of Filled Stadiums” by Ed Tarkowski, http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/pgn3_sd2.htm.
14. http://www.morningstarministries.org/about/questions-and-answers/knights-malta-rick-joyner#.VWp5AyJ0zq4.
15. Read Roger Oakland’s article “Will the Evangelical Church Sell out the Gospel for a Dominionist Political Agenda?,”http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=7114.
16. J. Lee Grady, “Prophetic Minister Paul Cain Issues Public Apology for Immoral Lifestyle” (Charisma Magazine,http://www.charismamag.com/site-archives/154-peopleevents/people-and-events/1514-prophetic-minister-paul-cain-issues-public-apology-for-immoral-lifestyle).
17. “Pam Sollner, “Minister removed after confession of sexual misconduct” (The Olathe Daily News, November 13, 1991; http://www.religionnewsblog.com/16929/minister-removed-after-confession-of-sexual-misconduct).
18. See John Lanagan’s article “Mike Bickle of IHOP-KC Instructs followers on Contemplative Prayer”;http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=7574.

To order copies of The Perfect Storm of Apostasy – An Introduction to The Kansas City Prophets and Other Latter-Day Prognosticatorsclick here.
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WHO ARE THE KANSAS CITY PROPHETS?
SAME PEOPLE DIFFERENT NAMES

ISIS SEIZED $1 BILLION OF U.S. MILITARY AID

ISIS Seized $1 Billion of U.S. Military Aid, 

Iraqi Leader Admits

BY ALEX NEWMAN
SEE: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/20986-isis-seized-1-billion-of-u-s-military-aid-iraqi-leader-admitsrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

The so-called Islamic State, a brutal terrorist group also known as ISIS, seized 2,300 U.S. military Humvees and other weaponry from Iraq’s U.S. taxpayer-funded armed forces in Mosul, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi admitted in a TV interview over the weekend. ISIS militants then paraded the captured U.S. military equipment, reportedly worth over $1 billion, through the streets of the city. They then proceeded to use the American Humvees to lynch and burn Iraqi troops — many of whom had dropped their U.S. supplies and fled — before putting the vehicles to work in suicide bombings and other attacks. One of them was used on June 1 in a suicide strike in Baghdad that killed some 45 people.
In a Sunday interview with Iraqiya state-run television, the new U.S.-backed Iraqi prime minister admitted that his government’s forces lost the gear. “In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons,” al-Abadi acknowledged, referring to the overrunning of the city by ISIS forces last summer amid the mass-desertion of U.S.-backed Iraqi government forces. “We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone.” Depending on how the Humvees were outfitted — grenade launchers, machine guns, extra armor —the price tag could have been well over $1 billion. According to media reports from last year, ISIS militants may have also seized the helicopters that were displayed during an ISIS parade with the captured Humvees.  
More recently, ISIS reportedly seized dozens of U.S. military vehicles — tanks, armored personnel carriers, artillery pieces, and more — after taking over the city of Ramadi last month. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steve Warren told the Associated Press that an estimated six tanks, six artillery pieces, even more armored personnel carriers, and around 100 “wheeled vehicles like Humvees” were lost to ISIS. It would have been “preferable” if Iraqi forces had destroyed the equipment before fleeing the city, Colonel Warren said. But “in this case,” that did not happen. Nor did it happen in Mosul last year, or in many instances before that.
But the problem goes much deeper than ISIS "seizing" U.S. weapons. Aside from the U.S.-backed Iraqi military, ISIS has plenty of other sources for U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons — jihadist Syrian “rebels” being armed and trained by Obama, the Islamic regimes in Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition, and more. “We are buying weapons from the FSA,” ISIS fighter Abu Atheer was quoted as saying by Al Jazeera, referring to the Obama-supplied “Free Syrian Army” jihadists fighting the Syrian regime. “We bought 200 anti-aircraft missiles and Koncourse anti-tank weapons. We have good relations with our brothers in the FSA. For us, the infidels are those who cooperate with the West to fight Islam.”   
However, the supposed “blunder” of “losing” U.S. military equipment to ISIS, a regular occurrence, barely scratches the surface of the problem. Among other concerns, ISIS itself was armed and trained by Obama’s own “anti-ISIS” coalition, according to top U.S. officials such as Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey. When asked whether he knew of any major Arab allies that support ISIS in a Senate hearing last year, for example, General Dempsey responded: “I know of major Arab allies who fund them.”
Biden, meanwhile, demolished several key lies promoted by the administration about the wave of U.S.-armed Islamic terrorists sweeping across the Middle East. “The fact is, the ability to identify a moderate middle in Syria, um, was, uh — there was no moderate middle,” Biden admitted last year, exploding the administration’s propaganda about arming and training “moderate” jihadists. Speaking at Harvard, he noted that members of Obama’s “anti-ISIS” coalition — the Islamist rulers of Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and more — “poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens, thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad; except that the people who were being supplied were Al Nusra and Al Qaeda and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world.”
“Where did all of this go? So now what’s happening? All of a sudden everybody’s awakened because this outfit called ISIL [ISIS], which was Al Qaeda in Iraq, which when they were essentially thrown out of Iraq, found open space in territory in eastern Syria, work with Al Nusra who we declared a terrorist group early on,” Biden added. “And we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them.” Of course, he did not mention the role of the CIA and the State Department in the process, but that has been well documented by countless sources, as The New American has been reporting for years.
Late last month, a lawsuit by Judicial Watch forced the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to release documents including explosive information on Western support for ISIS for the assault on the Syrian regime. “The West, Gulf countries [the Islamic regimes ruling Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, etc.], and Turkey support the Syrian opposition,” it explains, adding that, as The New American reported at the time, al-Qaeda supported the Syrian uprising from the beginning as well. “There is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist [fundamentalist Islam] principality in Eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.” (Emphasis added.)
Commenting on the latest admission by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi, Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity Executive Director Daniel McAdams noted that it is hardly the first time. “Whenever there is a problem anywhere in the world, the first thing U.S. lawmakers and Beltway foreign policy experts do is urge the U.S. to send weapons,” he said, citing Libya, Ukraine, Syria, and the Kurds as recent examples. “The track record of such a policy is obvious for all to see. If anyone is still confused, ask a Libyan or a Syrian Christian about it. Yet the failed approach continues to be the cornerstone of US foreign policy.”
All of the scheming is great for the “military-industrial complex (which funds most of the Beltway think tanks),” McAdams continued. However, for American taxpayers and the innocent victims targeted with U.S. military weapons being showered on groups and governments around the world, it has been a disaster — not to mention the absurd fact that, as former State Department official Peter van Buren was quoted as saying, the United States is “supplying all sides in the conflict.” “Has there been a more reckless policy in the history of foreign policy than the one the US is pursuing in Iraq and Syria, purportedly to defeat ISIS?” McAdams asked.
The escalating Western-fueled horror show unfolding across the Middle East — genocide of Christians, rivers of blood, routine beheadings, global jihad, and more — represents, in large part, the fruit of lawless U.S. foreign policy in the region. It is time for Congress to obey the U.S. Constitution and adhere to the non-interventionist advice of America’s Founders.
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OBAMA STATE DEPARTMENT REMOVES CUBA FROM STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM LIST

OBAMA STATE DEPARTMENT REMOVES CUBA FROM STATE SPONSOR OF TERRORISM LIST 
(ON HEELS OF POPE MEETING WITH RAUL CASTRO)
BY WARREN MASS
SEE: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/20987-obama-state-department-removes-cuba-from-state-sponsor-of-terrorism-listrepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

The State Department announced on May 29 that Secretary of State John Kerry had made his final decision to rescind Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, effective on that date.
The announcement stated that President Obama had instructed Kerry last December to launch a review of Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, and provide a report to him within six months regarding Cuba’s support for international terrorism. On April 8, 2015, Kerry completed that review and recommended to the president that Cuba no longer be designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
Obama submitted the statutorily required 45-day, pre-notification report to Congress on April 14, and the decision was implemented immediately upon the end of that period.
The State Department announcement, issued by Jeff Rathke, Director of the department’s Office of Press Relations, said:
The rescission of Cuba’s designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism reflects our assessment that Cuba meets the statutory criteria for rescission. While the United States has significant concerns and disagreements with a wide range of Cuba’s policies and actions, these fall outside the criteria relevant to the rescission of a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation
During a press briefing on the 29th, Rathke was asked by a reporter if the latest decision was part of a process whereby the United States and Cuba would reopen embassies, reestablishing diplomatic relations. Rathke replied that the removal of Cuba from the state sponsor of terrorism list and re-establishing diplomatic relations were separate processes.
When the reporter pressed Rathke to provide a schedule for when diplomatic relations between the two counties might be restored, he replied that it is “hard to put a timeline on it.”
The reporter then asked Rathke what the practical effects of removing Cuba from the sponsor of terrorism designation might have, such as the comprehensive trade and arms embargo on the communist nation.
Rathke refused to link the two, and replied:
Rescinding of the designation against Cuba is an important step. Let me highlight, though, that the embargo, which is a separate matter and which is to a large degree a statutory matter — that is, legislation — that remains in effect. So the lifting of the state sponsor of terrorism designation does not lift the embargo.
Cuba, of course, is a one-party communist nation, headed by Raúl Castro (shown), the younger brother of former dictator Fidel Castro, who led the revolution that bought communism to Cuba in 1959. The elder Castro, then 81 years old and in failing health, announced his resignation February 2008, after which younger brother Raúl took control. The secession continued not only a family dynasty, but 56 years of communist rule. During that time, Cuba has maintained close ties with other communist or Marxist  nations, such as the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and Venezuela under Marxist strong man Hugo Chávez (1999-2013).
Following the administration’s announcement on May 29, several Cuban-American members of Congress asked the administration to keep Cuba on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list.
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) made a statement that noted, in part:
Cuba should not have been removed from the State Sponsor of Terrorism list since one of the many reasons for its inclusion are its links to repressive regimes around the world such as Iran, Syria, and Russia. Additionally, Castro continues to provide a safe haven to terror groups like the Colombian FARC and Spanish ETA and harbors fugitives from American justice. The Castro regime’s responsibility in the Brothers to the Rescue shoot down, the unresolved claims stemming from its illegal confiscation of property from American citizens and businesses, and its continual use of repressive tactics to silence any opposition to the tyrannical regime are further evidence that Cuba should not have been removed from the SSOT.
Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) stated:
President Obama and his administration continue to give the Cuban regime concession after concession, in exchange for nothing that even remotely resembles progress towards freedom and democracy for the Cuban people, or assurances that the regime will discontinue working against America’s national security interests.
And another senator from a Cuban background, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) issued a statement reading, in part:
The fact is, the Castro regime has not shown one iota of change in its actions that earned it a spot on the State Sponsor of Terrorism list. Cuba still provides sanctuary to Joanne Chesimard who remains on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorism List for the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, it recently was caught sending arms to North Korea in the single largest violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions, and also received a shipment from a Chinese arms manufacturer that was seemingly headed for Colombia’s terrorist organization FARC. Yet today Cuba was somehow delisted from this dishonorable list of State Sponsors of Terrorism.
Other Cuban Americans, including Frank De Varona, a Cuban-born American who fought to free Cuba in the Bay of Pigs invasion and was captured and imprisoned after the United States, which had organized the invasion, withdrew its air support and left the patriots stranded on the beach, told The New American in April that the Cuban regime, through its close ally Venezuela, was providing intelligence to the Middle East terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Castro regime also struck a deal with Russia’s Putin to establish military, intelligence, and naval bases that “will threaten the national security of the United States,” said De Varona, a former university professor, author, and expert on Cuba.
In an age that is focused more on Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS, most Americans have forgotten the threat to their national security posed by communist regimes around the world. During the 1960s, when the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba became known, spurring the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the recognition of international communism's goal of world domination were apparent. Today, few remember that Russian President Vladimir Putin was once a Soviet KGB officer and that his cooperation with Cuba poses the same type of threat today that the old Soviet-Cuban alliance during the days of Nikita Khrushchev and Fidel Castro presented during the Cold War.
Even fewer Americans are aware that the transformation of Cuba into a communist dictatorship was brought about due to U.S. policy, so — as is often the case — we created our own threat. The story of how this U.S. support for Castro’s coup helped Cuba become communist was documented in an article posted by The New American last December, “The Betrayal of Cuba.”
Among the techniques used to accomplish this objective was a cooperative effort between New York Timesreporter Herbert Matthews, our State Department, and the CIA, all of whom worked to keep Castro’s communist affiliations hidden from the public. At the same time, these propagandists helped portray Cuban autocrat Fulgencio Batista — who, though no humanitarian, allowed a far greater degree of freedom in Cuba than Castro subsequently would — as the devil incarnate. (Batista was also very favorable to U.S. business interests in Cuba, which, most people would logically assume, might have provided our government with motivation to look more favorably on him.)
As Michael E. Telzrow, author of the article noted:
Through the concerted efforts of the U.S. State Department and Herbert Matthews of the New York Times, Batista's government was undermined both politically and publicly. While State Department policy regarding nonintervention prevented Ambassador Smith from providing support to the Batista government, the State Department looked the other way while pro-Castro groups operated freely in Miami. These pro-Castro groups worked actively to secure supplies, money, and weaponry for Castro's ragtag revolutionaries. Meanwhile Batista came up empty when the United States, historically Cuba's closest ally, refused to ship armored cars purchased by the Cuban government. This action emboldened Castro’s forces and demoralized the national government. It can be said that the United States effectively intervened on the side of Castro by working to bring about the fall of Batista.
The U.S. State Department also successfully undermined the Cuban anti-communist Dr. Andres Rivero Aguero, who was elected president of Cuba in November 1958, but was unable to assume office. After our government made it clear that it would not support Aguero, he — along with Batista — fled Cuba, creating a vacuum which Castro filled by default.
Cuba had become another communist dictatorship!
Speaking before the U.S. Senate in 1960, U.S. ambassador to Cuba, Earl E.T. Smith, said that in his opinion: “Without the U.S., Castro would not be in power today.”
The U.S. role in helping to turn Cuba into a communist tyranny was not unprecedented, however.  When civil war raged in China between forces loyal to the government of the Republic of China led by Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) and Mao’s Communist Party of China (CPC) forces, the Soviets turned over to the CPC an enormous stockpile of weapons abandoned by the Japanese in Manchuria.
As the well-armed communist forces pressed their advantage against the Nationals, the plight of the Nationalist forces was doomed by betrayal. Chiang's forces were denied weapons through an embargo declared by General George Marshall of the United States. Marshall boasted of having disarmed 39 of Chiang’s divisions “with a stroke of his pen.
The Chinese would later help the communists take control of the Northern half of Korea and all of Vietnam, as tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers died to thwart debacles that began with the betrayal of a once-free nation by the United States.
If communist Cuba now represents a threat to us because of its cooperation with terrorists, we have our government’s pro-communist policies to blame. But removing Cuba from the list of State Sponsors of Terrorism will not undo the damage; it will only compound it.

DOJ STUDY EXAMINES RIGHT WING SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE

DOJ STUDY EXAMINES RIGHT WING 
SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE
SEE: http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/item/20979-doj-study-examines-right-wing-social-media-usagerepublished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

The Department of Justice is once again using taxpayer dollars to fund a biased agenda. The department’s National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has awarded Michigan State University over half a million dollars for a study on social media usage by “far-right” groups.
"There is currently limited knowledge of the role of technology and computer mediated communications (CMCs), such as Facebook and Twitter, in the dissemination of messages that promote extremist agendas and radicalize individuals to violence," according to the NIJ grant. "The proposed study will address this gap through a series of qualitative and quantitative analyses of posts from various forms of CMC used by members of both the far-right and Islamic extremist movements."
The grant states that the study will focus more on right-wing forums than areas of the Internet occupied by Islamic extremists, though it does not state which “far-right” groups will be targeted:
We will collect posts made in four active forums used by members of the far-right and three from the Islamic Extremist community, as well as posts made in Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter, YouTube, and Pastebin accounts used by members of each movement.
The findings will be used to document both the prevalence and variation in the ideological content of posts from members of each movement. In addition, we will assess the value of these messages in the social status of the individual posting the message and the function of radical messages in the larger on-line identity of participants in extremist communities generally.
The project will also "identify the hidden networks of individuals who engage in extremist movements based on geographic location and ideological similarities." 
The findings from the study will be used in presentations for counter terrorism experts.
This is not the first time the Obama administration has characterized its critics as "terrorists" or "extremists." In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report on right-wing "extremism" which identified (among others) veterans returning from combat as a potential terrorist threat, as well as pro-life groups and those opposed to illegal immigration.
“Right wing extremism,” the 2009 report said in a footnote on page 2, goes beyond religious and racial hate groups and extends to “those that are mainly anti government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely.... It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." It also listed gun owners and (as the 2015 report does) veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as potential risks.
In 2009, then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended that report's focus on right-wing groups, drawing comparisons between those who oppose abortion and Timothy McVeigh. “The document on right-wing extremism sent last week by this department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis is one in an ongoing series of assessments to provide situational awareness to state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies on the phenomenon and trends of violent radicalization in the United States,” Napolitano said in her statement. “I was briefed on the general topic, which is one that struck a nerve as someone personally involved in the Timothy McVeigh prosecution.”
Earlier this year, a Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment was released, which focused on right-wing sovereign citizen "extremist" groups in the United States. According to some law-enforcement groups, the threat from those groups is equal to, and at times even greater than, that from Islamic extremist groups. The assessment states that these particular right-wing "extremists" defy laws when they detect that their individual rights are being violated, at times even during typical daily routines such as traffic stops.
Ironically, the report predicted that the majority of the sovereign citizen violence will occur against law-enforcement officers. “Law enforcement officers will remain the primary target of [sovereign citizen] violence over the next year due to their role in physically enforcing laws and regulations,” the report states
However, constitutionalists have pointed out that the latest attacks against law-enforcement officers have come from protesters with misplaced anger, not from those who seek to ensure that civil liberties are being protected in all police interactions with citizens.