12TH IMAM IN ISLAMIC PROPHECY

1-US sends plane to check on Atlantic tropical wave. 2-Diplomats wrangle over UN draft. 3-U.S. beefing up presence in central, eastern Europe. 4-DRC denies sending hidden shipment of uranium to Iran. 5-EU Presidency Accuses Members of Leaking Docs to Israel. 6-Peretz Talks Tough: No Cease Fire Without Hostage Release. 7-12th Imam,’ key facet of Islamic prophecy, fueling Middle East turmoil, experts say.

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

US sends plane to check on Atlantic tropical wave 44 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force is sending a plane to investigate whether a strong tropical wave near the Windward Islands has strengthened into a tropical depression or storm, the U.S.

National Hurricane Center said in a report Wednesday. The U.S. Air Force Reserve Reconnaissance aircraft will arrive in the afternoon at the wave located about 225 miles east of the Windward Islands and moving westward at about 20 to 25 miles per hour, which had become more concentrated on Wednesday


morning.All of the hurricane models show the wave crossing the Windward Islands and moving toward the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico over the next several days.

The Windward Islands include Martinique, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Saint Vincent, The Grenadines, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago.It is too soon to say whether the storm could get into the Gulf of Mexico, where it could disrupt the U.S. oil and natural gas production and refining.If a tropical storm forms, the NHC would name it Debby.The NHC did not expect a tropical storm to form anywhere else through Thursday.

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.

Diplomats wrangle over UN draft

A building collapsed after air strikes on south Beirut Diplomats at the United Nations are discussing possible changes to a draft resolution aimed at ending the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. An Arab League delegation is travelling to New York to push Lebanon's demands for the text to call for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces. Lebanon has pledged 15,000 troops for the border area when Israel pulls out. Israel continued air strikes overnight after at least 49 people died in raids on Lebanon on Monday.

The current text - drafted by the US and France - calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and lays the groundwork for a second resolution that would install an international peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. But the Lebanese government wants changes which include a requirement that Israel withdraw all its forces as soon as there is a cessation of hostilities - rather than waiting for the eventual deployment of a multi-national force.

Violations

The talks came as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a new report criticising both sides for targeting civilians during the fighting. Mr Annan said the Israeli bombing of the village of Qana on 30 July could be part of a pattern of violations of international law. He called for a further investigation into the Qana attack, which killed at least 28 people, according to Human Rights Watch although initially the toll was put at 56. Israel says it carried out about 80 air strikes across Lebanon on Monday night, targeting what it said were Hezbollah buildings and rocket launchers. On Monday, Israeli air strikes on Lebanon were met by the militant group Hezbollah with a barrage of more than 100 rockets, wounding some Israeli civilians.

Rescuers in Beirut said at least 15 people had been killed in evening air strikes on a southern suburb that caused a building to collapse. The Israeli army warned southern Lebanese residents to stay indoors from 2200 (1900 GMT) on Monday.

Three Israeli soldiers were killed in clashes in the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil, the Israeli military said, adding that five Hezbollah militants were also killed. Mr Olmert told reservists Israel was not stopping its offensive The Israeli military said it had downed an Hezbollah drone - the first time an unmanned spotter plane has been destroyed in the conflict. The Israeli army also released video footage that purported to show a Hezbollah fighter confessing to taking part in the 12 July raid in which two Israeli soldiers were captured, triggering the conflict. Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora drastically revised down the death toll of an Israeli air strike in the village of Houla, where he initially said 40 people had died when a building collapsed on them. A UN spokesman later said five people had died in the attack.

Vote delay

Correspondents say the UN Security Council will vote, at the very earliest, on the draft resolution on Tuesday. Both the US and France have said they will listen to the Arab delegation's concerns. But US President George W Bush, at his ranch in Texas, warned against creating a vacuum into which Hezbollah and its sponsors are able to move more weapons. The BBC's diplomatic correspondent says the US and France will be reluctant to see the vote delayed very long for fear that the whole plan could collapse.

Senior Israeli officials have said they are broadly happy with the text of the UN resolution. More than 900 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government said. More than 90 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed. Israeli Defence Minster Amir Peretz said Israel would step up its offensive against Hezbollah rocket-launching sites if the diplomatic process does not reach a successful conclusion. And Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, according to his office, told reservists on a visit to the Lebanese border: I give to you all the power and the backing. We are not stopping.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(EU) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
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.(THIS EU POLITICIAN COMES FROM THE OCCULT)
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:(WAR) 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,(DESTROY) 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,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

U.S. beefing up presence in central, eastern Europe

European and American media have spread far and wide the move of the United States to build a guided missile defense system in central and eastern European nations for some time. A few days ago, it was confirmed by the Czech news agency, which said in a news dispatch that US military experts arrived at a military base in Bohemia, Czech for the selection of a guided missile defense site. In addition to Czech, the United States also thinks of turning to Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria for the selection of similar guided missile defense sites.

Since the conclusion of the cold war in the early 1990s, the European Union (EU) and the United States have distanced gradually in establishing the new world order (One World Government) and coping with a number of major international affairs, and many
Western nations have been grieved over the US unilateralism.

The foreign and defense policies of the EU have lagged far behind its fast progressing economic integration, so the EU has failed to shape their common stance on a quite number of major issues.

In this backdrop, the United States has kept shifting the gravity of its influence eastward and hopes to enhance its concept of value through its intensified contacts and intercourse with the central and eastern European nations.

These nations have all materialized their dream of return to Europe. In the course of prolonged, complex negotiations to join the EU, nevertheless, the candidate nations indignantly resented to the harsh and selfish terms imposed upon them by the EU member countries. A Czech newspaper once reminded people that it was France that tried to curb the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or the EU from being enlarged and it was Germany that attempted to stop the East Europeans from entering into the labor market freely.

Therefore, many central and eastern European nations want eagerly to draw support from the United States, or the third force, to defend and safeguard their political and economic interests in the EU. Most of these nations are imbued with strong, prevalent pro-American sentiments due to changes in their ideology, and hold that it was the US support that have enabled them to get rid of the yoke of the former Soviet Union and eventually to join in the EU. So, the foreign policies of these central and eastern European nations sometimes underscore much more the concept of value than those of Western European countries. They have followed the United States more closely whenever the latter sets forth various kinds of prosals and resorting to military actions overseas under the banner of morality.

Hungary permitted the United States to use its ground military base even before it jointed into the NATO. Almost all central and eastern European nations have involved themselves in the Iraq War under the command of the United States. Non-government
organizations (NGO) of Slovakia, Poland, Czech and three Baltic states, namely, Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, have given active support to the pro-Western democratic movement of Serbia, George, Ukraine and Belarus.

The US moves in central and eastern European nations would possibly inflict intense dissatisfaction and pressure upon Russia. The aim of the guided missile defense system is obvious, though it is not nuclear weaponry and its main function is to intercept nuclear weapons at early stage. So either U.S.-Russian ties or the relations between the central and eastern European nations and Russia would likely stand new, severe tests. By People's Daily Online

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines(PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DRC denies sending hidden shipment of uranium to Iran
August 8, 2006

The Democratic Republic of Congo government has denied that a uranium shipment left its territory last year bound for Iran.It's a great big lie, government spokesman Henri Mova Sakanyi said. All our nuclear activities are under the control of the
International Atomic Energy Agency.

Britain's Sunday Times newspaper reported that a smuggled shipment of uranium 238 had been intercepted in Tanzania in October. The report cited a senior Tanzanian customs official and an unpublished report by the UN from July 18.The article said the shipment had come from a closed mine in Lubumbashi, Congo, then had been driven via Zambia into Tanzania, where it had been uncovered during a scan at the port in Dar es Salaam while awaiting shipment to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.

Anyone who knows about uranium knows that it is not exported in raw form in trucks. It must be treated and purified, and we don't enrich uranium in Congo,Sakanyi said.The paper cited a Tanzanian customs official, who it did not identify by name, as saying that the uranium was hidden inside a cargo of 50-kilogram drums of coltan, a mineral used to make computer chips.The Sunday Times said the uranium was suspected of having been extracted illegally from the Shinkolobwe mine, which was closed in 1961. - Sapa-AP

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(EU) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
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.

EU Presidency Accuses Members of Leaking Docs to Israel
Tuesday, August 08, 2006

HELSINKI, Finland — The European Union presidency on Tuesday accused member states of leaking important foreign policy documents to countries outside the bloc, including Israel. Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, wrote in an opinion piece that the leaks are hampering the 25-member bloc's ability to act as a united force in global politics.It has long been known that all EU documents that deal with the Middle East also are known in Tel Aviv within an hour after having been distributed to the member states, and probably also in Washington and Moscow,Tuomioja wrote in the Helsinki newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet.

CountryWatch: Finland

He said the leaks encourage member states to act outside the EU's formal decision-making structure.This is problematic for the whole union, but especially harmful to the smaller member states,he wrote.Tuomioja also criticized EU ministers for acting in national interests — or at least giving that impression to the media — and preparing for summits as if they were facing hostile countries.It would have great significance for the EU's morale, credibility and efficiency if ministers came to EU meetings with a certain feeling of common goals and not primarily to bring home gains ... for domestic use,he wrote.He also accused the media of exaggerating differences within the union. For example, he said the union had a common view on how to respond to the violence in the Middle East, contrary to many news reports.Finland holds the rotating six-month presidency for the remainder of the year.
FOXNEWS.COM

Peretz Talks Tough: No Cease Fire Without Hostage Release
16:54 Aug 08, '06 / 14 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Defense Minister Amir Peretz categorically stated Tuesday that Israel will not agree to a cease fire without the release of two IDF soldiers who were kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists at the outset of the war on July 12. Their freedom originally was a demand by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice but has not been specifically stated in the past several days.

Minister Peretz also repeated demands that Hizbullah be disarmed before the IDF retreats and allows the Lebanese army to patrol southern Lebanon. The Lebanese government which approved the deployment, for the first time in more than 20 years, includes five Shi'ite ministers who support Hizbullah.

12th Imam,’ key facet of Islamic prophecy, fueling Middle East turmoil, experts say Aug 7, 2006,By Olivia Tulley,Baptist Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Among the nearly 68 million people in Iran, the vast majority are Muslim who place their hope not in modern-day politics or rulers but in a person who walked the earth centuries ago and is promised to return.

Both Islam and Christianity have a very well-defined eschatology, or period of the last days; both of them cannot be correct …,said William Wagner, senior professor at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary and author of the book, How Islam Plans to Change the World.A majority of Shiite Muslims traditionally believe that the 12th Imam (Islamic religious leader), born in 868 A.D., was placed by God into hiding (known as occultation) until the day of judgment. Southern Baptist author and evangelist Anis Shorrosh explained that many Shiites also refer to the 12th Imam as the Mahdi, an Arabic word that generally references a messiah, or a guide.

This man will come to show them the way, because the prayer of every Muslim five times a day …ends with ‘Show us the right path, not the path of those who have incurred your anger or those who are lost, but those upon whom grace has come, Shorrosh said.Though most strains of Islam have a belief in the Mahdi, Shiites traditionally believe he is Mohammed ibn Hasan, the 12th in the line of imams who were descendents of the prophet Mohammed. Though they do not know when the Mahdi will return, they believe he will come to end the misery of his people. Some strains of Islam even hold a belief that Jesus will be the Mahdi who will return and proclaim Islam as the true religion.Satan always tries to duplicate everything that God does, Wagner said, and I believe he has created his own eschatology that is somewhat similar to that of Christianity, but false enough to where it is apparent that it is not the truth.

Ray Tallman, director of the school of intercultural studies at Golden Gate Seminary, noted that the major eschatological question for Shiite Muslims is when the Mahdi’s return will take place -– and many hold the belief that the time is near. The increasing clash with Israel and that with Christianity are two indications to Shiites that the Mahdi’s return could be near, said Tallman, who spent seven years as the international director for Arab World Ministries.All of that is sort of a sign of the times that now it has come to this, and that what is actually being done now out of hate has an eschatological sign of promise to it,Tallman said of the Shiite view.

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been cited by various news sources as not only believing in the eventual return of the Mahdi, but that the return is near and that it is the responsibility of the Iranian government to prepare the country for his return.

Belief in a savior is universal,BBC News quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in January. It is the pivot of our beliefs as Muslims and Iranians. We believe that an offspring of the prophet, may peace be upon him, will be the ultimate savior. His name and attributes are clear. He will come and will administer ultimate justice.The belief that the Mahdi’s return is near is not a new claim among Shiites, Wagner said, but one that has been held almost since the 12th Imam was historically placed into hiding.Almost every generation has some figures in Islam that either claim to be the 12th Imam or claim that the 12th Imam will come to himself, Wagner said.

Although Shiites and Sunnis often battle against each other, as is currently the case in Iraq, Wagner noted common efforts among both groups of Muslims to destroy Israel, which is a critical part of Islam taking control in the world and thus ushering in the Mahdi.

They feel like one of the major blocking points is Israel, and that is one reason why they feel like they must destroy Israel, Wagner said.Wagner further noted that Islam is on the march with the intention of the entire world becoming Muslims.The problem is that in many parts of the world today, Christianity has become very weak, Wagner said. It is extremely necessary for all Christians to reevaluate their faith and to become stronger in their faith in Jesus Christ. This is the one thing that Islam fears the most because, down deep; they know that they cannot compete with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Wagner also noted that Islam is a religion of fear, with many Muslims fearing their own faith.It is the task of Christians to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to Muslims everywhere so that they can be released from this fear and find the assurance of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, Wagner said.