Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Why It Matters That Jews are Standing on the Temple Mount
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsnews.yahoo.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

As Yehuda Glick strides across the Temple Mount, his bare feet scuffing along the paved stones and a kippah tucked under his baseball cap, the Muslim worshippers who know this sacred space as the Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) start chanting tauntingly in Arabic, “God is great, praise be to God!”

Trailed by a group of religious Jews, an Israeli police escort, and a Muslim community representative, Mr. Glick responds in Hebrew, “Shalom – peace to you all.”

Behind him rise the two sites that make Jerusalem the third-holiest city in Islam: the Al-Aqsa mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine commemorating the prophet Mohammed's ascension to heaven. 

It is built on the spot where Jews believe the very presence of God once rested in the Jewish temple. This is considered the holiest place in Judaism, yet it has been largely off-limits to Jewish worshipers because of concerns that range from violating Jewish law to provoking riots.

But in recent years, religious Jews are increasingly asserting their right to be here and are pushing for Israel to claim sovereignty over the Temple Mount. 

Their effort is testing the resolve of the Israeli government and the patience of 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. At stake are freedom of worship and the future of the most contested sacred space in the world. And the effort could potentially inflame the Israeli-Arab conflict, which is increasingly taking on a religious tone. 

“I’m pretty left-wing Orthodox and even I think there’s no reason Jews shouldn’t be allowed up here,” says Mark Shayne, a financial consultant from New York who visited last week on the eve of Sukkot, one of hundreds of Jews who have visited the Temple Mount during the Jewish holidays this month. “If you can’t share a holy place, there will never be peace.”

The Islamic waqf, which governs the Haram al-Sharif, endorses the idea of Jerusalem as a “jewel of peace” for Muslim, Christians, and Jews, and are happy to welcome Jews as tourists to the Noble Sanctuary, but they are pressuring Israeli police to prevent access to the area for Jews with religious or political motivations.

“We are asking the Israeli police not to provide permission for the huge numbers of Jews who visit and especially to bar the extreme Jews from entering the Noble Sanctuary,” says Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, director of the waqf, in between a flurry of phone calls about the rising tensions amid the Jewish High Holidays. “These extreme Jews … are trying to create new facts on the ground.” 

Muslim concerns over the Temple Mount come amid rising Arab frustration with the "Judaization" of Jerusalem, where Jewish groups promoting (and funding) a greater Jewish presence have increasingly acquired properties in sensitive areas including the Muslim quarter of the Old City and predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.

Among Muslims’ greatest concerns is that Jews will try to destroy the Muslim holy sites in order to rebuild their temple. In 1984, Yehuda Etzion was imprisoned for a plot to destroy the Dome of the Rock, and in 1991, Israeli police intervened to thwart a plan by the Temple Mount Faithful to airlift a 5-ton cornerstone for the new temple.

“If the Jews and the Israelis destroy the Noble Sanctuary, then they would have actually destroyed part of the holy Quran and destroyed part of the Muslim belief,” says Sheikh al-Khatib. “If that were to happen, then Muslims all over the world would conduct jihad.”

WHY THERE'S A RISE IN NUMBERS

Israeli general Moshe Dayan captured the Temple Mount in the 1967 war, but instead of restoring it to Jewish control for the first time in nearly 2,000 years, he let Muslims retain control. Some saw it as the largely secular Israeli leadership’s attempt to appease Muslims.

Though Israeli courts have since supported Jews’ right to pray on the Temple Mount, Israeli police have enforced a ban on it to avoid provoking the Muslim community. But as Israel’s religious Jews have gained influence they have pushed back against the restrictions. 

“[Muslims] can play soccer over there, … they can have picnics, they can urinate on the [ground], but I can’t say a word of prayer? Does that sound reasonable?” asks Glick, gesturing back to the compound where he sometimes holds a cellphone up to his ear while reciting a chapter of Psalms in order to disguise his prayer. “The only place in the world where a Jew cannot pray is over there.”

Glick, who heads the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation and supports right-wing lawmakers' efforts to restore Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, has been coming up here for 25 years – first alone, and now with groups of up to 100 or more. 

Last year 12,000 Jews visited, he says, and this year he hopes it will be double or triple that, solidifying the connection between the Jewish people and the Temple Mount. Israeli police statistics, though more conservative, support the general trend and indicate that Jewish visits this year will outpace previous years.

To be sure, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel still has a sign posted at the entrance of the Temple Mount forbidding Jews to visit the area. Since no one knows the exact location of the Temple or the inner sanctuary that was off-limits for all but a priestly elite, and Jewish law requires a level of ritual purity to enter the area that some say is unattainable at present, many Jews have long steered clear of the Temple Mount so as not to inadvertently commit an infraction of such religious precepts.

But that is changing.

“Today as archaeological findings become firmer, and there’s more awareness of realities on ground, the number of rabbis who are taking that stand that there’s no reason Jews should not be allowed to pray in the holiest place in the world is growing,” says Jeffrey Woolf, a rabbi and senior lecturer in the Talmud department of Bar Ilan University, who also credits growing spirituality in Jewish society for the surge in interest. 
“It’s true that God is everywhere, but His presence is experienced more intensely, tangibly, and experientially on the Temple Mount.” 

SPIRITUAL REBUILDING NEEDED FIRST

All that remains today of the Second Temple is the western wall, which has become a major focal point for Jewish prayer, attracting millions of Jews each year.

Glick would like to see more and more of those Jews visiting the Temple Mount and praying side by side with Muslims and Christians. “My dream is to be able to hug a person from Saudi Arabia and a person from Spain, and together all pray together to God,” says Glick.

But some worry that could spark a third intifada; the Second Intifada broke out in 2000 after a controversial visit by Israeli leader Ariel Sharon, with more than 1,000 Israeli police and several Israeli lawmakers in tow, in what his spokesman later described as a bid to show Palestinians that "Jerusalem was not for sale." 

Jewish tradition teaches that the house of God shall one day be a house of prayer for all nations, but some say the Jewish people need to get their own house in order first.

The destruction of the First and Second Temples reflected the Jews' own inner spiritual state, and thus rebuilding the temple requires first and foremost a spiritual rebuilding individually and societally, says Rabbi Dovid Ben Meir, who teaches in a religious Zionist yeshiva in Eli.

"If we try to physically go up to the Temple Mount and walk in certain areas, even if we’re within the limitations prescribed by Jewish law … it won’t bring us any closer to an understanding of what the temple actually means," he says. 

"We’ll satisfy ourselves with going up barefoot and saying a few Psalms and feeling as if we’re on a higher spiritual level, when the truth is what we really have to be striving for is to bring ourselves and all of humanity to an entirely higher spiritual, psychological sphere of living."

What's This? Washington and Europe Rush Headlong Towards Accepting a Nuclear Iran
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsdebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Iranian delegation arrived at the UN General Assembly in New York this week to an enthusiastic Western welcome led by the Obama administration, without having rescinded one iota of its aggressive policies or nuclear ambitions.

“We welcome an Iran ready to engage seriously through that (diplomatic) process given that it represents the international community’s commitment to hold Iran accountable, but also being open to a diplomatic resolution.”

This convoluted message was how Ben Rhodes, US Deputy National Security Adviser, referred Monday, Sept. 23, to the US Secretary of State John Kerry’s get-together with Iranian Mohammad Javad Zarif Thursday, along with foreign ministers of the five world powers.

Their acclaimed purpose is to test Tehran’s willingness for progress in nuclear negotiations. But before this test, the Obama administration agreed to the highest-level face-to-face contact between the US and Iran since the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Rhodes did not shut the door on a meeting, even a brief one, between President Barack Obama and President Hassan Rouhani at this week’s annual gathering of world leaders in New York.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague and European Union Foreign Executive Catherine Ashton had already met the new Iranian foreign minister Monday, after which Ashton commented that she had found him resolved to go forward with talks (on Iran’s nuclear program) and “many things flow from that.”

How to account for this burst of eagerness in Washington and Europe for a rapprochement with the Revolutionary Republic of Iran?

Has Tehran agreed to give up its nuclear weapon program? The new president and even supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei say their government will never develop a nuclear bomb. 

So what if they said so? Have their words caused Iran’s nuclear facilities, open and concealed, to suddenly vanish like a desert mirage?

Has Iran announced itself ready to open up all its nuclear facilities to international watchdog inspections? Will Rouhani make this offer when he addresses the UN Assembly Wednesday?

Has Iran promised to stop developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads?

And what about the Islamic Republic’s long sponsorship of state terrorism against Israeli and Jewish targets across the world? Have those death-dealing networks been recalled home?

And has Tehran started pulling its troops out of Syria and terminated its partnership in butchery with Bashar Assad, given up its control of Lebanon or stopped sending rockets to Hizballah?

Has anyone noticed that Iran is building a Red Sea Naval base at Port Sudan facing the coast of Saudi Arabia? Or that a large-scale munitions production and distribution center for supplying Iran’s Middle East allies is going up in Sudan?

And finally, has Iran abandoned its ambition to wipe Israel off the map, or stopped denying the Nazi Holocaust?

The slick new president easily ducked the second question by saying: “I’m not a historian.”

He and members of his regime have suddenly been given free license to fill the op-ed pages of important Western media with smooth propaganda for Western audiences.

But while polishing his civilized aspect towards the West, Rouhani made sure the day before he flew to New York to display Iran’s steel teeth with its largest display ever of missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers. 

The 30 weapons on show included 12 Sejil and 18 Ghadr missiles which can reach Israel and US Gulf bases - although Rouhani stated with a straight face that they were “for defensive purposes only.”

The turbaned Iranian president has an obvious motive for gulling the West into accepting the Islamic Republic’s conversion from a regime bent on “exporting the Islamic revolution” to a lover of peace: He was elected to end the sanctions crippling the country, without giving up the regime’s objectives.

It is less clear what moves President Obama to swallow the Iranian bait and go for a historic US rapprochement with the revolutionary republic. On every occasion, he protests that Israel’s security is his overriding concern. Yet he is rushing to accept a nuclear Iran whose avowed ambition is to destroy Israel.

Under their slick new façade, the ayatollahs have not changed their spots. Washington has.

Sources close to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu say he is determined to tear the false veil off Iran’s face – even if he is a lone voice, when he addresses the UN later this month.

Last Thursday, Netanyahu tried throwing water on Rouhani’s claims that Iran’s nuclear program was peaceful, calling them fraudulent. He dismissed Iran's offer to engage in diplomacy as false “media spin,” which should not fool anyone.

But no one in the West was listening. And at home, people were asking what happened to Netanyahu’s solemn pre-election pledge to stop Iran attaining a nuclear bomb. 

What's This? Are You Prepared for An Extremely Bitterly Cold Winter? Solar Activity is At a 100
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsthetruthwins.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Are you ready for bone chilling cold this winter? The Old Farmer’s Almanac and other weather forecasters that rely on solar activity as a factor in their weather forecasts are projecting that this upcoming winter will be bitterly cold. 

Solar activity is at a 100 year low, and even though we were supposed to be in the midst of a solar maximum this year, our sun has been eerily quiet. So precisely what in the world is going on? 

There have been other periods throughout history when solar activity has been extraordinarily quiet, and those times have corresponded with periods of extreme cold. 

For example, the “Maunder Minimum” which stretched from 1645 to 1715 corresponded with the most bitterly cold period that the earth experienced in the last 1000 years. So could we be heading toward another “mini-ice age”? That is a question that some scientists are now beginning to ask.

Clearly, something unusual is happening with our sun. The following is from a Universe Today article that was posted back in July…

Our nearest star has exhibited some schizophrenic behavior thus far for 2013.

By all rights, we should be in the throes of a solar maximum, an 11-year peak where the Sun is at its most active and dappled with sunspots.

Thus far though, Solar Cycle #24 has been off to a sputtering start, and researchers that attended the meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division earlier this month are divided as to why.

“Not only is this the smallest cycle we’ve seen in the space age, it’s the smallest cycle in 100 years,” NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center research scientist David Hathaway said during a recent press teleconference conducted by the Marshall Space Flight Center.

In a previous article, I noted that scientists are absolutely baffled by this. So far, nobody can explain why this solar cycle is so weak…

The Sun is acting weird. It typically puts on a pageant of magnetic activity every 11 years for aurora watchers and sungazers alike, but this time it overslept. When it finally woke up (a year late), it gave the weakest performance in 100 years.

The good news is that this kind of thing has happened before.

The bad news is that when solar activity slows down dramatically it tends to correspond with extremely cold weather as the Times of India recently explained…

Predictions that 2013 would see an upsurge in solar activity and geomagnetic storms disrupting power grids and communications systems have proved to be a false alarm. Instead, the current peak in the solar cycle is the weakest for a century.

Subdued solar activity has prompted controversial comparisons with the Maunder Minimum, which occurred between 1645 and 1715, when a prolonged absence of sunspots and other indicators of solar activity coincided with the coldest period in the last millennium.

Certainly solar activity is just one of the factors that influences our weather and many other factors are involved as well.

But it is undeniable that during the last “Little Ice Age” in Europe there were very few sunspots…

Times of depressed solar activity seem to correspond with times of global cold. For example, during the 70-year period from 1645 to 1715, few, if any, sunspots were seen, even during expected sunspot maximums. Western Europe entered a climate period known as the “Maunder Minimum” or “Little Ice Age.” Temperatures dropped by 1.8 to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit.

Conversely, times of increased solar activity have corresponded with global warning. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Sun was active, and the European climate was quite mild.

And the lull in solar activity that we are experiencing now is causing many, including the Old Farmer’s Almanac, to project that we have a bitterly cold winter ahead of us…

The Farmers’ Almanac is using words like “piercing cold,” “bitterly cold” and “biting cold” to describe the upcoming winter. And if its predictions are right, the first outdoor Super Bowl in years will be a messy “Storm Bowl.”

The 197-year-old publication that hits newsstands Monday predicts a winter storm will hit the Northeast around the time the Super Bowl is played at MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands in New Jersey. It also predicts a colder-than-normal winter for two-thirds of the country and heavy snowfall in the Midwest, Great Lakes and New England.

“We’re using a very strong four-letter word to describe this winter, which is C-O-L-D. It’s going to be very cold,” said Sandi Duncan, managing editor.

That doesn’t sound very fun.

So has the Old Farmer’s Almanac been accurate in the past?

According to their website, they claim an 80 percent accuracy rate…

The Old Farmer’s Almanac, first published in 1792 during the first term of George Washington, has always watched the weather. Our famous long-range weather forecasts are traditionally 80 percent–accurate.

We will see what happens this year.

For North America, the Almanac is predicting that we will see “below-normal temperatures” and “above-normal snowfall”…

According to the newest edition of North America’s oldest continuously published periodical, a decline in solar activity combined with ocean-atmosphere patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic will result in below-normal temperatures and above-normal snowfall during most of the winter across much of the United States.

“This winter is shaping up to be a rough one,” says Janice Stillman, editor of The Old Farmer’s Almanac. “Sweaters and snow shovels should be unpacked early and kept close by throughout the season. The good news is that the extra precipitation—which will fall as rain or snow depending where you are—will help with any drought issues left over from the summer.”

So if you like winter weather, it looks like this will be a good year for you.

For the rest of us, we will just have to wear lots of warm clothing and stay inside a lot.

But of course the much bigger story is what this could mean for the years ahead.

Are we now moving into a time similar to the “Maunder Minimum” when solar activity will be very low and global temperatures will decrease?

Could it be possible that Matthew Penn of the National Solar Observatory and others are correct and that we are heading into a new mini-ice age?

Let’s certainly hope not, but without a doubt something very strange is happening to our sun.

Only time will tell what that means for our future.

The Greatest Debt Crisis the World Has Ever Seen is Coming
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsthetruthwins.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

The largest mountain of debt in the history of the world just continues to grow even larger, and everyone knows that this colossal debt spiral is not going to end well. 

But we all keep playing along because nobody wants the party to end. Right now, there is an unprecedented ocean of red ink covering the planet. 

Globally, governments have never been in so much debt, corporations have never been in so much debt and consumers have never been in so much debt. 

But every time someone suggests that this is a problem and that we should at least try to get debt levels to settle down a bit, people start screaming that “austerity” will hurt the global economy. 

And of course it will. But we can’t continue to live way, way above our means indefinitely. Well, we can try, but at some point this entire house of cards is going to come crashing down and we are going to be facing the greatest economic crisis the world has ever seen.

It is kind of like watching a slow-motion train wreck that you have no chance of possibly stopping that you know will end up killing lots of innocent people. 

This debt crisis is going to end up destroying the global financial system, but there is not a thing that you or I can do to prevent it from happening. 

The unprecedented debt binge that we are witnessing right now is going to continue until someday we hit a brick wall of financial disaster. We can yell and we can scream, but it isn’t going to stop what is happening.

As the Telegraph recently noted, even the Bank for International Settlements is warning that debt levels are way too high. According to the BIS, total public and private debt levels are now 30 percent higher than they were in 2008…

“This looks like to me like 2007 all over again, but even worse,” said William White, the BIS’s former chief economist, famous for flagging the wild behavior in the debt markets before the global storm hit in 2008.

“All the previous imbalances are still there. Total public and private debt levels are 30pc higher as a share of GDP in the advanced economies than they were then, and we have added a whole new problem with bubbles in emerging markets that are ending in a boom-bust cycle,” said Mr White, now chairman of the OECD’s Economic Development and Review Committee.

The BIS can see the disaster coming, but even they have no chance of preventing it.

For the rest of this article, I am going to focus on government debt, but please keep in mind that corporate debt and consumer debt are also totally out of control globally. It would be very hard to overstate the nightmare that we are facing.

But of course national governments are the biggest offenders when it comes to debt…

Asia

Japan now has a debt to GDP ratio of more than 211 percent, and as Simon Black of the Sovereign Man blog recently detailed, they are rapidly heading toward a national financial meltdown…

Looking purely at the numbers, Japan’s medium-term fundamentals are among the bleakest in the world.

Total government debt amounts to over 200% of the country’s entire GDP– a figure so large that the Japanese government spends 51.5% of the 43 trillion yen ($430 billion) they collect in tax revenue just to pay interest!

Perhaps even more astounding is that ‘primary balance expenses,’ i.e. normal government expenditures, totaled 70.3 trillion yen, or 163% of tax revenue.

The only way they’ve managed to stay afloat is by issuing more debt, which makes the problem even worse. In fact, 46% of the 2013 budget is being financed by debt.

These guys are running out of rope. And fast.

China is facing a different sort of a problem. In that nation, the growth of private domestic debt is wildly out of control.

According to a recent World Bank report, private domestic debt in China has grown from 9 trillion dollars in 2008 to 23 trillion dollars today.

There is no way that is sustainable, and at some point that massive bubble is going to burst.

Europe

Even though some European nations have supposedly implemented “austerity measures” in recent years, debt levels continue to rise rapidly. 

The following are some numbers that were recently released which show that government debt to GDP ratios for some of the most financially troubled nations in Europe are absolutely soaring…

•Euroarea: 92.2%, up from 88.2% a year ago

•Greece: 160.5%, up from 136.5% a year ago

•Italy: 130.3%; up from 123.8% a year ago

•Portugal: 127.2%, up from 112.3% a year ago

•Ireland: 125.1%, up from 106.8% a year ago

•Spain: 88.2%, up from 73.0% a year ago

•Netherlands: 72.0%, up from 66.7% a year ago

Anyone that tells you that the crisis in Europe is “over” is lying to you. The debt crisis is getting worse, not better.

The United States

The biggest mountain of debt of all can be found in the United States.

30 years ago, the national debt was a little bit above a trillion dollars.

Today, it is rapidly approaching 17 trillion dollars.

At this point, the U.S. already has more government debt per capita than Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or Spain. And since Barack Obama entered the White House, the debt to GDP level has soared to unprecedented heights…

Sadly, this is just the beginning.

One reason for this is that the U.S. is facing some tremendous demographic challenges in the years ahead.

In other words, our population is getting older.

It is being projected that the number of Americans on Social Security will rise from 57 million today to more than 100 million in 25 years.

How in the world are we possibly going to pay for that?

Already, we are very heavily dependent on foreigners to pay our bills.

According to the U.S. Treasury, foreigners hold approximately 5.6 trillion dollars of our debt at this point.

China and Russia account for about one-fourth of that total. Right now, China owns approximately 1.275 trillion dollars of our debt, and Russia owns approximately 138 billion dollars of our debt.

So what would happen if we went to war with Syria and they decided to quit borrowing from us and they started dumping our debt instead?

That is a very good question.

And actually, according to Zero Hedge foreigners have already started to dump a little bit of our debt…

Today’s TIC data showed something disturbing: for the fourth month in a row, foreigners were net sellers of US Treasury paper in July, as total foreign holdings declined from $5.600 trillion to $5.590 trillion which represents 49% of total marketable debt (including the debt owned by the Fed of course). 

In other words, since peaking at $5.724 trillion in March, foreign-held debt has declined by $134 trillion, at a time when yields have surged on fears the Fed’s tapering of its own purchases of bonds will mean less Fed frontrunning opportunities.

We certainly cannot afford for that to continue, because we desperately need other nations to finance our reckless spending.

Our debt is wildly out of control, and the only way we can keep the entire system from collapsing is to go into even more debt.

As I noted recently, if the U.S. national debt was reduced to a stack of one dollar bills it would circle the earth at the equator 45 times.

That is a whole lot of money.

But most Americans do not consider it to be a problem because disaster has not struck yet.

Unfortunately, they simply don’t understand how quickly an exponential problem can overwhelm you. I think that the following illustration from Simon Black is particularly helpful…

Let’s say you’re at a party in a small apartment that’s about 500 square feet in size. Then suddenly, at 11pm, a pipe bursts, starting a trickle into the living room.

Aside from the petty annoyance, would you feel like you were in danger? Probably not. This is a linear problem– the rate at which the water is leaking is more or less constant, so the guests can keep partying through the night without worry.

But let’s assume that it’s an exponential leak.

At first, there’s just one drop of water. But each minute, the rate doubles. So by 11:01pm, there’s 2 drops. By 11:02, 4 drops. And so forth.

By 11:27pm, there’s only six inches of standing water. Yet by 11:31pm, just four minutes later, the entire room is under nearly 8 feet of water. And the party’s over.

For nearly half an hour, it all seemed safe and manageable. People had all the time in the world to leave, right up until the bitter end. 11:27, 11:28, 11:29. Then it all went from benign to deadly in a matter of minutes.

By the time that our politicians and the talking heads on the mainstream media admit that we have a debt emergency on our hands, it will probably be far, far too late.

The greatest debt crisis the world has ever seen is coming, and there is nothing that anyone can do to stop it.

Report: By Supporting Muslim Brotherhood, Obama Drove Egypt to Russia, China
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily NewsTrue News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Egypt dismayed by the policy of U.S. President Barack Obama, has been turning to China and Russia, a report said.

The Middle East Media Research Institute asserted that Egypt was becoming anti-American while engaging with China and Russia. In a report, the institute said the anti-American sentiment was fueled by Obama’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood regime, overthrown in a military coup in July 2013.

Egypt dismayed by the policy of U.S. President Barack Obama, has been turning to China and Russia, a report said.

The Middle East Media Research Institute asserted that Egypt was becoming anti-American while engaging with China and Russia. In a report, the institute said the anti-American sentiment was fueled by Obama’s support of the Muslim Brotherhood regime, overthrown in a military coup in July 2013.

New Lgbt Protection Law Criminalizing Believers?
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily News.charismanews.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

More than 180 cities across the country have now passed LGBT laws that suppress the views of Christians.

Dubbed "nondiscrimination" by LGBT activists, the ordinances provide new protection for sexual minorities while also severely curtailing religious liberty.

So far, the laws have gone largely unnoticed. But a measure passed in San Antonio Sept. 5 has drawn national attention, both for its scope and for passing in this large, Hispanic-majority city traditionally known for its family values.

The ordinance forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Although hundreds of believers across San Antonio attended a city council hearing to protest the ordinance; it passed easily with an 8-3 vote, backed by Mayor Julian Castro, a rising star in Democratic politics.

The Sunday after the vote, CBN News visited churches across the city where believers expressed shock over the vote and fear about what it would mean.

Believers Shocked

"The right for us to speak out and say, 'I disagree. It doesn't sound right.' Now we're labeled a hater, a bigot, homophobic," Jacob Herrera, with Faith Outreach Center International, explained.

"It criminalized what you thought about the LGB community and I don't think that's right." Leonard Pena, with Abundant Life Church, said.

"My faith, my belief and how I've raised my family—I can get in trouble for that because they don't agree with that," Rosalie Astran, a fellow church member, said.

Councilman Carleton Soules, one of the "no" votes, questioned the ordinance's supporters repeatedly during the public hearing. He later told CBN News he thought the measure was acted on too quickly.

"We didn't put the ordinance up on the website," he said. "It was fast-tracked through. Anytime we are going at light speed to do something that's unpopular that throws a lot of red flags."

Red Flags

For San Antonio's faith community there are several red flags. The ordinance criminalizes those with a biblical view of sexuality as it forbids bias against homosexuality or bi-sexuality.

Those charged and declared guilty by the city will face a Class C misdemeanor on their record and fines of up to $500 a day.

Also, the ordinance forbids appointed officials on city boards from showing any bias. 

Allan Parker, president of The Justice Foundation, a San-Antonio-based Christian legal nonprofit, has worked to analyze and explain the ordinance for San Antonio's churches.

He said the ordinance is vague and unclear but he believes it can and will be used against Christians, especially those in the business world who disagree with unbiblical sexuality.

"The leverage of the city to pressure any business to caving in is enormous under this," he explained.

Even Councilman Soules is warning people of faith.

"I believe if you're a small business owner, operating within the city limits of San Antonio, or you're a business owner that wants to do business with the city, you need to tread carefully," he said.

Church Asleep at the Wheel

CBN News spoke with key church leaders who protested the ordinance. Until now, they say, the city's faith community has been asleep at the wheel. Case in point: Less than 7 percent of registered voters turned out for May's city election.

"Politics in San Antonio has always been low-key and there have never been any troubles, so most people had quit voting," Pastor Steve Branson, with Village Parkway Baptist Church, explained.

After jump-starting opposition to the ordinance but failing to persuade the council, Branson and other pastors and their congregations are motivated to push back.

"We're starting to speak," Branson said. "I can guarantee you it won't be quiet anymore."

Haunting Comparisons

For African-American churches, there's outrage over gays equating their issue with civil rights.

"What we have is very cherished laws of anti-discrimination, hewn out of the heat of civil rights. These laws, everyone values. Now the activist, the homosexual, lesbian, gender-confused community has activists that they want to insert into those laws and then use them against people of faith," pastor Charles Flowers, with Faith Outreach Center International, explained.

Pastor Eli Bonilla, with Abundant Life Church, said for Latino churches, overflowing with immigrants, the new ordinance is a haunting reminder of what they left behind in their native countries.

"We have some that are budding business people and all of sudden they feel themselves with the same angst that they felt when they came from their countries, where evangelicals have always been put on the side, on the periphery," he said.

"They tell me that that's the same gut feeling they get when they hear this ordinance," he said.

What Now, Pastor?

Abundant Life youth pastor Gabriel Colmenero said his high school students, many who lead Bible clubs in their public schools, are now unsure about what they can and cannot say.

"They are asking me, 'What do we do now, Brother Gabe?'" he said. "Well, we're going to start praying about that, how to teach them what to do, how to confront their friends who may be homosexual."

If LGBT laws can pass in cities like San Antonio, well-known for its churches and conservative values, there's concern that they can pass anywhere.

For many pastors in San Antonio, there's awareness that the spotlight is now on their city and that now is the time for them to speak out against the ordinance.

"I've had emails from 50 states," Branson said. "I've had people say we're praying for you—please keep this up.'"

Those who oppose the ordinance may push for a citywide referendum on it or a vote to recall council members that voted for it—or both. Lawsuits are also expected from both sides.

"If we don't fight this thing with everything we've got, our rights will be taken away and our mouths will be muzzled and that just can't happen, here in the land of the free," Herrera said.

What's not escaping Herrera and others is the fact that this battle is taking place in the city that still remembers the Alamo, a city known for fighting for its freedom against all odds.

Let the Headlines Speak
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Who Should I Vote for in the 2016 Elections?
As discerning Christians, we should select those candidates whose philosophy of government, while not perfect, is closer to Scripture than the others'. Second, until Jesus Christ rules the world from David's Throne, there never will be a perfect candidate. In the mean time, we are left with the task of selecting from among flawed human beings those who will be our next political leaders. Thus, the issue becomes not which candidate has a perfectly pure Christian worldview, but rather who of the competing candidates has a worldview that is closer to the Scripture in comparison to that of their competitors.  

Researchers warn of 'hit and run' cyber attackers
Security researchers said Wednesday they uncovered a "cyber mercenary" team which specializes in attacks on targets in Japan and South Korea, and warned of more operations of that nature. Kaspersky Labs identified the group as "Icefog," and said evidence points to it being based in China.  

Homemade sarin was used in attack near Damascus – Lavrov
Russia has enough evidence to assert that homemade sarin was used on August 21 in a chemical attack near Damascus, the same type but in higher concentration than in an Aleppo incident earlier this year, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said.  

Global warming believers are feeling the heat
Already we have had a taste of the nonsense to come: a pre-announcement to the effect that “climate scientists” are now “95 per cent certain” that humans are to blame for climate change; an evidence-free declaration....  

George H.W. Bush a witness at same-sex wedding
Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush, attended the ceremony joining Bonnie Clement and Helen Thorgalsen as private citizens and friends on Saturday, spokesman Jim McGrath said.  

John Kerry Signs UN Arms Trade Treaty at General Assembly
John Kerry signed the controversial U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, while attending the body’s annual General Assembly. If enacted, the treaty would allow for international regulation of the $70 billion-a-year conventional arms trade, which ranges from small arms to warships.  

Al-Shabaab Targets Non-Muslims
September 25, 2013: In an email sent to Associated Press office, Al-Shabaab spokesperson writes that the attackers of the Westgate Shopping Mall, carried out a meticulous vetting process, separating the Muslims from the non-Muslims, by asking them some fundamental questions that only a Muslim would know. After letting the Muslims go free, they initiated indiscriminate firing.  

Biblical-era town discovered in Galilee
Ken Dark of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom believes to have found the ancient town of Dalmanutha, described in the Gospel of Mark as the place Jesus sailed to after miraculously feeding 4,000 by multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread.  

Turkish FM: Israel must do more to normalize ties with us
Turkey’s foreign minister says there has been “some progress” in improving Turkish-Israeli relations but Israel has not yet fulfilled all conditions for normalizing ties.  

Nicaraguan on alert after volcano blast
A volcano in Nicaragua has erupted with a mighty blast and a column of ash, then quietened down again, the government said. No one was hurt but villagers near the Telica volcano in the northwest of the Central American nation were told to remain on alert. The mountain is about 1000 metres tall.  

COMET ISON ON TRACK TO BECOME 'IMPRESSIVE'
Amateur astronomers around the world are photographing Comet ISON as it approaches Mars in the predawn sky. The comet is not as bright as some forecasters expected.  

Somalia President: Al-Shabab Could Attack the United States
The Somali-based terrorist organization al-Shabab, which claimed credit for the devastating attack in Nairobi this week, is an international organization that could attack anywhere, including the United States, according to the president of Somalia. ...“Al-Shabab is not a Somali agenda, it’s an international agenda. Al-Shabab is working with an international capacity in terms of trading and financial resources,” he said.  

Death toll climbs to at least 349 after powerful Pakistan earthquake
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck northwest Pakistan rose to at least 349 early Thursday, authorities said. The Pakistani military said it had rushed almost 1,000 troops to the area and was sending helicopters in the wake of Tuesday's temblor. An island mass measuring about 60 feet high, 100 feet long and 250 feet wide was created off the coast of Pakistan following a powerful earthquake. Most of the victims were killed when their houses collapsed. At least 550 people were injured.  

IRS Watchdog: $67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund
The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today. The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law.  

Strong earthquake hits East Turkey again
An earthquake measuring four on the Richter scale hit the Erchish region of Van province in the east of Turkey last night, "Sabah" newspaper reported on Thursday. According to data received from Bogazici University Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, the earthquake took place at 05:55 am local time at a depth of about 5 kilometers. No casualties or damages are reported as a result of the earthquake.  

Iran wants nuclear deal in months, says President Rouhani
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says he wants to reach a deal with world powers on Tehran's nuclear programme in three to six months. He told the Washington Post he saw a resolution of the issue as a "beginning point" in easing US-Iran relations. Mr Rouhani said he was fully empowered by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, to negotiate on the issue.  

Very Strong earthquake near Acari, Peru kills 3
M 7.0 very strong earthquake in Southern Peru today has claimed lives of three people, local medias reported. At least six people have been injured in a house collapse in Paucar del Sara Sara in Ayacucho.  

5.7-magnitude quake hits off Mexico coast—USGS
A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of southern Mexico early Thursday, US seismologists said, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties on land. The quake was located in the Pacific Ocean, some 106 kilometers (66 miles) southwest of the city of Puerto Madero, in Mexico, the United States Geological Survey reported on its website.  

Russia: Ready to guard Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles
Russia is ready to help guard Syria's chemical weapons sites when President Bashar Assad's chemical arms stockpiles and factories are destroyed, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying on Thursday by news agencies. "We will be ready to help in guarding those facilities where work is being carried out," Interfax news agency reported Ryabkov as saying at an arms fair.  

Hezbollah's role in the Syrian Civil War
Deploying "hit squads" of highly trained fighters in Syria and setting up bases near the Israeli side of the Golan Heights are a couple of the ways Hezbollah are leaving their imprint on the Syrian conflict. ...Regional security officials told Reuters there are now between 2,000 and 4,000 Hezbollah fighters, experts and reservists in Syria.  

Israel Bleak About U.S. - Iran Rapprochement At UN Summit
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsnews.yahoo.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Israel voiced concern on Tuesday over a potential meeting of the U.S. and Iranian presidents, saying Tehran's conciliatory overtures to world powers masked an acceleration of its disputed nuclear program.

An official Israeli assessment said Iran now had centrifuges for quickly turning low-enriched uranium into bomb fuel, putting it on a fast track to atomic arms even if it gave up uranium of mid-level purity which had previously been Israel's focus.

Iran's new government has gone on a charm offensive timed for the annual U.N. General Assembly, agreeing to international nuclear negotiations that would include its foreign minister seeing U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

U.S. officials also said a meeting was possible this week between President Barack Obama and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani - a landmark after more than three decades of hostility.

Israel sees a mortal menace in an Iranian bomb it says could be six months from production and is wary of any let-up in Western pressure, backed by stringent sanctions, for a nuclear rollback by Tehran. Iran denies seeking atomic weapons.

Asked if there would be an Obama-Rouhani handshake, Yuval Steinitz, the cabinet minister now representing Israel at the U.N. forum in New York, said: "I hope not. I don't know."

"But really the important thing is not just words and appearances. The important thing is the actions. The important thing is the resolutions," Steinitz told Israel's Army Radio.

"And I really hope that the whole world, and chiefly among them the United States, will say, 'Okay, it's nice to hear the smiles, the new rhetoric, but as long as you don't change the conduct, and as long as you don't make a real concession in the nuclear project, the economic sanctions will continue and if there is need, will be joined by a military threat as well.'"

Iran has dismissed several U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing its nuclear work with bomb-making potential. It has tried to shift scrutiny to Israel's assumed atomic arsenal.

"WEEKS AWAY" FROM NUKES

At last year's U.N General Assembly, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set a "red line" beyond which Israel would attack Iranian nuclear sites. He drew that line across a cartoon-style bomb representing the scope of the Islamic Republic's enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity, close to military grade.

An Israeli government estimate leaked to the Washington Post said Iran's new centrifuges were capable of turning stores of 3.5 percent pure uranium directly into bomb fuel "within weeks". Thus any "agreement to hand over all of its existing stockpile of highly (20 percent) enriched uranium would be insufficient".

The document, whose authenticity was confirmed by an Israeli official, presented such a handover as among "minor concessions" it said Iran hoped might lead to a deal with world powers and allow it to "build a nuclear weapon at a time of its choosing".

The last U.N. nuclear agency report, issued on August 28, showed Iran further expanding its uranium enrichment capacity by installing both new- and old-generation centrifuges. Independent experts say the new machines could refine uranium several times faster than the older versions, but that it is still unclear how well they will work and when Iran will switch them on.

Rouhani, who has adopted a much less confrontational approach than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said on Monday he would "present the true face of Iran as a cultured and peace-loving country" at the United Nations.  He and Obama deliver their speeches to the General Assembly on Tuesday.

Washington says it remains determined to deny the Iranians the means to make nuclear arms but its willingness to engage them directly complicates strategy for Netanyahu, who will address the world forum on October 1.

The day before, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Obama at the White House for discussions on Iran that Israeli officials say will affect the content and tone of his U.N. speech.

This time around, some Israeli officials predict, he will opt for a more sober, less rhetorical message. As well as flagging Iran's uranium enrichment, they say, he will note its potential second path to a bomb using plutonium.

"We are certainly warning the entire international community that Iran may want an agreement, but it is liable to be the Munich agreement," Steinitz said, referring to the 1938 appeasement of Nazi Germany.

"Rouhani wants to hoodwink, and some in the world want to be hoodwinked, and the role of little Israel is to explain the truth and to stand in the breach. And that is what we are doing to the best of our abilities. It is a long struggle."

Islamic Terror Groups are Killing Christians All Over the World
Sep 26th, 2013
Daily Newsendoftheamericandream.com
Categories: Today's Headlines;Persecution

Over the past couple of days, we have witnessed some absolutely horrific examples of Islamic terror groups specifically targeting Christians and those from other non-Muslim religions. 

Sadly, this is not a new phenomenon. Radical Islamic jihadists are constantly attacking churches and slaughtering Christians all over the planet. The recent events in Pakistan, Kenya and Egypt may have taken this persecution to a new level, but this is just the continuation of a trend that has been building for years. 

Unfortunately, Barack Obama does not seem too concerned about Islamic terrorism. In fact, he specifically directed that “all references to Islam” be removed from terrorism training materials that the federal government uses. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, now Obama is actually supplying weapons to the radical jihadist rebels that want to take over Syria, and he appears to be very ready to use the U.S. military to attack the Assad regime directly if “negotiations” with the Syrian government fail. 

In essence, Obama wants the United States to be allies with psychotic jihadists that have the exact same radical philosophy that those who are killing Christians in Pakistan, Kenya and Egypt have.

In Pakistan, the Taliban (a very close cousin of al-Qaeda) has already claimed responsibility for the worst church bombing in the history of that nation. The attack left 85 dead and nearly twice that many wounded. To say that this was a horrific attack would be a massive understatement…

The attack on All Saints Church, which also wounded 140 people, underlines the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban at a time when the government is seeking a peace deal with the militants.

The attack occurred as hundreds of worshippers were coming out of the church in the city’s Kohati Gate district after services to get a free meal of rice.

‘There were blasts and there was hell for all of us,’ said Nazir John, who was at the church with at least 400 other worshippers.

‘When I got my senses back, I found nothing but smoke, dust, blood and screaming people. I saw severed body parts and blood all around.’

Who would do something like that?

In Kenya, a team of Al-Shabaab gunmen stormed a shopping mall in Nairobi and murdered at least 62 people.

What makes that attack even more disturbing is that the terrorists specifically targeted non-Muslims.

In fact, hostages were given a test by the terrorists to determine whether or not they were actually Muslims. Those that failed the test were executed…

The reason the Islamists targeted the Westgate shopping centre was clear from the moment they stormed inside brandishing AK-47s and grenades. 

Anyone who was not a Muslim, or could not prove that they were, was immediately targeted. Reports from separate floors of the building in the first hours of the assault told how the attackers, speaking rough Swahili and English, shouted at Muslims to identify themselves.

Many people came forward. They were ordered to speak in Arabic, or to recite a verse from the Koran, or to name the Prophet Mohammed’s mother. Those who passed this test were allowed to flee. Those that did not were executed, including children.

You can find some very graphic pictures of the attack right here.

Are you starting to understand why I use words such as “psychotic” to describe these terrorists?

And all over the world these radical jihadists seem to have a particular hatred for Christians.

Just consider what has happened in Egypt over the past few months. After the Egyptian military removed the Muslim Brotherhood from power, radical Islamists responded by destroying more than 80 Christian churches…

On July 4th, the day after the Egyptian military liberated the nation of Muslim Brotherhood rule, Christian Copts were immediately scapegoated and targeted. 

All Islamist leaders—from Brotherhood supreme leader Muhammad Badi, to Egyptian-born al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri, to top Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi—made it a point to single out Egypt’s Copts as being especially instrumental in the ousting of former Islamist president Morsi, ushering in a month of pogroms against the nation’s Christian minority.

Among other things in July, unprecedented numbers of Christian churches were attacked, plundered, desecrated, and torched. According to one Egyptian human rights lawyer, “82 churches, many of which were from the 5th century, were attacked by pro-Morsi supporters in just two days.” 

Al-Qaeda’s flag was raised above some churches; anti-Christian graffiti littered the sides of other churches and Coptic homes. Due to extreme anti-Christian sentiment, many churches ceased holding worship services until recently. Dozens of Coptic homes and businesses were also attacked, looted, and torched.

Should the U.S. military ever be used to help radial jihadists that would commit such horrible acts?

That is such a crazy question that you would think that nobody would ever have to ask such a thing.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what Barack Obama wants to do.

In Syria, radical jihadists are doing all of the same kinds of things that you just read about. As I have written about on numerous occasions, the Syrian “rebels” are savagely killing Christians, repeatedly using chemical weapons and dismembering little girls.

In a previous article, I included eyewitness testimony from a Christian missionary who explained what happens when the “rebels” take over a Christian area in Syria…

“The Christian residents were offered four choices: 1. renounce the ‘idolatry’ of Christianity and convert to Islam; 2. pay a heavy tribute to the Muslims for the privilege of keeping their heads and their Christian faith (this tribute is known as jizya); 3. be killed; 4. flee for their lives, leaving all their belongings behind.”

And now this sick philosophy is even rubbing off on little children. In the Syrian town of Ras al-Ayn, children were recently filmed pretending to behead their enemies while shouting Allahu Akbar.

What kind of place will Syria become if Obama is successful and the Assad regime is removed?

Will it become a jihadist paradise where Christians and all other non-Muslims are systematically exiled or exterminated?

Crucified Again
Sep 26th, 2013
YouTubeVideo - Raymond Abrahim
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Persecution;The Church