August 16, 2010
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LIVING ON BORROWED TIME - DVD
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
Reviews: The DVD should be seen by small groups and youth ministries far and wide. The clear quoting and referencing of bible verses is especially strong. The collage of dramatic imagery - both in photography and artwork, grabs the viewers' attention and weaves the conclusion that God is about to continue His plan in a major way. The video is so fresh - the oil explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico is shown as one example of how this old world is wearing out and is in flames
The video next defends the authorship and reliability of the bible before showing eight unmistakable developments in our world that point toward the soon return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The number one sign given to our generation is the return of the Jewish people to form the nation of Israel. Jesus Christ is now standing at the door waiting to take his beloved bride- His true believers. Like the admonition from the Book of Jude, verse 23, I pray that this DVD will be used by the Holy Spirit to pluck dying people out of the fire before the borrowed time runs out. - John Wicklund - Chair- Olive Tree Ministries Board of Directors - Maple Grove, MN
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Israel: No conditions for talks with Palestinians - Karin Laub – www.news.yahoo.com
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Israel will not accept conditions for resuming direct negotiations with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Cabinet ministers affirmed in a meeting late Sunday, reflecting a hard line just as invitations to the talks appeared to be near.
The Palestinians want the framework and agenda of negotiations worked out ahead of time.
Under an emerging compromise, the so-called Quartet of Mideast mediators — the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — was expected to issue an invitation for direct talks that would list underlying principles and a time frame.
However, Netanyahu and his inner circle fear that a Quartet statement would be a "fig leaf for Palestinian preconditions," said an official in Netanyahu's office who spoke on condition of anonymity because no government statement was made.
In a meeting late Sunday, the prime minister and his top ministers decided to hold out for a separate invitation from the United States without preconditions, the official said.
It was not clear whether the U.S. plans to issue such a separate invitation. The Obama administration has been pushing for a speedy resumption of negotiations that broke down in December 2008.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is wary of entering open-ended talks with Netanyahu, who has retreated from some of the concessions offered by his predecessors. Abbas wants Israel to accept the principle of Palestinian statehood in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast war with minor modifications, and wants all Jewish settlement building to stop during negotiations.
The Israeli official said the leadership reinforced its long-held position that those are unacceptable preconditions.
Late Sunday, U.S. envoy David Hale met with Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah. Abbas aides said before the meeting that Hale was discussing the wording of a possible Quartet statement with Abbas.
Afterward, Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh said consultations with the U.S. and other Quartet members would continue, but that some progress has been made. He would not elaborate.
In a sign of a calming atmosphere, Israeli army cranes on Sunday began removing a concrete barrier that shielded a Jewish neighborhood bordering the West Bank from gunfire.
The Israeli military erected the 600-yard (meter) concrete barrier nine years ago on the outskirts of the Gilo neighborhood in southern Jerusalem because of repeated Palestinian shootings from the West Bank town of Beit Jalla.
The barrier is being taken down over the next two weeks because of a reduced security threat and improved coordination between Israeli and West Bank security forces, the Israeli military said.
Gilo, a neighborhood of about 40,000, was a convenient target of gunmen during the second Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, which erupted in 2000. Palestinian militants frequently fired at Israelis, including West Bank motorists and soldiers. Gilo was hit because it lies across a shallow valley from a West Bank town.
Gilo was built on land Israel captured in the 1967 war and annexed to Jerusalem, a step not recognized by the international community.
The uprising gradually ended after Abbas became Palestinian president in January 2005. Israel remains in overall control of the West Bank, while Abbas has restored order in once chaotic areas there.
In another sign that Abbas is trying to counter Hamas influence, his religious affairs minister told a news conference Sunday that the government has taken control of all the territory's mosques, including content of the main weekly sermon, to ensure that houses of worship are not used for political recruiting.
Mosques were once a Hamas stronghold. Since 2007, Abbas has been cracking down on the militants to make sure they don't attempt a West Bank takeover.
Religious Affairs Minister Ibrahim Habash said only government-sanctioned preachers are allowed to deliver sermons or teach religion in mosques.
Habash also defended the government's recent decision to stop broadcasting readings from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, over mosque loudspeakers before the call to prayer.
"The Quran should be listened to when recited, and we know that people are busy with their daily lives and won't pay attention when it comes from loudspeakers in the mosques," Habash said.
Iran details plans for new moutain nuke sites - Ali Akbar Dareini – www.news.yahoo.com
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran said Monday it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites inside protected mountain strongholds and start construction on the first in March, defying international efforts to curb its nuclear program.
Enriching uranium creates fuel for nuclear power plants but can also, if taken to higher levels, produce the material for weapons and Iran's growing capacity in this process is at the center of its dispute with the international community.
The U.N. Security Council has already passed four sets of sanctions against Iran to try and force it to stop enriching uranium.
Last year, Iran flouted international concerns by claiming it would build 10 new enrichment plants and Monday's announcement revealed that the chosen sites would be inside mountains, without revealing any other details.
"Construction of a new uranium enrichment site will begin by the end of the (Iranian) year (March) or early next year," Salehi said. "The new enrichment facilities will be built inside mountains."
Revelations a year ago of a previously undisclosed enrichment facility in a secret mountain base near the city of Qom inflamed international suspicions over Iran's nuclear program and helped spur a fourth set of international sanctions in June.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear weapons capability. Iran has denied the accusation, saying its nuclear program is geared merely toward generating electricity.
British Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman Steve Field said that Salehi's announcement was a cause for concern. "The reports that we have seen this morning certainly do not give us any comfort that Iran is moving in the right direction," Field told reporters.
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Christine Fages, meanwhile, said the announcement "only intensifies the deep worries of the international community about the Iranian nuclear program."
"We want Iran to respect its international obligations by suspending all its activities of uranium enrichment," she said.
Iran has an industrial-scale, internationally supervised enrichment site in Natanz, in central Iran, with around 6,000 operating centrifuges and as well as the smaller one under construction near Qom. The Islamic republic said it needs 20 large-scale sites to meet domestic electricity needs of 20,000 megawatts in the next 15 years.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday also officially notified the government of the implementation of a new law banning the government from anything except the most minimum level of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The law is seen as retaliation for the sanctions and also includes a provision authorizing the Iranian government to retaliate against any countries that attempt to search its ships or airplanes for dual-use materials with inspections of their own.
The Security Council resolution calls on, but does not require, all countries to cooperate in cargo inspections if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe the items could contribute to the Iranian nuclear program.
The Iranian law also requires the government to continue refining uranium up to 20 percent to fuel a small medical research reactor in Tehran.
Enriching uranium to 20 percent, instead of just the low levels required for fuel, puts Iran much closer to the 90 percent level needed to create weapons grade material, further aggravating the Western powers.
A number of swap deals have been proposed in which other countries would handle the enrichment process and give Iran the enriched fuel, but a final agreement has remained elusive.
Bomb kills head of Iran's military drone program – www.debka.com
On Aug. 1, Reza Baruni, the father of Iran's military UAV program, died in a mighty explosion that destroyed his closely secured villa, debkafile's military and intelligence sources reveal. He lived in the high-scale neighborhood secluded for high Iranian officials in the southern town of Ahwaz in oil-rich Khuzestan.
Very few people in the country outside the top leaders and air force knew about his job and so his death was not generally appreciated as fatally stalling Iran's military drone program for many years.
The official version produced the old standby of an exploding gas canister as the cause of the blast. However, DEBKA-Net-Weekly's intelligence source report that bombs were planted in at least three corners of the building and expertly rigged to explode simultaneously and bring the ceilings crashing down on its occupants. The bomber must therefore have had access to the Baruni home.
The authorities tended to fix the blame on underground organizations representing the local Arab-speaking Ahwazis' fight for self-rule against the repressive regime. Some suspect certain Gulf Arab emirates' intelligence services commissioned the Baruni murder.
Hiding behind his public face as a retired army major, the dead man created Iran's program for manufacturing military drones from scratch and trained a new generation of engineers and planners to take over. But despite his efforts and the hefty sums Iran invested in the industry, the product never really came up to the advanced standards achieved by a very few countries.
Five months ago, US Defense Security Robert Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Countries like Iran are developing their own UAVs and already have a UAV capability. That is a concern because it is one of these areas where, if they chose to - in Iraq, in Afghanistan - they could create difficulties for us."
There is also a growing concern that drone technology could be sold to terrorist groups.
Gates was responding to a statement last February by the Iranian Air Force's coordination deputy, Brigadier General Aziz Nasirzadeh, that Iran had successfully tested the prototype of its first domestically-built "stealth drone" calling it Sofeh Mahi (Manta Ray)."
He boasted that the drone, "due to its physical attributes and the material used in its body, cannot be detected by any radar." But he also introduced a cautious note by explaining that the production process would not be rushed, as such complex systems need thorough analysis and exhaustive testing.
debkafile's sources: Reza Baruni's death will most likely put Iran's ambitious project for developing sophisticated UAVs in mothballs in the foreseeable future.
Hamas leader: Ground zero mosque must be built – www.news.yahoo.com
NEW YORK – A Hamas leader says Muslims "have to build" a mosque near ground zero.
Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims "have to build everywhere" so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.
Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip.
Sen. Chuck Schumer says Al-Zahar's comments don't carry any weight because Hamas is a terrorist organization. Schumer hasn't taken a stand on the mosque.
Rep. Peter King, who opposes the mosque, says he won't respond to Hamas.
The mosque is a project of the Cordoba Initiative, an advocacy group that promotes improved relations between Islam and the West. It didn't respond to Al-Zahar's comments.
North Korea warns of 'severest punishment' over war games – www.news.yahoo.com
SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea's military threatened Sunday to launch the "severest punishment" against South Korea for staging massive joint war games with the United States this week.
The North's army and people will "deal a merciless counterblow" to the allies "as it had already resolved and declared at home and abroad", a spokesman for the country's army General Staff said in a statement published by state media.
"The military counteraction of (North Korea) will be the severest punishment no one has ever met in the world," he said.
The warning came a day before US and South Korean troops begin the 10-day computerized war games called "Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG)".
About 30,000 US soldiers will take part in the exercise, a US military spokesman said, adding an unspecified number of American soldiers based in the United States would join in via computer networks.
Some 56,000 South Korean soldiers will be mobilized for the war games, a defense ministry spokesman said.
In a message posted on a US military website, General Walter Sharp, who heads some 28,500 US troops based in the South, described the exercise as "one of the largest joint staff directed theatre exercises in the world."
A separate security drill involving South Korean government officials and soldiers will be held during the period, Yonhap news agency said.
This week's exercise is one of a series planned by the South -- either alone or jointly with the United States -- in the aftermath of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.
The North has angrily denied responsibility for the sinking, which killed 46 sailors and sharply raised tensions on the Korean peninsula.
Last month South Korea and the United States held a massive joint naval and air drill in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), which were opposed by Beijing.
A week ago South Korea ended its largest-ever anti-submarine drill including live-fire training near the disputed Yellow Sea border.
The war maneuvers including the UFG exercise "represent the phase of practical actions aimed at a full-dressed military invasion", the North's spokesman said.
"The more recklessly the warmongers persist in the war rackets as a result of wrong policy option, the faster and deeper they will fall into the grave of self-destruction," he said.
China also issued a warning Friday that a US decision to use a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in joint drills with the South constitutes a "fresh provocation" to China and its neighbors.
In a commentary published in the official China Daily, Rear Admiral Yang Yi said Washington would "pay a costly price for its muddled decision" to participate in further drills near Chinese territory over Beijing's objection.
Yang also warned it was "inadvisable" to push a country of 1.3 billion people, noting that there was instead wide scope for US-China naval cooperation should Washington choose the route of caution.
Last week, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said future joint US-South Korea drills would involve the nuclear-powered USS George Washington in the Yellow Sea.
China is North Korea's closest ally and trade partner and Beijing has refused to join in international condemnation of Pyongyang for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
South Korea, US launch war games despite North Korea threat - Hyung-jin Kim - www.news.yahoo.com
SEOUL, South Korea – South Korean and U.S. troops launched computerized military drills Monday despite North Korea warning it would retaliate with a "merciless counterblow" for the exercises Pyongyang considers rehearsal for invasion.
The 11-day drills, dubbed Ulchi Freedom Guardian, are annual war games that involve about 56,000 South Korean soldiers and 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea and abroad, South Korea's Defense Ministry and the U.S. command in Seoul said Monday.
No field training is involved in the war games, in which alliance soldiers, mostly senior officers, sit at computers to practice how they engage in battles and hone their decision-making capabilities. The exercises are eventually designed to improve the allies' joint capability to defend the South and respond to any potential provocations, the U.S. military said in a statement last month.
Washington and Seoul engaged in joint naval drills last month off South Korea's east coast they called a show of unity after a South Korean warship was sunk in March. The allies blame a North Korea torpedo attack but Pyongyang denies involvement.
Pyongyang has for years threatened the South with destruction, though it has never followed through with an all-out military assault since the Korean War ended in 1953.
The Korean peninsula technically remains in a state of war because that conflict ended with an cease-fire, not a peace treaty. The U.S. stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea and tens of thousands more in the region.
Seoul and Washington say the routine military drills are purely defensive, while North Korea calls them preparation for an attack.
"It is another grave military provocation aimed at ... igniting a nuclear war" against North Korea, Pyongyang's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Monday by the official Korean Central News Agency.
The country's military threatened Sunday to deal a "merciless counterblow" to the U.S. and South Korea, "the severest punishment no one has ever met in the world."
The North's military did not elaborate on how it would retaliate. South Korea's Defense Ministry said Monday it was keeping a close watch on North Korea and had spotted no suspicious activity.
Earlier this month, South Korea carried out its own naval drills near the tense western Korean sea border, and North Korea set off a barrage of artillery in response. The South is investigating whether land mines that have recently washed downriver from North Korea were deliberately floated by the North.
North Korea also seized a fishing boat with four South Korean and three Chinese crewmen earlier this month. The South has urged their release, but Pyongyang has not responded.
"We can prevent a war and maintain peace when we get thoroughly prepared," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak told a Cabinet meeting Monday. "We have been doing the Ulchi drills every year, but the people may feel uneasy because the drills are taking place at a time of heightened inter-Korean tension following the (ship sinking)."
On Sunday, Lee urged North Korea to abandon military provocation and make a "courageous change" toward peace, and he outlined a path for the peninsula's unification. Lee — in a speech marking the 65th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's colonial rule — proposed a three-stage unification process, in which the two countries achieve peace and economic integration before becoming a "community of the Korean nation."
North Koreans also marked Liberation Day by paying respect to a huge statue of the late founder of their country, Kim Il Sung. Streams of soldiers, ruling Workers' Party officials and ordinary citizens offered bouquets of flowers and bowed deeply before Kim's statue, according to the North's state media.
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Israel will not be a ‘perfect victim’ - By George Will
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | JERUSALEM ---When Israel declared independence in 1948, it had to use mostly small arms to repel attacks by six Arab armies. Today, however, Israel feels, and is, more menaced than it was then or has been since. Hence the potentially world-shaking decision that will be made here, probably within two years.
To understand the man who will make it, begin with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's belief that stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program is integral to stopping the worldwide campaign to reverse 1948. It is, he says, a campaign to "put the Jew back to the status of a being that couldn't defend himself -- a perfect victim."
Today's Middle East, he says, reflects two developments. One is the rise of Iran and militant Islam since the 1979 revolution, which led to al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. The other development is the multiplying threat of missile warfare.
Now Israel faces a third threat, the campaign to delegitimize it in order to extinguish its capacity for self-defense. After two uniquely perilous millennia for Jews, the creation of Israel meant, Netanyahu says, "the capacity for self-defense restored to the Jewish people." But note, he says, the reflexive worldwide chorus of condemnation when Israel responded with force to rocket barrages from Gaza and from southern Lebanon. There is, he believes, a crystallizing consensus that "Israel is not allowed to exercise self-defense."
From 1948 through 1973, he says, enemies tried to "eliminate Israel by conventional warfare." Having failed, they tried to demoralize and paralyze Israel with suicide bombers and other terrorism. "We put up a fence," Netanyahu says. "Now they have rockets that go over the fence." Israel's military, which has stressed offense as a solution to the nation's lack of strategic depth, now stresses missile defense.
That, however, cannot cope with Hamas's tens of thousands of rockets in Gaza and Hezbollah's up to 60,000 in southern Lebanon. There, U.N. Resolution 1701, promulgated after the 2006 war, has been predictably farcical. This was supposed to inhibit the arming of Hezbollah and prevent its operations south of the Litani River. Since 2006, Hezbollah's rocket arsenal has tripled and its operations mock Resolution 1701. Hezbollah, learning from Hamas, now places rockets near schools and hospitals, certain that Israel's next response to indiscriminate aggression will turn the world media into a force multiplier for the aggressors.
Any Israeli self-defense anywhere is automatically judged "disproportionate." Israel knows this as it watches Iran.
Last year was Barack Obama's wasted year of "engaging" Iran. This led to sanctions that are unlikely to ever become sufficiently potent. With Russia, China and Turkey being uncooperative, Iran is hardly "isolated." The Iranian democracy movement probably cannot quickly achieve regime change. It took Solidarity 10 years to do so against a Polish regime less brutally repressive than Iran's.
Hillary Clinton's words about extending a "defense umbrella over the region" imply, to Israelis, fatalism about a nuclear Iran. As for deterrence working against a nuclear-armed regime steeped in an ideology of martyrdom, remember that in 1980, Ayatollah Khomeini said:
"We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world."
You say, that was long ago? Israel says, this is now:
Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, says that Israel is the "enemy of G0d." Tehran, proclaiming that the Holocaust never happened and vowing to complete it, sent an ambassador to Poland who in 2006 wanted to measure the ovens at Auschwitz to prove them inadequate for genocide. Iran's former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is considered a "moderate" by people for whom believing is seeing, calls Israel a "one-bomb country."
If Iran were to "wipe the Zionist entity off the map," as it vows to do, it would, Netanyahu believes, achieve a regional "dominance not seen since Alexander." Netanyahu does not say that Israel will, if necessary, act alone to prevent this. Or does he?
He says that CIA Director Leon Panetta is "about right" in saying Iran can be a nuclear power in two years. He says that 1948 meant this: "For the first time in 2,000 years, a sovereign Jewish people could defend itself against attack." And he says: "The tragic history of the powerlessness of our people explains why the Jewish people need a sovereign power of self-defense." If Israel strikes Iran, the world will not be able to say it was not warned.
ON THE BRINK - By Jan Markell - www.olivetreeviews.org
Something major is in the works and it is very likely not good. So many have said Iran will be "ready to go" within days as it concerns her nuclear capability that it has become a bit like crying wolf. Few pay attention anymore.
Well, you'd better listen up.
The Jerusalem Post reports that Russia will start loading uranium fuel into the nuclear reactor of the Bushehr nuclear power station in Iran on August 21. This is the crucial step in outfitting Iran with nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
Russia says the latest U.N. sanctions against Iran will not affect the Bushehr project. This project was slated to happen in late September but now we are just days away from the point of no return. Israel must decide what she will do, and quickly.
Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton told Fox News that, "Once the fuel rods are loaded it makes it essentially immune from attack by Israel. Because once the rods are in the reactor, an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf."
The story immediately became front-page news in Israel, which has laid precise plans to carry out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Bolton made it clear that it is widely assumed that any Israeli attack on the Bushehr reactor must take place before the reactor is loaded with fuel rods. If that is the case, Israel must act before August 21.
I often hear Yoni the Israeli blogger on the Hugh Hewitt program. In a recent blog, he suggested war is imminent for the following reasons:
1) Hizbullah has dug tunnels into northern Israel. Hizbullah also has 60,000 rockets, many with chemical warheads. Israel has delivered letters to the U.N., Lebanon, and USA, showing where Hizbullah has hidden rockets in civilian areas.
2) Israeli satellite has captured photos of submarines off-loading weapons to Hizbullah in northern Lebanon. Intelligence later showed these weapons were special chemical weapons engineered to eat through protective equipment. This agent may now be loaded onto Hizbullah rockets.
3) The Israel Air Force (IAF) is training in long- range missions, jets, and helicopters, which would suggest commando raids a long way from home. Additionally, Israeli Defense Force (IDF) reserves have been called up and are being trained at an abnormal pace.
4) Israeli subs are sitting off Iran and the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has an airbase in Saudi Arabia.
5) Israeli intelligence has captured data showing that Hizullah will preemptively attack Israel at month's end. The objective is to take out IAF bases so Israeli planes cannot hit Iran.
While at first glance Americans think this will not affect them all that much, I am taking some thoughts from my frequent radio guest, Bill Salus, who has written the book Israelestine. Salus states, "Iran's apocalyptic-minded president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has publicly threatened the closing of Hormuz in retaliation for an Israeli or American strike upon his country.
"Additionally, two significant correlating events made the news in May, 2010. First, the Islamic Republic of Iran warned that it would launch terrorist attacks and suicide strikes inside of America in the event of a strike upon Iranian soil. Second, the Iranian Navy conducted a massive war exercise in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, called 'Judgment Day.' This drill reportedly demonstrated Iran's sole and sovereign ability to control those strategic bodies of water."
Salus continues, "Regarding the possibility of Iran playing the 'oil card' against America, on September 15, 2009 The Wall Street Journal published a Bret Stephens article entitled Obama Is Pushing Israel Towards War. In the article Stephens suggested that a Middle East War could push the price of oil up to $300 per barrel. Lately, on average, that precious black gold has been closing between $70 to $80 per barrel. Stephen's estimate suggests an oil-dependent world could be about to experience a spike at the pump of about four times the present amount. Iran still ranks number two behind Saudi Arabia in the OPEC oil cartel, which is responsible for two-thirds of the world's oil supply."
Are Americans, Chinese, Europeans, and others ready for such a steep increase? Americans could expect to feel pain in the waiting lines at the pump and in their pocket books, as increased transportation costs would certainly be reflected in the price of goods sold over the retail counters across the country.
When this strike actually happens, tomorrow or next year, the world will react -- as it did after Israel bombed Iraq's Osirak facility in 1981 -- with universal condemnation. Israel can do nothing right -- including take out a major de-stablizer of the world -- Iran's nuclear capability.
And just where will America be in this scenario? Would she participate with Israel? Even Saudi Arabia is participating, by allowing Israel to use a Saudi air base. But don't count on our current White House or State Department to do anything but join the condemning chorus. As George Will says, "Will Israel do what the world won't? If it attacks Iran, the world was warned. If not, the world may regret it."
Gay Marriage and the End of Christian Civilization - Commentary by Father Thomas Euteneur - President, Human Life International - www.lifesitenews.com
Back in the 90s when Fr. Paul Marx, founder of HLI, was asked his opinion about the efforts to legalize "same-sex unions" he commented in his usual forthright fashion, "When they do that," he said, "it's the end." He meant "the end" of the Christian civilization whose values used to form the basis of American common life. Fr. Marx, in a prophetic sense, saw rightly that a society cannot survive the perverse manipulation of the very structure of reality that God Himself has revealed to us, one very fundamental element of which is the institution of marriage. When we allow that to be changed-"It's the end."
In 2009, 52% of the voting population in California endorsed Proposition 8 which ratified the constitutional protection of marriage as between a man and a woman. One might argue that even 52% was shockingly low on something so important, but the people won that battle despite the veritable war of the homosexual militants to sink that Proposition. In fact, Christian decency won and the structure of reality stayed intact, at least in this aspect of law in California, until this week when a single judge just nullified 7 million votes and the will of the people and lifted the "ban" on gay marriage. There was rejoicing in Sodom on the Bay, but how sad for our nation and even for our poor, misguided world that will weaken in its opposition to the homosexual lifestyle as a result of this decision.
So why, you ask, is gay marriage wrong? Let me count the ways.
First and foremost is because it violates the revealed Will of God as seen in Scripture. There are few things as clear in God's revelation as the sacred institution of marriage between a man and a woman. From Genesis 1 (the marriage of Adam and Eve) to Revelation 21 (the marriage of Christ the Lamb with His Bride the Church) God has had only one model of marriage, and it is not gay marriage. Even polygamy and divorce was done away with in the Christian Church, as Our Lord reminded all of the essence of marriage as it was "in the beginning." This Christian view of marriage became the norm of Western society and its most basic societal unit, undoubtedly allowing the West to flourish.
A close second to this is that gay marriage distorts the very concept of parenting as well as marriage. Even if you overlook the fact that gay marriage is by definition sterile, every child of a gay marriage has to be adopted or artificially inseminated, and that in itself is a violation of the whole concept of family. In the 80s the Vatican actually said that the adoption of children by homosexuals "does violence" to the child. Pretty strong language, but true nonetheless. In its simplest terms, kids need a mom and a dad, and are forever stigmatized by being the child of a gay marriage. Kids model their lives, their concept of family, their morals and oftentimes their whole worldview on their parents' attitudes and values. These kids get a totally distorted view of all these basics.
Third but by no means the last reason, all of society suffers because of the public endorsement of an intrinsically disordered lifestyle and practice. Yes, "disordered" is what our Church calls both the homosexual orientation and lifestyle, and gay marriage simply ratifies that disorder on a social level. In recent debates, the term "human right" to describe gay marriage and the charge that anyone who stands against it is guilty of "discrimination" are examples of these fundamental distortions. Fr. Marx was right: a society cannot long survive this kind of violence done to its basic values, and history surely shows many societies like Ancient Greece, whose rapid decline was preceded by the proliferation of the gay lifestyle and its public acceptance.
While we respect all people as they are, we don't have to respect such a wholesale assault on everything that is sacred to us and good for our society; no, in fact, we must fight against it with our very lives. The question is not whether or not we can win the battle; the question is whether we will join it. Will we accept the challenge to defend the sacred or not? We are called to be faithful and obedient to the Plan of God for our world, and within that, God will bring forth the victory. There is no doubt that, if it is not already there, gay marriage will be coming to your state soon. If we don't fight it, our souls, our families and basically, our very civilization, will find themselves at "the end" of the line in very short order.
The False Prophets of religious freedom and submission to tyranny – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
Since September 11, 2001, both President George W. Bush and the man who currently occupies the Oval Office have been trying to convince Americans that Islam is a peaceful religion. Both hosted dinners either at the White House or the State Department celebrating Islamic holidays, especially Ramadan. Both attempted to extoll the virtues of Islam to the American people. Now the president has gone too far by throwing his support behind a mosque and Islamic center proposed to be built in New York near where Muslims brutally murdered 2,752 innocent American citizens. He uses the old argument of religious freedom to justify his position. It is a false argument.
Given the definition of "sound religion" that was used by the Founding Fathers of this nation to build out the First Amendment, Islam would hardly qualify as a religion. Benjamin Franklin summed up the Founder's take on religion in a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale University: "I believe in one God, the Creator of the universe. That he governs it by his providence. That he out to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is in doing good to his other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this. These I take to be the fundamental points in all sound religion."
Here we see that when George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin and others framed up their Constitutional positions on religion, it met essentially five criteria to qualify: First, one God that created all things and who should be worshiped; Second, God has established a providential government; Third, that all people are to treat one another according to the principles of God; Fourth, the soul of man is immortal; and Fifth, will mankind will answer justly to God according to the life lived here on earth. Analyzing this criteria, which is held consistent through the Founders writings on religion, only the Judeo-Christan religion qualifies. All others, especially Islam, violate these principles in some ways.
God's law was given to Moses, and the Founders used it to fashion America's laws. There is blessing in keeping the commandments, statutes and judgments given by the LORD. They are enumerated in Deuteronomy Chapter 7. Moreover, Jesus Christ gave the true law of love for all mankind to follow. He said in 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Even Mohammed recognized Jesus as a great prophet, yet he wrote in the Koran that his god wanted all Christians and Jews killed. Building an Islamic Center near the 911 site is not about religious freedom. Its about submission to political Islam. And the Oval Office knows it.
Have a Blessed and Powerful Day!
Bill Wilson
Word of Life Ministry
The Name with Power – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
— Exodus 20:7
Commandment number three of the Ten Commandments tells us not to take God's name in vain. The words "in vain" mean empty, idle, insincere, or frivolous. So to take God's name in vain means to say it in a way that is empty, idle, insincere, or frivolous. And one of the most obvious ways this is done is through the use of profanity.
We all have heard people use the name of Jesus to punctuate a point. I have even said to people who do this, "Be careful. He might answer you some time." Interestingly, I never hear the names of various religious leaders or so-called gurus being used when someone is angry or upset.
So why do people, including avowed atheists, use the name Jesus Christ in this way? I believe that in their hearts, they know there is power in that holy name. Sure, they are taking it in vain. They are violating the third commandment. But in a way, they are acknowledging the existence of God. Otherwise, why invoke the name of a God you don't believe in? Why say the name of a person you don't think ever existed? Why say His name? Because there is power in that name. And when you say it, people pay attention.
Philippians 2:9–11 reminds us, "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
The name of Jesus has power. God wants us as His followers to never take His name in vain, but to honor it instead.
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The Case for Pre-Trib Rapture in Luke 17 - By Gene Lawley – www.raptureready.com
In Luke 17:26-35 Jesus links the incidents of Noah and Lot with the coming Day of the Lord, the coming of the Son of Man. Those passages recording the judgments of Noah’s day and that of Lot are at Genesis 6-8, and Genesis 18-19, respectively.
The passage in Luke reads as follows (NKJV): “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man; they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
“Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he who is on the housetop, and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them away And likewise the one who is in the field, let him not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife.
“Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you in that night there will be two men in one bed; the one will be taken and the other will be left. Two women will be grinding together; the one will be taken and the other left. Two men will be in the field; the one will be taken and the other left.”
To analyze the statements of Jesus under the umbrella of the time-line of events in the last days, I have thought to take them in segments of activities described, as this:
1. Activities of mankind when God intercedes.
2. The day “Noah entered the ark and Lot went out of Sodom”.
3. What happens to individuals “on that day”.
4. (On that day) judgments came upon those left behind.
A Population Primed for Surprise
The activities of people around the world are the normal, daily activities of people in the normal course of life. They are eating, drinking, sleeping, buying, selling, building, marrying and giving in marriage. There is no evidence seen of the judgments of Revelation 6-19, when, if one thinks clearly on it, people will be concentrating on only one main thing—mere survival of life.
For example, Revelation 16:4 tells us that the waters will be turned to blood, and elsewhere, so will the seas. Things inhabiting the seas will die. It is surely reasonable to think that there will be no fishing industry, no market for fishing boats or gear and tackle.
The same situation will occur in all industries and activities around the earth. That should raise a bright flag of warning to those who hold to the deception that the rapture will not happen until the end of the seven-year tribulation period.
Don’t count on being able to put off a commitment to Christ until you can see the end approaching. It will not delay, but will come upon us “as a thief at night”. That deception of delay is a tool of the enemy.
But, then, some say that it does not get that bad until half-way through the tribulation, or, at least, until the wrath of God kicks in, as we have been told, between the fifth and sixth seals of Revelation 6 (where the word “wrath” is first used).
Just take another look at the accompanying devastation and despair that will be associated with the advent of the four horsemen of Revelation 6. Will the ship of state be sailing through smooth and still waters during those days? Natural disasters in our present experiences, alone, have shown that life as normally experienced will not be happening. Add to that the economic demise we are already enduring and it will certainly challenge any claim that the coming of our Lord will delay until after the tribulation begins. Remember? Jesus did not include “turmoil and despair” as any dominating concern in the activities of those days just before the coming of the Lord’s judgments.
Also notice that it is Jesus who is the one opening the seals of judgment, the only one worthy to do so. Whose wrath, then, is it, which propels these four horsemen forth to do their dirty work? In God’s eyes it is wrathful judgment; in Satan’s eyes it is the progress of his purpose to conquer the earth. This is the beginning of sorrows.
A parallel passage in I Thessalonians 5:2-3 seems to lay out the same pattern, and describes it as a time that will come as a thief in the night: “for you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, for when they say ‘Peace and safety!’, then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.”
The element of sudden surprise is couched in a backdrop of apparent unreadiness and lack of alertness.
In the Twinkling of An Eye
The sudden transformation of believers from mortal to immortal, and “corruption to incorruption”, as described in I Corinthians 15:50-54 will have no prior notice issued. There will be no time to clean up the mess we are leaving behind, or even say “goodbye” to those around us. The things of this world that are a part of us—our clothing, eyeglasses, wedding rings, wrist watch, pocket change—these will be left, right where we will have been seated or standing. What a surprise, too, will it be for those nearby, when believers are caught up to meet the Lord in the air!
God actually put Noah and his family in the ark and closed the door on them, then waited seven days before the rains came. Perhaps this was to bring the magnitude of sinfulness of those outside to a greater awareness and conviction. It is unclear, yet judgment came just as surely as proclaimed.
The angels had a struggle with Lot, however; he was reluctant to leave, and the angel said, “Hurry. Escape there [to a nearby city], for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Genesis 19:22. God would not bring destruction until the believers were out of danger!
Jesus brought this forward as an illustration of how things will fall into place in that day of His coming. It is a clear validation of the promise in Revelation 3:10, “…I also will keep you from the hour of trial to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”
The somewhat controversial passage in II Thessalonians 2:6-7, where Paul writes of the role of the “restrainer” in the time frame of the last days, clearly parallels the accounts of the rapture of believers in I Corinthians 15:50-54 and I Thessalonians 4:16-17, as well as the illustrations of that event in the accounts of Noah and Lot.
Identitifying the restrainer is not difficult when we realize that entity’s removal is the main point of comment in connection with God’s allowance of the free reign of lawlessness in the world, in preparation for His final judgment.
The only entity that has ever stood in the way of the progress of evil is the church whose head is the Lord Jesus Christ. He promised His Spirit to the disciples in a special new way in John 14:17, “…for He dwells with you and will be in you”. That restrainer is the Holy Spirit indwelt body of Christ, the church, and its removal from the path of evil opens up the next step in the plan of God.
Then Judgments Came
The earlier passage in I Thessalonians 5:3 describes the judgments as “a sudden destruction, as birth pangs upon a pregnant woman”, which actually come without reservation, gradually increasing in intensity until the event is culminated. Just in this way are the judgments of Revelation 6-19 laid out, increasing in intensity until that final great battle when the Lord takes out the enemy by the power of His might. Those days will not be days of normal life as we have known it. It will be terrible, for there will not be any tolerance for righteousness. The evilness of man will rise to great heights, beyond all imagination. Evil will reign supreme…until Jesus comes.
However, the whole of scripture bears out the time-line of events that pinpoints the rapture’s occurrence before the beginning of the seven years of tribulation, the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, (Jeremiah 30:7), not that of the church.
The harvest time of the Great Commission is over. The church is gone. God has another plan for the 70th week.
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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
