Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Slaughter of Foreigners in Yemen Bears Mark of Former Gitmo Detainee, Say Experts
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The fate of three of nine foreigners abducted in Yemen last week is known — their bodies were found, shot execution style. The whereabouts of the other six — including three children under the age of 6 — remain a mystery.

But terrorism experts say their abductors and killers are almost certainly not a mystery. They say the crimes bear the mark of Al Qaeda, and they fear they are the handiwork of the international terror organization's No. 2 man in the Arabian Peninsula: Said Ali al-Shihri, an Islamic extremist who once was in American custody — but who was released from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

And if al-Shihri is behind the gruesome murders and abductions, they say, it raises grave concerns that the scheduled January 2010 closing of the Guantanamo prison and the release of most of its prisoners to foreign countries will galvanize Al Qaeda and compromise American national security.

Senate leader lectures Obama on Israeli-Arab conflict
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

US Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sent a letter to President Barack Obama last week criticizing the latter for his administration's heavy pressure on Israel to be the facilitator of the Middle East peace process.

Reid noted that Israel has already met many of its peace obligations, while the Palestinians after 15 years have not fulfilled even their most basic commitments, namely to recognize the Jewish state's right to exist and eliminate the threat of anti-Israel Palestinian terrorism.

"I believe negotiations will be successful only with a renewed commitment from the Palestinians to be a true partner to peace," wrote Reid in response to Obama's and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's insistence that a complete halt of all Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria is what is needed to kick start the peace process.

Reid also took issue with Obama's assertion in his policy speech in Cairo earlier in the month that the Nazi Holocaust was the basis for State of Israel's existence.

The basis for Israel's existence, Reid schooled the president, is "the historic kingdom of Israel, which was established more than 3,000 years ago."

Lastly, the senator firmly disagreed that getting the Israelis and Palestinians to sign yet another peace document would facilitate his efforts to diplomatically curb Iran's nuclear program. Reid wrote that the Iran situation must be dealt with separately and with a commitment that is not dependent on progress in the Israeli-Arab peace process.

Revelation 12:13
Jun 21st, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child". Satan was not able to devour the man child, vs. 4, and he is not able to return to heaven, the only avenue left to him is to attack and persecute the children of God, in this case the children of Isarel. Satan in his blindness still holds out the hope of defeating God. If he can destroy Israel totally, he will have defeated God.

The final 1260 days or 42 months of the tribulation period have now begun. We know from Zechariah 13:8, that two thirds of all the Jews alive at that time will be destroyed by Satan. It will be an incredible time of death and destruction, Jesus foretold this time in Matthew 24:21,"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of world to this time, no , nor ever shall be."

The chronology of verse 6 fits in at this point, "And the woman fled into the wilderness", this also fits into the chronology of Matthew 24:15-20. It also fits into the chronology of 2 Thess. 2:4. When we put all of this together we understand that at the mid-trib point antichrist will break the covenant he made with Israel and turn against her, and demand that the Jews and the rest of the world worship him. One third of the Jews will refuse and flee into the wilderness.

Satan and his man, the antichrist, have worked up to this point, to move Israel and help Israel to rebuild the Temple. We now understand that Satan and his man were motivated to rebuild the Temple not for Israel's sake but rather to enable Satan to be worshipped, through the worship of antichrist, in the very spot where God had designated Israel to worship Him. Satan is so bold as to seek to replace God as the object on the world's worship and not only to replace God but to be worshipped in the very spot where God was worshipped, the Temple, on the Temple mount in Jerusalem.

This now is the climax of the long war between God and Satan. God will now allow Satan freedom to do as he pleases in this final half of the tribulation period. Great destruction will come upon the world, it will be brought about largely by Satan, however it will come from the hand of God as he uses Satan to bring about this awful judgement. Satan is God's  unwitting and unwilling servant, Luther said that Satan was God's dog.

As the devil carries out his wicked purposes we must always remember that God is in control and that His purposes are being worked. It is hard to have that perspective in the midst of the conflict, however we must have it if we are to be triumphant. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that the are called according to his purpose".

Next week we will look more closely at this final attempt of satan to annihalate Israel.

Jerusalem launches debate on sharing holiest site
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsReuters - Ari Rabinovitch
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Prophecy

JERUSALEM  - Espousing a dream of harmony that may stretch credibility among even the most fervent believers in dialogue among the great religions, clerics in Jerusalem launched a project on Thursday aimed at finding a way to share the city's holiest, and most fought over, site.

Even the Jewish religious scholar promoting it acknowledges it might need divine intervention before a peaceful remapping of the area where Muslims built the 7th century Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque on the site of the biblical Jewish Temple.

"We offer this vision for a long and deep discussion, and of course want to continue with a parallel research from other religions," said Yoav Frankel, director of the project promoting a vision of "God's Holy Mountain" (www.godsholymountain.org).

Invitations to Thursday's launch conference depict a sunlit imagined future for the area Jews call Temple Mount. Happy Muslims and harp-playing Jews mingle between the Dome of the Rock and a new Temple, as Christians walk over from the nearby Sepulchre Church, traditional site of Jesus's resurrection.

The project, headed by Jewish members of the Interfaith Encounter Association (www.interfaith-encounter.org) encourages all three faiths to re-examine the complex and perhaps foster a new theological outlook, making room for all to worship there.

DIVINE INTERVENTION?

But Frankel conceded it may take more than debate of Jewish law, or halacha, to alter centuries of tradition in favor of a compromise by which Jews would agree to build a temple nearby, not in the spot traditionally regarded as the correct site -- right where the Dome has stood since the 7th century.

"Regular halachic discussion will not be powerful enough," Frankel said, referring to the need for a "holy revelation" to make such a shift possible in Jewish tradition.

Known to Arabs as the Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, and also respected by Christians and Jews who believe that the Dome covers a rock where Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son to God, the compound in Jerusalem's Old City has been the cause of bloodshed, from ancient times to today.

It still lies at the heart of Israeli-Palestinian conflict and sovereignty over the holy sites remains a sticking point in international efforts to draft a final peace settlement.

Not even all members of the interfaith group, which is dedicated to religious coexistence, favor the new project, which does not address political issues of whether Israel or Palestinians -- or both, or neither -- should control the city.

Muslim cleric Abdullah Darweesh, who was to speak at the official project launch on Thursday, said all "holy Christian and Islamic sites should be under Arab sovereignty."

Islam teaches that Mohammad rose to heaven from the rock under the Dome. Muslim clerics who run the compound have been wary of Jewish encroachment into the site since Israel captured the Old City and the rest of Arab East Jerusalem in a 1967 war.

A visit there in 2000 by Ariel Sharon, a right-wing Israeli politician who later became prime minister, helped spark a Palestinian uprising that became known as the al-Aqsa Intifada.

Since the Second Temple was destroyed under Roman rule in AD 70, Jews have prayed at the Western Wall, part of the ruins.

Editors Note....The interesting thing about this situation is that talk of rebuilding the Temple is taking place. Be assured that the Temple will be rebuilt, though it will be a Temple used by anti-christ to call the world to worship him.

Iran Blames ‘Dirty Zionists;’ At Least 19 Dead
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

 

Iranian riot police, armed with tear gas and backed by helicopters, forced protestors off the streets Saturday as the massive protests against last week’s elections appeared to weaken. Nineteen protestors and policemen were killed Saturday, bringing the week's death toll to 38. Unconfirmed reports placed the number killed at Saturday at 150.


Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s top Muslim leader, accused “dirty Zionists" and “Zionist media” for being behind charges that the results of the election were rigged. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner two hours after the voting stations closed a week ago on Friday. His opponent, Mir Hussein Moussavi, lost even in his own city, according to official election results.

Moussavi, buoyed by millions of supporters, mostly students and women, challenged the country's Muslim rulers and said he was “ready for martyrdom.” He demanded that the election results be voided, in what was considered severe defiance of the supreme Muslim clerics.

During Saturday’s protests, police beat demonstrators and used water cannons and tear gas to clear the streets in Tehran, where only several thousand people gathered compared with tens of thousands earlier on the week.

Dozens of protestors were wounded and treated at the Imam Khomeini hospital a day after Ayatollah Khamenei warned opposition leaders to end the protests. One opposition leader said that a planned rally for Saturday had been cancelled because of a lack of permit, and an ally of Moussavi urged supporters not to march on Sunday.

In a St. Paul lab, scientists race to defeat a wheat famine 'time bomb'
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsLos Angeles Times - Karen Kaplan
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in multiple layers of envelopes.

Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto dozens of healthy wheat plants each day. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99.

Nearly all of the plants were goners.

Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80 percent of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from its home base in eastern Africa. It has jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind inevitably will carry it to Russia, China and even North America — if it doesn't hitch a ride with people first.

"It's a time bomb," said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. "It moves in the air. It can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it's going to be here. It's a matter of how long it's going to take."

Although most Americans have never heard of it, Ug99 — a type of fungus called stem rust because it produces reddish-brown flakes on plant stalks — is the No. 1 threat to the world's most widely grown crop.

Editors Note....Jesus warned in Mt.24:7 of famines that will come during the tribulation period, is this a harbinger of things soon to come on the world.

Defiance: Protesters clash with Iranian police
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Aaron Klein
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

TEL AVIV – Clashes between protesters and Iranian security forces heightened today as police reportedly beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in defiance of Iran's Islamist government.

Unconfirmed reports put the death toll as high as 150 on the seventh day of post-election protests. Sources at one Tehran hospital confirmed 19 deaths Saturday, according to CNN.

Foreign journalists in Tehran, meanwhile, have been banned from reporting from the streets or attending mass rallies the past few days, prompting news agencies to appeal to Iranians to pass on information.

"Some reports could not be independently confirmed. Foreign news organizations – including the BBC – have been subjected to strict controls which prevent reporters from leaving their offices," read an online news report from the BBC.

The British network, along with other agencies like the Associated Press and the AFP, appealed to those on the streets in Tehran to pass along information and documentation, like photos and video.

The restrictions on the press have been in place since violent protests erupted following the announcement eight days ago of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

"If three days from now no journalists are able to testify on what is happening in Iran, it will pave the way for all sorts of abuses," warned Jean-Francois Julliard, secretary general of the Reporters Without Borders organization.

Julliard's group confirming at least 12 journalists have been arrested since last week. His organization staged a rally last week outside the Iranian embassy in France to demand and end to all media clampdowns in Iran.

City corrals Christians at weekend Arab fest
Jun 21st, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Judge won't let ministry deliver tracts on public sidewalks

A federal judge has upheld a decision by festival organizers in  Dearborn, Mich., which is about 30 percent Muslim, to ban a Christian ministry from handing out religious information on public sidewalks.

The ruling came from U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmonds and affects this weekend's celebration but will not affect the free speech lawsuit over the event, filed by the Thomas More Law Center and the Becker Law Firm.

The case is being brought on behalf of the Arabic Christian Perspective, a Christian group that ministers to Muslims. According to the Thomas More Law Center, Pastor George Saieg and scores of his volunteers have visited Dearborn for the city's Arab International Festival to hand out religious information several times.

At estimated 30,000 of Dearborn's nearly 100,000 residents are Muslim.

While there never has been a disruption of the public peace during the five years the ministry has been attending, this year Dearborn police warned Saieg he and his group would not be allowed to walk the public sidewalks to hand out information and instead would be confined to a specific spot, the lawsuit said.

After negotiations in Dearborn failed to restore the Christians' rights, the lawsuit was filed.

"It's ironic that while Americans are applauding the free speech exercised by hundreds of thousands of Muslims on the streets of Iran, the city of Dearborn is restricting free speech rights Christians are attempting to exercise on the city's public sidewalks," said Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center.

"This case involves an important constitutional question regarding the government's ability to prohibit peaceful speech activities," said Law Center attorney Robert Muise, who argued for the Christians' rights before Edmonds.

"This preliminary ruling, while disappointing, will not affect the remainder of the case. We intend to pursue this as far as necessary," he said.

Mary Landroche, director of the city's department of public information, said the judge's ruling agreed the city had the right to establish rules for maintaining order.

"[She] did agree with the city we have an interest in controlling the crowds," Landroche told WND. She said the city's rules are "content-neutral," but she could not provide information about any other group impacted by the change.

But she said the city decided the public sidewalks are "part of the festival grounds."

Fay Beydoun of the American Arab Chamber of Commerce in Dearborn told the Detroit News there was "no problem" with the Christians being at the event, "but we do have to think about the safety of everyone."

The complaint said public streets are properly considered a traditional public forum.

"The Supreme Court has emphasized that the streets are natural and proper places for the dissemination of information and opinion; and one is not to have the exercise of his liberty of expression inappropriately abridged on the plea that it may be exercised in some other place," the complaint said.

The complaints cited a police statement that the Christians would be classified among "political parties and protesters," and would be limited to a single location.

Blurred Goals and Spiritual Impediments
Jun 21st, 2009
Thought for the weekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Exhortation;Inspirational

Like a doctor with a sick patient whose disease eludes diagnosis, religious leaders have for some years been aware that there is something seriously wrong with evangelicalism and have yet been unable to lay their finger upon the precise trouble. The symptoms they have discovered in abundance, but the cause back of them has been hard to locate. Mostly we have spent our time correcting symptoms, having all the while an uneasy feeling that our remedies did not go deep enough. Knowing that a disease that cannot be identified invariably calls out a flock of untrained experts to analyze and prescribe, we yet risk a pronouncement upon the condition of evangelical Christianity in our day, and we believe we may not be too far from the truth. The trouble seems to be a disorder of the spiritual nerve system which we might, for the lack of a proper term, call dual orientation. Its dominant characteristic appears to be a cross up among the nerve ganglia of the soul resulting in an inability to control the direction of the life. The patient starts one direction and before he knows it he is going another. His inward eyes do not coordinate; each one sees a different object and seeks to lead the steps toward it. The individual is caught in the middle, trying to be true to both foci of the heart, and never knowing which he would rather follow. Evangelicalism (at least in many circles) is suffering from this strange division of life-purpose. Its theology faces toward the East and the sacred Temple of Jehovah. Its active interests face toward the world and the temple of Dagon. Doctrinally it is Christian, but actually it is pagan mentality, pagan scale of values and pagan religious principles.