The New Under Ground Church-THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Unsaved Christians: Do We Understand the Threat of Sin in the Life of Christians?

Cross Daily — Taking up our cross daily is a costly, yet very rewarding journey. (Lightstock)

Note: This is the first in a series of articles by John Burton. Part 2 on Monday will explore the salvation of Christians who persist in a life of "minor" sin.
There is a glorious salvation to be had, and the enemy has tainted powerful, life-giving theologies in an attempt to counterfeit them—and draw people away from the one true God. God's passion is for people to be wildly in love with Him, and that is what the enemy is afraid of. Instead of radical intimacy and passionate obedience, people are falling for a lesser, false doctrine that communicates God's apparent affirmation of them and affection for them—and it is resulting in a faux closeness to him for millions of "Christians."
Our salvation is glorious and it is also weighty. We can't presume upon it or take it lightly. I suggest it's possible that most people who are convinced of their position in Christ would actually be in Hell if they died today. I will share some convincing and powerful stories that speak directly to further down in the article. People like Corrie Ten Boom, John Mulinde and Daniel Ekechukwu have a perspective that few others do.
The concept of unsaved Christians seems contradictory. I understand that. A Christian is a follower of Jesus. I am suggesting that there are many followers of Jesus, many who name the name of Christ, who are living their lives following him in an unsaved condition.
"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things: I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain but are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfected before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches'" (Rev. 3:1-6).
But, are we not free from condemnation if we are in Christ Jesus? Yes. But, let's look at that verse:
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1a).
A massive and increasing number of Christians have been lulled into a slumber regarding the reality of salvation. They have a reputation of being alive, but are dead because of their sin. The common presumption is now that if we read our Bible, go to church and identify ourselves as Christians we are automatically exempt from condemnation. The problem? Too many have not understood just what it means to be in Christ Jesus.
Tragically it's true that countless professing Christians are actually living in a place of condemnation because they aren't truly in Christ Jesus. We can't just call ourselves Christians and presume that we are truly in Christ.
"To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, for the carnal mind is hostile toward God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:6-8).
The last 24 years my life and ministry have been marked by a troubled spirit and an unrelenting passion for extreme surrender, zealous prayer and an unapologetic call for passion, repentance and holiness. I understand just how separated, intense and broken we must be to truly be counted among the saved—or, I at least have an understanding of the type of deception that is causing people to remain careless in their walk with Jesus.
To be a true follower of Jesus requires more than today's theologies are communicating, and that does indeed both anger and wreck me. This is why I just cannot lead a church or ministry without an intense, burning edge to them. Anything short of radical just can't be promoted anymore!
Why is my spirit troubled? Because I am convinced both by Scripture and by a horrifying encounter I had with the terror of Hell over two decades ago that a shocking percentage of professing Christians are on their way to Hell. We must exhort one another into radical faith.
" Be attentive, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, and you depart from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,' lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:12-13).
The risk of falling away is very real, and very terrifying:
"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to be renewed once more to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and subject Him to public shame" (Heb. 6:4-6).
In my encounter, I was dragged toward Hell as a praying, worshipping, professing Christian—and I almost went mad. The terror is beyond anything I could ever describe and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. When people tell others to go to Hell, they have no idea what they are saying.
When I came out of the encounter I received the most troubling message that God has ever given me: Many Christians will be shocked to find themselves in Hell one day. My life-long mandate is to shout this truth and awaken the sleepers.
These are people who believe they are in Christ Jesus—but are not—and who are heading to a judgment day that will stun them. This is why continual warnings and messages of awakening must pierce our church culture. This is why anything less than a white hot, high-bar atmosphere of fervent prayer, repentance and brokenness must be rejected in our churches. It's time for Ichabod churches to be made known so it become clear who the martyr-minded true believers are. Those who are willing to take up their cross are those that make up the true church.
Today the world is watching millions of people following Jesus with no cross on their backs, and this is the heretical deception that must be exposed. God will, in time, reveal the wheat and the tares.
"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it'" (Matt. 16:24-25).
John Burton has been developing and leading ministries for over 20 years and is a sought out teacher, prophetic messenger and revivalist. John has authored nine books, has appeared on Christian television and radio and directed one of the primary internships at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City. Additionally, he planted two churches, has initiated two city prayer movements and is currently directing a prayer and revival focused ministry school in Detroit called theLab University. John's mandate is to call the church in the nations to repentance from casual Christianity and to burn in a manner worthy of the King of Kings. He is equipping people to confront the enemies of God (established religion, Jezebel, etc.) that hinder an extreme, sold out level of true worship.
For the original article, visit johnburton.com.

Here’s How the New Christian Left Is Twisting the Gospel

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Here’s How the New Christian Left Is Twisting the Gospel

Peek behind the curtain of some "progressive" or "hip" evangelical churches, past the savvy technology and secular music, and you will find more than just a contemporary worship service. You'll find faith leaders encouraging young evangelicals to trade in their Christian convictions for a gospel filled with compromise. They're slowly attempting to give evangelicalism an "update"—and the change is not for the good.
It's painful for me to admit, but we can no longer rest carefree in our evangelical identity—because it is changing. No doubt you have seen the headlines declaring that evangelicalism is doomed because evangelical kids are leaving the faith. It is no secret that there is an expanding gulf between traditional Christian teachings and contemporary moral values. But the sad truth is that the ideological gulf between America's evangelical grown-ups and their kids, aka the "millennials," seems to be widening too.
Somehow the blame for this chasm is being heaped on traditional churches. They are accused of having too many rules as well as being homophobic and bigoted. Yes, we've heard those false claims from popular culture in its desperate attempt to keep Christianity imprisoned within the sanctuary walls. But now popular culture is being aided by Christ-professing bedfellows whose message to "coexist," "tolerate" and "keep out of it" is more marketable to the rising generation of evangelicals.
The seasoned Christian soldiers are noticing these distortions of the gospel. But for young evangelicals, the spiritual haze is harder to wade through. Desperate for acceptance in a fallen world, many young evangelicals (and some older ones) choose not to take Christ out of the chapel, and so they are unwittingly killing the church's public witness. In this uphill cultural battle, mired by scare tactics and fear, three types of evangelical Christians are emerging:

Couch-potato Christians: These Christians adapt to the culture by staying silent on the tough culture-and-faith discussions. Typically this group will downplay God's absolute truths by promoting the illusion that neutrality was Jesus' preferred method of evangelism.
Cafeteria-style Christians: This group picks and chooses which Scripture passages to live by, opting for the ones that best seem to jive with culture. Typically they focus solely on the "nice" parts of the gospel while simultaneously and intentionally minimizing sin, hell, repentance and transformation.
Convictional Christians: In the face of the culture's harsh admonitions, these evangelicals refuse to be silent. Mimicking Jesus, they compassionately talk about love and grace while also sharing with their neighbors the need to recognize and turn from sin.

I know about these three types of Christians because at one time or another I have fallen into each of these three categories. My parents will tell you that even though I was raised in church, I morphed into a full-fledged feminist, told my parents they were ignorant for not endorsing homosexuality and bought into the distorted social justice rhetoric that confuses caring for the poor with advancing socialist or big government systems and demonizing the United States for its free market system.
I'm not ashamed to share my story because my experiences and those of my fellow bold evangelicals are a testimony of God's awesome, transforming power. Being countercultural for Christ isn't easy. What does the Great Commission say? Jesus commanded us to go, "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:20).
Where Did We Go Wrong?
I see so many parents scratching their heads trying to figure out where they went wrong with young evangelicals. Following the instructions of Proverbs 22:6—"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it"—many evangelical parents took their children to church and prayed with them every night before bed. Yet the values those children now hold dear do not reflect the traditional teachings of Jesus.
To be perfectly clear, I want to let you know upfront that this isn't a parenting how-to guide that, if followed, will lead your loved ones to salvation. Instead, what I can offer you is a glimpse into the world of a twenty-something who sees thousands of young evangelicals being spiritually and emotionally targeted on Christian university campuses, in college ministries and at churches nationwide by a growing liberal movement cloaked in Christianity.
Research tells us that evangelicals are drifting further away from the orthodox truths their parents and grandparents held dear.
Our churches have rarely—if ever—faced the exodus we are seeing today. This will have a direct effect on the spiritual and moral values that will shape the nation in the coming years. That is why it is urgent that concerned Christians start acting now before the situation gets worse.
The Collision of Faith and Culture
Faith and culture will continue to collide in America. The culture wars, the growth of family, the success of missions, the prosperity of our great nation—the future rests on millennial evangelicals' worldview. And that is cause for concern, because something has gone wrong with young evangelicals' theology.
The millennial generation's susceptibility to "feel-good" doctrine is playing a big part in America's moral decline. Millennials' religious practices depend largely on how the actions make us and others feel, whether the activities are biblical or not. For example, we only attend churches that leave us feeling good about our lifestyle choices, even if those choices conflict with God's clear commandments. We dismiss old hymns that focus on God's transforming salvation, love and mercy and opt for "Jesus is your boyfriend" songs. Or we contribute to nonprofits that exploit and misuse terms such as justice, oppressed and inequality because tweaking the language makes us feel more neutral, less confrontational.
Popular liberal evangelical writers and preachers tell young evangelicals that if they accept abortion and same-sex marriage, then the media, academia and Hollywood will finally accept Christians. Out of fear of being falsely dubbed "intolerant" or "uncompassionate," many young Christians are buying into theological falsehoods. Instead of standing up as a voice for the innocent unborn or marriage as God intended, millennials are forgoing the authority of Scripture and embracing a couch potato, cafeteria-style Christianity all in the name of tolerance.
This contemporary mindset is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian whose Christian convictions put him at odds with the Nazis and cost him his life, called "cheap grace." In his book The Cost of Discipleship Bonhoeffer wrote: "Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
Right now cheap grace theology is proliferating around evangelical Bible colleges, seminaries and Christian ministries.
Christian Doctrine Hijacked
It is not that millennial evangelicals were not taken to church by their parents. It is that their training has been hijacked by ineffective and sometimes intentionally distorted doctrine.
As constant and pervasive as the attacks on Christianity are at public universities, it is important to remember that millennials' worldviews do not start taking shape after they move out of their parents' houses. Their understanding of Jesus' teachings and cultural convictions begin to form while they are still at home and under the influence of their local church.
What I hope and pray evangelical parents and leaders come to realize is that the church has been too trusting. In our jampacked lifestyles, parents have treated Sunday school as they do softball or ballet class—drop off the kids for an hour then pick them up and hope they learned something.
Early on in my Sunday school teaching days, my co-teacher and I followed the curriculum pretty narrowly, the exception being that my co-teacher had an outstanding knowledge of biblical history that he imparted to the kids.
We taught all about Jesus' birth, resurrection and saving grace. Thinking the fluffy kids ministry curriculum covered all of the necessary bases, I felt confident these kids had a firm grasp on their Christian worldview. Boy, was I wrong!
One day my co-teacher and I decided to play "True or False." We casually went down a list of worldview questions with our class, sure that our little evangelicals would nail every question correctly.
No. 1: Jesus is God. "True." Great job.
No. 2: Jesus sinned. "False." Bingo!
No. 3: Jesus is one of many ways to heaven. "True." What?!
Shocked is the only way to describe how I felt. Hadn't they been listening to us? When I asked who taught them that, one girl said, "Coexist." Yes, these young evangelicals had been listening to their Sunday school teachers and their parents, but they had also been listening to their public school teachers, TV celebrities and rock stars.
Youth ministers, volunteer leaders and pastors also have to start preparing these kids to deal with the very real hostility that faces young evangelicals.
If we never talk about abortion in church, how can we expect the rising evangelical girl to calmly explain the option of adoption to her frightened best friend who just admitted she is pregnant?
What will surprise you is how much young evangelicals actually crave honest discussions about abortion, sexuality, sexual exploitation, feminism and radical Islam. My friend and Evangelical Action adviser Richmond Trotter has two non-negotiable topics when addressing youth: creation and life. Having volunteered in church youth ministry since 1996, Richmond is not afraid to have serious discussions about what Scripture says about abortion, evolution and homosexuality. Make no mistake: The trend away from biblical truth is not concentrated in the hipster city limits. It is unfolding in the crevices of America's plains, hills, mountains and swamplands. All across this nation, "old-fashioned" conservative evangelicalism is being traded in for a bright and shiny, mediocre Christianity.
If America's evangelicals disengage from the public square and fail to engage the rising generation of Christian leaders, then we risk losing our public voice, then our religious liberty, then liberty altogether.
What Happened to the Religious Right?
The last several decades witnessed tremendous evangelical influence in the United States. Leaders such as Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Tim and Beverly LaHaye, Paige and Dorothy Patterson, James Dobson, and James and Betty Robison made a bold impact on America's families, churches and government. Now that those few leaders are aging or retiring, or have died, there are very few traditional evangelical leaders left holding the torch and even fewer candidates to whom they can pass it.
But religious convictions in America are not on the verge of disappearance just yet. There is still hope. In the book God Is Alive and Well: The Future of Religion in America, Gallup Inc. Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport ensures: "Christianity will prevail in the U.S. America will remain very much a Christian nation in the decades ahead, albeit less so than in the past because of an increase in Americans who don't have a religious identity."
Heed the Warning Signs
Evangelicals and culture warriors in the U.S. do not have to look far to discover what happens when Christian denominations give up on their traditional convictions and teachings. All we have to do is look at the dwindling memberships of mainline Protestant denominations.
In order to safeguard the trajectory of young evangelicals, we must uphold the authoritative Word of God. It is imperative that those in a position to influence millennials have transparent and honest discussions about the culture wars evangelical youth are already engaging. Otherwise they will be silent and accepting in the face of persecution and false doctrine.
The importance of arming the next generation of evangelicals cannot be overstated. If we continue to follow the example of mainline Protestants, evangelicalism will have a gloomy future. We must offer sorely needed leadership, but before we can do that, we need to know exactly whom and what we are up against.

Chelsen Vicari serves as the Institute on Religion and Democracy's evangelical program director. Prior to joining the IRD, she worked for Concerned Women for America. She holds a bachelor of science in political science and history and a master's degree in international politics. Her articles on evangelicalism and public policy have appeared in TheBlaze, The Christian Post, and RealClearReligion. She recently wrote her first book, Distortion, from which this article is excerpted.

Mat Staver and Matt Barber discuss the clash between Christianity and Progressive Liberalism at culturalchristianity.charismamag.com.

More information
In her book Distortion: How the Christian Left Is Twisting the Gospel and Damaging the Faith, Chelsen Vicari reveals the disturbing truths behind liberal teachings. Using her own experience, Vicari shows how the deception impacts Christianity and the church. This book can be found wherever Christian books are sold or at amazon.com or christianbook.com.

Prophetic Dream: A Great Birthing in 2016 Depends on This

Will the church ever unify against abortion? (Flickr)

The Father spoke to me and said, "Jeremiah, the primary area that is upon my heart in this hour is the issue of abortion. I have given you a dream that must reach the four corners of the United States. The church must unify on this issue. I am giving them four years to do it. If they will, a great birthing will take place in 2016. He then took me to the same factory that I had been to before regarding abortion. He showed me the same dream again. Here is the dream.
Let My Babies Go Dream
I began to walk down the same dirt road that I had traveled on two nights ago. As I walked, the Spirit of God said to me, "Just as I have shown you the thrones that men and women sit upon in their homes and in my churches and think that they worship me, so I will show you the cries that come before MY throne day and night."
I walked up to a huge factory where a line of men and women filled the street. The factory was dark and the hair on my body was standing straight up. Most of the women that were in line trying to get into the factory were very pregnant; others of them were carrying small children. As I made my way to the front of the line, I heard screams coming from inside, blood curling screams. There was an inscription in the top of the door that read, "House of Horror."
As I walked inside, I realized that this factory was an enormous abortion clinic, and I began to weep. There were hundreds of cribs in this factory. The factory floor was about as big as a football field. As I began to look inside the cribs, I saw very small babies with snakes wrapped around them. It was horrifying. I moved from crib to crib watching these snakes choke and kill these babies. I noticed that the women that were dropping these babies off were dejected, defeated, and overwhelmed. I stared into their eyes and pleaded with them, but their minds and hearts were already made up.
All of the sudden, the House of Horror began to shake. It felt like a tremendous earthquake was unearthing the foundation of the factory. Then came a booming, loud, and fatherly voice that said, "LET MY BABIES GO!"
At the sound of the Father's voice, I cried out violently and said, "Father what is this, what is this House of Horror? Who are these snakes?" He said to me, "This house of horror and houses like this in the earth are what have my full attention in this hour. The snakes are the spirits of suicide and death. They are methodically killing off the next generations. The dejected, defeated, and overwhelming look that you see on those women's faces are what happens when they come into agreement with the lies of the deceiver."
I left the factory weeping. I was inconsolable. I began saying to the Father, "but I just want to see Your house Papa! I want to see what is inside Your factory!" And He said to me, "So have you asked, so shall I show you." I turned down a dirt road and there before me was a glowing factory. It was made of gold and pearls. There were angelic hosts that were guarding it day and night. There was also a line of people out in front of this factory, just like the house of horror, except none of the women and men had children and none of the women were pregnant. I thought that this was peculiar.
As I approached the entrance to this glowing factory, the Father's factory, before me was a beautiful and radiant inscription that read, "House of Hope." As I walked into this factory, I heard laughing; hysterical laughter. I began to look around inside the Hope factory and realized that the sound was coming from the cribs. I said to the Father, "These babies are too young to laugh like this." He said to me, "Jeremiah, this is the laugh of the redeemed that no man can contain or deny."
I began to take notice of the babies in the cribs very carefully. I wanted to make sure that there were no snakes in these cribs. As I looked down into all the cribs in the Hope factory, I noticed that in each and every one of the cribs, there was an inscription woven into the crib bed where the babies were lying. The inscriptions on the cribs read, Isaiah 66:9 "Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?" says the LORD. "Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?" says your God.
I began to shout aloud in the hope factory and I rejoiced over these babies with laughter, dance, and singing. I joined with these young ones in the "laugh of the redeemed." As I paraded my way around, the Spirit of God spoke to me and said, "Jeremiah, I want you to tell the people what you have seen and heard. I want you to shout this from the north, to the south, and to the east and the west. Gather my sons and daughters from afar, for I am raising up the spirit of adoption in the earth specifically amongst my bride. Even as I am bringing many sons and daughters to glory, so I am going to sovereignly begin to place the murder of the innocent at the doorsteps of many, many hearts in this hour. Houses of horror will begin to rise in the earth. I hear their cries Jeremiah. I will not turn my ears and eyes away from my precious ones. Watch the White House. My people will gather there to fight for Hope. People from all over the nation will gather to fight for the lives of the innocent ones. Watch and see. There will be many in the earth that will begin to adopt. I am even now championing this cause in the earth. I am touching sons and daughters and planting inside of them a heart to adopt from my House of Hope. None of the women and men that you saw lined up outside My House of Hope had children or babies because they were coming to my house to adopt."
As the Father finished speaking to me, I began to find my way to the entrance of the factory. As I walked outside, I began to thank everyone in the line. I said, "The Father wants to personally thank you for coming to His House of Hope, for championing this cause in the earth, for it has come before His throne and He will not watch and wait any longer." I began to notice women in their 50s, 60s, and 70s standing in the back of the line. I said, "Father? Them too?" He said to me, "Yes Jeremiah, shall these women not also partake in my invitation to adopt in this hour?" I walked away from the Hope factory rejoicing, but also filled with sadness as I once again noticed the factory of horror that I had walked into earlier that night. Then I awoke.
Jeremiah Johnson is the servant leader of Heart of the Father Ministry in Lakeland, Florida. A gifted teacher, book author, and prophetic minister, Jeremiah travels extensively throughout the United States and abroad as a conference and guest speaker. Jeremiah and his wife, Morgan, reside in Florida with their two children: Bella Grace and Israel David.

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'Eco-Terrorist' Threat to Poison New Zealand Baby Formula

'Eco-Terrorist' Threat to Poison New Zealand Baby Formula

by Naharnet Newsdesk 10 hours ago

New Zealand has received an "eco-terrorist" threat to poison baby formula, Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday, in a scare that risks further denting the country's "clean, green" reputation.

Police said they were taking the issue seriously after small packages of baby formula containing poison were sent with anonymous letters to the National Farmers Federation and dairy giant Fonterra.

"Whilst there is a possibility that this threat is a hoax, we must treat the threat seriously and a priority investigation is underway," deputy commissioner Mike Clement said.

Authorities warned parents to examine packaging for signs of tampering and supermarkets removed formula cans from shelves to storerooms so shoppers could not access them directly.

Police said the motive behind what they termed a blackmail attempt was the use of a poison called 1080 for pest control, which some critics say kills native wildlife.

Asked how he would characterize the threat, Key replied: "It's a form of eco-terrorism without doubt.

"The person's motive is to try and bully the government into not using 1080 (but) the reality of anyone carrying out this threat are extremely low," he added.

Even if it was a hoax, the scare comes at a sensitive time for New Zealand?s dairy industry, which is recovering from a botulism scare last year involving Fonterra.

It was eventually declared a false alarm but not before potentially toxic formula was yanked off shelves from China to Saudi Arabia.

New Zealand is the world's largest dairy exporter and infant formula is a major component, with annual exports to China alone totaling NZ$3.0 billion (U.S.$2.2 billion).

Infant Formula Exporters Association chairman Michel Barnett said the industry did not need another crisis.

"This could be extremely damaging for New Zealand's exports offshore," he told TVNZ.

"Not just dairy, not just milk formula, our whole reputation as an exporter of food is at risk as a result of this nutter."

The New Zealand Food and Grocery Council said extra testing had been introduced to reassure parents, adding that it had "absolute confidence" that products were safe.

"This is an attack on Brand New Zealand," it said.

"Our country has a reputation for producing safe, high-quality food products which are in demand around the world, and this coward's letter doesn't change that at all.

"These letters are an attack on all New Zealanders, designed to gain publicity and cause the maximum damage to the New Zealand economy."

The threat, originally made in November, was to contaminate products unless 1080 was banned by the end of March.

Clement said a team of 36 officers had been investigating the threat since November and appealed for public assistance tracking down the blackmailer.

SourceAgence France Presse

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How the TPP Could Alter Medicine, Agriculture & National Security

How the TPP Could Alter Medicine, Agriculture & National Security

Susanne.Posel-Headline.News.Official- obama.trans.pacific.partnership.medicine.farming.national.security_occupycorporatism

Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | The US Independent
March 9, 2015

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) includes a collection of countries who are secretly negotiating trade deals which will be revealed in a meeting in Hawaii held next month:
• United States
• Japan
• Canada
• Australia
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Peru
• Brunei
• Chile
• Mexico
• Vietnam
This agreement will affect “more than 700 million people” in areas such as intellectual property, medical care, and other advancements.
Journalist Michele Flournoy made a note of how the TPP improves the necessity of strengthening “America’s security ties, which are a unique and central feature of US global power. These critical partnerships are at their strongest and most durable when military cooperation rests on a foundation of shared economic interests. Wealthier partners benefiting from a more open regional trading system would be able to devote greater resources to helping the U.S. address global and regional security challenges, from counterterrorism and maritime security to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.”
Flournoy praise the TPP for being “an unprecedented opportunity—and one that may not return for decades—to establish widespread trade rules in Asia that advance US values and interests. Ensuring that countries like Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam elevate their practices to meet these higher standards would yield economic and social reforms that the US has long sought to advance in Asia.”
Pharmaceutical corporations involved in the TPP would become “prolonged monopolies” which would stifle affordable medicines to poor nations. This includes the possibility that regulations on medicines could become unpredictable because of the investment costs of medicine to “vulnerable populations”.
The right to health is not covered in the TPP which weakens the investor state dispute settlement (ISDS) which remains an international public law granting investors rights to utilize legal disputes to bring a foreign government to court.

Farmers are concerned about the TPP as well as the medical community.
Chuck Earnest, rice farmer from Missouri, said : “A free trade agreement across the Pacific Ocean could open up markets and raise prices for him as well as other rice producers. About 40 percent of the American rice crop is exported year after year, and so we have to have access to far more markets in order to be able to move our crop.”
Earnest believes that US farmers “would benefit greatly from more international trade deals like” the TPP because with “a range of commodities we might increase our exports to Japan, which means higher U.S. prices for these commodities and somewhat greater revenue to farmers and producers.”
Earlier in 2015, Tom Vislack, secretary of the Department of Agriculture (USDA) told the House Agriculture Committee (HAC) that the TPP should be approved to “circumvent smaller trade deals that likely won’t be subject to as much scrutiny. This Trans Pacific Partnership is a big deal.”
Former secretaries of the USDA wrote a joint letter about the TPP: “As former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture, we know firsthand the importance of trade to America’s farm and ranch families. Every President since Gerald Ford has received TPA. Thanks to opportunities created by trade agreements, U.S. agricultural exports in fiscal year 2014 soared to a new record of $152.5 billion propelling farm income also to new highs. Trade helps farmers, their suppliers, distributors and customers. Exports support rural economies and the U.S. economy as a whole through agricultural processing, ancillary services and a host of related businesses. This was true when each of us served as US Secretary of Agriculture, and it is true now.”
The former secretaries concluded: “We are excited about new opportunities for U.S. agriculture in foreign markets. Opening markets helps farm families and their communities prosper. Other governments also recognize this and are actively forging their own trade agreements. If the United States stands still, other countries will quickly move ahead of us. For us, the choice is clear: we encourage Congress to enact Trade Promotion Authority and support trade agreements that help U.S. farmers, ranchers, and producers thrive.”
Larry Summers, former secretary of the US Treasury and former chief economist for the World Bank (WB) explanation of the TPP in an op-ed piece: “The combination of changing patterns of trade, in which more activity takes place with low-wage economies, and new research has altered consensus thinking on trade. The view now is that trade and globalization have increased inequality in the US by allowing more earning opportunities for those at the top and exposing ordinary workers to more competition.”
Summers pointed out: “No plausible TPP agreement will achieve all that we want. But it should be possible to negotiate an agreement that is better than the alternative of growing trade shaped only by agreements that exclude the US. I hope and expect that TPP when presented for approval will meet this test.”

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How the TPP Could Alter Medicine, Agriculture & National Security