Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Spanish Prelate Fears Mutual Hatred Over Euro Crisis
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsTrunews
Categories: Today's Headlines;Revived Roman Empire

Russian Warship Docks in Israel for First Time
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today - Yossi Aloni
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, a Russian warship docked at the port city of Haifa earlier this month. The "Azov" of Russian's Black Sea Fleet came to Israel at the request of the Association of Russian War Veterans to help celebrate the anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany.

Jewish veterans of the Red Army who later immigrated to Israel were invited to participate in a ceremony aboard the massive ship.

However, there was another even more important, even historical, reason for the visit - with the looming collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Russia is on the lookout for new Middle East alliances.

Russia has long maintained a large naval base in Tartus, the second largest port city in Syria. But with Syria's ongoing civil war likely to end in that country descending into factional warfare and chaos, Russia is concerned for its interests in the region.

Recent reports are that Moscow is searching for a new Mediterranean seaport to maintain strategic balance in the region. Russian delegations have reportedly examined Egypt and Algeria.

But Israeli officials say that the Arab Spring has changed Russia's view of Israel, and Moscow now understands that in this volatile and unpredictable region, the Jewish state is an anchor of stability.

"There are things on which we do not agree with Russia, but there is a general understanding that we defend the same principles of democracy and security," said one official in Jerusalem. "They share our concern over Islamic fundamentalism taking over the Middle East. The Russians realize now more than ever that you can rely on Israel."

The Russians very loudly publicized the Azov's visit to Israel, and their decision to mark the victory over the Nazis together with Jewish veterans. "Russia is proud of its connection to this historical event, and wants to remind everyone that we fought on the right side," read a statement from the Russians. "There is something to be understood from this for the contemporary Middle East. Where we decided to make anchor is a clear statement, both to the Israelis and the entire region."

There was a general understanding that the Azov's visit was not a one-time event, and that other Russian warships would come calling in the near future. Israelis officials did not deny that they are open to further cooperation with Moscow.

Netanyahu, Putin to Meet Tuesday Amid Syria Weapons Concerns
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to hold talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the conflict in Syria, the Kremlin said, amid concerns Moscow plans to deliver advanced missiles to the Damascus regime.

"During the meeting an exchange of opinion is planned on key aspects of bilateral ties," the Kremlin said in a statement, according to the AFP news agency.

"It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first and foremost in Syria," the statement said.

It noted the talks would take place in Russia, without giving further details.

Netanyahu is expected to call on Putin at his Black Sea residence in Sochi as the casualty toll in Syria climbed to more than 80,000 people.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Israel had provided information to Washington about the imminent sale to Syria of Russian S-300 missile batteries, advanced ground-to-air weapons that can take out aircraft or guided missiles.

The weapons would significantly strengthen Syria's defenses and complicate any foreign military intervention.

Netanyahu will travel to Russia after Israel twice earlier this month carried out air strikes near Damascus, attacks a senior Israeli source said were aimed at preventing the transfer of sophisticated weapons to Hizbullah, the Lebanese Shiite terror group allied with Syria.

Russia last week refused to rule out supplying weapons to Syria, saying it has to honor existing contracts.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who paid a rare visit to Putin's Sochi residence on Friday to discuss strategy on Syria, is believed to have also raised the issue of Russian arms supplies to the Damascus regime during talks with Putin.

"Vladimir Putin assured his British colleague that the S-300 complexes will be delivered to Syria for sure," wrote the Kommersant daily on Monday, according to AFP.

On a visit to Warsaw on Friday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was continuing to fulfill contracts by delivering military hardware to Assad's regime in defiance of calls for a freeze.

"Russia has sold and signed contracts a long time ago, and is completing supplies of the equipment, which is anti-aircraft systems, according to the already signed contracts," he said on Friday.

Kommersant also said, citing a source who participated in Lavrov's meeting with his German and Polish counterparts Guido Westerwelle and Radoslaw Sikorski, that the contract under question dated back to 2010.

"Part of the equipment has been sent to Syria, while another part is indeed being prepared to be shipped," Kommersant said.

Let the Headlines Speak
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

EU Official Ashton calls to permit Jewish prayer on Temple Mount?
"It is essential that access to the holy sites in Jerusalem for peaceful worship for all denominations is fully respected." --- Statement by the spokesperson of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on recent developments in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. The spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and security Policy and VP of the Commission, issued the following statement today:  

VATICAN KEEPS EYE TO THE HEAVENS
One Vatican astronomer announced several years ago that the star of Bethlehem probably never existed. And virtually all of the pope's astronomers have come to the conclusion that God could not have created the universe in just six days about 10,000 years ago, as some literal interpreters of the Bible believe.  

STRONGEST FLARE OF THE YEAR
A sunspot hiding behind the sun's northeastern limb erupted on May 13th at 02:17 UT, producing the strongest solar flare of the year so far. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme UV flash from the X1.7-class eruption:  

Internal IRS Mandate: 'Be on the Lookout' for 'Organizations Involved In ... Educating on Constitution and Bill of Rights'
...early last year--as the nation was headed toward a presidential election--the IRS issued a "be on the lookout order" (BOLO) for officials in its "Determinations Unit" to ferret out for heightened scrutiny organizations applying for tax exempt status that were involved in educating Americans "on the Constitution and Bill of Rights." The inspector general's timeline indicates that as early as March 2010 the IRS's "Determinations Unit" had begun targeting for special scrutiny organizations that used in their tax-exempt applications the words "Tea Party" or "Patriots."  

Top Obama official’s brother is president of CBS News, may drop reporter over Benghazi coverage
The brother of a top Obama administration official is also the president of CBS News, and the network may be days away from dropping one of its top investigative reporters for covering the administration’s scandals too aggressively. CBS News executives have reportedly expressed frustration with their own reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who has steadily covered the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi terrorist attack in Libya since late last year.  

WHO says new coronavirus may be passed person to person
The World Health Organization says it appears likely that the novel coronavirus (NCoV) can be passed between people in close contact. This comes after the French health ministry confirmed a second man had contracted the virus in a possible case of human-to-human transmission.  

Partition plan for Jerusalem
News of the construction freeze was received with shrugs or lip biting. The former Likud rebels have become deputy ministers, and the Likudniks have yet to realize that Netanyahu version 2013 is cruising toward the 1967 lines.  

Calif. Homes Sinking One By One In Now-Abandoned Subdivision
“We have a dormant volcano, and I’m certain a lot of things that happen here are a result of that, but we don’t know about this.” Some of the subdivision movement is happening on shallow fill, according to De Leon. However, a geologist has warned that the ground could be compromised down to bedrock, which rests 25 feet below the surface. Cracks have also appeared recently in roads well beyond the shallow fill.  

6.2 magnitude earthquake hits Iran
The US Geological Survey registered the quake at 0738 IST, measured at 85 kilometres (52 miles) southeast of the town of Minab, located in the southern Hormuzgan province and off the Strait of Hormuz. The quake was registered at a depth of 36.44 kilometres (22.64 miles), the USGS said.  

Netanyahu, Putin to meet Tuesday for Syria talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to hold talks on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the conflict in Syria, the Kremlin said, amid concerns Moscow plans to deliver advanced missiles to the Damascus regime. "It is expected that major attention will be paid to the current situation in the Middle East, first and foremost in Syria," the Kremlin said in a statement.  

Greece and Cyprus EU-IMF bailout funds due
Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet in Brussels later to agree bailout payments for Cyprus and Greece. Cyprus is expected to get approval for the first 3bn euros (£2.5bn; $3.9bn) of its bailout package, which was agreed earlier this year. Ministers are also expected to sign off the latest instalment of Greece's bailout, as it continues to struggle to reform its economy.  

New Orleans Mother's Day parade hit by shooting
Nineteen people have been wounded in a shooting at a Mother's Day parade in the US city of New Orleans, police say. The victims included two children who were grazed by bullets. Police say most injuries are not life-threatening. It is unclear what sparked the shooting in the city's 7th Ward on Sunday afternoon. Police say three suspects were seen fleeing the area.  

Syria says can respond to Israeli actions via Golan
Syria warned that it had the right to act as it wants in the Golan Heights, and declared itself as the owner of the land, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi was reported as saying Monday by Syrian news agency Sana. Zoubi, addressing a symposium in Damascus Sunday, reportedly blamed Israel for violating international law when it allegedly struck military sites Damascus earlier in May... 

IDF Clears Land Mines from Arab Fields Near Bethlehem
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsIsrael Today
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Once again demonstrating that it harbors no ill will toward the Palestinian Arabs, the Israeli army recently got to work clearing land mines from Arab-owned fields in the vicinity of Bethlehem.

Well, of course the Israeli army should do so, it probably planted those mines in the first place! Except that, no, the IDF didn't do so. The mines were planted by the Jordanian army prior to the Six Day War in 1967.

The Jordanian-planted mines were meant to keep Israel from every again exercising sovereignty over Bethlehem, birthplace of King David and Jesus. And they were apparently planted with little or no thought for the danger posed to local Arab residents.

Thanks to the IDF Engineering Corps, the 13 dunams (3.2 acres) of land will soon be usable by the residents of the Bethlehem suburb of Husan.

Over the years, Husan has grown considerably, and a number of private homes now sit adjacent to the fields where the land mines were found. Four children have been killed and at least five more people wounded after inadvertently entering the fields in previous decades.

Israeli officials said the project is being enthusiastically supported by local Palestinian residents.

"The Palestinian side supports and encourages this project," said Lt. Col. Eyal Zeevi, who heads the Bethlehem Coordination and Liaison Administration. "This project has two goals: First, to eliminate ongoing danger to human life and ensure that all mines have been cleared. Second, to return the land to its rightful owners, for the use of the village as a community."

Contemplative Prayer and Eastern Meditation
May 13th, 2013
CommentaryRay Yungen and the Editors at Lighthouse Trails
Categories: Warning;Apostasy

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER AND EASTERN MEDITATION

I. The very person who coined the term New Age, occultist Alice Bailey, saw a direct link between Christian mysticism (i.e., contemplative prayer) and Eastern mysticism. Bailey stated:

It is, of course, easy to find many passages which link the way of the Christian Knower [contemplative] with that of his brother in the East. They bear witness to the same efficacy of method.

II. Tilden Edwards, the founder of Shalem Institute of whom Ms. Barton received her training in contemplative spirituality, also identified the connection between contemplative prayer and Eastern meditation. Edwards said:

This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality.

III. In his book, Spiritual Friend, Tilden Edwards suggests those who practice contemplative prayer and have begun experiencing “spiritual unfolding” and other “unusual experiences,” should turn to a book titled Psychosynthesis in order to understand the “dynamics” at “certain stages.” The man who wrote Psychosynthesis, Roberto Assagioli, was a direct disciple of Alice Bailey! Edwards might as well have recommended people turn to Alice Bailey herself. This is not guilt by association. Edwards knows that there is a connection between contemplative  prayer and occultic (i.e., Eastern) mysticism.

IV. Thomas Keating, a major leader in the contemplative prayer movement, also acknowledges that Barton’s contemplative prayer is related to Eastern religious meditation. In a book Keating wrote the foreword to, Kundalini Energy and Christian Spirituality, Keating states:

In order to guide persons having this experience, Christian spiritual directors may need to dialogue with Eastern teachers in order to get a fuller understanding.

Keating understands that within the DNA of Christian contemplative prayer is Eastern-  mysticism. Philip St. Romain, the author of the Kundalini book says: “This book is an important contribution to the renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition.” Contemplative mystics say these things because they know them to be true.  Also in the foreword of that book, Keating states that the Kundalini energy “is also at work today in numerous persons who are devoting themselves to contemplative prayer.” Kundalini energy is what is known as the serpent power of New Age mysticism.  This statement by Keating should cause any Christian who is even thinking of dabbling in contemplative prayer to run the other way. We encourage you to look up Kundalini on the Internet.

V. Ruth Haley Barton identifies with Keating. In her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, she admits that Thomas Keating helped her to understand the contemplative idea of “the true self” (man’s divinity):

The concept of the true self and the false self is a consistent theme not only in Scripture but also in the writings of the church fathers and mothers. Thomas Merton and Henri Nouwen (particularly Nouwen’s The Way of the Heart) and Father Thomas Keating are contemporary authors who have shaped my understanding of this aspect of the spiritual life.

Merton, Nouwen, and Keating believe that man can attain to his “true self” (perfect self) through mystical practices. This is actually the crux of the Spiritual Formation  (i.e., contemplative prayer) movement, that man realizes his divinity through mystical experiences. Ruth Haley Barton’s Transforming Center has a mission of helping people find their “higher” true self through contemplative practices.

VI. Henri Nouwen, the late Catholic priest, who is touted highly by Barton as well as by virtually every contemplative proponent, knew very well that Eastern mysticism was at the underlying roots of contemplative prayer. In a book written by universalist Catholic priest, Thomas Ryan, Nouwen (in the foreword) wrote:

[T]he author shows a wonderful openness to the gifts of Buddhism, Hinduism and Moslem religion. He discovers their great wisdom for the spiritual life of the Christian . . . Ryan [the author] went to India to learn from spiritual traditions other than his own. He brought home many treasures and offers them to us in the book.

VII. Regarding a book written by Philip Goldberg titled, American Veda, the book shows how “Hindu mysticism has profoundly affected the world view of millions of Americans and radically altered the religious landscape.”  Goldberg saw fit to devote an entire chapter to contemplative prayer stating:

Perhaps the biggest shakeup by the eastern winds has been . . . the reawakening  -  of Western mysticism . . . the long sequestered vaults of contemplative Christianity and Jewish mysticism [Kabbalah] begin to be unlocked.

If contemplative prayer has nothing to do with eastern mysticism, then why does Goldberg devote an entire chapter to it? He saw it as an adjunct to Hinduism. One final point to consider is this: Virtually every major New Age bookstore has a sizable section on Christian meditation (i.e., contemplative prayer). Call one up in your own town or city and ask if this is so. We believe you’ll see it is.

WHERE DID CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICE COME FROM?

I. Carl McColman, in his book, The Big Book of Mysticism, The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality, states:

It is important to note that, throughout the history of Christianity, Christian mystics have displayed an unusual openness to the wisdom of non-Christian philosophy and religion. . . . Ultimately, however, no absolutely clear distinction can be drawn between Christian and non-Christian mysticism…  It is precisely in this dimension of mystery that people of different faiths and different wisdom traditions can relate to each other.” 

 II. Brian C. Taylor said:

These contemplatives also recognize their soul mates in other traditions, as did Thomas Merton in his pilgrimage to Buddhist Asia. This is because they have passed beyond the confines of religion as a closed system to an open awareness of God-in-life.”  

III. The contemplative prayer movement that is rising rapidly within evangelical circles largely through the early work of figures like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and Ruth Haley Barton, and now many of their protégés, stems primarily from the Catholic church. Michael Leach, past president of the Catholic Book Publishers Association, explained this:

The irony is that the best of the New Age ideas—those flowing from a spiritual understanding of God, humankind and the universe—have been jewels in the Catholic treasury since the very beginning, but for too long have been neglected, forgotten or buried.

IV. How did Eastern meditation enter the Catholic church in the first place? Did the early church fathers get it from the apostles, Jesus’ teachings, or Scripture? No, they did not. On the contrary, the Desert Fathers (monks such as St. Anthony who became hermits)  experimented:

It was a time of great experimentation with spiritual methods. Many different kinds of disciplines were tried … many different methods of prayer were created and explored by them.

And in this experimentation, they “discovered” a prayer tool. According to one meditation scholar:

The meditation practices and rules for living of these earliest Christian monks bear strong similarity to those of their Hindu and Buddhist renunciate brethren several kingdoms to the East . . . the meditative techniques they adopted for finding their God suggest either a borrowing from the East or a spontaneous rediscovery.

And thus:

The fourth-century Desert Fathers understood that a simple device was needed to keep the “monkey mind” from wandering. Thus, the mantra method of prayer, which had been introduced centuries before by Buddhists and Hindus, came to be a stable form of Christian prayer, not only for the Desert Fathers and Mothers but for Christians down through the ages.

One of Christian contemplative’s own, Marcus Borg, reveals the role the mantra plays in contemplative prayer:

Contemplation typically involves the silent repetition of a mantra—-a single word, a short phrase or a series of short phrases. . . . Ultimately the purpose of contemplative prayer is to descend to the deepest level of the self, of the heart, where we open out into the sea of being that is God.

 V. Christian contemplative teachers will often say that in contemplative prayer one is not using Buddhist or Hindu mantras, so therefore it cannot be called Eastern meditation. While it is true that different words or syllables are repeated in the contemplative mantra than those used by Eastern mystics, the method (mantra or focus) of entering an altered state of consciousness is the same. Furthermore, as we will demonstrate later, the fruit of contemplative prayer has been shown time and time again to be the same – that of a pantheistic (or panentheistic) mindset of divinity in all things. In short, one would have to conclude – after witnessing the teachings of countless contemplative prayer mystics – that contemplative prayer and Eastern mysticism alike connect the practitioner with spirit guides that will erode – and in time destroy – their belief in the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Once the practitioner establishes the belief, as contemplative prayer will bring him to, that he has divinity within, there is no longer the need for the Cross. Yes, and countless contemplative mystics have already come to this conclusion.

PROOF THAT CONTEMPLATIVE IS OCCULTIC

I. Perhaps the strongest evidence to prove that the realms entered during contemplative prayer are not God’s realm (i.e., the Holy Spirit) but rather demonic occultic realms is observing the “fruit” that contemplative prayer bears in a practitioner’s life. Probably the most profound example is that of the late Catholic monk and mystic, Thomas Merton, who said once that he was “impregnated with Sufism” (Islamic mysticism).

Merton’s mystical experiences ultimately made him a kindred spirit and co-mystic with those in other Eastern religions. At an interfaith conference in Thailand, he stated:

I believe that by openness to Buddhism, to Hinduism, and to these great Asian [mystical] traditions, we stand a wonderful chance of learning more about the potentiality of our own Christian traditions.

Please understand that contemplative prayer alone was the catalyst for such theological views. One of Merton’s biographers made this very clear when he explained:

If one wants to understand Merton’s going to the East it is important to understand that it was his rootedness in his own faith tradition [Catholicism] that gave him the spiritual equipment [contemplative prayer] he needed to grasp the way of wisdom that is proper to the East.

II. A second remarkable example of the “fruit” of contemplative prayer can be found in an author (often quoted by evangelical contemplative advocates, including Barton) named Sue Monk Kidd. Monk Kidd was once a conservative Southern Baptist Sunday School teacher. One day, she was handed a book by Thomas Merton. It changed her life dramatically (that’s an understatement). Monk Kidd explained:

I found a host of Christian thinkers and saints talking about a way of “being with” God—a way of needing Him and experiencing Him in the depths of one’s being—that opened the door to oneness with Him. They called it contemplation. I was amazed to realize that I had known practically nothing about this ancient and powerful tradition of Christian meditation…. I was ready.

III. But back to our point here to show the “fruit” of contemplative prayer. Where is Sue Monk Kidd today, spiritually speaking? Listen to these quotes written by her a number of years after God’s Joyful Surprise to see where it took her:

We also need Goddess consciousness to reveal earth’s holiness… Matter becomes inspirited; it breathes divinity. Earth becomes alive and sacred… Goddess offers us the holiness of everything. . . . As I grounded myself in feminine spiritual experience, that fall, I was initiated into my body in a deeper way. I came to know myself as an embodiment of Goddess.

Mystical awakening in all the great religious traditions, including Christianity, involves arriving at an experience of unity or nondualism. In Zen it’s known as samadhi . . . The day of my awakening was the day I saw, and knew I saw, all things in God, and God in all things.

Today, after going down the contemplative path, Sue Monk Kidd worships the goddess within and not the God of the Bible. That is what practicing contemplative prayer got her. And it is what it got Thomas Merton. He came to believe, as well, that God was inside every human being (panentheism):

It is a glorious destiny to be a member of the human race, ... now I realize what we all are .... If only they [people] could all see themselves as they really are ...I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other ... At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusions, a point of pure truth ... This little point ...is the pure glory of God in us. It is in everybody.

And Henri Nouwen:

The God who dwells in our inner sanctuary is also the God who dwells in the inner sanctuary of each human being.

What we are saying here is vital. God does not work in the contemplative silence—but rather demons do. Moreover, what makes it so dangerous is that they are very clever. One well-known New Ager revealed what his guiding (familiar) spirit candidly disclosed:

 We work with all who are vibrationally sympathetic; simple and sincere people who feel our spirit moving, but for the most part, only within the context of their current belief system.

The term “vibrationally sympathetic” here means those who suspend thought through word repetition or breath focus—inward mental silence. That is what attracts them. That is their opening. That is why Tilden Edwards called this the “bridge to far Eastern spirituality,” and this is what is being injected into the evangelical church!

WHERE IS THIS ALL LEADING?

In Sue Monk Kidd’s book, The Dance of the Dissident Daughter, she makes a revealing comment:

Deity means that divinity will no longer be only heavenly … It will also be right here, right now, in me, in the earth, in this river, in excrement and roses alike.

Monk Kidd has come to believe that God is in everything, literally. She rejects the belief that God is holy and man is a sinner needing a Savior and redemption.

We do not believe that Dr. George Wood or Dr. Detrick would deny the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross, nor do we believe they would say that they agree with the words of Thomas Merton or Sue Monk Kidd. But by their willingness to embrace the teachings of Ruth Haley Barton (or any contemplative, for that matter) they are directly exposing themselves and potentially the two-and-a-half million in their denomination to the beliefs of Merton and Monk Kidd.

Alice Bailey predicted that there would be a global awakening where mankind would finally realize the divinity within. She called it the “regeneration of the churches.” Her rationale for this was obvious:

The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished. (emphasis added)

Satan is very good at deceiving people, often in very subtle ways. The Bible talks about a day that is coming when Christians will fall into great deception. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils” (I Timothy 4:1). These seducing spirits are just that – seducing.

In Acts 16, there is a good example of this. The spirit in the woman endorsed Paul and Silas, but that spirit was not for them but rather against them. It was a demon. In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about great deception coming upon the earth prior to His return. False christs, false prophets, great signs and wonders, and many coming in His name. Could it be that this mystical spirituality, which leads man to say he is divine, is part of this great falling away? We believe it is.

Nothing is being twisted here. The aforementioned evidence is based on facts, not speculations. The leaders of the Assemblies of God (and every other denomination, actually) must decide if they really want to take their denomination in this direction. If they decide to go forward, they must explain away the evidence we have given.

In her books, Ruth Haley Barton quotes a number of people who could legitimately be called New Agers. Bear in mind that she quotes these figures in the context of the practices they share. In her book Sacred Rhythms, she quotes Basil Pennington from his book Finding Grace at the Center. This means she must have read that book, which is a primer in contemplative mysticism. Listen to what Pennington says: 

We should not hesitate to take the fruit of the age-old wisdom of the East and “capture” it for Christ. Indeed, those of us who are in ministry should make the necessary effort to acquaint ourselves with as many of these Eastern techniques as possible.

 Many Christians who take their prayer life seriously have been greatly helped by Yoga, Zen, TM [Transcendental Meditation] and similar practices, especially where they have been initiated by reliable teachers and have a solidly developed Christian faith to find inner form and meaning to the resulting experiences.

Basil Pennington is one of the prominent figures of the contemplative prayer movement.

We stated in this report that contemplative prayer stands on the same ground as occultism. With that in mind, it is worth mentioning that both Thomas Keating (who, according to Barton, shaped her thinking) and Basil Pennington enthusiastically endorsed a book titled Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey in Christian Hermeticism. Fortune-telling Tarot cards are one of the major tools for divination in occultism. And Hermeticism is a set of ancient esoteric beliefs based on the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, the one who coined the term “as above, so below” (the maxim for the New Age movement). Keating said the book was “the greatest contribution to date toward the rediscovery and renewal of the Christian contemplative tradition,”29 and Pennington said, “It is without doubt the most extraordinary work I have ever read.”30 We’re talking about outright occultism here – there’s no room for doubt.

We are not asking anyone reading this to take our word for it. Look these authors up and see for yourself what they are saying. Compare this report we have written with our earlier article showing how Ruth Haley Barton is directly promoting the practice of contemplative prayer. We think, after true prayer and deliberation, you will come to the same conclusion we have—that contemplative prayer has no place in the biblical Christian faith.

Dr. Detrick claims that “[c]ountless AG people, and credentialed leaders, have testified to drawing much closer to the Lord as a result of Ruth’s books and teachings.” If it is true that “countless AG people” have been influenced by Ruth Haley Barton, then this report should motivate those in the Assemblies of God to get to the bottom of this controversy that is unfolding here.

[The above article is a response by LighthouseTrails to the Assemblies of God endorsement on Ruth Haley Barton.]

Abbas Warns Israel Over Al - Aqsa Mosque
May 13th, 2013
Daily NewsINN - Elad Benari
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The Palestinian Authority on Sunday sent a warning to Israel, over what it calls its attempts to harm the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount.

Speaking during a meeting of the PLO's Executive Committee, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that it is impossible to hold back in the wake of what he called the attacks by Israel on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and PA Arabs in Judea and Samaria, in particular by local Jewish residents.

"We cannot remain silent over such actions, nor can we accept their recurrence," Abbas said. "If Israel is dreaming about establishing facts on the ground through its daily attacks against the Al-Aqsa Mosque, then it is deluded."

He added, "Eastern Jerusalem is our capital city, Al-Aqsa belongs to us, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre belongs to us, and we will not accept [the Israelis’] harassment.”

Arabs continuously accuse Israel of "Judaizing" the Temple Mount, sometimes resorting to ridiculous propaganda such as accusing Israel of using chemicals to erode the foundations of the mosque in order to cause it to collapse.

At the same time the Waqf, which was left in charge of the Temple Mount after Israel liberated it during the 1967 Six Day War, consistently destroys Jewish antiquities on the compound in a direct violation of a ruling by the Supreme Court.

The Waqf has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the site. At the entrance to the Temple Mount, a Waqf sign says, “The Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property.”

Israeli Police, in an attempt to appease the Waqf, discriminate against Jews. They limit the number of Jewish worshippers allowed on the Temple Mount at one time in order to prevent conflict with Muslim worshippers. They often close the Mount to Jews in response to Muslim riots – despite evidence that Muslim riots have been planned in advance for the specific purpose of forcing Jews out.

Last week, Israeli police questioned and released Jerusalem's most senior Muslim cleric, Mufti Mohammed Hossein, for suspected involvement in throwing chairs at a group of Jews on the Temple Mount.

The United States subsequently called for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to exercise restraint over the tensions at the compound.

Editors note.....Three thousand years ago Ezekiel foretold the very situation we have on the Temple Mount today as the Palestinians claim Israel's inheritance. "Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places (Temple Mount) are ours in possession" (Ezekiel 36:2).

Also in verse 5, "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey."