Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Unusual Activity At Syrian Chemical Weapons Sites Amid Rumors Assad is Dead or Fled
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Western intelligence officers were seeing new signs of activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, they told the New York Times Sunday, Dec. 2. “It’s in some ways similar to what they’ve done before,” a senior U.S. intelligence official said. “But they’re doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons. It’s not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities.”
debkafile’s Middle East sources add rumors were flying around the region Saturday night and Sunday morning that President Bashar Assad had been killed or fled Syria. Neither is confirmed. However, the rebels have in recent days made major strategic gains and begun to turn the tide of war against's Assad forces.

The new rumors tie in with the suggestive movements of chemical weapons detected by Western intelligence without any indication of their likely target.
Since the Syrian uprising erupted against his regime last year, Assad has often declared he would fight his enemies to the end and threatened that if his back was against the wall and life and regime were in jeopardy, he would rather set the entire Middle East on fire than surrender.

The Third Commandment
Dec 2nd, 2012
CommentaryIan C. Kurylyk
Categories: Exhortation

“Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7)

There is a pattern that we can see from our study so far of the Ten Commandments. The first commands have to do directly with the obligation to give to God the honour that is rightfully His as God and Creator.

This is confirmed in the New Testament. Jesus summarized the whole of man’s responsibility into two great principles. “And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

The Ten Commandments expand upon these two principles, first on how we relate to God and then on our relations to other human beings. The third commandment (quoted above from Exodus 20:7) shows us that man’s dishonour toward God is evident in the way God’s name is handled. The words we speak are the surest expression of our hearts and nobody can be loving God as they are commanded if their mouths are filled with blasphemy. There are many ways the third commandment is violated.

Many people profess to be atheists but use God’s name all the time (in a disrespectful way). This suggests that His existence is not really questioned, but that there is a refusal to give Him reverence. The psalmist who loved God said, “holy and reverend is his name” (Psalms 111:9). The careless or thoughtless use of God’s name so common in our culture is using it “in vain”. Saying “My God” or “Jesus Christ” as a common expression may not seem like anything, but that is just the point. His name should be something to the creatures He made. The tendency to downplay the seriousness of this is probably why God followed up this command with the assurance that He,“will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain”.

Taking oaths (swearing) without any real sense of the solemnity involved is a well known violation of this area of God’s law. Following up a statement with “by” and then God’s name in some form is a very serious thing to do. The implication is that there is a very solemn statement of truth or intention to be true and that it is made in God’s presence. It is inviting God to intervene in judgment if the oath is broken. Saying such things lightly does not mean that God takes it lightly.

The cursing we hear so often is also forbidden by the third commandment. To curse is an expression of hatred so great that the individual calls on God to “damn” the object of the curse. We are called to bless others by God’s law, not curse. There is a curse by God upon rebellion against His holy laws, but He is certainly not interested in joining in on petty human vengefulness and sinful hatred.

The sin of profanity is committed in an indirect way when we treat as common anything God has set apart as holy. There are some things established by God to be so directly a reflection of His holy person that to deal with them as common things is the sin of profanity. The later commandments deal specifically with such things as the sanctity of the truth, the sanctity of marriage, and the sanctity of the home.

Even the worship service in church may profane God’s name by including things that God forbids in His Word at the same time as going through the forms of worship. Unholy behaviour joined to God’s Holy name in this way is dragging down His name. It is taking His name in vain.

Wow, a lot of people must be in trouble in with God. We’re all in trouble if we are honest in the face of these teachings. But the good news is that there is forgiveness with God. God can forgive us for our failures to reverence His name and can change our lives. The law of God shows us our deep need of a Saviour. Jesus Christ always perfectly honoured His Heavenly Father. By His sacrifice on the cross He honoured God on our behalf. He faced the broken law and paid the price required for our sins in His blood. The resurrected Saviour now invites us to call upon Him in repentance and faith.

State to Eliminate “Bride” & “Groom” on Marriage Certificates
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsFoxnews.com - Todd Sterns
Categories: Today's Headlines;Moral Decline

The words “bride” and “groom” – along with “husband” and “wife” are about to become archaic language in Washington state as officials prepare to remove the terms from marriage and divorce certificates.

Tim Church, a spokesman for the Wash. state Health Department, told Fox News they will likely be removing those words in favor of more gender neutral terms.

He said the changes are necessary in response to the same-sex marriage law that takes effect Dec. 6.

“We’ve been quickly moving ahead to change our marriage certificate to make sure it fits for everyone who is going to be using it,” he told Fox News.

The words “bride” and “groom” could be replaced with “Spouse A” and “Spouse B” or “Person A” and “Person B,” Church said.

The department has been taking public input but the state’s secretary of health will ultimately decide which terms are used.

“People are just happy we are aware that the form needs updating,” Church said. “One (person) expressed concern that she sees forms that she does not see herself in – and she’s forced to make a choice on a form that is not a perfect choice for her.”

“We want our form to work for everyone who is getting married,” he added.

Peter Sprigg, of the Family Research Council, said it’s no surprise that traditional marriage terminology is about to be censored in Washington state.

“It is one sort of symbolic indication of how radical a change the legalization of same-sex marriage is,” Sprigg told Fox News. “Symbolically, they are doing away with the whole concept of bride and groom, husband and wife – at least in the eyes of the law.”

Sprigg suggested the heterosexual couples could challenge the new terms by simply crossing out the new language and inserting the old.

“I wonder if the state would accept that,” he asked. “If not, it would suggest this movement is intent on being even more totalitarian.”

School Orders Child to Remove God from Poem
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsFoxnews.com - Todd Sterns
Categories: Today's Headlines;Moral Decline

A North Carolina community is embroiled in controversy after a school ordered a six-year-old girl to remove the word “God” from a poem that she was supposed to read during a Veteran’s Day ceremony.

The girl is a first-grader at West Marion Elementary School. She was supposed to read the poem during a school assembly marking Veteran’s Day. The poem honored her two grandfathers who had served during the Vietnam War.

“He prayed to God for peace, he prayed to God for strength,” the poem read.

A parent reportedly found out about the poem and expressed concern about mentioning the word God during a school event. The parent did not want the Almighty’s name mentioned anywhere in the program, according to one account.

“We wanted to make sure we were upholding the school district’s responsibility of separation of church and state from the Establishment Clause,” Supt. Gerri Martin told the McDowell News.

Martin told the newspaper she made the decision in consultation with the school’s principal and vice principal.

“We jointly decided that we must err on the side of caution to prevent crossing the line on the Establishment Clause of the Constitution,” Kirkpatrick told the newspaper. “As a principal of a public school, I must put aside my personal religious beliefs and follow the law — which upholds that we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but that we, as public schools, cannot endorse one single religion over another.”

Report: New Activity At Syrian Chemical Weapon Sites
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Chana Ya'ar
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Warning

There are signs of new activity at Syrian chemical weapons sites, Western intelligence officials said, according to The New York Times.

The report, published Saturday, quoted a U.S. intelligence official as saying the regime of President Bashar al-Assad is “doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons.

“It's not just moving stuff around,” he explained. “These are a different kind of activities.”

It is possible Syrian Army forces are preparing to use the weapons in a last-ditch effort to save the government, officials told the paper. However, it is also possible they are simply warning to Western nations about the implications of providing assistance to rebel forces, they added.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not allow an existential risk to the Jewish State. This past summer, Netanyahu said during an interview on the U.S.-based television program “Fox News Sunday” that it is essential to prevent Syrian weapons from falling into the wrong hands.

One major concern is the possibility that part of the Syrian arsenal may be transferred to Lebanon. "Could you imagine Hizbullah – the people are conducting with Iran all these terror attacks around the world – could you imagine them having chemical weapons?” he asked the interviewer.

"It would be like Al Qaeda having chemical weapons,” he continued. “It's something that is not acceptable to us, not acceptable to the United States and to any peaceable country in the world.

"So I think that this is something we'll have to act to stop if the need arises,” he said. “And the need might arise if there's a regime collapse, but not a regime change.”

Syria's arsenal, he added, is a common concern. “We'd have to see if there was a common action to address that concern,” he said.

Obama Silent As Morsi Brings Egypt to Brink of Civil War in Power Grab
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsThe Guardian
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Egypt wakes too late to realize that the Muslim Brotherhood betrayed them

More than 100,000 people took to the streets of Cairo on Tuesday to protest against a decree by the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, that grants him sweeping constitutional powers.

Columns of protesters from all over the Egyptian capital descended on Tahrir Square, the focus of the January 2011 revolution, in numbers that rivalled the rallies in the 18-day protest that toppled the authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak.

“Dictator” was the word being used to describe Morsi’s new status after last Thursday’s decree, which grants immunity for the president from judicial review as well as protecting a controversial constitutional assembly dominated by the group he is affiliated with, the Muslim Brotherhood.

“Today’s protests are to overthrow oppression and stand up to the new dictatorship of Morsi, his decree and a constitution far removed from the revolution,” said Haytham Mohamedeen of the Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists movement. “He has to back down. The revolution and the streets will dictate what he will do. If he stands in the way of the revolution, he will share the same fate as Mubarak.”

Other marchers called for Morsi not merely to rescind his decree but to step down from the presidency. The chant of the 2011 revolution – “The people want to bring down the regime” – was echoed in other major Egyptian cities, including Alexandria and Suez.

Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Alexandria and Mansoura were ransacked and in the case of latter, set on fire, prompting the organisation to formally request the armed forces to protect the main headquarters in Mokkatam in Cairo.

Security Forces at both scenes had apparently refused to intervene.

Clashes also raged in the city of Mahalla between Muslim Brotherhood sympathisers and anti-Morsi protesters, resulting in 300 injuries, while there were also reports of clashes in Port Said.

Earlier, police continuously fired teargas near Tahrir Square while fighting raged with protesters who continued to arrive in large numbers. Among them was Mohamed ElBaradei, the former International Atomic Energy Agency chief who has taken on the role of co-ordinator of a national salvation front set up to unite opposition to the Morsi decree.

Rami Ghanem, of the National Front for Justice and Democracy, said Morsi’s decree had galvanised and united Egypt‘s disparate opposition groups.

“Most political movements have joined a salvation front with a united political bureau,” he said. “What we have failed to do in the past two years, Morsi has achieved with his decree, uniting all of us.

“Our objection is to the decree, irrespective of which president issued it. Killing continues by the ministry of interior, and governments that do this must be removed. We cannot accept any more transgressions, so this may escalate to peaceful civil disobedience.”

On Monday night, after a meeting with the supreme judicial authority, the presidency issued a statement clarifying the decree and stating that Morsi would use the new powers only for “sovereign matters”, which is presumed to mean anything that relates to national security.

A counter-protest planned by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups was postponed to avoid confrontation with those inflamed by the perceived power grab. Neither of these concessions was enough to stop the protests.

“Morsi has no credibility any more,” said Mohamed Eissa Moussa, a merchant participating in one of the marches. “He must step down. Neither he nor the Muslim Brotherhood can be trusted any more. He is not working for the revolution but for himself and his brotherhood. Had he been different, I would have supported him.”

Ahmed Bakr, a member of Egypt’s union for doctors, said: “He has appropriated the revolution, and what’s worse, he is claiming it is in the name of the revolution. This is a pivotal moment: if we accept his decree, the revolution is over.

“This isn’t democracy, and their adoption of such a decree is farcical. The Brotherhood have no shame and Morsi is tearing this country apart.”

Tahrir Square was teeming with people even before the separate marches reached the area early in the evening. Adapted anti-Mubarak chants calling for the heads of Morsi and the Brotherhood reverberated from the city’s buildings.

However, the Twitter account of the Muslim Brotherhood’s official English-language website, Ikhwanweb, seemed unperturbed by the numbers out in protest, first dismissing the “low turnout” in Tahrir Square and then stating that opposition forces pleased about 300,000 protesters should brace themselves for the “millions” that would come out in support of Morsi.

“On #Jan25, united Egyptians (Islamists, liberals, leftists) revolted against autocracy, supported by millions across country, today is politics,” Ikhwanweb tweeted.

Morsi, emboldened by his success on the international stage for in reaching a truce between Hamas and Israel, has defended his decree by stating it was necessary to defend the revolution from remnants of the Mubarak regime.

It’s expected that Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court will issue a statement clarifying its position regarding Morsi’s decree Wednesday morning.

The number of fatalities in a week of unrest reached four on Tuesday, with news of the death of Fathi Gharib, a member of the Socialist Popular Alliance party, who was reported to have died after inhaling teargas.

No More Tax Funds from Israel to PA
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Chana Ya'ar
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israel has decided to withhold taxes collected for the Palestinian Authority that were to be transferred later in the month. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz made the announcement Sunday morning at the weekly government Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

The move is being made in response to the United Nations vote to approve a new status for the PA as a nonmember observer state -- in effect, recognizing the PA as a de facto sovereign state. It allows the PA access to numerous U.N. agencies, and to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

"This was a Palestinian provocation and an attempt to advance their state without recognizing Israel,” Steinitz said. "We said it would not pass quietly," he reminded.

Steinitz said the funds would be used instead “to offset the PA's electricity debts.” Gaza derives at least 40 percent of its power from the Israeli electricity grid; the PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria derive 100 percent of their electricity from Israel.

It also circumvented the mandate for final status negotiations with Israel as required by the internationally-recognized Oslo Accords signed by the PA and Israel in the 1990s. By abrogating that agreement, there now exists a legal question as to whether or not the entire document is null and void – including the Paris Protocols, the section delineating economic agreements between Israel and the PA.

In response, the day after the U.N. vote the Israeli government authorized construction of 3,000 housing units in "E1" - an area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim - as well as in other areas of Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria.

World leaders reacted with concern over the weekend, reiterating their stance that all areas of Jerusalem restored to the capital since the 1967 Six Day War, as well as all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, are considered Israel's illegal gains internationally.

"It is high time that Jerusalem is connected to Maale Adumim,” continued Steinitz in his remarks on Sunday. “We told the U.S. that if the Palestinians would go to the U.N. there would be repercussions.”

The PA has already threatened to use its new U.N. status to file lawsuits against Israel “should it engage in aggression.” The vaguely worded threat is deliberately intended to blunt the Israeli security measures that protect its citizens from the terrorism that emanates from the Palestinian Authority.

Morsi Sets Dec. 15 for Referendum on Controversial Constitution
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

President Mohamed Morsi Saturday set Dec. 15 as the date for a national referendum on the constitutional draft presented him Friday after eight straight days of mass street protests against his assumption of powers overriding the judiciary. The draft which retains the principles of Islamic law as the main source of legislation was approved by a constitutional panel after it was boycotted by liberal and Christian members. They accused the Islamists of hijacking the process. It was rammed through at top speed to beat the Sunday deadline when Egypt’s highest judicial power, the Supreme Constitutional Court, was expected to dissolve the panel as not fully representative. Morsi went on television to explain he was acting to protect the revolution from reactionary forces and vowed to uncover “counterrevolutionaries hiding under judicial robes.”

Love Your Enemies and be Different - Matthew 5:43-48 - Part #2
Dec 2nd, 2012
Weekly Bible StudyArt Sadlier
Categories: Commentary;Exhortation;Book Study

In our first study we saw that Jesus gave six contrasts between the Pharisees and the citizens of the Kingdom of God. In each of these major points we have three factors. We have the teachings of the Old Testament, the traditions of the Jews, and the truth from Christ.

1 – The Traditions of the Jews

Verse 43, “Ye have heard that it hath been said....”  This is the sixth time Jesus has said that. It refers to Jewish tradition; it does not come from the Old Testament. This is a tradition that has been handed down to them. It is a system that they had developed. This was the current rabbinic teaching, it is not the Word of God, and it is not my truth, Jesus is saying.

What is this teaching? “Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy.” This is what they were taught. Figure out who your neighbour is and you can hate everybody else. You can hate up a storm!

“Thou shalt love thy neighbour.” Where did they get that? Leviticus 19:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.” They taught love thy neighbour, but notice, they left something out. They left out the words, “as thyself.” That makes a tremendous difference, but they dropped it out. That was too demanding, too defining. They would have to treat others the way they treated themselves. They didn’t want to go that far.

You can love people at a distance and it doesn’t cost you very much, we are all good at that. To love others as you love yourself is very, very costly!

I love myself, you love yourself, yes you do!

Whose teeth did you brush this morning? Whose breakfast did you eat this morning? Whose hair did you comb? Whose wardrobe hangs in your closet? Whose savings account is in your bank?

You are concerned about yourself, you love yourself. You spend great volumes of time and effort to meet your needs and God intends you to do that. You are fervent in your love for yourself, your habitual about it. Whenever you have a need or a desire you seek to fulfil it. We are very concerned about ourselves; we know no limits to gaining what we want.

Now that is exactly the way we are to love everybody else! In other words, you are to have that same, totally consuming, fervent, habitual, permanent love motivating you to meet the interests and needs of others. A love that prompts you to do everything you can to make sure that all their welfare, safety and interests are met. Their needs are your concern. And Jesus said, not just your neighbours, but your enemies also. How do we measure up? Who do we really care about? Christianity is radical!

Question; how much money, how much effort and how much love is too much to reach the lost souls of your area, to meet their greatest need.

Do you see the high standard Jesus is setting? It is humanly impossible.

But they not only dropped something, they added something. What did they add? “And hate your enemies” Where did they get that from? It didn’t come out of the Bible, nowhere does scripture teach that. The imprecatory Psalms teach Israel to hate her national enemies. Where did they get this idea? They just made it up.

We are to love our neighbours. The obvious question then is who is our neighbour?  They said our neighbours are the Jews, not the gentiles. And even among the Jews only certain ones qualified.

Matthew 9:10, “And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.” Notice two categories, Tax collectors and sinners. Verse 11, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?”

The conclusion is that our neighbours are Jews who are not tax collectors and sinners. We can hate everybody else. John 7:49, “But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.” They go even further, the Jews who were not trained in the law as the Pharisees were, were under a curse. Only the people in their group, their fellow Pharisees were their neighbours. Us four bar the door, no more.

They didn’t read far enough. Leviticus 19:34a, “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

Christianity is radical! Christianity is unique to God’s own divinely empowered children. No one else is empowered to live like that. Apart from the new birth, Christianity is absolutely impossible.

2 Corinthians 517, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Romans 8:4, “That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Expressing the love Christ is talking about is the normal Christian life, anything less is sub normal and not Christianity at all. Is your life marked by the fruits of the Spirit?

11 - The Teachings of the Old Testament

What did the Old Testament teach about love? Did the Old Testament say anywhere, \"Hate your enemies\"? No! Did the Old Testament say, \"Love your enemies? Yes! What is the sum of the Old Testament teaching on love?

First let us clarify the Old Testament teaching about hatred. Psalm 139:21 says, \"Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee... \" That is the only justifiable hatred in the Bible. It is based on the same heart attitude as Psalm 69:9, \"For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.\"

Understand that the Bible says it is wrong to be angry, but there is such a thing as righteous indignation. Jesus said we are not to be angry with one another, but Jesus made a whip and drove men out of the Temple courtyard. What is the difference?

Jesus never got angry with those who offended Him, but Jesus got angry with those who defiled the glory of God. We have the right to react in righteous indignation when God is dishonoured. We have no right to react in retaliation over personal injury.

Let’s apply that. We should have a perfect hatred for those who are the enemies of God. 2 John 9-11, \"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.\"

David said in Psalm 139:21-22, \"Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.\" Right after that he said, \"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting\" (verses23-24). David is saying, \"Lord I hate them that hate thee, and I hate them with a perfect hatred.\" He is saying, Lord if you search my heart you will know that my motive is your glory, not my own personal injury.

There is a place for zeal for the holiness of God, for the sacredness of His truth and for the sacredness of His person. The Old Testament will tolerate that zeal, but it will not tolerate any kind of evil attack. It will not tolerate any kind of bitterness, or anger or resentment or hostility toward someone who brings against us a personal injury. There is no place for pride or prejudice, no matter what has been done to us.

We are to love our enemies and treat them as if they were brothers. Exodus 23:4, \"If thou meet thine enemy\'s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.\" Compare that with Deuteronomy 22:1, \"Thou shalt not see thy brother\'s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother.\" We are to treat our enemies the same way we are to treat our brothers. The Old Testament never justifies hating an enemy, that is sin.

We have a monumental illustration of this principle as God the Son hung on the cross. His enemies abused Him and went about to kill Him. What did Jesus say to His Father? Father, forgive them. The man Stephen followed his Lord’s example as they stoned him. He said, “Lay not this sin to their charge.”

When a man can have such compassion on those who are unjustly killing him, he has learned a dimension of love that is far beyond any human level.

111 - The Teaching of Jesus Concerning Love

There are five ascending connected truths Jesus gives us about love. Keep in mind that there is a two-fold purpose in this.

The First purpose is to bring unbelievers to a realization that they fall short of God\'s standards. They do not measure up to the Lord\'s requirements. If you do not love like this you are a sinner and you need a saviour.

The Second purpose is to exhort believers who have been given the power to love, to live up to their calling, to live up to their divine enablement.

Here are the five points.

1 - Love your enemies 

Verse 44, \"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.\" This statement came crashing down on a society that knew nothing about loving their enemies.

IIlustration

There was a tribe in Polynesia that hung tokens around the inside of their huts. Someone asked them what those tokens represented. The answer came back; every time someone injured them they hung a token in their hut. That token was to remind of their injury. Then the explanation was given, none of those tokens is ever removed until full vengeance is paid. That\'s the human way, but that is not God\'s way.

That was the way the Pharisees lived, \"an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.\" They were proud, vengeful, hateful men masquerading as religious. And Jesus said to them, \"Love your enemies.\"

Jesus illustrated them in Luke 10:30-34, \"And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,  And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.\"

Your neighbour is anyone in need. Love is an act of service to those that have a need, not a feeling, love is not bascially an emotion, it is action.

In 1 Corinthians 13 we have the love chapter. There are fifteen characteristics of love given. They all appear in verb form, love is action, and love is doing.

Lenzki said, \"I cannot love a mean low criminal who robs me and threatens my life, at least in the sense of liking him. I cannot like a false, lying slanderer who has perhaps vilified me again and again. But, I can by the grace of Jesus Christ, love them all in the sense of seeing what is wrong with them and desire and work to do them only good. And, most of all to free them from their vicious ways.\"

So we are to love, not in the terms feeling but in terms of service.

Paul said it beautifully in Romans 12:20, \"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.\" Your love expressed will bring conviction of sin upon him, and that is the best thing that could happen to him.

In verse 21 Paul says further, \"Be not overcome of evil.\" When someone treats you evilly that is a temptation to cause you to do evil. Don\'t let that happen.

Paul goes on to say, \"But overcome evil with good.\" Let his injury to you fall like sparks into the sea.

2 - Pray for your Persecutors

Verse 44, \"....pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.\" When someone comes along and harms you or abuses you or persecutes and despitefully uses you, what are you to do? You are to go before the Lord on their behalf and intercede for them. That\'s what Jesus did on the cross and that is what Stephen did as he was being stoned to death.

There are countless stories of martyrs who died for their faith and  while they were dying in the flames they prayed for their persecutors.

Men live in fear of judgment, they know that if there is God then when they die they will face judgment. When you go to individuals and tell them they are sinners and that when they die they will go to hell apart from faith in Jesus Christ. When you tell them they need to be saved, you are striking that individual at the core of his deepest pain. You are reviving all of his anxiety for sin and guilt, and all the fear he has worked to subdue by his philosophy and religion. That is why the most severe persecution is always religious persecution.

Beside that; persecution brings to focus the real battle between Satan and God. If we really stand up and live for Christ in this society, we will be persecuted. Can we, at the most serious point of persecution, pray for the very ones that are seeking to destroy us?

3 - Manifest your sonship

Verse 45, \"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.\" Why pray for your enemies? Why pray for your persecutors? \"That ye may be the children of your Father.\" That it may become once and for all an established fact for all to see that you are a son of God who is your Father.

The Bible says God is love. If God is love and I am His child, then I should be characterised by love. 1 John 4:7, \"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.\" Do not claim to be God\'s child if you do not manifest love in your life. You will prove your sonship when the love of God is revealed in your life. We will never convince anyone that we belong to God unless we are like Him. You say that you are a Christian, prove it; prove it by your attitude and actions.

We are to demonstrate that we are related to a supernatural source of power. In other words your life is to be marked by heaven. God loves everybody; we show that we are like God when we love everybody. God\'s rain and sunshine falls indiscriminately on everyone; be like that and then it will be obvious that you belong to God.

Psalm 145:15-16, \"The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.\" Be like your Father in heaven.

4 - Exceed your Fellow Men

Verse 46, \"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?\" You are then no different than unbelievers around you. The publicans were a despised group, yet they loved their own kind, their own group. So do the worst people in the human race, if we just do that we are no different.

Verse 47, \"And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?\" If we are no different, then we have nothing to say to our society.

Oswald Chambers said, \"The Master expects from His disciples such conduct as can be explained only in terms of the supernatural.\"  If that is true of us, then we have something to say to our society. When our lives have no other explanation then that God is there, then men and women will know that God is with us.

5 - Be Like God

All of the first four truths lead up to this final truth. Verse 48, \"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.\"

Be perfect. How perfect?  \"Even as your Father which is in heaven.\" The word perfect here does not mean mature or the process of maturing. God is not in the process of maturing. We are called to be perfect, even as God is perfect. You say that\'s a high standard, I can’t reach it, and you are right, you can’t make it.

Illustration

Matthew 19:23, \"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.\" That was hard for them to believe, they thought the rich had an advantage in getting into heaven. They could buy more lambs for sacrifices; they could give more money into the Temple treasury.

But Jesus reverses that, He says that it is difficult for a rich man to go to heaven. How difficult? Verse 24, \"And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.\" A camel can\'t go through the eye of a needle, Neither can a rich man buy his way into heaven. Verse 25-26, \"When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.\"

Nobody can be saved on his own efforts; nobody can be saved through his own works. Be perfect, but I can\'t be perfect, you are right, you need a saviour to give you the perfection you need.

Look what happens when you have a saviour, 1 Peter 1:4, \"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.\" God in the miracle of salvation enables you to be what you could never be by yourself, to be like God.

When you came to Christ you were made positionally like God (Not to be God but to obtain some of His characteristics). Now, you need to bring your behaviour into harmony with your position. 

A Christian is not someone who keeps the Sermon on the Mount. A Christian is someone who knows he can\'t. A Christian is someone who comes to Christ by faith and receives God\'s righteousness and the power to begin to live these principles.

That\'s the point of the message, even when you fail you are forgiven.

Jesus is calling us to love this unlovely world with a love that knows no discrimination. That is the beginning of a life that pleases God. That is the beginning of effective evangelism.

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

'West worried by Syrian chemical site activity'
Western intelligence officials have noticed new worrying signs of activity at chemical weapons sites in Syria, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The Syrian regime is "doing some things that suggest they intend to use the weapons," one American intelligence official told the Times, adding, "It's not just moving stuff around. These are different kind of activities."

Kuwait Election Boycott Successful
Opposition groups in Kuwait said they have successfully boycotted a parliamentary election held under a new electoral law. Election officials said the turnout for Saturday's election was lighter than usual with about 39 percent of eligible voters participating. Turnout for a parliamentary vote earlier this year was nearly 60 percent

Iran pushes out Afghans as regional power-play heats up
Ghaus worked in Iran for five years but has nothing to show for it. All he has are memories of being jailed, beaten and sent home to Afghanistan. Afghanistan's oil-rich western neighbor has for years been a destination for Afghans seeking work or fleeing war. Afghanistan and Iran share a language, and cultural and historical links.

Merkel: Germany stands by Israel on security
Germany's chancellor is reassuring Israel of her nation's unwavering commitment to the country's security. Angela Merkel's said in her weekly podcast released Saturday that peace talks with the Palestinians toward a two-state solution should be resumed as soon as possible. She addes "Germany will always stand by Israel" when it comes to guaranteeing its safety.

71% of Israelis don't know significance of Nov. 29, 1947
Israelis generally fail to recognize date on which the U.N. General Assembly partitioned the British Mandate of Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab nations, leading to the establishment of the State of Israel.

Egypt court halts all work amid Islamist 'pressure'
Islamist protesters earlier prevented the judges from meeting in Cairo to rule on a draft constitution. The supporters of President Mohammed Morsi wanted to block any ruling that would question the document's legality. The court said that Sunday was "the blackest day in the history of Egyptian judiciary".

Suicide bombers attack U.S. base in Afghanistan
Suicide attackers detonated bombs and fired rockets outside a major U.S. base in Afghanistan on Sunday, killing five people in a brazen operation that highlighted the country's security challenges ahead of the 2014 NATO combat troop pullout.

Israel 'Completely Rejects' UN Approval of New PA Status
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Chana Ya'ar
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Cabinet unanimously voted Sunday morning to reject the United Nations decision to grant the Palestinian Authority nonmember observer state status. The move allowed the PA to circument its obligation under the internationally-mandated Oslo Accords, signed by both parties in the early 1990s, to negotiate a final status agreement with Israel.

At its regular weekly meeting in Jerusalem, the government passed a resolution completely rejecting the U.N. resolution passed last Thursday that in effect recognized the PA as a de facto , independent, sovereign state.

In his opening remarks at the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said bluntly, “Israel will not allow Judea and Samaria to become a terror base from which rockets will be launched into Israeli towns. There will be no Palestinian State until Israel is recognized as a Jewish State, alongside a resolution to end the conflict.”

The resolution passed by the Cabinet reads in part: "The Jewish People have a natural, historical and legal right to its homeland with its eternal capital Jerusalem. The State of Israel as the state of the Jewish People has rights and claims to areas that are under dispute in the Land of Israel.”

In addition, the Cabinet emphasized that the resolution passed by the United Nations does not change the status of those disputed areas. Nor does the U.N. resolution detract in any way from the right of the State of Israel and the Jewish People to those disputed areas, all of which were restored to Israel in defensive wars.

Furthermore, the U.N. resolution will not become the basis for future negotiations between the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the Cabinet resolution affirmed.

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz also said at the outset of the meeting he would not send to the PA tax monies that had been earmarked for transfer later this month. Instead, those funds will be used to pay at least part of the PA's electricity debt to Israel, which has been in arrears for some time.

Iran Moving Sleeper Cells Into America?
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsWND
Categories: Commentary;Warning

A U.S. congresswoman is warning that while the world’s eyes are on Iran’s growing threat against Israel, the Islamic nation’s terrorist surrogates may have already formed sleeper cells here in the United States.

Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., asserted in a radio interview today she believes it’s possible that Hezbollah, the radical terrorist organization tied to Iran, may be working with Mexican cartels to funnel not only drugs, but also terrorist sleeper agents into the U.S.

“Former [Defense Intelligence Agency] people and others have told me what is going on, there have been a couple of arrests in this country relative to people who have had ties to Hezbollah or Iran, and my concern has been with the drug cartels and the gangs that are operating in Mexico,” Myrick said.

“There is, what I have been told, a very strong presence there of coordination between the two.”

Myrick was speaking to Aaron Klein, host of “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” which airs from 7-9 p.m. Eastern on New York’s 77WABC Radio and is also streamed live on the Internet.

“I’m very concerned about the fact that they’ve been in Central America and South America for so long – we all know that, that’s a recognized fact – and our border is not secure,” Myrick continued.

“We do not know who is in this country, and I really believe because of what is happening, because of the growing presence of Iran, their influence in those areas – and it is a growing presence – that there is just an opportunity for them, with our weak border that we have, to come into our country.”

Myrick explained that she has been asking the Obama administration for years to expand its drug and border investigations to include activities of terrorists funneling through, “but there just hasn’t been any movement whatsoever to get this done.”

Klein asked Myrick why the Obama hasn’t moved the Department of Homeland Security to action.

“I have no idea,” she answered, “[but] one of these days we’re going to wake up with a very big surprise.”

Klein further pressed his guest about Iran’s nuclear aspirations and the possibility that having surrogate Hezbollah agents crossing the U.S.-Mexican border could bring the worst of Islamic terror to the U.S.

“A lot of people think the Iranian threat is thousands of miles away – it’s all about Israel, it’s all about the Middle East, it doesn’t affect the United States,” Klein said. “Yes it does! They could give nuclear capability to Hezbollah, and then we’re talking about suitcase nukes, EMP threat, who knows?”

Myrick confirmed both she and her contacts in the Drug Enforcement Administration are “very concerned” about “what have they already brought into the country and where is it and what can they do to cause harm to us, because that’s their intention. It’s no secret. They publicly say that.”

Myrick has sounded the alarm before.

Earlier this year, after an alleged Iranian operative plotted to assassinate a Saudi diplomat in Washington using a hired gun on loan from a Mexican drug cartel, Myrick asserted the DHS was ignoring mounting evidence of a Hezbollah presence in Mexico.

“I don’t have a lot of faith in the Department of Homeland Security,” said Myrick. “They should be looking at these groups in Mexico much more closely.”

DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart similarly told Fox News, “The dangerous connection between drug trafficking and terrorism cannot be overstated.”

“Given the evidence available,” Myrick also told Fox, “it only makes sense that DHS should, at the very least, investigate the presence of Hezbollah along our Southern border, regardless of who is in office.”

Dark Ages! Egypt Passes New Constitution Based on Sharia Law
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsAP
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sharia Law rules the ‘new’ Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters took the streets in Egypt denouncing President Mohammed Morsi and a draft constitution that his Islamist allies approved early Friday in a rushed, all-night session without the participation of liberals and Christians.

Anger at Morsi even spilled over into a mosque where the Islamist president joined weekly Friday prayers. In his sermon, the mosque’s preacher compared Morsi to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad, saying the prophet had enjoyed vast powers as leader, giving a precedent for the same to happen now.

“No to tyranny!” congregants chanted, interrupting the cleric. Morsi took to the podium and told the worshippers that he too objected to the language of the sheik and that one-man rule contradicts Islam.

Crowds of protesters marched from several locations in Cairo, converging in central Tahrir Square for what the opposition plans to be the second massive rally in a week against Morsi. They chanted, “Constitution: Void!” and “The people want to bring down the regime.”

The protests were sparked by the president’s decrees a week ago granting himself sweeping powers and neutralizing the judiciary, the last check on his authority. The edicts tapped into a feeling among many Egyptians that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, are using their election victories to monopolize power and set up a new one-party state, nearly two years after the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

As a result, Egypt has been thrown into its most polarizing and volatile crisis since Mubarak’s ouster. The past week, clashes between Morsi’s supporters and opponents left two dead and hundreds wounded and raised fears of further chaos. The Brotherhood and other Islamists plan their own massive rally backing Morsi on Saturday.

But the sudden adoption of a draft constitution by an Islamist-dominated assembly tasked with producing the document throws the confrontation into a new phase.

The opposition must now decide how to deal with a nationwide referendum on the document, likely to come in mid-December: Boycott the vote to protest what critics call a deeply flawed charter or try to use anger at Morsi rally the public to reject it in the referendum.

The draft constitution has an Islamist bent. It strengthens provisions that set Islamic law as the basis of legislation, gives clerics a still undefined role in ensuring laws meet Shariah and commits the state to enforce morals and “the traditional family” in broad language that rights activists fear could be used to severely limit many civil liberties.

At the same time, it installs new protections for Egyptians against some abuses of the Mubarak era, such as stronger bans on torture and arbitrary arrest. It weakens somewhat what had been the near total powers of the presidency, giving parliament greater authorities.

Almost all liberal and secular members of the assembly had quit in the past weeks to protest what they called Islamists’ hijacking of the drafting process.

As a result, 85 members – almost all Islamists, with no Christians – participated in the session that began Thursday. The voting, which had not been expected for another two months, was hastily moved up to approve the draft before the Supreme Constitutional Court rules on Sunday on whether to dissolve the controversial assembly.

Racing against the clock, the members voted article by article for 16 hours on the draft’s more than 230 articles, passing them all by large margins.

The rush resulted in a process that at times appeared slap-dash. Assembly head Hossam al-Ghiryani doggedly pushed the members to finish.

When one article received 16 objections, he pointed out that would require postponing the vote 48 hours under the body’s rules. “Now I’m taking the vote again,” he said, and all but four members dropped their objections.

In the session’s final hours, several new articles were hastily written up and swiftly voted on to resolve lingering issues. One significant change would reduce the size of the Supreme Constitutional Court by nearly a third to 11 judges, removing several younger, sharply anti-Brotherhood judges.

The voting ended just after sunrise Friday, to a round of applause from the members.

“This constitution represents the diversity of the Egyptian people. All Egyptians, male and female, will find themselves in this constitution,” Essam el-Erian, a representative of the Muslim Brotherhood, declared.

“We will implement the work of this constitution to hold in high esteem God’s law, which was only ink on paper before, and to protect freedoms that were not previously respected,” he said.

But the opposition denounced the vote as a farce.

Speaking on private Al-Nahar TV on Thursday, Egypt’s top reform leader, Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei predicted the document “will go to the garbage bin of history.”

Among the protesters in Tahrir on Friday, Salwa Mustafa said the constitution was “cooked up.”

“It was very strange the way they voted. None of the 80 had objections, and if one of them did accidently open his mouth, al-Ghiryani is there to shut him up,” said Mustafa, an engineer.

Her daughter, Basma Mohieddin, marching with her, added, “We must not let this charter reach the referendum cause you know that people are easily fooled. We have to stop it right now and cancel it.”

Speaking in an interview on state TV aired late Thursday, Morsi said the constitution’s swift passage was necessary to get Egypt through a transitional period in which there has been no elected lower house of parliament. The courts dissolved the Brotherhood-led lower house elected last winter.

“The most important thing of this period is that we finish the constitution, so that we have a parliament under the constitution, elected properly, an independent judiciary, and a president who executes the law,” Morsi said.

Rights group Amnesty International said Friday that the adopted text of the constitution has provisions that purport to protect rights but instead “mask new restrictions.”

As in past constitutions, the new draft said the “principles of Islamic law” will be the basis of law.

Previously, the term “principles” allowed wide leeway in interpreting Shariah. But in the draft, a separate new article is added that seeks to define “principles” by pointing to particular theological doctrines and their rules. That could give Islamists the tool for insisting on stricter implementation of rulings of Shariah.

Another new article states that Egypt’s most respected Islamic institution, Al-Azhar, must be consulted on any matters related to Shariah, a measure critics fear will lead to oversight of legislation by clerics.

The draft also includes bans on “insulting or defaming all prophets and messengers” or even “insulting humans” – broad language that analysts warned could be used to crack down on many forms of speech.

The draft says citizens are equal under the law but an article specifically establishing women’s equality was dropped because of disputes over the phrasing.

One article underlines that the state will protect “the true nature of the Egyptian family … and promote its morals and values.” The phrasing suggests the state could prevent anything deemed to undermine the family.

“Women, who were barely represented in the assembly, have the most to lose from a constitution which ignores their aspirations, and blocks the path to equality between men and women. It is appalling that virtually the only references to women relate to the home and family,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy director for the region.

The draft also preserves much of military’s immunity from parliamentary scrutiny, putting its budget in the hands of the National Defense Council, which includes the president, the heads of the two houses of parliament and top generals.

The committee has been plagued by controversy from the start. It was created by the first parliament elected after Mubarak’s ouster. But a first permutation of the assembly, also Islamist-dominated, was disbanded by the courts. A new one was created just before the lower house of parliament, also Brotherhood-led, was dissolved by the judiciary in June.

Abbas Declares Jerusalem the ‘Eternal Capital of Palestine’
Dec 2nd, 2012
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Sunday promised someday the PA flag would fly over “Jerusalem, eternal capital of the state of Palestine.”

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3

Thousands of people greeted Abbas rapturously upon his return from the United Nations, where the General Assembly granted the PLO, representing the PA, upgraded status as a nonmember observer state.

“Raise your heads high, because you are Palestinians!” Abbas told the joyous crowd, waving PA flags in the PA capital of Ramallah, located in Samaria.
“You have proof that you are stronger than the occupation, because you are Palestinians… stronger than the settlements, because you are Palestinians.

“We were threatened with punishment and sanctions from various sides,” Abbas continued, in a reference to attempts by the United States and Israel to dissuade him from proceeding with the application.

“And if we had listened to those threats we wouldn’t have gone to the U.N.
“One day, a young Palestinian will raise the Palestinian flag over Jerusalem,” he vowed, “the eternal capital of the state of Palestine!”