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Jesus said,
"If you bring forth what
is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you" Gospel of Thomas
We honour the memory |
  Important Note This page location will change, moving to a new directory. Week of 30 March - 05 April, 2008 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever
you are, when
you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn
yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same
things. You say, "We know that God's judgment on those who do
such things is in accordance with truth." Do you imagine,
whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things
and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God?
Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to
lead you to repentance?
- Romans 2:1-4 AGC repents- members join mass conversion to the Church of Rome. Moderator named successor to Pope, says disbanding Dominicans will be first act. April Fools! 01 April, 2008 Website changes start phasing in during Spring, 2008 02 April, 2008 This section will close on or
before 30
April, 2008 during yet another complete site
overhaul. Specific
daily updates will no longer be available on this site except
for special notices. All
other daily entries will be posted in the blogs, news sections and
ministries on one of our sister non-public websites. That website
will be subscription fee and password based. A more detailed explanation of
the changes and benefits will be
web posted soon.
 right click this image to see larger 03 April, 2008 Pending updates Watching Zimbabwe Prayerful watch is maintained for the next steps of current President Robert Mugabe, who is to be commended for his restraint. Elders to release statement on AGC radical public expansion plans for 2009-2010 Possible
modification of name to be more inclusive, greater openness to sincere
Internet persons and groups who seek Light and assembled community were
among the actions debated by the Council of Elders in March.
Kenyan agreement completed, national unity government finally takes shape Good Christians rejoiced today on
hearing that a new governmental structure has been agreed by the major
participants.
Kenya
contains one of the largest bodies of good Christians in a single
country. Over the course of the past century good
Christianity grew and spread throughout Kenya, crossing borders
to the neighboring countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi,
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania.
In countries with a sizable number of members safe locations are
pre established in the event of natural disaster, civil unrest or
religious persecution. The Assembled
Christians in Kenya (ACK) webpage is currently unavailable to the
public.
04 April, 2008 North American / global offices closed Friday 4 April in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In prayerful witness to the 40th
anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. all
offices in North American and some international locations will
be closed until 7 April. Special services as determined by local custom
will be held.
"To me, the relationship of this ministry to the making of peace is so obvious that I sometimes marvel at those who ask me why I am speaking against the war. Could it be that they do not know that the Good News was meant for all men, for communists and capitalists, for their children and ours, for black and white, for revolutionary and conservative." If the AGC canonized saints, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be within our top five persons. We pray you will listen carefully to the You Tube audio and read the full text. And as Americans and people around the world gather to utter statements of praise for Dr. King read and hear the so recently condemned sermons of Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. (external link) former pastor to U.S. Senator Barack Obama. Then listen again to the audio and read the text of Dr. King. From January, 2008 web posting: Celebrating
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
"Now, of course, one
of the difficulties in speaking out today grows
the fact that there
are those who are seeking to equate dissent with disloyalty. It's a dark day in
our nation when high-level authorities will seek to use every method to
silence dissent. But something is happening, and people are not
going to be silenced. The truth must be told, and I say that those who
are seeking to make it appear that anyone who opposes the war in Vietnam is
a fool or a traitor or an enemy of our soldiers is a person that has
taken a stand against the best in our tradition.This is a role our nation has taken, the role of those who make peaceful revolutions impossible but refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that comes from the immense profits of overseas investments. I'm convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, militarism and economic exploitation are incapable of being conquered. A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our present policies. On the one hand, we are called to play the Good Samaritan on life's roadside, but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho Road must be changed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth with righteous indignation. It will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say, "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war, "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo, we shall boldly challenge unjust mores, and thereby speed up the day when "every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places straight. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies. This call for a worldwide fellowship that lifts neighborly concern beyond one's tribe, race, class, and nation is in reality a call for an all-embracing, unconditional love for all men. This oft misunderstood and misinterpreted concept, so readily dismissed by the Nietzsches of the world as a weak and cowardly force, has now become an absolute necessity for the survival of mankind. And when I speak of love I'm not speaking of some sentimental and weak response. I am speaking of that force which all of the great religions have seen as the supreme unifying principle of life. Love is somehow the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about ultimate reality is beautifully summed up in the first epistle of John: "Let us love one another, for God is love. And every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us and his love is perfected in us."" Full text here (external link) Joining with the Sikh Coalition to raise concerns over Hudson County prosecutor Elders on the American east coast
are joining with the Sikh Coalition in expressing their reservations
about the Hudson County NJ prosecutors decision not to charge a January
assault on a Hansdip Singh as a bias or hate crime, instead charging
his assailant, who attempted to remove Mr. Singh's turban in public,
with harassment, a non bias-related charge. Read full story here.
(external link)
Week of 06
April - 12 April, 200805 April, 2008 Bishop Halldorsson unveils outline of AGC economic boost for Iceland Responding to recent problems in an otherwise robust economy, elders draft request to good Christian faithful to assist our national home....  Ever since the creation of the
world his eternal
power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been
understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are
without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him
as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their
thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.
- Romans 1:20-21 08 April 2008 Olympic torch should not be delivered to China says AGC moderator and Elders James Crawley, moderator of the
AGC, in a joint statement with the Council of Elders calls on the
cities and peoples of San
Francisco USA, Buenos
Aires, Argentina, Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania, Canberra,
Australia, and Nagano,
Japan, to take possession of the Olympic Torch, holding it in
trust for the IOC until PRC relents on it's Tibetan policy
or the next Olympics.
"We are asking
all citizens of good will, regardless of their faith who believe in
basic human liberty and freedom to act and
encourage these
municipal governments to act, in a non violent, good faith
manner by retaining the Olympic Torch. We believe this approach will
teach China an object lesson while at the same time allowing the option
of a pragmatic face-saving by the PRC leading to a firm
resolution with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on behalf of the people of
Tibet."
"The AGC has
always been firm that the Olympics should never be held in countries
run by dictatorships as this is clearly contrary to the spirit of the
games. Had this precept been followed, the PRC would never have been
awarded the Olympics and the torch would never pass through North
Korea."
Week of 13 April - 19 April, 2008 Guardian of the Faith visits Australia  16 April, 2008 John Patrick Riordan, Bishop of Boston and Guardian of the Faith heads to Australia for a five day visit. Week of 20 April - 26 April, 2008 For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. - 1 Corinthians 7:22-23 21 April, 2008 Website email server hit by massive DOS (denial of service attack) Between 5 - 520pm EST USA the
cathar.net mail server was hit by a massive DOS attack. This was
quickly deflected with no known loss of emails. Should anyone have
written during that period not receive a reply within 24 hours,
please try again or use one of the generic
(nyms.net) emails.
21 April, 2008 Faith in Action office to close 30 June, 2008 The Faith in Action National Program Office will complete its work June 30, 2008. After that date, the office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina will close. Local Faith in Action programs will continue to function in their communities. Consult the external site for important announcements prior to that date. 22 April, 2008 Council of Elders meeting called for 23- 26 May A special meeting of the Council of Elders has been called in Washington D.C. The meeting will discuss several items including recommendations from the Legal Affairs division, public group registrations, expansion of multiple websites, security of personnel in Africa and review certain public submissions of general interest to the faithful. Also a major public position statement is to undergo review and revision prior to its release at a time yet to be determined on or before 1 July, 2008. Elders, following on the March meeting noted above are also expected to resume legal challenges on topical areas of special interest. The AGC has not appeared before the U. S. Supreme Court since it's doctor-assisted suicide representation in 1996. 22 April, 2008 AGC public website was down for a few hours Tuesday. Restored 1130 EST. Security upgrade to the server. Internal maintenance. 23 April, 2008 Office of the Faithful sends congratulations to President-elect Lugo of Paraquay A former bishop of the Church of Rome Fernando Lugo is Paraguay's new president, ending the 61-year reign of the world's longest-entrenched political elite. The mild-mannered Lugo, a good Christian known as the "bishop of the poor," abandoned his role as a Vaticanist bishop three years ago to devote his time serving the powerless. He asked the Church of Rome to accept his resignation. The Vatican responded last year by suspending him from his priestly duties, like saying Mass. But it argued he remains a bishop because his ordination was a lifelong sacrament. His campaign promised agrarian reform and to provide land to farmers who still don't own the land they till in this South American nation where a small wealthy elite owns vast tracks of lands. John Patrick Riordan, Guardian of the Faith, in Canberra where he is concluding his Australian visit, said he hoped to visit Paraguay at the end of his trip if this could be arranged. "The Vaticanist church must understand that unless it reverses course and claims President Lugo as one of their own they must face a new reality in Paraguay. A reality where the people of Paraquay have freedom of choice. That includes a future without the Church of Rome." Good Christians, along with Mennonites are a tiny minority in this country. Special Announcement will be posted on Thursday, 01 May, 2008 28 April 08 A short public statement from the
Office of the Faithful will be released on 1 May, 2008. Consequently,
the weekly news section, scheduled to close on 30 April has been
deferred until Monday, 5 May, 2008.
The Weekly News Section closure delayed until Monday 5 May To permit public evaluation and response this public section will close 5 May.
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