STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
China evacuates 1 million as storm hits Sun Oct 7, 8:40 AM ET
BEIJING - A powerful storm drenched China's southeast coast Sunday after killing five people on Taiwan and prompting the mainland to evacuate more than 1 million people, the government said. In Vietnam, the bodies of more people killed in an earlier typhoon were recovered, bringing that country's toll to 55. Krosa, which earlier was a typhoon, roared into China's densely populated Zhejiang and Fujian provinces at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, the Zhejiang weather bureau reported on its Web site. There was no immediate word of injuries or damage.At 6 p.m., Krosa — the Cambodian word for crane — was a tropical storm. It had sustained winds of 66 mph, with gusts up to 89 mph at that time, according to the Zhejiang weather bureau's deputy director, who would give only his surname, Wang.More than 1 million people were evacuated from low-lying coastal areas, including more than 500,000 tourists who were at beach resorts for the National Day holiday week, the official Xinhua News Agency said.Krosa killed five people in Taiwan on Saturday as it knocked out power to 2 million homes and drenched the island, according to Taiwan's Disaster Relief Center.
Two men were killed in suburban Taipei when a landslide buried their house, the center said. A man died after falling from his balcony in Hsinchu and a woman was electrocuted after falling from her motorcycle in Tainan. The center said a man's body was recovered from a hostel that was hit by a landslide in Ilan and another man was missing.Early Sunday, China's coast guard rescued 27 sailors from a Hong Kong freighter that suffered mechanical failure after it was hit by Krosa off the port of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, Xinhua said.Schools were closed and airline flights canceled in Wenzhou, which lay in the storm's path, Xinhua said. The city ordered fishing boats, ferries and sightseeing boats to return to port.In Shanghai, where the Special Olympics is taking place, the city government canceled vacations for flood-control workers and was drafting plans to drain competition sites, the agency said.In Vietnam, the death toll from Typhoon Lekima — which hit the country's central coast late Wednesday — rose to 55, with another 16 people missing, officials said Sunday.Flooding and landslides triggered by Lekima, named after a local fruit, also damaged about 77,000 homes, the government said.Floods have also hindered our rescue efforts and thousands of people are hungry as water has wiped out their provisions, said Vo Trong Kien, an official in Thanh Hoa.On the Net:China Meteorological Administration (in Chinese): http://www.cma.gov.cn
Flooding from Vietnam typhoon kills 23 By TRAN VAN MINH, Associated Press Writer - Fri Oct 5, 11:31 PM ET
HANOI, Vietnam - Floods and landslides triggered by a typhoon that struck Vietnam's central coast earlier this week have claimed 23 lives and left nine others missing, disaster officials said Saturday. Three more deaths reported in three northern provinces and confirmed reports of three people drowning in the central province of Quang Binh have raised the death toll to 23, disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Dien said.Packing 80 mph winds, Typhoon Lekima made landfall late Wednesday in central Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, also leaving nine people missing and injuring more than 100 others, according to disaster officials and the Department of Floods and Storms Control.Lekima, named after a local fruit, has damaged about 77,000 homes, the department said. It set the initial damage estimate at $41 million.Vietnam is prone to floods and storms which kill hundreds of people each year.
EUROPEAN UNION ARMY
DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.( BE HEAD OF 3 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)
DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.
DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)
WHETHER ITS A NATO ALLIANCE OF EUROPEAN NATIONS OR AN EU ARMY, IT WILL BE THE RUSSIA-CHINA ALLIACE AGAINST THE EU ARMY.
Defence pact to balance NATO
Vladimir Radyuhin OCT 7,07
MOSCOW: The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), a Russia-led defence pact of former Soviet states, have signed a defence cooperation pact dubbed a Russian-Chinese NATO.The SCO, which comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, and the CSTO, which groups Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Armenia and Belorussia, signed a memorandum of cooperation on Friday on the sidelines of a CSTO summit in Dushanbe, capital of Tajikistan. China is the only member of the SCO, which does not participate in the CSTO.The memorandum, signed by the general secretaries of the SCO and the CSTO, provides for expanding cooperation between the two organisations in security, the fight against trans-national crime and illegal drug trafficking, SCO General Secretary Bulat Nurgaliyev said at the signing ceremony. Now the issues will be solved more efficiently.CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha expressed confidence that CSTO-CSO cooperation will be effective in very many dimensions. He denied the tie-up was an attempt to rival or counteract NATO.
The SCO-CSTO cooperation agreement was signed less than two months after the Shanghai pact focussed on security issues, holding the first major joint war games and signing a friendship treaty which offered security guarantees to member-states.A leading Russian business paper, RBK Daily, said the SCO-CSTO tie-up could signal the emergence of a major military-political bloc, a Russian-Chinese NATO that will challenge NATO, not only in Central Asia, but throughout the Eurasian continent.The CSTO leaders decided on Saturday to set up the alliance’s peace-keeping force, which according to Mr. Bordyuzha, would be ready to undertake U.N.-mandated peace missions anywhere in the world.
US for missile shield with Russia, Nato
Web posted at: 10/6/2007 3:33:8 - Source ::: AFP
WASHINGTON • The United States yesterday proposed a common network of missile defence systems with Russia and Nato to allay Moscow's concerns over a planned US missile defence system in central Europe. The answer is we and the Russians and Nato or the Nato-Russia Council work together to produce a common system or common network of systems which would benefit everyone's security and also address Russian security concerns, Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried said. If they are part of the system, they can be much more confident that it is not directed against them, he said, speaking ahead of talks next week between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates with their opposite numbers in Moscow. They will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defence Secretary Anatoly Serdyukov in the wake of stalled negotiations earlier this month between the two sides in Paris on US' planned missile defence system.
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.
Anglican leader condemns Syria, Iran war talk
Posted Sat Oct 6, 2007 5:46pm AEST
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has issued an angry rebuke to those in the United States who favour military action against Syria or Iran.When people talk about further destabilising of the region, when you read about some American political advisers speaking about action against Syria and Iran, I can only say that I regard that as criminal, ignorant and potentially murderous folly, he said.Dr Williams has just returned from a visit to Syria where he met hundreds of Christian Iraqi refugees.
Palestinians launch longer-range rocket into Israel OCT 7,07
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Palestinian militants fired a Katyusha rocket deep into southern Israel on Sunday, police said, showing an ability to extend the range of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Gaza militants usually fire crude rockets that have a maximum range of about 9 km (5.5 miles) into Israel, but rarely go beyond 3 km (2 miles). The Grad-type Katyusha, originally Soviet-designed, landed some 11 km (6.5 miles) inside Israel.The Katyusha slammed into an open field, causing a brush fire but no injuries, a police spokesman said.Katyushas, widely used by Hezbollah guerrillas to strike Israel from Lebanon in a 2006 war, can reach a distance of 20 kilometres (12 miles).The Israeli military believes there are several dozen longer-range Katyushas in the hands of militant groups in the Gaza Strip, which was seized by Hamas Islamists in June.
No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said recently that Israel was considering a sweeping military operation in the Gaza Strip to counter almost daily rocket salvoes. Israel also has threatened to cut power it supplies to the territory unless the attacks ceased.
With a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference expected to be held next month, Israel has so far stuck to limited ground raids and air strikes against militants.Last year, Gaza militants launched a rocket that flew about 12 km (7 miles) and reached the centre of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, causing no injuries.
Turkey assures Syria on Israeli strike By Khaled Yacoub Oweis OCT 7,07
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Turkey assured the Damascus government on Sunday it would not let Israel use its airspace to strike Syria after an Israeli raid heightened tension in the Middle East.
Diplomats said at least four Israeli planes flew in attack formation along the Syrian-Turkish border before striking deep into Syria on Sept 6. Syria and Israel have given little information on the target.Turkey will not let Turkish territory or airspace be used in any activity that could harm the security or safety of Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.Babacan said he chose Syria as his first destination abroad since being named foreign minister in August to underline the importance of maintaining strong Turkish-Syrian ties. He is due to visit Israel next.
The minister, a member of the Islamist-rooted AK party, repeated Turkey's assertions that Ankara had no prior knowledge of the Israeli raid, which Assad said had targeted an unused building linked to the Syrian military.I hope that during my visit to Israel to be given answers and clarifications about this issue, Babacan said. The region is at a very dangerous and sensitive stage. We always urge all parties to reach solutions through dialogue and peaceful means.
CLOSER TIES
Turkey and Syria have built closer security and economic ties in recent years despite persisting water disputes and past Syrian support for Kurdish rebels.Ankara, a member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also has good ties with Israel and allows Israeli planes to train on its territory, according to diplomats in Damascus.Israel confirmed this month that it had carried out an air strike on Syria. Syrian officials have not ruled out the possibility of another Israeli raid.Several U.S. officials have linked the raid to apparent Israeli suspicions of secret nuclear cooperation between Damascus and North Korea. Diplomats suggested the intended target may have involved missiles supplied by North Korea, playing down reports of a nuclear link.
The raid came after speculation that Syria and Israel could resume peace talks that collapsed in 2000 over the scope of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a plateau which Israel occupied in 1967.Syria has called for the Golan issue to be on the agenda of a peace conference in November sponsored by the United States. Babacan said the Golan must be part of any Middle East settlement.
Syria's participation is necessary to reach solutions. The peace process must proceed along all tracks, including the Syrian one, he said.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said Damascus had not yet received an answer from Washington on the Golan issue.
They have not got back to us, Moualem said. Syria's participation in the conference depends in large part on its goals and references and whether the Golan will be on the table.
INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.
2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).
ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)
LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).
MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
President Bush Says US Not Gearing Up To Attack Iran
(RTTNews) - US President George Bush in a rare interview with an Arabic satellite news station refuted reports that the United States had any plans to attack Iran and said he remains committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with Tehran.In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, the US president also reiterated his pledge to negotiate with the Islamic nation if it gives up its nuclear program.I have said that if they suspend their nuclear program, we will be at the table. But they have so far refused to do that, Bush said, according to a transcript of the interview the White House released on Friday.Bush rubbished reports that appeared in the Arab press that he has issued orders to senior US military officials to prepare for an attack on Iran at the end of January or in February.For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
REBUILT 3RD 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.
West Papua Delegation Donates Gold For Holy Temple
by Ezra HaLevi OCT 7,07
(IsraelNN.com) On Wednesday, the last day of the Sukkot festival, a 34-person delegation from West Papua presented a large amount of gold to be used in the building of the Holy Temple.The delegation from West Papua presents the gold for the Holy Temple to Rabbi Yehuda Glick, director of the Temple Institute.The delegation, including representatives of the nation’s government, explained that they study the Bible regularly and recently came upon a verse in Zecharia (6:16) reading And the distant ones will come and build the Temple of G-d. They discussed the passage among themselves and decided that their faith obligates them to fulfill the verse.West Papua, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, is rich in gold mines, so the delegation thought it natural to donate gold for the Holy Temple. The Holy Temple will be built in the place where the First and Second Temples once stood – on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The group heard of the Temple Institute in Israel, which deals with advancing the building of the Temple, and on Hoshana Raba - the 7th day of Sukkot - the delegation arrived at the Institute's headquarters in Jerusalem’s Old City and presented the gold to Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, a founder of the institute, and Yehuda Glick, its director.The group presented a kilogram of gold and a large sum of money. They requested that the gold be used to construct vessels for the Temple and that the funds be used by the institute for any purpose it sees fit. The institute has a fund set aside for exclusive use for the actual construction of the temple, as well as funds for building the vessels and engaging in educational projects. Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute and Israel National Radio, said that, in view of the Halakhic problems that could be caused by specifically consecrating money and gold for the Holy Temple, an escrow account was opened, as was a safe deposit box for all donations; both have been explicitly set aside for use in building the Temple, and will remain untouched until then.
Rabbi Ariel said the episode was emotional as it constituted the fulfillment of the words of the prophets that nations will come from afar to help build the House of G-d in Jerusalem. There is no doubt that this is a sign that the rest of our prophets’ prophecies will soon be fulfilled as well.Delegation members said that although this is their first contribution for the Temple, it will certainly not be their last. They said that in Papua there are fine trees that they hope to one day bring aboard a ship to Israel in order to be used in the building of the Holy Temple, the rabbi said.The Temple Institute was established twenty years ago, and deals with research and education about the Holy Temple. The institute has published dozens of books and has prepared more than 70 of the gold, silver and copper vessels needed for Temple service.Just two weeks ago, the institute completed a large King David’s Lyre. Its craftsmen are working now on the golden headpiece worn by the high priest.Some of the vessels prepared by the institute for use in the Temple include the golden menorah (candelabrum), the show-bread table, the golden altar, Levite musical instruments and priestly clothes. The vessels are on display at the institute's headquarters on the Old City’s Misgav Ladach street.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Sunday, October 07, 2007
ALL RELIGIONS PRAY TO SAME GOD - BUSH
EXODUS 20:3-17 THE 10 COMMANDMENTS GEORGE (VERSE 3)KJV
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
I DON"T WANT TO TELL GEORGE W THAT THERES THE ONE TRUE GOD OF ISRAEL, THEN THERES VARIOUS OTHER GODS.
TESTING THE FAITH
Bush: All religions pray to same God - That's what I believe. I believe Islam is a great religion that preaches peace.
October 7, 2007 - 1:00 a.m. Eastern - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003. Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi.
Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah's top competitor in the Mideast.
As the president and Nakouzi walked from the Oval Office to the Map Room in the White House residence, Nazouki asked, But I want to tell you – and I hope this doesn't bother you at all – that in the Islamic world they think that President Bush is an enemy of Islam – that he wants to destroy their religion, what they believe in. Is that in any way true, Mr. President? No, it's not, said Bush. I've heard that, and it just shows [sic] to show a couple of things: One, that the radicals have done a good job of propagandizing. In other words, they've spread the word that this really isn't peaceful people versus radical people or terrorists, this is really about the America not liking Islam. Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren't religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that – we had a person blow up our – blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that's not a Christian act to kill innocent people. And I just simply don't subscribe to the idea that murdering innocent men, women and children – particularly Muslim men, women and children in the Middle East – is an act of somebody who is a religious person.
Friday's statement echoes one made by Bush in November 2003 during a joint press conference with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. A reporter noted Bush had frequently expressed the view that freedom is a gift from the Almighty, but questioned whether Bush believes Muslims worship the same Almighty as the president and other Christians do. I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world, Bush replied. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god, reported the London Telegraph.
Reaction from U.S. evangelical leaders was swift and strong.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, was quoted in the Baptist Press as saying the president is simply mistaken.According to a Washington Post account, Land said in an interview: We should always remember that he is commander in chief, not theologian in chief. The Bible is clear on this: The one and true god is Jehovah, and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ.The Rev. Ted Haggard, then-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, also contradicted the president in a press statement. The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health, said Haggard. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The personalities of each god are evident in the cultures, civilizations and dispositions of the peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love. They seem to be very different personalities.In November 2006, Haggard was forced to resign from NAE following allegations of drug use and sex with a homosexual prostitute. Gary Bauer, former presidential candidate and president of American Values, said Bush's comment was not helpful to the president. Since everybody agrees he's not a theologian, he would be much better advised to punt when he gets that kind of question.
In Friday's interview with Al Arabiya, Bush emphasized his outreach to Muslims.
We are having an Iftaar dinner tonight – I say, we – it's my wife and I, Bush told Nakouzi. This is the seventh one in the seven years I've been the president. It gives me a chance to say Ramadan Mubarak. The reason I do this is I want people to understand about my country. In other words, I hope this message gets out of America. I want people to understand that one of the great freedoms in America is the right for people to worship any way they see fit. If you're a Muslim, an agnostic, a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, you're equally American. And the value – the most valuable thing I think about America is that – particularly if you're a religious person – you can be free to worship, and it's your choice to make. It's not the state's choice, and you shouldn't be intimidated after you've made your choice. And that's a right that I jealously guard. Secondly, I want American citizens to see me hosting an Iftaar dinner.That's a strong message for the Americans, said Nakouzi. Last year, WND reported criticism of Bush from Wafa Sultan, a native of Syria, who said the president was empowering terrorist leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world by proclaiming Islam a religion of peace.I believe he undermines our credibility by saying that, said Sultan. We came from Islam, and we know what kind of religion Islam is.
HERES YOUR PEACEFUL ISLAM IN ACTION GEORGE W. TAKE NOTE!
GLOBAL JIHAD
Again! 10 Christians slaughtered over alleged Muhammad cartoon
61 injured, 9 churches burned, hundreds displaced after rumored insult to Islam - October 5, 2007 - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Remains of burned Baptist church (Courtesy Compass Direct)
Rampaging Muslims have killed 10 Christians, injured 61 others, destroyed nine churches and displaced more than 500 people in northern Nigeria, according to eyewitnesses – all because Muslim high school students claimed a Christian student had drawn a cartoon of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the school’s mosque. The rampage occurred Sept. 28 in the town of Tudun Wada Dankadai, in Nigeria's northern state of Kano. According to Compass Direct News, which specializes in reporting on Christian persecution worldwide, there are 1,500 students at the high school, called Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, of which only 14 are Christians, and only seven of those actually live on campus. The Christian students at the school insist no one ever saw the alleged cartoon, and furthermore that no one in the tiny minority group of Christians would have dared such a feat, especially during Ramadan. How can we take such a risk when we know that we are a minority and cannot stand [against] them? Christian student Shehu Bawa told Compass. This is a lie created to have a reason to attack us.Eighteen-year-old student Iliya Adamu told Compass he was getting ready to go to class when a group of Muslim students stormed into his dorm and began to beat him.
I was surprised that they were beating me without telling what I did, Adamu said. I asked to know what was happening, and they claimed that one Christian student had gone to their mosque to draw a cartoon of Muhammad. In spite of my denying the act, they kept beating me.Seeing the Muslim mob beating a Christian classmate named Sule La’azaru, Adamu ran to the principal's office for refuge, soon to be joined by the remaining Christian students there, according to the report. Despite the attempts by the Muslim teachers to stop the rampage, Muslim students began throwing stones at the Christian students through the window of the principal's office, wounding student Ayuba Wada in the head. I was inside the office of our principal, with the others, when suddenly the Muslim students began throwing stones at us, Wada told Compass. It was through this way that my head was broken. I was bleeding, and no help came as the situation became more riotous.
Eventually, the rampaging Muslim students broke into the principal's office, but the principal's arrival saved Wada's life, while the other Christians holed up there managed to escape the mob. One of the Christian students, Shehu Bawa, told Compass his arrival on campus that morning was punctuated by shouts of Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great) all over the school. In fact, he said, The Muslim students were now attacking every Christian student on sight. Four of us ran into the office of the vice principal, but when it was finally broken into by the Muslim students, we ran out and escaped.
What about the alleged cartoon of Muhammad, rumors of which instigated the attacks?
We suspect that either one of the Muslim students in the school did this to create an excuse for us to be attacked, or that a Muslim fanatic from the town might have done this to spark off a fight among Muslims and Christians, said Bawa. How could we have done this when Muslim students are always around the mosque day and night because of the Ramadan?
The rampage spreads far and wide
After attacking the few Christian students in their school, the rampaging Muslim students poured into the streets of Tudun Wada, joined now by other Muslims. For the next four hours, reports Compass, the growing mob burned down Christian churches, vandalized Christian property and murdered innocents. Among the churches burned were: St. Mary’s Catholic Church; St. George’s Anglican Church; Evangelical Church of West Africa; Assemblies of God Church; First Baptist Church; a Pentecostal church called the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church; an African independent church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church; and two other Pentecostal churches, The Chosen Bible Church and Deeper Life Bible Church.
Children of murdered Christian (Courtesy Compass Direct)
The 10 Christians murdered included: Augustine Odoh and his younger brother Cosmos Odoh, both members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Another Catholic, Joseph Eze, was also killed. When Compass filed its initial report, the corpses of the three Catholics were lying at the City Hospital in Kano city. Seven other Christians murdered were buried in a common grave Wednesday, but government workers did not allow relatives or church leaders to identify the corpses. The dozens of injured are being treated at the Assumpta Clinic, Nomansland in Sabon Gari area of Kano city. According to Musa Ahmadu Haruna, the priest of St. George’s Anglican Church, Tudun Wada Dankadai, whose church was burned, no Christian student in the school could have drawn an image of Muhammad. None of these students is capable of drawing a cartoon on a mosque, he told Compass Direct. That is a frame-up to find a reason to attack us.Another pastor, Rabiu Danbawa of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, said that upon hearing of the waves of attacks on Christians, he moved toward the town's center to see for himself what was transpiring.
I stood as they set fire on our churches one by one, he told Compas Direct. There was nothing I could do, he said, adding, I did not know the fate of my wife and my children. When he went to the local police station for help, Danbawa found the police turning away Christians who had run there to escape the attack. We were told to leave, as our safety could not be guaranteed, he said, in tears, according to Compass Direct. Women and children all scampered to the bush, only to be attacked by the Muslims who had already hid themselves in the bush awaiting their Christian prey.It wasn't until several days later that Danbawa found his wife and children safe. Accoroding to reports from Compass, Danbawa and his family are now refugees in Dogon Kawo village, along with other Christian victims. None have food or shelter, he said. Even Christian policemen were not immune, with about 30 officers and their families being attacked and their homes looted and set on fire.
Last week's massacre comes in respose to a call in July by the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar III, to Muslims in northern Nigeria to rise against Christianity. Kano's state government has led the way in northern Nigeria for the implementation of sharia Islamic law.
Mark Lipdo, director of the Stefanos Foundation, which ministers to persecuted Christians in Nigeria, told Compass he's shocked that the Nigerian government has done nothing to help the injured and displaced. It is surprising that an overwhelming thing like this that has displaced thousands of Christians is not known to the Nigerian government, he said, noting that the government initially downplayed the mass rampage. The government must act to check such unprovoked attacks against Christians.And Haruna of St. George’s Anglican Church said, We are living under persecution in Kano state, and yet, we are being told that we are under a democratic government. Do Muslims really want us to co-exist together as a nation? I doubt so.As WND reported in May, Christians in Nigeria, who make up about half the population, fears the imposition of Islamic law throughout that nation. Indeed, as WND has reported, Muslim rioters in Nigeria in 2006 were incensed over cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark, and more than 130 Christians in the Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Onitsha were slaughtered. The reports documented six children burned to ashes in front of their father, according to Voice of the Martyrs. WND also has reported nearly 1,000 homes of Christians and many churches have been destroyed in these regions.
If you go around villages, you will see people missing one hand or one foot, explained Rev. Obiora Ike. Do you think that's the result of an illness? That is the result of sharia law.More than 10,000 Christians have been martyred in the region since the Islamic law was imposed in the region in 1999, and Voice of the Martyrs has helped surviving family members through its Families of Martyrs Fund with Care Packs, Village Outreach packs and words of encouragement to believers who stand for their faith amidst volatile, uncertain conditions.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.
I DON"T WANT TO TELL GEORGE W THAT THERES THE ONE TRUE GOD OF ISRAEL, THEN THERES VARIOUS OTHER GODS.
TESTING THE FAITH
Bush: All religions pray to same God - That's what I believe. I believe Islam is a great religion that preaches peace.
October 7, 2007 - 1:00 a.m. Eastern - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
President George Bush has repeated his belief all religions, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God – an assertion that caused outrage among evangelical leaders when he said it in November 2003. Bush made the statement Friday in an interview with Al Arabiya reporter Elie Nakouzi.
Al Arabiya is Al Jazeerah's top competitor in the Mideast.
As the president and Nakouzi walked from the Oval Office to the Map Room in the White House residence, Nazouki asked, But I want to tell you – and I hope this doesn't bother you at all – that in the Islamic world they think that President Bush is an enemy of Islam – that he wants to destroy their religion, what they believe in. Is that in any way true, Mr. President? No, it's not, said Bush. I've heard that, and it just shows [sic] to show a couple of things: One, that the radicals have done a good job of propagandizing. In other words, they've spread the word that this really isn't peaceful people versus radical people or terrorists, this is really about the America not liking Islam. Well, first of all, I believe in an Almighty God, and I believe that all the world, whether they be Muslim, Christian, or any other religion, prays to the same God. That's what I believe. I believe that Islam is a great religion that preaches peace. And I believe people who murder the innocent to achieve political objectives aren't religious people, whether they be a Christian who does that – we had a person blow up our – blow up a federal building in Oklahoma City who professed to be a Christian, but that's not a Christian act to kill innocent people. And I just simply don't subscribe to the idea that murdering innocent men, women and children – particularly Muslim men, women and children in the Middle East – is an act of somebody who is a religious person.
Friday's statement echoes one made by Bush in November 2003 during a joint press conference with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. A reporter noted Bush had frequently expressed the view that freedom is a gift from the Almighty, but questioned whether Bush believes Muslims worship the same Almighty as the president and other Christians do. I do say that freedom is the Almighty's gift to every person. I also condition it by saying freedom is not America's gift to the world, Bush replied. It's much greater than that, of course. And I believe we worship the same god, reported the London Telegraph.
Reaction from U.S. evangelical leaders was swift and strong.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's largest Protestant denomination, was quoted in the Baptist Press as saying the president is simply mistaken.According to a Washington Post account, Land said in an interview: We should always remember that he is commander in chief, not theologian in chief. The Bible is clear on this: The one and true god is Jehovah, and his only begotten son is Jesus Christ.The Rev. Ted Haggard, then-president of the National Association of Evangelicals, also contradicted the president in a press statement. The Christian God encourages freedom, love, forgiveness, prosperity and health, said Haggard. The Muslim god appears to value the opposite. The personalities of each god are evident in the cultures, civilizations and dispositions of the peoples that serve them. Muhammad's central message was submission; Jesus' central message was love. They seem to be very different personalities.In November 2006, Haggard was forced to resign from NAE following allegations of drug use and sex with a homosexual prostitute. Gary Bauer, former presidential candidate and president of American Values, said Bush's comment was not helpful to the president. Since everybody agrees he's not a theologian, he would be much better advised to punt when he gets that kind of question.
In Friday's interview with Al Arabiya, Bush emphasized his outreach to Muslims.
We are having an Iftaar dinner tonight – I say, we – it's my wife and I, Bush told Nakouzi. This is the seventh one in the seven years I've been the president. It gives me a chance to say Ramadan Mubarak. The reason I do this is I want people to understand about my country. In other words, I hope this message gets out of America. I want people to understand that one of the great freedoms in America is the right for people to worship any way they see fit. If you're a Muslim, an agnostic, a Christian, a Jew, a Hindu, you're equally American. And the value – the most valuable thing I think about America is that – particularly if you're a religious person – you can be free to worship, and it's your choice to make. It's not the state's choice, and you shouldn't be intimidated after you've made your choice. And that's a right that I jealously guard. Secondly, I want American citizens to see me hosting an Iftaar dinner.That's a strong message for the Americans, said Nakouzi. Last year, WND reported criticism of Bush from Wafa Sultan, a native of Syria, who said the president was empowering terrorist leaders whose ultimate aim is for Islamic law to govern the world by proclaiming Islam a religion of peace.I believe he undermines our credibility by saying that, said Sultan. We came from Islam, and we know what kind of religion Islam is.
HERES YOUR PEACEFUL ISLAM IN ACTION GEORGE W. TAKE NOTE!
GLOBAL JIHAD
Again! 10 Christians slaughtered over alleged Muhammad cartoon
61 injured, 9 churches burned, hundreds displaced after rumored insult to Islam - October 5, 2007 - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Remains of burned Baptist church (Courtesy Compass Direct)
Rampaging Muslims have killed 10 Christians, injured 61 others, destroyed nine churches and displaced more than 500 people in northern Nigeria, according to eyewitnesses – all because Muslim high school students claimed a Christian student had drawn a cartoon of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, on the wall of the school’s mosque. The rampage occurred Sept. 28 in the town of Tudun Wada Dankadai, in Nigeria's northern state of Kano. According to Compass Direct News, which specializes in reporting on Christian persecution worldwide, there are 1,500 students at the high school, called Government College-Tudun Wada Dankadai, of which only 14 are Christians, and only seven of those actually live on campus. The Christian students at the school insist no one ever saw the alleged cartoon, and furthermore that no one in the tiny minority group of Christians would have dared such a feat, especially during Ramadan. How can we take such a risk when we know that we are a minority and cannot stand [against] them? Christian student Shehu Bawa told Compass. This is a lie created to have a reason to attack us.Eighteen-year-old student Iliya Adamu told Compass he was getting ready to go to class when a group of Muslim students stormed into his dorm and began to beat him.
I was surprised that they were beating me without telling what I did, Adamu said. I asked to know what was happening, and they claimed that one Christian student had gone to their mosque to draw a cartoon of Muhammad. In spite of my denying the act, they kept beating me.Seeing the Muslim mob beating a Christian classmate named Sule La’azaru, Adamu ran to the principal's office for refuge, soon to be joined by the remaining Christian students there, according to the report. Despite the attempts by the Muslim teachers to stop the rampage, Muslim students began throwing stones at the Christian students through the window of the principal's office, wounding student Ayuba Wada in the head. I was inside the office of our principal, with the others, when suddenly the Muslim students began throwing stones at us, Wada told Compass. It was through this way that my head was broken. I was bleeding, and no help came as the situation became more riotous.
Eventually, the rampaging Muslim students broke into the principal's office, but the principal's arrival saved Wada's life, while the other Christians holed up there managed to escape the mob. One of the Christian students, Shehu Bawa, told Compass his arrival on campus that morning was punctuated by shouts of Allahu Akbar (Allah is Great) all over the school. In fact, he said, The Muslim students were now attacking every Christian student on sight. Four of us ran into the office of the vice principal, but when it was finally broken into by the Muslim students, we ran out and escaped.
What about the alleged cartoon of Muhammad, rumors of which instigated the attacks?
We suspect that either one of the Muslim students in the school did this to create an excuse for us to be attacked, or that a Muslim fanatic from the town might have done this to spark off a fight among Muslims and Christians, said Bawa. How could we have done this when Muslim students are always around the mosque day and night because of the Ramadan?
The rampage spreads far and wide
After attacking the few Christian students in their school, the rampaging Muslim students poured into the streets of Tudun Wada, joined now by other Muslims. For the next four hours, reports Compass, the growing mob burned down Christian churches, vandalized Christian property and murdered innocents. Among the churches burned were: St. Mary’s Catholic Church; St. George’s Anglican Church; Evangelical Church of West Africa; Assemblies of God Church; First Baptist Church; a Pentecostal church called the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Church; an African independent church, the Cherubim and Seraphim Church; and two other Pentecostal churches, The Chosen Bible Church and Deeper Life Bible Church.
Children of murdered Christian (Courtesy Compass Direct)
The 10 Christians murdered included: Augustine Odoh and his younger brother Cosmos Odoh, both members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Another Catholic, Joseph Eze, was also killed. When Compass filed its initial report, the corpses of the three Catholics were lying at the City Hospital in Kano city. Seven other Christians murdered were buried in a common grave Wednesday, but government workers did not allow relatives or church leaders to identify the corpses. The dozens of injured are being treated at the Assumpta Clinic, Nomansland in Sabon Gari area of Kano city. According to Musa Ahmadu Haruna, the priest of St. George’s Anglican Church, Tudun Wada Dankadai, whose church was burned, no Christian student in the school could have drawn an image of Muhammad. None of these students is capable of drawing a cartoon on a mosque, he told Compass Direct. That is a frame-up to find a reason to attack us.Another pastor, Rabiu Danbawa of the Evangelical Church of West Africa, said that upon hearing of the waves of attacks on Christians, he moved toward the town's center to see for himself what was transpiring.
I stood as they set fire on our churches one by one, he told Compas Direct. There was nothing I could do, he said, adding, I did not know the fate of my wife and my children. When he went to the local police station for help, Danbawa found the police turning away Christians who had run there to escape the attack. We were told to leave, as our safety could not be guaranteed, he said, in tears, according to Compass Direct. Women and children all scampered to the bush, only to be attacked by the Muslims who had already hid themselves in the bush awaiting their Christian prey.It wasn't until several days later that Danbawa found his wife and children safe. Accoroding to reports from Compass, Danbawa and his family are now refugees in Dogon Kawo village, along with other Christian victims. None have food or shelter, he said. Even Christian policemen were not immune, with about 30 officers and their families being attacked and their homes looted and set on fire.
Last week's massacre comes in respose to a call in July by the Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar III, to Muslims in northern Nigeria to rise against Christianity. Kano's state government has led the way in northern Nigeria for the implementation of sharia Islamic law.
Mark Lipdo, director of the Stefanos Foundation, which ministers to persecuted Christians in Nigeria, told Compass he's shocked that the Nigerian government has done nothing to help the injured and displaced. It is surprising that an overwhelming thing like this that has displaced thousands of Christians is not known to the Nigerian government, he said, noting that the government initially downplayed the mass rampage. The government must act to check such unprovoked attacks against Christians.And Haruna of St. George’s Anglican Church said, We are living under persecution in Kano state, and yet, we are being told that we are under a democratic government. Do Muslims really want us to co-exist together as a nation? I doubt so.As WND reported in May, Christians in Nigeria, who make up about half the population, fears the imposition of Islamic law throughout that nation. Indeed, as WND has reported, Muslim rioters in Nigeria in 2006 were incensed over cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark, and more than 130 Christians in the Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Onitsha were slaughtered. The reports documented six children burned to ashes in front of their father, according to Voice of the Martyrs. WND also has reported nearly 1,000 homes of Christians and many churches have been destroyed in these regions.
If you go around villages, you will see people missing one hand or one foot, explained Rev. Obiora Ike. Do you think that's the result of an illness? That is the result of sharia law.More than 10,000 Christians have been martyred in the region since the Islamic law was imposed in the region in 1999, and Voice of the Martyrs has helped surviving family members through its Families of Martyrs Fund with Care Packs, Village Outreach packs and words of encouragement to believers who stand for their faith amidst volatile, uncertain conditions.
DOUBTS GREET CHRISTIANS IN ISRAEL
EU states to join border-free zone
Oct 4, 2007 8:40 AM
The European Union's border-free zone will be extended to nine additional member states on December 21, the bloc's Portuguese Presidency said.From that date, people travelling from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia will be able to travel to the existing 15 states of the Schengen border-free zone without having to show their passports, a presidency spokeswoman said.They will open on December 21, she said. All the nine borders will be opened. The nine countries all joined the European Union in 2004.EU ministers will officially endorse the move next month, the spokeswoman said.
Thirteen EU countries, plus Norway and Iceland, are currently part of the border-free zone. Britain and Ireland have chosen not to be part of it.Cyprus, which also joined the EU in 2004, has asked for one year's delay. Romania and Bulgaria, which became EU members only this year, need to do more work to meet security criteria.
Spain, European Commission President express confidence in EU reform treaty October 02, 2007
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday expressed confidence in the reform treaty of the 25-nation bloc ahead of an Intergovernment Conference slated to be held later this month in Lisbon.Both said at their Madrid meeting that they were confident the Intergovernment Conference would swiftly approve a final text for the EU reform, at its Oct. 18-19 session.According to a statement by the Spanish Communications Ministry, the two reviewed the timetable for the EU reform, which still awaits ratification by all its member states.In 2005, French and Dutch voters rejected the EU constitution treaty in referendums, fearing their countries would lose too much power. The EU leaders agreed in June to abandon the idea and replace it with a less ambitious reform treaty.
Zapatero and Barroso also discussed the creation of a single market for energy and the development of a European Border Agency (Frontex).Earlier this month, the commission unveiled a proposal that would force European energy generators to give up their pipelines and transmission networks as a step toward uniting the continent's patchwork of gas and electric systems.Spain urges more money for Frontex aimed at intensifying patrolling in the Mediterranean to deter illegal migrants from north Africa.EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said in April that he expected the number of African refugees in EU countries to drop this year below 30,000, a record level reached in 2006. Source: Xinhua
Jerusalem: Idea Raised of 2 Capitals
Thursday, Oct. 04, 2007 By AP/BARRY SCHWEID Article
(WASHINGTON) — Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Md. The militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met U.S. terms for attending. Those conditions are recognizing Israel's right to exist and abandoning violence against the Jewish state. But the ex-officials suggested Hamas might be drawn to attend a second conference, which implicitly would accept the first one and Israel's existence. They called the role of Hamas the most difficult issue in peacemaking. Jerusalem's future and that of Palestinian refugees have snarled past U.S. peace efforts. Former President Clinton's mediation efforts between the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak envisioned sharing of Jerusalem.
Clinton ruled out requiring Israel to take in most Palestinians or their families who claimed to have been forced out of Israel during creation of the Jewish state in 1947-8. It will be very difficult, but not impossible, said Robert Pelletreau, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and ex-assistant secretary of state for the region. There is a little bit of momentum starting to build with talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a mediator, he said in a telephone interview. Along with announcement of the conference, he said, you have several things that can reinforce each other if they are framed properly.The refugee issue is the most difficult, he said. And Jerusalem is right up with it.Edward S. Walker, a former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, said Hamas was the most difficult issue. Unless Hamas changes its stripes there is no way to deal with them on the current situation, he said in an interview.
But, Walker added, a lot of things that appear to be impossible now might well become possible if there is hope that a true and real peace can be established.The policy paper was prepared by Israel Policy Forum, a nonpartisan American group that promotes sustained U.S. diplomacy to end the conflict between Israel and its neighbors. Next month's conference should reaffirm that the goal is two independent and sovereign states, with borders roughly along the lines that separated Israel from the Arabs before the 1967 Middle East war, the statement said. It also called for a just solution to refugee questions that recognizes the suffering and the plight of the Palestinian refugees. They would be permitted to move only to the new Palestinian state, with compensation from Israel, the Palestinian state and other nations.
Besides Pelletreau and Walker, the former U.S. diplomats included Thomas Pickering, an ex-undersecretary of state and ambassador to Israel and Jordan; Samuel Lewis, former ambassador to Israel; and Frederic C. Hof, Mideast official in the Pentagon. The report was written and coordinated primarily by Steven L. Spiegel, political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rice has been meeting with former U.S. negotiators and ex-American diplomats, and has not replied to the policy paper, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.
Iran summons French envoy over nuclear remarks by Farhad Pouladi Wed Oct 3, 8:58 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday summoned a top French diplomat to protest at remarks by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggesting Tehran could be seeking the atomic bomb, state media reported.
French charge d'affaires Jean Graebling was summoned... to the foreign ministry to receive the protest and hear of the Islamic republic of Iran's dissatisfaction with France's recent positions and its negative tone, according to a ministry statement carried on state television's website.Since the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has considerably toughened its position towards Iran, and called for new sanctions to oblige Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.Kouchner -- who caused a stir last month by saying the world must prepare for war with Iran -- told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that nothing is more dangerous than the situation in Iran.
The Iranians must stop enriching uranium, because what they are doing encourages the experts to think they are possibly moving towards the atomic bomb and not the civil nuclear power to which they have absolute right.It is absolutely vital to have peace, he said. I did not call for war, I called for peace.Iran noted that France's stance was despite Tehran last month agreeing a timetable with the International Atomic Energy Agency for it to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear activities.Tehran said it was also strongly protesting at France's push for another UN Security resolution and encouraging European nations to impose additional sanctions on Iran, according to the foreign ministry statement.OPEC member Iran vehemently rejects charges it is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying the atomic drive is aimed solely at generating electricity for a growing population.Major world powers have agreed to wait for November reports by IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana before deciding whether to push for a third round of sanctions against Tehran.The Security Council has already passed two resolutions imposing sanctions over Tehran's refusal to heed ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which creates nuclear fuel but can be diverted to make the core of an atomic bomb.
ElBaradei said in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday that Iran must provide key details on its programme by late November or its unwillingness to work with the international community will backfire.He said the two key issues that required clarification had to do with Iran's research capabilities and its nuclear weaponisation capacity.I've told the Iranians: This is your litmus test. You committed yourself to come clean. If you don't, nobody will be able to come to your support.Iran's foreign ministry had also lashed out at France's stance last month, saying Paris was mimicking hawkish US policy and was being more American than the White House itself.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that France's attitude could hurt its economic interests in the country, with major companies including oil giant Total as well as carmakers Renault and Peugeot doing business in Iran.
The Sarkozy presidency has said it wants European firms not to bid for new business in Iran and for financial institutions to scale back investments, in drive to pressure Iran parallel to UN sanctions moves.Total had agreed in 2006 a major deal to exploit phase 11 of Iran's giant South Pars gas field to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export but is still yet to execute the project. Iran has bluntly warned it will go ahead with Iranian firms alone if the deal is not swiftly implemented.
Iran-Syria sign billion dollar gas deal Thu Oct 4, 8:30 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Fellow US foes Iran and Syria have signed an agreement for Tehran to export a billion dollars worth of gas every year to its chief regional ally, Iranian state television reported on Thursday. Iranian caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari and Syrian counterpart Sufian Allaw signed the memorandum of understanding in Tehran that will see Iran exporting three billion cubic metres (105 billion cubic feet) of natural gas annually to Syria.The agreement is the latest sign of the expanding political and economic ties between the two allies, which are both accused by the United States of fomenting the violence in Iraq, allegations that both deny.With the signing of these agreements, experts will start work to define the transit cost and examine the other aspects of the contract, said Nozari.
State television said that the exports are set to start in 2009 and will be worth one billion dollars to Iran annually.Nozari said the gas would be supplied to Syria via its northern neighbour Turkey, which already receives Iranian gas through a pipeline linking the northern city of Tabriz and Ankara.Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia but until now has remained a relatively minor player in the global export market. It also faces huge consumption demands from its growing population at home.The Islamic republic supplies several billion cubic metres of gas to Turkey annually and has signed a preliminary deal with Ankara for exporting gas into Europe, a move bitterly criticised by the United States.Supplies to Turkey have on occasion been hit by wrangling about price and quality, the high demand in Iran as well as sporadic attacks on the pipeline blamed on Kurdish militants.The gas deal is the latest example of the expanding cooperation between Iran and Syria, one of the very few Arab nations to back Tehran during its 1980-1988 war with Iraq.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran's Vice President Parviz Davoudi had earlier this year unveiled a joint car factory outside Damascus to produce 10,000 units of the new Sham car every year.
The two ministers meanwhile also spoke about constructing an oil refinery with a refining capacity of 140,000 barrels a day in Syria in cooperation with Iran and its chief Latin American ally Venezuela.
Russian dissident: Country effectively controlled by new KGB Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com October 4, 2007
A Russian-born author and political activist says virtually every aspect of Russian life is controlled by what used to be known as the KGB.Yuri Felshtinski was born in the Soviet Union. However, he and fellow dissident Alexander Litvinenko managed to escape to the West -- Felshtinski to the United States and Litvinenko to Great Britain. During 2001 and 2002 they collaborated on a book that would eventually be published with the title, Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror.Felshtinski says at the time no one wanted to accept what the book purported, that the dreaded KGB under the new name Federal Security Bureau (FSB) effectively controlled the country. Basically everybody who holds a significant position in Russia now belonged to KGB during the previous period of their lives, he says. Between 70 and 80 percent of major political and government positions, both on the regional level and on central level, are taken by the FSB. So they do control the country.
He says that back in 2000-2001 people did not see it this way, indeed. Now he states that it has become obvious how the government and FSB control everything in Russia -- from the economy, to all political activity, to all major TV channels and all major newspapers.Felshtinski says he is convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the FSB were not happy with the revelations of the book, and were responsible for the radioactive poisoning that took the life of Litvinenko on November 1, 2006.
American Family News Network.
Russia warns of arms war in space: report
Wed Oct 3, 2007 3:35pm EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military space commander vowed to retaliate with an arms race if any country started putting weapon systems into orbit, he said in remarks published on Wednesday.We need to have strong rules about space, to avoid its militarization and if any country will place a weapon in space, then our response will be the same, Space Forces Commander Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin told the newspaper Trud.Popovkin's remarks were the latest in a series of increasingly assertive statements from the Russian military, which is alarmed at what it sees as a growing hardware imbalance with the West.Stung by NATO expansion up to Russia's borders, President Vladimir Putin has given notice that Russia intends to pull out of a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe.Tensions between Russia and Washington have deepened over U.S. plans to rekindle the stalled Star Wars program from the 1980s with a new generation of missile defense shields.
Popovkin said no country had the right to declare itself the master of space, so strike forces shouldn't be deployed there.He avoided naming names but his comments follow growing friction over space between Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Earlier this year China tested an anti-satellite missile and the U.S. has been developing weapons which can hit satellites.Russia has more than 60 military and dual-purpose satellites in orbit for communications and intelligence, Popovkin said.Russia's space forces have responsibility for military and dual-use spacecraft launch as well as helping defend the country from hostile intercontinental missile attacks.Although the forces were left blind in some areas after the break-up of the Soviet Union, they were now reorganized, Popovkin said.In 2009, we'll begin testing a new generation satellite. Already, Russia can detect any ballistic missile being launched from earth towards Russia, he said.
This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
October 5, 2007
Dear Friend of The Fellowship,
I want to share with you today news about an exciting new initiative from The Fellowship. Journey to Zion is a unique, weekly half-hour television teaching program that began airing nationwide last weekend. It is my hope that this show will help Christians grow in their faith as they learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity, and strengthen Christian-Jewish relations by teaching Christians about Jewish history, traditions, and culture. If the overwhelmingly positive response we received from the first airing of the show is an accurate indication of results, we are well on our way to making a significant difference in the lives of people across the country.We’ve tried hard to make Journey to Zion an educational, engaging, and spiritually uplifting experience. In each show, I teach before a live studio audience on a subject related to Jewish faith and observance and the Jewish roots of Christianity. Journey to Zion also features segments filmed on location in Israel, audience question and answer sessions, and explorations of current and historic events related to Israel and the Jewish people. Most shows also include a live performance of traditional Jewish music!
I encourage you to visit our website to learn more about Journey to Zion. There, you can find a station running the show in your area, and even view episodes online following their network broadcast. Please visit today and don’t forget to spread the word about Journey to Zion by using the forward to a friend feature on the page.My friends, we are living in exciting times. Christians and Jews are coming together in a spirit of cooperation and understanding that I have not seen in my lifetime. At the same time, Christians are rediscovering the Jewish roots of their faith. Our new television program is part of this coming together of God’s people, and I hope you’ll be a part of it! Please join us every week as we Journey to Zion.
LOOK UNDER LINKS RIGHT AFTER 7 YR TREATY AT BEGGINING OF LINKS TO SEE.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
David's Comment: Shalom, Shalom Jerusalem
Psalm 122:7 Shalom Shalom Jerusalem, peace be to you
When Messiah comes to take us May His peace be found in you
OUT OF ZION MINISTRY
Josie and I spent 3 days in Jerusalem to savour the celebration of Succot or the Feast of Tabernacles. We arrived on Friday in the midst of an incredible traffic jam caused by the combination of the last few hours of shopping time before the Sabbath, thousands of visitors who had driven up to be in Jerusalem for Succot. and 80,000 mourners attending the funeral of a famous 96 year old rabbi. As we attempted to drive to our hotel in East Jerusalem (which is still mainly populated by Muslim Arabs) the chaos was added to by the fact that it was Ramadan. The driving was even more hair-raising than usual in Israel. Then there was the incident of the very large, freaked out police horse charging out of control along the footpath, posing a danger to the humans in its path. Just another day in the City of the King !
As the Sabbath came in later that afternoon, the city became much more quiet and still until Saturday evening, when multitudes of cars, buses and people hit the streets once again. As frustrating and annoying as the hectic pace of Jerusalem can be, there is something about this city, like no other city. On Sunday night we attended the ICEJ Feast of Tabernacles evening celebration. One of the performers was a famous Israeli tenor, Dudu Fisher. He is an orthodox Jew with a passion for the God of Israel and for the nation of Israel, and of course for Jerusalem. Near the climax of his inspiring performance he began to talk about Jerusalem. He said there is no city like it. Other famous cities have had one song written about them, or perhaps 2 songs, maybe a few have had even 3 songs. But Jerusalem has had hundreds if not thousands of songs written about her.
Jerusalem has also endured a 3000 year history of grief, death and destruction. The City where Yeshua laid down His life for you and me, has been destroyed and raised more than 20 times. Millions have died in her streets over the last 3000 years. And many more may yet meet their end there, as the whole world is about to come against this extremely controversial city in a desparate bid to bring peace to the Middle East. Politicians are tripped up over her and much of the focus of the world's media is on Jerusalem.
Most people in the world today probably wish that Jerusalem did not exist - it would make the world a more simple and much better place to live - or so they think. And much of the professing Church of Yeshua ha Machiach either dont give care about Jerusalem or think the same as the secular world. But last nite in the Jerusalem Convention Centre, I saw 7000 Christians with a different spirit. I saw 7000 people from almost every nation, worshipping the God of Israel and His Son, only 1 or 2 kms from where He is about to set up His Holy Throne, from where the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will rule and reign for 1000 years. I saw the joy, and I saw the tears, as many peoples emotions ran high, seeing their dream of being in the City of the King come to pass. For everyone there, it was a Heavenly moment.
As each year passes, more and more Christians are having a personal Holy Spirit inspired revelation of the relevance of the restoration of Israel in 1948, and the re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967. The 7000 at the ICEJ celebration this year are only a small representation of Christians from their respective nations. For each one at the Feast this year, there are probably hundreds or even thousands who would be there if they could afford the airfare. If you ask any of the 7000 what it was like to be in the City of the King, their face will light up and they will say things like I feel I am home or this is the most awesome experience of my life or something similar.
Every Bible believing Christian should feel the same as these 7000. An unbiased reading of the Word cannot but impart to the reader that Son of God, Yeshua the Messiah is returning to Jerusalem to set up His Father's eternal Kingdom there in the undivided capital city of Israel. And that fact should cause everyone who is looking forward t doo His return, as we are told to do in 2 Peter 3:12, to be a non-compromising Zionist and as much a lover of Jerusalem as the 7000 who are rejoicing in at the Feast of Tabernacles this week. How can we not love Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people - because YHVH and Yeshua do, and because our future and destiny is in that city, and with the Jewish people. When not rejoicing, every Christian should be praying for Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
Alas, that is far from the situation today. So many Christians simply aren't interested and many even oppose the Jewish right to call Jerusalem their capital city. Most of the Christians who dont have a revelation of the strategic relevance of Israel to the re-establishment of YHVH's Kingdom are missing out on the most exciting, faith inspiring events, since the resurrection of Yeshua. Please remember to pray for pastors, leaders and all others who need to have this blindness lifted from them, so that one day they will find themselves standing in the Holy City singing ....
Shalom Shalom Jerusalem, peace be to you
When Messiah comes to take us May His peace be found in you
PLEASE NOTE: Make sure your local church is participating in the international Day of Prayer on October 7th. The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is NOT a single location event but rather a worldwide celebration with local churches and individual believers remembering to pray for Jerusalem in their Sunday services. While there will be a Jerusalem Celebration carried live on GOD TV around the world, the real thrust of the initiative is on the local level.
Please be sure that your church is participating! Resources, posters and prayer cards for your local church are available at http://www.daytopray.com/
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
Doubts Greet Evangelical Christians in Israel
Morning Edition: October 4, 2007
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This week, Israelis have a close and sometimes uncomfortable look at some of their most important backers. Thousands of evangelical Christians are visiting to show support for the Jewish state.
NPR's Linda Gradstein explains why some Israelis are concerned.
(Soundbite of music)
LINDA GRADSTEIN: Waving flags, singing and dancing, thousands of evangelical Christian pilgrims in colorful costumes thronged the streets of Jerusalem this week. They marched as part of the city's traditional parade for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Although Israel's chief rabbis ruled that Jews should not attend the events, most of those watching said they either hadn't heard of the ruling or didn't care. Wearing large Styrofoam cowboy hats and beaming with joy, Sandy and Greg Cassee from Amarillo, Texas said this was their first visit to Israel.
Ms. SANDY CASSEE (Tourist): It's been a spiritual journey. This has been a quest. And to meet God's chosen people, to see where it all happened in the Bible to be here, and to be here with them and to praise and worship with them. Awesome.
GRADSTEIN: The Cassees are among the growing number of devout Protestants, many of them Americans, who fervently support Israel. For many Israelis, more used to sharp criticism of their country because of its occupation of the West Bank, this support is welcome. It's also lucrative. Over the past 20 years, evangelical Christians have contributed billions of dollars to Israel. They have given money directly to many of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, building synagogues, schools and playgrounds there. This week's events included visits to the settlements. Leon Ferguson, an African-American from New York, wore a white skullcap and Jewish prayer shawl to the march, describing himself as a gentile with a Jewish heart. He was close to tears as he contemplated the possibility of an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
Mr. LEON FERGUSON (Tourist): The true and living God wants his people to be in an undivided Israel, undivided Jerusalem, and there should be no more give-backs. Every time we give back the land of Israel, something happens in the United States. Katrina followed the give-back of the Gaza.
GRADSTEIN: The fervor of these evangelicals worries many Israelis. Mina Fenton, a Jerusalem city councilwoman from the National Religious Party, says missionary activity has increased in recent years. But she says she is even more disturbed by the theology of many of the evangelical Christians who are waiting for the second coming of Christ.
Ms. MINA FENTON (City Councilwoman, Jerusalem, Israel): Everything is linked with the belief in their messiah. And they want, ultimately, any one of them, when you speak more than 10 minutes - after the support - the economical support and the political support - they say what their aim is: The Jewish people have to convert.
GRADSTEIN: Spokesmen for the organizers of this week's march, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, say that while spreading the gospel is part of the evangelical Christian faith, it is clearly discouraged here.
Gershom Gorenberg, who has written a book on Christian fundamentalism called The End of Days, says that many evangelical Christians do want Jews to convert to Christianity.
Mr. GERSHOM GORENBERG (Author, The End of Days): That vision is one in which the Jews eventually disappear. And if you say that at the end of days in the perfected world there aren't going to be any Jews, then what you're saying is that right now you don't accept the legitimacy of Judaism.
GRADSTEIN: But for the Christian pilgrims visiting Israel, and for the Israelis who came to greet them, the Christian economic and political support now is more important than any vague theological future. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem. 2007 National Public Radio®.
Oct 4, 2007 8:40 AM
The European Union's border-free zone will be extended to nine additional member states on December 21, the bloc's Portuguese Presidency said.From that date, people travelling from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia will be able to travel to the existing 15 states of the Schengen border-free zone without having to show their passports, a presidency spokeswoman said.They will open on December 21, she said. All the nine borders will be opened. The nine countries all joined the European Union in 2004.EU ministers will officially endorse the move next month, the spokeswoman said.
Thirteen EU countries, plus Norway and Iceland, are currently part of the border-free zone. Britain and Ireland have chosen not to be part of it.Cyprus, which also joined the EU in 2004, has asked for one year's delay. Romania and Bulgaria, which became EU members only this year, need to do more work to meet security criteria.
Spain, European Commission President express confidence in EU reform treaty October 02, 2007
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday expressed confidence in the reform treaty of the 25-nation bloc ahead of an Intergovernment Conference slated to be held later this month in Lisbon.Both said at their Madrid meeting that they were confident the Intergovernment Conference would swiftly approve a final text for the EU reform, at its Oct. 18-19 session.According to a statement by the Spanish Communications Ministry, the two reviewed the timetable for the EU reform, which still awaits ratification by all its member states.In 2005, French and Dutch voters rejected the EU constitution treaty in referendums, fearing their countries would lose too much power. The EU leaders agreed in June to abandon the idea and replace it with a less ambitious reform treaty.
Zapatero and Barroso also discussed the creation of a single market for energy and the development of a European Border Agency (Frontex).Earlier this month, the commission unveiled a proposal that would force European energy generators to give up their pipelines and transmission networks as a step toward uniting the continent's patchwork of gas and electric systems.Spain urges more money for Frontex aimed at intensifying patrolling in the Mediterranean to deter illegal migrants from north Africa.EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said in April that he expected the number of African refugees in EU countries to drop this year below 30,000, a record level reached in 2006. Source: Xinhua
Jerusalem: Idea Raised of 2 Capitals
Thursday, Oct. 04, 2007 By AP/BARRY SCHWEID Article
(WASHINGTON) — Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Md. The militant Hamas group, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met U.S. terms for attending. Those conditions are recognizing Israel's right to exist and abandoning violence against the Jewish state. But the ex-officials suggested Hamas might be drawn to attend a second conference, which implicitly would accept the first one and Israel's existence. They called the role of Hamas the most difficult issue in peacemaking. Jerusalem's future and that of Palestinian refugees have snarled past U.S. peace efforts. Former President Clinton's mediation efforts between the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak envisioned sharing of Jerusalem.
Clinton ruled out requiring Israel to take in most Palestinians or their families who claimed to have been forced out of Israel during creation of the Jewish state in 1947-8. It will be very difficult, but not impossible, said Robert Pelletreau, a former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and ex-assistant secretary of state for the region. There is a little bit of momentum starting to build with talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as a mediator, he said in a telephone interview. Along with announcement of the conference, he said, you have several things that can reinforce each other if they are framed properly.The refugee issue is the most difficult, he said. And Jerusalem is right up with it.Edward S. Walker, a former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, said Hamas was the most difficult issue. Unless Hamas changes its stripes there is no way to deal with them on the current situation, he said in an interview.
But, Walker added, a lot of things that appear to be impossible now might well become possible if there is hope that a true and real peace can be established.The policy paper was prepared by Israel Policy Forum, a nonpartisan American group that promotes sustained U.S. diplomacy to end the conflict between Israel and its neighbors. Next month's conference should reaffirm that the goal is two independent and sovereign states, with borders roughly along the lines that separated Israel from the Arabs before the 1967 Middle East war, the statement said. It also called for a just solution to refugee questions that recognizes the suffering and the plight of the Palestinian refugees. They would be permitted to move only to the new Palestinian state, with compensation from Israel, the Palestinian state and other nations.
Besides Pelletreau and Walker, the former U.S. diplomats included Thomas Pickering, an ex-undersecretary of state and ambassador to Israel and Jordan; Samuel Lewis, former ambassador to Israel; and Frederic C. Hof, Mideast official in the Pentagon. The report was written and coordinated primarily by Steven L. Spiegel, political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Rice has been meeting with former U.S. negotiators and ex-American diplomats, and has not replied to the policy paper, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday.
Iran summons French envoy over nuclear remarks by Farhad Pouladi Wed Oct 3, 8:58 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday summoned a top French diplomat to protest at remarks by Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggesting Tehran could be seeking the atomic bomb, state media reported.
French charge d'affaires Jean Graebling was summoned... to the foreign ministry to receive the protest and hear of the Islamic republic of Iran's dissatisfaction with France's recent positions and its negative tone, according to a ministry statement carried on state television's website.Since the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has considerably toughened its position towards Iran, and called for new sanctions to oblige Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.Kouchner -- who caused a stir last month by saying the world must prepare for war with Iran -- told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that nothing is more dangerous than the situation in Iran.
The Iranians must stop enriching uranium, because what they are doing encourages the experts to think they are possibly moving towards the atomic bomb and not the civil nuclear power to which they have absolute right.It is absolutely vital to have peace, he said. I did not call for war, I called for peace.Iran noted that France's stance was despite Tehran last month agreeing a timetable with the International Atomic Energy Agency for it to answer outstanding questions about its nuclear activities.Tehran said it was also strongly protesting at France's push for another UN Security resolution and encouraging European nations to impose additional sanctions on Iran, according to the foreign ministry statement.OPEC member Iran vehemently rejects charges it is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying the atomic drive is aimed solely at generating electricity for a growing population.Major world powers have agreed to wait for November reports by IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana before deciding whether to push for a third round of sanctions against Tehran.The Security Council has already passed two resolutions imposing sanctions over Tehran's refusal to heed ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which creates nuclear fuel but can be diverted to make the core of an atomic bomb.
ElBaradei said in an interview with the Financial Times on Wednesday that Iran must provide key details on its programme by late November or its unwillingness to work with the international community will backfire.He said the two key issues that required clarification had to do with Iran's research capabilities and its nuclear weaponisation capacity.I've told the Iranians: This is your litmus test. You committed yourself to come clean. If you don't, nobody will be able to come to your support.Iran's foreign ministry had also lashed out at France's stance last month, saying Paris was mimicking hawkish US policy and was being more American than the White House itself.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned that France's attitude could hurt its economic interests in the country, with major companies including oil giant Total as well as carmakers Renault and Peugeot doing business in Iran.
The Sarkozy presidency has said it wants European firms not to bid for new business in Iran and for financial institutions to scale back investments, in drive to pressure Iran parallel to UN sanctions moves.Total had agreed in 2006 a major deal to exploit phase 11 of Iran's giant South Pars gas field to produce liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export but is still yet to execute the project. Iran has bluntly warned it will go ahead with Iranian firms alone if the deal is not swiftly implemented.
Iran-Syria sign billion dollar gas deal Thu Oct 4, 8:30 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Fellow US foes Iran and Syria have signed an agreement for Tehran to export a billion dollars worth of gas every year to its chief regional ally, Iranian state television reported on Thursday. Iranian caretaker Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari and Syrian counterpart Sufian Allaw signed the memorandum of understanding in Tehran that will see Iran exporting three billion cubic metres (105 billion cubic feet) of natural gas annually to Syria.The agreement is the latest sign of the expanding political and economic ties between the two allies, which are both accused by the United States of fomenting the violence in Iraq, allegations that both deny.With the signing of these agreements, experts will start work to define the transit cost and examine the other aspects of the contract, said Nozari.
State television said that the exports are set to start in 2009 and will be worth one billion dollars to Iran annually.Nozari said the gas would be supplied to Syria via its northern neighbour Turkey, which already receives Iranian gas through a pipeline linking the northern city of Tabriz and Ankara.Iran has the world's second largest gas reserves after Russia but until now has remained a relatively minor player in the global export market. It also faces huge consumption demands from its growing population at home.The Islamic republic supplies several billion cubic metres of gas to Turkey annually and has signed a preliminary deal with Ankara for exporting gas into Europe, a move bitterly criticised by the United States.Supplies to Turkey have on occasion been hit by wrangling about price and quality, the high demand in Iran as well as sporadic attacks on the pipeline blamed on Kurdish militants.The gas deal is the latest example of the expanding cooperation between Iran and Syria, one of the very few Arab nations to back Tehran during its 1980-1988 war with Iraq.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran's Vice President Parviz Davoudi had earlier this year unveiled a joint car factory outside Damascus to produce 10,000 units of the new Sham car every year.
The two ministers meanwhile also spoke about constructing an oil refinery with a refining capacity of 140,000 barrels a day in Syria in cooperation with Iran and its chief Latin American ally Venezuela.
Russian dissident: Country effectively controlled by new KGB Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com October 4, 2007
A Russian-born author and political activist says virtually every aspect of Russian life is controlled by what used to be known as the KGB.Yuri Felshtinski was born in the Soviet Union. However, he and fellow dissident Alexander Litvinenko managed to escape to the West -- Felshtinski to the United States and Litvinenko to Great Britain. During 2001 and 2002 they collaborated on a book that would eventually be published with the title, Blowing Up Russia: The Secret Plot to Bring Back KGB Terror.Felshtinski says at the time no one wanted to accept what the book purported, that the dreaded KGB under the new name Federal Security Bureau (FSB) effectively controlled the country. Basically everybody who holds a significant position in Russia now belonged to KGB during the previous period of their lives, he says. Between 70 and 80 percent of major political and government positions, both on the regional level and on central level, are taken by the FSB. So they do control the country.
He says that back in 2000-2001 people did not see it this way, indeed. Now he states that it has become obvious how the government and FSB control everything in Russia -- from the economy, to all political activity, to all major TV channels and all major newspapers.Felshtinski says he is convinced that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the FSB were not happy with the revelations of the book, and were responsible for the radioactive poisoning that took the life of Litvinenko on November 1, 2006.
American Family News Network.
Russia warns of arms war in space: report
Wed Oct 3, 2007 3:35pm EDT
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military space commander vowed to retaliate with an arms race if any country started putting weapon systems into orbit, he said in remarks published on Wednesday.We need to have strong rules about space, to avoid its militarization and if any country will place a weapon in space, then our response will be the same, Space Forces Commander Colonel-General Vladimir Popovkin told the newspaper Trud.Popovkin's remarks were the latest in a series of increasingly assertive statements from the Russian military, which is alarmed at what it sees as a growing hardware imbalance with the West.Stung by NATO expansion up to Russia's borders, President Vladimir Putin has given notice that Russia intends to pull out of a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe.Tensions between Russia and Washington have deepened over U.S. plans to rekindle the stalled Star Wars program from the 1980s with a new generation of missile defense shields.
Popovkin said no country had the right to declare itself the master of space, so strike forces shouldn't be deployed there.He avoided naming names but his comments follow growing friction over space between Moscow, Washington and Beijing. Earlier this year China tested an anti-satellite missile and the U.S. has been developing weapons which can hit satellites.Russia has more than 60 military and dual-purpose satellites in orbit for communications and intelligence, Popovkin said.Russia's space forces have responsibility for military and dual-use spacecraft launch as well as helping defend the country from hostile intercontinental missile attacks.Although the forces were left blind in some areas after the break-up of the Soviet Union, they were now reorganized, Popovkin said.In 2009, we'll begin testing a new generation satellite. Already, Russia can detect any ballistic missile being launched from earth towards Russia, he said.
This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
October 5, 2007
Dear Friend of The Fellowship,
I want to share with you today news about an exciting new initiative from The Fellowship. Journey to Zion is a unique, weekly half-hour television teaching program that began airing nationwide last weekend. It is my hope that this show will help Christians grow in their faith as they learn about the Jewish roots of Christianity, and strengthen Christian-Jewish relations by teaching Christians about Jewish history, traditions, and culture. If the overwhelmingly positive response we received from the first airing of the show is an accurate indication of results, we are well on our way to making a significant difference in the lives of people across the country.We’ve tried hard to make Journey to Zion an educational, engaging, and spiritually uplifting experience. In each show, I teach before a live studio audience on a subject related to Jewish faith and observance and the Jewish roots of Christianity. Journey to Zion also features segments filmed on location in Israel, audience question and answer sessions, and explorations of current and historic events related to Israel and the Jewish people. Most shows also include a live performance of traditional Jewish music!
I encourage you to visit our website to learn more about Journey to Zion. There, you can find a station running the show in your area, and even view episodes online following their network broadcast. Please visit today and don’t forget to spread the word about Journey to Zion by using the forward to a friend feature on the page.My friends, we are living in exciting times. Christians and Jews are coming together in a spirit of cooperation and understanding that I have not seen in my lifetime. At the same time, Christians are rediscovering the Jewish roots of their faith. Our new television program is part of this coming together of God’s people, and I hope you’ll be a part of it! Please join us every week as we Journey to Zion.
LOOK UNDER LINKS RIGHT AFTER 7 YR TREATY AT BEGGINING OF LINKS TO SEE.
With prayers for shalom, peace,
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President INTERNATIONAL FELLOWSHIP OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS
David's Comment: Shalom, Shalom Jerusalem
Psalm 122:7 Shalom Shalom Jerusalem, peace be to you
When Messiah comes to take us May His peace be found in you
OUT OF ZION MINISTRY
Josie and I spent 3 days in Jerusalem to savour the celebration of Succot or the Feast of Tabernacles. We arrived on Friday in the midst of an incredible traffic jam caused by the combination of the last few hours of shopping time before the Sabbath, thousands of visitors who had driven up to be in Jerusalem for Succot. and 80,000 mourners attending the funeral of a famous 96 year old rabbi. As we attempted to drive to our hotel in East Jerusalem (which is still mainly populated by Muslim Arabs) the chaos was added to by the fact that it was Ramadan. The driving was even more hair-raising than usual in Israel. Then there was the incident of the very large, freaked out police horse charging out of control along the footpath, posing a danger to the humans in its path. Just another day in the City of the King !
As the Sabbath came in later that afternoon, the city became much more quiet and still until Saturday evening, when multitudes of cars, buses and people hit the streets once again. As frustrating and annoying as the hectic pace of Jerusalem can be, there is something about this city, like no other city. On Sunday night we attended the ICEJ Feast of Tabernacles evening celebration. One of the performers was a famous Israeli tenor, Dudu Fisher. He is an orthodox Jew with a passion for the God of Israel and for the nation of Israel, and of course for Jerusalem. Near the climax of his inspiring performance he began to talk about Jerusalem. He said there is no city like it. Other famous cities have had one song written about them, or perhaps 2 songs, maybe a few have had even 3 songs. But Jerusalem has had hundreds if not thousands of songs written about her.
Jerusalem has also endured a 3000 year history of grief, death and destruction. The City where Yeshua laid down His life for you and me, has been destroyed and raised more than 20 times. Millions have died in her streets over the last 3000 years. And many more may yet meet their end there, as the whole world is about to come against this extremely controversial city in a desparate bid to bring peace to the Middle East. Politicians are tripped up over her and much of the focus of the world's media is on Jerusalem.
Most people in the world today probably wish that Jerusalem did not exist - it would make the world a more simple and much better place to live - or so they think. And much of the professing Church of Yeshua ha Machiach either dont give care about Jerusalem or think the same as the secular world. But last nite in the Jerusalem Convention Centre, I saw 7000 Christians with a different spirit. I saw 7000 people from almost every nation, worshipping the God of Israel and His Son, only 1 or 2 kms from where He is about to set up His Holy Throne, from where the Lion of the Tribe of Judah will rule and reign for 1000 years. I saw the joy, and I saw the tears, as many peoples emotions ran high, seeing their dream of being in the City of the King come to pass. For everyone there, it was a Heavenly moment.
As each year passes, more and more Christians are having a personal Holy Spirit inspired revelation of the relevance of the restoration of Israel in 1948, and the re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967. The 7000 at the ICEJ celebration this year are only a small representation of Christians from their respective nations. For each one at the Feast this year, there are probably hundreds or even thousands who would be there if they could afford the airfare. If you ask any of the 7000 what it was like to be in the City of the King, their face will light up and they will say things like I feel I am home or this is the most awesome experience of my life or something similar.
Every Bible believing Christian should feel the same as these 7000. An unbiased reading of the Word cannot but impart to the reader that Son of God, Yeshua the Messiah is returning to Jerusalem to set up His Father's eternal Kingdom there in the undivided capital city of Israel. And that fact should cause everyone who is looking forward t doo His return, as we are told to do in 2 Peter 3:12, to be a non-compromising Zionist and as much a lover of Jerusalem as the 7000 who are rejoicing in at the Feast of Tabernacles this week. How can we not love Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people - because YHVH and Yeshua do, and because our future and destiny is in that city, and with the Jewish people. When not rejoicing, every Christian should be praying for Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
Alas, that is far from the situation today. So many Christians simply aren't interested and many even oppose the Jewish right to call Jerusalem their capital city. Most of the Christians who dont have a revelation of the strategic relevance of Israel to the re-establishment of YHVH's Kingdom are missing out on the most exciting, faith inspiring events, since the resurrection of Yeshua. Please remember to pray for pastors, leaders and all others who need to have this blindness lifted from them, so that one day they will find themselves standing in the Holy City singing ....
Shalom Shalom Jerusalem, peace be to you
When Messiah comes to take us May His peace be found in you
PLEASE NOTE: Make sure your local church is participating in the international Day of Prayer on October 7th. The Day of Prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem is NOT a single location event but rather a worldwide celebration with local churches and individual believers remembering to pray for Jerusalem in their Sunday services. While there will be a Jerusalem Celebration carried live on GOD TV around the world, the real thrust of the initiative is on the local level.
Please be sure that your church is participating! Resources, posters and prayer cards for your local church are available at http://www.daytopray.com/
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
Doubts Greet Evangelical Christians in Israel
Morning Edition: October 4, 2007
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
This week, Israelis have a close and sometimes uncomfortable look at some of their most important backers. Thousands of evangelical Christians are visiting to show support for the Jewish state.
NPR's Linda Gradstein explains why some Israelis are concerned.
(Soundbite of music)
LINDA GRADSTEIN: Waving flags, singing and dancing, thousands of evangelical Christian pilgrims in colorful costumes thronged the streets of Jerusalem this week. They marched as part of the city's traditional parade for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Although Israel's chief rabbis ruled that Jews should not attend the events, most of those watching said they either hadn't heard of the ruling or didn't care. Wearing large Styrofoam cowboy hats and beaming with joy, Sandy and Greg Cassee from Amarillo, Texas said this was their first visit to Israel.
Ms. SANDY CASSEE (Tourist): It's been a spiritual journey. This has been a quest. And to meet God's chosen people, to see where it all happened in the Bible to be here, and to be here with them and to praise and worship with them. Awesome.
GRADSTEIN: The Cassees are among the growing number of devout Protestants, many of them Americans, who fervently support Israel. For many Israelis, more used to sharp criticism of their country because of its occupation of the West Bank, this support is welcome. It's also lucrative. Over the past 20 years, evangelical Christians have contributed billions of dollars to Israel. They have given money directly to many of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, building synagogues, schools and playgrounds there. This week's events included visits to the settlements. Leon Ferguson, an African-American from New York, wore a white skullcap and Jewish prayer shawl to the march, describing himself as a gentile with a Jewish heart. He was close to tears as he contemplated the possibility of an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.
Mr. LEON FERGUSON (Tourist): The true and living God wants his people to be in an undivided Israel, undivided Jerusalem, and there should be no more give-backs. Every time we give back the land of Israel, something happens in the United States. Katrina followed the give-back of the Gaza.
GRADSTEIN: The fervor of these evangelicals worries many Israelis. Mina Fenton, a Jerusalem city councilwoman from the National Religious Party, says missionary activity has increased in recent years. But she says she is even more disturbed by the theology of many of the evangelical Christians who are waiting for the second coming of Christ.
Ms. MINA FENTON (City Councilwoman, Jerusalem, Israel): Everything is linked with the belief in their messiah. And they want, ultimately, any one of them, when you speak more than 10 minutes - after the support - the economical support and the political support - they say what their aim is: The Jewish people have to convert.
GRADSTEIN: Spokesmen for the organizers of this week's march, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, say that while spreading the gospel is part of the evangelical Christian faith, it is clearly discouraged here.
Gershom Gorenberg, who has written a book on Christian fundamentalism called The End of Days, says that many evangelical Christians do want Jews to convert to Christianity.
Mr. GERSHOM GORENBERG (Author, The End of Days): That vision is one in which the Jews eventually disappear. And if you say that at the end of days in the perfected world there aren't going to be any Jews, then what you're saying is that right now you don't accept the legitimacy of Judaism.
GRADSTEIN: But for the Christian pilgrims visiting Israel, and for the Israelis who came to greet them, the Christian economic and political support now is more important than any vague theological future. Linda Gradstein, NPR News, Jerusalem. 2007 National Public Radio®.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
ARABS FLOCK TO JERUSALEM
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Tropical depression may form in U.S. Gulf or Atlantic Thu Oct 4, 10:28 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tropical or subtropical depression could form in the Gulf of Mexico or the western Atlantic over the next day or two, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a report.
The NHC will name the next two tropical storms Noel and Olga. Tropical storms pack winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour, while tropical depressions have winds below 39 mph.In the Gulf, a low-pressure system could become a tropical or subtropical depression as it moves northwest at about 10 mph.All of the weather models show the Gulf system will make landfall in Louisiana after crossing the oil and natural gas producing northern Gulf Coast over the next day or so.Forecaster AccuWeather said there is a chance the Gulf system could become a tropical or subtropical depression before it makes landfall over southern Louisiana by Thursday evening.
AccuWeather noted the system would likely not have time to develop into much of a tropical system.A subtropical system has high winds and thunderstorms near the outer edge of the system, while a tropical system has high winds and thunderstorms near the center.
Hence, the biggest damage caused by a tropical system is usually near the center of the storm, while in a subtropical system the most damage is closer to the outer edge of the storm.
BAHAMAS SYSTEM
In the Atlantic over portions of the Bahamas, winds were favorable for development of a tropical depression as it moved slowly westward, the NHC said.All of the weather models forecast the Bahamas system would move into the Gulf of Mexico through the Straits of Florida over the next few days.AccuWeather expects the Bahamas system to move westward through the Bahamas on Friday then over Cuba or through the Straits of Florida during the weekend before moving into the southeast Gulf of Mexico or perhaps northwest Caribbean by early next week.AccuWeather said there was some chance for tropical development with this system within the next few days.
OTHER SYSTEMS
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, the NHC expects winds over the next day or two to become less favorable for development of a low-pressure system associated with a tropical wave located about 1,150 miles east of the southern Windward Islands (Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada).The weather models forecast the Windward system would approach the eastern Caribbean but turn toward the north before reaching the islands over the next five days.Finally, the NHC does not expect the remnants of Melissa to redevelop over the next day or two due to unfavorable winds.
Typhoon Lekima kills 12 in Southeast Asia Thu Oct 4, 2:31 AM ET
KY ANH, Vietnam (Reuters) - Typhoon Lekima lashed Vietnam and southern China with torrential rains and high winds, killing at least seven people, damaging hundreds of homes and disrupting air, sea and train travel, officials said on Thursday. The storm, which killed at least five people in the Philippines last weekend, swept into central Vietnam from the sea on Wednesday night, blowing roofs off houses, sinking scores of fishing vessels and grounding flights before moving to Laos.The typhoon raised rivers to dangerous levels in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, but the damage caused was not as serious as feared.Thanks to good preparatory work the damage from the storm is not large, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, supervising the response to the storm, told Reuters TV in Ky Anh in Ha Tinh.Trees were felled and electricity cut off in the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh where residents returned to clean up debris after evacuating on Wednesday.
A Vietnamese government report said many areas reported blackouts due to Lekima, the Vietnamese name of a local fruit.The national weather centre in Hanoi warned residents to take precautions against flash floods and landslides.It said the centre of the storm passed through Quang Binh, crossed Laos on Wednesday night and advanced into northern Thailand where it weakened into a depression.Vietnam is hit by up to 10 storms a year, causing millions of dollars in damage and sometimes killing hundreds of people.Lekima, the fifth storm of 2007, killed 7 people, while 3 others were missing, officials said.The storm hit China's beach resort of Sanya on Hainan island on Tuesday, trapping tourists and forcing the evacuation of 225,000 people. Vietnamese authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people before the storm hit.Three cargo vessels capsized while taking shelter at a port in Quang Binh, a Reuters reporter traveling in the region said.National carrier Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, the second-largest airliner, cancelled flights to the central cities of Vinh, Hue and Danang on Wednesday.The southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi were hit with heavy rain and strong winds.Most shipping and rail services linking Hainan with the mainland resumed late on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency said.(Additional reporting by Nguyen Van Vinh)
Flooding from Vietnam typhoon kills 14 By TRAN VAN MINH, Associated Press Writer OCT 5,07
HANOI, Vietnam - Downpours from a typhoon in coastal Vietnam unleashed flash floods across several mountainous regions, claiming the lives of 14 people. Officials said Friday the death toll from Typhoon Lekima, which now stands at 17, could climb further.Communications with some villages worst affected by the floods were disrupted and the death toll from the floods could rise, said provincial disaster official Nguyen Truong Son.With 80 mph winds, the typhoon made landfall late Wednesday in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, according to disaster officials and the Department of Floods and Storms Control.Lekima, named after a local fruit, has damaged about 77,000 homes, the Department of Floods and Storms Control said. The department set the initial damage estimate at $41 million.Vietnam is prone to floods and storms that kill hundreds of people each year.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
Iraq struggles with cholera outbreak By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 5, 5:46 AM ET
BAGHDAD - Majida Hamid Ibrahim seemed no different from any other victim in Iraq — her body was put in a plastic bag and sent to the morgue for relatives to collect. But authorities were already bemoaning her death. Just days before, the 40-year-old woman from Baghdad's southern outskirts became the first confirmed cholera case in the Iraqi capital from an outbreak spreading around the country. The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 3,300 cholera cases in Iraq and at least 14 deaths from the acute and rapid dehydration it causes.The troubles, however, also point beyond the immediate struggle to control the deadly advance.They highlight the creeping fractures throughout the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the country's deepening sectarian gulf and a gangland-style lawlessness in which even medical supplies are fair game for bandits.
The health minister, Ali al-Shemari, fled the country after U.S. forces raided offices in February and arrested his deputy, accused of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and of allowing death squads' use of ambulances and hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.The government official overseeing Iraqis living abroad was brought in as acting health minister in al-Maliki's shaky Cabinet — which was further jolted by the walkout of six Sunni ministers in August.Hospitals also are divided along Iraq's sectarian split, with Shiites and Sunnis often too scared to venture into any facility controlled by the other. For health workers, this leaves worrying gaps with cholera cases now reaching half of Iraq's 18 provinces.The main hospital in Baqouba — the city al-Qaida in Iraq earlier this year claimed as its base in the Diyala province — was twice overrun by Sunni gunmen who kidnapped some of the Shiite patients, said a provincial health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.
Fourteen Baqouba physicians and five ambulance drivers have been killed and 12 doctors kidnapped since Diyala fighting escalated earlier this year. Gunmen often steal medical equipment and medicine from health centers and force pharmacists to give up their supplies, the official said.Saeed al-Shimary recounted how four months ago, as he lay sick in the Baqouba hospital, gunmen fatally shot a hospital guard and took several patients away, including his relative.I was horrified, said al-Shimary, a teacher. The relative's body was found days later, dumped by a road.The bad security situation ... is preventing medical teams from reaching the residents, said Hom Suhail al-Khishali, head of the Diyala health department.WHO has confirmed at least 3,315 cholera cases and registered more than 30,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea — which could also prove to be cholera in its more common, milder form. The group has also warned that — as the weather cools and temperatures become more favorable for transmission — the bacteria could spread further.
Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO representative in Iraq, says the grim numbers fuel the panic, when in fact the death rate has been very much less than 1 percent of the total outbreak.Let's not focus on numbers, that's not the way to deal with cholera, she said. We must look at ways to contain it.Cholera, usually spread by drinking contaminated water, typically causes severe diarrhea that in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration and kidney failure. There are normally about 30 cases registered each year in Iraq. The last major outbreak was in 1999, when 20 cases were discovered in one day.Cholera can be controlled by treating drinking water with chlorine. But authorities want to keep tight controls on chlorine supplies after extremists earlier this year placed chlorine tanks on suicide truck bombs, killing some two dozen people in several attacks and sending noxious clouds that left hundreds of panicked people gasping for breath.
A shipment of 100,000 tons of chlorine was held up for a week at the Jordanian border last month, amid fears for its safe passage through Iraq. Naeem al-Qabi, from Baghdad's municipal council, said the city now has a two month's supply of chlorine and more shipments are expected.A July report by the relief agency Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq said that about 70 percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. That includes more than 2 million people who have been displaced inside Iraq by the fighting, which has forced many to live in unsanitary conditions where sewage can infest food and water and easily spread cholera. Tom Timberman, leader of a reconstruction team with the 4th Brigade, 25th infantry Division, said water purification and canal clearing systems have broken down due to a lack of maintenance and replacement parts. Many purification plant workers have been killed or fled the violence, leaving the area with a lack of expertise, Timberman said. Tests at one of the water purification facilities near Iskandariyah, a town 30 miles south of Baghdad, found the filtration system wasn't working, so dirty water was just passing through the pipes.
In Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, officials complain that Baghdad sent them 20 tons of chlorine, while the city needs about 60 tons. Now we fear cholera more than the violence, said Shawan Karim, 33, a resident in the northern city of Kirkuk, which has accounted for more than two-thirds of the confirmed cholera cases. Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Kim Gamel, Saad Abdul-Kadir and Yahya Barzanji contributed to this story.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Amero coming within decade - Strategist expects currency changes as Canadian dollar matches greenback October 5, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern - By Jerome R. Corsi - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A commemorative amero coin
BankIntroductions.com, a Canadian company that specializes in global banking strategies and currency consulting, is advising clients that the amero may be the currency of North America within the next 10 years. The amero would compete against other regional currency blocks, BankIntroductions.com says. At present, with the Canadian dollar approaching par, more talk for an amero currency unit will become popular in Canada.The company says that with the successful implementation of NAFTA, the one dragging component for the amero will be Mexico, but in time this will change.
Implementation of the amero currency may actually give Mexico an economic boost, thus helping to alleviate Mexican immigration pressures into the United States for those Mexicans seeking financial gain, BankIntroductions.com advises. The amero one day may well be circulating throughout North America.Matt Bell, president of BankIntroductions.com, told WND in an e-mail to feel free to quote our currency research on Canada. Our general opinion on the amero stands as stated.As WND reported, coin designer Daniel Carr has issued for sale a series of private-issue fantasy pattern amero coins that have drawn attention on the Internet.
WND also reported the African Union is moving down the path of regional economic integration, with the African Central Bank planning to create the Gold Mandela as a single African continental currency by 2010. The Council on Foreign Relations also has supported regional and global currencies designed to replace nationally issued currencies. In an article in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, entitled The End of National Currency, CFR economist Benn Steil asserted the dollar is a temporary currency. Steil concluded countries should abandon monetary nationalism, moving to adopt regional currencies, on the road to a global one world currency.WND previously reported Steve Previs, a vice president at Jeffries International Ltd. in London, said the amero is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. A video clip of the CNBC interview in November with Jeffries is now available at YouTube.com. WND also has reported a continued slide in the value of the dollar on world currency markets could set up conditions in which the adoption of the amero as a North American currency gains momentum.
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.
Iran accuses Israel of Palestinian genocide By Reza Derakhshi Fri Oct 5, 6:57 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president accused Israel on Friday of using the Holocaust as a pretext for genocide against Palestinians. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who outraged the West in 2005 by calling Israel a tumor to be wiped off the map, said the truth should be told about World War Two and the Holocaust.
Six million Jews were killed in the Nazi genocide.
Iran condemns fabricating such a pretext (the Holocaust) for the Zionist regime to commit genocide against the Palestinian nation and occupy Palestine, Ahmadinejad said in a live broadcast to mark the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in the Islamic Republic.The Iranian nation and countries in the region will not rest until Palestine is free and criminals punished, he said in the speech before Friday prayers.Ahmadinejad has questioned the Holocaust but denied during a visit last month to the United States he was saying it never happened, only that the Palestinian issue was entirely separate.Opposition to Israel is one of the cornerstones of belief of Shi'ite Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic militant groups opposed to peace with the Jewish state.
Ahmadinejad repeated calls for Canada to accept Jews.
Europeans cannot tolerate the Zionist regime's presence in their own region but want to impose it on the Middle East. Give them (the Jews) this vast land of Canada and Alaska to build themselves a home and resettle there, he said.Al-Quds Day was inaugurated by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.Tens of thousands marched in a rally to mark the day, including soldiers, students and clerics. Black-clad women with small children clutching balloons emblazoned Death to Israel were among those flocking the streets of central Tehran.Death to America, Death to Israel, chanted the marchers, many carrying portraits of Khomeini and his successor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
MILITIA MARCH
Volunteer Basij militia, covering their faces with Palestinian headscarves, marched while roaring Hezbollah fights, Israel trembles -- referring to the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Israel fought a war against last year.We came here to show our support to the Palestinian nation and their resistance, said retired teacher Abdollah Hassani, 58, who joined the rally with his wife, carrying a sign reading Israel must be obliterated.State television showed footage of similar marches, held in cities across Iran on Al-Quds Day. Demonstrators in Tehran burned flags of the United States and Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize.The United States and Israel accuse Iran of interference in Iraq, through backing Shi'ite militias, and of sponsoring terrorism, including the Palestinian group Hamas and Hezbollah. Tehran denies the charges.
The United States and Iran, who have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after Iran's revolution, are also embroiled in a deepening rift over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue its nuclear program despite international pressure, adding Iran wants to remove international concerns over its atomic work through talks.But if they (the West) want to start a new game it will have no result for them but regret, he said. Six world powers agreed last Friday to delay toughening U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program until November at the earliest to wait for reports by U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and European Union negotiator Javier Solana.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sanctions resolutions on Iran after it failed to suspend sensitive activities such as uranium enrichment.
Hard times fall on storied West Bank city by Joseph Krauss
OCT 5,07
NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - A walk through the ancient streets of the West Bank City of Nablus offers a rare glimpse into the Asiatic opulence that once adorned cities across the caravan routes of the Middle East. But what was once a major Palestinian tourist and commercial centre has since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000 wilted in the face of checkpoints and near-daily Israeli military incursions.They call this the economic capital of Palestine but these days it is the capital of the unemployed, says Bilal Hamouda, a merchant in the ancient quarter.Having seen some of the uprising's fiercest battles, the Old City of Nablus has been transformed into a crude memorial to local fighters, its limestone walls covered with blast stains, militia graffiti and martyrs' posters.Seven years on, the situation remains tense, and the Israeli military has sharply limited movement into and out of the city, leaving merchants like Hamouda with lots of time to share local lore with visitors.Nablus is the oldest city in the world. When it was founded in 2,500 B.C. they called it Shechem, which means two shoulders, he says, as he leans back in a plastic chair across the street from his shop.Then the Romans renamed it Neopolis, or 'New City' -- the source of the modern name, Hamouda says in halting, practiced English.It's also known as Jebel al-Nar -- Arabic for 'Fire Mountain' -- after a legend that the town repelled Napoleon's armies by lighting a bonfire and frightening packs of wild animals into attacking the French cavalry.
Others call Nablus Little Damascus because of its underground springs and its Turkish-style Old City, a labyrinth of meandering walkways, stone arches, and covered markets.The Israelis still call it Shechem, referring to the two peaks that guard approaches to the city, from which the army now looks down on what it considers to be the most volatile town in the West Bank.The Israeli military says its troops have discovered 10 bomb factories in Nablus this year alone, and that 117 of the 187 potential suicide bombers arrested in the West Bank in 2006 originated there.
In one of its regular incursions, the army carried out in early September a massive three-day operation in a refugee camp in the heart of the city, arresting 49 alleged militants from different Palestinian factions and destroying several houses.In the wake of the Islamist Hamas movement's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, Israel and the West have vowed to improve daily life in the West Bank, still ruled by president Mahmud Abbas and the secular Palestinian Authority.
But Nablus -- with more than 130,000 residents -- remains under siege, with all traffic into or out of town having to pass through two checkpoints, and most vehicles banned from entering or exiting at all.It is supposed to be the economic centre of Palestine, but we have the worst economy in the West Bank, even worse than Gaza, says Majdi Abu Salha, who sells the sweet Nablus knafe pastries famous across the West Bank.In the Old City, which once thrived on Arab tourists from across Israel and the Palestinian territories, many merchants are struggling to stay in business.The economic situation is tied to the tourism market, and that has stopped because of the closures, says Yusef al-Jabr, owner of one of Nablus's last functioning Turkish bathhouses.The entrance, tucked away in the heart of the Old City, opens into a series of vaulted chambers with scattered stained-glass windows and marble floors heated by hot subterranean springs, a rare surviving relic of Ottoman luxury.Turkish baths, part of an ancient spa tradition handed down from Greece and Rome, can still be found in old cities across the Middle East and North Africa. But in Nablus, the baths are facing extinction. Jabr says his bathhouse is around 450-500 years old, but people still refer to it as the new bathhouse because the city once had far older ones. In 2002 the main steam room was struck by an Israeli missile. Jabr was able to repair the damage with some help from a brother living in the United Arab Emirates, but now he worries the bath's days are numbered.
I'm trying to preserve our heritage here but it is very hard, Jabr says. The people come, but just to look. They don't use the baths and so I hardly have any income. I would make more if I turned it into a more touristy place, like a restaurant.When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 there were nine bathhouses in the city, but since then most have been destroyed or transformed into other things. A few alleys down from Jabr's bathhouse another doorway opens into a vaulted chamber, its dry central fountain now surrounded by a handful of simple machines, all of them idle. The owner, Hamed Herzullah, converted the baths into a family-run candy factory decades ago, but now even he is feeling the crunch.
We used to have 20 employees working all day every day. Now it's just me and my family, and we only work two or three hours a day, he says. Behind him sits a table with stacks of tiny boxes, all filled with sweet powdered sugar-coated loukoum, or Turkish Delight. When they have money the people come and buy, but not now, Herzullah says. It's (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan, so business should be good. But the families around here are struggling to buy bread -- not sweets.
Bush says very optimistic on Mideast peace Fri Oct 5, 9:31 AM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said in comments aired on Friday he was very optimistic a Palestinian state could be set up alongside Israel and that next month's Middle East conference could lead towards peace in the region. The U.S.-sponsored conference is due to take place in the Washington area in mid to late November, although there are doubts over how far it will go towards ending decades of conflict and uncertainty over which Arab states will attend.I am very optimistic that we can achieve a two-state solution, Bush said in comments on Al Arabiya television that were dubbed in Arabic.We will host the international peace conference and it will be attended by the interested parties and a delegation from the Arab League and it is an opportunity for serious ... discussions over the road forward to lead to a two-state solution and efforts will be made to reach this objective, Bush said.
I want to affirm that the two-state solution is part of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and that our strategy is for all parties to attend at the table for the sake of a comprehensive peace. We want to push this issue.Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed on Wednesday that formal negotiations on Palestinian statehood would begin after the peace conference.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has balked at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for setting a specific timeframe for the resolution of key issues including borders and the fate of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.Abbas said on Thursday that formal negotiations for statehood could be completed six months after the conference.There is a lot of dialogue between the two men and I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have realized that there is a vision that is worth working to achieve, Bush said.
ARAB DOUBTS
Aside from the Israel and the Palestinians, the United States would like key Arab states to attend the conference but is unclear how many will.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said Damascus would not join unless the agenda also includes the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war at the same time as the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia, driving force behind an Arab peace proposal relaunched earlier this year, has also indicated it would not attend unless the conference addresses core issues.The peace conference is part of a U.S.-led effort to bolster Abbas and his West Bank-based government and to isolate Islamist group Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide and rocket attacks on Israel, has rejected the conference.No one wants the establishment of a state that will be a launch pad for attacks on others, Bush said.We must support the Palestinian security forces, help President Abbas and offer him financial support so that Palestinian citizens can be assured that the life that lies ahead of them is better.
Palestinians flock to Jerusalem to pray By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer OCT 5,07
QALANDIA CHECKPOINT, West Bank - Thousands of Palestinians thronged military checkpoints on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Friday, trying to reach a major Muslim shrine in the city for Ramadan prayers despite an Israeli army closure. Israeli troops in jeeps, on foot and horseback were deployed at crossings from the West Bank into Jerusalem to control the crowds trying to get to the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan draws to a close next week.At the Qalandia checkpoint north of Jerusalem, harried troops waved clubs, shouted and occasionally used stun grenades as tempers flared and frustrated Palestinians surged toward the roadblock. One elderly man fainted, and was treated by an army medic. No serious injuries were reported.Friday prayers at Al Aqsa regularly draw thousands of worshippers, and crowds are bigger than usual during Ramadan. Around 135,000 filled the mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, and prayers ended with no disturbances, police said.
Israel clamped a closure on the West Bank last week, barring Palestinians from entering Israel, citing concern of possible attacks during the seven-day Jewish festival of Sukkot. The festival ended Thursday, but the closure was slated to end Saturday night, the military said.Despite the closure, Israeli police had orders to let in West Bank men over the age of 50 and women over 40, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. More than 3,000 Israeli police were stationed around Jerusalem's Old City to keep order during the prayers, he said.At Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians, most of them elderly, pushed toward troops controlling access to the passage and argued with police checking ID cards.Maher Walweil, 43, said he left his home in the West Bank city of Nablus at 4 a.m. to get to Jerusalem in time for prayers — even though he knew the Israeli age restrictions left him little chance of getting in.There's a lot of soldiers here. What am I going to do against these soldiers? he said.In Iran, meanwhile, millions attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians and to protest Israel's continued hold on Jerusalem.The demonstrations for Al-Quds Day — Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem — also spilled over into anti-American protests because of U.S. support for Israel. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel's continued existence was an insult to human dignity.In Afghanistan, hundreds of Kabul University students marched in a Jerusalem Day demonstration there, burning effigies of President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.A possible division of Jerusalem, a city claimed by Israelis and Palestinians as a capital, is one of the key issues in a future peace agreement.Ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference, to be held later this fall, Israeli and Palestinian drafting teams are to write a joint document with principles guiding future negotiations.The document would address the so-called core issues, including the fate of Jerusalem, but not provide detailed solution, Palestinian negotiators have said.
Palestinian leaders want the conference to set a six-month deadline for negotiating a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty with Israel, Palestinian information minister Riad Malki said Thursday. Israeli and U.S. officials were cool to the idea of locking talks into a timeline.Malki said the conference is expected to back the declaration, and said the sides should then move swiftly to finalize the details. After six months of negotiations, all the participants would return to a peace conference, to endorse our agreement with Israel, he said of the Palestinian proposal. David Baker, an Israeli government official, said Israel is serious about negotiating a deal, but that this is not merely a product of how much time elapses.A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the conference, said the U.S. is not looking at timelines.The U.S. has not yet set a date for the conference or released a list of participants. The Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday quoted Israeli officials as saying it would take place Nov. 26. Palestinian officials said they were unaware of a date, but were told the conference would not be held before Nov. 22.
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Tropical depression may form in U.S. Gulf or Atlantic Thu Oct 4, 10:28 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tropical or subtropical depression could form in the Gulf of Mexico or the western Atlantic over the next day or two, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a report.
The NHC will name the next two tropical storms Noel and Olga. Tropical storms pack winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour, while tropical depressions have winds below 39 mph.In the Gulf, a low-pressure system could become a tropical or subtropical depression as it moves northwest at about 10 mph.All of the weather models show the Gulf system will make landfall in Louisiana after crossing the oil and natural gas producing northern Gulf Coast over the next day or so.Forecaster AccuWeather said there is a chance the Gulf system could become a tropical or subtropical depression before it makes landfall over southern Louisiana by Thursday evening.
AccuWeather noted the system would likely not have time to develop into much of a tropical system.A subtropical system has high winds and thunderstorms near the outer edge of the system, while a tropical system has high winds and thunderstorms near the center.
Hence, the biggest damage caused by a tropical system is usually near the center of the storm, while in a subtropical system the most damage is closer to the outer edge of the storm.
BAHAMAS SYSTEM
In the Atlantic over portions of the Bahamas, winds were favorable for development of a tropical depression as it moved slowly westward, the NHC said.All of the weather models forecast the Bahamas system would move into the Gulf of Mexico through the Straits of Florida over the next few days.AccuWeather expects the Bahamas system to move westward through the Bahamas on Friday then over Cuba or through the Straits of Florida during the weekend before moving into the southeast Gulf of Mexico or perhaps northwest Caribbean by early next week.AccuWeather said there was some chance for tropical development with this system within the next few days.
OTHER SYSTEMS
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, the NHC expects winds over the next day or two to become less favorable for development of a low-pressure system associated with a tropical wave located about 1,150 miles east of the southern Windward Islands (Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada).The weather models forecast the Windward system would approach the eastern Caribbean but turn toward the north before reaching the islands over the next five days.Finally, the NHC does not expect the remnants of Melissa to redevelop over the next day or two due to unfavorable winds.
Typhoon Lekima kills 12 in Southeast Asia Thu Oct 4, 2:31 AM ET
KY ANH, Vietnam (Reuters) - Typhoon Lekima lashed Vietnam and southern China with torrential rains and high winds, killing at least seven people, damaging hundreds of homes and disrupting air, sea and train travel, officials said on Thursday. The storm, which killed at least five people in the Philippines last weekend, swept into central Vietnam from the sea on Wednesday night, blowing roofs off houses, sinking scores of fishing vessels and grounding flights before moving to Laos.The typhoon raised rivers to dangerous levels in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, but the damage caused was not as serious as feared.Thanks to good preparatory work the damage from the storm is not large, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, supervising the response to the storm, told Reuters TV in Ky Anh in Ha Tinh.Trees were felled and electricity cut off in the provinces of Nghe An and Ha Tinh where residents returned to clean up debris after evacuating on Wednesday.
A Vietnamese government report said many areas reported blackouts due to Lekima, the Vietnamese name of a local fruit.The national weather centre in Hanoi warned residents to take precautions against flash floods and landslides.It said the centre of the storm passed through Quang Binh, crossed Laos on Wednesday night and advanced into northern Thailand where it weakened into a depression.Vietnam is hit by up to 10 storms a year, causing millions of dollars in damage and sometimes killing hundreds of people.Lekima, the fifth storm of 2007, killed 7 people, while 3 others were missing, officials said.The storm hit China's beach resort of Sanya on Hainan island on Tuesday, trapping tourists and forcing the evacuation of 225,000 people. Vietnamese authorities evacuated tens of thousands of people before the storm hit.Three cargo vessels capsized while taking shelter at a port in Quang Binh, a Reuters reporter traveling in the region said.National carrier Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, the second-largest airliner, cancelled flights to the central cities of Vinh, Hue and Danang on Wednesday.The southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi were hit with heavy rain and strong winds.Most shipping and rail services linking Hainan with the mainland resumed late on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency said.(Additional reporting by Nguyen Van Vinh)
Flooding from Vietnam typhoon kills 14 By TRAN VAN MINH, Associated Press Writer OCT 5,07
HANOI, Vietnam - Downpours from a typhoon in coastal Vietnam unleashed flash floods across several mountainous regions, claiming the lives of 14 people. Officials said Friday the death toll from Typhoon Lekima, which now stands at 17, could climb further.Communications with some villages worst affected by the floods were disrupted and the death toll from the floods could rise, said provincial disaster official Nguyen Truong Son.With 80 mph winds, the typhoon made landfall late Wednesday in Ha Tinh and Quang Binh provinces, according to disaster officials and the Department of Floods and Storms Control.Lekima, named after a local fruit, has damaged about 77,000 homes, the Department of Floods and Storms Control said. The department set the initial damage estimate at $41 million.Vietnam is prone to floods and storms that kill hundreds of people each year.
DISEASES
REVELATION 6:7-8
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse:(CHLORES GREEN) and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,(WEAPONS) and with hunger,(FAMINE) and with death,(INCURABLE DISEASES) and with the beasts of the earth.(ANIMAL TO HUMAN DISEASE).
Iraq struggles with cholera outbreak By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer Fri Oct 5, 5:46 AM ET
BAGHDAD - Majida Hamid Ibrahim seemed no different from any other victim in Iraq — her body was put in a plastic bag and sent to the morgue for relatives to collect. But authorities were already bemoaning her death. Just days before, the 40-year-old woman from Baghdad's southern outskirts became the first confirmed cholera case in the Iraqi capital from an outbreak spreading around the country. The World Health Organization has confirmed more than 3,300 cholera cases in Iraq and at least 14 deaths from the acute and rapid dehydration it causes.The troubles, however, also point beyond the immediate struggle to control the deadly advance.They highlight the creeping fractures throughout the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the country's deepening sectarian gulf and a gangland-style lawlessness in which even medical supplies are fair game for bandits.
The health minister, Ali al-Shemari, fled the country after U.S. forces raided offices in February and arrested his deputy, accused of diverting millions of dollars to the biggest Shiite militia and of allowing death squads' use of ambulances and hospitals to carry out kidnappings and killings.The government official overseeing Iraqis living abroad was brought in as acting health minister in al-Maliki's shaky Cabinet — which was further jolted by the walkout of six Sunni ministers in August.Hospitals also are divided along Iraq's sectarian split, with Shiites and Sunnis often too scared to venture into any facility controlled by the other. For health workers, this leaves worrying gaps with cholera cases now reaching half of Iraq's 18 provinces.The main hospital in Baqouba — the city al-Qaida in Iraq earlier this year claimed as its base in the Diyala province — was twice overrun by Sunni gunmen who kidnapped some of the Shiite patients, said a provincial health official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears for his safety.
Fourteen Baqouba physicians and five ambulance drivers have been killed and 12 doctors kidnapped since Diyala fighting escalated earlier this year. Gunmen often steal medical equipment and medicine from health centers and force pharmacists to give up their supplies, the official said.Saeed al-Shimary recounted how four months ago, as he lay sick in the Baqouba hospital, gunmen fatally shot a hospital guard and took several patients away, including his relative.I was horrified, said al-Shimary, a teacher. The relative's body was found days later, dumped by a road.The bad security situation ... is preventing medical teams from reaching the residents, said Hom Suhail al-Khishali, head of the Diyala health department.WHO has confirmed at least 3,315 cholera cases and registered more than 30,000 cases of acute watery diarrhea — which could also prove to be cholera in its more common, milder form. The group has also warned that — as the weather cools and temperatures become more favorable for transmission — the bacteria could spread further.
Dr. Naeema al-Gasseer, the WHO representative in Iraq, says the grim numbers fuel the panic, when in fact the death rate has been very much less than 1 percent of the total outbreak.Let's not focus on numbers, that's not the way to deal with cholera, she said. We must look at ways to contain it.Cholera, usually spread by drinking contaminated water, typically causes severe diarrhea that in extreme cases can lead to fatal dehydration and kidney failure. There are normally about 30 cases registered each year in Iraq. The last major outbreak was in 1999, when 20 cases were discovered in one day.Cholera can be controlled by treating drinking water with chlorine. But authorities want to keep tight controls on chlorine supplies after extremists earlier this year placed chlorine tanks on suicide truck bombs, killing some two dozen people in several attacks and sending noxious clouds that left hundreds of panicked people gasping for breath.
A shipment of 100,000 tons of chlorine was held up for a week at the Jordanian border last month, amid fears for its safe passage through Iraq. Naeem al-Qabi, from Baghdad's municipal council, said the city now has a two month's supply of chlorine and more shipments are expected.A July report by the relief agency Oxfam and the NGO Coordination Committee network in Iraq said that about 70 percent of Iraqis are without adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003. That includes more than 2 million people who have been displaced inside Iraq by the fighting, which has forced many to live in unsanitary conditions where sewage can infest food and water and easily spread cholera. Tom Timberman, leader of a reconstruction team with the 4th Brigade, 25th infantry Division, said water purification and canal clearing systems have broken down due to a lack of maintenance and replacement parts. Many purification plant workers have been killed or fled the violence, leaving the area with a lack of expertise, Timberman said. Tests at one of the water purification facilities near Iskandariyah, a town 30 miles south of Baghdad, found the filtration system wasn't working, so dirty water was just passing through the pipes.
In Mosul, about 225 miles northwest of Baghdad, officials complain that Baghdad sent them 20 tons of chlorine, while the city needs about 60 tons. Now we fear cholera more than the violence, said Shawan Karim, 33, a resident in the northern city of Kirkuk, which has accounted for more than two-thirds of the confirmed cholera cases. Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Kim Gamel, Saad Abdul-Kadir and Yahya Barzanji contributed to this story.
REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM
PREMEDITATED MERGER
Amero coming within decade - Strategist expects currency changes as Canadian dollar matches greenback October 5, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern - By Jerome R. Corsi - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A commemorative amero coin
BankIntroductions.com, a Canadian company that specializes in global banking strategies and currency consulting, is advising clients that the amero may be the currency of North America within the next 10 years. The amero would compete against other regional currency blocks, BankIntroductions.com says. At present, with the Canadian dollar approaching par, more talk for an amero currency unit will become popular in Canada.The company says that with the successful implementation of NAFTA, the one dragging component for the amero will be Mexico, but in time this will change.
Implementation of the amero currency may actually give Mexico an economic boost, thus helping to alleviate Mexican immigration pressures into the United States for those Mexicans seeking financial gain, BankIntroductions.com advises. The amero one day may well be circulating throughout North America.Matt Bell, president of BankIntroductions.com, told WND in an e-mail to feel free to quote our currency research on Canada. Our general opinion on the amero stands as stated.As WND reported, coin designer Daniel Carr has issued for sale a series of private-issue fantasy pattern amero coins that have drawn attention on the Internet.
WND also reported the African Union is moving down the path of regional economic integration, with the African Central Bank planning to create the Gold Mandela as a single African continental currency by 2010. The Council on Foreign Relations also has supported regional and global currencies designed to replace nationally issued currencies. In an article in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, entitled The End of National Currency, CFR economist Benn Steil asserted the dollar is a temporary currency. Steil concluded countries should abandon monetary nationalism, moving to adopt regional currencies, on the road to a global one world currency.WND previously reported Steve Previs, a vice president at Jeffries International Ltd. in London, said the amero is the proposed new currency for the North American Community which is being developed right now between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. A video clip of the CNBC interview in November with Jeffries is now available at YouTube.com. WND also has reported a continued slide in the value of the dollar on world currency markets could set up conditions in which the adoption of the amero as a North American currency gains momentum.
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.
Iran accuses Israel of Palestinian genocide By Reza Derakhshi Fri Oct 5, 6:57 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's president accused Israel on Friday of using the Holocaust as a pretext for genocide against Palestinians. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who outraged the West in 2005 by calling Israel a tumor to be wiped off the map, said the truth should be told about World War Two and the Holocaust.
Six million Jews were killed in the Nazi genocide.
Iran condemns fabricating such a pretext (the Holocaust) for the Zionist regime to commit genocide against the Palestinian nation and occupy Palestine, Ahmadinejad said in a live broadcast to mark the annual Al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day in the Islamic Republic.The Iranian nation and countries in the region will not rest until Palestine is free and criminals punished, he said in the speech before Friday prayers.Ahmadinejad has questioned the Holocaust but denied during a visit last month to the United States he was saying it never happened, only that the Palestinian issue was entirely separate.Opposition to Israel is one of the cornerstones of belief of Shi'ite Iran, which backs Palestinian and Lebanese Islamic militant groups opposed to peace with the Jewish state.
Ahmadinejad repeated calls for Canada to accept Jews.
Europeans cannot tolerate the Zionist regime's presence in their own region but want to impose it on the Middle East. Give them (the Jews) this vast land of Canada and Alaska to build themselves a home and resettle there, he said.Al-Quds Day was inaugurated by Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. It is held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.Tens of thousands marched in a rally to mark the day, including soldiers, students and clerics. Black-clad women with small children clutching balloons emblazoned Death to Israel were among those flocking the streets of central Tehran.Death to America, Death to Israel, chanted the marchers, many carrying portraits of Khomeini and his successor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
MILITIA MARCH
Volunteer Basij militia, covering their faces with Palestinian headscarves, marched while roaring Hezbollah fights, Israel trembles -- referring to the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group Israel fought a war against last year.We came here to show our support to the Palestinian nation and their resistance, said retired teacher Abdollah Hassani, 58, who joined the rally with his wife, carrying a sign reading Israel must be obliterated.State television showed footage of similar marches, held in cities across Iran on Al-Quds Day. Demonstrators in Tehran burned flags of the United States and Israel, which Iran refuses to recognize.The United States and Israel accuse Iran of interference in Iraq, through backing Shi'ite militias, and of sponsoring terrorism, including the Palestinian group Hamas and Hezbollah. Tehran denies the charges.
The United States and Iran, who have not had diplomatic ties since shortly after Iran's revolution, are also embroiled in a deepening rift over Tehran's nuclear ambitions. Ahmadinejad said Iran would continue its nuclear program despite international pressure, adding Iran wants to remove international concerns over its atomic work through talks.But if they (the West) want to start a new game it will have no result for them but regret, he said. Six world powers agreed last Friday to delay toughening U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear program until November at the earliest to wait for reports by U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei and European Union negotiator Javier Solana.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sanctions resolutions on Iran after it failed to suspend sensitive activities such as uranium enrichment.
Hard times fall on storied West Bank city by Joseph Krauss
OCT 5,07
NABLUS, West Bank (AFP) - A walk through the ancient streets of the West Bank City of Nablus offers a rare glimpse into the Asiatic opulence that once adorned cities across the caravan routes of the Middle East. But what was once a major Palestinian tourist and commercial centre has since the outbreak of the intifada in 2000 wilted in the face of checkpoints and near-daily Israeli military incursions.They call this the economic capital of Palestine but these days it is the capital of the unemployed, says Bilal Hamouda, a merchant in the ancient quarter.Having seen some of the uprising's fiercest battles, the Old City of Nablus has been transformed into a crude memorial to local fighters, its limestone walls covered with blast stains, militia graffiti and martyrs' posters.Seven years on, the situation remains tense, and the Israeli military has sharply limited movement into and out of the city, leaving merchants like Hamouda with lots of time to share local lore with visitors.Nablus is the oldest city in the world. When it was founded in 2,500 B.C. they called it Shechem, which means two shoulders, he says, as he leans back in a plastic chair across the street from his shop.Then the Romans renamed it Neopolis, or 'New City' -- the source of the modern name, Hamouda says in halting, practiced English.It's also known as Jebel al-Nar -- Arabic for 'Fire Mountain' -- after a legend that the town repelled Napoleon's armies by lighting a bonfire and frightening packs of wild animals into attacking the French cavalry.
Others call Nablus Little Damascus because of its underground springs and its Turkish-style Old City, a labyrinth of meandering walkways, stone arches, and covered markets.The Israelis still call it Shechem, referring to the two peaks that guard approaches to the city, from which the army now looks down on what it considers to be the most volatile town in the West Bank.The Israeli military says its troops have discovered 10 bomb factories in Nablus this year alone, and that 117 of the 187 potential suicide bombers arrested in the West Bank in 2006 originated there.
In one of its regular incursions, the army carried out in early September a massive three-day operation in a refugee camp in the heart of the city, arresting 49 alleged militants from different Palestinian factions and destroying several houses.In the wake of the Islamist Hamas movement's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, Israel and the West have vowed to improve daily life in the West Bank, still ruled by president Mahmud Abbas and the secular Palestinian Authority.
But Nablus -- with more than 130,000 residents -- remains under siege, with all traffic into or out of town having to pass through two checkpoints, and most vehicles banned from entering or exiting at all.It is supposed to be the economic centre of Palestine, but we have the worst economy in the West Bank, even worse than Gaza, says Majdi Abu Salha, who sells the sweet Nablus knafe pastries famous across the West Bank.In the Old City, which once thrived on Arab tourists from across Israel and the Palestinian territories, many merchants are struggling to stay in business.The economic situation is tied to the tourism market, and that has stopped because of the closures, says Yusef al-Jabr, owner of one of Nablus's last functioning Turkish bathhouses.The entrance, tucked away in the heart of the Old City, opens into a series of vaulted chambers with scattered stained-glass windows and marble floors heated by hot subterranean springs, a rare surviving relic of Ottoman luxury.Turkish baths, part of an ancient spa tradition handed down from Greece and Rome, can still be found in old cities across the Middle East and North Africa. But in Nablus, the baths are facing extinction. Jabr says his bathhouse is around 450-500 years old, but people still refer to it as the new bathhouse because the city once had far older ones. In 2002 the main steam room was struck by an Israeli missile. Jabr was able to repair the damage with some help from a brother living in the United Arab Emirates, but now he worries the bath's days are numbered.
I'm trying to preserve our heritage here but it is very hard, Jabr says. The people come, but just to look. They don't use the baths and so I hardly have any income. I would make more if I turned it into a more touristy place, like a restaurant.When Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967 there were nine bathhouses in the city, but since then most have been destroyed or transformed into other things. A few alleys down from Jabr's bathhouse another doorway opens into a vaulted chamber, its dry central fountain now surrounded by a handful of simple machines, all of them idle. The owner, Hamed Herzullah, converted the baths into a family-run candy factory decades ago, but now even he is feeling the crunch.
We used to have 20 employees working all day every day. Now it's just me and my family, and we only work two or three hours a day, he says. Behind him sits a table with stacks of tiny boxes, all filled with sweet powdered sugar-coated loukoum, or Turkish Delight. When they have money the people come and buy, but not now, Herzullah says. It's (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan, so business should be good. But the families around here are struggling to buy bread -- not sweets.
Bush says very optimistic on Mideast peace Fri Oct 5, 9:31 AM ET
DUBAI (Reuters) - President George W. Bush said in comments aired on Friday he was very optimistic a Palestinian state could be set up alongside Israel and that next month's Middle East conference could lead towards peace in the region. The U.S.-sponsored conference is due to take place in the Washington area in mid to late November, although there are doubts over how far it will go towards ending decades of conflict and uncertainty over which Arab states will attend.I am very optimistic that we can achieve a two-state solution, Bush said in comments on Al Arabiya television that were dubbed in Arabic.We will host the international peace conference and it will be attended by the interested parties and a delegation from the Arab League and it is an opportunity for serious ... discussions over the road forward to lead to a two-state solution and efforts will be made to reach this objective, Bush said.
I want to affirm that the two-state solution is part of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and that our strategy is for all parties to attend at the table for the sake of a comprehensive peace. We want to push this issue.Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed on Wednesday that formal negotiations on Palestinian statehood would begin after the peace conference.
But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has balked at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for setting a specific timeframe for the resolution of key issues including borders and the fate of Jerusalem and the Palestinian refugees.Abbas said on Thursday that formal negotiations for statehood could be completed six months after the conference.There is a lot of dialogue between the two men and I believe the Palestinians and the Israelis have realized that there is a vision that is worth working to achieve, Bush said.
ARAB DOUBTS
Aside from the Israel and the Palestinians, the United States would like key Arab states to attend the conference but is unclear how many will.Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said Damascus would not join unless the agenda also includes the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 war at the same time as the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.U.S.-ally Saudi Arabia, driving force behind an Arab peace proposal relaunched earlier this year, has also indicated it would not attend unless the conference addresses core issues.The peace conference is part of a U.S.-led effort to bolster Abbas and his West Bank-based government and to isolate Islamist group Hamas, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.Hamas, which has carried out dozens of suicide and rocket attacks on Israel, has rejected the conference.No one wants the establishment of a state that will be a launch pad for attacks on others, Bush said.We must support the Palestinian security forces, help President Abbas and offer him financial support so that Palestinian citizens can be assured that the life that lies ahead of them is better.
Palestinians flock to Jerusalem to pray By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer OCT 5,07
QALANDIA CHECKPOINT, West Bank - Thousands of Palestinians thronged military checkpoints on the outskirts of Jerusalem on Friday, trying to reach a major Muslim shrine in the city for Ramadan prayers despite an Israeli army closure. Israeli troops in jeeps, on foot and horseback were deployed at crossings from the West Bank into Jerusalem to control the crowds trying to get to the Al Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan draws to a close next week.At the Qalandia checkpoint north of Jerusalem, harried troops waved clubs, shouted and occasionally used stun grenades as tempers flared and frustrated Palestinians surged toward the roadblock. One elderly man fainted, and was treated by an army medic. No serious injuries were reported.Friday prayers at Al Aqsa regularly draw thousands of worshippers, and crowds are bigger than usual during Ramadan. Around 135,000 filled the mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, and prayers ended with no disturbances, police said.
Israel clamped a closure on the West Bank last week, barring Palestinians from entering Israel, citing concern of possible attacks during the seven-day Jewish festival of Sukkot. The festival ended Thursday, but the closure was slated to end Saturday night, the military said.Despite the closure, Israeli police had orders to let in West Bank men over the age of 50 and women over 40, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. More than 3,000 Israeli police were stationed around Jerusalem's Old City to keep order during the prayers, he said.At Qalandia, north of Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians, most of them elderly, pushed toward troops controlling access to the passage and argued with police checking ID cards.Maher Walweil, 43, said he left his home in the West Bank city of Nablus at 4 a.m. to get to Jerusalem in time for prayers — even though he knew the Israeli age restrictions left him little chance of getting in.There's a lot of soldiers here. What am I going to do against these soldiers? he said.In Iran, meanwhile, millions attended nationwide rallies Friday in support of the Palestinians and to protest Israel's continued hold on Jerusalem.The demonstrations for Al-Quds Day — Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem — also spilled over into anti-American protests because of U.S. support for Israel. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel's continued existence was an insult to human dignity.In Afghanistan, hundreds of Kabul University students marched in a Jerusalem Day demonstration there, burning effigies of President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.A possible division of Jerusalem, a city claimed by Israelis and Palestinians as a capital, is one of the key issues in a future peace agreement.Ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference, to be held later this fall, Israeli and Palestinian drafting teams are to write a joint document with principles guiding future negotiations.The document would address the so-called core issues, including the fate of Jerusalem, but not provide detailed solution, Palestinian negotiators have said.
Palestinian leaders want the conference to set a six-month deadline for negotiating a permanent Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty with Israel, Palestinian information minister Riad Malki said Thursday. Israeli and U.S. officials were cool to the idea of locking talks into a timeline.Malki said the conference is expected to back the declaration, and said the sides should then move swiftly to finalize the details. After six months of negotiations, all the participants would return to a peace conference, to endorse our agreement with Israel, he said of the Palestinian proposal. David Baker, an Israeli government official, said Israel is serious about negotiating a deal, but that this is not merely a product of how much time elapses.A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the conference, said the U.S. is not looking at timelines.The U.S. has not yet set a date for the conference or released a list of participants. The Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday quoted Israeli officials as saying it would take place Nov. 26. Palestinian officials said they were unaware of a date, but were told the conference would not be held before Nov. 22.
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