Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

U.S.: Too Late to Stop Iran
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hana Levi Julian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

 
A top official in the Obama Administration has at last admitted what intelligence agents and Israeli government officials have been warning about for years: Iran intends to build a nuclear arsenal.

In media interviews with American television news networks scheduled to air Sunday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said bluntly, "The Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons."

The statement was made just days after the discovery of a covert uranian enrichment site in Iran.

Even as the world expressed its outrage, however, Gates pointed out that there was little left to be done about it. "The reality is there is no military option that does anything more than buy time," he told CNN. "The estimates are three years or so."

In a separate interview with ABC News, he noted that Iran had engaged in "a pattern of deception and lies... from the very beginning," even as it claimed it was developing nuclear power for peaceful domestic energy purposes.

"If this were a peaceful nuclear program, why didn't they announce this site when they began to construct it?" Gates asked. "Why didn't they allow IAEA inspectors in from the very beginning?"

International Outrage, Demand for Disclosure

International leaders demanded the Islamic Republic immediately disclose all its nuclear efforts, including any programs involving weapons development, or face the consequences.

"The Iranian government must now demonstrate through deeds its peaceful intentions, or be held accountable to international standards and international law," said U.S. President Barack Obama following the discovery.

In a statement made at the G-20 meeting in Europe, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Obama ordered Iran to allow the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the newly revealed site.

"We will not let this matter rest," Brown said. Sarkozy noted that the G-6 had given Iran until December to comply or face additional, intensified economic sanctions.

Iranian War Games on Yom Kippur

While Iran is to meet with the U.S. and others next week to discuss its nuclear program, however, it is planning to conduct war games on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

The announcement of the drill, which will include firing missiles that can hit Israel, was made at the same time the covert uranium enrichment site was revealed.

"Allah willing, this plant will be put into operation soon and will blind the eyes of the enemies," boasted Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, the head of the office of the Supreme Leader.

The Revolutionary Guards website said over the weekend that military exercises, including the simultaneous firing of missiles at targets, will begin Sunday and last for several days.

IDF: 'All Options Open'

Israeli officials do not necessarily agree that the military option would be ineffective.

IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi last week politely warned the Islamic Republic that the Jewish State is prepared to defend itself against any nuclear or other attack it might launch.

"We all understand that the best way of coping [with the Iranian nuclear threa is through international sanctions," Ashkenazi told an interviewer on IDF Army Radio. However, he added, "Israel has the right to defend itself, and all options are open. The IDF's working premise is that we have to be prepared for that possibility, and that is exactly what we are doing."

The U.S. Joins the World
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsStan Goodenough
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

US President Barack Obama last week firmly aligned his administration with the Arab world, the rest of the international community in its position against the Jewish State of Israel.

Addressing some 140 world leaders gathered in New York for the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Obama condemned as an illegal "occupation" Israel's presence in its ancestral homeland.

And he roundly rejected the right of Jews to live and build communities in the hill country they believe was given to them by their God.

But while, according to the American leader, Israel's people have no right to possess, dwell in and govern the land of their fathers, the United States must insist that Israel "respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians."

Obama's position indicates his acceptance and intention to champion the Arab narrative - which insists that the "Palestinians" have lived in the land "from time immemorial" and have the right to be formed as a nation in it.

He has thus rejected the Jewish narrative - which holds that this was the Land of Canaan given to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob and then Jacob's descendants; that the nation took root here nearly 4000 years ago, growing and developing in this land and ruling as sovereigns over it; that following the Jews' expulsion from the land they kept burning for two millennia the fire of their intended return; that they are not a foreign implant, not a colony, not in the land in order to assuage stricken western consciences following the Holocaust; that the Palestinian Arabs have no national history - neither in this land nor anywhere else, and that the creation of an Arab state in the historical Jewish homeland constitutes land theft and poses an existential threat to Israel.

Critics slammed Obama's speech as the most anti-Israel message ever delivered by a president of the United States.

America's former ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, slammed Obama's address as "the most radical anti-Israel speech I can recall any president making."

The fact that the most powerful man on the planet, who has access to all the data, expertise and intelligence necessary to substantiate the Jewish position and to disprove the Arab one, nonetheless has chosen to throw his weight behind the latter at Israel's expense, is certain to have distressed many in the US.

"It felt as if a dagger had struck my heart when he stated that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements," said Pastor Cecil Hall of the Anderson, TX, Full Gospel Church, adding that it "hurt, to think of the minds and hearts of the citizens of Israel as they heard those words from the country that has stood with them since the beginning."

"Although the words of Mr. Obama came from within the borders of my beloved America, they did not come from the heart of America. Please tell the wonderful people of Israel that the strong moral majority of Americans do not share Barak Obama's sentiment nor agree with his policies concerning Israel, at any time that those polices should harm or cause Israel to lose ground."

The Line Has Been Drawn
Sep 27th, 2009
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Israel Today reported that in a brief but powerful speech, Netanyahu reminded the world that it was the ancient prophets of his people that once inhabited the Holy Land and whose words are today holy scripture for billions of people.

"The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel. This is the land of our forefathers," declared Netanyahu. "Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: 'Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They shall learn war no more.' These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem. We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland.

In the face of an all out assault on Israel by President Obama, Netanyahu has articulated the true situation in the Mid-East as it has never been presented before. Obama has stated boldly that Israel has no right to East Jerusalem or Judea and Samaria. He has further stated that he will put pressure on Israel to force them off the land, the land God has promised them.

Obama has promised the Arabs that they will have East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. He has apparently told the PA not to worry about construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, the buildings will be theirs. The PA has now refused to enter into negotiations, why should they? They just have to wait for Obama to deliver the goods.

The most well established fact in the world today is the fact that the Arabs do not want peace with Israel. They would like to negotiate a more advantages situation from which to drive the Israeli’s into the sea.

Mr. Obama has guaranteed that there will not be a peaceful settlement. In fact, the course he is on will lead to war between Israel and the Arabs. For some time now, the U.S. has been abandoning Israel. Now the process is complete.

Now the U.S administration has declared that it is too late to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear bombs. They fiddled around, until they arrived at this place. It is obvious that this administration is bent on the destruction of Israel. Albeit that they do not want this course to be obvious in the eyes of the American people.

If the Church is not raptured first, we may well see the Judgment of God fall on America. Remember that Canada has been complicit in this matter also.

In these two speeches the lines have been drawn. It seems no real negotiations will be possible in the immediate future.  I am persuaded that America has to be neutralized before the false peace can take place. The false messiah will then come on the scene and deliver a false peace.

All of this tells us that we are rapidly nearing the coming of Christ to take the church home.

The Empty Promises of a President of the United States
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsJerusalwm Watchman
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

US President Barack Obama stood in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations last week, spelled out his goals of pursuing nuclear disarmament and preventing proliferation, and announced his intention to squeeze Israel hard to surrender the historical homeland of the Jewish people for the creation of an Arab state.

The United States has an “unwavering commitment” to Israel’s security; and must therefore insist that the Jewish state respect the Palestinian Arabs’ “legitimate” claims to a homeland of their own in half of the land of Israel, he declared.

Israel was not to worry, for America ensure her security in the ocean of implacable Islam-driven hatred that is the Middle East.

Sure.

How come, then, that the most powerful man on the planet was impotent to stop Hitler the Second - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - from spewing hatred from the same podium he had spoken from just a few hours after his speech?

If the United States is so able and ready to defend Israel against those determined to annihilate her, why allow the megalomanic Iranian to stand - protected by American laws and American police - in the heart of America’s biggest metropolis, and from there repeat his blasphemy of denying the Holocaust, even as he vowed that no-one will stop his country from pursuing the weapons that could unleash another genocidal attack on the Jews?

A day after Ahmadinejad spoke - America, France and Britain announced that Iran had hidden an as yet unknown nuclear facility from IAEA inspection. Asked about this, a smiling Ahmadinejad told Time Magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel that Obama was making “a mistake.”

Laughing his way home to Tehran, the Iranian sneeringly declared that Israel would not dare to attack his nuclear program.

Two days later - today (Sunday, September 27) - an Iranian ambassador to the United Nations warned that “fabricated western clamor” would only have an detrimental affect on diplomatic efforts to end the standoff.

Iran then announced the start of a new round of war games, and fired off short-range missiles including from a multiple launcher as it taunted Israel and its “Great Protector” across the sea.

Tomorrow - on Yom Kippur - Iran says it plans to test fire a missile capable of reaching Israel.

With a steady and resolute voice that eschewed hysteria and refused to get sucked into a war of words, Israel’s government has called time and time again for America and the international community to put a stop to Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Jerusalem has warned that all options are on the table - that if necessary an IDF strike will be ordered against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Observers believe that Washington’s appeasement approach of has only convinced the rogue state that no-one will stop it from acquiring its atom bomb for Allah.

‘Obama is pushing Israel towards war,’ shouted a headline in the Wall Street Journal juat a few days before the UN meeting.

Even as Ahmadinejad primed his missiles this weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for crippling sanctions to immediately be brought to bear on Iran.

“If not now, then when?” he reportedly asked US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Senators and Congress members.

Here in Israel, as the nation prepares to enter into Yom Kippur, there is little hope that America is either willing or able to stop Iran’s march towards war.

Obama’s promises, read from the teleprompter in the General Assembly last Wednesday, were spoken without conviction for indeed they carry no weight.

They were just words - vainglorious, empty words. And yet, in response to them, Israel is to gamble its very existence?

It’s not going to happen - Mr. Obama.

Ahmadinejad is sowing the wind. Your foolish policies are adding to them.

Iran will reap the whirlwind.

Will America, too?

The Continuing Work of the Holy Spirit
Sep 27th, 2009
Weekly Bible StudyHugh Davidson
Categories: Book Study;Inspirational;Topical Study

                           The continuing work of the Holy Spirit

            John 15:26-16:11, ^”But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.”

In Acts chapter 2 it says, "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." The day of Pentecost in the book of Acts came ten days after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the disciples were all gathered together. And then it says that the Holy Spirit came but it doesn’t say that He arrived as a result of the disciples' prayers or as a fulfillment of some special spiritual requirement but the Holy Spirit came because God said He would and this was the time for it to happen. The one thing I want you to understand is that God didn't send the Holy Spirit in response to anything that anyone did.

I remember when I was involved in the charismatic movement we had a week-end of meetings with some well-known leaders of the charismatic movement from Florida and one of these men was sharing with a group of twenty or thirty of us how to receive the Holy Spirit. And he was telling us to breathe deep and led out minds go blank and then he said that the Holy Spirit would come in and fill us and we’d all speak in tongues. And after a while of practicing what he said most people did experience what he was talking about. And do you know what the strange part is? The apostle Paul didn’t know anything about this. He never received any instructions or promised any spiritual gifts to anybody who did it this way.

Listen, tongues are not the spiritual domain of just the charismatic crowd. There are people in almost every cult in the world that speak in tongues but they know nothing of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Acts 2 we also see the signs of the Spirit's arrival in verses 2-4 where it says, "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven like a rushing mighty wind, and if filled all the house where they were sitting." I want you to see the source of this tremendous experience. It says the sound was like a mighty rushing wind that came from heaven and one thing we’re sure of is this, the source of this sound was from God, it wasn’t from man or and it certainly wasn’t from Satan. This was a sudden phenomenon and the church came into being instantaneously. I’m sure that no one was expecting anything but God made something happen that neither they nor anyone else had ever experienced before. And if you look there you’ll see where it says it was a sound like a wind but listen, it wasn’t a wind. So, maybe they heard the sound and they saw the tongues of fire but no one actually felt any wind blowing. In the scripture, wind is often an emblem of the Holy Spirit. In John 3:8 it says, "The wind bloweth where it willeth, and thou hearest the sound of it, but canst not tell from where it cometh, and where it goeth; so is every one that is born of the Spirit." Generally the Greek word translated "spirit" is pneuma, which also means "breath" or "wind." But in Acts 2:2 the Greek word is pnoes, which means "a blast of breath." So, it's wasn’t a gentle breeze; it was more like a strong gust of wind but as I said, I think they heard it but they may not have actually felt it.

Later on we read that unbelievers came to where this miracle happened and it says they were curious because they heard this sound and came to see where it had come from. This gives us the impression that this was such an audible demonstration that the unsaved were attracted from outside the house and some of them were amazed when they heard the various languages being spoken while others actually started making fun of them by accusing them of being drunk. And the same thing happens today when the world sees someone who was living for the devil turn around and live for the Lord. There are always a few who’ll be amazed at the change while others will write off this person’s experience by saying, he must have had some kind of breakdown, just give him some time and he’ll get over it.

Today people define what they call the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a spiritual experience. But in Acts 2:2 this baptism was non-experiential. These people were all sitting in the room and they were all baptized but they didn’t seem to show any reaction at the time. There was no yelling, no tears and nothing emotional whatsoever. And listen, a good example of what happened here is what happened to you when you became a Christian. The moment you received Jesus Christ into your heart the Bible says you were justified. And that means that no sin you’ve ever committed or ever will commit will be charged to your account. Now, let me ask you, did you suddenly feel justified? No, justification is a judicial act of God. It was a non-experiential reality. It happens the moment you were adopted into God's family on the basis of your faith in Christ.

There are those who will point to the speaking in tongues in Acts 2:4 as the experiential reaction to the baptism of the Spirit and they come to the conclusion that this is the norm for all believers. And yet, throughout the New Testament there are certain verses that tell us what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 Paul said, "As the body [the church] is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. By one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greeks, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." So, this tells us that all believers whether they’re Baptist, Pentecostal or whatever they are, if they’re truly believers they’re baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when the Holy Spirit takes a believer and places him in the body of Christ. You can, but you don’t have to shout and you can, but you don’t have to feel goose bumps when this happens. It’s a spiritual work.

It’s like when you get married. When the pastor says the vows and you repeat them; you may or may not have been emotional about the commitment you were making but the vows themselves were clear commitments to living a lifetime together. As a matter of fact I’ve had people go through the same vows at the practice on the night before and there was no emotion at all. So, we might get emotional about the work of the Holy Spirit but His work isn’t necessarily an emotional experience.  

And it’s interesting to see that the speaking in tongues that came with the filling of the Spirit only happened to certain people during the foundation of the church. And history tells us that by the end of the first century this experience had completely faded out. It fulfilled the purpose for which God gave it to the church which was to testify to the Jews. It’s interesting to see that the people who were speaking were speaking actual languages that were spoken by people who spoke them. So, they weren’t angelic languages or special prayer tongues and when you read Acts 2 you’ll see all the languages listed and a group of people who understood what was being said.

Now, having said that this gift is no longer available to the church I don’t want to give the impression that the Holy Spirit is no longer active because where ever people are getting saved and growing He is definitely involved in the process because if He wasn’t then no one would even be saved.

I read something interesting last week, according to a Christian newspaper columnist by the name of Cal Thomas a mistake was made by George Bush senior before a religious broadcasters' conference in 1990. Thomas tells the story in one of his books and he says that the Lord has a way of revealing those who really know him and those who don't. He said Bush gave a speech about how his faith is so "important" to him in an attempt to convince the American people why they should consider him for President. As a matter of fact, He announced that his favorite Bible verse was John 16:3. Of course the speech writer meant John 3:16 but none of Bush’s staff were familiar enough with the scripture to catch the mistake. And do you know what John 16:3 says? It says, "And they will do this because they have not known the Father nor Me.” The Holy Spirit works in strange ways and by His works He reveals the true and exposes the frauds.

Revelation 13:12
Sep 27th, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

John describes the second beast, "And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them that worship therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed." This second beast also has delegated power,the same as the first beast. That power comes directly from Satan. We have seen in the Book of Job that God permits Satan to exercise great power, power over the elements, wind and lightening and power over the hearts of men and women. The power over men and women is a result of people yielding their wills to Satan.

Notice that this second beast uses his power on behalf of the first beast. "And causeth....them....to worship the first beat".  The false prophet is always and only concerned about worship of the first beast.  This is a clear counterfeit of the Holy Spirit. Satan wants to be as much like God as he possibly can. The First beast is a counterfeit Christ, the second beast is a counterfeit Holy Spirit.

Notice what John said about the Holy Spirit in John 16: 13-15, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that take of mine, and shew it unto you."

The false prophet assumes a lower position to the Antichrist even as the Holy Spirit takes a subservient position to Christ. Satan said that he would be like the Most High, and he works with great endeavour to accomplish that goal.

It seems to me that the false prophet is the religious leader who seeks to bring acceptance and credibility to the political leader. We then have the leader of the world church promoting the leader of the world government.

At the mid-trib point the Harlot Church is destroyed, some would say that the false prophet then cannot be the leader of the Harlot Church. I disagree with that conclusion. The transition that takes place is a transition to the worship of Antichrist. Who would be better positioned to fascilitate that, then Satan`s worship leader of the first half of the tribulation period.

So the false prophet turns traitor to the Harlot Church in order to bring in the worship of Antichrist, (remember he is the Devil`s man). History is filled with the success of pagan leaders who have others directing worship to them.

What a terrible time when the tribulation saints are put to death for refusing to worship the Beast. Today many believers around the world are losing the freedom to worship.  In America and Canada we still have that freedom. In spite of that, many still refuse the Savior. Have you repented of your sin and trusted Christ as your Saviour?

Nrb Leader Warns Congress of Enda's 'chilling' Effect on Christian Groups
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily Newswww.christianpost.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

An evangelical leader representing the nation’s largest association of Christian media professionals warned lawmakers Wednesday of the devastating blow that a highly contentious bill would deal to faith-based organizations and Christian ministries if passed.

In a testimony before Congress, Craig Parshall, senior vice-president and general counsel for the National Religious Broadcasters, said the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (ENDA) would “impose a crippling burden on religious organizations” as it prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of “actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Though the bill purports to contain an exemption for religious groups, Parshall testified before the House Committee on Education and Labor that the language, from a legal standpoint, is a “mirage,” and would subject faith groups to “endless, expensive, and harassing litigation” where the courts would be forced to use a previous legal formula in future law suits against religious organizations – a formula that has proven ineffectual in protecting religious liberty.

In making his case, Parshall referred to legal disputes such as Spencer v. World Vision, Inc., Leboon v. Lancaster Jewish Community Center Association, and EEOC v. Townley Eng’g & Mfg. Co. - cases in which faith-based organizations had to prove that they were religious in nature, purpose, or function as it was not apparent in the services they performed.

"What has resulted is a sad pattern of inconsistent and complex decisions which render very scant religious freedom to faith groups but which have sent a chilling pall over their activities not to mention their budgets," Parshall said.

In concluding his testimony, the NRB leader noted the historical roots under-girding faith-based objections to ENDA-type legislation.

“Christian ministries that object to those sexual preferences which are in clear violation of the standards of the Bible are standing on a long and well-worn road,” he said. “Those doctrines are proscribed in both the Old and New Testaments and have endured for several thousand years. The rights to preach and practice those beliefs spring from a Bill of Rights that is two hundred and twenty years old, and in turn which reach back to hundreds of years of English common law.”

Following Parshall’s testimony, Dr. Frank Wright, NRB’s president and CEO, pointed out the political hypocrisy in the current debate, calling ENDA a classic “bait and switch” of Washington politics.

“It purports to address discrimination, all the while visiting a pernicious viewpoint discrimination against people of deep religious conviction,” Wright noted. “In the final analysis, ENDA is an attempt to subjugate First Amendment freedoms while advancing the political orthodoxy of the liberal left.”

Though ENDA was first introduced in 1997, bills prior to the latest had made little progress in Congress.

This time, supporters of the bill believe that they have enough votes in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate to pass ENDA into law. President Obama has also indicated that he would be likely to sign ENDA into law.

Netanyahu Puts Peace Process Back in Proper Perspective
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

For decades the international community has let the Arabs define the Middle East peace process as the rectifying of wrongs done to the Palestinians by the Israelis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to correct that error when he addressed the UN General Assembly on Thursday.

In a brief but powerful speech, Netanyahu reminded the world that it was the ancient prophets of his people that once inhabited the Holy Land and whose words are today holy scripture for billions of people.

"The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel. This is the land of our forefathers," declared Netanyahu. "Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: 'Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They shall learn war no more.' These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city - in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem. We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland."

The Israeli leader said he is ready and willing make peace based on giving part of that land to the Palestinian Arabs who live there, but will not do so based on lies and false accusations against his people.

In particular, Netanyahu said he wants the Palestinians to finally acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state, just as the UN itself did in 1947 when it divided the Holy Land between Jews and Arabs, a decision the Jews accepted but the Arabs rejected.

"We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years: Say yes to a Jewish state."

Netanyahu also devoted a large chunk of his speech to blasting the recent UN-mandated Goldstone Commission report, which accused Israel of committing war crimes in its invasion of the Gaza Strip earlier this year in response to years of Hamas rocket fire.

The prime minister recalled how the world cheered when Israel withdrew from Gaza and promised to "back our right of self-defense" should anything go wrong, only to turn around and accuse Israel of the most heinous crimes when it was forced to defend itself.

And that despite the fact that Israel went to extraordinary lengths to avoid Palestinian casualties, unlike the way self-righteous Western powers responded when one of their cities was rocketed decades earlier.

"There is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country's civilian population. It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II," said Netanyahu, in a short history lesson. In response, "the Allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties."

Netanyahu insisted that if Israel cannot count on fairness, even when is goes the extra mile to protect innocent lives on the other side, then it will find it increasingly difficult to take risks with its security in the name of peace.

The bulk of Netanyahu's speech focused on Iran, and the Islamic Republic was even mentioned in those sections of the speech dealing with the peace process.

Netanyahu said that without firmly dealing with existential regional threats, the international community could not reasonably hope to oversee a viable peace between Israel and its neighbors. He also strongly condemned the UN for providing a podium to Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a day earlier, despite Iranian leader's repeated denial of the Nazi Holocaust and his open desire to destroy Israel.

"Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries," said Netanyahu. "But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?"

Netanyahu warned the international community that "history has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others."

Most Parents Won't Have Kids Get H1n1 Flu Shots, Study Finds
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsLos Angeles Times - Melissa Healy
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

A national survey suggests parents are confused about the risks of the virus and its vaccine.

Germ-spreading schoolchildren are expected to be the focus of a massive U.S. vaccination campaign against the novel H1N1 flu.

But if their parents are hearing the rallying cry to have their kids vaccinated, they're not buying it, says a new national survey.

In a poll of 1,678 U.S. parents conducted by the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, 40% said they would get their children immunized against the H1N1 virus -- even as 54% indicated they would get their kids vaccinated against regular seasonal flu.

Among those who said they do not intend to have their kids vaccinated against H1N1, almost half -- 46% -- indicated they're not worried about their children becoming ill with the pandemic virus. Twenty percent said they do not believe the H1N1 flu is a serious disease.

There were differences along racial and ethnic lines in parents' responses, which were collected Aug. 13 to Aug. 31. More than half of Latino parents said they would bring their kids to get vaccinated against H1N1. Among white parents, 38% said they would do so. African American parents were the least inclined to vaccinate: 30% said they planned to do so.

About half of the parents who said they'd pass on the H1N1 flu shot for their kids expressed concern about possible side effects of the vaccine.

The chatter about seasonal flu and novel H1N1 flu, and the differences in their relative virulence, has certainly confused parents, the survey suggests. Half of respondents said they believe that, for children, seasonal and H1N1 flu pose roughly equivalent risks.

"That perception may not match the actual risks," Dr. Matthew Davis, the poll director, said in a statement. Davis is a University of Michigan professor of pediatrics and internal medicine.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that though serious complications of seasonal flu appear to spare most kids and strike the elderly and very young most heavily, the novel H1N1 flu appears to hit children and young adults hardest.

Not surprisingly, parents who believe that the H1N1 flu will be worse for children were most likely to say they will have their own children vaccinated.

In a news release accompanying the poll results, Davis said that public health officials wishing to maximize vaccination rates among schoolchildren need to communicate clearly to their parents that kids are at relatively greater risk of becoming seriously ill with the novel flu strain if they get it.

It's Coming, the New World Order
Sep 27th, 2009
VideoYou Tube
Categories: World Government;Prophecy

Into the Winepress
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsJerusalem Watchman
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

It’s been a long time coming.

For decades the United States of America has been edging away from its only real friend in the Middle East.

The relationship — which began tentatively at that brave moment when President Truman defied the ‘wise men” in his own administration and chose to recognize the newly born Jewish state; the relationship Israel worked tenaciously to strengthen in the ensuing years despite consistent opposition from within the State Department and other government circles; the relationship which since the Six Day War has become increasingly one-sided as America has chosen to cater to incessant Arab demands and press Israel into compliance — in the end it could no longer withstand the erosive onslaught it had weathered for so long.

The administration of President George W. Bush set the country apparently irreversibly on this path when it spawned the two-state vision and propelled Israel towards accepting the “Road Map for peace.”

But things came to a head at the United Nations this week in a tale of two speeches delivered in front of some 140 world leaders who had come together in New York for the 64th session of the General Assembly.

As they listened - joined by countless millions of others to whom the event was beamed around the world - these presidents and prime ministers, princes and kings witnessed the leader of the world’s most powerful nation contemptuously turn his back on one of the smallest.

And they heard the elected and oh-so-despised leader of that little nation - which has been around far, far longer than the United States and virtually every other nation with delegates in that room - spell out with dignity and conviction the justness of his people’s cause.

Betraying Israel with a kiss, Barack Obama expressed appreciation for the Jewish state, then denounced it as a nation of aggressive expansionists who were illegally occupying another people’s land.

America will not tolerate Israeli settlements, he stated emphatically. And Israel’s presence in Samaria and Judea is an “occupation” that has to end.

The situation between Israel and the Arabs was not the number one item in the American’s speech, which spelled out his vision for a new world order built on four “fundamental” pillars: Nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, the pursuit of peace and security, the preservation of the planet and a global economy that advances opportunity for all.

Obama spoke for 38 minutes, of which less than five - well into the speech - were devoted to the Arab-Israel conflict.  The transcript is 61 paragraphs long with just five speaking to this issue.

Yet there was no doubt that, to the president, the members of the General Assembly, and the press covering the event, this was the most important issue of all. Of the 12 ovations Obama received during the speech, fully half of them came in those few short minutes as he laid down his expectations.

That the United States:

• would continue to seek “a just and lasting peace between Israel, Palestine and the Arab world.”
• would “continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”
• would continue to work towards the establishment of “a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967.”
• “does Israel no favors when [it] fails to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians.”

This man’s idea of “just” is totally twisted.

According to him, Jewish settlement in the land of their forefathers is “illegitimate.”

The Jews’ presence in Samaria and Judea - the cradle wherein their nation was born, is an “occupation” that has to end.

But the Palestinian Arabs’ - who have never in history had a national home or identity; who forced its “cause” down the world’s throats by violence, terrorism murder and mayhem; who to this day vow to use any territory they get as a springboard from which to destroy the rest of Israel - these people’s demand for a national homeland to be established on those historical Jewish lands constitute “legitimate claims and rights!”

“Woe,” warns the God of Israel through the prophet Isaiah: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” (Isaiah 5:20)

“Woe,” warns the God of Israel through the prophet Ezekiel, to those who “strengthen the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life.”

Twenty-four hours after Obama leveled his blow at Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the stand.

“I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state” he said, eyes piercing the dignitaries as he looked around the room,

“I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people.”

Netanyahu strongly took issue with those who deny the Holocaust that killed two out of every three Jews in Europe a few short decades ago,

He reminded his audience - as if he needed to - of the burgeoning threat to destroy the State of Israel in a nuclear holocaust.

Recounting the disastrous outcome of Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon (2000) and the Gaza Strip (2005), the Israeli insisted that his nation would not accept a withdrawal from the mountains of Samaria and Judea only to see a rocket-armed terrorist base set up overlooking the population centers in the coastal plain.

But if the Arabs truly want to make peace, the people of Israel will make peace with them.
Those Arabs - or their representatives - left the hall; unable to even hear an Israeli leader speak directly to them.

Others - like the fervently pro-Palestinian British delegation - sat like stone; unmoved by Israel’s clearly-presented case.

As the session came to an end - having also provided an uninhibited platform for the anti-semitic tirades of Iran’s Ahmadinejad and Libya’s Ghadaffi - Israelis took stock of the realities now confronting them.

America - the nation they had long seen as a friend and ally - has effectively crossed the field to the other side - joining with all the other nations who refuse to recognize Israel’s claim to its biblical heartland, and who demand that Israel risk its very existence to appease the Arab world.

Time alone - and perhaps not much of it at all - will show whether there is any validity to what I will now say here:

That on September 23, 2009, in his globally-screened address to world leaders at the United Nations in New York, Barack Obama moved his country close to - perhaps even into, “the winepress of the Lord.”

Long ago the Almighty warned all those nations who come against Israel that the “Day” will come when He girds up His loins and in anger and fury will tread them out, in the winepress of His wrath.

Getting the Gov't Out of the Pulpit
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsOneNewsNow - Charlie Butts
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Sunday services may be a bit different this weekend in some churches across the U.S.

September 27 is "Pulpit Freedom Sunday." According to senior counsel Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund, it is a time when pastors can stand in their pulpits and proclaim the entire truth of the gospel -- even as it applies to candidates in elections.
 
"It really flows from the fact that pastors have a right to speak freely from their pulpits without fearing government censorship or intimidation -- and that no one should be able to intimidate pastors into giving up their constitutional rights," the attorney explains.
 
Under the Johnson Amendment (added to the Federal Tax Code in 1954), pastors face the possibility of losing their church's tax-exempt status if they do speak out. Stanley believes that amendment is unconstitutional.
 
"Pulpit Freedom Sunday is a way for pastors to express their constitutional rights -- and hopefully set up a court challenge that will overturn the Johnson Amendment as unconstitutional and restore the rights of pastors to speak freely once and for all," he adds.
 
Current the Johnson Amendment effectively silences pastors, although none who have spoken out have lost their tax-exempt status. ADF says more than 80 pastors will preach sermons on September 27 related to biblical perspectives on the positions of electoral candidates or current government officials.

Did Obama Call on Israel to Vacate Temple Mount?
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Aaron Klein
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

Israeli politicians accuse president of 'misrepresenting history' in U.N. speech

JERUSALEM – Did President Obama yesterday adopt U.N. and Palestinian phraseology while calling on Israel to give up the biblical West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount?

Some members of the Israeli government here reacted angrily to Obama's strongly worded demand – expressed during his speech to the U.N. General Assembly – for the creation of a "viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967."

The term "occupation" routinely is used by the Palestinians as well as some countries hostile to the Jewish state in reference to Israel's presence in the West Bank and Jerusalem. It is unusual for U.S. presidents to use the term, although Jimmy Carter once famously called Israel's presence in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem "illegal."

"Occupation that began in 1967" is a specific reference to the lands Israel retained after the Six Day War of that year, particularly the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount.

The Palestinians never maintained any official capacity in either territory, lands in which Jews have been present for thousands of years. The territories came under Jordanian rule from 1948 until Israel captured them in 1967 after Jordan's King Hussein ignored Israeli pleas for his country to stay out of the Six Day War. Most countries rejected Jordan's initial claim on the area, which it formally renounced in 1988.

Commenting on Obama's speech during a WND interview today, Tzipi Hotovely, a Knesset member for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, accused the U.S. president of "misrepresenting history."

"Obama is misrepresenting Mideast history," she said. "The Jewish people's right to live in Judea and Samaria is firstly rooted in the Bible and God's promise 2,000 years before 1967."

"I really believe the whole 16-year process since the Oslo Accords (in which Israel gave up land in exchange for promises of peace) has proven the settlements are not the obstacle for peace. The main obstacle is the Palestinians' continued rejection of Israel as a Jewish state even within the borders of 1967."

Danny Danon, another Likud Knesset member, told WND today, "Obama cannot force this on Israel. We do not have a partner in Israel which is a viable partner."

Continued Danon: "Every concession Prime Minister Netanyahu makes was not appreciated by the Palestinian Authority. The Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria is an asset for Israeli security. Instead of pressuring Israel, we would like to see the Obama administration deal with the real threat – the global threat coming from Iran."

The West Bank is considered landlocked territory not officially recognized as part of any country. Israel calls the land "disputed." The Palestinians and the U.N. Security Council claims the West Bank is "occupied" by Israel, which maintains overall control of most of the area while the Palestinian Authority has jurisdiction in about 40 percent. The U.N. Security Council is traditionally considered hostile to Israel.

The West Bank borders most of Israel's major cities, including Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Military strategists long have estimated Israel must maintain most of the West Bank to defend its borders from any ground invasion.

Many villages in the West Bank, which Israelis commonly refer to as the "biblical heartland," are mentioned throughout the Torah.

The Book of Genesis says Abraham entered Israel at Shechem (Nablus) and received God's promise of land for his offspring. He later was buried in Hebron.

The nearby town of Beit El, anciently called Bethel meaning "house of God," is where Scripture says the patriarch Jacob slept on a stone pillow and dreamed of angels ascending and descending a stairway to heaven. In that dream, God spoke directly to Jacob and reaffirmed the promise of territory.

And in Exodus, the holy tabernacle rested in Shiloh, believed to be the first area the ancient Israelites settled after fleeing Egypt.

Obama's reference yesterday to "occupation that began in 1967" comes after a top PA official, speaking on condition his name be withheld, told WND earlier this week the Obama administration largely has adopted the positions of the PA to create a Palestinian state within two years based on the 1967 borders, meaning Israel would retreat from most of the West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

The official said Obama also accepted the PA position that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations begin where they left off under Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who went further than previous Israeli leaders in his concessions to the Palestinians.

Olmert reportedly offered the PA not only 95 percent of the West Bank and peripheral eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods but also other territories never before offered by any Israeli leader, including parts of the Israeli Negev desert bordering Gaza as well as sections of the Jordan Valley.

The official claimed the Obama administration will still support the announcement of a Palestinian state within two years.

"We understand from the U.S. that the Netanyahu government is not in a position to go against creating a state within two years," the official said.

The official claimed the Obama administration was ready to ultimately consider "sanctions" against Israel if the Netanyahu government rejected negotiations leading to a Palestinian state. The official refused to clarify which sanctions he was referring to or whether he was specifically told by the U.S. government it would consider sanctions

Chasing Truth
Sep 27th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Meditation;Inspirational

To think well and usefully a man must be endowed with certain indispensable qualifications. He must, for one thing, be completely honest and transparently sincere. Another qualification is courage. The timid man dare not think lest he discover himself, an experience to him as shocking as the discovery that he has cancer. The sincere thinker comes to his task with the abandonment of a Saul of Tarsus, crying, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Thinking carries a moral imperative. The searcher for truth must be ready to obey truth without reservation or it will elude him. Let him refuse to follow the light and he dooms himself to darkness. The coward may be shrewd or clever but he can never be a wise thinker, for wisdom is at bottom a moral thing and will have no truck with evil. Again, the effective religious thinker must possess some degree of knowledge. A Chinese saying has it, Learning without thought is a snare; thought without learning is a danger. I have met Christians with sharp minds but limited outlook who saw one truth and, being unable to relate it to other truths, became narrow extremists, devoutly cultivating their tiny plot, naively believing that their little fence enclosed the whole earth. An acquaintance with or at least a perception of the significance of what Kant called the starry heavens above and the moral law within is necessary to right thinking. Add to this a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, a good historic sense and some intimate contact with the Christian religion as it is practiced currently and you have the raw material for creative thought. Still this is not enough to make a thinker.

'hostage Situation' Portrays Killers As Christians
Sep 27th, 2009
Daily NewsWND -
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

'We need to practice under conditionsas real as possible,' says superintendent

School officials in Burlington, N.J., who wanted to stage a "hostage situation" drill have portrayed the attackers as Christians, including one who was upset that his daughter was expelled for praying before class.

Supt. Chris Manno praised the exercise to test the response of the school and police, explaining, "You perform as you practice. We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

Lifesite News reported that the Christian students in the school were offended when the student body was told the alleged gunmen were "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state."

The Burlington County Times said the mock gunmen pretended to shoot several students in the hallways before taking 10 students hostage in the district's media center.

Organizers of the drill said the "Christian" gunmen had gone to the school "seeking justice because the daughter of one had been expelled for praying before class."

But there's not much of reality to that scenario, according to Bob Pawson, spokesman for the Scriptures in School Project. Instead, it was just an excuse to denigrate Christians, he said.

"So what allegedly real condition was imagineered? A grotesque scenario saturated with Christian-bashing prejudice and bigotry; a scenario which could never possibly occur," he said.

It doesn't even meet the logic test, he said. "As all Burlington school officials know full well: It is perfectly legal for any student or staff member to pray in a public school. They know that no student can ever be expelled for praying before class. Hence, the contrived reason for the mock attack is bogus."

County officials said the drill was the first live test of its sort in their area, but Pawson said it was more a test of New Jersey Christians, trying to determine their response "to such a blatant example of anti-Christian animosity."