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The United States Secretary of State says that Jewish communities in Biblical lands are illegitimate
Nov 5th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

On her travels to the Middle East to work on the peace process, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Arab leaders that Israeli settlements, Jewish communities, in Judea and Samaria, lands that belong to the Jewish people thousands of years ago, that these Jewish communities now located in this land are illegitimate and they should be halted forever. The Secretary said that the United States would like to see the end of all settlement activity current, future, and forever.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

The claim that Jewish communities in Biblical lands are illegitimate completely ignores history and the scenario for the future as revealed in Bible prophecy.

Since the Six Day War in 1967 Jews have been living in the land of their forefathers, the land referred to as the West Bank but known in Israel and to the Jewish families living there as Judea and Samaria. Though the Jews inhabited this land 3500 years ago, they returned to the area for the military purpose of setting up a buffer zone between Israel and the nations that tried to eliminate Israel in that Six Day War. Jews from all over the world have been coming back to their homeland for over 100 years and many of them, especially the religious Jews, believe this return was promised by God and foretold by the ancient Jewish prophets. For the United States to say these Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria are illegitimate and must be halted forever is a total contradiction of history.

3500 years ago, Joshua led the Jewish people into this disputed land and established the nation of Israel, that nation that God had promised and on the land that he promised. Prophetically, the United States is wrong as well since the ancient Jewish prophet Ezekiel quoted God who said 18 times in one chapter, Ezekiel 34, that He would find the Jews that had scattered around the world and bring them into the land of their forefathers and He would do that in the last days.

The world has witnessed God fulfilling His promise over the last 60 years and for the United States to call this illegitimate will have no effect on Bible prophecy being fulfilled.

Gone to the Dogs: La Church Starts Pet Service
Nov 5th, 2009
Daily NewsAP - GILLIAN FLACCUS
Categories: Today's Headlines;Apostasy

LOS ANGELES  -- When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

Most of his worshippers, though devoted, were in their 60s, attendance had bottomed out and the once-vibrant church was fading as a community touchstone in its bustling neighborhood.

So Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising idea: He would turn God's house into a doghouse by offering a 30-minute service complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats. He hopes it will reinvigorate the church's connection with the community, provide solace to elderly members and, possibly, attract new worshippers who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends.

Before the first Canines at Covenant service last Sunday, Eggebeen said many Christians love their pets as much as human family members and grieve just as deeply when they suffer - but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love. And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion," said Eggebeen, himself a dog lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."

The weekly dog service at Covenant Presbyterian is part of a growing trend among churches nationwide to address the spirituality of pets and the deeply felt bonds that owners form with their animals.

Traditionally, conventional Christians believe that only humans have redeemable souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

But a growing number of congregations from Massachusetts to Texas to California are challenging that assertion with regular pet blessings and, increasingly, pet-centric services, said Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of animals in Christian tradition.

She recently did a survey that found more than 500 blessings for animals at churches nationwide and has heard of a half-dozen congregations holding worship services like Eggebeen's, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

"It's the changing family structure, where pets are really central and religious communities are starting to recognize that people need various kinds of rituals that include their pets," she said. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."

The pooches who showed up at Covenant Presbyterian on Sunday didn't seem very interested in dogma.

Animals big and small, from pit bulls to miniature Dachshunds to bichon frises, piled into the church's chapel to worship in an area specially outfitted for canine comfort with doggie beds, water bowls and a pile of irresistible biscuits in an offering bowl. There were a lot of humans too - about 30 - and three-quarters of them were new faces.

The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing.

But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn "GoD and DoG," one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened. Eggebeen took prayer requests for Mr. Boobie (healing of the knees) and Hunter (had a stroke) and then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before launching into the Lord's Prayer.

At the offering, ushers stepped over tangled leashes and yawning canines to collect donations and hand out doggie treats shaped like miniature bones in a rainbow of colors.

Donna Lee Merz, a Presbyterian pastor at another Southern California church, stopped in with Gracie, her 14-month-old long-haired miniature Dachshund. The puppy with ears soft as silk was overcome by the other dogs and wriggled across the floor on her belly, quivering with excitement. She finally calmed down when Merz held her in her lap.

"She knew it was a safe place and a good place to be, a place to be loved," Merz said, gently petting Gracie after the service. "I'll be back."

Emma Sczesniak came to Covenant for the first time, lured by the promise that she could worship with her black Lab, Midnight, and her wire-haired Dachshund-terrier mix, Marley.

Marley sat on her lap during the service, while Midnight checked out the other big dogs and sat patiently waiting for his biscuit. Sczesniak said the dog-friendly service came at the perfect time for her: she's been thinking about getting back to church, but wasn't sure how or where to go.

"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," she said of the dog-inclusive service. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

But Midnight, Marley, Gracie and the other pups probably had something more important on their minds as Eggebeen intoned his benediction and the service drew to a close: Just where could they find more of those delicious treats?

For Eggebeen, the night was a spiritual success - and the rest is out of his hands.

"It's important for a church like us just to do good things. The results, we'll just have to see," he said. "Ultimately, that belongs to God."

Art's Commentary......"the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not" Jn. 1:5

Consider Her Palaces - Psalm 48:13
Nov 5th, 2009
Daily NewsF.B. Meyer
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The pious Jew broke into exclamations as he considered the beloved city of his fathers. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth. In proud confidence he challenged the world of men to walk about Zion, count her towers, and mark her bulwarks. Finally they were to traverse her palaces. But what Jerusalem was to the Jews, God's lovingkindness is to us, as we think of it, in the midst of his temple. Let us consider its beauty and joy, its strength and glory. "How great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!"

Traverse the rooms in the Palace of God's love - that council-chamber of the eternal foreknowledge where we were chosen in Christ; this suite of apartments, which began with the unrobing-room of Bethlehem, and ended with the golden stairway of Olivet; those mansions of the Home-land which He is preparing for them that love Him; the pavilion whither He will lead his bride where He comes to take her to Himself: then look onward to the new heaven and the new earth, where God shall spread his tabernacle over his people, and all our loftiest ideals will be realized for evermore.

Life is a traversing of the successive rooms of the Palace of Love. They are not alike: each has its own beauty; each leads to something better; in each God is All. Some seem to pass through the rooms veiled or blind; others miss seeing the King. But those who dare to look for Him everywhere, find Him. Always our Christ for ever and ever; always our Guide even unto death, and beyond. Always the present opening to something better, as the rosebud to the rose; as the acorn to the oak; as the chrysalis to the butterfly.

Church's Money Giveaway: Alsip Pastor's Cash Prizes Fill Pews
Nov 5th, 2009
Daily NewsChicago Tribune
Categories: Today's Headlines;Apostasy

Minister's focus is to help congregation pay bills and begin a debt-free life

At Lighthouse Church of All Nations in Alsip, the congregation can get more than just prayer at the Sunday worship services.

If a lucky -- or "blessed and highly favored" -- churchgoer is in the right seat, they can also receive a cash prize.

At each of the three Sunday services, the Rev. Dan Willis pulls a number of one seat from a bag and the worshiper in that seat wins a cash prize. Two of the churchgoers win $250 and the third gets $500. The church gives away $1,000 each Sunday, Willis said.

Art's Commentary.....Pinch me.

Central Banks Lead Subtle Shift Away from Dollar
Nov 5th, 2009
Daily NewsReuters - Steven C. Johnson
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

NEW YORK - Central banks with trillions of dollars in reserves that are already stepping up euro and yen purchases will likely continue doing so in coming years, driven by worries over the stability of the greenback.

A record U.S. budget gap and the rise of dynamic developing economies like China suggest the dollar, down over 20 percent since 2002 on a trade-weighted basis, has further to fall.

Of course, the dollar comprises some two-thirds of global reserves and will remain dominant in most holdings, as attempts to dump it would destroy the value of central bank portfolios.

But with the speed of reserve accumulation increasing after a crisis-induced lull late last year, policy makers can choose to park more new cash in euros and yen without having to sell existing dollar assets.

"I think 2009 will be remembered as a watershed moment for currencies," said Neil Mellor, strategist at BNY Mellon, which has some $20 trillion in assets under custody. "I don't think there will be an imminent move, but it is quite clear there's a plan to shift reserves to a more balanced portfolio."

Barclays Capital research showed that central banks that report reserve breakdown put 63 percent of new cash coming into their coffers between April and July into non-U.S. currencies.

"There's an incipient desire to reduce the dollar share of reserves, and central banks will use any opportunity to do it, provided it doesn't cause the dollar to fall out of bed," said Steven Englander, chief U.S. currency strategist at Barclays.

International Monetary Fund data shows the dollar's share of known world reserves has been declining since it stood at 72 percent in 1999, the year the euro was introduced. As of the second quarter of 2009, it accounted for 62.8 percent.

To be sure, some of that shift is driven by the dollar's decline against a basket of currencies over that period.

'in Next War, All Israel will be One Front'
Nov 5th, 2009
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Gil Ronen
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

 
In the next war, missiles will rain down on all of Israel, Major General (ret.) Uzi Dayan, the former Head of Central Command and head of the National Security Council, told Arutz Sheva Wednesday. The discovery of the weapons shipment and the information provided Tuesday by Military Intelligence regarding a long range missile tested by Hamas prove yet again that in the next round of fighting, “all of Israel will be a single front,” he said.

“The IDF can chalk up a great achievement after using precise intelligence to take over a ship 200 km from Israeli territory,” Dayan said. He added sarcastically: “I think Judge Goldstone can write up another report against Israel, on how it dared to flout international law and take over a ship that was floating in international territorial waters, but we do not have to be concerned about that.”



Uzi Dayan / Israel news photo: Flash 90

“We need to protect ourselves because it is our basic right to live here. Whoever does not want to help us, let him at least be quiet when we defend ourselves,” he said.

Iran is continuing to beef up its outposts in the Middle East, Dayan explained. “The Iran-Syria axis continues to strengthen its northern outpost outside of Iran, the Hizbullah, and it wants to establish a similar array in Israel's south and we must not let that happen because then we will be in a complicated situation,” he warned.

The continued rearming of Hamas and Hizbullah stem from Israel's failures in the last wars, he added. “If you do not end a war with a military decision, then you need to continue to deal with the unsolved problem again and again. We should have brought Hizbullah to a collapse in the Second Lebanon War and we should have brought Hamas to a collapse in Cast Lead. We did not do that and now we have to deal with their continued rearming.”