MARC SENT:

I wrote to ABC (on-line) concerning a program called "THE PRACTICE." One of the lawyer's mothers decided she was gay and wanted her son to go to court to help her get a marriage license to marry her 'partner.' I sent the following letter to ABC yesterday and really did not expect a reply .... but I did get one.

My original message was:

ABC is obsessed (or should I say abscessed) with the subject of homosexuality. I will no longer watch any of your attempts to convince the world that homosexuality is OK. THE PRACTICE can be a fairly good show but last night's program was so typical of your agenda. You picked the 'dufus' of the office to be the one who was against the idea of his mother being gay and made him look like a whiner because he had convictions. This type of mentality calls people like me a "gay basher." Read the first chapter of Romans (that's in the Bible) and see what the apostle Paul had to say about it... He and God and Jesus were all 'gay bashers.' What if she'd fallen in love with her cocker spaniel .... is that an alternative lifestyle? (By the way, the Bible speaks against that, too.)

Jim ________

Here is ABC's reply from the ABC on-line Webmaster:

How about getting your nose out of the Bible (which is ONLY a book of stories compiled by MANY different writers hundreds of years ago) and read the Declaration of Independence (what our nation is built on) where it says "All Men are Created Equal"-and try treating them that way for a change!? Or better yet, try thinking for yourself and stop using an archaic book of stories as your lame crutch for your existence. You are in the minority in this country and your boycott will not affect us or our freedom of expression.

My second response to ABC:

Thanks for your reply. Evidently, I hit a nerve from your harsh reply. I will share it with all with whom I come in contact. Hopefully, the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper will include it in one of their columns. And...I will be praying for you.

Jim ________ Mena, Arkansas

B'Ann Wrote:

Let me remind you that it is the church which has allowed our nation/world to slide so precariously on the moral scale. Yes, the church! No other institution is called to hold up the moral standards on earth. If the accounts of Sodom and Gomorrah are true, then, there is no turning back once mankind has "tasted" the fruits of homosexuality. The angels from heaven came in the form of men to investigate the two cities and they were intensely desired by the Sodomites. The account does say that they were given a final "sexual" choice when Lot offered the men of Sodom his virgin daughters. However, his daughters were disdained by those who desired a physical encounter with the angels. Then, the angels blinded their eyes; but the Scriptures say that even in their blinded state they tried to tear down the door to get to the angels. (See Genesis chapter 19.) This was some kind of powerful sex drive! Nothing could stop it! It was too late to go back and undo the situation.

The act of Sodomy could never get as strong as it is unless the church, universal, either thinks it is okay (which is shown by total indifference) or it actively engages in it. The dam against it has been breached (the dam was to have been the church) and a flood of this "liberal" sexual ideology has covered the land. Where does it all end? Nature is screaming at the world through AIDS, not God mind you, but nature. Yet, we still have countless people (many in high government offices) who are willing to take a chance with our nation's exposure to AIDS less they frustrate the homosexual element of our population. Or, better yet, they want the Federal Government and the Health Care System to spend untold amounts of money to find a prevention so that homosexuality can be safe. (Isn't it interesting how our liberal news media has so conveniently swept the whole matter under the rug, rarely, if ever, talking about it. If it were any other plague; then, the news would be having emergency bulletins and taking up a strong cry. Also, at no other time in history has such a contagious, destructive plague been approached by the medical profession with such a lackadaisical attitude. Those who are hired and paid by our society to protect us from such diseases have tried to down play its great harm.) Talk about an arrogant spirit...homosexuality says I want to practice a lifestyle that has the potential to infect/kill millions; and I want society to hunt for a cure while I do it. As always, sin is a bully spirit. It never wants to build and nurture; it wants to tear and destroy. Can we honestly say that homosexuality builds a stronger people or nation?

BOTTOM LINE, REMEMBER! God was never a dictator. People have the freedom of choice to "look upon the serpent" and live or refuse to look and die (John 3:14 cf. Numbers 21:8-9).

Don

MARC SENT:

Snarled in a controversy over the cause of the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk, its threadbare military establishment with its physically deteriorating nuclear-powered ships and weapons threatening to create further disasters, and its political leadership stumbling from crisis to crisis, Russia shows all the signs of a nation tottering on the brink of a complete collapse.

Further speculation that Russia is on a collision course with disintegration was strengthened by the release of a shocking new study by a prestigious foreign research group, which asks "How Great are the Risks for a Socioeconomic Collapse in Russia? An Inventory of Russian Problem Areas" and presents a dismal picture of life in the former Soviet Union.

If the report’s gloomy possibilities become realities, Russia could face a future of mass famine, nationwide power blackouts, out-of-control unemployment, more Chernobyl-type disasters, breakup of the nation into small independent provinces and possible civil war between them, mass migrations into neighboring countries and total financial collapse.

Compiled by Stockholm’s Swedish Defense Research Institute, the report takes a close and piercing look at the socioeconomic condition of Russia and reaches disturbing conclusions about this crippled international giant.

An introduction to the study, published in May and obtained by NewsMax.com, notes: "The collapse of the Soviet Union was the beginning of a serious socioeconomic crisis within the former union" and warns that "a widespread social crisis cannot be ruled out, for example if the government is no longer able to pay wages for an extended period of time or is unable to distribute food, electricity, etc. A combination of a number of negative factors (catalysts) could lead to a politically unmanageable situation and a rapidly developing crisis."

The report notes that it is evident that "for a number of years Russian society has been in a serious crisis that has resulted in extensive poverty, deteriorating health care, increased dependency on the outside world, and a short supply of electricity, food, services, and raw materials for hard-pressed parts of the country."

These conditions have made Russian society and "its institutions more unstable and weaker and it has become increasingly difficult for the nation to deal with serious crises."

Because weak institutions in a country result in a weak political society, to avert a certain collapse the Kremlin’s tendency is to move back to the authoritarian Soviet model, rather than toward Western-style democracy.

The study defines "collapse" as "a possible state ... characterized by extremely great or insurmountable difficulties within sectors such as the distribution of goods and services, the power supply, transportation, collapse of the financial system, the health care sector, etc., that cannot be dealt with effectively by the political leadership."

The consequences of such a collapse on the Russian people would be widespread hunger, a significant worsening of the health situation, and ultimately, in an extremely negative scenario, mass migration and emigration.

At extreme risk would be the ability of Russia to maintain social order, "the survival of democracy and the federation itself, the loyalty of the armed forces and security forces, and their behavior."

The situation in Russia today gives scant hope for a quick solution to the nation’s problems or the Kremlin’s ability to deal with them before they lead to collapse. Among them are:

Scarce food supplies.

"In 1998 Russia had its worst harvest since the 1950s – almost 50 percent lower than in 1997. Grain reserves have shrunk from about 25 million tons in 1997 to around 18 million tons and are expected to further shrink to 10 million this year."

One of the principal difficulties in providing enough agricultural goods is Russia’s lack of sufficient financial resources, the study notes.

"Agriculture is being slowed primarily by a shortage of seed for sowing, a low degree of mechanization, and a lack of money for repairs. Russia imports around 55 percent of its food needs, as indicated in its official statistics.

"For understandable reasons, the big cities are particularly dependent on imported food. A nontransparent market with high prices as a result is another consistent problem. The heavy dependence on imports creates the risk that if the Russian financial market collapses foreign producers will not dare export to Russia."

Energy.

"Russia's energy production has dropped drastically since 1991: oil production by around 50 percent, gas production by around 13 percent, and electricity generation by around 20 percent. Oil production showed signs of rebounding in 1999, but there appears to be no guarantee of stable growth over the next few years. Among these sectors, the drop in oil production has the most serious economic consequences, while

the fall in electric power generation represents the most direct threat to the populace.

"The drop in electric power production may appear relatively limited, to be sure, but the problem lies in the lack of distribution capacity to hard-pressed regions and population centers. A number of such areas have already experienced brownouts in recent years and some parts of towns have even been evacuated (e.g. in Norilsk in 1997) due to power shortages."

The risk of mass unemployment.

Estimates of unemployment vary from 15 to 25 percent, with as many as 20 million in the ranks of the jobless. The official unemployment figures have shown a fourfold increase since 1991, and the rate does not appear to be slowing. The percentage of long-term unemployed is rising steadily, as is youth unemployment.

"A serious economic crisis hitting the industrial and service sectors would cause a rapid rise in unemployment.

"One of Russia's main problems is that the raw materials sector, which is so important economically and whose exports account for around 25 percent of the country's GNP, is not labor-intensive. In other words, there is no significant room for creating jobs in this sector and it will be a long time before the service sector and other branches requiring more labor will have grown to the desired level."

The danger of a breakdown in the financial system.

A major part of Russia's instability can be explained by its inability to construct stable structures and institutions within the financial sphere. Its tax legislation is incomplete, unclear, and ineffective, while banks have been involved mainly in short-term speculation and have failed to function as credit institutions in the economic sense.

The August 1998 crisis showed that, because of its weakness, the Russian economy is highly vulnerable: in a crisis of this kind, foreign investors withdraw their money, the currency loses much of its value, and imports fall drastically as a result. In all likelihood, these conditions will persist for a long time to come. Russia's ability to build stable financial structures will increase at a very slow pace, according to the virtually unanimous analysts.

Real wages dropped by more than 20 percent in 1999, and the number of people living under the poverty line is around 35 percent.

"A new financial crisis having the same effects as the one in August 1998 but with the additional impact of causing all Western banks to close their doors to Russia and stopping practically all imports cannot yet be ruled out.

"In all probability such a crisis, which would also lead to extremely high inflation, would serve as a catalyst in a pre-existing crisis, causing it to move rapidly toward collapse, but it could also trigger a collapse on its own. Global financial institutions would probably be less severely affected than in 1998, however, because they are now hedging their bets more effectively.

The risk of extensive migration.

The risk of difficulties in distribution described above also presents the most likely cause of major spontaneous population movements within Russia. There are already significant numbers of people (estimates range from 0.5 to 1.5 million) who have been repatriated from nearby countries or are fleeing/passing through to Europe and are considered to be in various types of refugee situations. Refugees from Chechnya alone total around 200,000.

Disruptions in the transportation and distribution network.

"According to the Ministry of Railways, about 30 percent of the freight cars, 40 percent of the passenger cars, and nearly half the locomotives are of such poor quality that they must be replaced at once. Practically all the funds needed for such modernization are absent.

"This is particularly serious considering that the Russian economy is predominantly rail-based. Around 40 percent of all freight shipments, calculated in ton-kilometers, are by rail and disregarding transport by pipeline, the figure is around 90 percent.

"Overall, the volume of freight transported by rail has dropped by half since 1991. The reduced freight volume transported by rail is also an indication that barter within regions is steadily increasing."

The criminal threat.

The report says "organized crime in Russia controls such large sectors of the economy and wields such power in society that it may be called a state within the state and in some parts of the country it even is the state, or at least the controlling and guiding factor.

"Among other things, this means the economy is impoverished by theft, tax evasion, the reduced presence of foreign companies, and fewer foreign investments. At present, it may be said that organized crime is in its most destructive and harmful phase, in that it often exports its profits or uses them to import consumer goods ... seemingly widespread corruption within the police, the military, and the authorities that exists today – Russia is presently considered one of the world's most corrupt nations, surpassed only by some African and Latin American countries."

The risk of armed conflicts.

"The war in Chechnya also has a number of other negative consequences for developments in Russia: a worse economy, militarization of society, xenophobia, worsening relations with the rest of the world, particularly the West, and the risk that joint programs and credits will be eliminated, i.e. all factors that can contribute to crisis and collapse."

But the primary future threat to social order at both the regional and federal levels is probably found in the growing extreme poverty, which is extensive. Between 35 percent and 40 percent of the Russian people now live under the poverty level, compared to around 23 percent in1994 – and the percentage is growing. The average pension is no more than about half the minimum wage (March 2000).

"Under these conditions and despite the seemingly unending patience of the people, late wage payments or banking crises could result in widespread demonstrations and unrest. During 1999 real wages dropped by a whopping 23 percent and this includes wages paid after long delays and sometimes not paid to this date."

The study concludes by considering three different scenarios of possible collapse situations – one scenario in which the role of the regions is the driving force and in which the regions attempt to gain control over sections of the country, another scenario in which a collapse is triggered by an unexpected and rapid course of events, and finally one in which a more and more poorly functioning economy pushes events toward a gradual collapse.

A common thread in all three is that the weak Russian state and its institutions are unable to stop the impending course of events.

1. A state in increasingly rapid dissolution

"Certain regions grow stronger in the early 2000s, while the central government is weakened by political fighting and an inability to make decisions. The regions become increasingly segregated and several strongmen begin to lay claim to weak neighboring regions. Another financial collapse occurs, although it is not as deep as the August 1998 crisis.

"However, it does result in worsening food and electricity supplies and transport problems. The socioeconomic situation in the country deteriorates rapidly as a result. This is made manifest by increased poverty, crime that becomes more and more a part of the everyday life of citizens, and virtually total political corruption. Any previous confidence in the state's ability to provide for and protect the populace is quickly eroded.

"The trend toward regional feudalism, which has been apparent for several years, is reinforced in that virtually no taxes are sent to the federal authorities.

"In this situation, several strong governors decide the solution is to break up the federation into five large interregional units, with the help of military and paramilitary leaders. This is done, however, against the will of the smaller regions and spontaneous resistance in the form of opposition to the authorities erupts, along with armed conflicts, in several places.

"The world believes it is unable to influence events other than through attempts at mediation between the central authorities and the regions. Imports cease almost totally, since foreign exporters dare not rely on the Russians' ability to pay. Hoarding, border guarding, and bans on exports among several regions aggravate the situation. The federal system breaks down, resulting in widespread power shortages, particularly in the northern and northwestern parts of the country. Inductees desert and the armed forces fall apart on the federal level, while local paramilitary units gain more power."

2. Sudden collapse

"The Russian president dies suddenly or is assassinated and new elections are set. Islamic groups in the northern Caucasus, Kirghizia, and Tadzhikistan take the opportunity to initiate military operations against their respective states and Russian positions. Tatarstan declares its independence and the Far Eastern region follows its example.

"Russian military forces are sent in against the attackers, but mass desertions and insufficient military capacity to deal with several crises at once greatly undermine their effectiveness.

"Military and paramilitary forces out in the regions eventually begin to fight among themselves for stockpiles of food and weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are also plundered.

"A situation approaching civil war develops, while Islamic groups force Russian troops out of several areas in southern Russia and parts of Central Asia. Larger and larger streams of refugees begin to move toward the center of the country and to other countries.

"Already greatly weakened, federal structures (tax base, transport, subsidies to the regions, protection, health care, the social safety net, etc.) basically collapse and, because of widely differing interests and their vulnerable situation, the regions are unable to create a common strategy. General chaos erupts where everyone is at war with everyone.

3. The economic crisis causes gradual collapse

"In the early 2000s the economic situation grows worse and worse. The budget deficit increases to unmanageable proportions and inflation grows accordingly, so that the IMF refuses to grant new credits. Both foreign and Russian capital flees from Russia, which reduces investments drastically.

"Imports drop steadily because raw material prices fall on the world markets and the country's food supply is threatened, since production by the agro-industrial sector continues to drop.

"In 2003 a new Duma and a conservative and authoritarian president try to salvage the situation by a partial return to the command economy. This makes the economy and the ruble fall even more.

"This causes an explosive increase in the export of currency and a virtually completely demonetarized economy arises, in which 90 percent of the stagnating trade is in the form of barter. Poverty becomes increasingly widespread and 70 percent of the people are living below the subsistence level.

"Those who are able emigrate to the West. The situation in Russia affects other economies in transition and growing countries in Asia and South America, which are hit by new crises. International preparedness to deal with Russia's problems is steadily eroded as a result.

"Finally, after a catastrophic harvest and emptied reserves, there are widespread food shortages and the people move in increasing numbers toward the center of Russia and gradually to surrounding countries, as well. The world finally reacts by closing its borders and sending a limited amount of disaster relief – measures that have only a limited effect."

In view of the conditions laid out in the report and especially the possibilities examined in the three potential scenarios, President Vladimir Putin’s recent widely criticized moves toward gathering more power to the central government begin to become understandable.

He has, for example, dealt with the danger of civil dissolution at the provincial level by reining in the powers of the provincial governors. He has created regional authorities and put his own men – mostly former policemen or military officers – in charge of the regions, superseding the powers of the previously autonomous, and notoriously corrupt, governors.

It remains to be seen if these measures will be enough to avert the potential collapse envisioned by the study.

B'Ann Wrote:

The Russians have always tried to build their nation on tangible, "sweat power" from the people. We, however, have built ours on the bubble of the stock market, undergirded by sweat power. It would be difficult for any nation to suddenly transform to the intricate maze of financial meanderings that our economy takes to keep us "stable." Also, at the time the iron curtain went down and foreign countries could go in and invest in Russia (i.e., the stock market, etc.), there were many other options available. Mexico was easy to access and bring into the system. Everyone likes to take the path of least resistance.

Speaking of sweat power. It might be interesting to find out who really owns our farmlands/bread basket since the collapse of the small farmers. It makes one wonder that perhaps we will have to some day fight to regain the heartland of the United States.

I am assuming that you wrote this long article to make us mindful of the "Bear that comes from the North" that has been taught as part of prophecy. I like what Don wrote at the beginning of this article. Paraphrasing: "I am sure that the nations will do what they are supposed to do in the end time scenario. I am more worried about what I am supposed to do, i.e. soul winning".

keith t____.

DON WROTE:

Thanks for the good word, Keith. It, too, is right on; for it encourages us greatly. Please hold us up in your prayers that we might be able to hold up Christ Jesus; for we both know that He is the only answer to man's needs and the only hope for the world!

MARC SENT:

Fanny Crosby seems to have seen something ahead that empowered her to write the amazing songs of love and worship, hymns to a God that had allowed her eyes to be dim here on earth, yet illuminated to the things of heaven so that she might help us set our eyes on eternity.

B'Ann Wrote:

There are many accounts of the amazing lives of people that speak volumes for themselves. How can we add to this? There is a saying started by my husband, namely, "It's not hard to see the dirt if you are always looking down." This lady could not see the "dirt" of the world; evidently her mother had very positive views of life. Grandmother's part in nurturing is evident. This just goes back to the great responsibility of the adults whether it is immediate family or an extended one.

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