Christian Bakery, closed by Oregon (In)Equality Law, resists the Mark of the Beast

By Susan Fox

“But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.” (Mark 13:14)

Well lately I thought I caught a glimpse of it parked outside my house, a huge Abomination of Desolation looking like a giant pink Cadillac.

Have you seen it? There I was -- a placid American --thinking nothing could harm me because we have not been invaded since 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.

Barack Obama was elected, and I thought I’ll just shut off the news for four years… well make that eight years now, and then we’ll go back to a prosperous peaceful life.

But then Aaron and Melissa Klein lost their wedding bakery, Sweet Cakes By Melissa. They and their five home-schooled children lost their livelihood because they refused to put a same-sex couple on a wedding cake. They face thousands of dollars in fines if the Oregon State Bureau of Labor and Industries find them guilty of violating the Oregon “Equality” Act.

Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin, Christian photographers, who declined to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony in Taos, NM, lost their livelihood and thousands of dollars in fines when the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled last month that the owners of Elane Photography were compelled by law to compromise their religious beliefs.

Being a Catholic, we’ve already seen the devastation caused by the politically correct atheistic liberal movement. They shut out the Catholic Church from adoptions in Boston because we couldn’t in good conscience allow gays to adopt children. Not many realize it, but the survival of the Catholic hospital in the United States is now in jeopardy because we cannot offer birth control, abortion services or pay for such for hospital employees – and this last is mandated by Obama “Care” with very limited exceptions.

The Christian Company Hobby Lobby is fighting for its life because it does not want to offer abortion services for its employees. It violates their religious beliefs. My husband said if we were writing this blog in Canada or the United Kingdom, we would be prosecuted for our free speech.

Obama “Care” mandates that those on Social Security will be required to attend an “end-of-life planning” seminar every five years (i.e. Death Counseling). It’s in the bill page 425, line 4-12. And who could forget p. 419, line 13-25: “The government will specify which doctors can write an end of life order” That’s how they plan to cut health care costs?

The Abomination of Desolation is a term coined in the Book of Daniel – it means an idol or a sacrilege in the temple usually accompanied by a large number of deaths, especially of the people resisting the abomination – the religious ones. Daniel’s prophesy was fulfilled when King Antiochus IV in 167 B.C. entered the Temple in Jerusalem and erected statues of false gods on the altar of holocausts. The idol was a sign of “abomination” (idolatry) and desolation. Antiochus’s actions

represented a type of desolating abomination as he forced the Jews to abandon their religious beliefs, and profaned their temple.  These religious injustices were accompanied by the murder of 80,000 Jews, including women and children, and the same number were sold into slavery.

Jesus referred to a similar future event when he said, “So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the Prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand). Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Matt 24:15)  And as He carried his cross to Calvary, he met a large crowd of people, and the women were weeping for Him. “But Jesus turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children.”

He referred to the coming Abomination of Desolation:  in less than 40 years after the death of Jesus Christ, Roman armies

surrounded Jerusalem. Pilgrims had come to the city from all over the world to celebrate Passover in 70 A.D. Contemporary Jewish historian Flavius Josephus estimated that 1.1 million people died during the Roman siege of Jerusalem.

But not the Christians! They fled to the mountains when they saw those Romans parked outside Jerusalem. “Run!” Jesus said. If you are on the housetop don’t go back for your belongings, and the guy working in the field should not return for his coat, but alas for those who are pregnant or nursing in those days. “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath.”

But the Jews were overconfident in their city’s defenses and they stayed, so they were slaughtered, and the temple desecrated. Since 70 A.D. no Jew has ever worshipped in the Temple. That represents quite a change of plan. Jews from all over the world came every year to celebrate Passover in Jerusalem for thousands of years. Never since has that celebration taken place.

Of course, the desolating sacrilege has shown its face again many times in history. It is always accompanied by religious persecution and murder. Communist Russia and Nazi Germany are two examples. I have met Christians from Russia, who told me they were not allowed into an educated career because of their Christian beliefs. They had the best grades in high school, but they were not allowed to go to college, and they had to become farm workers.

My medical massage therapist is from the Ukraine, and her grandfather was a Communist soldier, so on the surface he had to pretend like he rejected Christianity, but he secretly baptized his whole family. That is definitely survival under the authority of a desolating sacrilege. What irony that today Russia is anti-gay marriage, and people in the United States, who are standing up to gay marriage are now losing their livelihood.

And in the United States, when I speak of the Church’s position on gay marriage, I hear, “Shut up!” “Keep your opinions to yourself!” And like Melissa Klein, I am accused – even by straight people – of being a bigoted homophobe.

This is a sign of the Beast. In order to engage in commerce under totalitarian regimes, the Christian must either accept the Mark of the Beast or lose his livelihood, even his life. That's what happened to the early Christians: either worship the emperor or stop working. Many chose death.

It seems we are living in just such beastly times. The Beast, and the second Beast appear in the Book of Revelation chapter 13. St. John introduces the first beast’s violent acts and blasphemous language to show that its power derives from Satan. Only those sealed with the Holy Spirit, who acknowledge and follow Christ, can avoid worshipping the Beast and retain their freedom of conscience.

The second beast is identified as a false prophet because he is exhorting the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first beast. According to St. John, the second beast with two lamb horns and a dragon’s voice deceives the inhabitants of the earth, and forces all – free or slave, rich or poor -- to be marked on the right hand or forehead “so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Rev. 13:17)

Melissa and Aaron Klein obviously didn’t have the right mark. Instead, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit. Their livelihood is threatened as a result.

“Basically, the beast is a symbol for regimes which reject God and put man on a pedestal. Nowadays emperor worship is seldom a problem but militant atheism has been a modern parallel whether in the form of atheistic secularism or of dialectic materialism. St. Hippolytus describes the mark and seal of the beast in these words: “I reject the Creator of heaven and earth; I reject Baptism; I refuse to worship God. To you (Beast) I adhere; in you I believe.” (Footnote from the Navarre Bible)

St. Gregory the Great, adds, “The beast that rises from the earth stands for pride in earthly glory; and the fact that it has two horns like a lamb means that its hypocritical sanctity makes it appear to have wisdom, whereas only the Lord has true wisdom.”

And so I read the comments of those boycotting Melissa’s bakery, and I was appalled to read Americans crowing in delight because a little family with five children from Gresham, Oregon had lost their livelihood, the bakery, “Sweet cakes by Melissa.”

“Your homophobic rants will not be forgotten and you will go out of business. This is the 21^st century, a**holes.” And “maybe your god will send you some cat food to eat when you are living on the street?” Further, they rejoiced because it was “God’s will” the bakery be closed.

Can’t you hear the crowds taunting Jesus on the cross, “And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” (Matt 27: 39-40)

I do boycott big businesses in the hope of changing their behavior, but this crowd went after a family, which did nothing but stand up for their religious beliefs. And apparently the people of Gresham, Oregon, went along with it because Melissa said her wedding cake orders – on which her business depended -- were cancelled and no new ones were placed.

But why did Melissa Klein stand up to the Abomination of Desolation? Why did she risk her children’s livelihood and refuse the Mark of the Beast? Why did she give up a business she worked to build up over a number of years?

“I have lost something I worked really hard for … but I know that really doesn’t matter. My eternal home is what matters.” Melissa told TheBlaze in an interview. “It is so worth it just to sit back and watch how God provides for you. I struggled in the past with trust and even with my faith in Him. And through this (ordeal) my faith has grown, my trust has grown tremendously.”

“Suffering” says Pope John Paul II, “as it were contains a special call to the virtue which man must exercise on his own part. And this is the virtue of perseverance in bearing whatever disturbs and causes harm. In doing this, the individual unleashes hope, which maintains in him the conviction that suffering will not get the better of him, that it will not deprive him of his dignity as a human being.”

Or as St. Paul says, “I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)

How did Jesus Witness to the Learned?

by Susan Fox

Nicodemus, a ruler of Jerusalem, nevertheless had to come to Him under the cover of darkness.  (John 3:1-21)  

The  irony is that he traveled through the darkness because he was drawn by the Light. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (Jn 3:17) Obviously, he'd seen some of

Christ's miracles, but he wasn't sure who Christ was -- the awaited Messiah perhaps? Or a prophet? He hoped that Jesus would explain his mission. But Our Lord replies in a completely unexpected way.

"Truly, truly, I say to you unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God." This teacher of Israel had never heard of such a thing. How can a man come out of his mother's womb a second time?

Jesus makes it clear he is talking about a different kind of birth -- one accomplished with water and the spirit. In the Prologue of the Gospel, John makes it clear that all who received Christ were given this Baptism: the power to become children of God, children "who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (Jn 1:13) Baptism is new birth into a special relationship with God!

Nicodemus wants to know how this can be. Jesus answers by telling him He is God made man: "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man." Then He added that just as Moses took the poison of the serpent's bite from the people when he held up an image of the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man shall remove the poison of sin when He is lifted up on the cross: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so will the Son of man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have have eternal life." (Jn 3:14)

What a power packed interview. Christ meets the man who will someday help prepare his body for burial, introduces him to Baptism, explains this is accomplished through the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ, True God and True Man. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (Jn 3:16) And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. (Jn 1:14) 

What incredible Light has come into the world! Nicodemus by seeking out this Light under cover of darkness has already begun his journey to the Kingdom of God. Some men have loved darkness because their deeds are evil. "But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God." (Jn 3:21) . . . Have you found the Light? 

Barack Obama: A Shameless Marxist Ideologue

by Lawrence Fox

It has been postulated that we differ with U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama simply because the President’s policies are pro-abortion, pro-sodomy, anti-capitalist, anti-religious, and anti-gun ownership.  I suppose the gist of their argument is that credible opposition to Obama’s policies

requires more than 30 points of disagreement.  Maybe we would be more credible if we took umbrage with Obama’s prolific use of taxpayer’s hard-earned money to improve his golf swing or solo transport the family dog from place to

Our Fearless Leader

place, his lack of financial accountability as evidenced by the billowing government debt, five years of high unemployment, geometric increase in the level of food stamp distribution, lack of personal transparency, his disturbing support for the terrorist group, the Muslim Brotherhood, and blatant display of angst towards the American Flag and the recitation of the 
American National Anthem.

Be that as it may, I disagree with the initial proposition that a person like myself would never agree with a policy supported by Barack Obama. If it was reported, for example, that President Obama advocated the policy of washing one’s own hands after using the lavatory; I would certainly support him and that policy. Given the fact, that the Obama-fawning media has not reported on such a matter, I can only assume that Obama does not have an expressed opinion on the matter; or maybe worse and the fawning press is covering it up.

President Barack Hussein Obama is a pure ideologue, a person whose whole way of thinking is rooted in a Marxist materialist ideal without any introspection or debate.  President Barack Hussein Obama, while being idolized at Notre Dame University in May 2009 (see The Shame of Notre Dame University), stated that “Faith to be honest and sincere requires an element of doubt; the absence of total assent of the mind.” Barack was not talking about the concept of theological discovery, otherwise known as “faith seeking understanding.” No, Barack was pitting his materialistic ideology against a Catholic teaching formed by the marriage of Faith and Reason, which maintains that human life begins at conception.

I cannot recollect a single speech given by Barack Hussein Obama, which expressed an element of sincere dialogue (an openness to listen to someone else).  His entourage of friends, appointments to political positions, and his policies simply demonstrate a leftist myopia.

For example, of all the people he could have chosen in the United States as the head of the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS), Barack picked an excommunicated Catholic, the former Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. The governor was privately excommunicated for her public advocacy for “abortion on demand;” and for her personal protection of the infamous partial birth abortionist and psychopath George Tiller. 

The Catholic Conference of Bishops never got a clue from the Sebelius appointment that Obama was telling them to stick their moral fortitude up their ordained “you know what.”  In other words, his speech at Notre Dame was completely insincere as it related to honest dialogue on “life issues.” The majority of Americans, who do not support abortion, were not credible constituents in Obama’s mind. “Women in order to be free and successful need ready access to contraception and abortion,” so argued the President.

Many pro-life Catholics were shocked that the same Catholic Conference of Bishops began to engage the President when he proposed the government takeover of health care.  Many Catholic bishops advocated for universal coverage even for those individuals who were in the country illegally, as long as the government respected the moral conscience of all healthcare providers.

They did not understand that President Barack Hussein Obama was a pure ideologue, inflexibly attached to his perfect Marxist society. Obama listened to none of it. He denuded -- by executive order -- the “Medical Conscience Clause” previously signed by President George W. Bush. Further, HHS Mandates within Obama Care demand that every institution’s medical plan – regardless of religious sentiments - participate in the funding of abortion, contraception, the morning-after pill, and sterilization.  Again, he basically said, “stick your moral fortitude up your…”  

The supposed Constitutional Law Student Barack Obama demonstrated either a complete ignorance of the 1^st Amendment to the Constitution (Government shall not prevent the free exercise of religion) or he was arguing that elements of the U.S. Constitution are an impediment to something he believed to be universally greater, i.e. a Communist utopia.

 With the appointment of Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama articulated the ideological notion that the injection of saline solution into a mother’s womb for the purpose of burning flesh off the unborn child was a form of health care. And he further articulated the notion that the horrific practice known as partial-birth abortion -- jamming scissors in the brain of a struggling partly born child -- was an integral part of health care. And to think that the Catholic Campaign for Human Development – sponsored by the Catholic Conference of Bishops – funded the community organizing activities of the once-youthful Barack Hussein Obama.

When President Barack Hussein Obama selected Judge Sonia Maria Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States, he argued “Sonia as a Hispanic and Female (redundant fact) would bring increased empathy towards minorities as a member of the Supreme Court.” For an alleged constitutional lawyer, the argument was sophomoric. What about a demonstrated ability to apply the original intent of the U.S. Constitution as a means of bringing justice to all segments of society? For Barack, everything is a class struggle. 

Karl Marx argued that the institutions which stood against the Communist utopia (the material kingdom of God as they called it) are Capitalism, The Church, and the Institution of Marriage. All

Karl Marx

three had to be exposed, ridiculed, and forcibly removed from the public square. Once humanity no longer thought in terms of private ownership, life and ethics, and the traditional family as an integral part of self-identify, then humanity would be able to accept the ideal that the State is god – the arbiter of wealth, justice, human dignity and self-identity.

This Marxist ideology (dialectical materialism) is foundational with every position advocated by progressives (abortion on demand, universal health care, sodomy rights, earth first, equal pay for equal job, expanded roles for women in combat, condom and needle distribution, drug legalization, domestic partnership, etc.).  Polemics and policies advocating the government re-distribution of personal wealth, government universal mandated health care, ethics void of religious debate, and committed sodomy as a type of marriage are substantially Marxist in nature.

While running for President of the United States, candidate Barack was asked by a reporter: “When do you think human life begins?” Candidate Barack responded: “The question is above my pay grade.” In other words, there existed a void in Candidate Barack’s thought, making it impossible for him to rationally engage in one of the most important philosophical, ethical, scientific, and religious issues of the day.  In essence, there existed in Barack’s mind not an intuition, nor an opinion, nor an article of faith, nor personal knowledge nor understanding worth defending on the matter.  “Questions about the origins of human life are theological and all too personal to debate in the public square.” (Barack Obama)

And so religious persons may only have one valid position on life. And it must be ambivalent, relative, subjective, and personal even when the government dictates that they pay for it as with the HHS Mandate.

To assume that a man who attended both Columbia and Harvard University with a supposed emphasis in constitutional law never discussed or debated the matter is incredible. Candidate Barack Obama was either being disingenuous or his education was myopically free of any dialogue.

In contrast, Candidate John McCain was asked the same question, “When does human life begin?” He answered, “At the moment of conception.” President William Jefferson Clinton, who vetoed two partial birth abortion bans, was asked the same question. “Human life (personhood) begins when the physical body emerges from the woman and takes its first breath.”  

His argument was based upon a personal exegesis of Genesis 2:7: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”  The maniacal press should have had a field day with his response. The president was publicly admitting that he made decisions on abortion based upon his personal biblical exegesis. So much for the sacred leftist cow known as “Separation of Faith from Politics.”  

On a similar note, Vice President Joseph Biden stated during the 2012 vice presidential debate, “I personally believe that human life begins at conception and I believe I do not have the right to impose my belief upon others.”  The maniacal press then had the right to ask, “Is it correct to conclude – based upon your remarks -- that every law and tax that you voted on was completely void of personal religious and moral conviction?”

And so candidate Barack --  whose mind is void of substance on the subject of human conception, gestation and personhood -- becomes president of the United States. Two days after being elected, Obama repealed by Executive Order, the Mexico City Accord, which restricted the use of taxpayer money to fund abortion activities around the world. For a man with no opinion on when human life began, why was he compelled to make us pay for the murder of the world’s unborn children?

President Obama then reversed a ban on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. He said taxpayers should fund increased embryonic stems cell research -- the art of bringing about a new human life and then destroying it for medical research – because science and not religious dialogue should be basis for such “medical” activities.

As every fool knows science makes no ethical judgments. The development of the atomic bomb was pure science. The assembly of gas chambers in Europe was pure science. The Jack Kevorkian machine of death is pure science.  The ability to bring about a conception using In Vitro Fertilization procedures and then bring about the child’s death is pure

Dr. Jack Kevorkian's Death Machine

science. Every human action has a moral consequence (good or bad). But what would one expect from a man who possesses no personal intuition, opinion, faith, personal knowledge nor understanding on the subject of human conception, gestation and personhood.

Deliberately obscured behind the stem cell fiasco is the simple fact that embryonic stem cell research has been conducted worldwide and in the United States for many years through private funding and with no discernible cures or promises.

The financially broke State of California passed a billion dollar bond measure to fund embryonic stem cell research when private monies began drying up. Private donators recognized they were throwing money into a black hole with no long-term results in sight.  California realized the number of viable embryos was disappearing. Young girls were being recruited and paid to ingest drugs for the purpose of forcibly ovulating so that eggs could be harvested and then inseminated in a petri-dish for ongoing medical research. What used to be “Girls Gone Wild” was now “Ovaries Gone Wild.” But ongoing adult and cord blood stem cell research has brought about discernible cures without any ethical quandaries.

So President Barack Obama -- who possesses not an intuition, an opinion, an article of faith, personal knowledge nor understanding on the matter of human conception -- immediately upon becoming president rules that American taxpayers must fund abortion and embryonic stem cell research. These are the actions of a pure Marxist Ideologue.  

Obama supported embryonic stem research because of his support for abortion. To support the one gives credence to the other. Adult stem cell research was already working. This form of medical science is notably morally, ethically, and scientifically sound. Anyone familiar with human transplants knows that the introduction of organs foreign to the host body requires the steady injection of anti-rejection drugs. Treatment using the host’s own adult stem cells or organs developed by their own adult stem cells does not require the use of anti-rejection drugs. Embryonic stem cells are not your own cells. They are the cells of someone else.

On the campaign trail, Barack mused, "When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include -- abstinence education and teaching the children -- teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual. But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters, 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby. I don't want them punished with an STD at the age of 16. You know, so it doesn't make sense to not give them information."

So let us see. Barack will teach his daughters about some form of chastity, and about contraception and condoms, which do not prevent the contraction of sexually transmitted diseases. The horrific truth is that the human papillomavirus – a sexually transmitted disease and a major contributor to cervical cancer  – is not prevented during sex by the use of contraception, the dental dam, nor the condom.

Barack (the father) essentially stated: “Daughters, if you are not going to be chaste, then at least pretend like you are wise and foolish at the same time.” The ideologue can neither guide his own daughters on purity nor provide the honest-to-God facts about the contraction of STDs. He leaves that up to Planned Parenthood, which profits from abortion. And what leads to abortion, promiscuity and false information about contraception.

Barack identified his two daughters as miracles.  So let us see, he is saying his daughters are miracles (an expression of personal faith) but his potential unplanned grandchildren are “instruments of punishment.”

Language is a powerful tool especially when used in propaganda. Former Illinois Senator Obama stated that unwanted children are mistakes and instruments of punishment. Hidden within the mumbo jumbo about sex education was the staple ideological diatribe: “Every child should be a wanted child and therefore abortion must be available and un-restricted.” This is the same argument the leftist Illinois senator and presidential candidate John Bayard Anderson made while debating candidate Ronald Reagan in the 1980 elections. Ronald Reagan adroitly responded, “Those who argue that position were obviously not aborted.”

During his first campaign, Barack told an audience that Middle America simply “clings to their guns and religion.” This gave rise to the expression the “bitter clingers” to mischaracterize the right. It seems Barack was upset that Middle America was not buying his message of “hope” and “change.”

How is a Marxist ideologue formed?

Imagine for a moment being dumped by a black father and then dumped by an anti-American white mother into the arms of a grandmother – whom you later identify as a “typical white person.”  Your formative years are fairly traumatic. Your pain and search for identify become a fertile field upon which Marxism and Class Struggle (jihad) are planted and take root. There is no doctrine of forgiveness in Marxism and the concept of Class Struggle. There is only submission to the State. Your mother takes you to a foreign land which possesses a language that also speaks of struggle (jihad) and submission (Islam). Only this time submission refers to a personage which commands its prophet to wage war (jihad) against infidels where ever he finds them. The ideological drum beat is well rooted and reaching out. Capitalism is evil. Christianity is evil. America is evil and the white man will never understand you. Truth is dialectical always changing and always moving towards a materialistic solution to all human suffering and forms of imagined injustice. The ends justify the means since there is no forgiveness. Justice is not that which supports virtue but a hammer which roots out inequality all over the land. Your ideology reaches maturity within various prestigious halls of higher education. You find your groove in the company you keep including: unrepentant terrorists and members of the Weather Underground, 20 plus years in an Afro-centered liberation church. You nurture relationships with family members that have ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. You have among your confidants a person who identifies the mass murderer Mao Tse Tung as a favorite political philosopher. In essence you surround yourself with people who share a common ideology that truth is dialectical always changing and always moving towards a materialistic solution to all human suffering and forms of imagined injustice. It is a  justice not rooted in virtue, but a hammer which roots out inequality all over the land. You are elected President of the United States and you tell the American people that through you, America will be completely transformed.

As such, I differ with President Barack Hussein Obama not because of this or that issue but because every action and word that he breathes flows from a destructive ideology. He is a Marxist Ideologue after all.