1-ROSH HASHANAH | THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS (DAY 2 IN ISRAEL). 2-Rosh Hashanah: Prayers, Shofars, Apples, Honey and Pomegranates. 3-Canadian fires raise Houston's ozone level. 4-Abbas tells UN new Palestinian government will recognize Israel. 5-Intel Introduces Laser Microchip. 6-Iran warns of lightning response to any attack. 7-Ahmadinejad Playing for Time as EU Willing to Negotiate Nukes 8-Betrayal! Washington will work with Hamas. 9-Havana NAM Summit and Rise of Third World. 10-Will the US attack Iran? 11-Euro-Med Trade Zone Possible by 2010.
GENESIS 1:14
14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:(ISRAELS HOLY DAYS AND SABBATH STARTS AT 6PM) And for SIGNS (PROPHECY SIGNS TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE, OUR DAY)
ROSH HASHANAH | THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS (DAY 2 IN ISRAEL)
The New Year
On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the Lord by fire -Leviticus 23:23-25.Thus we read the Lord commanded the Israelites to observe the holiday that has come to be known as the Jewish New Year. It is on this date that the calendar changes from one year to the next, as it does on January 1st. Apples dipped in honey are eaten to signify the hope that the coming year will be a sweet one.
The ram’s horn, or shofar, is blown on Rosh HaShanah to call Israel to a time of reflection or soul-searching, a turning back to their Maker Who is Holy. The plaintive blasts of the shofar command the attention of its hearers. It initiates a ten day period, the Days of Awe, culminating on Yom Kippur. During this season, God opens three books: the Book of the Righteous, the Book of the Wicked, and a third non-determined book, the names therein being yet to be destined.
It is the hope of every Jewish person to have their name written in the Book of Life at the end of Yom Kippur. Repentance and the Sovereignty of God are major themes of the Feats of Trumpets. Everyone will give an account of their lives before God Who will judge all mankind.
Rosh HaShanah is a one day observance that must be understood in the context of its relation to Yom Kippur. The two are known as the High Holy days by the Jewish community. Those who rarely enter a Jewish house of worship may observe these two holiest of days. The requirement that the blast of the shofar be heard at this time underscores its importance in fulfilling one’s religious duties. Today, that sound can be listened to via the Internet for those who simply cannot attend services!
The concepts of sin and restitution that this holiday evokes were not new to the Jewish community. Any reading of the Torah brings one to passages about sin, sin offerings, and blood atonement. The animals sacrificed to atone for Israel’s sin helped the Israelites to understand that sin was costly and significant. It was serious enough to God to move Him to give His people a system whereby their sins could be covered. Repentance was part of God’s expectations: If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me:
(Jeremiah 15:19). But repentance of itself was not enough; blood was required. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life (Leviticus 17:11). Without blood there can be no atonement.
The blasts of the shofar speak of eternity. All will stand before their Maker to give account (Romans 14:12). Yeshua (Jesus) has become the Sacrifice for our sins. Those who put their faith in Him find their names are written into the Book of Life. His death satisfied God’s righteous requirements for the punishment of sin. He is our sin-bearer. God made Him Who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21).
posted by bethelmessianic @ 7:08 AM
Rosh Hashanah: Prayers, Shofars, Apples, Honey and Pomegranates
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Alex Traiman(INN)
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year is a joyous holiday of prayer, repentance, sounding of the shofar, and festive meals. Arutz-7 will be closed throughout the 2-day New Year Festival. Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the first day of the month of Tishrei is considered the first day of the Jewish calendar year. Despite the fact that Tishrei is referred to in the Torah as the seventh month (the first being the month of Nissan) Rosh Hashanah represents the start of the new year for many Jewish cycles including the 7-year shmitah (agricultural sabbatical), and 50 year Jubilee.
Rosh Hashanah is the only festive holiday celebrated for two consecutive days in the Land of Israel. During the two days, Jews in Israel and abroad will spend the majority of their time in community synagogues, engulfed in prayer and repentance.In Jewish tradition, the Rosh Hashanah festival traditionally celebrates the yearly re-coronation of G-d of as the King of the world, with the Jewish people re-establishing their role as the King's loyal servants.The first day of the month of Tishrei is associated with the anniversary of the sixth day of the world's creation, the day on which Adam, the first man was created. Rosh Hashanah also begins the Ten Days of Repentance which culminate with Yom Kippur.
One of the most important aspects of the traditional service include the blowing of the Shofar, or ram's horn. The sounds of the shofar represent crying, and are intended to bring each individual toward deep introspection and repentance.Yet, the Jewish New Year unlike Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, includes festive meals as a central component of the Holy Day. Honey and apples, which now are in season in Israel, symbolize the hope and traditional Rosh Hashanah greeting for a Shana Tova U'Metukah, or a sweet new year.Rosh Hashanah traditions include eating certain foods that are considered as good signs, or omens. The Talmud teaches (in the name of Rabbi Abaye), Now that you have said that an omen is significant, at the beginning of each year, each person should accustom himself to eat gourds, fenugreek [an herb], leeks, beets and dates.
The foods are considered reminders to a person that receiving good things is dependent on his doing good deeds, on which he is judged on the new year, which also is called the Day of Judgment.Before eating each food, the tradition is to say, May it be Your will, our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers,and then complete the phrase according to each food. For apples, which one dips in honey, the phrase is, May You renew us for a good and sweet year.Israeli grown pomegranates are very popular on the holiday, as some say their sweet and plentiful seeds number 613, the same number of mitzvoth listed in the Torah according to the sage Maimonides.
For pomegranates, the phrase is, May it be Your will...that our merits increase as the seeds of the pomegranate.Many of the foods traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah have been selected based on puns of their Hebrew names. Beets, named selek in Hebrew, share the root of the word to get rid of something. On beets, one says, May it be Your...will that our adversaries be removed.On fish, the phrase is May it be Your will...that we be fruitful and multiply like fish.The head of a fish, or of a sheep, often is served with the expression, May it be Your will that we be as the head and not as the tail.
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.
Canadian fires raise Houston's ozone level
HOUSTON, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've determined Canadian and Alaskan forest fires in 2004 raised levels of ozone pollution in Houston, some 3,000 miles distant. A group of 15 scientists, led by Gary Morris of Valparaiso (Ind.) University, said the Houston area's average eight-hour ozone concentrations from July 19-20, 2004, were the highest of any July day during a five-year period. The researchers tracked the source of the ozone to smoke from major fires along the Alaska-Yukon border, which reached their greatest intensity a week earlier, July 12-14, 2004.
The team analyzed data from a variety of sources, including weather balloons launched from the campus of Rice University in Houston, NASA satellite instruments, aircraft and computer models. Their findings will be published next Tuesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres).
AFX News Limited
Abbas tells UN new Palestinian government will recognize Israel
09.21.2006, 10:01 PM
UNITED NATIONS (XFN-ASIA) - Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas told the UN General Assemblythat any new Palestinian government would recognise Israel.
I would like to reaffirm that any future Palestinian government will commit to all the agreements that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority have committed to,he said in a speech to the assembly.
Abbas referred in particular to letters exchanged by Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, in 1993 which contained mutual recognition of the two sides. Abbas, who has been negotiating with the Hamas group over a national unity government, said: These two letters contain a reciprocal recognition between the PLO and Israel, reject violence and call for negotiations to reach a permanent settlement with the creation of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel. Any future government will commit to imposing security and order, to ending the phenomena of multiple militias, indiscipline and chaos, and to the rule of law,he added. afp
Intel Introduces Laser Microchip
Santa Clara, Calif. (KCBS) -- There has been a major high-tech breakthrough with computer scientists at Intel saying they have developed a microchip that uses laser light.KCBS reporter Matt Bigler in the Silicon Valley Bureau said for years some of the top computer experts in the world had said it couldn't be done and that putting lasers on computer chips was the stuff of science fiction.
Intel has announced that it has developed a chip at its photonics lab in Santa Clara that combines silicon with lasers. The bottom line is that data is being transferred using a laser light, which makes it 1,000 times faster than anything seen before.It was simply unimaginable a few years ago,said KCBS technology Analyst Larry Magid. Every time people say things are going to slow down because we are reaching the physics limit of how fast these things will process, someone comes up with breakthrough technology and this is an example of this type of breakthrough technology.Intel officials said the technology is still years away from use by
consumers.2006, KCBS.
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 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)
Iran warns of 'lightning' response to any attack by Farhad Pouladi and Pierre Celerier Fri Sep 22, 7:01 AM ET
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) -Iran has warned Western powers the armed forces would hit back like lightning against any attack as it crowed over its military prowess and showed off firepower at a major army parade.
Thousands of members of the armed forces and the whole panoply of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal were on display at the parade, including the Shahab-3, a weapon whose range includes arch-enemy Israel.We want peace but we warn the expansionists not to think of an aggression against Iran as we can defend the fatherland and Islam,Vice President Parviz Davoodi warned.Our lions are so powerful that they can strike the enemy like lightning and destroy him,he added.
The comments of Davoodi standing in for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has yet to return from a visit to the United Nations in New York come at a time of mounting tension over Tehran's contested nuclear programme.The United States has never ruled out using force to make Iran comply over its atomic drive that Washington charges is aimed at making nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian energy purposes only.Iran has also never been shy of warning it would retaliate if the Islamic republic was attacked and the parade included its longest-range missile, the Shahab-3, which has the range to hit Israel and US installations in the Middle East.
Are you not proud to see the Shahab-3, a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles)?boomed the commentator over the loudpeakers as two green Shahab-3s were driven past the parade ground on the back of a truck.The missile was up until last year believed to have a range of 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) but Iran has worked on extending its range. The newest version of the missile with a bottle-shaped warhead was not displayed.The missiles appeared to lack the anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans that were daubed on the weapon at last year's event and caused European diplomats present to stage a walk-out in protest.A succession of other missiles were also on display, including the short-range Fajr-5 and the medium-range Nazeat-6 and -10, Shahab-1 and -2, and Zelzal-2.
Thousands of soldiers clutching their rifles marched past Davoodi and other dignitaries to the sound of martial music in an event that has become Iran's most significant annual display of its military might.The parade, which marks the anniversary of the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980, took place just opposite the mausoleum built for Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on
the outskirts of Tehran.Our armed forces have no need for their power to be based on atomic weapons, this power is based on our convictions,said Davoodi, restating Tehran's denial of US allegations it is seeking nuclear weapons.Davoodi also played up the importance of major war games that Iran has staged in the past month which have seen it claim the development of new missiles and warplanes.
In the recent manoeuvres the armed forces showed their power, notably in the areas that were once the monopoly of the great powers,said Davoodi.However foreign experts have expressed scepticism over the significance of such announcements owing to the
embargo on the purchase of new weaponry imposed by several nations on Iran in the wake of the Islamic revolution in 1979.The parade included more ageing hardware, including Russian T-72 and British Chieftain tanks whose original metalwork was visible through the repainting as well as 30-year old American Dodge military trucks. And while the United States remains the Islamic republic's sworn enemy, the police motorcycle brigade was still led by a red Harley Davidson Electra Glide.
We will resist until the end,proclaimed a slogan on the main grandstand erected for the parade, which coincided with a march to Beirut by supporters of Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah to mark its resistance against Israel.
Among the thousands of armed forces personnel marching past the main grandstand were ethnic minority members of Iran's Basij militia in their national dress, including Kurds, Baluch, and for the first time Arabs.
Ahmadinejad Playing for Time as EU Willing to Negotiate Nukes
By Hana Levi Julian(INN)
Iran’s president told reporters Thursday that negotiations with the European Union about the status of its uranium enrichment program were on the right path but said little else. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at a news conference in New York that the talks were moving in the right direction. It is a constructive path to take,he said, and expressed the hope that others will not disrupt the work.However, Ahmadinjead was not specific about when the Islamic Republic would actually suspend the program, despite his statement that he was prepared to negotiate under fair and just conditions.U.S. President George W. Bush remained skeptical about Iran’s true intentions, adding that he takes seriously Ahmadinejad’s repeated statements that Israel should be wiped off the map.
Bush said in an interview with the CNN news network, You can't just hope for the best. You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you say, 'Well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it,' and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader.Bush has refused to hold direct talks with the Islamic Republic until
it actually suspends its uranium enrichment program, saying the U.S. is ready for negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program only if they verifiably suspended their enrichment program. If Iran continues with its current nuclear activities, Bush said he is prepared to level sanctions against it. Other nations have expressed their preference to continue diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to end the program.
Meanwhile, former U.S. President Bill Clinton disagreed with his successor, contending in an interview on NBC’s Today show that the Bush administration should hold direct talks with Iran about its nuclear development efforts.
If you think you might have trouble with somebody and G-d forbid if you think it could lead to a military confrontation, then there needs to be the maximum amount of contact beforehand,he added.
Betrayal! Washington will work with Hamas
By Stan Goodenough,September 21, 2006
The United States has once more done an about-face and is now willing to work with a Palestinian Authority containing a strong Hamas component members of the terror group responsible for the murders of hundreds of Israelis, and deeply devoted to the total destruction of the Jewish state.Israeli officials went into shock Wednesday, after the Bush administration announced that it will, after all, go along with the other three members of the self-styled Quartet and support the establishment of a national unity government in the PA.Former foreign minister Silvan Shalom said the American decision, which spelled the end of Hamas’ isolation by the international community, had been made behind Israel’s back and amounted to a political collapse. Other government leaders were said to be surprised and worried by the news.
Nearly half of the lawmakers in the new national unity PA would be Hamas members. Most of the others would be representatives of the Fatah wing of the PLO another major terrorist organization whose crimes against the Jewish people have been swept under the carpet by a world increasingly determined to ensure that its vision for peace takes root in the Middle East whatever the cost.
The effort to conceive a PA unity government has been recognized almost universally as a ploy providing pro-Palestinian nations with the pretext they are looking for to resume funding the Palestinian Arabs.International financial support was restricted last January after those Palestinians voted overwhelmingly for a Hamas-led government.
When a beleaguered PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas recently revealed his plan to dissolve and restructure the PA with fewer Hamas individuals, the rest of the Quartet the United Nations, the European Union and Russia eagerly embraced the idea.But Washington, the primary sponsor of the peace process, initially refused to go along with the charade, bringing some relief to an increasingly dismayed Israel.Now, however, the US appears to have stabbed its Middle East ally in the back, and in the process dealt a blow to its own war on terror by extending political recognition to the very type of organization responsible for the 9-11 attack on America.And still US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the consummate diplomat denied what was blatantly obvious to observers everywhere, saying there had been no shift in her government’s policy.
She proceeded to explain, however, that if there was going to be any move forward with the stalled land-for-peace process, then the Palestinian government had to have international support.That government’s hands may be saturated with Israeli blood, but the same American administration that just granted a visa to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad another mortal enemy of Israel’s is now ready to do business with them.As always, payment will be made in Jewish coin.
Havana NAM Summit and Rise of Third World
By Sawraj Singh, MD FICS
The just concluded summit of the NAM (non-aligned movement) in Havana, Cuba showed that the third world countries are asking for a bigger say in world affairs. The NAM has 118 member countries, the majority of the third world countries. The Cuban President Fidel Castro was elected as the President of the movement. He was unable to officially attend the meeting because he had stomach surgery, but he met with many leaders. He spent 45 minutes with the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and even asked to have pictures with him. Raul Castro, the younger brother of Fidel Castro, acted as the host.
The major issues that were included in the declaration at the end of the summit were:
Condemnation of Israel for its attack on Lebanon
Call upon the United Nations to be more representative of its smaller member nations
Support for Iran’s nuclear energy plan
Criticism of many aspects of American foreign policy
There was much discussion on terrorism and in the final declaration, all types of terrorism were condemned. However, the thrust of the condemnation was of state terrorism such as Israel’s attack on Lebanon or any aggression by the powerful countries on the weaker countries.
In 1979, there was also a summit of the NAM in Havana. The tone of the summit was very different at that time. Fidel Castro discussed the concept of an anti-imperialist alliance with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was called a natural ally of the NAM.
However, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan bitterly divided the movement. Finally, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold war made the NAM almost irrelevant and unimportant. President Bush’s extreme rightist policies and his open support for Israel have created conditions for the revival of the non-aligned movement.
One fact very strongly came out of the meeting: the majority of Christian countries do not see a clash between Islam and Christianity. President Bush seems to be advocating a confrontation between Christianity and Islam. The Christian countries of South America and Africa see no conflict with Islam. Therefore, the major conflict in today’s world is not between Christianity and Islam, but is between the developing countries and the developed countries.
Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa emerged as the leading personalities from the non-Islamic countries. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was the most vocal Islamic spokesman. Ahmadinejad and Hugo
Chavez showed the growing closeness between Iran and Venezuela.
Hugo Chavez warned America against attacking Iran. He said that Venezuela will completely stop selling any oil to America and the world oil production will be drastically cut back, which can lead to a big jump in the oil prices, as much as 100 dollars a barrel.
At one time, India played the leading role in the movement, but its role has been gradually marginalized. The term non-aligned movement was coined by Prime Minister Nehru in a speech in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1954. In the speech, Nehru explained the five principles of peaceful coexistence, Panchsheel. These principles were first put forward by the Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai in the context of Sino-Indian relationship. These five principles laid the basis of the non-aligned movement. The movement was started in Bandung, Indonesia in 1955. The founders of the movement were Nehru of India, Sukarno of Indonesia, Nasser of Egypt, and Nkrumah of Ghana.
The 1962 war between India and China, and India openly taking the side of Russia in the conflict between Russia and China raised questions about India’s neutrality. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, India’s closeness with the United States further marginalized India’s leading role in the non-aligned movement.China has lauded the unique and indispensable role of the non-aligned movement and pledged to support a pro-active role for the movement. There is no question about the fact that a vast majority of the Asian, African, and South American countries see China as their leading supporter in the world.We sincerely hope that India will reconsider its policies and try to revive is non-aligned approach. After all, India was the country that gave the non-aligned movement to the world. The fundamental interests of the Indian people are identical with the people of the third world even today. The third world has once again become the major force for changing the present world order.
Dr. Sawraj Singh is Chairman of Washington State Network For Human Rights, and Chairman of Central Washington Coalition For Social Justice.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.
2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall 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.
Will the US attack Iran?
Growing tensions between the US and Iran are making many people around the world fearful of a US military strike against the Middle East country.Niall Mulholland
After the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) concluded that Iran failed to abide by a 31 August UN deadline to halt its uranium enrichment programme, the Bush administration demanded UN sanctions against the regime of President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad.
American officials also refer to the military option. However, UN Security Council members, Russia and China, which have important economic links to Iran, resist sanctions. If there was no UN agreement, the US may call for its allies to introduce economic blockades. In response, the Iranian regime argues it is not developing nuclear power to make weapons and it will not give in to the West.The Ahmadinejad regime is regionally strong and confident. This is due to Iran's oil wealth (it is the world's fourth largest oil producer), the recent military debacle suffered by US-supported Israel against the Iran-supported Hezbollah, and the powerful role of Iran's Shia allies in Iraq.
During Kofi Annan's recent visit to Tehran, the Iranian President lectured the UN Secretary General about Iran's growing power in the region and the world, compared to the fading powers of the US and Britain, who were paying a price for meddling in the Middle East.
President Ahmadinejad said he is willing to enter into negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme but would not agree to suspend uranium enrichment beforehand, as the UN Security Council had demanded. Is Iran trying to develop nuclear arms, as the Western powers claimed? Although Iran's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons, it is possible that sections of the Iranian ruling class want to build the bombs. However, the IAEA failed to prove that there is a weapons programme.
Nukes
THE WEST is supremely hypocritical: the major powers, like the US and Britain, stockpile huge arsenals of nuclear weaponry. Iran is surrounded by pro-US countries holding nuclear weapons, like Israel, Pakistan and India. Like Iran, Brazil is a signed-up member to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and announced it is now enriching uranium. But there are no threats against Brazil's government, which is regarded as friendly to the US.Socialists oppose all nations, including Iran, possessing nuclear arms.
The purpose of these terrifying weapons is to wipe out millions of innocent people and society's infrastructure. Workers and youth can have no illusions that the Iranian regime, in any way, acts in their interests.
Despite his anti-imperialist and populist rhetoric, President Ahmadinejad represents a reactionary, theocratic, capitalist regime. US sabre-rattling allows the Tehran regime to rally the population around national unity.The Bush administration regards Iran, part of the axis of evil, as a regime that stands in the way of US interests. US imperialism wants to subdue Iran and the Middle East, to give the US domination of the region's oil and gas resources. The administration resists attempts by other powers to foster real negotiations with Iran.
Bush certainly wants regime change in Iran, but would he go as far as to attack or even invade Iran? The Bush administration is a reckless 'executive' of the US ruling class, but even it can see that US imperialism's options are limited. Already bogged down in the Iraq and Afghanistan disasters, the superpower's military is hugely over-stretched. Bush is no position to try another military invasion in Iran, which is three times the size of Iraq and has a population of 70 million. A land invasion would meet severe, mass resistance. Sections of the US ruling class also counsel against military strikes. However, as the crisis between the US and Iran escalates, and as Bush desperately tries to regain domestic support by acting as a war leader, it cannot be ruled out that the US would carry out air attacks on Iran, possibly through Israel, acting as its proxy. This could lead to an Iranian military response and armed actions by pro-Iranian forces, like Hezbollah, in Lebanon, Hamas, in Palestinian areas, and the Shia militias in Iraq.
Iran could restrict or turn off its oil supplies, causing shocks to the world economy and even triggering a downturn. US air strikes would provoke outrage across the Muslim world, threatening pro-US regimes in the Middle East, like Egypt. Imperialist attacks would lead to more terrorism.The anti-war movement must strenuously oppose US imperialism's threats towards Iran and support the struggle by working people and youth in Iran fighting for democratic rights and their class interests. It is the task of the Iranian working class to overthrow the ruling theocracy, just as it is the task of the British or American working class to get rid of Blair and Bush, and to struggle for socialism.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
Euro-Med Trade Zone Possible by 2010
(AP) ATHENS, Greece
Industry ministers from European and Mediterranean countries said Friday they would work toward creating a vast free-trade zone by 2010.European Commission vice president Guenter Verheugen spoke at a two-day Euro-Mediterranean conference on the island of Rhodes.The trade zone would eliminate tariffs on industrial trade.The meeting was held under an initiative called the Barcelona Process, which started in 1995.It brings together officials the 25 EU members, along with bloc hopefuls Bulgaria and Romania and non-EU states Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey, along with the Palestinian Authority.
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH ISRAEL
1-Rosh Hashanah in a Nutshell. 2-Police raise level of alert ahead of holidays. 3-Hurricane Helene weakens, spins away from U.S. 4-Islam, Religion of Peace. 5-Canada’s National Broadcaster Promotes Anti-Religion Extremist. 6-Israel's FM Livny in UN Speaks Out Against Iran. 7-American Jewry Protests Global Jihad Outside UN. 8-Iran given till early October to accept nuclear deal. 9-EU-US free trade agreement mooted in Berlin. 10-EU Rapid Reaction Battle Group, Including Bulgaria, to be Certified in June 2007.11-UN moves to revive stalled peace process.
HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH ISRAEL, MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT USE AND LEAD USE IN ALL THAT IS HOLY. WE PRAY FOR USE TO RAISE UP LEADERS TO DEMAND THE 3RD TEMPLE BE REBUILT BY THE DOME OF THE SPIRITS.
IN THE FUTURE, THIS IS THE DAY ROSH HASHANAH, I BELIEVE THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27 WILL BE SIGNED ON.
Rosh Hashanah in a Nutshell
The festival of Rosh Hashanah --the name means Head of the Year --is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G-d's world.
Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashahnah, all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep, and it is decreed in the heavenly court, who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise.But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependant upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which represents the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the Ten Days of Repentance which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac's place as an offering to G-d; we evoke Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, the shofar is sounded 100 times in the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.
Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year's blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse, And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea.And as with every major Jewish holiday after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a blessing on the Challah.
Police raise level of alert ahead of holidays(YNETNEWS)
Efrat Weiss
Thousands of policemen, soldiers to be stationed at city entrances, recreation centers on Rosh Hashanah. Police also preparing for month of Ramadan In preparation for the holidays, the police are raising the level of alert throughout Israel in fear of terrorist attacks. Police Chief Moshe Karadi said Monday that the police have received warnings of the intention of terrorist organizations to carry out attacks during the holidays, and the police are preparedly accordingly. On the night of Rosh Hashanah, the police will be on the highest possible alert level throughout the country. Policemen will be in full operational deployment. The police will operate in a number of concentric zones, from the seam line to areas within the country. Thousands of policemen, border police, and civil guard volunteers, along with the aid of Israel Defense Forces soldiers, will take part in the deployment that will focus on the morning of the holiday in markets and cemeteries, and throughout the holiday at synagogues, vacation spots, parks, and civilian entertainment spots. The security activities will be reinforced and stationed at mobile checkpoints and entrances to cities.
Civil guard volunteers will be incorporated into security missions in synagogues throughout the country while intensively acting to prevent the entrance of illegal Palestinian aliens into Israel. There will also be increased traffic patrols. Policemen will patrol main traffic routes in order to make it easier for drivers and to reduce expected traffic jams. During the holiday, the police will report traffic jams and suggestions for alternate routes in the media. The police are also preparing for the month of Ramadan, which the Muslims mark from this upcoming weekend. Jerusalem Police will be stationed around the Temple Mount.
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.
Hurricane Helene weakens, spins away from U.S. 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
MIAMI (Reuters) - Weakening Hurricane Helene turned away from the United States on Thursday on a northeastern path that forecasters said would probably keep it over the central Atlantic Ocean. Helene's increasingly ragged center was about 505 miles
east-southeast of Bermuda, the U.S.National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was moving into an area where cooler water and shearing winds were sapping its strength and was expected to complete a northeasterly turn that would prevent it from reaching land.Helene was once a powerful Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale but weakened on Thursday to a minimal Category 1 with top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph).
Helene is the eighth named storm of the surprisingly mild 2006 Atlantic storm season and the fourth to reach hurricane strength.
Last year's Atlantic hurricane season saw a record onslaught of 28 named storms, with 15 strengthening into hurricanes. Forecasters initially expected the six-month season that began on June 1 would also be unusually busy.But several factors have combined to make the storms fewer and weaker this year, including the presence of Saharan dust over the Atlantic and the development of El Nino conditions.El Nino is a warming of equatorial Pacific waters and is accompanied by changing wind patterns that make it harder for storms to form or strengthen in the Atlantic.Forecasters also kept an eye on a tropical disturbance far out in the Atlantic about 700 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands but said it had not grown more organized overnight.
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 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)
Islam, Religion of Peace
By Captain Toke
After 9/11, the fear of backlash against Muslims caused world leaders, church leaders from all religions and even President Bush to come out in defense of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace, was uttered over and over. In November of 2004, a Muslim extremist murdered Theo van Gogh, grandson of Vincent van Gogh. Theo van Gogh made a film about violence against women in Islamic societies. He also wrote columns that criticized Islamic violence. Van Gogh had received death threats for his past works, but he never took them seriously. Salmon Rushdie on the other hand, another author who criticized Islam, did take the threat seriously when Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini condemned him to death for insulting Islam, the prophet Mohammed and the holy Koran.
In May of 2005, Newsweek ran a story, later proven to be false, that Korans were being desecrated by US soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Muslim outrage and threats worldwide, fueled by Muslim clerics and Arab news reports, put Americans and US soldiers at risk. Thousands of Muslims rioted, hundreds of people injured, and fifteen to twenty five people killed. When foreign newspapers ran cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Mohammed in a less than flattering context (although simply depicting Mohammed is a capital offense), there were more riots, violence and death. In a clever response, Iran's president sponsored a 'Holocaust Cartoon Contest'. How did the Jews respond to that? Not with violence.
Ramadan, one of Islam's holiest of holidays, traditionally results in spikes Muslim violence. Islam's holiest of holidays causes spikes in Muslim violence. Does any other religion's most revered holidays cause a spike in violence? Christmas suicide bombings? Yom Kippur riots? Easter beheadings? In a speech, the pope recently quoted a 14th century Byzantine Emperor. The quote criticized Mohammed's spread of Islam by the sword as evil and inhuman. The pope has since apologized if he offended Muslims. After being criticized for being violent, Muslims around the world responded with violence. Muslims around the world have rioted. Muslim leaders have called for the death of the pope. The pope has been burned in effigy. Christian churches in the West Bank have been bombed and burned. A Catholic nun in Somalia has been killed.
What happened after 9/11? In the Arab world, Muslims were dancing in the streets, celebrating the deaths of three thousand Americans. In America we were being reminded that Islam is a religion of peace.
Well the Bible does say, Christians and Jews will be hated in these last days. As the old saying goes "THE TRUTH HURTS". Even when I tell people what will be happening at Tim Hortons, I get odd looks, your nuts, or they just up and leave. ALL I HAVE TO SAY TO THESE MOCKERS AND SKEPTICS IS "GODS IN CONTROL" AND WE WILL SEE WHO WILL PREVAIL, AND WHOS FLESH SHALL BE CONSUMED BY THE BIRDS IN THE NEAR FUTURE FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 19:11-21
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.(KING JESUS)
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.(JESUS IN THE FLESH)
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Canada’s National Broadcaster Promotes Anti-Religion Extremist
Condemns all adherents of God-centered religion as would-be murderers
By Gudrun Schultz
TORONTO, Ontario, September 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A documentary condemning all adherents of God-centered religion as would-be murderers, including Jews, Christians and Muslims, is being promoted by Canada’s national broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Showcased by CBC Newsworld’s The Big Picture with host Avi Lewis, The God Delusion is a radical condemnation of God-centered religion. Scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, a man the CBC refers to as the UK’s best-known atheist, who holds a chair in the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, accuses Judaism, Christianity and Islam of plotting to destroy civilized science-based society.
There are would-be murderers all round the world who want to kill you and me, and themselves, because they’re motivated by what they think is the highest ideal, Dawkins says at the beginning of his documentary.The suicide bomber is convinced that in killing for his God, he will be fast-tracked to a special martyr’s heaven. This isn’t just a problem of Islam. In this program, I want to examine that dangerous thing that is common to Judaism and Christianity as well, that process of non-thinking called faith.To a background of film clips interspersing violence, car burnings and religious ceremonies, Dawkins warns of the danger posed by religious faith to science and rational thought, saying, the 21century should be an age of reason, but irrational militant faith is back on the march.
The time has come for people of reason to say enough is enough.Religious faith discourages independent thought, it’s divisive and it’s dangerous.Host Avi Lewis questions the intensity of Dawkins’ anti-religious fervor, acknowledging a fundamentalist totality in Dawkins’ rejection of religion.[A]s Dawkins categorically dismisses all people of faith (including moderates) as dangerous dupes, you’re tempted to ask whether he himself is demonstrating a certainty that borders on fundamentalism - whether his unshakeable faith in science is just as fixed as the beliefs of those he condemns.
Israel's FM Livny in UN Speaks Out Against Iran
By Hillel Fendel(INN)
At a UN General Assembly session attended by family members of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Israel's Foreign Minister called on the world to act according to its values and stand up to Iran. If we want to protect our values,Minister Tzippy Livny said, it is not enough to believe in them we must act according to them. There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran. They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world.Saying that the moment of truth had arrived, Livny continued, The international community is faced with no greater responsibility than to stand against this dark and growing danger not for Israel’s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our children to inherit.
What more needs to happen for the world to take this threat seriously? she asked. What more needs to happen to end the hesitation and the excuses? We know the lessons of the past. We know the consequences of appeasement and indifference. There is no place for such leaders in this forum. There is no place for such a regime in the family of nations.For any who still had doubts, the Foreign Minister said, the Iranian threat was exposed to all in the recent conflict in Lebanon. Armed, financed and directed by Iran, Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and targeted Israeli cities, but it was the hopes of an entire region that they aimed to take hostage. Out of the conflict and because of Israel’s response to it opportunity has emerged. But much is needed to turn opportunity into reality. Hizbullah can never again be allowed to threaten the future of the region. The world faces a critical test to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701, and the immediate and safe release of the Israeli hostages.
U.S. President George Bush, speaking with CNN on Wednesday, said that if he were Israel’s foreign minister, he too would be deeply concerned about Iran's threats to destroy his country. Asked how the US would react if Iran attacked Israel, Bush said, You can't just hope for the best. You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you say, Well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it,and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that the U.S. should continue to talk with Iran. Clinton told NBC, If you think you might have trouble with somebody, and [certainly] if you think it could lead to a military confrontation, then there needs to be the maximum amount of contact beforehand.
Livny's speech addressed both of the above points, noting that Iran threatens the entire world, not just Israel, and speaking of the dangers of hesitation and excuses.Iran's Ayatollah Haminai took the opportunity to warn that Iran's armed forces are sufficiently ready to give a response to any threat such that the enemy would be surprised and defeated.At least one U.S. Senator takes the Iranian threat very seriously. I think he's a Hitler type of person,said Sen. George Voinovich (R.-Ohio) about Iranian President Ahmedinejad, adding, I call him Ahmed-in-a-head. The Senator said, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week, that the Iranian leader has made it clear that he wants to destroy Israel. He has made it clear he doesn't believe in the Holocaust. He's a, he's a we all know what he is.
American Jewry Protests Global Jihad Outside UN
By Ezra HaLevi(INN)
A large number of protestors gathered opposite the United Nations building in New York Wednesday afternoon to protest against Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and demand the release of Israel's captives. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni, US Ambassador John Bolton, New York State Governor George Pataki, Holocaust survivor and author Eli Wiesel and human rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz, among others, addressed the crowd, which stretched down the streets and avenues surrounding the plaza opposite the United Nations. Also attending the rally and issue emotional pleas for the release of their captive family members were Carmit Goldwasser, wife of Ehud Goldwasser, and Benny Regev, brother of Eldad Regev both being held by Hizbullah after being abducted at the beginning of the recent war.
People are coming from as far away as California,Conference of Presidents Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein told Arutz-7 an hour before the rally began. The plaza is already filled with Jews, Christians, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics an unbelievable rainbow of the American people.Hoenlein doubted that any of the rally's speakers would issue calls for an attack on Iran to prevent the Islamic republic from attaining nuclear capability, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised the UN it would continue to pursue.
The purpose of the rally is to show solidarity with Israel and to demand the release of the MIAs, Hoenlein said. Leaders of the world meeting across the street will have a hard time not hearing our message and Ahmadinejad will know that his threats to wipe out Israel are unacceptable. The US is obligated to let him into the country, but we are obligated to let him know what we think.
More than 140 buses were on their way to the rally, organizers said, adding that many more people were flying in from across the country for the event.The rally enjoys one of the widest array of organization support in decades. Jewish organizations from Meretz to AFSI (Americans For a Safe Israel) have lent their support, and the Council of Torah Sages of the hareidi-religious Agudah movement have made the decision to support the protest as well, calling upon members of the movement to attend.In honor of the upcoming Rosh HaShanah holiday marking the Jewish new year, hundreds of shofarot, ram's horns, were blown in unison during the protest.The shofar has traditionally been blown both at times of trouble, to encourage the Jewish people to mend their ways, and during wartime, to rally the troops, demoralize the enemies of Israel and to signal Divine assistance for the Jewish nation.
Iran given till early October to accept nuclear deal
September 21, 2006
The United Nations or U-N Security Council, together with Germany and Italy agreed at a meeting on Tuesday to give negotiators more time to convince Iran to reach a nuclear resolution deal. Iran is believed to be enriching uranium aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran’s strongest critic, the United States has agreed to the latest extension. But pressed its partners to come up with a deadline to impose sanctions on Iran.
Will Iran respond positively to the October deadline?
Loretta Foo put this question to Dr Christoph Marcinkowski, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nayang Technological University, Singapore. CM: Well, it’s quite difficult to predict but from the experience with deadlines in the past, it is very difficult to pressure a country like Iran into following deadlines because from the self-perception of Iran, they perceive themselves already as a regional power and also matters of national pride are involved and I think that there will not be a positive response to a deadline. The President Ahmadinejad is actually not that popular in Iran. However the nuclear energy issue is actually what is at stake here from the Iranian perspective is very crucial for Iran. Large segments of the population regardless of their political setting, I think they will support him on that. To set a deadline is not that easy.
Why have the major powers given Iran multiple chances in complying with the nuclear deal?
CM: First of all, they know that all these sanctions will not be effective. Actually Iran feels itself in a very strong position and actually they are quite happy with the US involvement in Iraq. Actually they did the job that Iran was trying to do in the 1980s. US went into the trap, Iraq and they know basically of their weakness right now. They are offering several different options for Iran and from the Iranian perspective is a kind of weakness. The West is not united on that and they know that very well. Actually in the end if you ask me whether they want a bomb, I think, no but in the interest of Iran right now strategically speaking, maybe they are pursuing it. Whether they are close to it, I don’t think so there are some scholars from the Carnegie Foundation in the US who actually doubt it. The main interest of Iran is nuclear energy and the export of it to neighboring countries. The money coming in from that is in connection with the diversification of its economy. The oil will be finished in one day and the kind of income they would be interested in would be from the energy sector.
Why did the USA change its hard-line position regarding immediate sanctions on Iran?
CM: First of all the United Nations Security Council members, they are still not united over that because countries like Russia and so on have different interests. Beyond that of course, the United States has not military option to enforce anything on its own because of Iraq. Last but not least, the Lebanon war was a kind of test case. In the case of Iran, militarily speaking would be different from Iraq. The population of the United States itself, the approval rates of the President are on the lowest now. I would see that there are more diplomatic initiatives in the future. The disagreement of Iran and the UN Security Council over what it would mean for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment has been the main obstacle to the nuclear issue’s resolution. What other factors are involved in the issue?
CM: What Iran is interested in actually are security guarantees. I mean Iran sees itself also from historical experiences in the past. And Iran sees itself as a major regional power. I think it’s most important to stress that it’s not so much a matter of Islam or Shi’ism ad all that. It is more or less propaganda over some means to achieve some goals. Iranian nationalism is very important and it is an issue that can be somehow addressed if there would be some direct talks between the United States and Iran. That would be the major breakthrough. How to achieve that right now is difficult because there are still some propaganda issues on both sides. Iran feels that they are basically surrounded by unfriendly situations here. I mean if you look around, Iraq is already under occupation. I think it’s not easy fro them, regardless of what kind of regime is in power in Tehran. If that could be addressed somehow, I think things would be much easier.
How effective will the economic sanctions be in halting Iran’s insistence on uranium enrichment?
CM: Economic sanctions are somehow already in effect unilaterally from certain Western countries. The past experience is that these kind of sanctions have actually helped Iran to be more self-sufficient. A good example is the military sector and the economic sector. It is difficult to tell whether these sanctions will be successful somehow. That was Dr Christoph Marcinkowski, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nayang Technological University, Singapore speaking to Loretta Foo.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
EU-US free trade agreement mooted in Berlin
20.09.2006 - 17:35 CET | By Honor Mahony(EU OBSERVER)
Centre-right members of the German government are in favour of closer economic ties between the EU and the US, possibly resulting in a free trade agreement.According to a report in Germany's Bild newspaper, top CDU politicians - whose party is part of the ruling government coalition are increasingly calling for a transatlantic free trade zone.The paper says that chancellor Angela Merkel is also in favour of stronger cooperation between the two sides in trade issues.According to Matthias Wissman, head of the Europe committee in the German parliament, a free trade zone would be a great project for Europe and the German presidency.
Germany takes over the EU presidency at the beginning of next year for six months - being at the helm of the EU gives countries some leeway to push particular pet projects.This is not the first time the idea of an EU-US free trade zone has been mentioned Spain's last prime minister the centre-right Jose Maria Aznar also called for one in 2004 but his ideas were not taken up on an EU-wide level.Similarly, several MEPs and their counterparts from the US Congress, are members of the Transatlantic Policy Network, one of whose aims is to promote strong cooperation between the two sides on economic issues.A transatlantic trade zone would provide a counterbalance to the emerging economic power of China - with which the EU has been having a war of words, accusing Beijing of dumping cheap goods into European markets.
But any developments in this direction would likely be seen as a nail in the coffin of the stalled world trade talks, which collapsed before the summer.At the time of the collapse, trade officials warned that it could result in a series of bilateral agreements between countries last week the Conservative opposition leader in the UK suggested there should be an EU-India free trade zone.Trade representatives from 19 countries, including the US, are currently meeting in Australia to see if there is a possibility of reviving the talks, which failed mainly due to disagreements over farm subsidies in the EU and the US.The meeting will discuss compromise plans by the Australian trade minister Mark Vaile for the EU to cut agricultural subsidies by a further five percent and for the US to chop €3.9 billion from farm aid in a bid to revive the talks although the EU has already dismissed the proposal as not asking enough of the Americans.
We have to focus on the domestic politics of the European Union and the United States, WTO chief Pascal Lamy said, according to Bloomberg news agency. The question is whether countries have the courage, stamina and momentum to go this extra mile,he added.He said there was a brief window of opportunity to make the talks work referring to the fact that the current US administration's negotiating mandate runs out in July next year leaving only a short time for deal to get through the US Congress.
EU Rapid Reaction Battle Group, Including Bulgaria, to be Certified in June 2007 21 September 2006
Sofia. A EU tactical rapid reaction battle group, including Bulgaria, wil be certified in June 2007, the Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Army Gem Zlatan Stoykov said during a lecture on the topic of “Participation of the Bulgarian Army in the Establishment of European Defense Capacity. He delivered the lecture before members of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, a journalist of FOCUS News Agency reported.
Bulgaria is in the same battle group as Greece, Romania and Cyprus. Among them, Greece is a leading country. By the end of the year, the necessary agreements have to be worked out and signed. Bulgaria will participate with one foot-company in the group.
The EU has to form nine battle groups by the end of 2007, which will ensure a rapid response by the EU.Nikola LALOV
UN moves to revive stalled peace process
September 22 2006 at 12:04AM
New York - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday opened a rare ministerial meeting on how to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, but the United States blocked moves to release a council statement at the end, a diplomat said.The meeting, called for by the Arab League, was attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and foreign ministers from the major powers.But the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US delegation had objected to the meeting releasing a presidential statement which it feared would be used to attack Israel.
The United States had been reluctant to agree to the meeting, the diplomat said.In opening the meeting, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Annan said: The time has come rebuild the shattered bridge to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Our continued failure to resolve this conflict calls into question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of this council itself,he added.
The bridge to peace must be wide enough to accommodate all who have a legitimate stake in the process, long enough to span the enormous gulf of mistrust that separates the parties and strong enough to withstand efforts that will inevitably be made to sabotage it, the UN chief said. - Sapa-AFP
HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH ISRAEL, MAY GOD BLESS AND PROTECT USE AND LEAD USE IN ALL THAT IS HOLY. WE PRAY FOR USE TO RAISE UP LEADERS TO DEMAND THE 3RD TEMPLE BE REBUILT BY THE DOME OF THE SPIRITS.
IN THE FUTURE, THIS IS THE DAY ROSH HASHANAH, I BELIEVE THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY OF DANIEL 9:27 WILL BE SIGNED ON.
Rosh Hashanah in a Nutshell
The festival of Rosh Hashanah --the name means Head of the Year --is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in G-d's world.
Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d's dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashahnah, all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep, and it is decreed in the heavenly court, who shall live, and who shall die... who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise.But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependant upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d's kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram's horn, which represents the trumpet blast of a people's coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man's first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the Ten Days of Repentance which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac's place as an offering to G-d; we evoke Abraham's readiness to sacrifice his son and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, the shofar is sounded 100 times in the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.
Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year's blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year. c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse, And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea.And as with every major Jewish holiday after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a blessing on the Challah.
Police raise level of alert ahead of holidays(YNETNEWS)
Efrat Weiss
Thousands of policemen, soldiers to be stationed at city entrances, recreation centers on Rosh Hashanah. Police also preparing for month of Ramadan In preparation for the holidays, the police are raising the level of alert throughout Israel in fear of terrorist attacks. Police Chief Moshe Karadi said Monday that the police have received warnings of the intention of terrorist organizations to carry out attacks during the holidays, and the police are preparedly accordingly. On the night of Rosh Hashanah, the police will be on the highest possible alert level throughout the country. Policemen will be in full operational deployment. The police will operate in a number of concentric zones, from the seam line to areas within the country. Thousands of policemen, border police, and civil guard volunteers, along with the aid of Israel Defense Forces soldiers, will take part in the deployment that will focus on the morning of the holiday in markets and cemeteries, and throughout the holiday at synagogues, vacation spots, parks, and civilian entertainment spots. The security activities will be reinforced and stationed at mobile checkpoints and entrances to cities.
Civil guard volunteers will be incorporated into security missions in synagogues throughout the country while intensively acting to prevent the entrance of illegal Palestinian aliens into Israel. There will also be increased traffic patrols. Policemen will patrol main traffic routes in order to make it easier for drivers and to reduce expected traffic jams. During the holiday, the police will report traffic jams and suggestions for alternate routes in the media. The police are also preparing for the month of Ramadan, which the Muslims mark from this upcoming weekend. Jerusalem Police will be stationed around the Temple Mount.
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.
Hurricane Helene weakens, spins away from U.S. 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
MIAMI (Reuters) - Weakening Hurricane Helene turned away from the United States on Thursday on a northeastern path that forecasters said would probably keep it over the central Atlantic Ocean. Helene's increasingly ragged center was about 505 miles
east-southeast of Bermuda, the U.S.National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was moving into an area where cooler water and shearing winds were sapping its strength and was expected to complete a northeasterly turn that would prevent it from reaching land.Helene was once a powerful Category 3 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale but weakened on Thursday to a minimal Category 1 with top sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph).
Helene is the eighth named storm of the surprisingly mild 2006 Atlantic storm season and the fourth to reach hurricane strength.
Last year's Atlantic hurricane season saw a record onslaught of 28 named storms, with 15 strengthening into hurricanes. Forecasters initially expected the six-month season that began on June 1 would also be unusually busy.But several factors have combined to make the storms fewer and weaker this year, including the presence of Saharan dust over the Atlantic and the development of El Nino conditions.El Nino is a warming of equatorial Pacific waters and is accompanied by changing wind patterns that make it harder for storms to form or strengthen in the Atlantic.Forecasters also kept an eye on a tropical disturbance far out in the Atlantic about 700 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands but said it had not grown more organized overnight.
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 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)
Islam, Religion of Peace
By Captain Toke
After 9/11, the fear of backlash against Muslims caused world leaders, church leaders from all religions and even President Bush to come out in defense of Islam. Islam is a religion of peace, was uttered over and over. In November of 2004, a Muslim extremist murdered Theo van Gogh, grandson of Vincent van Gogh. Theo van Gogh made a film about violence against women in Islamic societies. He also wrote columns that criticized Islamic violence. Van Gogh had received death threats for his past works, but he never took them seriously. Salmon Rushdie on the other hand, another author who criticized Islam, did take the threat seriously when Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini condemned him to death for insulting Islam, the prophet Mohammed and the holy Koran.
In May of 2005, Newsweek ran a story, later proven to be false, that Korans were being desecrated by US soldiers at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Muslim outrage and threats worldwide, fueled by Muslim clerics and Arab news reports, put Americans and US soldiers at risk. Thousands of Muslims rioted, hundreds of people injured, and fifteen to twenty five people killed. When foreign newspapers ran cartoons depicting the Islamic prophet Mohammed in a less than flattering context (although simply depicting Mohammed is a capital offense), there were more riots, violence and death. In a clever response, Iran's president sponsored a 'Holocaust Cartoon Contest'. How did the Jews respond to that? Not with violence.
Ramadan, one of Islam's holiest of holidays, traditionally results in spikes Muslim violence. Islam's holiest of holidays causes spikes in Muslim violence. Does any other religion's most revered holidays cause a spike in violence? Christmas suicide bombings? Yom Kippur riots? Easter beheadings? In a speech, the pope recently quoted a 14th century Byzantine Emperor. The quote criticized Mohammed's spread of Islam by the sword as evil and inhuman. The pope has since apologized if he offended Muslims. After being criticized for being violent, Muslims around the world responded with violence. Muslims around the world have rioted. Muslim leaders have called for the death of the pope. The pope has been burned in effigy. Christian churches in the West Bank have been bombed and burned. A Catholic nun in Somalia has been killed.
What happened after 9/11? In the Arab world, Muslims were dancing in the streets, celebrating the deaths of three thousand Americans. In America we were being reminded that Islam is a religion of peace.
Well the Bible does say, Christians and Jews will be hated in these last days. As the old saying goes "THE TRUTH HURTS". Even when I tell people what will be happening at Tim Hortons, I get odd looks, your nuts, or they just up and leave. ALL I HAVE TO SAY TO THESE MOCKERS AND SKEPTICS IS "GODS IN CONTROL" AND WE WILL SEE WHO WILL PREVAIL, AND WHOS FLESH SHALL BE CONSUMED BY THE BIRDS IN THE NEAR FUTURE FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM.
REVELATION 19:11-21
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.(KING JESUS)
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.(JESUS IN THE FLESH)
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;(ARMIES AGAINST JERUSALEM)
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Canada’s National Broadcaster Promotes Anti-Religion Extremist
Condemns all adherents of God-centered religion as would-be murderers
By Gudrun Schultz
TORONTO, Ontario, September 18, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A documentary condemning all adherents of God-centered religion as would-be murderers, including Jews, Christians and Muslims, is being promoted by Canada’s national broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Showcased by CBC Newsworld’s The Big Picture with host Avi Lewis, The God Delusion is a radical condemnation of God-centered religion. Scientist and atheist Richard Dawkins, a man the CBC refers to as the UK’s best-known atheist, who holds a chair in the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, accuses Judaism, Christianity and Islam of plotting to destroy civilized science-based society.
There are would-be murderers all round the world who want to kill you and me, and themselves, because they’re motivated by what they think is the highest ideal, Dawkins says at the beginning of his documentary.The suicide bomber is convinced that in killing for his God, he will be fast-tracked to a special martyr’s heaven. This isn’t just a problem of Islam. In this program, I want to examine that dangerous thing that is common to Judaism and Christianity as well, that process of non-thinking called faith.To a background of film clips interspersing violence, car burnings and religious ceremonies, Dawkins warns of the danger posed by religious faith to science and rational thought, saying, the 21century should be an age of reason, but irrational militant faith is back on the march.
The time has come for people of reason to say enough is enough.Religious faith discourages independent thought, it’s divisive and it’s dangerous.Host Avi Lewis questions the intensity of Dawkins’ anti-religious fervor, acknowledging a fundamentalist totality in Dawkins’ rejection of religion.[A]s Dawkins categorically dismisses all people of faith (including moderates) as dangerous dupes, you’re tempted to ask whether he himself is demonstrating a certainty that borders on fundamentalism - whether his unshakeable faith in science is just as fixed as the beliefs of those he condemns.
Israel's FM Livny in UN Speaks Out Against Iran
By Hillel Fendel(INN)
At a UN General Assembly session attended by family members of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers, Israel's Foreign Minister called on the world to act according to its values and stand up to Iran. If we want to protect our values,Minister Tzippy Livny said, it is not enough to believe in them we must act according to them. There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran. They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world.Saying that the moment of truth had arrived, Livny continued, The international community is faced with no greater responsibility than to stand against this dark and growing danger not for Israel’s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our children to inherit.
What more needs to happen for the world to take this threat seriously? she asked. What more needs to happen to end the hesitation and the excuses? We know the lessons of the past. We know the consequences of appeasement and indifference. There is no place for such leaders in this forum. There is no place for such a regime in the family of nations.For any who still had doubts, the Foreign Minister said, the Iranian threat was exposed to all in the recent conflict in Lebanon. Armed, financed and directed by Iran, Hezbollah kidnapped Israeli soldiers and targeted Israeli cities, but it was the hopes of an entire region that they aimed to take hostage. Out of the conflict and because of Israel’s response to it opportunity has emerged. But much is needed to turn opportunity into reality. Hizbullah can never again be allowed to threaten the future of the region. The world faces a critical test to ensure the full implementation of resolution 1701, and the immediate and safe release of the Israeli hostages.
U.S. President George Bush, speaking with CNN on Wednesday, said that if he were Israel’s foreign minister, he too would be deeply concerned about Iran's threats to destroy his country. Asked how the US would react if Iran attacked Israel, Bush said, You can't just hope for the best. You've got to assume that the leader, when he says that he would like to destroy Israel, means what he says. If you say, Well, gosh, maybe he doesn't mean it,and you turn out to be wrong, you have not done your duty as a world leader. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that the U.S. should continue to talk with Iran. Clinton told NBC, If you think you might have trouble with somebody, and [certainly] if you think it could lead to a military confrontation, then there needs to be the maximum amount of contact beforehand.
Livny's speech addressed both of the above points, noting that Iran threatens the entire world, not just Israel, and speaking of the dangers of hesitation and excuses.Iran's Ayatollah Haminai took the opportunity to warn that Iran's armed forces are sufficiently ready to give a response to any threat such that the enemy would be surprised and defeated.At least one U.S. Senator takes the Iranian threat very seriously. I think he's a Hitler type of person,said Sen. George Voinovich (R.-Ohio) about Iranian President Ahmedinejad, adding, I call him Ahmed-in-a-head. The Senator said, during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing this week, that the Iranian leader has made it clear that he wants to destroy Israel. He has made it clear he doesn't believe in the Holocaust. He's a, he's a we all know what he is.
American Jewry Protests Global Jihad Outside UN
By Ezra HaLevi(INN)
A large number of protestors gathered opposite the United Nations building in New York Wednesday afternoon to protest against Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and demand the release of Israel's captives. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzippy Livni, US Ambassador John Bolton, New York State Governor George Pataki, Holocaust survivor and author Eli Wiesel and human rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz, among others, addressed the crowd, which stretched down the streets and avenues surrounding the plaza opposite the United Nations. Also attending the rally and issue emotional pleas for the release of their captive family members were Carmit Goldwasser, wife of Ehud Goldwasser, and Benny Regev, brother of Eldad Regev both being held by Hizbullah after being abducted at the beginning of the recent war.
People are coming from as far away as California,Conference of Presidents Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein told Arutz-7 an hour before the rally began. The plaza is already filled with Jews, Christians, Blacks, Whites, Hispanics an unbelievable rainbow of the American people.Hoenlein doubted that any of the rally's speakers would issue calls for an attack on Iran to prevent the Islamic republic from attaining nuclear capability, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised the UN it would continue to pursue.
The purpose of the rally is to show solidarity with Israel and to demand the release of the MIAs, Hoenlein said. Leaders of the world meeting across the street will have a hard time not hearing our message and Ahmadinejad will know that his threats to wipe out Israel are unacceptable. The US is obligated to let him into the country, but we are obligated to let him know what we think.
More than 140 buses were on their way to the rally, organizers said, adding that many more people were flying in from across the country for the event.The rally enjoys one of the widest array of organization support in decades. Jewish organizations from Meretz to AFSI (Americans For a Safe Israel) have lent their support, and the Council of Torah Sages of the hareidi-religious Agudah movement have made the decision to support the protest as well, calling upon members of the movement to attend.In honor of the upcoming Rosh HaShanah holiday marking the Jewish new year, hundreds of shofarot, ram's horns, were blown in unison during the protest.The shofar has traditionally been blown both at times of trouble, to encourage the Jewish people to mend their ways, and during wartime, to rally the troops, demoralize the enemies of Israel and to signal Divine assistance for the Jewish nation.
Iran given till early October to accept nuclear deal
September 21, 2006
The United Nations or U-N Security Council, together with Germany and Italy agreed at a meeting on Tuesday to give negotiators more time to convince Iran to reach a nuclear resolution deal. Iran is believed to be enriching uranium aimed at producing nuclear weapons. Iran’s strongest critic, the United States has agreed to the latest extension. But pressed its partners to come up with a deadline to impose sanctions on Iran.
Will Iran respond positively to the October deadline?
Loretta Foo put this question to Dr Christoph Marcinkowski, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nayang Technological University, Singapore. CM: Well, it’s quite difficult to predict but from the experience with deadlines in the past, it is very difficult to pressure a country like Iran into following deadlines because from the self-perception of Iran, they perceive themselves already as a regional power and also matters of national pride are involved and I think that there will not be a positive response to a deadline. The President Ahmadinejad is actually not that popular in Iran. However the nuclear energy issue is actually what is at stake here from the Iranian perspective is very crucial for Iran. Large segments of the population regardless of their political setting, I think they will support him on that. To set a deadline is not that easy.
Why have the major powers given Iran multiple chances in complying with the nuclear deal?
CM: First of all, they know that all these sanctions will not be effective. Actually Iran feels itself in a very strong position and actually they are quite happy with the US involvement in Iraq. Actually they did the job that Iran was trying to do in the 1980s. US went into the trap, Iraq and they know basically of their weakness right now. They are offering several different options for Iran and from the Iranian perspective is a kind of weakness. The West is not united on that and they know that very well. Actually in the end if you ask me whether they want a bomb, I think, no but in the interest of Iran right now strategically speaking, maybe they are pursuing it. Whether they are close to it, I don’t think so there are some scholars from the Carnegie Foundation in the US who actually doubt it. The main interest of Iran is nuclear energy and the export of it to neighboring countries. The money coming in from that is in connection with the diversification of its economy. The oil will be finished in one day and the kind of income they would be interested in would be from the energy sector.
Why did the USA change its hard-line position regarding immediate sanctions on Iran?
CM: First of all the United Nations Security Council members, they are still not united over that because countries like Russia and so on have different interests. Beyond that of course, the United States has not military option to enforce anything on its own because of Iraq. Last but not least, the Lebanon war was a kind of test case. In the case of Iran, militarily speaking would be different from Iraq. The population of the United States itself, the approval rates of the President are on the lowest now. I would see that there are more diplomatic initiatives in the future. The disagreement of Iran and the UN Security Council over what it would mean for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment has been the main obstacle to the nuclear issue’s resolution. What other factors are involved in the issue?
CM: What Iran is interested in actually are security guarantees. I mean Iran sees itself also from historical experiences in the past. And Iran sees itself as a major regional power. I think it’s most important to stress that it’s not so much a matter of Islam or Shi’ism ad all that. It is more or less propaganda over some means to achieve some goals. Iranian nationalism is very important and it is an issue that can be somehow addressed if there would be some direct talks between the United States and Iran. That would be the major breakthrough. How to achieve that right now is difficult because there are still some propaganda issues on both sides. Iran feels that they are basically surrounded by unfriendly situations here. I mean if you look around, Iraq is already under occupation. I think it’s not easy fro them, regardless of what kind of regime is in power in Tehran. If that could be addressed somehow, I think things would be much easier.
How effective will the economic sanctions be in halting Iran’s insistence on uranium enrichment?
CM: Economic sanctions are somehow already in effect unilaterally from certain Western countries. The past experience is that these kind of sanctions have actually helped Iran to be more self-sufficient. A good example is the military sector and the economic sector. It is difficult to tell whether these sanctions will be successful somehow. That was Dr Christoph Marcinkowski, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nayang Technological University, Singapore speaking to Loretta Foo.
DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).
EU-US free trade agreement mooted in Berlin
20.09.2006 - 17:35 CET | By Honor Mahony(EU OBSERVER)
Centre-right members of the German government are in favour of closer economic ties between the EU and the US, possibly resulting in a free trade agreement.According to a report in Germany's Bild newspaper, top CDU politicians - whose party is part of the ruling government coalition are increasingly calling for a transatlantic free trade zone.The paper says that chancellor Angela Merkel is also in favour of stronger cooperation between the two sides in trade issues.According to Matthias Wissman, head of the Europe committee in the German parliament, a free trade zone would be a great project for Europe and the German presidency.
Germany takes over the EU presidency at the beginning of next year for six months - being at the helm of the EU gives countries some leeway to push particular pet projects.This is not the first time the idea of an EU-US free trade zone has been mentioned Spain's last prime minister the centre-right Jose Maria Aznar also called for one in 2004 but his ideas were not taken up on an EU-wide level.Similarly, several MEPs and their counterparts from the US Congress, are members of the Transatlantic Policy Network, one of whose aims is to promote strong cooperation between the two sides on economic issues.A transatlantic trade zone would provide a counterbalance to the emerging economic power of China - with which the EU has been having a war of words, accusing Beijing of dumping cheap goods into European markets.
But any developments in this direction would likely be seen as a nail in the coffin of the stalled world trade talks, which collapsed before the summer.At the time of the collapse, trade officials warned that it could result in a series of bilateral agreements between countries last week the Conservative opposition leader in the UK suggested there should be an EU-India free trade zone.Trade representatives from 19 countries, including the US, are currently meeting in Australia to see if there is a possibility of reviving the talks, which failed mainly due to disagreements over farm subsidies in the EU and the US.The meeting will discuss compromise plans by the Australian trade minister Mark Vaile for the EU to cut agricultural subsidies by a further five percent and for the US to chop €3.9 billion from farm aid in a bid to revive the talks although the EU has already dismissed the proposal as not asking enough of the Americans.
We have to focus on the domestic politics of the European Union and the United States, WTO chief Pascal Lamy said, according to Bloomberg news agency. The question is whether countries have the courage, stamina and momentum to go this extra mile,he added.He said there was a brief window of opportunity to make the talks work referring to the fact that the current US administration's negotiating mandate runs out in July next year leaving only a short time for deal to get through the US Congress.
EU Rapid Reaction Battle Group, Including Bulgaria, to be Certified in June 2007 21 September 2006
Sofia. A EU tactical rapid reaction battle group, including Bulgaria, wil be certified in June 2007, the Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Army Gem Zlatan Stoykov said during a lecture on the topic of “Participation of the Bulgarian Army in the Establishment of European Defense Capacity. He delivered the lecture before members of the Atlantic Club in Bulgaria, a journalist of FOCUS News Agency reported.
Bulgaria is in the same battle group as Greece, Romania and Cyprus. Among them, Greece is a leading country. By the end of the year, the necessary agreements have to be worked out and signed. Bulgaria will participate with one foot-company in the group.
The EU has to form nine battle groups by the end of 2007, which will ensure a rapid response by the EU.Nikola LALOV
UN moves to revive stalled peace process
September 22 2006 at 12:04AM
New York - The United Nations Security Council on Thursday opened a rare ministerial meeting on how to revive the stalled Middle East peace process, but the United States blocked moves to release a council statement at the end, a diplomat said.The meeting, called for by the Arab League, was attended by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and foreign ministers from the major powers.But the diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the US delegation had objected to the meeting releasing a presidential statement which it feared would be used to attack Israel.
The United States had been reluctant to agree to the meeting, the diplomat said.In opening the meeting, held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Annan said: The time has come rebuild the shattered bridge to peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Our continued failure to resolve this conflict calls into question the legitimacy and the effectiveness of this council itself,he added.
The bridge to peace must be wide enough to accommodate all who have a legitimate stake in the process, long enough to span the enormous gulf of mistrust that separates the parties and strong enough to withstand efforts that will inevitably be made to sabotage it, the UN chief said. - Sapa-AFP
Thursday, September 21, 2006
WHORE AND BEAST IN PEACE PROCESS
Well heres the headline I have been waiting for, since the World Church will be commiting fornication with the Kings of the Earth,the church has to be involved in the Peace Process,especially the Vatican. And since the EU DICTATOR and the false World Church Pope in the future will work hand in glove, real close, the Inter-Religious community has to be involved in the peace process.
And also if the Religious community would not be involved, the 3RD TEMPLE would not get rebuilt because the Secularists and leftists could care less if the 3RD TEMPLE BE REBUILT. Its the Religious Jews that will want the 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT.
REVELATION 17:1-13
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(VATICAN)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Jewish ambassador urges religious role in Mideast peace
By JANICE ARNOLD ,Staff Reporter
MONTREAL - The Orthodox rabbi who is mandated to act as world Jewry’s ambassador to other religions told an international conference here that political leaders in the Middle East have made a fatal and tragic error in not recognizing the religious dimension to the conflict. There is a tendency to see religion as part of the problem and, therefore, to have nothing to do with it… They say you religious people keep away, you only make problems and mess things up, said Rabbi David Rosen, president of the Jerusalem-based International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, the umbrella organization that represents Jews in their relations with other religions.
But that is a fallacy. It fails to understand how profound religious identity is to the people involved. It can’t be ignored. If we don’t want religion to be the problem, we have to make it part and parcel of the solution. Rabbi Rosen was speaking a plenary session of World’s Religions After September 11: A Global Congress, a five-day conference that drew 2,000 participants from 35 countries,
representing more than 20 faiths and practices. He noted that in 1993, when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn,“there was not one identifiable Palestinian Muslim religious figure or identifiable Israeli Jewish religious figure there.
The exclusion of religion from the Oslo process may have led to the dangerous
religionization of the renewed conflict that he said has taken place over the past six years. Religion is now being exploited to exacerbate the situation, when it could have been harnessed as a constructive force, Rabbi Rosen suggested.
Today, religious extremists are the ones who are being heard, he said. Political leaders should give moderate religious voices a place in the search for a solution, he said. Our spiritual identity should be seen as a blessing and not a curse. After 9/11, I think there is a glimmer of understanding of that, he said. Rabbi Rosen was an initiator of the Alexandria Summit, held in Egypt four years ago, the first time Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders came together to approach the Middle East from an interfaith perspective. It had the endorsement of two enemies Arafat and Ariel Sharon, as well as the blessing of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom Rabbi Rosen described as having been hostile to introducing any religious element until then.
The British-born Rabbi Rosen, a former chief rabbi of Ireland, said it’s rare to find an Orthodox rabbi engaged in interreligious activity at any level, and that he is the subject of a great deal of criticism within my own community. Among his many achievements is being a founder of Rabbis for Human Rights. I’m criticized not because I care about Arab human rights, but because I’m working together with Reform rabbis,he said. This is the type of internecine nonsense that we have to move beyond. Sometimes I’m asked why I’m spending so much time with non-Jews. Well, it’s often much easier and nicer… It’s an easier task to be a foreign minister rather than a minister for home affairs.
He does see some progress, however. We managed to involve the whole spectrum of Orthodox rabbis and even ultra-Orthodox rabbis at the international conference of rabbis and imams [held in Seville earlier this year]. Many had never before met a person of a different faith. Rabbi Rosen believes that people of different religions have no choice but to dialogue, and that the three Abrahamic religions, and most Eastern religions, call upon their adherents to be merciful and compassionate. He conceded that this is easier said than done. When people feel wounded, it is more difficult for them to be compassionate. The answer is to treat them with more
compassion, in order that the overcome their woundedness and sense of alienation,
he said.
He stressed that everyone in the Middle East sees themselves as a victim. The Palestinians feel vulnerable to Israeli power. Israelis feel vulnerable in a sea of Arab hostility of which the Palestinians are fifth-columnists, and the Arab world feels demeaned and threatened by western culture and the failures of its own leadership. Everyone is waiting for the other side to take the initiative.
Rabbi Rosen said the people of the region must overcome the zero-sum mentality that support for one’s own group or partisan position requires insensitivity to others. While it’s true that the Torah gives Jews title to the land of Israel, Rabbi Rosen said, it does not confer the right to suppress the rights of others. That is against the fundamental principles of the Torah,he said.
A democratic and Jewish state is not a contradiction, he argued. In fact, if it was not democratic it could not be Jewish. The Torah makes clear that every person is made in the divine image and affirms the dignity of each person. Despite the ongoing conflict, Rabbi Rosen noted that interfaith activity is flourishing in Israel. He is a founder of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, which embraces about 70 organizations involved in interfaith relations. He said there should be more outside support for these activities. Rabbi Rosen is also an international president of the World Conference of Religion for Peace, which incorporates 15 religions in over 50 countries.
And also if the Religious community would not be involved, the 3RD TEMPLE would not get rebuilt because the Secularists and leftists could care less if the 3RD TEMPLE BE REBUILT. Its the Religious Jews that will want the 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT.
REVELATION 17:1-13
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(VATICAN)
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Jewish ambassador urges religious role in Mideast peace
By JANICE ARNOLD ,Staff Reporter
MONTREAL - The Orthodox rabbi who is mandated to act as world Jewry’s ambassador to other religions told an international conference here that political leaders in the Middle East have made a fatal and tragic error in not recognizing the religious dimension to the conflict. There is a tendency to see religion as part of the problem and, therefore, to have nothing to do with it… They say you religious people keep away, you only make problems and mess things up, said Rabbi David Rosen, president of the Jerusalem-based International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, the umbrella organization that represents Jews in their relations with other religions.
But that is a fallacy. It fails to understand how profound religious identity is to the people involved. It can’t be ignored. If we don’t want religion to be the problem, we have to make it part and parcel of the solution. Rabbi Rosen was speaking a plenary session of World’s Religions After September 11: A Global Congress, a five-day conference that drew 2,000 participants from 35 countries,
representing more than 20 faiths and practices. He noted that in 1993, when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and then-Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin shook hands on the White House lawn,“there was not one identifiable Palestinian Muslim religious figure or identifiable Israeli Jewish religious figure there.
The exclusion of religion from the Oslo process may have led to the dangerous
religionization of the renewed conflict that he said has taken place over the past six years. Religion is now being exploited to exacerbate the situation, when it could have been harnessed as a constructive force, Rabbi Rosen suggested.
Today, religious extremists are the ones who are being heard, he said. Political leaders should give moderate religious voices a place in the search for a solution, he said. Our spiritual identity should be seen as a blessing and not a curse. After 9/11, I think there is a glimmer of understanding of that, he said. Rabbi Rosen was an initiator of the Alexandria Summit, held in Egypt four years ago, the first time Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders came together to approach the Middle East from an interfaith perspective. It had the endorsement of two enemies Arafat and Ariel Sharon, as well as the blessing of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom Rabbi Rosen described as having been hostile to introducing any religious element until then.
The British-born Rabbi Rosen, a former chief rabbi of Ireland, said it’s rare to find an Orthodox rabbi engaged in interreligious activity at any level, and that he is the subject of a great deal of criticism within my own community. Among his many achievements is being a founder of Rabbis for Human Rights. I’m criticized not because I care about Arab human rights, but because I’m working together with Reform rabbis,he said. This is the type of internecine nonsense that we have to move beyond. Sometimes I’m asked why I’m spending so much time with non-Jews. Well, it’s often much easier and nicer… It’s an easier task to be a foreign minister rather than a minister for home affairs.
He does see some progress, however. We managed to involve the whole spectrum of Orthodox rabbis and even ultra-Orthodox rabbis at the international conference of rabbis and imams [held in Seville earlier this year]. Many had never before met a person of a different faith. Rabbi Rosen believes that people of different religions have no choice but to dialogue, and that the three Abrahamic religions, and most Eastern religions, call upon their adherents to be merciful and compassionate. He conceded that this is easier said than done. When people feel wounded, it is more difficult for them to be compassionate. The answer is to treat them with more
compassion, in order that the overcome their woundedness and sense of alienation,
he said.
He stressed that everyone in the Middle East sees themselves as a victim. The Palestinians feel vulnerable to Israeli power. Israelis feel vulnerable in a sea of Arab hostility of which the Palestinians are fifth-columnists, and the Arab world feels demeaned and threatened by western culture and the failures of its own leadership. Everyone is waiting for the other side to take the initiative.
Rabbi Rosen said the people of the region must overcome the zero-sum mentality that support for one’s own group or partisan position requires insensitivity to others. While it’s true that the Torah gives Jews title to the land of Israel, Rabbi Rosen said, it does not confer the right to suppress the rights of others. That is against the fundamental principles of the Torah,he said.
A democratic and Jewish state is not a contradiction, he argued. In fact, if it was not democratic it could not be Jewish. The Torah makes clear that every person is made in the divine image and affirms the dignity of each person. Despite the ongoing conflict, Rabbi Rosen noted that interfaith activity is flourishing in Israel. He is a founder of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, which embraces about 70 organizations involved in interfaith relations. He said there should be more outside support for these activities. Rabbi Rosen is also an international president of the World Conference of Religion for Peace, which incorporates 15 religions in over 50 countries.
HEZBOLLAH CLAIMS DIVINE VICTORY OVER ISRAEL
1-Another small quake hits Lake County. 2-Weakened Gordon aims for Spain, Portugal. 3-Dozens die, hundreds missing in South Asia storms. 4-UN troop numbers reach 5,000 in Lebanon. 5-At U.N., Chavez calls Bush the devil. 6-Israel Targets Alleged Iranian Funding of Palestinian Terror. 7-Hezbollah preparing to celebrate divine victory over Israel.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 20, 2006
Another small quake hits Lake County, goes unnoticed by residents
Associated Press
PAINESVILLE, Ohio - Northeast Ohio has recorded another in a flurry of light earthquakes, but this time there were no reports of people feeling it, officials said.A 2.2-magnitude earthquake hit about two miles northeast of Painesville in Lake County Thursday morning, said Mike Hansen, the director of the Ohio Seismic Network. It was in the same area of the Lake Erie shoreline that has had 16 low-intensity earthquakes since November, he said.Researchers who measure the quakes with 25 remote sensors don't know what's causing the rash of small earthquakes, Hansen said. It's possible they've always occurred but there was no measuring equipment to detect them.
Before the latest earthquake, it had been a month since one had hit, Hansen said.The biggest of the recent earthquakes was recorded June 20 and measured 3.8. By comparison, the deadly quake that hit the Northridge area of Los Angeles in 1994 was a 6.7 magnitude.Lake County's quakes result from a fault, or crack, that is under pressure, one of a number of faults in Ohio, most of them under the sedimentary bedrock. The fault is under pressure from the East Coast, pushing westward, Hansen said.Lima in northwest Ohio was hit by small earthquakes in May and August, but Hansen said they were not related to the northeast Ohio quakes.ON THE NET:Ohio Seismic Network: http://www.ohiodnr.com/ohioseis
Information from: The News-Herald, http://www.news-herald.com/jrc-html/index/index_p33.html
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.
Sept. 20, 2006, 10:35AM
Weakened Gordon aims for Spain, Portugal
© 2006 The Associated Press
MIAMI / Tropical Storm Gordon, downgraded from a hurricane Wednesday, approached portions of Spain and Portugal as it moved rapidly away from the sparsely populated Azores Islands.Gordon was expected to join another weather system before it neared the Iberian peninsula later Wednesday or Thursday, said forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It would be similar to the strong winter storms normal in those areas in Europe.The Galicia region in northwest Spain has been placed on red alert the highest level and 11 other regions of Spain as far east as Madrid and south to Andalusia were put on lower levels of warning, said Angel Rivera, a spokesman for Spain's National Weather Institute.Galicia was scorched by forest fires last month, so crews set up barriers on coastal areas to keep ash from flowing into the Atlantic and damaging the region's lucrative fishing and seafood industry.
At 11 a.m. EDT, Gordon had top sustained winds of 60 mph, down from 75 mph earlier in the day. Hurricanes have winds of at least 74 mph. The storm was moving east near 33 mph and its center was about 625 miles west of Portugal's coast.In the Azores as a hurricane, Gordon moved between the islands of Sao Miguel and Santa Maria. The eye didn't make landfall and sustained wind of 56 mph was recorded on land, said Mark Willis, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.Authorities in Portugal's islands said they received no reports of major damage or injury and hurricane warnings were discontinued in the sparsely populated chain.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Helene moved northeast in the open Atlantic and was expected to remain well east of Bermuda, forecasters said. It had top sustained winds of 105 mph.At 11 a.m., it was centered about 670 miles southeast of Bermuda and moving toward the northwest near 12 mph. A gradual turn to the north was expected, forecasters said.The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. September is traditionally one of the busiest months of the season.
Dozens die, hundreds missing in South Asia storms
20 Sep 2006 11:24:33 GMT,Source: Reuters
HYDERABAD, India/DHAKA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Storms caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal have killed more than 40 people in eastern India and Bangladesh and left hundreds of fishermen missing at sea, officials said on Wednesday.Thousands of people have been left homeless.Most of the deaths came in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where heavy rains and strong winds caused flash floods. More than 31 people have been killed since Monday night, most from drowning and house collapses.In West Bengal state in India's east, at least 12 people were killed after a storm hit on Tuesday night. Hundreds of trawlers were reported missing and authorities said more 15,000 people had been left homeless.
Some people died in their sleep when their houses were hit by the storm,West Bengal government official Santanu Basu said.In Bangladesh, three fishermen drowned and more than 100 were unaccounted for and feared dead after they were caught in rough seas and strong winds on Tuesday night.A naval vessel with 40 crew ran aground at an island off Mongla port during the storm. The crew were rescued on Wednesday by a navy helicopter and three coastguard vessels.But the coast guard said it was waiting for the sea to calm before launching major rescue operations for the missing fishermen.Fishing groups said they feared bad news.
As per estimates available from returning fishing crew, we suspect more than 100 fishermen may have drowned,said Abdus Sobhan, president of the fishing boat owners association in the coastal town of Barisal, 225 km (130 miles) from Dhaka.
(Reporting by Manas Bannerjee in MALDA, S. Radha Kumar in HYDERABAD and Anis Ahmed in DHAKA)
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)
UN troop numbers reach 5,000 in Lebanon
(AFP),20 September 2006
NAQURA, Lebanon - The number of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon has climbed to 5,000, meeting a condition set by Israel to withdraw from its northern neighbor, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz confirmed the last soldiers would leave southern Lebanon by Friday, ending a two-month occupation launched during Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.We have reached the 5,000 troops. The first phase of the UNIFIL deployment is now completed,said Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which aims to build up a contingent of 15,000 soldiers.The pre-war number of about 2,000 UNIFIL troops, he told AFP, had now been boosted by three new battalions from France, Italy and Spain, although it would still take weeks for all the new land-based troops to be deployed in the south.
Troops from other countries, notably Indonesia, would follow in October and November, he said, warning that the operation was posing a logistical nightmare for UNIFIL.Israeli forces have remained in south Lebanon for more than a month after an August 14 ceasefire came into effect ending the deadly 34-day war between the Jewish state and Shia guerrillas of Hezbollah.Israeli troops have gradually redeployed south of the volatile border as the French-led UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese army assume control in southern Lebanon the latter for the first time in four decades.The French battalion in UNIFIL on Wednesday deployed another 10 Leclerc battle tanks in south Lebanon, completing its consignment of 13 of the tanks appearing for the first time in UN colours.
The high-tech Leclerc has been deployed abroad only once before, as part of French forces operating under NATO in Kosovo in 1999-2002.The reinforced French battalion now numbers 900 soldiers, who landed at Beirut port last week. Their contribution to UNIFIL is to rise to a total of 2,000 men.
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 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)
Sept. 20, 2006, 11:44AM
At U.N., Chavez calls Bush the devil
By KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS / Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling President Bush the devil.The impassioned speech by the leftist leader came a day after Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparred over Tehran's disputed nuclear program but managed to avoid a personal encounter.The devil came here yesterday,Chavez said, referring to Bush's address on Tuesday and making the sign of the cross. He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world.Chavez, who has joined Iran in opposing U.S. influence, accused Washington of domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world.
We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head, he said.
He also said the U.N. doesn't work in its current system and is antidemocratic.He called for reform, saying the U.S. government's immoral veto had allowed recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon to continue unabated for more than a month.Chavez spoke on the second day of the annual ministerial meetings, which were overshadowed by an ambitious agenda of sideline talks.The Mideast peace process also was in the spotlight, with ministers from the Quartet that drafted the stalled road map the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia planning to meet. The Security Council also was scheduled to hold a ministerial meeting Thursday that Arab leaders hope will help revive the Mideast peace process.
Bush tried to advance his campaign for democracy in the Middle East during his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying extremists were trying to justify their violence by falsely claiming the U.S. is waging war on Islam. He singled out Iran and Syria as sponsors of terrorism.Bush also pointed to Tehran's rejection of a Security Council demand to stop enriching uranium by Aug. 31 or face the possibility of sanctions. But he addressed his remarks to the Iranian people in a clear insult to the government.
The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons, the U.S. leader said.Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, he said. Despite what the regime tells you, we have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program.
He said he hoped to see the day when you can live in freedom, and America and Iran can be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.Ahmadinejad took the podium hours later, denouncing U.S. policies in Iraq and Lebanon and accusing Washington of abusing its power in the Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies.The hard-line leader insisted that his nation's nuclear activities are transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. He also reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad proposed a debate with Bush at the General Assembly's ministerial meeting after the White House dismissed a previous TV debate proposal as a diversion from serious concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
But even though the two leaders spoke from the same podium, they skipped each other's addresses and managed to avoid direct contact during the ministerial meeting.Also on Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that terrorism is rebounding in his country and said efforts to build democracy there had suffered setbacks over the past year as violence increased, especially in the volatile south.We have seen terrorism rebounding as terrorists have infiltrated our borders to step up their murderous campaign against our people,he told the General Assembly.He said the situation was so bad it had contributed to a rise in polio from four cases in 2005 to 27 this year because health workers were unable to reach the region.But he said the problem had to be fought beyond Afghanistan's borders as well as within.We must look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism,he said.We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan.He also expressed concern about the increased incidents of Islamophobia in the West,saying it does not bode well for the cause of building understanding and cooperation across civilizations.
The crisis in the ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur also was on the agenda Wednesday, with the African Union's Peace and Security Council meeting to discuss breaking the deadlock over a plan to replace an AU force with U.N. peacekeepers.The Sudanese president said his country won't allow the United Nations to take control of peacekeepers in Darfur under any circumstance, claiming that rights groups have exaggerated the crisis there in a bid for more cash.But Omar al-Bashir did say that the African Union, which now runs the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, should be allowed to augment its forces with more logistics, advisers and other support.We want the African Union to remain in Darfur until peace is re-established in Sudan,al-Bashir said at a news conference. Those comments suggest that the African Union will not face any resistance in renewing the peacekeeping force's mandate, which expires Sept. 30.AP Writer Ian James contributed to this story.
Israel Targets Alleged Iranian Funding of Palestinian Terror
By Robert Berger ,Jerusalem,20 September 2006(VOA)
An Israeli sweep in the West Bank has targeted alleged funding for Palestinian terrorism. Israel is accusing Iran of trying to increase its influence in the cash strapped Palestinian territories. Palestinians sit in front of damaged currency exchange office raided by Israeli army in Ramallah, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 Israeli troops raided the homes and offices of 14 Palestinian money changers in four West Bank towns, confiscating nearly $1.5 million. The army said the money came mostly from Iran and was earmarked for terrorism. It said the cash traveled through Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah offices in Syria and Lebanon. Palestinian militant groups were allegedly using the money to produce explosives belts, rockets and car bombs. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says Israel wants to make sure.That that money won't come back to haunt us all in suicide bombings,he said.
Israel says Iran has been increasingly supporting terrorism in the Palestinian territories since the election of the Islamic militant group Hamas in January. Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, has sought alternative funding because it is broke in the wake of international sanctions. No one wants to deal with this Hamas regime, which is of course very extreme and refuses to renounce terrorism,Regev said.But while money may be reaching militants, most ordinary Palestinians are in financial straits. Hamas has been unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 government employees for six months and Israel fears a humanitarian crisis. Regev says it's a dilemma.
And I think the challenge that we have now is to create a mechanism whereby there is direct support for the Palestinian people and, at the same time, that that mechanism will bypass the Hamas government, he said.While Palestinians initially blamed Israel and the United States for the economic crisis, their anger is now directed toward the Hamas government. Civil servants and school teachers have been on strike for three weeks, demanding their salaries.
Middle East News
Hezbollah preparing to celebrate divine victory over Israel
Sep 20, 2006, 16:13 GMT
Beirut - The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah continued Wednesday preparations to celebrate what they described as 'divine victory' over against Israel. Although it was unclear whether Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would attend, preparations for the massive rally on Friday were under way amid very tight security. Nasrallah is regarded by Israel as a top enemy. Nasrallah announced the rally earlier this week in a televised speech. Hezbollah press officer Hussein Rahal said the rally was being prepared in an open site inside Beirut's southern suburbs.
Nasrallah has not been seen in public since hostilities broke out after Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12. But the Hezbollah chief has made several appearances in interviews on Arab satellite television channels. We are preparing for the big day, the celebration for the big victory against the American and Zionist plots in Lebanon,said Alia Zeineddine, a Hezbollah follower.
Pictures of Nasrallah were erected all over Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah hotbed, with posters proclaiming a 'divine victory' covered the roads leading to Beirut international airport. The celebration was going ahead in a district that suffered massive damage from daily Israeli raids. Hezbollah says around 15,000 apartment buildings were destroyed. It offered 12,000 dollars for each each damaged apartment to enable the people to rent a house for one year and buy furniture.
Hezbollah and Israeli troops engaged in fierce fighting for 33 days until a UN-brokered ceasefire was implemented on August 14. More than 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed and 3,000 wounded. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 20, 2006
Another small quake hits Lake County, goes unnoticed by residents
Associated Press
PAINESVILLE, Ohio - Northeast Ohio has recorded another in a flurry of light earthquakes, but this time there were no reports of people feeling it, officials said.A 2.2-magnitude earthquake hit about two miles northeast of Painesville in Lake County Thursday morning, said Mike Hansen, the director of the Ohio Seismic Network. It was in the same area of the Lake Erie shoreline that has had 16 low-intensity earthquakes since November, he said.Researchers who measure the quakes with 25 remote sensors don't know what's causing the rash of small earthquakes, Hansen said. It's possible they've always occurred but there was no measuring equipment to detect them.
Before the latest earthquake, it had been a month since one had hit, Hansen said.The biggest of the recent earthquakes was recorded June 20 and measured 3.8. By comparison, the deadly quake that hit the Northridge area of Los Angeles in 1994 was a 6.7 magnitude.Lake County's quakes result from a fault, or crack, that is under pressure, one of a number of faults in Ohio, most of them under the sedimentary bedrock. The fault is under pressure from the East Coast, pushing westward, Hansen said.Lima in northwest Ohio was hit by small earthquakes in May and August, but Hansen said they were not related to the northeast Ohio quakes.ON THE NET:Ohio Seismic Network: http://www.ohiodnr.com/ohioseis
Information from: The News-Herald, http://www.news-herald.com/jrc-html/index/index_p33.html
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.
Sept. 20, 2006, 10:35AM
Weakened Gordon aims for Spain, Portugal
© 2006 The Associated Press
MIAMI / Tropical Storm Gordon, downgraded from a hurricane Wednesday, approached portions of Spain and Portugal as it moved rapidly away from the sparsely populated Azores Islands.Gordon was expected to join another weather system before it neared the Iberian peninsula later Wednesday or Thursday, said forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It would be similar to the strong winter storms normal in those areas in Europe.The Galicia region in northwest Spain has been placed on red alert the highest level and 11 other regions of Spain as far east as Madrid and south to Andalusia were put on lower levels of warning, said Angel Rivera, a spokesman for Spain's National Weather Institute.Galicia was scorched by forest fires last month, so crews set up barriers on coastal areas to keep ash from flowing into the Atlantic and damaging the region's lucrative fishing and seafood industry.
At 11 a.m. EDT, Gordon had top sustained winds of 60 mph, down from 75 mph earlier in the day. Hurricanes have winds of at least 74 mph. The storm was moving east near 33 mph and its center was about 625 miles west of Portugal's coast.In the Azores as a hurricane, Gordon moved between the islands of Sao Miguel and Santa Maria. The eye didn't make landfall and sustained wind of 56 mph was recorded on land, said Mark Willis, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.Authorities in Portugal's islands said they received no reports of major damage or injury and hurricane warnings were discontinued in the sparsely populated chain.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Helene moved northeast in the open Atlantic and was expected to remain well east of Bermuda, forecasters said. It had top sustained winds of 105 mph.At 11 a.m., it was centered about 670 miles southeast of Bermuda and moving toward the northwest near 12 mph. A gradual turn to the north was expected, forecasters said.The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. September is traditionally one of the busiest months of the season.
Dozens die, hundreds missing in South Asia storms
20 Sep 2006 11:24:33 GMT,Source: Reuters
HYDERABAD, India/DHAKA, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Storms caused by a depression in the Bay of Bengal have killed more than 40 people in eastern India and Bangladesh and left hundreds of fishermen missing at sea, officials said on Wednesday.Thousands of people have been left homeless.Most of the deaths came in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where heavy rains and strong winds caused flash floods. More than 31 people have been killed since Monday night, most from drowning and house collapses.In West Bengal state in India's east, at least 12 people were killed after a storm hit on Tuesday night. Hundreds of trawlers were reported missing and authorities said more 15,000 people had been left homeless.
Some people died in their sleep when their houses were hit by the storm,West Bengal government official Santanu Basu said.In Bangladesh, three fishermen drowned and more than 100 were unaccounted for and feared dead after they were caught in rough seas and strong winds on Tuesday night.A naval vessel with 40 crew ran aground at an island off Mongla port during the storm. The crew were rescued on Wednesday by a navy helicopter and three coastguard vessels.But the coast guard said it was waiting for the sea to calm before launching major rescue operations for the missing fishermen.Fishing groups said they feared bad news.
As per estimates available from returning fishing crew, we suspect more than 100 fishermen may have drowned,said Abdus Sobhan, president of the fishing boat owners association in the coastal town of Barisal, 225 km (130 miles) from Dhaka.
(Reporting by Manas Bannerjee in MALDA, S. Radha Kumar in HYDERABAD and Anis Ahmed in DHAKA)
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)
UN troop numbers reach 5,000 in Lebanon
(AFP),20 September 2006
NAQURA, Lebanon - The number of UN peacekeepers in Lebanon has climbed to 5,000, meeting a condition set by Israel to withdraw from its northern neighbor, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz confirmed the last soldiers would leave southern Lebanon by Friday, ending a two-month occupation launched during Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas.We have reached the 5,000 troops. The first phase of the UNIFIL deployment is now completed,said Alexander Ivanko, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which aims to build up a contingent of 15,000 soldiers.The pre-war number of about 2,000 UNIFIL troops, he told AFP, had now been boosted by three new battalions from France, Italy and Spain, although it would still take weeks for all the new land-based troops to be deployed in the south.
Troops from other countries, notably Indonesia, would follow in October and November, he said, warning that the operation was posing a logistical nightmare for UNIFIL.Israeli forces have remained in south Lebanon for more than a month after an August 14 ceasefire came into effect ending the deadly 34-day war between the Jewish state and Shia guerrillas of Hezbollah.Israeli troops have gradually redeployed south of the volatile border as the French-led UNIFIL forces and the Lebanese army assume control in southern Lebanon the latter for the first time in four decades.The French battalion in UNIFIL on Wednesday deployed another 10 Leclerc battle tanks in south Lebanon, completing its consignment of 13 of the tanks appearing for the first time in UN colours.
The high-tech Leclerc has been deployed abroad only once before, as part of French forces operating under NATO in Kosovo in 1999-2002.The reinforced French battalion now numbers 900 soldiers, who landed at Beirut port last week. Their contribution to UNIFIL is to rise to a total of 2,000 men.
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 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)
Sept. 20, 2006, 11:44AM
At U.N., Chavez calls Bush the devil
By KIM GAMEL Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS / Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took his verbal battle with the United States to the floor of the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, calling President Bush the devil.The impassioned speech by the leftist leader came a day after Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparred over Tehran's disputed nuclear program but managed to avoid a personal encounter.The devil came here yesterday,Chavez said, referring to Bush's address on Tuesday and making the sign of the cross. He came here talking as if he were the owner of the world.Chavez, who has joined Iran in opposing U.S. influence, accused Washington of domination, exploitation and pillage of peoples of the world.
We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head, he said.
He also said the U.N. doesn't work in its current system and is antidemocratic.He called for reform, saying the U.S. government's immoral veto had allowed recent Israeli bombings of Lebanon to continue unabated for more than a month.Chavez spoke on the second day of the annual ministerial meetings, which were overshadowed by an ambitious agenda of sideline talks.The Mideast peace process also was in the spotlight, with ministers from the Quartet that drafted the stalled road map the U.S., the U.N., the European Union and Russia planning to meet. The Security Council also was scheduled to hold a ministerial meeting Thursday that Arab leaders hope will help revive the Mideast peace process.
Bush tried to advance his campaign for democracy in the Middle East during his address to the General Assembly on Tuesday, saying extremists were trying to justify their violence by falsely claiming the U.S. is waging war on Islam. He singled out Iran and Syria as sponsors of terrorism.Bush also pointed to Tehran's rejection of a Security Council demand to stop enriching uranium by Aug. 31 or face the possibility of sanctions. But he addressed his remarks to the Iranian people in a clear insult to the government.
The greatest obstacle to this future is that your rulers have chosen to deny you liberty and to use your nation's resources to fund terrorism and fuel extremism and pursue nuclear weapons, the U.S. leader said.Iran must abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, he said. Despite what the regime tells you, we have no objection to Iran's pursuit of a truly peaceful nuclear power program.
He said he hoped to see the day when you can live in freedom, and America and Iran can be good friends and close partners in the cause of peace.Ahmadinejad took the podium hours later, denouncing U.S. policies in Iraq and Lebanon and accusing Washington of abusing its power in the Security Council to punish others while protecting its own interests and allies.The hard-line leader insisted that his nation's nuclear activities are transparent, peaceful and under the watchful eye of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. He also reiterated his nation's commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad proposed a debate with Bush at the General Assembly's ministerial meeting after the White House dismissed a previous TV debate proposal as a diversion from serious concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
But even though the two leaders spoke from the same podium, they skipped each other's addresses and managed to avoid direct contact during the ministerial meeting.Also on Wednesday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai warned that terrorism is rebounding in his country and said efforts to build democracy there had suffered setbacks over the past year as violence increased, especially in the volatile south.We have seen terrorism rebounding as terrorists have infiltrated our borders to step up their murderous campaign against our people,he told the General Assembly.He said the situation was so bad it had contributed to a rise in polio from four cases in 2005 to 27 this year because health workers were unable to reach the region.But he said the problem had to be fought beyond Afghanistan's borders as well as within.We must look beyond Afghanistan to the sources of terrorism,he said.We must destroy terrorist sanctuaries beyond Afghanistan.He also expressed concern about the increased incidents of Islamophobia in the West,saying it does not bode well for the cause of building understanding and cooperation across civilizations.
The crisis in the ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur also was on the agenda Wednesday, with the African Union's Peace and Security Council meeting to discuss breaking the deadlock over a plan to replace an AU force with U.N. peacekeepers.The Sudanese president said his country won't allow the United Nations to take control of peacekeepers in Darfur under any circumstance, claiming that rights groups have exaggerated the crisis there in a bid for more cash.But Omar al-Bashir did say that the African Union, which now runs the peacekeeping mission in Darfur, should be allowed to augment its forces with more logistics, advisers and other support.We want the African Union to remain in Darfur until peace is re-established in Sudan,al-Bashir said at a news conference. Those comments suggest that the African Union will not face any resistance in renewing the peacekeeping force's mandate, which expires Sept. 30.AP Writer Ian James contributed to this story.
Israel Targets Alleged Iranian Funding of Palestinian Terror
By Robert Berger ,Jerusalem,20 September 2006(VOA)
An Israeli sweep in the West Bank has targeted alleged funding for Palestinian terrorism. Israel is accusing Iran of trying to increase its influence in the cash strapped Palestinian territories. Palestinians sit in front of damaged currency exchange office raided by Israeli army in Ramallah, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006 Israeli troops raided the homes and offices of 14 Palestinian money changers in four West Bank towns, confiscating nearly $1.5 million. The army said the money came mostly from Iran and was earmarked for terrorism. It said the cash traveled through Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah offices in Syria and Lebanon. Palestinian militant groups were allegedly using the money to produce explosives belts, rockets and car bombs. Israeli spokesman Mark Regev says Israel wants to make sure.That that money won't come back to haunt us all in suicide bombings,he said.
Israel says Iran has been increasingly supporting terrorism in the Palestinian territories since the election of the Islamic militant group Hamas in January. Hamas, which seeks Israel's destruction, has sought alternative funding because it is broke in the wake of international sanctions. No one wants to deal with this Hamas regime, which is of course very extreme and refuses to renounce terrorism,Regev said.But while money may be reaching militants, most ordinary Palestinians are in financial straits. Hamas has been unable to pay the salaries of 165,000 government employees for six months and Israel fears a humanitarian crisis. Regev says it's a dilemma.
And I think the challenge that we have now is to create a mechanism whereby there is direct support for the Palestinian people and, at the same time, that that mechanism will bypass the Hamas government, he said.While Palestinians initially blamed Israel and the United States for the economic crisis, their anger is now directed toward the Hamas government. Civil servants and school teachers have been on strike for three weeks, demanding their salaries.
Middle East News
Hezbollah preparing to celebrate divine victory over Israel
Sep 20, 2006, 16:13 GMT
Beirut - The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah continued Wednesday preparations to celebrate what they described as 'divine victory' over against Israel. Although it was unclear whether Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would attend, preparations for the massive rally on Friday were under way amid very tight security. Nasrallah is regarded by Israel as a top enemy. Nasrallah announced the rally earlier this week in a televised speech. Hezbollah press officer Hussein Rahal said the rally was being prepared in an open site inside Beirut's southern suburbs.
Nasrallah has not been seen in public since hostilities broke out after Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12. But the Hezbollah chief has made several appearances in interviews on Arab satellite television channels. We are preparing for the big day, the celebration for the big victory against the American and Zionist plots in Lebanon,said Alia Zeineddine, a Hezbollah follower.
Pictures of Nasrallah were erected all over Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah hotbed, with posters proclaiming a 'divine victory' covered the roads leading to Beirut international airport. The celebration was going ahead in a district that suffered massive damage from daily Israeli raids. Hezbollah says around 15,000 apartment buildings were destroyed. It offered 12,000 dollars for each each damaged apartment to enable the people to rent a house for one year and buy furniture.
Hezbollah and Israeli troops engaged in fierce fighting for 33 days until a UN-brokered ceasefire was implemented on August 14. More than 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, were killed and 3,000 wounded. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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