Speaking of Cults

[izziesoul (izziesoul)]

In lieu of this new movie that is out with Nicholas Cage and the dollar bill pyramid my niece has been studying different aspects of groups and their ties to questionable organizations. Two that have caught the classes attention are the Masons and the Illuminati. They are all studying what information they have available on them including some documentaries which are very interesting.
I know that many of you are very learned on historical aspects of Christianity and other like groups.
Could any of you give me some imput on these two organizations in particular.
There seems to be a lot of conspiracy and secrecy connected to them.
Thanks so much, we are having family disscussions which are getting pretty interesting.
In His Love,
Iz

[jim_faucett (jim_faucett)]

Freemasons (http://www.tlio.demon.co.uk/masons.htm)

[nwmomike (nwmomike)]

I posted some links under a discussion within Factnet under:
http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/434.html?1101141844

Also www.apologeticsindex.or (http://www.apologeticsindex.or) and look for Freemasonry or masonry

M or Michael

[yogi (yogi)]

FYI:

A paper by Herve de Carmoy presented to the 1996 Vancouver meeting of the Trilateral Commission. Full conference booklet obtainable from the addresses below

Economic and Welfare State Reform While Moving to EMU
A superficial glance could lead external observers to the conclusion that on the economic, monetary and social fronts, there is and will be "nothing new in Western Europe" - the title of a famous book - in the near future. OECK projections (see Table 1) seem to corroborate that misperception.

Table 1: European Union: Basic Economic Indicators source: OECD 1995 1996 1997 1998
GNP growth (volume) 2.9% 2.6% 2.7% 2.8%
inflation 2.9% 2.6% 2.6% 2.7%
unemployment (% of available) 10.8% 10.5% 10.3% 10.1%


I propose to analyze what lies behind these figures. What are some of the forces at work? What are some of the momentous political decisions being taken, which may alter the economic, social and political landscape of Europe before the turn of the century? EMU and the European welfare states will be at the center of our thought process.

My presentation will be in two parts. We will first review economic developments within major European countries. Then we will probe into the hidden part of the iceberg, the nature of the political scheme that is unfolding.

Germany

Germany is both a key country and the center of a monetary and economic zone which includes Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark and now extends beyond the EU to the Czech Republic and Slovenia. This is illustrated by the fact that short- and long-term interest rates in these countries, over a protracted period of time, vary little (between 0% and 1%) from German interest rates. That linkage, combined with the reality of the intertwining of these economies with that of Germany, suggests that we may already have at work a small-scale version of EMU in Europe.

What happens to the German economy - a three trillion DM economy - is important in terms of EMU in its broadest sense and in terms of the social dimension of the European Union. The OECD projections in Table 2 require a few comments. In spite of a rate of capital formation 30 per cent higher than that of Great Britain, the German economy is in quasi-stagnation and unemployment is high. However, the public deficit will have been brought well within the Maastricht criteria by 1998.

Table 2: Germany: Basic Economic Indicators source: OECD 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
GNP growth (volume) 2.9% 2.1% 2.4% 2.7% 3.0%
inflation 2.0% 2.1% 2.0%
unemployment (% of available) 10.0% 9.6% 9.3% 9.1% 9.0%
public defecit (% of GNP) 3.1% 3.0% 2.3%


Several factors explain the differential in performance in economic growth and unemployment with the United Kingdom (and with the United States). Two are worth a special mention:

First is the evolution of the exchange rate of the DM. The volume of German exports has a negative sensitivity to prices of 0.5, which means that an increase in prices of 10 per cent reduces volume by 5 per cent. A year ago the DM appreciated by 28 per cent in relationship to the dollar, by 27 per cent in relationship to the lira, by 17 per cent in relationship to the pound. These rates of appreciation have been more than halved since then but their impact on economic growth rates an unemployment has been far from insignificant.

Second, under the label Standort Deutschland, Germany is implementing fairly radical policies in terms of deregulation, public deficit reduction and the overhauling of "corporate Germany" (as evidenced by the changes in Bayer or in Mercedes). This quiet revolution is happening a decade later than in the United Kingdom and the United States. As is normal in that kind of process, the economic and social costs are borne upfront, with the corresponding impact on GDP growth and unemployment.

The United Kingdom

The contrast with the performance of the United Kingdom is significant.

In the United Kingdom, the GNP growth rate has been higher than Germany for the last two years, by more than 20 per cent. The OECD projects that the U.K. growth rate for the next three years should at least match that of Germany.

On a five-year basis, unemployment will have gone down by a good 2 per cent as a result of shrewd monetary policy and unemployment policies and a reduction of the active population.

The public deficit, which was at 7.8 per cent of GNP a few years ago, is projected by the OECD at 2.8 per cent in 1997.

There is a saying that all roads lead to Rome, or to Brussels in its twenty-first century version! The path taken by Great Britain deserves therefore a special mention. Not surprisingly, the United Kingdom has been inspired by the United States. Like America between 1980 and 1990, the U.K. has carried out simultaneously four fundamental changes:

It has been more audacious in the timing and implementation of deregulation, from telecommunications to water, from gas to financial services. The same can be said about privatization. The last coup d'eclat was done without blinking an eye, when the first track of railroad was leased to a French private company (which must say something about either the French or British Rail).

The United Kingdom has also gone a long way towards cleaning up its boardrooms. Throughout the country, shareholders have made their voice heard and eased out management when it was less than competent.

Like in the United States, the United Kingdom has created a fiscal environment conducive to the reemergence of a new class of entrepreneurs, of the Branson type.

Finally the social cost of that deep a revolution has been softened by exchange rate adjustments, to the greatest benefit of Great Britain.

Paradoxical as it may sound, the United Kingdom seems well positioned now to take on a leading role in Europe. We should adopt the attitude to the U.K. that Mrs. Thatcher adopted to President Mitterrand: "I do not listen to what he says. I look at what he does." In the case of the U.K., facts speak louder than words.

The United Kingdom meets most of the Maastricht criteria. In addition it has made major strides in carrying out its internal revolution, at an acceptable social cost. So it has a legitimacy in terms of democratic and political tradition and domestic modernization, and that legitimacy allows it to play a leading role in Europe. But will the other powers in Europe, notably Germany and France, let it?

Italy

Italy provides a transition between the United Kingdom and France:

Its GNP growth rate has been higher than that of Germany, by more than 20 per cent, for 1994 and 1995. It is projected to match Germany in 1996 and 1997.

Its public deficit will be going down from 9.6 per cent to 6 per cent of GNP (and it could be erased if Italian interest rates were to decrease permanently by 3 per cent).

The level of unemployment appears to be declining moderately, but the recent changes in statistical calculation methods invite us to be cautious.

Finally, like France, Italy enjoys a healthy current account surplus, which should grow to $30 billion in 1997, from $15 Billion in 1994.

So Italy might well be ready for EMU two to three years from now. The story of Italy is a repeat of that of other European Countries, including Spain and Portugal. More belatedly than the United Kingdom, but in keeping with its tri-millenium tradition, Italy has carried out Herculean tasks in terms of pension and tax reforms, deregulation and privatization. It is also overhauling its industrial base. Numerous changes in boardrooms have taken place with a view to accelerate the re-engineering of Italian industry. Like the U.K., Italy has protected its industry and cushioned the social cost resulting from the above-mentioned transformations by devaluing its currency.

France

France has a 7 trillion Franc economy with remarkable convergence with Germany, be it in GNP growth, inflation or even the public deficit (see Table 3). The balance of trade between France and Germany is in equilibrium and, in contrast to Germany, France's current account balance is likely to be positive ($15-20 billion for the next three years, as last year).

Table 3: France: Basic Economic Indicators source: OECD 1995 1996 1997 1998
GNP growth (volume) 2.7% 2.2% 2.7% 3.0%
inflation 1.8% 2.0% 2.1% 2.0%
public defecit (% of GNP) 5.0% 3.9% 3.0% 3.0%


Like the rest of Europe, but later than the United Kingdom, France is carrying out massive internal reforms. The British may have to suffer some painful problems with their "mad cows," but the French are slaughtering battalions of sacred cows. Social security, health care, pensions, education, military industry, railways, and telecommunications are all being either revamped, deregulated, privatized or overhauled. the revolution is rapid, brutal and required opening up many battlefronts at a considerable human cost.

The Hidden Part of the Iceberg

In that sense, France, like Germany is no different from the rest of Europe, except for the hidden agenda, or what I called earlier the hidden part of the iceberg. What differentiates France and Germany from some of the other European countries is their common political commitment, across the entire democratic political spectrum, to the common European currency, as the lever to accelerate the political integration of Europe. It is the continuation, with another means, of the process initiated in 1952 when coal and steel were privileged as the symbol and reality of European unification. Forty-five years later, France and Germany are committed to money - with its broad basis, for it concerns every citizen and every organization - as the trigger for another leap forward in the European integration process.

This is a political decision, with very significant social and economic consequences. In a first phase, it appears plausible that unemployment will rise and that the gap between rich and poor will widen, especially as the welfare state will be slimmed down to meet the Maastricht criteria on public deficits. In fact, the high social price of further European integration through EMU has been tacitly accepted, as illustrated by the absence of implementation of the Delors Plan for reduction in unemployment through large European public works.

Because of the political decision to use EMU for furthering political integration in Europe, the social price may be even higher than it was for instance in the United States, where it proved to be significant. We all know that over the last 20 years the average earnings of the lowest-paid workers in the United States fell by 18 per cent, while the after-tax pay of U.S. management increased by some 60 per cent. On the other hand, America created 20 million jobs, while in Europe unemployment rose by the same figure.

Europe will have to devise its own home-made solution to keep the momentum toward closer political unity through EMU while reengineering its industrial base and its welfare state systems. Europe - notably France and the DM-zone countries - would be well-advised to be inspired by certain aspects of the American experiment, lowering the price of less-skilled labor as a better human and financial policy than paid unemployment.

Pragmatism will be of the essence, for the risk of ripping apart the national social fabric is not a gratuitous hypothesis. The December strikes in France, with one million people out in the street, are a useful reminder of the tensions caused by that evolution.

This may be why the social ambitions of Europe are presently at the center of the French position on the future of Europe. The French position serves a domestic purpose, by placating the opposition on an issue which belongs to their natural agenda. But it also suggests an alternative to the free-trade zone notion of Europe of which the United Kingdom is a proponent, as well as to a Federal Europe supported by Germany. Sometimes, like their Canadian friends, when the French cross the road they stay in the middle. What have they found in walking to the middle and stopping? They have found a confederal Europe, with substantial self-government, and a common currency.

In conclusion, Europe is changing at a wrenching pace and change has become more difficult to handle in social and political terms. But let there be no doubt: The European Community will not become an industrial museum. It will alter its welfare states and attempt to deepen its unification process by using EMU as a catalyst.


Hervé de Carmoy is Chairman of Banque Industrielle et Mobiliere Privée (Paris) and former Chief Executive of Société Générale de Belgique (Brussels).

How to contact the Trilateral Commission
Trilateral Commission Europe contact:
Trilateral Commission, 35 avenue de Friedland, 75008 Paris. Tel.: 33/1/40.42.45.11 or Fax: 40.42.24.74.

Trilateral Commission U.S.A. contact:
Trilateral Commission, 345 East 46th Street, New York NY 10017, Tel: 212-661-1180, Fax: 212-949-7268.
(phone also reported as 212-616-1180)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Links:
http://www.bilderberg.org

Abstract on the Trilateral Commission http://www.netizen.org/arc-hive/NWO_TRI2.TXT

Background to the Trilateral Commission http://www.ccnet.com/~suntzu75/tc-1.htm

[yogi (yogi)]

Hey did anyone checkout the dateline special tonight on Benny Hinn? Sheesh, and we think GGWO's bad...this guys the KING of farces!

yogi

[ralphwells (ralphwells)]

Yogi - did not see it, but Hinn is worse than a farce, he is a lying farce.

Hummmm, perhaps he should quote from Start Wars, May the farce be with you."

[lalalu (lalalu)]

I saw it. Lot of similarities between Hinn's ministry and GGWO, no? Previously, I had thought CS cornered the market. LOL when Benny proclaimed from the pulpit that he asked God if he should respond to the Dateline interview and God told him NO. Well...I nearly fell off the sofa! I tell ya, you can't trust any of 'em.

[yogi (yogi)]

What do ya think of using ministry money for suite's at $2,000.00 a night, private jets and shopping trips to Rodeo Drive?

yogi

[sidethorn (sidethorn)]

Sounds like a big ripoff to me. I thought ministry money was supposed to go to God's work in saving, healing, and delivering people. I wouldn't want to give a cent to a "ministry" that uses other peoples money for the high life on Rodeo Drive. My gifts would accomplish more elsewhere!!!

[ralphwells (ralphwells)]

Here is a quote right to the subject.

Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil.
-- Chinese Proverb

[sidethorn (sidethorn)]

Sounds like the true teaching of reaping what you sow!!!!! Everyone is subject to this spiritual law including those who think they are above spiritual laws like PASTAH!!!

[ini_72127 (ini_72127)]

In lieu of this new movie that is out with Nicholas Cage and the dollar bill pyramid

>>> I recollect its captioned - Tribulation (ONE - One Nation Earth) One Ruler- Government (see: Apostle John's recorded- Revelation)


There seems to be a lot of conspiracy and secrecy connected to them.

Thanks so much, we are having family disscussions which are getting pretty interesting.
In His Love,
Iz

>>> Last night, watched on TV, the movie - National Treasures. Hope you can rent to watch.
More enlightening (spiritually) when viewed with spiritual eyes- 'spiritual 3D virtual goggles' -ie. 'National [spiritual-insight] Treasures'.

Also very interesting and in similar gist- the movie: Sophie's World, and certainly not the last of good 'enlightening' movie(s): The Monkey Trial; Behind enemy line; Fahrenheit/911, Day after Tomorrow, Deep Impact and Matrix (which are also very informative and shines more light on the dark areas), thus, natural, universal and/or manmade disasters (evil leaders and followers, who go against- Creator- creation- creatures) come to pass- "even at the door".

May the Lord gain all praises and glory.

May His love keep us till He comes- as Peter said to our Lord, "You know I love You".

Greetings from: followers @ Central Pacific Ocean


Ps.
Most thankful to 'search' and came across your postings (also had a good laugh- but truly, pray for His mercy to forgive their ignorance- for who knows the heart? God knows our heart.
(Keep postin' - 'watch and pray...our flight not be in winter'.)

PPs.(Postin' Postin's.) Pls, find time to read book of ESTHER 8: 9 - as to - EASTAH!!! So to say- The Truth: Is our faith based on the Scriptures???

(Message edited by ini_72127 on March 22, 2005)