Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Was deadly Iranian ship bound for Israel?
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsWND Nov.7 2008 H. Lindsey
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

In September, Somali pirates made headlines when they captured a Russian-flagged Ukrainian cargo ship bound for Kenya. This hijacking made news because the vessel was filled with Russian-made weapons on their way to Kenya's military.

The pirates from Somalia have found their pot of gold. Merchant vessels are extremely vulnerable as they pass through narrow strait that leads from the Gulf of Aden into the Red Sea. Somalia's long coast borders this strategic international sea-lane.

This has enabled Somali pirates to attack at least 77 ships this year. The vast majority of merchant ships are not armed or prepared to defend themselves against pirates. The raiders have very fast small rubber boats that are invisible to radar.

The pirates are well-trained terrorist-types. They're heavily armed with compact, but very destructive and lethal weapons. Once they capture a merchant ship or freighter, they offer it up for ransom. The average ransom collected per ship is about $2 million.

But of even more interest than the Russian arms freighter is another hijacking that occurred in roughly the same time period. This incident involved an Iranian freighter: the MV Iran Deyant. The mystery is why this hijacking has been almost completely unreported, especially in the U.S. media. Somali pirates captured this state-owned Iranian merchant ship in August. It sailed from Nanjing, China, on July 28.

According to its manifest, it was heading for Rotterdam. But the U.S. Coast Guard reports that Iran routinely falsifies its shipping manifests. The vessel's declared cargo consisted of "minerals" and "industrial products." It was boarded by pirates on Aug. 21.

By Sept. 1, 16 of the Somali pirates were dead. Others were covered with skin burns and suffered hair loss, nausea and other signs of radiation sickness. These kinds of injuries are consistent with exposure to radioactive materials – or possibly some form of biological weapons.

So, what was the ship really carrying? Nobody is talking. Where was it really headed? Nobody knows for sure. The pirates released the ship back to Iran on Oct. 10, before the U.S. or NATO could get a good look inside.

But there is plenty of speculation. Some believe it was a massive floating dirty bomb headed through the Suez Canal for a position off Israel's coast. Once there, it would be detonated and its cargo of "fine, white, sandy soil" would be blown into the air, eventually to settle to the earth in Israel.

If 16 pirates died after minimal exposure to the cargo, how destructive would it be when it settled on large, metropolitan areas?

Or, was it bound for America? Perhaps it carried chemical or nuclear materials for al-Qaida. Or Hezbollah. But now that it's back in Iran, how will we know? We'll keep an eye on this one.

This story illustrates the danger that still lurks in this world. Since 9/11, Americans have been lulled once again into a sense of complacency. No harm, no foul. Because we've not been hit on our soil, we've assumed the danger has lessened. This disturbing incident illustrates the fact that it has not lessened, just held at bay.

We've discussed potential terrorist threats such as an electromagnetic pulse attack. We've discussed dirty bombs brought into American cities and Mexican gangs smuggling weapons materials across the border.

I've told you about cyber attacks from various countries. We've even described how Islamic groups are buying up banking interests in the Caribbean and establishing bases off the coast of South America.

But Americans only think in terms of sound bites and news cycles. Muslims think in terms of decades and centuries. Just because they've been unsuccessful recently doesn't mean they're not continuing to work toward another attack – and the bigger the better.

They have a sense of history; we don't. They are patient in working toward their goals. We aren't.

The Stealing of America
Nov 7th, 2008
CommentaryTBC Nov. 6 2008
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Though not all of America's Founding Fathers were Bible-believing Christians, the United States was nevertheless founded on biblical principles. These Fathers declared that our rights come from God, the Sovereign Creator. For example, the Declaration of Independence reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

The U.S. Founding Fathers recognized that our rights come from God and that government should exist to protect our rights. However, if there is no God basis, then our rights can only come from the generosity of the state and its leaders. If the state gives us our rights, then the state can take them away.

Thomas Jefferson, in his Notes on the State of Virginia, 1781, wrote: "God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God."

In addition, if there is no God, then men are not "created," and they are not necessarily "equal": Charles Darwin declared that man evolved and was not created and that some are more evolved than others. The state in essence can become the new god. Darwin wrote:

"The civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world... The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as the baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla."

Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, 1871.(Excerpts)

Rice: Peace unlikely this year, Israeli elections to blame
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsIsrael Today Nov. 6 2008
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process;The Nation Of Israel

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in Israel on Thursday for her eighth visit of the year in an effort to maintain momentum toward an Israeli-Palestinian final status peace agreement that she conceded is unlikely to happen before her boss, President George W. Bush, leaves office.

Speaking to reporters at the start of her four-day visit, Rice suggested that a peace deal could have been hammered out in the next few months if not for Israel's internal political turmoil that has resulted in early elections scheduled for February.

Nevertheless, Rice insisted that the Bush Administration would not stop pushing for its vision birthing a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria.

Early in his presidency, Bush declared that the Israelis and Palestinians would reach a final status agreement on his watch. With negotiations stalled amid ongoing Palestinian terrorism and Hamas' takeover of the Gaza Strip, Bush convened the Annapolis peace summit late last year and set the end of his second term as the deadline for reaching a deal.

Outrage over the computer game which glorifies suicide bombing
Nov 7th, 2008
CommentaryMail Online Nov. 5 2008 - James Chapman
Categories: Today's Headlines

A computer game in which players assume the role of a suicide bomber and try to kill as many men, women and children as possible has provoked outrage.

A senior Labour MP said Kaboom: The Suicide Bombing Game, which is freely available to all age groups on the internet, ‘devalues human life’ and should be banned.

Players move a terrorist of Arab appearance along a busy street to get as close as possible to the most civilians.

Players of Kaboom adopt the role of a suicide bomber who must try to kill as many civilians as possible

They then click their mouse and the bomber opens his coat to reveal grenades strapped to his body before exploding in a shower of bloody limbs.

The more men, women and children are injured, the more points the player receives.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said the game contained an ‘unnecessary’ level of violence and offended relatives of those killed by suicide bombers.

'Devalues life': The internet game

Editors Note...See Romans 1:32 "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them"

Message Of Encouragement
Nov 7th, 2008
Fundamental Bap. Conference 2008
Categories: Spiritual Growth;Audio Messages

Livni Warns Obama - Politely
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsArutz Sheva Nov. 7 2008 - Hana Levi Julian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning;The Nation Of Israel

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has issued her first warning – albeit politely – to U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, just two days after he made history by becoming the first black American to be elected to the White House.

Livni expressed her opposition to Obama's stated willingness to dialogue with Iran in an interview on Voice of Israel government radio Thursday morning.

"We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue – in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue – is liable to be interpreted as weakness," she explained.

Livni maintained a cordial tone regarding the new administration and noted that "Obama's bottom line on the Iranian issue is very clear. America won't accept a nuclear Iran." However, she also made it clear that Israel's bottom line would not change. When the interviewer asked her if she supported any American dialogue with the Islamic Republic, Livni replied flatly, "The answer is no."

The Foreign Minister said she did not expect any "dramatic" difference between the outgoing Bush administration and that of Obama, noting that "The outgoing administration also had people who supported dialogue."

She noted that the difference between the two had to do with style: "There is a slightly different attitude between the president-elect and the outgoing president, with regards to how the world relates to extremism in the area. There are those who think that [Ameri has to be aggressive, and there are those who think that there has to be dialogue. Obama falls into the second group."

She added that "Israel is working for sanctions against Iran, and not transmitting a message of weakness."

Israel is convinced that the Islamic Republic is working to complete an atomic weapon of mass destruction. Iran has defied all attempts by the international community to halt its uranium enrichment program, despite several rounds of increasingly severe sanctions imposed on the country.

Although Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has denied his country will use the nuclear technology for anything other than peaceful, domestic purposes, the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been blocked from attempts to ascertain exactly what kind of activities are taking place in some of the Iranian atomic energy sites. Various intelligence reports have indicated that Iranian scientists have been working on nuclear weapons development.

Israeli experts believe there may be a major oil source in the Dead Sea area
Nov 7th, 2008
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

The Israeli National Parks Council has granted three major petroleum companies in Israel permission to do exploratory drilling for oil in the Judean Desert Nature Reserve in the Dead Sea region to see if there is a major source of oil in the lowest location on the Earth.

Led by Ginko Oil Company, the three companies believe that this is the best chance for Israel to find oil, a much needed commodity in the Jewish state of Israel which relies on the Arab world to supply Israeli oil needs.

The geological department at Hebrew University says that the fact that oil has been found previously in this area near the Dead Sea could mean that there is more in the region.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The potential for a major source of oil in the Dead Sea area in Israel is setting the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.

Over the years, there have been a number of petroleum wildcatters, speculators, that have suggested various locations in Israel where oil could be found. Many of these speculators even used the Bible to help convince investors to get on board searching for this oil.

Now, three very legitimate companies in Israel have received permission to do exploratory drilling in a nature reserve near the Dead Sea that could be a major source of oil, a natural resource much needed in Israel. Should these companies and this exploratory drilling prove to be successful and they find a major source of oil in Israel, it will be that which prepares the way for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled. Ezekiel 38 mentions several times that the invading armies that come to destroy Israel in the last days will be coming, in fact, be lured into Israel to take a spoil and maybe that spoil is oil. These prophetic passages in Ezekiel 38 are verses 4, 12, 13, and 16.

The potential for a major oil source in the Dead Sea region of Israel does indeed help set the stage for Bible prophecy to be fulfilled.You can hear this article, find link to other important news, and learn more about Bible Prophecy on our website - Prophecy Today

God's love anticipating coming need
Nov 7th, 2008
CommentaryMorning Meditation
Categories: Today's Headlines;Inspirational;Book Study

This always stands out as one of the most wonderful passages in the prophet's history. We can understand God giving him, instead of a long discourse, a good meal and sleep as the best means of recruiting his spent powers. This is what we should have expected of One who knows our frame and remembers that we are dust and who pities us as a father pities his children. But it is very wonderful that God should provision His servant for the long journey that lay before him, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee" (1 Kings 19:7).

That journey was undertaken at his own whim. It was one long flight from his post of duty, it was destined to meet with a grave remonstrance at its close: "What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:9). And yet the Lord graciously gave him food, in the strength of which he could endure he long fatigue. The explanation must be again sought in the tender love of God. Elijah's nature was clearly overwrought. Without doubt he had steadfastly made up his mind for that tedious journey to the Mount of God. Nothing would turn him from his fixed purpose. And therefore, as he would go, God anticipated his needs, though they were the needs of a truant servant and a rebellious child. In wrath He remembered mercy, and provided him with the blessings of His goodness. God imparted, through a single meal, sufficient strength for a march of forty days and forty nights. Let us pause here for a moment to adore the wonderful love of God which gives men life and breath and all things, even when He knows that they will be used for selfish ends and in direct opposition to His revealed will.

Surely these thoughts of the love of God will arrest some from pursuing any longer the path of the backslider. You have failed, but do not be afraid of God or think that He will never look on you again. In thinking thus of Him, you grieve Him more and aggravate your bad behavior. Rather, cast yourself upon His love as a swimmer flings himself upon the buoyant waves which immediately close around him and bear him up and carry him upon their sunlit bosom. Tell Him how deeply you mourn the past. Ask Him to restore you. Give yourself to Him again, resume the forsaken work, retake the abandoned post. Believe hat God will again use you as a chosen vessel and pour through you His tides of blessing as an ocean may pour its flood through one narrow strait. - F. B. Meyer

Eritrea Christian Killed In Military Camp
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsBosNewsLife Nov. 4 2008 - Eric Leijenaar and Stefan J. Bos
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution;The Church

Another evangelical Christian has died in one of Eritrea's most feared military detention facilities after authorities apparently refused to provide him with medicines against malaria, Christians with close knowledge about the situation told BosNewsLife Monday, November 3.

Teklesenbet Gebreab Kiflom, 36, was the second Christian known to have died because of malaria in Eritrea's Wi’a Military Training Center, located some 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of the Red Sea port of Massawa, said Netherlands-based Open Doors, a Christian rights and aid group.

In June, 37-year-old evangelical Christian Azib Simon died of Malaria, BosNewsLife learned. Kiflom, a member of the Full Gospel Church, was detained last year while attending a prayer meeting, Christians said. He was allegedly mistreated by security forces, as part of a government backed crackdown on active Christians in the east African nation.

It was not immediately clear when Kiflom died, but sources said he had been buried “in secret” in the Wi'a area. Kiflom was reportedly the only child and leaves behind his 88-year-old mother.

Burma Army Attacking Christian Karen Villagers; Several Killed
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsBosNewsLife Asia Service Nov. 7 2008
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution;The Church

Hundreds of villagers of Burma's, predominantly Christian, Karen minority have been displaced and several killed in fresh fighting in the country's disputed Karen State area, a Christian rights group said Tuesday, November 4.

Britain-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) told BosNewsLife that some government backed "forcibly displaced" some 250 Karen villagers and killed at least three others along with a soldier of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which says it fights for more rights for Karens.

CSW, which has been investigating the situation in Burma, also known as Myanmar, said the clashed happened in the Dooplaya District, in southern Karen State, and involved the government supported Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the Burma Army.
"This violence comes only one month before United NationsSecretary General, Ban Ki-Moon is due to visit the country for discussions over the political crisis." CSW said.

Free Burma Rangers, another group investigations reports of persecution, said government-backed forces such as the DKBA began targeting villagers at the beginning of October in a bid to control the population and gain access to coal, zinc mines, rubber and teak trees.

Ahmadinejad to Obama: Restore Palestinian rights
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsYnet News Nov. 6 2008 - Dudi Cohen
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Antisemitism

Iranian president sends congratulatory telegram to US president-elect Obama. ‘We hope new government can fulfill its people's demand to distance itself from present statesmen's wrong approaches,’ he says

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a congratulatory telegram to United States president-elect Barack Obama on his presidential victory, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported Thursday.

IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as calling on Obama to make significant changes to America's approach to its role in the world.

"You are generally expected to make a fast and clear response to the demands for basic... change in US domestic and foreign policy, which all people in the world and Americans want on top of your agenda,” the Iranian president wrote to his new counterpart.

Ahmadinejad went on to discuss his views on the extent of American involvement in the world. "They also want US intervention to be limited to its borders, especially in the Middle East. It is highly expected to reverse the unfair attitude towards restoring the rights of the Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans,” he said.

Ahmadinejad took advantage of the opportunity to blast outgoing President George W. Bush, saying "we hope the new US government can fulfill its people's demand to distance itself from the present statesman's wrong approaches," he said.

'Obama, thy kingdom come'
Nov 7th, 2008
Daily NewsWND Nov. 6 2008 - By Chelsea Schilling
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Obama's campaign headquarters in Lake City, Fla., has posted a victory sign in its window stating, "To God be the glory. Great things he has done. Obama , thy kingdom come, thy will be done."

The sign, prominently posted in the front window, is visible from the street. As WND reported earlier, Obama's supporters have frequently referred to him as the "Messiah."

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a powerful Chicago-based political figure associated with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and other long-time associates of Obama, proclaimed to a large crowd, "You are the instruments that God is going to use to bring about universal change, and that is why Barack has captured the youth. And he has involved young people in a political process that they didn't care anything about. That's a sign. When the Messiah speaks, the youth will hear, and the Messiah is absolutely speaking."

"Brothers and sisters," Farrakhan said, "Barack Obama to me, is a herald of the Messiah. Barack Obama is like the trumpet that alerts you something new, something better is on the way."

WND also previously reported a website called " Is Barack Obama the Messiah?" captured the wave of euphoria that followed the Democratic senator's remarkable rise.