Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Let the Headlines Speak
Dec 30th, 2012
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

‘We Have Passed That Point of No Return’: Ron Paul Explains What’s Missing in The ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Talks
Even if Congress manages to come up with a solution to avert the “fiscal cliff,”...it won’t be worth anything because it’ll...only deal with tax rates...so say Texas Congressman...Ron Paul. “I think we have passed that point of no return where we can actually get our house in order,” Rep. Paul said Friday on CNBC. “I believe there is too much bipartisanship on the spending. Nobody is talking about cutting any spending.”

Egypt to resume IMF loan talks as reserves dwindle
Egypt will soon resume talks with the International Monetary Fund over a crucial $4.8bn (£3bn) loan to shore up the economy, the prime minister says. Talks were suspended because of political turmoil over a new constitution. PM Hisham Kandil was speaking as the Egyptian pound reportedly fell to a record low against the US dollar.

'Guns are bad!' CounterThink cartoon reveals hypocrisy of government gun confiscation schemes
While the U.S. government is desperately attempting to disarm the American population by rolling out Adolf Hitler-style gun control, it is simultaneously arming itself to the teeth, buying up 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition and now stockpiling it at ammo depot stations around the country.

Woman Arrested For Pushing Man In Front Of Subway Accused Of Hate Crime — Said She Hated Hindus And Muslims
A woman has confessed to pushing a man in front of the 7 train Thursday night. Erika Menendez, 31, has been charged with second-degree murder as a hate crime after she was arrested early Saturday morning and confessed to pushing Sundano Sen, 46, in front of the oncoming train, The New York Post reported Saturday.

Syria government forces retake Homs district
Syrian government forces have pushed rebel forces out of the Deir Baalbeh district of the city of Homs after several days of fierce fighting. One activist group said that more than 200 civilians were killed by regime forces after the fighting, but the claim cannot be independently verified.

'US drone strike' kills al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen
At least three suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed by a US drone strike in Yemen's south-western al-Bayda province, say local officials. The men were reportedly hit as they travelled in a car in el-Manaseh village on the outskirts of Radda.

'Fiscal Cliff' countdown: 2 days to go, Congress still negotiating
The Senate's top Democrat and Republican were working Sunday to forge a last minute compromise to stop the U.S. economy from going over a "fiscal cliff" that would trigger large tax increases and sweeping spending cuts in the new year.

Blast in southwest Pakistan kills Shia pilgrims
At least 19 Shia Muslim pilgrims have been killed by a bomb attack on a bus convoy in southwest Pakistan, local officials say. More than 20 people have been injured in the incident in the Mastung district of Baluchistan province.

Insisting on Assad’s Exit Will Cost More Lives, Russian Says
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, said Saturday that there was “no possibility” of persuading President Bashar al-Assad to leave Syria, leaving little hope for a breakthrough in the standoff. He also said that the opposition leaders’ insistence on Mr. Assad’s departure as a precondition for peace talks would come at the cost of “more and more lives of Syrian citizens” in a conflict that has already killed tens of thousands.

Pakistani Taliban execute 21 captured paramilitary men
Pakistani Taliban militants have executed 21 paramilitary force men who were captured in attacks on their posts late last week, government officials said on Sunday. The men, who were kidnapped on Friday in attacks on three checkpoints near the city of Peshawar, were lined up before being shot one-by-one, officials said.

Is Christmas a 'Christian' Holiday?
Dec 30th, 2012
CommentaryJack Kinsella
Categories: Exhortation;Contemporary Issues

I know a lot of Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas. And a lot more who do, but feel guilty about it before the Lord, whether they want to admit it or not. It is difficult to really identify Christmas as it is celebrated in our culture with a Christian holiday.

There's a reason for that.

Although a majority of Americans polled identify themselves with Christmas, the greeting "Merry Christmas" grows more rare with each passing year, replaced instead with the secular (and meaningless) "Happy Holidays!"

What  does THAT mean? It applies equally to 'Happy Labor Day" or "Happy President's Day" so what does it have to do with Christ?

Let's take a look and see. And read carefully before you start firing off angry emails. I am probably NOT going where you think I am.

First, there is no Bible doctrine that tells us we are to celebrate Christ's birth. It is His Death and Resurrection that paid our penalty for sin.

The celebration of a birthday is actually antithetical to Scripture. There are only two birthday celebrations recorded in Scripture -- both pagan.

The Bible tells us in Genesis 40:22 that on one of Pharaoh's birthdays he murdered his chief baker while a big celebration was going on. The other birthday celebration recorded was that of Herod, when he had John the Baptist murdered.

On the other hand, Ecclesiates 7:1 tells us:

"A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth."

It is also clear that Jesus wasn't born on December 25th. It gets COLD in the hills of Jerusalem in December. (Jerusalem is forecast to have a White Christmas this year). Even during a mild winter, December is the middle of the rainy season.

Shepherds corraled their flocks from October to April. They weren't grazing in the fields, and the shepherds wouldn't have been out there with them at night in December.

But Luke tells us;

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night . . ." (Luke 2:8)

Joseph and Mary were called to Bethlehem by order of Caesar to be taxed and for the census.

Travel in December would be difficult at best, and no thinking ruler who wanted to collect taxes would pick the worst time of the year to order mass travel of an entire population. Travel was hard enough already.

Jesus confirmed this, saying in Matthew 24:20, speaking to the Jews of Jerusalem (Bethlehem is six miles away);

"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day . . "

The choice of late December for the birth of our Lord predates Jesus by centuries. The celebration of the Babylonian sun-god, Tammuz, took place during the Winter Solstice (Dec 21 by our calendar).

Any reputable encyclopedia will verify these facts.

"Christmas- It was according to many authorities NOT celebrated in the first centuries of the Christian church as the Christian usage in general was to celebrate the death of a remarkable person rather than their birth. A feast was established in memory of the Saviour in the 4th century. In the 5th century the Western Church ordered it to be celebrated forever on the day of the old Roman feast of the birth of Sol. The holly, the mistletoe, the yule log, and the wassail bowl are of pre-Christian times. The Christmas tree has been traced back to the Romans. It went from Germany to Great Britain." (Encyclopedia Americana)

After Constantine declared Christianity to be the state Church of Rome, there was considerable outcry from the pagan population who resented losing their feast days and traditions and myriad gods and goddesses.

Constantine didn't get to be Caesar by alienating his base of support. He simply replaced the gods and goddesses with statues of saints and incorporated pagan holidays into Christian ones.

Easter, for example, corresponds with the feast of "Ishtar" the goddess of fertility -- explaining all the rabbits and eggs (pagan symbols of fertility) associated with contemporary Easter celebrations.

Christmas replaced the celebration of the Feast of Tammuz. It kept the masses happy and the Empire intact.

To the world, Christmas is about Santa Claus, in whom our culture has invested all the attributes of Christ. . . "He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows if you're awake. . ." etc.

So, should Christians celebrate Christmas?

WHY NOT? What are you celebrating? Do YOU believe in Santa Claus? Or in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world?

Do you REALLY believe God can't tell the difference?

Why should we exclude ourselves from the merriment and the fun of family, Christmas presents and exclamations of 'peace on earth, good will toward men' because others don't see things as we do?

We celebrate Labor Day with picnics and hot dogs. We celebrate the Fourth of July, according to our unique American customs and traditions.

We KNOW that Jesus is the reason for the season - for us. Should we choose this date to celebrate the unspeakable Gift God has given us, we can do so without worrying about it.

On the other hand, if we choose not to celebrate Christmas because it is commercialized beyond recognition and not in keeping with the Bible, we find ourselves in a quandry. We are taking a stand on empty air.

The world has never celebrated Christmas because of Biblical principles -- neither has the True Church, since there are no Biblical principles upon which to base it.

In the Agony in the Garden, Jesus prayed for us so fervently that His sweat mingled with blood. What was it that He prayed?

"I pray NOT that thou shouldest take them OUT of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not OF the world, even as I am not OF the world." (John 17:15-16)

There is a difference between our physical state of being, which is currently IN the world, and our spiritual state of being, which is, as Blood-bought Christians, being positionally ALREADY seated in the heavenlies.

Jesus kept the cultural feast days of His era. Some of them were religious, some were not. He knew He was 'in' the world, but not 'of' it.

Paul wrote in Romans 14:5; "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."

There is no sin in celebrating Christmas as the day we acknowledge God's Gift to the world of a Saviour. Neither can I see any Biblical basis for NOT celebrating Christmas because it isn't really His Birthday.

To some it is a day on the calendar. To others, it is a day of frustration and anger because others fail to associate Christmas with Christ -- a frustration so intense that it makes Christmas, for them, the least happy of all days.

Somehow, that doesn't quite connect with what Christmas is all about. It is merely a cultural reminder that there WAS a Day when the Lord of all Glory took on the body of a Man, lived the perfect life we are incapable of living, and paid the penalty on our behalf for that incapacity.

It doesn't matter if it really WAS December 25th. It doesn't matter if the world has a different agenda. We already know that. That is why we sought forgiveness for our sins, whereas the world loves its sin.

There is no sin in being happy. Even on Christmas. God knows who worships Him and who worships Santa Claus. He doesn't base it on whether or not you have a Christmas tree (unless you start offering sacrifices to it).

This isn't rocket science, but you needn't take my word for it.

"He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." (Romans 14:6)

"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgmenstt seat of Christ." (Romans 14:8)

Enjoy Christmas in all its joy and good will, according to your family customs and traditions. Christians don't worship a DAY -- we worship the Author of Days.

Merry Christmas, my brothers and sisters. I love you all. Especially at Christmas.

If We Would We May
Dec 30th, 2012
Thought for the WeekA.W. Tozer
Categories: Commentary;Exhortation

If any man will . . . let him follow me, He says, and some will rise and go after Him, but others give no heed to His voice. So the gulf opens between man and man, between those who will and those who will not. Silently, terribly the work goes on, as each one decides whether he will hear or ignore the voice of invitation. Unknown to the world, perhaps unknown even to the individual, the work of separation takes place. Each hearer of the Voice must decide for himself, and he must decide on the basis of the evidence the message affords. There will be no thunder sound, no heavenly sign or light from heaven. The Man is His own proof. The marks in His hands and feet are the insignia of His rank and office. He will not put Himself again on trial; He will not argue, but the morning of the judgment will confirm what men in the twilight have decided. And those who would follow Him must accept His conditions. Let him, He says, and there is no appeal from His words. He will use no coercion, but neither will He compromise. Men cannot make the terms; they merely agree to them. Thousands turn from Him because they will not meet His conditions. He watches them as they go, for He loves them, but He will make no concessions. Admit one soul into the Kingdom by compromise and that Kingdom is no longer secure. Christ will be Lord, or He will be Judge. Every man must decide whether he will take Him as Lord now or face Him as Judge then.

Failed Syria Envoy Brahimi’s Mission Brings Chemical War Closer
Dec 30th, 2012
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The Syrian crisis unbelievably took another turn for the worse Saturday, Dec. 29: After making no headway with Bashar Assad in Damascus, the UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was told in no uncertain terms by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow: “There is no possibility of persuading Syrian ruler Bashar Assad to leave Syria.” As they spoke, a record 400 people died in hostilities in the country. The burnt remains of hundreds of people slaughtered by the army were discovered in a Homs district. And Syrian opposition leaders have repeatedly preconditioned their acceptance of the Russian invitation to talks on Assad’s prior exit.
This stalemate is compounded by escalation in the use of two extreme weapons of war. Since Dec. 12, the Syrian army has been firing home-made Scud missiles at rebel centers. The US and NATO have responded by stationing six Patriot batteries manned by 1,000 American, German and Dutch servicemen, on the Turkish-Syrian border to protect Turkey from Syrian attack. The inference here is that so long as the Scuds are confined to targets inside Syria, Western intervention will stop at the border.
Then on Dec. 26, The Syrian army, under the command of Iranian officers, began shooting Fateh A-110 high-precision, short-range surface missiles made in Iran. They were sent to Syria at top speed by an Iranian airlift flying over Iraq. Syria in fact manufactures a local version of the Fateh A-110, called M600. But Tehran decided to deliver the originals to show the world that Assad is not fighting alone and that Iran’s military support for his regime is solid – not just against the uprising, but also against NATO, its missiles and the units which have taken up position in Turkey.

In effect, both sides to the conflict appear to have resorted to a form of chemical warfare. Western and Middle East military sources report that, last week, Syrian forces loyal to Assad are thought to have used in the Homs battle of Dec. 23 grenades containing a gas that paralyzes lungs and causes extreme infirmity, or even death.

Those sources were careful to point out that the gas was most likely “a concentrated irritant,” but not one of the deadly chemical weapons stockpiled by the Assad regime. They were equally careful to avoid indentifying its origin. debkafile’s intelligence sources disclose that these gas grenades were especially developed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps for use against the masses which demonstrated against the 2009 presidential elections. The grenades have now been distributed to pro-Assad Shabiha militias, the Syrian equivalent of Iran’s brutal al Qods Brigades.
The gas grenades were brought out on Dec. 22, the day after the Syrian Presidential Guard reported that seven of its number had died in battle near Damascus as a result of a weapon used by the rebels which “produced a yellow toxic gas.”
This allegation may have been trumped up to justify the pro-Assad forces’ use of toxic gas grenades in Homs. Be that as may, both sides appear to be preparing the ground for chemical warfare. Yet no Western, or any other external power, including Russia, appears ready to intervene to put a stop to the latest horror raising its head in the Syrian conflict, the escalation to chemical warfare - any more than they prevented its descent to the bombardment of civilians by missiles.

In Amman, the Jordanian information minister Sameeh Maaytah, said Sunday, Dec. 30, that his government is prepared for any chemical threat on the kingdom but will not enter into “any alliance” to protect itself.
Several media attributed the minister’s comment to the visit Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu paid to Amman last week for talks with King Abdullah, purportedly about the Syrian chemical weapons threat they share.

debkafile’s military sources point out that only the first half of the Jordanian statement is correct. The other half is as unreal as most of the comments on the chemical weapons peril heard from Western powers, Russia, Israel or Arab spokesmen. It is a fact that Jordan has after all entered into close alliance with NATO, not to mention the US, for protecting the kingdom. This alliance goes forward on six tracks:

1. Learning how to treat victims of a potential Syrian chemical attack;

2. Setting up an American-Jordanian headquarters in Amman for coordinated operations against this threat, similar to the joint outfits the US has established in Israel and Turkey. The Americans have imported to Jordan a military field hospital specializing in the treatment of chemical warfare victims;

3. Since last summer, US Army Green Berets, which specialize in chemical warfare, have been training Jordanian troops;

4. Czech and Polish military units, expert in chemical and biological warfare, are also in the Hashemite kingdom. They are not only teaching Jordanian units how to combat chemical warfare, but also Syrian rebels;
5. US and Jordanian special units are standing ready for orders to enter Syria and attack the sites of the chemical weapons positioned for shooting into Jordan and Israel;

6. The Jordanian army units deployed between the areas around Amman and close to the northern Jordanian border with Syria were issued last week with anti-contamination masks and suits.

All in all, the United States and NATO have prepared Jordan exhaustively for a possible Syrian chemical weapons attack. If this happens, some intelligence sources estimate Israel or Turkey may be targeted next. Given the Syrian conflict’s sequential plunge into unspeakable atrocities, Israel cannot count on being exempt from a poison weapons attack - even before its Jan. 22 general election.

Abbas Makes It Official: All of Israel is Palestine
Dec 30th, 2012
Daily NewsINN - Tzvi Ben Gadalyahu
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Fatah party, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, has made official what it has been saying quietly and has adopted a new logo showing all of Israel as Palestine.

The logo marks the 48th anniversary of the founding of Fatah by Yasser Arafat and includes a map with the PA flag and a map of Israel that appears to be a depiction of the black and white checkered kefiyah, a symbol of the violent intifada, and the slogan “the state and victory."

Palestine Media Watch (PMW) revealed that the official PA daily published the new official logo.

For the past year, official PA documents have increasingly shown Palestine as covering all of Israel, but this is the first time the Fatah party has placed the map on its logo.

PMW noted, “Other symbols central to Fatah ideology also appear in the logo, including a rifle and a key symbolizing the Palestinian claim of ownership to houses within Israel.”

The Arab media watchdog translated and published the article announcing the new logo:

"Senior Fatah official in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Rabah, stressed that the movement this year will hold a big, central rally in the Gaza Strip on the day of the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Palestinian revolution.

“Rabah explained to Ma'an that the event will be held considering the atmosphere of reconciliation and unity that has prevailed in the Palestinian arena in the last few….

“The organizing committee for the 48th anniversary of the Fatah movement approved this year's main anniversary logo... [The rally] will take place in Gaza to mark the 48th anniversary of the modern Palestinian revolution under the slogan 'the state and the victory.'"

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) reacted to the new logo by urging “President Barack Obama, the European Union and the United Nations to condemn this outrage which reiterates the clear fact that Abbas and the Fatah/PA have no interest in peace with Israel, only its destruction.”

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, "This new Fatah logo graphically depicts the ugly truth about this unreconstructed terrorist organization whose Constitution to this day calls for the destruction of Israel (Article 13) and the use of terrorism as an essential element in the struggle to achieve this aim (Article 19). …It belies the fiction that Mahmoud Abbas is a 'moderate' who seeks peace with Israel, and who wishes to end Palestinian terrorism against Israeli Jews. It also makes clear that the principles of Yasser Arafat are respected and promoted.

"The new Fatah logo is not an aberration. The Palestinian Authority continues to promote the incitement of hatred in Palestinian mosques, schools and media.

"The ZOA renews its call upon the Obama Administration to stop wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on the unreformed terrorist entity that is Fatah, to stop making excuses for Abbas, and to stop pressuring Israel to make dangerous concessions on the altar of appeasement.”