Bill of Rights

[joasia]

Just a simple question from a Canadian.

Did I hear correctly when it was announced that the Bill of Rights of the United States of America has been terminated? If the Bill of Rights is over-ruled then what is left...facism? Is the U.S. in a state of government control as was dictated in Russia? I hear that Bush has been proclaimed a dictator...many of his speeches have indicated that there will be no opposition to his decisions. There have been comments, I heard, that America has died. What would be the Orthodox Christian perspective on this? And has anybody seen the correlation between what's happening in our churches and that in the goverment? It seems like there is a major take-over involved, politically and spiritually. The heads have a say and none of us have the right to say anything, in their eyes.

Joanna

[尼古拉前执事]

Dear Joanna,

Sadly 2 seriously bad bills were passed last week, which 1.) Allow citizens to be labelled enemy combatants and have their citizenship taken away and 2.) Allow enemy combatants to be taken out of the country, to have no habeas corpus rights and to be tortured with no right of appeal and are guilty until found innocent. Between the 2 bills it makes criticizing the president and his administration in the form of yelling at politicians or donating to a charity that helps anyone labeleed as an enemy combatant equivalent to acts of terrorism.

These bills are very scary and one would hope that the Supreme Court will overthrow them since they are clearly unconstitutional but since people labelled enemy combatants have no right of appeal anymore, it seems unlikely that a case could get very far unless the judges decide to ignore the law because they find it unconstitutional.

Here is Amnesty International's fact sheet on just one of the bills:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/ENGAMR511542006

And scary enough, just like there is a EU stripping away rights for Europeans left and right, it appears that a North American Union of the same sorts is on the rise as well. Here is more on that from CNN.

[John Haluska]

Good morning...

A dear friend of mine, actually another also (yes...I have 2 friends), BOTH stated to me:

"A questionnaire was circulated within the past 2-3 years to ALL members of the U.S. Military. One of the questions was:

"Would you fire on an citizen of the United States if ordered?" "

Again, what "Bill of Rights".

Also,

I believe I asked the question last year:

When Iran is invaded by America, and knowing that Russia has non-aggression treaties with Iran (that means that WHOMEVER attacks Iran is an ENEMY)...and Russia has Orthodox soldiers, as well as there being Orthodox Soldiers in the U.S. Armed forces in Iran, and elsewhere in combat, [I know of many Orthodox Christians ("both" calendars) who are there and are NOT allowed crosses or prayer ropes (I've sent both to them)]...which Orthodox soldiers are we to pray for victory?

Please tell me....

The people who wish (and will get) a "new world order" and to attain that "new world order" there MUST BE a SINGLE, as in ONE ONLY, that being the Antichrist's, for lack of a better word, "religion".

Unless I am mistaken, at the very end, there will only be a a few believers in Christ ...wherever they may be. Will they be Orthodox Christians?

Calendars and such will matter very little then, as just attempting to stay alive and not be caught praying, will be foremost in one's life at that time.

Kind of reminiscent of the post Bolshevik Coup, isn't it?

Actually, it is VERY reminiscent of present-day Russia in which some Orthodox Churches (non toe-the-line "officialchurches") do indeed worship clandestinely in apartments, always fearing the "black limos" coming for them.

They are also subjected to "torture" from a mental, spiritual, physical standpoint. Why are they subject to such treatment (as we ALL will be, eventually)? This is all done for the sake of promoting the "official church" - ONLY, "which" will be the ONLY "official religion" allowed, or just plain old "worshipping" the Antichrist, as "he" will be THE "official religion".

And yes, that means that all the consternantion about "belonging" to the "correctest" Orthodox Church will mean little then.

Just being able to pray the Jesus Prayer will be a feat in itself.

The time will indeed come, here in America, when the first comment made will come to pass, and the rest of this missive will also take place.

"When", I believe, is the operative word.

"When" could mean in the next minute, or ten thousand years from now. None of us know when the "end" will come...do we?

To me...just trying to pray -now- is a major feat. Just imagine how it was for the early Christians. Imagine how it will be in the future, when it will be far worse.

"That's" my view...

John Haluska