Note: This archive version of the e-newsletter is in ASCII text. To view this in Rich Text Format/HTML (with pictures & links), use the Contact page to send an e-mail to request that edition. Dear Friend, This Early Edition of InfoQuest* is being sent to you so that you may enjoy it before the busy New Year's weekend! The IQ* E-Newsletter was not sent out last week due to the busyness of Christmas week. I hope that you had a blessed holiday, whether is was Christmas or Hanukkah! Since we all know the story of Christmas, this edition will begin by examining Hanukkah with a snip from the article, "Hanukkah - Is It Really A Minor Festival?" Then, we'll take a look at a snip of WorldNetDaily's famous annual "spiked stories" report for 2003. Finishing up, we'll look at events in Pennsylvania that are replicating in your own town, providing you with solutions that work when used! This report is very very important! Please take a minute to see! CONTENTS: (1) "Hanukkah - Is It Really A Minor Festival?" (2) Most 'spiked' stories of 2003 (3) Pennsylvania Report Christian Pastor Attacked by Police! New Pa. Congress Website Deletes God and Truth! Pa. Income Tax Raised - Attack on The Church - see votes! ==================== ==================== (1) "Hanukkah - Is It Really A Minor Festival?" Dear Friend, The following is a snip from the middle of the article, "Hanukkah - Is It Really A Minor Festival?" The beginning of the article does a fantastic job listing the historical persecution of the Jews up to the time of the miracle of the "Lights." Hanukkah - Is it really a minor festival? http://www.jewsforjesus.org/special/hanukkah/whatis.htm When Judah dedicated the Temple, only one vessel of sanctified oil was found -- enough for one day. Miraculously, it burned for eight days. This is remembered by the kindling of lights for eight days. A special lamp, the menorah, is used. It is the event of the dedication of the Temple in 165 B.C.E. which Jews around the world commemorate each year in the festival called Hanukkah. While some today maintain that Hanukkah is a minor festival, elevated only by the presence of Christmas in the same season, it was certainly important to Jews before the time of Jesus and yes, even during the first century for Jesus Himself celebrated the Festival of Hanukkah. We read in the Gospel of John, a reference to Hanukkah: "Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the Temple area walking in Solomon's Colonnade." (John 10:22,23) They celebrated Hanukkah, not as a potato latkes party, but as a solemn time to remember the rededication of the Temple. It became a national festival, as well. The spirit was similar to Independence Day in the U.S., only the character of the feast was religious, not secular. It was observed with ceremonies resembling the Feast of Booths, accompanied by the offering of many sacrifices. After the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, many Jews apparently lost their zeal for celebrating Hanukkah. It is ironic, that it is those who believe in Jesus, Jews and Gentiles, who can see more significance in this celebration of God's faithfulness. For those of us who believe in Jesus, believe His words, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." (John 2:19) Jesus was, by these words, speaking of himself as the Temple, the place of sacrifice, and the Holy altar. He was telling the people that while he would be destroyed physically, he would rise from the dead, that the Temple of God might never be defiled again, might never be made rubble. But, instead would stand for all eternity. Today, Hanukkah is often called "the Festival of Lights." In Josephus' writings, we find no mention of the term "Hanukkah." Instead, he says, "From that time onward unto this day we celebrate the festival calling it "Lights" (Antiquities 12:325). His explanation for the name is that the right to serve God came to the people unexpectedly, like a sudden light. ==================== ==================== (2) Most 'spiked' stories of 2003 The following is a snip of the article. Most 'spiked' stories of 2003 WND readers, editors pick major underreported events of past year http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=36365 Continuing in its annual year-end tradition, WorldNetDaily.com has compiled its list of the most "spiked" stories of the past year – those major news events of 2003 that went either unreported or underreported by the mainstream media. Of course, almost every news organization presents a year-end retrospective replay of what each considers to have been the top news stories of the previous 12 months. But WND's editors have always found it more newsworthy to publish a year-end compilation of the important stories most ignored by the establishment press. WND Editor and CEO Joseph Farah has sponsored "Operation Spike" every year since 1988, and since founding WorldNetDaily in May 1997 has continued the annual tradition. As is its custom, WND has invited readers to join in and submit what they considered the most underreported stories of the past year in the site's "Operation Spike" forum. The envelope, please. Based on a mountain of reader responses, plus input from WorldNetDaily's editors, here are WND's picks for the 10 most underreported stories of 2003 – which WND editor and CEO Joseph Farah will be discussing New Year's Eve on CNN: 1. The de-Christianization of America via the court system 2. NASA's use of a green-friendly but inferior material on heat shields that broke up prior to the shuttle disaster 3. The legal implications of the Supreme Court's 'sodomy' ruling 4. Persecution of Christians worldwide, especially those in countries seen as "friends" of the U.S. 5. A major federal study that found no connection between gun laws and gun violence 6. The continued vulnerability of U.S. airports 7. The ominous free-speech implications of the Supreme Court's decision upholding the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law 8. The Beltway sniper investigation "hero" Police Chief Charles Moose was so obsessed with avoiding "racial profiling" that he seriously hindered the investigation 9. The Terri Schindler-Schiavo case 10. Human bio-chip implant arrives for cashless transactions ==================== ==================== (3) Pennsylvania Report Christian Pastor Attacked by Police New Pa. Congress Website Deletes God and Truth Pa. Income Tax Raised - Attack on The Church - see votes! +++++++ Christian Evangelist Attacked by Police http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/12/prweb95637.htm SPRINGFIELD, PA (PRWEB) – December 24 2003 On December 21, five officers of the Springfield Township Police Department arrived as Michael Marcavage, a field preacher with the Philadelphia-based REPENT AMERICA, was peacefully exercising free speech by holding anti-abortion signs on a public sidewalk. The officers subdued Marcavage by bending his hand behind his back, which brang him to the ground. Then, purposefully broke his two signs in front of him and fled the scene, taking the damaged signs and swiping a micro cassette recorder from his hand without citing or arresting him. http://www.repentamerica.com/ +++++++ New Pa. Congress Website Deletes God and Truth Dear Friend, I recently discovered that the Pennsylvania Congress website has changed. As I analyzed it with the eyes for truth that God has given me, I discovered that, in the new website, God is taken completely out of the picture, history of law has been fabricated and rewritten, and documentation that proves our Judeo-Christian roots has been deleted and/or made difficult to find. How has God been taken out of the picture? In two ways. First, the Pennsylvania Constitution, which specifically honors God, is nowhere to be found on this new website! http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm Here is what the website says: "While this section of the book focuses on the Pennsylvania Constitution, the answers to many of the questions in other sections come directly from this important document. For additional information, it is suggested that the reader refer to the Constitution as a supplement to this guide to Pennsylvania government. A copy of the Pennsylvania Constitution may be obtained from your state legislator." http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/creating/whole_creating.htm What?! You're told to truck on over to your legislator to ask for a hardcopy version of the Pennsylvania Constitution? It's online! http://www.dgs.state.pa.us/dgs/CWP/view.asp?A=3&QUESTION_ID=114572 Why don't they link to it so that you can search it and learn from it quickly? This is why. Just read the preamble: "WE, the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this Constitution." God is revered, in print, in legal print. What's the second way that God has been taken out of the picture? The representatives who we elected have fabricated and rewritten legal history; civics! The new website states that the USA is both a Republic (noun) and a Democracy (noun). This is a blatant dangerous lie. Here's the website's quote, "4. IS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT A REPUBLIC OR A DEMOCRACY? It is both." http://www.legis.state.pa.us/WU01/VC/visitor_info/creating/whole_creating.htm When we pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States, we pledge allegiance to "the Republic for which it stands," not to a Democracy! The U.S.A. Republic, as it was created, focuses on God and God's law. A Democracy focuses on man and humanism. BIG difference! Let's step back with an English lesson. A noun is different from an adjective. The U.S.A. is a Republic (noun) that runs, in part, through a democratic (adjective) process; however, the U.S.A. is Not a democracy (noun). Hey Erich - where are you going with this, you may be asking yourself. Well... As you may know, about a year ago I created and entire web page that shows the difference between a Republic and a Democracy and why the U.S.A. is not a Democracy. Here is a snip: --- http://fp.users.fast.net/InfoQuest/Civics_in_Seconds.htm Democracy Contrary to popular belief, the United States of America is not a democracy. Recall the Pledge of Allegiance, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands…." "Democracy" – from the Greek "dEmokratia" - dEmos (the people) + -kratia (to rule) –cracy. When more people want something than don't, the majority rules, a.k.a., "rule by majority." Suppose the majority wants to take away your home, business, or your children. Obviously, there's a problem! The flaw in democracy is that if you allow majority rule, then everybody's rights are up-for-grabs. All you have to do is get more than ½ of the people to want something, on any given day, and you no longer have any rights. It's sometimes called "the tyranny of a majority." The fundamental difference between a democracy and a republic is that if someone or a group of people came up to you and said that they were going to take away your home or business or children, you'd probably stand up and say, "No, you can't do that! I have my rights protected by the Constitution of the United States of America." And if you said that, you'd be describing a republic. Republic "Republic" – from the Latin "respublica" - from "res" (thing) + publica (the public). The public thing. The law. A true republic is one that starts out by recognizing that individuals have rights, and so the limitation in the law is not upon the people but upon the government and the mob and the majority. --- I beg you to read David Barton's short article below, where he explains how the U.S.A. Republic is God-centered, and how, if we let our representatives redefine the U.S.A. as a Democracy (noun), all Hell will break loose here, as it has already begun. Before you read David's fantastic short article, I beseech you to read this IQ* solution and take it to heart, mind, and soul. *** IQ* Solution! My dear Friend, please repeat this saying in your mind a few times. "You may not want to be involved in politics, but politics will always be involved with you." As we know from physics, lack of action still requires action/force. To do nothing requires an active force keeping a person from moving in any direction. We must choose the action of doing, not the action of sitting. It's one or the other. Both are active decisions. As Christians and Jews, we Are called, by God, to be involved, in one way or another, in government. You can see the facts on this here: http://fp.users.fast.net/InfoQuest/activism.htm#God_Mandates_Action I see a bleak future on earth for my children if I remain in the sitting position, so, for me, through prayer, I've decided to run for office. http://fp.users.fast.net/InfoQuest/Newsletters.htm#Senate It means a career change (I hope!), which is stressful for many; however, it must be done. What are you willing to do? Which action will you choose today? New Year's resolutions mean absolutely nothing. New Year actions mean everything. *** IQ* Press Release: http://fp.users.fast.net/InfoQuest/Civics_in_Seconds.htm#Press_Release *** Republic v. Democracy by David Barton http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=4 We have grown accustomed to hearing that we are a democracy; such was never the intent. The form of government entrusted to us by our Founders was a republic, not a democracy.1 Our Founders had an opportunity to establish a democracy in America and chose not to. In fact, the Founders made clear that we were not, and were never to become, a democracy: [D]emocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.2 James Madison Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.3 John Adams A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry desolation in their way.4 The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness [excessive license] which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be liberty.5 Fisher Ames, Author of the House Language for the First Amendment We have seen the tumult of democracy terminate . . . as [it has] everywhere terminated, in despotism. . . . Democracy! savage and wild. Thou who wouldst bring down the virtuous and wise to thy level of folly and guilt.6 Gouverneur Morris, Signer and Penman of the Constitution [T]he experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived.7 John Quincy Adams A simple democracy . . . is one of the greatest of evils.8 Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration In democracy . . . there are commonly tumults and disorders. . . . Therefore a pure democracy is generally a very bad government. It is often the most tyrannical government on earth.9 Noah Webster Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state, it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage.10 John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration It may generally be remarked that the more a government resembles a pure democracy the more they abound with disorder and confusion.11 Zephaniah Swift, Author of America's First Legal Text Many Americans today seem to be unable to define the difference between the two, but there is a difference, a big difference. That difference rests in the source of authority. A pure democracy operates by direct majority vote of the people. When an issue is to be decided, the entire population votes on it; the majority wins and rules. A republic differs in that the general population elects representatives who then pass laws to govern the nation. A democracy is the rule by majority feeling (what the Founders described as a "mobocracy" 12); a republic is rule by law. If the source of law for a democracy is the popular feeling of the people, then what is the source of law for the American republic? According to Founder Noah Webster: [O]ur citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion.13 The transcendent values of Biblical natural law were the foundation of the American republic. Consider the stability this provides: in our republic, murder will always be a crime, for it is always a crime according to the Word of God. however, in a democracy, if majority of the people decide that murder is no longer a crime, murder will no longer be a crime. America's immutable principles of right and wrong were not based on the rapidly fluctuating feelings and emotions of the people but rather on what Montesquieu identified as the "principles that do not change."14 Benjamin Rush similarly observed: [W]here there is no law, there is no liberty; and nothing deserves the name of law but that which is certain and universal in its operation upon all the members of the community.15 In the American republic, the "principles which did not change" and which were "certain and universal in their operation upon all the members of the community" were the principles of Biblical natural law. In fact, so firmly were these principles ensconced in the American republic that early law books taught that government was free to set its own policy only if God had not ruled in an area. For example, Blackstone's Commentaries explained: To instance in the case of murder: this is expressly forbidden by the Divine. . . . If any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit it we are bound to transgress that human law. . . . But, with regard to matters that are . . . not commanded or forbidden by those superior laws such, for instance, as exporting of wool into foreign countries; here the . . . legislature has scope and opportunity to interpose.16 The Founders echoed that theme: All [laws], however, may be arranged in two different classes. 1) Divine. 2) Human. . . . But it should always be remembered that this law, natural or revealed, made for men or for nations, flows from the same Divine source: it is the law of God. . . . Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is Divine.17 James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice [T]he law . . . dictated by God Himself is, of course, superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times. No human laws are of any validity if contrary to this.18 Alexander Hamilton, Signer of the Constitution [T]he . . . law established by the Creator . . . extends over the whole globe, is everywhere and at all times binding upon mankind. . . . [This] is the law of God by which he makes his way known to man and is paramount to all human control.19 Rufus King, Signer of the Constitution The Founders understood that Biblical values formed the basis of the republic and that the republic would be destroyed if the people's knowledge of those values should ever be lost. A republic is the highest form of government devised by man, but it also requires the greatest amount of human care and maintenance. If neglected, it can deteriorate into a variety of lesser forms, including a democracy (a government run by a small council or a group of elite individuals): or dictatorship (a government run by a single individual). As John Adams explained: [D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy; such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable [abominable] cruelty of one or a very few.20 Understanding the foundation of the American republic is a vital key toward protecting it. Endnotes http://www.wallbuilders.com/resources/search/detail.php?ResourceID=4 +++++++ Pa. Income Tax Raised - Attack on The Church - see votes! Read all about it here: http://fp.users.fast.net/InfoQuest/government.htm#Income_Tax My representative, Paul I. Clymer, ignored both of my faxes to him and voted to increase Pennsylvania's income tax to fund socialist programs. The text of my fax to him follows, followed by his contact info if you'd like to chime in, respectfully, of course. Dear Hon. Clymer: We implore you to debate against and vote against any proposed increase to the Pennsylvania income tax. "Raising the Personal Income Tax (PIT) from 2.8% to 3.07% will result in more than 33,140 jobs not being created in Pennsylvania," said Matthew J. Brouillette, president of The Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market public policy think tank based in Harrisburg. "This tax increase will also reduce Investment, Personal Income, and Disposable Income by $80.7 million, $310 million, and $1.4 billion, respectively." "Republican House and Senate bosses will attempt to tell working moms and dads that agreeing to a smaller tax increase than Gov. Rendell originally wanted is somehow a 'victory' for them and their families," said Brouillette. "But that's like saying the Grinch wanted to take all of your Christmas presents, and that you should thank them for letting him steal only half of them-when they had the power to stop him entirely." Barna Research, on May 19, 2003, reported that tithing is down 62% in the past year. The socialist taxation proposed by socialist Gov. Rendell is attacking the Church! Please put an end to this socialist attack. Cut our taxes, put money back into the private sector, and allow the free market economy set up by the Founding Fathers to once again breathe freely! We look forward to your reply. Hon. Paul I. Clymer 311 North 7th Street Perkasie, PA, 18944 Phone: (215) 257-0279 Fax: (215) 257-6350