Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Turkey's Actions Towards Israel Worry U.S.
Oct 18th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The Obama administration is very concerned about Turkey's actions towards Israel and growing closeness with Syria, US sources told The Jerusalem Post.

The sources said the US hadn't determined whether Ankara's increasing affinity with Damascus indicated a strategic decision to reorient away from the West, but that it was monitoring Turkey's behavior with some alarm.

However, the White House released an upbeat announcement following US President Barack Obama's call to Turkish President Abdullah Gul Saturday. The statement said the two discussed "a range of issues, reflecting the broad strategic dialogue the United States conducts with this key ally."

Topics included Turkish-Armenian normalization efforts, Cyprus and Bosnia-Herzegovina stability.

"The two presidents agreed on the importance of continued consultations on these and other key topics on the global security agenda," the statement said, with no reference to Israel or the Middle East more generally.

US sources speaking to the Post, though, praised the mature and restrained reaction of Israel in the face of affronts from Turkey, including pushing the Jewish state out of a joint military exercise that was to have also included the US and Italy.

The two latter countries pulled out after Turkey disinvited Israel.

American Jewish leaders, concerned over Turkey's recent actions, met with Ankara's emissary in Washington for nearly two hours on Friday.

While the Jewish leadership is underscoring its deep apprehension over the direction the country has taken under the Islamist ruling Justice and Development Party after years of cultivating close ties, they also indicated that they didn't intend to change their approach to working with the Turkish government at this point.

The half-dozen participants in the hastily convened meeting noted their appreciation for the initiative Ambassador Nabi Sensoy took in inviting the leaders to discuss their concerns, which include the scrapped military drill followed by agreements and exercises completed with Syria, as well as the broadcast on state TV of a program demonizing IDF soldiers.

Still, according to one participant in the closed-door conversation, the ambassador "denied that there was a pattern in recent developments" in Turkey's actions, and said that the Jewish community "shouldn't make more of what's happening than what there is."

The participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described Sensoy as warning against "crying wolf" and urging the group to "keep a cool head as we examine all these things."

He characterized the ambassador as accessible and the meeting as "useful," even while acknowledging that "there are clearly problems."

The Post was unable to reach the Turkish Embassy to confirm the comments following the meeting, which took place late on Friday afternoon.

Daniel Mariaschin, executive vice president of B'nai B'rith International, who also attended Friday's meeting, called it "very frank, very candid and very open," in which "the message was one of very, very deep concern."

He noted that among Washington Jewish leaders, "Many of us have really invested years in developing, prioritizing closer Turkish-Israeli, Turkish-Jewish, Turkish-American relationships."

Despite the frustration over the recent events in the face of years of bridge-building, Mariaschin indicated that, "we are always going to strive for good relations between Israeli and its neighbors, and that would include Turkey."

But he added, "We certainly are taking the temperature pretty frequently."

Anti-Defamation League Washington Director Jess Hordes, whose organization has long cultivated ties with Turkey, also stressed the important role that Turkey plays and said that despite "going through a difficult patch right now," at the end "we are strong allies."

Hordes, who was unable to attend Friday's meeting, said the key need was to "stabilize the situation."

He also said that, in spite of the recent "disappointments," the ADL hasn't shifted its orientation toward the country and how to work with it.

"We still believe that Turkey can and should be an important ally of Israel," he explained. "We're basically where we've been on this."

Turkey expert Soner Cagaptay, though, saw the recent events as a major shift in Turkish-Israel relations in which the alliance that had held for decades was breaking apart.

"This is the real beginning of the ending of Israel-Turkey ties," he said. "Now the government is looking at Israel from the perspective of the Muslim world, in perpetual conflict.

He said that the cancelling of the military exercise, a tradition of more than a dozen years, was particularly important because it was an example of the regime matching heated criticism of Israel with actual policy.

Cagaptay also said Turkey was sending a message to NATO that it would have to chose between Turkey and Israel.

He described the message as one where: "It won't help NATO if NATO helps Israel."

Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan implicitly condemned Israel as a "persecutor" in televised remarks Saturday night.

"Turkey has never, in its history, been on the side of persecutors, it has always defended the oppressed," he said in a speech in Kirsehir, central Turkey.

"Turkey is not hostile toward any country...but we oppose injustice," he added.

The Source of Joy
Oct 18th, 2009
Weekly Bible StudyHugh Davidson
Categories: Inspirational;Topical Study;Meditation

                                            The source of joy

            John 16:12-24, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. 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 shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he saith, A little while? we cannot tell what he saith. Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

You'll notice that in verse 13 that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of truth and why do you think Jesus calls Him the Spirit of truth? Well, it’s because Jesus wants to emphasize that everything the Holy Spirit says is true. He never makes a mistake and He never misleads anyone because not only does He have perfect knowledge but He is also incapable of ever telling a lie. Now listen, this is very important because this tells us that if the Holy Spirit inspired and oversaw the recording of the word of God then there can’t be any mistakes in it. If there are any mistakes in the Bible then men did not speak as they were moved by the Holy Spirit according to the scripture and if the Bible’s not true then either God is a liar or He didn't write it. You see, you can’t tamper with what we believe about the inspiration of the Bible without interfering with what we believe about the very nature of God. 

We are also told that the Spirit then will reveal all things. And first of all He reveals the past. John 14:26 says, “The Holy Spirit whom the Father will send when He comes, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.” So, the first thing He does is teach us from our personal history. Did you ever stop to think that everything you’ve ever experienced and every person you ever met had a purpose? You see, God has used all these things to make you be the person you are today. I heard someone say, “I’m a self-made man.” Well, that sounds like a great idea but listen, did he feed himself when he was a baby? Did he teach himself when he was in grade school? Did he pave the roads he drove on? There’s no such thing as a self-made man. The second thing the Holy Spirit does is to teach us in the present. In chapter 15 verse 26 it says, "But when the Comforter is come whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall testify of Me." This tells us the Holy Spirit is constantly teaching us spiritual truth and I guess the question we have to ask ourselves is, how much am I listening? And then here in verse 13 it says the third thing He does is to show us the future and that’s the prophetic nature of His ministry. So, the Holy Spirit reveals the past, He explains the present and He shows us the future. Now, how does He do all this? He is the eternal Spirit and that means that He’s in all three portions of time at once.

This passage also deals with the promise that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples that the Holy Spirit would come and lead them into all truth. The all truth that He is talking about is now recorded for us in the pages of the New Testament. In fact, the Bible repeatedly makes the claim that this is no ordinary book but this is in fact, the very Word of God. The Bible claims repeatedly to have the authority and power of the Spirit of God Himself. In fact, it actually claims that it was written by the Holy Spirit. Even though there were human authors, the words from their own vocabularies were divinely selected by the Holy Spirit, organized in the manner that He wanted them to be organized and placed back through the mind of the writer to record exactly what He wanted said to the very word.

Now there’s one more thing I want to focus on in this section and that’s the joy of the Lord that comes as a result of our walking in the fullness of the Spirit. And we see this in verses 19-24. “Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, do ye enquire among yourselves of that I said, a little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”

And in the Christian life the Bible tells us there are three different conditions for the believer. There is no joy, then there’s joy and then there’s full joy. And I believe there are many Christians who have no joy and that is really a poor advertisement for the faith. And you know the type, they’re just dragging themselves along spiritually and they’re enduring rather than enjoying their faith. They’re not into the word, they’re not witnessing and they usually show up when the weather’s good or if there’s a quartet singing. And then there are others who have joy and they’re happy they’re saved but that’s about it. And if anyone ever asks them if they’re saved they’ll share their testimony like it was a secret and maybe mumble it in a corner like it was something they ought to be ashamed of. And then there are those who have full joy. And being filled with the Spirit of joy is connected with a couple of things but I want you to see one primary key. In verse 24 it says, “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name, ask, and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.” So, full joy is the result of asking God for things and then receiving them. And all this has to do with prayer. Listen, answered prayer brings full joy. And this isn’t just asking for ourselves but it’s asking that God may be glorified.

Have you ever been excited when God answers a prayer? In I Thessalonians 5:16 it says, “Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing.” We see the same thing in Philippians 4:4 where it says, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, rejoice. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God.” These verses tell us we’ll know full joy when we pray and God answers. And yet, there’s a problem. You see, in order for God to answer our prayers we have to what? We have to pray.

When you see a Christian going around with a kind of mealy mouth, griping, bitter or cynical, they’re not like that because life had dealt them a heavy hand but they’re that way because they haven’t prayed and they have no joy. If we really want joy we’ll find it in the place of prayer.

It must break the heart of God to see Christians who are bitter or cynical and have no joy when He’s provided the way for us to have it all. And then notice the point He makes when He says, "Your sorrow will turn into joy." Notice the way he puts that. He does not say, "After you have had a lot of sorrow, then I am going to give you some joy." No, what He is talking about is the consequence of sorrow when He says your sorrow will be the very thing that causes your joy. And He uses a beautifully illustration here when He talks about childbirth. What causes the mother's pain? It’s the baby. But what causes her joy? It’s the same baby. And this describes the process that we believers are going to go through again and again. We go through pain in life and the result is joy if we have the right attitude.

Federal Deficit Hits All - Time High $1.42 Trillion
Oct 18th, 2009
Daily NewsAP - Martin Crutsinger
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Federal deficit hits record-high $1.42 trillion, expected total $9.1 trillion over next decade

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The federal budget deficit has surged to an all-time high of $1.42 trillion as the recession caused tax revenues to plunge while the government was spending massive amounts to stabilize the financial system and jump-start the economy.

The imbalance for the budget year ended Sept. 30, more than tripled last year's record. The Obama administration projects deficits will total $9.1 trillion over the next decade unless corrective action is taken.

As a portion of the economy, the budget deficit stood at 10 percent, the highest since World War II, according to government data released Friday.

Choices
Oct 18th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational

I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me. I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! --Psalm 119:30-31

The important thing about a man is not where he goes when he is compelled to go, but where he goes when he is free to go where he will....

A man is absent from church Sunday morning. Where is he? If he is in a hospital having his appendix removed his absence tells us nothing about him except that he is ill; but if he is out on the golf course, that tells us a lot. To go to the hospital is compulsory; to go to the golf course, voluntary. The man is free to choose and he chooses to play instead of to pray. His choice reveals what kind of man he is. Choices always do....

I think it might be well for us to check our spiritual condition occasionally by the simple test of compatibility. When we are free to go, where do we go? In what company do we feel most at home? Where do our thoughts turn when they are free to turn where they will? When the pressure of work or business or school has temporarily lifted and we are able to think of what we will instead of what we must, what do we think of then?

The answer to these questions may tell us more about ourselves than we can comfortably accept. But we had better face up to things. We haven't too much time at the most. Man: The Dwelling Place of God, 158-161.

"Lord, as a pastor or teacher I can't choose to play golf on Sunday morning, but I can choose a lot of other things that are just as revealing of my inner character. Help me to make choices today that are pleasing to You. Amen."

Bailout Helps Fuel New Era of Wall Street Wealth
Oct 18th, 2009
Daily NewsThe New York Times - Graham Bowley
Categories: Today's Headlines

Efforts to save financial system helped titans make fortunes in fresh ways

Even as the economy continues to struggle, much of Wall Street is minting money — and looking forward again to hefty bonuses.

Many Americans wonder how this can possibly be. How can some banks be prospering so soon after a financial collapse, even as legions of people worry about losing their jobs and their homes?

It may come as a surprise that one of the most powerful forces driving the resurgence on Wall Street is not the banks but Washington. Many of the steps that policy makers took last year to stabilize the financial system — reducing interest rates to near zero, bolstering big banks with taxpayer money, guaranteeing billions of dollars of financial institutions’ debts — helped set the stage for this new era of Wall Street wealth.

Titans like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase are making fortunes in hot areas like trading stocks and bonds, rather than in the ho-hum business of lending people money. They also are profiting by taking risks that weaker rivals are unable or unwilling to shoulder — a benefit of less competition after the failure of some investment firms last year.

So even as big banks fight efforts in Congress to subject their industry to greater regulation — and to impose some restrictions on executive pay — Wall Street has Washington to thank in part for its latest bonanza.

“All of this is facilitated by the Federal Reserve and the government, who really want financial institutions to get back to lending,” said Gary Richardson, a research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. “But we have just shown them that they can have the most frightening things happen to them, and we will throw trillions of dollars to protect them. I have big concerns about that.”

Not all banks are doing so well. Giants like Citigroup and Bank of America, whose fortunes are tied to the ups-and-downs of ordinary consumers, are struggling to turn themselves around, as are many regional banks.

Financial power consolidated
But the decline of certain institutions, along with the outright collapse of once-vigorous competitors like Lehman Brothers, has consolidated the nation’s financial power in fewer hands. The strong are now able to wring more profits from the financial markets and charge higher fees for a wide range of banking services.

“They are able to charge more for all kinds of services because companies need banks and investment banks more now, and there are fewer strong ones to help them,” said Douglas J. Elliott of the Brookings Institution.