UN EU CALL FOR MIDEAST FORCE

1-Good God & Natures Quirks. 2-UN-EC CALL FOR MIDEAST FORCE. 3-Syria vows to Attack Israel directly if Attacked.

Good God & Nature's Quirks
By Grant Swank on Jul 16, 2006

So many dead. So many grieving. So many distraught. Where is God? Where is the good God? Good God created all things sound and pure. Then He placed our first parents in paradise — the Garden of Eden.

There, however, was a stipulation. They dared not touch a particular tree. That obviously was to test the mortals-with-free-will obedience quotient. All other creatures on Earth were programmed by instinct. Only Adam and Eve were gifted with free will — the awesome power of choice. In that, at least, was their image of deity upon their very own natures — the power to think, to make decisions. Yet, sadly, our first parents disobeyed God to follow the Lie. The Lie told them God really didn’t mean what He said. It was all a ruse. Good God would overlook their eating of the forbidden fruit. After all, He is good God. However, good God is not only mercy but also justice — eternally so. If He were not, none of us would want to know Him let alone worship and obey Him.

In His mercy and justice, God dealt with Adam and Eve’s disobedience. In His mercy, He did not slay them. He permitted them life and forgiving grace — but a temporary span on Earth, not the eternity He had originally planned. In His justice, He disciplined them by casting them out of Eden.

Further, Eve would give birth in pain. Adam would dig out a living by the sweat of his brow. Earth fell when our first parents disobeyed God. In that, mortal’s body and soul fell, hence there being sickness followed by death as well as meanness, madness and murder, anger, animosity and anxiety. Further, when Earth fell due to Adam and Eve falling for the Lie, the globe itself came upon its own calamities. They were not originally intended by good God. They were the result of mortals’ disobedience, hence floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and, yes, earthquakes. Earth’s calamities should then remind us that mortals are indeed frail, fragile creatures in need of the Power above and beyond themselves. Mortals are temporary creatures of a spiritually fallen planet. Mortals are in need of a merciful, comforting God.

Therefore, when earthquakes take lives, spring forth wails of woe, and cover the planet with depression, they remind us of history’s beginnings. They remind us of the awful state the planet is in due to mortal going his and her own way apart from good God. They remind us to call out for mercy, for divine help, and for a hope that is beyond and above the earthquakes, winds and fire. An earthquake is not God’s fault. It is mortals’ fault — from the start, that is. Adam and Eve’s lineage have had to deal with their disobedience ever since they went for the Lie. That should surely underline for all thinking mortals how truly crucial it is to obey an Almighty God, falling at His feet for mercy and grace, beseeching Him to redeem Earth’s tragedies into a meaning that only eternity can fully explain.

The hope? The hope in a spiritually fallen world is still the good God. There really is no other alternative other than despair and finally spiritual and / or physical suicide. Hope comes from reaching out in faith to good God, calling upon His everlasting arms, and finding Him there — no matter the tragedy, the loss, and the perplexity.In that, good God has the last word for those in faith.

In that, good God then is their Almighty One placing His period at their last sentence. God Himself acted out before us how to deal with this spiritually fallen planet. He came to earth in Jesus. He taught and loved and healed. Then the jealous enemy spiked Him to the cross. Murder. Injustice. Madness. Meanness. Cruelty.Yet from that zenith of calamities came His resurrection. And from those lips now alive and loving — come the words: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me shall not die.

Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone will open, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me. Till the close of Earth’s history, tragedies will continue to spill themselves over the face of the planet — since Adam and Eve first fell for the Lie. But out of every tragedy, faith can lift the arm of hope toward good God. In doing so, even in the earthquake rubble of Iran, victory is assured through the tears. Eternity will prove it to be true.

By Grant Swank on Jul 16, 2006
Editor: Views are those of individual authors and not necessarily those of NewsByUs.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

Annan, Blair call for Mideast 'stabilization force'
International presence urged as way to curb fighting
Monday, July 17, 2006 Posted: 0729 GMT (1529 HKT)

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) -- United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday called for an international stabilization force to go to the Mideast to help end the cross-border attacks between Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the Israeli military.Fighting continued Monday, with Israeli bombings of Beirut's port, an army barracks and the capital's southern suburbs, following Hezbollah rocket attacks on northern cities in Israel Sunday that left at least eight people dead.

The proposed international force would be the first step in what Annan and Blair said should be a series of actions that would stop the hostilities.The only way we are going to get a cessation of hostilities is the deployment of an international force to stop the bombardment of Israel and get Israel to stop its attacks on Hezbollah,Blair told reporters at a news conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, at the end of the G-8 summit.Annan said the U.N. Security Council would have to discuss the matter but said such a force would be only a part of a comprehensive plan of action to stop the fighting across the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Lebanese internal security forces said the six days of cross-border fighting have killed a total of 142 people in Lebanon and wounded 382.Video of the aftermath of the strike on the port of Beirut showed black smoke billowing into the air amid large shipping containers and the charred remains of a truck.At least two people died in the attack.

About 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Beirut, in the city of Abdeh, three Israeli missiles struck an army barracks, officials said, killing six soldiers and wounding 28.Israeli strikes Monday in the Bekaa Valley killed seven people, authorities said. Forty-three others were wounded and one girl is missing.

Deadly rocket attack in Haifa

The bombardments began Wednesday, following the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas in a cross-border raid.Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim militia that holds seats in Lebanon's government, has responded by firing volleys of short-range missiles into towns in northern Israel.Eight Israeli civilians died Sunday when one rocket struck a train station in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city. Warning sirens sounded across Haifa soon after daybreak Monday, but the rockets landed just off the shoreline, causing no damage, the Israel Defense Forces said.Other rockets fell across northern Israel Monday morning, injuring four people, according to the IDF.

Some of the strikes hit cities 40 km (25 miles) south of the Lebanese border -- the farthest Hezbollah has reached into northern Israel to date.At about the same time, explosions rocked the southern suburbs of Beirut, sending plumes of smoke into the
morning sky. People fleeing those attacks are moving into schools in the capital's center, where local relief agencies are trying to help them.

Israel said 12 civilians and nine soldiers and sailors had been killed since the conflict erupted Wednesday.Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" that the Israeli attack had opened "the gates of hell" with what he called a disproportionate response to Hezbollah's Wednesday raid.

Evacuation efforts

Meanwhile, several countries continued with efforts to evacuate their citizens from Lebanon.A bus filled with German tourists left a hotel in Beirut Monday, hoping to make it to the Syrian border.France dispatched a ferry from Cyprus late Sunday to help its citizens and others, mostly Europeans, to leave Lebanon. The vessel can carry 1,300 people and could begin taking on passengers Monday afternoon, the French Embassy in Beirut said.U.S. Marine helicopters flew 21 Americans to Cyprus, including a family of four with a sick child and another person needing medical attention, on Sunday, State Department officials said. The officials estimate that about 15 percent of the roughly 25,000 Americans in Lebanon would evacuate. (Watch a family cope with being stranded in Lebanon -- 2:08)Lebanon has called for a cease-fire, but Israel says it will only stop its campaign when its kidnapped troops are freed, Hezbollah withdraws from southern Lebanon and rocket attacks on its territory stop.

Israel is also fighting Palestinian militants in Gaza who kidnapped an Israeli soldier from a border post three weeks ago.Early Monday, one Israeli soldier was killed and six were wounded -- three of them critically -- in the West Bank city of Nablus, the IDF said.The soldiers were conducting an operation to arrest Palestinian militants in the town when an explosive device went off near them, the IDF said.

Militant leader: 'We will humiliate them'

Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese people to support Hezbollah's battle with Israel, which he said was being waged for them. (Watch Beirut airport burn -- 1:25) We are leading the battle for the nation, Nasrallah said. We will humiliate them in the future as we have humiliated them in the past.(What is Hezbollah?) He accused Israel of attacking civilian targets, while insisting that Hezbollah has aimed its rocket attacks only at the Israeli military. The Lebanese towns bombed and shelled by Israel were "civilian homes, with no rockets or bases, he said.CNN's Nic Robertson, John Vause, Paula Hancocks, Barbara Starr and Elise Labott contributed to this report.Copyright 2006 CNN.(AP)


Syria vows to respond directly to any Israel strike by Roueida Mabardi
Sun Jul 16, 12:14 PM ET

DAMASCUS (AFP) -Syria has warned it would respond directly and by all means necessary to any Israeli attack on its territory, in its first official reaction to Israel's offensive on neighboring Lebanon. The warning coincided Sunday with a similar threat by Damascus's key ally Iran, and came amid rising fears that the Middle East is being dragged deeper into the spiraling conflict sparked by the capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon and militants linked to Hamas in Gaza.Any Israeli attack against Syria will provoke an unlimited, direct and firm response using all means necessary,Information Minister Mohsen Bilal told
the official SANA news agency.Bilal accused Israel of state terrorism and operating above the law ... ignoring UN Security Council resolutions and sabotaging efforts toward Middle East peace, as he vowed Syria's support for Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah
movement.

Syria supports the national Lebanese resistance against Israeli aggression. The resistance will triumph and Israel will be conquered,he said, using a term that refers to Hezbollah.Resistance is a legitimate and sacred right, he added, saying it was necessary to make a distinction between resistance and terrorism.A coalition of Syrian political parties led by the ruling Baath party echoed Bilal's comments and announced a series of measures aimed at supporting the Lebanese people's resistance against Israel.

Damascus will arrange "facilities" for those Lebanese who wish to reside in Syria or pass through the country, send medical and food aid to Lebanon and contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure destroyed by the barbaric Israeli raids, the National Progressive Front said.Tehran also warned arch-enemy Israel of unimaginable losses if it makes the mistake of attacking Syria and vowed that it was standing by the Syrian people.

Israel said one of the rockets fired Sunday by Hezbollah guerrillas on Israel's third-largest city of Haifa, killing eight people, may have been Syrian-made.There is a possibility that one of the rockets was made in Syria, a senior military official told reporters following the deadliest cross-border attack in decades.Maybe Hezbollah wants to involve Syria in this mess, he said. It could be a big advantage for Hezbollah to open a third front against Israel.Israel had said a day earlier that Syria was not a target in its offensive, after firing rockets on the Lebanese-Syrian border.Damascus denied its territory had actually been hit.

The escalating Middle East conflict is central to discussions at a G8 summit of world leaders in Saint Petersburg, and Russia has warned of a real threat that the Middle East crisis could widen.Syria's official media on Sunday denounced the silence of Arab countries amid the deadly Israeli offensive in Lebanon, launched Wednesday after two soldiers were captured by militants from Hezbollah.Silence has become the ideal reaction for Arab regimes when they find nothing to say that will satisfy their grand masters,the state daily Ath-Thawra said.Those who have expressed doubts over the actions of the resistance are in one way or another implicated in the (Israeli) aggression against Beirut and Gaza. The newspaper was referring to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan which indirectly criticized Hezbollah for adventurism in provoking Israel's onslaught on Lebanon and putting all Arab nations at risk.

Another Syrian government daily, Tishrin, accused Israel and the United States of waging war in order to gain total control over the region. After having achieved Iraq's destruction and sabotaged all efforts to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict and find a just peace in the region, the US administration has given its green light to the Israeli government of (Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert to burn down the region beginning with Gaza and Lebanon,Tishrin said. This is part of an Israeli-American plan for total hegemony in the region.

Syria, which backs but denies arming Hezbollah, which is also Iranian-backed, was the long-time powerbroker in Lebanon until an international outcry over the assassination of five-time premier Rafiq Hariri forced it to withdraw its troops last year.