Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Will the Internet of Things be Another Surveillance Nightmare?
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

The past decade has seen a revolution in microprocessing, Internet connectivity and widespread adoption of new technologies. Human beings are connected to vast sources of data and discourse through an increasing number of outlets.

Phones and tablets, the first frontier of smart, social technology beyond traditional computers, have highlighted questions of privacy in media, discussion and politics. As the microprocessor revolution rages on, more and more household objects will begin to collect data, communicate with the Internet, and force us to evaluate our positions on the fine line between privacy and utility.

Purdue University computer science professor Eugene Spafford is researching the risks and benefits of the so-called Internet of Things. He warns that an increasing number of household objects—everything from refrigerators and toilets to electrical grids and showers—will soon collect a great deal of data, often without our knowledge.

Similar tensions have been raised over Google and Facebook’s massive data collection programs and algorithms that tailor—or force—the individual’s experience. Even the federal government, through the PRISM program, is collecting massive amounts of data on the communication habits of Americans through phone and internet services.

Spafford points out, “We put ourselves in a position where we may be manipulated without our consent, and possibly without our knowledge, because connections may be drawn on this data that we don’t understand or recognize even about ourselves.”

On the other hand, mass analysis of data about our daily behaviors could be extremely helpful. If one could be given feedback from data points about energy usage, health, movement, food, and finances, more utilitarian decisions could be made.

Professor Spafford points out his main concern: the data may be available to more than just the individual consumer. The companies that sell the smart products may mine considerable data on consumer behavior without the consent or knowledge of the user, just as Facebook and Google do.

“For example the company that makes the Nest thermostat was purchased by Google. Now Google will know when I’m home, can determine how many people are in the house, and that information will be provided to other companies and government agencies. Is that a trade I’m willing to make? To what extent can I control that?” says Spafford.

Ethnical questions with emerging technologies are nothing new. As connectivity increases, the capacity for discourse also increases. Though the debate on privacy and utility is complex, it will be up to the companies to design smart products that consumers feel comfortable with, up to the consumers to decide whether to adopt them or not.

On the other hand, some fear that the rate of technology is increasing beyond our capacity to understand its full implications. If there is no transparency and no legal protection of consumer’s privacy, corporations could exploit consumer ignorance and gather data without regard.

Spafford believes that full transparency is the only way to ethically integrate these new technologies into society. If the consumer is given full knowledge of the data that will be collected and who will have access to it, then he or she could make an educated choice on the adoption of the technology.

Regardless of the level that individual privacy is compromised, mass adoption of the Internet of Things is likely. There is always a threshold where utility outweighs the sacrifice of privacy. In a 2011 survey of 1000 smart phone users, 98% reported privacy and transparency as a serious concern. It is a small minority, however, who abstains from smartphone use altogether because of privacy concerns. In the next ten years, we will see whether society continues to lean towards utility and data over a sense of privacy.

UN Chief Tours Hamas Terror Tunnel, Calls for Peace Talks
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Ban Ki-Moon visits Hamas terror tunnel

Chaim Tzah, GPO

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon was given a tour of the Gaza Belt region on Tuesday by the IDF, revealing to him the area hit hardest by Hamas's recent terror war on Israel - while there, he was shown the terror tunnels Hamas prepared with foreign aid materials to attack Israel.

"I was shocked by the tunnels used for the infiltration of terrorists. No one needs live under the constant threat and fear of rockets and tunnels digging underground," said Ban.

However, despite seeing the tunnels meant for killing Israeli civilians by Hamas, which recently formed a unity government with the Palestinian Authority (PA), Ban still called for "peace talks" in Cairo with the terrorist group.

"I called on the Palestinian and Israeli leaders to sit together and return to peace talks, that's the only way for the two peoples to enjoy peace, security and harmony," said Ban.

Hamas has in fact already restarted construction on the terror tunnels as revealed in numerous reports, and has bragged that the IDF didn't destroy all of the tunnels.

Regardless of that, and the fact that humanitarian materials were siphoned by Hamas to build the tunnels in the first place, Israel began transporting more construction materials into Gaza on Tuesday as a "humanitarian gesture" including 600 tons of cement, 50 truckloads of aggregate and 10 truckloads of steel.

While in the region, Ban also met with the parents of 4-year-old Daniel Tragerman hy''d of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who was killed by a mortar shell after Hamas broke one of the last ceasefires in Operation Protective Edge before the current temporary truce. Daniel's mother Gila wrote Ban a letter asking him to accuse Hamas of "war crimes," as he accused Israel of the same day Daniel was murdered.

On Sunday, as he took part in a global donor event in Cairo that pledged $5.4 billion to rebuild Gaza after Hamas's recent terror war, Ban did just the opposite, justifying Hamas's terrorism by saying the cause of hostilities is "a restrictive occupation that has lasted almost half a century."

A day later in Ramallah, Ban slammed "settlement building" despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's covert building freeze against Jews in Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem.

The Coming UN Conflict Over Forcing Palestinian State Upon Israel
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Commentary

A senior Palestinian official said Monday that the Palestinian Authority has mustered the support of seven of nine UN Security Council members needed to bring to a vote its resolution that would force an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines by November 2016.

Speaking in an interview with the Bethlehem-based Ma'an News Agency, Sha'ath said, "We are at the stage of lobbying within the Security Council to get nine or more votes." 

Sha'ath said that the PA was facing opposition to the move from the US, who was not only threatening to veto the resolution should it be brought to a vote, but also was urging other Security Council members to oppose the resolution and push back a vote on the measure until after US midterm elections in November.

Abbas announced on October 1 that he had submitted the draft resolution to the Security Council. "We have submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council who started consultations a few days ago and will continue for three weeks, perhaps longer, until we receive an answer," Abbas told a PLO meeting in Ramallah.

The resolution calls for "the full withdrawal of Israel ... from all of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible and to be fully completed within a specified timeframe, not to exceed November 2016."

US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told reporters earlier this month, "We are aware of President Abbas' plan and we continue to believe, to strongly believe, that the only way to a negotiated solution is through negotiations between the two parties." 

The PA has said that should the resolution fail to pass in the Security Council, they would seek to join the International Criminal Court at the Hague and pursue war crimes charges against Israel.

Testing on Humans Starts for Experimental Ebola Vaccine Developed in Canada
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sweden is Close to Becoming a Cashless Society: Report
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsCNBC
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Sweden may become one of the first fully cashless societies by 2030.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Swedish Krona currency.

Swedish news site The Local reports four out of five purchases in Sweden are now paid electronically or by debit card, a very different picture from some parts of Europe.

"Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia leads the world in terms of cashless trading," said Bengt Nilervall at the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel).

Sweden Close to Being Cashless Society
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

Four out of five purchases in Sweden are paid electronically or by debit card and with the development of cheaper technology the trend is moving towards a fully cash free society, according to a new report.

"Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia leads the world in terms of cashless trading," said Bengt Nilervall at the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel). 

Swedes use their debit and credit cards almost every day - an average of 260 transactions per person per year.

The picture is very different in southern Europe. In Italy, for example, three-quarters of all consumer purchases are still paid for in cash.

"That is due to the low confidence in the authorities and the banking system," said Niklas Arvidsson, an associate professor of industrial dynamics. 

Arvidsson argued that Sweden could become completely cash free but predicts that this development is unlikely until at least 2030.

"The familiarity of cash in the hand could prevent this. A recent Sifo survey showed that 2/3 people consider (the availability of) cash to be a human right," he said.

Retailers, banks and card companies welcomed the trend with the proviso that customers are able to keep up with developments.

A cash free society would lead to increased security for both staff and customers and would cut cash-handling costs - estimated to be around 8.7 billion kronor ($1.2 billion), some 0.3% of GDP.

Armed robberies are furthermore in decline in line with the reduction of cash use. In 2012, a mere five bank robberies were committed, according to the Swedish Bankers' Association - the lowest figure in 30 years. 

The spread of cards and electronic payments has had a profound effect even on the street level with fruit and veg traders and even retailers of the homeless magazine Situation Stockholm accepting card payments.

The spread of electronic payment systems such as Swish are a further addition to the plethora of alternatives for people to transfer small sums without having to resort to the ATM machine.

Rise of 'Voiceprint' ID Technology Has Privacy Campaigners Concerned
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Guardian
Categories: Today's Headlines

It is estimated that more than 65 million voiceprints have been stored in government and corporate databases. Photograph: Arina Habich / Alamy/Alamy

The rapid deployment by governments and businesses of voiceprint technology – used to identify people from their speech – has aroused the concern of privacy groups who see it as a possible next frontline in the battle against overweening public surveillance.

A survey by the Associated Press of voice biometrics, the spoken equivalent of fingerprints, has found that the technology is already widely used. The AP estimated that more than 65 million voiceprints have been stored in corporate and government databases around the world.

The huge scale of take-up of the technology has surprised experts in digital surveillance. “This suggests there is a major new biometric tool that is being rolled out with very little public discussion,” said Jay Stanley, an expert on technology-related privacy issues at the American Civil Liberties Union.

He added that use of voiceprints by companies to counter fraud had its benefits, but that it came with costs. “Obviously fraud protection is a good thing, but it raises implications that need to be looked into.”

Among those implications is the potential that anonymity in speech could be threatened. Several phone services rely on guaranteeing privacy to callers – crime hotlines run by police, counselling services, and numbers that people who have suffered domestic violence or other abuse are encouraged to call in the knowledge that their identities will not be compromised, for instance.

Stanley said that if public confidence in such services were compromised, “We could lose a major avenue of anonymous speech.”

Lee Tien, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that voice biometrics could be used to pinpoint the location of individuals. There is already discussion about placing voice sensors in public spaces, and Tien said that multiple sensors could be triangulated to identify individuals and specify their location within very small areas.

“Even where the technology wasn’t designed for eavesdropping or tracking people, it could still identify them and associate them with a location,” he said.

The AP survey found that a number of big financial and other companies have already taken up voice biometrics with enthusiasm. An executive for Barclays said “the general feeling is that voice biometrics will be the de facto standard in the next two or three years”.

Several governments, led by Turkey where the mobile phone company Turkcell has stored voiceprints of 10 million people, have also leapt on the bandwagon.

For companies, the big attraction of voiceprints is to be able to follow consumers as they move from one store or part of a store to another, and between commercial channels. Professor Joseph Turow, a privacy and surveillance expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said that as a result individual citizens were increasingly losing control over their own identities.

“Companies are using data drawn from our internet and purchasing behaviour – and now our voices – and connecting it to the identities that they’ve created for us. Then they can lead us in a variety of different directions, based on their stereotype of us,” he said.

Amid this fast-developing data world, there is always the risk that the technology is not as precise as suggested, leading to mistakes. “Biometrics are never 100% accurate,” said Stanley. “Are people going to be blacklisted by government institutions because their voice is mistaken for that of a fraudster?”

Report Ties Parchin Blast to Iran's Nuclear Program
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Aerial view of Parchin site (file)

Reuters

The massive explosion at Iran's top-secret Parchin nuclear facility last Monday remains shrouded in mystery, but new details revealed in an in-depth Channel 10 report indicate the blast was in fact a chemical explosion that may shed light on Iran's nuclear program.

Iran's Defense Industries Organization (DIO) admitted the blast occurred - after Iran initially denied it - saying it was caused as ammunition was being unloaded at the secret military base suspected of being used to test nuclear detonation devices.

Despite the claims of an accident, chairman of Iran's national security council Mohammed Saleh has summoned security sources to clarify the cause of the explosion which reportedly killed a "nuclear expert," confirming suspicions it was not a simple accident.

The Iranian state-run Fars News Agency on Monday in follow-up reports about the supposed ammunition explosion admitted it happened due to a "private company" that was given a tender to manage the transportation following government privatization. 

Channel 10 reports that the inquiry apparently is focused on a private transportation company "Hamana," which roughly four years ago was privatized and given given offices adjacent to the Parchin base entrance, where it is authorized to transport dangerous materials in and out of the base.

The public relations picture of Hamana features an image of a nuclear explosion, hinting in a not-so-subtle manner that the company may also be involved in transporting radioactive materials as part of Iran's secretive nuclear program.

Suspicions that the blast was an act of sabotage by a foreign nation were strengthened by the reports, given that a cyber attack would be possible on Hamana's trucks.

Hamana reportedly owns five trucks allowed to enter Parchin, which are equipped with GPS and AVL (Automatic Vehicle Location) systems. The trucks' movements are supervised online, in a system that allows distress signals to be sent out - and even allows remote control over the truck's engine.

Chemical, not ammunition explosion?

Satellite images from before and after the blast cut through Iran's initial denials and proved the explosion, showing extensive damage to several buildings and more than one which appears to have completely disappeared.

Analyzing the images, Channel 10 reports that the area most heavily hit by explosion damage in the base is a site run by Parchin Chemical Industries (PCI), which is managed by DIO and is subject to UN and US sanctions for producing ammunition and solid propellants for ballistic missile fuel.

In fact, the report exposes that four storage buildings in the base were completely wiped out by the blast, and appear to be part of PCI's production and storage workshop for ballistic rocket fuel. It added the building had numerous air vents as characteristic of buildings containing dangerous chemicals such as rocket fuels.

A large cement structure adjacent to the center of the blast was left unscathed according to the report, indicating that the explosion was not caused by an accident with explosive ammunition as claimed - which would have caused secondary damage further away - but rather was a chemical explosion.

It added that the explosive ammunition on the base appears to be stored in cement reinforced bunkers on the eastern side of the facility, not the area where the blast was centered.

It is possible that the chemical storage sites destroyed in the blast also contained radioactive materials left over from the fuse tests conducted secretly at the base as part of a nuclear weapons program - Iran has already admitted to testing exploding bridge wire nuclear detonation devices at Parchin.

If so, the report adds that sensors placed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or intelligence services should be able to locate radioactive particulates at the site due to the blast, and thereby obtain concrete evidence of nuclear weapon tests at the facility.

On Tuesday the eighth round of Iranian nuclear talks began in Vienna, ahead of a November 24 deadline.

A senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem on Monday warned US President Barack Obama is liable to extend the deadline again, and more troubling - he may be holding secret talks with Iran again and making agreements against Israeli interests. Iran has repeatedly threatened to annihilate Israel.

Indeed, Obama was revealed last November to have been holding secret talks with Iran for over half a year which led to a temporary agreement, and likewise reportedly had been easing sanctions on Iran for five months ahead of the deal.

OIl Price War Throws the Fed Into Crisis Mode
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsProphecy New Watch
Categories: Today's Headlines;Commentary

It was only a matter of time until the evidence became irrefutable that the only way out of a global deflation on the order of the Great Depression was to address the fact that 571 U.S. billionaires simply don’t have enough hours in the day to spend adequate money to buy enough goods that would require the restocking of shelves, create new factory orders and thereby ramp up job hiring to keep a nation of 317 million people afloat.

A nation where the top 10 percent reaps more than 50 percent of the income is doomed to end up in the quicksand of deflation, dragging down the rich along with everyone else. The Federal Reserve’s timidity to address this reality since the crisis of 2008, as the national debt ballooned and its own balance sheet quadrupled, has now put it in a dire pickle at a most inopportune time.

The Fed has attempted to assure the world that things are so dandy here in the “Goldilocks economy” that its biggest focus is when it will raise interest rates to keep the economy from overheating and keep inflation in check. That thesis has been quite a bit of a stretch with 45.3 million of its fellow citizens living in poverty and a labor force participation rate of 62.7 percent – a data point that has been steadily getting worse since the financial crisis in 2008.

A key component that has allowed both the Fed and Congress to keep from taking strong measures to address a looming deflation has been the price of crude oil. Because oil impacts everything from transportation costs that inflate the price of food and other products to the cost of an airline ticket or heating a home, the high price of this commodity has, to a degree, masked the growing deflation threat.

Now the mask has been removed. Oil prices are in freefall and an oil price war has broken out among OPEC members, raising the specter of 1986 when oil prices fell by 50 percent in just an eight month span. A serious global slowdown has effectively turned the oil cartel, OPEC, into a beggar thy neighbor band of go-it-alone dealmakers who hope to sign individual contracts with customers and grab market share before prices decline further.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, cut its official crude price by $1 a barrel for November deliveries to its Asian customers. It also dropped pricing by approximately 40 cents a barrel to U.S. and European customers. According to OPEC data, “Saudi Arabia possesses 18 per cent of the world’s proven petroleum reserves and ranks as the largest exporter of petroleum.” As the world learned in 1986, if Saudi Arabia wants to start a price war to assert its dominance, it has both the resources and production capability on its side.

According to a report from Bloomberg News, Iran is now offering oil discounts similar to Saudi Arabia. The situation is fraying nerves in countries dependent on oil revenues with Venezuela calling for an emergency OPEC meeting prior to its regular meeting slated for November 27.

Before the latest news of OPEC’s disarray sent oil prices plunging, the Fed was already expressing some concerns about the low rate of inflation. Its minutes for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of September 16 – 17, 2014 included the following:

“Total U.S. consumer price inflation, as measured by the PCE [Personal Consumption Expenditures] price index, was about 1½ percent over the 12 months ending in July. Over the 12 months ending in August, the consumer price index (CPI) rose about 1¾ percent…

“The staff continued to project inflation to be lower in the second half of this year than in the first half and to remain below the Committee’s longer-run objective of 2 percent over the next few years. With longer-term inflation expectations assumed to remain stable, resource slack projected to diminish slowly, and changes in commodity and import prices expected to be subdued, inflation was projected to rise gradually and to reach the Committee’s objective in the longer run.”

In other words, a sudden, sharp drop in inflation expectations caused by an oil price war raging around the globe was not present in the Fed’s crystal ball just a month ago. But it should have been: other commodity prices have been sending up red flags for some time now. As we reported on September 24, just one week after the Fed’s September meeting:

“Iron ore has now slumped 41 percent this year, marking a five-year low. In just the third quarter the price is off by 15 percent, suggesting the trend remains in place. This week the price broke $80 a dry ton for the first time since 2009.

“Agricultural commodity prices are also confirming the trend with corn off 22 percent since June and wheat down 16 percent in the same period. Soybean prices are down 28 percent this year to the lowest in four years.

“Deflationary winds blowing in from Europe, cooling economic growth in China, together with the question of just how disfigured the stock market has become as a result of $1.09 trillion propping up the S&P 500 through corporate buybacks in the last 18 months, all signal one word for the average investor: caution.”

Another key gauge of inflation expectations, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, has been telling the market for some time that deflation was far greater a worry than inflation and that the Fed’s thesis of hiking interest rates next year had all the staying-power of a snow cone in July.

The 52-week high in the yield of the 10-year Treasury note was 3.06 percent. This morning, it is yielding 2.28 percent. That’s not the behavior of an interest-rate benchmark anticipating heated economic growth in the U.S. or an interest rate hike by the Fed.

The market has delivered epiphanies to the Fed on multiple fronts – some of them blazing with sirens – but the Fed seems to have had its head in the sand just as securely as it did heading into the 2008 crisis.

The problem for the Fed, which has already quadrupled its balance sheet to over $4 trillion to sustain a less than 2 percent inflation rate while keeping interest rates in the zero-bound range, is that its monetary arsenal loses its firing power with the onset of deflation, should it occur.

Deflation boosts the value of holding cash and deferring purchases. The thinking goes like this: the longer you wait to buy, the cheaper the house or product becomes, effectively raising the value of the cash you hold. Conversely, if you spend your cash prematurely, the product or investment you buy may lose future value as a result of the deflation, handing you a wealth loss. If enough people adopt that attitude and defer enough purchases, the deflationary spiral becomes self-reinforcing, as it did in the Great Depression.

Then there is the problem of the strong U.S. dollar. This hampers export growth for U.S. manufacturers because it costs more in local currencies to buy the product we are attempting to sell in foreign markets. A strong dollar can also accelerate deflationary trends by making foreign imports cheaper in the U.S. as a result of the increased purchasing power of our currency. This would further complicate the Fed’s ability to beat deflationary forces.

As Wall Street on Parade reported in December, the Fed prides itself on gathering intelligence from the marketplace, starting its day at 4:30 a.m. at the New York Fed and ending up around 6:30 p.m. with conference calls to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in between. The growing fear is that the Fed is once again, like 2008, watching the market tick by tick but failing to see the larger, dangerous trends.

Nuclear Deal is 'Certain', Says Rouhani
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani

Reuters

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday a nuclear deal with the West was bound to happen and he believed it could be achieved by a November 24 deadline, Reuters reports.

"We have reached consensus on generalities and there are only the fine details to be worked out: whether we would reach an agreement within the next 40 days, if the time will be extended, etc.," the president was quoted as having told his people in a late evening address broadcast live on television.

"Of course details are important too, but what's important is that the nuclear issue is irreversible. I think a final settlement can be achieved in these remaining 40 days. We will not return to the situation a year ago. The world is tired and wants it to end, resolved through negotiations," he said.

"A nuclear settlement is certain," he said, vowing to "apply all our efforts in that direction."

Rouhani cautioned nevertheless that "a 12-year-old dilemma cannot be resolved overnight."

His comments come days after a senior Iranian negotiator said nuclear talks with world powers could be extended again if no deal is reached by the November 24 deadline.

The talks are aiming to turn an interim agreement reached last year into a permanent deal.

The talks have been stalled for months over Iran's opposition to sharply reducing the size and output of centrifuges that can enrich uranium both to levels needed for reactor fuel or the core of nuclear warheads.

Iran says its enrichment program is only for peaceful purposes, but Washington fears it could be used to make a bomb.

The Islamic Republic has been taking an increasingly aggressive line in demanding its "right" to enrich uranium, with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently saying Iran "needs" 19 times more nuclear centrifuges than the amount being offered by world powers.

Meanwhile, members of an Iranian opposition movement revealed last week that the Islamic regime is continuing its nuclear weapon research at a secret location.

According to the Iranian resistance movement in exile Mujahedin-e Khalk, also known as MEK, Tehran is developing nuclear weapons after having relocated its research facilities to avoid detection.

More Than 40 Israeli Arabs Have Joined 'Islamic State'
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War;The Nation Of Israel

Over recent months more than 40 Israeli Arabs are known to have joined the forces of the "Islamic State" (IS/ISIS) terror organization.

Israel is now looking into revoking Israeli citizenship of those joining the ISIS.

Livni to Ban: Oppose Abbas's Unilateral Moves
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

Livni and Ban Ki-moon (archive)

Flash 90

Justice Minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) told United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday that it is important to oppose Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s unilateral moves to achieve statehood through the UN.

Failure to do so, Livni told Ban, sends Abbas a message that he can avoid negotiations.

“The Palestinians’ attempts to advance statehood on their terms through the UN must be resisted,” Livni wrote on her Facebook page.

“Any negotiations are based on mutual compromises, and the world should support such a process, in which the interests of both parties are represented and each is required to make decisions and compromises on his part,” she continued.

“Unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state sends Abbas the wrong message, whereby he can avoid negotiations and also avoid making the decisions that are required on his part - this is what I said a short while ago at a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is visiting the country,” wrote Livni.

Ban, who came to Israel after attending an international donors’ conference in Cairo, also met with opposition leader MK Yitzhak Herzog who, like Livni, called for a resumption of peace negotiations with the PA.

“A diplomatic settlement with the Palestinians is an Israeli, Palestinian and regional interests. It should be promoted through direct negotiations between the parties immediately,” wrote Herzog on his Facebook page. “This is why I accept the remarks of Egyptian President Al-Sisi at the conference in Cairo, who said that the time has come to end the conflict and change the painful destinies of the people in the region.”

“This is the main message that I gave to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, at our meeting in Jerusalem tonight,” added Herzog.

Earlier Monday, the UN chief met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who slammed Ban’s remarks the day before that “occupation” was the reason for the fighting in Gaza.

Ban also met with President Reuven Rivlin, who stood up for Israel's right to self-defense and told the UN chief that the onus is on the Palestinian Arabs to disarm.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Houston demands oversight of sermons
Officials with the city of Houston, Texas, who are defending a controversial ordinance that would allow men to use women’s restrooms now have demanded to see the sermons preached by several area pastors.  

CDC urges all US hospitals to 'think Ebola'
Every US hospital must know how to diagnose Ebola in people who have been in West Africa and be ready to isolate a suspected case, the director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday. "We have to rethink the way we address Ebola infection control," Frieden said, "because even a single infection is unacceptable".  

Ebola Survivor Kent Brantly: West Africa Situation Worse Than Worst News Report, But Let's Not Fear but Help Africa
"I just want to tell everyone that yes, Ebola is a serious devastating disease and for those number of people who have been identified as contacts of an Ebola patient, they need to be monitoring themselves, they need to be cooperating with the authorities, with the CDC, and it's very serious for them, but for the rest of us we don't need to be worried," Brantly told the crowd.  

Ebola: Obama accused of 'facilitating terrorism'
Larry Klayman, the former Justice Department lawyer and founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, has filed a civil complaint accusing President Obama and other officials of “facilitating terrorism” by refusing to cut off travel from Africa’s Ebola zones to the U.S..  

British Man Suspected of Planning Assassination of Tony Blair
A 26-year-old British man was accused of planning a terror attack in London.  

5.6-magnitude quake jolts southern Peru
The temblor hit at 10:14 a.m. local time (1514 GMT), and the epicenter was registered 27 km west of the district Pausa, some 782 km southeast of the capital Lima. While the epicenter was 107 km deep, according to Peru's Geophysics Institute (IGP), the tremor was also felt in the neighboring department of Ica.  

High-speed rail part of deals worth $10b
China will take a decisive stake in the next stage of Russia's transportation development, with Chinese companies building the country's first high-speed rail line. The agreement formed part of joint deals worth $10 billion being signed on Monday.  

Oil Price War Throws the Fed into Crisis Mode
The Fed has attempted to assure the world that things are so dandy here in the “Goldilocks economy” that its biggest focus is when it will raise interest rates to keep the economy from overheating and keep inflation in check. That thesis has been quite a bit of a stretch with 45.3 million of its fellow citizens living in poverty and a labor force participation rate of 62.7 percent – a data point that has been steadily getting worse since the financial crisis in 2008.  

Ebola outbreak is just the beginning of pattern of deadly diseases, science writer David Quammen warns
...even if the current Ebola epidemic was brought under control, it’s “not going to be the end of the story”. That’s not going to be any final solution because next year, or the year after, there’ll be another viral outbreak that either turns into an epidemic or threatens to. So that’s the first thing, but of course nobody wants to hear that right now, because everyone is so concerned about and obsessed with Ebola.  

Obama Declares War — On the Clintons
For Hillary Clinton to win in 2016, she has to convince Americans that big government did not fail them, just Barack Obama failed them. She has to throw him under the bus. That’s why we’re seeing Clinton allies like Leon Panetta throw the President under the bus in his foreign policy handling. So Obama will return fire at the Clintons’. Their policies failed. They’ve kept the average person’s income from going up.  

7.3-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes off El Salvador Coast
The quake was strong enough to cause severe shaking felt by an estimated 1.3 million people, according to the USGS PAGER system, which predicted the quake to cause anywhere from one to 100 fatalities.  

UK MPs’ ‘Yes’ to Palestine – no earthquake, but certainly a tremor
Now that the Parliament of the former mandatory power has endorsed Palestinian statehood, it may become harder for Israel to stave off similar moves elsewhere.  

“An earthquake at the synod”
That’s how veteran Vatican reporter John Thavis described a document released this morning:The relatio post disceptationem read aloud in the synod hall, while defending fundamental doctrine, calls for the church to build on positive values in unions that the church has always considered “irregular,” including cohabitating couples, second marriages undertaken without annulments and even homosexual unions. Regarding homosexuals, it went so far as to pose the question whether the church could accept and value their sexual orientation without compromising Catholic doctrine.  

Yellowstone Volcano: USGS Reports Deformations And 71 Earthquakes Around The Supervolcano
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has provided September’s monthly update on the Yellowstone volcano and 71 earthquakes were registered in the area of Yellowstone National Park, which is less than half of the 207 earthquakes reported in August and only slightly less than the 99 earthquakes from July.  

About 70 hospital staffers cared for Ebola patient
They drew his blood, put tubes down his throat and wiped up his diarrhea. They analyzed his urine and wiped saliva from his lips, even after he had lost consciousness. About 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital were involved in the care of Thomas Eric Duncan after he was hospitalized, including a nurse now being treated for the same Ebola virus that killed the Liberian man who was visiting Dallas...  

Sweden close to being cashless society: report
Four out of five purchases in Sweden are paid electronically or by debit card and with the development of cheaper technology the trend is moving towards a fully cash free society, according to a new report. "Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia leads the world in terms of cashless trading," said Bengt Nilervall at the Swedish Federation of Trade (Svensk Handel).  

MPs' Palestinian vote sends troubling message, says Israel
Israel has warned against sending a "troubling message", after UK MPs voted to recognise Palestinian statehood. The House of Commons backed a motion by 274 votes to 12, although the decision will not decide government policy. But Israel's government said the vote could undermine the chances of peace by letting Palestinian leaders think they could evade the "tough choices" needed.  

Turkish jets bomb Kurdish PKK rebels near Iraq
Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes have bombed Kurdish PKK rebel targets in Hakkari province near the Iraqi border, Turkish media report. Both sides have been observing a ceasefire and it is the first major air raid on the PKK since March 2013. Hurriyet daily said the air raids near the south-eastern village of Daglica on Monday caused "heavy casualties".  

Cyclone Hudhud: India ups aid effort as death toll rises
Authorities in India's Andhra Pradesh and Orissa states are intensifying efforts to provide aid to some 400,000 people affected by a cyclone now known to have killed 24 people. Cyclone Hudhud wrecked homes, uprooted trees and power lines, blocked roads and damaged crops in the two states. PM Narendra Modi is to fly over the affected areas, including the port city of Visakhapatnam, to assess the damage.  

Earthquake kills 'at least one' in El Salvador
A quake struck off the coast of El Salvador late on Monday rattling much of Central America. At least one person is reported to have died in the 7.3-magnitude quake when an electricity pole collapsed. The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake hit in the Pacific Ocean 170km (105 miles) south-east of the capital, San Salvador.  

Deadly storm rips through US states
A powerful storm has swept across the southern US, killing at least two people and injuring several others. Tornadoes, high winds, lightning, hail and heavy rain left a trail of destruction from Texas to Alabama. In Arkansas, a tornado that touched down about 150 miles south-west of Little Rock killed a man and injured his wife when their home was destroyed.  

Tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia returns after signs of improved ties
Senior Saudi and Iranian officials have renewed criticism of each other's interventions in the Middle East in a sign that tensions...remain high despite top-level meetings this summer. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal repeated longstanding accusations that Iran is an "occupying force" in Syria, while Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Mir Abdollahian attacked the kingdom's role in Bahrain.  

How IS conflict has changed Iran nuclear talks
The mid-November deadline to reach a deal on Iran's nuclear programme is fast approaching, and the negotiations between world powers and Tehran have been long and complex. In some areas there has been progress. In others - like the crucial question of constraining Iran's capacity to move swiftly towards a nuclear bomb - the various parties are still far apart.  

Senior Vatican cleric states homosexuals 'welcome'
A senior member of the Roman Catholic clergy says that it is the "attitude of the church to welcome persons who have homosexual orientation".  

North Korea's Kim Jong-Un reappears with walking stick
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has finally resurfaced with the help of a walking stick after a prolonged, unexplained absence that fuelled rampant speculation about his health and even rumours of a coup in the nuclear-armed state.  

Inside Bashar Assad's torture chambers
The State Department has obtained 27,000 photographs showing the emaciated, bruised and burned bodies of Syrian torture victims — gruesome images that a top official told Yahoo News constitute "smoking gun" evidence that can be used to bring war-crimes charges against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.  

ISIS May Have Chemical Weapons
The Islamic State militant group may possess chemical weapons that it has already used to extend its self-proclaimed caliphate, according to photos taken by Kurdish activists and examined by Israeli researchers.  

Earthquake Forecast: 4 California Faults Are Ready to Rupture
With several faults slicing through the San Francisco Bay Area, forecasting the next deadly earthquake becomes a question of when and where, not if. Now researchers propose that four faults have built up enough seismic strain (stored energy) to unleash destructive earthquakes, according to a study published today (Oct. 13) in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America.  

Israel: UK Palestine Vote Undermines Peace Prospects
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

British parliament

Reuters

Israel warned Tuesday that a vote by British parliament in favor of recognizing a Palestinian state risked undermining the prospects for peace.

"Premature international recognition sends a troubling message to the Palestinian leadership that they can evade the tough choices that both sides have to make, and actually undermines the chances to reach a real peace," said a statement from the Israeli foreign ministry.

Late Monday British MPs voted 274 to 12 for a non-binding motion to "recognize the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution".

The resolution was welcomed by the Palestinians.

"It will enhance the European voices calling for the recognition of the State of Palestine and will create the right environment for the international community to grant the Palestinian people legal parity and rights," senior Palestine Liberation Official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.

AFP reported that Britain's ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, said that although the vote was not binding on the British government it was significant.

"I think that this vote is a sign of shifting public opinion in the UK and indeed beyond," he said in an interview Tuesday morning with Israeli public radio.

The debate in the House of Commons came after the Swedish government announced it would recognize a Palestinian state -- it would be the first EU member in Western Europe to do so -- drawing anger from Israel.

It follows the collapse of peace talks between Israel and Palestine, and this year's conflict in Gaza in which more than 2,000 Palestinians and dozens of Israelis were killed.

"The conflict in the summer over Gaza had a big impact on British public opinion and has affected Israel's standing," Gould said.

"Announcements on settlements since the summer have also had an impact and so although this vote won't affect government policy I think it is right to be concerned about what it signifies in terms of the direction of public opinion."

The Palestinian Authority estimates that 134 countries have recognised Palestine as a state, although the number is disputed and several recognitions by what are now European Union member states date from the Soviet era.

Britain abstained in 2012 from a vote in the United Nations on giving the Palestinians the rank of observer state, which was granted over the objections of the United States and Israel.

Israel and the Sea of Reeds
Oct 14th, 2014
Commentarywayoflife.org
Categories: Exhortation

"And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters" (Nehemiah 9:11). Theological liberals and many of their "evangelical" friends say that Israel crossed north of the Red Sea in the Bitter Lakes region. Consider the following statement from Halley's Bible Handbook, which is reputed to be conservative: "The sea then would have flowed north into the depressions known today as the Bitter Lakes. If a steady wind pushed the shallow water north into the Bitter Lakes, it would have lowered the level of the water so that a land bridge would appear, which is not an uncommon phenomenon." In reply to this we offer the following: (1) The Hebrew word "suph," which is translated "Red" in most Bibles, does mean "reed," but this does not mean that the Bible is talking about a shallow reed lake. The Red Sea was called "Reed Sea" in ancient times, not because it was shallow, but because reeds grow in marshy areas in places along its shores. (The Hebrew word refers to water reeds in general and not to papyrus only.) Further, in the New Testament it is called the Red Sea and not the Reed Sea (Acts 7:36; Heb. 11:29). In ancient times the name Red Sea was given to the entire Arabian Sea, including the modern Red Sea and its arms and the Persian Gulf (Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament). In 1 Kings 9:26, the Gulf of Aqaba where Ezion Geber was located is called the Red Sea. (2) The bottom line is that the Bible says they crossed a sea, and the description of the crossing is not the description of a marsh or a lake. In ancient times the Bitter Lakes were not deep; they were more like marshy salt flats.* But the water that Israel crossed is described as deep and mighty. It formed a wall unto the Israelites on the right and left as they crossed it (Ex. 14:22; 15:4-5, 10; Neh. 9:11; Psa 106:9; Isa. 51:10). Paul describes the crossing as a baptism in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. 10:1-2). Baptism means immersion, so Paul was saying that Israel walked between walls of water beneath the cloud of glory. We know, then, that the crossing was over an arm of the sea itself and not a lake or marsh. (* "Prior to the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, Great Bitter Lake was a large salt flat; in the arid climate, basins rarely accumulate enough water to become true lakes," NASA Earth Observatory).

Islamic State Calls for Attacks Against Australians and Citizens of Other 'Crusader Nations
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Age
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Yazidi refugee: IS took women 'for themselves'

In a Human Rights Watch report, members of Iraq's Yazidi minority speak about the atrocities they suffered under Islamic State militants.

The Islamic State group has made a fresh pitch to followers to carry out spontaneous "lone wolf" attacks against Australians and citizens of other "crusader nations".

In the latest edition of its flagship magazine, Dabiq, the militant group urges supporters to get out of their houses and attack without hesitation "infidels" from countries supporting the military campaign in Iraq.

The Islamic State has encouraged supporters to carry out "lone wolf" style attacks against citizens from countries participating in the Iraq military campaign. Photo: AP

Most significantly, it tells would-be jihadists to keep their plots small and their strategies simple, involving as few people as possible.

"At this point of the crusade against the Islamic State, it is very important that attacks take place in every country that has entered into the alliance against the Islamic State, especially the US, UK, France, Australia and Germany," it states.

"The citizens of crusader nations should be targeted wherever they can be found."

The latest call-to-arms – which follows a similar but more general call three weeks ago by the group's spokesman Abu Muhammad al Adnani - underscores the extent to which Islamic State is using a scattergun approach to whip supporters into action, rather than relying on complex and large-scale plots.

Such a strategy fits closely with what Australian Federal Police Commissioner Andrew Colvin recently called "a police officer's worst nightmare" in which low-tech plots could spring up with very little warning.

The latest urging, in the fourth edition of Dabiq magazine – one of the Islamic State's main propaganda vehicles – stresses that attackers should not over-think and over-plan, risking "analysis paralysis".

It says a jihadi should not "abandon every operation only because his  … 'perfectionism' pushes him towards an operation that supposedly can never fail – one that only exists theoretically on paper".

Rather he "should be pleased to meet his Lord even if with just one dead kafir's (infidel's) name written in his scroll of deeds …"

It continues: "Every Muslim should get out of his house, find a crusader and kill him … Secrecy should be followed when planning and executing any attack. The smaller the numbers of those involved and the less the discussion beforehand, the more likely it will be carried out without problems.

"One should not complicate the attacks by involving other parties, purchasing complex materials, or communicating with weak-hearted individuals."

Andrew Zammit, a researcher with Monash University's Terrorism Research Centre, said that unlike during the bin Laden-era of terrorism, jihadists were increasingly encouraged by high-level leaders to act on their own - an approach that Islamic State, also known as ISIL, was embracing.

"Bin Laden didn't want footsoldiers attacking at their own initiative, using whatever methods they liked," he said.

"Documents captured in the Abbottabad compound found that he looked down on the do-it-yourself attacks promoted by (al-Qaeda's) Inspire magazine, for example.

"ISIL's leadership has been much more willing to have their sympathisers carry out unconventional and unsophisticated attacks, which could indicate that their external operations capability is quite limited."

Justice Minister Michael Keenan said the Islamic State strategy shown in the magazine was consistent with Australian authorities' concerns about lone wolf jihadists.

"Lone actor operatives, acting on encouragement from the deadly IS cult, reflects the intelligence our law enforcement agencies have already received – that radicalised individuals pose a small but significant threat in Australia," he said.

He said among the government's $630 million counter-terrorism package was $13.4 million for the Australian Federal Police to work with Muslim communities to "identify and intercept" individuals at risk.

Dabiq is named after a town in northern Syria where, according to one reading of ancient Islamic texts, a final battle is to take place between Muslims and "Romans" – which Islamic State today interprets as Christians or Westerners.

ISIS 'Declares War on Christians'
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Islamic State (ISIS) has published a new edition of the propaganda booklet Dabiq, which is again signaling its primary enemy - Christianity. 

On the cover page of the booklet is a photo of the Vatican bearing the ISIS flag, along with the terror group's desires to conquer Rome and "break the cross." 

According to some Islamic traditions, the founder of Islam Mohammed predicted that the occupation of the three cities of Istanbul, Jerusalem and Rome pave the way for the appearance of the Mahdi, the Islamic Messiah. 

The declaration surfaces amid growing concern over the widespread persecution of Christians in the Middle East.

The cause sparked a joint conference between the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem (ICEJ) and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) in Jerusalem earlier this week, and an impassioned speech on regional issues by an Israeli Christian Arab leader to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) last month. 

"Across the Middle East, in the last ten years, 100,000 Christians have been murdered each year. That means that every five minutes a Christian is killed because of his faith," Father Gabriel Nadaf, who has campaigned for Christian Arab rights and for local Christians to support Israel, told the UNHRC in September.

"Those who can escape persecution at the hands of Muslim extremists have fled... Those who remain, exist as second if not third class citizens to their Muslim rulers."

Some 12 million Christians were estimated to have lived in the Middle East in total, according to a July estimate in the Guardian, but that number has been thought to have decreased drastically since ISIS's summer takeover in Iraq.

The Christian community has faced dire persecution in a variety of Middle Eastern countries over the past 2-3 years, with a systemic crackdown on religious dissidents intensifying as the region shifted more toward radical Islam. 

In Egypt, Coptic Christians have been targeted by violence from the Muslim Brotherhood ad Salafi groups. In Syria, Al-Qaeda linked rebels have threatened to kill Christians who do not join the fight against President Bashar Al-Assad.

Iran has persecuted Christians relentlessly as well, recently making headlines for burning the lips of a Christian man caught eating during the Ramadan fast.

Is Your Church Doing Spiritual Formation? Pt. 3
Oct 14th, 2014
CommentaryLighthouse Trails
Categories: Warning;Contemporary Issues

Dallas Willard and the “Fruit” of Spiritual Formation
As we mentioned earlier, Rick Warren identified Dallas Willard as a key player in the Spiritual Formation movement. Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines has become a classic within the movement. The book is filled with references to and quotes by numerous contemplative mystic figures including universalists and interspiritualists (e.g., Nouwen, Merton, Meister Eckhart, George Fox) as well as some names that would fall in the New Age/New Spirituality camp (e.g., Agnes Sanford and M. Scott Peck). And in the bibliography, there is The Cloud of Unknowing, (an ancient primer on contemplative prayer), the Desert Fathers, atonement denier Harry Fosdick, Ignatius of Loyola, Carl Jung, the mystic philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, Evelyn Underhill, and Teresa of Avila. All of these names are in Willard’s book for one reason only—because he resonates with their spiritual viewpoints. And while The Spirit of the Disciplines was released back in the late 80s, Willard maintained his affinity with most of these figures. On his website, many of these names are recommended as viable resources for spiritual growth.

A Lighthouse Trails article titled “The ‘New’ Emerging Theology Breeds Atheism in a Generation of Young People” tells about a young man who after sitting under Dallas Willard for four years at university declared himself an atheist. We asked the question, how could a young man raised in a solid Christian home change his views so drastically? It happened, and it is happening to countless young people who are sitting under the feet of bridgers—people like Dallas Willard who point their protégées to panentheists, universalists, and mystics. Another young man, whom we came across who was looking for answers, found them by turning to Dallas Willard and Richard Foster. Listen to what he found:

I bumped into the classic spiritual disciplines while taking a course called “Dynamics of Christian Life” in my second year of Bible school. One of our textbooks was The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. The course and textbook only touched on the actual disciplines, but the concept captivated me. The following spring, I found a copy of Richard Foster’s spiritual classic Celebration of Discipline in a used bookstore. Opening it and discovering each discipline [including the contemplative] detailed chapter by chapter, I felt a profound sense of joy and excitement. I’d found a real treasure.

Later, this young man became a free-lance writer for the emergent organization, Youth Specialties. Listen to where the spirituality of Dallas Willard and Richard Foster led him:

I built myself a prayer room—a tiny sanctuary in a basement closet filled with books on spiritual disciplines, contemplative prayer, and Christian mysticism. In that space I lit candles, burned incense, hung rosaries, and listened to tapes of Benedictine monks. I meditated for hours on words, images, and sounds. I reached the point of being able to achieve alpha brain patterns, the state in which dreams occur, while still awake and meditating.

For those not familiar with what the “alpha brain patterns” are, here are two descriptions:

Mystical states of consciousness happen in the alpha state . . . The Alpha State also occurs voluntarily during light hypnosis, meditation, biofeedback, day dreaming, hypnogogic and hypnapompic states.

Alpha is the springboard for all psychic and magical workings. It is the heart of witchcraft.

And from Richard Foster himself:

If you feel we live in a purely physical universe, you will view meditation as a good way to obtain a consistent alpha brain wave pattern.

What happened to Perschon and others like him is tragic. And we just cannot fathom the idea that not only will Willard’s influence continue on long after he has been gone from this planet (he died in 2013), but Christian leaders who should understand the dynamics of this movement will continue promoting him.

Is There a “Good” Spiritual Formation?
One of the most common arguments we hear defending Spiritual Formation is that there is a “good” Spiritual Formation done without contemplative prayer. To that we say, we have never yet seen a Spiritual Formation program in a school or a church that doesn’t in some way point people to the contemplative mystics. It might be indirectly, but in every case, if you follow the trail, it will lead you right into the arms of Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, and other contemplative teachers.

Think about this common scenario: A Christian college decides to begin a Spiritual Formation course. The instructor has heard some negative things about Richard Foster, Henri Nouwen, and Brennan Manning, and he figures he will teach the class good Spiritual Formation and leave those teachers completely out. But he’s going to need a textbook. He turns to a respected institution, Dallas Theological Seminary, and finds a book written by Paul Pettit, Professor in Pastoral and Education Ministries. The book is titled Foundations of Spiritual Formation. The instructor who has found this book to use in his own class may never mention Richard Foster or Dallas Willard, but the textbook he is using does. Within the pages of Pettit’s book is Richard Foster, Philip Yancey, N.T. Wright, Dallas Willard, Thomas Aquinas, Lectio Divina, Ayn Rand, Parker Palmer, Eugene Peterson, J.P. Moreland, Klaus Issler, Bruce Dermerst, Jim Burns, Kenneth Boa and Brother Lawrence’s “practicing God’s presence.” You may not have heard of all these names, but they are all associated with the contemplative prayer movement and the emerging church.

Another example of this is Donald Whitney’s book Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. Whitney is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. While his book does not promote contemplative mysticism, he says that Richard Foster has “done much good” in the area of Christian spirituality.

Our point is that even if there is a sincere attempt to teach Spiritual Formation and stay away from the mystical side, we contend that it cannot be successfully accomplished because it will always lead back to the ones who have brought it to the church in the first place.

Spiritual Direction with Spiritual Directors
Basically, the term “spiritual direction” is part of the contemplative prayer movement (i.e., Spiritual Formation movement). Contemplative teachers say that one must have a “spiritual director” to “teach” or guide him or her how to enter into the silence of contemplative prayer. The spiritual director will provide books and resources by contemplative authors and direct his or her student on how to implement these authors’ spiritual practices. Ruth Haley Barton, a contemplative advocate who teaches thousands of pastors and Christian leaders about Spiritual Formation said this about her own spiritual director:

I sought out a spiritual director, someone well versed in the ways of the soul . . . eventually this wise woman said to me . . . “What you need is stillness and silence so that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear.” . . . I decided to accept this invitation to move beyond my addiction to words.

A Christianity Today article, “Got Your Spiritual Director Yet?,” confirms two things, one that spiritual direction is contemplative, and two that it is on its way to becoming an integral part of evangelical Christianity. The article explains that popular Christian author Larry Crabb changed his views. Once a believer in psychology, he switched to spiritual direction. He is just one of many who have done this.

The article credits contemplatives (mystics) such as John Cassian and Ignatius of Loyola for getting spiritual direction into the church and suggests that we can learn more about it from Richard Foster, Eugene Peterson, and Dallas Willard.
In Ruth Haley Barton’s* book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence, Barton admits that panentheist Catholic priest Thomas Keating helped her to understand the contemplative idea of “the true self” (man’s divinity):

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

Merton, Nouwen, and Keating believe that man can attain to his “true self” (perfect self) through mystical practices. This is actually the crux of the Spiritual Formation (i.e., contemplative prayer) movement, that man realizes his divinity through mystical experiences.

Conclusion
Spiritual formation is sweeping quickly throughout Christianity today. It’s no wonder when the majority of Christian leaders have either endorsed the movement or given it a silent pass. For instance, in Chuck Swindoll’s book So You Want to Be Like Christ: 8 Essential Disciplines to Get Your There, Swindoll favorably quotes Richard Foster and Dallas Willard. Swindoll calls Celebration of Discipline a “meaningful work” and Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines “excellent work.”36 In chapter three,”Silence and Solitude,” Swindoll talks about “digging for secrets . . . that will deepen our intimacy with God.” Quoting the contemplative poster-verse Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God,” Swindoll says the verse is a call to the “discipline of silence.” As other contemplative proponents have done, he has taken this verse very much out of context.

Roger Oakland sums it up:

The Spiritual Formation movement . . . teaches people that this is how they can become more intimate with God and truly hear His voice. Even Christian leaders with longstanding reputations of teaching God’s word seem to be succumbing. . . .

We are reconciled to God only through his “death” (the atonement for sin), and we are presented “holy and unblameable and unreproveable” when we belong to Him through rebirth. It has nothing to do with works, rituals, or mystical experiences. It is Christ’s life in the converted believer that transforms him.

What Christians need is not a method or program or ritual or practice  that will supposedly connect them to God. What we need is to be “in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and Christ in us. And He has promised His Spirit “will guide [us] into all truth” (John 16:13).

In Colossians 1:9, the apostle Paul tells the saints that he was praying for them that they “might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” He was praying that they would have discernment (“spiritual understanding”). He said that God, the Father, has made us “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (vs 12) and had “delivered us from the power of darkness [i.e., power of deception]” (vs. 13). But what was the key to having this wisdom and spiritual understanding and being delivered from the power of darkness? Paul tells us in that same chapter. He calls it “the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints” (vs. 26). What is that mystery? Verse 27 says: “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

For those wanting to get involved with the Spiritual Formation movement (i.e., contemplative, spiritual direction), consider the “direction” you will actually be going.

And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. (Colossians 1:21-23)

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. (Colossians 2: 8-10)

NB - This material is available in booklet form from Lighthouse Trails.

Iran Team Heads for 8th Round of Nuke Talks
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Reuters

The Iranian negotiating team has left for a fresh round of talks on Tehran's nuclear energy program scheduled to be held in Vienna, media reported Tuesday.

The team is being led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to Iran's Press TV.

The Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) reported that Zarif is scheduled to meet European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who heads the team from the P5+1 group – the US, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany – Tuesday night to discuss the progress of the nuclear talks and the agenda for the negotiations.

Zarif will then attend a trilateral meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Ashton Wednesday.

This round of talks is the eighth this year between Iran and the P5+1 group.

Tehran and the P5+1 group wrapped up their latest round of nuclear talks in New York last month.

A November 24 deadline for a resolution to the talks is 40 days away.

On Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Tehran and the world powers would "certainly" reach an understanding on Iran's nuclear program.

"On the nuclear issue, the two sides will certainly reach an understanding and this understanding will be based on the win-win principle," Rouhani said.

Iran and the P5+1 countries sealed an interim deal in Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov 23, 2013, for a six-month period. The deal, which took effect on Jan 20, expired July 20 and was extended until November 24.

Hungarian Anti - Semitic Party Makes Gains in Local Elections
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

rally of Jobbik supporters

Reuters

The openly anti-Semitic Jobbik party in Hungary has made gains in local elections won convincingly by Prime Minister Viktor Orban's ruling nationalist Fidesz, the BBC reported on Monday.

Jobbik came second in 18 out of 19 counties, ahead of the Socialists, as in the May European elections, and won control of 14 towns and villages, according to the report

"From 2018, Jobbik will govern this country," Jobbik leader Gabor Vona was quoted as having told cheering supporters in Budapest as the election results came in.

The party is behind much of the anti-Semitism in Hungary in recent years.

 In November of 2012, one of Jobbik’s members released a statement saying that a list should be compiled of all of the Jewish members of government.

He was followed by another Jobbik member who called publicly for the resignation of a fellow MP who claimed to have Israeli citizenship.

This summer, a town mayor linked to Jobbik was filmed ordering the hanging of effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former president Shimon Peres in protest against the Gaza conflict.

In April, Jobbik came in third in the parliamentary elections and took a 20.5 percent share, up from 16.7 percent in the last election in 2010.

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) said that the success of the openly anti-Semitic party in the elections was “a source of grave concern for Europe.”

Half the World's Christians Live in These 11 Nations
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsZero Hedge
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Church

Having previously mapped the world's Muslims, we thought it only politically-correct (and fair-and-balanced) to highlight where the world's Christians make their home...

But what about the Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and others...

Gruesome Photos May Show ISIS using Chemical Weapons on Kurds, Report Says
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsFox News
Categories: Today's Headlines;War

Photos obtained by Middle East Review of International Affairs show Kurdish casualties with the telltale signs of chemical weapons poisoning, says a new report. (MERIA)

Disturbing new photos of ethnic Kurds killed by Islamic State fighters are stoking fears the terrorist army may be using chemical weapons seized from Saddam Hussein’s old arsenals, according to a Middle East watchdog.

The pictures, obtained by the Middle East Review of International Affairs (MERIA), show the bodies of Syrian Kurds who appear to have been gassed by ISIS in the besieged Kobani region this July. That fighting came just one month after Islamic State forces surged through the once-notorious Muthanna compound in Iraq, the massive base where Hussein began producing chemical weapons in the 1980s, which he used to kill thousands of Kurds in Halabja in northern Iraq in 1988.

Jonathan Spyer, editor of the MERIA Journal, told FoxNews.com that experts believe the Kurds were slaughtered in July with what “appears to be a case of mustard gas or some kind of blistering agent.”

“It is fairly concerning that, if the pictures are genuine -- and I have no reason to believe they are not -- then this [use of chemical weapons] is looking clearer and clearer,” Spyer said.

The images of the dead Syrian Kurds show bodies with large areas of white, blistered skin apparently having been burned away. Nisan Ahmed, the Kurdish authority health minister, told Spyer that, “burns and white spots on the bodies of the dead [indicated] the use of chemicals which led to death without any visible wounds or external bleeding.”

Experts believe the chemical weapons were used on July 12, in the village of Avidko, close to Kobani, the Kurdish town on the Turkish border that is now the scene of fierce fighting between Kurds and Islamic State forces.

If Islamic State fighters did indeed gain chemical weapons in Muthanna, it would corroborate a 2007 CIA report that confirmed their presence there. That report was cited when, in June, Islamic State fighters captured the Muthanna facility from Iraqi soldiers and allegedly seized a cache of chemical weapons, including more than 2,500 degraded chemical rockets contaminated with deadly mustard gas.

But State Department officials said weeks later that they did not believe anything there could be used for warfare.

“We do not believe that the complex contains [chemical weapons] materials of military value, and it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to safely move the materials,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

If Islamic State has chemical weapons, they also could have obtained them in Syria, where embattled President Bashar Assad has several factories for making deadly chemical weapons, despite pledging to get rid of them under pressure from the West. The group could even have produced the weapons themselves, using commercially-available ingredients, according to Ryan Mauro, a terrorism analyst for The Clarion Project, a New York research institute.

But Mauro noted that, while use of chemical weapons can have tremendous shock value, conventional weapons are every bit as deadly. 

"The only difference is how the world and international media reacts to chemical weapons with shock and outrage, while stories of greater damage with conventional weapons have become so common that their usage is no longer considered 'news,'" Mauro said.

Evidence from Astronomy
Oct 14th, 2014
CommentaryCreation Facts
Categories: Creation - Evolution

Contrary to popular opinion, planets should not form from the mutual gravitational attraction of

Contrary to popular opinion, planets should not form from the mutual gravitational attraction of particles orbiting the sun. Orbiting particles are much more likely to be scattered or expelled by their gravitational interactions than they are to be pulled together. Experiments have shown that colliding particles almost always fragment rather than stick together. Similar difficulties relate to a moon forming from particles orbiting a planet.

Despite these problems, let us assume that pebble-size to moon-size particles somehow evolved. Growing a planet by many small collisions will produce an almost nonspinning planet, because a spin imparted by impacts will be largely self-canceling. Yet all planets spin, some much more than others.

The more we explore and understand our solar system, the more reasons we have to acknowledge that it did not evolve, but was created.

The above document was taken from In the Beginning, 7th Ed., p.22 and quoted in A Closer Look At The Evidence by Richard & Tina Kleiss.

By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (Psalm 33:6)

California Overdue for Major Earthquake That Could Cripple Water Supply System, New Study Says
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsThe Vancouver Sun
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Alaska Airlines Rolls Out Fingerprint ID for Board Room Members
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsAlaska Dispatch News
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Alaska Airlines Board Room members can now scan their fingerprints instead of showing identification to enter the company's member-only lounge at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Alaska Airlines

'The Haters are Louder, But Millions Worldwide Love Zion'
Oct 14th, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

A group of 20 parliamentarians from Israel Allies Caucuses from 16 countries met in Jerusalem on Monday, to express solidarity with Israel. 

Arutz Sheva spoke to several MPs and dignitaries at the event, which was co-sponsored by the World Jewish Congress and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

“The hundreds of Congressmen and parliamentarians around the world who are active in our network of caucuses represent millions of Israel supporters around the world,” said Rabbi Benny Elon, President of the Israel Allies Foundation. “While the anti-Israel crowd is often more raucous and vocal, it is imperative to know that there are millions of lovers of Zion whose voices can be channeled for political support for the State of Israel.”

"Our challenge is to locate them, to locate their representatives in the parliaments," he added.

Rabbi Elon also connected the conference with the holiday of Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacles), which traditionally saw the convergence of the world's nations in Jerusalem.

"It in written in the words of the Sages that the nations will come to the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem," he explained. "And the nation who does not do it will not be blessed." 

"They want to be blessed," he added. "Believe me, all the sophisticated parliamentarians here believe in the words written in the Book of Genesis: 'I will bless those that bless you, I will curse those that curse you." 

Arutz Sheva also spoke to several parliamentarians at the conference, who noted their solidarity with the Jewish state. 

They came from an array of countries around the world, including the UK, Canada, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Greece, Uruguay, Poland, South Africa, Italy, Suriname, Guatemala, Brazil, and Sweden, as well as from the European Parliament.

"We sure stand alongside whatever faith or religion to recognize that Israel is a beacon of democracy and liberty," David Burrowes, Parliamentary Chair of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, UK, stated. "Therefore, it's important for all moderates who stand for peace to recognize that they should stand alongside Israel as well." 

"There are many people who change their position when they hear the truth," Kenneth Meshow, MP in the Republic of South Africa and President of the African Christian Democratic Party, explained. "Because truth is always stronger and better than lies, and light, as you know, is always stronger than darkness." 

"Because of the success of truth to change people, we are planning next month to bring 25 university students from South Africa to see for themselves that there is no apartheid in Israel, and to see the inventions Israel has made that can help Africa," he added. 

The issue of anti-Semitism was discussed, as well. 

"My personal view is that we still have, throughout the Western world, a problem with anti-Semitism," Ruperto Long, a member of the Ministro Uruguay Tribunal, stated. 

MP Kent Ekeroth, member of the Swedish Parliament, agreed. 

"Anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments are an important problem to me," Ekeroth said. "We have huge immigration, record immigration into Sweden today [. . .] that bring with them hatred against Jews. Even the Jewish communities in Sweden have now officially and publicly said that anti-Semitism is an important problem for them, unfortunately."