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The Persecuted Church

 

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The Good, the Bad and the Very Ugly

The idea of super-breeding is nothing new, Hitler thought he could engineer a master race. Can we be seeing the seeds of a new third Reich on the horizon by technology? With the new technological tools that can be sold to anyone with enough money, dictators like Saddam Hussain could apply this science for specific breeding programs. They can make the ultimate army. They can make millions to fight there wars and not consider them casualties. They can be numbers with no names and no parents. 

We can make slaves to do our work for us. It can be like the H. G. Wells story time machine, with a twist. Think of the possibilities that clones can be used for in this manner. Cloning might be useful to create a hybrid or a “perfect human,” by eliminating all the flawed genes. A Frankenstein-like scenario It has the possibilities to make one with above normal strength and sub-normal intelligence, someone who can be programmed by its master. Would they be really be human. Would they have souls? Would the life expectancy of these creature be the same?

The experiments are limited only to our imagination. As Genesis said, “the imagination of man was continually evil,” and still is!

Speaking on BBC World Service, Dr. Patrick Dixon said, “We will see the creation of human beings which are growing yet technically dead because they have no brain - but is that the kind of world we want to live in? Hundreds of these humanoids could be made. Their creation will raise profound questions. The real issue is not Dolly the cloned sheep, or now the headless frog. It is how we want society to use gene technology now we have the ability to do more or less whatever we like with life, designing all kinds of bizarre creatures or hybrids. I am far more concerned by tomorrow's headlines than today's, and by the fact that most people are years behind reality when it comes to thinking through the impact of what is going to happen next.” (Dr Patrick Dixon is author of Futurewise, receives 90,000 hits a week on his website.)

The ultimate counterfeit is to make a human being that is not human by origin. Man who was made in the image of God because he has a soul. Does this mean they would not have a conscience? Would they want to obey God, since it was man who became their creator. Could these new creatures be used as vehicles for demon possession making up an army to do the false Messiahs commands when he comes to rule for a short period. Imagine an army that has no conscience about life or death, that will obey a master as slaves without question. They could be vehicles for a new world order to carry out the plans of evil men

It's only a matter of time before scientists will mix human genes with various creatures. The Bible has an obscure statement in the book of Daniel that could possibly be referring to this. “ And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. Daniel 2:43 clay is certainly humanity, but what is the iron? Whatever it is it won't mix.

These new hybrids could grow up without any biological parents, and have no adopted parents, the state could own them. And without this kind of love how would this affect their nature as persons. The truth is they may already be created and we would not even know it, since dolly went on for years before they told us.

Cloning has the possibility of creating creatures that are half human and animal with animal type powers and human thinking or vice versa. What if we are able to give a human type brain to animal? What would we call it? Would it have the same rights as humans if it can think like us? Maybe science will think they are speeding up their evolution by making animals have some type of critical thinking and an ability to speak.

Mice With Human Brains “Weissman has already created mice with brains that are about one percenthuman.”

Later this year he may conduct another experiment where the mice have 100 percent human brains. This would be done, he said, by injecting human neurons into the brains of embryonic mice.

“We must be cautious not to violate the integrity of humanity or of animal life over which we have a stewardship responsibility,” said Cheshire, a member of Christian Medical and Dental Associations.
“Research projects that create human-animal chimeras risk disturbing fragile ecosystems, endanger health, and affront species integrity.”
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0125_050125_chimeras.html

A group of university researchers in California's Silicon Valley is preparing to create a mouse whose brain will be composed entirely of human cells.

Researchers at Stanford University have already succeeded in breeding mice with brains that are one per cent human cells. In the next stage they plan to use stem cells from aborted foetuses to create an animal whose brain cells are 100 per cent human. (TELEGRAPH - By James Langton - March 6, 2005 Telegraph)

A decade ago, scientists created a goat-sheep a cross called a “geep,” and camas (combined camels and lamas) simply by rolling two balls of cells together after fertilization. Monkeys and humans have 97% of genes in common so if the right genes were transferred from a human to a monkey we could land up with a monkey more human than animal. If killed could we call it murder, though technically it would be be 1% cow. There are many other ethical issues that can affect us, How many human genes does another species have to possess before it is given human rights? Human genes have been added to pigs, cows, sheep, rabbits, mice and fish. Scientists can use this technology to create new creatures. These questions will need facing sooner than you may think.

It took 277 eggs with transplanted cells to produce one live lamb. Ian Wilmutt and his associates required 277 tries before producing Dolly. The fact is that they kept cloning secret for three years after doing it, and more than likely were attempting to do it at least a couple of years previously. they didn't tell us anything until Dolly was seven months old, over a year after the cloning was successful and several more years after they started this secret project.

A new cloning technique has recently been developed which is far more reliable.   This was performed In July 1998, a research team at the University of Hawaii announced they cloned 50 mice in three generations from adult cells of a single mouse. It was the most successful cloning experiment to date.

The Reaction

Many countries have already banned experimentation in human cloning or have imposed a temporary moratorium so that the ethical questions can be properly addressed before continuing. When the people of the US started to argue about the ethics of cloning and if it is right to clone humans. Pres. Clinton issued orders that no “federal” dollars could be spent to attempt to clone humans. The presidential commission on bio ethics considers it too risky to pursue and now has a five year ban. That's government funded research. But this does not stop scientist to pursue it on their own finding funding from another source other then the government. The development of this will end up in countries where there is little or no gene legislation because there is a demand. Over 170 nations have no gene laws. Regulating this in America is basically useless when you can fly a plane elsewhere and implant a clone in only a few hours time.

What about those who would want to clone famous or brilliant people. Or wealthy individuals who would want to populate the earth with themselves. None of this can realistically be controlled by regulations because in many parts of the world, they do not adhere to the same ethics, especially if there is money to be made.

Dr Richard Seed's group has raised $15 million and bought land in Hokkaido, Japan. The human cloning group's Tokyo consultant James Ryan says, the facilities will open in August 1999 for infertile couples. The goal is human cloning and they expect around 500 baby human clones each year. Dr Seed said of human cloning earlier this year: “God made man in his own image. God intended for man to become one with God. Cloning and the reprogramming of DNA are the first serious steps in becoming one with God.” 

The Associated Press reported in Oct. 98 a wealthy couple, donated $2.3 million to Texas A & M University to clone their dog. In Nov. 1998 the world's first human clone of an adult had been made, by an American biotech company in Massachusetts, Advanced Cell Technology. They took a cell from Dr. Jose Cibelli, a research scientist and combined it with a cow’s egg from which the genes had already been removed.

This was done by removing DNA from the skin of a man's leg and inserting it into a cow's egg, which previously had its nucleus removed. It is reported that ACT may have performed the same experiment years before.
The genes activated and the egg began to divide in the normal way up to the 32 cell stage at which it was destroyed. If the clone had been allowed to continue beyond implantation it would have developed as Dr Cibelli's identical twin. Technically 1% of the human clone genes would have belonged to the cow - the mitochondria genes.

A British scientist in the 1980s who was attempting then to clone human embryos - with some success. His purpose he said was to freeze clones to be used later for spare parts.

One of the major arguments against cloning is that it would rob individuals of their uniqueness, that is designed and given by God or Nature. But the assumption is that “we are our genes”, and this is what makes us who we are. But humanity is more than our genes. The bible teaches we are fearfully and wonderfully made, science is beginning to uncover how real this statement really is.

The New York Times' section on Science Times (November 11, 1998) said “Experts See Immortality in Endlessly Dividing Cells.” Are scientists coming close to finding man is more than his body?

There is something more to mankind than his physiological makeup and scientists are possibly coming close to discovering this as they go into cellular levels.

THE NEW GENESIS  BY TOBY MOORE IN NEW YORK AND MICHAEL HANLON IN LONDON
A BLUEPRINT for the creation of life is about to be unveiled by scientists. The mystery of creation, which took nature hundreds of millions of years, may now be accomplished by Man within five years. A leading genetics researcher has worked out the process to create a synthetic bacterium. Scientists say it is only a short step to the creation of much more complex life forms.
It raises the prospect of humans ultimately being able to create new species of plants and animals. Dr Craig Venter revealed at a US science conference in January that he planned to investigate the possibilities of making bacteria using artificial DNA. The production of a written blueprint for creating a synthetic organism so rapidly will confound skeptics.
It will make human beings the creators of other living forms far sooner than expected, possibly just a few years into the new millennium.
The blueprint is now being submitted to the prestigious Journal of Science and will astound the world of genetic research.
Professor David Magnus, a scientist at the University of Pennsylvania's Centre for Bioethics, said that it would be “a short step” from making a basic bacteria to creating animals and plants.
The ethics expert, a world authority on the new genetic sciences, has called for a measured response to the breakthrough, which will renew the debate surrounding genetic engineering.

A team in Newcastle upon Tyne has conducted experiments that mark the start of its human cloning effort. In August, they were given permission by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to study how to clone microscopic human embryos and use them as a source of stem cells, which can turn into any of the 200 types in the body. Yesterday Dr Stojkovic said that he had begun to use spare eggs, left over from IVF treatments. “I have done the first manipulation with human eggs,” he said...http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/20/nclon20.xml 

Creating Life in the Lab

Using in-vitro fertilization, we already have the ability to start a new life outside of the womb, are we willing to go to the next step of genetic engineering eggs of humans. Infertile couples are already buying human eggs on-line. Can we find ourselves in a society where Supermodels or geniuses' could sell their eggs to the highest bidder. Many think human organs will be made available in bio-auctions very soon.

In 1980 a California Co. started a Nobel sperm bank which sold the sperm of Nobel prize winners to help woman give artificially inseminated birth to smarter babies.

On the other hand now one can breed for beauty in eugenics. Ron Harris a fashion photographer and a producer of exercise videos and director for playboy TV believes that being beautiful is part of evolution which favors fitness and good health. As attractive people are more successful and popular. So he has created a web site where people can bid for the eggs of beautiful models. (www.ronsangels.com) shows the photos of glamorous woman who are selling their Ova to the highest bidder. Starting at $15,000 (infertility clinics charge much less 2,500-3,000) the concept is to put the fertilized eggs in a woman who hare not so beautifully endowed to breed better looking people. He also plans in the future to sell the sperm of male models with the bids starting at $10,000. So a couple could breed an ultimate looking child that has no biological connection to them. (reported on the Berean Call program on world magazine)

The CREATORS

  Jerry Hall who is involved in splitting cells, was asked in the Time magazine article (November 8, 1993, p. 67) if he feared that his work would create a public backlash towards this kind of research. He said: “I respect people's concerns and feelings. But we have not created human life or destroyed human life in this experiment.” Hall and Stillman seem to hold to the position the embryos they were working with were not human life. Than what they are saying is that they are not creating human life but non life. Yet if left to grow successfully what would it be?

If two to four identical embryos could be created from a single fertilized egg, then one could be tested for the genetic marker, and the others held in frozen storage. The genetic testing may even require the destruction of the initial embryo. If the test is negative, then one of the reserve embryos could be thawed, implanted, and brought to term. This process demeans human life. If the test confirms the presence of the genetic disease, all embryos could be destroyed.

Human embryos have already been cloned using other methods. Where do we draw the line? Is there a line?

God says there is. Isa. 42:5 Thus says God the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread forth the earth and that which comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it:”

                        The Different Religious reactions


The Catholic Church: John Paul II released a statement condemning the cloning of all life forms. The Vatican also issued a statement that only condemned human cloning, but did not address other forms.

Sunni Islam: Abdelmo’ti Bayyumi, theologian from Al-Azhar University declared it is forbidden to clone animals under Islamic law. However, some Muslims have testified to the National Bio-ethics Advisory Committee that they feel cloning might be allowable if it produced ways to counteract infertility.

Judaism: The Chief Rabbi of Israel, Meir Law, stated that the cloning of any creature is against Jewish law. However, some believe cloning in order to produce better food and medication would be allowable in Jewish tradition.

Biotechnology Industry Organization: Carl Felbaum, president- “One of the prospects should not be, perhaps should never be, the extension of this technique to human beings... Now that it may be possible we would say it should be prohibited if necessary by law.”

This science can be exploited to produce horrendous results but it all depends on which side one is on. But even some who hold to belief in God are pro cloning ,two religions in particular the Raelian Religion and the Summum Religion, believe in cloning as one of their tenets.

The founder of a religious organization called the RAELIAN MOVEMENT that claims that life on earth was created scientifically in laboratories by extra-terrestrials by the name (Elohim) and that Jesus' resurrection was a clone performed by the Elohim. Has announced that he and a group of investors have set up a company named VALIANT VENTURE LTD which will offer a service called CLONAID (r) to provide assistance to would be parents willing to have a child cloned from one of them. The Bahamas-based Company plans to build a laboratory in a country where human cloning is not illegal and will offer opportunity to parents with fertility problems or homosexual couples to have a child cloned from one of them. With a charge as low as $200,000 US dollars for its cloning services it will be for the wealthy only. They will also offer a service called INSURACLONE (r) which, for a $50,000 fee, will provide the sampling and safe storage of cells from a living child or from a beloved person in order to create a clone if the child dies of an incurable disease or through an accident.

RAEL said: “Cloning will enable mankind to reach eternal life. The next step, like the ELOHIM with their 25,000 years of scientific advance, will be to directly clone an adult person without having to go through the growth process and to transfer memory and personality in this person. Then, we wake up after death in a brand new body just like after a good night sleep!”

Rael is Claude Vorilhon, a French race car driver and journalist who changed his name to Rael after aliens revealed to him the origin of the human race during a UFO trip in 1973.

At first I was not sure if we are to take this project seriously from this religion, but the opportunity for anyone to have a business in this is open. And they have begun.

Clonaid is funded by private investors that runs hidden labs scattered around the world.   There are eight scientists working in Clonaid labs in the United States and elsewhere. Although the most active labs are located outside the United States.

The Clonaid Web site says it will charge “as low as $200,000” for their services.  West Virginia lawyer Mark Hunt,  told the Charleston, S.C., Gazette that he had invested $500,000 in Clonaid before he finally severed ties with the organization. The paper reported Hunt and his wife enlisted Boisselier to clone their 10-month-old son, who died two years ago.

Food and Drug Administration officials recently visited one of Boisselier's U.S. labs and ordered all cloning experiments to stop, spokeswoman Lenore Gelb said. The agency is investigating possible violations of FDA regulations regarding experimental procedures.

  “We have inspected her lab and she signed a statement that she would not attempt human cloning in the U.S.” until the matter is resolved by lawmakers, Gelb said, refusing to comment further. story found : http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2001/Sep-02-Sun-2001/news/16884078.html

CTV (Canada), Dec. 18, 2002- A spokesman for the Raelian organization told CTV News that a baby girl is expected to be born in the next 14 days. Clonaid told CTV's Avis Favaro that it has four more viable pregnancies due in February and that it plans to implant another 20 cloned embryos next month.

 On Dec. 27, 2002: Clonaid claims to have produce first human clone, a baby girl name EVE. Scientistrs are awaiting to examine the girl to see if this report is true.

Promoters of Cloning

The Libertarian Political Party supports human cloning.And stated it “ is one of the “most exciting and important scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century” and should not be prohibited by the government.” (NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY Feb. 25, 1997) recognizing animal cloning may produce drugs to save lives they warmed politicians, Don't play God with human cloning. “Yes, cloning of human beings does raise serious ethical issues, but those issues are best addressed by individuals, doctors, and scientists -- not politicians,” said Dasbach. “It would be a shame if frightened politicians slammed the door on one of the most exciting and important scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century.”

Gay Today is a weekly Internet newsmagazine , They are unequivocally pro-human cloning closely covering the cloning issue.( On their web site they have dolly dressed in robe looking messiahlike).

The science of cloning has implications for same sex reproduction. “Heterosexuality's monopoly on reproduction is now obsolete.”

The Human Cloning Foundation Is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the state of Georgia. They have five board members - a lawyer, a bioethicist, an Internet expert, an activist, and a physician.

Council for Secular Humanism has a Declaration in Defense of Cloning and the Integrity of Scientific Research.

They are in favor of scientific advances that have contributed improvements in human welfare. They recognize legitimate ethical questions about the process and recommend to go ahead with cloning with appropriate guidelines against any abuses.” Every effort should be made not to block the freedom and integrity of scientific research

The International Cloning Society is pro cloning and believes one of their roles is,”… in part, to collect, record, file and maintain the data (and DNA/cell specimens) of those people who have become registered members.” One of the reasons is Space travel and the colonization of distant planets.

Cloning is an outrage to most of the fundamental religions, as it appears they are playing God, and meddling in the natural process of life and development. Prof Magnus said that his committee believed official regulation should not precede developments, but run alongside.
The late 20th Century was about discovering genes and tinkering with them. The next century, he predicted, “is going to be about designing them”. we can then design the child we want.

In a group Interview with some great thinkers and scientists on Fox news in the beginning of this year 2,000 here is what one had to say “I think there are no boundaries, I think that within a few hundred years we will have the power of a God, we will have the ability to remake the human species in our image animate the inanimate. However the question is will we have the wisdom of Solomon to go with the power of a God.”(The new millennium Fox news, science fiction or science fact Jan.2, 2000)

Science has the ability to clone and copy what God did on the fifth and sixth days of creation and attribute it to man. The scientist can now play the role of the Creator.

Gen 1:27: “ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Now man wants to improve on this to make a new species in our image. The difference is God breathed in life directly into man who was made from the earth. Isa. 45:12 God says,” I have made the earth, and created man on it. I-- My hands-- stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded.”

For Col. 1:16 states of Jesus Christ “ principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.” That he holds all things together by the word of his power.

As the Lord pronounced in Genesis our imagination was continually evil, has anything changed? Today that evil has ramifications we can hardly understand at the crossroads we are now at.

There is an interesting Scripture in the book of Revelation chapter 18 verses12-13. When Babylon is destroyed we find why she was prosperous, because of the different merchandise she sold and traded in. “Gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.” 

Notice it distinguishes bodies and the souls of men. We can take this the old fashion way and think of it as slaves and people in spiritual bondage. Or maybe it has a meaning that would include the technological meltdown that we are now entering into, cloning people. It is not that far out of reach to see body parts and souls being sold as mankind enters a age unlike any other.

Like anything we develop, cloning can be used for good or for evil. Many things we are using today from research are helpful to us, but can still have the potential for, and has already been used for evil. Dynamite was invented to help build railroads for transportation, but it was used for destruction. Knives are used every day to save lives as well as to take them. The tool is neutral, but man's use of it is not. It is left up to the ones who hold it in their hands.

The apprehension about cloning is confirmed when we look at us as people and a society in a moral-ethical decline. Our track record in setting and enforcing guidelines that are ethical should give anyone concern. Society is on the brink of a moral disaster and this added to our dilemma cannot bring anything good in the long run. The power of life in the hands of man can certainly has the potential to run amuck.

Because of man's rejection of God we have now come to this turning point in human history. In essence cloning is trying to reverse the effects of the fall and trying to give man a shot at eternal life avoiding death which was the punishment for the fall. God has offered us eternal life, but we must receive it His way. Cloning with all its benefits for the human condition will not be the cure we have been searching for, it just may speed up our demise.

 

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