Garden tomb where Jesus Christ’s body is believed to have been placed before His resurrection.

(Trumpet photo)

Did Christ Rise on Easter?

 Consider the one sign proving His messiahship.

April 2, 2010  •  From theTrumpet.com

Traditional Christianity has long believed that Christ was buried on the afternoon of Good Friday and resurrected early Sunday morning—one day and two nights later—even though this belief cuts in half the time frame Christ established as proof of His messiahship: “For as [Jonah] was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).

Besides that, the Bible nowhere mentions “Good Friday” or “Easter” (Acts 12:4 is a mistranslation). What it does say is that Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover (Matthew 26:2).

In ancient Israel, God’s people observed Passover by killing lambs and smearing blood over their doorposts (read Exodus 12). God then passed over each house where the blood was applied, sparing that household from death. All this was only a type of “Christ our Passover,” as it says in 1 Corinthians 5:7. Today, it is Christ’s shed blood that spares the life of a truly repentant Christian.

Jesus Christ died in a.d. 31. The Passover that year fell on Wednesday, April 25 (not Friday). Because God’s days begin and end at sunset, the actual Passover ceremony that Jesus observed with His disciples occurred Tuesday night—the beginning of the 14th day of the first month on the Hebrew calendar. On Tuesday afternoon, the disciples had asked Jesus about where to make preparations for the service (Matthew 26:17). That night, during the ceremony, Jesus changed the symbols, explaining that He was now that Passover sacrifice (Matthew 26:26-28).

After that Passover service, they went out into the Mount of Olives (verse 30). Christ spent most of the night praying while His disciples slept (verses 36-45). Early Wednesday morning, still on the 14th day of the first month, Judas came with the multitude to arrest Christ (verses 47-50). The crucifixion occurred later that same day.

At the “ninth hour” of the 14th, Jesus cried out (Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46). This would have been at 3 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon. That night, at sunset, marked the beginning of the first day of Unleavened Bread—one of God’s holy days, as outlined in Leviticus 23 (see also Numbers 28:16-17).

The weekly Sabbath, of course, is on Saturday. But the first day of Unleavened Bread was the first of seven annual sabbaths instituted by God. Since most people do not observe God’s holy days today, they do not know that the Bible also refers to these days as sabbaths (see Leviticus 16:31; 23:24, 26-32, 39).

Now follow this course of events closely. In John 19:30, Jesus bowed His head and said, “It is finished.” Notice the very next verse: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (verse 31). Here is where so many scholars jump the track. They assume that because the day of Christ’s crucifixion is referred to as “the preparation” prior to “the sabbath” (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54) that it must have been on Friday. But as John points out, the preparation day was actually before a sabbath that was a “high day”—an annual holy day.

John 19:32-42 explain what happened between Christ’s death and His burial. Notice especially verse 42: “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” They buried Him late Wednesday afternoon, before sunset, because, according to Jewish customs, all dead bodies had to be buried before the Sabbath, whether weekly or annual. So Christ died on the afternoon of the 14th at 3 p.m. He was buried later that afternoon before sunset. From that point, all we have to do is count three days and three nights to know when He was resurrected.

But first, let us go back to the Gospel account in Matthew to continue following the course of events. “Now the next day [after the Passover], that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:62-63). Even these deceived Jews knew what Christ said! After three days and three nights—not one day and two nights—“I will rise again”!

So Pilate set a watch on the sepulcher for three days and nights. The story continues in the first verse of the next chapter. “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre” (Matthew 28:1). Here again is where so many trip up—mainly because of a poor translation. The King James, along with just about every other Bible version, translates the first part of this verse, “In the end of the sabbath” or “after the sabbath.” But if you study the Greek text, you learn that the word for sabbath is actually plural! “After the sabbaths,” it should read.

Why is this significant? Jesus, remember, was crucified on a Wednesday afternoon and buried later that evening, before sunset. The next day, Thursday, was an annual sabbath. The day after that, was preparation day for the regular weekly Sabbath. The reason Matthew refers to sabbaths, plural, is because there were two sabbaths that week! When Matthew says Mary came early Sunday morning, before dawn, after one of the sabbaths, he is referring to the weekly Sabbath.

There is one more sequence of events that provides additional support for the 72-hour time frame. Mark 16:1 says Mary Magdalene and her companions bought spices “when the sabbath was past.” They were planning to prepare these ointments and spices so that they might anoint the body of Jesus. Yet Luke 23:56 says they prepared these spices and then rested on the weekly Sabbath day. Compare these two texts carefully.

Christ inspired four different Gospel accounts to be written so that all the important details of His life might be canonized. Mark said these women bought the spices after the sabbath was past. Luke said they prepared the spices before the Sabbath arrived. Those who hold to the Good Friday-Easter belief must conclude that these verses are a glaring contradiction. They are not! They complement each other perfectly, if you understand that there were two sabbaths that week. The women bought the spices on Friday, after the annual sabbath on Thursday. They prepared the spices that same day, before the weekly Sabbath, and then rested on the Sabbath according to God’s command.

When Mary approached the tomb early Sunday morning, before sunrise, an angel nearby exclaimed, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay” (Matthew 28:6). Yes indeed! He had already risen—the day before, just prior to sunset at the end of the weekly Sabbath. His death, burial and resurrection happened precisely the way He prophesied it would happen.

Why does it matter? Because Jesus Christ staked His claim to being your Savior on the fact that He would remain in the grave for three full days and nights. ▪

The Real Jesus

From the July 2009 Trumpet Print Edition »
 

The man depicted in Western art is nothing like the one described in the Bible.

Lately, several newsmagazines have graced their covers with a pale, tender-skinned, soft-spoken, long-haired, womanish figure wearing a beard. It’s supposed to be Jesus. But these erroneous depictions of Christ look nothing like the Jesus described in your Bible.

The real Jesus was a powerfully built, masculine man—a rugged outdoorsman. He was a master of every situation. He was a people person and a dynamically persuasive teacher. He was a man of upstanding character—an upholder and promoter of God’s perfect law of liberty.

Isn’t it time you became acquainted with the Jesus of the Bible?

Christ’s Family

Prior to His 3½-year ministry, Jesus Christ was brought up in a large family as the oldest of five brothers and at least three sisters (Matthew 13:54-56). Traditional Christianity depicts Jesus’s stepfather as some kind of uneducated, deadbeat dad who was baffled by his stepson’s remarkable genius. Joseph was supposedly married to a superior woman.

The real Joseph, however, was the loving head, provider, protector and primary educator of this extraordinary family. He was a “just” man, Matthew wrote, with sterling character. Upon learning that Mary was pregnant, Joseph initially intended to secretly dissolve the engagement for the sake of his own reputation—and Mary’s.

But while Joseph “thought on these things,” an angel appeared to him and said that Mary had conceived of the Holy Spirit. In response to the angel’s instructions, Joseph obeyed God, risked his upstanding reputation in the community, took a pregnant woman to be his wife and accepted her firstborn son as one of his very own.

In northern Galilee, Jesus became known as the son of Joseph (John 6:42). As a teenager and young adult, Jesus worked outdoors, developing into a master craftsman on his stepfather’s carpentry crew.

“And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40). This was due, in large part, to the indomitable influence of His mentor and stepfather, Joseph.

When Jesus was 12, for example, Joseph took his wife and children to Jerusalem to observe the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread. Only males were required to go to Jerusalem for the three annual festival seasons (Exodus 23:14-17). But Joseph was a successful businessman and family man, so he took the entire family.

It was during this trip to Jerusalem that Jesus wound up in the temple reasoning with the doctors of the law. Having learned to be an exceptional student under His father’s direction, Luke’s account says that Jesus was “hearing” and “asking questions” (Luke 2:46). He was listening and learning from some of the most distinguished educators of His day. This was no ordinary 12-year-old.

His parents, having lost track of Jesus on the way home, returned to Jerusalem to find Him in the temple. They were “amazed.” The teachers of the law were “astonished at his understanding.”

From that point forward, Scripture says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (verse 52).

The real Jesus grew up in a well-balanced, God-fearing household where His physical father served as head and His mother as a submissive and loving helpmeet and homemaker.

Jesus as Master

Think back on your education. Generally, the male teachers we tend to appreciate most are the stronger, more authoritative role models we can look up to.

Now think about Jesus Christ—the greatest orator and teacher who has ever lived. Why should we imagine Him to be an effeminate weakling who somehow moved the masses while speaking in hushed tones?

“Follow me,” He supposedly whispered to the fishermen, tax collectors and businessmen of His day, moving them to promptly drop everything to learn a new profession.

That is not the Jesus of your Bible. The real Jesus “waxed strong” physically and spoke with such powerful conviction and clarity that He astonished the masses! “For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:29).

Jesus Christ did not teach or even look like the self-righteous religious figures of His day. After the miracle of the loaves and fishes, the Jewish commoners wanted to make Jesus a king (John 6:15). His wildly popular impact early on in His ministry enraged the jealous chief priests and Pharisees. “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation,” they reasoned in John 11:48. They demanded their officers apprehend this persuasive scholar. But none of the officers would lay hands on Him.

“No man ever spoke like this man!” they said in John 7:46 (Revised Standard Version).

Jesus Christ simply did not fit into the mold of what people thought a religious leader should look and sound like. He was a hard-working, rugged-looking, masculine family man. He loved construction and numerous other outdoor activities like sailing, hiking and camping. He was an avid reader and student—conversant in every imaginable topic.

And He loved people. He socialized so much that His critics accused Him of being a glutton and winebibber! In actual fact, Jesus was the friendliest man who ever lived. He loved being among crowds. He interacted with Samaritans, the blind and lame, the elderly, and women and children. He broke bread with Pharisees, tax collectors and sinners.

Then there were His students—the disciples. Most of those who dropped everything in order to follow the Messiah later sacrificed their very lives for this impressive, God-fearing man. “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?”, His disciples lamented after Jesus was gone (Luke 24:32).

Jesus lived the abundant life (John 10:10). He practiced what He preached. And in living in accordance with all of God’s holy laws, He left for us a perfect example to follow (1 Peter 2:21).

Strive to follow those steps set before us by Jesus Christ—the real Jesus, as depicted in the pages of your Bible. ▪

Washington island landslide may date back 11,000 years

AP Photo / Ted S. Warren

An aerial photo shows before and after images of a landslide near Coupeville, Wash., on Whidbey Island, Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

 

By Alastair Jamieson, Staff writer, NBC News

A 1500-foot-deep landslide that rumbled down a scenic Washington state island shoreline early Wednesday is part of an ongoing geological movement that may date back 11,000 years, according to a preliminary report.

The dawn slide shifted the equivalent of 40,000 dump-truck loads of soil on Whidbey Island, located about 50 miles outside of Seattle.

It washed a road away, wiped out power lines and water mains, and plunged one home off the island's crumbling bluff, while threatening or cutting off access to 34 others.

An early report by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources Division of Geology & Earth Resources, published late Thursday [PDF link], said the movement was “a small portion of a much larger landslide complex, approximately 1.5 miles long, that was prehistoric and may date back as far as 11,000 years.”

Ted S. Warren / AP
An aerial photo shows a landslide near Coupeville, Wash. on Whidbey Island, Wednesday.

The slide displaced approximately 5.3 million square feet, or about 200,000 cubic yards of earth, the report said.

More homes could be lost as the ground continues to shift, officials have told residents.

“The chance of another catastrophic movement is low, but possible,” it said in its "Ear to the Ground" blog about the incident.

"I used to say 'in a million years we'll have waterfront property,' and now I can say 100 years or tomorrow. It's unbelievable," resident Nancy Skullerud told NBC affiliate KING-5 news in Seattle.

The Whidbey Island landslide has residents nervous as several homes sit precariously on the edge. Some of the evacuation orders were lifted late Wednesday but it's still dangerous for more than a dozen homeowners to return. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

“It’s taken a while to soak it in to realize that life changes in five minutes,” Skullerud said. “Mother Nature always wins.”

It could be months before some residents have full access to their homes following the landslide, firefighters on Whidbey Island said Thursday, reported KING-5. Four homes were "yellow-tagged," the affiliate reported, meaning residents were allowed limited access to them.

A Red Cross relief center was set up earlier in the week for people forced to evacuate.

In Western Washington, the majority of landslides are triggered during fall and winter after storms dump large amounts of rain or snow. Landslides are relatively common in the area, but one of this magnitude is rare.

NBC's Elizabeth Chuck contributed to this report.

America’s secrets are no longer safe.

(TommL/iStockphoto)

China Stealing State Secrets

 China successfully gains access to detailed U.S. military intelligence.

 

March 29, 2013  •  From theTrumpet.com

By Callum Wood

Benjamin Bishop, a defense contractor with top secret clearance, was arrested on March 15 for passing on state secrets to a 27-year-old Chinese spy. The severe breach in national security shows that beyond losing information via Chinese hackers, more traditional methods of espionage, such as the “honey pot,” are continuing to take their toll.

Mr. Bishop faces charges of communicating national defense information to a person not entitled to receive it and one count of unlawfully retaining national defense documents and plans. At 56 years old, Mr. Bishop was an Army Reserves lieutenant colonel and had been employed as a defense contractor, serving his country for 29 years.

Mr. Bishop was compromised when he met the young woman during a conference on international military defense issues. The name of the woman has not been released, but is referred to as “Person 1.” What is known is that Person 1 was living in Hawaii on a student visa, and was most likely at the military meeting to target people such as Mr. Bishop, who have access to classified information.

The two entered into a romantic relationship in June 2011, and Person 1 began systematically gleaning state secrets from Mr. Bishop. When investigators became aware of the relationship, they tapped Mr. Bishop’s phone and computer. According to official court documents, Mr. Bishop was found discussing “national defense information, regarding planned deployments of U.S. strategic nuclear systems, as well as the ability of the U.S. to detect low- and medium-range ballistic missiles of foreign governments to Person 1.”

When Mr. Bishop’s house was searched, numerous top secret files were found, including the “Fiscal Year 2014-2018 Defense Planning Guidance.” This document held direct plans for the deployment of U.S. forces.

At this time, Person 1 has neither been charged nor arrested for her part in passing on this information that jeopardizes the lives of U.S. citizens.

This latest breach of security is just one more of a recent string of breaches that have come through Chinese spies. The breaches come at a time when considerable attention is being placed on the hacking that is targeting U.S. corporations across the country. Disrupting and stealing secrets from U.S. businesses has become commonplace today. The problem of hackers from China has exposed America’s “Achilles heel.” Yet we can’t forget that there is more than one way China can steal U.S. secrets, destroy American competitive advantage, and reverse engineer America’s technology.

On Nov. 8, 2009, 58-year-old Ko-Suen Moo was arrested for attempting to purchase an F-16 jet engine and cruise missiles. Mr. Moo was a representative for Lockheed Martin in Taiwan for 10 years. Before his arrest he also attempted to buy 70 Blackhawk helicopter engines. He pleaded guilty to being a covert Chinese agent, conspiring to broker and export U.S. defense items, and attempting to pay a $500,000 bribe to be released from custody.

When China gets a hold on American technology, it is quick to try to reverse engineer it. This saves China the hassle of developing its own technology. It can just recreate what America has spent billions of dollars to design.

American weaponry is, for the most part, state of the art. China is quick to try to gain access to it, be it through hacking, or gaining the actual weapons. That is why Chinese scientists dashed down to Iran when the American drone was stolen, and that is why agents such as Mr. Moo will continue trying to ship parts out of the country.

The list of spy cases doesn’t stop there. For example, Noshir Gowadia, a U.S. engineer responsible for the development of the propulsion system for the B-2 bomber, was arrested for marketing valuable technology to foreign countries for personal gain.

Mr. Gowadia passed on information to the Chinese that helped them develop a stealth cruise missile. In return for breaking his oath of loyalty, Gowadia received $110,000 from the Chinese, which he used to pay off his mortgage on a luxury home in Hawaii.

These cases of espionage highlight how China is capable of getting information out of the United States.

While all these cases have been traced back to the People’s Republic of China, little changes in the relationship between the two nations. America still trades heavily with China. There is still open dialogue between the nations, and despite the odd verbal warning here and there, nothing has proven effective at stopping the Chinese.

The United States is losing its ability to defend itself against these attacks, and is simultaneously strengthening the Chinese as the Asians make use of U.S. military technology and information. This shift in power has long been prophesied to occur. Espionage is just one small part in bringing that shift into existence. Read The United States and Britain in Prophecy to see where the U.S. is ultimately heading. Read Russia and China in Prophecy to see what God has in store for the rising power in the East. ▪

‘We Don’t Have a Spending Problem’

How can President Obama make such a statement when America is going into debt more than a trillion dollars a year?

From the April 2013 Trumpet Print Edition »

The government’s economic policies are guaranteeing the collapse of the dollar!

Do you know what the single greatest threat to America is? During the American presidential election campaign, President Obama said it was international terrorism. Republican candidate Mitt Romney warned it was a nuclear Iran. Other experts scream that it’s global warming. Border patrol agents say it’s Mexican drug cartels. Perhaps it’s a North Korean nuclear attack, Russia’s military resurgence, or a Chinese cyberattack.

Those threats are real. But there is a danger far greater than all of the above combined.

Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, believes he sees the threat. The biggest danger to America today, he says, is our debt. “From a national security perspective, it is the brutal combination of the passage of time and no solution in sight that so intensifies the crisis and the threat” (emphasis mine throughout).

Mullen says that, eventually, our debt will leave us defenseless.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told his parliament in January that America’s debt situation is nearing a crisis. “Britain has a higher state debt than the eurozone average, and I don’t even want to mention the United States of America,” he said. Earlier, he told the Bundestag that U.S. debts were a drag on the global economy, and he questioned America’s political will to deal with it.

America’s enemies can see its glaring weakness. “How long can a government with a $16 trillion foreign debt remain a world power?” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked in October.

Can anyone disagree?

How America handles its debt problem may be the defining issue of the next four years.

The One Thing Washington Can Agree On

According to the U.S. Commerce Department, the economy shrank during the last quarter of 2012. It was the first contraction in gross domestic product since the official end of the recession in 2009. The news came as a shock. America was supposedly on the path to recovery.

What caused the economy to shrink? Analysts blamed a $40 billion cut to federal spending.

If a $40 billion cut to Washington’s massive spending pushes the economy into recession, there is no way lawmakers will stomach $1 trillion in cuts, which is what the country needs in order to balance the budget. They can’t agree on what to cut, and they don’t have the stomach to simultaneously raise taxes and risk an even worse contraction.

A few days after the GDP report, as if on cue, President Obama urged Congress to delay automatic spending cuts to domestic programs that were scheduled to take effect in March. Republicans signaled they would be willing, if the president postponed cuts to the military. It seems that the one thing Washington more or less agrees on is spending massive amounts of money.

America’s leaders don’t have the will to balance the budget.

America owes a record $16.7 trillion. By 2014, the debt is projected to be well above $17 trillion—and that doesn’t include tens of trillions in Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security benefits that politicians have promised voters. Including all liabilities, America’s debt is over $100 trillion.
No nation in history has ever had such a gargantuan debt, let alone paid it.

What Happened to Mr. Obama?

Barack Obama used to speak out against this financial menace. In 2006, Senator Obama lambasted Republicans for raising the debt ceiling by $3.5 trillion over five years. “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure,” he said. “It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government’s reckless fiscal policies.”

“America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership,” he said. “Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

Senator Obama was absolutely right! America’s spending is out of control!

But what happened to President Obama? Since getting elected, he has had a complete mind change!

Back in 2006, he said, “If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.”

Today, however, debt and deficits no longer matter to the White House. In four years, the president spent $6 trillion this country doesn’t have. He hasn’t passed a budget in almost four years. He recently lambasted Congress for not raising the debt ceiling even faster. And he has stated on national television that his 2006 comments about the danger of the debt were a mistake!

In January, President Obama made an incredible, unbelievable, almost unconscionable statement during the debt ceiling negotiations to Republican House Leader John Boehner: “We don’t have a spending problem.”

We don’t have a spending problem? At the federal level, we are borrowing more than one out of every three dollars we spend—and we don’t have a spending problem? We have promised future retirees around $100 trillion in benefits—money we don’t have—and we don’t have a spending problem? We have the biggest debt in world history—and we don’t have a spending problem?

A Supernova—and Future Black Hole

Pimco’s Bill Gross recently compared America’s debt-addicted economy to a brilliantly burning supernova. America’s debt, including personal, corporate and government debt, now stands at an astronomical $56 trillion, he says.
“[I]t is a monster that requires perpetually increasing amounts of fuel, a supernova star that expands and expands, yet, in the process begins to consume itself. Each additional dollar of credit seems to create less and less heat.”

In the 1980s, it took $4 of new debt to generate $1 of real economic growth. Over the last decade, it increased to $10. Today it takes $20 to produce the same result.

“In effect, the initial magic of credit creation turns … destructive and begins to consume credit markets … as well as portions of the real economy it has created,” says Gross. The system is “running out of energy and time.”

We keep going further and further into debt, but are getting less and less bang for our buck. Eventually the whole system is going to turn into a gigantic black hole.

That’s the opinion of Gross, the manager of the largest bond investment firm in the world, with over $1 trillion in assets.

The only question, he says, is how much time we have left.

Time may be shorter than many think. In December, the Federal Reserve announced another emergency program to stimulate the economy. The Fed will create $45 billion per month to buy U.S. treasury bonds. This is in addition to the $40 billion per month it was already creating out of thin air to buy mortgages and artificially prop up the housing market. The latest money-printing measure is dubbed QE4, which follows three other emergency money-printing measures and one “Operation Twist.”

This new announcement means the Federal Reserve plans to create over $1 trillion this year. That’s enough to cover the entire borrowing needs of the U.S. government for the whole year! And the Fed said it will do it again next year. And the year after that, until there is a recovery or to infinity, whichever comes first!

Foreigners Getting Nervous

The Fed says it is printing the money to stimulate the economy, but that is only part of the reason. The primary reason it is printing money is to finance America’s debts. Because foreign nations are refusing to lend money to America!

China is America’s most important foreign lender, but during 2012, for the first time in more than a decade, it became a net seller of American debt. But it is actually worse than that. Not only did China refuse to lend America more money, it has rolled over its existing long-term loans into short-term ones. This is a huge sign that China is losing confidence in America—and in the value of the dollar.

Beijing thinks we have a spending problem.

And China isn’t the only country worried about uncontrolled American spending and how it could pull the whole world into a black hole of debt.

Germany Takes Action

On January 16, the German Bundesbank shocked the financial world by demanding that America return a large portion of German gold reserves held in America (sidebar, page 2).

The Bundesbank’s announcement came just three months after the Federal Reserve refused to conduct an audit on Germany’s gold stored in America. German leaders had to fight to even be allowed to see a portion of the gold that was said to belong to their country.

Why is Germany even storing gold overseas? The answer to that question has deeply troubling ramifications.

Bundesbank executive board member Carl-Ludwig Thiele said it was because of the historical importance of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

“Gold stored in your home safe is not immediately available as collateral in case you need foreign currency,” Thiele said. “Take, for instance, the key role that the U.S. dollar plays as a reserve currency in the global financial system. The gold held with the New York Fed can, in a crisis, be pledged with the Federal Reserve Bank as collateral [for dollars].”

Now that Berlin has begun bringing its gold home, does that mean Germany no longer sees the need for having access to extra U.S. dollars?

Or does it signal something worse?

Astounding Breakdown in Trust

According to the Bundesbank, the Federal Reserve will begin returning 330 tons of Germany’s gold—but it will take seven years! That is an incredibly long time to return what is essentially just a bunch of bricks that don’t even belong to you in the first place. Why the delay? Does America actually still have the gold it says it does? Surely Germany must be getting suspicious that it does not.

Veteran gold trader Jim Sinclair said the Bundesbank’s announcement was a warning that investors should take physical delivery of their gold—that in an atmosphere of skyrocketing debt and slowing economies, counterparty risk was growing: “This sends a message about storing gold near you and taking delivery no matter who is holding it.”

According to Sinclair, the announcement signaled an astounding breakdown in trust between Germany and America. “When France did this years ago it sent panic amongst the U.S. financial leadership,” he said.

Sinclair is referring to the notorious failure of the Bretton Woods currency system in 1971. By order of President Nixon, America defaulted on its gold obligations. From then on, America used only paper currency to pay its debts. Foreign nations, led by France, balked, but they lost the battle. America went off the gold standard and onto today’s fiat, floating currency system.

Has America finally printed one too many dollars out of thin air? Has Germany finally had enough of America’s monetary shenanigans?

Think about this statement from Sinclair: “History will look back on this salvo as being the beginning of the end of the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of choice.”

The end of that status for the dollar will be a deathblow to the American economy.

A Modern-Day Gold Rush

According to Phoenix Capital Research, Germany has just fired a major warning shot at the Federal Reserve. The reason Germany has gone from just wanting to audit its gold reserves to actually removing them from the Fed’s care and reversing a policy in place for over 30 years is that it has decided it no longer trusts the Fed.

“Germany is now openly telling the Fed that it is done playing around. This will have severe consequences in the financial system” (Phoenix Capital Research, January 16).

Now factions in the Netherlands, Austria and Azerbaijan are pushing their governments to take their gold back too.

It’s beginning to look like a modern-day central bank gold rush.

For the first time in many years, central banks became net buyers of gold in 2010. Since then, bank gold-buying has accelerated. This year, central banks will purchase an estimated 550 tons of gold—up from 85 tons in 2010. In 2012, Ecuador asked its banks to repatriate one third of its gold stored overseas. Forbes reported that China imported 76 tons through its new gold center in Hong Kong—up 22 percent from a year earlier. In November, the Bank of Korea announced it had increased its gold supply by 20 percent. In November, it was reported that Brazil’s central bank had purchased 19 tons.

The last time China reported its gold holdings in 2009, they showed an increase of 500 tons to 1,161 tons. Some analysts believe China’s gold holdings have probably doubled or tripled since then—perhaps even surpassing Germany’s stash.

Why the rush out of the dollar and into gold? Do you think it has anything to do with someone’s spending problem?

While average Americans might still think U.S. government debt and, by implication, the dollar are still solid investments, Germany’s and China’s strong moves show that foreign governments are no longer buying the propaganda. Instead, they are buying gold.

They’re buying gold because they don’t trust America. America’s spending problem is destroying the dollar and destroying the credibility of its central bank.

As President Ahmadinejad summarizes: “The Americans have injected their paper wealth into the world economy, and today the aftermaths and negative effects of their pseudo-wealth have plagued them.”

The Biggest Threat to America

Ahmadinejad’s opinion is strangely in line with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. During the 2012 Democratic National Convention he said America could no longer put the debt issue off. “We have to deal with it, or it will deal with us.”

But America is not dealing with its spending problems—because as President Obama articulated in 2006—we lack the will and character to do so. We refuse to change. Instead, America is trying to cheat its way out of its deficit-spending addiction by printing money and hoping it will all work out.

It won’t.

What is the single greatest threat to America? Ourselves! Our debt is billowing. Our economy is shrinking. The dollar is in jeopardy of massive devaluation. The world sees it and is openly preparing for the end of the dollar as the reserve currency. Trust in America is at an all-time low. Our central bank’s credibility is being destroyed. America’s way of life is on the line.

And all of this is because, to put it lightly, we do have a spending problem. ▪

Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'

Jon Chol Jin / AP

University students punch the air as they march through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 29, 2013.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang on Friday in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms.
Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!", The Associated Press reported.
Earlier on Friday, the isolated communist state put its rocket units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, Reuters reported, after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

KCNA via EPA

A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time.

Military members and civilians rallied in Pyongyang on Friday as it was announced that the Korean People's Army is combat-ready to strike bases in the U.S. as well as targets in South Korea. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Related:
Combat ready? Kim Jong Un inspects troops as North Korea issues new threats
Kim Jong Un gets to grips with North Korean army's latest technology

North Korea puts rockets on standby as US official warns regime is no 'paper tiger'

Baengnyeong Island, home to 5,000 South Korean civilians, sits just 10 miles from the border with North Korea. Fearing an attack from the north, the island has become a fortress with fences, bomb shelters and mine fields. NBC's Ian Williams reports.

By Courtney Kube and Ian Johnston, NBC News

North Korea put its rocket units on standby Friday to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, after repeated threats one day after two American stealth bombers flew over the Korean Peninsula in a military exercise.

A U.S. official warned that the isolated communist state is “not a paper tiger” and its reaction should not be dismissed as “pure bluster.”

According to South Korea's news agency, Yonhap, North Korea announced Saturday that it had entered a state of war against South Korea. "In a special statement, the North said it will deal with every inter-Korean issue in a wartime manner," Yonhap reported. NBC News could not immediately confirm.

The two Koreas have been in a technical state of war because their 1950-53 conflict ended under an armistice and not a peace treaty.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell examines North Korea's brewing threats and what they mean for neighboring South Korea.

According to North Korea's official KCNA news agency, the country's leader Kim Jong Un “judged the time has come to settle accounts with the U.S. imperialists in view of the prevailing situation” at a midnight meeting of top generals, Reuters reported.

The latest threats come one day after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

The U.S. official emphasized the danger posed by North Korea’s military and the unpredictable nature of its 30-year-old leader.

“North Korea is not a paper tiger so it wouldn't be smart to dismiss its provocative behavior as pure bluster. What's not clear right now is how much risk Kim Jong Un is willing to run to show the world and domestic elites that he's a tough guy,” said the official, who asked not to be named. “His inexperience is certain -- his wisdom is still very much in question.”

There was a mass demonstration in support of Kim involving tens of thousands of people in the main square of North Korean capital Pyongyang Friday, The Associated Press reported.

Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!"

'War for national liberation'
The state-controlled KCNA also published an article that said the “opportunity for peacefully settling the DPRK-U.S. relations is no longer available as the U.S. opted for staking its fate. Consequently, there remains only the settlement of accounts by a physical means.” DPRK stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

  

“A battle to be fought by the DPRK against the U.S. will become a war for national liberation to defend the sovereignty and dignity of the country and, at the same time, a revolutionary war to defend the human cause of independence and the justice of the international community,” the article by “news analyst” Minju Joson said.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted a South Korean military official as saying that there had been “increased movement of vehicles and forces” at missile launch sites in the North. “We are closely watching possibilities of missile launches,” the unnamed official said.

North Korea routinely issues hostile statements but analysts have noted recent remarks have become more belligerent. In December, the North carried out a long-range rocket test and then detonated a nuclear bomb in a test earlier this year.

At a daily news briefing Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was calling for an easing of tensions.

But some fear the situation could be getting out of control.

North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un has issued almost daily threats, including the threat of nuclear strikes on Washington, D.C., and Seoul. In addition, Pyongyang has put its troops on combat readiness, warning that war "may break out at any moment." NBC's Ian Williams reports.

"It seems that Kim Jong Un is in the driving seat of a train that has been taken on a joyride," Lee Min-yong, an expert on North Korea at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, told Reuters.

Russia, meanwhile, appeared to criticize the U.S. over Thursday's bomber mission.

"We are concerned that alongside the adequate, collective reaction of the U.N. Security Council, unilateral action is being taken around North Korea that is increasing military activity," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, according to Reuters.

"The situation could simply get out of control; it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," he said.Reuters contributed to this report.
Related:
PhotoBlog: North Koreans rally in support of leader's call to arms
Nuclear-capable stealth bombers sent to South Korea amid Kim Jong Un's threats

Despite rhetoric from North, South Koreans carry on

Member of SEAL Team 6 killed, another SEAL injured in parachute accident

By Jim MIklaszweski and Courtney Kube, NBC News

A  Navy SEAL from the elite SEAL TEAM 6 was killed and another SEAL injured Thursday night during a parachute training accident in Marana, Arizona, the military said. Details of the accident are not immediately available.

One SEAL was pronounced dead on arrival at the University of Arizona Hospital. The second remains hospitalized in stable condition.
Members of SEAL TEAM 6 carried out the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. All SEAL teams receive extensive parachute training, which is often required for hostage rescue or anti-terrorist operations.
The names of the two SEALS involved in the fatal training mishap have not been released pending notification of next of kin.

2 female Marines unable to complete demanding officer course

By Courtney Kube, Pentagon Producer, NBC News

WASHINGTON -- Two female officers entered the demanding Marine Infantry Officer Course this week — only the second time in the history of the course that women have been allowed to compete to become ground combat leaders — but neither passed the grueling obstacle course on Thursday, military officials said.

The women made it through the first few days of the course.
Of the 110 students who began the course this week, 96 are still enrolled — the women were joined by 12 of their Marine brothers who also failed to complete the obstacle course entirely or could not complete it in the time allotted.
The Marine Infantry Officer Course is 10 weeks of intense field training at Quantico, Va. Marines are tested to endure rigorous physical tests and written exams with little food or sleep, all of which push the men and women to their physical and mental limits. About 400 Marines take the course each year, and one in four drops out.
In January, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta directed the U.S. military chiefs to study whether more combat-related jobs could be open to women.
The military services must report back to Chuck Hagel, Panetta's successor, with their findings by May 15.
Months before Panetta’s directive, the Marine Corps asked for women to volunteer to try the course as part of the ongoing effort to open more military billets to women.
So far four women have volunteered, but none have successfully completed the course.
Two female lieutenants entered the course last September — the first women ever allowed to do so. While both women eventually dropped the course, one of them made it well into the second week before an injury forced her out.
The two women who volunteered for this latest round will not likely be the last.  A U.S. military official tells NBC News that five more female Marines are already waiting in the wings to enter the course this summer.

Local official is 6th arrest in Georgia baby's shooting

Glynn County Police Dept.

Brunswick City Commissioner James Henry Brooks, 59, was arrested on Thursday.

 

By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News

The commissioner of a town where a baby was shot to death was arrested Thursday, the sixth arrest since the small Georgia community was shaken by last week's attack.

Brunswick, Ga., city commissioner James Henry Brooks was charged with influencing a witness and willful obstruction of law enforcement officers in the investigation into 13-month-old Antonio Santiago's death, Glynn County Undersheriff Ron Corbett said.

Brooks, 59, was still in jail Friday because no bond had been set for the charge of influencing a witness, Corbett said. A bond of $1,256 was set on the other charge.

Antonio's mother, Sherry West, says she was on her morning walk last Friday when two teens came up to her and demanded money. When she told them she didn't have any cash, she says, the older teen shot Antonio in the head and her in the leg. Her injury was not life-threatening.

Brooks' charges stem from a Monday courthouse incident in which he allegedly tried to block a county investigator from speaking with the mother of De'Marquis Elkins, one of the suspects in the case, reported NBC affiliate WTLV.com.

Brooks was also indicted on unrelated racketeering charges in neighboring Camden County earlier Thursday, The Florida Times-Union reported. He was charged with taking money and influencing others in the local government from 2009 to 2011, the paper reported.

 Corbett, the Glynn County undersheriff, confirmed Brooks was indicted, but couldn't confirm the details.

Authorities investigating baby Antonio's death arrested suspects Elkins, 17, and Dominique Lang, 15, last Friday. Over the course of this week, they also arrested Elkins' mother, aunt, and sister for tampering with evidence.
Elkins' sister, Sabrina, 19, and mother, Karimah, 36, are still in custody, without the possibility of bond.

A handgun was discovered about two miles away from the crime scene, submerged a marsh, the Brunswick police spokesman said yesterday. On Friday, Corbett said that Elkins' mother, Karimah, who is still in custody, faces a second charge of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, but said he couldn't elaborate on the charge.

The only eyewitness to the shooting was Antonio's mother. West said when she insisted she didn't have any money on her, the older of the two teens pointed a handgun at her.

"He says, 'Well, I'm gonna kill your baby,'" West said last week. "I put my arms over my baby and he shoves me. And then he shot my baby right in the head."

Both teens have been charged as adults.

Related content:

• Police: Handgun found 2 miles from where Georgia baby shot dead
• Mother, aunt of Georgia baby murder suspect arrested, charged with lying
• Relative, lawyer defend Ga. teen baby-shooting suspects

Pope washes feet of young detainees in Holy Thursday ritual

Osservatore Romano via AFP - Getty Images

Pope Francis washes the feet of a young offender during a mass at the church of the Casal del Marmo youth prison on the outskirts of Rome as part of Holy Thursday on March 28.

By Claudio Lavanga, Correspondent, NBC News

ROME – Since he was elected leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has proved many times over that he wants to break away from clerical privilege, come down from St. Peter’s throne and act as a humble servant of the faithful.
And on Holy Thursday he reinforced the idea that he will champion social outcasts and the poor by washing the feet of a dozen young inmates in a juvenile detention center.

<br>

The washing of feet is an important religious rite on Holy Thursday -- the day Christianity celebrates Jesus’ Last Supper ahead of his crucifixion -- as it re-enacts Christ’s humble gesture toward his disciples before the meal.
He washed their feet to show that “no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him,” according to Gospel of St. John 13:16.
But while in the past Francis’ predecessors washed the feet of priests in the Basilica of St. John in Lateran -- the most important of the four major basilicas in Rome -- Francis chose to kneel down before young offenders at the Casal del Marmo Penitentiary Institute for Minors.
The group of 12 young people who had their feet washed and kissed by the pope included two young women - the first time a pope included females in the rite. The ceremony has traditionally been limited to men, since all of Jesus' apostles were men.

 

Pope Francis took the traditional feet washing ritual a step further today as he washed the feet of dozen young offenders at a detention center in Rome today. ITV's Juliet Bremner reports.

The young people were aged between 16 and 21 and chosen from different nationalities and religious backgrounds - including two Muslims, according to a Vatican spokesman.  
“It is a gesture of humility and service,” Father Tom Rosica, a Vatican Press Office spokesperson, said before the ceremony.
“It teaches that liberation and new life are won not in presiding over multitudes from royal thrones nor by the quantity of bloody sacrifices offered on temple altars, but by walking with the lowly and poor and serving them as a foot-washer along the journey," he added.
'Viva Papa Francesco!'
As surprising as the decision by the pope might have seemed, Alessandro Speciale, a Vatican correspondent for Religion News Service, said he was just continuing a tradition he started in Buenos Aires.

“He has washed the feet of the poor and inmates on most Holy Thursdays as a cardinal and archbishop in Argentina,” Speciale said. “What’s surprising is that, as a pope, he is the one going to the inmates, and not the other way around.”
Speaking to about 1,600 priests who packed St. Peter’s Basilica for Mass on Thursday morning, Francis talked about the need to concentrate on the people they are ministering to.
“We need to go out, then, in order to experience our own anointing (as priests)… to the outskirts where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters," he said.
The simple, personal, no-frills style of Pope Francis seems to have won over many Catholics, even jaded believers.
"It almost feels like the Vatican found itself a very good marketing and communication adviser,” said Valeria Angela Montis, a 38-year-old Roman.
“But I must say I am happy to see a pope who doesn't think he is God on earth and teaches what Jesus taught 2,000 years ago…teaching the church seemed to have forgotten years ago. Francesco is an honest pope!" she added.
Others think the church should look, and learn.
“The humility Pope Francis is showing is comforting,” said 40-year-old Roman Patrizia Melillo. “This is how the rest of the Church should be: normal, humble, without flaunting its privileges and richness, just like St. Francis taught. Viva Papa Francesco!”
 T his is a humble, working Pope. He does not like the opulent trappings that  normally  go with being the Pope. He will take the Church back to what it should be and what it should be doing. 

Related links: 
Pope chooses simple residence over papal apartment
Crowds pray with Pope Francis at start of holy week 
'We're brothers': Pope meets ex-pope for historic lunch
Pope Francis spoke of being 'dazzled' by girl, possible change of celibacy rule

Despite rhetoric from North, South Koreans carry on

Ahn Young-Joon / AP

South Korean vehicles return from a joint industrial complex in the North Korean city of Kaesong at the customs, immigration and quarantine office, near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) north of Seoul, South Korea, on Thursday.

 

By Ian Williams, correspondent, NBC News

SEOUL – On Thursday morning 530 South Korean men and women went to work as usual, much to the relief of security officials in Seoul.
But theirs was no ordinary commute to the office, as it involved crossing the heavily fortified de-militarized zone separating the two Koreas in order to reach their desks at the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
The area, which opened in 2004, is home to 124 South Korean companies who directly employ 53,000 North Korean workers. As many as 250,000 other Northerners depend on the complex, which reportedly generates up to $2 billion a year in trade, and is by some estimates the biggest source of foreign currency for Pyongyang.
The complex over the years has mostly ridden out the ups and downs of relations on the peninsula, but on Wednesday Pyongyang cut a telephone hotline responsible for guaranteeing the safety of the South Korean workers commuting to work.
The workers headed to the office Thursday anyway – after receiving assurances that things were business as usual from the complex management.

Yonhap via Reuters

A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flies over Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, South Korea on Thursday.

For South Korean analysts and security officials, the daily commute and the fate of the Kaesong complex has become a litmus test of just how seriously to take the barrage of bellicose threats from the North. To close Kaesong would be a major blow to the North's finances.

Increased tensionTension has grown so high that two American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers practiced an attack on the Korean Peninsula Thursday as part of a joint military exercise with South Korea, dropping dummy munitions on an island range.
The move sparked more angry words from Pyongyang, which has already threatened strikes on New York, Washington and Seoul recently.
North Korea said it was cutting the last channel of communications with the South on Wednesday because war could break out at "any moment." Pyongyang also said earlier this month that it considers the armistice that ended the Korean War in 1953 void.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel weighed in on the tension Thursday, saying that the belligerent tone by North Korea has “ratcheted up the danger.”

‘Like an angry dog’Despite everything, South Koreans for the most part have a remarkable ability to shrug off threats from the North.
"It's like an angry dog barking from the other side of the fence," is the way one young Korean, who asked not to be identified, described it. "Me and my friends we really don't think about it that much."
But she conceded that her grandparents, who lived through the Korean War, have a family contingency plan.
"They tell us that if there's chaos in Seoul, we should all aim to meet at the central station every Wednesday at 4 o'clock."
Another young women, an employee of one of Korea's big consumer electronics companies who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that of late she'd been receiving more calls from friends in the States asking whether she's okay.
"'Relax,' I tell them. ‘We're used to this.’"

Domestic politics or blackmail?Still, the intensity and regularity of the threats is worrying to many analysts here. Some here caricature Kim Jong Un as a as a kind of bad James Bond villain, so over-the-top that he can't possibly be taken seriously. Others worry that he is young and untested, and is now faced in the South with a new president, Park Geun-hye, also untested, but promising a more robust approach to any skirmish with the North.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and General Martin Dempsey discuss the escalating tensions on
 the Korean Peninsula and the recent training missions conducted by U.S. stealth bombers.

She's threatened to hit back hard if there's a repeat of the 2010 attacks on a South Korean island or patrol boat in the tense west sea region, which analysts see as the most likely flashpoint.
Analysts broadly fall into two camps: the "it’s all about domestic politics" group and the "blackmail" group. The former sees the rhetoric as aimed primarily at a North Korean domestic audience, and reflecting the young Kim's insecurity, whipping up support at home by generating paranoia and hysteria.
The latter group thinks Kim is genuinely angry at new sanctions and military exercises between the U.S. and the South. They say the rhetoric is all about money, aid and resources, and more broad recognition as a nuclear state and direct talks with the U.S.

Bark continuesMeanwhile life goes on in Seoul, the most wired city on the planet. This vibrant metropolis of more than 10 million people has more and faster broadband connections than anywhere else on the planet, but sits just 30 miles from the world's most fortified border.
You only need travel a few miles north of here to encounter the first watchtowers and razor wire lining the banks of the Han river.
But you'd never know it amid the buzz of downtown Seoul. Or from the editorials in Thursday's Korean Herald, which were sinking their teeth into the nomination of the Fair Trade Commission and the challenges facing the National Tax Office.
The South Korean defense ministry has reassured people that it hasn't detected any unusual military movements across the border. Others question the North's ability to deliver on some of its more blood-curdling threats.
But the dog continues to bark.
And savvy analysts are focusing ever more closely on that daily commute to Kaesong.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. 
Related links: 
Nuclear-capable stealth bombers sent to South Korea amid Kim Jong Un's threats
North Korea puts rocket units on 'highest alert,' issues new threats to US
Kim Jong Un threatens attack on US bases in Pacific

Invoking Newtown, Obama presses Congress on guns

Gun control rallies were held in dozens of states Thursday in an effort to energize the cause as prosecutors in Connecticut released chilling details of their investigation into the tragedy in Newtown. But according to a poll released this week, there has been a drop in support for stricter gun laws since the days immediately following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

 

By Carrie Dann, NBC News

President Barack Obama on Thursday sternly rebuked opponents of pending gun control measures, accusing them of “running out the clock” and hoping that the nation forgets last year’s Newtown school shooting in order to keep popular reforms from passing into law.

“The entire country was shocked, and the entire country pledged we would do something about it and that that this time would be different," the president said of the gun massacre that killed 20 children and six adults.

“Shame on us if we’ve forgotten.”

Flanked by Vice President Joe Biden and a group of mothers who have lost their children to gun violence, Obama accused gun rights groups of rooting for amnesia.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks Thursday at the White House regarding gun reform in America.

“The reason we’re talking about it here today is because it’s not done until it’s done,” he said. “And there are some powerful voices on the other side that are interested in running out the clock or changing the subject or drowning out the majority of the American people to prevent any of these reforms from happening at all. They’re doing everything they can to make all our progress collapse under the weight of fear and frustration or their assumption is that people will just forget about it.”

Obama's remarks came on the same day that authorities released new information about Newtown shooter Adam Lanza, including the list of guns and ammunition that he stockpiled for the attack. Lanza fired 154 bullets from a Bushmaster .223 caliber model XM15 rifle, the documents said.

Citing poll numbers that show broad support – as high as 90 percent in some polls -- for universal background checks, the president urged voters to “make yourself unmistakenly heard” to members of Congress in the days before the Senate takes up gun legislation next month.

“I ask every American to find out where your member of Congress stands on these ideas,” he said. “If they’re not part of that 90% who agree that we should make it harder for a criminal or somebody with a severe mental illness to buy a gun, then you should ask them why not.”

The legislation working its way through the Senate has hit numerous snags, with the threat of a filibuster now looming from lawmakers who say the president’s framework would restrict Second Amendment rights.

“The proposals the president is calling for Congress to pass would primarily serve to reduce the constitutionally protected rights of law-abiding citizens while having little or no effect on violent crime,” said Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, one of the Republicans who has pledged to block the legislation. “It is deeply unfortunate that he continues to use the tragedy at Newtown as a backdrop for pushing legislation that would have done nothing to prevent that horrible crime.”

Recommended: Democrats hit McConnell in radio ad

A federal assault weapons ban has already been dropped from the overall gun package that Senate lawmakers plan to introduce after the Easter recess, although advocates are pushing for a separate vote on the measure. (Obama did not specifically mention the ban in his remarks Thursday, focusing instead on the more politically palatable planks of the effort.)

And negotiators are still tussling over compromise language to require all gun buyers to complete a background check – a measure that need take significant Republican support to overcome the threat of a filibuster.

In recent weeks, Vice President Joe Biden has been the administration’s public point man on the gun issue, appearing with victims of violence and alongside gun control advocate new York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to appeal for “courage” from Congress.

On a conference call with gun control supporters yesterday, Biden said the coming efforts are “just the beginning” of a public outcry to reduce gun violence.

“I think we’re on the verge of getting a serious, thorough universal background check system in place and it will — emphasize, it will — it will save lives,” Biden said.

Bloomberg has led the money charge, pledging to spend millions of his considerable fortune to pressure wavering lawmakers into supporting gun control proposals.

“If 90 percent of the public want something, and their representatives vote against that, common sense says, they are going to have a price to pay for that,” the New York City mayor said during an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press last weekend