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Ya'alon: 'No Chance' Hamas will Get a Seaport
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon made clear on Friday that “there is no chance” that Hamas will receive a seaport in Gaza, one of its demands as a precondition for a ceasefire.

Speaking to Channel 2 News in his first interview since the end of Operation Protective Edge, Ya’alon said that Israel had a clear victory in the operation and promised that if Hamas resumes the rocket fire it will pay.

"From a military perspective the victory is clear - everything the IDF touched, it defeated the other side," said Ya’alon, who added that the military achievements led to a ceasefire which is good for Israel and bad for Hamas, seeing as Hamas was forced to accept the Egyptian initiative over the Qatari initiative which was more favorable to Hamas.

"Hamas in essence accepted the terms of the ceasefire as we wanted, without all the issues it tried to bring up - a seaport, airport and prisoners. In accepted a ceasefire as we wanted without conditions," said Ya’alon, who made clear that "there is no chance that Hamas will receive a seaport - it is not in Israel's interest, it is not an Egyptian interest, it's not even in the interest of the Palestinian Authority."

Asked about the fate of Mohammed Deif, head of Hamas's "military wing" Al-Qassam Brigades who may or may not have been eliminated in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza, Ya’alon replied, “Time will tell.”

The Defense Minister also referred to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal and said, “Any leader of Hamas, political or not, heads a terrorist authority. Anyone who carries out terrorism against us may be a target for elimination.”

Ya'alon, who is known for his hawkish views and his objection to the idea of a Palestinian state, was asked about his position with regards to Prime Minister Binyamin’s Netanyahu stance on the issue.

"No one has any illusions on the subject - it is a very long process if at all. There is talk all the time, but we need to act without illusions and see how the Palestinian Authority continues to govern and improve its governance in Judea and Samaria,” he said, noting that “without the activity of the IDF and the Shin Bet, Abbas would not have survived.”

Asked whether the long-term ceasefire is sustainable, Ya’alon said, “After Operation Pillar of Defense and until July Hamas did not fire even one rocket. There were other organizations that did, and for each such incident, both Hamas and the other organization paid a price. Now that Hamas has seen what we can do, if it fires or allows firing of rockets it will be made to pay.”

Will China be World's Largest Christian Nation By 2025?
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Fenggang Yang is a sociology professor at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival Under Communist Rule. He believes that "China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon." By his calculations, the number of believers in the People's Republic of China will rise to 160 million by 2025 and 247 million by 2030. If so, the country would be home to more Christians than any nation on earth.

When I visited Beijing a few years ago, I was told that the rate of Christian growth is even higher than Professor Yang documents. By some measures, as many as 100,000 Chinese people come to Christ every day. Growth there is hard to document, given the large underground Christian movement in the country. Some observers believe that there are more followers of Jesus in China than members of the Chinese Communist party. 

When missionaries were expelled from China in 1949, there were less than four million believers in the country. Many predicted the death of the church. In the decades since, the Christian movement has exploded in growth, defying all odds and persecution. Recent attacks on church buildings in China are the enemy's latest response to the advance of God's Kingdom in this ancient land.

What has led to China's spiritual renaissance?

First, Christians in China have learned to depend fully and unconditionally on the power of God's Spirit. When I visited Beijing, I was astonished by the passionate spiritual depth I encountered. In a culture where there is little cultural support and active government resistance, believers must turn to God. Mother Teresa was right: "You'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have."

Second, Chinese Christians have paid the price of perseverance. They have weathered waves of persecution and opposition with steadfast resolve. Such commitment has deepened their community and their faith. Albert Schweitzer observed that "one who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity." Albert Einstein believed that "in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity."

How has God called you to engage your lost culture with his truth and love? The higher your calling, the harder you must climb to fulfill it. But Charles Spurgeon was right: "If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem to be against us, we do not believe him at all."

Do you believe God today?

We will Never Disarm, Vows Hamas Chief
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Ukraine Crisis: NATO Releases Satellite Images Which Show Russian Troops Operating in Ukraine
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily Newsabc.net.au
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

NATO has released satellite images which it says show Russian combat forces, armed with heavy weapons, engaged in military operations in Ukraine.

Well over 1,000 Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine, marking a significant escalation of Moscow's military involvement in the country, NATO said.

"Over the past two weeks we have noted a significant escalation in both the level and sophistication of Russia's military interference in Ukraine," Dutch Brigadier-General Nico Tak, head of NATO's crisis management centre, told reporters at NATO's military headquarters near Mons, Belgium.

"We assess well over 1,000 Russian troops are now operating inside Ukraine," he said, referring to Russia's actions as "incursions" rather than an invasion.

"They are supporting separatists (and) fighting with them."

NATO estimates Russia also has about 20,000 troops close to the Ukrainian border, Brigadier-General Tak said.

"We have also detected large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defence systems, artillery, tanks and armoured personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine," he said.

But the Russian ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, has rejected the allegations.

"NATO has never produced a single piece of evidence, neither have the United States, nor the European Union, nor anybody else. Not a single piece of evidence. That is not the first time this is happening," Mr Chizhov said.

Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday of bringing troops into the south-east of the country in support of pro-Moscow separatist rebels.

NATO ambassadors will hold an emergency meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart in Brussels on Friday at Kiev's request to discuss the situation, a NATO official said. NATO ambassadors will also meet separately on Friday.

UN Security Council holds emergency meeting

US president Barack Obama said the images released by NATO make it "plain for the world to see" that Russian forces are destabilising the situation in eastern Ukraine.

"The violence is encouraged by Russia, the separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia," he told a press conference at the White House.

"This comes as Ukrainian forces are making progress against the separatists. As a result of the actions, Russia has already taken, and the major sanctions we have imposed with our European and international partners, Russia is already more isolated than at any time since the end of the cold war."

The US leader nevertheless said that Washington was "not taking military action to solve the Ukrainian problem".

"It is not on the cards for us to see a military confrontation between Russia and the United States in this region," he said.

The UN Security Council has held an emergency meeting to discuss the deteriorating situation in Ukraine and NATO's revelations.

The US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said it was clear Russia had joined the separatists in fighting Ukrainian government forces.

"Serious negotiations are needed, urgently needed, but Russia has to stop lying and has to stop fuelling this conflict. The mask is coming off," she said.

"In these acts, these recent acts, we see Russia's actions for what they are, a deliberate effort to support and now fight alongside illegal separatists in another sovereign country."

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the UN, told the meeting the Kiev's policies in eastern Ukraine had inflamed tensions and questioned its cooperation with an investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Australia's acting ambassador to the UN, Michael Bliss, told the meeting Moscow must "immediately withdraw its military equipment and personnel from Ukrainian territory".

"These latest developments indicate a new and even more dangerous escalation of the crisis which appears to be moving to a wider area of Ukraine and drawing in the southern land route to Crimea," Mr Bliss told the meeting.

"Russia must control its border. This is the only effective way to prevent troops and equipment entering Ukraine and key to a ceasefire."

A United Nations report this week said more than 2,200 people have been killed, not including the 298 who died when a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel-held territory in July.

Images show Russian units moving self-propelled artillery

One satellite picture released by NATO, taken on August 21, showed Russian military units moving in convoy with self-propelled artillery in the area of Krasnodon, inside territory controlled by Russian separatists.

A second image, taken on August 23, showed Russian self-propelled artillery units set up in firing positions near Krasnodon, supported by logistical vehicles likely to have been carrying extra ammunition and supplies, NATO said.

"This is highly sophisticated equipment which requires a well-trained crew. It takes months to train crews like that. It's extremely unlikely these sorts of units are manned by separatists," Brigadier-General Tak said.

He said the escalation of Russian military operations in recent weeks was directly linked to the success of Ukrainian government operations against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, including "the loss of territory by the separatists, the loss of weapons and the loss of manpower".

Since Monday, Russia had carried out a new incursion near Novoazovsk in south-eastern Ukraine, he said.

"This effectively creates a second front for the Ukrainian forces. This is an extremely effective way to take pressure off the separatists," he said.

The Russian move put Ukrainian armed forces in a dire situation because from south-eastern Ukraine Russian forces could either move to link up with Donetsk area or move further west towards Crimea, which Russia annexed in March, he said.

"From a strategic perspective it is clear that Russia is not willing to accept a defeat of the separatists. So it will most likely do anything that it takes to prevent such a defeat," Brigadier-General Tak said.

"I suspect they (Russian forces) will do no more than absolutely necessary at this point to show their hand," he said.

"The next thing we will see is Russia is going to try and freeze this conflict. It is going to try and prolong the conflict, making it difficult for Ukraine to sustain that operation, making sure that they don't have to sell a defeat at home and trying to broker some kind of deal with Kiev, something that will allow them enduring influence in eastern Ukraine."

Asked about the likelihood of Russian troops creating a "land bridge" from Russia to Crimea via Mariupol, Brigadier-General Tak said: "It is obviously something that we are watching quite closely."

Creating a land bridge to Crimea would require a lot more Russian resources but it was not impossible, he said.

He said there was clear evidence that there had been military contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Pictures of graves in north-western Russia that had appeared in the media suggested Russia had taken casualties, he said.

Despite NATO's concern over the situation in Ukraine, the 28-nation, US dominated alliance has said repeatedly it has no intention of intervening militarily in Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.

It has reinforced the security of NATO allies in the region and will discuss further steps at a summit in Wales next week.

Poroshenko convenes urgent meeting of security advisers

Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has condemned Russia for what he says are Russian troop movements into the south-east of Ukraine.

Mr Poroshenko cancelled an official trip to Turkey and convened an urgent meeting of his security advisers to deal with what he called the rapidly deteriorating situation in the embattled Donetsk region.

"I have made a decision to cancel my working visit to the Republic of Turkey due to sharp aggravation of the situation in Donetsk region, particularly in Amvrosiivka and Starobeshevo, as Russian troops were actually brought into Ukraine," Mr Poroshenko said in a statement.

 

Earlier this week, Mr Poroshenko promised to work on an urgent ceasefire plan to defuse his country's separatist conflict following late-night talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

The first negotiations between the two leaders since June were described by Mr Putin as positive, but he said it was not for Russia to get into the details of truce terms between the Kiev government and rebels.

"We didn't substantively discuss that, and we, Russia, can't substantively discuss conditions of a ceasefire, of agreements between Kiev, Donetsk and Luhansk," Mr Putin said.

"That's not our business. It's up to Ukraine itself.

"We can only contribute to create a situation of trust for a possible, and in my view, extremely necessary negotiation process."

The United States also warned it was considering new sanctions against Russia over its involvement in the latest fighting in Ukraine.

"We have additional tools and sanctions that we can certainly choose to put in place," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"A military solution is not what we think is the appropriate approach so we are taking every tool that we can to see if we can reach a solution here through diplomatic means," she added.

U.S. Delivers Emergency Weapons Shipment to Lebanon
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The Road to World War 3? Russia and Ukraine Expand Shooting War
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers are now shooting at each other in eastern Ukraine. Could this conflict ultimately lead us down the road to World War 3? 

This week, a very robust force of "tanks, artillery and infantry" has opened up a "third front" in the Ukrainian civil war in a part of southeastern Ukraine that had not seen much fighting yet. 

Exhausted Ukrainian forces are suddenly being pushed back rapidly and many outsiders are wondering how the nearly defeated rebels were able to muster such impressive military strength all of a sudden. But it really isn't much of a mystery. The tanks, artillery and infantry came from inside Russia. 

In recent days, Ukrainian units have captured ten Russian paratroopers and there have even been funerals for Russian paratroopers that have been killed in action back home in Russia. Even though it has become exceedingly obvious that Russia is now conducting a stealth invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is still choosing to deny it. 

But if he did publicly admit it, that would be even more dangerous. Barack Obama would be forced into a position of either having to do something about the Russian invasion or look weak in the eyes of the public. And as the Russians have already shown, they are more than willing to match any move that the Obama administration makes.

There has already been much written about who is to blame for all of this, and I am sure that much more will be written about who is to blame in the future. The western world is blaming "Russian aggression" for the mess in Ukraine. 

In return, the Russians point out that it was westerners that funded and organized the groups that violently overthrew the democratically-elected government of Ukraine. To the Russians, the current government of Ukraine is made up of neo-Nazi terrorist usurpers that are attempting to brutally oppress millions of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine.

So the Russians seem themselves as "the good guys" in this conflict and so does the western world. But that is how most wars start. Both sides usually feel morally justified at the start of a conflict.

In the final analysis, however, is it really going to matter very much who was "right" and who was "wrong" if the end result is World War 3?

If the rebels in eastern Ukraine had been able to defeat the Kiev government forces on their own, Putin probably would have been content to let them do that. But instead, they had been pushed back to two major cities and seemed on the verge of defeat.

But now it is the Ukrainian forces that are experiencing "panic and wholesale retreat"...

Tanks, artillery and infantry have crossed from Russia into an unbreached part of eastern Ukraine in recent days, attacking Ukrainian forces and causing panic and wholesale retreat not only in this small border town but a wide swath of territory, in what Ukrainian and Western military officials are calling a stealth invasion.

The attacks outside this city and in an area to the north essentially have opened a new, third front in the war in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, along with the fighting outside the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.

How is this happening?

It is the Russians of course.

In fact, if you talk to Ukrainian soldiers, they are very clear on who they are fighting now...

"I tell you they are Russians, but this is what proof I have," said Sgt. Aleksei Panko, holding up his thumb and index finger to form a zero. Sergeant Panko estimated about 60 armored vehicles crossed near Novoazovsk. "This is what happened: they crossed the border, took up positions and started shooting."

The Ukrainian Vinnytsia brigade met the cross-border advance over the six miles of countryside separating Novoazovsk from the Russian border, but later retreated to the western edge of town along the Rostov-Mariupol highway, where soldiers were collapsed in exhaustion on the roadside. "This is now a war with Russia," Sergeant Panko said.

And as I mentioned above, Ukrainian forces have even captured ten Russian paratroopers. Rather than denying who they are, the Russian government is claiming that they wandered into Ukraine by mistake...

Ten Russian soldiers were detained in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, that country's Security Service said Tuesday, as tensions simmered over the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

The Russian soldiers were captured with documents and weapons on them, the Security Service said.

Moscow has repeatedly denied claims by Kiev that it has sent troops and weapons over the border into Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is fighting pro-Russian rebels.

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and "most likely crossed by accident" at an unmarked point.

The denials that Russian forces are actively operating inside eastern Ukraine have become so absurd that even some in the Russian press are openly questioning them. For example, just check out this excerpt from a USA Today article that was posted on Wednesday...

Vedomosti, a liberal business daily, published an editorial Wednesday on events in Ukraine under the headline, "Are We Fighting?"

It noted the recent capture of the Russian soldiers on Ukrainian territory and reports of "mysterious funerals" of Russian soldiers, some of whom are officially counted dying during training exercises.

"The number of questions that hang in the air of the dead and detained Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine has reached a critical number. Does Russia fight in Ukraine and, if so, on what grounds? If not, then who is in those freshly dug graves or giving testimony at SBU (Russian Security service) interrogations?"

A Bloomberg editorial contained some more details about the "mystery funerals" that have been taking place inside Russia...

One such burial, of two soldiers, took place in the village of Vybuty near Pskov in northwestern Russia, where an airborne division is based. Efforts to conceal the deaths produced a fiasco. Though the wife of one paratrooper had reported his death on the Vkontakte social network, when a reporter, Ilya Vasyunin of the Russian Planet website, called the wife's phone number, a woman who answered stated that the paratrooper was alive and well. 

Two reporters, from Russian Planet and TV Dozhd, who visited the cemetery where the two fresh graves had been seen were immediately attacked by men in black tracksuits. Local journalists, however, succeeded in photographing the graves. According to the independent TV Dozhd, the soldiers' names and wreaths have been removed from the graves.

There are other reports of paratrooper funerals, which are hard to conceal. Soldiers have grieving families who do not necessarily share the authorities' desire for deception. In any case, Ukrainian troops have captured some Russian paratroopers. For the first time since the conflict began in March, they were able to record interviews with them.

Sadly, most Americans are not paying much attention to this conflict.

Most Americans are not really going to care much about a war on the other side of the planet that does not directly involve us.

But they should care.

Because things are about to escalate to a level that we rarely saw even during the darkest moments of the Cold War. Relations between the United States and Russia are spiraling downhill, and that could end up having a huge impact on all of our lives.

For example, in my previous article entitled "Russia Is Doing It – Russia Is Actually Abandoning The Dollar", I discussed how this tug of war over Ukraine was causing Russia to think about moving away from the petrodollar. Well, it turns out that now the Russians are actually taking concrete steps toward abandoning the petrodollar for good...

The Russian oil company Gazprom Neft has agreed to export 80,000 tons of oil from Novoportovskoye field in the Arctic; it will accept payment in rubles, and will also deliver oil via the Eastern Siberia-Pacific Ocean pipeline (ESPO), accepting payment in Chinese yuan for the transfers, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported Wednesday.

The Russian government and several of the country’s largest exporters have widely discussed the possibility of accepting payments in rubles for oil exports.

Last week, Russia began to ship oil from the Novoportovskoye field to Europe by sea. Two oil tankers are expected to arrive in Europe in September. According to Kommersant, the payment for these shipments will be received in rubles.

That is huge news, but you probably haven't heard a thing about it on the big mainstream news networks.

Meanwhile, one thing that you probably have heard about is how "Russian hackers" attacked JPMorgan Chase earlier this month...

Russian hackers attacked the U.S. financial system in mid-August, infiltrating and stealing data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and at least one other bank, an incident the FBI is investigating as a possible retaliation for government-sponsored sanctions, according to two people familiar with the probe.

The attack resulted in the loss of gigabytes of sensitive data, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the probe is still preliminary. Authorities are investigating whether recent infiltrations of major European banks using a similar vulnerability are also linked to the attack, one of the people said.

As relations between the United States and Russia continue to decline precipitously, both sides will be looking for ways to hurt one another.

And that won't be good for any of us.

So let us hope that cooler heads prevail.

But ultimately, this current conflict could end up taking us to a destination that the Cold War never did.

World War 3 will probably not happen next week, next month or even next year, but right now we are on a road which could eventually lead to the unthinkable.

Let us pray that our politicians are able to find the exit ramp at some point.

Struk Dismisses Lapid's Call for Diplomatic Move After Ceasefire
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

MK Orit Struk (Jewish Home) had some criticism for Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) on Thursday, after he said that peace talks with the Palestinian Authority must be restarted.

Lapid had said that Israel would strive to convene a regional conference that will bring about the demilitarization of Gaza in exchange for its rehabilitation after the recent fighting.

"Operation Protective Edge cannot end with just a ceasefire," Lapid stressed, adding, “With the end of the hostilities we must begin the second part of the operation - the diplomatic side.”

In response, Struk said, “I did not know whether to laugh or cry when I heard Lapid’s remarks. On the one hand he demands the demilitarization of Gaza and on the other hand he demands that Judea and Samaria be transferred to [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas.”

She continued, "Maybe he was not in the country in 2005, when we handed over Gaza to our partner in Ramallah? Or maybe he was on vacation two weeks ago when Mahmoud Abbas was saved from a Hamas coup thanks to the IDF and the Shin Bet?”

"Yair Lapid, stop for a moment and count to 10 or you will find yourself counting 15 seconds on your way to a bomb shelter,” concluded Struk.

Lapid is one of several politicians who have called for the ceasefire that was reached in Gaza to turn into a diplomatic process.

Opposition leader and head of the Labor party, MK Yitzhak Herzog, said on Wednesday that there is no military solution to the situation in Gaza and added that the ceasefire must ultimately lead to a diplomatic move.

"The ceasefire that was reached yesterday must be just another step on the way to a comprehensive regional agreement, or it will not be long before we find ourselves in another round of terror,” he warned.

Herzog called for an agreement that will include the "moderate axis” in the region including Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas, backed by the moderate Gulf states and sponsored by the international community.

The European Union (EU) welcomed the long-term ceasefire between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza and, like Herzog, called for more talks to bring a "comprehensive and sustainable agreement."

"Simply returning to the situation before the latest conflict is not an option," said a statement from the bloc's diplomatic arm, the European External Action Service (EEAS).

"A sustainable agreement should address all the root causes of the conflict and bring fundamental change to the situation in Gaza," the statement added.

Similar remarks were made Tuesday by United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who voiced hope that the ceasefire will set the stage for talks on a final Israeli-Palestinian Authority (PA) peace deal.

Report: IS Researching Biological Warfare
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Islamic State (IS, formerly known as ISIS) is working on biological weapons, according to data reportedly recovered from a IS-linked laptop, upping the ante in the global terror group's pledge to spread Islamism around the world by force.

Moderate rebels in Syria seized the generic-looking Dell laptop in a raid last year on an IS hideout in Idlib, a rebel leader known only as Abu Ali told Foreign Policy magazine's website Friday, from an IS terrorist with Tunisian origins. 

Data recovered from thousands of secret filed in French, English, and Arabic not only included typical "terror instructions" on such norms as stealing cars, bomb-making, and disguise - but also how to infect humans with the bubonic plague from animal cultures. 

The nineteen-page Arabic document explained the infection process in detail, it said, including weaponization. 

"The advantage of biological weapons is that they do not cost a lot of money, while the human casualties can be huge," the document states. "When the microbe is injected in small mice, the symptoms of the disease should start to appear within 24 hours."

The files also included an Islamic religious ruling, or fatwa, permitting biological warfare.

"If Muslims cannot defeat the kafir [unbelievers] in a different way, it is permissible to use weapons of mass destruction," states the fatwa by Saudi jihadi cleric Nasir al-Fahd, who is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. "Even if it kills all of them and wipes them and their descendants off the face of the Earth."

Experts say the find proves not that IS already has biological weapons, but is at least actively seeking them to expand their jihadist campaign in the Middle East and around the globe - and become an unprecedented threat if they do.

“If they obtain biological or chemical weapons, they will use them," Princeton University Jurisprudence professor Robert George stated to the Glenn Beck show earlier this week. "There’s no question. There’s nothing that’s stopping them from using those weapons." 

IS recently declared a Caliphate in eastern Syria and northwestern Iraq, after taking large swathes of land in both places over the past several months and committing genocide against hundreds - if not thousands - of Shi'ite Muslims and ethnic minorities, including  Bedouin and ethnic Yazidi.

Concerns over its war on the West have grown so strong that Britain raised its terror alert level to high on Friday, while the US waffled over unclear plans to expand airstrikes against the groups.

Report: Assad Partially Recaptures Syrian Golan Heights
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Reports Friday indicate that Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces have partially recaptured the Quneitra region just east of the Israeli-Syrian Golan Heights border, which rebel forces captured in intense fighting on Wednesday.

According to the reports from the Iranian Fars news agency as cited by Walla!, the Syrian army has regained control over several Quneitra villages, including Jaba, Tel Krum and Al Ruachi.

The fighting continues on Friday morning in an attempt to take back full control after rebels seized the Quneitra crossing to Israel from the Syrian side.

Senior IDF sources predicted Assad's move, projecting that he would try to reconquer the vital area over the course of Thursday night. One source defined the security situation as "troubling," while adding "it's clear to us that the Syrian army doesn't want to deteriorate the situation and is being very careful about errant fire towards the Israeli side."

There was a spillover of fire on Wednesday, however, as tank and mortar shells lightly wounded two Israelis.

The Syrian rebels, who the US said belonged to the Al Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front, also captured 43 UN peacekeepers from Fiji while conquering the area.

Negotiations are currently ongoing to secure their release, as well as the release of 75 Filipino peacekeepers currently engaged in a stand-off with rebel forces. The Philippines described the situation as "tense," but added that no shots have been fired.

Half of Syria has been displaced

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird decried the situation, while noting "the Assad regime is solely to blame for the spiraling violence and the diminished security situation."

During the course of the four year Syrian civil war around 200,000 people have been killed according to the UN.

A new UN report Friday adds that 3 million Syrians have become refugees, and another 6.5 million are displaced within Syria, reports Reuters. As a result, "almost half of all Syrians have now been forced to abandon their homes and flee for their lives," stated the UN.

"The Syrian crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

That assessment echoes the words of outgoing UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay, who last Thursday lambasted the UN Security Council for not taking action amid "international paralysis."

PA Officials: Hamas Preventing Abbas from Governing in Gaza
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are at odds again, Palestinian sources told Walla! News Friday - this time, over rebuilding Gaza.

Hamas stated repeatedly during Operation Protective Edge that it would allow PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to supervise Gaza's reconstruction, following the IDF's revelation that much of the construction materials shipped to the local government, which is run by the terror organization, is used to construct terror tunnels and for arms imports. 

Now, however, "Hamas is preventing Palestinians from returning to work in Gaza," a senior PA source said to the news outlet. Before the operation, the source noted, the PA appointed leaders for five government districts there and were told to take office in Gaza; Hamas has stopped the leaders from returning. 

The announcement surfaces amid multiple reports over the past several months that the unity government itself has been slowly crumbling.

Differences of opinion have surfaced over several issues, including the war in Gaza, reactions to the abduction and murder of three Israeli teenagers, and the delayed payment of wages for government workers in Gaza in the weeks leading up to Operation Protective Edge. 

More recently, the IDF and the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet) revealed that a large-scale coup had been planned by Hamas in Judea and Samaria to overthrow the PA and Abbas's Fatah party, in orders given from Hamas officials abroad. 

Shortly after the plot was revealed, Abbas said the information could have lasting implications for the Palestinian Arab people.

"This new information is a real danger to the unity of the Palestinian people and its future," Abbas stated, according to Channel 2 News. He stressed that the implications of the discovery "will be serious for the Palestinian and regional situation, especially after Israeli officials published a list and pictures of confiscated weapons."

Hamas has also executed dozens of Fatah members on charges of "collaboration with Israel" over the past two weeks, in widely publicized killings that have garnered international criticism and sown discord between the Palestinian Arab groups.

One Billion Smartphones
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily Newswayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Friday Church News Notes- More than than one billion smartphones will be sold this year, which is a major sign of the times ("More Than One Billion Smartphones." Business Insider, Feb. 5, 2014). That is one smartphone for every seven people on earth. The smartphone is an amazing tool that can be used for the Lord's work as well as for the devil's, but the explosion of these devises witnesses to globalism, the technology explosion, the me generation, and other things that are prophetic signs of the end times. A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced features such as a camera, media player, GPS navigation, and internet browsing. Most are powered by Apple's and Google's operating systems. The first smartphone to gain popularity was the BlackBerry in 2003 which became known as the CrackBerry due to its addictive nature. In 2007, Apple's iPhone took the smartphone to a new level of popularity. Smartphones are becoming as popular in poor countries as in rich ones, as there are smartphones for nearly every economic strata. Increasingly, people in poverty stricken regions such as South Asia and central Africa use the smartphone as a means of accessing the internet and conducting economic transactions that were heretofore limited to those with electricity and physical banking facilities. The smartphone is a major player in bringing the world together and creating a one-world economy and culture. It reminds us of the scene in Revelation 11:8-10 which describes the two prophets being killed and their bodies lying in Jerusalem and being seen by "the people and kindreds and tongues and nations." 

Obama to Send Kerry to Middle East Over IS Threat
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that he would be sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the Middle East to build a coalition to combat the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, though he admitted he did not yet have a strategy to combat the group in Syria.

According to AFP, Obama stressed that he was developing a broad and comprehensive plan which would involve military, diplomatic and regional efforts designed to defeat IS for good, in both Syria and Iraq, not just in the short term.

Obama also said that Washington did not need to choose to side with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to combat the Islamic State, which exploited a power vacuum in the middle of Syria's vicious turmoil and last week brutally executed U.S. journalist James Foley.

"We don’t have a strategy yet," Obama said told reporters.

"I think what I've seen in some of the news reports suggests that folks are getting a little further ahead of where we are at than we currently are," he added.

Obama's remarks ignited an immediate political firestorm with Republicans expressing disbelief that he did not have a strategy to fight a radical Sunni group some of his top officials have described as a grave threat to the United States.

In a swift damage control effort, White House aides stressed the president was referring solely to plans to attack IS in Syria, and argued he had already laid out a clear strategy to respond to the group in Iraq and elsewhere.

Obama, who authorized air strikes on the IS in Iraq, said there would be a military component to targeting the jihadists, but said that force could only halt their advance in the short term and that their permanent eradication depended on regional political and diplomatic action.

"It's going to require us to stabilize Syria in some fashion, (that) means we (have) got to get moderate Sunnis who are able to govern," he said.

He declined to commit to asking Congress for authorization to expand U.S. air strikes currently taking place in Iraq against IS to Syria, though promised to consult lawmakers on any action he takes.

A year ago, Obama abandoned plans to strike Syria after accusing Assad of violating a "red line" by using chemical weapons, after it became clear lawmakers did not support the action.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Obama said, according to AFP.

"There’s no point in me asking for action on the part of Congress before I know exactly what it is that is going to be required for us to get the job done," he added.

Responding to the comments, Republicans, who brand Obama as disengaged and his foreign policy feckless, were not appeased.

"It just confirmed what we've been talking about really for almost two years, there has been no real strategy," said Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

"To have a press conference to say we don't have a strategy was really shocking, given the severity of the threat," he added.

Republican Representative Louie Gohmert said, "He has never had a good strategy."

New U.S. Sanctions for Those Abetting Iran
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

New Facial Recognition App for Google Glass
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily Newswayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org,
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Friday Church News Notes,  - A new facial recognition app will allow Google Glass users to ID total strangers and pull up information on them, including criminal records. The app, called NameTag, is tied to a database containing millions of records. NameTag's web site says, "Utilizing some of the most accurate facial recognition software in the world, NameTag can spot a face using Google Glass' camera, send it wirelessly to a server, compare it to millions of records and in seconds return a match complete with a name, additional photos and social media profiles. ...  a user can simply glance at someone nearby and instantly see that person's name, occupation and even visit their Facebook, Instagram or Twitter profiles in real-time." Google says its Glass product will not support facial recognition apps, but this policy could change overnight, and regardless, a way will doubtless be found around the restriction. It is easy to see how the device will be paired with facial recognition software and massive government databases for use by law enforcement and government officials. In fact, the New York City Police Department is beta-testing Google Glass ("New York Police," VentureBeat, Feb. 5, 2014). NameTag plans to create smartphone editions of its app.

Netanyahu: I Hope Abbas will 'Divorce' Hamas
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says that if Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas “gives Hamas a divorce”, he would be willing to resume peace negotiations with him.

Speaking to Channel 10 News in an interview to air Saturday night and of which excerpts were published on Friday, Netanyahu said that Operation Protective Edge in Gaza brought with it a new diplomatic opportunity.

"Today there may be a reality that allows us to act on the one hand to promote our security interests and on the one hand start a responsible diplomatic process based on the new reality," said the Prime Minister. However, he stressed that it is "early to say this, but not early to look into it and I am.”

Netanyahu reiterated, as he has many times in the past, that Abbas would need to choose between peace with Israel and Hamas, but hinted that if Abbas chooses not to go with Hamas, he will be ready to work towards a peace agreement.

"If Abu Mazen will choose the path of peace, and I think he realizes now that he should choose to do so with Hamas not only calling for our destruction, but also calling for his overthrow, in fact they actually tried to overthrow him," Netanyahu said, referring to Hamas’s plan for a large-scale coup of Abbas's new PA government that was foiled by Israel.

Asked whether the 50 days of Operation Protective Edge convinced him that Abbas is the only possible partner for peace in the region, Netanyahu said that he hopes to cooperate with Abbas.

"I hope that we can also cooperate with Abbas in the diplomatic process," the Prime Minister told Channel 10.

"If I had to choose whether I want Hamas in Judea and Samaria or Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, I would choose the latter,” he added.

Abbas, he added "will have to choose between peace with Israel or Hamas, it's one or the other.”

“Abbas understands that this group was trying to topple him and we exposed it," Netanyahu said, adding that he "can only hope that Abbas will give Hamas a divorce."

Netanyahu’s remarks follow several calls on him to renew the peace process following the long-term ceasefire that was reached in Gaza earlier this week.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced hope earlier this week that the ceasefire will set the stage for talks on a final peace deal.

Similar remarks were made by the European Union, which welcomed the long-term ceasefire and called for more talks to bring a "comprehensive and sustainable agreement."

Abbas, meanwhile, is continuing his unilateral steps to achieve statehood through the UN, in a direct violation of the Oslo Accords.

Abbas’s aides said this week that the PA chairman plans to turn to the international community to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw back to the pre-1967 borders and make way for an independent Palestinian state.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

Muslim Activists Demand Overhaul of All U.S. Law Enforcement Training
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Mark Driscoll Steps Down Temporarily
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily Newsfbns@wayoflife.org
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Friday Church News Notes - Mark Driscoll, founder and senior pastor of the Mars Hill multi-campus church in Seattle, and one of the most influential of the "New Calvinist" leaders, has stepped down for at least six weeks while the church's elders consider charges lodged against him in recent months. He is under fire from elders in his own church as well as many influential "evangelical" leaders. He was recently removed from of the Acts 29 church-planting network that he co-founded and has been stricken from previously scheduled speaking engagements. James MacDonald and Paul Tripp resigned as board members from Driscoll's Resurgence Conference. LifeWay has removed his books from their stores. Charges include engaging in a pattern of abusive and intimidating conduct as a leader, plagiarism, inflating book sales to get on bestselling lists, and comments he made anonymously on a blog 14 years ago which were "abusive" to feminists and homosexuals. We find this entire episode puzzling. There must be more to it than is being stated publicly. Driscoll gained a large following in a very feminized city by exuding a "man's man" image. There's nothing new about his crude vocabulary and his "attacks" on the feminization and homosexualization of men today. The charge of plagiarizing was dismissed by his publisher Thomas Nelson. The inflation of book sales was done by hiring an ad agency to purchase copies of the books, a standard practice which some of his evangelical critics have probably engaged in. He has apologized publicly and effusively for these things. There must be more to the matter than meets the eye presently. What we want to know is why haven't his current accusers issued a warning about such things as his X-rated sex sermons, his heresy that apostolic sign gifts have not ceased, his mocking of the biblical Rapture, his vicious slander of biblical fundamentalists, his social-justice, kingdom-building gospel, his New Years' Eve champagne dance parties and other aspects of his "cultural liberalism," which is nothing more than old-fashioned worldliness, his rejection of biblical separatism, and his rock & roll "worship." The answer to this question is that his "evangelical" detractors are as guilty of these things as Driscoll is. Since Driscoll is such an influential figure, I have visited the main campus of his multi-campus church for research, and Mars Hill's contemporary music is as raunchy as any I have heard. The building is darkened, the band cranks up, and the cool, youthful Seattle crowd gets in the "spirit." It is a worldly atmosphere from top to bottom. The experience is mystical and powerful, but not godly and not scriptural. There is definitely more to this unfolding story than meets the eye. We give a lot of information about Driscoll in the book What Is the Emerging Church? E.S. Williams has recently published The New Calvinists: Changing the Gospel features chapters on Tim Keller, John Piper, and Mark Driscoll. Williams, a member of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England, is a medical doctor, and his books The Dark Side of Christian Counselling and Christ or Therapy? are highly recommended. 

Let the Headlines Speak
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Muslim Activists Demand Overhaul of All U.S. Law Enforcement Training
Islamic activists that strong-armed the FBI to purge anti-terrorism training material considered “offensive” to Muslims have made their next wave of demands, which include an overhaul in the way all law enforcement officers are trained in the United States.  

Global coalition needed to destroy Hamas, all Islamist terror, Steinitz tells US lawmakers
Hamas in Gaza must be seen as being part of the greater phenomenon of the militarization of Islamist terror groups that stretches from Iraq in the East to the heart of Africa in the West... "All of these Islamists act against the 'heretics' in the countries where they are present: against the Christians, the Yazidi minority, moderate Muslims, the Kurds, and of course the Jews and the Jewish state," Steinitz said.  

Guatemala Earthquake Today 2014:
USGS indicates to news that a 5.2 magnitude Guatemala earthquake today started just 2:27 am local time. The quake was shallow. Reps tell news that the Guatemala earthquake started only forty-one miles below ground level. As a result the quake could be felt across the vicinity.  

Obama says does not yet have military strategy for Islamic State
Representative Tom Price, a Georgia Republican, said on Twitter: "President says "we don’t have a strategy yet" to deal with #ISIS. That's obvious and increasingly unacceptable."  

Quake rattles southern Greece, capital city
The U.S. Geological Survey gave a preliminary magnitude of 5.6, while the European Mediterranean Seismological Center gave it as 5.8. It is common for different seismology centers to give varying magnitudes.  

Magnitude-6.1 earthquake rattles southern Japan
No tsunami warning was issued, and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake, which hit the region at 4:14 a.m. (1914 GMT Thursday), originated shallow underground off the coast of Miyazaki prefecture, the area between Kyushu and the south-western island of Shikoku, the agency said.  

ISIS: US-made monster running amok in Middle East
In its desire to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad, the US channeled arms and funds to the Syrian rebels, many of whom splintered off and formed the Islamic State, which is now giving the US far more problems than it had bargained for.  

Jimmy Carter to Headline Fundraiser for Hamas Front Group
Former President Jimmy Carter will headline a fundraising convention for Hamas, a group which has been recognized by the U.S. as a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel. Breitbart News reports that Carter, 89, long known as a supporter of Hamas in its struggle with Israel, will be welcomed this weekend to the Detroit event by members of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), implicated by the Justice Department in a scheme to funnel $12 million to Hamas.  

Scientists found the origins of the Ebola outbreak — by tracking its mutations
One of the big mysteries in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is where the virus came from in the first place — and whether it's changed in any significant ways. These unanswered questions could be making it more difficult to diagnose the disease and find treatments.  

Scientists find evidence of underground eruption in Iceland
Teams monitoring Bardarbunga volcano have found evidence of a possible underground eruption as powerful earthquakes continue to shake the area, authorities said on Thursday. Scientists flying over the area on Wednesday discovered a 2.5-4 mile line of giant craters or cauldrons – 10 to 15 metres deep and 1km wide – on Vatnajokull glacier which covers the giant volcano.  

Increasing Number of Christian Artists Adopting Gay Theology
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Another artist in the genre of contemporary Christian music has openly declared her homosexuality. Vicky Beeching, a talented worship leader from Great Britain, made the announcement one week ago to the dismay of many Christians who have enjoyed listening and worshipping to her music. Her songs, “Glory to God” and “Breath of Life”, are sung at worship services all around the world. Beeching made the revelation in an interview with the “Independent” newspaper of London.

Beeching joins a number of Christian artists of late, who have openly admitted their homosexuality. In the “Independent” interview, she recounted the story of her life spent in mental anguish because of her secretive same sex attraction.” I feel certain God loves me just the way I am, and I have a huge sense of calling to communicate that to young people” stated Beeching. For the past year, Vicky Beeching has been urging churches to amend their doctrine concerning same sex unions. 

These attempts to effect doctrinal change have some conservative Christian leaders concerned that this is only the swell of a massive wave barreling down on the church, seeking to force the “gay agenda” on evangelicals. Scott Lively, an evangelical attorney and evangelist, sees this onslaught as a harbinger of coming events. Lively, in a recent WND article, stated that he expects to see “attacks on Christians in America like we have never seen before”, as those seeking the approval of homosexuality by the church, go on the offensive. 

The past 40 years have witnessed a domino effect as one institution after another has fallen to the relentless” gay agenda.” Just last year, the Boy Scouts succumbed to the “steam roller” of gay activism and now, “one last barrier to ‘gay’ cultural hegemony remains: the Christian church,” continued Mr. Lively.

In his brochure, Not ‘just another sin”, he, argues that a” dangerous and modern heresy called ‘gay theology” is infiltrating the church at an alarming pace. Many believers who are afraid of being called intolerant are trivializing homosexuality and calling it just another sin.” His assertion is that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches that “homosexuality is not just another sin, but is in fact a form of extreme rebellion” against the sovereignty of God.

While acknowledging that Jesus does indeed love the homosexual, Dr. Michael Brown, Christian author of the book ”Can You be Gay and be a Christian!”, explained in a Charisma blog post, that Jesus reached out to sinners in His day and changed them by His presence and words rather than affirming them in their sin. Jesus teachings and life were to be transformational to the sinner. Dr. Brown urged Christians to pray for Vicky Beeching’s repentance.

“I appeal to you, Vicky, to go back to God once again, to recognize that His Word really is clear in terms of homosexual practice, and that you can advocate for freedom and wholeness in Jesus without advocating for homosexual practice. (In fact, if you advocate for homosexual practice, you will bring people into bondage, not freedom.),” continued Brown.

Finally, Pastor Kris Vallotton, in an earlier Facebook post, explained that his many years of pastoral counseling has” taught me that when you define yourself by your temptations or your passions (instead of managing your appetite and resisting temptations); there is no bottom to that cesspool! The truth is that we all have temptations and appetites that are not healthy and must be managed, or we will live with a deep sense of shame no matter what values our culture tries to validate because God has written His own values on our hearts."

If the church is to stand against this “gay theology”, individual Christians must arm themselves with the truth of God’s Word as they face another attempt to dilute its message of salvation and hope for sinners in need of forgiveness and transformation!

In Israel, Concern As Qaeda - Linked Rebels Seize Syrian Side of Border
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsYNet
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

In a meeting with a delegation of the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, Netanyahu said that 'just now an extension of al-Qaeda in the Golan Heights has kidnapped dozens of UN forces. We must take a joint position in order to defeat them.'

The IDF Northern Command is closely following the recent developments along Syria-Israel border, after Syrian rebel forces, including members of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, which is considered more radical than Hamas, on Wednesday seized the Syrian side of the border crossing with Israel in the Golan Heights.  

The fate of the 43 UN Fijian peacekeeping troops kidnapped by the rebels in Quneitra is still unknown. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the abduction on Thursday, and called for the immediate release of the troops.  

The IDF views the latest developments as a further loss of sovereignty of the Syrian army in the Golan Heights. Addressing the issue on Thursday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked it to the activities of other terrorist organizations in the Middle East.  

 

 

In a meeting with a delegation of the Armed Services Committee of the House of Representatives, Netanyahu said that "just now an extension of al-Qaeda in the Golan Heights has kidnapped dozens of UN forces. We must take a joint position in order to defeat them."

The prime minister added that, "we have common enemies - radical Islamist terrorists who are ruthless executioners, terrorizing people the people under their control." 

From Israel's perspective, the loss of the Quneitra crossing by the Syrian army for now only means the halt in the transfer of apples or preventing the passage of young Druze studying in Syria. At the moment, the only interaction that the security establishment has with the rebel forces on the Syrian side of the border, concerns humanitarian issues, such as the treatment of the wounded in Israel and helping to deliver basic equipment. Deeper into the Syrian Golan Heights, Assad's army is still in control and has is fighting the rebels to prevent them from seizing the entire swathe of the county that runs alongside the border with Israel. By Thursday evening, the fighting between the rebels and Assad's army had calmed down somewhat, after the Syrian army had lost in an unprecedented manner controls over the sole border crossing with Israel. As well as the Syrian side of the crossing, the insurgents also control the old city of Quneitra and in effect most of the border area that abuts Israel. 

The only exception is a small zone in the northeast corner of the border, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, close to the Syrian Druze village of Al-Khader. Here too, however, the presence of the Syrian army has dwindled. 

Fijian Commander Brig. Gen. Mosese Tikoitoga said three vehicles filled with about 150 armed rebels had converged on the Fijian camp at about 7:30am Thursday. 

He said the rebels demanded the Fijian soldiers leave within 10 minutes and insisted they board the rebel vehicles. The Fijians were then taken by the rebels to an unknown location. He said he's been told they were later transported back to their original post. 

Aquino III, who was travelling south of Manila, told a crowd that the situation involving the Filipino peacekeepers was "stable." 

Brig. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said the rebels surrounded two encampments about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) apart occupied by Filipino peacekeepers and demanded that they give up their firearms, but the peacekeepers refused. "This resulted in a standoff," he said, reading from a statement.

However, "the potential for de-escalation is still positive," he said. The military leadership in the Philippines was in direct communication with the peacekeepers, he added. 

IDF on High Alert in Golan Heights
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

How Important are Fathers?
Aug 29th, 2014
Commentarycreationmoments.com
Categories: Exhortation;Contemporary Issues

Between 1960 and 1990 the percentage of children living apart from their fathers doubled to 36 percent. Studies show that it is much worse for a child to lose their father through divorce than through death. Fatherlessness has been shown to be a contributing factor to early sexual activity. Teen suicides, shown to increase in fatherless families, have tripled since 1960.

Scholastic Assessment test scores have dropped 75 points since 1960; the drop is linked to the lack of fathers at home. Teenage boys raised without a father are more likely to get in trouble with the law. Children without their fathers are much more likely to suffer child abuse, according to several studies. One 26 year-long study found that the most important childhood factor in developing empathy is a father's involvement in the family.  

Yet another study has found that 90 percent of the children who go to church with mom and dad will remain active in church through their teens. If neither parent comes with them, only 40 percent remain faithful. If only dad comes with them, 80 percent remain faithful. We must admit that we cannot improve on God's design for the family.

God's Love Evident in Creation
Aug 29th, 2014
Commentarywayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org
Categories: Creation - Evolution;Contemporary Issues

Friday Church News Notes, August 29, 2014, - The Bible says, "God is love," and His love is seen in the blessing He bestowed on man in the beginning. God made man in His own image, fashioned for him an amazing body, gave him great intelligence, placed him in a beautiful garden, gave him a perfectly suitable life-mate, made him the lord of the earth, and provided him with everything he needed for sustenance and pleasure. God filled the world with fresh air to breath, pure water to drink, delightful things to eat, lovely sights and beautiful sounds and wonderful smells. He made the rich soil and a bewildering variety of vegetation to grow in it. He provided insects to pollinate man's crops and worms and bacteria to aerate the soil. God made a multitude of types of lovely trees for shade, food, and ten thousand other uses. He filled the earth beneath with minerals and ores. God gave man a tongue and a mind and a voice by which to communicate his thoughts and an expressive face by which to communicate his feelings. God gave man a brain that is the wonder of the created world. God gave man eyes, with two million working parts, that can distinguish 10 million different colors and can see the light of a single candle at a distance of a mile. God gave man a nose that can smell more than one trillion different odors and can remember 50,000 different ones. God gave man ears that can hear the faintest whisper to the loudest thunder and can distinguish between hundreds of thousands of different sounds. When responding to very weak sounds, the ear drum vibrates less than the diameter of a single molecule. God gave man hands that that can play the 88 keys of a piano, lift a tiny, fragile bird egg or a 100-pound stone, turn the pages of a book, or build a house. God gave man a sense of touch via his amazing skin, four square inches of which contains 9,000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, and 75 pressure sensors. God gave man a heart that beats 100,000 times per day and circulates six quarts (5.6 liters) of blood throughout the body three times every minute. God gave man 60,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries to carry the blood to every part of his amazing body. This is more than twice the distance around the earth. God gave man kidneys that filter 50 gallons of blood each day through 140 miles of tubes and millions of filters. God created friendship and laughter and marriage and children. He put the giggle in the child, the song in the songbird, the antics in the monkey, the beauty in the butterfly, and the glory in the sunset. All of this is evidence of God's great love. Let the world deny, reject, and even mock God if it will. I praise Him in Jesus Christ! 

Facing Islamist Threats, Some Arab Nations Tilt Toward Israel
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Ebola is Rapidly Mutating As It Spreads Across West Africa
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsNPR
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Certain Men Crept in
Aug 29th, 2014
CommentaryRoger Oakland
Categories: Warning;Apostasy

Jude was called by God to send a message to the church. It seems the simple gospel of Jesus Christ was being compromised. Apparently, “certain men had crept in” and were the cause of great concern. He began by making an emphatic statement:

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. [1]

Now, imagine if you were a member of a church that had received a letter from Jude. He was the half-brother of Jesus Christ. His message certainly must have carried some weight. His letter opened by saying that although he had intended to write and share about salvation that has been accomplished through the finished work of the cross, his mind was somehow changed. Instead, he felt it imperative to deal with a major problem that had developed.

Apparently, “certain men” had “crept in unawares” and actually had become an enemy of the simple gospel. Rather than being a messenger of the gospel, these imposters had become stealth deceivers who needed to be exposed before more innocent followers of Jesus were led astray. What had happened was the very thing that Paul had previously warned the church about at Corinth when he had written to them and stated:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. [2]

Paul warned the church at Corinth about one of Satan’s most effective plans to deceive the brethren. Further, in the book of Acts, chapter 20, Paul warned what would occur after he had departed the scene. He wrote:

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. [3]

So there it is! Paul saw Satan’s plan clearly and warned what was coming. Jude saw it happening in his day. Further, these warnings, which are included in the inspired word of God, are timeless and are for the church right now.

What would Paul and Jude write to the church if they were here today? Would their message have changed in any way? Based on current trends that dilute the simple gospel of Jesus and make it into a “social-humanistic-psychological-what’s-in-it-for-me” gospel that rejects the imminent return of our Lord …  I don’t think so.

Let the book of Jude be a wake up call for us today!

[1] Jude 3-4  [2] 2 Corinthians 11: 3-4  [3] Acts 20: 29-30

Catholic Bishop Opens Prayer for Franklin Graham Event
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily Newsfbns@wayoflife.org,
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Apostasy

Friday Church News Notes,  A Roman Catholic bishop gave the opening prayer for Franklin Graham's Festival of Hope in Pittsburg, August 15-17. Bishop David Zubik rejoiced in the ecumenical spirit represented by the event ("Festival of Hope attendees enjoy final day of worship, music, Graham," Pittsburg Tribune Review, Aug. 17, 2014). He prayed, "Lord, how good it is for us to be here: Orthodox, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Catholic, and many more. Despite our differences, what draws us here is your Son Jesus Christ." There is nothing new here. Though Franklin Graham is more outspoken on some matters than his father, Billy, he is totally on board with the ecumenical agenda. In 1999, Franklin said that his father's ecumenical alliance with the Catholic Church and all other denominations "was one of the smartest things his father ever did" ("Keeping it simple, safe keeps Graham on high," The Indianapolis Star, Thurs., June 3, 1999, p. H2). Billy Graham's association with Rome goes back to the early days of his ministry before he came to prominence. We have documented this in the free eBook Billy Graham's Sad Disobedience at www.wayoflife.org. See also the report "Franklin Graham's Radical Ecumenism." 

British Islamic State Terrorist Threatens to 'Come Home'
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

The fears of homegrown Islamic extremism striking the streets of England were heightened recently by the gruesome video of the beheading of James Foley, a US journalist murdered by a British Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist in Syria.

That British IS jihadist is far from alone in the ranks of the extremist group that has conquered large portions of Iraq and Syria, declaring itself early last month as a caliphate. According to the UK's Home Office, 500 people associated with Britain have joined IS, and roughly half have returned to the UK.

Khalid Mahmood, a British MP based in Birmingham, estimates that in total at least 1,500 young British Muslims have been recruited by extremists fighting in Iraq and Syria in the last three years.

Two British IS fighters currently in Syria, Abu Bakr and Abu Anwar, were interviewed via a video feed by CNN as reported on Thursday, and revealed that the video of Foley's horrific murder is acting as a recruitment video.

Abu Anwar said he would be "more than honored" to conduct a beheading like that of Foley, adding "I hope that Allah gives me a chance to do to James Foley to another enemy. My hands are ready to commit to this blessed act."

Evidently the two British terrorists do not intend to limit their actions to Syria. The two previously spoke to CNN, and at that time Abu Bakar said he would never go back to the UK.

Now Abu Bakar apparently has changed his mind, saying "I am ready to take that step to come back if your armies, your countries don't stop attacking us."

The UK has been on alert for the danger of jihadists returning from Syria for a while. 

Last October, MI5 Chief Andrew Parker warned "that there are several thousand Islamist extremists here who see the British public as a legitimate target." That threat was illustrated earlier last May, when a 25-year-old British soldier was brutally beheaded by Muslims in the middle of a London street.

Indicating the level of the British threat, the CIA sent a special contingent of agents in June to investigate the extent of Islamic extremism in the UK, in a snub to British intelligence agencies.

Britain Raises Terror Threat Level to Severe
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsDebkafile
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

UK Home SecretaryTheresa May said Friday that raising the threat level from “substantial” to “severe” means that a terror attack on the UK is “highly likely” in view of the conflicts in Iraq and Syria - although there was no intelligence to suggest an attack was “imminent." 

Prime Minister David Cameron said at least 500 people had traveled from the UK "to fight in Syria and potentially Iraq". He said Islamic State (IS) extremists - who are attempting to establish a "caliphate", or Islamic state, in the region - represented a "greater and deeper threat to our security than we have known before." He promised new laws to make it easier to take passports away from people traveling abroad to join the conflict.

Abbas: Netanyahu Agreed to Palestinian State Along '67 Borders'
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas claimed on Thursday that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had agreed to establish a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 borders, a claim that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) denied.

Abbas, who spoke in a televised interview and quoted by the Ma’an news agency, said that Netanyahu had agreed to the Palestinian state and that the only thing left to negotiate was the exact borders.

"We will not go into a discussion about area A, B, and C. We need each state to finally determine their borders. Israel is the only state in the world with no known borders," he said.

Abbas added that chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and intelligence chief Majid Farraj will meet U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry next week to discuss negotiations.

"We are willing to wait a day, a week or a month," Abbas said, "but not 20 more years."

"If they agree, we will be free with our borders. We will not accept that Israel launches a war against us every two years," he added, promising that if Israel refused he would be ready to respond.

"We will not forgive and Israel will not get away with its crimes. We have a lot of ways and tools to ensure that criminals don't get away with their crimes," Abbas declared, according to Ma’an.

"The Israeli assault wanted a chance to kill and destroy," he said. "The occupation wishes to close its eyes and re-open them to find no Palestinians in sight."

Abbas’s claims regarding Netanyahu’s supposed agreement to a Palestinian state comes hours after a Jordanian daily reported that Netanyahu and Abbas met in Amman last week.

The report quoted diplomatic sources as saying that the meeting occurred several days before the latest ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas came into effect Tuesday. The report did not specify what the two spoke about, but did say that Abbas was expected to be an important factor in the upcoming indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.

The PMO on Thursday evening rejected both Abbas’s claims regarding Netanyahu’s agreement to a Palestinian state and the report that the two leaders met in Jordan.

Regarding Netanyahu’s agreement to a Palestinian state, the PMO said that “it never happened”.

As for the supposed meeting between the two, the PMO said that Netanyahu and Abbas have not met in recent months.

Earlier this week, Abbas’s aides said that he will soon appeal to the international community to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw back to the pre-1967 borders and make way for an independent Palestinian state.

The effort is part of the PA’s continuous efforts to achieve a state unilaterally and in direct violation of the Oslo Accords. In 2012, the PA unilaterally turned to the United Nations and received recognition as a non-member observer state by the General Assembly.

Abbas Says U.S. Agreed to 'Palestine' Along '67 Borders'
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was quoted in Palestinian Arab news sources as claiming that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu agreed to a Palestinian state on the 1949 Armistice lines - apparently Abbas actually said that the US, not Netanyahu, had made that agreement.

Abbas's actual statements from the recent interview were that the US expressed its support for establishing a Palestinian state along the "1967 borders," adding that all that was left was to sketch up the final border lines, reports Walla!.

Netanyahu hurried to deny the reports that he had made the agreement, and likewise denied reports in a Jordanian daily that Netanyahu and Abbas met in Amman last week.

In the interview, Abbas added that PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and intelligence chief Majid Farraj will meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry next week, where they will discuss the question of whether "there is or isn't a solution" to the conflict with Israel.

The report comes after Abbas recently declared he would unilaterally ask the UN to set a deadline for Israel to withdraw to the 1949 Armistice lines, a move the US has opposed.

The clarification that the US agreed to establishing "Palestine" along the "1967 borders" in fact does not signify such a major change of rhetoric from US President Barack Obama's administration.

Back in 2011, Obama said in a speech "we believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps." In that same speech, he said "Palestinians...(have been) suffering the humiliation of occupation."

Contrasting with Obama's appraisal, a recently declassified document from the heads of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1967 shortly after the Six Day War, which was obtained by analyst Mark Langfan for Arutz Sheva, specified that for strategic reasons Israel can not afford to withdraw from Judea and Samaria even under the much more limited military realities of that time.

Hamas "shouldn't go to war alone"

In a recent interview, Abbas also spoke about Operation Protective Edge, which began on July 8 in response to Hamas launching a terror war by escalating its rocket attacks from Gaza on Israeli civilian centers.

"No faction should go to war (alone)," said Abbas, slamming Hamas's unilateral action. "The decision on war and peace isn't in the hands of Hamas alone, but rather in the hands of the Palestinian leadership."

"If Hamas wants to decide on war, it will deal with it alone," added the PA chairman.

Showing signs of increased tension with Hamas, with whom Abbas signed a unity agreement in April torpedoing the peace talks, Abbas added that the Gaza based group has a "shadow government." He noted "if this continues, it will threaten the national unity," and likewise decried Hamas's recent execution of "collaborators with Israel" as being a "crime."

Abbas's comments come after a message was released last Wednesday by jailed arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, a member of Abbas's Fatah faction who polls in May found was favored for unity government president by Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

In the message, Barghouti called for Fatah to go through a revolution and reject negotiations for "resistence," as well as tightening unity with Hamas.

A Fateful Time Ahead for Netanyahus Divided Government
Aug 29th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Times of Israel
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel