Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Surge in Spiritism: Most Americans Believe in Paranormal
Oct 25th, 2017
CommentaryWND.com
Categories: Contemporary Issues

It's official – if you don't believe in ghosts, you're in the minority.

The Chapman University of American Fears 2017 has revealed a surprising number of Americans believe in the supernatural. A solid majority – 55 percent – believe ancient advanced civilizations such as Atlantis once existed, and more than 50 percent also believe places can be haunted by spirits.

More than a third of Americans also believe aliens have visited and a quarter think some people are capable of telekinesis, or moving objects by the power of their minds.

The survey found certain types of people are more likely to hold such beliefs – especially unmarried women who claim to be religious and politically conservative but do not often attend formal religious services. Residents of the West Coast were also reportedly more likely to believe in the paranormal.

Pastor Carl Gallups, author of the end-times examination "When The Lion Roars,"suggests there is something real behind how many Americans now report belief in the paranormal.

"I believe the relatively new all-encompassing media environment and the rapidly changing culture have contributed to the growth in reported ‘haunting' experiences and other dark spiritual encounters," he said. "All of this is also supplying a greater stage for the demonic realm, which is very real and biblically prophesied. The Bible is clear that in the age just before the return of Christ that the world would experience a literal demonic outpouring. The Scriptures declare that this coming spiritual deluge will eventually bring about a desperate state of apostasy in the church, a diabolical delusion among the nations, and a spirit of abject lawlessness that will sweep the planet. We are at least in the beginning stages of all three of those prophesied conditions – and maybe further down the road than just the ‘beginning.'"

Kari Paul reports in Marketwatch "interest in spirituality has been booming in recent years while interest in religion plummets, especially among millennials."

More than half of young adults believe astrology is a science and the "psychic services industry" has been growing for several years.

At the same time, the number of Americans who express belief in Christianity has been in continuous decline over the prior decades.

Karl Payne, author of "Spiritual Warfare," suggests many Americans are rebelling against a culture which dismisses the reality of supernatural experience. At the same time, the relentless cultural attack against Christianity means the hunger for spiritual experience is expressed via interest in the occult rather than a return to traditional faith.

"I think the reason people are so open to ideas regarding hauntings and spirits is because far more people have had paranormal experiences than strict empiricists want to admit or believe," he told WND. "The bottom line is that in today's hedonistic culture, demons or spirits are in, and a worldview embracing spiritism and occultism is growing," Payne told WND. "The media has not created this reality, it has just accelerated its expanse from a fringe curiosity to be ignored or scorned to a reality to be chased and embraced. From the point of view of a Christian theist the results of this hell bent express are paradoxical.

"I am glad that more and more people are shedding the shackles of atheism. God is real and He can be known through the Lord Jesus Christ, the only mediator between God and man. But I am sickened that the cost of the rise of spiritism and supernaturalism is that many people are now dancing with demons, who are also real, and their job is to ultimately destroy their dancing partners in time, regardless of what lie they had to spin to get the date."

Payne argues the decline of Christianity has essentially opened the belief in tenets and ideas which are anti-Christian but nonetheless supernatural.

"People are hardwired for faith," the pastor said. "The variable is the object of their faith. God has been worshiped. Man has been worshiped. And now, there is a growing fascination with embracing spiritism by playing games with demonic spirits. What is coming next?"

Both Gallups and Payne argue the world is moving closer to the end times, and the rise in occultism is preparing the ground for dire events.

"I believe this decent into hell is going to culminate in the open worship of Satan incarnate, who is promised to rule the world for a short period of time before the Lord Jesus Christ returns to destroy him and all of his followers and their works," Payne said. "For the world to be willing to embrace the open, blatant worship of Satan through his antichrist, it makes sense to me that there will have to be a conditioning of people to be willing to make this foolish decision, and think it is normal in the process.

"Maybe inundating young people with walking and talking with the dead is a first or second or third step in conditioning or grooming people to reject the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. It seems almost anything and everything is open for exploration emulation in our public square except loving Jesus Christ or teaching the Bible as the inspired Word of God."

"There can be no doubt that Satan is a decidedly ‘religious' being," Gallups added. "He often operates within the realm of apostate beliefs, where he plies his diabolical trade of rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, while at the same time replacing true faith with the false spirit of religiosity. I am convinced that much of the world's fascination with the occult realm flows from the ubiquitous presence of this last days spirit."

Payne concludes the best way for Christians to combat the rise in occultism and the decline in faith is to teach an uncompromising and sincere version of the faith, rather than something which seeks to be simply inoffensive.

"Promoting a Christian faith that makes blending into culture a virtue rather than a vice represents nothing more than a religious inoculation against genuine Christianity," he said. "When the real thing comes along, a body has already produced antibodies to attack it. If faith is hardwired into our soul, and I think it is, and if Christianity is so demonized that Jesus Christ is rejected, it leaves a vacuum to be filled by something religious that does not involve the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Savior. Demons are very happy to step into that void by representing or misrepresenting Jesus Christ and religious inclinations."

Payne suggested this is also why the survey found those who identify as religious but are not going to church regularly were more likely to believe in the paranormal.

"Demons do not care if a person is religious, they just do not want them to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ," he said. "Theists are far more open to experimenting with the paranormal than naturalists or atheists. It is easier to locate a counterfeit $20 bill than a counterfeit $3 bill.

"I believe there is going to be and increasing interest in the Spiritism, the paranormal and occultism the closer we draw to the return of Jesus Christ for his bride, the dhurch. Again, it represents a cheap imitation of the real thing, satisfying the need, but not the soul."

Reaper - Cyberattack Could Take Down the Entire Internet
Oct 25th, 2017
CommentaryMAC SLAVO/SHFTPLAN.COM
Categories: Contemporary Issues

Last year, the botnet Mirai caused a massive distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in October, knocking popular websites off the internet for millions of users. Right now, the next cyber hurricane is on the way, and it could take down the entire internet.

According to ZD Net, the botnet, dubbed "Reaper" by researchers at Netlab 360, is appearing on the radar of security researchers.  A little over a month ago, the researchers detected the sizable botnet of infected Internet of Things (IoT) devices. 

Now, just weeks later, it's on track to become one of the largest botnets recorded in recent years.

The botnet is said to have ensnared almost two million Internet-connected webcams, security cameras, and digital video recorders (DVRs) in the past month, says Check Point, which also published research, putting its growth at a far faster pace than Mirai.

Mirai was "beautifully simple," said Ken Munro, a consultant at UK-based security firm Pen Test Partners. The malware would scan the internet and infect connected devices with default usernames and passwords, which either weren't or couldn't be changed by the owner. 

The collective bandwidth from the huge number of "zombie devices" that were infected and enslaved was directed at Dyn, an internet infrastructure company, which overloaded the company's systems and prevented millions from accessing popular websites.

Reaper, on the other hand, is much more complex. It's "what Mirai could easily have been," said Munro. It takes a slightly different, more advanced approach by quietly targeting and exploiting known vulnerabilities in devices and injecting its malicious code. 

This effectively hijacks the device for whenever the botnet controller is ready to issue their commands. Each time a device is infected, the device spreads the malware to other vulnerable devices just like a worm.

Mirai was much more aggressive too. It ran each device against a list of known usernames and passwords, but Reaper, by comparison,  is "not very aggressive," said Netlab. By targeting a known vulnerability, the botnet can swiftly take control of a device without raising any alarms.

"One of the reasons Mirai didn't achieve its full potential is that the compromise didn't persist beyond a reboot," said Munro. "Hence, multiple botnet herders were competing for control of the compromised DVRs that comprised it, so the huge botnet it could have been was never built," he added.

Not only has the botnet gained substantially in size in the past month, it's capability is also expanding. New exploits have been added to the botnet's arsenal regularly in recent days, said Netlab. Check Point said 33 devices are vulnerable to attack so far. 

Researchers have also noted that several known, easy-to-exploit vulnerabilities have not been added to the botnet, raising questions about why some exploits have been added and not others.

But what's thrown researchers for a loop is that nobody can figure out what the botnet is for.

While the Mirai botnet was a point-and-shoot botnet that could be used to hose systems with vast amounts of bandwidth, Reaper can be used to run complex attack scripts on infected devices. 

Reaper's command and control infrastructure is also growing in size, accommodating more infected devices by the day. Netlab said 10,000 bots were under the wing of just one command and control server.

So far, there haven't been any signs of DDoS attacks yet. The botnet creator ("it appears that one group or individual has control of most of it," said Munro), is focusing on building the botnet's size. As it stands, Reaper's size today could be capable of "creating significantly more DDoS traffic than Mirai," said Munro. -ZD Net

A breakdown of the Reaper botnet shows that the malware that infects devices allows the botnet owner to remotely execute code on each device, said Alan Woodward, a professor at the University of Surrey. 

But because each device has such little individual computational power, the code running on each device would have to be harnessed collectively for a larger, coordinated computing task, he said. That could be anything from a DDoS on an internet target, to a much larger kind of attack.

"The aggregation of large numbers of the same Internet of Things (IoT) device leads to systemic issues," said Munro. "When it's one device affecting one home, it's irritating for the consumer, but when it's a million devices, deeper problems arise. 

For example, any IoT device that switches a lot of electrical power gives rise to potential to affect the electricity grid. Whether it's a smart kettle, a smart thermostat switching your air conditioning or solar panels -- all switch power," he said. 

"Trigger a million devices that switch 3kW concurrently and the power grid fails."

Researchers keep expecting the botnet to pounce, but it hasn't yet. What happens next is anybody's guess.

Let the Headlines Speak
Oct 25th, 2017
Daily NewsFrom the Internet
Categories: Today's Headlines

In Unusual Letter Kim Jong Un Announces N. Korea “Fully Nuclear”
In a peculiar letter to the Australian Foreign Minister, North Korean despot Kim Jong Un stated that his country is ““fully-fledged nuclear power”. In an extraordinary manner, the letter was sent via North Korea’s embassy in Jakarta to Australia’s Indonesian embassy. Dated September 28, the letter appears to have been distributed about a week after Trump’s address to the United Nations General Assembly, when he said “the United States has great strength and patience, but if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea.”

Iran Sentences Alleged Mossad Agent to Death For Nuclear Scientist Assassinations
An Iranian man was convicted in Tehran on Tuesday of providing information to the Mossad, the Israeli spy agency, which was used to assassinate several people connected to the Iranian nuclear weapons program. The man convicted of helping the Israelis was sentenced to death.

WATCH: 1,000 new precision missiles to boost IDF’s offensive capabilities 
Defense giant Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has been awarded a contract with the IDF to rapidly produce more than a thousand Spike LR2, fifth-generation electro-optical, precision-guided missiles, the company announced on Tuesday. “This substantial production order… for the IDF will kick-start the Spike LR2 missile production earlier than expected,” read the statement, adding that “the IDF and future customers will be assured technical maturity, low risk and readiness for operation.”

Kurds offer to suspend independence vote, seek talks with Baghdad
Kurdish authorities in Iraq offered on Wednesday to put an independence drive on hold, stepping up efforts to resolve a crisis in relations with Baghdad via dialogue rather than military means. But a Iraqi military spokesman suggested an offensive — launched to wrest back territory after Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence in a disputed referendum in September — would continue regardless.

Syria: Russia vetoes extension of chemical weapons inquiry
Russia has vetoed a UN Security Council resolution extending the mandate of the only official mission investigating the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) was set up in 2015 to identify perpetrators of chemical attacks. It is due to report later this week on a deadly nerve agent attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April.

Brazil’s Chapada dos Veadeiros park ravaged by fire
A fire in a national park in the state of Goias in central Brazil has destroyed almost a quarter of the protected area. The park’s director told BBC Brasil [in Portuguese] he suspected arson was the cause of the fire. Chapada dos Veadeiros national park is a Unesco World Heritage site and famous for its biodiversity. About 54,000 hectares (130,000 acres) have been razed by the fire so far, park officials said.

Crown prince says Saudis want return to moderate Islam
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has said the return of “moderate Islam” is key to his plans to modernise the Gulf kingdom. He told reporters that 70% of the Saudi population was under 30 and that they wanted a “life in which our religion translates to tolerance”. The prince vowed to “eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon”.

Maryland development under fire after selling homes only to Muslims
Dueling legal complaints and allegations of Islamophobia have marred an unfinished retirement community in Maryland after homes were sold only to Muslims. Planners say interest in the River Run development was strong before stalled county permits halted construction. Some elected officials and residents complained that the community violated fair-housing laws.

Out of the Broom Closet: DC Witches in Their Own Words
To celebrate Samhain, a Wiccan festival that falls on the evening of Oct. 31, Washington, D.C. resident Elizabeth Stephens usually prepares a pot of jambalaya to honor her late grandmother and a plate of roast beef in memory of her parents. She marks the festival with witches and fellow Wiccans, who offer their own dishes as a part of the day’s feast. The table they set becomes patterned with platters that were the favorites of family members and friends.

US study finds rise in human glyphosate levels
Levels of glyphosate, a controversial chemical found in herbicides, markedly increased in the bodies of a sample population over two decades…The increase dated from the introduction of genetically-modified glyphosate-tolerant crops in the United States in 1994. The findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) came as the European Commission proposed on Tuesday to renew the license for glyphosate for a shorter than usual five to seven years.

“It’s A Huge Story”: China Launching “Petroyuan” In Two Months
“…the yuan-based oil contract will be a ‘wake up call’ for investors …besides serving as a hedging tool for Chinese companies, the contract will aid a broader Chinese government agenda of increasing the use of the yuan in trade settlement…it’s a ‘huge story’…”

Why the Israeli Air Force Destroys Its Enemies in Battle
Instead of pursuing its own fighters, Israel has lately preferred to extensively modify the aircraft it buys from the United States. Both planes have increased range and improved avionics, enabling the IDF to fight effectively at great distance from its bases. Since the 1960s, the air arm of the Israel Defense Forces (colloquially the IAF) has played a central role in the country’s defense.

Colin Kaepernick lands million-dollar book deal
Colin Kaepernick has inked a book deal worth just over $1 million with Random House imprint One World, Page Six has exclusively learned. One World’s headed by book world superstar Chris Jackson, who also publishes Jay-Z and Ta-Nehisi Coates. He launched One World last year.

Geo-Engineers Want More Chemtrails to Save the Coral
Researchers are openly calling for releasing sulphate aerosols in the sky to literally dim the sun in an attempt to stop coral bleaching.

US Spy Chiefs Implore Congress to ‘Reauthorize’ Mass Surveillance of Internet Users
US intelligence officials are fighting to renew the controversial spying program which allows agencies to conduct bulk surveillance on internet users.

Churches merge, close: ‘We no longer live in Christendom. We really have to accept that it’s a thing of the past’
…The merger would be the latest example of an increasingly common phenomenon: faith leaders closing or consolidating houses of worship as a way of adjusting to a culture that has grown less hospitable to their mission.

FBI, DHS Issue Joint Cyberalert, Warning of Attacks on Infrastructure
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued a joint alert, warning companies of the persistent threat of cyberattacks in critical infrastructure sectors, including nuclear, water and aviation.

1.5 million Off Food Stamps Since Trump Took Office
…The enrollment in the food stamp program dropped to 41,203,721 people for a decrease of 1,487,642 since Trump was sworn in. the website reported. The biggest decrease was recorded in March-April with over 500,000 people dropping off the rolls.

Mueller’s Special Investigation is Illegal – Rosenstein Did Not Have Right to Set Up Without Preliminary Investigation First
…Obviously, all of this is very corrupt – the phony special investigation of President Trump, the appointment of Mueller by Rosenstein, the FBI investigation in 2009 that was hidden from Congress, the press and all Americans which involved with real collusion with Russia by the Obama Administration and the Clintons.

“It’s Out There” Wikileaks Shows Clintons Knew Uranium One Was Major Scandal in 2015
Hillary Clinton likes to laugh off the Uranium One scandal as a ‘debunked’ right-wing conspiracy, however; internal emails show the Clinton camp was panicking as the conservative media revealed the dirty details of pay-to-play.

EPA ‘Sue And Settle’ Cost $70 Billion In New Regulations
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt’s decision to curb a common Obama-era legal practice could keep billions of dollars worth of regulations off the books, according to a new report.

John Kerry: Bible Says U.S. Must Protect Muslim Countries From Global Warming
If John Kerry really read his bible, he would clearly see that the U.S needs to stand with Israel…

Resistance Leader Sneak Attack ALERT
The anti-American ex-president, who will continue to antagonize and haunt Americans during his natural lifetime and will NEVER go away; his hand-picked protégé who lost last November’s election but acts as though she’s the current president anyway, have managed to insert themselves into the underpinnings of the entire electoral process. Self-crowned ‘Resistance Leader’ Barack Hussein Obama has discovered a workable loophole to take the Democrat Party out of exile back into power.

Trump Admin Expected to Kill Massive Landmark Boeing Plane Sale to Iran Approved Under Obama
The Trump administration is coming under increased pressure from Congress to kill a landmark deal between Boeing and an Iranian airline known for engaging in terrorism over concerns the Western airline company would enable Tehran’s transfer of militant fighters across the region, according to multiple sources, who told the Washington Free Beacon the administration is likely to nix the multi-billion dollar deal.

Germany: Full Censorship Now Official
Oct 25th, 2017
CommentaryJUDITH BERGMAN/GATESTONE INSTITUTE
Categories: Contemporary Issues

A new German law introducing state censorship on social media platforms came into effect on October 1, 2017. The new law requires social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to censor their users on behalf of the German state. 

Social media companies are obliged to delete or block any online "criminal offenses" such as libel, slander, defamation or incitement, within 24 hours of receipt of a user complaint -- regardless of whether or the content is accurate or not. Social media companies receive seven days for more complicated cases. 

If they fail to do so, the German government can fine them up to 50 million euros for failing to comply with the law.

This state censorship makes free speech subject to the arbitrary decisions of corporate entities that are likely to censor more than absolutely necessary, rather than risk a crushing fine. 

When employees of social media companies are appointed as the state's private thought police and given the power to shape the form of current political and cultural discourse by deciding who shall be allowed to speak and what to say, and who shall be shut down, free speech becomes nothing more than a fairy tale. Or is that perhaps the point?

Meanwhile, the district court in Munich recently gave a German journalist, Michael Stürzenberger, a six-month suspended jail sentence for posting on his Facebook page a historical photo of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, shaking the hand of a senior Nazi official in Berlin in 1941. 

The prosecution accused Stürzenberger of "inciting hatred towards Islam" and "denigrating Islam" by publishing the photograph. The court found Stürzenberger guilty of "disseminating the propaganda of anti-constitutional organizations". While the mutual admiration that once existed between al-Husseini and German Nazis is an undisputed historical fact, now evidently history is being rewritten by German courts. Stürzenberger has appealed the verdict.

Germany has made no secret of its desire to see its new law copied by the rest of the EU, which already has a similar code of conduct for social media giants. The EU Justice Commissioner, Vera Jourova, recently said she might be willing to legislate in the future if the voluntary code of conduct does not produce the desired results. 

She said, however, that the voluntary code was working "relatively" well, with Facebook removing 66.5% of the material they had been notified was "hateful" between December and May this year. Twitter removed 37.4%, and YouTube took action on 66% of the notifications from users.

While purportedly concerned about online "hate speech," one EU organization, the EU Parliament, had no qualms about letting its premises be used to host a convicted Arab terrorist, Leila Khaled, from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) at a conference about "The Role of Women in the Palestinian Popular Struggle" in September. (The EU, the US, Canada, and Australia, have all designated the PFLP a terrorist organization). 

The conference was organized by, among others, the Spanish delegation of Izquierda Unida (United Left) as part of the European United Left/Nordic Green Left bloc in the European Parliament.

In the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May also said that she will tell internet firms to tackle extremist content:

"Industry needs to go further and faster in automating the detection and removal of terrorist content online... ultimately it is not just the terrorists themselves who we need to defeat. It is the extremist ideologies that fuel them. It is the ideologies that preach hatred, sow division and undermine our common humanity. We must be far more robust in identifying these ideologies and defeating them -- across all parts of our societies."

Prime Minister May keeps insisting that "these ideologies" are spread "across all parts of our societies" when in reality, virtually all terrorism is Islamic. Meanwhile, her own Home Secretary, Amber Rudd, has refused to ban the political wing of Hezbollah. 

Hezbollah's hate speech, apparently, is perfectly acceptable to the British authorities. So is that of South African Muslim cleric and hate preacher Ebrahim Bham, who was once an interpreter to the Taliban's head legal advisor. He was allowed to enter the UK to speak in the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, a government building, at the "Palestine Expo" a large Jew-hate event in London in July. 

Bham is known for quoting Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels and saying that all Jews and Christians are "agents of Satan". Meanwhile, a scholar such as Robert Spencer is banned from entering the UK, supposedly on the grounds that what he reports -- accurately -- is "Islamophobic".

The British Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) also recently stated that online "hate crimes" will be prosecuted "with the same robust and proactive approach used with offline offending". The decision to treat online offenses in the same way as offline offenses is expected to increase hate crime prosecutions, already at the highest recorded level ever. Prosecutors completed 15,442 hate crime cases in 2015-16.

Jews in Britain, who have experienced a dramatic increase in anti-Semitism over the past three years, are frequently on the receiving end of hate crimes. Nevertheless, their cases constitute less than a fraction of the statistics. In 2016/17, the CPS prosecuted 14,480 hate crimes. According to the Campaign Against Antisemitism:

"we have yet to see a single year in which more than a couple of dozen anti-Semitic hate crimes were prosecuted. So far in 2017, we are aware of... 21 prosecutions, in 2016 there were 20, and in 2015 there were just 12. So serious are the failures by the CPS to take action that we have had to privately prosecute alleged anti-Semites ourselves and challenge the CPS through judicial review, the first of which we won in March. 

Last year only 1.9% of hate crime against Jews was prosecuted, signaling to police forces that their effort in investigating hate crimes against Jews might be wasted, and sending the strong message to antiSemites that they need not fear the law... Each year since 2014 has been a record-breaking year for anti-Semitic crime: between 2014 and 2016, anti-Semitic crime surged by 45%".

Almost one in three British Jews have apparently considered leaving Britain due to anti-Semitism in the past two years.

British authorities seem far more concerned with "Islamophobia" than with the increase in hate crimes against Jews. In fact, the police has teamed up with Transport for London authorities to encourage people to report hate crimes during "National Hate Crime Awareness Week", which runs from October 14-21. 

Transport for London and the Metropolitan Police will hold more than 200 community events to "reassure communities that London's public transport system is safe for everyone". The events are specifically targeted at Muslims; officers have visited the East London Mosque to encourage reporting hate crimes.

Last year, London mayor Sadiq Khan's Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) announced it was spending £1,730,726 of taxpayer money policing speech online after applying for a grant from the Home Office. 

Meanwhile, Khan said that he does not have the funds to monitor the 200 jihadists estimated to be in London, out of the 400 jihadists who have so far returned to the capital from Syria and Iraq. (He also implicitly admitted that he does not know the whereabouts of the jihadists who have returned). When asked by the journalist Piers Morgan why the mayor could not have them monitored, Khan answered:

"Because the Met Police budget, roughly speaking, 15 percent, 20 percent is funded by me, the mayor. The rest comes from central government. If the Met Police is being shrunk and reduced, they've got to prioritize and use their resources in a sensible, savvy way."

When Morgan asked what could possibly be a bigger priority than, "people coming back from a Syrian battlefield with intent to harm British citizens", Khan did not answer. Perhaps because it is hard to admit in public that fighting "Islamophobia" is now a higher priority than fighting terrorism?

Fatah Admits Its True Goals - - But the Media Won't Retweet
Oct 25th, 2017
CommentarySEAN DURNS/ALGEMEINER.COM
Categories: The Nation Of Israel

Palestinian officials and groups that are often deemed to be "moderates," have once again been very clear about their desire to destroy Israel and forswear peace. But many in the media won't report on it.  

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) -- an umbrella organization for Palestinian groups headed by Palestinian Authority (PA) President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas -- recently tweeted: "Our goal is the end of Israel. ... We don't want peace. We want war and victory."

The tweet, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed out, was inspired by a quote from Yasser Arafat, Abbas' predecessor.

The tweet was posted -- and then quickly deleted -- by the PLO's mission in Columbia. As of this writing, not a single major US news outlet has reported on the  tweet.

The PLO, established in 1964, was a US-designated terrorist group until after the Madrid Conference in the early 1990s. 

As the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) noted in a February 2016 Algemeiner op-ed, Arafat's decision to side with Saddam Hussein in the first US-Iraq War resulted in a loss of support from his Arab donors. This loss of crucial funds, coupled with the fall of its patron -- the USSR -- put Arafat and the PLO in a corner.

In response, the PLO agreed to the Oslo Accords, which created the PA, and allowed for Palestinian leaders to come to the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) and Gaza.

In a September 9, 1993 pledge, Arafat promised that the PLO would cease all violence and terrorism. The Palestinian leader also swore, in a September 13 Declaration of Principles signed in Washington DC, to resolve all outstanding issues in bilateral negotiations with Israel. In exchange, the PA was both created and received support -- financial and otherwise -- from the US and European donors.

However, the PA -- both under Arafat and Abbas -- has repeatedly violated these promises. And the recent PLO tweet is but one in a string of limitless examples.

For example, in a September 16, 2017, interview on PA's Alfalstiniah TV, Fatah official Salwa Hudaib said: "I say, on my own behalf and on behalf of the Fatah movement, that we are not bound by the Oslo accords, because these accords no longer exist on the ground."

During the interview, which was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Hudaib blamed Israel for the lack of peace and a Palestinian state -- omitting the numerous occasions in which the Palestinian leadership has rejected US and Israeli offers for statehood in exchange for peace with the Jewish state.

In February 2016, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki vowed, "We will never go back and sit again in a direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations." His comments, along with the PA's payments to terrorists, incitement to anti-Jewish violence, and persistent efforts to internationalize the conflict, all violate Oslo.

The media, however, consistently refuses to detail the track record of Palestinian terrorism, murder, incitement and rejectionism. Although the AFP detailed al-Maliki's 2016 statement, for example, many other news outlets -- including The Washington Post and USA Today, failed to report them.

In another example, Israeli-Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh highlighted a recent statement by Abbas' deputy, Mahmoud al-Aloul, who said that Fatah doesn't recognize Israel -- a direct violation of the Oslo accords.

As CAMERA has frequently pointed out, al-Aloul is an unrepentant terrorist, also known as Abu Jihad. His February 2017 appointment to be Abbas' number two was similarly ignored by many in the Western press.

Through their comments and actions, prominent Palestinian officials are violating Oslo on a daily basis -- and blatantly calling for the destruction of Israel. And the media can't be troubled to report on it.

Any Other Gospel is Another Gospel
Oct 25th, 2017
CommentaryDr. Henry Morris
Categories: Apostasy

Any other gospel is another gospel and is not the true gospel. Without the creation, the gospel has no foundation; without the promised consummation, it offers no hope; without the cross and the empty tomb, it has no saving power.