Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

The 'third Templars'
Oct 28th, 2009
CommentaryJpost
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel

The 'Third Templars' | Jerusalem Post

It's a dilemma for mainstream Israelis: How to resist capitulating to Arab violence on the Temple Mount - driven by irrational fears of Zionist plots against it - while not encouraging marginal Jewish groups who feverishly yearn to make the Arabs' worst nightmares come true?

Israel's "Third Templars" don't seem to care about the consequences of stoking an apocalyptic religious war with Islamic civilization - 56 countries, 1.57 billion faithful, most of them currently on the sidelines of the Arab-Israel conflict.

Jewish tradition holds that the Mount, site of Solomon's Temple (and the Ark of the Covenant) and later the Temple built by the returnees from the Babylonian exile, retains an intrinsic holiness. Disagreements among Torah authorities over which, if any, sections of the Temple plateau may be traversed without treading on the sacred ground of the Holy of Holies date back centuries.

To this day, most ultra-Orthodox Jews avoid the area. And yet for those who consider themselves part of the Jewish collective regardless of denominational or political persuasion, the Mount embodies the civilizational core of our shared past.

In 638, Arab invaders defeated the Christian Byzantines (inheritors of the Roman Empire) for control of this land. Within 50 years they had constructed the Dome of the Rock to enshrine the holy stone Muslims believe to be the place where Abraham prepared to sacrifice… Ishmael. Subsequently, the Aksa Mosque was constructed on the southern end of the plateau.

AFTER ISRAEL captured the area from Jordan in 1967, Moshe Dayan decided to be magnanimous in victory and continue the authority of the Muslim religious trust, or Wakf, to administer the site. Jews, previously barred by Muslims from reaching the holy places, were allowed to ascend the Mount during visiting hours. In keeping with Jewish tradition and in cognizance of Muslim sensibilities, they were, however, prohibited from conducting religious services.

This seemed the perfect compromise, enabling Muslims to worship at the shrines, as was their custom, and Jews (as well as tourists of all faiths) to visit the site for silent meditation and inspiration. The Orthodox establishment of the day, running the gamut from haredi to Zionist, opposed going up to the Mount.

Now a diverse group of mostly post-Zionist settler rabbis, messianic followers of the late Lubavitcher rebbe and practicing "Third Templars" - abetted by a smattering of ultra-right-wing Knesset members - have banded together to force the "hand of God." Ostensibly, they are calling upon the Jewish masses to ascend the Mount and assert a Jewish presence there; we suspect that what many of them really want is to "disappear" the Muslim shrines, put up a Jewish temple and recommence animal sacrifices.

Therein our dilemma: Step back from the Temple Mount, and Arab intimidation wins. Assert Jewish rights, and risk heartening a band of Jewish extremists high on a toxic potion of piety and politics. That even a "moderate" Palestinian leader like Mahmoud Abbas does not accept the Temple Mount as sacred to Jews further complicates the predicament.

ONE POSSIBLE approach is for the government to explicitly remind the Wakf that its administrative role on the Mount derives from the authority vested in it by the Jewish state. Successive governments have abdicated their fiduciary responsibilities by failing to monitor Wakf treatment of Jewish visitors and, most troublingly, looking the other way as the Muslim trust carried out unauthorized excavations.

In parallel, we want to clearly hear Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu denounce as folly the actions of those agitating for a Third Temple built on the ashes of the Muslim shrines. He should disabuse anyone who imagines that the antics of these "Third Templars" have support on the sane Right.

Given the Palestinians' endemic intransigence and quick resort to violence - including, it should be stressed, via malevolent inflation of tensions on the Mount - it is easy to be dismissive of all their grievances over Jerusalem. But sometimes, more sensitivity could be applied. The Palestinians are not always wrong to complain that municipal authorities are placing unreasonable demands on them in seeking building permits while facilitating scatter-site Jewish housing (with no security value) in densely populated Arab neighborhoods.

In the final analysis, Israeli sovereignty is best manifested by providing the same level of municipal services to all taxpaying Jerusalemites - and by insisting on the same adherence to the law from all.

Obama Gets 'pedophile Protection Act'
Oct 28th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary;Moral Decline

Victim of state law says federal act 'one of the most dangerous pieces of legislation'

A Christian minister who has spent time in jail because of a state "hate crimes" law is warning that the federal legislation, now pending on President Obama's desk, is "one of the most dangerous pieces of federal legislation in the history of our nation."

The comment comes from Michael Marcavage of Repent America. He was among a group that became known as the "Philadelphia 11" that made national headlines in 2004.

That was when the Christians, ministering at a homosexual festival, were accused under a state "hate crimes" law.

"This is an attempt by the U.S. government to shut down the Gospel of Jesus Christ by criminalizing Christians who reach out in the love of God to those trapped in the bondage of homosexuality," he said. "The passage of this 'hate crimes' legislation is one giant leap in the direction of persecuting Christians nationwide."

It was five years ago when Marcavage and 10 others were charged for sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the public streets of Philadelphia during an annual taxpayer-funded celebration of homosexuality called "Outfest."

He describes how by preaching the Word of God, singing songs of praise and carrying banners with Bible verses, the Christians were perceived by law enforcement officers as a "threat" and were arrested.

"At the same time, police ignored the fact that homosexual attendees were harassing the Christians by encircling them with large pink placards while blowing loud, screeching whistles," he wrote in a report on the dispute.

"After being jailed for 21 hours, each member of Repent America was charged under Pennsylvania's 'hate crimes' law called 'ethnic intimidation.' They were also charged with a host of other bogus felony and misdemeanor charges, including 'criminal conspiracy' and 'possession of an instrument of crime,' and each faced a possible sentence of up to 47 years in prison along with a $90,000 fine," he said.

"Thankfully, after months of the looming 'criminal' charges, they were all vindicated of all counts," he said.

The state's "hate crimes" law eventually was struck down by the courts, he noted.

Analysts say they expect Obama to act on the "hate crimes" plan – attached to a defense spending authorization that is considered critical to the U.S. military – as early as tomorrow.

The bill, H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act, include the "hate crimes" plan that "expands criminal penalties against anyone who harms an individual based on 'gender identity' or 'sexual orientation,' thus posing a serious threat to biblical evangelism and active stances against the sin of homosexuality," Marcavage said.

Such provisions had died in Congress in previous years because of President George W. Bush's stated promise of a veto because they are unconstitutional. President Obama, who was supported strongly in his campaign by homosexual activists, however, has promised to approve the plan.

"It is feared that the enactment of the bill will further create an environment for a police state, criminalizing any individual whose conduct is loosely interpreted by law enforcement as being harmful. Additionally, there remains a concern that upon facing trial, individuals may be subject to the personal bias of liberal federal judges who will pervert the law and send the innocent to prison, and that pastors and outspoken Christians could be charged with 'inciting violence' should an individual be arrested for a 'hate crime' after hearing a message decrying homosexuality or other sexually deviant behavior," Marcavage said.

The American Family Association also promised its members would not be forgetting those who voted in favor of the bill.

"This vote is simply too important to ignore," said Tim Wildmon, president of the group. "The law created by this bill is exceedingly dangerous and represents a huge step toward normalizing homosexual and transsexual behavior in this country.

"It creates a kind of caste system in law enforcement, where the perverse thing is that people who engage in non-normative sexual behavior will have more legal protection than heterosexuals. This kind of inequality before the law is simply un-American," he continued.

"Worse, it creates possible scenarios where pastors can be sent to jail if their sermons on sexuality can be connected in even the remotest way to an act of violence. It threatens free speech and freedom of religion and is totally unacceptable."

The organization said it sent an alert to its 2.6 million members letting them know how their senators voted and urging them to contact them with comments.

Republicans, normally supportive of defense measures, largely opposed the plan in the Senate's 68-29 vote.

"The inclusion of the controversial language of the hate crimes legislation, which is unrelated to our national defense, is deeply troubling," Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., told Fox News after the vote.

When the Senate earlier approved a key procedural move, Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said, "In … months President Obama and the Democratic-led Congress have forced on the American people the most radical and immoral agenda.

"The administration and the Democratic-led Congress are out of touch with the mainstream. They represent the most fringe extreme elements of America. They will not be able to continue their efforts to undermine moral values, socialize the economy and trash American pride and heritage.

"The people will not remain silent forever," he said.

The AFA said since "sexual orientation" nowhere is defined in the law, "this law will give pedophiles, voyeurs, and exhibitionists special protections, which is why the bill has correctly been called 'The Pedophile Protection Act.'"

Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., argued on the House floor all alternative sexual lifestyles should be protected.

"This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these 'philias' and fetishes and 'isms' that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule," he said.

As WND reported, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder admitted a homosexual activist who is attacked following a Christian minister's sermon about homosexuality would be protected by the proposed federal law, but a minister attacked by a homosexual wouldn't be.

The revelations came from Holder's June testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was taking comments on the proposal. The measure also was the subject of discussion on talk radio host Rush Limbaugh's July 3 show.

"This is the question," Limbaugh said. "(Sen.) Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) presents a hypothetical where a minister gives a sermon, quotes the Bible about homosexuality and is thereafter attacked … by a gay activist because of what the minister said about his religious beliefs and what Scripture says about homosexuality. Is the minister protected?"

No, said Holder.

"Well, the statute would not – would not necessarily cover that," Holder stated. "We're talking about crimes that have a historic basis. Groups who have been targeted for violence as a result of the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, that is what this statute tends – is designed to cover. We don't have the indication that the attack was motivated by a person's desire to strike at somebody who was in one of these protected groups. That would not be covered by the statute."

Continued Limbaugh, "In other words: ministers and whites are not covered by the hate crime statute because we're talking about crimes that have a historic basis, groups who have been targeted for violence as a result of their skin color, sexual orientation. So hate crimes are reserved exclusively for blacks and homosexuals. Everybody else can get to the back of the bus on this one."

The bill was nicknamed "The Pedophile Protection Act" when Rep. Steve King proposed an amendment during its trek through the U.S. House that would specify pedophiles could not use the law to protect their activities.

Majority Democrats flatly refused.

Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, told WND the move is alarming because "this would be the very first governmental and societal disapproval of a sincerely held religious belief, held by a majority of Americans, namely that homosexual behavior is immoral.

"It's the first time the federal government is writing into law a disapproval of that belief," he said.

While he said he doesn't believe there will be "immediate" prosecutions of pastors and churches for teaching the biblical injunction that homosexual behavior is sin, "I think the effect on speech and religious speech is nonetheless real."

He said he does expect that pastors soon will begin being called to testify in "hate crime" cases in court "as to what that pastor preaches, what the church teaches, what the Bible teaches."

"When this happens, there will be a shock wave through pastorates in America," he said.

Ultimately, he warned that the homosexual advocates who have pushed the "hate crimes" plan consider this law just the first step "toward silencing Christians."

That development already has been observed not only with the enactment of "hate crimes" laws in other nations but in the "hate crime" related speech codes existing on many university campuses in the U.S., Stanley said.

Enemies of the State
Oct 28th, 2009
Daily NewsHuman Events.com - Brian Darling
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Don’t create an enemies list.”

Advice given years ago to President Nixon? No, a tip delivered just last week -- from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) to President Barack Obama

Alexander cited some of the announced enemies of Obama and his henchmen, including the Chamber of Commerce, Humana, Fox News, banks, investment houses, bondholders of General Motors and Chrysler, insurance companies and numerous members of Congress. Evidently if you dare to oppose the Obama administration, you risk ending up on the White House enemies list.

Because Fox dares to report news critical of the administration, President Obama has instituted a White House boycott of the network. Anita Dunn, White House communications director, made the wild claim that “Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have been specifically targeted

Who’s next? Other than free speech, that is.

Stimulus Funds National Gay Center for the Elderly
 
Of course, the White House also has a friends list. And these friends are rewarded with your tax dollars if they support the administration.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius joyfully announced plans to use $250,000 per year of your money to create a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders. If you’re over 60 and living an “alternative lifestyle,” you’ll be eligible to receive the special services of this new federally funded center.
 
Yet another example of politically correct government waste -- a “stimulus” we can certainly do without.
 
Labor’s Back-Door Strategy
 
According to Gallup, a majority of Americans now disapprove of labor unions. Yet their political backers are undaunted -- advancing Big Labor’s agenda behind closed doors in conference reports, executive orders and soon at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which wields tremendous power over our nation’s labor laws.

Dismantling America
Oct 28th, 2009
CommentaryThomas Sowell - Syndicated Columnist - CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
Categories: Commentary;Warning

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official -- not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President -- could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers -- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?
 
Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?
 
Does any of this sound like America?
 
How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.
 
How much of America would be left if the federal government continued on this path? President Obama has already floated the idea of a national police force, something we have done without for more than two centuries.
 
We already have local police forces all across the country and military forces for national defense, as well as the FBI for federal crimes and the National Guard for local emergencies. What would be the role of a national police force created by Barack Obama, with all its leaders appointed by him? It would seem more like the brown shirts of dictators than like anything American.
 
How far the President will go depends of course on how much resistance he meets. But the direction in which he is trying to go tells us more than all his rhetoric or media spin.
 
Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles, and the people of this country.
 
Jeremiah Wright said it with words: "God d--- America!" Bill Ayers said it with bombs that he planted. Community activist goons have said it with their contempt for the rights of other people.
 
Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.
 
Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?
 
Nothing is more consistent with his lifelong patterns than putting such people in government -- people who reject American values, resent Americans in general and successful Americans in particular, as well as resenting America's influence in the world.
 
Any miscalculation on his part would be in not thinking that others would discover what these stealth appointees were like. Had it not been for the Fox News Channel, these stealth appointees might have remained unexposed for what they are. Fox News is now high on the administration's enemies list.
 
Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year -- each bill more than a thousand pages long -- too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question -- and the biggest question for this generation.

Bahrain Bans Citizens from Contact With Israelis
Oct 28th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost - Herb Keinon
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel

Bahrain bans citizens from contact with Israelis | Jerusalem Post

Jerusalem followed with concern on Tuesday reports that the lower house of the Bahrain parliament had passed legislation banning any contact with Israelis, with one source saying this was a direct result of the viciously hostile anti-Israel mood in the Arab world following the Goldstone Report and confrontations over the Temple Mount.

Reuters quoted Jalal Fairooz from the Shi'ite Al-Wefaq bloc, an opposition group behind the move, as saying that "whoever holds any communication or official talks with Israeli officials or travels to Israel will face a fine... and/or a jail sentence of three to five years.

"The motivation is that steps are being taken by certain countries to allow certain talks to be held with Israeli officials. Israeli delegates have managed to participate in events in Arab countries with no treaties with Israel," he said.

Earlier this month the Israeli flag flew at a renewable energy conference in Abu Dhabi attended by a small Israeli delegation. This was reportedly the first time that an Israeli flag had been displayed in the United Arab Emirates which, like Bahrain, is a Gulf state with which Israel has no ties.

The legislation passed the lower house of the Bahraini parliament, and now must go to the upper house, whose members are selected by the king. Israeli officials expressed hope that the move would be quashed by the royal family, and that Bahrain, which is an American ally and considered a moderate Arab state, would not, through this action, signal an extremist turn.

A source in the Prime Minister's Office termed the move "unfortunate," and said it was a throwback to the Arab rejectionist positions of the 1960s and 1970s.

"How does the Arab world think it is possible to make peace without contacts and talking?" the official said. "This is self-defeating. The Arab world says they want peace, but then can't talk to Israel. It makes no sense."

The parliamentary move stands in stark contrast to a July Washington Post op-ed written by Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, calling for more engagement with Israel.

In the piece, Khalifa wrote that the Arab world had "not done enough to communicate directly with the people of Israel. An Israeli might be forgiven for thinking that every Muslim voice is raised in hatred, because that is usually the only one he hears. Just as an Arab might be forgiven for thinking every Israeli wants the destruction of every Palestinian."

The Bahraini foreign minister wrote that the Arab world had not done a good enough job demonstrating to Israelis how the Arab Peace Initiative launched by Saudi Arabia in 2002 "can form part of a peace between equals in a troubled land holy to three great faiths."

As a result of that article, Bahrain was viewed in Jerusalem earlier this year as the most likely candidate to positively answer US President Barack Obama's request to the Arab states to make some normalization gestures toward Israel. So far, however, neither Bahrain nor any other Arab country has stepped forward.

In January 2007, Bahrain stripped citizenship from a Kenyan-born Bahraini runner, Mushir Salem Jawher, who won the Tiberias marathon. Jawher's citizenship was returned a few months later amid concern in Bahrain that as a result of the action they would be isolated by the international sports community.

Bahrain, a pro-Western country with Sunni rulers and a Shi'ite majority, hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet. Last year Bahrain's king appointed a Jewish woman as his kingdom's envoy to Washington.

The Jewish community in Bahrain dates back to antiquity, houses the only synagogue in the Persian Gulf, and today numbers between 30 and 50 people.

America Moving from Kingdom of Cash to Socialism Slowly But Surely
Oct 28th, 2009
CommentaryPravda.Ru
Categories: Commentary;Warning

Obama’s decision not to build the Missile Defense System in Poland and the Czech Republic and his Noble Prize have not yet been comprehended from a philosophical viewpoint. It’s time to do it.

Power of Money against Power of Spirit

The last turning point similar to the current one happened approximately 400 years ago. The Western European society discovered a new hierarchy of values. Feudalism that valued service and chivalry was replaced with capitalism. Wealth became the measure of success, and everyone was to care about his own pocket only. The cult of money replaced all other values, including religious.

Capitalism turned everything upside down and made people more excited about stuffing their bank accounts than anything else. This system turned out to be extremely efficient in terms of production of goods, services, and comfort. America benefited from the system the most, and decided that the rest of the world has to adopt it as well. If some underdeveloped countries are unable to appreciate the benefits of capitalism, they should be forced to do it.

Collapse of the Illusion

Meanwhile, philosophers say that capitalism is driven not by hard cash, but rather, striving for hard cash. It’s driven not by the production of goods, but rather, striving for consumption of these goods.

If everyone had these values, the “dog-eat-dog” principal would be the major principal in the world history. But America failed to do it. There are plenty of “underdeveloped” people in the world who continue to cherish spiritual values. There are not that many chances left to force them into worshiping money since these “underdeveloped” people adopt western technology and become stronger. The appeal to adopt American values doesn’t work either. Why would we adopt the system if the system is in crisis? Pragmatic America realized that billions of people are not willing to live in the kingdom of hard cash and decided that it would be better off leaving this kingdom itself. Now the USA is talking about introducing elements of socialism.

What does Obama’s decision not to build the Eastern European Missile Defense System have to do with all of this? Well, it means that it’s not capitalism that’s undergoing the crisis, but the belief in its high efficiency. And this, in turn, means that America, the bulwark of capitalism, is no longer the boss of the world. And if it’s not the boss any more, it has to be friends with everybody, including Russia. And it’s America’s turn to offer Russia to push the reset button. Or maybe it’s just tired of imposing its rules on others and felt that friendship is more valuable than money and power? If this is the case, we will soon witness another turning point in the world history.