Step 3. Create Rules Now that your convert is Forgiven�, they need rules to follow. Otherwise they�d continue their sinful ways and need to be Forgiven� all over again. Actually, that�s exactly what you want, you don�t just want believers � you want followers. A good product breaks down over time so that your customers have to keep coming back. The trick is to give them rules that border on the impossible. You and the prospect will instinctively know that these rules will be difficult to honor, so inform them to come to your building of worship at least once a week for spiritual renewal and support.

Step 4. Make a Promise Life is hard and people need something to look forward to. They need a light at the end of the tunnel. Something that will tell them that following your religion will be worth it in the end. Your religion will need to make a few promises- all good products have a promise. Wether it�s whiter teeth or fresher breath, your followers need something to be excited about. Accepting your god as their personal lord entitles your converts to exclusive favors, requests and divine loans. But more importantly, your new religion has to promise paradise for believers- an eternal climax of pleasure that will come at an hour known only to your god. Pepole prefer pleasure to punishment and eternal pleasure will make your converts feel inspired. Leave the definition sufficiently opaque to allow for individual interpretation. Be creative and ecourage your converts to visualize paradise often for reassurance.

Step 5. Make Excuses Eventually, your followers will wonder why your god has failed to make good on any of the above promises. Don�t panic. Tell them that god works in his time � not theirs. And who the hell are they anyway to question god??? Tell them that they�re playing with fire � the operative word in this instance being �fire�. Tell them that this disobendience will not be tolerated. In truth, the doubt of your converts and disbelievers is a good thing. It�s only natural. And it�s actually your key to taking your new religion worldwide.

Step 666. Make War Now that your followers are beginning to doubt, tell them that you�ve just recieved a message from your god, there are evil ones afoot and they must be stopped. Explain to tyour followers that the doubt they are feeling has been sown by the evil ones and your god has chosen them to drive the evil out of whatever part of the globe you�d like to exploit for fun and profit (you may want to consider a strategic base of operations for future actions). Explain to your followers that He now commands you to go forth into the world and bring down his mighty sword upon the heads of heathens and false prophets. Don�t forget, your new followers should do some of the killing too.

Tell them not to worry, they�ll be Forgiven� for that later.

This is it, man. This is the moment you�ve been waiting for. You finally get to see some action. Now send out the troops to bomb, rape and pillage millions of unsuspecting people across the globe. Turn some into slaves. Steal entire continents from others. Gather together the unbelievers and burn them alive so that your followers can see just how hot hell can be. When you�ve completed your crusade, bring the surviving savages under your reign and civilize them. But don�t forget to remind them that your god is one of peace, love and brotherhood. And even though you just opened an extra large can of whoop ass on everybody, they must learn to to forgive and turn the other cheek. Now go get �em tiger.

The promoters of this theological plan to bring on the end time include some of the well-known evangelists, such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Billy and Franklin Graham, and Jack Van Impe. Belief in the end time finds its support in the charismatic, Pentecostal, Bible churches and in Protestant fundamentalist groups. They are thought to number at least 20 million strong in the United States and, according to Jerry Falwell, may boast as many as 100 million believers. About 25 million of them are also part of a political-religious movement known as �Christian Zionism,� the belief that a preserved State of Israel is a prerequisite for the second coming of Christ and the end time. As evidence of their numbers, Tim LaHaye�s series of books on the end time, the Left Behind series, have sold more than 50 million copies in the United States. �Christian Zionism� has its roots in the 19th century theological system known as �premillenial dispensationalism,� which was developed by Irish clergyman John Nelson Darby. �Premillenial� is the time before Christ�s thousand-year reign on earth, and �dispensations� are the ages or epochs that man goes through before the end time. American Cyrus Scofield later interpreted current events as fulfillment of biblical prophesy in his Scofield Bible. These two come together in the �Christian Zionist� movement, which stresses that the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 began the fulfillment of biblical prophesy toward the end time. To these �Christian Zionists,� Bush and his Middle East policies are seen as aiding the course of these prophetic events toward their inevitable end of the world as we know it and the ushering in of a new heaven and a new earth as predicted in the Bible.

In fact, a question to Jack Van Impe in August 2003 regarding Bush�s role in biblical prophesy resulted in this startling reply from Van Impe: �I am not sure whether he knows all of the prophesies and how deep of a student he has been in God�s Word, but I was contacted a few weeks ago by the office of public liaison for the White House and by the national security advisor, Condoleeza Rice, to make an outline. And I�ve spent hours preparing it. I will release this information to the public in September. But it's in his hands.� This statement seems to have stemmed from a meeting between Rice and 40 members of the religious community, who were invited to a national security briefing on Middle Eastern policy in Washington last July. Van Impe was unable to attend this briefing, which centered around the controversy over the Roadmap for Peace plan to set up a separate Palestinian state, in direct conflict with biblical prophesy of an undivided Israel. A separate Palestine would stop the end time clock.

The Christian Zionists give unequivocal support to the nation of Israel, and they work closely with that country's Likud Party. Jerry Falwell aligned himself with Israel�s former prime minister, Benyamin Netanyahu, and the Likud Party in the 1990s against President Bill Clinton�s plan for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They were joined in this effort by Pat Robertson and many other Christian Zionists. This expedient alliance between the Zionists and the Christian Zionists got a boost when Netanyahu was replaced by the hardliner, Ariel Sharon, and the despised Clinton, who threatened to stop the end time clock with the division of Israel, was replaced with the �born again� George W. Bush.

April 2002 saw two major events in this Christian Zionist movement. More than 100,000 people attended the Washington Rally for Israel in the Washington Mall. Bush sent Paul Wolfowitz as his representative to this rally. Also attending were Representative Dick Armey (R-Texas), Netanyahu, Rudy Guiliani, and our own Governor George Pataki. Also, when Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, began demolishing Palestinian homes in the West Bank in response to the Passover bombings in Israel, Bush urged Sharon to withdraw from the city of Jenin. More than 100,000 calls and emails to Bush from the Christian Zionists demanded that Bush let Israel continue its incursion into Jenin. In response to this outpouring from the Christian Zionists, Bush backed off on his request to Sharon. In an interview with the CBS news show, 60 Minutes, shortly after this showdown, Jerry Falwell stated, �I think now we can count on President Bush to do the right thing for Israel every time.�

The mantra for the Christian Zionist movement is a quote from the Bible, �Israel shall not be divided.� Although some in the Bush administration, most notably Colin Powell, still push for the two-state solution to the conflict, Bush has continued, almost invariably, to back Sharon. This has left the �Roadmap� all but dead and on the ash-heap with all of the previous plans for peace in the Middle East. A new group, however, made up of former world leaders, has been working for the past two to three years on the �Geneva Initiative� for peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It closely follows the Clinton Plan for a two-state solution. The �Geneva Initiative� would not only divide the state into two states, it would also divide the City of Jerusalem into two state capitals. In addition, this plan would cede control of the Temple Mount to the Palestinians. Reaction from the Christian Zionists has been a swift and vehement opposition to the plan. Pat Robertson called the initiative an �outrage� on his December 1 episode of the 700 Club television show. He also repeated the mantra that �Israel shall not be divided,� and he accused anyone who criticizes the actions of Ariel Sharon or supports the rights of Palestinians of being �anti-Semitic,� �communist,� and �anti-American.� The last days of three of the world�s major religions come together at the Temple Mount/ al-Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. Jews, Muslims, and Christians all believe that events at Temple Mount will signal the beginning of the end time. For Jews, this is the place where the Messiah will come to be King of Israel and high priest of the newly built temple. For fundamentalist Christians, this newly built temple will be the place where Christ will reign for the millennium. To Muslims, this site is where the Prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven on a steed, and the valley below will be the site of the final judgment. The Dome of the Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque currently occupy this site.

This place, sacred to three of the world�s religions, is currently under the control of the Muslims and was only opened to non-Muslims about three years ago. It is forbidden, punishable by kareth (death by heavenly decree) for unpurified Jews to enter the Holy of Holies section of the Temple Mount, the site of the first and second temples. The only way to be ritually purified is with the ashes from a flawless red heifer. Without this purification, the third temple, signaling the end of days, cannot be built. A group of Christian fundamentalist cattle-breeders from Texas have attempted to remedy this situation by breeding a flawless red heifer. They claim that she will be ready for sacrifice in 2005, setting up the potential for a new attempt to build the third temple at Temple Mount. The cornerstones for this temple are ready, and some believers have already attempted to bring them to the site. The danger of these prophesies is in the sheer number of believers from all three religions who are willing to bring on World War III if necessary to fulfill these prophesies. And the question of whether Bush is a willing participant or an unwitting pawn in the fulfillment of biblical prophesy becomes irrelevant when he is perceived by millions of believers all over the world as doing so. The perception is aided by Bush�s rhetoric which echoes that of the �Christian Zionists,� and in his policies, which, so far, have also followed their plan for bringing the world to the end time.

References and Further Information: Donald Wagner, �The Evangelical-Jewish Alliance� and many books on the subject. Available at http://www.religion-online.org. Jack Van Impe Ministries available online at http://www.jvim.com and on the TCT network. Pat Robertson and the 700 Club available online at http://www.cbn.com and on the CBN network. Information on the Temple Mount from the Jewish perspective available at http://www.templemount.org. The �Geneva Initiative� full text and maps available at http://www.heskem.org.

Little did Moses realize that this advice from the Almighty would come to pass during the October 14-15, 2002 Christian Coalition "Rally for Israel" in Washington, D.C. This rally was a pivotal point for many of the speakers to denounce the White House's so-called roadmap to peace for its creation of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One of the speakers present was the then-member of the Knesset, Benny Alon of the right-wing racist Moledet party. He read out loud the above words of God, who evidently was opposed to a two-state solution as well. Apparently, both the Lord and the Christian Coalition were not interested in sparing the Israeli sword. Indeed, the Moledet party advocates the annexation of both the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians.

Also speaking at this rally was House Majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), a self-professed Christian Zionist. He said "I've been to Masada; I've toured Judea and Samaria. I've walked the streets of Jerusalem, and I've stood on the Golan Heights. I didn't see any occupied territory. What I saw was Israel." Pat Robertson, who neatly avoided ordered combat duty in Korea, counseled more of the sword: "We should not ask Israel to withdraw from the so-called occupied territories; we should stand by them and fight."

President George W. Bush sent official greetings to the rally. Bush's enthusiasm for this meeting may have come with the prodding of the National Unity Coalition for Israel, a Christian Zionist front. The founder of this organization claims that it consists of more than 200 Jewish and evangelical Christian groups who wish to form a "Biblical Greater Israel" by implementing the annexations advocated by the Moledet party. Douglas Feith, now assistant secretary of defense for policy in the Bush administration, was once the director of the NUCI.

According to reports in the Executive Intelligence Review, a delegation from the NUCI had attended a meeting at the White House, with Bush's official liaison to the religious community, some months prior to the Christian Coalition's rally. The Executive Intelligence Review claimed that the delegation, in effect, blackmailed the administration by threatening an "evangelical revolt" against Bush. Remember, there are about 98 million evangelical Christians in the United States. And they vote. The price for withholding the revolt was White House support of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his government's policies in the occupied territories.

The Daily Star(Beirut) also reports that, in March 2002, suicide bombings inside Israel sparked a renewed invasion by Israel, as well as destruction of Jenin. Bush had sent a strong message to Sharon: "Withdraw! Withdraw your troops immediately." This attitude from Bush clearly would not do. Jerry Falwell and other Christian Zionists leaders flexed their religious/political muscle and had their respective flocks send tens of thousands of telephone calls, e-mails, and letters to the president. The president backed off.

During an interview on CBS' 60 Minutes, Falwell stated that, as a result of the March 2002 events, Israel could count on Bush to "do the right thing for Israel every time." He also said, "the Bible belt is Israel's safety net in the United States." The "barbs in your eyes and the thorns in your side" would be dealt with.

In February 2003, before coalition troops invaded Iraq, Sharon told a delegation of congressmen that, after the Baghdad regime is destroyed, "it is of vital importance" that the United States disarm Iran, Syria, and Libya. It is curious to note that Sharon was certain of the demise of Saddam Hussein, even while the president was telling the American people that he had not made up his mind to invade Iraq. And whose vital importance is it to neutralize these countries? It would seem that the vital interest is that of Sharon, the Likud party and the multitude of Christian Zionists who support him.

But why all the fuss? The answer can be found in an extreme right-wing interpretation of Biblical prophecy, including the rise of the Anti-Christ, the battle of Armageddon, and the eventual return of Christ to earth. For these beliefs to come to fruition, according to this interpretation, the nation-state of Israel must be protected politically, financially, and militarily. For Israel is the Holy Land, and the Holy Land will be the evangelical ground zero in the coming Holocaust. The people who believe these interpretations are called Christian Zionists, and they are at the core of the approximate 100 to 125 million members of the Protestant evangelical movement.

Christian Zionists are at the heart of the Bush administration's concept of U.S. foreign policy. One of Bush's closest advisors is Richard Perle, former chairman of the Defense Policy Board. Perle was dismissed from Senator Henry Jackson's office after the National Security Agency caught him giving classified documents to the Israeli embassy. Later, he worked for the Israeli weapons manufacturer, Soltam. The pro-Israeli think tank American Enterprise Institute was once his home.

Feith, assistant secretary of defense for policy, has also been actively supporting the Christian Zionist cause. He served as Perle's special counsel. Associated with the Zionist Organization of America, Feith often speaks at conference events. He has a small law firm, Feith and Zell, which has one international office, in Israel. Prior to his appointment, its website stated that Feith "represents Israeli armaments manufacturers." Feith was a key member of the ultra-right wing Jewish think tank, the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Other members included Vice President Dick Cheney and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, who reportedly has close ties to the Israeli military. In addition, Wolfowitz is a close associate of Perle's as well as a member of the Defense Policy Board.

A "roadmap for peace" in the middle east has always been an illusion. Back in 1996 Perle, Feith, and other Zionists wrote a report for the Likud government of Benjamin Netanyahu through JINSA. It recommended shredding the Oslo accords and for Israel itself to take the offensive. Other actions proposed included removing Saddam Hussein from power, rolling back Syria and halting talks on exchanging land for peace. It even encouraged a policy of Israeli pre-emptive military strikes. In 1997, Feith told Israel to occupy "the areas under Palestinian Authority control," even though "the price in blood would be high." Indeed, the price has been high. And the Crusade has just begun. The goal is to secure the Holy Land for the eventual return of Christ. Christian Zionists inside the Beltway sit behind the throne of a born-again president. They have gained his ear, and now they have the power. Syria is now Israel's greatest security threat. The road to Damascus begins in an occupied Baghdad.

The madness of George�s foreign policy is overshadowed by the environmental consequences that we are all going to face in the coming years. Global warming is accelerating, with a projected increase of ten degrees Fahrenheit in the next twenty years. The polar ice caps are melting, weather patterns are becoming erratic, and the depletion of the ozone layer is increasing. The rate of species going extinct is accelerating. One of the endangered species is our closest living cousin, the chimpanzee. We in the United States are living the ideals of Christ the consumer. As a result, we are crucifying the planet.