PROPHECY UPDATE
News and Information for the End Times
May 17, 2010
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LIVING ON BORROWED TIME
A morally and spiritually bankrupt society …A worldwide economic meltdown…A planet racked with increasingly intense manmade and natural disasters…Are we the Final Generation?
Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:42-44
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Israel plays war-game assuming Iran has nuclear bomb - By Dan Williams – www.alertnet.org
HERZLIYA, Israel, May 17 (Reuters) - A nuclear-armed Iran would blunt Israel's military autonomy, a war-game involving former Israeli generals and diplomats has concluded, though some players predicted Tehran would also exercise restraint.
Sunday's event at a campus north of Tel Aviv followed other high-profile Iran simulations in Israel and the United States in recent months. But it broke new ground by assuming the existence of what both countries have pledged to prevent: an Iranian bomb.
"Iranian deterrence proved dizzyingly effective," Eitan Ben-Eliahu, a retired air force commander who played the Israeli defense minister, said in his summary of the 20-team meeting.
Though the war-game saw Iran declaring itself a nuclear power in 2011, the ensuing confrontations were by proxy, in Lebanon. In one, emboldened Hezbollah guerrillas fired missiles at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. That was followed by U.S. and Israeli intelligence findings that Iran had slipped radioactive materials to its Lebanese cohort, to assemble a crude device.
Neither move drew Israeli attacks, though Ben-Eliahu said his delegation had received discreet encouragement from Arab rivals of Iran to "go all the way" in retaliating.
Instead, Israel conferred with the United States, which publicly supported its ally's "right to self-defense" and mobilized military reinforcements for the region while quietly insisting the Israelis stand down to give crisis talks a chance. "As far as the United States was concerned, Israel was trigger-happy. It sought to use the Hezbollah (missile) attack as justification for what the United States was told would be an all-out war," said Dan Kurtzer, a former U.S. ambassador to Tel Aviv who played President Barack Obama.
Kurtzer voiced satisfaction with his team's response to the "dirty bomb", which entailed cajoling U.N. Security Council powers into mounting an armed intervention against Hezbollah.
"Countries like China and Russia have their own terrorists, and don't want to see them getting nuclear weapons," he said.
"In certain circumstances, agile U.S. diplomacy can actually work in this region, and it ends up not only leaving Israel in check but it also ends up (with Washington) leading a willing international coalition."
STRATEGIC BALANCE
Those playing Iran and Hezbollah went as far as to question the very premise that Tehran would let the Lebanese guerrillas goad Israel into a potentially catastrophic fight, or give them nuclear know-how that would worry even sympathizers like Syria. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash, a retired Israeli intelligence chief acting as Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, insisted Iran would regard its bomb as a means of "self-defense and strategic balance" -- an allusion to Israel's own, assumed atomic arsenal. Such assessments are seldom voiced by Israel's rightist government, which describes a nuclear-armed Iran as a mortal danger. Where Israeli officials would once make veiled threats to strike Iran, now they often try to warn the West against accommodating their foe, which denies seeking atomic weapons.
In what appeared to signal government discomfort with the war-game, a senior Israeli defence official who had been due to attend withdrew at short notice. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said a written summary would be studied at government-level.
That left Tzipi Livni, the centrist head of Israel's opposition, as the most prominent observer of the IDC event.
"As leader of the free world, the United States has the responsibility of leading more effective sanctions that can turn around, absolutely, this shift from a process of stopping (Iran's nuclear aims) to a process of acceptance," she said. While the simulation found no immediate international drive to tackle Iran, Kurtzer attributed this to passive factors such as U.S. war-fatigue and complained of a failure to address ramifications such as a nuclear arms race among Arab powers.
Some of the participants -- including those playing Israel, the Palestinians and Syria -- saw an opportunity for renewed Middle East peacemaking that might head off Iran's ascendancy.
"This was tactical, but of course tactics can often serve real strategic interests, both for us and for the Americans," said Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington who acted as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Iran Preparing to Block Gulf Oil and Wreck Western Economies - by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu - www.israelnationalnews.com
Iran’s recently-concluded war games concentrated on preparations to block the Persian Gulf and wreck Western economies in the event that the United Nations Security Council tries to place harsh sanctions against it.
Forty percent of the world’s oil and gas moves through the Persian Gulf, and an Iranian blockade would cause an inflationary spike in energy prices and a fuel shortage that could cause catastrophe for the West, which is dependent on Iranian crude to fuel their gas-hungry economies.
Public affairs consultant Lenny Ben-David, a former senior Israeli diplomat in Israel’s embassy in Washington, pointed out on Cutting Edge.com Monday that the Islamic Republic stopped, searched or photographed several Western ships during the eight-day war games.
The Revolutionary Navy searched a French and an Italian vessel for "environmental" checks, buzzed the U.S. Eisenhower in what American officials called a “close encounter,” and patrolled the Gulf, also known as the Straits of Hormuz, stopping and checking destroyers and cargo ships.
The Iranian Air Force also drove away a U.S. reconnaissance drone that was monitoring Iran's massive Gulf military exercises that concluded last Thursday.
During and after the war games, Tehran issued daily press releases boasting of new and advanced speed boats, an anti-submarine torpedo and advanced arms for attacking ships.
Ben-David noted, “While the press focuses on the Iranian military exercises, uranium enrichment, and long-range missile development, the navies of dozens of countries have been relatively quietly gravitating toward the Persian Gulf. “
The war games exercises in the Gulf sent a clear signal to the West regarding what may be in store if it succeeds in placing tough sanctions against Iran as a way to try to force it to comply with international rules on the development of its nuclear program.
Iran’s government and semi-official media reported that the Revolutionary Guards tested a new speedboat that can destroy enemy ships, sending a pointed reminder that it is capable of blocking the Gulf. Iran also successfully fired an anti-submarine torpedo durng the war games, Iran's Press TV reported. “The submarines had managed to enter the waters of the hypothetical enemy and pass the enemy's linking lines,” it stated.
Iran’s Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said the war games aimed to demonstrate that Iran has full control over shipping activities in the Gulf area.
Armed Forces Commander Major General Ataollah Salehi announced Tuesday that two medium-range cruise missiles were launched from Iran’s southern coast and hit mock targets that were moving on the sea. Iranian news agencies said the missile also can evade radar systems because it flies at a low altitude.
"It's past the epoch when America would change the regime in a country by just dispatching a warship,” Salehi added. “We have been able to challenge the U.S. not only in the sea but also in all international arenas.”
Israel Aerospace Industries chairman Yair Shamir commented that the cruise missile “is an extremely serious danger." He noted that the missile was supplied by Ukraine before being upgraded in Iran.
The Air Force also claimed successes. Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Air Force for Operations General Seyed Mohammad Alawi told Fars News Agency that Phantom warplanes fired new missiles that hit and destroyed their targets.
Brazil, Turkey bolster Iran's nuclear drive, disarm US sanctions threat – www.debka.com
Iran can keep its nuclear program afloat with a quiet mind and without fear of international harassment, thanks to the intercession of Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva "Lula" and Turkish prime minister Reccep Erdogan. They clinched a deal in Tehran Monday, May 17, for Iran to export some 1,200 kilograms of its lightly enriched uranium to Turkey for reprocessing to 19.5 percent grade.
The two leaders mounted their initiative on behalf of the nascent anti-American bloc also backed by Russia, as well as Iran's close allies Syria, Hizballah and Hamas.
There was no immediate response from Washington.
From a wide range of data, debkafile's military sources confirm the deal is wholly fraudulent and no more than a piece of diplomatic trickery.
1. Turkey does not possess the facilities for reprocessing enriched uranium to a higher level, unlike Russia and France, which also have the technology to block its further enrichment to weapons-grade and whose services Tehran rejected.
2. The deal legitimizes Iran's right to enriched uranium of a higher grade, which can be converted in short order to fuel for a nuclear bomb. Tehran has now gained an international seal for going up to weapons grade.
3. Given the close bonds unfolding between Turkey, Iran and Syria, no independent agency can expect a chance to monitor the transaction or find out the actual quantity of enriched uranium Tehran is in fact exporting to Turkey.
4. The Six-Power group's compromise proposition for the export of 1.200 kilograms of low-enriched Iranian uranium was put forward more than a year ago and left hanging. There is no telling how much enriched uranium Tehran has produced in the interim period. Therefore, the quantity Iran has agreed to send to Turkey may be a drop in the ocean. In any case, the deal leaves Tehran with all the necessary infrastructure for continuing to build up its stocks of enriched uranium - and at a higher grade.
5. US president Barack Obama's insistence on engaging Iran in diplomacy and concentrating the effort on curbing Iran's product of enriched uranium has led up a blind alley after being outmaneuvered by Tehran and its backers.
The Iranians can use the phony deal pulled off by Lula and Erdogan as a recipe for putting paid to all hopes of the UN Security Council uniting behind a resolution for reining in their drive for a nuclear bomb. It has stripped the United States of levers for controlling the most dangerous peril besetting Middle East stability in the immediate future.
The Brazilian and Turkish rulers were not alone; they maintained constant communication with Moscow in the last ten days, during which Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made trips to Damascus and Ankara, the Brazilian president's stopped over in Moscow on his way to Tehran Sunday, May 16, and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin kept an open line to the prime movers in the anti-US group's scheme to get Tehran off the nuclear hook.
After the signing, the Brazilian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers announced they expected by the Six Power Group led by the United States to approve the deal within a week and delivery of Iranian enriched uranium to Turkey a month later.
Turkish foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu said he saw no need for further sanctions against Iran, even though the foreign ministry spokesman in Tehran said the deal brokered between the three powers would not prevent Iran from continuing to enrich uranium up to 20 percent inside the country.
Abbas to meet US envoy on May 19 – www.news.yahoo.com
.RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) – Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas is to meet US envoy George Mitchell on Wednesday to discuss final-status issues in indirect peace talks with Israel, the chief Palestinian negotiator said.
Mitchell will then meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, an Israeli official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"The discussions between Abbas and Mitchell on Wednesday will concern final-status issues with Israel," head Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP, referring to core disputes in the decades-old conflict such as Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
"For now we will focus on the issues of borders and security in order to demarcate two states along the 1967 border," he added.
He warned however that continued Israeli settlement activity, including in annexed east Jerusalem, could scupper the talks.
"The Israeli side has just two options, either peace or the continuation of the settlements. Israel cannot have both at the same time," he said.
US officials have said Mitchell is expected in the region this week but they have not yet said when he would arrive or released details about his schedule.
Mitchell left the region a week ago after convincing Israel and the Palestinians to launch an initial round of US-mediated "proximity talks."
The indirect negotiations were first agreed on in March but the initiative collapsed within days when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 settler homes in east Jerusalem during a visit by US Vice President Joe Biden.
The Palestinians eventually agreed to the talks after receiving US assurances that the project would be frozen.
Israel, which captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day war and later annexed it, considers the Holy City its "eternal and indivisible" capital, a claim not recognized by the international community.
The Palestinians have always demanded mostly Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state.
The last round of direct negotiations between the two sides collapsed in December 2008 when Israel launched a devastating war on the Gaza Strip in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire aimed at Israeli towns.
Obama turns a new leaf on Israel – www.debka.com
After more than a year, US president Barack Obama has suddenly stepped back from his icy treatment of Israel and its prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, debkafile's Washington sources report. In an effort to make amends, he sent his top advisers, including his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, with a public apology (of a kind) to leading American rabbis.
Our sources add that under new White House guidelines, US Middle East envoy George Mitchell should not try and extract from Israel more concessions that it is willing to offer, when he leads the proximity talks with the Palestinians starting this week.
The Obama U-turn dashes Palestinian hopes of the US president holding his own solution ready to impose on Israel in the event of the talks foundering or winding down in September without progress.
Political and Jewish circles see the change as an attempt win back Jewish voter support for the Democrats, eroded over the downturn in US-Israel relations, for the forthcoming midterm elections.
debkafile's Washington sources stress that the context is a lot wider. The US president knows the time has come to count his assets in the face of the dramatic big power realignment in the Middle East and the diplomatic impasse over Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb.
After fourteen months in the White House, Barack Obama has suddenly discovered that he has no other strategic ally in the region to rely on except for Israel.
Netanyahu may be justified in crowing over his critics at home. His decision to stand up to the US president's cold shoulder, insults and pressure, has been vindicated, whereas defense minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader Tzipi Liivni have been confounded in their dire warnings that refusal to surrender in a big way to the Palestinians would gravely jeopardize US-Israel relations.
A senior source in Washington told debkafile Sunday, May 16, that the Israeli prime minister has chalked up an impressive achievement; he can expect warmth and friendship from the administration in the foreseeable future in place of the coolness hitherto.
This does not mean Obama has given up on his objective of a two-state solution of the conflict with the Palestinians, but the arm-twisting tactics have been set aside for now.
Obama's new look on Israel was manifested in the words of Rahm Emanuel, when he met a carefully selected group of 15 rabbis from across the United States Thursday, May 13 along with fellow White House officials, including Dennis Ross, senior presidential adviser on Iran and Dan Shapiro, head of Middle East desk at the National Security Council.
Emanuel was the most outspoken when he said the Obama administration had "screwed up the messaging" about his support for Israel over the past 14 months. He promised the White House would work to undo the damage, but said it would take "more than one month to make up for 14 months."
Whether or not the Netanyahu government will be satisfied with this crudely-worded White House "apology" -addressed to American Jewish rabbis rather than Jerusalem - remains to be seen. Much will depend on the actions the Obama administration takes to undo the damage to which it has now owned up.
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Russian traps – and moves – Barry Rubin – www.jpost.com
Russia’s bid for renewed power in the Mideast as a rival to the US is one more thing that US policy is unprepared to cope with, nor even recognize.
If America’s Middle East position collapses in the forest will anyone hear it? The answer is either ‘no,’ or ‘just barely.’ As I’ve predicted, Russia is coming back into the region and it is going to play a very bad role. Moscow is linking up with the emerging Islamist alliance of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizbullah.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration praises Russia for allegedly supporting sanctions against Iran. Russian support, at best, consists of throwing a bucket of fluid over the sanctions’ plan to water it down.
Back in the real world – the Middle East, not Washington – let’s begin with Syria. The Obama administration says it is going to pull Syria away from Iran, but the two countries are coming closer together. Syria’s open goal is to pull the US away from Israel, but meanwhile it is finding still another ally to back its ambitions.
The recent visit of Russia’s President Dimitry Medvedev with a huge entourage was a major step toward reestablishing the old Soviet-Syria relationship. There were broad economic talks, including the possibility of Russia building a nuclear reactor for the Syrian dictatorship.
According to Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the Russian parliamentary foreign liaison committee, quoted in the Syrian newspaper Tishrin, May 12, the visit “is a clear indication to everyone in the Middle East region and on the regional and international level that Syria was and will remain a strategic partner to Russia...”
This includes a new round of arms sales to Syria, which presumably will be paid for largely by Iran.
Even if the alliance remains limited, it will further encourage Iran and Syria to be covertly aggressive and hard line while sending still another signal to moderate Arabs that America is on its way down. Clearly, Russia’s refusal to support more sanctions on Iran in any serious manner is part of this calculation.
IS IT a problem for Russia that it faces internal Islamist terrorism but is aligning with Islamist forces? No, not at all. Iran has been careful not to back these revolutionaries in the north Caucasus. Iran even joins Russia in following a policy of supporting Christian Armenia against Muslim-majority Azerbaijan. By working with the Iranians, Russia is reducing the possibility that they will support Islamist rebels against Moscow.
As in so many cases, this strategic factor appears nowhere on the administration’s horizon.
Then there’s Medvedev’s visit to the newest member of the anti-American Islamist alliance: Turkey. In a joint statement, the two countries’ leaders said that Hamas should be part of any regional negotiations. Turkish President Abdullah Gul explained in his joint press conference with Medvedev: “Unfortunately Palestinians have been split into two... In order to reunite them, you have to speak to both sides. Hamas won elections in Gaza and cannot be ignored.”
What Gul wants (Medvedev too?) is for Hamas to dominate the Palestinian unity arrangement. Consider that two sides are competing for leadership of a people. One of them is a fanatical, extremist, terrorist organization committed to permanent warfare and genocide. The other group isn’t exactly wonderful but, at least at present, is somewhere in the ballpark of being peaceable and reasonable.
So the ideal solution is to put them together and let them reach a common program? Not exactly. As for the “elected” argument, it is a matter of public record that Hamas won the election, made a deal for a coalition government and then staged a violent coup to seize full power in the Gaza Strip.
Oh, and did I mention that Russia is talking about building nuclear reactors for both Turkey and Syria? Russia’s bid for renewed power in the Middle East as a rival to US goals and interests is one more thing that US policy is simply not prepared to cope with, or even recognize. For if Moscow teams up with the radical Islamist alliance, especially after Teheran has nuclear weapons, this is going to worsen considerably an already gloomy strategic picture for the West.
But on top of all that, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made an incredible statement that should send shock waves through US policy-making circles. In calling on the US not to take “any unilateral step against Iran,” Lavrov is trying to restrict American pressures to what Moscow is willing to accept. In other words, he is acting as Iran’s lawyer to tie America’s hands.
Then he added that there were some people in Washington who do not believe international legislation takes precedence over legislation passed by the US. In other words, he is asserting a new doctrine in which, in effect, the UN is a world government and the US has no right to act on its own without approval.
The Obama administration should act quickly to reject this doctrine. This is a trap that the administration’s own policy has helped to lay by saying it doesn’t believe in strong US leadership. The proposed precedent would institutionalize that limitation in a way that is going to be very harmful in the future.
Russia Cooperating With Syria, West, But Not Israel – www.khouse.org
For the first time, US and European troops marched beside Russian forces as Moscow celebrated the end of World War II with its annual military parade on Sunday. According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia is looking at increasing its cooperation with the West, and a confidential report from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to President Dmitry Medveded outlines a program to improve Russia's economy by embracing Western technology. Yet, Medvedev's recent visit to Syria reveals that Russia is willing to make a wide variety of friends, whether America and Israel like it or not.
Medvedev's visit to Syria early this week was ground breaking as the first visit of a Russian or Soviet head of state to that country, and it comes just days after the US renewed its sanctions against Syria for supporting terrorist groups and pursuing WMDs. Moscow has already agreed to provide Damascus with an advanced anti-aircraft defense system, and Russia may build power plants for Syria, including nuclear powered ones. "Cooperation on atomic energy (with Syria) could get a second wind," Medvedev said at a press conference with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Russia has held to its position that all nations should be free to pursue peaceful nuclear power.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to Moscow to try to persuade Russia from providing Syria with weapons, but Medvedev could only be convinced to delay the weapons sale and not stop it altogether. In a time of global economic struggles, Russia is looking for ways not only to exercise more influence in the Middle East, but also to strengthen and modernize its anemic economy. Medvedev justified the arms sale to Syria by saying the weapons were defensive and not offensive.
Medvedev also met with Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal while in Damascus, and in the interest of creating a Palestinian state urged Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Russia has comfortable relations with Hamas, even while America and other Western nations refuse to deal with the terrorist group.
While these unsavory friends may cause Western nations some consternation, Russia's desire to improve itself has given Moscow the impetus to do more to link arms with America and Europe. Obama's peace overtures along with his willingness to drop the missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic and weaken America's support for Georgia have cheered the Moscow government. In a cover letter to his confidential report, Lavrov calls for Russia's creating "alliances of modernization" with European countries, especially Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Lavrov also wrote that, "It is necessary to find opportunities to use American technological potential."
As Vyacheslav Nikonov, a foreign-policy analyst noted, "The sources of modernization and innovation are in the West, not the East."
Nikonov sees things improving in Russia's foreign relations with the West. "The overall climate is better than it has been since the time of Perestroika," Nikonov said. "Russia has started to react to the more cooperative policy from the West."
Friendly relations with America and Europe, Syria and Iran, not to mention China, are all well and good, but Russia has been leaving one extremely important country out of the circle of peace and cooperation: Israel. Instead, Israel faces a host of antagonism from around the world. President Obama has expressed support for Israel, but it is clear that Israel-US relations are not as warm as they have been in the past. The world's willingness to turn against Israel may eventually leave the small Jewish nation alone in a sea of Islam - alone except for the protective power of God Almighty.
Poll: More Americans Say U.S. Morality Getting Worse – Jennifer Riley - www.christianpost.com
The Gallup’s annual poll on moral values found 76 percent of Americans said moral values in the country are getting worse, up five percent from last year.
More Americans believe moral values in the United States are getting worse, according to a new Gallup Poll.
The Gallup’s annual poll on moral values found 76 percent of Americans said moral values in the country are getting worse, up five percent from last year. This year’s rise marked the second highest one-year increase in nine years. In 2004, 77 percent of Americans said moral values were getting worse, marking a 10 percentage rise from the previous year.
Opinions about moral values in the country tend to stay relatively stable between years.
The highest figure was in 2007 at 82 percent.
Respondents most often cited declining moral values/standards and disrespect of others (both at 15 percent) as ways they see moral values in the U.S. getting worse. The open-ended question also found popular responses to be: parents not instilling values in children (8 percent); dishonesty among government, business leaders (8 percent); and rising crime and violence (8 percent).
Others said the moral value decline can be seen in people moving away from religion, church and God (7 percent), the breakdown of family and unwed mothers (7 percent), and sex, promiscuity, and pornography (5 percent).
The hot-button issue of abortion and gay relations were each only cited by 3 percent of the respondents.
Overall, 45 percent of Americans said the state of moral values in the country is poor – three times more than those who said it is in excellent/good shape (15 percent). This figure has stayed relatively constant over the past four years, but is still among the worst Gallup has measured in the past nine years.
The Gallup results are based on telephone interviews with more than 1,029 national American adults from May 3 to 6, 2010.
The Prophetic Curse of the Money Changers – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
With all the allegedly smart people running the economies of many countries, why do you suppose there is a worldwide financial crisis? There is likely only one nation that doesn't seem to be in some sort of financial problem among the more sophisticated economies of the world--China. China, however, uses slave labor, and unfortunately, the United States is its biggest trading partner--buying products provided by an immoral and unjust government. But right down the line--Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Denmark, and so on are all having economic crisis. And the United States is chief among them. It is the result of highly motivated socialists making their move toward the one world order.
The financial collapse of the nations must occur for there to be a one world order. And those bringing about these financial ruins are doing it on purpose by using someone else's money to line their own pockets, the pockets of their friends, and the pockets of their supporters. And that someone else's money is yours and mine, and any other law abiding citizen living in any of these nations. The plan is to create two classes of people--a vast majority of the world population that is poor, and a handful of wealthy people. Both classes will be controlled by the politicians who have become so powerful that the rich will do as they say to keep from losing everything, and the poor will submit because they have no resources to fight.
Jeremiah 15:10 says, "I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me." Americans have been cursed by their leaders who are leveraging their power and citizen's money to destroy America for their own benefit. America's Founding Fathers rejected outright democracy because, as 18th century historian Alexander Tytler put it, "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury." The checks and balances written into America's Constitutional Republic have been usurped because citizens have shirked their responsibility to hold leaders accountable.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." It is high time America's Christians rise up and take back this country before these ungodly usurpers fold it into the one world order of the antichrist.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministry
How to Do the Right Thing – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22
It is amazing how we can rationalize sin in our own lives, yet when someone else does it, it is wrong. We have little double standards that we develop; thinking that what is acceptable for us isn't acceptable for anyone else.
When you are wondering whether something is okay to do as a Christian, here is something you should do: Pray about it and bring it into the clear light of the presence of Jesus Christ. Ask, "Is this a situation that makes me more vulnerable to temptation? Can I ask God's blessing on it?"
For example, you would never pray, "Lord, bless us tonight as we go out and party and get drunk. We pray that no one will get a DUI and that I won't say something I will regret in the morning." Or, "Lord, bless me as I divorce my husband—my faithful, decent Christian husband who has loved me. Just bless me as I divorce him, because I met a cuter guy that I want to marry instead." We would never verbalize such prayers, yet some Christians will do these things because they rationalize them. When you pray about some things you are about to do, bringing them into the clear light of the presence of Jesus Christ, you just might reconsider them.
Something else to think about is how you would feel if you saw another Christian doing the same thing. Would it seem wrong? The Bible tells us to avoid the very appearance of evil. So it is not only a matter of doing the wrong thing, it is even doing something that would look like you are doing the wrong thing. Avoid even that. Be smart about the choices you make. And as much as possible, stay out of the way of temptation.
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“Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!” – Hal Lindsey
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When will people wake up? - By Bill Keller – www.raptureready.com
Saturday night, another Muslim attempted to kill innocent American citizens on our soil. As it turns out, this man was of Pakistani descent, had become an American citizen, was living in Shelton, Ct, had a wife and 2 children, a Facebook page, and was living the American life. The problem? He is a Muslim and ALL Muslims pledge their allegiance to their imaginary god "allah," and follow the teachings of their fantasy book the Koran which commands that all infidels (those who refuse to convert to Islam) must die.
The fact is there are hundreds of thousands of Muslims in this country, and most look just like the nice Muslim family next door. The hard reality is that at any moment they could engage in an act of terror and there is nothing we can do to stop it! Remember the Muslim member of our army at Ft. Hood a few months ago? On top of that, we have the most pro-Islam President in our nation's history which has only emboldened Muslims here and abroad.
I have tried for nearly 11 years now to warn people that God's wrath was going to be unleashed on this nation if we didn't repent, turn from our sins and wickedness, and turn back to God and His Truth. Will Islam be the United States Babylon? All throughout the Bible and human history, God has used human instruments to do His work and fulfill His plan and purpose. We read all throughout the Old Testament how the children of Israel would turn away from God, follow the false gods and idols of the world, live in open rebellion to God's commandments, and eventually He would have enough and pour out His wrath upon them. This was usually done in the form of allowing the enemies of Israel to take them captive and enslave them. As you can imagine, that got their attention real quick. Eventually, after a period of time and due to His never ending love, grace, and mercy, God would free the children of Israel, give them their land back, and begin blessing them again. Of course it was in this time of captivity that the children of Israel would repent and ask God to forgive them. They would be in a place where God was their only source of hope and strength. They began to worship Him again, trust Him again, obey Him again. The amazing thing is once He set them free, it was like they got amnesia. Almost immediately they would be back worshipping the false gods and idols of the world. They would be getting involved in every kind of sin you could name. Worshiping God, trusting Him, living in obedience to His commandments were all forgotten.
It was like when you were a child and you disobeyed your mother. She would make you go stand in the corner for a period of time. After the time was up, you were allowed to go back to playing and doing what you wanted. During the time you were standing in the corner, you were sorry for what you did. You promised your mother that you would obey her from now on. As you stood in that corner you appreciated the freedom you had to play and do what you wanted. But what happened when the punishment was over? It wasn't long before you were not listening to your mother any more. You began to do things you knew you weren't supposed to. What your mom had to say and her rules didn't matter anymore.
Like I tell you often, man has never really changed since the Garden of Eden! Go read the Book of Judges. What a classic illustration of this cycle of sin-> punishment-> repentance-> restoration-> and sin again, you will ever find. You read the Book of Judges and you start screaming at your Bible every time God frees them from their enemies and they immediately fall right back into the same pattern of sin that forced God to punish them in the first place. Over and over and over this cycle is repeated and you think to yourself how stupid these people are. At that moment, most of us have one of those sobering moments when the Holy Spirit says loud and clear, YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT!
Before I deal with our nation, let me deal first with each of us as individuals. We are all susceptible and at different times in our life fall into this pattern of sin. This is why I implore you each day to stay in the Word, pray, keep close to the Lord, be in church on Sunday or some day during the week, and find ways to serve the Lord. You see, all of these things working together insure that you are never far from Christ. It keeps you constantly focused on the Lord and your faith. It makes it very difficult to fall into the many traps satan lays for you each day to tempt you and lead you into sin and away from God.
You know and I know that the first thing you do when you allow sin into your life is that you stop reading the Bible as much, usually stop reading it period. You stop praying as much, again, you often stop talking to God at all. You quit going to church regularly, if you even go at all. You are like Adam who after he sinned, ran and hid from God and we see that great scene of God in the Garden asking, "Adam, where are you?"
Of course, as I tell you often sin always has a very high price tag. You NEVER sin and get away with it. There is always a high price to pay when we choose to sin against God. Eventually the time to pay, to suffer the consequences of our rebellion is upon us. We then go through that season of chastisement, of punishment, and it is during this time that most turn back to the Lord. We ask Him to forgive us, repent of our sins, and in the season of punishment find our relationship with Christ again. Eventually the season of punishment ends and we are back to living our lives again. Hopefully, we learned our lesson and have strengthened our walk with the Lord and will do all we have to do each day to stay close to Him, live in obedience to His Word, and enjoy the blessings of that relationship with Jesus.
*Hear my word for you today! The United States is no different than the children of Israel. We are a wicked and rebellious people who have forsaken our God. We have squandered His many blessings and have turned this blessed land into one that is cursed. We have turned to every false god, idol, and philosophy the world has dreamed up in opposition to the God of the Bible and His Truth. We proudly and legally practice infanticide in this nation, slaughtering 4,000 babies every 24 hours. We have embraced, celebrated, and accepted as normal deviant sexual choices that God never intended man to engage in. We have opened the floodgates to allow pornography and every kind of sexual sin man can imagine to exist without any restraint.
As Paul told his young disciple Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, men have become " lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- having a form of godliness but denying its power. "
Just as God spared not His wrath on his own chosen people, punishing them for their rebellion, so will the wrath of God be felt on this nation for our rebellion. In the past God has poured out His judgment on nations by allowing their enemies to take them captive. I believe today as I type these words that unless this nation immediately repents, turns back to God and to His Truth, ISLAM WILL BE OUR BABYLON!!! Amen.
For those who have been reading my Daily Devotional for any length of time, you know that I am probably about the most positive person you will ever meet. However, I am also one of the most realistic. I can't read the Bible and read about God's judgment on the children of Israel for their cycle of sin and not understand that we are facing His judgment for our rebellion. The Bible is also very clear that even amongst God's choice servants, when they sinned there was always a price to pay. Why would we think for a second we can sin and get away with it?
My prayer for you today is that you will realize that there is a huge price to pay when we sin. Our rebellion to God always brings consequences. Likewise, God blesses us for our obedience. So it really boils down to a choice between consequences and blessings. I have to tell you as someone who has experienced both, blessing are MUCH better! It really makes sinning not only an act against God, but really stupid since we know we aren't going to get away with it. I pray today that the Lord will speak to your heart and each time you are confronted with the choice to sin, you will remember that you pay a huge price for that sin at some point. It is just as easy to OBEY God, and instead of dealing with the pain of whatever consequences arise, you can enjoy the blessings that flow from your obedience!
As for this nation, I sense our time is very short. I sense in my spiritual gut that at any moment God could unleash His wrath on this land. We are not only due His judgment, we are long OVERDUE. As I see the events of this world unfolding, I clearly see that Islam could very easily be God's instrument of judgment on this nation for our rebellion, just like Babylon was His instrument of judgment on the children of Israel for their rebellion. I only know the glimpses we get from the Word what being taken captive and enslaved by a hostile people would be like. None of us can even being to fathom it. I do know that it will be horrible. I also know that it can be avoided IF we act now.
That is why I do what I do, with Liveprayer in operation literally 24/7/365. We have no more time. Our time has run out. Time will eventually tell and history will record the fall of this great nation at the hands of Islam should we stay on the spiritual course we are presently on. We are simply living in freedom today by the grace and mercy of Almighty God. I will keep doing all that I can each and every day to sound the trumpet of warning, to use all of the resources at my disposal to lead this nation back to God and to Biblical Truth so we might be spared His soon coming wrath and judgment. If I can help you in any way you can contact me through my personal email at:
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Maranatha!
(Lord Come Quickly)
"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
YBIC-Randy