Kaspersky Lab, Kyrus Tech oraz Microsoft skutecznie zamykają botnet Hlux/Kelihos

Kaspersky Lab, Kyrus Tech oraz Microsoft skutecznie zamykają botnet Hlux/Kelihos

20110930, 1513

Współpraca ekspertów z firm Kaspersky Lab, Microsoft oraz Kyrus Tech doprowadziła do skutecznego wyłączenia sieci zainfekowanych komputerów znanej pod nazwami Kelihos oraz Hlux. Jest to ukoronowanie wspólnej walki trzech firm z operatorami botnetów oraz organizacjami hostingowymi, które pozwalają na anonimowe rejestrowanie domen przez cyberprzestępców.

Botnet Kelihos był wykorzystywany do dostarczania miliardów wiadomości spamowych, kradzieży informacji poufnych, przeprowadzania zmasowanych ataków DDoS oraz do wielu innych działań cyberprzestępczych. Eksperci szacują, że składał się on z ponad 40 000 zainfekowanych komputerów. Firma Microsoft podjęła działania prawne przeciwko 24 osobom zaangażowanym w tworzenie infrastruktury botnetu, co pozwoliło na zamknięcie domen wykorzystywanych do kontrolowania go. Pozew obejmował informacje wykryte i rozpracowane przez ekspertów z Kaspersky Lab oraz oświadczenie firmy Kyrus Tech obejmujące dowody dotyczące botnetu. Eksperci z Kaspersky Lab odegrali kluczową rolę w wyłączaniu botnetu, śledząc jego aktywność od początku 2011 r. Właśnie wtedy firma zaczęła współpracować z Microsoftem i udostępniła opracowany przez siebie specjalny system pozwalający na monitorowanie aktywności tej sieci zainfekowanych komputerów w czasie rzeczywistym. Kaspersky Lab zadbał także o to, by uniemożliwić cyberprzestępcom kontrolowanie botnetu. Specjaliści z firmy dokonali szczegółowej analizy kodu wykorzystywanego do tworzenia sieci zainfekowanych komputerów, złamali protokół komunikacyjny wykorzystywany przez przestępców, wykryli słabe punkty w infrastrukturze botnetu i stworzyli narzędzia pozwalające na zlikwidowanie zagrożenia. Ponadto, ekspertom z Kaspersky Lab udało się dołączyć do botnetu własny, specjalnie przygotowany system, przejąć kontrolę nad siecią należącą do cyberprzestępców i doprowadzić do całkowitego jej wyłączenia. Doceniając zasługi ekspertów z Kaspersky Lab w wyeliminowaniu zagrożenia, Richard Boscovich, starszy pełnomocnik w dziale Digital Crimes firmy Microsoft, powiedział Kaspersky Lab odegrał kluczową rolę w akcji, dostarczając nam szczegółowe dane uzyskane na podstawie analizy technicznej oraz unikatową wiedzę na temat botnetu Kelihos. Dzięki tym informacjom udało się skutecznie zlikwidować botnet. Jesteśmy bardzo wdzięczni za udzieloną pomoc oraz za determinację ekspertów z Kaspersky Lab w czynieniu Internetu bezpieczniejszym miejscem. Od 26 września 2011 r., kiedy uruchomiliśmy procedurę wyłączenia botnetu Kelihos, cyberprzestępcy utracili możliwość korzystania z tej sieci zainfekowanych komputerów – mówi Tillmann Werner, starszy analityk zagrożeń z Kaspersky Lab. Dzięki temu, że nasz specjalny system został włączony do botnetu, możemy teraz na bieżąco śledzić infekcje w poszczególnych krajach. Dotychczas wykryliśmy ponad 61 tysięcy zainfekowanych maszyn i pracujemy z dostawcami usług internetowych, by całkowicie wyeliminować zagrożenie spowodowane przez Kelihosa. Kelihos to sieć zainfekowanych plików działająca na zasadzie P2P (podobnie jak popularne platformy torrent do współdzielenia plików w Internecie. Składa się z wielu warstw zainfekowanych komputerów kontrolerów, routerów i stacji roboczych. Kontrolery to maszyny obsługiwane przez cyberprzestępców odpowiedzialnych za stworzenie botnetu. Służą one do przesyłania poleceń do szkodliwych programów działających na zainfekowanych komputerach i nadzorowania dynamicznej struktury sieci. Routery to zainfekowane komputery posiadające publiczne adresy IP. Pozwalają na wysyłanie spamu, gromadzenie adresów email, podsłuchiwanie pracy użytkowników itd. Microsoft ogłosił, że dodał procedury wykrywające szkodliwe oprogramowanie związane z botnetem Kelihos do swojego rozwiązania Malicious Software Removal Tool. Użytkownicy produktów Kaspersky Lab są w pełni chronieni przed szkodliwymi programami związanymi z botnetem Kelihos. Współpraca firm Kaspersky Lab oraz Microsoft trwa już od dłuższego czasu. Przed wspólnym zlikwidowaniem botnetu Kelihos firmom udało się zneutralizować zagrożenie wywołane przez robaka Stuxnet, który zainfekował przemysłowe systemy kontroli wykorzystywane, między innymi, w elektrowniach atomowych. Kaspersky Lab dziękuje firmie SURFnet (httpwww.surfnet.nl za pomoc w omawianej akcji, a w szczególności za dostarczenie infrastruktury, która pozwoliła na wyłączenie botnetu.
  25 marca

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Isaiah 36-39: Summary and Application

Summary and Application
Isaiah 36-39

The book of Isaiah, Chaps. 36-39 may be outlined as follows:

A. Isaiah 36 – Assyrian Invasion and Peril to Jerusalem
B. Isaiah 37 – Prayer of Hezekiah and God’s Powerful Deliverance
C. Isaiah 38 – Hezekiah Pleads for his Life; God’s Provision
D. Isaiah 39 – Pride of Hezekiah and God’s Prophecy

Introduction

Chapters 39-39 link chapters 1-35 with 40-66. God has fulfilled the various prophecies of Isaiah against Assyria (36-37) and introduces Babylon, the new world power (38-39). The middle chapters 36-39 may be thought of as the “transitional section” of the book which prepares the reader for a shift in world powers. Some scholars think chaps 38-39 should be placed before 36-37 but this is not really crucial. Isaiah’s book points out the fact of Assyria’s decline and the rise of Babylon as the new enemy of Israel.

Chaps 1-39 is addressed primarily to Isaiah’s own generation and mainly focused on God’s defense of Israel and defeat of the Assyrians and the surrounding nations. Ironically, Isaiah devotes these chapters to the failure of God’s people to obey Him, and of His discipline to bring about their obedience. Now, by Chap 40, the people are ready for a word of comfort from God. Why? Because, after persistently sinning against God, Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and exile its people for 70 yrs (586-516 BC) until the temple was rebuilt. So now, beginning in Chap 40, Isaiah comforts the people as he looks into the future as though the exile is almost over. This will be discussed later.

A. Assyrian Invasion and Peril to Jerusalem

In Chap 1-35, God had warned Judah that God was using Assyria to punish Judah for its sins in the same way that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was punished by God for its sins by the self-same Assyria in 721BC, barely 6 yrs into the reign of Hezekiah, by destroying its capital Samaria and exiling the remaining people into Medes (now Southern Iran; see 2Kgs 18:10-12).

Eight yrs later, in 713 BC, it was the turn of Judah. King Sennacherib – fresh from his victories against the Phoenicians, Edomites, Moabites and Philistines – attacked Judah’s 46 fortified cities and took along a huge number of prisoners (about 200,000). Hezekiah quickly stripped off the gold and silver from the temple and offered it to the approaching Assyrians, but Sennacherib would not be mollified: he wanted nothing less than the total surrender of Jerusalem, the capital. Recall that Isaiah had predicted to King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, that rather than delivering Judah from Aram (Syria) and Ephraim ( Northern Israel), it would be Assyria to discipline Judah (Is 7:3-9; 8:7-8); but it itself would be destroyed in turn (10:24-25).

The dialogue between the field commander sent by Sennacherib to negotiate Jerusalem’s surrender and Hezekiah’s representatives is interesting for its secular logic that we modern Christians all too often use in times of crises, like:

- do you think mere words, though you believe they are God’s words, are equal to our military power?(v 4); [ strong secular argument, isn’t it?];

- the nations who rebelled against Assyria had counted on support from Egypt to no avail; no one can help you! (v 6); [local example: will the US come to our rescue in case of a shooting war against China over the Spratlys?];

- Hezekiah’s removal of the pagan “high places” and decreeing that worship of God must only be done in Jerusalem was apparently known to the Assyrians, and they are now using this as an argument that God is punishing Judah for it (v 7); [will Judah fall for this clever “reverse theology” of the Assyrians?];

- if we donate 2,000 horses to you, do you still have enough military power to defeat us?(v 8); [obviously not, but what about the Lord’s power?];

- don’t you know that we have been sent by Yahweh himself to punish you?(v 10); [to the Israelites, this was too close to the truth: God had really sent Assyria to punish them, Isiash 29:1-4! But this is only half-true – the whole truth is that God is ready to rescue them, if they ask for it!!];

- don’t you know that Hezekiah is just deceiving you by allowing you to think Yahweh will rescue you? (v 14-15); [in a crisis, it’s easy to doubt the word of your leader; how can we avoid this? what about God’s word?];

- can you believe us when we say you will be treated well if you surrender? That there will be plenty of bread and wine where we are going to resettle you? (vv 16-17); [“the proof of the pudding is in the eating,” or, in other words, how were they actually treating those nations that they had conquered? If the Israelites can believe the sweet words of Assyria, is there any reason why they can’t believe the word of their prophet Isaiah and godly king Hezekiah? Where do we put our priorities?]; and finally….

- if the gods of the other nations were not able to help them, can Yahweh fare any better? (vv18-20); [what do you think, honestly?].

We end this section by saying that, in life, we meet many insolent and godless people like that Assyrian commander. The bible says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7).

B. Prayer of Hezekiah and God’s Powerful Deliverance

In humility, Hezekiah seeks Isaiah’s spiritual counsel. He was a “nabi,” God’s spokesman, who could reveal God’s word for direction, self-examination, and transformation through a crisis. Are there still “nabis” today? I believe there are, as long as one humbly seeks them out.

Back to Hezekiah, who demonstrates an extreme example of humility by tearing his clothes and putting on a sackcloth (‘sako’), going into the divine presence of God in the temple and offering sacrifice of atonement. Isaiah’s counsel was not to be afraid because the Assyrian blasphemy came from “underlings” (meaning, not worth it!). Nevertheless, God’s help came in sudden waves: first He caused Libnah to fight again, plus a rumor that the Egypt was moving to aid Judah, distracting Sennacherib further. He sends Hezekiah a threatening letter which Hezekiah spreads out before the Lord at the temple and saying a model prayer, thus: praise and adoration to the Lord Almighty, followed by the specifics by which Sennacherib insulted God, and finally petitioning Him to deliver Judah from Sennacherib so that “they may know that you alone, O Lord, are God” (37:20).

How are we to pray in times of great distress?Do we spread out our distress to the Lord?

Although God’s reply to Hezekiah is similar to Isaiah 13-23, the repetition is now historically located in 37, and it was also important for Hezekiah to pray. God carries out his great purpose upon the instance of people in prayer. God’s assurance to Hezekiah is given in a poetic song wherein the “Virgin Daughter of Zion” and “Daughter of Jerusalem” mocks the King of Assyria for his pride against “the Holy One of Israel.” Because of his rage and insolence, God will put a hook in his nose..a bit in his mouth.. and make him return the way he came (v 29)!

The offshoot of Hezekiah’s prayer and Isaiah’s song was that the Angel of the Lord came into the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 of them in a single night! Sennacherib became pretty much discouraged after that and returned to Nineveh, never to venture out again. Later we are told his two sons assassinated him while he was praying to his god in the temple. Truly, “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord!”

Isaiah likens Sennacherib and his army to grass that has shallow roots and dies when the sun is up (v 27). In v 30, Hezekiah gets a 3-yr sign that Assyria’s days are over, with the preservation of a “remnant” (vv 4, 32) which would repopulate the land once more.

C. Hezekiah Pleads for his Life; God’s Provision

In this chapter, Hezekiah faces certain death from an unknown illness, as warned about by Isaiah. He greets this news with bitterness and despair: he had instituted religious reforms in the land; he built the 46 fortified cities and the famous Hezekiah’s Well which archaeologists have recently discovered; what’s more, he had no heir to the throne, since his son Manasseh would not born until after 3 yrs later (2Kgs 21:1). After reminding the Lord of what he had done, the Lord relents and promises through Isaiah to grant him an additional 15 yrs of life (v 5). And the Lord also promises future deliverance from the king of Assyria (v 6), indicating that this incident happened before the invasion of Sennacherib in Chap 36.

In any case, the Lord changes His mind and allows Hezekiah to live and to save Jerusalem. When we are sincere in our pleas before God, we may – like Hezekiah (with tears, even) – bargain with God. He is a merciful God. Hezekiah’s thanksgiving song contains many images of death (taking down a tent, etc) and talks about its suddenness. He acknowledges the benefits of the experience with a vow for further reform (2Chron 29:30).
How do we react when God shows us great favour – like extending our life?

D. Pride of Hezekiah and God’s Prophecy

Following Hezekiah’s recovery, Babylon’s king sends a delegation to congratulate him. Puffed up with pride (alas!) Hezekiah overreacts and shows everything he had in his kingdom – intelligence information that they could later use against Judah (2Chron 32:27-29). About a 128 yrs later, Babylon did invade Judah in 605BC and carried off Daniel and others, the first wave of 3 invasions. When chided by Isaiah for his indiscretion, Hezekiah replies that it was “good” because by then, he would die in peace. Scholars have debated his answer but in the end it is only God who knows his heart.
In the next chapter that we will take up next, chap 40, Isaiah is addressing it to a future people of Judah who will be carried off into captivity and who will need to be comforted during that long and difficult period.

Conclusion

Here are some more life applications/questions to ponder about in Isaiah 36-36:

1. Are you hearing insults from the secular world against God’s sovereignty and power? How should you respond?

2. We should praise and thank God for his faithfulness and answers to our prayers. Is this on option for believers?

3. Hezekiah’s prayer for God’s intervention versus the Assyrian threat is said to be a model. Are we using this for our own prayers? Why? Why not?

4. Do we believe that God can (and does) answer prayers? Should we ask him to heal us (or our loved ones) of our sickness? Do we dare ask God for an extension of our life? Can we do a “trade-off” as Hezekiah can claim? What about asking for a sign from God (like the shadow moving backwards)? Has anything like this ever happened to you?

5. We are to depend always on God’s provisions. Are we being distracted by our desires, ambitions, or admiration for others, that we are drawn away from God’s wisdom and grace?

Prepared by:

Ptr. Nene Rubrico
10 Sept. 2011

Loving Your Neighbor (Beyond Theory): A Rejoinder

[Note: The following is my published comment to the article of Dr Michael Craven, "Loving Your Neighbor (Beyond Theory)," which appeared in Crosswalk.com recently, and is reproduced below with tacit permission. As always, readers' comments are welcome.]

I believe that only God can love us unconditionally with the kind of Perfect Love that He expects us to reciprocate in the First Greatest Commandment (“Love God with all your heart, mind, etc”). On the other hand, our love for OUR neighbor (as expressed in the Second Greatest Commandment)is similar to, yet LESSER THAN our love for God: we can only love our neighbor as much as we can love ourselves (which is already much!), but to God alone  is reserved (demanded, even)pure love.

That is why Jesus can say to his disciples, “Go, sell everything you have and follow me!,” but the Good Samaritan can only show compassion/pity (v. 33)and tell the innkeeper,”look after him…I will reimburse you the extra expenses later” (v.35). Can we love our neighbor UNCONDITIONALLY? I don’t think so, as long as we exist on this broken world. MUST we love our neighbor unconditionally? YES! To the extent that we can love ourselves CONDITIONALLY. Jesus admonished the imperfect lawyer:”Go and do likewise.”

- Nene Rubrico

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Loving Your Neighbor (Beyond Theory)

Michael Craven

Author, Speaker, Founding Director of the Center for Christ & Culture

http://www.crosswalk.com/pastors/11638407/

For the past several weeks I have been laboring to outline a Christian response to Islam, Muslims, and the politically contentious issue of the “Ground Zero” mosque. As to the ideology of Islam, I have repeatedly condemned the violent expressions of radicalized Islam. I have argued that when Islam, as the ideological motivation, is employed in acts of aggression, the state must respond in defense of the nation and her interests.

Conversely, I have distinguished between the actions of the state and those of the individual, namely the Christian individual as is relates to our Muslim neighbors. I have bolstered my appeal with a plethora of scripture verses, which underscore the fact that we are to absolutely and without condition love our neighbor, including our Muslim neighbor. It is here that the love of neighbor either remains theoretical, or we act in obedience by faith and the love of Christ becomes real.

I think—given the many critical responses to my series—that we easily embrace the love of neighbor in theory but struggle when it comes to actual practice, especially when that “neighbor” represents a social, cultural, or political offense. What I have heard repeatedly is concession to the biblical admonitions to love our neighbor followed by “but…” when it comes to Muslims. This is a conditional love that struggles to separate the abhorrent ideology of radicalized Islam from Muslim people. Again, I acknowledge the severe challenge of this struggle.

However, this was the precise situation to which Jesus was responding when he shared the parable of the “Good Samaritan” (Lk. 10:25-37). The Samaritan was chosen precisely because of his social offense to the Jews. In this parable, Jesus is illustrating the superiority of the Samaritan’s sacrificial love over and against his fellow Jews who would be religiously perfect. Consider Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well, another Samaritan (Jn. 4) or the leper (Lk. 5:12-16) or the centurion’s servant (Lk. 7:1-10). Jesus ate with both the Pharisee (Lk. 7:36) and the tax collector (Lk. 5:29). Throughout the New Testament, Jesus was constantly reaching out to the socially, politically, and religiously marginalized. The political, cultural, social, and religious distinctions that divide us are nullified in Christ. These distinctions are not to impede his command to love against these barriers, bringing peace and reconciliation into his world. In Jesus’ life and teaching, he intentionally destroyed any sort of conditional response to his command to “love your neighbor.”

Even now, you may read this and think to yourself, “Yes, but the Samaritans weren’t trying to kill the Jews!” Now, say that out loud to Jesus, who surrendered himself to death on the cross, this Jesus who asked the Father to forgive those who drove the very nails into his flesh! This same Jesus who bids you and me to take up the cross—the ultimate symbol of humility and death to self—and follow his example. It is in the very act of doing so that God’s power is made manifest and it is his power, not ours, that transforms, as it did the Roman soldier who, upon seeing Jesus die, “praised God” (Luke 23:47)!

This is the life to which we are called. Is it difficult? Does it go against our very nature? You bet it does! As the late G. K. Chesterton so eloquently put it, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried!” We must choose to follow, even when it is most difficult, trusting the Lord will meet us with his grace.

While Terry Jones has dominated the news—the Florida pastor who thought burning the Koran would be a great evangelical outreach—another pastor better illustrates the truly radical Christian response to Islam and Muslims.

Pastor Steve Stone is the senior pastor of Heartsong Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Roughly eighteen months ago when Pastor Stone learned that a new Islamic center had purchased the property across the street, he began to ask, “What would Jesus have us do?” In contrast to Jones’s strategy of placing a sign on the church lawn that reads, “Islam is of the Devil,” Pastor Stone’s church displayed a sign saying, “Heartsong Church welcomes Memphis Islamic Center to the neighborhood.” Suffice it to say, their new Muslim neighbors were taken aback, especially in light of the recent backlash against another proposed mosque in nearby Murfreesboro. Dr. Bashar Shala, the head of the Memphis Islamic Center, was surprised and overwhelmed by the reception, to say the least.

However, this was only the beginning of what could only be described as a radical attempt at loving their neighbors. As a result of construction delays, the Memphis Islamic Center would not be open in time for Ramadan, a month-long period of fasting and prayer. This would leave the Muslim congregation without a place to pray. So what did Pastor Stone and the congregation of Heartsong Church do? They offered their Muslim neighbors the use of their facilities until theirs were completed.

To be sure, initially this was a challenge for members of Heartsong but they ultimately embraced this opportunity as a way to demonstrate the love of Christ. They became radical missionaries for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom! As justification for their decision, Pastor Stone wrote on his blog, “Jesus said that people would know we are his disciples by our love. It is the same quality with which God loves us. God does not wait for us to love God first; God does not require that our hearts be pure. There are no conditions to God’s love.” Is there a flaw in this position? The “lawyer” in Luke 10 tried to narrow God’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Do you really want to test the Lord on this?

Pastor Stone and church members who were on hand each night welcoming their Muslim neighbors observed, “Their eyes have been wet with gratitude.” I’m sure they were! There is nothing more powerful than the love of Christ and it is through his church that this love is to be encountered. Of course, Pastor Stone has come under fire from some Christians but his response is simple and straightforward: “We are loving our neighbors. To say much more than that would be to veer into politics and away from the fact that we are doing what we are doing because our Lord would have us do it.”

Does anyone really think there isn’t enormous tension between Christians and Muslims? And if that’s the case, do we—who supposedly understand the true nature of man—believe that anything less than the love of Christ will resolve this tension and conflict? Do you think the Muslim community at the Memphis Islamic Center might be in a better position to hear and receive the love of Christ in the wake of such love shown to them by their Christian neighbors? Is this not the goal of the gospel of the kingdom and therefore the mission of the church in which reconciliation with God, with ourselves, with others, and with the whole of creation is achieved? Isn’t the picture of heaven one in which the lion lays down with the lamb—enemies are reconciled—and aren’t we to be a sign and foretaste of heaven on earth, the kingdom fully come?

So let us love not in theory but in practice, in the trenches of life within a fallen world where hatred and bitterness abound. It is here that we exchange hatred for holiness and truly honor Christ.

© 2010 by S. Michael Craven Permission granted for non-commercial use.

Biblical true friends and false friends

Brethren,

Who are our true friends and false friends?

The Bible says  in Prov. 17: 17, “A true friend will stand by, even in times of trouble.  A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” The Bible speaks of false friends, too, when it warns, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint” (Prov. 25: 19).

FoxNews is running a commentary on Obama and his “radical friends,” (below). Todate, no other ‘mainstream media’ has taken up the thread, most of whom have self-identified themselves as “liberal; left-wing.”

-nr

===========================

Obama and his “radical friends”

Wall Street crashed once again. The Nasdaq went down below 10,000 points (9728 na as of this posting, although it’s slowly recovering from the panic). The last time that happened a few days ago, Wall Street lost a TRILLION DOLLARS. Financial crashes in Germany, the U.K. and Netherlands too. Who else? What about the Philippines? The whole financial world is watching…..

FoxNews has named Obama’s “radical friends” below:

1. ACORN – Assn of Community Organizers for Reform Now. This NGO is one of Obama’s not-so-secret org that has been dubbed “the most radical organization in America today.” It has been involved anywhere from voter fraud, business harassment, congressional coercion, etc

Acorn has managed to infiltrate Capitol Hill and almost all Democrats and a few Republicans appear to be on its payroll. In fact the new bailout plan mandates that the Federal Housing Trust (a euphemism for Acorn) must share in whatever profits from the bailout to the tune of 20%! The amount has been computed at around 100-150 million dollars.  (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080927140444AA7Lxjn). The impression is that US Congress still wants to save the hide of ACORN and in fact wants to throw out bailout money its way. This, despite the fact that some economists question whether the bailout plan will even generate “profits.” What profits, they ask? The 700 billion is not even enough to pay out the US financial system which is computed to lose about 3 TRILLION DOLLARS.

Acorn has in the past been the subj of several congressional hearings on voter fraud based on a complaint by the Consumers Rights League : voters list padding; hakot;vote-buying. Also embezzelment, cover-ups – sounds like the Philippines, no?

The Obama connection is dat he served as Acorn’s training officer in the 80s, and Acorn has supported him all the way from state senator, US senator and now presdtl candidate.This is the “community worker” record that Obama has been telling everybody about.  Acorn is on record as  having coerced Freddie Mac and Fannie May to extend easy housing loans to unsuitable individuals bec. the Democrat-controlled congress said so. So now dey have traced who instigated those bad loans,  Acorn. Acorn activists have also been known to break into city council meetings and company CEO meetings to harass them into approving measures to benefit those on wefare. Sounds like Bayan tactics to me….   

The biggest campaign beneficiary of Fannie Mae is  Obama at USD150,000 altho McCain also got 15K. Now some lawyers are questioning the constitutionality of this bec Fannie Mae is a quasi-govt. housing agency barred from giving contributions. Think Pag-Ibig Funds being doled out to our politicians – that’s the picture!

 

2. William Ayers – is a suspected U.S. terrorist belonging to the Weatherman group that was responsible for rail bombings in the 90s in the U.K., and now a respectable professor in the University of Illinois. Although never convicted of any crime, he told the New York Times in September 2001, “I don’t regret setting bombs…I feel we didn’t do enough.” Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 1999 and 2002. In addition, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama’s re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate in April 2001, as reported. They lived within a few blocks of each other in the trendy Hyde Park section of Chicago, and moved in the same liberal-progressive circles. (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html) Obama guilty by association? We’ll see.

 

3. Rev. Jeremiah Wright – of Trinity United Church and pastor to Obama for 20 years. Wright made headlines when he blamed America for 9/11 on natl. TV (“God damn America….). His church is known for its liberal views. He and another radical black Catholic priest,  Michael Pleger (see below) have been tagged as racist. After Obama reportedly resigned from his church, Rev. Wright kept talking. He made his way to the National Press Club and spewed out more venom, including continued praise of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and the communist Sandinista regime of Nicaragua; his theory that the U.S. government created the HIV virus to get rid of racial minorities; a demand for the U.S. government to apologize for slavery. Of most note, however, was his claim that the only reason Senator Obama had distanced himself from Rev. Wright was because he wants to get elected. “He didn’t distance himself,” Wright announced, “He had to distance himself, because he’s a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American.” You would think a spiritual mentor of twenty years would know the mind and heart of his disciple. Who knows? (http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/06/02/obamas-loyalty-to-liberation-theology/)

 

4. Fr. Michael Pfleger – is a known radical espousing Black Liberation Theology in his Chicago parish. He claims a “prophetic preaching” modeled along Rev. Wright’s whom he claims as a friend. What’s wrong with ‘liberation theology?’

    Liberation Theology was written in 1984 by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger,” known today as Pope Benedict XVI, and “introduces its readers to the dangers inherent in Black Liberation Theology.” In that belief system, which is in reality a political movement, Cardinal Ratzinger tells us “hope is interpreted as “confidence in the future” and . . . subordinated once more to the history of class conflict.” In this belief system, salvation and liberation are synonymous (http://iperceive.net/black-liberation-theology-marxism-in-a-clerical-collar-2/).

Fr. Jonathan Morris writes (http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/06/02/obamas-loyalty-to-liberation-theology/ministry:

 A new video recording is released showing Roman Catholic priest, Michael Pfleger, giving a racist, sexist, crude and demeaning sermon, a stinging defense of Senator Obama against “white entitlement”. It quickly came to light that Fr. Pfleger has been twice a major recipient of earmark funds from Senator Obama’s political advocacy, and more importantly, he is another one of his longtime “spiritual guides” (Rev. Obama’s own words). Was his relationship with Fr. Pfleger part of the “context” which Senator Obama said was needed in order to understand Rev. Wright’s inflammatory words? Should we understand Senator Obama’s religious convictions by looking at his other spiritual role models? In 2004 Senator Obama told The Chicago Sun-Times that Fr. Pfleger helped him “keep his moral compass straight.”

 

For those of us who knew of Fr. Pfleger’s long history of controversy in the South Side of Chicago, we’re saddened, but not surprised by the show. He is a social activist inspired by liberation theology who for many years has watched his step closely so as not to break canon law (Church law) and thus give his local bishop legal grounds to remove him from.

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Whew! With friends like the above, Obama doesn’t need enemies. What say you? -nr

 

 

 

 

Watching out for the Obvious

As we say in our lingo, “Obvious ba?”  referring to the fact that something’s so obvious one can’t miss it.
Unfortunately, sometimes what’s obvious to everyone else may not be obvious to me! It happens. But the writer (Dick Innes) goes further. He says that the choices we make have obvious CONSEQUENCES or IMPLICATIONS. And, as adults we need to take RESPONSIBILITY for the  choices we  make/made – it, in fact, is the sign of our maturity.

But there also are GOOD and BAD choices (or, what Innes terms “good” choices which turned out to be bad after all!). Naturally, it’s easy enough to own responsibility for good choices, but bad…? Owning up for making a bad choice (or should I say,  being “victimized” by a bad choice?… but,’what the heck,’ to quote Sarah Palin.. why beat around the bush: a bad choice IS a bad choice!) – that can be extremely difficult and painful.

It does not have to be, acc to Innes, because God’s word, the Bible, has the answer: BEFORE one makes the choice; DURING the choice-making; and AFTER the choice. There are enough obvious signs and markers in the Bible (including illustrations and/or dire predictions) that can guide one’s choices; or, having made a bad choice, how to extricate oneself’ from the mess one is in.

Let’s take a  soured relationship in the Bible as an example: the  marriage  of  Ahab  king of  Israel to  Jezebel, the daughter of the  Sidonian king who  was also the high priest of Baal (1Kgs 16:29-34). It clearly was a marriage of convenience that economically, politically and militarily benefited its weak neighbor but did nothing to uplift Israel morally nor spiritually. And, oh yes, the moral decadence was so obvious to the prophet Elijah that the Lord had to advise him to hide from the murderous ire of the Conjugal Evil of the land for the next 3 yrs! 

When making choices, what’s our obvious guide? The Bible, of course!

God bless.

-nr
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Observing the Obvious

“Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.”¹

I have read how in a park on the beautiful island of Bermuda there is a rock hanging on a rope with a large sign beside it which says, “Weather Station: Check the Rock. If it’s wet, it’s raining. If it’s moving, it’s windy. If you can’t see it, it’s foggy. If the rock is gone, it’s a hurricane.”

Don’t you just love it? At least it’s reliable!

I sometime kid, too, that the best way to get the latest weather report is to look out the window! Some things in life are obvious. And yet it is amazing how the obvious can stare us in the face and we not see it. And sometimes, with God, instead of “looking out the window” where the answer is staring us in the face, we want a special sign from him! All the evidence was staring the Jews in the face and still they refused to accept Jesus as their promised Messiah—because he didn’t arrive the way they wanted or expected!

Sometimes we, too, want a special sign from God for various reasons when the answer is staring us in the face. Sometimes we want God to be co-dependent and tell us everything we should or shouldn’t do—or even do for us what we need to do for ourselves. It should be obvious to the alcoholic who wants his wife and family back that he first needs to come to grips with his problem and overcome it, before he can expect his wife to return to him. Instead, he wants God to deliver him from the obvious consequences of his irresponsible behavior and give him his wife and family back now. It doesn’t work that way. Never has. Never will.

I have to admit when in college on more than one occasion I prayed that God would help me pass an exam when I knew very well that I wasn’t adequately prepared because I hadn’t studied sufficiently throughout the school term. It had nothing to do with God’s mercy that I passed this course. I had studied enough to get by. Had I not done this, I would have failed … with God’s blessing, no less!

But God isn’t codependent. He will not do anything for us that we need and can do for ourselves. Otherwise he would be keeping us over-dependent and immature. He will give us wisdom if we ask for it and guidance if we trust our life to him, but he does not and will not make our decisions for us, any more than a healthy parent will tell their adult children what they should or shouldn’t do. A healthy and wise parent will be a good sounding board for their adult children and help them to see their options so they can make their own decisions and choices. God will also do this for us if we ask him.

And when people ask questions such as, Is it God’s will that I should or shouldn’t marry this person? Or get this job? Or join this group? etc., etc., there may be some exceptions—and some won’t like this—but whether we should or shouldn’t get married is our choice. Also, God doesn’t send the right person to us (as so many pray for and expect). We need to be the right person if we are to be attracted to the right partner and he or she to us. Also, if I want to have a happy marriage, I need to be a happy person, for only happy partners make happy marriages. The fact is nobody else can make me happy—or unhappy for that matter, unless I allow them to. And where we work or for whom we work is also our choice. While God does call some people for specific ministries, he doesn’t have our lives in narrow, rigid, pigeon-holes. He gives us freedom to make our own choices and to live our life as we will—and the responsibility for the choices we make. If we make bad choices, we will get bad results.

God has given us both a head and a heart and expects us to use them both. God’s will for us covers a broad spectrum and a large framework. The important thing is that we live in harmony with his will; that is in accordance with the principles for effective living as found in his Word, the Bible. When we do this, while no life is perfect, we will find that most of life falls into place in harmonious ways. And the only way we can discover what these principles are is to read them in the Bible.

People who want God to tell them every detail of their lives are like little children wanting mommy or daddy to tell them every move. God wants us to grow up and be responsible, to become whole, and learn to make healthy choices and decisions. As I so often say, it’s only to the degree that we are made whole will our lifestyle, behavior, actions, relationships, choices and decisions be wholesome.

So where do we begin to know how to make right choices? By reading, studying and knowing God’s Word. This is where we find his principles for effective and wholesome daily living.

Suggested prayer: “Dear God, please give me a love for your Word and with the help of your Spirit, help me to understand it and learn your laws and principles for healthy, wholesome living. And please give me a longing to be made whole and a willingness to accept responsibility to do what I need to do. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus’ name, amen.”

1. 1 Corinthians 1:22 (NIV).

<:))))><

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“Where there is no vision, the people perish!”

- Proverbs 29:18a (KJV)

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