Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Revelation 14:17-20 PT. 2
Jan 31st, 2010
Exploring RevelationArt Sadlier
Categories: Prophecy;Commentary;Book Study

Christ Treads the Winepress

"And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. - And another angel came out from the alter, which had power over the fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. - And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. - And the winepress was trodden without the city, and the blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."  Revelation 14: 17-20

The angels are the reapers but Christ will treads the winepress himself. Of that day we read, " and the winepress was trodden outside the city", that refers to the Megiddo which is north of Jerusalem. "And the blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horses bridles," that means the blood will be four to four and a half feet deep. Before peace can come judgment must come first. The Lord will summon the armies of the world to Israel, hundreds of millions, perhaps a billion men, all gathered throughout Israel. The valley of megiddo and the Jordan valley stretching down to Bosra is about 1600 furlongs, 200 hundred miles. The blood of hundreds of millions of men will flow into that valley, four or five feet deep for 200 miles. Do you understand that God is a God that hates sin and rebellion and will not let it go unpunished.

Zechariah says, " For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle."  The nations have rejected Christ and poured out His blood at Calvary, now those who have defiled the Son of God will be bathed in their own blood.

There are no apologies here, God's wrath is justified. It is an awful scene, but it is righteous judgment. Sin has corrupted man through his whole being, all of us are sinners by nature and by practice. Romans 6:23 tells us, "The wages of sin is death," a death that is to be endured in the eternal lake of fire.

In the midst of this condition that all men find themselves in, we have the good news of the gospel, Christ died for our sins. Repentance and faith in Christ as our saviour and sin bearer will bring salvation. May I ask you my friend, are you saved?

"It is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment." Hebrews9:27.  Hebrews 2:3 asks the most fearful question of all, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?"

Paul gives the great challenge in 2 Corinthians 6:2, "Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation". If you are not saved, God says to you, NOW is the moment of decision. Don't boast of tomorrow, it may never come and if it does the Spirit may not strive with you. It is quite possible that this is the moment your eternal destiny will be decided. Choose well, you are choosing for eternity.

Dershowitz Slams Goldstone:
Jan 31st, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Hillel Fendel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Anti-Israel

  Following his scathing critique of the Goldstone Report, for which Israel is preparing a response, Harvard Law School’s Professor Alan Dershowitz calls Goldstone an “evil man.”

Speaking with Army Radio on Sunday morning, Dershowitz said that Goldstone – whose report to the United Nations on Israel’s anti-terrorism Operation Cast Lead accused Israel of war crimes – “is a traitor using his Jewishness to malign Israel… He is an evil man, one who allowed himself to be used against the Jewish people, an absolute traitor.”

In his internet-publicized analysis of the Goldstone report, Dershowitz wrote that it is “much worse than most of its detractors (and supporters) believe. It is far more accusatory of Israel, far less balanced in its criticism of Hamas, far less honest in its evaluation of the evidence, far less responsible in drawing its conclusion, far more biased against Israeli than Palestinian witnesses, and far more willing to draw adverse inferences of intentionality from Israeli conduct and statements than from comparable Palestinian conduct and statements.”

Goldstone’s report, Dershowitz wrote, “is worse than any report previously prepared by any other United Nations agency or human rights group. As Maj.-Gen. Avichai Mandelblit, the advocate general of the Israeli Defense Forces, aptly put it: ‘I have read every report, from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Arab League. We ourselves set up investigations into 140 complaints. It is when you read these other reports and complaints that you realize how truly vicious the Goldstone report is. He made it look like we set out to go after the economic infrastructure and civilians, that it was intentional: It’s a vicious lie.’”

Methodology Worse than Conclusions

Dershowitz said that though the conclusions are harmful and unfavorable to Israel, it is Goldstone’s “methodology, analysis and substantive findings” that should be criticized. Dershowitz wrote that he has offered to debate Goldstone about his findings, but that Goldstone “has refused, as he has generally refused to respond substantively to credible critics of the report.”

Different Standards for Israel, Hamas

Prof. Dershowitz chiefly targets two aspects of the report. One is the fact that it uses different criteria for judging Hamas actions and Israeli actions: “Its writers applied totally different standards, rules and criteria in evaluating the intent of the parties to the conflict.” For instance, when faced with doubts about various incidents, in Israel’s case they were resolved against Israel, “concluding that its leaders intended to kill civilians,” while doubts regarding Hamas activities were resolved in favor of Hamas, “concluding that it did not intend to use Palestinian civilians as human shields.”

“Moreover, when it had precisely the same sort of evidence in relation to both sides - for example, statements by leaders prior to the commencement of the operation - it attributed significant weight to the Israeli statements, while entirely discounting comparable Hamas statements. This sort of evidentiary bias, though subtle, and perhaps not readily apparent to the non-legal reader, permeates the entire report.”

The Goldstone report also “takes a completely different view regarding the inferring of intent from actions. When it comes to Israel, the report repeatedly looks to results and infers from the results that they must have been intended. But when it comes to Hamas, it refuses to draw inferences regarding intent from results. For example, it acknowledges that some [Hama combatants wore civilian clothes, and it offers no reasonable explanation for why this would be so other than to mingle indistinguishably from civilians. Yet it refuses to infer intent from these actions.”

Conclusions are Wrong

Secondly, Dershowitz writes that the two central conclusions reached in the report are “demonstrably wrong.” The report’s two conclusions are that 1) Israel used the 8,000 Hamas rocket attacks on its citizens as an [excu for the real purpose of the operation, which was to target innocent Palestinian civilians for death, and 2) Hamas was not guilty of deliberately and willfully using the civilian population as human shields. It found “no evidence” that Hamas fighters “engaged in combat in civilian dress,” “no evidence” that “Palestinian combatants mingled with the civilian population with the intention of shielding themselves from attack,” and no support for the claim that mosques were used to store weapons… As we will see, the report is demonstrably wrong about both of these critical conclusions.”

Dershowitz told Army Radio that he feels Israel should respond to the report by conducting its own inquiry, by a committee headed by a former Supreme Court judge.

He said that he and Goldstone were friends and colleagues for a long time, “but now I see him as a traitor… It’s as if they would have taken a Jew to edit the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. He uses his Jewish last name to kosher his slander of the Jewish People.”

Church As the Bride of Christ
Jan 31st, 2010
Thought for the WeekA. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
Categories: Commentary;Inspirational

The church is the bride of Christ. Jesus was a complete man. He had all the nature of a man, but He never married. He could have, but He never did. He never married any woman though He was a true and complete man. He never married a daughter of a woman that He might marry His whole church, the bride. A true local church is the bride of Christ in recapitualtion, in miniature. Everything that is in the whole church of Christ should be recapitulated in the local church. The church, part of it in heaven and part of it on earth, is the bride of Christ. Our Lord Jesus washed His bride, regenerated her and prepared her. He is coming back to take her--the whole church--as His bride. But any local church is the whole church in recapitulation, just as a local election recapitulates a national one. The same liberty is expressed. The same candidates run. They talk about each other; they plead their own worth and put up bulletins and do the same thing on a small scale that they do on the federal level. That may be a poor illustration, but the whole bride of Christ is recapitulated. Any local church is what the whole church is, just in miniature Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church (Ephesians 5:25-29). This figure drawn from husbands and wives is applied directly without apology to Jesus Christ and His church. Just as a young man would not marry a dirty bride, so Jesus Christ will not marry a church that has stains or wrinkles or blemishes. His desire is for a glorious church, and He wants to love that church as a man loves his own bride.

Berlusconi Doubts Wisdom of Gaza Pullout
Jan 31st, 2010
Daily NewsArutz Sheva - Gil Ronen
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

  Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted in an interview published Sunday that the Gaza pullout ("Disengagement") was a mistake, noting that it ended in "burned synagogues" and missiles being fired into Israel.

Berlusconi arrives in Israel Monday for a three-day visit. He will be accompanied by eight Italian cabinet ministers, who will for the first time participate in a joint cabinet meeting with the Israeli cabinet.

The meeting will also highlight bilateral cooperation in the fields of science, technology and culture. A special conference will be held bringing together leaders of Italian business, industry and science and their Israeli counterparts. Three laboratories that were funded by the Italians will be dedicated in the course of the visit.

Speaking to Haaretz regarding the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, Berlusconi criticized Jewish growth in Judea and Samaria: "Israel's settlement policy could be an obstacle to peace. I would like to say to the people and government of Israel, as a friend, with my hand on my heart, that persisting with this policy is a mistake. I welcomed Prime Minister [Binyami Netanyahu's courage in his announcement of a 10-month [Jewish residential settlement constructio freeze. It will never be possible to convince the Palestinians of Israel's good intentions while Israel continues to build in territories that are to be returned as part of a peace agreement.”

Berlusconi added, however, that "at the same time, what happened in Gaza should prompt some thought. It is not [acceptable for Israe to evacuate communities [and then have face burned synagogues, acts of destruction, and inter-Palestinian violence and missiles being shot into Israeli territory."

Israel's Friend Calls for Return of Golan

The Italian prime minister and business tycoon called on Syria and Israel to “act together for the sake of peace, in the framework of which the Golan Heights will be returned and at the same time diplomatic and friendly relations will be established between the two countries, and Damascus for its part will stop supporting organizations that do not recognize Israel's existence.”

Ahmadinejad: Whoever Controls the Mideast Controls the World
Jan 31st, 2010
Daily NewsHaaretz .com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a Tehran conference Saturday that whoever controls the Middle East controls the world, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

In a speech during a conference marking 30 years to the Islamic Revolution, Ahamdinejad reportedly implied that Iran is the top power in the Middle East. "Now the question is who has the last say in the Middle East? Well, of course, the answer is clear to every one," Ahamdinejad said.

The Iranian president further emphasized that the Middle East is the most important region in the world. "Now, there are a number of developed countries which even own anti-satellite missiles, yet they are not effective and influential in the world because they do not have a role in the Middle-East," Fars News Agency quoted Ahamdinejad as saying.

Ahamdinejad lauded Iran's scientific and technological developments, such as the production of satellites and different types of missiles. He went on to say that Iran has been continuously progressing in these fields since the Islamic Revolution 30 years ago, according to Fars News Agency.

The statements made by the Iranian president come after he announced earlier this month that Iran is to come out with several new home-made satellites in February, which would be able to orbit the Earth at higher altitudes.