Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Turkey - EU Spat Over Bashir Assad OIC Summit Visit
Nov 8th, 2009
Daily NewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

ISTANBUL: A dispute between Turkey and the European Union over Sudan’s indicted president highlights the risks Turkey will face when it hosts an Islamic summit with some new friends who are not to the taste of its Western allies.

The gathering next week will boost EU candidate Turkey’s quest to deepen ties with the Muslim world but at the risk of alienating traditional American and European allies.

Turkey’s president accused the EU of interfering after the bloc asked Ankara to reconsider inviting Omar Hassan Al Bashir.

Bashir, who has an international arrest warrant against him for war crimes, and Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, engaged in a standoff with the West over Tehran’s nuclear programme, are among leaders who will attend an Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Istanbul on Monday. The one-day summit will add to growing concerns in some Western capitals that Turkey, an important regional ally of Washington, is shifting away from its pro-Western foreign policy and embracing countries such as Iran and Syria, while distancing itself from friend Israel.

“I think this summit will put Turkey again on the frontline, both in regards with Iran and Bashir,” said Hugh Pope, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.

That concern was laid bare open yesterday after President Abdullah Gul, asked about a request from Brussels that Turkey drop Bashir from the guest list, said: “What are they interfering for? This is a meeting being held in the framework of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. It is not a bilateral meeting.”

Although the 57-nation body’s meeting has been billed as an economic summit to discuss trade and anti-poverty measures, the economic goals are likely to be overshadowed by other issues.

Western powers are seeking to exert pressure on Tehran for concessions on its nuclear programme, and Ahmadinejad could use the summit to undermine efforts to isolate the Islamic republic and to give one of his trademark anti-Western speeches.

The West fears Tehran’s nuclear programme is a covert plan to develop nuclear weapons but Iran has denied this and says it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.

The visit by Bashir, who has travelled to African countries since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the arrest warrant against him in March, promises to be another hot issue for Nato member Turkey when he arrives in Istanbul. Muslim Turkey has not ratified the 2002 Rome Statute that established the ICC but it is under pressure to do so to bring it closer to EU standards.

Travel: the High Plateau of Ramat Hanegev
Nov 8th, 2009
CommentaryShmuel Browns and Hana Levi Julia
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel

 
The Negev desert, shaped like a 4,700 square mile inverted triangle in the south of the country, makes up more than half of Israel’s land area. A visit to the Negev should be on everyone's itinerary, because only by experiencing the desert can you understand its importance.

Geographically the Negev can be divided into five areas: the northern, western and central Negev, the high plateau and the Arava Valley. The high plateau area, known as Ramat HaNegev (Negev Heights) is a small part of the region, but one of major importance. The plateau stands between 370 metres and 520 metres above sea level, with extreme temperatures in summer and winter and significant differences in those temperatures as day passes into night. The area gets only 100 mm of rainfall per year.



But despite these constraints, and its inferior and partially salty soil, Israeli farmers are successfully growing olives, pomegranates, pistachios and grapes for wine in Ramat Hanegev.

Here are some places to visit as you explore the region.

Kibbutz Revivim is growing five varieties of olives using brackish water, and selling the olives and olive oil in an upmarket boutique dedicated to their products in Tel Aviv.

Park Golda includes a lake and picnic tables to eat your lunch or for an unforgettable desert experience, try Bedouin hospitality in a black goat's hair tent followed by a camel ride.

The Great Makhtesh (Crater) is one of three craters in the region, a unique formation to the Negev, where the inside of a mountain is eroded by water, leaving only the outer shell, like eating a soft-boiled egg.

You can also visit a string of family farms along Route 40 for wine and cheese tasting, (one must check individual kosher certification) and even sleep over in one of their cabins under the desert stars. On farms that are growing grapes and making wine, the vines have been planted on the same 1,500-year-old terraces that were prepared by the Nabateans and take advantage of runoff from the winter rains. These farms are also a symbol of Israel's pioneering spirit in the 21st century, composting their waste, recycling their non-potable "grey" water and generating electricity using solar photovoltaic panels.



From the third century BCE the Nabateans traversed the Negev on caravans of camels laden with precious spices from Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula, a route of about 2,400 kilometers punctuated by some 65 camel stops one day apart. Over time the Nabateans settled in the area, building cities; Avdat, Shivta, Haluza and Mamshit have all been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites and are part of the Israel National Parks system.

The famous Kibbutz Sde Boker was built on the Negev Heights in 1952 by a group of discharged soldiers who had served in the area. The kibbutz attracted the public’s attention when David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister and elder statesman, and his wife Paula went to live there. Just south of Kibbutz Sde Boker you will see the sign for the cabin of the "Old Man" that today houses the Ben-Gurion Museum. There is a whole campus named after Ben-Gurion, which houses an Arid Zones research institute, an environmental center that includes a high school and college, a field school and guest house, a reptile farm and a desert sculpture museum. The Ben-Gurion Institute, a research facility for the study and the dissemination of his writings, offers visitors a multi-media program about the man and his work.

While staying at the guest house, Sde Boker can also be used as the base for a hike into the canyon at the Ein Avdat National Park with springs, pools and waterfalls, an oasis in the desert.

One may also hike from Avdat -- beside the gas station and Roman bath house that is supplied with water drawn from a well tunneled 70 meters through bedrock -- north along the Israel Trail to the Ein Eikev spring that flows year round. If you continue hiking the Israel Trail for a couple of days, you can reach the Great Makhtesh.



Next, visit the remains of the Nabatean city of Avdat, which was probably the regional capital. There is still disagreement among scholars about the reasons for the sudden appearance of the Nabateans on the stage of history in the second half of the first millennium BCE, and their disappearance in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. Located at the crossroads that join Petra in Jordan to Eilat and to Gaza, Avdat controlled the passage of the caravans from India and Arabia. Conquered in 106 CE by the Roman Emperor Trajan, it lost its importance when a road was built between Eilat and Damascus.

Avdat adjusted by adopting agriculture, particularly the production of wine, as its means of subsistence. Numerous terraced farms and water channels were built throughout the region in order to collect enough run-off from winter rains to support agriculture in the hyper-arid zone of the Negev. At least five wine presses dating back to the Byzantine period have been found at the site, showing us how important wine-making was in this region.

In the Byzantine period (5th and 6th century) a citadel and a monastery with two churches were built on the acropolis of Avdat on the ruins of earlier pagan temples. The town was later totally destroyed by a local earthquake in the early 7th century and was never reinhabited.

Shmuel Browns is a licensed tour guide and conducts tours throughout the State of Israel. All photos in this article were snapped by Shmuel Browns.

Revelation 14: 1-5 Pt,. 2
Nov 8th, 2009
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Prophecy;Book Study

Reminder - Chapter 14 is a table of content for the rest of the book.  The message is contained in six visions. Last week we began to look at the first vision.

In verse one we saw the site, Mt Zion, the place of Christ's literal return to the earth.

Their song Verses 2-3

"And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth."

Here we see heaven and earth in harmony. This is a picture of the harmony between heaven and earth during the millenium. God and man, heaven and earth in  tune together.

"no man could learn that song but the 144,000." God's children can have intimate experiences with God that no one else can enter into. In Revelation 2:17 we read about a secret between God and a believer that no one else can enter into. Wonderful to have a sweet intimate relationship with sovereign Lord of the universe.

The 144,000, the 1/3 of Israel saved at the end of the tribulation and the saved gentiles still alive at the end of the tribulation. These will not be taken to heaven but remain on earth to enter the millenium in their natural bodies to populate the earth during the millenium. They will be in their physical bodies to reproduce and populate the kingdom.

The tribes of Israel will be represented, and there will be gentiles from every nation.

Their sanctification Verses 4-5

"These are they who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile; for they are without fault before the throne of God."

The word virgin used in the Bible does not always refer to women. Here the reference is to their spiritual condition, their sanctification. The emphasis is not on their sex but on their spiritual purity, though they are male Jews. "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy; for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." 2 Corinthians 11:2.

"the first fruits unto God", this means more to follow, the whole nation left alive at the end of the tribulation. The 144,000 are the first of a great harvest that will come from Israel. Paul said, "And so all Israel shall be saved". All of the believing Israelites living at the end of the tribulation will enter the long promised kingdom of God on earth. "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the gentiles be come in." Romans 11:25.

"Until the fulness of the gentiles be come in". When the church is complete, when the last member of the church is saved, the church will be taken home in the rapture. Then the blindnes of Israel to her Messiah will be lifted. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:" Romans 11:26.

Next week we will look at Vision two.

Pm Heads to U.S. Under Threat of Palestinian Statehood Declaration
Nov 8th, 2009
Daily NewsBarak Ravid and Natasha Mozgovaya
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Concerns are growing in Israel's government over the possibility of a unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, a move which could potentially be recognized by the United Nations Security Council.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently asked the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama to veto any such proposal, after reports reached Jerusalem of support for such a declaration from major European Union countries, and apparently also certain U.S. officials.

The reports indicated that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over U.S. recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Such recognition would likely transform any Israeli presence across the Green Line, even in Jerusalem, into an illegal incursion to which the Palestinians would be entitled to engage in measures of self-defense.

In late August Fayyad presented the international community with a detailed plan for building up Palestinian Authority institutions and set a timetable of up to two years for its implementation. Senior Israeli officials said Fayyad's plan initially met with positive reaction in Jerusalem for its emphasis on institution-building and making security services more efficient.

But some Israeli officials told Haaretz that alongside the clauses reported in the media - which are similar to elements of Netanyahu's call for "economic peace" between Israel and the Palestinians - Fayyad's plan also contains a classified, unreleased portion stipulating a unilateral declaration of independence.

The plan specifies that at the end of a designated period for bolstering national institutions the PA, in conjunction with the Arab League, would file a "claim of sovereignty" to the UN Security Council and General Assembly over the borders of June 4, 1967 (before the outbreak of the Six-Day War, during which Israel took control of the West Bank and Gaza).

Fayyad is also seeking a new Security Council resolution to replace Resolutions 242 and 338 in the hope of winning the international community's support for the borders of a Palestinian state and applying stronger pressure on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank.

Several Israeli officials told Haaretz that Fayyad had spoken to them of positive responses he had received over the plan from prominent EU member states, including the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Sweden. Fayyad added that he presented the proposal to the U.S. administration and did not receive any signal of opposition in response.

Netanyahu's "kitchen cabinet" has held a number of meetings on the matter in recent months. "It's a very dangerous move," said a senior Israeli foreign-policy official. "More and more cabinet ministers understand that diplomatic inaction on Israel's part is likely to bring international support for the Fayyad program."

Israeli sources said Netanyahu discussed the proposal in meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and special Mideast envoy George Mitchell and requested that the U.S. tell Fayyad that it would not support his proposal and would veto it in the Security Council. Netanyahu has yet to receive a clear response from Washington on its stance on Fayyad's plan.

Netanyahu is to arrive in Washington today for a brief visit. He is scheduled to address the United Jewish Communities General Assembly, preceded by Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

On Tuesday Netanyahu is to fly to Paris, where he is scheduled to meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday. The prime minister's Paris visit comes just two days before that of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who will also meet with Sarkozy. Netanyahu has not signaled interest in renewing negotiations with Damascus, but stagnation in talks with the Palestinians may force him to do so.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a mediator between Israel and Syria during Ehud Olmert's term as prime minister, said Friday in Paris that Turkey seeks to resume its role as an intermediary between the two countries, and that his government can be an "honest broker" in such talks.

Netanyahu has expressed reluctance over Turkish mediation due to ongoing diplomatic tension between Ankara and Jerusalem.

Choosing Light
Nov 8th, 2009
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer
Categories: Inspirational;Exhortation

God has given us a broad world of truth for our spiritual and intellectual habitation. This universe of truth is to the human soul as limitless as the air to a bird or the sea to a fish. There the Christian mind can luxuriate at perfect liberty. While the ages unfold the believer will need no more than has been already given, for it represents the broad and manifold will of God, the happy home of saints and angels. This vast sea of truth is expressed in nature, in the Holy Scriptures and in Christ, the Wisdom of God incarnate. Its rational phase can be reduced to a creed which may be learned as one would learn any other truth, and which when so learned constitutes Christian orthodoxy, best and most perfectly embodied in the beliefs of modern evangelical Christianity. But we must also remember that orthodoxy is not synonymous with Procrustean uniformity. We may bring every thought into accord with divine revelation without sacrificing our intellectual freedom. We can be orthodox without becoming mentally stultified. We can believe every tenet of the Christian creed and still leave our imagination free to roam at will through the broad worlds of nature and grace. We are free but not ?freethinkers.?

A Threat to Israel
Nov 8th, 2009
Weekly CommentaryArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

The Israeli's are very concerned about the announced intention of the Palestinians to declare an independent state with the borders of the pre-1967 era. They intend to call upon the Europeans and the Americans to support their declaration and then take it to the UN for a vote. The O.I.C. (Organization of Islamic Countries) have 57 votes in the U.N and they have many more supporters enabling them to pass whatever they desire.

There are reports that indicate that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret agreement with the Obama administration over recognition of an independent Palestinian state. Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked President Obama to veto any such proposal. Today Netanyahu flew to Washington to meet with the President, no doubt to express concern.

The plan apparently calls for the PA in conjunction with the Arab League to file a claim of sovereignty to the UN Security Council and the General Assembly. This would mean that the whole world would be actively involved in pressuring Israel to withdraw from  Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem.(see Joel 3:2).  A vote by the UN in favour would legitimize a resistance movement and turn Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem into a war zone.

This situation is putting tremendous pressure on Israel to compromise. With a new Super President soon to chosen by the EU, a situation is rapidly taking shape in which the Antichrist could suddenly appear on  the scene and negotiate the Peace Treaty of Daniel 9:27. Prior to that the Church must be raptured.

These developments are  perfectly in line with what the scriptures describe for the last days. The trumpet is soon to sound, are you ready?

'hizbullah Getting Ready for New War'
Nov 8th, 2009
Daily NewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

'Hizbullah getting ready for new war' | Jerusalem Post

Fearing Israel will launch an assault on Hizbullah before a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, the Lebanese guerrilla group is getting ready for a new war, the Observer reported on Sunday.

According to the British newspaper, Hizbullah has been "busy reinforcing fixed defense positions" north of the Litani River, and after losing many of its bunkers in the south during the Second Lebanon War, is preparing "a new strategy" to defend villages there.

"Sure, we are rearming, we have even said that we have far more rockets and missiles than we did in 2006," a Hizbullah commander, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "We had to blow up or leave some of our bunkers and fighting positions, but we still have plenty of capabilities in the south. We expect the Israelis to come soon, if not this winter, then they will wait until spring, when the ground isn't too soft for their tanks."

The report comes less than a week after the Israel Navy seized a cargo ship loaded with hundreds of tons of weaponry sent to Hizbullah from Iran.

Andrew Exum, a military expert on Hizbullah at the Centre for New American Security, was quoted by the Observer as saying that Hizbullah no longer controls the border, due to the presence of UNIFIL.

"They appear to be hardening the villages for this next round of fighting, while pushing their fixed positions north away from UNIFIL to protect the approaches to Beirut and the Bekaa Valley," he said.