IAEA - MIDEAST WOULD BURN

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.

TYPHOON FRANK FLOODS PHILLIPINES
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17 killed in Philippine typhoon By OLIVER TEVES, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 21, 4:58 AM ET

MANILA, Philippines - Flash floods and landslides killed at least 17people in the southern Philippines on Saturday as heavy rains from Typhoon Fengshen inundated the region, causing widespread damage.

Ten people drowned after the Rifao River overflowed its banks and swept away three houses in a riverside village in South Upi in southern Maguindanao province, provincial administrator Norie Unas said. Five others were missing.At least 40 people were trapped on an island in the middle of the river, said town councilor Justina Betita. She appealed to the military to send a helicopter to rescue them, but there was no immediate response from the air force.In nearby Cotabato city, a 50-year-old man and his 10-year-old grandson were killed when a landslide buried their hillside shanty, Mayor Muslimin Sema said.Four other people drowned in Maguindanao, while in neighboring Cotabato province, authorities recovered the body of a farmer, one of three people reported missing, the mayors of two towns reported.Officials said neck-deep flood waters forced the evacuation of 200 families in Sultan Kudarat township in southern Shariff Kabunsuan province, near Cotabato city.The typhoon packed sustained winds of 88 miles per hour and gusts of up to 106 mph when it made landfall near the southern tip of Samar island, southeast of Manila, late Friday.Although the typhoon was cutting through the central Philippines, its ring of rain clouds covered large areas of the main southern island of Mindanao, where the deaths were reported.Officials ordered the evacuation of more than 117,000 people from areas prone to floods and landslides in central Albay province. But many returned home by midday Saturday after the typhoon missed the area.The typhoon maintained its strength as it moved toward the southern part of Mindoro island, south of Manila. The weather bureau raised the second highest storm alert for nine provinces in the area.The National Disaster Coordinating Council reported flooding, landslides and power outages caused by toppled power pylons in many areas in the central Philippines.Big waves prompted the coast guard to stop ferry services, stranding hundreds of passengers traveling to central islands, the agency said.Airport authorities said 89 flights to and from the central Philippines had been canceled because of the typhoon.

FLOOD TOWN USA
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Aging levee poses threat to impoverished city By JIM SUHR, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,08

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - When record flooding ravaged much of the Midwest in 1993, the earthen wall protecting one of the nation's poorest cities stood fast against the Mississippi River. Fifteen years later, as the river rises in a new round of historic flooding in the nation's heartland, there are fresh worries that the levee safeguarding the city's 30,000 residents is showing its age.Along one stretch in the shadow of the towering Gateway Arch on the other side of the river, water appears to be outmaneuvering the levee, weaseling underneath the earthen wall and coming out the other side. In another spot, there's a small sand boil where river water is bubbling up out of the ground like a volcano.So far, however, as the river crested here Friday well below its historic height of 1993, the leaking has produced only a small pool of water — seepage the city and the Army Corps of Engineers considers manageable.Monitors of the levee believe the wall will withstand the disastrous flooding that has sacked communities elsewhere.However, it could be a case of disaster deferred; federal officials have declared that East St. Louis' levee system doesn't meet current standards for flood protection.

The questionable levee system protecting the city's population of largely poor, black and disenfranchised residents has produced comparisons to New Orleans. There, the levee system's failure in Hurricane Katrina drew attention to the city's racial divisions and government's perceived indifference to blacks, many of whom lived along the flawed levees.New Orleans had a worse set of circumstances because they're below sea level, said Tim Kusky, head of Saint Louis University's Center of Environmental Sciences. East St. Louis has a similar problem in that the levee system is not up to par.The Federal Emergency Management Agency decided last year to rescind its accreditation of the area's levees as able to withstand a 100-year flood.The ruling effectively makes the area an unprotected floodplain, having a potentially huge effect on housing costs, insurance rates and economic development. Some federal lawmakers from Illinois have been seeking a delay in requirements that Illinoisans in St. Louis's suburbs buy expensive flood insurance — based on new FEMA maps — until those on the Missouri side are done.The basic unfairness we're trying to fight against here in the Metro East is that FEMA ... decided to remap Illinois first. Once (the map) takes effect, insurance premiums go up only on the Illinois side, said Christina Mulka, spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat who added the proposed delay as an amendment to separate flood insurance and spending bills.The House approved the spending bill last week without the Durbin amendment, but it still is part of the flood insurance bill, Mulka said.The delay also is meant to buy time for an estimated $180 million in levee repairs officials say are needed to the five-levee system safeguarding St. Louis suburbs in three Illinois counties along the Mississippi. That region has some 150,000 residents and 4,000 businesses, including a refinery and steel mills that could contaminate the river if they were swamped.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last month signed into law a measure that lets those counties each create a flood-protection district that could increase the local sales tax by a quarter of a cent to help pay for levee improvements.East St. Louis Mayor Alvin Parks Jr. would love to see those repairs on the levee in this once-thriving city where a casino now is the biggest employer. Formerly home to glass makers and other industries, East St. Louis saw a decline of smokestack factories and the exodus of whites in the 1960s that made it one of the nation's poorest cities.But Parks trusts that the current levees will hold as the Mississippi River rises.

We feel, based on what we heard from the Army Corps, that we're not in imminent danger, he said.Upriver, levee breaks had allowed the river to drop in recent days at Missouri towns like Canton and Hannibal. Officials knew it was going to rise again to expected crests this weekend, but they were surprised by how much it rose Saturday. The National Weather Service said the amount of water draining from Iowa was apparently more than expected. At Canton, the river was back up to 26.3 feet Saturday, after dipping to 22.6 feet two days earlier. Emergency management spokeswoman Monica Heaton said officials remained confident the levee will hold. At Hannibal, the river was at 28.5 feet Saturday and now is expected to go higher than the previous crest prediction of 28.7 feet. Col. Lewis Setliff III, chief of the Army Corps' St. Louis district, said the river's crest at 37 feet Friday at East St. Louis was roughly 17 feet below the top of the levee. A crest of 46 feet would make it a 100-year flood — that is, a flood so big that it has only a 1 percent chance of happening in any given year — but this time it was merely a 10-year flood, Setliff said.

In 1993, the river reached a record 49.6 feet here. Right now, Setliff said, we're not worried at all.A top environmentalist in the region doesn't share that view. Kathy Andria, a member of the Sierra Club and the American Bottom Conservancy groups, said her recent inspections of levees on the Illinois shore show a number of problems.I think all of these things are disaster delayed, she said. I think there's a real serious problem with our levees, and I think our elected officials are doing no one a favor in trying to keep the new FEMA maps from going into effect. People need flood insurance because the levees put them at risk.I'm fearful, she said. And I think they really need to take this whole thing seriously.Associated Press writer Tammy Webber in Chicago contributed to this story.

Mississippi floodwaters cresting, costs mount
Sat Jun 21, 10:39 AM By Nick Carey

PALMYRA, Missouri (Reuters) - The crest of the swollen Mississippi River moved relentlessly downstream on Saturday as volunteers manned sandbagged levees, nursed hopes and coped with the costs of the worst U.S. Midwest flooding in 15 years.At times like these you don't know whether to cry or laugh. But here in the Midwest we tend to favor the latter, said Charlotte Hoerr, who with her husband Brent farms land not far from the river in this small Missouri town.

The violent rush overcame more than two dozen levees this week, submerging small towns and vast stretches of prime farmland as the nation's most important river absorbed the runoff of torrential rains that put many Iowa towns under water last week. No levees were reported breached on Friday night.The Midwest flooding and storms blamed for 24 deaths since late May have caused damage in the billions of dollars and are expected to push U.S. and world food prices higher.Up to 5 million acres may have been lost to just-planted crops at the heart of the world's top grain and food exporter. Prices for corn, cattle and hogs all set records this week due to the floods, as a world economy already slammed by inflation from soaring energy prices absorbed the blow.The spillage onto the Mississippi's vast flood plain covered thousands of acres of crops. But several days of dry weather this week cut water flows, as did the levee breaches.It's starting to feel like the worst of the crisis has passed, said Farm Bureau official Blake Roderick in nearby Hannibal, boyhood home of author Mark Twain.The river in Hannibal was expected to crest on Sunday at 28.7 feet, below the record 31.80 feet (9.7 meters) set in the 1993 flood.

We're still concerned that levees will be overtopped, said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If the sandbags don't hold, there's going to be water in agricultural fields and residences.

EAST ST. LOUIS THREATENED

St. Louis, located 100 miles south and after the river widens considerably to more water, saw the river crest on Friday well below levels seen in the last major flood in 1993.One worry was water seeping underneath levees from sand boils, or leaks bubbling up from water pressure, across from St. Louis in the impoverished Illinois city of East St. Louis.If the decades-old levees there failed, the river would spill onto a flood plain where 150,000 people live, said Timothy Kusky, a flood expert at Saint Louis University.Careful scrutiny of the levee system will continue until the river level falls, the St. Louis Army Corps said.President George W. Bush toured some of the devastation in Iowa on Thursday, and the White House said relief would be made available from $4 billion in the government's disaster fund.Bridges and highways have been swamped, factories shut down, water and power utilities damaged, and the earnings of railroads, farmers and myriad other businesses disrupted.Now we begin the process of assessing debris removal and short-term and long-term housing needs, said Bret Vorhees of Iowa Emergency Management. He said requests had declined for sandbags, water pumps, shelter and security.Flood relief was rapidly becoming a political issue in an election year in the United States. Republican presidential candidate John McCain toured Iowa on Thursday, separately from Bush, while Democratic candidate Barack Obama helped stack sandbags earlier in the week in Quincy, Illinois.I've seen firsthand the growing magnitude of this flooding disaster, and unfortunately the end is not yet in sight, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on Friday, saying he had asked Bush for faster aid for 20 flooded Illinois counties.Don Rust, a farmer from Ursa, Illinois, not far from Quincy, estimated cropland 13 miles long and six miles wide was flooded in his area.It's a disaster, all right, said his wife Lisa, surveying the scene. Welcome to the Midwest.(Additional reporting by Ros Krasny, writing by Peter Bohan, editing by Vicki Allen)

4 DAYS IN THE FLOOD ZONE
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IOWA RESCUERS SAVE ANIMALS IN FLOOD
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Flooding strands 100-plus barges on Mississippi By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 21, 9:17 AM ET

WINFIELD, Mo. - The flooding in the Midwest has brought freight traffic on the upper Mississippi to a standstill, stranding more than 100 barges loaded with grain, cement, scrap metal, fertilizer and other products while shippers wait for the water to drop on the Big Muddy. We're basically experiencing total shutdown, said Larry Daily, president of Alter Barge Line Inc. of Bettendorf, Iowa.

While the bottleneck is costing him and other barge operators tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue per day, June is a slow shipping period on the river compared with the late-summer harvest, the shutdown is expected to last only a few weeks, and it involves primarily non-perishable goods. So no major damage to the economy is expected.Among the freight being held up: corn and soybeans headed downstream for New Orleans, where grain is loaded onto ships for export. Construction supplies and petroleum products headed upstream on the Mississippi are not getting through either.Because of the high water, the Army Corps of Engineers has closed 13 locks along the upper Mississippi since June 12. As of Friday, nine locks remained closed, a roughly 215-mile stretch between Illinois City, Ill., and Winfield, Mo., northwest of St. Louis.The situation along the Mississippi in Missouri was improving Friday as government forecasters predicted crests sharply below 1993's record levels. Several communities up and down the Mississippi were still under inundated, however, including Lincoln County, Mo., where 300 to 350 homes were flooded after the water flowed over or through the levees.In Old Monroe, 45 miles north of St. Louis, retired steelworker Bob Scott watched as the river puddled at the edge of his front yard. But he said he thought the river had stopped rising and his home might come through the flood unscathed.It's kind of harrowing, a lot of sleepless nights, worried about your property, said Scott, 61. You work all your life for what little bit you get.

The locks use huge electric motors to open and close gates and valves, floating the barges up and down to different levels of the river as they make their way up and down the river. When the river floods, the Corps removes the motors to protect them from the water. When the locks shut down, barges can still move between them, but no farther.Typically, a towboat pushes as many as 15 barges, each of them 12 feet high and 200 feet long, lashed together with steel cable. A single barge carries the equivalent of about 55 tractor-trailers.Last year, between June 12 and July 1, 180 tows (a tow is a towboat and its set of barges) carried more than 2.5 million tons of goods through now-closed Lock 25 at Winfield. During that same period, 166 tows carrying 2.3 million tons of cargo passed through Lock 19, at Keokuk, Iowa, now closed, too.As of Thursday, eight to 10 tows were stranded or sidelined on the upper part of the Mississippi River, said Lynn Muench, senior vice president at American Waterways Operators, an industry group.On a typical day at this time of year, there would be 40 to 60 tows on the upper Mississippi River, and the average tow carries the equivalent of 900 semi-trucks of product, she said.Daily, the Iowa barge operator, said that he had 100 barges and two boats stranded at places along the river with such cargo as corn, soybeans, fertilizer, cement, animal feed, scrap metal and wind turbine towers. He estimated his business was losing $25,000 a day, and said that could rise to $40,000 when two more of his boats go idle soon.The federal Maritime Administration Office said a long shutdown could add millions to the cost of moving grain and other commodities, but since the jam is expected to last only a few weeks, no significant economic impact is foreseen for the region.

Extreme weather to increase with climate change By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, AP Science Writer Thu Jun 19, 4:44 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Droughts will get dryer, storms will get stormier and floods will get deeper with changing climate, a government research report said Thursday. Events that have seemed relatively rare will become commonplace, said the latest report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, a joint effort of more than a dozen government agencies. There has been an increase in the frequency of heavy downpours, especially over northern states, and these are likely to continue in the future, Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Climatic Data Center, said in a briefing.For example, Karl said, by the end of this century rainfall amounts expected to occur every 20 years could be taking place every five years.Such an increase can lead to the type of events that we are seeing in the Midwest, said Karl, though he did not directly link the current inundations to climate change.But the report cautioned that preparing for weather than has been relatively common can leave people vulnerable as extreme events occur more and more.Moderate flood control measures on a river can stimulate development in a now safe floodplain, only to see those new structures damaged when a very large flood occurs, the report said.At the same time heavy rains increase, there'll be more droughts, especially in the Southwest, Karl said.When it rains, it rains harder and when it's not raining, it's warmer — there is more evaporation, and droughts can last longer, he explained.

The Southwestern drought that began in 1999 is beginning to rival some of the greatest droughts on record including those of the 1930s and 1950s, he added.Gerald A. Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said there has been a trend toward increasing power in hurricanes since the 1970s in the Atlantic and western Pacific, a change that can be linked to rising sea surface temperatures.There is a statistical connection between rising sea surface temperatures and hurricane activity, Meehl said, but linking changes in hurricanes to human actions will require more study.More easily attributed to human impact, through release of greenhouse gases, is an overall increase in temperatures, he said.It's not getting as cold at night as it did in earlier decades and there are fewer nights with frosts, a trend expected to continue into the future, Meehl said.A day so hot that it is experienced only once every 20 years would occur every three years by the middle of the century, under the mid-range projections of climate models, the report said.Researchers can use computer models of climate to separate out cause and effect of this warming, he explained — looking at the effect of things like changes in solar radiation or volcanic eruptions — and the result is to attribute climate warming to the burning of fossil fuels.Participating in the Climate Change Science Program are the Agency for International Development, Department of Agriculture, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, Department of State, Department of Transportation, U.S. Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution.On the Net:
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/default.php

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

CAL WILDFIRE NEARLY CONTAINED
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Calif. firefighters gain ground fast-moving blaze JUNE 21,08

WATSONVILLE, Calif. - A Northern California wildfire was 90 percent contained Saturday after forcing thousands to evacuate, destroying several homes and closing a six-mile stretch of scenic Highway 1, fire officials said. The fire near Watsonville could be fully contained by the end of the day, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials said. It had charred 630 acres, or less than a square mile.We made some good progress over the evening and hope to have the same today, said Cal Fire spokesman Battalion Chief Paul Van Gerwen.However, evacuation orders remained in place Saturday for the roughly 2,000 people evacuated from their homes Friday. Some evacuees spent the night at an emergency shelter set up at a local school.About 650 firefighters were working in hot, dry weather to contain the blaze, which destroyed as many as 15 buildings, including several homes, and closed Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County for hours, fire officials said.The cause of the fire was still under investigation, Van Gerwen said.It was the third major blaze to hit Santa Clara County in the last month. A 520-acre blaze charred destroyed 11 buildings in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and a fire near Corralitos covered more than 4,200 acres and destroyed about 100 buildings.

Middle East Quartet to meet in Berlin on Tuesday Fri Jun 20, 4:17 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The quartet of Middle East peace mediators will meet in Berlin on Tuesday for their first gathering since Egypt brokered a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the U.S. State Department said. The quartet, which comprises the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States, will meet on the sidelines of a German-hosted conference to support Palestinian civil security and rule of law.The United States hopes to achieve an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year despite the weakness of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government and the divisions among Palestinians.As part of its efforts, Washington has sought to strengthen security forces under Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank but lost control of Gaza to Hamas fighters a year ago.Abbas is seeking to strike a peace deal with Olmert while the Islamist Hamas movement opposes the negotiations.(Editing by Bill Trott)

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

US energy chief: Low oil production drives price JUNE 21,08

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - The U.S. energy secretary said Saturday that insufficient oil production, not financial speculation, was driving soaring crude prices. Secretary Samuel Bodman's comments on the eve of an energy summit in the Saudi port city of Jiddah set the stage for a showdown between the U.S. and conference host Saudi Arabia, which has largely blamed speculation in the oil markets for record prices.The U.S. and many other Western nations have put increasing pressure on Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, to increase production. Saudi officials have been hesitant to do so, arguing that the market is not suffering from a shortage of supply.Bodman disputed that assertion Saturday, saying oil production has not kept pace with growing demand, especially from developing countries like China and India.Market fundamentals show us that production has not kept pace with growing demand for oil, resulting in increasing prices and increasingly volatile prices, Bodman told reporters. There is no evidence that we can find that speculators are driving futures prices for oil.

He said commodities markets have experienced a huge influx of money from financial investors in recent years, but they have been following the market upward rather than driving the increase in the price of oil, which closed near $135 on Friday.Saudi Arabia called the unusual meeting in Jiddah between oil producing and consuming nations as a way to show that it was not deaf to international cries that high oil prices have caused social and economic turmoil.

Saudi assistant oil minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, told a news conference that the delegates were congregating to achieve results and to try to draw a collective way forward for how to attend to this situation.This situation as we see it today as it exists needs everybody's attention simply because it no longer is a luxury to talk about it or ... to keep bouncing back and forth blame, he added.Abdulaziz said the decision of the kingdom to hold the meeting comes from a feeling of enough is enough ... Let's sit as professionals committed to bringing remedies to this situation.

Abdulaziz reiterated that the kingdom is ready to meet demand from its customers and that it seeks stable oil prices.He said it would be wrong to judge the success of the meeting by prices that oil registers the day after.Many countries around the world have experienced social unrest by populations angry that rising fuel prices have driven significant increases in the cost of food and other basic goods.The Gulf nation also has become increasingly concerned that record oil prices could hinder growth in the U.S. and other major industrialized economies, potentially leading to a decline in oil demand and a sharp drop-off in prices.Saudi Arabia announced in May that it had increased oil production by 300,000 barrels per day and is expected to announce an additional increase of at least 200,000 barrels in Jiddah. Saudi officials have yet to officially confirm the latter increase, but the production jump did little to stem the run up in prices.Bodman said that every 1 percent increase in the demand for oil requires a 20 percent rise in price to balance the market. Demand in China, India and the Middle East has been soaring in recent years as the countries consume more energy to fuel economic growth.Rising demand in the developing world has coincided with historically low levels of spare oil production capacity, which fell below 2 million barrels per day among OPEC countries in May for the first time since the third quarter of 2006, according to the International Energy Agency.

Bodman made clear that the responsibility for reducing oil prices did not simply fall on the shoulders of producing nations, saying consuming countries must increase energy efficiency and invest in the development of alternative fuels. But he saved his strongest words for oil producers like Saudi Arabia, who he said must step up long-term investment in production and spare capacity. The incentive (for investing) is simply reasonable prices so that we're not faced with having to drop everything and race to Jiddah for a meeting that was called on a week's notice, said Bodman. Saudi Arabia is completing a $50 billion plan to increase capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day from around 10.7 million barrels currently but has signaled it would not go beyond that. The kingdom currently produces about 9.5 million barrels per day.

ICE FOUND ON MARS
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METEORITE MAY HOLD SOLAR CLUES
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Scientists ponder whether ice on Mars ever melted By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer Sat Jun 21, 2:36 AM ET

LOS ANGELES - The apparent discovery of ice near Mars' north pole has scientists asking: Did the frozen water melt at some point in the planet's long history to create an environment friendly for life? The Phoenix spacecraft exposed bright white crumbs at the bottom of a trench while digging near Mars' north pole earlier this week. The bits disappeared in new photos sent back on Thursday, convincing scientists that the magic act was evidence of ice that vaporized after being exposed to the sun.The fact that there's ice there doesn't tell you anything about whether it's habitable, chief scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona said Friday during a teleconference from Tucson.To judge whether the Martian polar environment could be hospitable, scientists are using the spacecraft's instruments to study minerals in the soil and ice for hints of carbonates and sulfates, which are formed by the action of liquid water.Preliminary results from an experiment that baked a soil sample in one of Phoenix's test ovens failed to yield evidence of water. A data glitch on the lander this week prevented scientists from getting the results right away from the last testing phase.

Water is a prerequisite for life, but it's just one piece of the equation. Scientists generally agree that organic carbon and an energy source like the sun are also considered necessary ingredients.Mars today is arid and dusty, constantly bombarded by radiation and with no apparent trace of water on its surface. But carvings of channels and gullies on the Martian surface suggest a wetter past. Some scientists speculate that water may have evaporated into the atmosphere and the rest trapped beneath the surface in the form of ice.The holy grail is to find water near the surface of Mars, said astrobiologist Mitch Sogin of the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Mass., who is not part of the mission.

Phoenix's latest discovery is not a total surprise. In 2002, the orbiting Mars Odyssey spacecraft spied evidence of a reservoir of frozen water near the planet's poles. Phoenix, which landed May 25, is the first robotic craft to reach out and touch it.Scientists not involved in the mission said the Phoenix team makes a compelling case for the presence of ice.It's not unexpected, but finding it is different than predicting it, said Bruce Jakosky, an astrobiologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Everybody expected the ice to be there. That's why Phoenix went there in the first place.

The bright chunks seen in the Martian soil vanished in images taken Thursday of a trench where they were seen four days earlier. Scientists had debated whether the chunks were salt or ice, but settled on frozen water since salt would not disappear.We have found the proof that we've been seeking, Smith said.Smith said the ice, which appeared to be pure, was found 2 inches deep in the trench.Digging in another trench, Phoenix hit a hard surface believed to be an icy layer, which will also be tested.The big question is whether the ice ever melted and remained stable long enough as a liquid.If so, one of the requirements is satisfied for life as we know it, said Kenneth Nealson, a geobiologist at the University of Southern California, who had no role in the mission.
On the Net: http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix http://phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu

DISEASES

REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).

US health official says flu threat high Sat Jun 21, 4:52 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A top U.S. health official says the threat of a flu pandemic remains high. And while the world has made great strides to prepare, it's not enough. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Dr. Julie Gerberding says bird flu fatigue among countries and the public is a growing concern.

Scientists have identified the H5N1 bird flu virus as a potential candidate that could mutate into a form that spreads easily among people.People have very short attention spans and when something is in the news for a while, it becomes old news and then it's no news, she said at a conference Saturday. We have to be very strategic to make sure that the leaders and governments fill in for the tendency toward complacency.

Tainted Tomato Toll Now 552 By Amanda Gardner and Steven Reinberg HealthDay Reporters Sat Jun 21, 9:01 AM ET

FRIDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- The victim count in the tainted tomato outbreak leaped to 552 Friday even as U.S health officials announced that the salmonella contaminant did indeed come from farms in Florida and Mexico.The huge increase in victims since the nationwide outbreak began on April 10 appeared largely a result of the state of Texas now reporting 265 illnesses, according to the latest count by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At least 53 people have been hospitalized, Ian Williams, chief of the CDC's OutbreakNet Team, told reporters at a mid-afternoon teleconference. The FDA is sending teams to Florida and Mexico this weekend to begin inspection of these farms, Dr. David Acheson, associate commissioner for food protection at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, added. We are also working with the state of Texas to identify the cluster of illness there.The increase in people sickened by the singular strain of salmonella saintpaul was not unexpected. Last week, the count was below 200; two days ago, it jumped to more than 380. At least 32 states, plus the District of Columbia, have now reported cases.On Thursday, health officials had warned that the end was not yet in sight.The marked increase is not due to new infections, but mainly because some states improved surveillance in response to this outbreak, and laboratory identification of many other previously submitted strains has now been completed, said Casey Barton Behravesh, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during a Thursday teleconference. We are continuing to receive reports of ill people, added Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the CDC's division of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases. We do not think the outbreak is over.On Friday, Acheson said the investigation into the outbreak has now zeroed in on a number of farms in both Florida and Mexico.

These farms along with their associated distribution chains are going to be part of an ongoing investigation, he added, noting, We do not have a specific farm involved in the contamination; we have to look at the whole chain.Health officials last week had said that the bulk of the tomatoes available at the start of the outbreak in April had come from Mexico and parts of Florida.But on Wednesday, Acheson seemed less certain than he has in the past that the exact source would ever be identified. I have to acknowledge that we may not ultimately know the farm where these came from, he said. But we're continuing to go flat-out, assuming we are going to get to that point.Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected.Visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for more on the salmonella outbreak.

SEX SINS

1 CORINTHIANS 6:9,14-18
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate,(HOMOSEXUALS) nor abusers of themselves with mankind,(WITH ANIMALS)
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
14 And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

GALATIONS 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication,(SEX OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE) uncleanness, lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Teen pregnancy pact shocks Massachusetts city By Jason Szep
Thu Jun 19, 6:27 PM ET

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Massachusetts city is investigating an apparent teenage pregnancy pact that has at least 17 high-school girls expecting babies, four times more than last year, including many aged 16 or younger. A high school health clinic in the city of Gloucester became suspicious after seeing a surge in girls seeking pregnancy tests. Local officials said on Thursday nearly half of those who became pregnant appear to have entered into a pact to have their babies together over the year.Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were, Gloucester High School principal Joseph Sullivan told Time magazine, which broke news of the pact on its Web site.Sullivan was not immediately available to comment. But local officials said at least some of the men involved in the pregnancies were in their mid-20s, including one man who appeared to be homeless. Others were boys in the school.

Carolyn Kirk, mayor of the port city 30 miles northeast of Boston, said authorities are looking at whether to pursue statutory rape charges. We're at the very early stages of wrestling with the complexities of this problem, she said.But we also have to think about the boys. Some of these boys could have their lives changed. They could be in serious, serious trouble even if it was consensual because of their age -- not from what the city could do but from what the girls' families could do, she told Reuters.Under Massachusetts law, it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.

NATIONAL TREND

At the very least these men should be held responsible for financial support, if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested, Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester School Committee, told Reuters in a telephone interview.Nationwide, teen pregnancies are showing signs of rising after steadily declining from 1991 to 2005. This trend was highlighted on Thursday when Britney Spears' 17-year-old sister Jamie Lynn, star of Nickelodeon's popular TV show Zoey 101, gave birth to a baby girl, according to People magazine.The data seem to be indicating that the declines that we had seen through the 1990s are coming to a close, said David Landry, a researcher at the Guttmacher Institute, a New York-based nonprofit group focusing on reproductive issues.

Birth rates for teenagers aged 15 to 17 rose by 3 percent in 2006, the first increase since 1991, according to preliminary data released in December by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Landry cautioned against attributing the trend to Hollywood following the recent hit movie Juno, in which a teenager gets pregnant and decides to have the baby, and Knocked Up, a comedy about a one-night stand.

The trend emerged before those movies, he said.

In Gloucester, the 1,200-student school administered 150 pregnancy tests to students in the past academic year. The school forbids the distribution of condoms and other contraception without parental consent -- a rule that prompted the school's doctor and nurse to resign in protest in May.But even if we had contraceptives, that pact shows that if they wanted to get pregnant, they will get pregnant. Whether we distribute contraceptives is irrelevant, said Verga.(Editing by Eric Walsh)

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.(TRADE 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).

EU TREATY STUCK IN MIRE
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=8414857&ch=4226714&src=news

EU endorses new border security rules By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 20, 4:55 PM ET

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union leaders want their nations to fingerprint all foreign visitors and take other new steps to keep out illegal immigrants as part of a sweeping security overhaul proposed Friday. The measures are similar to those already in place in the United States, and have prompted concerns about privacy and the rights of those seeking refugee status in the EU. But EU leaders suggested security is paramount.At a summit, they said crafting a common border and immigration policy for Europe by 2010 is a key priority for citizens and pushed efforts to reach agreement to the top of their political agenda.In a declaration Friday, the EU leaders ordered their governments to draft legislation on tougher new border security measures to ease the way toward a more seamless immigration and asylum policy.These would include fingerprinting and screening for all visitors who cross the bloc's borders and using a satellite system to keep out illegal immigrants.The screening would apply to everyone: Those who need a visa to enter EU nations, such as visitors from most African nations, as well as those who do not, such as U.S. citizens.

Foreign tourists on Paris' Champs-Elysees seemed to shrug off the proposed measures as part of the new world security landscape.I'm all right with fingerprinting, since I suppose it will enhance safety, said Gary Gordon, an attorney from Lansing, Mich.Florida teacher Bridget Schmidt said she had no problem with fingerprinting, but added, I don't feel any safer in the United States because they fingerprint people.If all 27 EU governments approve all the immigration and security proposals mentioned in Friday's declaration, that would represent one of the largest security overhauls in the European Union and could cost billions of dollars.The EU leaders brushed off heated criticism from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of a related new EU law on returning illegal immigrants. The law sets loose Europe-wide standards on how to treat illegal migrants in detention and expel them.Chavez threatened Thursday to cut off oil and bar investment opportunities to EU nations if they applied the new rules, which were passed by the European Parliament.He claimed the EU law would lead to mass deportations of migrants who would have to be housed in concentration camps until they were expelled.The rules do not foresee that, but set out basic rights, including access to food, shelter and legal advice to illegal immigrants and bind EU nations not to detain them for more than 18 months before deportation or releasing them.Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg laughed off the threat.As far as I know, Venezuela supplies oil mostly to the U.S. ... so it would not be that much of a deal, he said.

Slovenia's Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who chaired the two-day summit, said Chavez' reaction was perhaps exaggerated, perhaps they come from not understanding well enough what this means.Jansa also insisted the broader new proposals adopted by EU leaders Friday would not curb personal freedoms. This directive might be a problem for some but it is a step toward a solution on this issue, so that the EU can really provide for liberties, freedoms on which it is based, without jeopardizing these freedoms, he said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said he would make immigration a top priority when he takes over the EU presidency from Slovenia next month. The EU leaders said they would intensify work on approving measures that include how to attract highly skilled workers, what rights to give non-European residents and signing pacts with other countries to ensure they take back illegals caught in the EU.

Modern technologies must be harnessed to improve the management of external borders, the leaders said. They asked their justice and interior ministers to present border proposals, including a Web-based pre-travel authorization system for foreigners by 2010.

Setting common security standards at airports, harbors and land-border checks is meant to filter out illegals and catch crime gangs and terror suspects before they enter the EU's 24-nation passport-free travel zone. Friday's agreement is meant to revitalize efforts to draft common immigration standards, which were first launched by leaders in 1999. Progress on crafting other common immigration rules has been bogged down by the complexity of aligning national immigration rules and strong disagreement over whether national authorities should give up control over who they let into their countries. Associated Press writers Gaelle Faure in Paris and Angela Charlton in Brussels contributed to this report.

Ireland refuses to deliver timetable on EU treaty solution
Decisions on the Lisbon Treaty have been postponed until later in the year (Photo: Slovenian EU Presidency)RENATA GOLDIROVA
20.06.2008 @ 17:29 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Over the course of hours of crisis talks in Brussels, Ireland found itself under heavy pressure to do something to fix its voters' rejection of the EU's Lisbon Treaty.There are colleagues who believe there is not as much room for manouevre as many people would like to suggest that there is, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen told journalists on Friday (20 June) after a two-day summit with his counterparts. According to the Irish leader, a number of EU states indicated they have no interest in re-opening the document, designed to simplify the way the 27-nation bloc is run. The EU's latest attempt to undergo wide-reaching institutional changes was put on ice by Irish voters last week when they rejected the treaty - an outcome over which many EU leaders were concerned and perplexed, Mr Cowen admitted. He refused to speculate when he would come forward with some suggestions on how to move ahead with some member states said to feel that the only way ahead is a second referendum.I made it clear that however frustrating for them [EU leaders], it is simply too early to know how we are going to move forward on this point, Mr Cowen said, stressing this is an honest response he can offer. I can't say whether there will be any further referendums on this issue, he added.Some member states are particularly concerned over future institutional arrangements linked to the European elections in June 2009, but also to size of the next European Commission, which under the current Nice Treaty has to be reduced.But the current head of the council, Slovene Prime Minister Janez Jansa, tried to play down pressure at the member states' table. Any external pressure, any feeling amongst the people that their sovereign rights as citizens are being unduly interfered with could adversely affect ratification, he said.

There is no pressure. There is no timeline, Mr Jansa insisted.

According to the summit conclusions, more time is needed to to analyse the situation ... The Irish government will actively consult, both internally and with other member states, in order to suggest a common way forward.It is now expected that the thorny topic will be formally re-visited during the first EU leaders' summit under the French presidency in October, with Mr Cowen coming back with a detailed report on the situation. This is the offer that he made and it should be supported, UK leader Gordon Brown said after the top-level meeting. The 27 EU leaders noted that the ratification process continues in other countries, although the Czech Republic secured a special footnote reference to its specific situation. The treaty is currently under scrutiny by country's Constitutional Court due to concern over the clash with the Czech Republic's highest law, its constitution. During the debate, Poland also secured a slight change to the text. It stressed that Warsaw cannot be included in a group of those who have ratified the treaty. President Lech Kaczysnki is yet to sign the document - something that is also not entirely straightforward.

EU to push back Lisbon treaty solution to the end of the year HONOR MAHONY 20.06.2008 @ 02:22 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is unlikely to agree concrete solutions to the institutional impasse created by the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty before the end of the year, the bloc's initial discussion on the issue has shown.Prior to the top-level meeting in Brussels on Thursday, some member states had been pushing to have Dublin present a plausible exit strategy to the crisis by the next EU leaders' meeting in October.It's very sure that we won't set any deadlines, said Mr Jansa (l) (Photo: Slovenian EU Presidency, Thierry Monasse)But Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin poured cold water on the idea.Obviously the Council meeting in October will be an opportunity to make a progress report, but I would not anticipate solutions by October, he said.

That very much depends on the analysis and the outcome of engagement and contacts between now and then. We will certainly be exploring options and ideas, he added, noting: We just don't have a ready-made solution.After hearing a lengthy analysis by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen explaining what he thought were the reasons for the Irish No vote one week ago, leaders appeared to accept a loosening of the timetable.It's very sure that we won't set any deadlines, said Janez Jansa, Slovenian prime minister and current head of the EU.Referring to legal challenges to the treaty in both the Czech Republic and Germany, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso admitted: We cannot say exactly when the ratification process will be completed.But he said that he was confident that all member states would continue the process – so far 19 of the 27 have ratified the document – amid speculation that Prague may declare the process dead.

A second Irish vote

French President Nicolas Sarkozy noted that while there may be no set calendar, as pressure should not be put on a country, everyone knows that there is a deadline and that is the next European elections.He also implied that the only feasible option for the Irish government is to put the matter to a referendum once more, noting that the main difference between the current situation and when the French and the Dutch rejected the similar-looking EU constitution in 2005 was that there is today not one head of state or government ready or prepared to renegotiate institutional questions.There will be no other convention, no other treaty, said the president.On Friday, EU leaders are to agree a political statement on the situation expected to say that they respect the outcome of the Irish vote and that time be given to Dublin to find a solution. Whether it will suggest in black and white that ratification should continue is still unclear, due to Czech resistance.

Fuel prices

Member states also had lengthy discussions on the rising food and fuel prices in Europe, with the commission presenting plans to help those most affected by changes.While stressing that long-term solutions to the problem require a change in the way people use energy, Mr Barroso said that governments were free to undertake certain short-term measures such as helping low income households.

He also announced a new fisheries package, measures for increased transparency in oil stocks and a new fund to help the agricultural sector in developing countries.

Prague pledges not to bloc Lisbon treaty ratification
LUCIA KUBOSOVA 20.06.2008 @ 02:46 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has said his government will seek to complete the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty if the country's constitutional court confirms the new EU rules do not contradict the Czech constitution.Prague is one of seven European capitals where the bloc's reform treaty has not yet received a blessing from the national lawmakers, with the process currently on hold after the parliament's upper chamber sent it for a review by top judges in late April.Speaking after the debate over Ireland's No to the Lisbon Treaty on the first night of the EU's top summit on Thursday (19 June), Mr Topolanek indicated that if the court's verdict - expected in the autumn - is positive, he would try to finalise the ratification process in his country.

The Czech government did approve the treaty, I did sign it and I don't intend to withdraw my signature from it, said Mr Topolanek, adding that in case of a positive court verdict, he would try to convince colleagues from his party to accept such a procedure.

Still, he refused to comment on whether he would back a summit statement suggesting that ratification should continue in all the countries where it has not been completed yet, as advocated by the EU institutions. He admitted that there is an internal debate in the Czech Republic and in his own party at the moment on whether Prague should continue through to completion of the process or wait until Dublin comes up with a solution.However, Mr Topolanek also signalled that the EU has crucial deadlines ahead, such as new elections to the European Parliament and a decision over the new Commission, with substantial question marks over which rules should apply when they are set up. He said Prague will probably lead the efforts to find a solution to the current institutional impasse in the first half of 2009 as the presidency country and adapt its priorities to fulfill that mission. The Irish No has the same value as the French No and Dutch No and nobody has any doubts about that, but we are now three years older and three years more tired. The debate on the institutional reform has exhausted us and we would like it to be over, said the Czech prime minister.

Further EU enlargement not possible without Lisbon Treaty, says Sarkozy ELITSA VUCHEVA 20.06.2008 @ 02:41 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – Enlargement of the EU will come to halt if the Lisbon treaty does not enter into force, French president Nicolas Sarkozy warned member states in the aftermath of the Irish No vote last week.It is certain that as long as we have not solved the institutional problem, the question of enlargement is stopped de jure or de facto, he said at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday night (19 June).Irish voters rejected the EU's Lisbon treaty last Thursday, but some EU leaders – including France and Germany – were quick to call for the ratification process of the document to continue anyway.The UK was the first country to respond to the appeal and ratified the treaty on Thursday, but some other countries – in particular the Czech Republic – have shown less enthusiasm.But Central and eastern European EU states, traditionally favouring further EU expansion, may harm the process if they do not continue to pursue treaty ratification, said the French president.A certain number of countries which have some reserves on the Lisbon treaty are the most active on enlargement… the Lisbon [treaty] allows further enlargement. No Lisbon, no enlargement, he added.Institutional questions need to be solved before letting new countries in and that is an important factor of motivation for continuing with ratification of the treaty, he added.

The French leader made similar statements earlier this week in comments seen as directly aimed at Prague and Warsaw.Mr Sarkozy said he hoped the Czech difficulty would be solved by Friday morning however, and added he does not expect finalising of Polish ratification – by signature of Polish president Lech Kaczynski – to be a major obstacle.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

PSALMS 14:1
1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

ITS GONNA BE 12,000 X 12 TRIBES OF MESSIANIC JEWS THAT WILL BE PREACHING TO THE WORLD DURING THE TRIBULATION PERIOD,THIS IS WHY SATAN IS TRYING TO GET THE REST OF ISRAEL AGAINST THESE TRUE JESUS IS GOD CHRISTIANS.

Messianic Jews say they are persecuted in Israel By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,08

TEL AVIV, Israel - Safety pins and screws are still lodged in 15-year-old Ami Ortiz's body three months after he opened a booby-trapped gift basket sent to his family. The explosion severed two toes, damaged his hearing and harmed a promising basketball career.

Police say they are still searching for the assailants. But to the Ortiz family the motive of the attackers is clear: The Ortizes are Jews who believe that Jesus was the Messiah.Israel's tiny community of Messianic Jews, a mixed group of 10,000 people who include the California-based Jews for Jesus, complains of threats, harassment and police indifference.The March 20 bombing was the worst incident so far. In October, a mysterious fire damaged a Jerusalem church used by Messianic Jews, and last month ultra-Orthodox Jews torched a stack of Christian holy books distributed by missionaries.

Israel's Foreign Ministry and two chief rabbis were quick to condemn the burning, but the Ortiz family says vigorous police action is needed.I believe that it will happen again, if not to us, then to other Messianic believers, said Ami's mother, Leah Ortiz, a 54-year-old native of South Orange, N.J.Proselytizing is strongly discouraged in Israel, a state that was established for a people that suffered centuries of persecution for not accepting Jesus and has little tolerance for missionary work.At the same time, Israel has warm relations with U.S. evangelical groups, which strongly support its cause, but these generally refrain from proselytizing inside Israel. Even the Mormon church, which has mission work at its core worldwide, agreed when it opened a campus in Jerusalem to refrain from missionary activity.Historically the core of Christianity ... was convert or die, so it was seen and is still seen as an assault on Jewish existence itself, said Rabbi David Rosen, who oversees interfaith affairs for the American Jewish Committee. When you are called to join another religion, you are being called on to betray your people.Messianic Jews consider themselves Jewish, observing the holy days and reciting many of the same prayers. The Ortiz family lights candles on the Jewish Sabbath, shuns pork and eats matzoth on Passover.

Ami Ortiz, interviewed at the Tel Aviv hospital where he is being treated, comes across as no different from any Jewish Israeli his age. He's a sabra, or native-born Israeli, who speaks English with a Hebrew accent, has an older brother in an elite Israeli army unit and was hoping to join the youth squad of Maccabi Tel Aviv, a league-topping basketball team.But his religion also holds that one can embrace Jesus — Ami calls him by his Hebrew name, Yeshua — as the Messiah and remain Jewish. Orthodox Jews, on the other hand, believe that the Messiah has yet to come, that he will do so only when he chooses, and that any attempt to pre-empt his coming is a grievous sin.Rabbi Sholom Dov Lifschitz, head of the ultra-Orthodox Yad Leahim organization that campaigns against missionary activity in Israel, says Messianic Jews give him great pain.They are provoking ... it's a miracle that worse things don't happen, he said.Messianic activists appear to have had some success among couples with one non-Jewish spouse, as well as immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union who have loose ties to Judaism.

Or Yehuda, a town in central Israel with many immigrants as well as ultra-Orthodox Jews including a deputy mayor, Uri Aharon, was the scene of the May 15 book-burning.Ami Dahan, a local police official, says hundreds of Christian religious books were burned on May 15 in an empty lot in town. He said Deputy Mayor Uzi Aharon, has been questioned on suspicion that he instructed youths to collect the books from homes where they had been distributed and told them to burn them.Aharon denies ordering the burning. He says the books were collected from a neighborhood of mostly Ethiopian immigrants who are easily persuaded by missionaries. There are three missionaries who live and work in the town, and every Saturday they take people to worship and try to brainwash them, Aharon said. Many Messianic Jews say they recognize the sensitivities involved and do not distribute religious material or conduct high-profile campaigns. But Aharon noted a recent Jews for Jesus campaign with signs on buses that equated two similar Hebrew words — Jesus and salvation. Public outrage quickly forced the bus company to remove the signs. Lawyer Dan Yakir of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel says the law allows missionaries to preach provided they don't offer gifts or money or go after minors. It is their right according to freedom of religion to maintain their religious lifestyle and disseminate their beliefs, including through literature, he said. But the obstacles are evident, raised not just from religious activists but by the state. Calev Myers, a lawyer who represents Messianic Jews, said he has fought 200 legal cases in the past two years. Most involve authorities' attempts to close down houses of worship, revoke the citizenship of believers or refuse to register their children as Israelis. In one case, Israel has accused a German religion student of missionary activity and has tried — so far unsuccessfully — to deport her. In incidents of violence, police are reluctant to press charges, Myers said.

The book-burning caused shock among U.S. evangelicals.

Dave Parsons, spokesman of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, which represents evangelical Christian communities, said the test would be how vigorously authorities pursued the case. We believe there is a link to a series of incidents here in the land that involve harassment, intimidation and physical violence, he said. The Ortiz family moved from the United States to Israel in 1985, qualifying as immigrants under Israel's Law of Return because Leah, the mother, is Jewish. In 1989 they moved into Ariel, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and established a small Messianic group which now numbers 60, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to David Ortiz, the pastor and Ami's father. He said that he built the community through conversations with friends and neighbors, but did not actually go door-to-door distributing religious material to strangers in the traditional sense of missionary work. David Ortiz says he has also proselytized in the Palestinian areas — prompting Islamic leaders there to warn against contact with him. Ortiz said he had no problem if Messianic Jews discuss their religious views with others and persuade them to believe in Jesus. When the family began holding study sessions, a rabbi warned Ortiz not to speak about Jesus outside the home. In 2005, fliers were distributed in Ariel warning that there were believers of Jesus in the community. One day, two men wearing the black skullcaps of Orthodox Jews knocked on the door and photographed Ortiz when he answered. Recently the photo turned up on a flier with the family's address. When the basket was left at the door Ami wasn't surprised, since it was Purim, a holiday when Jews exchange gifts. I opened it up and I heard it and then I was on the floor and I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything, the lanky boy recalls. Ami was in critical condition, with severe gashes in his legs and feet and one that just missed his jugular vein. His tryout for the Maccabi team was canceled. His family initially suspected Palestinians; Ariel is in the heart of the West Bank and surrounded by Palestinian towns and villages and, like most Jewish settlements, has been the target of Palestinian attacks. But police immediately told him the bomb was more sophisticated than those made by Palestinians since it contained plastic explosives. Nobody ever suspected that a Jewish group would do such a thing, that they would put a bomb in somebody else's house, David Ortiz said. Police have since told the family that Palestinians were not behind the bombing. The family has footage from a security camera of a man delivering the package, according to a person close to the family who spoke on condition of anonymity because police say disclosing details could harm the investigation. Police spokesman Danny Poleg would not discuss the case, saying only that no arrests have been made. Meanwhile, the Messianic Jewish believers are taking no chances. These days they worship under the protection of an armed guard.

Heres are the scriptures that tell us Messianic Jews will be preachin to the whole World.

MATTHEW 24:14
14 And this gospel of the kingdom (OF CHRISTS RETURN TO EARTH LITERALLY) shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end (OF THE AGE OF GRACE)come.

MARK 13:10
10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

LUKE 11:49-51
49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.

REVELATION 7:1-17 (144,000 MESSIANIC JEWS PREACH WORLDWIDE) (TRIBULATION CONTINUES)
1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.
6 Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.
7 Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.
8 Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

REVELATION 14:1-20 (THE TRIBULATION CONTINUES)
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

ElBaradei: Mideast could burn if Iran attacked By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer JUNE 21,08

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief warned in comments aired Saturday that any military strike on Iran could turn the Mideast into a ball of fire and lead the country to a more aggressive stance on its controversial nuclear program. The comments by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, came in an interview with an Arab television station aired a day after U.S. officials said they believed recent large Israeli military exercises may have been meant to show Israel's ability to hit Iran's nuclear sites.In my opinion, a military strike will be the worst ... it will turn the Middle East to a ball of fire, ElBaradei said on Al-Arabiya television. It also could prompt Iran to press even harder to seek a nuclear program, and force him to resign, he said.Iran on Saturday also criticized the Israeli exercises. The official IRNA news agency quoted a government spokesman as saying that the exercises demonstrate Israel jeopardizes global peace and security.Israel sent warplanes and other aircraft on a major exercise in the eastern Mediterranean earlier this month, U.S. military officials said Friday. Israel's military refused to confirm or deny that the maneuvers were practice for a strike in Iran, saying only that it regularly trains for various missions to counter threats to the country.

But the exercise the first week of June may have been meant as a show of force as well as a practice on skills needed to execute a long-range strike mission, one U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record on the matter.Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said he prefers that Iran's nuclear ambitions be halted by diplomatic means, but has pointedly declined to rule out military action.The U.S. says it is seeking a diplomatic resolution to the threat the West sees from Iran's nuclear program, although U.S. officials also have refused to take the threat of military action off the table.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refused to comment on the Israeli maneuvers in an interview with National Public Radio aired Saturday but said: We are committed to a diplomatic course.One Israeli lawmaker on Saturday urged caution, saying that the world should first do more to toughen and broaden the sanctions against Iran to persuade its leaders to halt the nuclear program.Tzahi Hanegbi, chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Israel's parliament, suggested steps including banning Iranian planes, ships and sports delegations from entering Western countries.There's a long way to go before diplomatic efforts are exhausted, Hanegbi said. The sanctions aren't very strong, they are very shallow, there's a lot of room for enhancing them.Meanwhile, reaction to the Israeli exercises rippled across other parts of the Gulf.In Dubai, the government-owned Khaleej Times newspaper warned in an editorial Saturday that an attack on Iran by Israel or the United States would have disastrous consequences for the region.A nuclear Iran is in nobody's interest, but military action and armed rehearsals will also not be tolerated, the paper said.The U.S. and many Western nations accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear bomb. Iran has rejected the charges saying its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity not a weapon.A U.S. intelligence report released late last year concluded that Iran has suspended its nuclear weapons program, but Israeli intelligence believes that is incorrect and that work is continuing.

There is precedent for unilateral Israeli action.

In 1981, Israeli jets bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility to end dictator Saddam Hussein's nuclear program. Last September, Israel bombed a facility in Syria that U.S. officials have said was a nuclear reactor being constructed with North Korean assistance.
Associated Press Writer Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

MUSLIM NATIONS

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(MOSCOW) 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 (ARABS,MUSLIMS) 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:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Last days are imminent June 21, 2008 1:00 am Eastern 2008

This week, the Associated Press reported that a recent Israeli military exercise may have been intended to show the nation's abilities to attack Iranian nuclear facilities.The International Herald Tribune called it a major military exercise that appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, with more than 100 F-16 and F-15 fighters joining the maneuvers over the eastern Mediterranean earlier this month.The reason for this training mission is Israel's belief that Iran is attempting to build nuclear weapons that could be used against it. Iran – whose president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has vowed to wipe Israel off the face of the earth – counters that its nuclear enrichment facility is simply meant to generate power for the nation.There is no doubt that the drama is mounting in the Middle East, and the eyes of the world are again focused on this volatile region.As a Christian, I look at these reports with thoughts geared on biblical prophecy, which foretell of an invasion against Israel during the last days. Most specifically, Ezekiel 38:16 forecasts the following: You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land.

There has been ongoing speculation as to who all of these nations are that will rise up against Israel in this future event. One thing is certain, as Dr. Ed Hindson of Liberty University has pointed out: They are united in their determination to destroy Israel.And so, as wars and rumors of wars persist in the Middle East, we are reminded that the Bible appeals to Christians to pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6, NKJV).

As an aside, note that the Bible twice recounts occasions when Jesus cried. We see that He wept when told of Lazarus' death (prior to raising him from the grave) in John 11:35. And then we see that Jesus was also driven to tears in Luke 19:41 as He approached Jerusalem. The passage says, As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it.My friends, if Jesus loved Jerusalem this much, should we not be taking seriously our responsibility to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, especially in these perilous times?

I believe that the prophetic last days are rapidly approaching. As Christians, we are instructed to be about the works of the Father while there is still time (John 9:4).And at such a time as this, we must also heed the Savior's words: Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near (Luke 21:28).While the world continues in unrest and the future sometimes appears bleak, this Scripture passage gives us the ultimate hope. Our faith is not in vain. Our Savior will one day return to right all wrongs and claim His children unto Himself.

Until then, remember those great words from Luke: Look up! For one day we will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory (Luke 21:27).NOTE: I referred to Dr. Ed Hindson in this column. I am happy to report that after experiencing a near fatal infection following heart surgery that Ed returned home last week and is undergoing therapy to boost his strength and stamina. He has told friends and family that he plans to teach at Liberty this fall. Ed, one of our nation's most eloquent Bible and prophecy scholars, has been a longtime friend of this ministry and my family. I fully believe that his greatest ministry is yet to come.

Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report JUNE 21,08

BERLIN (AFP) - Damascus and Pyongyang helped Iran to develop its nuclear programme through the construction of a suspected nuclear site in Syria that Israel destroyed last September, Der Spiegel reported. But the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is considering withdrawing his support for the Iranian programme, added the German newsweekly in its next edition out Monday, quoting German secret service reports.According to those intelligence reports, it said, a joint plan by Syria, North Korea and Iran for a nuclear reactor for military use was to have been developed at the Al-Kibar site in the east of Syria.The site -- to be inspected next week by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- was destroyed by Israeli warplanes with Washington's support. Syria denied it has military purposes.The reports cited by Der Speigel claimed that North Korea was to help Iranian scientists to advance their nuclear programme, and that Al-Kibar was to have been used as a temporary site for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb until it was able to do so on its own territory.The plan was discussed during a visit by Iranian President Mamhoud Ahmadinejad to Syria in 2006, according to the magazine.The three countries also cooperated in the production of chemical weapons, said Der Speigel, quoting the same source. At the time of an explosion at a chemical site in July 2007, 15 Syrian soldiers, 12 Iranian engineers and three North Koreans were among the victims.

Ten months after the destruction of the Al-Kibar site, on the basis of allegations that a nuclear reactor was being built there with the aid of North Korea, the IAEA said it was sending experts to Syria to investigate.Documents and detailed photographs supplied in April by Washington to the IAEA backed up the suspicions, but Syria rejected the allegations describing them as ridiculous.Iran and Syria, both parties to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, signed a memorandum of cooperation at the end of May on the two countries' independence and territorial integrity.The alliance between the two regional neighbours, which goes back to the 1979 Iranian revolution, was strengthened in 2006 with the signing of an agreement on military cooperation.

UN nuke chief urges Syria to cooperate By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jun 21, 2:41 AM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief urged Syria on Friday to show transparency and cooperate with inspectors from the world agency visiting the Mideast country this weekend. It marks the start of an international fact check of U.S. and Israeli assertions that Damascus had tried to build a plutonium-producing facility under the radar of the international community.Mohamed ElBaradei, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya Television that he hoped Syria will let IAEA inspectors visit all locations they are interested in.

Syria said earlier this month it won't allow IAEA to probe beyond a site bombed by Israel last September, despite IAEA's expressed eagerness to visit three other suspect locations.We will go (to Syria) with open eyes and we will observe the facts ... All I ask of Syria is to show absolute transparency and help the IAEA probe, ElBaradei said in the interview, aired late Friday.I hope that Syria will take us to all the locations, where allegedly there could be other reactors, ElBaradei added.His remarks reflected IAEA hopes that Syria could still warm to giving IAEA access to the three other sites. The main focus on the agency's three-day visit that begins Sunday is the Al Kibar facility — a building in the country's remote eastern desert that was destroyed in September by Israeli jets.ElBaradei again rebuked Israel for the bombing. Before (Israel's) hitting Syria ... we could have had the time to go to Syria to investigate and learn of any covert Syrian reactor, ElBaradei said.In the interview, part of which was aired earlier this week, ElBaradei also said that his agency doesn't have evidence Syria possesses the fuel or technical know-how for a large-scale nuclear plant.Syrian President Bashar Assad has repeatedly denied that his country has a secret nuclear program.Israel has never officially confirmed September's air strike on Al Kibar, though it has not disputed the foreign reports, or U.S. government comments, on the incident.

EU split on fuel tax while Chavez makes oil threats
PHILIPPA RUNNER 20.06.2008 @ 09:35 CET

French and Italian ideas on using taxes to combat rising fuel prices gained ground at an EU summit on Thursday (19 June) despite hostility from several member states, even as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez threatened to cut EU oil supplies in protest against new deportation rules.I wasn't told move on, there's nothing to see here, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said after the first day of the EU meeting in Brussels on his suggestion to cut VAT on fuel, AFP reports. [It] doesn't solve all the problems but at least that would be a response to a problem that we need to get a hand on.

Countries can, if they wish, have some taxation of windfall profits of energy companies, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso commented, referring to Italy's Robin Hood plan to tax oil companies' income to help consumers. We are ready to study other proposals if the European Council wishes.The debate came as thousands of Spanish farmers the same day clogged central Madrid to demand fuel tax breaks in the latest round of European street protests against petrol and diesel prices, which have shot up by 20 to 40 percent this year on the back of record crude oil costs.But Germany and Scandinavian countries renewed their attack on the French VAT plan on Thursday, with chancellor Angela Merkel saying in the German parliament before coming to Brussels that:Measures, especially of a fiscal nature, which have been regularly discussed and which at the end of the day will prevent the moves necessary to adapt to a changing market, should, from our point of view, be avoided.We need a liberalised energy market in Europe, but I would be reluctant to introduce short-term measures that might distort the well-functioning internal market, Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said as he arrived at the EU summit.I know that quite many citizens are expressing that why don't we cut [fuel] taxes? Finnish leader Matti Vanhanen added. But the reason for high prices of oil is the difference between demand for oil and the production of oil.Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt instead floated lowering income taxes to encourage people to work longer to pay for fuel. I am asking myself...that we might ease up on income taxes to make work pay even further, so that people could react to the fact that an increase in the petrol price could be met by working some extra hours, he said. If I could get, on the supply side, people to work more, it's also helping the central bank [to combat inflation].

Chavez makes oil threat

Even as the European leaders discussed how to handle the fuel price crisis, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez on Thursday issued a threat to cut oil exports to Europe in reaction to a new EU directive on forced expulsion of illegal immigrants. Venezuelan oil will not go to the countries that apply this shameful directive. I'll say it now, Venezuelan oil will not go, Mr Chavez said, with the new bill set to impact thousands of migrants from Venezuela's allies such as Bolivia and Ecuador. The statement was not taken seriously in Brussels: As far as I know, Venezuela supplies oil mostly to the US...so it would not be that much of a [big] deal, Czech foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg said. The Latin American country provides just one percent of the oil imports of major European economies but some European firms, such as France's Total and Norway's Statoil are active in the country, which in the past signalled a wish to diversify its US sales into Europe.

Iran sanctions unlikely

The fuel situation had another impact on EU foreign policy at the top-level meeting in Brussels however, with European leaders reluctant to back a US and UK-led push for sanctions on Iranian oil and gas companies for fear the massive exporter would cut its supplies.EU diplomats told Reuters any energy sanctions were months away, while Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said there was no rush in Europe take the step, designed to force Iran to halt its uranium enrichment efforts.US analyst Frank A. Verrastro of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies told the newswire that an export retaliation by Iran - which supplies 4 percent of the EU's energy purchases - would have a drastic effect.The impact would be immediate and it would be huge, he said. There is not enough spare capacity in the world to cover the loss of Iran...The markets are bad enough. If you lost a major producer, a big exporter, there is no replacement.