INTERESTING PROPHECY NEWS

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Earthquake shakes Iran region
Mar 26, 2008 9:40 PM

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 shook a region in south-west Iran but there were no immediate reports of any casualties, the official IRNA news agency reported. The quake struck in an area round the city of Dogonbadan, about 600km south of the Iranian capital Tehran, IRNA quoted Iran's Geophysics Institute as saying.

Dogonbadan is situated near some big Iranian oil fields.

We are not aware of any damage to the oil or gas facilities in the Sardasht region, an official from the National Iranian South Oil Company in Sardasht, a city about 90km west of Dogonbadan, said.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, is frequently struck by earthquakes because the country is criss-crossed by faultlines.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

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;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
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.

Tanzania says 75 feared dead in mine flood
Sat Mar 29, 2:09 PM

NAIROBI (Reuters) - At least 75 miners were feared dead in northern Tanzania on Saturday after floods swept through a mine near the town of Arusha, state media reported.The Daily News quoted Manyara Regional Commissioner Henry Shekifu as saying five bodies had been recovered so far after a torrential downpour on Friday.Witnesses said flood waters entered eight pits and then spread to other pits, drowning working miners, the state-run newspaper said on its Web site.Volunteers rushed to the scene on Saturday and the government said it was bringing equipment to drain the water as fast as possible. But electricity poles in the area had been brought down by the floods, it said, and engineers were battling to restore power for rescuers.The newspaper said 100 miners died in similar floods in the area 1998. The region is the only place where the valuable blue gemstone tanzanite is found -- prized by jewellery-lovers in wealthy nations.Mining disasters are not uncommon in Tanzania's wild north, where small-scale independent miners dig remote gemfields in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro. Miners sometimes die in explosions or due to suffocation.In 2002, at least 48 miners were suffocated when a compressor used to pump clean air into the gemstone mine failed.(Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Storm brewing over southern Manitoba
Fri Mar 28, 9:53 AM

WINNIPEG (CBC) - People in southern Manitoba could start their spring break shovelling as a winter storm blows into the area over the weekend.A low-pressure system now over the northern United States is expected to bring a mix of rain and snow into southern Manitoba, starting Saturday.Environment Canada issued a winter storm watch for all of southern Manitoba except areas north of Dauphin and areas east of Steinbach. That eastern area could be added to the watch later Friday as meteorologists track the path of the storm.The Red River Valley is expected to receive about 15 centimetres of snow, while parts of southwest Manitoba could see 20 or 25 cm.We oft times get heavier snowfalls at this time of year, Ken Stewart, with Environment Canada, said Friday morning.We still have the cold air to the north, and we're getting warming, moister air coming up from the south as the air mass starts to warm over the States. As a result, the two clash and they end up creating more snow.Depending on how warm the weather is over the weekend, Stewart said, the province could see more rain, which would lessen the accumulation.The way we're planning on going with it right now is it may start off with rain or a rain-and-snow mix, and then quickly switch over into snow.A strong southeast wind could blow snow around, reducing visibility, which could cause problems for many people who are travelling in the area, where Friday is the last day before spring break for most schoolchildren.

Stormy weather kicks up Sunday into Tuesday James Wilson
Sat Mar 29, 6:12 PM ET

Midwest

A few showers and thunderstorms will extend into the Ohio Valley on Sunday. While precipitation amounts are expected to be light, flood-weary residents across the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys do not need any additional rainfall. As a system quickly races into southern Canada, a few showers are also possible across the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. Some of this precipitation could fall as light snow across northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Thunderstorms will develop in the late afternoon and evening across portions of Kansas and Oklahoma. Some of these storms could become severe into the overnight hours, with tornadoes possible. Highs on Sunday will be in the 40s from the central Plains into the western Great Lakes. Thirties will tinge the border with Canada. Milder 50s and 60s will be felt from the central Plains into the Ohio Valley. An active day is in store for the region on Monday. Severe thunderstorms with the likelihood of tornadoes are expected from central Texas into northern Illinois. Cities that need to stay alert for the potential of severe weather include Dallas, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Additionally, heavy rain could cause more flooding across portions of Arkansas and Missouri.

South

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will once again speckle the southern U.S. on Sunday. A few light showers are likely across the Southeast as a wedge front remains parked over the region. There will be quite a temperature disparity on either side of this boundary. To the south and west, from Mississippi through Florida, temperatures will climb into the 70s and 80s. While in the colder air across north Georgia and the Carolinas, highs will only be in the 40s and 50s. Farther west, across the southern Plains, look for high temperatures to climb into the 70s and 80s. Showers and thunderstorms will once again become activated on the tail end of a front. Some of the thunderstorms in Oklahoma, and in Texas overnight, could become severe.

West

A cold storm system is spinning its way though the Northwest into the northern Rockies. Snow levels have been as far down as 200 feet in parts of western Washington. The wintry conditions will persist into Sunday, with the chance of a few snow showers mixing in with the rain even into the Seattle and Portland. No accumulations are expected in these cities. Although still unsettled, temperatures should moderate enough by Sunday afternoon to bring straight rain showers. Parts of the northern Rockies will see heavy snow, and several inches up to a foot of snow is possible across the mountains of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming by late Sunday. Hardest hit will be the Wasatch to Rockies with some ski areas reporting 6-12, locally 12+ above 9,000 feet. Farther south, sunshine will stretch from New Mexico through most of California. However, windy conditions will return to much of California and Nevada. Temperatures on Sunday will remain stuck in the 30s and 40s across the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, and much of the Great Basin. Sixties will be felt across much of the California Valleys. Seventies are expected in the Southwest, with 80s in the deserts.

Northeast

A cold dry day in the Northeast on Saturday will continue on Sunday for most areas as high pressure remains firmly in place. Look for a sunny day across New England into Pennsylvania and Maryland. Rain showers may begin to creep into the Virginias later in the day. Temperatures will remain below seasonal averages across most of the region. Highs will be in the 40s across almost the entire Northeast, with 30s from the Adirondacks through Northern New England.

Bush seeks financial regulation overhaul By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Sat Mar 29, 11:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is proposing a sweeping overhaul of the way the government regulates the nation's financial services industry from banks and securities firms to mortgage brokers and insurance companies. The plan would give major new powers to the Federal Reserve, according to a 22-page executive summary obtained by The Associated Press.The Fed would be given broad authority to oversee financial market stability. That would include new powers to examine the books of any institution deemed to represent a potential threat to the proper functioning of the overall financial system.The proposal, which will be outlined Monday in a speech by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is certain to set off heated debates within different sectors of the financial services industry and in Congress, where some Democrats are likely to complain that the proposal does not go far enough to crack down on abuses.

The administration divided its recommendations into short-term goals that could be adopted quickly, intermediate recommendations and an optimal regulatory framework, which contains a radical restructuring of how the government supervises banks and other financial institutions.The recommendations are the product of a yearlong review that was begun in an effort to modernize the government's regulatory structure so that the country's financial services industries could better compete in a fast-changing global economy.The plan also seeks to address problems that have been brought to light in recent months since a severe credit crisis began roiling financial markets last August.That crisis has already claimed as its biggest victim Bear Stearns, the nation's fifth-largest investment bank, which came to the brink of collapse before a government-arranged purchase by JP Morgan Chase & Co.I am not suggesting that more regulation is the answer, or even that more effective regulation can prevent the periods of financial market stress that seem to occur every five to 10 years, Paulson will say in the remarks he will deliver on Monday.But the plan does seek to address problems highlighted by the current crisis in which the Fed in an unprecedented move has begun making direct loans to securities firms in an effort to shore up a system badly shaken by billions of dollars of losses stemming from sour mortgage loans.

The proposal would allow the Fed, in its new role as market stability regulator, to dispatch examiners to check the books not just of commercial banks but of all segments of the financial services industry.The administration proposal would also consolidate the current scheme of bank regulation by shutting down the Office of Thrift Supervision and transferring its functions to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates nationally chartered banks.The plan recommends that the Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates stock trading, be merged with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures trades for oil, grains and various other commodities.The plan would create a national regulator for the insurance industry, which is now largely governed by the states, and would create a Mortgage Origination Commission to try to address the abuses exposed in the current tidal wave of mortgage defaults.The role Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues have been playing to shore up the financial system would be formalized in the administration plan by giving Fed officials greater power to detect where threats might be lurking in the system.The proposal is certain to generate intense scrutiny in Congress and within the financial services industry, where past efforts to change how regulation is handled have met with fierce resistance.Many Democrats in Congress are already pushing tougher proposals that would impose much stricter regulation in an effort to crack down on abuses exposed by the current credit crisis.Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he believed Paulson's plan offered some valid suggestions. In broad outlines, we agree with large parts of Secretary Paulson's plan, Schumer, chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, said in a statement. He is on the money when he calls for a more unified regulatory structure, although we would prefer a single regulator to the three he proposes. Under Paulson's approach, the long-term goal would be to designate the Fed as market stability regulator and to have a financial regulator who would focus on financial institutions that operate with government guarantees such as providing deposit insurance.

The administration plan, which was first reported by The New York Times on its Web site Friday night, also proposes a business conduct regulator who would be in charge of overseeing consumer protection issues. The initial reaction from the securities industry was also positive. Treasury has delivered a thoughtful and sweeping plan which should provoke intense discussion, debate and potential legislative changes, said Tim Ryan, president of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Our present regulatory framework was born of Depression-era events and is not well suited for today's environment where billions of dollars race across the globe with the click of a mouse, Ryan said in a statement.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Royal Watch News King Juan Carlos' fatherly advice
King Juan Carlos I of Spain (R) greets bishop Jesus Murgui before the traditional mass celebrated on the occassion of the Easter Sunday, in Palma de Mallorca, the Balearic Islands, eastern Spain, 23 March 2008. EPA/MONTSERRAT T DIEZ Mar 27, 2008, 12:45 GMT

Spain's King Juan Carlos advised his teenage son to be a kind, attentive and helpful king. The 70-year-old king - who has ruled the country since 1975 - passed on his secrets to Crown Prince Felipe in a series of confidential letters written between 1984-85, which have been published for the first time.In one letter to his son, who was then 16-years-old and at finishing school in Canada, Juan Carlos wrote: You need to appear animated even when you are tired; kind even when you don't feel like it; attentive even when you are not interested; helpful even when it takes an effort.The letters have been published by journalist and royal expert Jose Garcia Abad in his book El Principe y el Rey (The Prince and the King).

Garcia Abad said the letters are a document of extraordinary political value and a treasure for historians.Another note told Felipe: We all are a bit slaves of the media, which can elevate or pull down a person or an institution. The press needs to be respected, but it is also necessary to make it respect you. All that you do and say will be analysed in a special manner will be in you... more scandalous than in another boy of the same age.He also said a king needs to relate to his public and speak with a sense of proportion. Juan Carlos added: Knowing how to be quiet is as difficult as knowing how to talk. In the public sphere, the golden rule is to talk a lot, but prudently and without making important affirmations.Garcia Abad said the letters reflect Juan Carlos' subtle understanding of his role, as well as the affectionate relationship between father and son.(C) BANG Media International.

Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 19:29
EuroMed talks important for global stability

ATHENS (EUX.TV) -- Elected representatives of 37 parliaments from Europe and the Mediterranean started a two-day meeting here on Thursday. The agenda is to address energy cooperation, the environment and relations between Israel and Palestine, among other issues.The meeting includes a total of 240 parliamentarians. Half of them are from the 27 members states of the European Union and the European Parliament. The other 120 are from the countries surrounding the Mediterranean.The EuroMed is important for global stability, said Greek President Karolus Papoulias while meeting a delegation at his residence Thursday morning. Take two minutes to watch this report produced in Athens today:

http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=19999

Cooperation between the Mediterranean and Europe has a long history, he said. Today, it's political, economic, financial and cultural cooperation that really matters.The Athens meeting is the 4th of the EuroMed parliamentary assembly. The meeting will also discuss plans adopted by the European Union's heads of government earlier this months for closer cooperation with Mediterranean countries. This will be discussed further at a conference organized under the French EU presidency in July.French President Nicolas Sarkozy last year launched a plan to create a Mediterranean union that would resemble the European Union. But - largely due to German pressure - that plan has been amended to ensure that all 27 member states of the EU will be involved, not just those on the Mediterranean.Thursday has been reserved for Committee meetings, while a plenary session takes place on Friday in the presence of Hans-Gert Poettering, President of the European Parliament. The EuroMed meeting, formally known as the Euro Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, is a product of the Barcelona Process, which aims to improve EU cooperation with the Mediterranean countries. The EuroMed assembly is the only international political body that includes both representatives from Israel and the Palestinian territories.-- From the EUX.TV newsroom news@eux.tv

Union of the Mediterranean Claudette Baldacchino Sat, 29 March 2008

In the last European Council, EU leaders gave the green light to a compromise, struck by French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to create a Union of the Mediterranean, an initiative aimed at upgrading the EU’s relations with its neighbours from North Africa and the Middle East.So before analyzing this proposed Union it is worth looking at what the EU is trying to upgrade. Relations between the EU and its southern neighbours are based on the so called Euro-Mediterrean Partnership or as it is better know as the Barcelona Process. The latter represented a wide framework of political, economic and social relations between the Member States of the European Union and Partners of the Southern Mediterranean.

Since Malta and Cyprus became members of the EU, the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership is made up of 35 members, 25 EU Member States and 10 Mediterranean Partners (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey). Libya has observer status since 1999.

The Barcelona Declaration established three main objectives of the Partnership:

1. The definition of a common area of peace and stability through the reinforcement of political and security dialogue (Political and Security Chapter).
2. The construction of a zone of shared prosperity through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area (Economic and Financial Chapter).
3. The rapprochement between peoples through a social, cultural and human partnership aimed at encouraging understanding between cultures and exchanges between civil societies (Social, Cultural and Human Chapter).

It is evident that these three main ambitious objectives have not been fulfilled. There may be several reasons for this one of which is that due to the historical developments that have occurred in Central and Eastern Europe in the nineties the EU has concentrated more on its neighbours from this area. What is a fact is the the Mediterranean is not an area of peace and stability with the unsolved problems in the Middle East. The free-trade area foreseen by the Barcelona Declaration has also not been achieved.So the revisit of the relationship between the EU member states and its partners of the Southern Medeterrean is in itself something positive. At least it has put Euro Mediterrean relationship once again on the agenda of the EU.

So what is the focus of the new Union of the Mediterranean? Its focuses on the five areas namely:
Improving energy supply;

Fighting pollutions in the Mediterranean;

Strengthening the surveillance of maritime traffic and civil security cooperation

Setting up a Mediterranean exchange programme for students, and

Creating a scientific community between Europe and its southern neighbours.

It should also be stated that Sarkozy had originally envisioned the proposed Union as involving only the EU’s Mediterranean countries and its neighbours but not the EU as a whole. However, this proposal attracted strong criticism, especially from Germany, which feared the plan could split the EU into two, with the proposed union becoming a rival to the EU itself. Consequently, the French President was forced to agree to allow all the EU member states to participate in this initiative. He also agreed to change the original title of Mediterranean Union to Union of the Mediterranean to counter fears that this new union would rival the whole EU project. Of more substance is the fact that Germany prevailed in holding its position that no additional funds will be allocated to this new project. This is contrary to the Franco-Italian proposal that financing to this new body be multiplied from what is being allocated to the Barcelona Process.

As regards the Union’s management structure, there will be two directors coordinating cooperation between the EU and the partner countries. One director is to come from the EU member stares and the other from a non-European Mediterranean country. Each will be appointed for two years, supported by a 20-strong secretariat. As regards the location Barcelona and Marseille are being mentioned as favorites. It is very unfortunate that Malta is not being mentioned in spite of its geographical location as a bridge between mainland Europe and non-European Mediterranean countries or to be more practical the Arab world.

Michael Emerson of the prestigious Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) criticized the way the Union was presented politically. However he considers the new project as an opportunity to rationalize and revitalize the EU’s present set of policies towards the Mediterranean, which is stuck in a condition of laborious lethargy.The proposed Union has less ambitious objectives the original Barcelona declaration but they are also more achievable. While they are less glamorous they are more down to earth and can have a more direct effect on the citizens of the Mediterranean countries. A clear example is the surveillance of maritime traffic.What is worrying is the absence of the Maltese Government from the discussion about this Union of the Mediterranean. If there is an area that one expects Malta to take a leading role in EU discussion is definitely the Mediterranean. I wish that the Maltese Government and particularly the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will put my mind and those of the vast majority of Maltese people that the Mediterranean is still a priority not only by saying so but by their actions.

EU borderless zone to be extended to airports
28.03.2008 - 14:55 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – At midnight on Sunday (30 March) the enlargement of the EU's borderless zone to eight Eastern European countries and Malta will be completed through the lifting of air border controls between them and the 15 countries already part of the area.The enlargement of the so-called Schengen area started on 21 December when land and sea border checks between Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and the other Schengen countries were abolished.

The enlargement of the Schengen zone to 24 member states is now complete, EU transport commissioner Jacques Barrot stated on Friday (28 March) referring to the inclusion of airports. I would like to underline the symbolic and concrete importance of this change, he said.The free movement of persons represents one of the fundamental [EU] principles. [It is] concrete, as the life of the citizens moving within the Schengen zone will be very simplified, he added.

While air companies will continue to perform identity checks at check-in and boarding, people will from Sunday onwards be allowed to fly from one airport to another within the Schengen area without being subjected to other formalities.In addition, it will be the end of a certain number of long queues and procedures for EU citizens, as well as for third country nationals travelling within Schengen by air, said Mr Barrot.In order to celebrate the lifting of air borders, several member states have planned media events at their main airports.At the airport of Ljubljana, the capital of current EU president country Slovenia, EU commissioner Janez Potocnik, himself from Slovenia, will represent the European Commission at a ceremony celebrating the border opening.The Schengen area was established in 1985 and named after the small Luxembourg village where it was signed by Germany, the Benelux countries and France.

It now comprises 22 EU member states, as well as Norway and Iceland.

Non-EU member Switzerland is also to become a member of the Schengen area later this year, while EU members Ireland and the UK do not participate in the zone.Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania still have to meet the necessary requirements. It is not yet known when they will join Schengen, but Cyprus is expected to do so around 2009, while Bulgaria and Romania are hoping to follow suit by 2011.

Sarkozy and Brown agree on partnership of pioneers
28.03.2008 - 09:28 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

Following a high-profile summit, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed to intensify cooperation between their countries in a number of fields as a partnership of pioneers leading the global response to new international challenges.The range of fields where the two leaders vowed to work jointly include [reforms of] international institutions, foreign and defence policy, development, migration, climate change and energy, and global prosperity, including the promotion of practical responses to such challenges, says a 14-page joint declaration published Thursday (27 March). More concretely, France and the UK will work together to reform institutions such as the G8, the International Monetary Fund and the UN Security Council – where they reaffirmed support for Germany, Brazil, India and Japan's candidacies for a permanent seat, as well as for a permanent African representation.They will also tackle development and climate change together and coordinate their action in order to harness greater resources, the document reads.

One of the Anglo-French goals suggests getting 16 million children into school in Africa by 2010 and every child by 2015.The two leaders also called for greater transparency in financial markets and for the improvement of risk management in a bid to promote financial stability following the recent global credit crisis.They also pledged to join efforts to combat terrorism and to boost the EU's military capabilities, and will work on proposals for a meeting of EU leaders in June on how EU counter-radicalisation efforts might be deepened, for example by devoting more EU spending to counter radicalisation work.But they did not agree on how to approach the 2008 Olympic Games' opening ceremony in Beijing in August, in light of China's recent crackdown on Tibet.Mr Sarkozy has not ruled out boycotting the opening ceremony of the games. The French president, who will head the EU at the time of Olympics, said he will consult other member states before taking a final decision on the matter.Mr Brown, whose country will host the next Games in 2012, excluded a boycott and said he would attend the ceremony.

Towards an entente formidable

The Sarkozy-Brown meeting took place the second day of the French leader's state visit to the UK. In a speech full of praise for his host country on Wednesday (26 March), the French president called for closer Franco-British ties, as well as for Britain to play a greater role in Europe.For his part, Mr Brown returned the compliments although somewhat less effusively.We will turn the entente cordiale [cordial relationship] into the entente amicale [friendly relationship], he said at a press conference after their meeting yesterday.In the last years, relations between the two countries had cooled, notably over Britain's participation in the 2003 Iraq war which France opposed. Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, respectively Mr Brown and Mr Sarkozy's predecessors, also had different views on the EU's future, on the common agricultural policy and free trade.But now, although these policy differences are not completely bridged over, Mr Brown said the Franco-British cooperation could turn into an entente formidable – or a wonderful relationship.

Friday, March 28, 2008 Presented by NATIONAL POST [AD]
A crude tool for teaching students to hate Israel
Frank Dimant, National Post Published: Friday, March 28, 2008

Canadians may not know it, but they are being duped. The Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), Palestine House and the Canadian Arab Federation have joined together to distort truth and justice in an effort to promote a vehemently anti-Israel agenda of hate to young Canadians. All three have sponsored an inflammatory essay contest for students aged 17-27 that will reward (with cash) writing that perpetuates the myth of what contest organizers call 'the ethnic cleansing of Palestine' -- a notion that pretends Jews were not indigenous to Israel and the Middle East. According to its sponsors, the contest is being held in response to the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the state of Israel within Palestine.

The contest announcement features points of interest for potential essay topics, including May, 1948 through October, 1957 (the Israeli war against Egypt). Conspicuously omitted is any reference to Israeli statehood, or for that matter the fact that the Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon invaded the nascent Jewish state, triggering the first of many wars to follow. According to organizers, the Suez war of 1956 also falls into this category -- but in their inverted version of events, it is Israel that was the initiator rather than Egypt, which triggered the war by blocking entry into the Suez Canal to British, French and Israeli shipping.

On it goes. The years 1957-1967 are listed as the Israeli war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, when in reality Egypt, Syria and Jordan, bolstered by Iraq, Algeria and Kuwait, joined together in an attempt to destroy the Jewish state.The clear implication is that throughout its 60 years, every move by Israel has been accompanied by a policy of ethnic cleansing. The wars of self-defence that Israel fought, its ardent pursuit of peace, accompanied by painful sacrifices reflected in Oslo and the many subsequent peace treaties that it signed, and even its obligatory defence of its civilian population against terrorist attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah, are somehow proof of Israel's malevolence.
The truth is that at the time of Israel's establishment by the United Nations in 1948, many Palestinians left their homes within the new country's borders for a variety of reasons -- including evacuation calls from Arab leaders, who warned them to get out of the way of their advancing armies. Palestinians were actively urged to leave on the understanding that they would soon return after what would be a resounding Arab victory.

This essay contest should be seen as a troubling development. It represents a plain attempt on the part of the Canadian Arab Federation, the CIC and Palestine House to propagandize Canadian youth and demonize the Jewish state -- and by extension Jews who support Israel -- by applying the fabricated 'ethnic cleansing' tag to Israel.Canadians should care about this essay contest. It is grounded on lies and distortions, and comes at the expense of true and open dialogue, spurring students to indulge in hatred of Israel while precluding moderation of any kind. Parents, especially, ought to be concerned. This contest, by its very nature, encourages students to adopt the type of radical, pre-packaged positions that fuel terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. - Frank Dimant is executive vice-president of B'nai Brith Canada, which has been active in Canada since 1875 as the foremost Jewish human rights organization.CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.

SECOND ANGEL: TO DR DOCTORIAN

Then I saw that the second angel had a sickle in his hand, such as is used in harvesting. The second angel said, Harvest time
has come in Israel and the countries all the way to Iran. I saw those countries in a few split seconds. All of Turkey and those
[inaudible;] countries that have refused me and refused my message of love shall hate each other and kill one another. I saw
the angel raise the sickle and come down on all the Middle East countries.

I saw Iran, Persia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, all of Georgia - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, all of Asia Minor - full of blood.
I saw blood all over these countries. And I saw fire; Nuclear weapons used in many of those countries. Smoke rising from
everywhere. Sudden destruction - men destroying one another.

I heard these words, Israel, Oh Israel, the great judgment has come. The angel said, The chosen, the church, the remnant,
shall be purified. The Spirit of God shall prepare the children of God. I saw fires rising to heaven. The angel said, This is the
final judgment. My church shall be purified, protected and ready for the final day. Men will die from thirst. Water shall be
scarce all over the Middle East. Rivers shall dry up, and men will fight for water in those countries. The angel showed me
that the United Nations shall be broken in pieces because of the crisis in the Middle East. There shall be no more United
Nations. The angel with the sickle shall reap the harvest.

THE ONLY THING THE U.N WILL DO IS FOLD, IT USELESS.

Reshaping the New World Order - UN looks to expand security council by September

An interim proposal to tackle the divisive issue of Security Council reform would expand the UN's most powerful body from 15 to 22 members but leave it up to the 192 UN member states to decide what countries should fill them.The proposal, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, also leaves it up to UN members to decide how long the new seats should be held - with suggestions of two years, five years and permanent seats as possible options. It leaves the contentious issue of veto power to future negotiations.There is strong support for enlarging the Security Council to reflect the world today rather than the global power structure after World War II when the United Nations was created. But all previous attempts, starting in 1979, have failed because national and regional rivalries blocked agreement on the size and composition of an expanded council. The deep divisions forced the General Assembly to shelve three rival resolutions to expand the council in 2005.The so-called Group of Four - Germany, Japan, Brazil and India - aspire to permanent seats without veto rights on a 25-member council.

A group of middle-ranking countries, including Italy and Pakistan, who call themselves Uniting for Consensus, want a 25-member council with 10 new non-permanent seats.The African Union, whose 53 members argue that their continent is the only one without a permanent seat on the council, wants to add 11 new seats - six permanent seats including two for Africa with veto power, and five non-permanent seats.The new proposal says these groups maintain their positions, but the impossibility of achieving them now has pointed to an apparent willingness to negotiate on the basis of achieving intermediate reform, through the identification of the highest common denominator at this stage.More than 50 ambassadors representing all the major groups with a stake in reforming the council attended a meeting Tuesday hosted by Germany's UN Ambassador Thomas Matussek to discuss the new proposal. He told reporters afterwards that all the groups were represented, many had ideas on how to improve the proposal, and for the first time the Africans engaged in meaningful discussion.The proposal was submitted to General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim on Thursday, Germany's UN mission said. He is expected to study it and have members of his task force on council reform consult groups with differing views. Kerim also received separate letters from Italy and the African Group.My ambition would be - and I don't know how realistic that is - that we, by the end of this General Assembly session, will have a text that can be voted on, Matussek said. The current session ends in September.

Of the seven new council seats in the proposal, two would be allocated to African countries, two to Asian countries, one to Latin America and the Caribbean, one to Western Europe and one to Eastern Europe.The proposals also calls for a mandatory review of the reforms after a fixed period and sets out new working methods for the council, many to promote better communications and openness on its operations.One proposal appeals to the five veto-wielding council members - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - to ensure that a veto would not be used to continue the commission of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.The proposal was drafted by the ambassadors from the Netherlands, Romania, Malaysia, Britain, Cyprus and Germany, with support from the Bahamas and strong input from Italy, Matussek said.In 2005, he said, the different groups were competing to try to win support from two-thirds of the UN member states and that didn't work. What is different about the new proposal is that it came out of the membership and it started from scratch to bring everybody on board, Matussek said.The idea, he said, is to bring as many countries together at the base, and then in the negotiations the real tough talking and the dealing will go on. ... We expect the negotiations will be pretty tough. The various groups will try to get as much as they can, but it's already clear now, nobody will get 100 percent.

Matussek stressed that the proposal did not reflect the views of any group or government. I hope that it will reflect the future position of my government, and that was the position for everybody concerned, Matussek said.After examining the new proposal, he said, it was evident that the pain was spread because everybody was equally unhappy with the paper, or to turn it the other way around, everybody found a little bit.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

Friday March 28, 2008 Dividing Jerusalem — when, not whether
by douglas bloomfield

Jerusalem will be divided. The question isn’t whether, but when and how. The city’s borders have been shifting for 3,000 years. Today’s borders will not be tomorrow’s. Already the security barrier cuts off some parts of the city, and the Palestinian Authority, with American funding, is building a road linking East Jerusalem to Ramallah. The Jewish majority is shrinking as many secular Jews move away, complaining, at times, that the city is too poor, too Orthodox and too Arab. If the present borders remain unchanged, David’s City could be come Daud’s City and have a Palestinian mayor. Ariel Sharon understood the inevitability of dividing the city; his initial plans for the security barrier included putting some Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem on the far side. American Jews who are increasingly demanding a voice in deciding the fate of Jerusalem understand the same reality; many oppose any change in the city’s borders, including jettisoning Arab neighborhoods that were added after 1967, because they oppose any and all land for peace deals with the Palestinians. Without Jerusalem, no deal is possible. There will be no end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nor will there be international recognition of the city as Israel’s capital, even by the United States. Most of the Arab neighborhoods in East Jerusalem have no Jews living there, noted former top U.S. peace negotiator Dennis Ross, questioning why Israel would want to absorb nearly a quarter of a million Arabs who live in parts of the city where Jews don’t visit.

A bigger question may actually be whether Jerusalem’s Arabs want to have their homes and property transferred to the Palestinian state and to lose their Israeli permanent residency status and its accompanying social, educational and economic benefits. Polls indicate they would welcome the establishment of a Palestinian state but have little desire to move there; not unlike many American Jews’ attitude toward Israel. Jerusalem has been on the negotiating table at least since 1979, and may or may not still be there, depending on whom you believe. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert mollifies his critics by assuring them he is not discussing Jerusalem with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who says just the opposite for the same reason — their own political survival.

Each leader has a domestic constituency and diaspora to worry about, and each faces death threats if it appears he’s giving away too much. Abbas also has a plethora of Muslim and Arab states whose approval he needs for any agreement. Olmert’s lack of public support for changing Jerusalem’s boundaries makes little difference because the discussions with the bifurcated Palestinian Authority aren’t going anywhere near where that would be necessary. When Israel annexed East Jerusalem in 1967 following the Six-Day War, lines were drawn to reflect security considerations and to include as few Arabs as possible. Nonetheless, the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp and 28 Palestinian villages not previously considered part of the city wound up within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.

All too often, talk of an undivided Jerusalem is less about preserving Jewish patrimony than blocking a peace settlement with the Palestinians. There is a two-state consensus among Israelis today, but there is also a vocal rejectionist camp. One of its leaders, Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, has said that if he becomes prime minister again he will shut down the U.S.-initiated peace talks begun at Annapolis, Md., in November 2007. Meanwhile, the future of Jerusalem is becoming a source of growing tension between the Olmert government and diaspora leaders, many of who are demanding at least a voice, if not a vote, in any decision. Israeli leaders privately resent what they consider the paternalism of American Jewish machers who, they note, don’t live in Israel, don’t vote, don’t pay taxes and don’t serve in the army. Jerusalem is an emotionally charged issue and while Olmert is correct in saying it is a political decision for Israelis ultimately to make, ignoring the voices of the diaspora would seriously fray the ties that bind them together. It will be up to Israeli leaders to educate Jewish and Christian supporters that redrawing municipal boundaries is not splitting the city asunder but making it a stronger capital of a stronger Jewish state. Douglas Bloomfield is a Washington, D.C.-based political consultant who was formerly chief legislative lobbyist for AIPAC.

Rice renews focus on Mideast peace By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 29, 5:11 PM ET

JERUSALEM - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Saturday she would push for an easing of Israeli restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank as she began her latest Mideast mission aimed at reviving faltering peace talks. Rice said she was looking for real concrete progress on several issues, including improving the movement and access of people and goods from the West Bank. Israeli checkpoints and strict travel rules have curtailed such commerce and largely crippled the Palestinian its economy.I will spend a good deal of time on issues concerning the West Bank and issues concerning the ability to provide a better life for the people of the West Bank, including ways to improve movement and access, she told reporters on her plane en route to Israel.The improvement of life on the ground is the piece that I think really has to be pushed forward pretty hard, Rice said before arriving and heading to dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.Easing the restrictions would clear the way for economic revival projects proposed by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, now a Mideast peace envoy, with the strong backing of Palestinian leaders who control the West Bank.Rice planned three-way talks on Sunday with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to explore ways of easing the regulations, including turning over more security control to the Palestinian Authority in certain areas.

Obviously, there are security issues, but we do have to find ways to improve movement, she said. There are obstacles that are not checkpoints and there are checkpoints that are obstacles. I think you have to look at both.Palestinians contend Israel, in not removing the restrictions on movement, is undermining Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his moderate Fatah Party in their power struggle with the militant Hamas movement. Hamas seized control of Gaza last year.Israel is in a battle with Hamas, whose members have fired rockets at Israeli communities in southern Israel. Israel has retaliated with attacks that have killed scores of civilians in Gaza.Israel agreed this past week to issue more permits for Palestinian laborers and merchants, but has yet to take down any of the hundreds of West Bank checkpoints it says are necessary to stop suicide bombers.Broader peace negotiations have bogged down despite pledges from all sides to reach at least the outline of a peace deal by the time President Bush leaves office in January. On this issue, Rice said she was not coming to the region to insert American ideas into this process.I am not bringing the American paper' because I don't think that that is useful, she said at the start of her second trip to the Mideast this month. What is useful right now is for the parties to continue what I think is a pretty fruitful discussion between them.In addition to seeing Barak and Fayyad on Sunday, Rice planned to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni before a quick trip to Amman for talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II as well as Abbas, who is currently in Jordan.Rice then returns to Jerusalem for a three-way meeting on Monday with Livni, who is leading the Israeli negotiating team, and the Palestinian's chief negotiator Ahmed Qureia. Rice later will head back to Amman for further talks with Abbas.

IDF: Islamic Jihad producing Grad-like rockets MAR 27,08

New type rockets can reach 12.5-mile range, carry double amount of explosives compared to Qassams. The fact terror groups can manufacture their own long-range rockets is disturbing and worrying, army official warns Hanan Greenberg Published: 03.27.08, 09:43 / Israel News

The Islamic Jihad terror group has recently began manufacturing rockets capable of reaching a 12.5-mile range, similar to the Grad rockets already in use by terror organizations in Gaza.

Latest Attack

Sderot: 2 wounded in Qassam barrage / Shmulik Hadad

Eight Qassams land in western Negev in late evening, bringing Wednesday's total to 17 in end to brief lull in rocket fire
The new rockets are armed with a much deadlier warhead that carries double the amount of explosives compared to the regular Qassams, the IDF has recently learned. According to army data, the terror groups have made use of the new rocket at least three times since the IDF's Warm Summer Operation in Gaza concluded. Regular Qassam rockets carry about 11 lbs of explosives and have a 4.5 inch caliber, while the new ones can carry up to 22 lbs of explosives and have a 6.5 caliber. The new rockets are also more accurate and sophisticated and are made out of lighter materials. The IDF also learned that the armed groups in Gaza have recently obtained two new types of Iranian-made 4.7 inch caliber mortar shells: The first is equipped with an auxiliary engine and can travel up to 6.2 miles, while the other can reach a distance of 3.7 miles.

Terror groups will become more sophisticated

According to security officials, the new rocket indicates that the terror groups in Gaza have increased their efforts to develop new weapons and that they have been receiving help from agents outside the Strip.The fact that they are able to produce their own long-range rockets…is disturbing and worrying, an army official said.

There is no doubt that the smuggling of arms through the Philadelphi route and the breached border in the area are a significant weak spot and a major channel for terrorists. As time passes, the terror organizations will continue to become more established and sophisticated, he warned.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE

Beloved we will continue our study of Alcohol: The Beloved Enemy in our next newsletter. However, since we have just celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord this past Sunday, I want to present the following study.

THE RESURRECTION AND THE
RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH

And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

I Corinthians 15:14-19

The Apostle Paul said it as well as it can be said. One cannot overstate the profound importance of the reality of the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus to our faith as Christians. If Jesus had not risen from the dead as the Bible states, then all who had and have fallen asleep (died in Christ) are perished and our hope for eternal life is gone. If Jesus had remained in the grave so would we - but praise God He is risen.

Think about what happened when Christ rose from the grave? What was left behind? All they found in that sepulcher was our Lord's grave clothes. What's the significance of that?

In I Corinthians 15:23, it says, Christ is the firstfruits of the Resurrection. The first fruits. Isn't that plain? Then in the text it explains that afterwards, or later, they that are Christ's at his coming will follow. It's there in God's Word. What it means is that since His clothes were left behind, ours will be also. Those that belong to Christ at the time of His coming will be bodily translated into heaven just as Jesus was - leaving behind the rags of sin for new robes of righteousness.

When Jesus Christ comes to call us home at the Rapture, He will come exactly as He left. How did He leave? He left bodily into the clouds. Acts 1:9 says, And when he (Jesus) had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go.

In other words, if I can prove that He went bodily, then I don't have to go any further to prove that He's coming back bodily. Why? Because the Bible says He's coming back exactly as He left. How did He leave? After spending three days in the grave, He rose and stood on the earth in His new body. In Luke 24:39, He says to some of His followers, Behold, my hands and my feet. It is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. In verse 41, He says, Have ye here any meat? And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them.

This is Christ in His new resurrected body - a body that could be seen, a body that could be touched, a body that could partake of food. It's a picture of what we will have at the time of the Rapture. How quickly will it happen? Behold, I show you a mystery, the Bible tells us in I Corinthians 15:51-54. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible (the dead) must put on incorruption, and this mortal (the living) must put on immortality.

This is going to be a glorious event. We shall be changed to be like Jesus. The Psalmist said in chapter 17, verse 15: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. In Philippians 3:21, Paul says that God will change our vile bodies - not leave them behind, change them - that they may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. In I John 3:2, it says that when we see Jesus, we shall be like Him, for we shall see him as he is.

Did you know that Jesus wasn't the first person to be raptured out of this earth? In fact, when the Rapture occurs, it will be the fourth one documented in the Bible. The first was Enoch in Genesis 5:24: And Enoch walked with God; and he was not; for God took him. In Hebrews 11:5, Paul adds, that Enoch was translated by faith so that he should not see death. He was raptured - caught up in the twinkling of an eye, without dying. The second documented rapture is Elijah in II Kings 2:11. Elijah was caught up by a whirlwind into heaven. He, too, never saw death, foreshadowing what we believers will experience on the day the Lord catches us up in the clouds. Then, of course, Jesus was raptured away in Acts 1:9: And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

When Elijah was caught up, angels and chariots of fire came to get him. I personally believe that, in a similar way, angelic hosts may come after those of us who ascend in the Rapture. Why? Because every believer - not just Elijah - has his own ministering angel. They could come to whisk us home in the twinkling of an eye. Luke 16:22 provides a precedent for us: And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

Is all this something that should frighten us? Excited, yes. Frightened, no. So many people today are facing the future with dread - with fear and foreboding. There is an anticipation - even in the secular media - that we may be nearing the end of the world. There is anxiety and hopelessness everywhere. The world seems to get just a bit uglier every day as crime increases and wars break out and immorality reigns.

This is not the way believers should feel - especially in this season when we are remembering what Jesus did for us on the cross of Calvary and how He victoriously defeated the last enemy, death, I Corinthians 15:26. What could be more exciting and encouraging than the idea that some of us will never die? In Titus 2:13, Paul calls the Rapture our blessed hope. In I Thessalonians 4:18, he says, Comfort one another with these words.Comfort one another, he says, not frighten one another.

I've got news for you. The world is not - I repeat, not - coming to an end. The world is not going away in the year 2012, nor even a thousand years after that. It is clear from scripture that the world will not even end after Christ's 1,000-year reign on earth. The world will never end. Isaiah 45:17 is unequivocal: It's a world without end. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen, Paul writes in Ephesians 3:21.

Skeptics will no doubt point to Matthew 24:3 which states: As he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? Let's recall that the New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek translation of that last world is age, not world. Once again, the world is not coming to an end. But this epoch, this age, is closing.

Long before Christ was born, the Jewish rabbis taught a six-day theory about the future of the world. They believed that the world would face several eras lasting a total of 6,000 years, from Adam's creation until the Messiah would come. This theory was based, in part, on Psalm 90:4: For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday. Since God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, they reasoned, the world would go on for 6,000 years followed by a 1,000-year millennial rest period presided over by the Lord himself.

Think about this. From the creation of Adam until the birth of Christ a period of 4,000 years - or four days passed. From Christ's time on earth until now represents approximately another 2,000 years - or two days. This total of six days is just one more reason to believe that Jesus could return very, very soon.

Six-day periods, followed by remarkable transitions, have been important throughout scripture. Look at Matthew 17:1, for example. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And he was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Jesus was giving them a preview of what it would be like when He comes back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords as described in Revelation 19:16. When they came down from that mountain, He told them not to tell anyone of these things until after His Resurrection.

Not only did the ancient Jewish rabbis teach this six-day theory, but so did the church during the first 300 years of Christendom. The church leaders based their belief on II Peter 3:8: But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. St. Victorinus, the bishop of Petah, wrote a commentary on the book of Revelation in 270 AD. He said he saw another great and wonderful sign - Seven angels having the last seven plagues, for in them is completed the indignation of God. And these shall be in the last time when the church shall have gone out of the midst. In other words, St. Victorinus was talking about the Rapture! This teaching is not a present day innovation but a doctrinal statement dating back 17 centuries to St. Victorinus and 20 centuries to Jesus and Paul.

In the 16th century there were those expressing assurance of the Rapture. Hugh Latimer, burned at the stake for his faith in 1555, said: It may come in my days, old as I am, or in my children's days, the saints shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air and so shall come down with him again. Joseph Medde, the great 16th century literalist understood I Thessalonians 4:13-18 to teach the catching up of the saints and even used the word rapture. So this is not some new idea.

However, understand this: The Rapture is not taught in Matthew, Mark and Luke. You can find it twice in the Gospel of John. Any other time you are reading about Christ's return in the gospels, it is not referring to the Rapture. Instead, these are references to the second phase of Christ's return - when He physically comes back to earth to rule over it after a seven-year Tribulation period and it's called, in theological circles, the Revelation or the revealing of Christ upon earth.

Where are the two Rapture texts in the Gospel of John? John 14:1-3: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. This is not His coming to the earth. This is the point at which He receives us unto Himself at the great Rapture - the snatching away - to be with Him in heaven as the seven years of torment occur on earth. The second reference is in John 11:25,26. I quoted this passage for years but didn't really understand it. Christ said: I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Jesus is contrasting those who experience death and live again (for the dead in Christ rise first, I Thessalonians 4:16) with those who never experience death (because we which are alive and remain are caught up without dying, I Thessalonians 4:17).

It's a fact that God always spares His own from judgment. When the horrendous worldwide flood came in Noah's day, Noah told those who were prepared to COME INTO the ark, Genesis 7:7. When the judgment fell on Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19:14, the angels told Lot and his family to COME OUT of the city. Notice this trilogy: In Noah's day, it was COME IN. In Lot's day it was COME OUT. In our day, it will be COME UP, Revelation 4:1.

But, of course, as always, only a select group will be saved - rescued from the worst period in human history. During the Tribulation period that follows the Rapture, all hell is going to break loose on planet earth. It will be a furious time because the hindering power of the Holy Spirit will be temporarily removed.

How bad will things get? In Revelation 9:18, it indicates that a third of mankind will be killed by fire, smoke and brimstone. That, my friends, is nothing less than a first century way of explaining all-out thermonuclear warfare. Imagine. But that's just the beginning. In Revelation 6:8, the rider on the fourth horse brings with him a worldwide plague of disease that causes another fourth of humanity to perish. So half the human race will be annihilated in this relatively brief period. This pictures the judgment predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24:41 and 42.

As terrible as that fate sounds, there is still hope for those left behind. I used to believe and teach that if one hadn't accepted the Lord before the Rapture, all was lost. I was wrong. As long as one is alive there's hope. Joel chapter 2 and Acts chapter 2 describe the calamitous tribulation period. In the midst of all the carnage and destruction Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21 states: whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

There's always hope in Jesus. That's what we need to reflect upon, not only during this victorious resurrection season, but all year long.

FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE
Give Me Your Hand

In my daily Bible reading, I've been noticing how much is mentioned about the hands of our Lord. Again and again the Gospels relate how He reached out to people in their need and hurt and sorrow. And when He touched them, they were never the same again.

His hands healed the sick

After He began His earthly ministry, great multitudes thronged about Him wherever He went. Those who were sick, blind, and lame -- even those marked for death with the curse of leprosy -- came to Him seeking to be healed and made whole.

When the hands of Jesus touched them, pain and suffering ceased, diseases and infirmities were cured, and lives shattered and ruined by sickness were restored.

His hands fed the multitude

It was the hands of Jesus that fed the multitudes who followed Him out into the desert place to hear His words. When evening came, Christ's disciples urged Him to send the people away. But Jesus saw their hunger and weariness and, in compassion, desired to minister to them.

Taking a few small loaves and fishes -- barely enough for one small boy's lunch -- the Lord blessed the food. Then His hands began to break and divide the bread and fish into portions which He gave to His disciples to serve.

We're told that 5,000 men were fed that day, not counting the women and children. And when everybody had eaten all they wanted, there were twelve baskets full of leftovers! The hands of Jesus not only provided enough...but plenty to spare.

His hands blessed the children

Loving children as I do, my heart is touched to read the biblical account of how the hands of Jesus blessed and comforted the little children. He specifically told His disciples not to prevent them from coming to Him. And in my mind's eye, I can see the Lord sitting down and opening His arms to them. As they eagerly jostled about, perhaps He lifted a toddler into His lap, shook hands with an older lad, touched the cheek of a shy little girl. And as His gentle hands patted little shoulders and smoothed tousled hair, the Lord blessed these little ones. Somehow I think they probably never forgot that day when the hands of Jesus touched them.

The hands of the Master

No doubt the hands of Jesus were strong and powerful. Growing up around Joseph's carpenter shop, He probably learned to hold and use various tools to shape and assemble wood into useful items. His hands knew how to work.

It was those strong hands that later would grasp a whip as an indignant Jesus drove the callous money changers out of the holy halls of the Temple. Those hands were instruments of righteousness and justice.

It was those hands that reached out to lift and save impetuous Peter who, after walking on the water toward Jesus, took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink.

There are so many other references to the hands of Jesus that we could talk about. But the single most important mention of Christ's hands is when they were nailed to the cross.

A very dear, life-long friend gave me a beautiful wall plaque, which I have hanging in my kitchen. It says:

I asked Jesus, How much do You love me?

This much, He answered, and He stretched out His arms and died.

Greater love hath no man than this, said Jesus, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

And who is Jesus' friend? The deeply spiritual and very religious? The learned and respectable? The proud traditionalists?

No, our Lord said that He was called a friend of...sinners! (Luke 7:34).

The Apostle Paul reminds us that Christ died for the ungodly... in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:6,8).

It is strangely and beautifully significant that the first person to benefit from Christ's sacrifice at Calvary was a thief on the cross next to His! Think of it -- the first person to whom the Lord stretched out His nail-pierced hands was someone totally unworthy of His love.

Love-scarred hands

Some time ago my husband, Jack, and I were guests at a Christian fellowship dinner in another city. During the meal I got acquainted and talked with a dear little mother who sat next to me. After a while, with tears streaming down her cheeks, she leaned over and whispered the sad story of a wayward daughter who had run away from home, mounted up many debts, and fallen to the very depths of sin, even into a life of prostitution.

I pray for her every day, she said, and every time I hear from her I beg her to come home. My husband doesn't make a lot of money, so I got a job to help pay off the debts our daughter made. I'm doing everything I know how to do to help her. Please pray with me.

When I reached out to take hold of this precious mother's hands to comfort her, they were rough and calloused, scarred by long hours of hard work, week after month after year. Those hands were scarred by love...by a mother's selfless sacrifice and desperate desire to reach and save her wayward daughter.

As I held those hands and prayed, I was reminded of Christ's nail-scarred hands that also were pierced for that lost daughter...and for every lost sinner in the whole world. They were scarred for me...and for you!

Just as the hands of our Lord ministered to men and women, boys and girls, wherever He went during His time on earth, so we today can feel the touch of His hands in our daily lives. His power is still available to us today.

In our times of pain and suffering, He is still the Great Physician who lays His hands upon us and restores our bodies. Whether our healing comes through medication, the skill of a surgeon, or by the power of faith alone, we know that He is the source of all healing.

When we are hungry and experiencing a lack of supply -- when we're empty physically, emotionally, and spiritually -- Christ's hands will bless and multiply the smallest things we have to offer Him and make it sufficient to meet our need...with plenty to spare.

When we've tried and failed -- when like Peter, we're sinking into the depths of trials and tribulations, with no hope in sight -- He will come to us, walking on the waters of our stormy sea. His hand will save us, lift us up, and lead us safely to the solid rock!

The challenge of Easter

I love Spring! There's something special about seeing the sun light up winter's gray skies, and nature stir the grass and trees into new life. Surely it is no coincidence that we celebrate Easter in the springtime.

Each Easter we are reminded that Christ died for us -- but He rose again! Without Easter, we might be tempted to forget that it is through the outstretched arms and nail-pierced hands of Jesus that we have life eternal. Had it not been for His sacrifice on Calvary and His bodily resurrection, there would be no everlasting life.

As we look around us and see all of nature coming back to life anew, let us be reminded of Christ's great love for us.

But let us also be challenged to reach out in His love into every man's world with a helping hand. Let us emulate our Lord's great example and use the resurrection power that flows through us to minister to the needs of those around us.

Never forget that for many people in the world, their first glimpse of Christ may be in you...the only hands that will touch them in love, that will comfort, lift, and bless them, may be your hands.

Reach out whenever you can, wherever you can, to whomever you can. However unlovely or unworthy the person you find may be, remember that Christ's sacrifice is sufficient...and that He loves that individual just as much as He loves you.

Do not be afraid to stretch forth your hand to anybody. For you minister, not in your own strength and ability, but in His love. So when you reach out, it will not be just your hand that touches them, but the hand of God through you!

I love the beautiful gospel chorus that cries out

Oh, to be His hand extended,
Reaching out to the oppressed,
Let me touch Him, let me touch Jesus,
So that others may know and be blessed.

Look around you today and find someone who is hurting or needy, someone who is in trouble. Ask God to guide you to someone who needs Jesus.

When you find them, don't hesitate or delay. Go to them with a smile filled with the light of His love and simply say...

Give me your hand.

DEAD HEAT: McCAIN RUNNING NECK AND NECK WITH DEMS
But exclusive new poll finds the Arizona Senator is losing among Christian voters, despite the Rev. Wright controversy. By Joel C. Rosenberg, for National Review Online

(Washington, D.C., March 26, 2008) -- After months of speeches and debates, and nearly $1 billion in total campaign spending to date, the presidential race is a dead heat.

A head-to-head showdown between Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama is now too close to call - 45.9 percent to 44.6 percent - based on an averaging of national polls by realclearpolitics.com. A head-to-head showdown between McCain and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is also razor-thin, 46 percent to 45.7 percent.

Now, a poll of likely Christian voters offers evidence of why the McCain campaign is struggling to gain real traction and a lead that can last. The poll was conducted among 1,000 likely Christian voters early last week, on behalf of November Communications, Inc., the company I founded in 2000. McLaughlin & Associates, a leading polling firm for many Republican candidates, but unaffiliated in the current presidential campaign, conducted the survey.

The Arizona senator is losing the Christian vote decisively to both Obama and Clinton, even though the poll was conducted as the recent firestorm over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. erupted.

If the general election were held today, McCain would lose the Christian vote to the Democratic nominee - 36 percent to 45 percent - with 19 percent of Christian voters currently undecided.

Among Protestants, McCain pulls even with the Democrats at 40 percent. But the Democrats have a whopping 32-point lead over McCain among Catholics.

Among white evangelical Protestants, McCain is doing better (51 percent to 28 percent), but clearly they have not rallied behind him at this point.

By contrast, the 2004 exit polls found that George W. Bush beat John Kerry among Protestants (59 percent to 40 percent), Catholics (52 percent to 47 percent), and white evangelical Protestants (78 percent to 21 percent).

How is it possible that McCain is doing so poorly among Christian voters, and the Democrats are doing so well among them? Especially as Reverend Wright Week kicked off?

To be sure, the brouhaha over Obama's pastor may take more time to sink into the public consciousness, particularly among self-described Christians. In the weeks ahead, polls may pick up subtle or significant changes. But this poll highlights just what a serious problem McCain has.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, has said publicly and repeatedly that he couldn't back McCain for president. Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances, said Dobson.

The Republican party, Dobson recently warned, seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem-cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters, and who has a legendary temper and who often uses foul and obscene language. Should John McCain capture the nomination as many assume, I believe this general election will offer the worst choices for president in my lifetime.

With a radio audience of seven to nine million listeners per week, Dobson is a voice McCain can ill afford to have against him.

No evangelical or Catholic leader today has the power to single-handedly throw tens of millions of votes one way or another, and McCain would lose credibility with all voters if he suddenly pandered to anyone. But McCain and the GOP need a clear and convincing strategy to win Christian voters back - and fast.

One issue where McCain could gain traction among Christians: focusing consistently and effectively on how Islamic extremism affects the safety of American families, the price of oil, and the strength of our economy.

A number of evangelical leaders have told me they believe the threat of radical Islam is the biggest family issue in this campaign.

I couldn't agree more. There are many critical family issues in this campaign, to be sure - human life, marriage, and judicial nominees, to name just a few.

But what else matters if jihadist organization and/or rogue states build, buy, or steal nuclear weapons and detonate them inside the U.S.?

Also, McCain should make Israel an issue. We asked American Christian voters: Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for a candidate for President of the United States if you knew that candidate would strongly advocate policies to protect America from radical Islamic terrorism; protect Israel from a nuclear attack by Iran; protect the capital of Israel - Jerusalem - from being divided with Palestinian Muslims; and refuse to pressure Israel to make diplomatic concessions that could endanger Israel's security?

Overall, nearly half (45 percent) say they are more likely to vote for such a candidate, including 45 percent of Protestants and 52 percent of evangelical Protestants. Among Catholics - only 26 percent of them support McCain now - 44 percent would be more likely to vote for such a candidate.

McCain's trip to Israel last week was a good first step in reaching a demographic group he is currently losing. But he must do much more - and be consistent - if he is to win Catholics and evangelicals back from the Democrats in numbers large enough to win this campaign in November.

[NOTE: We will release more exclusive numbers from the poll on American Christian attitudes towards Israel, Iran and other Middle East issues at the Epicenter Conference in Jerusalem on April 10th.]