Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Will Rick Warren Play a Role in Persuading Some Calvary Chapel Pastors to Follow His Lead Towards
Nov 1st, 2014
CommentaryRoger Oakland Understand the Times, International
Categories: One World Church;Apostasy

On November 17-19, 2014, an interreligious conference was hosted at the Vatican to discuss the sanctity of marriage under the definition that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman. Beside numerous representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, the conference was attended and addressed by members of the Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Mormon faiths. Also, well-known Christian evangelical leaders from the United States—Pastor Rick Warren and Russel Moore—played a major role and were in attendance.

Warren’s comments documented by the proceeding video clip are clear and require no explanation.

The purpose of posting Rick Warren’s video statement is to appeal to Calvary Chapel pastors who have been persuaded by the new leadership at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa that Warren’s ecumenical direction is the “new” and enlightened pathway that Calvary Chapels of the future must choose in order to become relevant for the postmodern era that has reformed sound biblical teaching over the past decade. This is also an appeal to all evangelical pastors who have brought the Purpose Driven movement into their churches.

Are there those who are still willing to stand in the gap? Are there those who are still willing to contend earnestly for the faith? We are living in the last days! May God speak to hearts to do what is right.

Further, this proclamation by Rick Warren is very similar to some of the ideas being presented by the “New Calvary Movement” promoted by Brian Brodersen and his cohorts.

This new direction is in direct opposition to the sound biblical message that Brodersen’s father-in-law Chuck Smith proclaimed presenting the truth based on prophetic warnings found in the Scriptures. These warnings dealt with the very direction the “evangelical ecumenical” movement is now headed, of which Warren and Brodersen now promote. *

If Rick Warren is right in what he says in the video that Catholics worship the same Jesus (the Eucharistic Christ) as the one Christians worship, then the deaths of countless martyrs who resisted the Catholic “doctrines” of the Eucharistic christ were in vain.

I pray that God would use Rick Warren’s own words from this video to expose his agenda and penetrate the hearts of those who have lost biblical discernment and set them back on the right track. Joining together to form an alliance for the cause of good is not the gospel according to the Scriptures. Warren’s endorsement of the Catholic position on praying to Mary and the “saints” who are dead and in the grave cannot and should not be ignored by any genuine Bible believer.

An abomination has occurred by those who have been deceived. And worse yet they are leading others astray. As the prophet Ezekiel proclaimed in his day:

"There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" (Ezekiel 22: 25-30).

The Selfie Generation
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily Newswayoflife.org
Categories: Warning

 Not many would think of reality TV star Kim Kardashian in connection with Bible prophecy, but her new book of 2,000 selfies is a glaring sign of the times. It is appropriately entitled Selfish. The first characteristic of the end-time apostasy described in 2 Timothy 3 is that "men shall be lovers of their own selves" (2 Tim. 3:1-2). There has never been a better description of the entertainment-driven pop culture that has captivated the world through modern communications technology. The Time magazine "Person of the Year" for 2006 was "YOU," and the magazine cover featured a sheet of Mylar to reflect the reader's own face. It is the age of my music, my tweets, my fashion, my generation, my attitude, my photo. Even burger joints tell us to "have it your way." The pop culture is all about me, and it is a dramatic fulfillment of Bible prophecy and a dramatic sign of the end times. ("Selfie" refers to a self portrait, a practice that has gone mainstream in recent years through the proliferation of front-facing cameras on smartphones.)

Rock Music and Insanity (Excerpts)
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily Newsfbns@wayoflife.org.
Categories: Contemporary Issues

It cannot be disputed that a spirit of insanity accompanies rock & roll music more than any other in modern times. 

Since the 1950s, rockers have thumbed their noses at God's holy laws, proclaiming, "I'm free to do what I want, any old time." The reality has been anything but freedom.

Consider the turmoil that envelopes the lives of a large percentage of rock and roll musicians, the countless untimely deaths, the broken marriages, and the mental instability, even pure insanity, that has accompanied this music.

While it is true that the following cases are often associated with drug and alcohol abuse, it is the rock & roll philosophy of "don't let anybody tell you what to do" that is the underlying culprit. 

The following examples are only the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of other members of the blues, jazz, and rock & roll industry have been incarcerated in psychological institutions, undergone psychological counseling, and in other ways demonstrated serious mental imbalance.

G.G. ALLIN was arrested more than 50 times for attempted murder, assault and battery, public lewdness, inciting a riot, indecent exposure, endangering lives, etc. (Pamela Des Barres, Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon, p. 293). He treated his audiences to nudity, assault, defecation, urination, sexual acts with dead animals, eating feces, bashing out his teeth, eating his own flesh, breaking his own bones, setting himself on fire, slicing himself up with broken bottles, knocking himself unconscious, and other insane things. When Allin died in June 1993 at age 36 of a heroin overdose, his brother, Merle, said G.G. would have been disappointed to die that way because he was planning to die on stage and kill many people in the audience at the same time. 

SYD BARRETT, founder of Pink Floyd, consumed endless "hits" of LSD and was turned into a near vegetable. During his last days with the band, he was described as having "completely changed, he just looked like there was nobody home" (Richie Unterberger, Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll, p. 111). During concerts he would merely stand on stage in a catatonic state, "playing one note, or playing nothing at all." He has spent time in a mental ward and lives as a complete recluse. He beat his girlfriend with a mandolin and kept her locked in a room for three days.

GRAHAM BOND, one of the pioneers of jazz-rock in Britain, was often "abusive, cruel, and self-destructive" (Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll, p. 28). He claimed to be the son of Satanist Aleister Crowley. Together with his first wife, Diane Stewart, he formed a band called Holy Magick, named after Crowley's sorcery. He was incarcerated briefly in a mental hospital. A biography by Harry Shapiro, The Mighty Shadow, says Bond's' life was characterized by wild mood swings and obsession with the occult. In May 1974, he committed suicide at age 30 by throwing himself under the wheels of a London underground train at the Finsbury Park Station.  

In the mid-1970s, DAVID BOWIE became a drug-crazed recluse. His life at that time was described in the following terms: "Friends who visited Bowie in Los Angeles reported that he was living in a room with the curtains permanently drawn, a bowl of cocaine prominently displayed on the coffee table. Scattered around the floor were books of occultism and mysticism. On the walls he'd scrawled magic pentagrams as protection against the curses he believed had been uttered against him. So convinced did he become that black magicians were planning to destroy him that he hired a white witch to perform an exorcism involving the burning of blue and white candles and the sprinkling of salt" (Steve Turner, Hungry for Heaven, p. 93). 

The late "Soul Man" JAMES BROWN spent many years storming about in a drug-crazed rage. In the 1980s, for example, he threw his third wife, Adrienne's, fur coats on the lawn and blasted them with a shotgun (Moser, Rock Stars, p. 33). In 1988 Brown was arrested and charged with assault with intent to murder Adrienne, though she later withdrew the assault charge. In September of that year, Brown allegedly threatened a group of people with a shotgun, then led police on a high-speed interstate car chase that resulted in a six-year prison term. He was paroled in 1991 after two years behind bars. In January 1998, he was in a hospital under treatment for addiction to painkillers (Bill Harry, Whatever Happened to, p. 38). Brown was arrested eight times, convicted thrice, and spent a total of five years in jail.

In 1972 RANDY CALIFORNIA (Randolph Wolfe), who was given his name when playing in Jimi Hendrix's band, had a nervous breakdown (Whatever Happened to, p. 221) and tried to commit suicide by jumping off the Waterloo Bridge in London, England (Nick Talevski, Encyclopedia of Rock Obituaries).

In 1977, ALICE COOPER (real name Vince Furnier) committed himself to a psychiatric treatment facility to gain control over his drunkenness. He had sung about insanity and gloried in insane subjects in his music and concerts, and it is not surprising that he ended up in an insane asylum, unable even to write his own name. After three months of therapy, it was determined that he had to put aside the Alice Cooper character. The following is how Furnier described his transformation into the demented Alice Cooper persona portrayed during his rock concerts: "I get all my Alice drag [female clothing] on, and then nobody's allowed in for an hour before I go on stage. That's when I do my transformation into Alice. Nobody knows where he comes from, but he shows up every night in my dressing room" (Alice Cooper, Concert Shots, November 1987, p. 10). He later said, "When I assumed the character I had no idea what I'm gonna do, because it was not me." 

DEF LEPPARD's drummer, Rick Allen, was arrested for grabbing his wife around the neck and dragging her in a violent drunken rage. In an interview with VH1's "Behind the Music," Allen said he has to keep busy days (1998) because otherwise he hears voices that tell him to do bad things. Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark was found comatose in a gutter in 1989 and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. 

Two members of DEPECHE MODE have undergone psychiatric treatment. Andrew Fletcher had a nervous breakdown in 1993, and Dave Gahan attempted suicide and entered a psychiatric ward for a week in 1995. 

NICK DRAKE, influential songwriter and recording artist whose songs have been recorded by Elton John and many others, suffered severe depression much of his life. After the production of his third album in 1972, he became more withdrawn than ever and spent time in a psychiatric facility. He began taking anti-depression medication in 1973, and in November 1974 he committed suicide by an overdose of this drug.

ROCKY ERIKSON of 13th Floor Elevators was incarcerated in the Rusk State Hospital (Texas) for the criminally insane in 1969 at age 22. He spent three years there. "Some years later, interviewed on radio, Erikson claimed to be interested only in horror and the Devil and denied ever having been in the Elevators" (Harry Shapiro, Waiting for the Man, p. 143). In 1982 he proclaimed himself inhabited by a Martian, though he later said he didn't mean it. In 1984 he ceased recording. "He may not have died, but his mind, to most outward appearances, was fried" (Richie Unterberger, Unknown Legends of Rock 'n' Roll, p. 124). 

Insanity has pursued FLEETWOOD MAC guitarists. Peter Green "took LSD and went on a 25-year trip. He was sent to a mental hospital after attacking his manager with a gun. He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic and spent 10 years under psychiatric treatment. He wore white robes and fought to give all the band's money away to charity" (Margaret Moser, Rock Stars Do the Dumbest Things, p. 74). By the end of the 1980s "tabloids were reporting that the former guitar god was sleeping without a roof over his head" (Unknown Legends, p. 121). He also lived with his parents and "was sleeping for up to 20 hours a day" (Whatever Happened to, p. 76). In the 1990s Green returned to playing in a low-key fashion. Fleetwood Mac guitarist Danny Kirwan was admitted to a psychiatric institution in 1972 after bashing his head against the wall, smashing his guitar, and being unable to perform his music.

By 1984 "periods of deep depression and thoughts of suicide haunted MARVIN GAYE" and continued to do so "for the rest of his life" (Nikki Corvette, Rock 'n' Roll Heaven, p. 57). At one point he locked himself in his apartment with a loaded gun and threatened to kill himself or anyone who entered the room. He had squandered his music fortune and fled from the IRS to Hawaii, where "he lived for a time in a converted bread truck" (Davin Seay, Stairway to Heaven, p. 105). Gaye finally had a complete mental breakdown and moved back to his mother's house. "He stayed in bed all day, frozen with fear, waiting for the Devil. He wanted his mother to sleep by his side every night. Strange people kept coming by, selling him drugs and all kinds of guns. He spent hours sitting against the wall holding a pistol. . . . His mother, Alberta, told David Ritz that Marvin roughed up a couple of women who came to pay him a visit. . . . With the shades always drawn, Marvin snorted coke and watched pornography" (Rock Bottom, p. 116). Marvin Gaye died on April Fools Day, 1984 at age 44. He was shot to death during an argument with his father, with whom he had quarreled since his teenage years. 

Two members of the gangsta rap group GETO GOYS have had psychological problems. Scarface (real name Brad Jordon) is "a suicide-prone manic-depressive who spent two of his teenage years in a mental ward." In May 1991, Bushwick Bill (real name Richard Shaw) talked his 17-year-old girlfriend into shooting him by threatening to kill their child if she didn't. She shot him in his eye, which he lost.

Before his death of a heroin overdose at age 31 in 1995, DWAYNE GOETTEL, of the Canadian punk rock group Skinny Puppy, had "became erratic and self-destructive, sometimes cutting himself up with strings of barbed wire" (Alan Cross, Over the Edge, p. 158).

Drummer JIM GORDON, a member of Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominos and one of the most famous rock session drummers, murdered his 72-year-old mother in June 1983 by hitting her with a hammer and then stabbing her. He was heavily addicted to heroin, cocaine, and alcohol and had heard voices for years. He claimed that the voice of his mother tormented him day and night, and he had threatened to kill her previously. He had checked into psychiatric hospitals 14 times seeking help. He claimed that he killed his mother at the urging of voices that told him how to silence his mother's voice in his head. In 1984 he was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16 years to life in prison. He continued to play drums in prison.

Pioneer rocker BILL HALEY'S records sold 60 million copies during his lifetime, but the money and fame did not save him from insanity. His return to Nashville in 1973 to film Just Rock and Roll Music was a fiasco. He was mean and violent toward his band, breaking furniture, and such things, and he "was run out of Nashville in disgrace" (John Swenson, Bill Haley: The Daddy of Rock and Roll, p. 148). On a European tour in 1979, reports came back that he assaulted fans and disrobed onstage. He became increasingly paranoid, depressed, and psychotic as the years passed. "Police would often find him wandering aimlessly after nightfall, lost on some remote country lane, delirious, incoherent, suffering from amnesia." He moved into the garage, painted the windows black, and installed floodlights outside to ward off imagined enemies. Even to his own children he told wild tales about being in the Marines and being a deputy sheriff, though he had never done those things. Before his death he would visit restaurants and show the waitresses and various customers his driver's license, telling them he was Bill Haley. "He died, out of his mind, in Harlingen, Texas, on February 9, 1981" (Nick Tosches, Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll, p. 108). He was 55 years old. 

On a tour with the Beastie Boys in 1994, H.R. HUDSON of Bad Brains "showed signs of instability, due possibly to anxiety, drugs, or a more serious mental condition" (Roni Sarig, The Secret History of Rock, p. 250). During a performance in Kansas, he smashed the base of a steel microphone stand over a fan's head. The youth sustained severe head injuries and barely survived, and H.R. spent a month in jail for this vicious act.

The strangeness of MICHAEL JACKSON, the King of Pop, is the stuff of legend. Until he had to move out for nonpayment of his debts he lived on a 2700-acre ranch in California, "complete with Ferris wheel, an exotic menagerie, a movie theater, and a security staff of 40 (Eric Barger, From Rock to Rock: The Music of Darkness Exposed, p. 16). For awhile Jackson kept six mannequins in his room; each had a name, and he conversed with them. Through the years, he has changed his facial appearance by surgery to create a sexually ambiguous appearance. He has "had at least six nose jobs, several face lifts, fat suctioned from his cheeks, bone grafted onto his cheekbones, a 'forehead lift' to raise his eyebrows, and several eye jobs" (Moser, Rock Stars Do the Dumbest Things, p. 94). In 1993, Jackson was charged with child molestation, and the case was eventually settled out of court with the payment of a large amount of money. Jackson protests his innocence, but his sister reported that he used to spend the night with young boys in his room (Rolling Stone Encyclopedia, p. 486). 

RICHEY JAMES of the British punk band Manic Street Preachers disappeared in February 1995 at age 26 and is assumed dead. "The alcoholic and anorexic James kept his word and vanished, perhaps affected by Kurt Cobain's suicide" (Penguin Encyclopedia).  It is probable that he jumped off the Severn Bridge into fast-moving currents. His car was found near the bridge. One of James' last songs is about a photographer who killed himself. James had been very sick for a long time. He frequently mutilated himself with knives. "While most people are content to pass the time watching TV or reading a book, Richey would absent-mindedly carve up his arms with a knife" (Alan Cross, Over the Edge: The Revolution and Evolution of New Rock, p. 232). During an interview in May 1991, he carved the words 4REAL in his arm with a razor blade. He would also extinguish burning cigarettes on his skin. He was admitted to the Cardiff Hospital in the summer of 1994 because he feared that he was going insane. 

In the late 1960s, after playing in the rock band Attila, BILLY JOEL attempted suicide and committed himself to a mental hospital for three weeks.

Rocker DANIEL JOHNSON, a cult figure in rock music circles (Kurt Cobain wore a Johnson T-shirt) who has been described as "a manic depressive genius," was suffering severe bouts of depression and "demons of mental illness" by his high school years. He began writing rock songs while in college. By 1986 he followed in the footsteps of his heroes, the Beatles, and began using the powerful hallucinogenic drug LSD. He suffered a complete mental breakdown and had to return home to his parents. By 1990 he believed he was on a mission of world salvation. He "became combative with his label and incoherent in concert." He then spent more time in a psychiatric hospital. A biography on the internet says, "The 90's were difficult for Daniel, but will probably be regarded as the years when medical relief was achieved. Modern medications eventually achieved stability." This "stability" is debatable. 

GEORGE JONES spent a few weeks in an Alabama mental hospital because of drug abuse, and it was not his last visit to such institutions (Nicholas Dawidoff, In the Country of Country, p. 196).

There were many evidences of insanity during JOHN LENNON'S final years. The following information is from two biographies: Lennon in America by Geoffrey Giuliano (New York: Cooper Square Press, 2000) and Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon by Rosen, Robert (New York: Softskull Press, 2000). In the early 1970s, Lennon and Yoko underwent psychological therapy at the Primal Institute in California. Dr. Janov testified: "John was simply not functioning. He really needed help" (Giuliano, p. 18). The therapy consisted of giving oneself over to hysterical outbursts in an attempt to purge the psyche. Lennon would scream and wail, weep, and roll on the floor. "John eventually confessed to several dark sexual impulses: he wanted to be spanked or whipped and he was drawn to the notion of having a spiked boot heel driven into him. . . . Later in his life, John gathered together a collection of S&M-inspired manikins, which he kept tucked away in the bowels of the Dakota. These dummies, adorned with whips and chains, also had their hands and feet manacled. John's violent sexual impulses troubled Yoko" (Giuliano, p. 19). Lennon was plagued by nightmares from which he awoke in terror (Giuliano, pp. 83, 137, 142). Lennon was obsessed with his weight and when he found himself overeating he would hide in the master bedroom and force himself to vomit (Giuliano, p. 92). After the couple moved into the Dakota apartments in New York City in 1973, Lennon spent most of the time locked indoors. He referred to himself as Greta Hughes, referring to Greta Garbo and Howard Hughes, famous recluses. "More and more, the increasingly reclusive Lennon began to shun his friends. . . . Lennon's anxieties were rapidly getting the better of him. . . . Everybody's working-class hero was sliding steadily into a morass of hopelessness and solemnity" (Giuliano, pp. 84, 97, 105). He "quietly slipped into a dark hibernation," spending entire days in bed (Giuliano, p. 129). To help him conquer his $700 per day heroin habit, Yoko introduced him to a form of therapy involving self-hypnosis and "past-life regression." He thought he was actually traveling back into his past lives. In one session he discovered that he had been a Neanderthal man. In another, he was involved in the Crusades during the Dark Ages. Lennon was so paranoid that when he visited Hong Kong in 1976, he did not leave his hotel suite for three days. He thought he had multiple personalities, and he would lie down and imagine that his various personalities were in other parts of the room talking to him. "In doing so, Lennon was in such a state of mind that the slightest noise or shadow would terrify him" (Giuliano, p. 122). When he went out into the crowds he would hear "a cacophony of terrible voices in his head" which filled him with terror. When he returned to New York, he became a virtual hermit, "retreating to his room, sleeping his days away, mindlessly standing at the window watching the rain. Once Yoko found him staring off into space groaning that there was no place he could go where he didn't feel abandoned and isolated…" (Giuliano, p. 142). In 1978 Lennon "locked himself into his pristine, white-bricked, white-carpeted Dakota bedroom. Lying on the bed, he chain-smoked Gitane cigarettes and stared blankly at his giant television, while the muted phone at his side was lit by calls he never took. . . . he stayed in a dark room with the curtains drawn…" (Giuliano, pp. 173, 174). By 1979, at age 31, "John Lennon was already an old man haunted by his past and frightened by the future" (Giuliano, p. 177). He swung radically "from snappy impatience to bouts of uncontrolled weeping" and could only sleep with the aid of narcotics. Yoko talked Lennon into visiting their Virginia farm in 1979, but he became so paranoid and shaken from the brief excursion into the public (they rode a train) that when they arrived back at their home in New York he "erupted violently, reducing the apartment to a shambles." The man who is acclaimed as the towering genius behind the Beatles had "all but lost his creative drive and confessed he'd sunk so low he had even become terrified of composing" (Giuliano, p. 130).

As noted, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of other members of the blues, jazz, and rock & roll industry have been incarcerated in psychological institutions, undergone psychological counseling, and in other ways demonstrated serious mental imbalance.

Editors Note.....In spite of the above evidence that rock music is of the devil, many churches have brought rock music into the house of God and are using it to worship God. What kind of blindness and insanity is that? These churches are now a part of the last days apostasy, shun them like the plauge. There is no such thing as Christian rock, its source is the same. To those that are a part of this thing, I say as kindly as I can, wake up!

Report: U.S. to Present Plan for Resumption of Israeli - Palestinian Talks
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

The US administration is planning to present a proposal to resume the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians after the mid-term elections for Congress, the Palestinian daily Al-Quds reported over the weekend.

The report came as State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced that a Palestinian delegation would arrive in Washington for high-level talks on ways to move forward with the stalled peace talks and the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip.

The delegation, headed by chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat, is expected to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday.

The two sides are also scheduled to discuss ways of ending the recent upsurge in violence in east Jerusalem, a Palestinian Authority official said.

Let the Headlines Speak
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsFrom the internet
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

Spanish Intelligence Intercepts Plot to Weaponise Ebola
Spanish intelligence has intercepted messages passed between jihadists online discussing the weaponisation of the deadly Ebola virus for use against the West, while a blackmailer in Prague has threatened to unleash the virus unless the Czech Republic pay him one million bitcoin, a volume of online currency worth over £200 million.  

Obama’s Border Policy Fueled Epidemic, Evidence Shows
The deadly EV-D68 enterovirus epidemic, which struck thousands of kids this fall, was likely propelled through America by President Barack Obama’s decision to allow tens of thousands of Central Americans across the Texas border, according to a growing body of genetic and statistical evidence. The evidence includes...multiple strains of the virus, and that it appeared simultaneously in multiple independent locations.  

UK travellers warned of increased global terror threat
British travellers have been warned they could be targeted by terrorists seeking revenge for UK air strikes against Islamic State (IS) militants. The Foreign Office (FCO) has updated its travel advice for all destinations. It urges Britons living or travelling overseas to be "vigilant" because of the threat from those "motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria".  

Rocket launched from Gaza lands in Israel, army confirms
A rocket launched from Gaza on Friday landed in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel, the army said. The IDF had detected a projectile heading toward Israeli territory – the second such incident since Israel and Hamas reached a deal on August 26 to halt seven weeks of fighting. The cease-fire has largely been holding.  

Pentagon: DOD personnel to handle Ebola bodies
A Department of Defense memo confirms DoD personnel – which could include civilians and/or troops – will have direct contact with “exposed remains” of Ebola victims.  

American voters' message to Obama and Iran
Only a Republican-controlled Congress can stop US president from allowing Iran to become first Islamist jihadist state with a nuclear weapon.  

Whatever it does next, the US will be taking Israel on
When tensions between the White House and the government of Israel stem from political-ideological disputes, maintaining a semblance of business-as-usual is still possible. But when things spill over into the personal domain, the style and the insults become personal too.  

Islamic State kills 85 more members of Iraqi tribe
Islamic State militants have executed 85 more members of the Albu Nimr tribe in Iraq in a mass killing campaign launched last week in retaliation for resistance to the group's territorial advances, a tribal leader and security official said on Saturday.  

Second terror attack in as many weeks rattles northern Sinai
Egypt has declared a three-month state of emergency in the northern peninsula, which has seen an uptick in violence since the removal of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi last year.  

Diplomacy: Back to square one on Jordanian-Israeli relations
Despite high hopes, 20 years on, the Jordan-Israel treaty focuses on security cooperation – which had already existed for decades – and the great vision of peace has not materialized.  

Gaza Fires Rocket Which Strikes Southern Israel
Breaking news has just come in from the Israel as a rocket from Gaza was fired at southern Israel. According to articles by both Channel NewsAsia and France 24, the rocket hit the Eshkol area in Southern Israel on Friday, October 31. This is the first rocket to strike the country since September 16, in which both Israel and Palestine agreed to a cease-fire.  

Seattle megachurch dissolves after founder resigns
Two weeks after lead Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll resigned amid questions about his leadership, the Seattle megachurch he founded announced Friday it was dissolving its network of branches across four states. The church said on its website that the best future for its branches would be for them to becoming "autonomous self-governed entities."  

World War 3: Russia Simulated Attack On Denmark, Could Be Preparing European Invasion
Russia continues to stoke fears of World War 3 after a sharp increase in military activity in the North Atlantic and new revelations that the nation simulated an attack on Denmark this summer. The simulated attack took place on the island of Bornholm this summer, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service revealed this week. According to DDIS, Russia sent military jets equipped with live missiles to the island in June, at the same time 9,000 dignitaries were gathered for a political festival.  

Former U.S. Marine, who had been held in Mexican jail for months after arriving at the border from California with guns in his vehicle, was freed on p
former U.S. Marine, who had been held in Mexican jail for months after arriving at the border from California with guns in his vehicle, was freed on psychological grounds on Friday, a Mexican court said. Andrew Tahmooressi, 26, an American veteran of the war in Afghanistan who left the U.S. Marines in 2012, had been held in Mexico since his March 31 arrest by Mexican customs agents at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana.  

Virgin crash sets back space tourism by years: experts
The deadly crash of Virgin Galactic's spacecraft has dealt a devastating setback to the cause of space tourism, delaying the first commercial flights to the stars by years, experts said Friday.  

Virgin spacecraft crash kills pilot
The moment the craft exploded was captured in an image shortly after it separated from the carrier aircraft.A pilot was killed and another injured as Virgin Galactic's SpaceShip Two space tourism craft crashed in the California desert.The craft was flying a manned test when it experienced what the company described as "a serious anomaly."  

'Smart' television watches you
LG investigates 'spying' Smart TVs LG promises fix for 'spying' TVs A review of the best commentary on and around the world... Today's must-read "The FBI will not have to bug your living room; you will do it yourself." So says Michael Price of Salon.com, the nervous new owner of a "smart" TV - a web-connected telly that recognises his face, listens to his voice, and could send that information (and more, including emails he receives) to a third party."Got that? Don't say personal or sensitive stuff in front of the TV," writes Price.  

Judges for sale?
Citizen's United is back in America's courtrooms. But, this time, the famous US Supreme Court case isn't facing scrutiny, it's deciding who's sitting on the bench in the first place.  

Syria IS: Iraq Peshmerga fighters 'cross into Kobane'
Turkey finally authorised the Iraqi Kurds to cross the border last week. Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have crossed the Turkish border to help defend the Syrian town of Kobane from Islamic State.  

Being safe while isolated
An attempted murder in Jerusalem underscores the danger of Obama’s subversion against Israel.

Kerry, Saeb Erekat to Meet in Washington
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

US Secretary of State John Kerry is slated to meet Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat at the State Department on Monday.

At a press briefing in Washington on Friday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said a Palestinian delegation would arrive at the US capital for high-level talks on ways to move forward with the stalled peace talks and the ongoing crisis in Gaza.

The meeting will also focus on the uptick in violence in Jerusalem, following rising tensions and a number of deaths in the city, which has for weeks been the scene of daily clashes between security forces and Palestinians.

Kerry to Meet Chief PA Negotiator
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsArutz Sheva
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

John Kerry with PA Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat

Flash 90

Amid tense ties between Israel and the United States, Secretary of State John Kerry will meet the chief Palestinian Authority (PA) negotiator Monday to discuss how to advance the frozen peace process, AFP reported on Friday.

Kerry will welcome a Palestinian Arab delegation, led by Saeb Erekat, to the State Department for discussions on "the way forward" in a Middle East peace deal and the situation in the Gaza Strip, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Kerry would also discuss "lowering tensions in Jerusalem" with the Palestinian team, Psaki said, according to AFP.

Since being appointed to his position, Kerry has tried to lure Israel and the PA back to the negotiating table in pursuit of a peace agreement.

Kerry was able to force the sides into a six-month negotiation period, but the PA torpedoed those talks by requesting to join 15 international agencies in breach of the conditions of the negotiations.

Lately, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been promoting a unilateral move at the United Nations, as he plans to ask the Security Council to set a timetable to “end the Israeli occupation” and force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria.

Fatah leader Nabil Shaath recently threatened Israel with a “political war” if there is a negative response to Abbas’s steps at the United Nations. Abbas himself has threatened to cut ties with Israel if his latest unilateral move at the UN fails.

The announcement of Kerry’s meeting with the PA team comes amid tensions between Jerusalem and Washington over Israeli building in Jerusalem, which the U.S. has condemned.

This week, The Atlantic quoted anonymous officials in the Obama administration who launched an unprecedented attack on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and called him - among other things - “chickens**t” and “Aspergery”.

The comments caused an uproar and Kerry on Friday phoned Netanyahu to apologize.

Europe Won't Recognize Vote in Eastern Ukraine, Merkel Tells Putin
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone that Sunday's planned elections in eastern Ukraine were illegitimate and would not be recognized by European leaders, a Berlin government spokesman said on Friday.

Merkel and Putin held a joint telephone conversation with French President Francois Hollande and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Merkel's spokesman Georg Streiter said at a government news conference.

He said in the call there were diverging opinions on Sunday's "so-called elections" in the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

"Merkel and Hollande underlined that there can only be a ballot in line with Ukrainian law," he said, adding that the vote would violate an agreement endorsed by Russia and further complicate efforts to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

"The German government will not recognize these illegitimate elections," Merkel's spokesman said. European leaders were united on this issue and had agreed on this at a summit last week in Brussels.

Over 3,700 people have been killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow rebels seek union with Russia. A ceasefire has been in force since September but there have been isolated flareups of fighting.

Army Officer Takes Charge in Burkina Faso, Ousting General
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: Today's Headlines

OUAGADOUGOU - An officer in Burkina Faso's presidential guard seized power on Saturday promising to lead the West African country to elections after the resignation of longtime President Blaise Compaore, in an apparent putsch against the military chief of staff.

Compaore stepped down on Friday after two days of mass protests against his attempts to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule. At least three people were killed after protesters stormed the parliament building and set it on fire.

Army chief of staff General Honore Traore, a Compaore loyalist, had quickly announced on Friday he would take over the presidency on a transitional basis, but this was rejected by the demonstrators and a number of junior officers.

After reports of heavy gunfire near the presidential palace early on Saturday, Lieutenant Colonel Issaac Zida, the operational commander of the elite presidential guard, announced on radio that he was taking power.

"I assume from today the responsibilities of head of this transition and head of state," Zida said, dressed in military fatigues, in the studio of BF1 television.

"I salute the memory of the martyrs of this uprising and bow to the sacrifices made by our people."

The unfolding crisis was being closely watched by the United States and former colonial power France, which were close military allies of Compaore. Under his rule, Burkina Faso became a key ally in Western operations against al-Qaida-linked groups in West Africa.

The events will also be carefully followed by other governments in West and Central Africa, where long-serving leaders are reaching the end of their constitutional terms in several countries, including Benin, Congo Republic and Democratic Republic of Congo.

Al - Qaida Group Seizes Bastion of Western-backed Rebels in Syria's Idlib Region
Nov 1st, 2014
Daily NewsThe Jerusalem Post
Categories: ;Contemporary Issues

BEIRUT - Islamist militants affiliated to al Qaeda seized the last remaining stronghold of Western-backed rebels in Syria's northwest province of Idlib on Saturday after days of fighting, rebels and a monitoring group said.

Backed by other hardline Islamist groups, the Nusra Front are waging a major military campaign against the Syria Revolutionaries' Front led by Jamal Maarouf, a key figure in the armed opposition to President Bashar Assad, after accusing him of being corrupt and working for the West against them.

The Nusra Front is al-Qaida's official affiliate in the Syrian civil war and was once one of the strongest insurgent groups fighting to topple Assad. But it has been overshadowed by the Islamic State, which has seized swathes of northern and eastern Syria and is now being targeted by US-led air strikes

In the past few days, the Nusra Front captured several villages in the Jabal al-Zawiya region of Idlib province and on Saturday it entered the village of Deir Sonbol, the stronghold of the Revolutionaries' Front, forcing Maarouf to pull out.

"Dozens of his fighters defected and joined Nusra, that is why the group won," Rami Abdulrahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters.

A Nusra fighter confirmed the report, saying: "They left him because they knew he was wrong and delusional."

"He left his fighters in the battle and pulled out. Last night, we heard them on the radio shouting 'Abu Khaled (Maarouf) escaped, Abu Khaled escaped'," he added.