REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)
REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.
Is Temple Mount God's time bomb? New book sees Jerusalem real estate as roadmap to future events August 14, 2008 7:00 pm Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
Was the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem more than a place of worship?
Was it, indeed, a roadmap to future events – a kind of prophetic landmark whose significance is only now revealed through the development of satellite imagery?
That is the contention of an explosive new book, Temple at the Center of Time: Newton's Bible Codex Deciphered and the Year 2012, by David Flynn.The book asserts it has deciphered Isaac Newton’s greatest paradox: None other than the unified field theory of Bible prophecy.Sir Isaac Newton was not only a great thinker in physics, the book explains, but had extensive knowledge of the Scriptures with a special interest in prophecy. Newton believed there was a hidden code, a type of time-encrypted language. He believed the key to deciphering this code was the Temple of Solomon. He wrote extensively on the length measurements of the Temple and suggested it intersected time and dimension, serving as a prophetic and supernatural structure.
According to Flynn, although Newton never cracked this code, he was on the right track and was limited only by the lack of sophisticated satellite technology.The description of Jerusalem as a terrestrial center point, situated in the center of the world, is found in Philo's Legatio and Gaium, Flynn notes. The world is like a human eyeball. The white of the eye is the ocean surrounding the world, the iris is this continent, the pupil is Jerusalem, and the image in the pupil is the Holy Temple.To make his case, David starts by illustrating what the reader soon learns is the first of numerous extraordinary time-distance anomalies.The prisca sapentia framework of Newton suggests that the distance between the temple of Jerusalem and the capital city of any nation historically effecting the chronicles of Jerusalem would be supernaturally connected. This relationship would be significant with respect to units of time, expressing meaning in line with God's divine plan as recorded in the word of his prophets.
See for yourself the theories of Flynn's book:
Newton and Flynn point out how Ezekiel recorded the dimensions of the future temple in chapter 40 of his book, starting with the lengths of the temple gates, chambers, courts, walls and its exterior. After this, calibrations of weights and measure for the temple functions were given in detail. Finally, the distance of land outward from the temple was measured.And he brought me thither, and, behold, [there was] a man, whose appearance [was] like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate. (Ezekiel 40:3)The measure of distance away from Jerusalem in this text implies a spiritual significance, says Flynn. A relationship between Jerusalem and the nations existed from the foundation of the temple, but was not completely perceived – and could not be fully known until the conventions of modern science.For instance, if a measurement is made from the point of the temple of Jerusalem's foundation stone to the palace of Balthazar – the political center of Babylon and the exact location where the writing on the wall occurred – the distance should relate to the period in which Babylon most influenced Jerusalem.Such a relationship exists and is the important distance of 539.86 statute miles.What makes this measurement unusual is that Babylon, which played such a significant role in Hebrew antiquity, was measured and numbered in its relationship to Jewish history in Daniel chapter five during the famous handwriting on the wall. When the prophet interpreted the manifestation, he proclaimed in verses 25-28:
And this is the writing that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting; PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.That very night King Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede became king.Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians on the 16th day of Tishri of the Jewish calendar, which correlates to Oct. 12, 539 B.C. Curiously, the number 539 is also the distance in statute miles between the temple of Jerusalem's foundation stone to the palace of Balthazar, as confirmed by modern satellite measurement.Does this give insight to the handwriting on the wall or the dating and measuring of Babylon's affairs in the history of Israel? Does this imply that Babylon's influence over Israel was supernaturally predated and measured, or foreknown? Or was this just a fascinating coincidence? As the first of such discoveries made by Flynn, he wondered the same thing.So Flynn studied epic moments having to do with the sovereignty of Israel and the nations that played key roles in Hebrew and Jewish history. Over and over he found fascinating date-measurement anomalies connecting pivotal moments in time to the temple in Jerusalem. He went through annals, considering when acts by world leaders had influenced the development of the Jewish state. He continued to find more.A case in point was the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Jews.Napoleon had previously encountered the prophecies of the Old Testament in the Jewish community of Malta, which he liberated under French law in 1798. For hundreds of years, the Knights Hospitalier of Saint John of Jerusalem had oppressed the Jews by enslaving them and preventing open worship. One of Napoleon's first acts after banishing the Knights was to allow the Jews to build a synagogue, and the community of Jews on Malta welcomed Napoleon as a conqueror equal to Cyrus the Great. They believed their liberation by him was the fulfillment of the king of the North prophecy in Daniel 11.
This was followed on the first day of Passover, April 20, 1799, when Napoleon issued his proclamation of a Jewish state of Palestine. On May 22, 1799, the Paris newspaper, Moniteur Universel, announced: Bonaparte has published a proclamation in which he invites all the Jews of Asia and Africa to gather under his flag in order to re-establish the ancient Jerusalem. He has already given arms to a great number, and their battalions threaten Aleppo.Although the proclamation did not come to fruition, it increased a drive for Jews worldwide to pursue a sovereign state in Israel. Napoleon's ideas were also embraced by many who viewed them as a fulfillment of ancient prophecy, even some belonging to the Church of England.This is important because Paris was named after the Paris, a Celtic people who settled on this central island in the 3rd century B.C. The city later spread outward from this point along the banks of the Seine River. This island is considered the birthplace of Paris and was the site of the city's earliest settlements. It was home to the French Kings from A.D. 400 to A.D. 1300. The royal palace and parliament were located on the western side of the island. Extending a measuring line from this historical center of Paris to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem shows the distance in nautical miles, 1,799.The intriguing connection to Flynn's book is clear: Napoleon made a proclamation of historical importance to the Jewish nation in the year 1799, and perhaps not coincidently the distance from Paris to the Temple Mount in nautical miles corresponds perfectly at 1,799.As findings like these stack up and the mathematical improbability of Flynn's disclosure increases, one of the most extraordinary parts of the book is unveiled when we learn how the year 1948 is marked by time-distance relations to the Temple location and several other mind-boggling dates and places, both past and future, which we will not divulge here. However, a peek into this section of the book finds discussion of how Britain was the nation that was "friendly to the Jews" and enabled them to return to Israel over 200 after Newton's death. The British defeated the Ottoman Turks and became administrators of the land of ancient Israel in 1917. Through mandate after World War I and World War II until 1948, London was the heart of the governing intellect over the region.
London's original location at its founding is an important point in establishing the exact value of time and distance between it and Jerusalem's Temple.The Romans established Londinium in about A.D. 47. It was a civilian settlement built where the Thames became narrow enough for a bridge to be built across it but was still deep enough to admit large ocean vessels. In the 16th century, William Camden believed that the London Stone was a Roman milestone from which all distances were measured in the province. In the 17th century, Christopher Wren was able to observe the foundations of the London Stone underneath Cannon Street during the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. With this information, it is possible to extend a measuring line from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to the exact center of ancient London, and by fixing a point on the site of the temple mount, a measuring line extended over Jerusalem to the center of London produces 1,948.40 nautical miles.
Therefore, incredibly, recorded in the earth between the Temple Mount of Jerusalem and the historic center of London is what Flynn sees as the fulfillment of Newton's own prediction: Israel became a nation again May 14th, 1948, corresponding perfectly to a distance between the temple and London of 1948 nautical miles.As the reader moves through Temple at the Center of Time, these time-length correlations accumulate quickly, including numerous ancient dates such as 1441 B.C. when the Exodus from Egypt occurred. It turns out is 1,441,000 feet from the Jerusalem Temple to the Great Pyramid in Giza. Flynn finds dozens of other key dates in the past through similar satellite mapping measurements including some related to the United States, Russia and Rome.Before it is even officially released, Flynn's book is causing a sensation in some circles where it is being compared to The Bible Code.
ELECTION 2008 Obama goes ballistic over Corsi best-seller.Issues blistering 40-page report challenging WND reporter's high-flying, No. 1 exposé August 15, 2008
1:00 am Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
The title page to Barack Obama's response to Jerome Corsi's The Obama Nation
With the wreck of John Kerry's swiftboated 2004 campaign in his rearview mirror, Barack Obama and his surrogates are wasting no time mounting a counterattack against WND staff writer and columnist Jerome Corsi, the co-author of the Swift Boat Veteran's for Truth's Unfit for Command and the author of current No. 1 New York Times best-seller, The Obama Nation.Obama advisers have been tracking Corsi's media appearances, quickly telephoning producers to react to the book's charges, and last night, the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign issued a 40-page response to the book.Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor accompanied the release with a shot at Corsi, calling him a discredited liar who is peddling another piece of garbage to continue the Bush-Cheney politics he helped perpetuate four years ago.His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked Internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda, the spokesman said. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal.The Obama Nation will debut at No. 1 on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list next week and already has secured the top spot for the following week, as the Democratic National Convention gets under way.
The Democratic National Committee has its own rapid response team to take aim at Corsi's book, with an e-mail sent out yesterday saying, One of the most vile smear peddlers of the 2004 election has found a new target. … We cannot afford to let Corsi get away with the same dirty tricks that fooled so many people in 2004. We can't rely on the media to hold him accountable – in fact, the sheer brazenness of the lies is attracting even more coverage. The media have shown that they aren't going to stop him. It's up to you to spread the truth. …At the time of this story, Corsi had not had a chance to see Obama's 40-page rebuttal, but he responded to the strong counter-surge against The Obama Nation, a book with some 600 footnotes that portrays the Illinois senator as a radical leftist whose handlers are presenting him to the nation through a carefully crafted cult of personality.Corsi told WND the campaign has largely chosen to respond to his book with a series of personal attacks.
Derision and ridicule are the lowest form of argument, suggesting the Obama camp already has lost the debate, he said. The Obama camp and its supporters appear to be in disarray over the book, responding almost irrationally with an endless string of epithets and insults.Corsi charged Obama has intentionally manufactured a cult of personality in order to discourage any attempt to examine or comment critically upon any aspect of his background.Critics such as myself are immediately branded as racists to discourage readers from reading and evaluating the book for themselves," he said.
Vicious innuendo
Obama aides are feeding producers of Corsi's media interviews with a number of his past controversial quotes and insisting campaign surrogates, equipped with talking points, be allowed on the shows to counter the book, according to the blog Talking Points Memo.The online watchdog Media Matters, which says its purpose is to counter the lies of the right, sent senior fellow Paul Waldman up against Corsi on CNN's Larry King show Wednesday night.Waldman charged that four years after Unfit for Command, Corsi has come out with another book that is also riddled with distortions and falsehoods. So the question is, why on earth would anyone listen to what he has to say about Barack Obama? In a heated exchange, Waldman accused Corsi of spreading this incredibly vicious innuendo.Corsi shot back: This is typical Media Matters. They bring you on the show and they bait you up, don't give you a chance even to respond.Corsi told WND that Media Matters has intentionally misrepresented my arguments so they can prove as false claims I never made, while proclaiming mistakes over trivial points in the book they chose to nit-pick in support of their obvious leftist political agenda.Prior to publication of Corsi's book, Obama created a website FightTheSmears.com to respond to a host of charges largely circulating on the Internet. A FightTheSmears Action Wire uses the campaign's extensive e-mail list to respond to charges.An e-mail issued yesterday said, Right now, vile smear-peddler Jerome Corsi is back with a new book of lies – this time about Barack Obama. ... We'll need the combined efforts of every member of the Action Wire to push back against this year's vicious Republican attack book.Kerry's deputy campaign manager Steve Elmendorf told the Politico he believes that in hindsight, the Massachusetts Democrat's 2004 campaign made a mistake in not responding more forcefully.
Elmendorf offered advice to Obama's handlers.
It's on the front page of the New York Times, he said, referring to a Tuesday story on Corsi's book. It's number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Right now, I would be very aggressive with reporters and factually going through the book and responding and making it clear that this is a bunch of bullsh-t.On Wednesday, Kerry himself launched a website called Truth Fights Back challenging the book. It was accompanied by an e-mail to former supporters headlined, Book on Obama Hopes to Repeat Anti-Kerry Feat.
An agenda here
As even a popular late-night comedy show has acknowledged, Obama has many defenders in the mainstream media, and some apparently have joined the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's battle against Corsi's book.The media watchdog Newsbusters, which responds to left-leaning media bias, pointed to CNN's treament of the book Wednesday in which anchor Suzanne Malveaux worried aloud to former Clinton aide Paul Begala that Obama might not be responding fast enough to attacks against him, thereby falling into the same trap as John Kerry.Introducing the first segment, the Situation Room host didn't hesitate to make unequivocal claims as to the Corsi book's inaccuracy, Newsbusters said.
Malveaux said:
There's a new book out about Barack Obama, and it is not flattering. The facts are mixed with accusations about Obama that are misleading or just flat-out wrong. Yet despite all of this, there is concern that author's claims might catch on with some voters. Our CNN's Jessica Yellin joining me now, and Jessica, the author even admits that there is an agenda here behind this book.Newsbusters contributor Mark Finkelstein pointed to the irony of expressing concern that authors might have an agenda, noting the invitations and respectful treatment offered anti-Bush administration authors such as Seymour Hersh and Ron Suskind.CNN played only a brief clip from a Fox News appearance by Corsi.The network's Yellin said Corsi's book alleges Obama is on the extreme left of American politics and has extensive connections to Islam and with radical racial politics. This despite the fact that for months Obama's been explaining he's not Muslim.But Newsbusters's Finkelstein pointed out Corsi doesn't claim Obama is a Muslim and, with regard to the radical racial politics charge, notes the National Journal's rating of his voting record as most liberal in the Senate and the Democrat's close ties to black liberation theology adherents Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Rev. Michael Pfleger.
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.
20 Muslim nations ban U.S. religious workers Yet State Department allows entry to 100s of Muslim clerics each year August 15, 2008 2:25 am Eastern 2008 WorldNetDaily
A new congressional study has found that more than 20 Muslim nations deny entry to American and other foreign religious workers, WND has learned, even as the U.S. State Department grants entry to hundreds of clerics from their countries each year.
The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and most other Middle Eastern countries still refuse to offer religious visas, and deny entry to U.S. clergy as official policy, according to a report by the Law Library of Congress, the foreign legal research arm of the U.S. Congress. In a shocker, U.S. allies Afghanistan and Iraq also made the list of religious refuseniks.Of this group, the vast majority constitute Arab or Muslim states, said Wendy Zeldin, senior legal research analyst for the Library of Congress.Since Islam prohibits proselytism by other religions, foreign religious workers will in effect be denied entry to conduct religious work, Zeldin wrote in the three-page report, a copy of which was obtained by WND.At the same time, Washington routinely issues R-1 religious visas to clerics from the Middle East, including jihadi hotbeds Saudi Arabia and Egypt, even though an alarming number of foreign imams have been suspects in terrorism investigations since 9/11.The Department of Homeland Security, in fact, considers visiting imams as nonthreatening as Buddhist monks. Screening procedures call for both visitors to be treated as the same level of security risk at the border.Also, R-2 visas are routinely granted to relatives of foreign imams.By comparison, Saudi religious police recently accused more than a dozen foreign Christians living in the kingdom of worshipping in their homes and ordered them deported.The deportation conflicts with the message stated just weeks earlier by Saudi King Abdullah, who called for interfaith dialogue and held a summit in Spain with a representatives from several major religions.
Deporting Christians for worshipping in their private homes shows that King Abdullah's speech is mere rhetoric and his country is deceiving the international community about their desire for change and reconciliation, International Christian Concern President Jeff King said.King Abdullah's meetings – which drew about 200 representatives of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism and other religions – had to be held outside of Saudi Arabia, because, as one journalist observed, the mere fact that rabbis would be openly invited to the kingdom, a country where in principle Jews are not permitted to visit, would have constituted a turning point.Some U.S. lawmakers say the long list of Muslim nations denying non-Muslim religious workers is eye-opening.This gives us a better picture of what countries discriminate against us based on religion, said Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., who instructed the Congressional Research Service to compile the list (see below).
Myrick, who co-chairs of the House Anti-Terrorism/Jihad Caucus, said she is troubled by the one-sided exchange of religious visitors, and plans to introduce a bill to restrict R-1/R-2 religious visas for imams who come from countries that do not allow reciprocal visits by non-Muslim clergy.Nations not offering religious visas & denying or restricting entry to religious workers:
I. No religious visas, entry denied to foreign religious workers:
Afghanistan
Algeria
Bahrain
Bhutan
Brunei
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Jordan
Kuwait
Libya
Maldives
Morocco
North Korea
Oman
Palestine
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Yemen
II. No religious visas, entry allowed, but with restrictions:
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Burma
Cambodia
China
Georgia
Indonesia
Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Russia
Serbia
Solomon Islands
Tajikistan
Tuvalu
Vietnam
Source: Library of Congress
HAMAS CHARTER
http://www.thejerusalemfund.org/carryover/documents/charter.html
AP Exclusive: Hit squads training in Iran By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer AUG 15,08
WASHINGTON - Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran's elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq. A senior U.S. military intelligence officer in Baghdad described the information Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.The officer on Wednesday provided Iraq's national security adviser with several lists of the assassination teams' expected targets. He said the targets include many judges but would not otherwise identify them. Iraq's intelligence service is preparing operations to determine where and when the special group fighters will enter the country and is to provide an assessment to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.The U.S. official acknowledged disclosing the information in an attempt to pressure Iran to suspend the training and prevent the militia fighters from returning to Iraq. The U.S. military also wants the Iraqi government to take steps to protect the targets. Wanted posters picturing men believed to be heading the special groups are being posted around Baghdad, the military officer said.The U.S. also is encouraging the Iraqi government to confront Iran with the information in diplomatic channels, and it wants Iraq to continue pumping money into its own reconstruction. By building stability and Iraqis' confidence in their government, internal support for militia groups should decline, making it more difficult for them to operate.The fighters are expected to return to Iraq between now and October, but the officer said there's no intelligence suggesting they are actually in Iraq yet. The information came from militia fighters captured in Iraq and other sources in the country that the officer would not describe.Many of the fighters fled to Iran this spring after Iraqi government forces cracked down first on militia sanctuaries in Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district, then in Amarah and now in Diyala province, the military officer said.
One of the reasons the U.S. believes the special groups moved out during that period is the sharp decline in the number of deadly roadside bombs bearing Iran's signature explosive design. In March, there were 55 such attacks. By July, that number had dropped to around 18, the officer said. U.S. intelligence believes those sophisticated bombs can be traced back to Iran.Iran, Hezbollah's benefactor, denies giving any support to Shiite extremists in Iraq.The officer said training is going on in at least four locations in Iran: Qom, Tehran, Ahvaz and Mashhad. The number of special group criminals — the U.S. name for Iraqi fighters sponsored by Iran — is unknown but is estimated in the hundreds and possibly more than 1,000.According to the officer, the training camps are operating under the direction of Quds force commander Brig. Gen. Ghassem Soleimani, with the knowledge and approval of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The elite Quds Force is a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard.The training includes how to conduct reconnaissance to pinpoint targets, small arms and weapons training, small unit tactics and terrorist cell operations and communications. They are also learning how to use bombs packed with explosive penetrators that can rip through U.S. armored vehicles, along with other improvised explosive devices and rocket-propelled grenades, including the RPG-29 used by Lebanese Hezbollah and the Quds force. They are also receiving training on assassination techniques, employing RPGs, small arms or explosives, the officer said.
Lebanese Hezbollah conducts much of the training in the camps because they speak Arabic. Iranians are Persian and speak Farsi. Lebanese Hezbollah also has credibility with the Iraqis, given the successful 2006 uprising in Lebanon, the officer said. The U.S. officer said there are no confirmed reports of Lebanese Hezbollah members crossing into Iraq.That conflicts with what Iraqi Shiite lawmakers and a top Iraqi army officer told the AP last month: Hezbollah trainers were running training camps in southern Iraq until April, when they were pushed into Iran by the Iraqi crackdown.The trainees in the Iranian camps include three Iraqis already wanted by the Iraqi government for terrorist attacks: Haji Mahdi, Haji Thamir and Baqir al Sa'idi, the officer said. He identified two Iraqi Shiite militia groups in Iran by name: The League of the Righteous, or Asaib al Haq, and the Kataib al Hezbollah.Foot soldiers and cell leaders are physically separated for most of the training, the officer said. Leaders are trained in Tehran and cell members are in separate camps where Quds trainers attempt to indoctrinate them without competition from their Iraqi leaders.The special group criminals are offshoots of cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Jaysh al-Mahdi militia. They spun off their own groups after al-Sadr declared a cease-fire with the Iraqi government in August 2007 and are not thought to be under his control now.
Jordan: Israeli tourists asked to hand over Jewish paraphernalia. Jordanians confiscate travelers tefillin, bibles to protect tourists from terrorist elements Itamar Eichner Published: 08.13.08, 13:09 / Israel Travel YNET NEWS
Dozens of Israelis who have passed through the Arava border crossing during the last few days were given a choice, either turn over all items that carry Jewish symbols or be denied entry into Jordan. The reason? According to the Jordanians it is nothing more than a security precaution. The Jewish symbols will make it easier on terrorist elements to identify Israelis a Jordanian official explained. For the past year the Jordanians have been meticulous when checking Israelis, especially orthodox Jews, who wish to enter Jordan. Last week authorities reiterated their advisory that Jewish paraphernalia that could risk the lives of the tourists, must be left at the border checkpoint.
No anti-Semitic sentiment
On Tuesday, for example, a group of 30 religious Israelis had to cancel their planned trip to Petra, after Jordanian authorities' confiscated their Jewish paraphernalia. The Jordanians confiscated everyone's prayer books and even seized one members' copy of a book by (Shmuel Yosef) Agnon, mentioned Trix Richter, a member of the group. According to Richter, the Jordanians claimed that this was being done for security reasons. It sounded a little far-fetched, said Richter, I hate to think what would happen if the State of Israel would confiscate copies of the Koran from Muslim tourists or copies of the New Testament from Christian tourists; the rest of the world would be upset.The foreign Ministry has confirmed that the Jordanians had in fact increased security regarding Jewish paraphernalia. They claim that it has to do with security measures, a source inside the ministry said. They believe tourists we can be recognized as Jews would be easier target for terrorists, he said. We told them that it seemed a bit much, and that generally, Jews pray and put on tefillin in private, such as in a hotel room, but their concerns are about Jews praying in public and drawing attention to themselves.
Following the increase in complaints both the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli embassy in Amman plan to appeal to the Jordanian authorities in order to ease the restrictions .It must be understood that this decision stems from a genuine desire to keep the Israeli tourists safe, said a source in the ministry. There is no anti-Semitic sentiment (behind the decision), just the desire to protect tourists the best that they can.
Despite Gaza truce, Palestinian militants still building .Popular Resistance Committees showed journalists its rocket factory last week AUG 15,08
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Nearly two months after Israel entered into a truce with Hamas in Gaza, one militant group wants to show it is building longer-range rockets that Israel said would violate the cease-fire.Members of the Popular Resistance Committees perform at a graduation in Gaza City on Thursday.In a rare public relations display, spread over two days and intended to be viewed by Israel and the rest of the world, the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees last week showed off its training techniques and a rocket factory to journalists.The PRC said the rockets it displayed recently are but a drop in an ocean of surprises in store for Israel should it attempt to reoccupy Gaza, from which it withdrew in 2005. The militants showed off what they said was a new rocket, called the Nasser-4, which can travel 16 miles (25 kilometers), or double the range of the existing Nasser-3. If true, larger Israeli cities such as Ashkelon -- with a population of about 120,000 -- and Ashdod -- home to about 200,000 -- would be under greater threat of attack.
There appeared to be little doubt that the PRC wants Israel to see the pictures. Rocket makers were positioned to give the camera the best angle during a highly choreographed visit by CNN journalists and other reporters, who were blindfolded before being brought there. In a previous day's visit, the group showed off a training ground where gunmen said they were preparing for what they see as an imminent Israeli incursion into Gaza.We have been under siege for the last two years, said Ibrahim Dahman, the only militant who allowed his face to be videotaped, since he already is wanted by Israel. The only thing left is for them to invade and kill us.The rockets would represent a clear violation of the six-month Egyptian-brokered truce reached in June, Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.The cease-fire that was negotiated through Egypt was very specific that the Hamas movement and the other terrorist groups can't use it as a period to import more weapons, more explosives, more rockets into the Gaza Strip, Regev said.
Regev said Israel reserves the right to act, if need be, to protect ourselves. We don't want this current quiet just to be the quiet before the storm.In more than a year after the Islamic militant group Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, Palestinian fighters fired more than 5,000 crudely made rockets into Israeli towns and cities. Four civilians have been killed and many more wounded.The PRC is revered as a group of freedom fighters by many here, but reviled as terrorists by Israel and many in the West. The group is one of many Gaza-based factions, and claims it has been involved in rocket attacks on Israel and the kidnapping two years ago of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.Its training ground proved to be a dead-end road used for marching drills. Near the road, tires intended for target practice were stacked in front of the wall of a building. More tires were set ablaze around the area, emitting putrid, thick, black smoke intended to conceal the training from Israeli aircraft.Masked gunmen practiced shooting at targets and taking hostages during the session. One fighter said he would never let his son fire a gun, but that he is fighting to make a better future for his family. Wearing a ski mask and carrying a rocket-propelled grenade launcher over his shoulder, he vowed to destroy any Israeli who enters Gaza.The following day, the militants offered 20 minutes' notice for a trip to the rocket factory. A CNN correspondent and photographer were blindfolded and transferred into the back of an unmarked van outside Gaza City. Their mobile phones were confiscated, and the blindfolds were removed only when the van arrived at the plant.Inside the factory -- a tiny room with a dozen rockets lining the walls -- two masked men tried to light a fire from a gas canister to heat the explosives to liquefy them so that they could be poured into shells. Despite the apparent painstaking planning that went into the display, the rocket makers sometimes fell short.First, the lighter didn't work. Then, a leak in a canister filled the room with suffocating gas. Explosions, euphemistically called "workplace accidents," occur in Gaza from time to time, but the men building the rockets handled deadly ingredients and warheads in a visibly relaxed manner.
Hamas, which controls Gaza and the militant factions it contains, said that it is the responsibility of the 16 factions that agreed to the truce with Israel to respect it. The PRC said it supports Hamas, but a spokesman said last week that it would return to violence if improvements, such as the opening of border crossings, don't occur.But Regev called the PRC an arm of Hamas, which he said would be held accountable if anything were to happen to break the truce.The current cease-fire is something we, Israel, wants to continue, he said. It's good for the people in Israel's south who suffered under the barrage of the rockets. It's good for the Palestinians in Gaza. Everyone would want this cease-fire to continue except for these extremist elements who run the Gaza Strip, who want to continue their violent jihad. It's a problem for Israel and for the Palestinians.
US-Russia relations turn confrontational By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer Thu Aug 14, 6:26 PM ET
WASHINGTON - President Bush is guiding U.S. relations with Russia in a decidedly confrontational direction, evoking memories of Cold War bitterness. It's a marked turnabout from the sense-of-his-soul epiphany the president had seven years ago when he declared that Vladimir Putin was a trustworthy partner on the global stage. With only five months left in the Bush presidency, there is little time to repair damage in relations, much less capitalize on a new approach to make progress together on hotspots like Iran or North Korea.Russia's brutal invasion of the former Soviet republic of Georgia was the turning point.The administration is a bit behind the curve on this. They didn't understand what was coming, said Janusz Bugajski, director of a new European democracies project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.From the beginning of his administration, Bush emphasized personal diplomacy with Putin, Russia's leader then and, apparently, still, even though now he is prime minister rather than president. The idea was that talking of warm ties at the top could will them into being, and then translate into cooperation on a range of issues.But tensions emerged immediately, and only multiplied over the years.The U.S. was alarmed by Putin-led democratic backsliding, a campaign against the Yukos oil company's leaders and other consolidation of wealth and power in the Kremlin, Moscow's war in Chechnya and evidence of manipulation of Russia's vast energy resources to serve geopolitical aims.Russia was infuriated at Bush moves to support reformers in elections in Ukraine and Georgia and back those former Soviet republics' bids to join NATO, plus expanding Western missile defenses into Poland and the Czech Republic, and endorsing independence for Kosovo from Russian ally Serbia. Almost all Moscow's anger grew from suspicions of U.S. meddling in its backyard, though acrimony over the U.S.-led Iraq invasion sent relations plummeting too.
There were some areas of cooperation, such as Putin's hand of friendship after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty and Russia's participation with the U.S. in a group of nations still trying to persuade North Korean to abandon its nuclear weapons programs.But on an effort to thwart Iran's similar ambitions, Russia has been an on-again, off-again partner. As a fellow permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, Russia repeatedly has stood in the way of U.S. desires for tough action — not just against Iran, with whom it has deep economic ties, but against other bad actors such as the regimes in Zimbabwe and Sudan.
The net adds up to a negative.
Still, while Bush spoke candidly to Putin about differences, he also persisted with gestures aimed at courting him.Putin is the only world leader who landed the Bush-reward trifecta: visits to the president's Texas ranch, the Camp David retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains and his parents' summer home in Maine. Bush even risked losing some of his democratic-reformer credentials by agreeing to attend Putin's lavish Red Square anniversary celebration in 2005 of Soviet victory in World War II.But there was a big problem underlying the basic strategy: Bush's assumption that a weak, debt-ridden, post-Soviet Russia would seek to become more Western, and thus would share U.S. strategic interests, Bugajski said. The president also was distracted by Iraq and Afghanistan.Russia, meanwhile, was operating on a very different view. Becoming ever richer off energy revenues, it worked to take advantage of what it sees as a declining America, to split the U.S. from traditional allies such as France and Germany, and to reassert its global role.The Russians are masters at playing the chess board, Bugajski said. There's a whole number of issues they deliberately engineer to show they are an important power.Fast forward to the years-old tensions in the tiny former Soviet republic of Georgia that burst last week into full-blown war. After Georgia tried to exert military control over its province of South Ossetia, a separatist region loyal to Moscow, Russia launched a fierce invasion that routed Georgia's forces and reached into Georgia proper.
Bush condemned Russia's aggression, but left room for Moscow to turn itself around.
By midweek — when Russia was continuing incursions even after a truce — that approach was gone. Bush strode to the Rose Garden with stern words that left little doubt that he wanted to directly confront Russia, though without any specific threat. He launched a humanitarian mission inside Georgia, pointedly saying the U.S. would use its military aircraft, as well as naval forces to do it and warning Russia against interfering. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he saw no prospect for the use of U.S. military force, but that was almost beside the point. Bush also laid the solidarity-with-Georgia language on thick, which in itself would be seen in Russia as provocative. The new but impoverished democracy has aligned itself with the West, with enthusiastic encouragement from the U.S., though it was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested that Moscow was actually motivated by the kind of mentality that led to its quick and bloody put-downs of the Czech uprising in 1968or the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Gates, with long familiarity with Moscow as a CIA man for nearly 30 years and eventually its director, cautioned against dealing with Russia based on trust. He surmised that Russia, and particularly Putin, is not only interested in regaining its superpower status but in reasserting Russia's traditional spheres of influence.This view seemed reinforced by fiery talk from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who on Thursday said the world can forget about Georgia keeping the two separatist provinces. Bugajski said a harder-edged view is a smarter way to deal with the Russians. They would respect the challenge, he said. They interpret weakness as a sign that they can go further.White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said the Bush administration has always been clear-eyed about Russia, and was practically forced into a re-evaluation of relations by the boldness of the latest developments. When you have a loss of life, it really elevates things, Johndroe said. EDITOR'S NOTE — Jennifer Loven covers the White House for The Associated Press.
A CZAR IS BORN: BAD VLAD WINS WAR, DUPES WEST & PROVES HE'S GENIUS STALIN STYLE: Defying the truce, a Russian convoy (above) rolls deeper into...Posted: 3:43 am August 14, 2008 NY POST
THE Russians are alcohol-sodden bar barians, but now and then they vomit up a genius. Prime Minister - and now generalissimo - Vladimir Putin is Mother Russia's latest world-class wonder. Let's be honest: Putin's the most effective leader in the world today. That doesn't mean he's good news for anybody - not even for the Russians, in the long run. His ruthless ambition and gambler's audacity may end terribly. But, for now, give the devil his due: After a long string of successes, from his personal mastery of Russia's government and media to his coldblooded energy brinkmanship, Putin has capped his performance with a stunning success in Georgia.
Not a single free-world leader currently in office can measure up to Czar Vladimir the Great. Following his turnaround of Russia from bankrupt kleptocracy to flush-with-cash autocracy, he's now openly determined to restore Moscow's old empire. And he's getting away with it. As a former intelligence officer, I'm awestruck by the genius with which Putin assessed the strategic environment on the eve of his carefully scripted invasion of Georgia. With his old KGB skills showing (he must've been a formidable operative), Putin not only sized up President Bush humiliatingly well, but precisely anticipated Europe's nonreaction - while taking a perfect-fit measure of Georgia's mercurial president. Putin not only knew what he was doing - he knew exactly what others would do. This is intelligence work at the hall-of-fame level. (For our part, we had all the intelligence pieces in our hands and failed to assemble the puzzle.) On the military side, the months of meticulous planning and extensive preparations for this invasion were covered by military exercises, disingenuous explanations - and maskirovka, the art of deception the Red Army had mastered. The Russians convinced us to see what we wanted to see.
Equally as remarkable was the Kremlin's ability to lead the global media by the nose. (Oblivious to the irony, a BBC broadcast yesterday portrayed tiny, poorhouse Georgia as a propaganda powerhouse and Russia as an information victim - an illustration of the Russian propaganda machine's effectiveness.) From the start, every Russian ministry was reading from the same script (try to orchestrate that in Washington). Breaking off his phony play date with Bush in Beijing, Putin rushed back to the theater of war. Upon arrival, he publicly consoled refugees who had been bused out of South Ossetia days in advance. Launching the war's Big Lie, Putin deployed dupe-the-rubes code words, such as genocide and response.Wearing his secret-policeman's stone-face, Putin blamed Georgia for exactly what his storm troopers were doing to the Georgians. And lazy journalists around the world served as the Kremlin's ad agency. Strategy and conflict hinge on character. Putin's character is ugly, but he's certainly got one: On the world stage, he comes across as a man among munchkins. When French President Nicolas Sarkozy flew in to Moscow to demand a cease-fire, Putin - busy with his war - couldn't be bothered. He fobbed Sarko off on Russia's play-pretend president. Sarko thought he was grandstanding as a statesman, but Putin saw him as a useful idiot (in Leninist parlance). Carla Bruni's husband got the cease-fire the twittering European Union demanded, all right. He returned to Paris holding in his hands a piece of paper that guarantees peace in our time.
Putin's thugs kept on killing. And they're still killing as I write. Putin makes promises blithely to make flies go away. But the promises are worthless. Russia's troops will find excuses to stay right where they are - or they'll fake a withdrawal, leaving behind South Ossetian volunteers from Russian airborne units.
Want a straightforward indication of what the Russians intend? Putin's code-name for this operation is Chistoye Polye. Literally translated, that means clean field. In military parlance, it means scorched earth.The empire of the czars hasn't produced such a frightening genius since Stalin. Ralph Peters' latest book is Looking for Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World.
Russia says NATO relations will change Aug. 14, 2008 at 10:30 AM
MOSCOW, Aug. 14 (UPI) -- NATO's stand on the Russia-Georgia clash likely will affect relations with the international treaty alliance, the Russian NATO ambassador said Thursday.Dmitry Rogozin also accused Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili of war crimes and some members of the Western media of complicity.Rogozin said Russian relations with NATO cannot but be affected after NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer failed to say a word about the victims of the attack. Not a single word has been uttered in condemnation of the aggression but Russia was criticized.In a mission to expel Georgian troops from the South Ossetia region and to reinforce Russian peacekeepers, Moscow sent some 10,000 troops and several hundred armored vehicles into the area, RIA Novosti reported.Scheffer told a news conference the allies condemned and deplored (Russia's) excessive, disproportionate use of force. Georgia is a respected partner and friend and one day Georgia will join NATO.Western reports said that irregular paramilitary groups following Russian regulars had engaged in looting, burning, murdering and rape in Georgia while Russian media reported atrocities by Georgian troops, including women and children being burned alive.2008 United Press International.
Lebanon and Syria to normalise ties by Rouba Kabbara
Thu Aug 14, 12:13 PM ET
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to take formal steps to demarcate their borders as part of a string of decisions to normalise their relations for the first time after decades of tension. The announcement came as President Michel Sleiman wrapped up a landmark two-day visit to Damascus -- the first by a Lebanese president since Syria ended almost 30 years of military domination over Lebanon in April 2005.The two countries also pledged to examine the fate of hundreds of people missing since the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war -- amid claims by rights groups that around 650 people who vanished during the war are being held in Syria.Sleiman and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also agreed to control their borders and curb trafficking, it was announced at a news conference by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salukh.But a joint statement made no mention of weapons which Lebanon's anti-Syrian ruling majority says flow across the border and are intended for the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah militant Shiite group.Relations between Lebanon and Syria have been tense since Lebanon's former premier Rafiq Hariri was killed in a massive Beirut bomb attack in February 2005.Damascus denied responsibility despite claims by Lebanese anti-Syrian groups that it was involved.Assad and Sleiman agreed on setting up diplomatic relations between the two countries at the level of ambassadors, the statement said, reiterating an announcement made at the start of Sleiman's visit on Wednesday.Salukh said both countries will take steps next week to implement the decisions.Syria and Lebanon have not had diplomatic ties since independence from colonial power France -- Lebanon in 1943 and Syria in 1946 -- but Assad and Sleiman agreed to establish relations during talks last month in Paris.The United States has cautiously welcomed the establishment of diplomatic ties between Syria and Lebanon.
One of the steps that has long been required is the establishment of a proper embassy for Syria in Lebanon and vice versa, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.Now, if the Syrians will go ahead and demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria, and respect (Lebanon's) sovereignty in other ways, then this will have proved to be a very good step, she added.Both Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates also hailed the Lebanon-Syria agreement, with Kuwait saying it serves the interests of both and the UAE welcoming that the two brotherly countries will establish diplomatic ties.Lebanon and Syria said they agreed to reactivate the work of the joint committee to demarcate the Lebanese-Syrian borders within a mechanism and a set of priorities and would take administrative and technical steps.The borders are poorly delimited in certain places, particularly the Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of water-rich land at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.The 25-square-kilometre (10-square-mile) tract of farmland was seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and is now claimed by Beirut with the backing of Damascus.
Israel says the area is part of Syria.
Muallem insisted that Israel must end its occupation of the Shebaa Farms before the border can be marked. It is not possible to mark the borders in Shebaa Farms as long as there is still Israeli occupation. The occupation must end, he said. Syria and Lebanon also agreed to activate and step up the work of the joint committee on people missing from both countries since the Lebanese civil war, pledging to take steps capable of reaching results as soon as possible.
August 14, 2008 Vatican distances itself from Catholic magazine's warning of fascist revivalRichard Owen, Rome TIMES ONLINE
The Vatican today distanced itself from a series of blistering attacks on the centre-right government of Silvio Berlusconi by the mass-circulation Roman Catholic magazine Famiglia Cristiana, which in its latest issue gives warning that Italy is in danger of returning to Fascism. The magazine, owned by the Paulist Fathers, has repeatedly attacked the Berlusconi Government since it came to power in May on a law-and-order platform, arguing that the Right's targeting of immigrants and Gypsies as part of a crackdown on crime is racist and xenophobic. In June it compared the Government's security decree to the racial laws imposed by Benito Mussolini, Italy's Fascist dictator, in the 1930s. In its latest editorial it says: We hope that the suspicion that Fascism is being reborn in a different form proves to be untrue. Drawing on an analysis in the French Catholic publication Esprit, it compared the fingerprinting of Roma children in Italian Gypsy camps to the persecution of the Jews by the Nazis before and during the Second World War. Government ministers rounded in fury on Famiglia Cristiana, with one saying that the magazine was itself displaying a Fascist mentality by making intemperate attacks on a democratically elected government.
The row today reached the point where the Vatican felt obliged to step in, with Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, declaring that although Famiglia Cristiana was an important Catholic publication, its views did not reflect those of either the Holy See or the Italian Bishops Conference. The positions it takes are exclusively the responsibility of its editors, Father Lombardi said. The Berlusconi administration — the third formed by Mr Berlusconi since he entered politics in 1994 — prides itself on its close links to the Vatican and the Catholic Church. The coalition does not however include the main Catholic political party, the Union of Christian Democrats headed by Pierferdinando Casini, who has fallen out with Mr Berlusconi. Sandro Bondi, the Culture Minister, alleged that Famiglia Cristiana was a Catholic-Communist publication driven by a visceral hatred for Mr Berlusconi. Last week the magazine criticised the deployment of troops in Italian cities alongside police, accused the Government of uselessly playing soldiers to combat false security problems. It added: Not even in Angola do they do this.Antonio Sciortino, the editor of Famiglia Cristiana, said that he was amazed at the reaction. We have no prejudice against the Berlusconi Government — we took the same line during the previous centre-left government of Romano Prodi, he said. It is the right of citizens to judge the government, any government, in a free debate. Carlo Mosca, the Rome chief of police, today came under fire from Roma groups and human rights organisations for suggesting in an interview with the Milan financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore that Gypsy children should make a living shining shoes outside supermarkets instead of begging or stealing. Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, has been similarly criticised for proposing that people caught scavenging through rubbish bins should be punished. The Berlusconi Government has however completed its first 100 days with high approval ratings in opinion polls, with Mr Berlusconi widely credited with maintaining his election vows to clear rubbish from the centre of Naples (though not the suburbs) and impose law and order in Italy as a whole.
Supporters of Mr Berlusconi this week hailed an article in the US magazine Newsweek headed Miracle in 100 days as proof that he was on the right track. The article, written by Jacopo Barigazzi, described how Berlusconi brought order to chaotic Italy. Osvaldo Napoli, a spokesman for the centre Right deputies in Parliament, said that it was a pity you won't see any similar editorials in any Italian newspaper.
British security laws are eroding human rights, says UN
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 15/08/2008
A report from the UN's committee on human rights hit out at Britain's terror and libel laws and use of the Offical Secrets Act.The UN said provisions under the Terrorism Act 2006 covering encouragement of terrorism are too broad and vague which could infringe on freedom of expression.Under the new law people convicted of encouragement of terrorism face up to seven years in jail even if they did not intend to incite violence.In particular, a person can commit the offence even when he or she did not intend members of the public to be directly or indirectly encouraged by his or her statement to commit acts of terrorism, but where his or her statement was understood by some members of the public as encouragement to commit such acts, concluded the committee.The body also said tough libel laws should be reformed to end libel tourism - where people come to the UK to sue over articles they would not be able to pursue in their own countries. And it said the use of the Official Secrets Act was gagging civil servants from bringing issues of genuine public interest to wider attention even when national security was not at risk. The criticisms came as part of the committee's analysis into human rights in the UK. But the body welcomed the government's abolition of common-law offences of blasphemy and blasphemous libel in England and Wales and the adoption of the civil partnership act recognising unions between gay and lesbian couples.
August 15, 2008 ARLENE KUSHNER Most Disconcerting
That title might apply to most of what's happening these days, I realize, but I have one particular situation in mind:On Wednesday, Haaretz revealed that the US has rejected a request by Israel for military equipment that would enhance our ability to attack Iran. They reportedly -- and we've had suggestions of this before -- see our readiness to do so as undermining US interests in the area.It was in the context of this rejection that the Americans then offered to boost our defensive capabilities against incoming missiles -- which I wrote about recently.
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The lesson for us, as spelled out by Aaron Lerner of IMRA: A stunning reminder to Israel why it is so important to continue developing and maintaining the Israeli arms industry.Bottom line: Friends, shmends, each nation ultimately acts in what it perceives to be its own best interest. Unfortunately, the US has a history of abandoning allies in the clinch -- which works against genuine long term American interests, even if those who are making the decisions are too blind to see it.We here in Israel will do as we deem appropriate for our own security. Military action would be handicapped, however, by US refusal to allow us to fly over Iraq to get to Iran. While it seems we cannot count on it, it would be nice to think that, when push comes to shove, the US would at least back us up after the fact. The Americans may have no choice, precisely because their interests will be involved.
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Just to keep everything in broader context: At no point has the US said the military option was off the table. They maintain they are holding it as a last resort, if all else in the way of sanctions and diplomacy has failed. They interpret our request for these arms as a sign that we will act in a manner that they believe is precipitous -- before other efforts have run their course. While we are watching the narrowing of the window for stopping the Iranians before they develop capacity to build a nuclear weapon, and are mindful of the danger of waiting just a bit too long.Could sanctions work? Absolutely, if the entire international community was serious about this and put Iran in an economic stranglehold. But since each nation acts in what it perceives to be its own (often very short term) interest....
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Appropriate here is a brief consideration, at least, of the entire (also exceedingly disconcerting) Russian action in Georgia. The broad parameters are clear -- with Russia acting with naked power, a la the old Soviet Union. Implications are vast and still being debated. Everything connects to everything else.There is in several quarters fear of confronting Russia too sternly precisely because Russia is needed as an ally in standing strong against Iran. But, the failure of the world to act against Russian aggression will not be lost on the leaders of Iran. We are speaking here about the power of deterrence.And, there is also the fact that Georgia is a western-tilting democracy that might have expected international assistance at a significant level. (Speaking of responses to allies.)There are some very sharp minds currently analyzing what Georgia might have expected from the international community and how appropriately George Bush is responding. (Keep in mind that Georgia supported US efforts with troops in Iraq.)Please see Jeff Jacoby on this, in his piece, Back in the USSR. He covers a great deal of territory very incisively:
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/08/13/back_in_the_ussr/
JINSA points out, in Hammers and Nails, that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is touted as an expert on Russia, has been so busy focusing on solving the Palestinian problem that she dropped the ball totally with regard to Russia:
http://www.jinsa.org/node/658
JINSA also discusses some possibilities for how Russia should be responded to, which does not necessarily or realistically include military action:
http://www.jinsa.org/node/657
Oil is an additional factor, as Russia is an oil exporter. See Lenny Ben David for an effective analysis of this:
http://lennybendavid.com/2008/08/putin-i-love-smell-of-cordite-and-crude.html
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On a slightly different note, with significance for US politics, is the matter of how the two contenders for the presidency responded to the issue of the Russian aggression. Obama began by calling for restraint on both sides, which call would do precious little to stop Russia's naked aggression, and which implies the sort of outrageous moral equivalency that we here in Israel are so familiar with.McCain, on the other hand, put out a statement that included reminders of the moral parameters the situation and calling for specific actions against Russia.And this, my friends, in a nutshell, epitomizes a major difference between the two candidates. It certainly shows us what response we'd get from each, as president, with regard to our need to contend with Arab aggression.
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Regarding politics, here in Israel polls are showing that Livni is likely to beat Mofaz in the September Kadima primary. The key issue, as I see it, is not who will win the primary, but whether this new head of Kadima would be able to put together a coalition for a new government. Mofaz is saying that he, with military experience and a tough attitude on Iran, is the only one who could do that.
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The Popular Resistance Committees in Gaza have announced that they have a new Nasser 4 rocket with a 25 kilometer range that can reach Ashdod. They say they will use it if Israel enters Gaza.On CNN, Olmert's spokesman Mark Regev then declared this to be a clear violation of the ceasefire:The ceasefire that was negotiated through Egypt was very specific that the Hamas movement and the other terrorist groups can't use it as a period to import more weapons, more explosives, more rockets into the Gaza Strip. [Israel reserves] the right to act, if need be, to protect ourselves. We don't want this current quiet just to be the quiet before the storm.
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One might be reduced to tears of frustration and shame in the face of this statement, which is patently ridiculous in several respects.First of all, well before this statement by the Committees, Israel intelligence was already fully aware that Hamas has been smuggling in huge amounts of weapons since the ceasefire began in late June. I ran a list of what has been brought in, not long ago. So this statement by Regev is merely a PR response to one particular public statement by one group of terrorists, not an actual response to the fact of violations of the ceasefire, per se. Talk about loss of deterrence power. The terrorists know they can get away with anything short of killing a large number of Israelis at one time.
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Second, saying we reserve the right to act really makes fools of us. Sort of like, You keep doing this, you'll see, one of these days, maybe, if we feel like it, we'll do something stop you.They are violating the ceasefire? Make an official public announcement of this fact and say it is now off, and that we are going to start military operations in Gaza again. It doesn't even have to be (although it should be!) that major operation that we've been told was coming some time soon. Just targeted operations against weapons storage sites and targeted killings of terrorist leaders.What we're telling the terrorists right now is that the relative quiet suits our government, which was being pressured to do something for the poor suffering people of Sderot and environs. Even though there are severe violations with regard to smuggling and stockpiling of weapons, and a rocket is shot now and then, the constant barrage of rockets has stopped, which makes it easier for Olmert and Barak to function in the short term.If we say the ceasefire is off, that barrage will begin again. Neither Olmert nor Barak wants this.
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But what of the future and the ultimate consequences -- regarding loss of Israeli life and damage to Israeli property?? Painful to contemplate. Painful, painful.
Regev says We don't want this current quiet just to be the quiet before the storm. But of course that's all this is, and all it was ever expected to be. What nonsense to pretend it is anything more. Neighbors who wish to live in peace with us don't stockpile ever increasingly sophisticated weapons. We know this clearly. But the way we're going, we're allowing them to decide when they want to hit us, instead of pre-empting them now. Has everyone forgotten the Hezbollah lesson? For years our intelligence clearly knew they were stockpiling in Lebanon, but it was thought best to leave the situation alone. Until we got hit by their rockets, which we had done nothing to stop, in 2006.
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Is anyone surprised? The lawyers for Morris Talansky have announced that he will not be returning to Israel for additional cross-examination by Olmert's lawyers. This is because Talansky is now the subject of a US grand jury investigation in matters that parallel issues here. FBI agents -- alerted by Talansky's testimony in Israel -- actually accompanied Israeli agents who were securing information in the US.This situation will not necessarily affect a decision regarding the indictment of Olmert, although undoubtedly Olmert's lawyers will claim something about his rights having been infringed upon. Israeli law officials are now pointing with a sense of vindication to their insistence on taking testimony from Talansky before he left the country, and before an actual trial began, precisely for this reason. In spite of his insistence that he would continue to cooperate fully, they knew the possibility of his not returning loomed before them.
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see my website www.ArlenefromIsrael.info
The CARMEL ALERT Aug 15th 2008 A compilation of news reports from the past week for the information of those committed to praying for Israel and the salvation of the Jewish people.SPECIAL NOTICE # 1: Stefan & Keren will be married this Wednesday in the hills of Jerusalem. You can send them a congratulatory email at kiwistef@netvision.net.il Guest Comment: FALSE HOPE, FALSE BELIEFS Dena Gewanter, M.D. Kiriat Yam, Israel
Shakespeare used the vehicle of identity deception in many of his comedic plays, where one character either dresses up as another, as in As You Like It, where two women dress as men in order to discern what is in the hearts of their lovers, or in A Midsummer's Night Dream, where Oberon causes Titania the fairy queen to fall in love with a man named Bottom who is transformed into a donkey. In both cases, those who are deceived and those who are deceiving learn a lesson after the truth comes out in the end. With Shakespeare's comedies, there is always the certainty of right winning out over wrong, and everyone ultimately getting their just rewards and punishment. In A Midsummer' s Night Dream, and other Shakespearian plays, the protagonist is the one who sees the truth of the situation, and resorts to playful deception to reveal reality to the one who is resisting doing the right thing; the outcome is always good, because the deception is done by a benevolent and wiser person, who carefully ensures that no lasting harm results throughout the farce.
There are similarities in today's identity confusion between Western ideology and militant Islam that would make an interesting modern Shakespearian plot, if the stakes weren't life and death. Unfortunately, there is a misperception of the truth between those of the West who want to reason and negotiate with members of radical Islam today, as well as the other way around. One would hope and pray that truth will prevail, and that the outcome of these current misperceptions would be reconciliation and peace, but it does not bode well if things continue as they are currently.
There is a vast chasm of disagreement with those in Israel who continue to believe that giving the Palestinians land and statehood will stop the violence, and appease the bitter hatred that causes them to bomb and kill Israeli towns and people and those who want to keep the land intact. Most Westerners believe the Palestinians are just like they are, in that they simply want peace and a nice place to raise their children; good jobs, good schools and a comfortable retirement. After all, isn't that the goal of all people from modern societies? This firm belief is what spurs left wing groups like Peace Now to join forces with Muslims in destroying Jewish owned farms and Holy sites in Judea and Samaria (the 'West Bank') in the hopes that these farmers will leave and go elsewhere. Somehow, the continued violence and bloodshed after the Palestinians received Gaza has not convinced  those in the left-leaning camp that more land is not the primary desire that spurs these people on to continue their jihadist behaviors.
What is not understood, despite the fact that Islamic websites, speeches and newspapers loudly proclaim it, is that there will never be peace or contentment with these radicalized fanatics until there is complete overpowering of Western ideology and lifestyle by Islam. Non-violent overthrow, by overpopulation of a country, as is happening in England and parts of Europe, or violent overthrow as is being attempted in Israel by the militant factions of Fatah and Hamas, (with the assistance of Hizbullah and Iran), is the goal. In the news today, Nasrallah of the Lebanese Hizbullah party proclaimed that Shiite Islam has spread not only throughout the Middle East, but is also growing in places as far as Argentina and Venezuela. They are openly declaring that they are planning to attack targets in the US and Canada, and that they will halt the supply of oil from South America to the West, thereby crippling and destroying the economy. Russia's attack against Georgia was obviously a thinly veiled assault against the state that houses the pipelines of oil to Israel and the west via Azerbaijan and Turkey. Yet, many people still have no foresight to realize that once these targets are under the control of militant Islamic fanatics, it will be far too late to fight back, since we will not have the oil or resources for our weaponry.
In militant Islam, complete takeover of the West is what they think of day in and day out, what they eat and drink, and what they teach their children. They believe it, and live their lives in that reality; mothers rejoice and have parties after their children blow themselves up as an act of holy sacrifice to these ideals. It is such a deep part of their psyche, that they also believe that people in the West want the same thing that they do, which is violent overthrow of Muslim land and religious faith. This is why Palestinians believe reports in the Islamic media alleging that Israel created a breed of super-rat in order to loose them in Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem and drive the residents out. They believed that balloons which accidently blew into Lebanon last year, (part of an advertising campaign in Israel), were filled with poison gas, so that hundreds of people went to emergency rooms with symptoms of nausea and dizziness.
The thing that Muslims don't understand is that we in the West do not want to overthrow the Islamic religion or change them, we really do want peaceful coexistence, nice schools and a comfortable retirement. Because we want that, we believe that this is what the radicalized Muslims want, and so we keep naively trying to give them enough to make them happy.
The radicalized Muslims really do want to overthrow the West, and to have Islam and Sharia Law as the dominant force in the world, in order for the Muslim messiah to return. Because this is what they fervently want, they believe that those in the West want the same t hing they do, i.e. violent overthrow. Both sides think that the other side is like they are, and here we have a great plot for a modern day Shakespeare. Unfortunately, the end of the play will not be peace and harmony. Our current leaders need to remember that Neville Chamberlain said after the start of World War ll, that he honestly thought Hitler was telling him the truth, and was not trying to overthrow all of Europe.
If we decide to disbelieve what is plainly being said by those who live every waking hour praying for and working towards a holy Jihad with their very hearts and souls, we will be watching our grandchildren going to school in burkas, and all that we believe in will be altered, since we did nothing to hold on to what we so carelessly took for granted: the freedom to believe and to live in the manner we choose.
The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.
Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie
A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE AUG 15,08
In the last newsletter we saw that every saved person has the Holy Spirit, for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his (Romans 8:9). Not only does every child of God have the Holy Spirit but each believer has experienced the baptism. This baptism, or placing into the Body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit, accompanies salvation. I Corinthians 12:13 states: For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body . . . . The baptism, administered to ALL the saved immediately, endows each believer with at least one of the gifts found in Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and I Corinthians 12. The gifts are not for a select few who strive or work in order to appease God for spiritual favors. Never! Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3). Instead, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal (I Corinthians 12:7), and . . . all these [gifts] worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will (I Corinthians 12:11). Believers are not commanded to seek any gift but instead the Giver - the blessed Holy Spirit.
Then, because He divides to every man as He wills, one gladly accepts His choice of gifts for his life. If one feels his gift is unimportant, remember that we are all members or parts of Christ's body and . . . those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary (I Corinthians 12:22). Fingernails and toenails may seem to be inferior parts of one's body, but what problems one encounters without them. So every member has his place of importance in Christ's body.Rejoice in the gift God has given you and do not seek another's gift. You might be out of place if the Holy Spirit wants you to be a finger instead of an eye. Likewise, you may be out of order when you seek the gift of faith and the Holy Spirit wants helps for your lifelong gift. Whatever the gift, every believer has at least one.You see, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh ALL IN ALL (I Corinthians 12:4-6). Praise God, it is He who works ALL THE GIFTS and IN ALL. All that God requires is that every believer use his gift to the best of his ability. To do so will bring great reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Disobedience in administering the gift will bring loss of rewards (II John 8).Let's move now to the teaching concerning the filling of the Spirit. The baptism and the filling are two distinct things. The baptism is a once-for-all experience which places the believer into the Body of Christ. Since the Holy Spirit is God and all-knowing, He makes no mistakes as He places the saved into Christ's body. If He did make mistakes, and members of the Body of Christ were eventually removed, there would be a mutilated, amputated, disfigured atrocity in eternity. Instead, every true believer is baptized and sealed into that Body by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30).Though there is only one baptism, there are many fillings. Ephesians 5:18 states: . . . be filled with the Spirit. The literal Greek declares: Be being filled which implies a continuous process. Every believer needs it, as much as his fuel-guzzling automobile needs gas, in order to run efficiently for Christ. The baptism produces the gifts but the filling enables one to minister the gifts spiritually. Though all have gifts, not all are spiritual. Thousands today who claim the gift are carnal because they are not being filled daily by the Spirit.
Let me prove this from I Corinthians 13:1-3: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, l am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.Five gifts are mentioned in these three verses: tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, and helps. They can all be ministered in a state of carnality. One is not spiritual because of tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, or helps. Why? Because it takes the fruit of the Spirit to minister the gifts spiritually.Read carefully: Love is Number One on God's listing in Galatians 5:22 as the fruit of the Spirit. This is the same love of I Corinthians 13 that suffereth long, and is kind; that envies not; that vaunts not itself and is not puffed up; that does not behave itself unseemly, that seeks not her own, that is not easily provoked, that thinks no evil, that rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (verses 47).Do you have this fruit? You may speak in tongues and be mean, or you may have the gift of faith and be cantankerous. You may be a helper in the vineyard and do nothing but cultivate poison grapes for other Spirit-filled believers.God says even though one prophesies, preaches with power, or has the gift of knowledge and faith and has not love, the gifted one is nothing in God's eyes. And even though one helps by giving his all for the poor or being burned to death and has not love, he will end up with nothing at that day when God's rewards are distributed for service. You see, it is the fruit of the Spirit that counts. The gifts can be ministered without the fruit.In fact, the gifts can be duplicated by Satan. The present situation is sometimes similar to Moses' day when the devil's magicians counterfeited the miracles of God's servant. Do not take my word for it but look at the statement of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? They manifested the gifts of prophecy, discernment of spirits, miracles, plus helps or works. But Christ never knew them (verse 23). Since never means never, they manifested the gifts without being saved. They did not possess the fruit of the Spirit but were workers of iniquity. Let's seek the fruit of the Spirit to minister the gifts. This will produce godliness and holiness.
The Fruit of the Spirit
Every believer needs a daily infilling of the Spirit in order to live a spiritual life. No believer has ever reached the place where he does not need to walk by means of the Spirit, for when we walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). The nine words describing this fruit are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22). These represent superhuman qualities which the flesh could never produce. Only God, the Holy Spirit, is able to make mortal beings act this way. No human can duplicate, nor devil counterfeit, the fruit of the Spirit. It is the only way to be like Jesus, for someone has well said: Galatians 5:22 is the shortest biography of Christ ever written. Only the fulness of the Spirit can make one like Jesus. The term fruit is singular, meaning that all nine graces form the fruit. The Holy Spirit does not produce a few of these but usually all nine when one is Spirit-filled. They are:
A. LOVE. This is not the romanticized or sexual love of the street or of society's rebels. It is the divine love that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). It makes one love the lowly, the unlovely, and the unclean. It makes one love members of another race or denomination. It does not look down upon those whose gifts differ.In Corinth this love was missing and the gifts became a source of competition among the spiritually elite. That is why Paul said in I Corinthians 13:1: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity [love], I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.The presence of gifts is not the evidence of the Spirit's filling. You may have gifts, but prophet, miracle worker, helper - do you have the fruit? This is where Satan can fool and deceive us. He can imitate the gifts mentioned in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, but he cannot imitate or produce the fruit of the Spirit. Do not misunderstand - I am not against gifts, but gifts prove nothing. The real evidence is found in the fruit one bears as he ministers the gifts.Oh, that we might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19). This Holy Spirit produced love makes us love others. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God . . . (I John 4:7). Do you have the real evidence of the Spirit's filling? It is described in I Corinthians 13:4-7: Love suffers long, and is kind; love envies not [or is not jealous]; love vaunts not itself [boasting about its gifts]; love seeks not its own; is not easily provoked; thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things; believes all things; hopes all things and endures all things. The world is waiting to see this evidence. Get filled and show it to them. Don't split churches arguing about superior gifts, but manifest the love that proves one has the Spirit's fruit.
B. Next in line is JOY. Joy is not the superficial happiness that springs from sports or television, for happiness depends upon happenings. Instead, it is the joy of the Lord which is one's strength (Nehemiah 8:10). It is a contentment in times of suffering, sorrow, and even death. It is joy unspeakable and full of glory (I Peter 1:8).
C. PEACE also fills the minds and hearts of those who are Spirit dominated. This is not peace with God that accompanies salvation (Romans 5:1) but the peace of God, which passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7). This peace produces a sublime calm of heart and mind in spite of every disturbance, heartbreaking circumstance, or adverse condition and glorifies God before an unsaved world.
D. LONGSUFFERING within a believer is a quality that only the Holy Spirit can produce. It is the opposite of impatience. It cannot be produced by members of Adam's race but must be wrought within a Christian by God. The Lord God, [is] merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth (Exodus 34:6). This is why the ungodly receive countless opportunities to be saved, for: The Lord . . . is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9). This same attitude may be the believer's portion, for God strengthens us with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness (Colossians 1:11). We are to walk with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:2, 3). Yes.... be patient toward all men (I Thessalonians 5:14). How are you doing? Do you have the real evidence of the Spirit's fullness?
E. GENTLENESS. Again, this is a fruit from God, for . . . the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated . . . (James 3:17). Paul could also say: . . . we were gentle among you . . . (I Thessalonians 2:7). Bickering, fighting, fussing church members forget that the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men (II Timothy 2:24). Do you have the fruit? Remember, it cannot be attained by human effort or by imitation, but only as a direct filling by the Spirit.
F. GOODNESS is produced at salvation and made to bloom in one's life as the Spirit fills a believer. Jesus said: . . . none is good . . . (Luke18:19). Paul said: . . . there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Romans 3:12). Men talk about doing good, and it is only egotism seeking praise. However, the Spirit within produces real goodness toward others.
G. FAITH, in this listing, is actually faithfulness. Lamentations 3:23, speaking about God, states: . . . great is thy faithfulness. This same faithfulness in a Christian may become a daily reality. One does not have to be up and down spiritually. God's faithfulness, wrought in a Christian by the Spirit, can make him faithful daily.
H. MEEKNESS is the hardest fruit to possess, for as soon as we think we have it, we've lost it. However, let it be remembered that meekness does not consist in pretending to be less than one really is, but rather when one does not pretend to be more than he really is. Again, the flesh cannot generate meekness because it is only puffed-up flesh. It takes the filling of the Spirit to put on meekness (Colossians 3:12).
I. Finally, TEMPERANCE is self-control. The term speaks for itself and, praise God, the Holy Spirit produces it in those who have the fullness of the Spirit.
We have seen that God demands a high and holy standard of life, but He has also provided the means to produce it .. . . Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). Let's begin seeking the fruit instead of gifts. Gifts are for all, but the fruit - though for all - may only be realized by those who grieve not the Spirit (Ephesians 4:30), quench not the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19), and then walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). In simple terms, one must turn from all known sin to a daily reliance on the Holy Spirit if he is to evidence the fullness and fruit of the Holy Spirit. Why not begin today?
FROM THE HEART OF DR. REXELLA VAN IMPE AUG 15,08
WHY AM I SURPRISED?
It’s very hard for me to describe my feelings-perhaps a sense of awe, humility, and gratitude?-when I think about the wonderful opportunity God has given to my husband and me to reach around the world via television each week with the gospel. I definitely believe the Holy Spirit impressed Jack to find a format that so many people watch.When we first knew we were going to have a program that would be beamed around the world, we had prayerfully planned an unusual approach that seemed really exciting. Then, about a week before we were to start production, Jack came to me and said, Rexella, I believe we are to do a different format. I sense that we are to gather news from around the world-global headlines-and connect them to the Word of God.With all my heart, I believe the Lord directed my husband in that decision. Today we get hundreds of pounds of mail every week from viewers who ordinarily would not watch a church-related or religious program. One day we walked into a restaurant and were recognized by a group of some twenty Jewish people. Oh, Dr. and Rexella, they said, we love your program and try to tune in every week! In the same restaurant, we met a smaller group of Arab people who smiled and said, Thank you for your TV program-we appreciate it so much! I was also stopped by the wife of a state senator who said, I don’t know if you know this, Rexella, but the first thing on the agenda of many of the senators on Monday morning is to get together over coffee and discuss your program! On the street in Toronto not too long ago, we were stopped by a Muslim man who said, Many people in our community here watch your telecast often-we enjoy it so much. I couldn’t help asking, Why are you attracted to a Christian program that presents the gospel and quotes the words of Jesus? Why would you want to watch that?
His answer was so humbling-We trust you!
So many calls and letters we receive are from people like this who might never go to church or watch another religious program. Our media consultants (who also work with numerous other ministries) say that we are seeing more response to the invitation for salvation than perhaps any other program on the air today.Many people write to say, We couldn’t make it through our week without hearing your analysis and encouragement.And not long ago I got a letter that brought tears to my eyes. A young girl who had decided to commit suicide was flipping through the TV channels and stopped on our program. She wrote, Rexella, you looked straight into the camera at me and said, God cares about you...and so do I! That changed my whole thinking...and saved my life.
Preparing for the promised days
Jack and I pray earnestly as we prepare for each program. We are keenly aware of the responsibility that is ours because we truly believe that we are living in the days just prior to the coming of the Lord. We don’t like to use the phrase last days because it’s not a countdown to the world ending. Actually, it’s the promised days-just before Christ will come back to earth, set up His kingdom, and stop all the mayhem and madness. It will be the beginning of a thousand years of peace on the earth.I believe we are now living in the time the Bible refers to as the hour of temptation that will come upon all the world and try those who live on planet earth (see Revelation 3:10). But Jesus surely is coming very soon! When is He coming? Each week on television, we talk about the events the Bible says are signs of His coming. We share news reports about wars, rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and countless other distresses and fateful events.Often people will say, The world has always had war and famine and trouble-all these things. Are today’s events any different? Why do they have special significance now? The answer is found in two key verses. Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end (end of the age) come (Matthew 24:14). Only recently, in our generation, could it be said that the gospel has been preached in all the world, witnessing to all nations.
Secondly, the Bible doesn’t say, when you see wars, look up or when you see famine and pestilence, the time is near. Look carefully at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:33-when ye shall see ALL these things, know that it is near, even at the doors (emphasis mine). All these things, all at once-simultaneously! That’s the key Jesus said to watch for, and I’m telling you, that day has come! There are many places in the Word that talk about things that will come to pass-there’s a whole list of them, but I’ve chosen to write about just four-perhaps the top four-that have to come together before the coming of the Lord.So today we must do all that we can to point the lost to the Answer-not a theory, a contract, a plan-but to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. That’s what Jack and I do every week on our worldwide telecast.
Hunger and pestilence (Revelation 6:8)
The second thing that shocks me is how there can be famine, privation, and deathly need and starvation in a world where there is such abundance. Why am I surprised? Often there can be unimaginable opulence and wealth at one end of the street, and hunger, want, and terrible suffering at the other end of the same street.The hunger, disease, and pestilence around the world hurt my heart so much. Today we have many, many billionaires all over the world-people with so much wealth that they literally cannot even count it all. There are billionaires not only in prosperous, wealthy countries, but also in poor, underdeveloped nations. Outside the gates of these billionaire’s estates-in the very shadow of their elegant palaces of privilege-starving people die in the darkness.In nations ravaged by famine, with millions of starving children, cruel dictators hoard the country’s meager resources and even confiscate the humanitarian aid sent by other nations for their own personal gain. No wonder the Word reminds us that the heart (of man) is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).Most of us are not billionaires. Perhaps we do not even have much to spare beyond our basic needs. But in the words of American writer Edward Everett Hale-
I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do something I can do.
There is always something we can do to help share the gospel with those who do not know the Lord. Even when the physical needs of nations and people are beyond our means to change, we can point them to Jesus and His words of eternal life. In many impoverished regions where television is not available to very many, we are broadcasting the message of Christ’s soon return on radio, hoping that somehow we can get through to some of the people.
Without natural affection (2 Timothy 3:3)
Recently on our telecast, I read a horrifying headline and story about a mother who cut off the hands of her children because they were disobedient! Can you believe it? That’s not the affection of a mother’s heart. How could a parent’s mind get so twisted as to mistake brutal, bloody amputation and dismemberment as loving discipline? Truly we are living in perilous times.Do you believe we are living in a day when people are without natural affection? We see and hear about it all the time. There are many husbands who beat and abuse their wives, even wives who also are abusive. There have also been numerous cases of children who have murdered their parents, or beat or injured a younger brother or sister.Why am I surprised? We live in an age when sexual predators stalk children on the playgrounds of schools. Even teachers and religious leaders have been involved in horrible sexual abuse of young boys and girls. I just reported a story on our telecast recently about a man who had the names of 36,000 young boys on his computer. Investigators suspected that he had probably actually had sex with hundreds of them.That’s not a natural heart! That is a person without natural affection. You do not prey on children-I don’t care who you are or what logic you use to rationalize it. God intended for us to love our neighbor as ourselves-to have a love for everyone, no matter who they are. Betraying the trust and dependence of children and family is unnatural!The Bible warns us about a whole laundry list of terrible behavioral practices that become common in the world before the end of the age comes. The Apostle Paul wrote, For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away (2 Timothy 3:2-5).Do you recognize any of these things in our society today? Are they happening around where you live? Then pay attention. This is a biblical, prophetic sign of the promised days just prior to Christ’s coming!
Worldwide terrorism (Matthew 24:37; Genesis 6:11, Luke 21:9)
Worldwide terrorism! Why am I surprised? Jesus said, But as the days of Noe [Noah] were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (Matthew 24:37).
What was it like in Noah’s day? The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). Does that description fit the world you know? I think so.
Finally, Jesus said, But when ye shall hear of wars and (violent) commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass...nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom... (Luke 21:9,10).
Terrorism is certainly on the upswing right now. But we must not be surprised when it strikes. Jesus said these things must come to pass-terrorism will continue at some level right up until the coming of the Lord!
This is why I am so excited, positive, and thankful about the incredible tool the Lord has given to us with our weekly telecast, Jack Van Impe Presents. We don’t come on each week with global news and gloom and doom. We say, Yes, we do see terrorism, just as Jesus foretold. But let not your heart be troubled-these things must come to pass. They precede the coming of the Lord. We’re trying to prepare people with a positive outlook, knowing that trials teach us trust in our Heavenly Father!
Yes, there have been some dark days. There may well be dark times again. But don’t be afraid of the power of darkness. I believe darkness doesn’t really have any power of its own-it’s only the absence of light! If you carry light with you, it always dispels darkness! Darkness has no power if you hold up the light of the world-Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior and our Lord. He said, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).
Today let us allow God to comfort our souls and give us hope for tomorrow. Be ready and watching for His return. With all my heart, I believe He is coming very soon!
Don’t be surprised!
I WRITE NEWS ABOUT AND PUT NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM PERTAINING TO BIBLE PROPHESY HAPPENINGS.JOEL 3:20 But Judah (ISRAEL) shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.(THATS ISRAEL-JERUSALEM WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED AGAIN)-WE CHRISTIANS ARE ALL WAITING PATIENTLY FOR THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE TO OCCUR.SO WE CAN GO TO JESUS AND GET OUR NEVER DYING BODIES.SO WE CAN RULE OVER CITIES OURSELVES.WHILE JESUS RULES FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER IN JERUSALEM.
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